Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

From the Game Show Vault: "Just Men" Episode 15

Speaking of game shows, as we do in this week's encore presentation on the podcast, let's talk about a recent upload by the great Game Show Vault channel: A full episode of Betty White's short-lived 1983 NBC daytime game show, Just Men!

(Not to be confused with the 1959 ITV series Four Just Men. Nobody was confused? Oh. Carry on, then!)

OK, if you haven't watched the clip yet, I urge you to check it out not because I am going to reveal the best thing about it.

I warned you. Get ready for some joy!

One of the members of the panel is the great ROBERT PINE! Yes, the inaugural Genius Award winner is one of the men who answer questions so that contestants can guess what they are like based on--Well, the game itself is a mess.

Betty White is an energetic, engaging host--no shock there--but the format doesn't do much for me. Two contestants ask a series of questions in order to determine which of the 7 men answered yes or no to a specific larger question. The idea is to generate some witty banter, but there isn't enough there to make up for what strikes me as lackluster gameplay. It feels like the game is just the slimmest excuse for the banter, but the banter is not always compelling, and the sheer number of celebrity men panelists mean there isn't enough time to have interesting discussion.

That said, there are some good moments in here, and it's fun seeing a young Jerry Seinfeld--and not getting all that much to do, either. Here he is a token comedian instead of the superstar he would later be. Pine is charming if a bit out of place. It's just that the game structure is a head scratcher, with contestants asking seemingly random questions to get the answers to questions that are all 50/50 anyway.

This game show ran a mere 13 weeks after premiering in January 1983, though White did win a Daytime Emmy for her performance as host. I can see why this didn't last, but it's fun to see an episode and enjoy the odd assortment of celebrities, like former NL Rookie of the Year Steve Sax.

Top Ten #393

1) Game Shows: Our encore presentation on the podcast this week is an earlier episode we did talking about game shows! It's a great time to be a fan of old game shows, with many free streaming options for classics and rarities.

2) Warner Brothers TV toons: Folks, the motherload is coming to Tubi in March: Tons of WB-owned animation, including stuff that has been on streaming recently (Super Friends) and stuff that has not (The New Adventures of Gilligan's Island). It looks like a lot of the old Filmation superhero material will be available on demand, and so will classics like Quick Draw McGraw. It's not everything by a long shot, but it's a lot more than we got on HBO Max.

Oh, and a series we just talked about, Super Globetrotters, is also coming to Tubi next month!

3) Laff-a-Lympics: As the Winter Olympics rolls on in Italy, Warner Archives prepares to unleash perhaps the finest animated athletic competition. This week it announced a March Blu-Ray release of the 1977 Laff-a-Lympics.

4) Harem: When we marked the 50th anniversary of the debut of this TV miniseries in our Facebook group earlier this week, one of our friends (I won't name him here) actually started watching it and found some interesting things. Maybe the movie...isn't total trash? Join our FB group to have more discussions about obscure 40-year-old TV events!

5) The Six Million Dollar Man: I find it interesting that 50 years ago tonight, ABC showed Winter Olympics coverage at 7:00, then went away from Austria to show a brand-new Six Million Dollar Man, and then went back to the sports. That's a nice endorsement of how popular the series was at the time.

6) The Wizard of Oz: MeTV acquired broadcast rights to the classic, meaning this October it returns to broadcast TV after an absence of several decades. Also, CBS aired this movie this very night 40 years ago!

7) Fortune Dane: Also on this night in 1986, ABC premiered this short-lived action series with Carl Weathers. The show turned up on Crackle, much to my astonishment, back when that streamer was really emptying out the vaults.

8) Meeno Peluce: The great Secret Galaxy channel posted a video about Voyagers! this week, and I have to say, when we did our own episode on that 1980s series, I'm afraid we mispronounced "Peluce." Please consider this a Meeno culpa.

9) Valentine's Day weekend: Love is in the air, so why isn't Love. American Style on our airwaves? 

At least give us some Karen Valentine!

10) NBA All-Star Game: Cheers to all who enjoy this weekend's festivities, but I'm stuck in 1984.

Encore: Game Shows

With the Big Game and the Big International Sporting Competition in the air, we thought it would be a good time to revisit the truest form of competition known to humankind--the game show! In this season two episode, we dive into the world of game shows with a look at the syndicated "Face the Music" and NBC's fast-paced "$ale of the Century." Plus, an all-new TV Guide Game! Will one of us go home with a radar range?!

Read full show notes and more at https://www.battleofthenetworkshows.com/

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#podcast #tv #retrotv #seventies #eighties #gameshows

 

 

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Top Ten #392: Special "Pizza or wings? The answer is yes" Edition!

1) The Muppet Show: A huge event in the Muppet world took place this week: We reran our first-season podcast episode on the show! 

Oh, and also, a new special/pilot premiered! I haven't seen it yet, but I hear it's good.

2) The Big Game: Hey, who's ready for football today! You know, it's hard to have a Super Bowl sneak up on you, but I haven't really been thinking about this year's game very much this week. It's never a bad time to revisit the Steel Curtain, though:

4) Up with People: I was able to psych myself up for the football by watching this recent upload of the 1982 Super Bowl halftime show, one that featured the one act everyone could get behind and support: 

5) Winter Olympics: Another big sporting event is underway in Italy, but 50 years ago, Innsbruck, Austria; hosted the Games after Denver, Colorado; pulled out of contention.

6) Mallory Circumstantial Evidence: 50 years ago tonight, NBC ran this pilot movie starring Raymond Burr as...an attorney. What a stretch! Also starring: Robert Loggia, Peter Mark Richman, William Lucking, A Martinez, and Mark Hamill!

7) Steven Spielberg: His Grammy win last weekend for producing Music by John Williams puts him just one step away from BEGOT status. If only we had an Outstanding Director category...

8) Blade Runner: The Ridley Scott movie aired on CBS on this night in 1986--another sign that CBS wasn't always the staid, most uptight of the 3 broadcast networks. I mean, don't get me wrong, though; CBS still edited out about half the movie. The version also added this intro:

9) NBC Special Treat:  I think this anthology series which ran in the sweet spot of the BOTNS era is forgotten compared to ABC's Afterschool Special and even CBS' Schoolbreak Special.

50 years ago today, NBC showed "Papa and Me," the story of a grandfather and grandson. I can't find any trace of it now, but it seems to be beloved by those who remember it.

10) R.I.P. Sonny Jurgensen: The Hall of Fame quarterback had a long media career, including as a color commentator on CBS' NFL coverage. It's a tough week for Washington-area sports with this loss and the Post killing off its sports section, 

RetroFan #42

It's been a while since I wrote about my favorite magazine, but fortunately, TwoMorrows' great bimonthly is still around, and the latest (Well, until the new issue hits my mailbox next week, I think) is another fine issue. Cover star Adam West gets a nice feature, though I must say there is little mention of his Seventies work like the live-action NBC specials.

Sigmund and the Sea Monsters is the subject of another feature. It's not one of my favorite shows, but I do enjoy the piece. Andy Mangels always delivers.

Rick Goldschmidt's annual Rankin-Bass pieces are a holiday staple of the mag, and this time he talks about The Year Without a Santa Claus. I believe this is one of his better RetroFan articles.

Will Murray contributes two stories, one on The Executioner novels and another on the long history of The Phantom and creator Lee Falk. Both are quality articles on subjects I hadn't read about in depth before.

Now let me talk about what should have been my favorite story in issue 42: "Fantastic Fall Previews," a look at TV Guide Fall preview issues of the late Seventies and Early Eighties. I love the idea, and there are some interesting illustrations. Of course I always enjoy reading about network TV of the era.

However, it seems like a missed opportunity. Robert Jeschonek goes through the issues and summarizes the new shows for a run of seasons. It's a nice story, but most of the illustrations are publicity photos and the like. There should be more scans from the magazines themselves. The story touches on but doesn't go in depth on how the Guide predicted the fates of the shows. 

I want to see more reviews, more of the actual Guide comments, more of the ads the networks used to promote those shows. I mean, I have all the issues, so I can look at the originals, but the article is more a summary of the new shows each TV season than a look at how TV Guide covered them, which to me would be more unique and valuable.

Scott Saavedra offers a look at old TV commercials with "before they were stars" appearances. It's mostly screencaps and brief commentary, but it's a fun topic and a nice change of pace.

It's not TV related, but Scott Shaw!'s profile of Roy Chapman Andrews is a highlight. The author/adventurer/museum director is thought to be an inspiration for Indiana Jones, and he certainly lived an interesting life--maybe not Indy-level interesting, but it's a good feature on someone whose fame has evaporated over the years.

Encore: The Muppet Show with Steve Martin

Far be it from us to hop on a hype train, but with a new Muppet Show special arriving soon, we figured it might be a good time to revisit our season one episode about the TV classic. Featuring guest and human Muppet Steve Martin (at the height of Steve Martin mania), the episode breaks the Muppet Show's usual format but still provides plenty of variety-style comedy and music and Muppet-style absurdity.

Read full show notes and more at https://www.battleofthenetworkshows.com/

Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/371670863237699

Support the show by buying merch at http://tee.pub/lic/FM0uOqq3xzE

 

#podcast #tv #retrotv #seventies #eighties #themuppetshow #muppetshow #muppets #stevemartin

 

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