Martinex1: My BitBA partner Redartz regularly updates us on television series and other cultural events from back in the day. Just a couple of days ago, our frequent commentators HB and Prowler challenged us to name programs we might remake or reboot. All of that got me thinking about Bronze Age television. What TV series were "must see" for younger you? And which programs were "must avoid"?
So please highlight some shows for us that made an impression on you Back in the Bronze Age! Focus on these specific genres but feel free to comment or expand on the topic as you see fit! Good, bad, excellent, or vomit inducing - comment on television when we just had an antenna and a handful of channels.
1) What was your favorite sitcom? Which sitcom made your skin crawl?
2) What mystery or detective program rang your bell? And which really left you cold?'
3) Did you have a favorite variety show? And which seemed out of touch?
5) How about any honorable mentions? TV Movies? Mini-series? What got your attention and what did not? Share your TV feelings today!
16 comments:
Wow, big topic.
1. Sitcoms - watched many back in the day, but the only ones that stand out to me as favorites that I still like to watch occasionally (if possible) today are oddball shows like the short-lived Quark or Police Squad, and the rather obscure No Soap, Radio.
Of the more longer-lasting shows, I guess WKRP was pretty good, and I also remember liking Good Times, Barney Miller, Sanford and Son, Soap and, later, Night Court. My parents, by the way, *really* liked the Jeffersons for some reason, so for many years that was a staple of Sunday-night TV viewing in our household.
One that I remember absolutely hating is Three's Company.
2. Detective/mystery - watched many of these as well. Columbo is a stand out favorite, then and now. The Rockford Files is also a good show. I otherwise was an unabashed fan and devoted viewer of Magnum PI, and later also Simon & Simon.
3. Variety shows - when I was younger, my older brother and sister (they'd never admit it now) watched quite a few of these, albeit irregularly. Can't say any of them really stand out in my memory as being good.
4. Sci Fi and adventure - Star Trek and Star Trek TNG. If those are outside of the parameters of what we're considering the Bronze Age, then 6 Million Dollar Man and Battlestar Galactica, I guess. For adventure, I really liked Majors' follow-up to his bionic career, the Fall Guy.
5. Honorable mentions - contradicting what I said about variety shows, I'd say the Paul Lynde Halloween Special from the late '70s, which is at places completely bonkers (and I think it's posted on YouTube) and also the Star Wars Holiday Special, which has to be seen to be believed - it's bonkers ramped up to 11, and just demonstrates what happens when, apparently, massive amounts of cocaine influence programming and production decisions (it's also posted on YouTube as far as I recall).
Of course, as soon as I post this, I'll remember a bunch of other stuff.
1) I watched a lot of sitcoms back then. Some of my favourites: WKRP, Welcome Back Kotter, Three's Company, Barney Miller, Jeffersons, All in the Family, Barney Miller, Benson (my parents watched Soap), Facts of Life, Different Strokes, MASH, Happy Days, Alice, and One Day at a Time. I'm probably forgetting a few ...
2) Loved the cop/detective shows too, though a lot of them were on too late for me to watch when I was really young. I remember liking Vega$, Starsky & Hutch, Rockford Files, Charlie's Angels, and Hawaii Five-O.
3) Never liked variety stuff. I think my parents watched Donnie and Marie, and probably other shows like that, but I never paid attention. (Well, I did like the Muppet Show ... I guess that counts as variety.)
4) For action stuff I always liked Wonder Woman (not necessarily for the storylines), Six Million Dollar Man, Dukes of Hazzard, Fall Guy, Buck Rogers (Erin Gray and Pamela Hensley ... whoa!), and a very short-lived show called Sword of Justice that nobody except me seems to remember. I didn't get into Star Trek until the mid-80s.
5) There were some shows specific to Canada that I remember: Mr. Dressup, King of Kensington, the Beachcombers, Littlest Hobo, Wayne and Shuster, Hangin In, and the ubiquitous Hockey Night in Canada.
I was wickedly, almost frighteningly, addicted to television from the late 60's through most of the 70's. Like, there were days when I would get home from school at 3:30, and not get away from the set until the news came on from 6:00 to 7:00 (we would eat dinner with a tabletop TV on every night at about 5:30), and then back to watch from 7:00 til bedtime.
THREE'S COMPANY broke me of that addiction. So. . . I suppose I owe that impossibly awful show a debt of gratitude, oddly enough. Thanks, THREE'S COMPANY. . . (!)
Sitcoms: Even though it was in re-runs, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND remains my eternal goofy sitcom favorite. At 5:00 on channel 16 for YEARS ON END!!! Nighttime viewing, though? ALL IN THE FAMILY, BARNEY MILLER, WELCOME BACK KOTTER (tho it wore kinda thin--), MASH, both HAPPY DAYS and LAVERNE & SHIRLEY---- oh! THE ODD COUPLE was never a disappointment, too. High on the list!
Detective shows: ROCKFORD FILES may have been the only one I watched regularly. Most of them just did not capture me at all. Wait--- both CANNON and IRONSIDE did pull me in pretty frequently. But Mannix, Kojack, Banecek---- zzzzzzzzz----
Variety: My memory does straddle back into the tale-end of TV's Golden Age, so I do remember Jackie Gleason and Red Skelton (a huge favorite of mine as a child). Ed Sullivan bored me to tears. In later years, I thought Sonny & Cher's show was pretty good. And a shout-out to the little-remembered Tony Orlando & Dawn show (surprisingly good), and even The Hudson Brothers. Oh! FLIP WILSON!-- His show was fantastic! And where does LAUGH-IN fall in this spectrum, as that was never missed in our house? But c'mon--- CAROL BURNETT is the bar against which all others will forever be measured.
Action/Adventure/Sci-fi: Ya gotcher 6 MILLION DOLLAR MAN, yeah--- but THE BIONIC WOMAN seemed to be just as good at the time, in my hazy memory. I remember liking it a lot, at least. Ha! And KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER's one season was a personal bench-mark. And then. . . EMERGENCY!. .. ? Hunh-- which is more like a procedural, except--- geeze, it could stop your heart, y'know?
Honorable Mentions: Ah-- maybe this is where I should have offered some of those odd ones, above. Anyhoo-THE ABC MOVIE OF THE WEEK (both Tuesday and Wednesday nights at one point, I think), had so darned many made-for-TV films that our crowd would re-live and revisit on the bus the next morning and throughout the day. Heck, DUEL all by itself is worth listing. GREEN ACRES was consistently good; WILD WILD WEST had me completely-- until it was canceled for being (literally) the most violent show on television at the time; I mentioned HEC RAMSEY a couple of days ago.
Like I said, I watched 'waaaaaaay too much television. . .
HB
Lots of video ground to cover, but here goes:
Sitcoms: I watched many throughout the 70's, fewer in the 80's (although my overall viewing dropped in the 80's anyway). Never missed MASH, Mary Tyler Moore, Laverne and Shirley, Bob Newhart, Soap, Benson, WKRP, Taxi, Barney Miller, and numerous others that escape me at the moment (HB, you weren't the only one glued to the Bronze Age tv screen). Happy Days was fun for a couple seasons, but I tired of it rather quickly. And Edo and HB- I too detested "Three's Company". Thought it was cheesy, and unwatchable.
Detective shows: My Dad loved them all, so I watched many with him. Especially Mannix, Cannon, Streets of San Francisco, and Barnaby Jones. Watched fewer as I grew older, but did enjoy cop shows. Really, really liked "Hill Street Blues".
Variety shows: Another favorite in our house. My parents favored Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, Hee Haw, and Dean Martin. I preferred Flip Wilson, Sonny and Cher, and especially (you nailed it again, HB) Carol Burnett. She was a huge part of the wonderful Saturday Night CBS schedule in the mid 70's (and boy, that kept me home on Saturday nights).
Action: "Emergency" was my favorite show for much of the decade. I remember being furious that our local network affiliate frequently pre-empted "Emergency" and other Saturday night programming in order to broadcast college basketball games. Maybe that's why I still have no interest in NCAA basketball...
Also liked Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, Incredible Hulk, Charlie's Angels, Kolchak: the Night Stalker, and (the too-brief) "Planet of the Apes".
Honorable Mentions: just about any of the ubiquitous 60's reruns broadcast in syndication throughout the Seventies. Especially Gilligan, and "I Dream of Jeanie". I still have a thing for Barbara Eden...
Ditto to all written. Carol Burnett was a particular favorite with my brother, grandmother, and Me. Every time she tugged her ear at the end of the show my grandmother had to tell us why, lol.
~~~ Don't do the crime if you can't do the time... don't do it~~~
The year was 1975 and 10 year old Prowler was watching quite a bit, way too bit, of TV. One of those shows was Medical Center with Chad Everett as one of those all powerful doctors that could handle just about any case that came his way. Then one episode, Mr Brady came to him and wanted to be a girl, not a boy. I couldn't tell you all the ins and outs of the episode but I do remember Mr Brady, in a dress, slipping out the back of the hospital while a crowd demonstrated outside. Very confusing for a ten year old...
~~~There's a new girl in town, with a brand new style. She was just passing through,
but if things work out she's gonna stay awhile~~~
Whenever someone asks me "How you doing", I can never stop myself from flashing back to the Brady Bunch Show and their rendition of "I've Got The Music In Me"... And to this day, in an effort to pay homage to Dwayne Clemons Nelson, I great people with a "Hey Hey Hey".
~~~Now the world is ready for you and the wonders you can do
Make a hawk a dove stop a war with love make a liar tell the truth~~~
A young Kate Jackson played a nurse on the The Rookies. First TV crush of my young life. First time I would cut pictures out of the TV Guide. I never thought I love that way again and then, wouldn't you know it, Jan Smithers, in jeans and, wait for it, glasses... I know The Mod Squad was a TV show, but I don't think I ever saw an episode...
~~~It's time to play the music. It's time to light the lights.
It's time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight~~~
Remember when you couldn't tell the difference between Robert Conrad and William Conrad. I wonder how many people knocked batteries off of William Conrad's shoulder? OMG, and that time that Robert Conrad and Gabe Kaplan were the anchors in the relay race for their respective teams in Battle Of The Network Stars!?! That look on Robert's face when Kaplan blew by him!!! Priceless...
~~~I love Lucy and she loves me. Were as happy as two can be... Oh I love Lucy, yes I love Lucy and Lucy, Loves MEEEE.... LUCY, I'M HOME!!!~~~
In the late 70s, could have been 1980, we got cable. Mom was always trying to provide the best possible learning experience for us. We always had Time and Newsweek, National Geographic and US News and World Report at the house. The big metal box of our cable was mounted to our telephone pole. The cable was paired with our telephone cable and then into our house. Mom only got the basic cable channel. Whenever we had a lightning storm come through, we would invariably get a lightning strike on the metal box up on the telephone pole. When that happened, we got everything!!! EVERY-OF-THE-THING!!! HBO, Showtime, the whole package. Mom was always afraid they would think we were stealing so she would call and the guys would come out and block those channels. Nature could be so cruel, so fickle... I think I know a little, how the farmers would feel when their crops got wiped out.
~~~well we're moving on up, to the east side. To a deluxe apartment in the sky~~~
I know it was mentioned last Tuesday and I forgot to say something. Fahrenheit 451 was recently redone by Amazon Prime and now available on their channel. Don't know what made me think of this, but remember on The White Shadow when they were all in the van going to a game and a cop was behind them, lights and sirens going, and one of the guys had weed and they all ate it so they wouldn't get busted and then Coach pulled over and the cop sped right by them... loved that scene.
I waxed too poetic in my first posts and went over the character limit!!!
Here's the song...
(I've been here well it must be years
I'm molded in to my EZ Boy chair
My eyes are hooked to the screen
Where the people are real but they portray the scenes
I'm watching my TV
Watching my TV on the floor
Watching my TV
Watching my TV on the floor
And all I get is static
All I get is static
And all I get is static
When I turn on channel four
On my TV
Please move your head I can't see the show
Something's wrong now I'm picking up snow
The problem lies in this new antenna
If this damn set's broken go to Allied TV Rentals
I'm watching my TV
Watching my TV on the floor
Watching my TV
Watching my TV on the floor
And all I get is static
All I get is static
And all I get is static
When I turn on channel four
On my TV
Oh I'm watching my TV
Watching my TV on the floor
Watching my TV
Watching my TV on the floor
And all I see patterns
All I see is patterns
And all I see is patterns
I can't watch this crap anymore
Signing off on my TV).
Ohhhhhh Robert Conrad was SUCH a jerk in that competition, Prowl-! It was the classic heart-break moment where you see that one of your television idols has big ol' feet of clay like everyone else. . . (Remember him threatening to pull his whole team out of the competition?? Over some imagined infraction or something? Really, dude?? It's a GAME!!!)
HB
Awesome recollections gents. That Battle of the Network Stars was crazy and hilarious. Edo- I have no idea what No Soap Radio is.
Does anybody remember that sitcom where Greg Evigan and Paul Schaefer sold their souls to be musicians? I think it was called “A Year at the Top.” I watched too many sitcoms - too many to remember. Afternoons - like others here - were spent watching Gilligan’s Island, Beverly Hillbillies, Brady Bunch, and I Dream of Jeannie reruns.
I remember the Shields & Yarnell and Captain & Tenille variety shows, but like others commented, Carol Burnett was the must see show of that type.
Columbo, Rockford, Remington Steele, and Moonlighting jump to mind for favorite mystery shows. Though we watched a lot of Barnaby Jones, Ironside, Quincy and more. I also recall liking Richie Brockelman - a Rockford Files spin-off. I remember family liking Kojack but I never really followed the show. My mind m liked Vegas with Robert Urich as Dan Tanna. I really wanted “The Hardy Boys” to be a lot better.
Honorable mentions: the Mel Brooks Robin Hood show “When Things Were Rotten.” Also the first year of “Greatest American Hero.” “Buck Rogers in the 21st Century” “V” “Bridget Loves Bernie” “St. Elsewhere” “Mork and Mindy” “The Munsters” “Project UFO” and “Police Squad”
Cheers!
Martinex, ha! I totally remember Richie Brockelman - my older brother and I thought that was a funny show.
And as I expected, I forgot a few, mainly Buck Rogers which, truth be told, I liked better than Battlestar Galactica. And, of course, I often enjoyed watching the Hulk and Wonder Woman, and I dutifully watched Spider-man.
I didn't mention the stuff I watched in syndication, either, because a lot of that stuff is pre-Bronze Age, but yeah, I *loved* Gilligan's Island, Batman, the Flintstones, Get Smart and so forth.
Although I didn't watch them back then, as they were a little before my time, a few shows I've watched more recently that I think deserve mention in this regard are the Magician (starring Bill Bixby) and Longstreet (a very solid mystery/action show about a blind insurance investigator - Bruce Lee makes guest appearances in a few episodes).
As for No Soap, Radio, this short Wikipedia entry provides a brief explanation. As noted there, only 5 episodes were ever aired. For the longest time, I used to think that was something I was grossly misremembering or had even dreamed, because initially I didn't recall the name - I kept doing Google searches for "Pelican Hotel," which is the name of the main setting for the series. I only found it by searching for one of the sketches, Yukon Dan on YouTube. The show was full of oddball sketches, loosely tied together by the goings-on in an Atlantic City hotel. A young Steve Guttenberg was one of the regular cast. Here's a link to some clips. You can find more if you just do a search for "No Soap Radio" on YouTube.
Ahh, the warm blanket that is nostalgia.
I'll stay mostly in the seventies;
Sitcoms-Earliest memories was The Brady Bunch and Sanford and Son. Then Happy Days came along, seemed like everybody in the country was watching that. Next day at school all of us kids were talking over the episode.
Welcome Back Kotter, One Day At A Time (Valerie Bertinelli crush), What's Happening! were also must watches.
Detective/Mystery- Although I watched many as reruns later on. the only "must see" was Kolchak: The Night Stalker.
Variety Shows- Flip Wilson was a family favorite. And I still watch The Carol Burnett Show. Tim Conway was a master!
Action- Wonder Woman (didn't age well, the show not Linda Carter , she looks great!}
the Hulk, Buck Rogers, Kung Fu, seemed like you had to wait the whole hour for that 1 slow mo fight, but I kept coming back for more.
Oh man-- totally seconding the KUNG FU mention, Killraven. Can't believed it slipped out of our collective memory this far into the discussion. As much as I enjoyed the assorted bionic do-gooders, Kwai Chang Caine's saga was MUCH better viewing, IMO---- and man, did it ever inspire ENDLESS slow-motion kung fu fights at the bus stop, on the play-ground, in the basement, in the back yard, etc, etc, etc--- Thanks for the reminder, it's jumping to the top of my action/adventure list--!
HB
Killraven- Yes, yes, yes! Kung Fu; that was absolutely must-see for me and my compadres back in the day. One of my friends actually took martial arts classes and would frequently show off his nunchakus. As for the show, it really was different from anything else on at the time. Loved the drama, the Eastern philosophical touches, and (as HB mentioned) the slow motion action sequences. It was somehow more satisfying, seeing the villains get their comeuppance at the hands of that quiet, unassuming man.
Somehow I recently came across the Partridge Family playing on TV and actually started laughing out loud. It really was the first cultural phenomena I was aware of as a kid. I recorded the series and probably enjoyed a good half of the episodes. That red head Danny had impeccable comedic timing.
Liked Baretta the most of cop shows.
Loved Sanford and Son, Good Times, All in the Family...sweet Jesus did I watch a lot of sitcoms growing up!
Yoyo
If there were two shows I made a point of watching as a kid it was Brady Bunch chased by the Partridge Family. Somewhere I read that at their height 90% of all TVs were watching that combo. Talk about market domination...
I loved Three's Company and remember watching it from the very first episode at age 7!
I would come to really appreciate All in the Family and M*A*S*H through syndicated re-runs that ran at the same time as the shows were still on the air.
I still sing the Facts of Life and Dif'rent Strokes theme songs on the regular.
If anything was unwatchable after a while it was Happy Days.
Three's Company as a repetitive play on the French farce is vastly superior to Happy Day's nostalgic cheese.
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