Monday, January 30, 2023

1976: What's On TV Today?

 Jimmy's big number is about 44 minutes in, in case you want to scroll ahead to it.

48 comments:

  1. I cannot begin to express how much I loved Donny & Marie. I was so proud of how much I had matured to appreciate this program. I think it's possible that it's the first prime-time program (other than Monday Night Football) that I truly enjoyed. Probably this or Happy Days. But by the point I turned on to Happy Days, my parents thought it was silly and for kids. They seemed to actually like Donny & Marie, so I felt pretty grown up to actually like it, too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't realize how funny Bob Hope was until YouTube.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Regardless of how he always left Johnny Carson to go off and do something else or what his real play was there, that dude was funny.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ernie Pyle was a huge Bob Hope fan.

      Delete
    2. Rest in peace, Ernest Taylor Pyle (1900-1945) of Dana, Indiana (about 150 miles north of the EVV) and Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (1903-2003) of Eltham, County of London, England (which I always forget).

      Delete
  4. Tap dancers!

    My mom was an excellent hobbyist tap dancer and a discerning fan of the pros, and she sure loved it when my daughter would visit and she got to teach her a few steps.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, cool, Meadowlark Lemon and Ted Knight appear to have become friends.

    ReplyDelete
  6. OK, now that the Family Viewing Hour is over, 8-year-old me is pretty much done with TV for this Friday night in 1976, unless I choose to play with my basketball cards while Mom watches Rockford Files on Channel 6. Channels 3 and 12, respectively, have a couple of modified-for-TV blockbusters at 8:

    — “Jon Voight in Deliverance (1972), tense takeoff businessmen on a camping trip”

    — “Robert Culp in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), swinging couples mix and match”

    After the news at 10, CBS has another racy one on its late movie: “Kim Novak in Boys Night Out (1962), suburban jocks set up Manhattan hideaway."

    ReplyDelete
  7. Best male country vocalist nominees: John Denver, Merle Haggard and Charlie Rich.

    Now, to build suspense, I'm going to take a pause to write a work paragraph ...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Denver accepts in an all-Honolulu blue tuxedo with bow tie, ruffled shirt and cummerbund. It's all Honolulu blue, and the sandy-haired 32-year-old looks like every groomsman in my siblings' 1970s weddings before they started drinking and dancing at the receptions. I liked John Denver when I was a little boy, and then I quit liking him when I felt like I had outgrown the Muppets, and now I love him again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's great. The Muppets were great. They were great together.

      Delete
  9. Presenters for the first award were Dinah Shore and Paul Anka; for the second, Tony Orlando and Dawn.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Now here are our young friends from Friday night, Donny and Marie Osmond, to announce the winner for favorite pop male vocalist from among nominees Denver, Sedaka and Elton John. Pausing for effect and to make the mortgage ...

    ReplyDelete
  11. I just want to say that I am actually pausing the video for myself, too, and I can't wait to find out whether John Denver pulls the double!

    ReplyDelete
  12. They send out that boy who was on the last season of Brady Bunch--the little guy with glasses who was a nephew or whatever--to actually give John Denver his second award, and he's also in an all-Honolulu blue tuxedo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Every time I get to thinking that pop culture in the 1970's was actually great, I'm reminded of a character like Cousin Oliver.

      Delete
  13. Now we have Brenda Vaccaro and George Burns to give the award for favorite pop group. Nominees: Eagles; Earth, Wind & Fire, and Tony Orlando and Dawn ...

    ReplyDelete
  14. It's Tony Orlando and Dawn!

    Tony says the award is "difficult to accept for an Eagles fan." That's nice.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Now we have a performance of the hit "Fire" by the Ohio Players and a provocative dance troupe wearing see-through raincoats and gold bikinis and carrying fire hoses. Hard to imagine that Minneapolis Central High School senior Prince Rogers Nelson was not a pretty big Ohio Players fan.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Not much Donny and Marie played in 2023 on Madisonville's 730 AM WFMW, "Classic Hit Country," but I'd be fine with hearing more of it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Nominees: Earth, Wind & Fire; K.C. and the Sunshine Band and Gladys Knight and the Pips. I'm rooting for Earth, Wind & Fire here because I thought Phillip Bailey looked hacked when Tony Orlando and Dawn got pop group.

    ReplyDelete
  18. No, it's Gladys Knight and the Pips, and here's Michael Jackson to accept. He tells us that Gladys is occupied in Alaska making a film!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Replies
    1. Wasn't there a way you could win both showcases?

      Delete
    2. Yes! If your bid is within $100 of the actual retail price without going over (and closer than your opponent's bid on the other showcase), then you win both showcases. In this case, both contestants underbid significantly. The poor guy who lost seemed totally bummed.

      Delete
  20. I want the billiards table, the air-hockey game and the game carpet (I always loved that game carpet).

    ReplyDelete
  21. I want the drums, the tape deck and the VW bus.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I wonder how much Price Is Right paid to use the Beatles song.

    ReplyDelete