Ten Forgotten Shows I’d Like to Watch: 1970s Edition

 

This will be my third deep dive into the strange, enchanted realms of short-lived and nearly forgotten series from the Comfort TV era. You can read the first two here and here.

 

I was inspired to return to this topic after discovering a YouTube channel that collects opening credits sequences from obscure shows. I watched a couple of videos about shows from the 1970s, and realized again that this is the only decade where I find the flops as interesting as the hits. So this time around, here are ten groovy and far out '70s shows that disappeared faster than earth shoes and “Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific” shampoo.

 

Loves Me, Loves Me Not (1977)

Two words: Susan Dey. After she gave up the keyboards and left the Partridge family band, Dey was top-billed in this situation comedy as a teacher dating a reporter (Kip Gilman). 

 

I’d like to see how she handled her first adult role, but I acknowledge that naming the characters Dick and Jane was not an encouraging sign of what the writers considered clever.

 

 

Curiosity Shop (1971)

I have vague memories of watching this Saturday morning series first-run when I was five or six years old. All I remember now is that it had songs and educational content, that Pamelyn Ferdin was in it, and that it was the first time I ever heard the word “onomatopoeia.” 

 

The Mac Davis Show (1974)

I moved to Las Vegas at the tail end of the Rat Pack era and over the next 20 years saw hundreds of showroom performers. One of the biggest surprises during that time was how much I enjoyed Mac Davis at the MGM Grand. Such a wonderfully talented singer and musician, with great comic timing – just the sort of person they gave variety shows to in the 1970s. 

 

 

I’m sure the comedy sketches in his series were substandard, as they were on all every show not featuring Carol Burnett and Tim Conway. But the lineup of musical guests could not be topped:  Aretha Franklin, Anne Murray, Loretta Lynn, John Sebastian, Dolly Parton, Dean Martin, Olivia Newton-John and many more. Find me another series that would book Roy Rogers and Dale Evans one week, and Ike and Tina Turner the next.

 

Gibbsville (1976)

In a small town in Pennsylvania in the 1940s, young Jim Malloy is hired by the local newspaper as a cub reporter. He is mentored by Ray Whitehead, in what had to be an art-imitating-life performance by Gig Young as a newspaperman whose drinking cost him a more successful career. I’ll always check out any show about a newspaper, especially from the days when reporters used typewriters instead of computer terminals. 

 

 

Here We Go Again (1973)

Between I Dream of Jeannie and Dallas, Larry Hagman starred in this situation comedy alongside the ever charming Diane Baker as a just-married couple trying to begin their new lives together, despite constant interference from their respective ex-partners (Dick Gautier and Nita Talbot). With that set-up the material could have been played broadly to the point of farce, with a lot of yelling and conflict and over-the-top mugging. But the pilot is on YouTube and it was refreshing to discover how they opted instead for a more laid-back, sophisticated vibe that should have been easier to sustain. 

 

 

Miss Winslow and Son (1979)

This was Darleen Carr’s third attempt at a 1970s series that would stick around for a while. She began the decade on The Smith Family with Henry Fonda and Ron Howard, and then headed west with Rod Taylor on The Oregon Trail, a pretty good western that happily is also available on DVD. Miss Winslow and Son was an adaptation of a British series called Miss Jones and Son; the company behind the show hoped for another hit like they had three years earlier, when they turned Man About the House into Three’s Company. But apparently viewers had fewer issues with a guy living with two girls than with an unwed mother. Or maybe the show just wasn’t that good, as it lasted just six episodes. 

 

Out of the Blue (1979)

Also known as “the Happy Days spinoff that no one remembers.” The episode “Chachi Sells His Soul” featured James Brogan as an angel named Random. In “Out of the Blue,” Random comes to the aid of a family of kids whose parents are killed in a plane crash. Could it be worse than Joanie Loves Chachi? 

 

The Interns (1970)

In CBS promos for this medical drama, the network proudly proclaimed: “It’s about…what it’s all about.” Yeah, not encouraging. But the couple of episodes that have turned up online certainly held my interest.  Broderick Crawford plays the gruff but lovable veteran doctor who oversees the ongoing educations of five interns. From that cast only Mike Farrell went on to bigger and better things, but it’s a talented ensemble. I also enjoyed seeing Elaine Giftos, another charismatic ‘70s star who deserved better roles, as Farrell’s wife.

 

 

 

Kingston: Confidential (1976)

Raymond Burr managed to follow up nine years as Perry Mason with eight years as a wheelchair-bound detective on Ironside. But that golden touch did not carry over to this series, in which Burr played a top executive in one of the nation’s top media conglomerates, who habitually left his cushy desk job to track down an important story. One of his assistants is played by Pamela Hensley, who would trade in her business suits for a sci-fi showgirl ensemble on Buck Rogers In the 25^th Century. As I previously stated with Gibbsville, I’m always interested in any show about journalism the way it used to be. 

 

Co-ed Fever (1979)

I have no doubt this show was awful. But sometimes a series looks so dreadful from its opening credits that I can’t resist a perverse curiosity to discover the precise level of terrible it achieves. As with Delta House on ABC, this was CBS’s attempt to adapt National Lampoon’s Animal House into a sitcom, without all the R-rated moments that made the film a hit. Delta House failed despite featuring several actors from the film plus Michelle Pfeiffer. Coed Fever countered with Heather Thomas and David Keith. According to IMDB eight episodes were made, but CBS pulled the plug after just one. If the set looks familiar, it’s because it was recycled with few alterations for the first season of The Facts of Life. 

 

 

Ten More Forgotten Shows I’d Like to Watch

Three years ago in this space I listed ten shows long out of circulation that I’d like to watch. In the time since that blog only one of those shows – The Smith Family – has become available.

Not one to be deterred by that dismal track record, I’m going to try again. Here are ten more series that, from the small sample size I’ve experienced, looked intriguing enough to merit further investigation.

The Nurses (1962)

With 98 episodes and a handful of Emmy nominations, this is the most successful series on the list. It was what they used to call a prestige drama, with high caliber talent on both sides of the camera. The couple of episodes that can be found online put you convincingly into the lives of nurses at a big city hospital, the way Naked City incases you in the crime-ridden streets of New York. But the two stars that went the distance with The Nurses, Shirl Conway and Zina Bethune, never became household names, which is just one of many reasons it will likely remain out of circulation. 

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1962)

After he played Davy Crockett for Disney, and before he starred in Daniel Boone, Fess Parker starred in this adaptation of the classic Frank Capra film with Jimmy Stewart as a young, idealistic Senator. As the theme song tells us, “He’s just a country boy, but he gets a lot of joy, finding ways of fixin’ things that need a helping hand.” The result is perhaps a bit too light and sitcom-my, but Parker fits the part well and they had writers of the caliber of Earl Hamner on some of the scripts. I’m not even sure all 25 episodes still exist, but I’d be curious to take a look.

Mickey (1964)

For more than 50 years, Mickey Rooney may have been the hardest-working man in show business. IMDB lists 340 credits for him, and this sitcom may be among the least heralded. He played a Coast Guard recruiter based in Nebraska (yes, that’s the first joke) who moves his family to California to run a struggling beachfront hotel. The show earned Rooney the Golden Globe as Best TV Star – Male in 1964, but given the dubious history of the Hollywood Foreign Press, that just means the check cleared. I’d like it because I always think he’s interesting to watch, and because his wife was played by Emmaline Henry, best known as Amanda Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie.

Please Don’t Eat the Daisies (1965)

From Mr. Novak to The Man From UNCLE to The Love Boat, Pat Crowley is someone I’m always happy to see turn up in a guest spot on a favorite show. She was a TV star in search of the right series to affirm that status, and this one is as close as she got. 

Based on a film starring Doris Day, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies was a family sitcom in the tradition of The Brady Bunch, but with a subversive streak in that wife and mother Joan Nash (Crowley) was a bit of a nonconformist. That freshened up the mix a bit, and despite some bad time slots the show survived for more than 50 episodes over two seasons. It didn’t disappear completely after that – I’ve caught a few episodes over the years in various afternoon timeslots, and I enjoyed them as much as the shows that have played nonstop all over TV for 50 years. 

The Little People (1972)

The two top-billed starts of this short-lived sitcom, created by Garry Marshall, were Brian Keith and Shelley Fabares. And that’s really all I need to know. I’ve never seen a full episode but a few scenes have turned up online, so I know Keith plays a pediatrician in Hawaii, and Fabares plays his daughter, who works with him in his office. As he did in Family Affair, Keith comes across as a guy who is really good with kids, though he didn’t always look like he wanted to be around them. And I really don’t care what Shelley does cause I’d watch her in anything – except Highcliffe Manor (1979). I tried, though. I really did.  

Animals, Animals, Animals (1976)

This was a pleasant show in which Hal Linden taught kids about different kinds of animals. It had no higher aspirations than that.

Its executive producer was Lester Cooper, who previously served as head writer for the brilliant Make a Wish. I assume that’s the main reason why the show was smarter than it had to be. If you can’t remember much about it, that may change if you hear the theme song again. 

All That Glitters (1977)

“One morning the Lord, She woke up to say, "I feel like I want to be creative today"

Given Norman Lear’s TV titan status, as well as the ongoing focus on equality and inclusion that dominates our national conversation, it’s surprising that someone hasn’t put out this soap opera parody, which featured the same quirky tone as the more successful Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. The gimmick was in its reversal of traditional roles, as on this show all the women worked in executive positions, and all their husbands stayed home to take care of the cleaning and the kids. The cast included Eileen Brennan, Lois Nettleton, Anita Gillette, Linda Gray, Gary Sandy, Tim Thomerson and Jessica Walter.

The Fitzpatricks (1977)

Here’s how I pictured the pitch meeting at CBS: “Hey, ABC is doing really well with that Family series – let’s get one of those over here. And since Kristy McNichol is the most popular character on that show, we’ll get her brother Jimmy to star in ours.” I could be completely wrong about all of that, but either way the result was The Fitzpatricks, about a working-class family in Michigan. Might have worked – probably should have worked, but they scheduled it opposite Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, and ABC quickly wiped out this homage to one of its crown jewels. 

Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine (1977)

Someone called this “the original YouTube” on IMDB.  The set-up is that computer genius Marlo Higgins works for the L. Dullo Corporation by day, but when his shift is over he ducks into a secret room in the basement where he has created a colorful talking super-computer. That machine shows videos that are fun and educational, and can also transport Marlo to places all around the world. I confess that as a kid, the credit identifying Marlo as being played by Laurie Faso confused the heck out of me. Was that really a woman with an unusually deep voice in a wig and mustache? No – it was just a guy named Laurie.

The 1960s and ‘70s were a time when computers were becoming more prevalent, and everyone assumed that the more powerful they got, the bigger they would have to be. Even Marlo could not have imagined that everything his machine could do would now fit on a hand-held device in someone’s pocket.

Anyone else still remember the theme song? 

Jack and Mike (1986)

Shelley Hack did not get great notices for her acting on Charlie’s Angels, but she had picked up her game toward the end of her one season, and carried those talents into better (though sadly not more successful) projects. Jack and Mike was ABC’s hope that the audience who loved Moonlighting would stick around for another hour with another smart and attractive couple. The show had a more serious edge than its predecessor – Hack played Jackie, a newspaper columnist whose stories sometimes got dangerous, and Tom Mason played her husband, a successful restaurateur with an equally demanding career. 

I have the vaguest of vague memories of watching it first-run – and thinking that it had a good cast in search of better stories. And I liked that it was filmed in Chicago, which is always a plus for this Chicago area native.

Let’s see if we can get at least two of these shows out on DVD in the next three years.

Ten Forgotten TV Shows I’d Like to Watch

I’ve always wondered why critically-panned movies that bomb at the box office are still easy to find, while many television shows that suffer a similar fate disappear, never to be seen again. Surely, if there is an audience for Halle Berry’s take on Catwoman, there are also people who would be curious to check out David Soul’s take on Rick Blaine in his 1983 prequel to Casablanca. 

Here are ten shows long out of circulation that I’d love to watch. Perhaps they would prove disappointing, but as a connoisseur of the Comfort TV era I’m sure I could find redeeming features in all of them.

For the record – I have seen individual episodes of some of these, courtesy of YouTube and other sources. The fact that they’re still on the list means I enjoyed them enough to want to see more.

Window on Main Street (1961)

Thanks to Shout Factory’s Father Knows Best DVD sets, I’ve been able to watch several episodes of this series. It was the second collaboration for Robert Young and Roswell Rogers, who wrote many of Father Knows Best’s most memorable episodes. 

Here, Young plays Cameron Garrett Brooks, a moderately successful author who returns to his hometown of Millsberg to write a book about folks who live there. Each episode of this warm and wise series introduced new characters dealing with the kind of everyday issues that television no longer cares to explore.  

O.K. Crackerby (1965)

This time of year we all get our Burl Ives fix through the annual broadcast of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. But if you’ve also seen The Bold Ones: The Lawyers you know what a compelling presence Ives can be when he’s not a stop-motion snowman. In O.K. Crackerby he played a rustic but filthy-rich Oklahoma widower trying to gain acceptance into a more refined social set. I have no doubt his charisma could carry even a sub-standard show. 

The Man Who Never Was (1966)

Here’s a series that brings together two actors that deserved more substantive careers. Robert Lansing, a natural leading man best known to TV fans for 12 O’Clock High, and the elegant Dana Wynter, a familiar face from 40 years of guest-starring roles on shows from Wagon Train to The Rockford Files. 

In The Man Who Never Was Lansing played Peter Murphy, an American secret agent who looks exactly like millionaire playboy Mark Wainwright. When foreign agents aiming for Murphy kill Wainwright instead, Murphy assumes his identity – which includes marriage to the millionaire’s wife, Eva (Wynter). Romance and espionage with likable leads, plus the show was filmed in Europe, instead of on those European backlots at Universal that never fooled anyone. 

The Smith Family (1971)

It was a series produced by Don Fedderson Productions (Family Affair, My Three Sons) starring Henry Fonda as a police detective and Ron Howard (between The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days) as his son.  

The Smith Family lasted 39 episodes, and you’d think that many shows coupled with such an impressive pedigree would have earned it a DVD release by now. It could still happen. 

Diana (1973)

I’ve seen one episode of this situation comedy, and based on that experience I’m not surprised it didn’t last. But the ‘Diana’ of the title is Diana Rigg, so I’d gladly watch the rest of it anyway. 

Ozzie’s Girls (1973)

I’ve spent countless happy hours watching Ozzie Nelson do next to nothing on the groundbreaking sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet. It remains one of my most treasured Comfort TV shows. So of course I’d be an eager viewer of this syndicated show that debuted seven years after that series ended its 14-season run. 

The set-up had Ozzie and Harriet Nelson taking in two college girls as boarders. I love the idea of having one of television’s original idealized sitcom couples negotiate how times have changed since the 1950s, this time while dispensing sage advice to girls instead of their two famous sons. 

Hizzoner (1979)

I always enjoy watching David Huddleston, whether it’s as Santa Claus in a movie that should have been better, or as recurring characters on Petrocelli and The Wonder Years, or in my favorite episodes of The Waltons (“The Literary Man”) and Charlie’s Angels (“Angels in Chains”). So I’d probably like this sitcom in which he starred as the mayor of a small Midwestern town. Plus, each episode featured a musical number, and I’m always a sucker for musical numbers. 

Time Express (1979)

At a time when The Love Boat and Fantasy Island were taking guest stars on memorable journeys, the miniseries Time Express offered a different kind of wish fulfillment. Vincent Price starred as the conductor of a train that transported people to pivotal moments in their pasts, where they could change decisions they would later regret. That’s a very good premise, though apparently not enough viewers thought so at the time. 

Star of the Family (1982)

A talented teenage singer (Kathy Maisnick) starts getting show business offers, much to the consternation of her overprotective firefighter dad (Brian Dennehy). 

I saw a clip from one of the episodes on an installment of Battle of the Network Stars, when Maisnick competed for the ABC team. It was enough to pique my interest. 

Chicago Story (1982)

Ninety-minute dramas were a rarity on TV, especially after the heyday of the anthology shows of the 1950s. Chicago Story was an ambitious attempt to tell bigger stories, while bringing together three stalwart TV genres – cop shows, medical shows and lawyer shows. I’m intrigued by how this series would take stories from one setting to another, and have the characters from the different genres interact. 

Model and Bond Girl Maud Adams was top billed as Dr. Judith Bergstrom, and the large cast featured several actors with better shows in their future: Dennis Franz (playing a policeman – what else?), Molly Cheek, Craig T. Nelson and John Mahoney.