Larry Storch (ex-F-Troop) is the mystery guest, and, oh, did he ever bamboozle the panel (Arlene Francis, Alan Alda, Sherrye Henry, Gene Rayburn)! Larry enters around the 17-18 minute mark. Host Larry Blyden seems amused by it all.
Larry's spot-on mimic of Paul Lynde had Rayburn badly fooled, and it brought an end to the game. It makes me wonder why Hanna-Barbera didn't call him after Lynde decided not to reprise as Mildew Wolf for Laff-a-Lympics five years later (John Stephenson took over the role).
Let's take a trip to Weinerville. Haven't done that in a while.
The summer-themed episode, "Camp Idontwanna", is the next to last episode of season 1. Baby Jeffrey is headed off to camp, but Mayor Dottie has packed too many suitcases, creating trouble.
Featured cartoons: Mr. Magoo (Jim Backus) in "When Magoo Flew" (1954) and Honey Halfwitch (Shari Lewis) in "Clean Sweep" (1967).
According to series creator & star Marc Weiner, Nickelodeon canned the series after 2 seasons (reruns continued into 1996) as part of a change in the station's direction and attitude. Uh-huh.
Here's to hoping Weiner revives the series someday on another channel.
We've previously shown an excerpt from this next item, but now, we have the whole enchilada.
Alan Landsburg (Gimme a Break!, That's Incredible!) teamed with game show vet Ron Greenberg to produce The Pop 'N' Rocker Game, a syndicated "game in concert", geared to lure in viewers after Soul Train and/or American Bandstand. Jon Bauman swapped out the greaser look from his Sha Na Na days for a case of Gillette's Dry Look hair spray to serve as host. Your friendly neighborhood announcer is Phil Hartman, later of Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Saturday Night Live, & The Simpsons.
The musical guests in the opener are Irene Cara and Oingo Boingo.
We've previously shown a teen-centric episode of CBS' Body Language. This time, the syndicated Triple Threat takes that same path in this offering from 1988.
Tina Yothers (Family Ties) and Christopher Barnes (Day by Day, later the voice of Spider-Man) are the stars featured here. Ex-MTV VJ Alan Hunter fills in for Jim Lange, and pays homage to the game show icon with a nod to the Dating Game at the end of the show.
Credit goes to fellow blogger and best selling author Marc Tyler Nobleman for this next item.
In a landmark decision in 1975, Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman, finally got their just due when DC Comics agreed to give them the appropriate credit for the Man of Steel in his comics adventures. At the time, this applied to Superman & Action Comics, and since then has expanded to Superman's film appearances in movies & TV.
From The CBS Evening News comes this piece, introduced by anchor Walter Cronkite.
Feeling guilty after the ogre Bigmouth stole the Smurfs' winter food supply, Brainy (Danny Goldman) breaks into Papa Smurf's home and uses a spell to transform into "Supersmurf". With predictable results.
This was a rare case of veteran writer Len Janson going solo with the script. I think this was Janson's 1st year at Hanna-Barbera after so many years at Filmation.
There was only one, and while we only have the cover, it is evidence enough.
11 tracks, some of which we've posted here in video form from the show. Now, I have to wonder if Mike Curb likewise had a soundtrack album cut for his other ABC frosh of 1969, Hot Wheels & Skyhawks.......
Game show icon Jack Barry struck a deal with the then-fledgling BET to create a African-American-centric revival of his Golden Age series, Juvenile Jury, for the network. Actor-poet-comedian Nipsey Russell was not only tapped as host, his first MC gig, but also got his name added to the title.
A game show veteran, having recurred on Match Game and Rhyme & Reason, Russell, it was assumed, would be a relatable MC. Unfortunately, this Jury was dismissed after 1 year.
Following is a sample episode:
No rating. BET was not yet available in the 518 when this series aired.
We've talked before about how ABC blew it by not airing its summer variety series, Malibu U, on Saturday afternoons in addition to its Friday berth.
Thanks to YouTube, we now can see episodes of the series, starting with the opener, which features Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Don Ho, and Paul Lynde (Bewitched). Rick Nelson, fresh off The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, which ended a year earlier, is the series host.
Ah, the late, lamented DuMont Network. Jackie Gleason got his start there, and so did prolific game show announcer Johnny Olson, who was Gleason's announcer in the final years of Gleason's CBS variety series, and worked on seemingly a bazillion Goodson-Todman games in the 60's, 70's, & 80's, from The Price is Right & Double Dare to Match Game and Body Language, just to name a few.
The history books tell that Olson hosted a variety show, Johnny Olson's Rumpus Room, which, right now, is not available on YouTube. However, DuMont's Kids & Company, from 1951, is. Let's check out this rarity.
Johnny would later appear on camera for skits on the current Price in the 70's up until his passing in the late 80's, and also filled in as a panelist on Match Game.
The Bangles made their 2nd appearance on American Bandstand in August 1984, with the classic lineup we all know & love.
"Hero Takes a Fall" was the 1st single off "All Over The Place", their Columbia debut. Now, if you didn't believe me before when I said there was a missed opportunity for a Josie & The Pussycats revival in the 80's, with the music performed by the Bangles, I'm pretty sure you'll be a believer after this. Dick Clark intros the band, and there's an interview after "Hero":
While teaming with Batman and Nightwing, Harley (Melissa Rauch, The Big Bang Theory), as a favor to a friend, rocks out with a cover of "Hanging on The Telephone", first recorded by the Nerves in 1976, then famously covered by Blondie 3 years later.
Check out the Easter egg in the video, with a henchman trying to mock Batman with a little Batusi from the 60's.
Under the current administration at Warner Bros Discovery, I doubt that Bugs Bunny will be feted on his 85th or 90th birthday like he was when he turned 80 three years ago.
Anyway, WB did release an 80th anniversary retrospective, with vintage clips and interviews with some of the creative personnel, as well as actors Mel & Noel Blanc, June Foray, and Joe Alaskey. "Space Jam: A New Legacy" was still a ways away from being released when this came out.
Narrated by Billy Crystal.
How this hadn't aired on TBS, TNT, or Chumptoon Network, I don't know.
Today, it would be fairly common to find women working as auto mechanics just as much as men.
In 1972, however, it was still not expected to find women taking classes in auto repair, as Terry Barkley (Julie McWhirter) discovers in this Barkleys episode, "No Place For a Lady":
Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp and his partner, Mata Hairi, moonlighted undercover as members of the band, the Evolution Revolution, during the series' lone season of 1st run episodes. As part of the merchandising for the series as a whole, a Evolution Revolution album was released on ABC-Dunhill records, the same label that was home to the Grass Roots, Three Dog Night, the Mamas & the Papas, & Steppenwolf, just to name a few.
Vocalist Steve Hoffman provides Lance's singing voice on "Magic Feeling":
There was a single, "Sha-La Love You", originally intended for the Grass Roots, but given to the Evolution Revolution instead. Unfortunately, no radio station, save for one that has Dr. Demento on their schedule, is playing any of this music today.
It isn't enough that they redrew, if you will, stock footage from The Archie Show from four years earlier, but "Candy (Sugar Shoppe)" sounds like something Don Kirschner rejected......
If you're of a certain age, like I am, Wild Kingdom was appointment viewing for the whole family during its 25 year original run (1963-71 NBC, 1971-88 syndication). Hearst Media now owns the rights to the series, and is reviving Kingdom for the first time since a short-lived run on Animal Planet a few years ago.
In honor of Wild Kingdom's 60th anniversary, the series returns home to NBC, and will air on Saturday mornings, starting October 7. Peter Gros, who joined the series upon Marlin Perkins' retirement in 1985, will serve as the series host. Gros got a headstart, if you will, as he hosted reruns of the series on RFD TV (check listings), like the sample episode:
I began watching the original Kingdom alongside my parents during its final season, and sat during much of the syndicated era. Now, let's see if the classics are out on DVD..........
Cable networks are missing out by not including this next item on their summer schedules.
Gidget introduced America to future Oscar winner Sally Field in 1965. ABC thought viewers would want to see a series clearly set in summertime conditions year round. Viewers, however, thought otherwise.
Field became the 4th actress to essay the role of Frances "Gidget" Lawrence after 3 feature films with as many leads. We've discussed this series over at The Land of Whatever, so we won't rehash a lot of detail. After the series, ABC brought Gidget back in a pair of TV movies, the first of which had Karen Valentine (Room 222) as Gidget.
Gidget had no shortage of star power, with guest stars including Richard Dreyfuss, before he hit it big, Paul Lynde (Bewitched), and, in this offering, Martin Milner (ex-Route 66).
Edit, 6/6/24: Had to change the video. Here's the intro:
Drawing Power, anchoring the back end of NBC's Saturday lineup in 1980, was from the same folks behind Schoolhouse Rock and the short-lived Metric Marvels, the latter of which aired on NBC 2 years earlier.
Most folks remember comedian Lenny Schultz as being the star of the show, and he also did interstitals for the network in the hours prior to Drawing Power. Here, though, he was actually aided by Bob Kaliban and Kari Page for this 1 year wonder. As it ended up, Newall-Yohe, the production company, was 0-2 at NBC, as this joined Metric Marvels in cancellation.
They could've retained an animated segment with Dewey Decimal, and brought that over to ABC to add to Schoolhouse Rock.
Anyway, this sampler comes from a VHS release circa 1994, 14 years after its initial airing.
Today, what we knew as Swift Premium Brown 'n' Serve Sausage is now marketed under the Banquet brand after Swift & Banquet were both acquired by ConAgra Brands.
Now, this next item came along back in 1976, but I didn't recall seeing it until it turned up on YouTube. Then, Swift tried to market their sausage links to kids with an animated sausage link named Brownie (sounds like it might be Michael Bell or another actor, definitely not Barry Gordon).
Johnny, the star of NBC's Here's Boomer, had a lot in common with Higgins, who starred in the "Benji" movies during the 70's. Both were strays that were picked up, given a home, and trained for a career in Hollywood.
Boomer was a spring replacement series for NBC in 1980, and, in all honesty, should've been given a secondary berth on Saturday mornings, since NBC was relying heavily on reruns at the time, though that would soon change.
Frank Welker, in an increasingly rare on camera appearance, guests as a shopkeeper who helps Boomer link up with a family (including Charles Siebert, Scott Baio, & Tracey Gold) in "Overboard" (also at The Land of Whatever):
This one, along with yesterday's Death Valley Days entry, should get the attention of Hal Horn at The Horn Section, since it deals with his all-time favorite actor, Forrest Tucker.
In season 5 of Daniel Boone, Daniel (Fess Parker) meets up with Joe Snag (Tucker) while trying to help Cincinnatus (Dallas McKennon, The Archie Show) replenish his general store. Robert Cornthwaite, whom some of you will remember as a duplicitous politico on Batman two years earlier, also guest stars.
Post-F-Troop, and prior to Ghost Busters, Tucker had no shortage of character roles. You'd think someone would've offered him a series gig prior to Ghost Busters during this period, but, nope, unless Hal has some info to drop.
Captain Kangaroo actually launched in 1955, so, during the 1980-1 season, CBS decided to honor the Captain (Bob Keeshan) with a primetime special, Good Evening, Captain, to mark 25 years on the air. Oh, if only viewers knew what would soon happen.
In the fall of 1981, Captain Kangaroo was shrunk to a half-hour show, retitled, Wake Up With The Captain, in order to make room for an expanded morning news program. In effect, CBS suits were slowly phasing out Keeshan, moving his show into earlier, less desirable time slots until the series was cancelled in 1985. Keeshan would also host CBS Storybreak until he left the network.
For Good Evening, Keeshan himself was credited as executive producer, with the show directed by TV veteran Bob Henry. Series regulars Hugh "Lumpy" Brannum and Cosmo Allegretti were also given their due. The guest list included:
Ted Lange (The Love Boat).
Mike Farrell (M*A*S*H).
Jean Stapleton (ex-All in The Family).
Kim Fields (The Facts of Life).
LaWanda Page (ex-Sanford & Son).
Gary Collins (Hour Magazine).
Barbara Mandrell.
Todd Bridges (Diff'rent Strokes)
Plus cameos by other stars, either in new clips or archived bits. Dick Tufeld, at the time a studio announcer for Ruby-Spears and/or ABC, was the announcer.
The video opens with a bumper from Incredible Hulk star Bill Bixby explaining that this airing was shown in place of a Hulk rerun.
Didn't see this the first time, as I was either out of the house or watching baseball. No rating.
This has previously been reviewed over at The Land of Whatever, but it also belongs here because it was a weekend series. In the 518, it aired mostly on Sundays, but it likely also aired on Saturdays in other parts of the country.
Death Valley Days, sponsored & packaged by the folks behind Borax, Borateem, et al, launched in 1952 with the Old Ranger (Stanley Andrews) as host. Andrews had the longest run, before being succeeded by future president Ronald Reagan, then Robert Taylor and Dale Robertson. When the series was revived in the 80's, singer Merle Haggard simply cut new bumpers around selected reruns.
I'd usually sit with my late father to watch the show, mostly during the Taylor-Robertson era. When they brought the show back with Haggard, it wasn't picked up in the 518.
From 1963, we serve up one of the first color episodes of the series, "Three Minutes to Eternity", with a pre-F-Troop Forrest Tucker, Tom Skerritt, Jim Davis (ex-Stories of The Century), Ed Peck (who'd later bedevil the Fonz on Happy Days), and Hank Patterson (2 years before Green Acres).
Chesterfield cigarettes used to be a big thing back in the day. Chesterfield was a sponsor of radio shows like Dragnet, for example.
In 1957, they commissioned this next item. Daws Butler does all the voices.
Couldn't they have asked Hanna-Barbera or Warner Bros. to do this one? The simplistic style really isn't a problem, but a king that can't knight anyone without beheading them ain't exactly a selling point.
Remember Wheel of Fortune 2000? More commonly known as Wheel 2000, the series lasted 1 season on CBS (1997-8). Let's refresh your memories.
25 years after the series' cancellation, Sony wants to try again.
A newer, kid-centric Wheel is one of four new children's shows Sony is developing, per the Hollywood Reporter. Also on the docket is a junior version of ABC's Shark Tank, aimed at the lemonade stand crowd, and animated reboots of Bewitched and The Partridge Family.
When you think about it, they could've done an animated Bewitched years ago, after stars Elizabeth Montgomery & Dick York had guested on The Flintstones. The latter series was in its final season on ABC, while Bewitched was in its 2nd. Daytime reruns aired on ABC's schedule as much as six days a week between 1971-3.
The idea is to fill the continuity gap, if ya will, between Bewitched, the Saturday Superstar Movie entry, "Tabitha & Adam & The Clown Family", and the live-action Tabitha. The premise is to focus on Tabitha, now in her early teens. With the writers' strike in progress, it'll be a while before there's any movement on this project and a refurbished Partridge, which would flip the pre-fab pop family band to African-American. Because it'd be a cartoon, casting the leads might not be so much of a problem if they can find some musicians among the actors.
Shark Tank, airing Fridays on ABC, is mostly a forum for businesses on the rise or in development, and has been a side gig for Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. This might be the toughest sell of the lot.
Here's an all-female band that somehow slipped into the mists of time.
Fanny, founded by sisters June & Jean Millington, were only active initially for about 6 years (1969-75), boasting the likes of Richard Perry and Todd Rundgren as producers. In 1973, the group appeared on The Midnight Special and performed "All Mine" and a cover of Randy Newman's "Last Night I Had a Dream". Classic rock stations won't hesitate to play songs by, say for example, Heart, the Go-Go's, the Runaways, or the Bangles, but all four of those bands owe their legacy to Fanny.
Well, My Adventures With Superman has a premiere date on [adult swim], Thursday, July 6. That's the good news.
The bad? You might need to DVR it.
Proving once again that they have all the capability of programming a network like a blind grasshopper, [as] is airing the show at 12 midnight (ET).
Are these people that stupid? You have had a lead-in to your comedy lineup giftwrapped, and you decide to put it on at midnight? Thank God it'll be available On Demand, which may be the best way most of us can watch it at a reasonable hour! Since [as] is soon to lose the Fox comedies (i.e. Family Guy, Bob's Burgers) as the contracts expire, you'd think putting My Adventures With Superman in primetime would be a slam dunk, especially considering that the CW's live-action Superman & Lois will be wrapping up its 3rd season in a couple of weeks, and they could've picked up that audience.
Check the trailer:
Like, they could checkerboard part of their primetime grid so that the new show can get a wider audience, but what do we know, right?
Hasbro's Romper Room division served up Sherlock, a bloodhound your toddlers could ride, in 1974. YouTube commenters have noted that it sounds like actor-turned-game show host Larry Blyden (What's My Line?) doing the closing voice-over.
Apparently, the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle estate raised a fuss over the name, so Sherlock was rebooted four years later as Digger, whom we've previously profiled.
