BOTNS Top Ten #35

1) Bob Newhart: I didn't watch the Emmys (hard to get excited about that ceremony when a Battys show is right around the corner), but am told Bob opened the Emmys and did well. Much love to the master. Amazing fact: The Bob Newhart Show never won an Emmy. We might have to give it a Batty even before we cover the series, just on principle.

2) Cheers: This week on The Bill Simmons Podcast, the host made a strange advocacy for his pet idea of a Cheers reboot set in Chicago and starring Vince Vaughn (!) as a retired hockey player. This idea is so bad it's almost good in that it reminds you how fantastic the original series is and what folly it is to reboot it.

3) The Brady Bunch: This past week marked the 50th anniversary of the series premiere. That's 50 years of rapier wit, sophisticated storytelling, and layered performances.

Also: Mom always said, don't play ball in the house!

4) Sonny Spoon: I believe one can trace the steady decline of the world right back to when The United States of America inexplicably refused to be charmed by Mario Van Peebles:




5) Sid Haig: R.I.P. to the veteran cult favorite known for his movie roles but also remembered as the lead heel on Jason of Star Command:




6) Mickey Rooney: Turner Classic Movies saluted the Mickster on his birthday with a lineup of films. Yes, films. Sure, TCM doesn't dip into television often, but it would kill them to sacrifice one more screening of A Yank at Eton to show the pilot for A Year at the Top?

7) Reb Brown: Our investigation of his rare Facts of Life appearance made headlines all over the world. Well, not really, but it should have.

8) Bryant Gumbel: Happy birthday to one of the best TV interviewers ever. If you don't believe it, just ask him!

9) The Mandrell Sisters: I'm only halfway through Ken Burns' epic Country Music miniseries, but surely the series devotes at least a half-hour to their variety show and television's overall attempt to cash in on the "country craze" of the Carter years?





10) John Denver: On a similar note, how can anyone tell the story of country music without a deep dive into the Denver/Muppets connection?

Great Moments in 70s and 80s TV History: You take the good, you take the Cap...

Reb Brown has had a long career filled with cult movies, but it's possible his TV career peaked with the two CBS Captain America movies we talked about in season 4..

As we discussed, there never was (but maybe could have been?) a weekly Cap series. Reb moved on to other projects.

It is weird to stumble upon the actor in the season two opener of...The Facts of Life?

It all starts when Jo (in her maiden Facts of Life adventure) and Blair procure fake IDs to go to this fine establishment:

Guess who is checking IDs? Someone who looks an awful lot like Reb Brown:

If I didn't know any better, I'd say TV's Captain America was relegated to a minor role in a...let's just say not necessarily top-tier sitcom.

Later, when one of the only figures more iconic and inspiring than the Sentinel of Liberty himself appears--of course we're talking about Edna Garrett--look at poor Reb just sitting in the background like some scrub. I mean, he's the one who let them into the Chugalug, but he's hanging out in the corner while the proprietor gets a dose of Ednification.

Not only is this whole appearance not treated as a big deal within the show (he doesn't get an audience WHOOOOOOO! when he appears, for one thing),  but he barely gets billing, relegated to the scrolling end credits with an anonymous description instead of an actual name.

We have found a way to overlook this insult: Clearly this is not Reb Brown, actor, taking a bit part. It's CAPTAIN AMERICA going undercover at the Chugalug to expose...Commie spy ring? Hydra operation? Meatpacking fraud?

Whatever it is, it's clearly more than just checking IDs at a backwoods dive bar.

BOTNS Top Ten #34

1) George Owens: After a terrible week for Pittsburgh sports that included the arrest of the Pirates' best player and the season-ending surgery of the Steelers' best player, it's time to celebrate one of the finest figures in the city's sports universe. So what if he got involved in a little extralegal gambling?




2) Hill Street Blues: Hey, the Emmy awards are presented tonight, so let's give props to one of the handful of programs to win 4 Outstanding Drama Series trophies, along with Mad Men, The West Wing, and L.A. Law. Of course Hill Street has it all over the others by virtue of its 3 Battys.

3) Batman: DC Comics celebrated International Batman Day this weekend. You know, I am not saying I am one of them, but I be many kids who grew up in the BOTNS era considered Olan Soule the definitive Caped Crusader.





4) Another Day: Because...what the heck is this?



5) Dallas: Hey, if you missed the DVDs from Warner Brothers, you can now get the first 4 seasons from Time Life Video...for an outrageously high price. I guess J.R. would approve!

6) Ann B. Davis: As A Very Brady Renovation continues on HGTV, the surviving cast members miss Alice more than ever...because they could make her do all the work just like on the original show.

7) The NBC peacock: On the one hand, the iconic mascot is a connection to the rich history of the National Broadcasting Company. On the other hand, the decision to name the new Universal/NBC streamer "Peacock" is a decision that rivals anything Fred Silverman did at the network for sheer silliness.




8) John Houseman: The late actor was born on this date in 1902. I'd love to talk about The Paper Chase on the podcast someday, but for now:



9) Mannix: This weekend Decades is marathoning everyone's favorite detective and concussion recipient, Joe Mannix!




10) Ric Ocasek: R.I.P. I could be wrong, but I believe about 60% of all sports and wrestling program used at least one Cars song, often Tonight She Comes, as bumper music.

Say it ain't so, Dolan: This ain't MY Lowenbrau

If there's one combo we like here at BOTNS, it's steak and a bottle a'Lowenbrau.  The genius Dolan showed us the way in a classic commercial that we discussed in some detail.

The entire "Let It Be Lowenbrau" campaign was a great one, filled with emotional appeals to friendship, good times, and general positive vibes. Who cares what the beer tastes like?

The great SeanMc YouTube channel recently posted a later Lowenbrau ad, a travesty that attempts to (it could never succeed) destroy that great legacy of warmth and comfort crafted by the likes of Dolan. As painful as it is, let's take a look:




I can't even begin to try to inhabit the mind of whoever conceived this abomination, but the spot smacks of straining to be "cool." Lowenbrau doesn't have to be cool. More to the point, Dolan didn't try to be cool. He just WAS cool.

And rap? RAP? Lowenbrau is not a "rap" brand. It's not even a brand. It's a way of life.

If Dolan saw this debacle, he wouldn't be able to digest even a succulent steak. He'd be so disturbed, in fact, he'd probably have to sell his Knicks tickets and hole up in the den for the evening.

This is so awful, I can't resist. I was going to just link to the ad as I did above, but, no, it requires an embed here so we can all cleanse our palates for the timeless combo we treasure--and I don't mean neon and drum machines:

BOTNS Top Ten #33

This time out, we're paying tribute to the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Hunt Valley, Maryland, this weekend. We were unable to attend but supportive of the concept, and maybe BOTNS can be there in the future!

1) The Brady Bunch: However, this week's number one has to be the unsquashable 1970s classic, which was revived (sort of) yet AGAIN and drew huge numbers for HGTV in A Very Brady Renovation. Hopefully the cable channel can revive the Bradford house next. And speaking of...

2) DVP: Dick Van Patten's brief but notable stint as a heel boss in The Snowball Express was screened on Turner Classic Movies recently and scrutinized by the BOTNS team this week.

Check out some other TV mainstays in the movie in this clip:




3) Loni Anderson: I hope everyone in Hunt Valley asked her about Easy Street:




4) Loretta Swit: I know it's not a reflection on Ms. Swit, but I just could never take Houlihan seriously knowing she and Burns were a thing. Not that I'd recommend telling her that at a fan convention.

5) William Sanderson: Not only did he appear at the convention, but he has a memoir out! I didn't even know he could read!

OK, that was a lazy, cheap joke. To make up for it, here's a clip of him not playing a dullard:




6) Tom Berenger: Another con attendee, Berenger wasn't really known for TV, but he was in the last episode of Cheers, and anyone cool enough to be on Cheers is good enough for our top ten.

7) The Muppets: Disney + scrapping the announced new series means the original Muppet Show is even more of a no-brainer for the service, right? Right?

8) Frank's Place: And, hey, BET+'s ridiculous 9.99/month price point surely means everything that was ever on BET, including reruns of the acclaimed Tim Reid dramedy, will be on there, right? Right?

I would watch old Video Soul episodes with Donnie Simpson, though!





9) Dark Shadows: Getting another reboot, this time for the CW, and that sounds horrible, but it sounds like the guy doing it is a huge fan of the original show. Plus it's actually going to be a sequel, not a reimagining.




10) Geri Reischl: "Fake Jan" isn't part of A Very Brady Renovation, but she did her duty on the variety show and was part of the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention.

Great Moments in 70s and 80s TV History: Cliff Clavin's anticipation

Remember the joy of receiving the new TV Guide in the mail? Well, think about what a big day it was for the fine members of the U.S. Postal service. In season 7's Please Mr. Postman, Cheers' Cliff Clavin tells a trainee she had better get a good night's sleep because...

Fred MacMurray in The Chadwick Family

While celebrating Fred MacMurray's birthday last month--hey, didn't everyone--we came across this 1974 ABC Movie of the Week: The Chadwick Family, an unsold pilot:




Also in the cast: Kathleen Maguire, BOTNS favorite Alan Fudge, Barry Bostwick, Bruce Boxleitner, and Darleen Carr among others.

According to IMDB, in this dramatic story, A father finds himself taking care of a "family" that in addition to his son and three daughters, also consists of two sons-in-law and his youngest daughter's Chinese boyfriend.

The movie premiered April 17, 1974 against a supersized (sorry) Cannon rerun on CBS and part 2 of a broadcast of Judgment at Nuremburg on NBC. It started at 9:30, an odd time for a movie, because it followed the pilot of Robert Forster's short-lived Nakia:




Anyone remember either of these 1974 projects?