This idea now seems so nuts--like some kind of SCTV skit. But Roone Arledge and Howard Cosell were right about a lot of things with regard to Americans and TV, and they--both at the zenith of their powers--obviously would've had zero interest in creating basically a parody of themselves. They bet big that this big show would be a big hit.
And Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell just wasn't, and I would like to know more about why things turned out the way they did. There had to be something about a misread trend in relation to variety television (or it might've been that this flop basically started the trend away from variety television). Or it might've had to do with the genius of NBC's fledgling Saturday Night, which also would be debuting just three weeks after ABC's show, and the demographics of people who would stay up to watch that show versus the people who would tune in at 7 Central to watch this one. Or it might've been some problem with guest rebellion against Cosell or Arledge. Or it might've been an impossible time slot. Or it might've been that the mighty Cosell simply struck out.
But what does not seem to be sufficient explanation to me is to simply laugh off this show as nuts, something that would never work in a million years. Because in 1975, it must not have been so crazy at all.
Neither of Saturday's other two new shows grab me.
Other than giving Cosell and the occasional NBC movie (excellent, excellent, 5-star, highly recommended Sugarland Express, for example) a whirl, I'm rolling with CBS's rock-solid lineup.
Previous dispatches:
-- Mondays
-- Tuesdays
-- Wednesdays
