YouTube Spotlight: Richard Hatch walks the line

If any video in this week's Battlestar Galactica playlist deserves a closer look, it's this:

Richard Hatch is standing on his head on a tightrope! I mean, come on!

Here is a nice bit of trivia posted on his Facebook page before his passing.

Circus of the Stars is a series of 17 two-hour specials broadcast on CBS, with the first January 10, 1977, and the last (of the era) November 27, 1992. Various celebrities did circus-like acts, with others appearing as hosts and ringmasters. Someday, we'll get this on the podcast!

Top Ten #132

1) Battlestar Galactica: We had a great time discussing this series, and we hope you enjoyed our season finale. About the only bad thing I can say about BSG right now is that it was a gateway into watching Galactica 1980.

2) The Cylons: Back in the day, they were really, really cool. Now, they still are, but somehow they aren't nearly as important a part of the series as I remembered. 

But they're still cool.

3) The Smurfs: The NBC cartoon premiered this day in 1981. Were you smurfing it then, or did you smurf it later?

4) Taxi: This great sitcom also premiered on September 12, but in 1978, so it's not a nice round number and therefore takes a smurfseat to the Smurfs. You can hear us smurf about Taxi here.

5) National Video Game Day: Doesn't get much better than this:

6) Harry O: Hat tip to Mark Evanier's News from ME for making us aware of this wonderful appreciation of the great 1970s David Janssen PI series.

7) Paul Willson: The veteran character actor, so great on Cheers and It's Garry Shandling's Show, had a cool guest shot on Ken Levine's podcast this week.

8) Pat Sajak and Vanna White: They got contract extensions that will keep them on the show basically until the Cylons take over.

9) Nina Blackwood: Happy birthday to one of the original VJs!

10) R.I.P. Irma Kalish, Art Metrano, Michael Constantine:  Constantine played a big role in our Murder, She Wrote episode, Kalish contributed to many shows of the era, and Metrano? What more need be said but...

The Battlestar Galactica video playlist is now live!

After hearing our season finale, continue exploring the world of old-school Galactica with our video playlist! Just click below to see promos, commercials, and more! See deleted footage! A blooper! Colonel Tigh for Ultra Sheen! Richard Hatch in Circus of the Stars! And what in the world is Dirk Benedict Steel Stomachs? Find out below!

And remember you can visit our official YouTube channel anytime for all our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

Show Notes: Episode 9-13: Batttlestar Galactica

*Battlestar Galactica aired just one season (1978) and 24 episodes (depending on how you count the pilot/various two-parters) on ABC on Sunday nights at 8:00 P.M. Galactica 1980 premiered in January of, you guessed it, 1980, but it lasted only till August.

*Season finale "Hand of God" premiered  Sunday,April 29, 1979, at 8:00 P.M. it followed John Denver's Rocky Mountain Reunion and preceded 1975's Master Gunfighter. NBC countered with Part 2 of The Tattooed Police Horse on Wonderful World of Disney, 1976's Swashbuckler, and an Edwin Newman NBC News special, College Sports, Inc: Big Money on Campus. CBS' lineup consisted of 60 Minutes, All in the Family, One Day at a Time, Alice, Stockard Channing in Just Friends, and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour.

*The original Marvel Comics Battlestar Galactica series ran 23 issues, 1979-1981. According to Wikipedia, the licensing contract with Universal stipulated that after the first handful of episodes, Marvel could not adapt the TV stories for the comics. The series had a resolution and "finale," and though it received contemporary reprint coverage, there doesn't appear to be a comprehensive modern collection of the material.

*Here is a look at the 1978 Fall Preview page on the series in TV Guide:

*The Paul Fix episode we mention is "Take the Celestra," the one that precedes the finale we talk about on on the pod.

*The book we mention is By Your Command by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore.

*The original BSG is complete on home video and also available for free (supported by ads) streaming on NBC.com and Tubi.

*Don Bellisario graduated from Penn State in 1961, and the university recognized a huge donation of his by renaming its College of Communications after him in 2017.

*Thanks, everyone, for another great season, and stand by for the Battys coming soon!

Episode 9-13: Battlestar Galactica (1978)

In a "rag-tag fleet," the remnants of humanity flee the robotic Cylons and search for a new home...Earth! For our season finale, we discuss the series finale of the original Battlestar Galactica "Hand of God," a show perhaps not remembered as fondly as it should be.

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

RetroFan #16 and Back Issue #

It's been almost two months since we checked in with TwoMorrows, and they have been cranking out great stuff this summer. First, there was Back Issue #128, which we did mention last time out and which covered Bronze Age comic book adaptations of TV shows. Back Issue #129 is devoted to "TV Toon Tie-Ins," featuring articles on Hanna-Barbera comics, Battle of the Planets, and a cool look at The Hardy Boys Filmation series and its comic adaptation.

Recently I just got my copy of the latest installment bimonthly RetroFan! Issue #16 has a look at H.R. Pufnstuf, an extensive profile of Wolfman Jack, and a tribute to Tanya Roberts. Of course BOTNS-era fans will love all kinds of stuff in this ish, like the look at the old Weekly Reader publication and the cover story on the Marvel cartoons of 1966.

I have no financial interest or connection to TwoMorrows Publishing except that I like giving them money for their fantastic magazines. I highly recommended all of this stuff!