Forgotten Network/Syndicated TV Shows of the Past

[azumanga]

Saw the opening of Canadian-produced Police Surgeon on YouTube where most of the cuts were a venetian blind effect (I guess that was cool in the 70's.) Did the whole show have that effect? ('Twould drive me crazy.)

I think that's just a glitch in the video encoding.

 

[johnnya2k6]

Camouflage (syndicated, 1980), the last game show by Chuck Barris before The New Newlywed Game in 1984
Denver, the Last Dinosaur (syndicated, 1989)
Smash Hits (syndicated, also 1989), a music countdown show with New York DJ Scott Shannon
Adventures in Wonderland (Disney Channel, 1991)
The Mouse Factory (syndicated, 1971?)
3rd Degree (syndicated, also 1989), Bert Convy's last game show

And three other Norman Lear-produced comedies:
A Year at the Top (CBS, 1977), starring a young Paul Shaffer pre-Letterman
a.k.a Pablo (ABC, 1984)
Sunday Dinner (CBS, 1991)

 

[azumanga]

Camouflage (syndicated, 1980), the last game show by Chuck Barris before The New Newlywed Game in 1984

This was one of the straws that broke Chuckie's back -- the other being "The Gong Show Movie" which, despite being a theatrical extension of "The Gong Show", ended up getting scathing reviews and poor box office response; even George Burns sarcastically said that he wants to leave show business after seeing the film:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gong_Show_Movie

 

[bpatrick]

As a "Camouflage" fan from the Don Morrow era in the '60s,
what Barris did with that show was a crime (and I wasn't
much crazier about GSN's word-game version with Roger
Lodge).

Another forgotten Lear show is "All That Glitters," a serial
intended to run in tandem with "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman"
and focusing on a world in which women are the workforce and
men stay home. (I remember both WXIA and WLOS running "MH2"
at 11:30 PM in 1977, but WLOS would stick around for "All That
Glitters," while WXIA would air ABC's late-night programming on
a half-hour delay; I keep thinking Ted Turner carried "All That
Glitters" in Atlanta.)

 

[Markieo]

My favorite forgotten show would have to be "The Paul Lynde Show". Paul could read the Yellow Pages and make me laugh. There are a few episodes out there in YT Land, ala in B&W, but still, worth watching if you can find them!

 

[bpatrick]

How about "Temperatures Rising" with James Whitmore and a
still-somewhat-unknown Joan Van Ark? That show started the
same year as "The Paul Lynde Show" (1972); the second year
Lynde moved over from his own canceled show and replaced
Whitmore. The whole thing was replaced in January 1974 by
a little thing called "Happy Days," although I think ABC may have
played off some filmed but unaired episodes before the end of the
1973-74 season.

Lynde also played on "The Phyllis Diller Show," a reworking of
her 1966 sitcom "The Pruitts Of Southampton." The original premise
had Diller as widow Phyllis Pruitt, head of a wealthy Long Island family
that has gone completely broke. The IRS agrees to keep that fact
secret, fearing a financial panic, but Phyllis has to pay off all the back
taxes she owes. Each week she tries some new moneymaking scheme;
she complained to ABC, in fact, that they were trying to turn her into
another Lucy, with physical stunts she wasn't capable of doing. At
midseason the title and format were changed; Phyllis now ran a boardinghouse,
which was an excuse to have some great comic talent: John Astin, Marty Ingels
(not reprising Dickens and Fenster, BTW), Louis Nye, Richard Deacon, Billy DeWolfe,
and Paul Lynde. TV Guide put "The Pruitts Of Southampton" on its list of the 50
worst shows ever.

And Phyllis did no better in 1968 with the variety format; "The Beautiful Phyllis
Diller Show" lasted just thirteen weeks, replaced by another forgotten show,
"My Friend Tony," with James Whitmore and a young Italian actor whom NBC
was touting but who never made it in the U.S.: Enzo Cerusico.

 

[johnnya2k6]

Then there's also:

The Party Machine with Nia Peeples (syndicated, 1991), which was produced by and aired after Arsenio Hall in most areas
Trump Card (syndicated, 1990)
Hard Copy (the short-lived newsroom drama, not the magazine show (CBS, 1988))
Roggin's Heroes (syndicated, 1991), KNBC sportscaster Fred Roggin's attempt to capitalize on the popularity of America's Funniest Home Videos
Wide World of Kids (syndicated, 1991)
Lamb Chop's Play Along (PBS, 1991)
Popular Mechanics For Kids (syndicated, 1997), hosted by Elisha Cuthbert pre-24/Happy Endings
The New Dragnet, The New Adam-12, and The Munsters Today (all syndicated, 1990)
The Comic Strip (syndicated, 1987), Rankin/Bass' last series
The Starlet (The WB, 2005)

 

[jwgreek8606]

"A Current Affair"...

...was a far worthier endeavor for Mr Connie Chung than the HoozYerDaddy nonsense he does now. No arguing the facts; Povich's poorest project ever is pulling down some numbers, but then this show airs on "daytime", not exactly the most fertile breeding grounds for quality TV.

Also him hosting the revival of 21 in 2000 which was ill-fated. The game show

 

[LKellerIII]

"A Current Affair"...

...was a far worthier endeavor for Mr Connie Chung than the HoozYerDaddy nonsense he does now. No arguing the facts; Povich's poorest project ever is pulling down some numbers, but then this show airs on "daytime", not exactly the most fertile breeding grounds for quality TV.

Also him hosting the revival of 21 in 2000 which was ill-fated. The game show

I always liked that weird opening "theme"...uh...sound effect on A Current Affair. Sounded to me like a whip-crack followed by somebody dropping a piano. Awful show though...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRTXVbE-ohM

 

[cd637299]

^ I heard Maury Povich tell some guys on the radio (sports talkers, IIRC, who use that sound effect) something like, "That's called the 'Ka-Chung,', named after my wife."

cd

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

^ I heard Maury Povich tell some guys on the radio (sports talkers, IIRC, who use that sound effect) something like, "That's called the 'Ka-Chung,', named after my wife."

cd

Did those two ever finally have children?

 

[LKellerIII]

^ I heard Maury Povich tell some guys on the radio (sports talkers, IIRC, who use that sound effect) something like, "That's called the 'Ka-Chung,', named after my wife."

cd

OK - I'll give Maury one point for that remark. Funny!

 

[quadraphonic]

Salvage One
ABC. Andy Griffith runs some kind of salvage yard with his family. IIRC he wanted to make a rocketship of some sort. Don't think the plot ever evolved to that length.
Seems like I remember ads during the 1979 World Series.

 

[cd637299]

Salvage One
ABC. Andy Griffith runs some kind of salvage yard with his family. IIRC he wanted to make a rocketship of some sort. Don't think the plot ever evolved to that length.
Seems like I remember ads during the 1979 World Series.

What I recall about that series is that it was based on a TV-movie (I think simply called "Salvage") where AG & others actually *did* build this rocket to the moon----I wanna say that they actually got there, but cannot recall. I think the TV-movie was such a hit that they tried to make a series out of it.

cd

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvage_1

 

[NHRadio]

I thought I was the only person who remembered that show.

 

[Kurt Toy]

Two obscure network daytime shows-"The Lee Phillip Show" [CBS, 1963-64] and "Watch Your Child"-subtitled "The Me Too Show" [NBC, 1972]-the latter hosted by schoolteachers from NYC area schools and featuring The Ritts Puppets, as well as various celebrities reading storybooks.

 

[wbhist]

Two obscure network daytime shows-"The Lee Phillip Show" [CBS, 1963-64] and "Watch Your Child"-subtitled "The Me Too Show" [NBC, 1972]-the latter hosted by schoolteachers from NYC area schools and featuring The Ritts Puppets, as well as various celebrities reading storybooks.

While The Lee Phillip Show was largely forgotten in terms of national prominence, the show was a long-running institution on Chicago's WBBM-TV since the 1950's; by the late 1970's it was retooled as Noonbreak with Lee Phillip, with a harder-news bent and emphasis on more serious topics, and Bob Wallace added as a co-host and feature reporter, and in that form ran until 1986. (Ms. Phillip - a.k.a. Mrs. William Bell - was later a co-creator of The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful; and also was a spokesperson for True Value hardware stores for years, alternating with Pat Summerall.)

 

[johnnya2k6]

What about:

Partners in Crime (NBC, 1984), starring Loni Anderson and Lynda Carter in their brief TV returns
Street Hawk (ABC, 1984); Universal must've have had a hard-on for futuristic action dramas with The Six Million-Dollar Man and Battlestar Galactica in the '70s and Knight Rider, Airwolf, and Street Hawk in the '80s.
Lip Service (MTV, 1992), hosted by Jay Mohr and later John Ales
Misfits of Science (NBC, 1985), starring a young Courteney Cox
Video Power (syndicated, 1990), which, for some stupid reason, changed formats halfway into the show's run
GamePro TV (syndicated, also 1990), JD Roth's first show after Fun House
The Torkelsons (NBC, 1991), which would be retooled as Almost Home in 1993
Oh, Madeline! (ABC, 1983), starring the late Madeline Kahn and the first series by Carsey-Werner before The Cosby Show
Eye To Eye with (and later without) Connie Chung (CBS, 1993)
Rituals (syndicated, 1984), a soap opera
The Internet Cafe (syndicated (to PBS stations), 1996), from the producers of Computer Chronicles

 

[crainbebo]

The Torkelsons was a family sitcom with Connie Ray. I have an ad for it in a TV Guide from 1991, showing their Country Thanksgiving Special with Patty Duke as a guest.

-crainbebo