Show Notes and Video Playlist: 1983 NBC Fall Season!

*Thanks for listening to this unique and (we hope) entertaining episode. We'll be back next week with our thrilling season finale!

*Special thanks to Geno Cuddy for helping inspire this episode and for sharing his thoughts on Jennifer Slept Here. You can find Geno  https://www.facebook.com/OfficialGenoCuddy/

@OfficialGenoC on Twitter/X
@officialgenocuddy on Instagram and his Western Wednesdays at Cinema Crazed.

And check out his excellent YouTube channel here!

*The Sweeps: A Year in the Life of a Television Network (1984)  by  Cameron Stauth and Mark Christensen is a wonderful book, and I highly recommend it.

*Click below for the same playlist Mike and I used to prep for the podcast! It's full of 1983 NBC goodness and not-so-goodness, with promos, clips, and full episodes. We also add some promos for other new network shows of the season on ABC and CBS.

*And remember, you can always check out our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

*"Low-key arrogant" Steve Sohmer is still around. he worked 1977-1982 at CBS before coming over to NBC and overseeing its marketing before a short stint as head of Columbia Pictures. He was married to Deirdre Hall from 1991-2006.

For your convenience, here are the new entertainment shows in the NBC Fall 1983 lineup with the star ratings from Harry and Wally's Favorite TV Shows as I mention on the podcast:

*Boone **.5

*Bay City Blues ***
*We Got It Made *
*Mr. Smith *.5
*Jennifer Slept Here *
*Manimal *
*For Love and Honor **

*The Rousters **.5
*The Yellow Rose **.5

*Boone was from Waltons creator Earl Hamner.

*Made aired 22 episodes on NBC and 24 in first-run syndication.

*Our look at Ball Four is right here.

*Let us know if you want us to do a full episode on Manimal, but I think we'd have to give it some time.

*Hopefully you agree with our decision to exclude these shows from the Season 11 Battys.

*Props to Joey Scarbury for his performance of the Jennifer theme song written by Clint Holmes, Joey Murcia, Bill Payne, and Ann Jillian!

*Joel Thurm's appearance on Ian Talks Comedy is right here.

Episode 11-13: NBC's Disastrous 1983

For the 1983-1984 TV season, NBC asked audiences to "Be there!" Audiences had somewhere else to be, and by the end of the season, the network had canceled all nine new shows it had introduced in the fall. What could lead to such a catastrophe? Why wouldn't people want to watch shows about talking orangutans, manimals, ghosts, and more? This week, we dig into this season and talk about some of these failed shows to see if we can find some answers. Be there! 

#podcast #tv #retrotv #1983 #eighties #NBC #Manimal #mrsmith #jenniferslepthere #disaster

 

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

Starsky and Hutch and 227 in "TV Guide" Fall previews

I didn't post these when we did the respective episodes a few weeks ago, so here is your chance to check out the TV Guide Fall Preview issue glances at Starsky and Hutch (the 1975 issue) and 227 (the 1985 issue).

One thing that stands out is the lack of respect for Starsky and Hutch, which may indicate they didn't think much of it or its prospects for lasting. It ended up having a substantial impact even beyond the surface of its solid 4-year run, yet it gets barely a half-page here. And that picture they chose!

Also note Jackee is not in that cast photo for 227 but Alaina Reed is.

The dream is over: Hulu dumping Fox library titles

Deadline reported this over the weekend, but Joe Adalian's excellent newsletter was the first place I saw this: Hulu is letting the licensing deals on many catalog titles expire with no plans to renew them. Among the affected shows are Hill Street Blues and The Bob Newhart Show. St. Elsewhere and The Mary Tyler Moore Show are apparently safe for now.

Adalian confirms this isn't some tax write-off thing, and he also notes that this is intracompany negotiating. I mean, these are 20th Century Fox titles, and Disney owns them and also controls Hulu. Yet there still has to be an exchange of money to stream the titles, and Hulu just decided, nah, we're good.

This is really disheartening not because those particular shows are disappearing--at least those two are still on Prime Video, and maybe they turn up somewhere else, say at Fox-owned Tubi, plus they are at least complete on DVD--but because at one point it looked like Hulu was going to be the streaming hub for classic TV lovers. Netflix stopped (or was denied access to) streaming a ton of Universal and Paramount shows years ago, then Hulu picked up a bunch of great ones, and it looked like, yeah, it's on.

Then it started quietly shedding a lot of its older series, and then most of the Paramount stuff left. Hey, at least there were the Fox shows, which Disney OWNED. And wasn't that at least one tiny rationale of that huge Disney/Fox deal--acquiring library content for Hulu?

Well, nowadays the strategy is to give consumers much less and charge much more, and it looks like now we are going to the phase of jettisoning stuff that is in theory easy to license. Take away the big catalog from Hulu, and what do you have? The FX portion is significant, but it's starting to look a lot less distinguishable from Disney Plus, which is probably not a coincidence. It looks like Disney is blurring the lines between the two services, possibly as a hedge or strategy as it negotiates with Comcast for full control of the service.

Here is the problem as I see it: They are charging money for Hulu, and they are bundling it with D+ and ESPN+ in a way that makes it look like a distinct and valuable property. Yet the value of Hulu keeps going down. It also disheartens that this latest catalog dump indicates that going forward, there is no hope. So much for wishing for Hulu to add MORE Fox shows or even re-adding ones it used to have. Forget about making big deals for other classic shows. Will Moonlighting, rumored to be coming on streaming eventually, still have a home here? Who knows? It won't be alongside good ol' Bob Hartley, though.

Top Ten #267

1) TV Guide: The magazine gives us fodder for yet another bonus episode this week. We hope you enjoy our attempt to craft a game of sorts out of a cool set of cards that Friend of the Show Dann provided. Just wait till we do TV Guide Charades on an audio-only podcast!

2) Chet Lemon: In case you missed it, yesterday I talked about author Joe Posnanski giving BOTNS vet (via The Baseball Bunch) a shout in his Substack. Here's a cool promo featuring the former White Sox/Tigers OF:

3) Peanuts Anthology: You have to admire Apple Plus' commitment to the world of Peanuts. This weekend it adds a slew of vintage animated specials, some of them ones I don't even remember.

4) National Punctuation Day: And let us celebrate by saluting one of the great commas in television history: The one after Murder and preceding She Wrote. Of course, some folks made it more of an ellipsis.

5) Merv Griffin Show: Check out Merv's guest list on this day 50 years ago: Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, and Buddy Hackett!

6) Vanna White: Congrats to the TV legend for signing a new deal to stay on Wheel of Fortune. Those letters don't turn themselves, you know. Wait, maybe they do. I haven't seen the show in a while.

7) Groundstar Conspiracy: On this night in 1973, this 1972 spy thriller with George Peppard premiered on NBC.

8) John J. O'Connor: The New York Times' TV critic/resident grump wrote an interesting article that appeared in print 50 years ago today. In it, he looked at a recent Saturday morning TV lineup and complained about the amount and nature of the commercials, itemizing what he saw during a stretch of NBC's Emergency +4.

He did note that CBS had its What's in the News segments, and he also gave props to this new develoment:
"And, also each hour, the American Broadcasting Company has clever animations combining music and lessons in multiplication and grammar. These crumbs of quality are tasty but, given the whole menu, hardly sufficient."

9) Fall: BOTNS listeners know that Emotional Summer ended several weeks ago, but the official end is this weekend.

10) R.I.P. Phil Hartman: He would have been 75 years old today.

Joe Posnanski on BOTNS All-Star Chet Lemon

I'm a happy subscriber to Joe Posnanki's Substack, a prolific showcase for the veteran sportwriter's excellent writing (Just finished his great new book "Why We Love Baseball," too). Often he accepts reader challengers to explore some topic of their choosing. On September 12, he talked about A Batty-nominated athlete: Chet Lemon!

From his Substack on 9/12:

Brilliant reader Michael threw out an interesting challenge — it is to answer this question: Who was a better player, Kirby Puckett or Chet Lemon?

The conceit of the challenge and the analysis is that Puckett is an iconic baseballer of a certain era, while Lemon is just a random 70s/80s guy to many, yet their stats are a lot more similar than you might think when you use advanced numbers. Lemon actually scores higher in both accepted methods of calculating WAR, for example.

Who was the better player? I don’t think the answer matters as much as the question. Chet Lemon is underrated. He was one helluva player, who was not appreciated enough when he played.

I recommend you check out the whole thing, but I enjoy seeing Chet get some love. One thing Joe misses, though, is that great Baseball Bunch appearance Mike and I discuss on the podcast. Surely you have to weight that when comparing a player who was ON the Bunch to a player who was not.

Top Ten #266 REDUX?

NOTE: This list did publish last Sunday, but I entered the incorrect publishing date, so many may have missed it in the feed. We will have a new list tomorrow as usual. Thank you!

1) Starsky and Hutch: We talk about the show on this week's podcast, and we like it! Let's hear it for good, old-fashioned TV violence!

2) Captain Dobey: Due to the nature of the episode we discussed, we didn't talk as much about Dobey as I might have liked, AND I AM GETTING SICK AND TIRED OF IT!

3) The Love Boat 1983 ABC Fall Preview: 40 years ago tonight, the network promoted its new season with the cast of the Boat in character, and all I can say is, why, oh, why is the whole special not on YouTube?

4) Miss America 1984: The annual pageant was held 40 years ago tonight, and Vanessa Williams was named Miss America 1984. She went on to have a long and happy reign, and she--Oops.

5) The Brady Bunch: Big week for the iconic sitcom, with Barry Williams announced as a contestant on the upcoming Dancing with the Stars season and the show's famous house selling for--Well, let's just say the new owner won't have to complain about the price of Sam's meats.

6) Monday Night Football: 50 years ago tonight, the program's third season kicked off with a Jets/Packers match-up, but there was considerably less drama than there was last Monday!

7) The Fugitive: Another TV milestone happened 60 years ago tonight. Yes, just a little outside our timeframe, but I want to mark the anniversary of the premiere of one of the finest dramas ever.

8) National Hispanic Heritage Month: It's kind of cool that it's not a calendar month but goes from mid September through mid October. Hey, I just got an email from Tubi saying it was celebrating the event with...No, not Chico and the Man. Chasing Papi. Oh, well.

9) 60 Minutes: The show begins its 56th season (!) tonight. 56! Wow! At this rate, they might catch The Simpsons someday.

10) John Ritter: The star would have been 75 years old today. It's amazing that he died 20 years ago.

Brooks on Books: Starsky and Hutch in a Golden Book?

Starsky and Hutch, a poster show for excessive violence in television at one point in the Seventies, does not seem an ideal candidate for merchandising aimed at kids. Or does it? Apparently someone thought the younger set would be enchanted by a fictional world of violence, narcotics, prostitution, and other assorted social ills and general coptastic mayhem. We talked on the podcast about this, but here is one of my favorite examples: Western Publishing's illustrated look at our favorite Seventies buddy cop team.

William Blinn is credited as show creator, with comic book vets George Kashdan and Jack Sparling listed as writer and artist, respectively.

The book contains 3 short stories, each accompanied by a couple of big illustrations. 

I don't think these are adaptations of actual Starsky episodes, but, boy, they could be. Some of the themes explored in this book are: Police corruption, assault, organized crime, blackmail, adultery, assassination, and good old-fashioned murder.

The first story has a reference to "an assortment of nodding addicts and rocking winos." Prostitution, I will say, is the one thing not mentioned in this All-Star Golden Book.

One of my favorite moments comes when Starsk and Hutch confront a closed door and confirm that they need a warrant to search the premises, but if the door should happen to open accidentally...and Hutch kicks it down.

Later, a story begins with Hutch acting as a "big brother" type to a woman having relationship troubles, basically seducing her. When he and Starsky go out on some actual policework, he asks her to wait there a couple hours, then keeps checking the time while on the case because he is thinking about "the chick waiting in my pad."

I am not sure what the target audience was for this in 1977, but I love it in 2023. This is great stuff, and it really does feel like the TV show. There is even a scene with Dobey bemoaning his health food lunch and calling to order a veal parmagiana after a stressful moment,

Western, the publisher of Whitman comics as well as Gold Key and Little Golden Books, did other books in this line, like a Charlie's Angels one that I really want to see now. This is a great collectible for fans of the decade, the TV of the era, and especially those who enjoy Starsky and Hutch.

Show Notes: Bonus Episode: TV Guide Card Game

*We don't have a lot of notes this week (and no video playlist for this episode), so let's share the cards with you! Big thanks again to Friend of the Show Dann for providing these:

*We have not covered L.A. Law, Dallas, The Cosby Show, Hawaii Five-0, Thirtysomething, Mission Impossible.

So we have a lot of big shows to get to someday!

*Click on the show title for our episode covering the show!
The Jeffersons
Hill Street Blues

MASH I and MASH II

*Lesley Ann WARREN was the performer on Mission Impossible.

*Sock and Buskin are the comedy/drama masks.

TV Guide Card Game

Using a set of trading card-sized reproductions of TV Guide covers, we wing our way through a new game, The TV Guide Card Game. Like baseball cards, each card features stats and trivia on the back, and Rick uses that to see if Mike can guess the cover subjects. Play along and maybe learn some "fun facts" about some of your favorite BOTNS-era shows!

#podcast #tv #retrotv #seventies #eighties #games #tvguide #trivia

 

Check out this episode!

Or is it?!

 

Collectible Corner: Starsky and Hutch and the Gran Torino!

I got this little number, a 2002 Corgi release, on a recent excursion and loved it as soon as I saw it. Lucky for me, I could get it at a reasonable price.

I will admit, though, in the moment, my standard for "reasonable price" was changed a bit knowing that we were doing a Starsky episode this season! Here is the back:

I like that you get the car but also a little tableau of the lads and Bay City. The little cardboard "standee" of Dave and Ken is a bit cheesy, but it adds to the charm as far as I am concerned. As I have said on the show, I am not a car guy, but this particular cop series is in many ways a car show, and this little vehicle is now one of my favorite podcast-related toys.

YouTube Spotlight: "The Doctors"

The Doctors was a daytime soap on NBC from 1963 to 1982. A generous uploader posted this clip with a very young Paul Michael Glaser from a 1967 episode, and we included it in this week's Starsky and Hutch playlist:

The show was forgotten for years, or so I thought. It seems to have a fervent following. As you can tell from the watermark on the clip, Retro TV picked up reruns and started airing it in 2014, though it does not have all the episodes. Apparently it does not have access to anything before 1967, but you can see episodes on demand here.

Show Notes and Video Playist: Episode 11-12: Starsky and Hutch "A Coffin for Starsky"

*Click above for this week's video playlist, featuring promos, commercials, music, and more!

*And remember, you can always check out our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

*Thanks again to listener David for inspiring this episode. As a reminder, check out his The Atari 5200 Podcast right here.

*Watch this page for a review of that kids book I mention! Also, I plan to write more about that Aaron Spelling memoir at some point!

*Here is the Tom Shales article from 1977 on violence in television.

*Busting is a 1974 film with Elliot Gould and Robert Blake, directed by Peter Hyams and distributed by United Artists. Antonio Fargas is even in the cast!

*Here is the Miami Vice episode we did looking at "Smuggler's Blues." 

*Bay City is fictional, but much of the location shooting on the series took place in the Los Angeles area.

*"Starsky vs. Hutch" is the next-to-last episode of the series, number 21 in Season 4, and you have to see it to believe it.

*The wrestling episode is in the same season, "The Golden Age" in Season 4.

*I'll share the Corgi Starsky and Hutch car soon in a separate post! You can see some cool toy ads in this week's playlist.

*9-1-1 service began in the USA in the late Sixties and was rolled out in different areas through the Seventies and into the Eighties. We're not sure when it began in "Bay City."

*The show is now no longer available on streaming, and Get TV and Cozi dropped it a while back, but it is still there on DVD; look around a bit for a deal.

Episode 11-12: Starsky and Hutch

Buckle your seat belt and cinch your cardigan because this week we're hitting the mean streets of Bay City with Starsky and Hutch! Things get harry for the boys after someone poisons Starksy with a deadly neurotoxin. As they race against a ticking clock to find the culprit and an antidote, they make time for their emotions and a fair amount of proprety damage. All in a day's work for these 1970s stalwarts.

#podcast #tv #retrotv #seventies #starskyandhutch #tvcops #bestfriends

 

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

Power Rankings: People who were on 227

This week we are not ranking people who were on 227 as in the main cast members. No, the title of this list should really be, "People who were on 227?" The weirdest, the wildest, the ones we forgot were on there. Some guests are not surprising. Like, is it really a shocker that Ron Glass was on the series? I think not. Here we go! Remember, the rankings are based on who would win if they squared off on a neutral field in Capitol Hill.

1) Pee Wee Herman: This appearance in Season 2's "Toyland" solidifies the show's Eighties cred...and not just because Terry Kiser is in it!

2) Countess Vaughn: I think Mike and I both forget that the Alexandria character even existed, which is why she makes the list despite being a regular for pretty much the entire fourth season.

3) Red Buttons: Earns a spot for his appearance in the strange backdoor pilot episode "the Audit," which was designed to incorporate topical references into each episode--kind of like when Roc would hold up a newspaper to remind everyone it was being done live. "Joey, you know full well that today's horoscope says Libras should expect a sudden windfall!

4) Paul Winfield: Joined the show at the end of its run as the landlord in the fifth season and didn't really fit. Maybe it was because he played a deacon in the series' third season!

5) Lou Albano: We mention this on the podcast. Check him out in "We the People," in which the show takes a stand against homelessness!

6) Barry Sobel, Stoney Jackson: Pretty much all of the new additions in the last season. failed to make a positive impact.

7) Marvelous Marvin Hagler: Of all the sports stars to show up on a random sitcom...Hagler is effective in Season 4's "Hide the Star," playing himself.

8) Lyle Talbot: Man, the dude was in everything. He co-starred with the likes of Barbara Stanwyck in the Thirties, was a regular on Ozzie and Harriet in the Fifties, showed up a few times on Green Acres, and guested in one episode of 227 in his mid-80s.

9) Angela Bassett: A classic, "Hey, she was in that?" appearance is her showing up as an abandoned baby's mother in Season 5's "A Pampered Tale."

10) Kia Goodwin: I include her because she was a key part of the show in its first two seasons as Rose's daughter and Brenda's best friend but was written off the show and not mentioned as far as I can tell.

YouTube Spotlight: 227's Jackee on Saturday morning!

I am breaking precedent and highlighting a video not in this week's video playlist for 227, but one that maybe should be in there: Jackee (along with Smokey Robinson and...Rick Dees!) as her character from 227 introducing NBC Saturday toons:

I wouldn't be surprised if, at some point, there was an idea to make a Jackee cartoon. There HAD to have been a push for a Disco Duck cartoon with Dees, or as Sandra calls him, "Mr. Deeeeeees."

Don't you love how Dees and Robinson are doing that thing where they appear on the verge of laughing each time they do one of those bumpers?

Top Ten #265: Special "Steelers are feeling pretty good about themselves" edition!

1) 227: We resumed Season 11 this week with an all-new, all-fresh, all-227 episode. Well, we did discuss a few other TV shows, as we often do, but you can hardly hold an appropriate Ohara reference against us. I still wish I could see that Danny Dark rapping promo, though.

2) Franklin Cover: As our Friend of the Show and Suggester of the Topic Kevin said on Facebook, he fit right in with the rest of the cast in the episode we spotlighted, "The Butler Did It."

3) Marla Gibbs: OK, maybe she deserves a higher spot for singing the theme song, let alone being, you know, the star of the show, but Cover spent years getting called names on The Jeffersons, so let's give him this.

4) Jackee Harry: It sure is a good thing the Marla/Jackee feud was quashed years ago and therefore this ranking won't be a source of friction. I believe Jimmy Carter brokered the deal with them in a courtyard at the National Arboretum.

5) Hal Williams: I have a feeling we may be talking more about Williams and Lester come Batty season.

6) Lotsa Luck: 50 years ago tonight, this Dom Deluise sitcom premiered on NBC. Based on a Britcom, it lasted a mere season yet somehow got a DVD release back in the days when cool companies would put stuff like this out on video.

7) Diana: Still waiting for the DVD release of this one, another failed sitcom that debuted right after Lotsa Luck. Diana Rigg is a divorced Londoner starting over in NYC and trying to make it in the fashion industry.

8) The NFL returns: Whether you like it or not! Get ready for something like 98 of the 100 top-rated  broadcasts this season to be pro football games.

9) Saturday Night Live: 40 years ago tonight, NBC reran the 1982 appearance of Robert Blake despite supposedly "banning" the host for being a jerk during production. A writer later reported that Blake threw a script at Gary Kroeger's face. Gee, Robert Blake being difficult? What a shocker!

10) R.I.P. Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie: The wrestler toiled in the AWA for many years and then probably made 10 times as much money during a brief stint as "General Adnan" in the WWF during the first Gulf War.

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 11-11: 227, "The Butler Did It"

*We are back in Season 11 with new episodes! Our most interactive season yet continues, and thanks to our great listeners Friend of the Show Kevin for suggesting we take a look at 227!

*Click below for our playlist for this episode, featuring promos, commercials, awards, PSAs, and more!

*And remember, you can always check out our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

*In case you're wondering, Mr. Belvedere is something we would consider covering someday. Seeing it show up on, say, Hulu, would surely bump it up on the list!

*The Touchdown Club is still around in the D.C. area, though this new incarnation is a successor, not a continuation, to the one I mention.

*The Lou Albano episode is season 1's "We the People," in which he plays Gus, an old colleague and mentor of Lester who becomes the apartment manager.

*227 premiered September 1985, while Amen debuted a year later for the 1986 Fall season. It ran 5 seasons, 1985-1990, and 116 episodes. It was a solid performer its first few seasons before fading a bit at the end.

*I STILL can't find that Danny Dark promo for 227.

*Failed pilot Jackee aired May 11, 1989 and, according to IMDB, has appeared as part of the 227 syndication package. You can see it right here or in our playlist for this episode.

*"The Butler Did It" first aired March 12, 1988 on NBC, as the 21st episode of the third season.

*Franklin Cover was born in 1928 and had an extensive stage background. In addition to his major role on The Jeffersons, he was in films like The Stepford Wives and Wall Street and guested on shows like In the Heat of the Night and Who's the Boss.

*Alfonso Arau is in only two episodes of the show, but he also stars in Three Amigos and other films in addition to being an acclaimed director.

*Mr. Bentley, mentioned by Mike, is of course the eccentric neighbor played by Paul Benedict on The Jeffersons.

*Billy Dee Williams appears in two episodes of the show...but is mentioned in many others!

*We hope you enjoyed this episode, but if not, "Yo, just chill in, dawg!"

Episode 11-11: 227

Season 11 returns with a look at 227, Marla Gibbs' follow-up to The Jeffersons. The sitcom introduced the world to Jackee Harry and a young Regina King, but it also featured the likes of the great Hal Williams and Alaina Reed Hall (Olivia from Sesame Street). In 5 seasons, they covered a lot of ground from kitchen-sink comedy to social commentary to random celebrity encounters to wacky sitcom premises. We'll let you decide which category an episode where Gibbs' Mary and Hall's Rose win a butler for a week falls. Did we mention one of Gibbs' old Jeffersons co-stars plays the butler? 

#podcast #tv #retrotv #seventies #eighties #227 #marlagibbs #jackeeharry #reginaking #butlers

 

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

Knight Rider Show Notes

We return with a new Season 11 episode this week, but our current show is an encore presentation of our look at Knight Rider. Here for your convenience is the original Show Notes we published with the original premiere:

*This episode of Knight Rider, "Lost Knight," premiered Sunday, December 9, 1984, on the National Broadcasting Company television network.

*Glen Larson created many series in addition to this one, including Quincy, The Fall Guy, Buck Rogers, and many others, and he also had a hand in previous BOTNS-spotlighted Magnum P.I.

*The series'  theme song, which has the appropriate title "Knight Rider Theme," is credited to Larson and composer Stu Phillips, who also created the theme for Battlestar Galactica and produced Shelley Fabares' hit "Johnny Angel," a fact that fascinates me for some reason.

*The Gareth Knight (the actual son of wealthy industrialist Wilton Knight) episodes are "Goliath" (Season 2, Episode 1) and "Goliath Returns" (Season 2, Episode 17).

*The K.A.R.R. (Knight Automated Roving Robot)--the evil counterpart of K.I.T.T. (Knight Industries Two Thousand) episodes are "Trust Doesn't Rust" (Season 1, Episode 9) and "K.I.T.T. vs. K.A.R.R." (Season 3, Episode 6).  By the way, shouldn't that first episode be called 'Trust DON'T Rust"? Much cooler title.

*Hasselhoff's big break was on The Young and the Restless, not General Hospital, though he did play a doctor--Dr. SNAPPER FOSTER!



*Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run) was a smash hit for Billy Ocean, reaching #1 on the Billboard singles chart in 1984.

*Doug's mom in this episode is played by Lenore Kasdorf (who, we confirm, is not Dawn Wells).

*The Hassslehoff appearance on Diff'rent Strokes occurs in that show's sixth season's "Hooray for Hollywood Part 1," which also features the first appearance of Sam!

*Check our YouTube channel for this episode's playlist, which includes a sweet custom Knight Rider pinball machine in action, or click below:

Happy Labor Day from BOTNS!

Listeners in the USA, we hope you enjoy the Labor Day holiday! There is no need to work like these guys today:

Top Ten #264: Special Pre-Labor Day Edition

1) Knight Rider: This week on the podcast, we revisited our look at the popular Eighties show. We hope you enjoy taking another look at the show, but we will return soon with brand-new episodes as we continue our Season 11!

2) Labor Day: Tomorrow is a Federal holiday here in the USA, and we at BOTNS congratulate everyone who has gone into labor.

3) Summer: Emotional Summer comes to an end this weekend, and while Fall has its merits, we still recognize The King of Seasons and will appreciate it for another meteorological weeks. How can you not love a season that gives us stuff like this:

4) Casablanca: You'd think I would have no desire to see my all-time favorite movie turned into an NBC limited series in 1983 with David Soul in the Bogart role. Well, I am willing to give it a shot, but I missed out on the Olive Films DVD set years ago and have never seen it. 

50 years ago tonight, the poorly received miniseries aired the fifth and final episode at 10:00 and finished next to last in the ratings. The series had launched in April but was pulled after 3 weeks, and the last two installments were burned off at the end of the summer.

5) Three's Company: Another timeless tale of romance, intrigue, and bittersweet reflections on the human condition, Three's Company, gets a marathon on Antenna TV this weekend/

6) Valerie Perrine: Not known as a TV actress, but the birthday gal (80 years old today) had a notable appearance on PBS' Steambath in 1973, starring in what is credited as the first topless scene in American television. 

No, we're not embedding it here.

7) College football: Now that the real season of realignment and conference movement machinations is over, we head into the offseason, where people just play football games.

8) The Equalizer: Just in time for the third Denzel Washington movie, NBCUniversalComcast put the 1980s Edward Woodward show on its--Wait, sorry, apparently it didn't. In fact, despite hosting the entire original program on NBC.com several years ago, the company hasn't seen fit to put it on Peacock or anywhere else. I guess you can go to Roku or Xumo and wait around to see if it shows up on its FAST channel Universal Crime someday.

9) AMC on MAX: MAX has a section devoted to showcasing various AMC programs this month. I am waiting to see Bob Dorian intros, Remember Wenn, and The Movie Masters.

10) Bob Newhart: Yesterday was Stammerday, and now on Sunday, Catchy Comedy's Bob-a-thon continues with episodes of Bob and Newhart all day long.