Retro: Eastern Virginia Monday, December 20, 1976

[bpatrick]

From TV Guide, Eastern Virginia Edition:

WTAR (WTKR) Ch. 3 Norfolk (CBS)

6:10 Down To Earth
6:15 These Things We Share
6:30 Not For Women Only
7 AM CBS News (Bruce Morton/Hughes Rudd)
8 AM Captain Kangaroo (guest: basketball star
Earl "the Pearl" Monroe)
9 AM Dick Lamb (local talk show)
10 AM Price Is Right
11 AM Double Dare (Alex Trebek version, with
isolation booths and three Ph.D. "spoilers"
to challenge the day's winner)
11:30 Love Of Life
11:55 CBS News (Douglas Edwards)
12 N Young And The Restless
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
1 PM People, Places And Things
1:30 As The World Turns
2:30 Guiding Light
3 PM All In The Family
3:30 Match Game '76 (Joyce Bulifant, Gary Burghoff,
Richard Dawson, Charles Nelson Reilly, Brett
Somers, Susan Sullivan)
4 PM Tattletales (John and Patty Duke Astin, Bill Macy
and Samantha Harper, Robert Shields and Lorene
Yarnell)
4:30 Merv Griffin (Pearl Bailey, Ruth Gordon, disco owner
Regine, author Margaret Truman Daniel--Harry Truman's
daughter)
6 PM News
6:30 CBS News (Walter Cronkite)
7 PM Cross-Wits (Bob Barker, Martha Raye, Alice Ghostley,
Stu Gilliam)
7:30 Wild Wild World Of Animals
8 PM Rhoda
8:30 Phyllis
9 PM Maude
9:30 All's Fair
10 PM Executive Suite (early, unsuccessful attempt at a
primetime soap)
11 PM News
11:30 CBS Movie: "The Singing Nun" (anyone remember the
1963 song hit "Dominique"?)

WHSV Ch. 3 Harrisonburg (NBC/ABC)

7 AM Good Morning America (David Hartman)
9 AM Discovery (I wonder if these are reruns of the ABC
kids' show?)
9:30 Stumpers (day-behind delay from 11:30 AM, Jack Cassidy
and Mike Farrell are guests--ironically, I believe it was
around this time that Jack Cassidy died in a fire caused by
his smoking on a couch while lying down)
10 AM Sanford And Son (strangely, a day-behind)
10:30 Hollywood Squares (Pat Boone, Robert Fuller, Will Geer,
George Gobel, Florence Henderson, Mackenzie Phillips,
Karen Valentine, Wayland (Flowers) and Friends, Paul Lynde)
11 AM Wheel Of Fortune
11:30 Happy Days
12 N Don Ho
12:30 All My Children
1 PM Ryan's Hope
1:30 Family Feud
2 PM $20,000 Pyramid (Jerry Stiller, June Lockhart)
2:30 One Life To Live
3:15 General Hospital
4 PM Edge Of Night
4:30 Real McCoys
5 PM Bonanza
6 PM News
6:30 ABC News (Harry Reasoner/Barbara Walters)
7 PM Little Drummer Boy Book II (the voices of Greer
Garson and Zero Mostel are featured in this tale
of the Little Drummer Boy's trip around the world
with one of the Wise Men to "spread the word"
about the birth of Christ)
7:30 Project 3
8 PM Captain & Tennille (Toni's sisters Melissa, Louisa,
and Jane; Don Knotts; Tom Bosley; the Pointer Sisters)
9 PM Liberty Bowl: UCLA-Alabama
12 M News (time approximate)

WTVR Ch. 6 Richmond (CBS)

6 AM Sunrise Semester: "Communication, the Invisible
Environment" (the subject today is television)
6:30 Virginia Today
7 AM CBS News
8 AM Captain Kangaroo
9 AM Phil Donahue (Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood)
10 AM Price Is Right
11 AM Double Dare
11:30 Love Of Life
11:55 CBS News
12 N News
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
1 PM Young And The Restless
1:30 As The World Turns
2:30 Guiding Light
3 PM All In The Family
3:30 Match Game '76
4 PM Tattletales
4:30 My Three Sons
5 PM Gunsmoke
6 PM News
6:30 CBS News
7 PM News
7:30 How The Grinch Stole Christmas (delay
from Sat 8:30 PM)
8 PM Rhoda
8:30 Phyllis
9 PM Maude
9:30 All's Fair
10 PM Executive Suite
11 PM News
11:30 CBS Movie: "The Singing Nun"

WXEX (WRIC) Ch. 8 Petersburg-Richmond (ABC)

6:30 Romper Room
7 AM Good Morning America
9 AM Merv Griffin (same as WTAR/WTKR)
10:30 Wilma Smith (local talk show)
11:30 Happy Days
12 N Don Ho
12:30 All My Children
1 PM Ryan's Hope
1:30 Family Feud
2 PM $20,000 Pyramid
2:30 One Life To Live
3:15 General Hospital
4 PM Edge Of Night
4:30 Dinah!
6 PM News
6:30 ABC News
7 PM Cross-Wits (Stu Gilliam, Julie Adams,
Patti Deutsch, Robert Alda)
7:30 $128,000 Question (unsuccessful attempt
to revive "The $64,000 Question"--Mike
Darrow hosts this season; Alex Trebek,
the 1977-78 season)
8 PM Captain & Tennille
9 PM Liberty Bowl
12 M News (time approximate)
12:30 Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

WAVY Ch. 10 Norfolk (NBC)

6 AM The Lucy Show
6:30 Arthur Smith
7 AM Today (bed-wetting is a topic; Tom Brokaw
and Jane Pauley co-host)
9 AM 50 Grand Slam (delay from noon)
9:30 Dinah! (Natalie Wood, Dina Merrill, Cicely Tyson,
Mary Stuart ("Search For Tomorrow"), singer
Dorothy ("Misty Blue") Moore, fashion photographer
Scavullo)
10:30 Hollywood Squares
11 AM Wheel Of Fortune
11:30 Stumpers (Betty White, Joanna Barnes, Peter
Bonerz, Dick Gautier--Allen Ludden hosts, a curious
choice since Lin Bolen created this show and, while
running NBC daytime, had steered clear of traditional
hosts in favor of "young studs" like Trebek and Woolery)
12 N Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
12:30 Gong Show
12:55 NBC News (anchor not given)
1 PM Mike & Lynn: Roundabout Tidewater
1:30 Days Of Our Lives
2:30 The Doctors
3 PM Another World
4 PM Batman (Tallulah Bankhead as the Black Widow)
4:30 Beverly Hillbillies
5 PM My Three Sons
5:30 Adam-12
6 PM News
6:30 NBC News (John Chancellor/David Brinkley)
7 PM Hollywood Squares (David McCallum, Florence
Henderson, David Groh, Jonathan Winters,
Glen Campbell, Karen Valentine)
7:30 Gong Show (judges: Dick Martin, Pearl Bailey,
Arte Johnson--Gary Owens was hosting the
nighttime version at the time)
8 PM Little House On The Prairie (guest: Burl Ives)
9:30 NBC Movie: "The Loneliest Runner" (Michael
Landon wrote, produced, and directed this
semiautobiographical drama about a 13-year-
old who is a chronic bedwetter)
11 PM News
11:30 Tonight Show (John Davidson subs for Johnny;
guests are Doug Henning and writer Jim Levine)
1 AM Tomorrow (Dino de Laurentiis discusses his remake
of "King Kong")
2 AM News
2:10 Dateline: Area 10

WWBT Ch. 12 Richmond (NBC)

6:40 Virginia Almanac/News
7 AM Today
9 AM Good Morning
9:30 Betty Feezor
10 AM Sanford And Son
10:30 Hollywood Squares
11 AM Wheel Of Fortune
11:30 Stumpers
12 N 50 Grand Slam
12:30 Gong Show
12:55 NBC News
1 PM Somerset
1:30 Days Of Our Lives
2:30 The Doctors
3 PM Another World
4 PM Flintstones
4:30 Little Rascals
5 PM Brady Bunch
5:30 Bewitched
6 PM News
6:30 NBC News
7 PM Hogan's Heroes
7:30 Adam-12
8 PM Little House On The Prairie
9:30 NBC Movie: "The Loneliest Runner"
11 PM News
11:30 Tonight Show
1 AM Tomorrow

WVEC Ch. 13 Norfolk (ABC)

6:30 Good Day! (Edward Villellla discusses
choreography; Clive Cussler discusses
his book "Raise The Titanic!")
7 AM Good Morning America
9 AM Happy Days (day-behind)
9:30 Movie: "Bell, Book And Candle" (one of
two inspirations for "Bewitched"--the other
is 1942's "I Married A Witch--with Jimmy Stewart
as a man who lives above a curio shop owned by
two witches, played by Kim Novak and Elsa Lanchester)
11:30 Midday (Harriet Passarelli, local)
12:30 All My Children
1 PM Ryan's Hope
1:30 Family Feud
2 PM $20,000 Pyramid
2:30 One Life To Live
3:15 General Hospital
4 PM Edge Of Night
4:30 Emergency One!
5:30 News
6 PM ABC News
6:30 Movie: "To All My Friends On Shore"
8 PM Captain & Tennille
9 PM Liberty Bowl
12 M News (time approximate)

WHRO Ch. 15 Norfolk (PBS)

4 PM Sesame Street
5 PM Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
5:30 Electric Company
6 PM Zoom
6:30 Sunrise Semester (same as Ch. 6)
7 PM MacNeil/Lehrer Report
7:30 World Press
8 PM Christmas Celebration (baroque Christmas
music from New York's Cloisters Museum--
Richard Kiley explains the origins of Christmas
traditions, and music is provided by the Hofstra
University Collegium Musicum and the Renaissance
Street Trio)
8:30 Music Of Christmas (the Mormon Youth Symphony
and Chorus)
9 PM In Performance At Wolf Trap (the "Nutcracker Suite"
highlights an all-Tchaikovsky performance with Andre
Kostelanetz conducting the National Symphony Orchestra)
10 PM Soundstage (Martin Mull and Flo and Eddie satirize rock music)
11 PM MacNeil/Lehrer Report
11:30 Captioned ABC News

WCVE Ch. 23 Richmond (PBS)

In-school programs (assuming school is still in) until

4 PM Sesame Street
5 PM Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
5:30 Electric Company
6 PM Zoom
6:30 Villa Alegre
7 PM P.S. 23
7:30 Wild Wild World Of Animals
8 PM Christmas Celebration
8:30 Music Of Christmas
9 PM In Performance At Wolf Trap
10 PM Soundstage
11 PM Lilias, Yoga And You
11:30 Captioned ABC News

WYAH (WGNT) Ch. 27 Portsmouth (Ind.)

7 AM Tennessee Tuxedo
7:30 Lassie
8 AM Little Rascals
8:30 Leave It To Beaver
9 AM Hazel
9:30 Room 222
10 AM Family Affair
10:30 700 Club
12 N Life In The Spirit
12:30 Patterns For Living
1 PM Cartoon Festival
1:30 Huck 'n Yogi
2 PM Porky Pig
2:30 Bugs Bunny
3 PM Popeye
3:30 Flintstones
4 PM Gilligan's Island
4:30 Brady Bunch
5 PM Partridge Family
5:30 Gomer Pyle, USMC
6 PM Dick Van Dyke
6:30 I Love Lucy
7 PM Marcus Welby, M.D. (Lindsay Wagner
as a victim of multiple sclerosis)
8 PM 700 Club
9:30 Life In The Spirit
10 PM God Of Our Fathers
10:30 Vep Ellis Harvest Temple
11 PM Rifleman
11:30 Hogan's Heroes
12 M News

WVIR Ch. 29 Charlottesville (NBC)

7 AM Today
9 AM Charlottesville Today
9:30 PTL Club
11:30 Stumpers
12 N 50 Grand Slam
12:30 Gong Show
12:55 NBC News
1 PM Somerset
1:30 Days Of Our Lives
2:30 The Doctors
3 PM Another World
4 PM Mike Douglas (co-hostess: Charo;
actors Richard and James Carroll Jordan)
5:30 Sanford And Son
6 PM News
6:30 NBC News
7 PM Phil Donahue (Peter Duchin and Mel Torme
perform Christmas songs)
8 PM Little House On The Prairie
9:30 NBC Movie: "The Loneliest Runner"
11 PM News
11:30 Tonight Show

WVPT Ch. 51 Harrisonburg (PBS)

7:30 Sesame Street
8:30 Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
9 AM In-school programs (assuming school is in)
3 PM Anyone For Tennyson?
3:30 Davey And Goliath
4 PM Sesame Street
5 PM Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
5:30 Electric Company
6 PM Zoom
6:30 Villa Alegre
7 PM MacNeil/Lehrer Report
7:30 Cookin' Cajun
8 PM Christmas Celebration
8:30 Music Of Christmas
9 PM In Performance At Wolf Trap
10 PM Soundstage
11 PM MacNeil/Lehrer Report

 

[mleach]

From TV Guide, Eastern Virginia Edition:

WHSV Ch. 3 Harrisonburg (NBC/ABC)

9:30 Stumpers (day-behind delay from 11:30 AM, Jack Cassidy
and Mike Farrell are guests--ironically, I believe it was
around this time that Jack Cassidy died in a fire caused by
his smoking on a couch while lying down)

Jack died on 12/12/76 so you are close. I wonder if the reason for this show to be aired was to milk the publicity surrounding that fire? For weeks after Jack's death the press kinda had made a big deal of his will ( he had left zero for Shirley Jones and David Cassidy ) and that Jack Cassidy was jealous over the success of his sons David and Shaun.

 

[Ultimajock]

From TV Guide, Eastern Virginia Edition:

WHSV Ch. 3 Harrisonburg (NBC/ABC)

9:30 Stumpers (day-behind delay from 11:30 AM, Jack Cassidy
and Mike Farrell are guests--ironically, I believe it was
around this time that Jack Cassidy died in a fire caused by
his smoking on a couch while lying down)

Jack died on 12/12/76 so you are close. I wonder if the reason for this show to be aired was to milk the publicity surrounding that fire? For weeks after Jack's death the press kinda had made a big deal of his will ( he had left zero for Shirley Jones and David Cassidy ) and that Jack Cassidy was jealous over the success of his sons David and Shaun.

...as to Jack's being jealous of Shaun's success, I rather doubt, as Shaun's first TV series (The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries) and hit records didn't start until 1977, after Jack had died. Highly ironically, Jack had played a man who kills himself in his sleep by accident in "The Last Laurel," which was the second part of the 20 January 1971 broadcast of Rod Serling's Night Gallery; the first part of that broadcast was taken up by the Serling classic "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar," co-starring William Windom, Bert Convy and John Randolph, which earned the program an Emmy nomination as the Outstanding Single Program - Comedy or Drama of 1971...

 

[bpatrick]

Since the show had already been taped and NBC certainly
wasn't going to scrap it, the network probably didn't mind
whatever publicity came with airing it. It didn't do anything
to save the show, however; it and "50 Grand Slam" had their
last telecasts on Dec. 31, as did "Somerset".

 

[Stanislav]

Since the show had already been taped and NBC certainly
wasn't going to scrap it, the network probably didn't mind
whatever publicity came with airing it.

Did they tack on any sort of disclaimer or announcement? I vaguely recall similar situations in which a network would announce that the show was taped prior to the person's recent death. (Which seems obvious, but given the "live" look of tape, maybe they thought some viewers would be confused.)

 

[mleach]

...as to Jack's being jealous of Shaun's success, I rather doubt, as Shaun's first TV series (The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries) and hit records didn't start until 1977, after Jack had died. Highly ironically, Jack had played a man who kills himself in his sleep by accident in "The Last Laurel," which was the second part of the 20 January 1971 broadcast of Rod Serling's Night Gallery; the first part of that broadcast was taken up by the Serling classic "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar," co-starring William Windom, Bert Convy and John Randolph, which earned the program an Emmy nomination as the Outstanding Single Program - Comedy or Drama of 1971...

I believe if memory serves ( from interviews of Jones & Ingels and David's mid 90's bio ) Shaun had signed up with David's old agent ( Ruth Aarons ? ) in mid 1976. Knowing how successful David was, chances are Jack Cassidy had an idea that Shaun would be a success in his own right. The impression I got of Jack Cassidy from David's bio was that Jack was jealous..of just about anybody who was a success since his own career really wasn't all that much..compared to Shirley Jones, David Cassidy and Shaun's anyway.

 

[mleach]

Since the show had already been taped and NBC certainly
wasn't going to scrap it, the network probably didn't mind
whatever publicity came with airing it.

Did they tack on any sort of disclaimer or announcement? I vaguely recall similar situations in which a network would announce that the show was taped prior to the person's recent death. (Which seems obvious, but given the "live" look of tape, maybe they thought some viewers would be confused.)

I just remembered that epsidoe of "Playboy After Dark" that had Hugh Hefner interviewing Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski, wonder if they did the same such as adding a disclaimer, that is if the show with Tate had aired past August 1969 when she had became a vicitm of the Manson family.

Then there was, of course that cooking show that was never aired which Bob Crane had done not long before his murder. Then again with that show Bob was making tasteless sex jokes about some female members of the audience which of course had nothing to do with cooking pasta . Had Bob Crane not told those jokes during the taping, my guess would be that the show would had aired, perhaps with a disclamier.

 

[DToTheJ]

WYAH (WGNT) Ch. 27 Portsmouth (Ind.)
7 AM Tennessee Tuxedo
7:30 Lassie
8 AM Little Rascals
8:30 Leave It To Beaver
9 AM Hazel
9:30 Room 222
10 AM Family Affair
10:30 700 Club
12 N Life In The Spirit
12:30 Patterns For Living
1 PM Cartoon Festival
1:30 Huck 'n Yogi
2 PM Porky Pig
2:30 Bugs Bunny
3 PM Popeye
3:30 Flintstones
4 PM Gilligan's Island
4:30 Brady Bunch
5 PM Partridge Family
5:30 Gomer Pyle, USMC
6 PM Dick Van Dyke
6:30 I Love Lucy
7 PM Marcus Welby, M.D. (Lindsay Wagner
as a victim of multiple sclerosis)
8 PM 700 Club
9:30 Life In The Spirit
10 PM God Of Our Fathers
10:30 Vep Ellis Harvest Temple
11 PM Rifleman
11:30 Hogan's Heroes
12 M News

Now THIS was what the now-defunct PAX network should have looked like... although I'm not sure if I agree with scheduling a shoot-em-'up western right after a block of religious programming...

I'm curious as to the length of the "news" that aired at midnight. Just five minutes or so of pre-sign-off headlines?

 

[bpatrick]

Actually, if you think like Pat Robertson, a Western after
a block of religious programming is not at all illogical. He
has said that he sees Westerns as morality plays, where
good always triumphs over evil; he also likes the father-son
relationship between Lucas and Mark McCain on "The Rifleman".

I think the midnight newscast was five or ten minutes of headlines;
Ch. 27 signed off right afterwards.

 

[mleach]

I think the midnight newscast was five or ten minutes of headlines;
Ch. 27 signed off right afterwards.

My guess would be that WYAH pulled a WBFF/Baltimore here meaning more/less anchorless. Instead of an anchor, one hears a voiceover reading the news with the skyline of Norfolk or perhaps Virgina Beach shown since they are really the only two cities of Hampton Roads then and now that offers a skyline of high rises.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

11 AM Double Dare (Alex Trebek version, with
isolation booths and three Ph.D. "spoilers"
to challenge the day's winner)

The 12/20/76 episode of "Double Dare" is on YouTube in four parts at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV_S6GZ5dZo&feature=related (Part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-890ipKxxw&feature=related (Part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvky80n8QH8&feature=related (Part 3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdhtMNLEnas&feature=related (Part 4)

 

[Mike Stroud]

From TV Guide, Eastern Virginia Edition:

WHSV Ch. 3 Harrisonburg (NBC/ABC)

9:30 Stumpers (day-behind delay from 11:30 AM, Jack Cassidy
and Mike Farrell are guests--ironically, I believe it was
around this time that Jack Cassidy died in a fire caused by
his smoking on a couch while lying down)

Jack died on 12/12/76 so you are close. I wonder if the reason for this show to be aired was to milk the publicity surrounding that fire? For weeks after Jack's death the press kinda had made a big deal of his will ( he had left zero for Shirley Jones and David Cassidy ) and that Jack Cassidy was jealous over the success of his sons David and Shaun.

Remember that Jack and Shirley divorced two years earlier, in 1974 as Partridge Family was coming to the end of its four-year run in the multi-colored bus on ABC. At this point, according to David's autobiography, he was really coming apart, drinking prodigiously and giving full vent to his eccentricities. His animosity toward his family should be understood in that light, in that Jack felt he was a has-been, being relegated mainly to appearances on game shows like Stumpers and talk shows like Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas, just to keep himself in the public eye. Who wouldn't be upset when a son, no matter how well you think of him, achieves sudden fame as a teeny-bopper idol, when you struggled to move up in the Hollywood system for years like almost everybody else? In the early 1970s, this was a fairly unique situation, and I can't honestly think of any parallels these days (not that the subject occupies my attention much, anyway).

Myself, I always loved Cassidy's style, a product of the finest Broadway traditions that are now long gone.

 

[mleach]

From TV Guide, Eastern Virginia Edition:

WHSV Ch. 3 Harrisonburg (NBC/ABC)

9:30 Stumpers (day-behind delay from 11:30 AM, Jack Cassidy
and Mike Farrell are guests--ironically, I believe it was
around this time that Jack Cassidy died in a fire caused by
his smoking on a couch while lying down)

Jack died on 12/12/76 so you are close. I wonder if the reason for this show to be aired was to milk the publicity surrounding that fire? For weeks after Jack's death the press kinda had made a big deal of his will ( he had left zero for Shirley Jones and David Cassidy ) and that Jack Cassidy was jealous over the success of his sons David and Shaun.

Remember that Jack and Shirley divorced two years earlier, in 1974 as Partridge Family was coming to the end of its four-year run in the multi-colored bus on ABC. At this point, according to David's autobiography, he was really coming apart, drinking prodigiously and giving full vent to his eccentricities. His animosity toward his family should be understood in that light, in that Jack felt he was a has-been, being relegated mainly to appearances on game shows like Stumpers and talk shows like Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas, just to keep himself in the public eye. Who wouldn't be upset when a son, no matter how well you think of him, achieves sudden fame as a teeny-bopper idol, when you struggled to move up in the Hollywood system for years like almost everybody else? In the early 1970s, this was a fairly unique situation, and I can't honestly think of any parallels these days (not that the subject occupies my attention much, anyway).

Myself, I always loved Cassidy's style, a product of the finest Broadway traditions that are now long gone.

Remembering David's autobiography and past interviews with Shirley Jones, I can't help but wonder if Jack Cassidy had what is now known as bipolar disorder, of course his drinking didn't help the situation either but in the 70's, well who knew of bipolar much less how to treat it anyway? There is debate to this day as to whether or not if Joan Crawford had bipolar such as one minute "..I love you Christina darling" and the next beating her while screaming "..NO WIRE HANGERS ! ! ". In Cassidy's case I have read in the past ( maybe it was in David's book ) where Jack Cassidy not long before his death was seen screaming and pounding a coffee table, calling himself "Jesus Christ" because of the initials "J.C.". Today if Jack ( or Joan ) was diagnosed by a doctor as having bipolar, there is treament for it..sadly not so much in the 70's.

 

[Ultimajock]

...of course, to add to that, Jack Cassidy was a marvelously talented actor who seemed to be typecast more in Hollywood than he was on Broadway, and that had to take its toll. Let's face it, if you're a good performer, the first person who's going to know it is yourself. Even Marty Ingalls, Shirley Jones' second husband, has always been quick to point out that Jack deserved much greater fame than he got...