Show Notes: Episode 8-8: The Greatest American Hero: "The Shock Will Kill You"

*The Greatest American Hero premiered March 1981 on ABC and ran until February 1983 for a total of 3 seasons and 45 episodes (though, as we say on the show, that includes the added-for-syndication multiple unaired episodes and the Greatest American Heroine pilot).

*ABC first broadcast "The Shock Will Kill You" February 10, 1982 at 8:00 P.M. The Fall Guy and Dynasty followed it.  NBC ran Real People, The Facts of Life, Love, Sidney, and Quincy. 

*CBS showed She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown and 1978's Hooper. The Peanuts special is a 1980 cartoon spotlighting Peppermint Patty.

*Joey Scarbury took the show's theme song to #2 on the Billboard charts. You will be able to hear a track from William "Billy" Katt's 1982 solo album in this week's YouTube playlist dropping soon!

*Here is where you can find RetroFan, which published the cool interview with star William Katt in issue #5.

*Jon Abbott's book quoted in that article is Stephen J. Cannell Television Productions: A History of All Series and Pilots.

*Bob Culp and Burt Reynolds never appeared in a movie nor TV episode together according to our research. What a shame!

*Ralph Hinkley and Pam Davidson get married in season 3's "The Newlywed Game."

*Hear more about Leonard Lightfoot here in our examination of Silver Spoons.

*Rod Holcomb directed 6 episodes of the series.

*The Greatest American Heroine featured Mary Ellen Stuart as the titular superhero and Mya Stark as the precocious girl.

Episode 8-8: The Greatest American Hero "The Shock Will Kill You"

Believe it or not, it took eight seasons for us to get to The Greatest American Hero. After steering a powerless space shuttle to a safe landing, Ralph turns into a walking magnet, and only he, Bill, and Pam stand in between a electricity-eating space monster and doom! What a scenario!

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

This Day in TV History: Tribes (1970)

50 years ago tonight, acclaimed made-for-TV movie Tribes premiered as the ABC Movie of the Week at 8:30. Joseph Sargent directs Darren McGavin, Jan-Michael Vincent, and Earl Holliman in this story of a hippie joining the Marines:

Networks started prime time at 7:30 then, and ABC led off this Tuesday with a new Mod Squad and followed the movie with a new Marcus Welby.  NBC offered The Don Knotts Show, Julia, and its own TV movie: Western The Intruders with quite the cast--Don Murray, John Saxon, Edmond O'Brien, Anne Francis, Edward Andrews. That's not enough? How about Zalman King, Harry Dean Stanton, and a young Harrison Ford?

CBS said, "Rural purge? We don't know anything about that yet," and broadcast Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and Hee Haw before To Rome with Love and 60 Minutes.

Promo Theatre: The John Davidson Show on Oklahoma TV (1980)

The great SeanMc YouTube channel posted this promo a few weeks go. It's a brief spot for The John Davidson Show, a daytime chatfest we mention in our 1980-1981 season episode:

"Did you get divorced at the beginning of your career?" Is that the highlight of the Bonnie Franklin interview? And what's with that weird camera angle of Davidson performing on stage?

This clip doesn't really make the series all that appealing. If you ask me, Mike Douglas has nothing to worry about.

Top Ten #93

1) Tucker's Witch: The short-lived romantic/detective show isn't the greatest in the world, but we have fun talking about it on this week's podcast, and we're grateful it's out there for viewing. Is that too backhanded a compliment?

2) Art Hindle: Hey, now, mama, let me read your Kindle 'cause, Mama, I'm sure hard to Hindle! (Hopefully you listened to the show this week)

3) Alfre Woodard: Not only did she star (sort of; we discuss on the podcast how underutilized she is) in this week's podcast subject, but it's her birthday! We will take this opportunity to underutilize her with a measly entry in our weekly top ten list!

4) Tim Matheson and Catherine Hicks: The two are so pleasant together that we have to rank them together. 

5) Leif Garrett: Happy birthday to the former teen idol perhaps best known, at least in our circles, for starring in the "Roller Disco" episode of Chips.

6) The Georgia Peaches: Did you know that Dirk Benedict, Tanya Tucker, and Terri Nunn all starred in an unsold pilot?  It aired as a TV movie on this day in 1980.

7) Florence Henderson: It's a few years outside the time frame, but here's another side of Carol Brady:

8) Days of Our Lives: The daytime institution turns 55 today, and the way the industry has changed, I'm almost more surprised it's still around than I am Leif Garrett.

9) Ted Danson: This guy keeps doing things to deserve a spot in the top 10.  This time, it's offering an interesting heel performance in both the unaired and the aired versions of the Tucker's Witch pilot.  In each, he does to women what he only dreamed about doing to Diane Chambers all those years.

10) The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: The insults will fly and the booze will flow as Decades runs a marathon this weekend.  We covered the show in this episode, and here is another taste of it:

YouTube Spotlight: Tucker's Witch stars promote the series

I come across these Nebraska press junket videos quite often, which proves either that someone there was diligent about preserving them and making them available or that Nebraska was the Television Capital ofn the Midwest in the 1980s.  I think you know which one I prefer.

Tucker's Witch co-stars Tim Matheson and Catherine Hicks are a charming pair here promoting the series. As I noted in this week's show notes post, Matheson does an admirable job of transitioning from the awkwardness of the show they're hyping being untitled to the premise of said show.  Check out Hicks' casual posture!

I also enjoy how the host asks about Shakespeare almost as if she doesn't think the bard is relevant, yet later she surprises them a bit by sharing her own theater bona fides.