Get More Mike Three: The Wookiee Storybook

Join me as I join friend of the show Tim Blevins one more time on Menage a Pop, this time to discuss the last remnant of Star Wars merchandise I have from my childhood, The Wookiee Storybook, or as I like to think of it The Star Wars Holiday Special That Could Have Been.

Happy National Pina Colada Day!

It's National Pina Colada Day, so if you like 'em (or even if you don't), enjoy this clip of Rupert Holmes getting down on The Midnight Special!

Marvel on TV (1976, that is)

In 1976, Superman: The Movie was not yet a thing and the superhero explosion on TV hadn't occurred.  The Wonder Woman pilot movie ran in Fall 1975, and a few episodes debuted in early 1976, but The Incredible Hulk, The Amazing Spider-Man, and the TV movies we have discussed here were still in the future. it must have been exciting, then, to see news of comic books on TV...or even comic book creators on TV. Check this item from the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins feature in the Captain America and the Falcon cover-dated May 1976 but obviously written months earlier:

Stan Lee on The Mike Douglas Show and Good Morning, America AND Tomorrow sounds pretty cool (love the reference to the Distinguished Competition), and how about Rascally Roy Thomas on To Tell the Truth? Stan was out there hustling, wasn't he?  Soon superheroes, not just their creators, would be all over the small screen.




To Tell the Truth was a mainstay for years, dating back to its prime-time run on CBS beginning in 1956 but this would have been the second incarnation. From 1969 to 1978, the series, then hosted by Garry Moore, was in first-run syndication.  Thomas likely appeared with Moore, but at the end of that run, the ailing Moore was replaced by Bill Cullen and Joe Garagiola.

As for Tomorrow, according to Phil Gries' Archival Television Audio site (where you can buy an audio copy of the program), the program aired November 20, 1975:

Host Tom Snyder's guests are Stan Lee publisher of Marvel Comics, Carmine Infantio publisher of Superman Comics and Julius Schwartz editor who is spearheading the revival of comic books' "golden age" in this topic of "Comic Strips and Comic Books".

Also interviewed is Marvel comic book collector, Warren Storab who has every edition of Marvel comic books from October 1939 through 1949. 

Get More Mike Two: Lionel Richie "Tonight Will be Alright"

Join me again as I join friend of the show Tim Blevins again on his podcast Menage a Pop. Today, we talk about the man, the myth, the mustache Lionel Richie and his song "Tonight Will be Alright," which also featured Eric Clapton and Richard Marx!

This Day in TV History:The MLB All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium

There will be no All-Star Game in MLB this year, and there may not even be MLB this year, but we have the past! On July 8, 1980, baseball's best assembled at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for the 51st Major League Baseball All-Star Game. ABC broadcast the event with Keith Jackson, Don Drysdale, Al Michaels, and the immortal Howard Cosell in the booth.

The idea of watching a 40-year-old baseball game may appall some of you, but not me! However, i do recognize that the best part of these old All-Star exhibitions is the player intros.  I loved when MLB started uploading old broadcasts to its official YouTube channel a few months ago, but unfortunately it deleted the best part--the pre-game festivities! And let's not even get into the lack of original commercials.




In this era, the National league was dominant, having won every summer since 1972, and it was talked about as a thing.  Yes, the game didn't "matter," but somehow it mattered.

Oddly, the MLB Vault official channel has only this highlight, with inferior video and the radio call from Vin Scully:



In case you're wondering and don't have time to watch the intros, let me give you the most important info: The defending champion Pittsburgh Pirates are represented in the game by Phil Garner, Dave Parker, Kent Tekulve, and Jim Bibby.

This Day in TV History: Beauties and the Beasts on July 7, 1980

40 years ago tonight, TV viewers had a choice between beauty and brawn. CBS offered the Miss Universe Pageant, hosted by Bob Barker, Helen O'Connell, and Jayne Kennedy with performances by Donny Osmond; while ABC countered with the WBC Heavyweight title on the line as Larry Holmes defended against Scott LeDoux.

In case you're wondering, NBC had the King--not Don King, but Elvis Presley in 1957's Loving You. Folks, I often lament the sentiment that anything more than 5 years old is "passe" or just won't appeal to modern audiences. Yet I must confess I find it a curious decision to air a 1957 movie in prime time on network television in 1980. NBC seemed to enjoy being in the Elvis business, though; the following spring Don Johnson starred in Elvis and the Beauty Queen, and the network aired various specials in the era like Memories of Elvis in 1978 (of course, the legendary Comeback Special was on NBC in 1968).




Back to the main event, the big match-up of the evening, in which reigning Miss USA (Remember when it aired alongside Fantastic Funnies?) Shawn Weatherly won Miss Universe. It was July 8 in South Korea when it took place but July 7 when it aired here in the States.


 

She later starred in the first season of Baywatch and the only season of J.J. Starbuck.



As for the heavyweight fight? Holmes crushed LeDoux with a round 7 TKO in front of a partisan crowd at the Met Center in LeDoux's native Minnesota. Holmes would go on to beat a faded Muhammad Ali in an infamous fight, then dominate the early 1980s before a series of retirements and comebacks.  LeDoux suffered several more high-profile losses before retiring and becoming a fixture of AWA wrestling in its ESPN weekday afternoon era as a "troubleshooting" referee.

Perhaps his greatest moment was knocking off Howard Cosell's toupee after a different fight:

Get More Mike Part One: Uncanny X-Men 138

While we're on an extended break here at Battle of the Network Shows, I had the chance to talk to friend of the show Tim Blevins for his podcast Menage a Pop. In part one, we talk about Uncanny X-Men 138, the issue that introduced me to the world of Marvel's Merry Mutants and stirred my imagination. Find it right here or wherever you find your podcasts. Also, check out more episodes of Menage a Pop and Tim's other excellent podcast 20th Century Pop while you're there.