More on those "New" shows: Some reviews from Harry and Wally

I think it will be fun to take a look at comments from one of my favorite TV books, Harry and Wally's Favorite TV Shows, about some of the NEW shows we talk about on this week's bonus episode of the podcast. If it's not fun, well, let's call it The New Battle of the Network Shows and forget about it.

Harry Castleman and Walter J. Podrazik  wrote their book, a sort of highly opinionated (but not exhaustive) encyclopedia, in 1989, and it's fun to look at what they thought about all kinds of programs ranging from classics to bombs.

The New Gidget: They gave it a mere 1 of 4 stars, saying the original is "pointlessly updated in this series that tries to drag the Gidget character into middle age. None of this is really worth noting, unless you happen to be planning a Ph.D. dissertation on the evolution of Gidget over the decades."

The New Monkees: The book makes only passing reference to this "undistinguished" spinoff in the Monkees entry, yet later in the book, wham, it gets its own entry, a 1-star review, and this: "It's almost laughable to say that this show does not reach the level of quality of The Monkees, but The New Monkees simply isn't very funny. The music is passable, at best." Kind of a dig on the original as well!

The New Odd Couple: In a 2.5-star take, the authors seem to think the network gave up too soon on the revival, pointing out how the material had already been done multiple times while speculating that maybe it was a thankless task. They note that many critics seemed to think reusing scripts from the Randall/Klugman version was "cheating," though they say that putting old material in new settings has a lot of potential. The entry points out that this was not an "all-Black" version since only Felix and Oscar happened to be Black, in contrast to the Barefoot in the Park sitcom of the 1970s.

The New Dick Van Dyke Show: Another 2.5-er, calling the series "solid, if not exactly groundbreaking," and "several seasons worth of well-written and executed comedy once again split between home life and the world of showbiz," though not on the level of the original DVDS. Harry and Wally don't have a lot of critical analysis but do a good job of laying out the premise of the series and its format shift for the third season in an useful capsule.

The New Andy Griffith: They point out the similarities (quite intentional, of course) to the original but say without Knotts, it's "mostly just bucolic passages of life and family in Greenwood," with the town being the erstwhile Mayberry. 2 stars.

The New Mike Hammer: The book gives both the 1950s Darren McGavin show and the 1980s Stacy Keach revival 2 stars but calls it fun to watch McGavin while seeming to dismiss the blunt retro nature of the Eighties version.

The New Love American Style and The New Lassie get brief mentions in the entries for their respective predecessors.

YouTube Spotlight: Bandstand '89

One of the clips from this week's video playlist for our All-New Game bonus episode is this clip from the short-lived USA Network version of American Bandstand:

There doesn't seem to be a lot of this era of the series on YouTube. There is footage from the syndicated season, and here's another segment from the USA stint:

As Wesley Hyatt says in his The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television, Bandstand did not leave ABC because of declining ratings. Rather, Dick Clark took the show to syndication after the network insisted on a 30-minute format and was giving it frequent pre-emptions due to college football. I think Clark should have "leaned in" to that and had Keith Jackson co-host during the season. "Whoa, let me tell you about Expose!"

"New" show ephemera: stuff related to our bonus episode

This week's regularly scheduled Power Rankings will not be seen today so that we can bring you the following special presentation.

We hope you enjoyed this week's bonus episode looking at real and imagined "New" versions of popular shows. Here are a few bits from the TV Guide archives relating to the programs we mention on the pod.

Below is the series that was quickly retooled into The New Andy Griffith Show:

In the interest of fairness, here is one that DID work for many: The "New" Wonder Woman, moving networks and time periods:

Show Notes and Video Playlist: The All-New Game

*For this week's bonus, we do something a little different. Because we are doing a game, we urge you to listen to the episode before looking at this post and the video playlist if you want to play along with us on the podcast. This post featues info about the real shows we discuss, and the playlist has clips from the real shows. Oh, how I wish I could create some convincing clips for the fake ones!

*Here is the video playlist for the episode, chock full of promos and openings for "New" shows and even some ads for "New" products!

Remember, you can always visit our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

*New Coke, launched in 1985, was rebranded as Coke II in 1990. Just months after its infamous debut, it was relegated to B-team status as Coca-Cola Classic was "brought back" to shelves.

*Lorne Michaels' The New Show was a 60-minute taped comedy show airing Fridays on NBC January to March 1984.

*The New Gidget ran in syndication from Fall 1986 to Spring 1988, 2 seasons and 44 episodes, with Caryn Richman in the title role. A TV movie with Richman preceded it in 1985.

*The New Mickey Mouse Club premiered as a syndicated daily in 1977 and featured, among others, Lisa Whelchel and Julie Piekarski, who would go on to appear in The Facts of Life. This version ran until early 1979. The better-known 1989 version with Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and more future stars was called The All-New Mickey Mouse Club and appeared on Disney Channel until 1994.

*The New Howdy Doody Show ran in syndication from 1976 to 1978 on weekdays. Lew Anderson played Clarabell.

*The New Bill Cosby Show aired in one season beginning Fall 1972 on CBS on Monday nights. It followed The Bill Cosby Show sitcom on NBC, but it was a variety format featuring regulars like Lola Falana and Foster Brooks. George Schlatter was behind it.

*The New Dick Van Dyke Show did well in a cozy time slot in CBS' powerhouse Saturday lineup in 1971-72, but dropped when it was moved. To lure Van Dyke, CBS agreed to shoot the series in his then-home of Arizona and gave him a 3-year deal. The show lasted 72 episodes and 3 seasons.

*The New Lassie ran two seasons and 48 episodes from 1989-1990 in first-run syndication. Dee Wallace Stone and Christopher Stone co-starred, and one of the original Timmys, Jon Provost, had a role as well.

*To learn more about The New Leave it to Beaver, check out our TBS episode right here. The series began as a CBS TV movie, moved to Disney Channel, and then ended up on TBS. It totaled 101 episodes plus that movie.

*The New Mike Hammer with Stacy Keach and Lindsay Bloom ran 3 seasons on CBS, 1984-1987. Technically it began as Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, then was paused due to Keach's legal troubles and incarceration before coming back as "The New." A later version with the same star, Mike Hammer, Private Eye, lasted a single season (1997-98) in, you guessed it, first-run syndication.

*The New American Bandstand aired in syndication after the main program ended its long ABC run in September 1987. Dick Clark did not want to remain on the network in a 30-minute format, so he launched a version with "new" in the title, and it ran September until June 1988. The show returned on USA as American Bandstand with a new host, David Hirsch, but ran for only 6 months.

*The New Monkees lasted a mere 13 episodes in syndication in Fall 1987. They seem like nice dudes, though, saddled with a thankless job.

*The New Andy Griffith Show was his and CBS' attempt to retool the failed sitcom Headmaster. it aired only 10 episodes in the second half of the 1970-71 season.

*The New Love American Style was a daytime show on ABC for about 8 months (December 1985 to August 1986) going up against the second half-hour of The Price Is Right.

*The New Odd Couple did recycle some scripts from the original TV series due to a writers' strike. In addition to stars Ron Glass and Demond Wilson, it featured as Murray...GENIUS winner John Schuck! Despite that, it only ran 18 episodes form 1982 to 1983 on ABC/

*Thanks again to Bobby and the BOTNS Orchestra for their fine work in this episode!