Top Ten #105

1) Cheers: The only show mentioned on both the top 5 lists of Mike and Rick on this week's mailbag podcast!

2) Alice Cooper: Check out this footage from the American Music Awards broadcast 45 years ago today, January 31, 1976:

3) Jessica Walter: Happy birthday to Batty-Award-winning star of Dr. Strange Jessica Walter!

4) National Backwards Day: On this special "national holiday," su tel kool ta Htraem morf Mork and Mindy:

5) Shogun: The epic 1980 miniseries was a big hit at the Golden Globes this night 40 years ago.

6) Supporting Actors and Actresses: Speaking of the 1981 Globes, both these categories were TIES on this evening.  Vic Tayback (Alice) and Pat Harrington (One Day at a Time) shared the prize, and also splitting an honor were Diane Ladd (Alice) and Valerie Bertinelli (One Day at a Time).

Can you imagine the Globes voters agonizing over all these categories because they loved Alice and One Day at a Time so darn much?

7) Stuart Margolin: Happy birthday to the star of Rockford Files, Love, American Style, and so much more.

8) Hee Haw: Roku Channel added a random (?) batch of mid 1980s episodes last week. I believe this is the first time the show has been on a major streaming platform.

9) Search and Legends of the Superheroes:

Both of these BOTNS beloved programs (click here and here for the episodes) got major props on this week's Warner Archive Podcast in which the hosts picked their favorite WA releases.

10) R.I.P. It's been another tough week for TV deaths. Farewell to Cloris Leachman, Bruce Kirby, Cicely Tyson:

And now a word from their sponsor: Reggie Jackson is a hot dog!

 I love this 1984 commercial for Wienerschitzel:

Reggie Jackson celebrates National Hot Dog Month (July) with this ad.  Reggie seems on board with everything, and I hope he really did have a good time.  I do find it amusing that the commercial sings about how the chain is more than just hot dogs in Hot Dog Month and then touts a hot dog special at the end.

Is it possible that baseball history has it all wrong and that California Angels Reggie is the best Reggie Jackson, even better than the A's Reggie or the Yankees Reggie?  Sure, his on-field exploits in New York and Oaktown are impressive, but Angels Reggie gives us this singing Reggie, the Jeffersons Reggie, and even The Naked Gun Reggie.

The Mailbag episode video playlist is now live!

After listening to our first mailbag bonus edition of the podcast, check out our video playlist! We start off with the king of viewer mail, David Letterman, and then explore some theme songs, promos, and clips from some of the stuff we talk about in the episode. You will even see Elvis (the King, but not of viewer mail) and Bobby DeNiro! And who better to close a star-studded playlist than Greg Evigan! Just click below to start!

And remember to hit our official YouTube channel for all of our past episodes and playlists to accompany each one of them!

Show Notes: Mailbag episode #1!

*Thanks to everyone in our Facebook group who gave us topics and questions for our first mailbag bonus episode! We'll do it again, but in the meantime you can always reach us at mailbag@battleofthenetworkshows.com

And come on and join us in our FB group and talk TV! It's private but super easy to join.

*Rick here: Don't worry, folks, even though I love shows from the 1950s and 1960s, I am true blue to our beloved BOTNS era of the 1970s and 1980s as well! 

*The Munsters Today is on Peacock and NBC. It was in first-run syndication from 1977-1981, somehow accumulating more episodes than the original The Munsters! Could an episode of the pod centered on this one be in the hopper?

*Here for posterity are our lists of "5 faves" (at least at the time we recorded this):

Mike: Cheers, Magnum P.I., Search, Late Night with David Letterman, Columbo
Rick: Cheers, The Love Boat, Clash of Champions, It's Garry Shandling's Show, The Odd Couple

*The Simpsons and Seinfeld did start in 1989, but we hereby declare them 1990s shows!

"Suspicious Minds" is actually a song by Mark James, but "In the Ghetto" is indeed a Mac Davis tune.

*Our first episode of the podcast premiered Thursday, September 22, 2016.

*Let's get the 1970s Spider-Man TV series (both American and Japanese) on Blu-Ray!

*Check out this week's YouTube playlist for glimpses of the shows we would like to see on DVD/Blu-Ray.

*Here is a link to Geno's great YouTube channel and another one to Steve's Illuminati Social Club podcast. Please check out their stuff as well as all the other great pods and friends of the show we mention in this episode like 20th Century Pop.

*Thanks again for your support, and get ready for the Season 8 Battys next week! Season 9 is just around the corner!

Mailbag at Battle of the Network Shows

This week, we answer open up the mailbag and answer questions from our Facebook group. We give our thoughts on expanding our format, how we got started, our favorite shows from the seventies and eighties, and, perhaps most importantly, our thoughts on Elvis. Also, we commit to a subject for season nine.

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

Promo Theatre: A night of fun on NBC

 I knew I was going to love this promo as soon as I saw the title in my YouTube feed. After all, it's from 1981 NBC. Can we all just agree to call late 1970s-early 1980s NBC The Second Golden Age of Television?

NBC has an odd mash-up of programming tonight, with CHiPs the mainstay being preceded by Boomer and a Flinstones special. The latter was the final Bedrock-themed primetime special the network ran in the 80-81 season.

I have one problem with this promo: Casey Kasem says Fred unwittingly enters a marathon, yet IMDB says he decides to be the first Bedrock citizen to enter the Rockstone Marathon. Well, we have to believe Casey, right?