Yes, the nation had bicentennial fever in 1976, and we are here to revisit it with a look at the special issue of TV Guide (Los Angeles edition) dated July 3, 1976. We'll take a trip, Saturday through Friday, and the first few days are loaded with holiday coverage. Let's jump right into it!
Everyone was talking about the event, even Youth and the Issues:
Metromedia stations offer The Great American Celebration:
That's not to be confused with the Great American Music Celebration, which aired later in the evening and was hosted by Lorne Greene, Dionne Warwick, and Harve Presnell.
Speaking of music, American Bandstand got in the act with a salute to the bicentennial featuring The Mugelsons, Paul Jabara, and comedia Kip Adotta. "Dick Clark is the host," the listing says. Well, i'm familiar with...Dick Clark.
A TV Movie adaptation of Huckleberry Finn was rerun on ABC tonight. In the cast: Ron Howard in the title role, Antonio Fargas as Jim, and Donny Most as Tom Sawyer!
Worried about the Fourth? CBS has you covered:
Don't feel the need to watch all day! "Drop in any time to see how it's going."
For you eggheads out there, NBC has a program about invention and discovery:
Today there isn't much to see in the Friday, July 2, 1976 listings, but let's talk about some of the features in the issue.
There is this page, which gets into two topics of interest to BOTNS fans: The decision to break up Rhoda and Joe and also the pending debut of In Search Of!
Other stories include the cover story on Mary Tyler Moore in Moscow, a light piece about a writer trying video dating, and experiments with "two-way cable" and interactive TV. There's a profile of Rich Little, then starring in The Rich Little Show, but there is no review column.
One interesting item in the news section relates how NBC's revenues jumped as its ratings went down. The explanation is that the economy's revival boosted ad spending at a time when CBS and ABC had already sold most of its ad inventory. NBC, in effect, benefited from its plummeting ratings because it had plenty of sports to sell to advertisers looking to spend.
There wasn't a lot going on Wednesday, June 30, 1976, on the tube, but NBC did have a patriotic special. It didn't bother taking out an ad for it, though.
I can also tell you that on Dinah Shore's show, Jim Nabors co-hosted, and guests included Lynda Carter, George Gobel, and Minnie Pearl!
There is a clear highlight in prime time 50 years ago on broadcast television. As America geared up for its bicentennial, NBC premiered the film 1776, itself an adaptation of the musical:
On Channel 8, right before the movie, viewers were treated to an animated Benji special (Other stations aired this syndicated program throughout the week):
Perhaps the highlight of prime time on Monday, June 28, 1976, is this CBS rebroadcast of the Chuck Jones Yankee Doodle Cricket:
Other than that, there are some neat local station ads:
One thing that stands out to me is the afternoon here. For one thing, William Shatner is on The FBI, which was a very popular rerun in syndication at the time. Also, look at the display ad for Marcus Welby that uses the syndie title Robert Young, Family Doctor:
I get that TV shows got alternate titles for syndication when they were still in first-run, but those alternate titles were usually lame. Happy Days Again is an example. This one is worse, avoiding the character name and just saying, "Here's the show where Robert Young is a doctor."
1) Mary Tyler Moore: Mary is the cover gal of the TV Guide from 50 years ago this week that we're spotlighting this week on the site! Later today we'll have a post with a few things from the Guide on this date in 1976.
2) Killdozer: The highly entertaining Retro Rules channel from Paul Van Scott highlighted Killdozer, which we of course talked about in our ninth season.
3) Gilligan's Island:TV Is Good, a new podcast featuring two TV critics discussing TV old and new, paired Widow's Bay and Gilligan's Island recently in a discussion of cursed islands, and while the choice was amusing, I got the sense that the host who conceived it just wanted to make fun of the latter series. Hey, Mike and I didn't claim that Gilligan's was high art, but still, this just left kind of an odd taste in my mouth, unlike Mary Ann's coconut creme pies. You can judge for yourself here.
4) Movin' On: Speaking of podcasts, TV Confidential recently featured the creator of a Seventies series that doesn't have much buzz: Trucker show Movin' On. The author of a new book about the show was also on, but I don't think she got a word in edgewise as the producer was so anxious to talk.
5) Mel Brooks: The icon turns 100 today! We talk about his When Things Were Rotten right here.
6) Martini Shot: One more podcast link for you: Rob Long's Martini Shot podcast has a great tribute to Jimmy Burrows this week, and it's notable because it give a great specific example of what Burrows could actually do on the set to improve an episode.
7) NY movies on TV 1986: 40 years ago tonight, the 3 major NYC-area independent stations each broadcast a movie, and the Times had interesting comments for each one.
Channel 5: The Champ (1931): "Creaks, wheezes, and drips now; but an emotional classic back when." Channel 9: Birth of the Beatles (1979): "Dramatization of their early years. If you like imitations." Aren't viewers fully aware that a biopic is going to be an imitation of the real thing? Channel 11: Victory at Entebbe (1976): "Israeli commandos raid to free hostages in Uganda. Heavy, rambling drama but good Burt (Lancaster) and Kirk (Douglas). Better version is 'Raid on Entebbe.' Wait." Ok, but this is 1986, and it's not like we can rent it from Prime Video.
8) A Woman of Substance: Britbox is airing a new adaptation of the 1979 Barbara Taylor Bradford novel. I mention this because I think I saw commercials for the 1984 version multiple times a day for a while.
9) Merv Griffin: 50 years ago today, Merv had a fascinating array of guests: Maury Wills, Fernando Lamas, The Graduates, Tom Sullivan, Marty Allen.
10) R.I.P. Clive Davis (I hear so many stories about his influence on the music biz that it's kind of like he's the Steve Allen of pop music), Ellen Weston:
