1976

 

I wonder how many times American Bandstand featured Who songs.

09 Jan 1976, Fri The Paducah Sun (Paducah, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

09 Jan 1976, Fri The Paducah Sun (Paducah, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

09 Jan 1976, Fri The Paducah Sun (Paducah, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

Everybody's getting excited about Super Bowl X tomorrow (Sunday, Jan. 18, 1976).

17 Jan 1976, Sat Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

17 Jan 1976, Sat Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

17 Jan 1976, Sat Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

Of course, the big deal in Lexington today is that Dick Enberg and Billy Packer are in town for a 2 p.m. Eastern UK-Vanderbilt game in Memorial Coliseum.

17 Jan 1976, Sat Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

The Freakin' Weekend (1973)

So much to address here on this Nov. 23-25, 1973, #freakinweekend: the Kings Island Brady Bunch, No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 8 vs. No. 9 in college football, the debut of the HP's International House of Pancakes National Football League e-Magnetic Team Standings Board and more!

Friday

After a run of seasons in which the networks turned out new series that became some of the most iconic programs of our lives, TV73 came up a clunker. Good Times and Happy Days are going to turn up this winter, but nothing much at all took from the fall debuts. Kojak was the lone new fall 1973 series to qualify for the Nielsen top 30 for the season.

The writers had struck, and there wasn't a single week crammed with debuts, so that the new series might market for each other. Plus, it appears to me that so many highly popular series were still so early in their runs that the brand-new series couldn't peel away viewers. Take Calucci's Department, a pretty compelling setup for Broadway's James Coco in a New York unemployment office. From the little bit of it I've seen, there's no reason for me to think that this show couldn't've found the quirky, low-burn stroke that Barney Miller ultimately found ...

But it was pitted against NBC's red-hot Sanford and Son at 7 Central on Friday nights, and Calucci's Department is going to be finito after 11 episodes. By the way, ABC's 7 p.m. Central Friday entry, The Brady Bunch, is nearing the end, too. The Bradys are all going to Kings Island on Nov. 23, 1973, which is one of my very favorite episodes of this show ...

Indeed, I'm sticking with Channel 3 the rest of this Friday night: The Odd Couple, a Julie Andrews variety special with Perry Como and the Muppets and then a Love American Style ...

Saturday

Here's the current Associated Press Top 20 in college football:

1. Ohio State 9-0

2. Alabama 10-0 (after beating Louisiana State on Thanksgiving, Nov. 22)

3. Oklahoma 8-0-1

4. Michigan 10-0

5. Notre Dame 9-0

6. Penn State 10-0

7. LSU 9-1 (after losing to Alabama on Thursday)

8. UCLA 9-1

9. Southern California 8-1-1

10. Nebraska 8-1-1

11. Texas 7-2

12. Texas Tech 9-1

13. Arizona State 9-1

14. Houston 8-1

15. Miami (Ohio) 10-0

16. North Carolina State 7-3

17. Tulane 8-1

18. Oklahoma State 5-2-2

19. Missouri 7-3

T20. Kansas 6-3-1

T20. Pittsburgh 6-3-1

So, as you can see, we've got ourselves a pretty compelling Saturday afternoon in front of Channel 3 to look forward to ...

I'm not sure on which Saturday this little Hee Haw snippet aired on Channel 12, but I think Nov. 24, 1973, is a pretty good bet because it was on Nov. 11, 1973, that Louis "Grandpa" Jones of Niagara, Kentucky, had discovered the corpse of his Nashville-suburbs neighbor, David "Stringbean" Akeman of Annville, Kentucky ...

Now on to happier Saturday-night fare ...

Sunday

NBC's got a pretty good noon Central kickoff in 8-2 Steelers at 6-3-1 Browns ...

But we're not seeing that. Channel 12's got the double-header this afternoon: 3-6-1 Cardinals at 6-4 Bengals at noon and then 7-3 Falcons at 3-7 Jets at 3. Channel 6 is holding fire until 6-3-1 Chiefs at 5-3-2 Broncos at 3. 

Here's where things stand in Week 11 of NFL73, after the 8-3 Redskins beat the 4-6-1 Lions, 20-0, and then the 10-1 Dolphins beat the 7-4 Cowboys, 14-7, on a very happy Thanksgiving ...

What's On TV Tonight (Tuesdays 1971)?

So the 1971 prime-time TV schedule debuts tonight (Tuesday, Sept. 14), and I'm very much enjoying reading about it in the Sept. 11, 1971, TV Guide. Truthfully, though, there's not much here that grabs me on the new Tuesday nights ...

It makes me strangely happy to find on YouTube the actual episodes of The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour and ABC Movie of the Week that aired tonight 1971 ...

I have a bit of a George Kennedy thing. And, once with Mom, I saw a William Conrad stage production in Chicago, and it was exciting to see real, live Cannon in person (even if the show did turn out to be a little too blue for her taste). Nonetheless, of the three new shows, the only one I'm much interested in is The Funny Side.

John Amos's Wikipedia page doesn't mention The Funny Side. In fact, he appears to have just kept playing his part on CBS's Mary Tyler Moore Show the whole time he was on this NBC show. 

I didn't know anything about John Amos's football career, which was substantial. He even got a shot with the 1967 Kansas City Chiefs. "John approached Coach Stram with a poem he wrote about the mythical creature that passed the door of all players who are cut from the team. He read it to the team and received a standing ovation from all the players and coaches. Amos said Coach Stram pushed him in the direction of writing after he was released from training camp." 

I would freaking love to read that poem! Wikipedia is so terrific. We really do live in an age of miracle and wonder.

The Freakin' Weekend (1970)

OK, look, the new NFL season is drawing very near ...

And college football is ready to roll ...

And baseball is approaching its playoffs ...

And Wes Parker is on tonight 1970's Brady Bunch ...

And Dan Issel is in town ...

But the big deal this freakin' weekend for Hoptown 1970 me is that the new TV Guide has the 411 on the very, very promising slate of new shows for the fall season:

-- The Don Knotts Show, NBC Sept. 15 debut;
-- Four-In-One, NBC, Sept. 16 debut;
-- Storefront Lawyers, CBS, Sept. 16 debut;
-- The Flip Wilson Show, NBC, Sept. 17 debut;
-- Nancy, NBC, Sept. 17 debut;
-- Headmaster, CBS, Sept. 18 debut;
-- Arnie, CBS, Sept. 19 debut;
-- The Mary Tyler Moore Show, CBS, Sept. 19 debut;
-- The Young Rebels, ABC, Sept. 20 debut;
-- The Tim Conway Show, CBS, Sept. 20 debut;
-- NFL Monday Night Football, ABC, Sept. 21 debut;
-- The Young Lawyers, ABC, Sept. 21 debut;
-- The Silent Force, ABC, Sept. 21 debut;
-- Dan August, ABC, Sept. 23 debut;
-- Make Room for Granddaddy, ABC, Sept. 23 debut;
-- The Odd Couple, ABC, Sept. 24 debut;
-- Matt Lincoln, ABC, Sept. 24 debut;
-- Barefoot in the Park, ABC, Sept. 24 debut;
-- The Immortal, CBS, Sept. 24 debut;
-- The Partridge Family, ABC, Sept. 25 debut, and
-- The Most Deadly Game, ABC, Oct. 10 debut.

ABC looks especially strong!

Here are my favorite 13 take-me-to-a-time-and-place TV shows to have aired before 2002

1. The Andy Griffith Show (1960s North Carolina)
2. Seinfeld (1990s New York)
3. Gilmore Girls (2000s Stars Hollow, Conn.)
4. The Bob Newhart Show (1970s Chicago)
5. WKRP in Cincinnati (1970s Cincinnati)
6. Newhart (1980s Vermont)
7. The Simpsons (1990s Springfield)
8. The Dick Van Dyke Show (1960s New York and New Rochelle, N.Y.)
9. The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970s Minneapolis)
10. White Shadow (1970s Los Angeles)
11. Roseanne (1980s Lanford, Ill.)
12. Barney Miller (1970s New York)
13. Happy Days (1950s Milwaukee)