Redartz: Excellent; you're just in time for our latest retro road trip ! Grab a seat and hang on, we're headed back to the Spring of 1978; a heady time indeed. The US Senate is debating returning the Panama Canal (to Panama, of course), Volkswagen has just started manufacturing cars in the US, and Woody Allen's "Annie Hall" has won big at the Academy Awards. Also, a certain trio of singing brothers are on top of the world. and they're on top of the US Billboard Hot 100: The Bee Gees, with "Night Fever"
Rounding out the top five:
2. The Bee Gees, "Stayin' Alive"
3. Eric Clapton, "Lay Down Sally"
4. Barry Manilow, "Can't Smile Without You"
5. Yvonne Elliman, "If I Can't Have You"
The brothers Gibb are responsible for three of the top five songs this week (writing and producing Yvonne Elliman's song); they seem to be giving the 1964 Beatles some competition in the area of chart domination. However, some other residents of the top 40 hold more interest for me. Among them: Jackson Browne, "Running on Empty"- a great song proving that the singer/songwriter is alive and well in the disco era. Andy Gibb, "Love is Thicker Than Water"- yes, another Gibb brother. But this song is really sharp, a bit more soulful than some other Gibb compositions, in my opinion. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, "You're the One That I Want"- a dynamic duet from the two stars of that other popular film out now: "Grease". Sweet, "Love is Like Oxygen"- yet another cool offering from the British glam gang; and one of the more unusual metaphors you'll hear for love...
Tops in the UK: Brian and Michael, "Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs" (love that title)
Yes, there are plenty of riches on the music charts today. But this high schooler wants to know about tonight's tv; what say you? And since we have the schedule right here, let's have a look...
US Television Schedule:
ABC: Eight is Enough, Charlie's Angels, Starsky and Hutch
Being a red-blooded American teenager, I never miss "Charlie's Angels". Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson star, and of course everyone has their favorite Angel- mine is Kate. No contest. And lots of folks follow up with Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul as "Starsky and Hutch". Also featuring the two cops' favorite informant, the inimitable "Huggy Bear", and a bright red Ford Gran Torino.
 |
| Cast of "Good Times" |
CBS: Good Times, Syzsnyk, The CBS Wednesday Night Movies
Just what exactly is "Syzsnyk", anyway?
NBC: The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, Black Sheep Squadron, Police Woman
My parents liked to catch "Grizzly Adams", and sometimes Black Sheep Squadron. When I occasionally declined to watch the Angels, I'd watch the Squadron. Robert Conrad stars as the leader of a group of WWII fighter pilots. I have a good friend who is absolutely nuts for this show...
BBC1: The Wednesday Film: Track of Thunder, Miss Scotland 1978, The Budget, The Hong Kong Beat, Sportsnight
BBC2: Mr. Smith Propagates Plants, Newsday, Brass Tacks, Call My Bluff, Midweek Cinema: Broadway Melody of 1940
Oh, by the way, it's Wednesday: new comic day! And since we have plenty of change (unfortunately thirty five cent comics prohibit the purchase of more than two books for a dollar, but so it goes), lets check out the Spinner Racks:
Oh, I have to pick up a bunch of these. Starting with the two Treasury editions (that Batman collection is a gem, a couple of great Neal Adams tales just as a start). In Avengers we're continuing to see the members disappearing; that book is incredible lately. Then I'll take the first issue of DC Comics Presents: Superman teamups, starting with a race against the Flash- a good start, and Garcia-Lopez art too. Red Sonja has a great cover, but so does that Showcase with Hawkman by Kubert. Showcase was a cool 'tryout' book in the Silver age, and I'm enjoying the 70's incarnation as well. Defenders has Spider-man; that has to be good reading. Finally, "Doorway to Nightmare" is a treat for the eyes, and those Kaluta covers grab me every time. It's nice to pick up something a little different now and then.
Well, my funds are now shot, and time is about up for today. Anyway, I need to get home and finish up some homework; don't want to mess up graduation next month with unfinished projects. So it's back on the retro and forward to our future present once again. Hope we roused a few memories, and a few smiles. Until next trip, adios!
7 comments:
There's really nothing at all on the BBC that I'd want to watch, although I did always have a soft spot for Mr Smith the plant propagater. Seeing Call My Bluff in the BBC2 listings does remind me that, for most of my youth, I only knew of the existence of Jenny Agutter because she was a regular contestant on Call My Bluff.
When it comes to the UK charts, that's a whole other matter. The songs that I approve of are:
1 - "Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs," by Brian and Michael, which is a genuinely appalling song and yet one I can't stop myself singing.
3 - "Baker Street," by Gerry Rafferty.
5 - "Denis Denis," by Blondie.
6 - "Never Let Her Slip Away," by Andrew Gold.
7 - "Follow You, Follow Me," by Genesis.
8 - "Wuthering Heights," by Kate Bush.
9 - "With a Little Luck," by Wings.
12 - "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass," by Nick Lowe. A blatant rip-off of Bowie's, "Sound and Vision," but I like it anyway.
16 - "I Don't Want to go to Chelsea," by Elvis Costello.
19 - Everyone's a Winner," by Hot Chocolate. Famously, the only band to have a hit single in the UK in every year of the 1970s.
20 - "Emotion," by Samantha Sang. Yet another Bee Gees song.
21 - "Is this Love?" by Bob Marley.
28 - "Stayin' Alive," by the Bee Gees.
32 - "Take Me, I'm Yours," by Squeeze.
38 - "Jack and Jill," by Raydio.
48 - "I Must be in Love," by the Rutles.
"Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs" is about the painter L.S. Lowry who died in 1976. As Steve mentioned, it's quite an earworm song but I don't know why Brian & Michael sang about matchSTALK men rather than matchSTICK men - nobody says matchstalk! The song was No.1 for 3 weeks and was then replaced by the Bee Gees' "Night Fever".
Andy Gibb had no UK hits at all and I didn't even know the Bee Gees had a younger brother until his death was announced in 1988.
"Miss Scotland 1978" prompted me to visit BBC Genome to investigate further - apparently Miss England and Miss Wales had already been chosen (what about Miss Ulster/Northern Ireland?) so did they all go forward to a UK-wide contest? Were they choosing the British entry for Miss World? I've no idea.
Redartz, a question: you visit BBC Genome for the UK shows (not including ITV, the BBC's commercial rival) but where do you get the schedules for the American networks? Do NBC, CBS and ABC have archives of their daily schedules?
I agree with you on that Red Sonja cover. But I'll also snag that Invaders #30. It's the second of a two-parter with the Teutonic Knight, and for whatever reason, it was probably the most difficult find of all the Invaders books for me. Looked in a a lot of long boxes for that one ...
And am I alone or is "Miss Scotland 1978" just about the coolest name for a super-heroine ever? I'd read that book.
Cheers!
Colin- for the US television schedules, I visit Wikipedia; they have a season-by-season breakdown of the network schedules. They are listed by season (fall/spring) and by day of the week. I just extrapolate the particular evening's programming based upon those charts. I don't know of any US archive as comprehensive as the Genome...
Yeah, I remember when the Bee Gees and the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack were all the rage - my older sister had the album.
As for the television offerings, it's interesting in that, at various points, I recall watching Charlie's Angels, Starsky & Hutch, Good Times, Grizzly Adams and Baa Baa Black Sheep, but I was only nine at that point so my older brother and sister controlled the TV set, and it varied from week to week. I watched a lot of Good Times later, when it was in syndication, and I have to say I preferred Bern Nadette Stanis (who played the oft-maligned - by JJ - Thelma) to any of the Angels.
As for the comics on offer at the time, I was still pretty deep in my primarily Archie and funny animal phase, so I didn't have many of these, except for the first issue of DC Comic Presents - which I bought a few months later in a Whitman three-pack bag.
Kelly Garrett all the way for me! I've recently been watching old episodes of Charlie's Angels; it's not as mindless as I remember, though I notice they go out of their way to make sure the ladies don't kill anybody one on one ... a lot of people die in car wrecks, though. I also loved Starsky & Hutch as a kid.
I liked that Spidey/Defenders team-up, and I agree about Doorway to Nightmare being cool. I reviewed that DC Presents issue not long ago; it's the first of a two-parter, both guest starring Flash.
The one show I made a point to watch in high school was Baa Baa Black Sheep.
Also, refreshing to see Kubert's cover art on a superhero!
Post a Comment