And so this is Arbor Day, and what have you done, APPLE TV PLUS?

I tell you what you have not done: You have not added It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown to your streaming service. You delighted me (because I happened to have Apple Plus; to be fair, you angered many who didn't) by adding the Big Three Peanuts holiday specials in 2020, then continuing to sprinkle in some in 2021. So far we have seen the New Year's, Valentine's Day, and Easter specials.

But what about Arbor Day?

I think many people still believe this is a fictitious program that people use to mock the ubiquity of Peanuts holiday shows. Yet it really did premiere on March 16, 1976, on CBS.

I wish Apple would unveil all the Peanuts shows, not just a handful of the most famous ones, and even if you don't make Arbor Day (which of course, contrary to Sally's assertion above, celebrates famed Revolutionary War hero Justice Arbor) a huge deal, wouldn't you like to see how the Peanuts gang tackles it? Fortunately, the shows aren't too hard to find if you look around, though Warner Brothers never did give comprehensive, coherent releases of all of them on home video. 

But does anyone know where to find The Stockard Channing Show?

Inside the Guide: A classic double feature on ABC

 From 1981, here's a half-page display ad touting a Sunday night double feature on ABC:

What a combo! Benji and Bond! That's a natural double feature, right? And I must have been too young in 1981 to appreciate that the original Benji was the most entertaining family picture of the time. I bet the dads who sat through Benji just might have appreciated the entertainment value of Live and Let Die.

RetroFan #14 is here!

It's time for a quick look at the latest issue of TwoMorrows' fantastic bimonthly magazine, which is back in stores but available here for subscription and highly recommended. issue #14 focuses more on the 1960s than the BOTNS era, but there is plenty for folks who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s or are just interested in that time frame.

"Star Trek: The Lean Years" is an entertaining look at the period between the original series' cancellation and The Motion Picture's premiere. What kept the franchise going apart from The Animated Series? Why was did Gold Key make Uhura blonde in one of its Trek comics? OK, the article answers one of those but not the other.

There is also a fun piece about TV tie-ins that no kid would want, but I beg to differ. I would have loved a Kojak toy car!

Part 2 of the story about the World Famous San Diego Zoo appears here along with an extensive section of cool behind-the-scenes photos from 60s TV shows like Batman and The Dick Van Dyke Show. You can also learn about Bigfoot, Van Williams, The Saint, and much more. It's always a highlight of my week to get this magazine, and I recommend it to all fans of our podcast.

3 classics I'd like to see streaming in May 2021

The lists of May additions for most of the big streaming services are out , and there aren't a lot of interesting older shows on them. HBO Max appears to have abandoned catalog titles for another month, Peacock isn't announcing anything cool, and Netflix...Well, I can't mention Netflix and vintage with a straight face.

However, as I write this, Tubi, Crackle, Roku Channel, and others are still on the clock (Does Paramount Plus even bother listing the handful of non-current CBS programs it adds each month?), and there are often surprises from the paid services. We already have good news with the announcement that Shout! TV is adding CPO Sharkey and several Don Rickles specials. But I want more, more, more, and so here are 3 nice additions I'd like to see when I scan my Roku on Saturday morning:

The Incredible Hulk: Why does this series have such a low profile in the streaming era? The character is popular and in the public eye thanks to the MCU, yet right now it isn't available after NBC quietly dropped it from its own app. It has its flaws but also has some great episodes, and I'd think someone could market it or do something with it. I thought it would be a natural for Peacock, but it isn't on the May list. Maybe it will show up on Tubi alongside other Universal genre shows of the era Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica. 

Maverick: It's outside our time frame, but the show is the ancestor of The Rockford Files, yet outside of a limited stint on Warner Archive Instant, I don't think it has streamed anywhere. We all know how disdainful the various streamers are of "old" shows, but, come on, James Garner! This is a popular Western with a devoted fanbase, and while MeTv runs it each week, I bet the episodes would look great uncut on HBO Max. I bet they'd look better than The Nanny. Even if it returned to Starz, it would at least be something to watch with those constant cheap subscription deals they throw out so often.

Riptide: I never really watched this in its original run, but it would be nice to have the minor NBC hit of the mid Eighties available somewhere.  This series doesn't get mentioned anywhere, and I don't the last time/place it had a significant run, but it's a part of 1980s TV history. This one seems to be a good fit for Hulu, and it comes to mind because of the reports that Sony TV shows would be coming there as part of the new massive deal with Disney. Hopefully the shows include some from the 20th century.

Murder, She Wrote Monday: The "Earth-Prime" work of Jessica B. Fletcher

Not only does Jessica Fletcher write successful novels in character on the TV series Murder, She Wrote, but she is also a prolific author in this world--yes, our world, which I like to call Earth-Prime after my misspent youth reading DC Comics. Donald Bain is credited as the co-writer, but I like to think he just transcribed Jessica's audiotapes since she is too busy solving murders to sit down and type out manuscripts. Of course, since Bain died in 2017, he probably isn't even doing that anymore.

According to Wikipedia, Jon Land took over the series after Bain's passing, and now 3 books are scheduled under the name of Terrie Farley Moran, or "Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran," that is. It's amazing that the books roll on 25 years after the television show signed off.  The first novel appeared in 1989, and then there was a gap until 1994, but since then there has been at least one and often more than one new mystery novel every year except 2017, and given what happened then, that's understandable.

(In case you're wondering, Bain died of congestive heart failure and not under suspicious circumstances involving one of Jessica's relatives.)

Has anyone here read any of the books? I picked up a few cheap paperbacks at a used book store a while back. To think I mocked the show when it aired back in the day, yet now I watch reruns each week and paid actual money for two novels based on it! When my girlfriend and I picked these two up, we thought it would be fun to read them aloud, and given that they are written in the first person, that does sound like quite a diversion. We haven't read them yet, but someday!

Here are the two I have, from 1995 and 1997, respectively:

Brandy and Bullets features some kind of attempt to bring "high art" and culture to Cabot Cove, so that sounds fun. Murder on the QE2 sends Jess on a free cruise she earns for giving mystery-writing lectures on board. I'm not sure that all this will work without the special guest stars and luminaries like The Bos, but I do plan to give it a try!

Next time we'll go back into the episodes with one of my favorite titles of the series so far.

Top Ten #117

1) The 1986 Academy Awards: I wasn't a regular Oscar watcher at the time, and seeing what movie won most of the awards reminds me of why I didn't pay much attention (I still haven't seen Out of Africa), but it's still a surprise to see this host pairing: Alan Alda, Jane Fonda, and Robin Williams!

2) LeVar Burton: Landed a gig guest-hosting Jeopardy! after a popular fan petition. You know what this means? My dream of getting Bob Eubanks to host Reading Rainbow is still alive!

3) Bugs Bunny: MeTV is running a poll to determine our favorite Bugs cartoon of all time and why it's Slick Hare.

4) Telephone Day: Reach out and touch someone!

5) Mission Impossible: My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to mention that Decades has a marathon this weekend without resorting to a trite reworking of the show's tagline.

I don't choose to accept it!

6) Wide World of Sports 20th Anniversary Special: Not to be confused with the 25TH Anniversary Special we talked about on the podcast, this aired in prime time on ABC 40 years ago tonight. Did Evel Knievel ride on stage in a motorbike in this one? Huh? Did he?

No, seriously, I'd like to know, because I'd watch it if he did.

7) Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom: RFD-TV picked up the series this month and is showing reruns and then posting them on YouTube. 

8) Mitzi...Roarin; in the 20s: This 1976 TV special featuring Mitzi Gaynor, Ken Barry, and Carl Reiner, is now on Prime Video because, well, who cares why. It's a 45-year-old show about a time period 100 years old, so be thankful it's there!

9) Charlie's Angels Deluxe Hideaway: Because I gotta admit, this looks pretty sweet:

10) Oscar Madison: Probably the only Oscar I will feel like watching tonight.

This Day in TV History: Stockers with Terry Bradshaw

40 years ago tonight, NBC nudged a pilot into its Friday night lineup of a Harper Valley P..T.A. rerun and The Gangster Chronicles: Stockers, a comedy from Johnny Carson Productions starring former BOTNS featured personality Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Terry Bradshaw. Mel Tillis co-starred as Terry's sidekick; the two were stock car racers traveling the country, seeking adventures and trying to stay one step ahead of a tireless bill collector (Robert Tessier) who's hunting them down).

Bradshaw was on the downside of his career, but was it realistic to think he could leave the NFL for acting full time at this point? This Steelers Depot piece indicates it was a real possibility. The QB had already been in Hooper and Cannonball Run, and his entertainment aspirations were well known. By the way, the director of both those pictures, Hal Needham, also did this pilot, which was a clear effort to get some of that country/outlaw chic of the era exemplified by The Dukes of Hazzard and Smokey and the Bandit.

(How in the world did Terry not earn a Batty nomination in our season 6 for his performance as himself in Greatest Sports Legends?)

The show was a mess, reportedly, the broadcast didn't do well according to this report, and thus the show was not picked up for the Fall schedule. It couldn't overcome repeats of I'm a Big Girl Now (ABC) and The Incredible Hulk (CBS), and so Terry Bradshaw returned for the 1981 season. The Steelers finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs for a second consecutive season. The Hall of Famer played in 1982, then retired after missing most of an injury-plagued 1983 season.

Unfortunately this remains a What I'd Like to See entry for now. Bradshaw himself doesn't think I should try to find it, telling Rolling Stone last year:

They should not watch an old TV show I did called Stockers. Absolutely not. It was a show on NBC. It’s horrible. The pilot was a takeoff of Cannonball Run.
I’ve never heard of this. Why was it so bad?
Bad. It was bad. Bad writing. Bad acting. You just name it. The music in it was even bad! How can you have bad music?