NBC had lined up a string of Flintstones primetime specials in October 1980, leading to The Flintstone Comedy Show joining the Saturday lineup weeks later.
In "Fred's Final Fling", Fred (Henry Corden) has a health scare when his x-rays are mixed up with those of Frank Frankenstone (John Stephenson; Charles Nelson Reilly would take over when they started the Saturday series). The usual chaos follows.
These days, Sesame Street is now a half-hour show, so things move even quicker than in the old days.
Since today is Father's Day, let's go back to 2017, and see how Elmo, Rosita, Abby, & Prairie Dawn prepare for the day.
"The Pinballs" is based on a novel by Betsy Byars, the latest one to be adapted for the ABC Afterschool Special. Kristy McNichol (Family) top-lines with Sparky Marcus (2 years before Bad News Bears) and Walter Brooke (ex-The Green Hornet) co-starring.
Colleges had their commencements last month, and so did some high schools in various parts of the country. Here in the Northeast, high school commencements will be in full swing next week.
With that in mind, we present the 2-part season 4 finale of The Facts of Life, as Blair (Lisa Whelchel) & Jo (Nancy McKeon, also heard on The Puppy's New Adventures) graduate from Eastland. TV vets Alex Rocco (ex-Three For The Road) and Marj Dusay guest star.
Ah, the good old days of wrestling, when your weekend programming consisted of jobber matches filling out an hour of action, mostly as an infomercial for pending shows in the broadcast area.
Pete Doherty, aka "The Duke of Dorchester", in reference to his Massachusetts hometown, was one of the more famous jobbers, working for the 3WF, and getting a bone tossed his way with a win in front of the partisans every so often. Doherty retired from the ring in 1997, and was inducted into the New England Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2010.
From 1980, Pete has his work cut out for him against Andre The Giant. Joe McHugh's intro is already in progress as the video begins.
From season 5 of The Flintstones:
Fred & Wilma (Alan Reed & Jean VanderPyl) and Barney & Betty (Mel Blanc & Gerry Johnson) are sent to the future, specifically, the 1964 New York World's Fair, then backwards to other periods in this compilation from the episode, "Time Machine". Comes with closing credits of the period.
The Facts of Life, spun off from Diff'rent Strokes, got a head start on the rest of the NBC lineup by launching in August 1979, although after the first four weeks, the series was placed on hiatus until the following spring, during which time, the producers began to overhaul the cast.
In the opener, "Rough Housing", Blair (Lisa Whelchel) thinks she has it in the bag as the Harvest Queen, but is jealous when Cindy (Julie Ann Haddock) is nominated instead. The Strokes cast (Conrad Bain, Todd Bridges, Gary Coleman, & Dana Plato) guest star.
From season 1 of The Munsters:
Love starved Grandpa (Al Lewis) meets a "widow" who is really a con artist.
The real surprise is that of Neil Hamilton, later of Batman, as the other half of this team of scammers........
It's just too bad that NBC-Universal is enforcing its copyrights, so that only excerpts can be shown, like this one.
Inspired by the success of their Chatty Cathy figures, Mattel took things a step further, creating a learning tool for kids with See 'n' Say. A child could pick something with a pointer on the face of the toy, pull the string, and hear what he/she wants to hear.
For example, let's check this ad for The Farmer Says:
The title says it all, as Superman (Bud Collyer) discovers a race of Hawk-Men in "The Underground World":
Another day, another Spectra attempt at conquering Earth, this time with "Super Space Spies". Not if G-Force has anything to say about it in this Battle of The Planets entry, which includes a pre-episode teaser narrated by Bill Woodson (Challenge of The Super Friends), who is also heard as one of Zoltar's soldiers.
From season 1 of The Flintstones:
Barney (Mel Blanc) buys Betty (Bea Benaderet) an engagement ring (??), and has Fred (Alan Reed) hold it for safekeeping. Wilma (Jean VanderPyl) finds the ring, and assumes Fred bought it for her. Uh-oh!! Now, Fred, who doesn't have the money to buy a 2nd ring, talks Barney into an exhibition boxing match with the champ. The girls ask the champ's manager to let Barney win the fight, but Barney's clowning proves costly. Believing they've been double-crossed, welllllllll......
After we've previously screened two celebrity-centric episodes of Junior Partner Pyramid, let's serve up one with kids and their parents. This aired on a Friday, as at the end of the show (closing credits were partially edited), they plugged the Saturday night lineup.
We all know Rory Raccoon was a supporting character who had one of the rotating features on Linus The Lionhearted. While Bob McFadden voiced Rory on the show, the commercials Rory did for Post Toasties have Mel Blanc subbing for McFadden.
Here, Rory thwarts Claudius Crow......
Casting has been completed for Netflix's forthcoming Scooby-Doo: Origins, with Nick Robinson & McKenna Grace among the stars.
The final casting was for Scooby himself, and, well, here he is.....
Stay tuned.
We had this up before, then it was deleted.
Now, the estate of Fred Rogers has started their own YouTube channel, and so, we represent the series premiere of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
From season 5 of The Flintstones:
Fred (Alan Reed) is up to his neck in trouble with both wife Wilma (Jean VanderPyl) and the Water Buffalo Lodge when Bedrock's only caterer mixes up two parties scheduled for the same night. A clown, meant for Pebbles' party, ends up at the lodge, and a jazz band and the Boulderettes show up at the Flintstone house, as you'll see in this excerpt:
60 years ago, the Kinks released "Sunny Afternoon", which didn't quite reach the top of the charts here in the US, although it did in England & Ireland. This anniversary video has a mix of styles, including those of Peter Max & Terry Gilliam. Max, of course, did the character designs for the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" 2 years later.
I think we had this one up before, but it was taken down. It's back, but for how long, who can say?
Wonder Wheels is at "The County Fair" to foil a larcenous duo of thieves, one of whom is also competing in a motocross race.
In Disney's adaptation of "Aladdin", Broadway star Lea Salonga teamed with Brad Kane to perform "A Whole New World", which the two would perform live at the Oscars in 1993. Disney, instead of having Kane & Salonga's version released as a single, turned to Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle to cover "World", which hit #1 on the Hot 100.
Filmation wasn't interested in a modern, though loose, adaptation of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, but felt that a "Commander Nemo" (promoted from Captain) would make a good villain for the Space Sentinels.
The plot: Nemo (an uncredited Lou Scheimer) is trying to solve the earth's pollution problem. Unfortunately, the means to accomplish this goal are wrong, and attracts the attention of the Sentinels.
From season 1 of The All-New Popeye Hour:
Popeye (Jack Mercer) and Bluto (Allan Melvin) are in a steeplechase race after Olive (Marilyn Schreffler) inherits a horse. Well, you know how this goes.
