It was a common practice back in the day for the networks to preview their Saturday morning fall lineups in primetime. ABC traditionally did this on the eve of the new season, and there were a few clunkers along the way.
The 1973 model may just fit under "clunker", for that matter. I barely remember seeing this the first time around, and, sad to say, the following clip is all I can find. The comedy team of Jack Burns & Avery Schreiber served as hosts for this edition. Schreiber would move to CBS the next year to co-star on The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine, but as memory serves, he & Burns (ex-The Andy Griffith Show) had their own series on ABC around this time, hence landing this gig. Anyway, Avery entertains his nephew, and gets help not only from Burns, but from a few guests, including Bugs Bunny (voiced, of course, by Mel Blanc, but otherwise an anonymous guy in a suit, probably hired away from a theme park). And, yeah, that is Chuck Woolery, a couple of years away from Wheel of Fortune, as Superman. Chuck would also be involved in a revival of Your Hit Parade a year or two later. Not sure who was cast as Batman.
Josh Schrieber uploaded this clip:
I had seen better before and after this. Rating: C-.
5 comments:
Boy do I remember the Saturday morning sneak peeks. However the ones I saw were often hosted by Dick Clark.
Funny seeing not only Chuck Woolery and Lassie, but a young RICK SPRINGFIELD who still had his Australian accent! He was even dressed as his animated counterpart, "Rick" from Mission Magic! Sweet!
That Goober gag though was lame - in any decade!
I've been trying to find these 1970s Saturday preview shows for years, and so far I've only located a handful. Four, to be exact, including this one - NBC 1974, '76, and '78 are the others. The 1980s ones are pretty common, because by then everybody had VCRs. Do you know of any others that have survived?
I just happen to find them on YouTube, and even then, they're usually in chunks. I couldn't find part 2 of this one.
I do remember one with Don Adams as the announcer, but that I think would be a year or two later, and that was an ABC one when they introduced the Funshine Saturday gimmick.
Is that Jay Leno dressed up as Superman?
No. As established in the original text, that is Chuck Woolery, who otherwise was recurring on The New Zoo Revue at the time.
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