Top Ten #408

1) Summer Movies: Yes, we are all about TV here, but I always think of big blockbusters and fun summer movies this time of year, and the commercials touting them were a huge part of the viewing experience. So let's look at what was opening on Memorial Day weekend in 1986. What classic big, fun seasonal but enduring film premiered 40 years ago?

Jake Speed?

Cobra and Top Gun were still around, but, wow, even Siskel and Ebert apparently took the weekend off!

2) Eddie Murphy: Speaking of movies, Murphy gets an AFI tribute in a special premiering on Netflix today. These tributes used to be a staple of network television.

One more movie note: Clint Eastwood turns 96 today. Eastwood got an AFI Lifetime Achievement tribute THIRTY YEARS AGO!

3) Viva Valdez: Part of the wave of "ethnic" sitcoms of the Seventies, this one premiered 50 years ago but didn't last long. Sony has posted some full episodes on its YouTube channels.

4) Monday Night Baseball: 50 years ago tonight, it was an MLB showcase in primetime on national TV, and it featured the Yankees and the Red Sox. The more things change...

5) Al Capone's vault: I just listened to a great episode of the Most Notorious podcast featuring an interview with William Elliott Hazelgrove, who wrote a book about the whole spectacle of Geraldo Rivera's live broadcast in 1986. The book is pricy, but it sounds great.

6) World No Tobacco Day: So don't listen to these guys:

7) The Love Boat: A rerun of the show aired this night in 1986. What's so special about that? Well, the series finale had aired the previous Saturday! So this was the first Saturday with no new Love Boat on the Horizon since the show premiered in 1977. The world kept spinning, but arguably it was much less joyous.

8) Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol: TV Confidential recently interviewed David Spencer about his book The Novelizers, and I was delighted to hear the Magoo special touted as a master class in adaptation!

9) Robert Pine?: I posted this in our Facebook group, and I post it here: Is this our Genius Emeritus Robert Pine in the Bank of America spot at the 26-minute mark?

10) R.I.P. Howard Storm, Jay Daniel, Bob Horner: We wouldn't include every 1980s Atlanta Brave on this list, but how can you not associate Horner, who died this week at 68, with SuperStation TBS? And when he went to St. Louis and faced the Braves, TBS shouted him out in the promo:

Shirley Jones didn't get along with Dick Clark?

A recent video on the "Retro Rules" YouTube channel by Paul Van Scott teased co-stars Shirley Jones hated. Turned out it was guest stars. Van Scott got the info from Jones' autobiography.

Ray Bolger, who played Shirley's father on The Partridge Family was self-centered and demanding in Jones' view. The other name really surprised me: Dick Clark, who has a limited role in the very episode Mike and I discussed this season, "Star Quality!"

Why did she not care for him? There doesn't seem to be a lot of info from Jones on it. Now, far be it from me to jeopardize a possible Batty campaign for Clark, but I feel like I should put this info out there.

Yes, WPIX was the best!

I've talked often here and on the show about my love of the independent New York TV stations I received in Pennsylvania. The king of the trip was WPIX, Channel 11, and there is an excellent YouTube account called Pix Promos and More that reminds us why:

As the channel says in the description, 1987 may have been the channel at its peak, and you can tell by promos like this. In addition to some other high-profile acquisitions and movies, the channel got Cheers reruns, and it actually hired Ted Danson to appear in original PIX-branded marketing.

The description ends with:

If anybody asks what PIX was like at the peak of their power, show them this video, and they'll get it.

Top Ten #407

1) Late Night Television: I just like the fact that it exists and don't want it to just fade away, even if I haven't been watching it for years.

2) Robert Pine: The GENIUS was on the Love Boat podcast the former cast members do each week. They talk about much more than Love Boat, but sadly, Mike and I continue to be the only people who ask Mr. Pine about Lowenbrau.

3) Charo!: ABC premiered this variety special 50 years ago tonight! Mike and I discuss this very same program right here on the podcast.

4) The John Davidson Show: Also 50 years ago tonight, NBC premiered this variety show with guests George Burns, Jimmie Walker, and Tanya Tucker. Davidson had been guest-hosting on The Tonight Show for a while, so the network must have been high on him.

5) Memorial Day/Victoria Day: I remember one year I got flak for wishing Americans a happy Memorial Day--you know the day when people open pools, have barbecues, etc. So maybe this time I will note that tomorrow is May 25, which is sort of a Canadian holiday, though it's actually celebrated the Monday before, so it was last Monday. Let's just all have a good Monday.

6) Star Wars: As a new movie finally hits screens this weekend, we celebrate the TV legacy of the franchise, which includes classics like...this PSA!

7) Life's Most Embarrassing Moments: Steve Allen hosted this ABC special on this date in 1986. He of course invented the concept of embarrassment.

8) National Brother's Day: Celebrate the right way!

9) Ali vs. Dunn: Muhammad Ali is associated with ABC, but he defended his world title against Richard Dunn live from Munich on this night in 1976 on NBC. An ad touted those appearing at ringside: Joe Garagiola, Dick Enberg, Larry Merchant, and Candice Bergen!

10) R.I.P.: Michael Keating:

You don't see this kind of promotion these days!

I love this 1980 ad for an upcoming promotion at Fulton County Stadium:

For one thing, this just doesn't feel like the more glamorous SuperStation TBS of the later Eighties. It sure doesn't feel like the "America's Team" Atlanta Braves.

More to the point, though, "Beech Nut Pouch Redemption Night!" I love that it's not just a promotion sponsored by a chewing tobacco brand, but it involves used tobacco pouches. 1980, ladies and gents!

So how did that 1976 Fall NBC schedule work?

We had a little fun here and on our Facebook group on Thursday. It was a celebration of the schedule reveal--a 1976 NBC schedule reveal. How much was there to celebrate, though?

The network used an array of last-minute changes and big events (like The Big Event!) to load up its schedule, especially early in the new season. Some of its showcase events were the MLB World Series, the network premiere of Gone with the Wind (a huge draw), and NBC: The First 50 Years.

Also in the lineup was Saturday Night Live's infamous Mardi Gras special.

The strategy gave NBC some real momentum early in the season, and it challenged surging ABC for a while, but it was unable to match the success that #1 ABC, which had the event of the year with Roots, enjoyed with its regular series.

New show Quincy would stay in the lineup for years, and Baa Baa Black Sheep made it to a second season (renamed Black Sheep Squadron), but The Gemini Man, Van Dyke and Company, and The Quest were all one and done. If you don't count The Big Event and NBC Monday Night Movie, then the only NBC series in the season-end top 25 was Little House on the Prairie.

Top Ten #406

1) The 1976 NBC Fall Schedule: I don't mean to brag, but I didn't see a lot of other websites reporting on the 1976 NBC Fall schedule reveal Thursday night. Only on BOTNS, folks!

 

2) Emmy Awards: 50 years ago tonight, Mary Tyler Moore and John Denver (He was all over the place back then) hosted the 28th installment of the show. Big winners included Rich Man, Poor Man; The Mary Tyler Moore Show; and Police Story. 

3) On the Rocks: This single-season comedy aired its final episode on this night in 1976, and it got a retrospective episode. The U.S. adaptation of Britcom Porridge never caught on, but it's nice that ABC let it go out with a highlights episode.

4) The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams: NBC aired the 1974 film on this night in 1976 and got big ratings, which led to a series premiering in February 1977.

5) Dom Deluise and Friends Part IV: Switching to 1986, this special premiered 40 years ago tonight. I am not sure, but I suspect it failed to resolve all the loose ends from Part III.

6) Playboy Bunny of the Year Pageant: ABC ran Monday Night Specials in 1976, and the one on this date was Don Adams hosting this spirited competition. You see, John Denver had another gig.

7) Sugar Ray Leonard: Happy 70th birthday to the boxing icon who made an appearance in our HBO episode this season!

8) Fun for All Ages: The Frank Santopadre podcast devoted an episode (and there's a part 2 coming!) to animated adaptations of TV shows, and they even discuss The Mini-Munsters!

9) Saturday Night Live: Eclectic list of folks on this one: Host Jimmy Breslin, Sam Kinison (billed as a featured player), Marvin Hagler (billed as a special guest), musical guest Level 42, and singer E.G. Daily.

10) R.I.P.: John Barbour, Rex Reed, Donald Gibb: