Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

YouTube Spotlight: More on Kingston Confidential

Yes, Kingston Confidential has but a tangential connection to this week's podcast subject--an episode of the Raymond Burr drama series happened to air the same night The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town premiered--but we're spotlighting it anyway because it is an interesting failed effort.

There is very little footage of this short-lived 1977 NBC series on YouTube. The two-hour pilot, Kingston: The Power Play, appeared in 1976 and led to the 13-episode program. Set in San Francicso, the show features Burr as an investigative journalist turned broadcast/publishing magnate R.B. Kingston, a man not content to be a media mogul. No, he solves crimes "in his spare time!"

We didn't mention it on the podcast, but also in the cast is BOTNS fave Art Hindle as young reporter Tony Marino! Pamela Hensley (another reporter) and Nancy Olson (the COO of the company) are other regulars. Harry and Wally's Favorite TV Shows gives it a mere *.5 out of **** and says producer David Victor was more successful with medical shows Marcus Welby and Dr. Kildare.

Show Notes: Episode 10-1: Holiday Special: The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town

*Happy Easter and all of its surrounding festivities and landmarks! Hope you had a good Easter Sunday whether you celebrate the holiday or not.

*Before we get into the Show Notes, know that the YouTube playlist for this episode is already live! Click below to enjoy clips, promos, and commercials. You will see glimpses of some of the other shows that were on the night this special premiered (Kingston Confidential, anyone?), vintage Easter ads, and you just might find the original Rankin-Bass special we discuss...while it lasts! All kinds of Easter cheer just by clicking below, or you can hit our official YouTube page for all of our past episodes and playlists for each one of them!

*Rankin-Bass' third Easter-themed special, The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town, premiered Wednesday, April 6, 1977 on the ABC broadcast network. 

*As of this writing, the special is streaming free with ads on Tubi.

*Here Comes Peter Cottontail premiered April 4, 1971 on ABC; and The First Easter Rabbit premiered April 9, 1976 on NBC. And we might as well include Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, too! That one premiered December 13, 1970 on ABC.

*Here are pics Mike found of the Paas toys he mentions on the podcast. He believes these are from 1979.

Don't read anything into the fact that I put the chicken before the egg!

*The 1977 CBS TV movie Something for Joey stars Marc Singer as Penn State running back John Cappelletti, winner of the 1973 Heisman Trophy in college football. He dedicated the award to his little brother Joey, who had leukemia. Geraldine Page, Jeffrey Lynas, Linda Kelsey, and a young Steve Guttenberg co-star, with Paul Picerni (The Untouchables) as Joe Paterno. This movie was the highest-rated program in prime time the week it (and The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town) aired!

*Barbara Walters never did land the Easter Bunny for an interview.

*Fritz the Cat hit theaters in 1972. Skip "Sunny" Hinnant returned for 1974's The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, which did not involve creator Robert Crumb nor original director Ralph Bakshi.

*The First Easter Rabbit is worth watching if only for Burl Ives' rendition of "Where's that Rabbit?"

*Kidville's economy still awaits a thorough academic analysis.

*Hallelujah H. Jones is voiced by Ron Marshall, who also plays Mr. Thistlewhite in Year Without a Santa Claus.

*"Big Rock Candy Mountain" is a folk song originally recorded in 1928 by Harry McClintock, AKA Haywire Mac.

*Thanks for joining us this week, and stay with us for lots more to come here in our tenth season of the podcast!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

Merry Christmas again? Hey, we're full of the holiday spirit

 If by chance you aren't ready to let go of the Christmas spirit just yet, here is a list of our holiday special episodes along with some reminders of the episodes we discuss in them:

Our first installment from back in our premiere season covers The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold and A Family Circus Christmas! Click right here to listen or to revisit it!

Next we looked at The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas in our third season! That episode is right here.

Then, just before our seventh season, we learned the true meaning of Even with our episode about Yogi's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper! You can find that one here!

And last but not least, our most recent special closed our eighth season! Click here to hear us talk about The Little Rascals Christmas Special!

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Show Notes: Episode 8-13: The Little Rascals Christmas Special

*The Little Rascals Hanna-Barbera cartoon premiered in September 1982 on ABC as part of the Saturday morning show The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show. In September 1983, it was part of The Monchichis/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show. In 1984, it was part of Foul-Ups, Bleeps, and Blunders/Little Rascals/Match Game Hour.  OK, we're just kidding with that last one.

Eugene "Porky" Lee sued HB and King World in 1984, claiming unapproved use of his likeness in the cartoon, and was joined by Spanky, Butch, and The Woim. The suit was settled out of court.

*The original Hal Roach Our Gang shorts were later distributed as The Little Rascals while MGM retained rights to the Our Gang name and continued producing them from 1938 to 1944.

*The short Mike mentions is an MGM effort titled Wild Poses and is currently available in altered form here.

*Billy "Froggy" Laughlin was one of the unlucky ones, dying in 1948 at the age of 16 after being hit by a truck while delivering newspapers.

*The Little Rascals Christmas Special premiered Monday, December 3, 1979, on NBC after The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree and followed by Friendship, Secrets, and Lies.

CBS' lineup was White Shadow, MASH, WKRP, and Lou Grant.  ABC had 240 Robert and Monday Night Football (Raiders at Saints).

*Here is the informative Little Rascals Facebook group with the 12/3/19 post I cite on the podcast.

*The Blue Comet was a passenger train that ran 1929-1941 in the NY/NJ area.

*Frank Nelson was active in TV almost up to his death in 1986.

*The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry was published in 1905 in The New York Sunday World.

*According to this account, the Norman Lear Little Rascals project yielded two unaired pilots and, despite Lear having little involvement, led to his hiring Gary Coleman for Diff'rent Strokes.

*Merry Even, everyone!

Episode 8-13: Holiday Special "The Little Rascals Christmas Special"

On this year's holiday special, cartoon versions of the Little Rascals learn some difficult lessons about eavesdropping, paying attention to weather forecasts, running scams, and being greedy, little so-and-sos during difficult economic times. It's really sweet.

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

Show Notes: Season 7 Holiday Special: Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper

*Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper premiered December 21, 1982 on CBS, following a re-air of perennial fave Frosty the Snowman and preceding the Mickster starring in Bill, a rebroadcast of the 1981 TV-ovie also starring Dennis Quaid. Bill: On His Own was on CBS in 1983.

ABC went with a rerun of John Denver and the Muppets, the comedy pair of Three's Company and 9 to 5, and a Christmas episode of Hart to Hart. NBC countered with Father Murphy, an episode of short-lived Gavilan, and St. Elsewhere.

*The article we mention from Mark Evanier's fantastic blog is right here. He writes to commemorate the 2010 DVD release of the special.

*Before this special, Hanna Barbera produced a film, Yogi's First Christmas, that aired in first run syndication in 1980. And before that, NBC aired Casper's First Christmas in 1979, a special that also co-starred Yogi and his pals.

*Yogi's Jellystone Park is not a real place, but there is a chain of Jellystone Park campground resorts reaching throughout the USA!

*In Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!, Yogi is sent to San Diego and Cindy Bear to St. Louis, and we hear the song St. Louis performed on the train.

*Macy's (not Gacy's) was founded in 1858. Rival Gimbels was formed in 1887 and clsoed in 1987, but IT was the department store featured in the classic Miracle on 34th Street.

*Super Snooper (a cat) and Blabber (a mouse) premiered on Quick Draw McGraw's show in 1959. Snooper was voiced by Daws Butler, like half of the other characters in this special!

*Yakky Doodle appeared in several H-B cartoons but first got his own segment on The Yogi Bear Show.

*Breezly and Sneezly appeared on Peter Potamus and Magilla Gorilla. The polar bear/seal combo frequently ran afoul of John Stephenson's Colonel Fuzzby.

*Top Cat is arguably the biggest character missing from this series if you don't count the Jetsons, who are years in the future.  I mean, a cameo from the distant future would be way more ridiculous than a cameo from the distant past (Flintstones), right?

*A very Merry Even to all of our listeners! Now...exit stage left!

Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper

We celebrate the holidays with Yogi Bear and the gang as they try to cheer up a little girl in a jam-packed 23 minutes. How will the big city react to bears on its streets? Will Yogi find any pic-i-nic basket? How much does Augie Doggie really love his Doggie Daddy? How many Hanna-Barbera characters show up? Do we discover the true meaning of Even?

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

Holiday Special: "The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas"

The holidays mean holiday specials--or they used to--and we present second one. Tommy Smothers plays nonconformist Ted E. Bear in "The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas." While the rest of bear society hibernates, Ted wants to stay awake and go to Christmas. Does his dream come true, or does he succumb to the norms of bear society and biology? We get to the bottom of this and risk the ire of the Big Bear lobby by blowing the roof off its secret plans. Listen if you dare!

Check out this episode!

Holiday Special

In our first ever Holiday Special, we try to unpack the complex mythos of Rankin-Bass' The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold, then make a heartwarming visit to the Keane family in A Family Circus Christmas. Plus a holiday-themed "TV Guide Game." A note to our listeners loyal and new. This marks the end of season one, but we'll return in January with a look back on season one and details on season two. Stay tuned and happy holidays!

Check out this episode!