Win me over, Skydance: Warner Brothers shows you can put on HBOMaxParamountPlusWhatever

Recently we looked at 10 shows in the pre-merger Paramount vaults that would be cool to see on streaming. This new megacompany can win me over--well, maybe--if it dips into the Warners holdings post-merger and brings these shows out. 

Warner Brothers is an interesting case. It has released some real rarities on DVD through its Warner Archive label, it seems committed to utilizing its animation library (See the MeTV Toons partnership), and it released many shows on streaming with its Warner Archive Instant service.

Warner Brothers has licensed a lot of interesting material in recent years to modern streamers, like The New Dick Van Dyke Show, and it still "bothers" with DVD (77 Sunset Strip, long thought un-releasable due to music clearances, is on the way).. However, it also has a habit of licensing material out for a short period and then not doing anything with it for a while, like Welcome Back, Kotter.

Paramount is different in that it has apparently given up on using its library. On the other hand, Paramount Plus, though not the most sophisticated streamer out there, at least has an assortment of classic TV shows (Though it still irritates me that it exiles the likes of The Fugitive and Have Gun Will Travel to Pluto), but HBO Max's classic TV selection is practically nonexistent. 

So Warners is different, but there are still some nuggets to pull from the vaults and put on a real streaming service. Here are some of my picks:

Casablanca: This 1983 David Soul reimagining did get a DVD release, but I was too cheap to pay what I thought was a high price (I thought so because it was) from a boutique label, and now it's out of print. My most wanted TV show, period, might be the 1955 version with Charles McGraw, but I'm focusing on the BOTNS era here! Warners loves to exploit the classic film Casablanca, but the TV shows? Not so much.

Harry O: Warner Archive is great and ha released a lot of TV over the years, especially in its pre-Blu-Ray era. I find it odd that The FBI, for example, is all over streaming, yet this atmospheric David Janssen private eye show is not. At least it's there on DVD, but it would be great to get this one on streaming.

Banyon: Speaking of private eyes, this one is Quinn Martin, Robert Forster, 30s L.A. 'Nuff said.

The People's Court: Judge Wapner was one of the iconic TV personalities of the Eighties, but the old shows are not easy to see.

Flatbush: I mentioned Makin' It in the previous post, so how about letting us see this notorious flop, also seemingly inspired in part by Saturday Night Fever? The Lorimar sitcom showed a group of recent high school grads, but the Italian-American stereotypes sparked complaints, and CBS yanked it after 3 airings.

Fred and Barney Meet the Thing: I'd settle for The Thing segments! This animated series on NBC combined modern-day Flintstones toons with new ones starring Ben Grimm.

Dallas and Alice: If only there were a 1980s nighttime Lorimar soap called Palace. Earlier I mentioned the tendency of Warners to license shows for brief periods of time. In each case here, that trend combined with the tendency of Prime Video to obtain shows for brief periods of time. So the full run of each long-running series was on Prime for a while, then disappeared and didn't come back. Oh, the shows are available on disc and can be purchased as digital downloads, but it's about time they came back to SVOD. I am surprised Tubi hasn't picked up either of these.

Top Ten #429:

1) Amelia Earhart: The famed aviatrix (I could just use "aviator," but where is the fun in that?) is back in the Top Ten because she's the subject of a TV movie that premiered on NBC 50 years ago tonight. Susan Clark was Amelia, Alex Karras was Fred Noonan, and Henry Polic II had a cameo as Charles Lindbergh. 

I'm kidding about the last two, but Clark did star in the movie.

2) Ebert and Siskel: The iconic pair will get a statue in Chicago in 2028.

Meanwhile, Michael Medved and Jeffrey Lyons are reportedly the subjects of some uncouth graffiti in a public restroom in the NYC subway system.

3) The Don Ho Show: In many markets, this syndicated daytime variety show premiered this day in 1976 with guest Roz Kelly.

4) TV movies: As we gear up for Halloween, Frank Santopadre's Fun for All Ages podcast premiered an episode looking at scary TV movies of yore. I have it on good authority that the discussion ranges wide enough for a Pray for the Wildcats mention!

5) 1986 World Series Game 6: Red Sox fans, please skip to the next item.

40 years ago tonight, the Mets beat the Sox to stay alive in the Series after a memorable groundball from Mookie Wilson got past Bill Buckner. The game went long, pre-empting a pretaped episode of Saturday night Live.

6) Tomorrow: 50 years ago tonight, Tom Snyder welcomed Edgar Bergen, Laurene Tuttle, Jim Backus, Frank Nelson, and Gale Gordon. My kind of roster!

7) Rock and Roll Evening News: On this weekend in 1986, Chuck Berry, Cheap Trick, Bobcat Goldthwait guested on the syndicated program.

8) NBA: The league returned to action this week. In a mere 9 months or so, we'll have a new champion!

9) Battle of the Network Stars: As Roku premieres a well-intentioned (I assume) version with "streamers" this weekend, let's remember the original!

10) R.I.P. Tom Skerritt:

Michael Gray:

Top Ten #428

1) Fish: The Top Ten comes to you a little later this week because we had to stop the presses and adjust for breaking news: Tubi has added FISH to its streaming library. Several episodes are missing, and for some reason it's presented as one single season instead of two, but, hey, at least, as the song goes, we got Fish for supper.

2) World Series: 40 years ago tonight, the Red Sox faced the Mets in Game 1 of a memorable World Series. There is no truth to the rumor that FanDuel is taking action on this.

3) Weekend Special: Liberty and the Littles: This 3-part sequel to the Here Come the Littles movie premiered 40 years ago on ABC and had the gang going to the Statue of Liberty. Statue Fever was everywhere in 1986!

4) Amelia Earhart: Yet another expedition is confident it will track down the missing aviatrix, who we discussed in this episode. I tell you what, if they do find her and she can tell everyone what happened to her, Mike and I will do an emergency pod.

(BTW, speaking of that In Search Of... episode, should we be devoting less resources to finding Earhart and more to finding Nessie?)

5) That's My Mama: The official Sony YouTube channel just uploaded a full episode, "Cousin Albert."

6) Phyllis: And speaking of Mama, Teddy Wilson guested on the episode of Phyllis that aired 50 years ago tonight. Also appearing: Val Bisoglio!

7) National Mashed Potato Day: Respect for those who celebrate, but HARD PASS from me.

8) Howard Shore: Happy 80th to the musical director of the original run of Saturday Night Live.

9) Better Off Dead: Cinemax showed this John Cusack cult classic this night in 1986, and The New York Times dismissed it with, "Better off not watching." Say what?

10) R.I.P. Bernie Orenstein: The writer and producer worked on many, many sitcoms, such as That Girl, Sanford and Son, What's Happening!! and Kate and Allie.

Michael Forest: The actor is perhaps best known for his prolific TV work in the Sixties, but he had a long career that included a stint on As the World Turns in the early Eighties.

Win me over, Skydance: 10 Paramount shows you can put on HBOMaxParamountPlus

I am not happy about two of the media titans combining to eliminate tons of jobs and make one bigger media giant, and I doubt the consumer will gain anything. Want to prove me wrong, Skydance? OK, how's about digging into the archives and adding these shows from your library to Paramount Plus so we can enjoy them via streaming (I've given up on physical media)? 

Note that this list is taken from programs available to the company before the Warners merger. Also note that Paramount Plus has added very little from the Seventies and Eighties to its catalog in some time, so I am well aware this ain't gonna happen.

*Love. American Style: One of the big shows of the 1970s that isn't available, it has seen some air on Weigel's OTA networks like Catchy Comedy, and it did receive a Season One DVD release. However, that video release was in the odious split-season format and was almost 20 years ago.

With its roster of guests and general goofiness, LAS is a natural subject for our podcast. It'd be a fun one to dip into on streaming.

*Ball Four: Longtime listeners/readers can't be surprised to see this short-lived sitcom, based on Jim Boutin's iconic chronicle of his season with the expansion MLB 1969 Seattle Pilots, on this list. Hear more about the series here.

*The NFL Today: Why not roll out some old BOTNS-era tapes of the seminal pregame show? Would the NFL object? I don't watch pregame shows now, and I actually find the series a bit overrated (I watched NBC back in the day), but I would enjoy these. In fact, I do enjoy seeing old episodes on YouTube every now and then,

*Make Me Laugh: The game show has had various incarnations, but I suggest finding a way to get the 1979-1980 version on streaming. Hosted by Bobby Van, the show aired in syndication and then in heavy rotation on USA Network in the Eighties. Come for Garry Shandling and Richard Belzer; stay for Gary Mule Deer and Bruce Baum!

*What a Country!: Yes, it's time to put the entire run on streaming! Just listen to us talk about it in this episode.

*Dear John: I'm surprised this series, which was a part of NBC's Thursday night lineup for a while, didn't already make it to Paramount Plus alongside Caroline in the City.

*Makin' It: Is this any good? It's about what you'd expect from a Miller/Boyett sitcom of the era, but it's a DISCO sitcom, so I want it.

*Entertainment Tonight: I'm not saying you should put thousands of old episodes up, but I'm not saying you shouldn't. Clearances might be a nightmare, but you're a big megacorporation. Make it happen. I'd love to be able to just call up Leonard Maltin's take on Ruthless People whenever I feel like it. Mike and I talk about the series here,

*Soul Train: Speaking of syndicated programs, I think MTV Networks bought this library years ago and essentially buried it. I think American Bandstand is part of the vast catalog of this company now, too. You can click here for our Soul Train episode.

*The Manhunter: One of Quinn Martin's rarest and least successful shows, it still has an interesting premise: Ken Howard as a WWI vet who becomes a bounty hunter during the Great Depression.

And a bonus:

*Aloha Paradise: OK, I can't defend this, but I just want to see this shameless Love Boat clone with Debbie Reynolds. Hey, Aaron Spelling himself produced it, so it's OK.

Top Ten #427

1) Marjoe Gortner: Special shout-out because we lost a GENIUS (Season 3 Battys) last week. We really enjoyed watching the star of Pray the Wildcats in that movie and other TV appearances as well in the Seventies. Rest in peace!

2) Saturday Night Live: The series began its 12th season 40 years ago tonight with a cold opening with Madonna telling us the previous season was just a dream! The show had overhauled its cast, adding Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, and Victoria Jackson.

3) Martin Mull: A new documentary about the late performer premiered on Netflix this week, and I haven't seen it yet, but I sure hope there's a lot of Barth Gimble.

4) Today: The NBC morning show, having recently added Tom Brokaw, continued to transform itself 50 years ago today (Ha!) as Jane Pauley and Gene Shalit joined the cast. Shalit reportedly proclaimed, "This is no plain Jane, and Tom is da bomb!" I know, I know, you're thinking there's no way he would say that and snub Willard Scott. Well, Scott didn't join the show for another several years.

5) It's a Living: I stumbled on an episode that featured both Michael Richards AND Larry Hankin! It's Season 3's "Desperate Hours,", and it's available on multiple streaming outlets.

6) Happy Days meets Sesame Street: I present to you one of the finest compilations in the history of YouTube: A series of segments with Fonz and Richie on Sesame Street. "C" is for "Correctamundo!"

7) The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park: I won't call this 1972 Hanna-Barbera special super-rare--It is on Tubi, after all--but it's on MeTV Toons tonight, and that's a good thing!

8) Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Last week we mentioned the new weekday evening lineup on WOR in 1976. Well, 50 years ago today, the lineup changed. It's still  "nightly fun and adventure for the whole family," but Voyage replaces Ironside at 6:00. I hope that there weren't too many kids in the tri-state who were crestfallen.

9) 1976 Country Music Awards: This night in 1976, CBS aired the 10th edition of the show from the Grand Ole Opry. It featured stars like Merle Haggard and Loretta Lynn, but also, being 1976, C.W. McCall!

10) R.I.P. Freddie Jackson: Not a TV star, but the singer was a staple on Video Soul back in the day. Here you can watch an entire episode!

R.I.P. Marjoe Gortner

Rest in peace, Marjoe Gortner, who had a fascinating life and turned up on several episodes of Battle of the Network Shows and in my record collection thanks to Laurie getting me his LP!

If you want to hear Mike and I discuss Marjoe, you can check out our Medical Center episode, our Season 3 Battys ceremony in which we gave him the prestigious Robert Pine Genius Award, and of course the wildness that is Pray for the Wildcats.

Top Ten #426

1) 227: The series aired a season premiere 40 years ago tonight--the Wheel of Fortune episode--and it is now available on Roku Channel for free streaming.

2) The Munsters: The series is back on FETV, which I believe shows the episodes uncut.

3) WOR Channel 9 (NY): I saw a great ad in The New York Times touting its weekday lineup in the early evenings. It started with Ironside at 6:00 and continued with Bowling for Dollars and Liar's Club. The ad called it, "Nightly fun and adventure for the whole family." 

"Mom, can we eat on the TV trays tonight?"
"No, we eat at the dinner table on Mondays."
"Aw, but, Mom, Don Gordon's gonna be on Ironside!"
"All right, just this once!"

4) Michael McDonald: This week we learned that the iconic singer had a son 58 years ago that he never knew. Wow, this news only makes that episode of What's Happening!! that much more poignant, knowing that he and the Doobies were fighting copyright violation not just for the current generation of fans, but for the 10-year-old son he didn't know he had!

5) Mannix: This clip made the rounds a few weeks ago, and it still makes me smile:

6) Saturday Night's Main Event: The Times' TV listings describe it as simply "wrestling exhibitions," but I will give you a bit more. The episode that aired 40 years ago tonight featured Hulk Hogan defending the World title against Paul Orndorff, Ricky Steamboat against Jake Roberts in a Snake Pit match, and a tag team title match pitting the British Bulldogs against the Dream Team. Oh, and Roddy Piper was all over the show!

7) ABC Evening News: On this night in 1976, Barbara Walters joined Harry Reasoner at the anchor desk, and he was not thrilled. In fact, reports state that she asked him what kind of tree he would be and he snapped, "A rotting one so I could be struck lightning and fall over onto your car!"

8) National Trucker Appreciation Day: It's October 4, or 1o-4. Get it? 

9) Sometimes a Great Notion: NBC gave this Paul Newman movie its broadcast TV debut 50 years ago tonight (It was the first film shown on HBO), and it actually changed its name to Never Give an Inch. I mean, I have heard of networks changing language, aspect ratio, even running time, but the title of the movie? 

10) R.I.P. James Sloyan: I really enjoyed his work in a few Murder, She Wrotes, but he had a long and productive career.

Dennis Haskins: