Forgotten Network/Syndicated TV Shows of the Past

[johnnya2k6]

Here are three more forgotten gems from -- you guessed it -- Dick Clark Productions:

Dick Clark's Nitetime (syndicated, 1986)
Keep On Cruisin' (CBS, 1987), which launched comedian Sinbad's career
Inside America (ABC, 1982)

Just like WWE with "Are You Serious?", DCP on their YouTube page should do a web series showcasing some of the least atrocious and nauseating gems from their vast library. But except for Celebrity Boxing and Johnny Rotten holding Bandstand hostage, I can't think of any others.

 

[joeybabe25]

Does anyone remember a test program by DCP called "The Music Thing"? It was supposed to be a daily music show, I think along the lines of "Bandstand".

My understanding is that it was tested in several markets, but was not picked up.

This was around 1974 or so.

JOe

 

[johnnya2k6]

There was also Salute! (syndicated, 1983); even though it was hosted by Dick Clark with Charlie O'Donnell as announcer, it was actually produced by MCA-TV for Operation Prime Time (thus, NBCUniversal owns this).

Speaking of OPT...here in Alaska, KATN (Fairbanks) and I think KTUU (Anchorage) carried some of their shows; KTBY might have been involved as well after signing on in late 1983. But I don't know how our stations handled first-run syndicated programming pre-1984 (when satellites eliminated the need for getting tapes flown regularly from Seattle).

 

[70 and 80s kid]

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

Isn't "The Rockford Files' considered at least a minor classic by most folks?

 

[70 and 80s kid]

How about "Please Stand By", syndicated show(I think) about a man running a TV station out of his home?

 

[rnigma1]

A few early '80s syndicated shows featuring music:

"The Pop & Rocker Game" hosted by Jon "Bowser" Bauman from Sha Na Na, promoted as "half game show, half rock concert!"
"America's Top 10," Casey Kasem's attempt at a truncated TV version of American Top 40, with the ten hottest music videos of the week, co-produced by Syd Vinnedge and the Scotti brothers.
"Rock-N-America," another video show, with sketches by comedian Rick Ducommon.
"Deja View," which may have been a one-off special, where old songs got new videos.

 

[crainbebo]

America's Top 10 aired for several years in the '80s, way more widely syndicated than the other three shows that rnigma listed. Most of my Saturday or Sunday 1980s "Retro" listings have at least one station airing America's Top 10.

-crainbebo

 

[Ultimajock]

How about "Please Stand By", syndicated show(I think) about a man running a TV station out of his home?

...said home being somewhere in the New Mexico desert. Dick Schaal was the star, and I think the only staffer at the station who wasn't a member of Schaal's character's family was the local weather gal, played by one of my favourite comic performers of the time, Marcie Barkin. Pretty sure Please Stand By was syndicated in the 1978-79 season; Weird Al Yankovic took the basic idea and reworked it for his theatrical movie UHF about ten or twelve years later...

 

[johnnya2k6]

A few more, all syndicated:

Big Break (1990), hosted by Natalie Cole
The Lorenzo and Henrietta Music Show (1976)
The Larry King (TV) Show (1983), which probably caught the attention of some guy named Ted Turner who would later give King a show on CNN
The Joke's On Us (1983), hosted by Monty Hall
The Bertice Berry Show (1993)
The Jane Whitney Show (1992)
Star Games (1985), hosted by Bruce Jenner
On Pit Road (1993), which was a motorsports magazine show
TV.com (1997), produced by CNET long before that (and the site) became property of CBS

 

[crainbebo]

A few more, all syndicated:
The Bertice Berry Show (1993)
The Jane Whitney Show (1992)

Bertice Berry used to air in the overnight hours on KOMO. I think it was another talk show (rinse and repeat).
I do have part of an episode of "NightTalk" with Jane Whitney off of KTZZ from late 1992 on a VHS tape somewhere with commercials - topic was what to do when you think you are paying a price for the way your in-laws are raising your spouse...

-crainbebo

 

[bmasters1981]

Inside America (ABC, 1982)

I saw a couple of minutes of that from YouTube recently, and it had a studio audience. What was the main reason behind that not lasting very long? I think I read in one television book that it was up against 60 Minutes on Sundays at 7 (AFV with Tom Bergeron holds that slot now, IINM).

 

[johnnya2k6]

Inside America (ABC, 1982)

I saw a couple of minutes of that from YouTube recently, and it had a studio audience. What was the main reason behind that not lasting very long? I think I read in one television book that it was up against 60 Minutes on Sundays at 7 (AFV with Tom Bergeron holds that slot now, IINM).

Well, in the '80s, any ABC or NBC show that aired Sunday nights at 7:00 couldn't stand a chance to Mike, Morley, Ed, and Harry. A 1982 premiere promo for NBC's "Voyagers" ended and Danny Dark saying, "Join Voyagers for 60 minutes of excitement, and start breaking the quiet Sunday night habit!", followed by a shot of a stopwatch being smashed.

But I remember reading one paper's review about "21 Jump Street" (when Fox was just a few months old), which also ran opposite 60 Minutes: "Tell your children about it and say goodbye to Mike Wallace!" Apparently, Mike Wallace still had 30 million more viewers than Johnny Depp, but that didn't stop 21 Jump Street from creating a cult following.

 

[bmasters1981]

Inside America (ABC, 1982)

I saw a couple of minutes of that from YouTube recently, and it had a studio audience. What was the main reason behind that not lasting very long? I think I read in one television book that it was up against 60 Minutes on Sundays at 7 (AFV with Tom Bergeron holds that slot now, IINM).

Well, in the '80s, any ABC or NBC show that aired Sunday nights at 7:00 couldn't stand a chance to Mike, Morley, Ed, and Harry. A 1982 premiere promo for NBC's "Voyagers" ended and Danny Dark saying, "Join Voyagers for 60 minutes of excitement, and start breaking the quiet Sunday night habit!", followed by a shot of a stopwatch being smashed.

But I remember reading one paper's review about "21 Jump Street" (when Fox was just a few months old), which also ran opposite 60 Minutes: "Tell your children about it and say goodbye to Mike Wallace!" Apparently, Mike Wallace still had 30 million more viewers than Johnny Depp, but that didn't stop 21 Jump Street from creating a cult following.

I recall seeing that promo for Voyagers a time back from YouTube. It was part of a compilation that included an NBC Week promo and a Remington Steele premiere promo, among other things.

 

[bpatrick]

Do any of you remember NBC's promo for "The Rousters," which
was scheduled against "The Love Boat" on Saturdays at 9 in 1983?
It had a shot of a toy boat floating in a tub, some people from offstage
shooting up the boat, and Danny Dark (trying to sound like Ernie Anderson)
saying, "Abandon ship, America. Rousters gonna sink the loooove boat."
"The Rousters" lasted about one month (October 1983) and was rerun in
June and July 1984.

BTW, those NBC promos were created by Steve Sohmer, who had created
the "Still the One" campaign at ABC and "Looking Good Together" at CBS.
He was in line for Brandon Tartikoff's job but blew his chance after he went
overboard at the 1983 Emmy telecast, having people from the various NBC
affiliates, in tuxes and on the air live, bragging about the "Be there" network,
which steamrolled ABC and CBS in the number of Emmies won that year. The
promos produced so much booing in the auditorium that Tartikoff had to get
somebody to cut the sound on the monitor whenever one appeared. And then
came the wrapup: during the credits, Dark went through the entire lineup, night
by night, and said, "Wow! Thirty-three Emmies! I'll be there!" Tartikoff found
himself with a job for at least another year (actually, longer).

 

[rnigma1]

I remember promos for "The A-Team" (radio spots) wherein Mr. T recited the following:
"I think that I shall never see
A wimp as wimpy as Fonzie.
And as for that pineapple head Magnum,
I'd like to take my fist and bang 'im...."

 

[BD Sullivan]

Inside America (ABC, 1982)

I saw a couple of minutes of that from YouTube recently, and it had a studio audience. What was the main reason behind that not lasting very long? I think I read in one television book that it was up against 60 Minutes on Sundays at 7 (AFV with Tom Bergeron holds that slot now, IINM).

It was cheap filler produced and hosted by Dick Clark, and much like Entertainment Tonight--with a not-so-surprising focus on ABC shows.

Here was the Nielsen rankings for the first three (of the four total) weeks it was on:
Week One: 59 of 69 shows (60 Minutes was 3rd)
Week Two: 67 of 69 shows (60 Minutes was 14th)
Week Three: 67 of 68 shows (60 Minutes was tied for 2nd)

Couldn't find the ratings for the last show, but it's a safe bet that the numbers were virtually the same.

Regarding why 60 Minutes dropped in Week 2--I assume that was because it was Easter Sunday.

 

[bpatrick]

No worse than "Sunday Best," which ran on NBC Sundays at 7
for three weeks (February 3-17, 1991) and was hosted by Carl
Reiner. The idea was to review the week's best shows and throw
in some nostalgia clips, but the other networks didn't care to have
their shows promoted on NBC. What emerged were highlights from
the previous week's NBC shows and the previous night's "SNL," plus
a few nostalgic NBC clips. They did work in segments with Jane Pauley,
Merrill Markoe, and comedians Jeff Cesario and Harry Shearer, as well
as a home-video segment (videos sent in by viewers, such as on a
certain ABC show in the following hour). They even had a chorus line,
dressed as Jane Pauley, doing a song-and-dance number to plug her
show "Real Life." The whole thing made Dick Clark's disaster look like
"60 Minutes" by comparison.

 

[chris12]

A few syndicated shows from the 80s, anyone remembers the details of those shows as I have seen them in old listings:
Hot (summer 1985)
Woman To Woman (1983-84)
Newscope (1983-84)
Love Songs (1985-86)
Romance Theater (1982-83)
Soap World I believe Barry and Enright were involved interviewed soap stars ran half a season in 1982-83
America ran half a season in 1985-86 I believe McLean Stevenson and Sra Purcell hosted it

 

[bmasters1981]

America ran half a season in 1985-86 I believe McLean Stevenson and Sra Purcell hosted it

They did indeed! It was from Paramount Television, which means that now CBS owns it.

 

[crainbebo]

Like I said, Woman to Woman was a one-season talk show that was syndicated from 83-84. In my market it was aired on KOMO 4.

-crainbebo