The Night Stalker was the best show that season. I was 7 and 8. It was cancelled because Darren McGavin was exhausted from doing all the work himself including throwing out the trash.
The Movies The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler were both very well done. Kolchak: the Night Stalker series of 20 Episodes is currently featured on the ME TV Channel on weekends; after Star Trek, the Original Series is on from 11 PM to Midnight it’s followed by Kolchak: the Night Stalker TV Series where Carl is a News Wire Reporter with the Independent News Service (INS) in Chicago with his Desk right next to the Elevated Public Transit Train Tracks that are part of the “Loop.” The Creator of the X-Files Chris Carter was Heavily Influenced by the Kolchak: the Night Stalker Series, Darren McGavin was in at least two episodes of the X-Files. He carried both movies and the original series and was excellent in the X-Files. His kind of Talent is very Rare. 🤙🏻👽🎱😎
@@jackmessick2869 Sam Rockwell , and in a perfect world Brian Cranston would be a little younger and still able to do physical roles . True , Darren McGavin made Kolchak more entertaining than a monster of the week show that at heart it really was .
One of the local San Antonio stations would show it late on Saturday nights. It was the primary reason I tried not to go with my parents to the SA Symphony. Great show.
We had four... six if you count PBS and the UHF channel that showed the 700 Club. Our independent channel didn't show anything between 7 and 9 but re-runs.
@user-co7fb6qe5w I remember the first time I was at a friend's house in 73'ish and discovered cable T.V., 60 channels of paradise. (30 of them were music 🎶)
Thank you so very much for this series! I know it's got to be a lot of work, but I hope that you will continue. The videos are paced well and look terrific. All the information is great and the memory jog is really most welcome.
Walton's was a dream family during the depression handling any problem that came their way. This made any other TV family second at best. Remarkable but these stories were inspired by Earl Hamner growing up as he saw it...touching.
Of the list I watched Kolchak the Night Stalker and Get Christie Love and they weren't half bad to watch. I remember I was so disappointed when they cancelled Night Stalker.
I remember the David Hartman 'Lucas Tanner' show in its day, not a bad TV drama for the time. 'Get Christie Love' had a cool theme song and the show wasn't bad either. I have completely forgot about Karen Valentine, a 70s wonder woman. Brian Keith was slumming with Archer, a show with great potential yet only lasting a half-season. The Planet of the Apes TV series was my beloved go-to show when it was originally televised, my 11 year old self acquired the action figures from that series. It was done by the end of '74. Kolchak: The Night Stalker is a legendary show, it inspired the X-Files. Thanks so much Robert for these great memories.
Thank you John! I love the '70s Mego lines. I was watching the commercials for "The Planet of the Apes" collection when I was doing the editing for this video, fun stuff.
The transition of shows from film to video really took hold that season. It seemed like the dawn of a new age in television and in dealing with topics that were relateable (such as with Hot L Baltimore). Really it was the opposite as more and more crappified content was showing up in the late 70s.
Wonderful retro. I was mid-teens also saw at least a couple episodes of several series in many different frames of mind. Great seeing all the B and C list stars. Ned Beatty was underrated.😊
I missed "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" because it was first on at 10 as I was falling asleep, then at 8 when it was on against "Sanford-," "Chico-" and Friday night services. It wore on McGavin to the point he didn't even want to reprise the role on "The X Files" that "Kolchak" clearly influenced. But here it is.
Dude I was absolutely.CRUSHED when i read mcgavin turned down a reprisal of kolchack on x files i get it it was sort of joke to him jhonny carson made fun of the show and he was upset big time about it but it makes me sad he didnt realize just how much people loved not just the show but him as well. For gods sake its a TOTAL classic nowadays! Also love him in the natural too he was only supposed to have a few lines but redford was so impressed by him that he expanded the role.
It amazes me to see that The Night Stalker ranked 74th our of 84 Shows......when it was on the air, everyone I knew watched and loved the show....it seemed like at least in my school, it was the most popular show that everyone was talking about......although I never watched it......same as when I was a kid with "Land of the Giants" and "It's about Time". They both were badly ranked but everyone I was friends with loved the shows.
I was one of those kids who watched and loved The Night Stalker. It seemed to be popular in my school too. I still have friends my age who remember the show and will make some casual reference to some trope from the show in passing conversation just tacitly assuming everyone will get the reference because the show was so popular with our age group back in the day. I remember "Land of the Giants" and "It's About Time" also being popular with my schoolmates. I remember there was a hand-clapping game to which the pair of kids would recite "It's about Time. It's about Space. It's about time to slap your face!" then try to slap each other's face.
The demographic of 12-year-old boys wasn't large enough, apparently, to keep it going. I was about 14 when it was on. I saw all the episodes at the time, as it was my favorite show, but one week it was locally preempted and I had to try to DX it, so to speak, by aiming the antenna in the direction of the next nearest big city market and managed to watch, I think, The Trevi Collection episode, through a haze of screen snow, lol. What a time.
@OuterGalaxyLounge The best time to DX was when a cold front was passing directly overhead. From South Florida, I used to be able to get stations in Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville like they were right next door. I even got Channel 17 in Atlanta once.
@@OuterGalaxyLounge I was also 14 when the series first aired. I was 11 when the made for TV movie "The Night Stalker" that the series was based on aired in January of 1972, and I loved that movie. According to Wikipedia article about the movie: "The Night Stalker garnered the highest ratings of any TV film at that time (33.2 rating - 48 share).[7][10] That resulted in a 1973 follow-up TV film called The Night Strangler and a planned 1974 film titled The Night Killers, which instead evolved into the 1974-1975 television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker, with McGavin reprising his role in both."
The Kolchak: The Night Stalker starring Darren McGavin was my favorite amongst all of these shows. The series pilot movie is one of the best horror/thriller movies ever made. Low budget, but it had great camera work and even better writing. Claude Akins was such a great actor that you hated him by the end of the show. That's a good actor. This was Darren McGavin's best work of his career. And yes, better than... "A Christmas story".
@mikedriggers3635 Simon was Kolchak's newspaper editor boss. Claude Ackins played the Vegas police chief that ran Kolchak outa town after he killed Janos Sckorseni the vampire.
Hot L Baltimore was the first time I saw my old high school student teacher, Conchata Ferrell, after she left for Hollywood. She went on to a great career; I think her last series was Two and a Half Men, where she was terrific, as always. She was a good person, too. May she RIP.
Whenever I see one of these things I always remember reading that "Cheers" was like one week from being canceled when its audience found it. Sometimes it's just a matter of deciding how to use a cast. Watch the first few episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show". Andy was supposed to be the goofy hick from "No Time for Sergeants" and Barney the more serious one. Andy would grin from ear to ear the whole episode. It wasn't working. The roles were reversed, with Andy being the straight man to Barney's antics and it took off like a rocket. If the changes weren't made, it might have ended up like these shows.
First episodes of shows are often interesting for that reason. On the first Perry Mason episode, Raymond Burr is wearing an uncharacteristically loud sports jacket and when we first see Paul Drake, he's in a smoke-filled poker game of dubious legality! The first several episodes of Leave it to Beaver, I was surprised by how unlikable and grating June Cleaver was. It really wasn't until the second season when the show jumped from meh ratings on NBC to ABC, where it found its audience, that June finally chilled out.
Cheers finished dead last in the ratings it's first season but received critical success and was allowed to continue. What helped was moving Family Ties to Thursday nights along with Gimmie a Break which was Cheers' lead in then after Cheers was Hill Street Blues. This was when Must See TV was born. A couple of season later the Cosby Show began and the rest was history.
There were only 3 shows that I even looked at in all of these that year. Archer because I am a mystery fan, Planet of the Apes - once, and my all time favorite which I have on DVD & I got to meet Darrin Mac Gavin because he was filming a made for tv film literally outside of my apartment building in San Francisco, Kolchak : The Night Stalker and I never missed an episode. RIP. Darrin.
In my BRAIN: 1974 was my FAVORITE TV season: 1) Planet of the Apes (I had the Mego figures ! Still called "dolls" back in 1974). 2) Kolchak the Night Stalker (both shows on FRDAY and NO SCHOOL the next day ! And one last thing: 1974 was the TV premiere of ....The Poseidon Adventure on TV ! ABC Sunday Night Movie !
I remember a lot of these shows: The “Caribe” episode with Stacy Keach (“Mike Hammer”), Brett Somers (“Match Game”) and Robert Mandan had to have been a hoot! “Sons and Daughters” featured an all-star cast of young actors: Gary Frank, Glynnis O’Connor (“Ode To Billy Joe”, “The Boy In The Plastic Bubble”), Barry Livingston (“My Three Sons”), Debralee Scott (“Welcome Back Kotter”, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”), Lionel Johnston and Jan Shutan (“Star Trek: The Original Series”). “Lucas Tanner”- David Hartman would go on to become the first host of “Good Morning America” or “GMA” with Nancy Dussault (“Too Close For Comfort”), succeeding “A.M. America” with Bill Beutel, Stephanie Edwards and a young, handsome Canadian named Peter Jennings! (“Lucas Tanner” was also my 5th grade teacher’s favorite show- but he was homesick for Missouri, his home state, where the show took place! He didn’t like being in Indiana, where he was working.) “Lucas Tanner” also featured a very young Robbie Rist (Cousin Oliver of “The Brady Bunch”). “Get Christie Love” was basically a Blaxploitation version of “Police Woman (which starred Angie Dickenson)”. Teresa Graves (“Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In”) became a Jehovah’s Witness during the run of that show and gave up show business altogether after it ended! The T.V. version of “Paper Moon” featured a young Jodie Foster taking on Tatum O’Neal’s role! “We’ll Get By” was an early piece for Ned Beatty, Willie Ames (“Eight Is Enough”) and Jerry Houser, and also featured Devon Scott, whose father was George C. Scott! And I loved how Paul Sand would drag his string bass through the streets of Boston on “Friends And Lovers”! And nobody was able to know about Bob Crane’s “hidden activities” and be murdered in a pretty short time!
Great post Jeanne! Very informative. I'd actually love to see the short run of "Caribe" myself. I think they should release a giant QM Productions set, with all of the lesser known series all bundled together. Like "A Man Called Sloane", "Caribe", "The Runaways", "Most Wanted", etc. I also want to see "Caribe", just to see Brett Somers acting in a (semi) regular series. I like her with Charles Nelsen Reilly, good staples to have on the show. I'm not sure that she's all that fussy about Gene Rayburn, or he with her...
A lot of these shows look good! I'd watch 'em, especially the police and mystery ones like, "Get Christie Love" (Theresa Graves!), "Archer"(Brian Keith!), and "Kodiak" (Clint Walker!). I like the Kurt Russell western one , too. The Kolchak one became a cult classic, even though it wasn't on long. I also have it on DVD! I love Darren McGavin. Seems like the networks should have given shows more time to find an audience. They just cooked up a lot of show spaghetti and threw it at the wall to see what stuck. Seems like a waste. Great video - lots of fun seeing these old shows and stars!
Planet of the Apes co-starred James Naughton, older brother of David Naughton, star of another show you'll no doubt be covering in your video on the 1979-80 season, Makin' It. David's much better remembered as the guy in those Dr. Pepper ads with the "I'm a Pepper" jingle.
David Naughten of course starred in American Werewolf in London but an underrated movie for him was The Great All Nighter which also starred a young Michael J. Fox.
There was a lot of competition back then, some of the short lived series were just plain terrible, but some were pretty good, but the great shows they were up against they didn't stand a chance!
Good to see these shows.. some I knew of and some I didn't - like Lucas Tanner taking place in St. Louis where I live. THANK YOU for producing and uploading this.
Fun Fact: "Amy Prentiss" was Helen Hunt's first TV series role. She had appeared in one TV movie before "Pioneer Woman" (1973), but this was her first series
@@Blaqjaqshellaq And some full episodes of the Swiss Family Robinson series with Helen Hunt was uploaded a few days on TH-cam. Low quality that looks like they were copied from ancient VHS tapes.
Excellent presentation Rob. The 74/75 season is the best so many to choose from my top 5 would be Amy Prentiss only 3 episodes, Caribe, Archer , Nakia with Robert Forster who had no luck on tv and The night stalker apparently Darren mcgavin had enough and was sick of fighting monsters every week.
There was also the fact that Jeff Rice, who wrote the original "Night Stalker" novel that became the basis for the two TV movies and the series, claimed he'd never given permission for ABC to produce a weekly series.......and mediocre ratings killed it [ABC quietly ended it on Saturday nights in August 1975].
Being 7 years old during 1974-75, I remember my parents watching "The Smothers Brothers Show," "The Manhunter," "Paper Moon," "Karen," "The Bob Crane Show," and "Paul Sands in Friends and Lovers." I had to beg my parents to let me watch "Planet of the Apes" and "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" since we only had One (1) television in the house, but they often said no. I was luckily enough to see a few episodes of each series back then. Today I have "Planet of the Apes" and "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" on DVD and watch them whenever I want. What is the saying? Good things come to those who wait. LOL Thanks again for the good memories!
Thank you for watching Ted! Looking back, I can appreciate being forced to all gather around and watch one show together; I certainly didn't like all of the shows that were playing. Funny thing is, I appreciate some of the shows I didn't want to watch then, and have revisited those episodes more recently. Thank you for your post!
@@everetttauscher8377 In Central time, I remember it showing from 9 to 10pm. Ted it was much the same in my house. I'm about two years older than you, but I was lucky that my mom has always been a horror fan, so I usually got to watch The Night Stalker. I remember Planet of the Apes, but I think I might have only caught in later, in syndication.
@@billblake9665 Yes! That's right. I got it at 4 a.m. (Central) from an ABC affiliate out of Spokane (KXLY); far away from where I live. That had a lot to do with me wanting to even start up this channel btw. They generally picked-up "Lost in Space" or "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" in that same time slot (VERY early Sunday morning). They'd occasionally show "Wagon Train" or "The Big Valley" on Saturday afternoons, and maybe some "Happy Days" on a Sunday. I was jealous, that I couldn't get MeTV where I live, other than to get the odd show via that ABC affiliate.
I love how you give more details! That way those of us who are obsessively curious don't need to hop over to imdb to find out how many episodes these poor things lasted. Thanks! PS I'm another one of those Kolchak/Darren McGavin fans.
I've been giving out a lot of hearts Liz, but I'd give out a triple one for your post. I really appreciate your feedback. On my end, I'm always on IMBD (pausing things that I'm watching), so I'm happy that you get it! Thanks again!
I was gratified to see Archer, starring Brian Keith, included here. I was so looking forward to the premiere of this series, based on the character created by novelist Ross MacDonald, as I was a huge fan of his detective fiction, but I wasn't surprised the series was canceled after only six episodes, given how weak it was. The series was presumably created in the wake of the successful TV movie adaptation of the novel The Underground Man, which starred Peter Graves as Lew Archer. The typography of the title sequence was directly lifted from the typography used on the covers of the then current paperback editions of the books that were issued by Bantam (in the days when paperbacks sold for about $1.50.)
Too bad it killed the name because we know there will never be another show called that and Jessica Walters certainly won't be on it as the main character's mother 😅
Paul Sands' show had the #1 lead-in, All In The Family, but dropped to 25th rated show. Not enough for CBS to keep it. Same was true in previous seasons with "Bridget Love Bernie" and "Doc."
@jackmessick2869 It was true with Sandy Duncan's sitcom Funny Face (That, and she had to have surgery to have a tumor removed from her eye). Bridget Loves Bernie, the highest rated show ever to be canceled after only one season, was pulled because of extreme protests from religious groups over the mixed marriage of a Jewish person and a Catholic.
I was 9/10 when The Night Stalker was on, and I had a love/hate relationship with it. I loved to be scared, but it gave me SO many nightmares, my mom wouldn’t let me watch it anymore. I had NO idea it was so short-lived! And I remember watching every episode of “Get Christie Love,” too. That was a fun show. And I watched Lucas Tanner, too!
I remembered most of them. Would like to be able to gp back and watch the whole series of some of them. We never dreamed of such a thing as a VCR much less digital streaming back then.
While other kids in my school talked about becoming engineers or doctors or secretaries or teachers or accountants, I imagined the perfect job to be hauling one of those big stringed instruments (either the bass or the cello) off to the symphony hall and making music, doing concerts, playing in string quartets on the side. So why wasn't I watching Paul Sand's show during its short existence? Because, apparently, it was on at the same time as EMERGENCY, and Emergency and I could not be parted. The closest I ever got to my perfect job, is that I always have a harmonica in my purse.
It’s funny that you say your EMERGENCY! obsession ended your dreams, because growing up my family was very close to a family with two daughters close in age and both a little older than me. They were both OBSESSED with EMERGENCY! And both became paramedics
@@thomasbradley4505 What ended my pursuit of a musical career was the realization that I was not driven toward it in the same way even other kids I went to school with were. I DID, however, become proficient in first aid, even taking the hard-core three-credit class (not the one-afternoon-at-the-Red-Cross version) when I was a university student. Ironically, EMERGENCY was showing in reruns in the midnight hour Sunday night when I was taking that class, and even though I had an 8am class Monday to start the week (that I had to leave before 7am to get to on time), I still would not miss "my show".
12:00- "THE BOB CRANE SHOW" was originally iintended to appear at the start of the season (as "SECOND START") on Fridays- but NBC, as with the other networks, had to shelve or cancel two of their new sitcoms because the FCC reversed their decision to allow them to place programming on Saturdays and Sundays in the 7-8pm(et) time period. Most of their planned fall schedules had to be "reshuffled" as a result. Bob's series- and "SUNSHINE"- did appear in mid-season.
Only 14 episodes were produced. Had the ratings been better, perhaps NBC *would* have ordered a second season. But in the mid-1970's, their schedules were constantly changing....and their ratings were slowly being flushed down the drain by ABC's emergence as "#1" in the 1975-'76 season.
@@fromthesidelines funny how only six years earlier, NBC was boasting high ratings. I saw some clips of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" circa 1969 where some stars were taking digs at ABC. The tables really turned by '75.
Or Jonathan Harris as a jaded professor, who constantly berates Bob for even DARING to try to become a doctor {"YOU- a doctor? If my CAT ever came to you, she'd sue you for malpractice, and SCRATCH YOUR DESK into SAWDUST!!!!"}. 😄
I don't remember watching it, but I know we had it on the telly at our house -- because I DEFINITELY remember Papa telling me (while it was on one night) that I should have played "Addie" on that show because I looked a lot more like "Mose" than Jodie Foster did. Cut to almost twenty years later, Papa and I were on our own cross-country drive in my less-than-reliable car. I was moving, and he wanted to be along just in case of automotive mayhem. Crossing the wide farmland of the central United States, and reaching Davenport, Iowa one afternoon, we stopped at Rudy's Tacos. As we lunched, the sound system played, of all possible things in the world of music, the song "Paper Moon".
What I can remember seeing (at least one episode of): The Smothers Brothers Show, Lucas Tanner, Get Christy Love, the Manhunter (I remember the title sequence but nothing else), Paper Moon, Kodiak, Hot L Baltimore, and the Texas Wheelers. I not only watched Planet Of The Apes, I had the Mego action figures. But the big one has to be Kolchak The Night Stalker, One of my top 5 favorite TV shows. The first DVDs I got was the series collection. Of all these shows, it is the only one whose reruns are regularly broadcast, on MeTV every Saturday Night.
(1) There's an episode of "Match Game" from this time in which Penny Marshall was one of the celebrities; she was on "Friends and Lovers" (2) Everytime I see the opening to one of Quinn Martin's shows ("Caribe"), I start laughing, having seen "Police Squad" satirize it so well. (3) So, this season, we have Paul Sand getting around Boston, and Karen Valentine bike riding around Washington, D.C. In the 1973-74 video, we had Diana Rigg walking around Manhattan. I never knew that kind of opening had been repeated so often.
They were all copying Mary Tyler Moore walking around Minneapolis. There was no originality in 70s television. Story ideas and even entire scripts were recycled from one show to the next with only minimal tweaking. At least six different shows during the decade did a version of "Cat burglar in the middle of a crime witnesses a murder." And every detective's poor secretary got kidnapped and tied up more often than a bondage model.
@@waynetompkins3006 How about all those TV episodes in the late-1970s, early-1980s in which one of the characters is forced to land an airplane, like in the "Airport" movies? I've seen that plot on "Charlie's Angels," "Cheers," "Wings," and "Laverne and Shirley."
@@waynetompkins3006I can recall a Simon and Simon episode that was a direct copy of a The Rockford Files episode I had seen in syndication earlier that week (except two PI's). 😂
I was 11 during this TV season. I clearly remember watching "The Smothers Brothers Show," having missed out on their earlier variety show (having been too young), and I can remember watching "Lucas Tanner" as well. My mother used to watch "Kolchak," which I probably caught a couple of times.
A few of these shows I do remember, The Night Stalker was one of my favorites back in the day. I do have the dvd collection of the series, Darren Mcgavin played the part well.
@@ArthurIdis-c7k cool. I thought I was losing it. They were a tad before my time, but I loved those guys. My uncle watched and loved them and got me into them. They were one of a kind.
David Hartman was an unusual-looking guy. I wouldn't say he was ugly, but he was odd-looking. Like he had a touch of acromegaly. John Kerry is like that, too.
I remember seeing that first actress in Ironside. thinking that they were probably using it for a pilot. She was very good. Saw her in Quincy and a few other shows.
Another brief series popped into my head that I didn't see here. "Apple's Way" was on CBS Sunday nights and starred Ronny Cox. NBC also had one called "Sunshine" with Cliff De Young (I think).
"Apple's Way" is considered two seasons, and I'm including those shows in a video in the future. "Sunshine" is my bad, I had it written down (notes), NBC Thu 8:00-8:30, and somehow forgot to include it. I know I had a hard time finding a decent video to work with initially, and pushed it off to the side to tackle later. Later, never came. I might also make a generally revision video, including the things that I forgot. Thanks for pointing that out Anthony.
@@robertsretrorewind5853 no worries and no knocks. I'm very appreciative of all you're putting together. It's a great blessing and service to many of us yt viewers. Big thanks!
Strange to remember David Hartman as an actor. He was mainly the original host of good morning America. The Get Christi Love was pretty fun as I remember. The Night Stalker was fantastic, way ahead of its time.
Hartman was in The Bold Ones in the ‘60s, a rather clean cut look at lawyering. GMA came along just in time for him, as his upbeat and wholesome style wouldn’t have made it TV dramas any longer.
I wondered around that time, if Charles Martin Smith sort of slid in to being the new Barry Livingston going forward. I saw Barry Livingston show up with a tiny part (with Charlotte Rae) in the movie "Sidewinder 1", and wondered how insignificant of a part could an actor (who's a bit of a name) have. There's a video promo for "Sons and Daughters", and I think Livingston seems to be doing a good job in his role, like he was meant for the part. I'm surprised this show didn't do better.
That was “The Sixth Sense.” It was a one-hour show, but after it was (rather quickly) cancelled, the episodes got cut down and shuffled into “Night Gallery” for syndication. That sound you hear is Rod Serling tossing in his grave.
But not before he got $100,000 to film 25 new introductions for those badly edited "SIXTH SENSE " episodes as part of the syndicated "NIGHT GALLERY". MCA/Universal realized there weren't enough episodes of the original series to make it profitable in syndication, so they added "SIXTH SENSE" to the mix. They needed Serling to "integrate" those episodes.......and they paid what he asked for.
I remember David Hartman as the host of Good Morning America on ABC for several years or so -- never realized he was an actor until seeing his short-lived series mentioned here @ 4:16-5:23.
Kolchak: The Night Stalker was underrated and underappreciated. Of course, given the subject matter, the show was self-limited, but I would have liked at least one more season of it.
"Nakia"...I watched practically every episode of it, and was disappointed that it was canceled (last airdate was 28 December 1974). But I had no idea that it was first an episode of "Police Story", which aired the season prior. Robert Forster (who passed away recently), Arthur Kennedy, Gloria DeHaven, Taylor Lacher, Victor Jory, and the young fellow who played "Half Cub", all did very well, IMHO.
It is hard to believe that, for a show that only had 13 episodes, "The Smothers Brothers" has an enduring legacy. They were also among one of the top selling folk duets in music. I remember watching all of these programs at one time or another, with my personal favorite being "The Night Stalker".
Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers is the classic example of the cant-miss critical darling that missed...hard. It lost too many viewers between All in the Family and Mary Tyler Moore to keep around. Friends and Lovers and The Texas Wheelers were the first two flops from MTM Productions and it started a string of quickly canceled shows from them after several smash hits. BTW, you've won a new subscriber!
maybe you replayed them in your mind three times... Yes, it's like the original TV Gidgit with Sally Field. If anyone would have asked me, I would have said it was on for about three years...but it was on for only one season.. I was very surprised to learn that recently.
I always liked her. I heard she died of a broken heart. She drank herself to death after her fiance got killed in the twin towers on 9/11. She never got over it. Too bad.
I liked her in anything but I really adored her in a goofy show I got caught up in in mid 70s called Mary Hartman Mary Hartman. Deb played Mary's sister. After thinning back from acting she excelled as a wardrobe designer. She was lovable, great smile.
Interesting to observe that the shows are set in many more locations than you find on TV today. Baltimore, St. Louis, Chicago, Boston, Midwest, Washington,
Four of these shows were sitcoms that I liked a great deal and thought deserved to run much longer: We’ll Get By, The Texas Wheelers, Paul Sands in Friends and Lovers, and The Hot L Baltimore (which was based on a play of the same title by the great playwright Lanford Wilson). Especially the first two were greatly underappreciated (and the last one was killed by a truly terrible timeslot).
When Lucas Tanner premiered, my Mom, herself a teacher, grumbled, _“Oh, not another show about an idealistic teacher.”_ Mom was idealistic, but TV portrayals of her profession were such a cliche. I miss you, Mom. ❤️
Get Christie Love was so bad, the producers took out an explanatory ad in the papers explaining how they were retooling it midseason since so few people were watching it. I don't think it helped.
That show was an attempt to capitalize on the "Blaxploitation" craze happening in urban movie theaters at the time. "Shaft" and its many knockoffs were killing it for a few years.
The girl singing onstage in the Texas Wheelers was Karen Lamm, the ex-wife of Chicago's Robert Lamm and afterwards, the ex-wife of The Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson.
I have one very fond memory of Lucas Tanner, it was on one night when my parents were out and my girl friend and I were "wrestling" on the sofa....still remember that after all these years. And other posters are right, Night Stalker was an awesome show. Christi Love was a prime example of what TV executives thought was cool and "in" but really wasn't. No one in real life talked that way.
Thank you for sharing that! I'm always going to connect your story, with whatever episode of "Lucas Tanner" I watch going forward. I think that's awesome!
So awesome to see a young Jessica Walter before Arrested Development and Archer. But it is so strange to have the first sight of her in this program’s intro to be her wet head talking above a shower door. Really weird.
I kept watching these shows turn up and I kept thinking Why in the world haven’t I seen any of these shows? I’m not much of a TV watcher but surely I would have seen them advertised. No I wouldn’t. In 1975 we were in the Army and stationed in Germany. All we had was Armed Forces Network. We watched MASH and Archie Bunker a lot . One thing I loved is they would break for a commercial and they would show every commercial for that show all at once. Then you could watch the show without interruptions!!
The Night Stalker was the best show that season. I was 7 and 8. It was cancelled because Darren McGavin was exhausted from doing all the work himself including throwing out the trash.
The old man just wanted a major award...lol
Same age i was!
The Movies The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler were both very well done.
Kolchak: the Night Stalker series of 20 Episodes is currently featured on the ME TV Channel on weekends; after Star Trek, the Original Series is on from 11 PM to Midnight it’s followed by Kolchak: the Night Stalker TV Series where Carl is a News Wire Reporter with the Independent News Service (INS) in Chicago with his Desk right next to the Elevated Public Transit Train Tracks that are part of the “Loop.”
The Creator of the X-Files Chris Carter was Heavily Influenced by the Kolchak: the Night Stalker Series, Darren McGavin was in at least two episodes of the X-Files. He carried both movies and the original series and was excellent in the X-Files.
His kind of Talent is very Rare. 🤙🏻👽🎱😎
The inspiration (partially) for "The X- Files"
@@DNulrammah Yes it was. But the X Files didn't have the humour.
Currently watching "The Night Stalker" on Peacock.
Kolchak Fan For Life . I hope that Hollywood figures it out soon that Kolchak s easily a great franchise movie .
Extremely underrated show!
Wasn't he the dad in A Christmas Story? 🤔 Yessss! Darren McGavin! 🥰👍
Darren McGavin was in a short-lived detective series called "The Outsider" which was recast and reworked as "The Rockford Files."
I don't know, who would replace Darren McGavin?
@@jackmessick2869 Sam Rockwell , and in a perfect world Brian Cranston would be a little younger and still able to do physical roles . True , Darren McGavin made Kolchak more entertaining than a monster of the week show that at heart it really was .
They did a remake that was nothing like the original, unfortunately.😞
The night stalker was the best show on television. Must see TV in my house.
Scared the hell out of me
Yes those were very dark stories ha
One of the local San Antonio stations would show it late on Saturday nights. It was the primary reason I tried not to go with my parents to the SA Symphony. Great show.
My mother loved that show.
I was a 9 year old in '74. Perfect age and era for Night Stalker to scare the crap out of me.
The joy of only having 3 channels on a Tuesday night.
Must have been nice, all we had was channel three out of Burlington Vermont so all we ever saw was the cow news and whatever CBS had to offer.
We had four... six if you count PBS and the UHF channel that showed the 700 Club. Our independent channel didn't show anything between 7 and 9 but re-runs.
That's was a fact! lol
@user-co7fb6qe5w I remember the first time I was at a friend's house in 73'ish and discovered cable T.V., 60 channels of paradise. (30 of them were music 🎶)
Cable didn't get to Cleveland until 1981
Thank you so very much for this series! I know it's got to be a lot of work, but I hope that you will continue. The videos are paced well and look terrific. All the information is great and the memory jog is really most welcome.
I'm glad that you're enjoying them. Thank you for watching! More to come...
That template for Quinn-Martin production dramas, same format, "Tonight's episode", same announcer.😂
The Waltons was quite a new show killer.😮
We watched The Waltons. Which is why I never heard of a lot of these.
Walton's was a dream family during the depression handling any problem that came their way. This made any other TV family second at best. Remarkable but these stories were inspired by Earl Hamner growing up as he saw it...touching.
@@DanHolmes-o9b My father called it "candy-coated Republican palaver". 😂
"Act One."
Of the list I watched Kolchak the Night Stalker and Get Christie Love and they weren't half bad to watch. I remember I was so disappointed when they cancelled Night Stalker.
I watched it too but it was inevitable that they would run out of monsters and start getting silly.
@@larky368 you're right but I was 9 years old and would have watched anything lol 😆
I remember the David Hartman 'Lucas Tanner' show in its day, not a bad TV drama for the time. 'Get Christie Love' had a cool theme song and the show wasn't bad either. I have completely forgot about Karen Valentine, a 70s wonder woman. Brian Keith was slumming with Archer, a show with great potential yet only lasting a half-season. The Planet of the Apes TV series was my beloved go-to show when it was originally televised, my 11 year old self acquired the action figures from that series. It was done by the end of '74. Kolchak: The Night Stalker is a legendary show, it inspired the X-Files. Thanks so much Robert for these great memories.
Thank you John! I love the '70s Mego lines. I was watching the commercials for "The Planet of the Apes" collection when I was doing the editing for this video, fun stuff.
"ARCHER" lasted six episodes. That's actually a *quarter* of a season (a "half-season" is 12 episodes).
oww my god, I remember about 90% of these shows back in my early teens, what a time capsule of memories you brought back to me, thanks soooo much
Happy to hear that! Thank you for watching!
I was in 3rd Grade
I cried when Born Free was canceled
The transition of shows from film to video really took hold that season. It seemed like the dawn of a new age in television and in dealing with topics that were relateable (such as with Hot L Baltimore). Really it was the opposite as more and more crappified content was showing up in the late 70s.
Wonderful retro. I was mid-teens also saw at least a couple episodes of several series in many different frames of mind. Great seeing all the B and C list stars. Ned Beatty was underrated.😊
I missed "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" because it was first on at 10 as I was falling asleep, then at 8 when it was on against "Sanford-," "Chico-" and Friday night services. It wore on McGavin to the point he didn't even want to reprise the role on "The X Files" that "Kolchak" clearly influenced. But here it is.
Dude I was absolutely.CRUSHED when i read mcgavin turned down a reprisal of kolchack on x files i get it it was
sort of joke to him jhonny carson made fun of the show and he was upset big time about it but it makes me sad he didnt realize just how much people loved not just the show but him as well. For gods sake its a TOTAL classic
nowadays! Also love him in the natural too he was only supposed to have a few lines but redford was so impressed
by him that he expanded the role.
It amazes me to see that The Night Stalker ranked 74th our of 84 Shows......when it was on the air, everyone I knew watched and loved the show....it seemed like at least in my school, it was the most popular show that everyone was talking about......although I never watched it......same as when I was a kid with "Land of the Giants" and "It's about Time". They both were badly ranked but everyone I was friends with loved the shows.
I was one of those kids who watched and loved The Night Stalker. It seemed to be popular in my school too.
I still have friends my age who remember the show and will make some casual reference to some trope from the show in passing conversation just tacitly assuming everyone will get the reference because the show was so popular with our age group back in the day.
I remember "Land of the Giants" and "It's About Time" also being popular with my schoolmates. I remember there was a hand-clapping game to which the pair of kids would recite "It's about Time. It's about Space. It's about time to slap your face!" then try to slap each other's face.
It is on MeTV on Sat. Nights.
The demographic of 12-year-old boys wasn't large enough, apparently, to keep it going. I was about 14 when it was on. I saw all the episodes at the time, as it was my favorite show, but one week it was locally preempted and I had to try to DX it, so to speak, by aiming the antenna in the direction of the next nearest big city market and managed to watch, I think, The Trevi Collection episode, through a haze of screen snow, lol. What a time.
@OuterGalaxyLounge The best time to DX was when a cold front was passing directly overhead. From South Florida, I used to be able to get stations in Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville like they were right next door. I even got Channel 17 in Atlanta once.
@@OuterGalaxyLounge I was also 14 when the series first aired.
I was 11 when the made for TV movie "The Night Stalker" that the series was based on aired in January of 1972, and I loved that movie.
According to Wikipedia article about the movie: "The Night Stalker garnered the highest ratings of any TV film at that time (33.2 rating - 48 share).[7][10] That resulted in a 1973 follow-up TV film called The Night Strangler and a planned 1974 film titled The Night Killers, which instead evolved into the 1974-1975 television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker, with McGavin reprising his role in both."
The 70s is when i spent most of my time watching TV as a teenager and Im amazed by your editing and information. Great work👍
I appreciate reading that Jesper! Thank you!
@@robertsretrorewind5853I second jespers accolade.
I'm wondering to myself, where does he get all this info from?
Good job sir.
@@tonyr.3435 Thank you Tony!
I agree anyone think Karen Valentine show was too much of a knockoff of Mary Tyler Moore?
The Kolchak: The Night Stalker starring Darren McGavin was my favorite amongst all of these shows.
The series pilot movie is one of the best horror/thriller movies ever made.
Low budget, but it had great camera work and even better writing.
Claude Akins was such a great actor that you hated him by the end of the show.
That's a good actor.
This was Darren McGavin's best work of his career.
And yes, better than...
"A Christmas story".
watch on dvd one episode shows overhead boom mike sorta ruined the realism
I think you might mean Simon Oakland.
@mikedriggers3635
Simon was Kolchak's newspaper editor boss.
Claude Ackins played the Vegas police chief that ran Kolchak outa town after he killed Janos Sckorseni the vampire.
@@bigaltheoriginal6579
Shit happens🤷
I loved the Night Stalker! I must have been 10 years old. I still watch it when I see it available!
Hot L Baltimore was the first time I saw my old high school student teacher, Conchata Ferrell, after she left for Hollywood. She went on to a great career; I think her last series was Two and a Half Men, where she was terrific, as always. She was a good person, too. May she RIP.
Great story !
That was a great show! I knew she was from B-more, ((I'm a transplant 🙂🖐️) but I didn't know she was a teacher. Lovely lady. 🥰
@@sharonthompson672 Actually, my high school was in Charleston,WV., her hometown. "Hot L Baltimore" was the name of the TV show shown in this list.
I loved Hot L Baltimore. It had an awful time slot.
I enjoyed it too. What was the time slot ? @@maggiegarber246
Whenever I see one of these things I always remember reading that "Cheers" was like one week from being canceled when its audience found it. Sometimes it's just a matter of deciding how to use a cast. Watch the first few episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show". Andy was supposed to be the goofy hick from "No Time for Sergeants" and Barney the more serious one. Andy would grin from ear to ear the whole episode. It wasn't working. The roles were reversed, with Andy being the straight man to Barney's antics and it took off like a rocket. If the changes weren't made, it might have ended up like these shows.
First episodes of shows are often interesting for that reason. On the first Perry Mason episode, Raymond Burr is wearing an uncharacteristically loud sports jacket and when we first see Paul Drake, he's in a smoke-filled poker game of dubious legality! The first several episodes of Leave it to Beaver, I was surprised by how unlikable and grating June Cleaver was. It really wasn't until the second season when the show jumped from meh ratings on NBC to ABC, where it found its audience, that June finally chilled out.
Cheers finished dead last in the ratings it's first season but received critical success and was allowed to continue. What helped was moving Family Ties to Thursday nights along with Gimmie a Break which was Cheers' lead in then after Cheers was Hill Street Blues. This was when Must See TV was born. A couple of season later the Cosby Show began and the rest was history.
@@Rockhound6165 I noticed Barney Miller was not high in rankings but it too persevered.
There were only 3 shows that I even looked at in all of these that year.
Archer because I am a mystery fan, Planet of the Apes - once, and my all time favorite which I have on DVD & I got to meet Darrin Mac Gavin because he was filming a made for tv film literally outside of my apartment building in San Francisco, Kolchak : The Night Stalker and I never missed an episode. RIP. Darrin.
I think Archer was the fastest canceled series in television history up to that time.
In my BRAIN: 1974 was my FAVORITE TV season: 1) Planet of the Apes (I had the Mego figures ! Still called "dolls" back in 1974). 2) Kolchak the Night Stalker (both shows on FRDAY and NO SCHOOL the next day ! And one last thing: 1974 was the TV premiere of ....The Poseidon Adventure on TV ! ABC Sunday Night Movie !
1974 Premiere of .. Land of the Lost on Saturday mornings.
I remember a lot of these shows: The “Caribe” episode with Stacy Keach (“Mike Hammer”), Brett Somers (“Match Game”) and Robert Mandan had to have been a hoot! “Sons and Daughters” featured an all-star cast of young actors: Gary Frank, Glynnis O’Connor (“Ode To Billy Joe”, “The Boy In The Plastic Bubble”), Barry Livingston (“My Three Sons”), Debralee Scott (“Welcome Back Kotter”, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”), Lionel Johnston and Jan Shutan (“Star Trek: The Original Series”). “Lucas Tanner”- David Hartman would go on to become the first host of “Good Morning America” or “GMA” with Nancy Dussault (“Too Close For Comfort”), succeeding “A.M. America” with Bill Beutel, Stephanie Edwards and a young, handsome Canadian named Peter Jennings! (“Lucas Tanner” was also my 5th grade teacher’s favorite show- but he was homesick for Missouri, his home state, where the show took place! He didn’t like being in Indiana, where he was working.)
“Lucas Tanner” also featured a very young Robbie Rist (Cousin Oliver of “The Brady Bunch”). “Get Christie Love” was basically a Blaxploitation version of “Police Woman (which starred Angie Dickenson)”. Teresa Graves (“Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In”) became a Jehovah’s Witness during the run of that show and gave up show business altogether after it ended! The T.V. version of “Paper Moon” featured a young Jodie Foster taking on Tatum O’Neal’s role! “We’ll Get By” was an early piece for Ned Beatty, Willie Ames (“Eight Is Enough”) and Jerry Houser, and also featured Devon Scott, whose father was George C. Scott! And I loved how Paul Sand would drag his string bass through the streets of Boston on “Friends And Lovers”!
And nobody was able to know about Bob Crane’s “hidden activities” and be murdered in a pretty short time!
Great post Jeanne! Very informative.
I'd actually love to see the short run of "Caribe" myself. I think they should release a giant QM Productions set, with all of the lesser known series all bundled together. Like "A Man Called Sloane", "Caribe", "The Runaways", "Most Wanted", etc.
I also want to see "Caribe", just to see Brett Somers acting in a (semi) regular series. I like her with Charles Nelsen Reilly, good staples to have on the show. I'm not sure that she's all that fussy about Gene Rayburn, or he with her...
@@robertsretrorewind5853 "Caribe"-A earlier version by 10 years of "Miami Vice"
A lot of these shows look good! I'd watch 'em, especially the police and mystery ones like, "Get Christie Love" (Theresa Graves!), "Archer"(Brian Keith!), and "Kodiak" (Clint Walker!). I like the Kurt Russell western one , too. The Kolchak one became a cult classic, even though it wasn't on long. I also have it on DVD! I love Darren McGavin. Seems like the networks should have given shows more time to find an audience. They just cooked up a lot of show spaghetti and threw it at the wall to see what stuck. Seems like a waste. Great video - lots of fun seeing these old shows and stars!
Thank you kindly!
Planet of the Apes co-starred James Naughton, older brother of David Naughton, star of another show you'll no doubt be covering in your video on the 1979-80 season, Makin' It. David's much better remembered as the guy in those Dr. Pepper ads with the "I'm a Pepper" jingle.
You bet Ernest! "Makin' It" is coming up...
As well as the star of "An American Werewolf In London".
I did not know they were brothers. Wow!
David Naughten of course starred in American Werewolf in London but an underrated movie for him was The Great All Nighter which also starred a young Michael J. Fox.
He had a hit single with Makin it and was in My Sister.Sam
There was a lot of competition back then, some of the short lived series were just plain terrible, but some were pretty good, but the great shows they were up against they didn't stand a chance!
Good to see these shows.. some I knew of and some I didn't - like Lucas Tanner taking place in St. Louis where I live. THANK YOU for producing and uploading this.
I appreciate that Chris, and thank you for watching!
Fun Fact: "Amy Prentiss" was Helen Hunt's first TV series role. She had appeared in one TV movie before "Pioneer Woman" (1973), but this was her first series
It was a "spoke" on the "NBC SUNDAY MYSTERY MOVIE" 'wheel'. Only three episodes were produced.
I could not think who that was although I recognized the face. Thanks.
She was in THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON the following season, right?
YES!
@@Blaqjaqshellaq And some full episodes of the Swiss Family Robinson series with Helen Hunt was uploaded a few days on TH-cam. Low quality that looks like they were copied from ancient VHS tapes.
Excellent presentation Rob. The 74/75 season is the best so many to choose from my top 5 would be Amy Prentiss only 3 episodes, Caribe, Archer , Nakia with Robert Forster who had no luck on tv and The night stalker apparently Darren mcgavin had enough and was sick of fighting monsters every week.
There was also the fact that Jeff Rice, who wrote the original "Night Stalker" novel that became the basis for the two TV movies and the series, claimed he'd never given permission for ABC to produce a weekly series.......and mediocre ratings killed it [ABC quietly ended it on Saturday nights in August 1975].
Thank you Paul!
@@fromthesidelines I read that Darren McGavin asked to be released from his contract because he didn’t like the “monster of the week” format.
@cbalducc What did he think he was signing on for? Watergate?
I believe he was also at odds with producer Cy Chermak over the direction of the series.
Being 7 years old during 1974-75, I remember my parents watching "The Smothers Brothers Show," "The Manhunter," "Paper Moon," "Karen," "The Bob Crane Show," and "Paul Sands in Friends and Lovers." I had to beg my parents to let me watch "Planet of the Apes" and "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" since we only had One (1) television in the house, but they often said no. I was luckily enough to see a few episodes of each series back then. Today I have "Planet of the Apes" and "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" on DVD and watch them whenever I want. What is the saying? Good things come to those who wait. LOL Thanks again for the good memories!
Thank you for watching Ted! Looking back, I can appreciate being forced to all gather around and watch one show together; I certainly didn't like all of the shows that were playing. Funny thing is, I appreciate some of the shows I didn't want to watch then, and have revisited those episodes more recently. Thank you for your post!
What time did Kolchak come on? I only remember watching it at 11:30 est on Friday night.
@@everetttauscher8377 In Central time, I remember it showing from 9 to 10pm.
Ted it was much the same in my house. I'm about two years older than you, but I was lucky that my mom has always been a horror fan, so I usually got to watch The Night Stalker. I remember Planet of the Apes, but I think I might have only caught in later, in syndication.
Kolchack was always my top show never watched planet ota until about 2 or 3 years ago me tv was playing it around
5 in the morning.
@@billblake9665 Yes! That's right. I got it at 4 a.m. (Central) from an ABC affiliate out of Spokane (KXLY); far away from where I live. That had a lot to do with me wanting to even start up this channel btw. They generally picked-up "Lost in Space" or "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" in that same time slot (VERY early Sunday morning).
They'd occasionally show "Wagon Train" or "The Big Valley" on Saturday afternoons, and maybe some "Happy Days" on a Sunday.
I was jealous, that I couldn't get MeTV where I live, other than to get the odd show via that ABC affiliate.
I have to admit I laughed out loud at the checkers game promoting “Hot L Baltimore.”
Me too!
You're cheating because you're black!... I'm red and you're black! 😂
The only quote I remember from this show, is someone mentioned animal husbandry, and a woman said all husbands are animals.
So did I. The show probably would have lasted longer if it didn't go against The Rockford Files.
I love how you give more details! That way those of us who are obsessively curious don't need to hop over to imdb to find out how many episodes these poor things lasted. Thanks!
PS I'm another one of those Kolchak/Darren McGavin fans.
I've been giving out a lot of hearts Liz, but I'd give out a triple one for your post. I really appreciate your feedback. On my end, I'm always on IMBD (pausing things that I'm watching), so I'm happy that you get it! Thanks again!
I was gratified to see Archer, starring Brian Keith, included here. I was so looking forward to the premiere of this series, based on the character created by novelist Ross MacDonald, as I was a huge fan of his detective fiction, but I wasn't surprised the series was canceled after only six episodes, given how weak it was. The series was presumably created in the wake of the successful TV movie adaptation of the novel The Underground Man, which starred Peter Graves as Lew Archer. The typography of the title sequence was directly lifted from the typography used on the covers of the then current paperback editions of the books that were issued by Bantam (in the days when paperbacks sold for about $1.50.)
I appreciate this information.
Too bad it killed the name because we know there will never be another show called that and Jessica Walters certainly won't be on it as the main character's mother 😅
I fond memories of watching Lucas Tanner and Friends and lovers.
I remember an episode of Lucas Tanner going to the saint louis arch, I was young and never knew it existed
I never got to watch it. The NBC affiliate in Atlanta refused to carry it!
Paul Sands' show had the #1 lead-in, All In The Family, but dropped to 25th rated show. Not enough for CBS to keep it. Same was true in previous seasons with "Bridget Love Bernie" and "Doc."
@jackmessick2869 It was true with Sandy Duncan's sitcom Funny Face (That, and she had to have surgery to have a tumor removed from her eye). Bridget Loves Bernie, the highest rated show ever to be canceled after only one season, was pulled because of extreme protests from religious groups over the mixed marriage of a Jewish person and a Catholic.
Your videos are entertaining. A reminder of a time before instant access.
Thank you, and much appreciated!
I remember watching "Lucas Tanner." A great show!
I agree!
David Hartman would shortly afterwards would go on to host Good Morning America.
@@Patrick-hm4eg I remember! He was one of its very first hosts & stayed for many years' time.
@@gailreese4102 before that the show was titled if memory serves AM America
@@Patrick-hm4eg I don't remember AM America, but it could well have been.
I was 9/10 when The Night Stalker was on, and I had a love/hate relationship with it. I loved to be scared, but it gave me SO many nightmares, my mom wouldn’t let me watch it anymore. I had NO idea it was so short-lived! And I remember watching every episode of “Get Christie Love,” too. That was a fun show. And I watched Lucas Tanner, too!
I remembered most of them. Would like to be able to gp back and watch the whole series of some of them. We never dreamed of such a thing as a VCR much less digital streaming back then.
While other kids in my school talked about becoming engineers or doctors or secretaries or teachers or accountants, I imagined the perfect job to be hauling one of those big stringed instruments (either the bass or the cello) off to the symphony hall and making music, doing concerts, playing in string quartets on the side. So why wasn't I watching Paul Sand's show during its short existence? Because, apparently, it was on at the same time as EMERGENCY, and Emergency and I could not be parted. The closest I ever got to my perfect job, is that I always have a harmonica in my purse.
Great read!
It’s funny that you say your EMERGENCY! obsession ended your dreams, because growing up my family was very close to a family with two daughters close in age and both a little older than me. They were both OBSESSED with EMERGENCY! And both became paramedics
@@thomasbradley4505 What ended my pursuit of a musical career was the realization that I was not driven toward it in the same way even other kids I went to school with were. I DID, however, become proficient in first aid, even taking the hard-core three-credit class (not the one-afternoon-at-the-Red-Cross version) when I was a university student. Ironically, EMERGENCY was showing in reruns in the midnight hour Sunday night when I was taking that class, and even though I had an 8am class Monday to start the week (that I had to leave before 7am to get to on time), I still would not miss "my show".
12:00- "THE BOB CRANE SHOW" was originally iintended to appear at the start of the season (as "SECOND START") on Fridays- but NBC, as with the other networks, had to shelve or cancel two of their new sitcoms because the FCC reversed their decision to allow them to place programming on Saturdays and Sundays in the 7-8pm(et) time period. Most of their planned fall schedules had to be "reshuffled" as a result. Bob's series- and "SUNSHINE"- did appear in mid-season.
The Bob Crane show good choice definitely needed a longer run.
Only 14 episodes were produced. Had the ratings been better, perhaps NBC *would* have ordered a second season. But in the mid-1970's, their schedules were constantly changing....and their ratings were slowly being flushed down the drain by ABC's emergence as "#1" in the 1975-'76 season.
@@paulkitt-er9drIt needed Werner Klemperer as a co-star.
@@fromthesidelines funny how only six years earlier, NBC was boasting high ratings. I saw some clips of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" circa 1969 where some stars were taking digs at ABC. The tables really turned by '75.
Or Jonathan Harris as a jaded professor, who constantly berates Bob for even DARING to try to become a doctor {"YOU- a doctor? If my CAT ever came to you, she'd sue you for malpractice, and SCRATCH YOUR DESK into SAWDUST!!!!"}. 😄
I remember watching Paper Moon. Thanks.
I don't remember watching it, but I know we had it on the telly at our house -- because I DEFINITELY remember Papa telling me (while it was on one night) that I should have played "Addie" on that show because I looked a lot more like "Mose" than Jodie Foster did. Cut to almost twenty years later, Papa and I were on our own cross-country drive in my less-than-reliable car. I was moving, and he wanted to be along just in case of automotive mayhem. Crossing the wide farmland of the central United States, and reaching Davenport, Iowa one afternoon, we stopped at Rudy's Tacos. As we lunched, the sound system played, of all possible things in the world of music, the song "Paper Moon".
What I can remember seeing (at least one episode of): The Smothers Brothers Show, Lucas Tanner, Get Christy Love, the Manhunter (I remember the title sequence but nothing else), Paper Moon, Kodiak, Hot L Baltimore, and the Texas Wheelers. I not only watched Planet Of The Apes, I had the Mego action figures. But the big one has to be Kolchak The Night Stalker, One of my top 5 favorite TV shows. The first DVDs I got was the series collection. Of all these shows, it is the only one whose reruns are regularly broadcast, on MeTV every Saturday Night.
Nobody remembers Norman Lear had some real stinkers as well.
Oh yeah. For every All in the Family, Sanford and Son and Maude, there was also All's Fair, The Dumplings and Apple Pie.
Especially Norman Lear himself.
Gary Busey was in the promo for the Texas Wheelers. And that was Berta from Two and a Half Men in the Hotel Baltimore.
Good thing The Texas Wheelers didn't last long. The guy in the denim jacket had to save a princess in a galaxy far,far away.
@@markshayler6309 "Doobie Wheeler!"
Along with Mark Hamill!
@@grannyweatherwax8005 I didn’t see him!!!
I'm sixty six Live in dallas texas and I remember the Night Stalker that was my show.. Sure missed him good old days..
(1) There's an episode of "Match Game" from this time in which Penny Marshall was one of the celebrities; she was on "Friends and Lovers" (2) Everytime I see the opening to one of Quinn Martin's shows ("Caribe"), I start laughing, having seen "Police Squad" satirize it so well. (3) So, this season, we have Paul Sand getting around Boston, and Karen Valentine bike riding around Washington, D.C. In the 1973-74 video, we had Diana Rigg walking around Manhattan. I never knew that kind of opening had been repeated so often.
They were all copying Mary Tyler Moore walking around Minneapolis. There was no originality in 70s television. Story ideas and even entire scripts were recycled from one show to the next with only minimal tweaking. At least six different shows during the decade did a version of "Cat burglar in the middle of a crime witnesses a murder." And every detective's poor secretary got kidnapped and tied up more often than a bondage model.
@@waynetompkins3006 How about all those TV episodes in the late-1970s, early-1980s in which one of the characters is forced to land an airplane, like in the "Airport" movies? I've seen that plot on "Charlie's Angels," "Cheers," "Wings," and "Laverne and Shirley."
@@waynetompkins3006I can recall a Simon and Simon episode that was a direct copy of a The Rockford Files episode I had seen in syndication earlier that week (except two PI's). 😂
I was in 8th grade that year and only remember a few. then I saw who they were up against and know why they didn't ring a bell.
Thanks for a well produced show, Robert
I appreciate that, thank you!
I remember "Hot L Baltimore" well! My dad was a big fan!
I was 11 during this TV season. I clearly remember watching "The Smothers Brothers Show," having missed out on their earlier variety show (having been too young), and I can remember watching "Lucas Tanner" as well. My mother used to watch "Kolchak," which I probably caught a couple of times.
A few of these shows I do remember, The Night Stalker was one of my favorites back in the day. I do have the dvd collection of the series, Darren Mcgavin played the part well.
Man, I could have sworn the smothers brothers was on way longer than 13 episodes.
The original was on CBS from 1966-69.
@@ArthurIdis-c7k cool. I thought I was losing it. They were a tad before my time, but I loved those guys. My uncle watched and loved them and got me into them. They were one of a kind.
I would watch the original at my aunts house they were democrats.😂
David Hartman was an unusual-looking guy. I wouldn't say he was ugly, but he was odd-looking. Like he had a touch of acromegaly. John Kerry is like that, too.
I thought he looked like Ray Bolger.
They tried like hell to make him a TV star which he became on Good Morning America.
Anything playing against the Waltons was doomed to fail
Never go up against The Waltons. That's why I never seen a lot of these. It's such a shame Kolchak didn't last longer.
Back when Cops, Firemen, and School Teachers were cool and exciting. I remember Karen Valentine from Room 222.
I loved the night stalker.
I remember seeing that first actress in Ironside. thinking that they were probably using it for a pilot. She was very good. Saw her in Quincy and a few other shows.
Another brief series popped into my head that I didn't see here. "Apple's Way" was on CBS Sunday nights and starred Ronny Cox. NBC also had one called "Sunshine" with Cliff De Young (I think).
"Apple's Way" is considered two seasons, and I'm including those shows in a video in the future. "Sunshine" is my bad, I had it written down (notes), NBC Thu 8:00-8:30, and somehow forgot to include it. I know I had a hard time finding a decent video to work with initially, and pushed it off to the side to tackle later. Later, never came.
I might also make a generally revision video, including the things that I forgot. Thanks for pointing that out Anthony.
@@robertsretrorewind5853 no worries and no knocks. I'm very appreciative of all you're putting together. It's a great blessing and service to many of us yt viewers. Big thanks!
Strange to remember David Hartman as an actor. He was mainly the original host of good morning America. The Get Christi Love was pretty fun as I remember. The Night Stalker was fantastic, way ahead of its time.
He was in quite a few failed series and pilots , it seems . I always think of GMA though
Night Stalker is an all time favorite of mine
It's why he was cast for some episodes of The X Files, as the originator of the FBI "X" files.
YA UNDAH AHREST, SUGAH!
Hartman was in The Bold Ones in the ‘60s, a rather clean cut look at lawyering. GMA came along just in time for him, as his upbeat and wholesome style wouldn’t have made it TV dramas any longer.
The real Bob Crane Show: "Hey baby, I got my video cameras set up for some hijinks ..."
I had to look into this, a good read.
While wearing his Hogan's Heros jacket.
Remember when he died,still have the small newspaper article and when the details surrounding his personal life....sad!! Auckland New Zealand 2024
It looks like his co-star may have gotten away with murder.
He was acquitted in a Court of Law though.
The only one I remember was Planet Of The Apes TV series, very lame to the original movies, probably why they're were canceled, that and the cost.
I do remember Sons And Daughters. I didn't know Barry Livingston was on it though. Without his glasses.
I wondered around that time, if Charles Martin Smith sort of slid in to being the new Barry Livingston going forward. I saw Barry Livingston show up with a tiny part (with Charlotte Rae) in the movie "Sidewinder 1", and wondered how insignificant of a part could an actor (who's a bit of a name) have.
There's a video promo for "Sons and Daughters", and I think Livingston seems to be doing a good job in his role, like he was meant for the part. I'm surprised this show didn't do better.
So was Debra Lee Scott who you might remember in the Police Academy movies.
And Glynnis O’Conner,
Had a Huge Crush on her,She was the perfect 70’s Girl Next Door!
@@retrobilly1719 I only know her from 2 things: The Boy in the Plastic Bubble and Johnny Dangerously.
Loved Kolchek...👍
I liked the Night Stalker and Christie Love
Karen Valentine. I havent seen her face in years. Valerie Bertinelli reminds me of her.
Wow what a great flashback! Thanks so much!
Awesome! Thank you for watching!
Gary Collins of Born Free had first achieved notoriety on Rod Serling's Night Gallery.
That was “The Sixth Sense.” It was a one-hour show, but after it was (rather quickly) cancelled, the episodes got cut down and shuffled into “Night Gallery” for syndication. That sound you hear is Rod Serling tossing in his grave.
But not before he got $100,000 to film 25 new introductions for those badly edited "SIXTH SENSE " episodes as part of the syndicated "NIGHT GALLERY". MCA/Universal realized there weren't enough episodes of the original series to make it profitable in syndication, so they added "SIXTH SENSE" to the mix. They needed Serling to "integrate" those episodes.......and they paid what he asked for.
The Sixth Sense was the true nightmare of Night Gallery.
I remember David Hartman as the host of Good Morning America on ABC for several years or so -- never realized he was an actor until seeing his short-lived series mentioned here @ 4:16-5:23.
David Hartman was a contract player for Universal Studios back in the 1960s.
@@patriciahayes2664 He ended up in several failed shows.
@@cbalducc I know. One of them was "Lucas Tanner".
He was on "The Bold Ones" which was actually a successful show.
@@waynetompkins3006 I know! It's where I first noticed him. I had a crush on him back then.
I can tell by the opening introduction of the show on how much effort people put into the series.
You’re right. I’ve always said that myself!
Kolchak: The Night Stalker was underrated and underappreciated. Of course, given the subject matter, the show was self-limited, but I would have liked at least one more season of it.
"Nakia"...I watched practically every episode of it, and was disappointed that it was canceled (last airdate was 28 December 1974). But I had no idea that it was first an episode of "Police Story", which aired the season prior.
Robert Forster (who passed away recently), Arthur Kennedy, Gloria DeHaven, Taylor Lacher, Victor Jory, and the young fellow who played "Half Cub", all did very well, IMHO.
It is hard to believe that, for a show that only had 13 episodes, "The Smothers Brothers" has an enduring legacy. They were also among one of the top selling folk duets in music. I remember watching all of these programs at one time or another, with my personal favorite being "The Night Stalker".
This Smothers Brothers Show was their second one. Their truly influential one was the great ‘60s show.
I was in love with Karen Valentine but even so I knew that she wasn't a very strong lead actor.
True. She was better as a supporting player- even when she wore that bikini and boots in her 1974 TV movie "The Girl Who Came Gift Wrapped".
But she grabbed our hearts in Room 222. Used to fantasize wanting a teacher like her lol...
Reminds of Van Halen's song, Hot for the Teacher
Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers is the classic example of the cant-miss critical darling that missed...hard. It lost too many viewers between All in the Family and Mary Tyler Moore to keep around. Friends and Lovers and The Texas Wheelers were the first two flops from MTM Productions and it started a string of quickly canceled shows from them after several smash hits. BTW, you've won a new subscriber!
Great to hear! Thank you!
Wow! Bob Crane had a car phone, in 1974!
There were only 3 episodes of Amy Prentiss?!? Wow, that's news to me. I could've sworn there were more than 3. At least 10.
maybe you replayed them in your mind three times... Yes, it's like the original TV Gidgit with Sally Field. If anyone would have asked me, I would have said it was on for about three years...but it was on for only one season.. I was very surprised to learn that recently.
Always adored Debra Lee Scott...pitter pat❤
Hotsey Totsey, if you remember.
I always liked her. I heard she died of a broken heart. She drank herself to death after her fiance got killed in the twin towers on 9/11. She never got over it. Too bad.
I liked her in anything but I really adored her in a goofy show I got caught up in in mid 70s called Mary Hartman Mary Hartman. Deb played Mary's sister. After thinning back from acting she excelled as a wardrobe designer. She was lovable, great smile.
@@DanHolmes-o9b after Mary Hartmann, we used to watch Prisoner: Cell Block H in NYC late night
I remember Born Free.
Born Free. my father was a doctor......
It was like a real version of Wild Kingdom on Sundays.
Glad I've Got the Night Stalker Pilot Movies & Series on DVDs. Watch the Best Episodes Halloween Weekend.
Interesting to observe that the shows are set in many more locations than you find on TV today. Baltimore, St. Louis, Chicago, Boston, Midwest, Washington,
Four of these shows were sitcoms that I liked a great deal and thought deserved to run much longer: We’ll Get By, The Texas Wheelers, Paul Sands in Friends and Lovers, and The Hot L Baltimore (which was based on a play of the same title by the great playwright Lanford Wilson). Especially the first two were greatly underappreciated (and the last one was killed by a truly terrible timeslot).
I remember a lot of them. I was 13. Better days.
4:54 the kind of teacher that would sit on a backwards chair to talk to you
When Lucas Tanner premiered, my Mom, herself a teacher, grumbled, _“Oh, not another show about an idealistic teacher.”_ Mom was idealistic, but TV portrayals of her profession were such a cliche. I miss you, Mom. ❤️
Get Christie Love was so bad, the producers took out an explanatory ad in the papers explaining how they were retooling it midseason since so few people were watching it. I don't think it helped.
I remembering that it looked like it could be good but it wasn't when it aired.
I wasn't allowed to watch it. I guess it was too urban for my parents 😄
You jive turkey!
That show was an attempt to capitalize on the "Blaxploitation" craze happening in urban movie theaters at the time. "Shaft" and its many knockoffs were killing it for a few years.
Too young to know about the content but I like looking at Teresa Graves
The Night Stalker was an excellent show. I was 8 or 9 and it scared me every week. 😂
Sounded like John denver singing the themesong for the new land.
"Sons & Daughters" was also a favorite of mine. I remember it well!
I really like Gary Frank on "Family", and I suspect I'd like "Sons & Daughters" as well.
@@robertsretrorewind5853 Absolutely!
Glynnis O’Conner ,What a Beauty!
I watched HOT L BALTIMORE. Apparently, I was the only one.
No you weren't. I watched it and liked it.
I tried. I didn't like it.
I liked the show. It’s one of the few shown here that I still remember
No you weren’t.
I tried it but didn't like it.
The girl singing onstage in the Texas Wheelers was Karen Lamm, the ex-wife of Chicago's Robert Lamm and afterwards, the ex-wife of The Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson.
Very interesting. I just watched the episode prior to editing that part. The thought did cross my mind as to who she was. Thanks!
She was in the very last episode of the the seventies version of The Hardy Boys. It's called Life On The Line.
Most of these...I only remember show names and actors...for some. However, I don't remember watching ANY of the shows themselves.
Omg Jessica Walter the mom on Arrested Development! I've never seen her young.
i had forgotten all about Gary Collins. I remember his show Hour Magazine back in the 1980s.
I have one very fond memory of Lucas Tanner, it was on one night when my parents were out and my girl friend and I were "wrestling" on the sofa....still remember that after all these years.
And other posters are right, Night Stalker was an awesome show.
Christi Love was a prime example of what TV executives thought was cool and "in" but really wasn't. No one in real life talked that way.
Thank you for sharing that! I'm always going to connect your story, with whatever episode of "Lucas Tanner" I watch going forward. I think that's awesome!
Aw Sons & Daughters with Beautiful Glynnis O’Conner
So awesome to see a young Jessica Walter before Arrested Development and Archer. But it is so strange to have the first sight of her in this program’s intro to be her wet head talking above a shower door. Really weird.
Thanks For Sharing!
Thank you for watching!
The Night Stalker - "Horror in the Heights" is the best episode.
That is good. I always liked the one with the really tall Indian!
Definitely an uphill battle for ABC going up against The Waltons, Rockford Files, Sanford and Son, and Sunday Night Mystery Movie, etc.
Some of these intros make me feel like I'm watching parodies on SCTV.
I always thought that Jessica Walter had it really bad for Clint Eastwood! 😜😂🤭 SGT Stendenko finally had his own show? Awesome!
No one can ride a bike like Karen Valentine. No wonder I was in love.
I kept watching these shows turn up and I kept thinking Why in the world haven’t I seen any of these shows? I’m not much of a TV watcher but surely I would have seen them advertised. No I wouldn’t. In 1975 we were in the Army and stationed in Germany. All we had was Armed Forces Network. We watched MASH and Archie Bunker a lot . One thing I loved is they would break for a commercial and they would show every commercial for that show all at once. Then you could watch the show without interruptions!!
Like Diana, starring Diana Rigg, Karen was a precursor to the Mary Tyler Moore Show, about a single woman in a big city.
Not a precursor, because Karen started four years after MTM.
There was ONE show in the 90's; a thirty-minute comedy called "Hardball." It was cancelled midway through its FIRST season.