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Remember those old "Battle of the Network Stars" shows?

B

BlueHen

They aired in the late '70s and possibly into the '80s, with stars from ABC, CBS, and NBC shows competing against each other in various athletic events for charity. The climax at the end would be a tug-of-war between the two teams with the highest point totals. Howard Cosell used to moderate and, for some reason, I remember Robert Conrad always getting into some disagreement with an official or the opposing team on every show he was on. Now that was reality programming.

Those were fun to watch and I guess the closest we have to anything like that now would be Survivor, Amazing Race, or Biggest Loser... void of any celebrities. Back in 2000 the first celebrity edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire on ABC did include Ray Romano from CBS' Everybody Loves Raymond. But shortly after that, there was a story that Regis Philbin had asked Raymond co-star Patricia Heaton if she would be interested in appearing on the next celebrity edition, to which she replied that she would love to, but CBS wouldn't allow it. (Ray probably got his appearance in before CBS knew anything about it).

What's different today that stars from different networks couldn't be on a show like Battle Of The Network Stars as they did 30 years ago?
 
In 2005, Bravo brought back "Battle of the Network Stars" (sort of) as "Battle of the Network Reality Stars" featuring personalities from various reality shows like "Survivor", "Amazing Race", "Real World", etc. and with Mike Adamle (now with WWE as its ECW brand commentator) as host.

BOTNS' last special was in 1988 shortly after Fox came on the scene. Now with that, the (ailing) CW, and of course cable, it's highly doubtful Battle of the Network Stars will ever return. If it does...we're all for Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly finally meeting face-to-face in the obstacle course!!

Jonathan Allen
 
What's different today that stars from different networks couldn't be on a show like Battle Of The Network Stars as they did 30 years ago?
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I used to LOVE watching those as a kid! And to answer your question, everything has changed. When those programs aired, they were actual events that you looked forward to because they only aired once. They were not repeated a dozen times and most of us did not have the means yet to archive them (vcr, dvr, tivo) and play them back later. My children have a hard time understanding that concept because they have entertainment on demand. I'm 44. So when I was growing up, if you missed Battle of the Network Stars, a Peanuts special, The Wizard of Oz, or your favorite Christmas show...that was it. You had to wait until next year. Totally different today. Also, those shows were special because for the most part you only had those three networks for TV viewing. Today you've got dozens maybe hundreds of channels that provide original programming. So I think as the audience share has diminished for ABC, NBC, and CBS, so has the appeal and impact of it's stars.
 
ricksegers said:
I liked the SNL parody ad much better..."Battle of the Network T's and A's".
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Or, even better, the parody on "SCTV", circa 1981: Battle of the PBS Stars As if Rick Moranis as Dick Cavett (nailing him perfectlyl) and Eugene Levy as Cosell weren't funny enough .... it climaxes with a boxing match between Mr. Rogers and Julia Child - at the end, Rogers beans Child with a King Friday puppet.

--Russell
 
My word, B.o.t.N.S., SCTV, the glory days of SNL............TV used to be sooooooooooo much better :'(

However, I believe Television (The stuff that educates, not just entertains) is way better now, with all the Discovery channels, National Geographic, etc.

I also remember Robert Conrad being the perpetual cry-baby jerk, never knew if it was just part of his act or the real deal, but I'd probably go with the latter. I remember those commercials he did for (I think) Eveready batteries ("Knock it off, I DARE ya!!) ;D
 
...I had an unusual reason for hating "Battle of the Network Stars." In 1977, I was associated with a high school radio program at WGTD in Kenosha, Wisconsin (now a Wisconsin Public Radio affiliate). As such, I had somehow lined up a telephone interview with Kristy McNichol, then a co-star on ABC's "Family" and a staple of the teen magazine racket Laufer Publications were running at the time (Tiger Beat being the biggest seller of the bunch). McNichol cancelled the interview the night before the scheduled taping -- she was going to be on the ABC team at a "Battle of the Network Stars" taping the next day. The promised make-good interview was never scheduled :mad: ...
 
You can still find quite a few clips on YouTube, although I would gladly pay for some DVDs if ABC (or whoever owns it) were to release them. And I'd have my thumb ready on the pause button for the swimming and dunk tank events. ;D
 
With many of those shows being on ABC, I always thought that the hosts were always gonna play favorites to their stars of the day. I wonder if today's stars who appeared on those shows put that on their resumes? :)
 
Here's one other Battle-type show -- in the form of Hanna-Barbera stars....anyone ever remember Laff-A-Lympics? If you have noticed how H-B did the scoreboard part where each team-captain (Yogi Bear from the Yogi Yahooies team, Scooby Doo for the Scooby Doobies team and Mutley for the Really Rottens team) have certain facial reactions whether they're happy that they've scored and quite natuarally Mutley always tend to frown at times when they're either dead last or got penalized. I guess they took that from BotNS second incision with Gabe Kaplan (ABC), Robert Conrad (NBC) and if my memory serves correctly in which I could be wrong, Ed Asner (CBS) in animated form. What great memories!
 
I never cared for those "Battle of the Network Stars" shows, but I always lived for the "Circus of the Stars" shows because they always put the women on the trapeze in those skimpy outfits! :p I still remember Jennie Garth in one, and this was before 90210!
 
I loved watching "Circus Of The Stars" as a kid. The show is making a comeback (of sorts) this summer on NBC. I still bust out laughing at the promo where Chris Knight (Peter Brady) is on the twirly wheel (or whatever it is called) and falls flat on his face.

The last time BotNS aired was on the old Tr!o channel during a special week when LA Times columnist Joel Stein "programmed" the network about three or four years ago.

They were truly campy and, sadly, didn't really hold up well.
 
firepoint525 said:
but I always lived for the "Circus of the Stars" shows because they always put the women on the trapeze in those skimpy outfits! :p
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A couple of years ago, that one-hit wonder reality show known as Skating With Celebrities put Jillian Barberie, Debbie (Deborah) Gibson, and Kristy Swanson in skimpy outfits as well...although nothing as skimpy as what they don't wear on Dancing With the Stars. I don't watch DWTS but I did watch Skating and found it pretty entertaining.
 
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