More BOTNS-related stuff on YT: "Killdozer"

There have been a few new videos related to beloved (?) 1974 TV movie Killdozer! Mike and I discuss the movie in this episode.

Here's a vintage promo for the original broadcast. I believe we shared it before, but I saw it on a channel I follow:

And here's a fun video from Paul Van Scott looking at the movie:

YouTube Spotlight: McDonald's drinking glasses

This week, our season finale of the podcast (But stay tuned for the Battys!) looks at It's an Adventure, Charlie Brown; and our YouTube playlist this week is filled with Peanuts. One of the more intriguing clips is this ad for a McDonald's promotional premium (see below).

I can't be alone in thinking that we lost more than just cool glasses when fast food chains stopped giving out stuff like this with value meals (and a 99-cent surcharge or whatever). Nowadays you are lucky to get a small plastic cup with a Happy Meal.

Glasses, whether they feature characters from Peanuts, Garfield, or Star Wars, are cool. They can be reused. They look nice in a cabinet or on a shelf. Also, they have heft! Taking one of those home with the food made it all a little harder to carry, perhaps, but they gave a sense of more. It felt like value! I don't need to tell you that fast food doesn't seem like nearly the same kind of value these days.

But really I just miss getting the cool drinking glasses.

YouTube Spotlight: Paddy the Pelican

I had a little fun with Mike's harrowing story of a pelican attack on this week's podcast. At the end of the YT playlist this week is Paddy the Pelican in "Piggy Bank Robbery." You may wonder, what the heck is Paddy the Pelican?

The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican is an animated (and I use the term loosely) series that launched on ABC in 1950 and apparently got some airplay on Chicago stations in 1954 (Maybe other markets as well?). Paddy shows up on many "worst cartoon" lists, and you have to see it to really get it.

YouTube Spotlight: The Loretta Young Show

 Let's talk about The Loretta Young Show!

If you're here this week for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, I apologize. Here's one of my favorite clips from our video playlist this week:

Also in the playlist, though, is a look at The Loretta Young Show, one of the television programs that aired the same night as "Breakdown," the AHP episode we talk about this week on the pod.

Young and her anthology show are largely forgotten nowadays, but she was a big deal back in the day. I must admit my perception of the series' popularity may be colored by the fact that Mad used to poke fun at it. One of the notable aspects of the series was Young's glorious entrances. Each week, she made a bold entrance, twirling a fashionable gown or dress as she entered a doorway. Young's resplendent appearance summoned the glamour of her Hollywood heyday in the previous decades. 

The series began as Letter to Loretta, then dropped the framing gimmick of answering fan mail to become a straight-up anthology. Young didn't appear in all episodes but was a constant presence as the host. NBC ran the series for 8 seasons, up to 1961. I don't think this program has circulated for years, but many episodes are available online and from other sources.

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 13-13: Alfred Hitchcock Presents

*Thank you for listening to this season's "retro retro" show! This week, we look at Alfred Hitchcock Presents, an anthology that aired mostly on CBS (also on NBC, though) for 7 seasons (1955-1962). Many consider the hourlong version, essentially the same show but twice as long, part of the same series, which would make the total 10 seasons (1955-1965) and 361 episodes.

*Season 4's 'Six People, No Music" is the John McGiver episode Mike mentions. The Claude Rains story I cite is Season 7's "The Door without a Key." 

*The missing episodes we discuss are available on DVD but not in the streaming packages.

*The NBC revival premiered May 5, 1985, and then the network did pair it with Amazing Stories on Sunday nights in the Fall. It only lasted one season, but USA Network picked it up in 1987. The stories were new, but the intros/outros were colorized versions of the ones Hitchcock did on the original.

*Dave Poland's Substack is here.

*Here is a look at the record album Mike mentions. The entire LP is available online:

*"Breakdown" premiered on CBS Sunday, November 13, 1955.

*We talk about Killdozer here.

*"The Glass Eye" kicks off Season 3. "You Got to Have Luck" with John Cassavetes is in the middle of the series' first season. Mike also refers to Season 4's "Design for Loving" with Norman Lloyd.

*Never Again" is in Season 1. "Bang! You're Dead" aired in Season 7. "The Crooked Road" is early in Season 4. "Shopping for Death" in Season 1 is another Ray Bradbury story.

*Before meeting a grim end late in life, Robert Stevens directed scores of AHP episodes but also the Twilight Zone pilot and an episode of Amazing Stories.

*Please enjoy this episode's video playlist, with promos, intros, commercials, and more! Click below to go right to it, or you can always visit our official YouTube page for all of our past episodes and similar lists for each one of them!

YouTube Spotlight: Spider-Man for Sanger-Harris

I love this video from our Spidey playlist that accompanies this week's podcast:

Sanger-Harris was a Texas-based department store chain that was eventually absorbed by Macy's. This ad looks like it could be unauthorized. There is no trademark notice, the name "Spider-Man" is not vocalized, and, well, if it were official, wouldn't you make a bigger deal of it?

Maybe not! There was apparently a Spidey/Hulk promotional comic book distributed in Dallas newspapers to promote Sanger-Harris, so there was some kind of official relationship there. I never saw this ad before we did this podcast episode, and I'd love to know more about it.

YouTube Spotlight: Thinkabout (1979-1980s)

Due to the nature of this week's subject, Mulligan Stew, we don't have the usual assortment of material in our official video playlist. We do have some interesting nutrition-related clips, though, and a look at another educational program that aired on PBS stations.

Thinkabout, according to Wikipedia, was a Canadian/U.S. production from the Agency for Instructional Television in 1979. It aired well into the Eighties, though.

I didn't remember this one at all until coming across this clip and watching some other videos on YouTube. Maybe you saw it in the classroom or on your local PBS station back in the day.

YouTube Spotlight: Kate and Allie for TV Guide

One of the clips in this week's playlist for Kate and Allie is this promo for an issue of TV Guide.

I wish there were more of these ads where the cover subjects touted their own appearances in the issues. Usually we'd get a rundown of the contents, maybe a jingle, but not the stars themselves telling us to check it out! I wonder how far in advance this was planned. It would be great to hear Susan and Jane say, "And check out Robert MacKenzie's review of The Rousters!"

YouTube Spotlight: Mandrake the Magician!

This week, we talk about Doug Henning's World of Magic specials on NBC. Our video playlist has all kinds of ads and promos, but today let's look at this clip:

I believe this is an extract taken from a special talking about unsold pilots. That is indeed what this Mandrake is. The 1979 production from Universal aired on NBC January 24, 1979.

Anthony Herrara plays the titular magician, who dates back to 1934's King Features comic strip. This somewhat snide clip doesn't highlight the rest of the cast: BOTNS favorite Gretchen Corbett, James Hong, Robert Reed, and Harry Blackstone!

The full movie is available on YouTube if you are interested.

YouTube Spotlight: Joe Santos Is Me

Each podcast week, we take a look at one video from our video playlist here in its own post. We are discussing the 1980s TV movie The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything this week, and here is one of the associated clips:

Our guy Joe Santos from The Rockford Files (Shout-out to 200 Dollars a day Plus Expenses) starred in this short-lived NBC sitcom that happened to be on the night The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything premiered in syndication. In this one, "the girl" is Maxx, played by Melissa Michaelson, a precocious 11-year-old who surprises her dad by moving in with her bachelor father (Not to be confused with Bachelor Father). And by "moving in with," I mean her mom dumps her at his doorstep. Fun premise, huh?

Santos is a bit of a wiiiiiild and craaaaazy guy whose lifestyle is cramped by the new addition to the household, but they'll try to make this work together. Producer James Komack, NBC, and Fred Silverman couldn't make it work, together though, and it ran a mere 10 episodes from March-June 1980. It aired against The Incredible Hulk on CBS and movies on ABC.

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 13-1: The Bob Newhart Show

*Welcome back to Battle of the Network Shows! We are excited to bring you a packed 13th season!

*The Bob Newhart Show was on CBS for 6 seasons, 1972-1978, and aired 142 episodes--all on Saturday nights, most at 9:30. It won zero Emmys and only 4 nominations.

*Perhaps the show Mike is thinking of as a Saturday night non-sitcom is Mission Impossible, which aired on Saturdays for a while, including for 1 1/2 seasons in the early 1970s.

*The 1961 Bob Newhart Show from 1961 ran one season on NBC; the variety show isn't easy to see, but you can get a glimpse of it in this week's video playlist.

*The books we reference are I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This! by Bob Newhart and Hi, Bob! by Joey Green.

*The complete series DVD set is still available from Shout!

*Ages at the time of this episode: Bob is 43, Suzanne is 35.

"Don't Go to Bed Mad" (Season 1, Episode 8) has Emily upset over Bob's Monday Night Football habits. "Motel" (Season 2, Episode 2) shows Bob and Jerry going to a motel so they can watch a big game. There's another early episode where Bob wants to watch a big basketball game but has to do it in the bedroom because Emily has scheduled a PTA meeting at the apartment (Season 1, Episode 21, "Emily, I'm Home...Emily?")

*Peter Bonerz was in The Premise in New York and later in San-Francisco-based The Committee.

*Season 3's "The Battle of the Groups" is when two of Bob's groups go on a retreat together.

*"Mister Emily Hartley" is the eighth episode of Season 2, and it premiered November 3, 1973. Check out the podcast for details on what other shows aired that night, and catch some clips in our video playlist.

*Ben Gazzara starred in Run For Your Life, which I mention because it was one of my favorite TV show openings ever (See it in the playlist) and Arrest and Trial, a show that preceded Law and Order by decades!

*Writer Charlotte Brown is not to be confused with short-lived Peanuts character Charlotte Braun. Brown produced Rhoda, which we talked about last season!

*Regarding Bob's comment about Emily knowing Nixon's home prices: In 1973, Richard Nixon was asked how he could afford his $1.5 million San Clemente estate. This became a thing, with some explorations into the possibility that he used money from his 1968 campaign to buy the place and questions about the role of longtime associate Bebe Rebozo. Nixon's folks at different times gave different numbers for the total costs of the house and the down payments 

*"Roller Disco," the CHiPs episode where Bill Daily manages Leif Garrett's rocker, was our topic in this episode of the podcast from back in our first season!

Please enjoy our video playlist for this episode with promos, intros, commercials, and more! Click below to go right to it, or you can always visit our official YouTube page for all of our past episodes and similar lists for each one of them!

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 12-14: Sesame Street

*We have reached the end of our "regular" season 12, and we thank you for joining us, but be on the lookout for the tradition unlike any other: The Battys, coming soon!

*Sesame Street is still running after premiering in 1969 and has amassed close to 5,000 episodes and many videos, toys, books, and just about everything else!

*Speaking of that, here is a shot of the various Sesame items we had with us as we recorded the episode:

*Snuffleupagus premiered 1971, and the producers let everyone else (not just Big Bird) see him in 1985, reportedly after concerns that kids would fear adults would not believe them in scary real-life situations.

*Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street is available for streaming at multiple outlets, and it is based on the book Street Gang by Michael Davis.

*Jon Stone worked on Captain Kangaroo and Kukla, Fran, and Ollie before becoming a key figure in the creation and development of Sesame Street.

*The doc Mike mentions is Jim Henson Idea Man on Disney Plus. I Am Big Bird: The Carroll Spinney Story (2014) is on Peacock as of this writing.

*Will Lee died in 1982, and the character he played, Mr. Hooper, left the show in 1983.

*Gordon was played by Hal Miller between stints by Matt Robinson and Roscoe Orman.

*Decades of Decision is a 1976 PBS miniseries produced with National Geographic.

*Carroscelendas was produced by PBS' Austin, TX, station and made original episodes from 1970 to 1978. It was a children's program aimed at kids who spoke Spanish and English.

*Season 7, episode 900 (total) of Sesame Street, "Sing-Along in Ernie and Bert's Bathroom," premiered April 23, 1976 according to our best info.

*We have one song in the playlist this week from the original album that inspired this episode, but you may have to get MAX to see the entire episode.

*The commercial of kids' favorites Mike mentions--an album called, not surprisingly, Children's Favorites, is in our video playlist this week!

*Joe Raposo's "Funky Chimes" (unofficial title) played under the end credits from 1979 to 1992. There's an unofficial version of this in the playlist this week, too--a recreation of sorts, but one we think you'll enjoy.

*And finally, please enjoy that aforementioned playlist for this episode, including classic Sesame segments, commercials, music, and much more! We could have compiled an hours-long list for this one but tried to keep it to a reasonable length:

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

YouTube Spotlight: Bert D'Angelo, Superstar (and Chop Buster)

I find this video from our The Streets of San Francisco video playlist hilarious:

It's a compilation of guest star Paul Sorvino aggravating Stone and Keller by calling their city "Frisco." Sorvino is Bert D'Angelo, a detective visiting from New York City, in this fourth-season episode "Superstar."

The character got a QM Production spinoff that went nowhere. Jonathan Martin's book Quinn Martin, Producer points out the series' conceptual similarities to McCloud but also that it lacks the qualities hat made the latter so distinctive. Sorvino was not well liked, and the whole series production seems to have been an unpleasant experience for most involved. It lasted mere months despite the presence of BOTNS Superstar (and Genius) Robert Pine in the supporting cast.

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 12-13: The Streets of San Francisco

*Welcome back to the world of QM Productions! Our earlier foray into Quinn Martin's work is right here in Dan August. Our Poor Devil episode is here.

*Shout again to Charlie and Trevor for inspiring us to cover TSOSF!

*Credit to Mike Quigley's website for giving a cool rundown of Streets' episodes. 

*The books we reference are Jonathan Martin's Quinn Martin, Producer and James Rosin's The Streets of San Francisco: A Quinn Martin TV Series. Carolyn Weston's 1972 Poor, Poor Ophelia is the novel that served as source material for the series.

*Skag aired on NBC from January to February 1980 and failed despite being from the producer of Kojak. You can see a promo in this week's video playlist below.

*The NBC reunion movie aired Monday, January 27, 1992 and was produced by Aaron Spelling's company. Richard Hatch, who replaces Michel Douglas in the series' fifth season, is not in Back to the Streets of San Francisco, which drew good ratings.

*TSOTF was on ABC 5 seasons and 121 episodes.

*"The Takers" premiered December 2, 1972, on ABC at 10:00 P.M.

*This clip of B.A.D. Cats is in our playlist, and the full episode does feature Michael Lerner, but the clip does not. After you watch this, I believe you will forgive us for including it anyway:

*Vic Tayback appears in 3 episodes as Sergeant Norm Haseejian.

*The Coit Tower is an official landmark in San Francisco. It was built in the early Thirties in the Telegraph Hill section of the city.

*We strive to be givers, not "takers," and we hope we are succeeding this season!

*Patrick Williams composed the series' theme song.

*The John Davidson episode we mention is "The Mask of Death" from the third season.

*And finally, enjoy our official video playlist for this episode! It's loaded with promos, commercials, and all sorts of TV history! You'll even get glimpses of SF sports in 1972: The Giants, the Niners...and Roller Derby?

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

YouTube Spotlight: A look at "Softly, Softly"

What kind of name for a cop show is Softly, Softly? Well, the program was on for years!

The clips below are from our Blake's 7 video playlist, with the connection being that the cult sci-fi program essentially replaced the police drama on BBC. Yep, that's Tom Baker in the second vid.

Z-Cars premiered in 1962 and ran for about 800 episodes, ending in 1978. Softly, Softly spun off from it in 1966, and then it became Softly, Softly: Task Force (1969-1976).

According to Wikipedia, the title comes from a proverb, "Softly, softly catchee monkey," and I don't think I want to know more about that one. Wiki says it was the motto of Lancashire Constabulary Training School.

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 12-12 Blake's 7

*This week we go international again with a look at the cult favorite BBC TV show!

*Blake's 7 aired 1979-1981 on BBC, 4 series, 52 total episodes.

*This episode contains spoilers for the programme, so be forewarned. The series has much more continuity than we might have expected!

*The books we discuss on the podcast are:
-Blake's 7: An Oral History of the Classic UK Series by Joe Nazarro
-Liberation by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore

*Chris Boucher is apparently pronounced Chris BOW-CHER. We got "Chris" right, though!

*The cop show Blake's replaced on BBC (and inherited a budget from) was Softly, Softly: Task Force, which was spun off from Softly, Softly; which was spun off from Z-Cars (1962-1978).

*The episode we discuss, "Pressure Point," premiered February 6, 1979, the fifth episode of Series B. BBC Two aired Life on Earth with David Attenborough. On BBC One, it followed The Variety Club Awards and was followed by news and boxing.

*The director of this episode is George Spenton-Foster, who also directed 3 other episodes this season and did a few episodes of Doctor Who.

*The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art was where Paul Darrow, Ian McShane, and John Hurt shared a flat.

*Space Commander Travis is played by Stephen Greif and Brian Croucher (beginning with this second season). Greif had tired of the role somewhat and went on to other things, leading to Croucher stepping in and providing a different take on the character.

*Finally, check out our video playlist devoted to this episode, chock full of promos, adverts, clips, 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!

YouTube Spotlight: Richard Turner on "That's Incredible!"

We have a video playlist that accompanies our Bonus Episode this week, and one of my favorites is a  brief clip from That's Incredible:

I don't know about you, but this makes me want to see the rest of the segment! Here is an expanded version so you can see more:

The gentleman dealing the cards here is Richard Turner, who is still with us and a practicing magician today. He is essentially blind and has lived an amazing life. Look him up and check out all the stuff he's done!

YouTube Spotlight: No coconut sauce?

One of my favorite clips from our Gilligan's Island playlist this week is this 1979 ad for Van de Kamps frozen fish:

First of all, I love the fact that a known actress doesn't lead the spot but shows up in the second "segment." How random must it have seemed watching the tube in 1979 to see Mrs. Howell raving about frozen fish 15 years after Gilligan's?

And I believe that is Danny Wells (The Jeffersons, our Rhoda episode this season) following her. What a star-studded fish ad! If only the butler who serves Natalie were played by Franklin Cover.

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 12-11: Gilligan's Island

*Welcome to our annual "retro retro" episode, in which we go outside our usual timeline to focus on a "silver age" show, in this case Gilligan's Island (CBS, 1964-1966)!

*This series is complete on DVD and free to stream on Tubi as of this writing. It would look great on Blu-Ray.

*The series had 98 first-run episodes.

*The Great Society is the name given to President Lyndon B. Johnson's domestic programs launched beginning in 1964.

*The New Adventures of Gilligan aired Saturday mornings on ABC from 1974 to 1977.
Gilligan's Planet aired one season (1982-1983) on CBS.

*The books I mention are Bob Denver's Gilligan, Maynard, and Me and Here on Gilligan's Isle by Russell Johnson with Steve Cox.

*Season 2's "The Little Dictator" with Nehemiah Persoff is reportedly Sherwood Schwartz's favorite episode. He recorded an amiable commentary for that one for the DVD set, and his affection for the whole series is evident.

*It's About Time aired this same season, 1966-67, on CBS. It stars Joe E. Ross and Imogene Coca.

*"Don't Bug the Mosquitoes" from Season 2 is the episode with The Honeybees singing "You Need Us" and The Wellingtons as the visiting rock band.

*Of the 3 TV movies, the first is the one in the public domain, but the others are owned by Universal: 1978's Rescue from Gilligan's Island, 1979's The Castaways on Gilligan's Island, and 1981's The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island.

*Hear us mention Tina Louise in our Dallas episode right here.

*Our previous mention of Alan Hale Jr. was in our Growing Pains episode here.

*'Will the Real Mr. Howell Please Stand Up?" premiered at 8:00 PM Eastern March 17, 1966 on CBS. I mention the other shows on that night on the podcast! Mona McCluskey and The Double Life of Henry Phyfe are both one-season wonders.

*The amnesia episode Mike references is "The Second Ginger Grant" from Season 3. "The Producer," also from the third season, features Phil Silvers as Harold Hecuba and the musical Hamlet. That installment is #52 on TV Guide's original list of 100 greatest episodes (1997). "The Hunter" from S3 is the Rory Calhoun episode.

*Finally, enjoy our video playlist for this episode, featuring theme songs, commercials, promos, 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!

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 12-10: TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes

*Is it me or is there a Mandela Effect going on here. I might have thought this show was TV's Practical Jokes and Bloopers?

*Kermit Schaefer, Mr. Blooper, is credit with pioneering the practice of collecting media bloopers. He released several albums in the Sixties along with books like the one I mention. His 1974 movie Pardon My Blooper was a compilation of bloopers. 75 minutes of them!

*Johnny Carson's practical jokes special is "Johnny Carson's Greatest Practical Jokes," which aired on NBC in 1983.

*Later versions of the show aired on ABC from 1998 to 2007 and in syndication for a brief spell starting in 2012.

*ABC's knock-off, Foul-Ups, Bleeps, and Blunders aired midseason 1984, then was on the Fall schedule, but soon became just a series of specials before fizzling after a short run.

*1984 miniseries Celebrity is a 3-part NBC miniseries based on a 1983 novel. Stars include Michael Beck and James Whitmore. It won an Emmy for cinematography.

*The episode we discuss premiered February 13, 1984 on NBC.

*Jim Perry was a longtime game show host we talk more about in our Face the Music/Sale of the Century episode.

*Nancy McKeon of Facts of Life was not quite 18 when this aired. Brother Philip (Alice) was 19.

*Lee Cooper has been around over 100 years and is still around!

*You can see a lot of vintage Robert Klein specials on the Clown Jewels YouTube channel.

*1984's Angel from New World Pictures was a hit relative to cost and spawned several sequels.

*Finally, check out our video playlist for this episode, which includes (as of this writing) the full episode upload we watch and discuss for the podcast, plus promos, a few bloopers, and Dr. Joyce Brothers on Make Me Laugh!

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