Retro: Nashville - Saturday, December 12, 1981

[RandTV]

Primary source: Nashville Tennesean

2 WNGE (ABC)
6:00 Health Field
6:30 Children's Gospel Hour
7:00 Super Fun Hour (Superfriends/Heathcliff & Marmaduke)
8:00 Fonz/Laverne & Shirley Hour (Fonz and the Happy Days Gang/Laverne & Shirley in the Army)
9:00 Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show and Scrappy Too!
9:55 Schoolhouse Rock!
10:00 Goldie Gold/Thundarr Hour
10:55 Schoolhouse Rock!
11:00 ABC Weekend Special: "Mayday! Mayday!" (Part 1 of 2)
11:30 American Bandstand - Guest: Smokey Robinson
12:30 NCAA Football - Division I-AA Playoffs: Eastern Kentucky vs. Boise State
3:30 Carter Country
4:00 ABC's Wide World of Sports - North American Amateur Boxing Championships (Shreveport, LA); National Championship Air Races (Reno, NV)
6:00 Zig Zag (local 'magazine' show)
6:30 Teddy Bart & Nashville
7:00 Open All Night
7:30 Making a Living
8:00 Love Boat
9:00 Perry Como's French-Canadian Christmas - Guests: Debby Boone, Dorothy Hamill, Diane Tell, Andre Gagnon, St. Joseph's Boys Choir
10:00 NewsWatch 2
10:30 NCAA Basketball (taped) - Vanderbilt vs. Alabama

4 WSMV (NBC)
5:55 Agriculture USA
6:25 Farm Digest
7:00 Flinstone Comedy Show
7:26 Ask NBC News
7:30 Smurfs
8:26 Ask NBC News
8:30 Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!
9:26 Ask NBC News
9:30 Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
10:00 Space Stars
10:56 Ask NBC News
11:00 NFL '81
11:30 NFL Football - Cleveland Browns vs. New York Jets
2:00 Please Don't Eat the Daisieel s
2:30 Hollywood Christmas Parade - Hosts: Bob Eubanks, Lee Meriwether; Grand Marshals: Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
4:30 Backstage at the Grand Ole Opry - Guests: Chet Atkins, Lonzo & Oscar
5:00 Pop! Goes the Country - Guests: Slim Whitman, Sue Powell
5:30 That Nashville Music - Guests: Conway Twitty, Connie Smith
6:00 Channel 4 News
6:30 Point to Point
7:00 Barbara Mandrell & the Mandrell Sisters - Guests: Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, The Sons of the Pioneers
8:00 Harper Valley PTA
8:30 Lewis & Clark (sitcom)
9:00 Television: Inside and Out - Interviewees: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard
10:00 Channel 4 News
10:30 Saturday Night Live - Host: Bill Murray; Musical guests: The Spinners
MIDNIGHT Evening at the Improv - Host: Martin Mull; Guests: Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman), Greg Travis, Steve Ivings

5 WTVF (CBS)
6:00 Sunrise Semester
6:30 TBA
7:00 Popeye and Olive Comedy Show
7:26 In the News
7:30 Tarzan/Lone Ranger/Zorro Adventure Hour
8:26 In the News
8:30 Bugs Bunny/Road Runner
10:26 In the News
10:30 Blackstar
10:56 In the News
11:00 Trollkins
11:26 In the News
11:30 Soul Train - Guests: The Spinners, Bobby Womack, Hal Jackson's Talented Teen
12:30 NCAA Basketball - Marquette vs. Wake Forest
2:30 NFL Today
3:00 NFL Football - Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings
6:00 Good Times
6:30 Eyewitness News
7:00 Walt Disney: "Walt Disney: One Man's Dream" - Life and achievments of Walt Disney chronicled. Host: Michael Landon; Guests: Julie Andrews, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Walter Cronkite, Mac Davis, R. Buckminster Fuller, Marie Osmond, Carl Reiner, Beverly Sills, Dick Van Dyke, Ben Vereen, Andy Warhol
9:00 Hee Haw - Guests: Oscar the Grouch (with Bruno the Trashman), David Frizzell & Shelley West, The Shoppe, The Million Dollar Band (Most other papers list in this station's slot, "CBS Reports" (with Bill Moyers)". Hee Haw was normally seen at 5:30, but the NFL game pushed that off.)
10:00 Eyewitness News
10:30 Gunsmoke
11:30 Solid Gold - Guests: The Bee Gees ("Living Eyes"), Joey Scarbury ("Believe It or Not"), Paul Williams ("Evergreen"), Alabama ("Love in the First Degree"), Curtis Mayfield, The Los Angeles Dodgers' Big Blue Wrecking Crew ("We Are the Champions", in honor of their World Series victory that year)
12:30 Movie: "Even Knievel" (1971) - George Hamilton (as Knievel), Sue Lyon

8 WDCN (PBS)
10:00 Survival Special
11:00 Matinee at the Bijou - Featured: "Bulldog Drummond's Bride" (1939), a 1939 cartoon, a 1937 short featuring Glenn Ford, Chapter 2 of "Lost City of the Jungle" (1946)
12:30 Planets
1:00 GED
2:00 Lillian Hellman: A Profile
2:30 Woodwright's Shop
3:00 Victory Garden
3:30 Quilting
4:00 Soccer Made in Germany - Brazil vs. (West) Germany
5:00 Presenting Karen Akers
6:00 Bobby Jones' World
6:30 Tennessee Outdoorsman
7:00 Sneak Previews - Reviews: "Reds", "My Dinner With Andre", "Montenegro"
7:30 Movie: "In Old Chicago" (1938) - Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Alice Brady (as Mrs. O'Leary), Andy Devine, Brian Donlevy (Fictionalized account of the 1871 Great Chicago Fire.)
9:30 Movie: "One in a Million" (1937) - Sonja Henie (Hollywood debut), Don Ameche, Ned Sparks, The Ritz Brothers

17 WZTV (Ind.)
6:00 Accounting
7:00 Bullwinkle
7:30 Tennessee Tuxedo
8:00 Movie: "The Devil's in Love" (1933) - Victor Jory (died two months later), Loretta Young
9:30 Movie: "Dangerous Charter" (1962) - Chris Warfield, Sally Fraser, Chick Chandler
11:00 Wrestling
NOON NFL Preview
1:00 Movie: "Monster from the Ocean Floor" (1954) - Anne Kimbell, Stuart Wade
2:30 Movie: "No Time to Kill" (1959) - John Ireland, Ellen Schwiers, Birgitta Andersson
4:00 Movie: "Crazy Over Horses" (1951) - The Bowery Boys
5:30 Muppet Show - Guest: Debbie Harry
6:00 Welcome Back, Kotter
6:30 Jeffersons
7:00 Movie: "The Far Country" (1954) - James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Corinne Calvet, Walter Brennan
9:00 Kung Fu
10:00 Wraparound (local interview show hosted by Rita Whitefield)
10:30 Jack Van Impe
11:00 700 Club
12:30 America's Top 10

 

[RandTV]

In regards to Oscar the Grouch's "Hee Haw" appearance, in case any of you may not remember Bruno the Trashman (also performed by Caroll Spinney) here's more about him from Muppet Wiki. Bruno the Trashman

 

[RandTV]

POP MUSIC TOP TEN LISTS

Solid Gold - from Radio & Records
Note: The episode aired as listed above was actually from the week before (December 5).

1. HERE I AM (JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OVER YOU) - Air Supply
2. PHYSICAL - Olivia Newton-John
3. OH NO - The Commodores
4. WAITING FOR A GIRL LIKE YOU - Foreigner
5. EVERYTHING LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC - The Police
6. DON'T STOP BELIEVIN' - Journey
7. TRYING TO LIVE MY LIFE WITHOUT YOU - Bob Seger (performed by co-host Andy Gibb)
8. YOUNG TURKS - Rod Stewart
9. THE OLD SONGS - Barry Manilow
10. NO REPLY AT ALL - Genesis

America's Top 10 - from Billboard's Hot 100

1. PHYSICAL - Olivia Newton-John
2. WAITING FOR A GIRL LIKE YOU - Foreigner
3. EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC - The Police
4. OH NO - The Commodores
5. LET'S GROOVE - Earth, Wind & Fire
6. YOUNG TURKS - Rod Stewart
7. HERE I AM (JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OVER YOU) - Air Supply
8. WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE? - Diana Ross
9. HARDEN MY HEART - Quarterflash
10. DON'T STOP BELIEVIN' - Journey

 

[installLSC]

9:00 Perry Como's French-Canadian Christmas - Guests: Debby Boone, Dorothy Hamill, Diane Tell, Andre Gagnon, St. Joseph's Boys Choir

I thought "isn't this kind of late for a Perry Como Christmas special", and it turns out they aired annually until 1986. It would have gone on further if Como had been willing to take unfavorable time slots for his specials.

12:30 NCAA Football - Division I-AA Playoffs: Eastern Kentucky vs. Boise State

A I-AA semifinal on network TV? (Other parts of the country showed the other semifinal or the Divison II championship). For comparison, The FCS final only recently started airing on ABC--in January.

3:30 Carter Country

TV programmers must have really loved this show. It lasted only 2 years (1977-79), wasn't a hit in either, and launched no big stars. Yet for some reason it aired in weekend slots as late as the 90s.

 

[RandTV]

SECONDARY SOURCE LIST

Jackson (TN) Sun
Clarksville (TN) Leaf-Chronicle
Murfreesboro (TN) Daily News-Journal
Owensboro (KY) Messenger-Inquirer
Park City (KY) Daily News
Louisville Courier-Journal

 

[RandTV]

COUNTRY TOP 10 CHARTS

Since we're in Nashville, I think it's very appropriate to include the Country charts as well.

Radio & Records - December 4

1. BET YOUR HEART ON ME - Johnny Lee
2. STILL DOIN' TIME - George Jones
3. LOVE IN THE FIRST DEGREE - Alabama
4. ALL ROADS LEAD TO YOU - Steve Wariner
5. YOU'RE MY FAVORITE STAR - Bellamy Brothers
6. THE WOMAN IN ME - Crystal Gayle
7. WHAT ARE WE DOIN' LONESOME? - Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers
8. IF I NEEDED YOU - Emmylou Harris & Don Williams
9. I WOULDN'T HAVE MISSED IT FOR THE WORLD - Ronnie Milsap
10. FOURTEEN KARAT MIND - Gene Watson

Billboard Hot Country Singles - December 12

1. STILL DOIN' TIME - George Jones
2. LOVE IN THE FIRST DEGREE - Alabama
3. ALL ROADS LEAD TO YOU - Steve Wariner
4. FOURTEEN KARAT MIND - Gene Watson
5. WHAT ARE WE DOIN' LONESOME? - Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers
6. THE WOMAN IN ME - Crystal Gayle
7. BET YOUR HEART ON ME - Johnny Lee
8. YOU'RE MY FAVORITE STAR - Bellamy Brothers
9. YOU MAY SEE ME WALKIN' - Ricky Skaggs
10. I WOULDN'T HAVE MISSED IT FOR THE WORLD - Ronnie Milsap