Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

YouTube Spotlight: Blansky's Beauties

One of the clips in this week's bonus episode playlist is the opening to Nancy Walker's sitcom Blansky's Beauties.

Garry Marshall had an amazing career in film and television, producing many remarkable hits. This is not one of them! The series didn't get enough of a boost from being introduced on Happy Days and fizzled out in a matter of months in 1977.

Walker's character is sort of the den mother of a bevy of showgirls and also produces their show. It doesn't quite work, but it is interesting to see how much it attempts to leech off other Marshall shows.

One interesting thing is that Eddie Mekka was on this and on Laverne and Shirley at the same time. On this, his character is said to be a cousin of The Big Ragu. Other familiar faces include Pat Morita, who had been on (and would return to) Happy Days; and Lynda Goodfriend and Scott Baio, who would later join that series. If that isn't enough, Pinky Tuscadero (Roz Kelly) is in the debut episode. Marshall gave himself a role, too; and the series featured Caren Kaye in an early regular part.

For now, you can find many of the 13 episodes on YouTube if you want to check it out for yourself!

Show Notes and YouTube Playlist: Bounty or Palmolive

*Jan Miner (1917-2004) also appeared in Cagney & Lacey and One Day at a Time.

*Nancy Walker (1922-1992) also had a recurring role on Family Affair. Her last regular role was in the 1990 Fox sitcom True Colors with Frankie Faison (later Cleavon Little) and Stephanie Faracy. It also starred Claude Brooks (no relation).

*Perry Mason the radio version aired 1943-1955 on CBS Radio. In addition to Jan Miner, Gertrude Warner and Joan Alexander played Della. 4 different actors played Mason.

*Do Re Mi, headlined by Phil Silvers with Walker, premiered December 1960 and ran until early 1962. Garson Kanin wrote the book, with lyrics by betty Comd

*Viva Madison Avenue! ran a mere two performances in 1960 according to the Internet Broadway Database.

*Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers was an MTM show from James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that premiered in Fall 1974 but lasted only a half season. Miner had a recurring role as Sand's character's mother.

*Montgomery Clift's serious car accident occurred in 1956 during production of Raintree County.

*Othello with Moses Gunn played Broadway in 1970.

*Can't Stop the Music (1980) is a notorious disco-era flop starring The Village People. It was Walker's only outing as a feature film director.

*The Allan Carr documentary I refer to is 2017's The Fabulous Allan Carr.

*Girl Crazy, the 1943 MGM musical from Arthur Freed, starred Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland and was a big hit.

*The Women with Jan Miner lasted less than two months on Broadway in Spring 1973.

*Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood was originally titled A Bark Is Born.

*Finally, here is our video playlist for this episode, featuring Bounty ads, Palmolive ads, movie trailers, and show intros! 

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

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

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.

Or is it?!

 

YouTube Spotlight: Bonus Episode List-o-Rama Battle of the Network Networks

In our playlist for this week's bonus episode, we set aside most of the famous programs we mention and devote some slots to the lesser-known series we watched back in the Eighties. One of them has some degree of fame today because of its star:

Yes, a young Jim Carrey was the lead in the short-lived (13 episodes) show from MTM Enterprises about a young animator named Skip Tarkenton (!) who lands a dream job at a studio but discovers it is struggling. I watched the first episode a while back, and while many things didn't seem credible, I thought it had enough potential to deserve time to grow. The premise and setting are cool even if a few things seem to require some more explanation.

Unfortunately, it premiered at a time just before Thursday night on NBC was a big deal, and it didn't make it. Wikipedia has a great explanation of how the network's shoddy scheduling wreaked havoc on continuity and may have turned off those who did watch. Most episodes are easy to find online if you want to see it for yourself!

Show Notes: Bonus Episode: Our Favorite Networks

*We hope you enjoy one of our longest bonus episodes yet! Call it a Listorama, call it whatever you like, but call it...FUN!

*Click below for our playlist for this episode, a video potpourri of promos and intros from many of the lesser-known shows we mention on the podcast!

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

Update 8/18: Rick here, and this was MY mistake: I do want to correct myself. I referred to the Public Broadcasting SYSTEM on the show, when it is actually the Public Broadcasting SERVICE. (Thank you to loyal listener Mario!)

*Here for your convenience is a list of our favorite networks by year. If you want to find out while listening to the podcast, make sure you check the episode out here before reading this post!

*We focused on the Eighties.

*1980: Mike NBC Rick PBS
Saturday morning: Mike ABC Rick ABC

*1981: Rick CBS Mike CBS

Saturday morning: Rick ABC Mike NBC

(CBS' slogan was "Reach for the Stars!")

*1982: Mike ABC Rick ABC

Saturday morning: Mike NBC Rick ABC

*1983:Rick NBC Mike NBC

Saturday morning: Rick ABC Mike NBC

*1984: Mike NBC Rick NBC

Saturday morning: Mike ABC Rick CBS

*1985: Rick NBC Mike NBC

Saturday morning: Rick NBC Mike NBC

*1986: Mike ABC Rick NBC

*1987 Rick NBC Mike NBC

*1988 Mike NBC Rick NBC

(The Writers' strike lasted about March-August 1988)

*1989 Rick NBC Mike ABC/NBC tie

So the tally:

Saturday mornings:
ABC 6

CBS 1

NBC 5

Overall network:

ABC 3.5

CBS 2

NBC 13.5
PBS 1

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Show...

 

TV Guide Game 9/12/82: Pics from the mag!

Here are some of the display ads and close-ups for programs we mention in this week's bonus episode!

YouTube Spotlight: Milton Berle vs. Joe Flaherty

We mentioned this in our Show Notes post yesterday, but Milton Berle is not in the Texaco special mentioned in our bonus episode this week, but how can you not think of Milton when you think of Texaco Star Theater? So we included this clip in the video playlist:

This is one of those times when Wikipedia summarizes it quite well, but basically Berle shows the SCTV guys no respect, and Genius Winner Joe Flaherty tries to defer to him but can't help snapping back a bit. Miltie didn't really like sharing the spotlight, did he?

What I wonder is, who made Milton Berle the time police? He and Martha Raye are presenters, not the hosts of the ceremony. I guess he just took it upon himself to try to dismiss the next generation of comedy.

Catherine O'Hara remembers this moment in a 2020 Entertainment Weekly piece reflecting on an Emmy win for Schitt's Creek. The story notes that SCTV responded, in a manner, to the incident with a parody sketch the next season that featured Flaherty pummeling a Berle stand-n and telling him he would never ruin another acceptance speech!

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Bonus: TV Guide Game 9/11/82

*This week's bonus episode is an installment of our popular TV Guide game, in which one of us tries to guess what the other would have watched on a particular night in TV history. This time we look at a Los Angeles metro edition from Saturday, September 11, 1982. If you don't want to be spoiled, please listen to the episode before checking out these Show Notes and the video playlist! Would your picks match Mike's?

*Click below for that playlist, featuring ads, promos, and the entire Texaco Star Theater special we mention!

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

*Gus (1976), directed by Vincent McEveety, was Bob Crane's final feature. It was a hit for Disney's Buena Vista distribution arm

*Roger C. Carmel was best known for playing Harry Mudd on Star Trek and also starred in The Mothers-In-Law after beginning as a successful stage performer.

*Peter Allen and the Rockettes played multiple shows at Radio City Music Hall in 1981 and 1982.

*Texaco Star Theater: Opening Night does not feature Milton Berle, but it does have Ken Berry! It's a salute to musical theater and does not have a direct connection to the old TV series.

*If you want to see Berle at his most obnoxious, check out our playlist to see him presenting an Emmy to the writers of SCTV a mere 8 days after this date we examine on the podcast. He interacts with a Genius Award winner!

*The Miss America 1982 show selected the 1983 Miss America, was won by Debra Maffet, who later became a TV presenter on PM Magazine and other shows, even acting in Matlock. 

Maffet moved to California after a series of unsuccessful pageant appearances in home state Texas. After her MA win, the Dallas Morning News reported she had extensive cosmetic surgery before the competition. Maffet's mother claimed there was only one procedure in 1980 to repair a deviated septum. I think in the early Eighties that procedure was more common than booster shots.

*CHOMPS is an acronym for "Canine Home Protection System." The 1979 film was produced by Hanna-Barbera and disappointed at the box office.

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows

 

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Bonus Episode--Fame Game 10

*If you want to play along and/or be surprised, read this post after listening to the episode!

*We hope you enjoyed this week's bonus episode playing Fame Game again. We will return next week with another "regular" season 10 episode! 

*Mike totally destroyed the Fame Game by getting this one so early! Congratulations to Mike!

*The playlist for this week is embedded below, but please remember, it contains spoilers as to the identity of the subject of the game. So listen to the podcast first if you want to play along! Remember you can always visit our official YouTube channel for past episodes and playlists for each one!

*Slylock Fox has been the star of a King Features Sunday comics feature for over 35 years!

*Bewitched aired 8 seasons (1964-1972) on ABC.

*The Flintstones episode we discuss is "Samantha" from the series' sixth season.

*Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" was a #1 hit in 1985.

*Def Leppard's Rocket peaked at #12 on the US pop chart in 1997. It was 

*The Untouchables episode we mention is "The Rusty Heller Story," which premiered October 13, 1960 to kick off the series' second season. TV Guide ranked it 99 in its 1997 version of the 100 greatest episodes of all time.

*Tabitha lasted a half-season in 1977.

*Robert Montgomery's wife (and the mother of Elizabeth) is Elizabeth Bryan Allen, a stage actress who died in 1992--sadly, only several years before her daughter died way too young in 1995.

Inside the Guide: More from 8/27/77

We continue our look at this issue from 1977 (August 27-September 2):

Some of the programs we discussed in our latest bonus episode are highlighted in "The Screening Room" feature at the beginning of the listings:

On Saturday night, hey, look who's getting honored! And, jeez, look who's hosting the ceremony:

YouTube Spotlight: Fistful of Dollars

Those of you who watch the playlist on a device and not the web, and/or those who don't see/read the video descri0ptions by the uploaders, may be puzzled why I included a clip from Fistful of Dollars this week. I mean, yes, it was one of the viewing options on August 27, 1977, but why not a trailer or a promo instead of this:

I thought it was interesting that, as per the uploader, this was extra footage for the broadcast, an extended beginning directed by Monte Hellman designed to alleviate concerns over the film's violence. Harry Dean Stanton is talking to a stand-in for Clint Eastwood!

According to Wikipedia, this was done for a 1975 TV showing, but other sources indicate it only ran before a 1977 broadcast. Here's what I think about "contextualizing" the violence in the movie with this tacked-on scene:

In that 1977 TV Guide, critic Judith Crist mentions the ABC broadcast of the movie and says it's on its third run. She calls it "the 1964 Italian-German-Spanish rip-off of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. it introduced an obviously waiting world (the film earned millions) to the immutable squint of Clint Eastwood and the flavor of the sadomasochistic blood-red sauce that soaked this spahgetti-spatzle-paella Western. Enough said,"

TV Guide Bonus Game 8/26/77: The Listings!

Here are some scans showing the listings Mike and I used for this week's bonus episode playing the TV Guide Game. These are from the Eastern New England Metro edition (Boston) of the magazine for the week beginning (in TV Guide terms) August 26, 1977. In brief, 2 = PBS, 3 = CBS, 4 = NBC, 5 = ABC.

Jean Shepherd's America  was a 1971 PBS program, and, hey, it is readily available on YouTube, so I think I am going to have to check it out.

Is there any significance in Paul Williams getting the first picture in that row of stars? And how about that great look on George Carlin's mug?

Kudos to channel 27 for showing The Honeymooners, but I wish I knew which episode it was. I mean, they're all great...but still!

I thought Dickens was making a "Right on!" gesture the first time I saw that ad.

Some interesting stuff later at night here, including reruns of the likes of Perry Mason, Mod Squad, and Name of the Game.

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Bonus Episode--TV Guide Game (August 27, 1977)

*Thanks for joining us for another bonus episode in the middle of our season 10 and another installment of our popular TV Guide game! This week's game draws on this issue:

*Here is the video playlist for this week, including commercials, promos, music, and more!

And remember, you can always visit our official YouTube channel for our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

*Tomorrow we'll share scans from the listing pages we used!

*Cyclamen is a type of colorful perennial flowering plant "traditionally sold in the winter."

*Crockett's Victory Garden was created by prolific gardening author James Underwood Crockett for Boston PBS station WGBH in 1975. Bob Thomson took over the renamed Victory Garden after Crockett's death, and the series ran continuously on PBS stations through 2010 and then in a couple of revivals.

*It's Tough to Be a Bird (1969) won an Oscar in 1970 for Best Animated Short, and then it premiered on TV in 1970.

*The short on Americana, Number Our Days, is Lynne Litman's documentary short based on the work of author Barbara Myerhoff. The film had won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short at the 1977 Academy Awards. You can see a short clip of the film and Littman's acceptance speech in the playlist!

*The People's Command Performance was an annual event on CBS. This particular showing was a repeat. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything on YT for the 1977 version, but there is a 1978 promo in the playlist.

*Dickens of London premiered in 1976 in the UK as a Yorkshire production before airing in the USA on PBS.

*McCloud's vampire episode is "McCloud Meets Dracula" from its seventh season.

*For more on A Year at the Top, click here!

*Michael DeLano appeared in 11 episodes of Rhoda as lounge singer Johnny Venture!

*Again, thanks to our Facebook group members for voting for 1977. Don't worry, 1982 fans, we'll be doing a game from that year soon, too, but next week we're back to a regular episode!

Show Notes and video playlist: Bonus Episode: My Favorite Martin

*We hope you enjoyed this bonus episode of the podcast! We will be back with a "regular" full episode next week! Note that this post and the video playlist contain spoilers for the My Favorite Martin game.

*Here is a video playlist for this one, complete with clips, intros, and commercials spotlighting the Martins and some of their lesser-known projects.

Remember to visit our official YouTube channel for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

*What are some of your favorite Martins? Did we miss any of them? Kiel Martin? Strother Martin?

*Archway cookies is the brand Mike is thinking of before the game!

*The Girls of Huntington House is a 1973 TV movie about a school for unwed mothers. Besides Pamela Sue Martin, the movie stars Shirley Jones, Sissy Spacek, Mercedes McCambridge, and William Windom

*The Associates lasted a single half-season on ABC in 1979 despite coming from the producers of Taxi. A&E showed reruns during that cable network's early days.

*The original Celebrity Bowling lasted 8 seasons in first-run syndication from 1971-1978. You can hear us talk about the show in detail right here.

*Domestic Life was a Martin Mull sitcom that aired on CBS in the early months of 1984.

*Ross Martin did various voices for Jana of the Jungle, a 13-episode Hanna Barbera cartoon that aired as part of The Godzilla Power Hour (and then The Godzilla Super 90) on NBC in 1978.

*I botched the name of the 1974 NBC TV movie The Execution of Private Slovik on the show. It's NOT the "education"of Slovik. Execution is not a good form of education to the subject of the ceremony. Kudos to Mike for identifying the Martin anyway!

*Barney Martin is Napa and Sonoma, two twin brothers on the Disney 1983 CBS series Zorro and Son. 

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...