*Kate and Allie aired 6 seasons, 1984-1989, Monday nights on CBS, for a total of 122 episodes. It was a top-20 show for its first 4 and a top-10 series in its short first season.
*If you want to check out our McMillan and Wife episode, go here. You will find our original-cast Saturday Night Live episode here.
*The Weekly Reader publication Laurie spotted is 1986's Cosby, Punky, Kate and Allie. Much to my amazement, it's a hardcover.
*"Rear Window" is in the series' second season.
*The episode with "lesbian panic/misunderstandings" we mention is Season 2's "Landlady."
*"Along Comes a Friend" by John Loeffler is the series' theme song.
*"Kate's Friend" premiered December 16, 1985 as the tenth episode of the series' third season.
*Season 3's "Too Late the Rebel" is the episode with Fran Brill and Ben Stiller.
*Walt Simonson's run on the Thor comic book lasted from 1983-1987, with him writing and drawing for most of it.
*The would-be pilot Mike mentions with Andrea Martin is "Stage Mother" in Season 4. Martin and the setting also appear in the next episode, "The Goodbye Girl." The Lindsay Wagner episode is "Late Bloomer," the finale of the third season.
*Kate becomes Joe Namath's assistant in Season 5's "The Namath of the Game."
*Season 5's "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" is when Allie is mistaken for a homeless person.
*"Reruns" in Season 4 has the tribute to I Love Lucy.
*"Gift of the Magi" is also in Season 4.
Please enjoy our video playlist for this episode with promos, intros, commercials, and more! It also contains the full special that we discuss on the podcast. Click below to go right to it, or you can always visit our official YouTube page for all of our past episodes and similar lists for each one of them!
Things get iffy between everyone's favorite single-mom roommates Kate and Allie when Kate's demanding college friend moves in for an extended stay. Allie tries to handle it with aplomb because she's "just great!" Plus, a cool T-shirt and a lively guest star turn as a bartender, so get yourself some authentic New York bread and deli, pop on your headphones, and remember just when you think you're all by yourself you're not.
1) Program lineups: We had a great time counting down our choices for the best lineups in the BOTNS era! Back to our regular format next week, but we thank you for the kind words and reactions!
We focused on primetime broadcast, but there are all kinds of other lineups, too, of course:
2) Fred Silverman: We can't talk about programming and lineups in the BOTNS era without talking about The Man with the Golden Gut. He may not have always directed each program schedule, but I still think however much we mentioned him on the podcast this week, it wasn't enough!
3) Donny and Marie Osmond Show: 50 years ago tonight, a Donny and Marie special aired on ABC, and it was in essence a pilot for the famous variety show we discussed in our Season 12. In this one, the Osmonds welcomed Bob Hope, Paul Lynde, and Lee Majors.
You know who was instrumental in the siblings getting a weekly series? That's right: Fred Silverman.
4) Joe's World: This great YT account is uploading episodes, and I am enjoying this rare NBC sitcom built around Ramon Bieri. The theme song is a classic, and wait till you see who wrote it!
Why was Clint Eastwood never on The Love Boat? Scheduling conflicts, I guess.
6) The Golden Girls: ABC broadcast a new anniversary special this week, and while I haven't seen it, I am sure it was a celebration of the series, a salute to its legacy, and a chance for us all to laugh about how much younger the stars were than we perceived.
7) Sanford and Son/One Day at a Time: Antenna TV announced the series will join its lineup in January. Did Fred Silverman have anything to do with this?
8) National Fast Food Day: Wellllll, I don't usually indulge, but since it's a holiday, I could be persuaded.
9) Lisa Bonet: Happy birthday to someone who is older than all the Golden Girls were when that series started. OK, I told myself I wasn't gonna do that...
No Power Rankings this week since yesterday's episode is a ranking, but it's a good day to talk about a scheduling quirk I spotted the other day. One of my go-to stations when I was a youth, WNEW in New York, did something interesting for a while:
Yes, they showed Three's Company at 6:00 P.M. weeknights, and then they followed it with Man About the House. As the above promo notes, the station paired reruns of the smash American remake with its British predecessor.
I think this is an interesting decision. I do remember seeing Three's Company on Channel 5 as a kid--quite often--but I don't remember Man About the House being on, let alone back to back with the remake like that. Does anyone out there remember their local stations doing something similar with, say, Sanford and Son, All in the Family, or other United-States-produced sitcoms based on Britcoms?
*We hope you enjoy this subjective examination of the network lineups of the BOTNS era. We'd love to hear from you if we missed or misranked anything! We'd love even more if you told us we nailed it.
*Remember the factors I mention on the pod: pop culture relevance, critical appeal, collective memory, ratings and commercial success, flow, my own personal experience, longevity, and of course just what I felt like when compiling the list.
*Below, we list the rankings as we revealed them on the podcast. If you want to follow along and not have the list spoiled, please listen first, then come back here!
(Shows listed from 8:00 to 11:00, from start to finish)
10) CBS Monday Night 1979:
White Shadow, MASH, WKRP, Lou Grant.
Honorable mention: CBS Sunday Night (1979, 1980, 1981): 60 Minutes, Archie Bunker's Place, One Day at a Time, Alice, The Jeffersons, Trapper John M.D.
Honorable mention: ABC Tuesday Night (1977): Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Three's Company, Soap, Family
7) CBS Thursday Night (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979): The Waltons, Hawaii Five-0, Barnaby Jones
6) ABC Saturday Night (1982, 1983):
T.J. Hooker, Love Boat, Fantasy Island
5) CBS Thursday Night (1982, 1983, 1984, 1985): Magnum P.I., Simon and Simon, Knots Landing
4) ABC Friday Night (1971, 1972): The Brady Bunch; The Partridge Family; Room 222; The Odd Couple; Love, American Style
3) CBS Friday Night (1979, 1980, 1981): The Incredible Hulk, The Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas
Honorable mention: CBS Friday Night (1982, 1983, 1984):
The Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas, Falcon Crest
2) NBC Thursday Night (1984, 1985, 1986): The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court, Hill Street Blues
Honorable mention: NBC Thursday Night (1988, 1989):
The Cosby Show, A Different World, Cheers, Dear John, L.A. Law
1) CBS Saturday Night (1973):
All in the Family, MASH, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, The Carol Burnett Show
Honorable mention: CBS Saturday Night (1972): All in the Family, Bridget Loves Bernie, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Mission Impossible
Bonus selections (Some lineups of interest that didn't make the list):
The worst lineup? NBC Friday Night (1983):
Mr. Smith, Jennifer Slept Here, Manimal, For Love and Honor
Click here for our episode talking about NBC's disastrous 1983-84 season!
More honorable mentions:
ABC Monday Night (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983): That's Incredible, Monday Night Football
CBS Sunday Night (1986-1994): 60 Minutes; Murder, She Wrote; CBS Sunday Night Movie
In case people wonder about the ABC TGIF phenomenon:
ABC Friday Night (1989):
Full House, Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, Just the Ten of Us, 20/20
ABC Friday Night (1988):
Perfect Strangers, Full House, Mr. Belvedere, Just the Ten of Us, 20/20
CBS Monday Night (1987): Frank's Place, Kate and Allie, Newhart, Designing Women, Cagney and Lacey
NBC Wednesday Night (1980):
Real People, Diff'rent Strokes, Facts of Life, Quincy
ABC Tuesday Night (1987):
Who's the Boss, Growing Pains, Moonlighting, Thirtysomething
ABC Tuesday Night (1988): Who's the Boss, Roseanne, Moonlighting, Thirtysomething
NBC Friday Night (1974): Sanford and Son, Chico and the Man, Rockford Files, Police Woman
ABC Wednesday Night 1976: Bionic Woman, Baretta, Charlie's Angels
CBS Monday Night 1974:
Gunsmoke, Maude, Rhoda, Medical Center
CBS Wednesday Night (1973):
Sonny and Cher, Cannon, Kojak
NBC Thursday Night (1972):
Flip Wilson Show, Ironside (sometimes Bob Hope), The Dean Martin Show
Please enjoy our video playlist for this episode with promos touting most of the top 10 lineups! We even kick it off with a tribute to...flow? Click below to go right to it, or you can always visit our official YouTube page for all of our past episodes and similar lists for each one of them!
We've talked about a lot of great shows over the course of the podcast, and sometimes, we've mentioned great lineups that dominated a particular night and era or even single season. This week, we go more in depth with a completely subjective list of the top 10 greatest TV lineups of the BOTNS era. Using strict criteria, Rick compled this list, and he justifies his choices. Mike pipes in with his two cents. Expect a few suprises and maybe even a controversy or two along the way.
