Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 12-9: Chico and the Man

*Chico and the Man aired on NBC 4 seasons from 1974 to 1978.

*Freddie Prinze was only 22 when he died. Jack Albertson lived 1907-1981, so he was well into his 60s when the series debuted.

*Freddie Prinze: Gone Before His Time is the documentary I refer to on the podcast.

*Here is an interesting contemporary article about Prinze's suicide from Time in February 1977.

*Mark Evanier writes about James Komack here and elsewhere on his site. Also, check out this 1978 People article about Welcome Back Kotter.

*The diner the characters enter is indeed seen elsewhere in the second season.

*Shout-out again to the 200 Dollars a Day Plus Expenses podcast with our friends Steve and Dave!

*"Chico and the Van" premiered October 17, 1975 as the sixth episode of the second season.

*Laverne and Shirley premiered in January 1976.

*Ann Gibbs and Joel Kimmel are credited as writers along with James Komack.

*Our look at Sammy Davis Jr.'s TV movie Poor Devil is right here.

*Fame was a hit movie for MGM in 1980, and it became a series in 1982, starting on NBC before moving to first-run syndication.

*The TV movie about Prinze's life is 1979's Can You Hear the Laughter?, which debuted September 11, 1979 on CBS.

*Finally, check out our video playlist for this episode, featuring all kinds of Seventies goodness--variety shows, a clip from a Dean Martin roast, commercials, promos, Farrah Fawcett, and more!

*And remember, you can always check out our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

Episode 12-9: Chico and the Man

Things get rough for Chico and the Man when THE Man tells them Chico can't live in the Man's van. Also, they go to a diner and crack some jokes.

#podcast #tv #retrotv #seventies #chicoandtheman #freddieprinze #jackalbertson #sitcom

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Manana on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

YouTube Spotlight: Blansky's Beauties

One of the clips in this week's bonus episode playlist is the opening to Nancy Walker's sitcom Blansky's Beauties.

Garry Marshall had an amazing career in film and television, producing many remarkable hits. This is not one of them! The series didn't get enough of a boost from being introduced on Happy Days and fizzled out in a matter of months in 1977.

Walker's character is sort of the den mother of a bevy of showgirls and also produces their show. It doesn't quite work, but it is interesting to see how much it attempts to leech off other Marshall shows.

One interesting thing is that Eddie Mekka was on this and on Laverne and Shirley at the same time. On this, his character is said to be a cousin of The Big Ragu. Other familiar faces include Pat Morita, who had been on (and would return to) Happy Days; and Lynda Goodfriend and Scott Baio, who would later join that series. If that isn't enough, Pinky Tuscadero (Roz Kelly) is in the debut episode. Marshall gave himself a role, too; and the series featured Caren Kaye in an early regular part.

For now, you can find many of the 13 episodes on YouTube if you want to check it out for yourself!

Top Ten #323: Special "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Halloween" Edition

1) Jan Miner/Nancy Walker: Actresses, pitchwomen, and now stars of our newest bonus episode game. talk about multitalented!

2) Marie Osmond: Happy 65th birthday to the co-star of Donny and Marie. She, of course, played Marie.

3) National Hockey League: Hockey is back! I doubt Hall and Oates are involved these days, though:

4) Nobel Prizes: Multiple awards were announced this past week. Mike and I are still in the running for the Nobel for TV Podcasting.

5) Sinatra--The Main Event: 50 years ago tonight, ABC aired this special taped from Madison Square Garden starring Ol' Blue Eyes. For some reason (boxing/MSG tie-in, I guess), Howard Cosell introduced him. What a pair: One guy wants to punch everyone, the other makes everyone wants to punch him.

6) Herb Alpert: Only one man could follow Sinatra in 1974, and that man was Herb Alpert, who had his own special right after the Sinatra one on ABC that night. He wasn't alone, though; he was helped by The Muppets, who were exiled to this one after Fozzie had accidentally no-showed a gig opening for Frank in Vegas in '72.

7) Archie Bunker's Place: The program, not part of the streaming package of All in the Family, is now on Roku Channel--sort of. Available are Season 1's 24 episodes, 19 episodes of Season 2, and a whopping 4 of Season 3. Imagine Archie Bunker sitting in his chair, leafing through his TV Guide and trying to find Season 4 of the show were he ran a bar.

8) Diff'rent Strokes: The series aired its second (by my count) bed-wetting episode 40 years ago tonight, this night with Sam doing it for real. The show dealt with this sensitive topic in typically tender fashion, depicting with gentle humor Drummond's solution to buy a brand-new mattress every day until the problem vanished.

9) Saturday Night Live: 40 years ago tonight, the show welcomed Bob Uecker and Peter Wolf.

10) R.I.P. Nicholas Pryor: More known for work in theatrical movies like Risky Business and for soap operas outside the time frame, but he was also in TV movies like this one:

Show Notes and YouTube Playlist: Bounty or Palmolive

*Jan Miner (1917-2004) also appeared in Cagney & Lacey and One Day at a Time.

*Nancy Walker (1922-1992) also had a recurring role on Family Affair. Her last regular role was in the 1990 Fox sitcom True Colors with Frankie Faison (later Cleavon Little) and Stephanie Faracy. It also starred Claude Brooks (no relation).

*Perry Mason the radio version aired 1943-1955 on CBS Radio. In addition to Jan Miner, Gertrude Warner and Joan Alexander played Della. 4 different actors played Mason.

*Do Re Mi, headlined by Phil Silvers with Walker, premiered December 1960 and ran until early 1962. Garson Kanin wrote the book, with lyrics by betty Comd

*Viva Madison Avenue! ran a mere two performances in 1960 according to the Internet Broadway Database.

*Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers was an MTM show from James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that premiered in Fall 1974 but lasted only a half season. Miner had a recurring role as Sand's character's mother.

*Montgomery Clift's serious car accident occurred in 1956 during production of Raintree County.

*Othello with Moses Gunn played Broadway in 1970.

*Can't Stop the Music (1980) is a notorious disco-era flop starring The Village People. It was Walker's only outing as a feature film director.

*The Allan Carr documentary I refer to is 2017's The Fabulous Allan Carr.

*Girl Crazy, the 1943 MGM musical from Arthur Freed, starred Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland and was a big hit.

*The Women with Jan Miner lasted less than two months on Broadway in Spring 1973.

*Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood was originally titled A Bark Is Born.

*Finally, here is our video playlist for this episode, featuring Bounty ads, Palmolive ads, movie trailers, and show intros! 

*And remember, you can always check out our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

Bounty or Palmolive

In the seventies and eighties, two stars of screen and stage also graced our televisions in long-running ad campaigns, offering their advice and years of wisdom to to America. Nancy Walker played Rosie the Bounty paper towels lady, and Jan Miner played Madge the Palmolive dish soap lady. In this bonus game, Mike quizzes Rick on their careers and lives outside of those ad campaigns. Who worked with the Village People? Who once played Della Street? Who appeared in a terrible movie with nearly every actor in Hollywood?

#podcast #tv #retrotv #seventies #eighties #games #nancywalker #janminer #bounty #palmolive

Read full show notes and more at https://www.battleofthenetworkshows.com/

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