Forgotten Network/Syndicated TV Shows of the Past

[jfrancispastirchak]

* The Defenders, w/ E.G. Marshall & Robert Reed
* Greatest Amercan Hero, w/ Bill Katt, Robert Culp, Connie Sellecca

Re "Greatest American..." After the 1981 attempted assassination of President Reagan by John Hinkley Jr, the hero character's AKA name of Ralph "Hinkley" (Bill Katt) was changed to Ralph HANLEY.

 

[bpatrick]

Remember, there was a Divorce Court back in the 1950s and 1960s. I think it was produced at KTLA, but I could be wrong.

Maybe at one time, but it was also produced at KTTV for some years. The judge in that version was Voltaire Perkins. Towards the end of its run, WOR-TV in New York was the venue for airing in that city.

One forgotten show in the recesses of my little grey cells is Bonkers! (1978-79), a syndicated British-produced show for the American market, hosted by The Hudson Brothers with Bob Monkhouse as one of the regulars (co-produced by ATV/ITC which also brought us The Muppet Show during this time). Each edition had a different big-name guest (one I remember was John Ritter doing a Tom Jones impression singing "It's Not Unusual" whilst stripping to nothing, in a parody of Jones' Vegas act of the time). Started out in NYC Fridays at 7:30 at WCBS-TV, but by year's end and up to the end of its run was relegated to late Saturday night/early Sunday morning, sandwiched in-between Late Show movie presentations and right after the slides-only early morning news updates read by staff announcers (I can still, in my head, hear either Don Robertson or Pat Connell intone, "Stay tuned for [movie title here], the next feature on The Late Show II following the A.M. news and Bonkers!).

Another was the 1973-74 syndicated version of It Pays to Be Ignorant. That seems to be one show GSN, in all the years they ran old game shows, glossed over.

Yet another show that seems to have been forgotten was the very short-lived 1976 ABC series Mr. T and Tina which, for some odd reason, I thought at the time the title was an oblique reference to Ike and Tina Turner.

Also . . . The Now People, a 45-minute drama aired on ABC after The Music Scene in the early months of the 1969-70 season.

"The New People." Some people have compared it to "Lost."

After the demise of the 1973-74 version of "It Pays To Be Ignorant," Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall, who had bought the rights from the estate of the show's creator, Tom Howard, tried again the following year with a new version of "Masquerade Party," with Richard Dawson as host, and Bill Bixby, Lee Meriwether, and Nipsey Russell as panelists. That lasted only a year as well.

Another one that GSN missed was "The $128,000 Question," a limp revival of "The $64,000 Question" which lasted from 1976-78. Mike Darrow emceed the first season, taped in New York; Alex Trebek, the second, taped in Toronto.

 

[cd637299]

As to "The New People," the producers shoulda known that a 45-minute series wouldn't have much rerun potential!

cd

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Pretty much anything on NBC primetime roughly during about 1976-September 19, 1984 that wasn't named "Sanford and Son," "Little House on the Prairie," "Gimme a Break," "A-Team," "Diff'rent Strokes," "Facts of Life," "Family Ties," "Mama's Family," "Cheers," "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes," "Tonight Show," and SNL. ;D

So you're saying that "Real People", "The Midnight Special", "Friday Night Videos", "Late Night with David Letterman", "The Tomorrow Show" and "Wheel of Fortune" are forgotten?

Sorry about that (with apologies)--add that to my above list. I'm thinking stuff along the lines of "Manimal," "Jennifer Slept Here," "Waverly Wonders," "Sweepstakes," etc.

 

[wbhist]

I'm thinking stuff along the lines of "Manimal," "Jennifer Slept Here," "Waverly Wonders," "Sweepstakes," etc.

I presume also Dick Clark's Live Wednesday, The Eddie Capra Mysteries, Project UFO, David Cassidy - Man Undercover . . .

 

[wbhist]

After the demise of the 1973-74 version of "It Pays To Be Ignorant," Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall, who had bought the rights from the estate of the show's creator, Tom Howard, tried again the following year with a new version of "Masquerade Party," with Richard Dawson as host, and Bill Bixby, Lee Meriwether, and Nipsey Russell as panelists. That lasted only a year as well.

By the time CBS ran The Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978, WCBS in New York put episodes of that version of Masquerade Party in the Friday 7:30 P.M. time slot in place of Bonkers!

Sorry about the flub of The New People title . . .

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Pretty much anything on NBC primetime roughly during about 1976-September 19, 1984 that wasn't named "Sanford and Son," "Little House on the Prairie," "Gimme a Break," "A-Team," "Diff'rent Strokes," "Facts of Life," "Family Ties," "Mama's Family," "Cheers," "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes," "Tonight Show," and SNL. ;D

So you're saying that "Real People", "The Midnight Special", "Friday Night Videos", "Late Night with David Letterman", "The Tomorrow Show" and "Wheel of Fortune" are forgotten?

"Waverly Wonders,"...

Waverly Wonders, starring Joe Namath as the teacher?

 

[cowboybud]

Pretty much anything on NBC primetime roughly during about 1976-September 19, 1984 that wasn't named "Sanford and Son," "Little House on the Prairie," "Gimme a Break," "A-Team," "Diff'rent Strokes," "Facts of Life," "Family Ties," "Mama's Family," "Cheers," "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes," "Tonight Show," and SNL. ;D

So you're saying that "Real People", "The Midnight Special", "Friday Night Videos", "Late Night with David Letterman", "The Tomorrow Show" and "Wheel of Fortune" are forgotten?

"Waverly Wonders,"...

Waverly Wonders, starring Joe Namath as the teacher?

The role was originally offered to Larry Hagman, who turned it down for a role as a Texas oilman on a nighttime soap.

 

[Toledo Eleven]

How 'bout the 1975 Mel Brooks produced series, When Things Were Rotten? Dick Gautier played Robin Hood and Dick Van Patten was Friar Tuck. Bernie Kopell, and Hee Haw's Misty Rowe were also in it. Critics loved it (and so did I) but it didn't do very well in the ratings and only lasted a few months.

 

[Tim L]

How 'bout the 1975 Mel Brooks produced series, When Things Were Rotten? Dick Gautier played Robin Hood and Dick Van Patten was Friar Tuck. Bernie Kopell, and Hee Haw's Misty Rowe were also in it. Critics loved it (and so did I) but it didn't do very well in the ratings and only lasted a few months.

That was supposed to be the "in" new show for 1975-76, but only lasted 13 episodes. I wanted it to succeed, but it was just too "different" even for 1975..Lets put it this way, It definitely wasnt Richard Greene's Robin Hood..

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

I'd love to see MeTV or Antenna TV pick up "Greatest American Hero" for weekends, at least. (Or RTV, but I'd have to break out my antenna and get into RTV Viewing Position. )

 

[timmyb]

"Camera Three" - CBS Sunday Morning stage show sort of thing - 1960's-1970's

"Mack & Myre for Hire" - Mid 1960's

Mike Stokey's "Stump the Stars" - Late 1960's

"Dusty's Trail" - Early 1970's (Bob Denver & Forrest Tucker)

 

[CrankyYankee]

'Danger Man"/"Secret Agent"
"It's About Time"
"Mr. Terrific" & "Captain Nice"
"Death Valley Days"

 

[azumanga]

Mike Stokey's "Stump the Stars" - Late 1960's

Here's a clip from "Stump The Stars" that surfaced on YouTube recently:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT_cPWkop1U&feature=share

Canadian viewers know the premise better as "Party Game", which ran during the 1970s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyxjP4LECMc

 

[bpatrick]

After the demise of the 1973-74 version of "It Pays To Be Ignorant," Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall, who had bought the rights from the estate of the show's creator, Tom Howard, tried again the following year with a new version of "Masquerade Party," with Richard Dawson as host, and Bill Bixby, Lee Meriwether, and Nipsey Russell as panelists. That lasted only a year as well.

By the time CBS ran The Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978, WCBS in New York put episodes of that version of Masquerade Party in the Friday 7:30 P.M. time slot in place of Bonkers!

Sorry about the flub of The New People title . . .

IIRC, WCBS ran "Masquerade Party" on Fridays at 7:30 in the 1974-75 season and usually won the timeslot. Unfortunately, there weren't enough New Yorks to keep the show going into a second year.

As for "The New People," how about the two shows that surrounded it on Monday nights on ABC in the fall of 1969: "The Music Scene," also a 45-minute show; and "Harold Robbins' 'The Survivors'," a forerunner of the primetime soaps which flourished a decade or so later but which was a nightmare to produce, largely because of star Lana Turner's constant demands for one thing or another? (Of the ABC Monday-night lineup that fall only "Love, American Style" survived but had to be moved to Fridays in order for it to do so.)

And since somebody mentioned Misty Rowe on "When Things Were Rotten," does anyone remember "Hee Haw Honeys" (1978-79)? That one had Kathie Lee Johnson (I don't think she'd married Frank Gifford yet), at the time best known for singing on "Name That Tune," and a few years away from her greatest fame, co-hosting a morning talk show with Regis Philbin.

Mel Brooks' vision of Robin Hood may have worked better in the movie "Robin Hood: Men In Tights."

And mention of the syndicated "Stump The Stars" reminds me of "Celebrity Charades" (1979) with Jay Johnson and his puppet Squeaky. Mike Stokey acted as a consultant on that show.

A few others:

"Relatively Speaking" with host John Byner
The 1988 version of "Liars Club" with Eric Boardman
The 1988 version of "The Gong Show" with Don Bleu or, for that matter, GSN's "Extreme Gong" with George Gray

And some non-game shows:

"Ozzie's Girls"
"Dr. Simon Locke" (before it became "Police Surgeon")
"Young Dr. Kildare" (Mark Jenkins was no Richard Chamberlain)
"Orson Welles' Great Mysteries"
"The Evil Touch" with Anthony Quayle

 

[Mario500]

"Waverly Wonders,"...

Waverly Wonders, starring Joe Namath as the teacher?

The role was originally offered to Larry Hagman, who turned it down for a role as a Texas oilman on a nighttime soap.

You did not have to make a vague references to "Dallas". You cannot expect everyone visiting this message board topic to be familiar with the show and his character.

 

[71dude]

Ball Four
Angie
The Bad News Bears
The Tony Randall Show
Working Stiffs

 

[LKellerIII]

Ozzie's Girls was mentioned above. Along those same lines - Wendy and Me in the mid 60s. George Burns starred in this bald-faced attempt to re-animate Burns and Allen. In this version, Burns played the owner of an apartment building and Connie Stevens was his tenant. Stevens had the Gracie Allen role - playing the ditz, with Burns again as the straight-man.

As a 12 year old boy, I liked it, because I thought Stevens was hot - but I guess it was probably awful. To top it off - Gracie had died just months before the show went on the air, so her "ghost" was present, so to speak. The show only lasted one season.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Ozzie's Girls was mentioned above. Along those same lines - Wendy and Me in the mid 60s. George Burns starred in this bald-faced attempt to re-animate Burns and Allen. In this version, Burns played the owner of an apartment building and Connie Stevens was his tenant. Stevens had the Gracie Allen role - playing the ditz, with Burns again as the straight-man.

As a 12 year old boy, I liked it, because I thought Stevens was hot - but I guess it was probably awful. To top it off - Gracie had died just months before the show went on the air, so her "ghost" was present, so to speak. The show only lasted one season.

You are right regarding Gracie's shadow. Even the Burns & Allen TV sequel, "The George Burns Show" (sans Gracie), failed miserably; viewers sat at the edge of their davenports, anticipating a surprise never-to-happen walk-on appearance by Gracie. Burns finally achieved traction as a solo performer some 15-years after Gracie's passing, but only in the movies, never on TV, save for some memorable TV "specials".

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

The Tony Randall Show

Me-TV could pick this up and pair it with "The Odd Couple".

And then, after this show, they could run "Quincy"!

I'm mostly kidding, honest. They do run "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show" together for the same reason, MTM...