TV Time Capsule

Happy New Year, ‘Laverne & Shirley’

“New Years Week” continues.

On December 27, 1977, ABC aired “New Year’s Eve 1960,” the “Laverne & Shirley” episode that showed how the girls spent the last night of the 1950s.

 

Ah, the “Laverne & Shirley” credits: Sadly, another example of a sitcom that doesn’t quite live up to its terrific theme song. And we’ll do it our way/Yes our way/Make all our dreaaams come truuue/For me and yooou.

The girls are counting the money they’ve collected for the New Year’s Eve party that Shirley (Cindy Williams) is throwing. Laverne (Penny Marshall) wants to go with Norman, the cop she’s been dating, but the “entire Milwaukee police force is on duty New Year’s Eve.” She’s narrowed her remaining options to Jake the Snake, Benny the Newspaper Guy and Herbie Schul.

SHIRLEY: Hmmm. A motorcycle hoodlum, a man with filthy hands and a guy who turns his eyelids inside out.

LAVERNE: Yeah, they’re really nice guys.

The girls learn Laverne’s childhood crush Pete has broken up with his latest squeeze, Beatrice. Shirley tells Laverne if she can lure Pete to their apartment, Shirley guarantees she can persuade him to ask Laverne to the party.

 

Scene change!

 

Pete (guest star Craig Littler) brings Laverne home. She puts on some make-out music, but the record she chooses – “Chances Are” – turns out to be Pete and Beatrice’s favorite. “Stupid song!” Laverne says as she rips the record off the phonograph player. Laverne and Pete get chummy when Shirley arrives and begins dropping hints that Laverne needs a date for New Year’s Eve. Before Pete departs, he asks Laverne if he can escort her to Shirley’s party. The plan worked!

 

Party time! Shirley’s boyfriend Carmine (Eddie Mekka) tries to teach Laverne’s dad Mr. DeFazio (Phil Foster) how to dance the twist: “Just pretend you’re drying your backside with a towel while putting cigarettes out with your feet.”

 

 Time lapse!

 

SHIRLEY: I’m telling you Laverne, this is the best New Year’s Eve party I’ve ever thrown!

LAVERNE: Yeah, being here with Pete is like a dream come true.

SHIRLEY: Well, would you look who’s dreaming?

LAVERNE: What? I dream. I just don’t like to talk about them. It don’t hurt so bad if they don’t work out.

SHIRLEY: Well, I’m glad this one’s working out. It’s nice to see you so happy.

Oh, this is going to end well.

 

Carmine gives Shirley a diary as a present. She opens it and finds the first page already filled in:

SHIRLEY [reading]: January 1, 1960. Dear Diary: Spent New Year’s Eve with Carmine as usual. This year’s midnight kiss was his best ever. After everybody left, Carmine stayed and told me that the nicest thing about the ’50s was me.

CARMINE: And you’re going to be the nicest thing about the ’60s, too.

That Big Ragu is so sweet!

 

Pete wants to kiss but there’s no mistletoe, so Laverne hangs some oregano. Then Pete’s ex Beatrice enters and plays “Chances Are” on the jukebox. Pete and Bea fall into each other’s arms and begin dancing; Laverne is crushed. Altogether now, studio audience: Awww!

 

Laverne returns to the apartment, where she mixes a bucket of her favorite drink: milk and Pepsi. Shirley arrives and tells her it’s not her fault Pete left her standing under the oregano.

“Yes it is. I just ain’t pretty enough for him,” Laverne says as a slow version of the “Laverne & Shirley” theme begins swelling in the background.

Shirley, take it away:

SHIRLEY: Don’t ever say that. I don’t ever want to hear you say that again.

LAVERNE: It’s true.

SHIRLEY: It’s not true. You’re very pretty. Very pretty. What’s more important, you’re pretty on the inside.

LAVERNE: Big deal, pretty inside. If they ever cut me open, maybe I’ll be Miss America. Pretty inside is what they say to people who ain’t pretty, Shirl.

SHIRLEY: Laverne, you’re pretty on the outside too, and you know it.

Shirley begins singing – Should auld acquaintance be forgot/And never brought to mind – and it’s so awful Laverne smiles.

 

The girls move to the front stoop, where everyone has gathered to witness the mysterious stunt goofball neighbors Lenny and Squiggy (Michael McKean, David L. Lander) have planned for midnight. A squad car arrives – it’s Norman, the cop Laverne had hoped to spend New Year’s Eve with in the first place!

 

It’s time for the big surprise: Lenny, dressed as Father Time, leads the countdown to midnight as Squiggy, dressed as Baby New Year, lowers himself down a rope from near the top of the building.

 

Ten, nine, eight …

 

… seven, six, five …

 

… four, three, two, one!

 

Happy New Year!

 

See for yourself: “New Year’s Eve 1960” is part of the “Laverne & Shirley: The Complete Third Season” DVD set.  

 

On TV

Here’s the prime-time lineup for Tuesday, December 27, 1977:

8: “Happy Days”* (ABC), “CBS Reports: Illegal Aliens in Los Angeles” (CBS), “Pine Canyon is Burning”* (NBC)

8:30: “Laverne & Shirley” (ABC)

9: “Three’s Company”* (ABC), “M*A*S*H”* (CBS)

9:30: “Soap” (ABC), “One Day at a Time” (CBS), “Terraces”* (NBC)

10: “Family”* (ABC), “Lou Grant”* (CBS)

 

The Record

For the week of December 25, 1977:

Top novel: “The Silmarillion” by J.R.R. Tolkein

Top song: “How Deep is Your Love” by Bee Gees

New at the movies: “High Anxiety”

Top TV show: “Laverne & Shirley” (ABC)

In the news: Sadat planned a visit to Sudan

‘The Bob Newhart Show’s’ Endless Holiday Office Party

“Holidays With the Hartleys” continues.

On December 22, 1973, CBS aired “I’m Dreaming of a Slight Christmas,” a “Bob Newhart Show” episode that finds Chicago psychologist Bob Hartley (Newhart) dreading his office holiday party.

The shindigs always follow a pattern, as Bob explains:

Around 2 o’clock it usually starts and then Carol says what a great guy I am. And then about 2:05, somebody spikes the watercooler. About 2:30, Carol tells me off. And then sometime between 3 and 4, somebody asks for some free psychological advice. And then around 4 o’clock, all the ear, nose and throat men on the sixth floor come down and challenge us to an ice hockey game on the roof. And then at 5 o’clock, Tupperman starts reciting the Hippocratic oath while Jerry hums “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth.”

This year, Bob plans to leave the party early to spend Christmas Eve with wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette). Too bad a blizzard strands him at the office!

See for yourself: “I’m Dreaming of a Slight Christmas” is part of “The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete Second Season” DVD set and can also be rented and purchased at iTunes and Amazon.com and streamed at Hulu.

 

On TV

Here’s the prime-time lineup for Saturday, December 22, 1973:

8: “Partridge Family” (ABC), “All in the Family” (CBS), “Emergency!” (NBC)

8:30: “Snatched” (ABC), “M*A*S*H” (CBS)

9: “Mary Tyler Moore Show” (CBS), “Fitzwilly” (NBC)

9:30: “Bob Newhart Show” (CBS)

10: “Griff” (ABC), “Carol Burnett Show” (CBS)

 

The Record

For the week of December 16, 1973:

Top novel: “Burr” by Gore Vidal

Top song: “The Most Beautiful Girl” by Charlie Rich

Top movie: “Amacord”

Top TV show: “All in the Family” (CBS)

In the news: First-class stamp prices increased from 8 cents to a dime

 

 

Captions: Dr. Bob Hartley, patient Mr. Peterson and receptionist Carol Keester – played by John Fiedler and Marcia Wallace, respectively – learn a blizzard has shut down Chicago during Bob’s holiday office party (top); Emily isn’t thrilled with the tiny tree Bob has brought home for their scaled-down Christmas (middle); Bob braves the blizzard to spend Christmas Eve with Emily, but he’s too tired to celebrate, so they snuggle on the sofa (bottom).

‘I Dream of Jeannie,’ Uncorked Again (And Again)

On October 20, 1985, Barbara Eden reprised her most famous role in “I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later,” an NBC TV movie based on the network’s 1965-70 sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie.”

The flick finds Jeannie’s marriage to astronaut Tony Nelson being tested: When he postpones his retirement to go on one last mission, she takes their teenage son T.J. and moves out.

“Dallas” star Larry Hagman, who played Tony in the original “Jeannie” sitcom, reportedly wanted too much money to appear in the movie, so producers replaced him with “M*A*S*H’s” Wayne Rogers.

Two of Eden and Hagman’s original co-stars did return: Bill Dailey reprised his role as Tony’s best friend and fellow astronaut Roger Healey, while Hayden Rorke – in his final performance – again played NASA psychiatrist Alfred Bellows.

Mackenzie Astin, son of ’60s sitcom stars John Astin and Patty Duke, played T.J.

“I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later” is notable for featuring the first on-screen appearance of Eden’s navel, which NBC wasn’t allowed to show in the ’60s.

That probably helped the movie draw an impressive 18.4 million homes, making it the week’s 11th most-watched broadcast.

Exactly six years later – on October 20, 1991 – NBC aired a second reunion movie: “I Still Dream of Jeannie.”

This time, Tony was away on a top-secret mission, forcing Jeannie to hit singles bars in search of a new temporary master.

Daily again played Roger, Christopher Bolton portrayed Tony Jr. and Hagman’s “Dallas” nemesis Ken Kercheval appeared as one of Jeannie’s suitors.

“I Still Dream of Jeannie” was seen in 11 million homes, finishing 39th in the weekly ratings.

 

On TV

Here’s the prime-time lineup for Sunday, October 20, 1985:

7: World Series, Game 2 (ABC), “60 Minutes” (CBS), “Punky Brewster” (NBC)

7:30: “Silver Spoons” (NBC)

8: “Murder, She Wrote” (CBS), “Amazing Stories” (NBC)

8:30: “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” (NBC)

9: “Crazy Like a Fox” (CBS), “I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later” (NBC)

10: “MacGyver” (ABC), “Trapper John, M.D.” (CBS)

 … And the lineup for Sunday, October 20, 1991:

7: “Life Goes On” (ABC), “60 Minutes” (CBS), “True Colors”(Fox), “Adventures of Mark & Brian” (NBC)

7:30: “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose” (Fox), “Eerie, Indiana” (NBC)

8: “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (ABC), World Series, Game 2 (CBS), “In Living Color” (Fox), “Man of the People” (NBC)

8:30: “America’s Funniest People” (ABC), “Roc” (Fox), “Pacific Station” (NBC)

9: “Dynasty: The Reunion, Part 1” (ABC), “Married … With Children” (Fox), “I Still Dream of Jeannie” (NBC)

9:30: “Herman’s Head” (Fox)

 

The Record

For the week of October 20, 1985:

Top novel: “Texas” by James A. Michener

Top song: “Take On Me” by a-ha

Top movie: “Commando”

Top TV show: “The Cosby Show” (NBC)

In the news: President Reagan touted the proposed “Star Wars” missile defense system

… And the week of October 20, 1991:

Top novel: “Scarlett” by Alexandra Ripley

Top song: “Emotions” by Mariah Carey

Top movie: “Other People’s Money”

Top TV show: World Series, Game 6 (CBS)

In the news: Bill Clinton sought the Democratic presidential nomination

 

Caption: NBC’s advertisements for “I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later” from TV Guide’s October 19, 1985, issue, and “I Still Dream of Jeannie” from the magazine’s October 19, 1991, edition.

Sue Ann Nivens, Happy Homewrecker

“Betty, White Hot!” a series of periodic flashbacks to key moments in Betty White’s amazing television career, continues.

On September 15, 1973, CBS aired “The Lars Affair,” the classic “Mary Tyler Moore Show” episode that introduced Betty White as TV hostess Sue Ann Nivens, whose dimpled smile masked a deliciously bitchy personality.

The episode, which served as the sitcom’s fourth season premiere, finds snobbish Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman) devastated to learn henpecked husband Lars is having an affair with Sue Ann, the star of “The Happy Homemaker” on WJM, the Minneapolis TV station where Phyllis’s friend Mary Richards (Moore) works.

Phyllis confronts Sue Ann on “The Happy Homemaker” set, where she slams the oven door, deliberately destroying a chocolate soufflé Sue Ann is baking. (“My poor baby!” Sue Ann wails.)

Before Sue Ann, White was known for playing sweet-as-spun-sugar characters such as newlywed Vicki Angel, her role on the 1950s sitcom “Date With the Angels.”

In White’s expert hands, Sue Ann became a precursor to Martha Stewart: a perfectionist with a helpful hint for every occasion.

In “The Lars Affair,” as Mary’s neighbor Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) helps tidy up after a dinner party, Sue Ann admonishes the “dear” for throwing out the coffee grounds (“They’re the perfect plant food for Mary’s geraniums!”). In “Happy Birthday, Lou!,” a December 22, 1973, episode,  Sue Ann objects to the chafing dish Mary plans to use at another party (“What do we plan to do about the tarnish?”).

Sue Ann’s favorite sparring partner was WJM newsroom writer Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod): He zinged her for being promiscuous, she zapped him for being bald.

From “Not With My Wife, I Don’t,” a January 3, 1976, broadcast:

SUE ANN: Mary, I just dropped by, dear, to tell you to be sure to stop in my studio this week. I’m devoting all my shows to you poor unfortunate single girls.

MARY: Sue Ann, in case you’ve forgotten, you are single also.

SUE ANN: Oh yes, but that’s only because I don’t happen to place my love life above my profession.

 

MURRAY: I thought that was your profession.

SUE ANN: Oh Murray, witty Murray. Jokes fall from your lips – almost as fast as hair falls from your head.

The show’s writers occasionally explored Sue Ann’s vulnerable side. In “The Happy Homemaker Takes Lou Home” – a December 6, 1975, installment – Sue Ann finds herself spurned by her favorite target, gruff Lou Grant (Ed Asner), who gently tells her she’s “too good” to keep throwing herself at him.

“Isn’t life funny?” Sue Ann says. “I’ve been accepted by lots of men and felt rotten. You’ve just rejected me and I feel like a million dollars. Thanks, Lou.”

Sue Ann was conceived as a one-time character, but White proved so popular that producers made her a semi-regular. She appeared in 33 episodes after “The Lars Affair,” twice winning Emmys for her performance.

In White’s 1995 memoir “Here We Go Again: My Life in Television,” she credited Moore, her longtime friend, with Sue Ann’s success:

No matter how funny the part is, if a guest character is someone the lead character doesn’t like, the audience can often get protective and not respond well to the newcomer. It might work in drama, but that syndrome can do you in when you’re going for comedy. It was thanks to Mary’s choice as an actress that Sue Ann worked. Rather than disliking her, Mary Richards found Sue Ann Nivens laughable, so the audience could relax and laugh with her.

“The Lars Affair” can be rented for 99 cents or purchased for $1.99 at iTunes and downloaded for 99 cents from Amazon.com. The episode is also part of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete Fourth Season” DVD set. The next “Betty, White Hot!” installment will be posted tomorrow.

 

Also on TV

On September 15, 1973, CBS also aired the season premieres of “All in the Family,” “M*A*S*H,” “The Bob Newhart Show” and “The Carol Burnett Show” (guest: Jim Nabors, natch); ABC broadcast the season premiere of “The Partridge Family” and showed “Irma La Douce,” a 1963 flick starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine; and NBC carried “America Goes Public,” a Democratic Party telethon.

 

The Record

During the week of September 9, 1973, the number ones included Mary Stewart’s “The Hollow Hills” (book) and Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” (song). “American Graffiti” was new at the movies, and in Washington, President Nixon and special prosecutor Archibald Cox were at an impasse in their dispute over the Watergate tapes.

 

  

Captions: Mary Tyler Moore and Betty White in a 1976 photograph by Ken Whitmore (top, courtesy IMDB.com, via MPTV); CBS’s advertisement for “The Lars Affair” from TV Guide’s September 15, 1973, issue (bottom).

Monday, August 20, 1990

NBC really believes in “Parenthood.”

The network has introduced two prime-time series based on the Ron Howard’s seriocomic 1989 film, which chronicled the adventures of a large, multi-generational middle-class family in the Midwest.

The movie starred Steve Martin as husband and father Gil Buckman, Mary Steenburgen as his wife Karen and Dianne Weist as Helen, one of his three siblings.

NBC’s first version – which debuted 20 years ago tonight and was produced by Howard and longtime collaborator Brian Grazer – shifted the setting to California.

Ed Begley Jr. led the cast as Gil, along with Jayne Atkinson as Karen and Maryedith Burrell as Helen. Supporting players included Leonardo DiCaprio as Gil and Karen’s eldest son Garry (played by Joaquin Phoenix in the movie) and David Arquette as Tod, Helen’s daughter’s slacker boyfriend (Keanu Reeves’s movie role).

USA Today’s Matt Roush described the one-hour “Parenthood” pilot – which was scripted by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, who also wrote the movie – as “less an adaptation than a flat-out remake.”

He praised the writers for preserving the “tone of affectionate anxiety” that characterized the film, suggesting “Parenthood” was “the most enjoyable transition from hit movie to TV series since ‘M*A*S*H.’”

The Washington Post’s Tom Shales described the pilot as “a prolonged, and rather melancholy, sitcom. There are too many characters, and it’s hard to keep the relationships straight.” Begley was a “capable but unexciting” substitute for Martin, Shales wrote.

“Parenthood” was one of five series debuts that NBC aired during the third full week of August 1990; the others were high school musical “Hull High,” medical anthology “Lifestories,” the Jane Curtin-Stephen Collins romantic sitcom “Working It Out” and “Ferris Bueller,” another show based on a hit movie.

The network repeated each pilot once more before the season began in September – a “double pump” strategy that aimed to give NBC a jumpstart on the competition.

The move yielded mixed results: The first “Ferris Bueller” and “Parenthood” broadcasts were each seen in about 13 million homes, ranking sixth and seventh, respectively, in the weekly ratings.

The other shows finished between 29th and 32nd places.

None of the shows performed well once the season officially began, and all had been cancelled by the end of December 1990.

NBC didn’t give up on “Parenthood,” though: In March 2010, it introduced a one-hour version of the show starring Peter Krause as the Martin/Begley character (now named “Adam Braverman”), Monica Potter as his wife and Lauren Graham in the Weist/Burrell role of his eldest sister.

The new “Parenthood,” while not a big hit, was renewed for a second season, which is slated to begin on September 21, 2010.

 

Elsewhere on Television

TV Guide listings for August 20, 1990:

SYNDICATED ARSENIO HALL; 60 min.

Scheduled: Country singer Emmylou Harris.

 

For the Record

Also on August 20, 1990:

Top song: Mariah Carey’s “Vision of Love.” Top book: Scott Turrow’s “The Burden of Proof.” Top movie: “Ghost.” In the news: Tensions between the United States and Iraq mounted in the Persian Gulf.

Sunday, July 4, 1976

The United States turned 200 on July 4, 1976, and television commemorated the occasion with typical restraint.

Walter Cronkite anchored 16 consecutive hours of Bicentennial coverage on CBS, beginning at 8 a.m. In prime time, he was joined by co-hosts Valerie Harper (“Rhoda”), Danny Kaye and Beverly Sills.

NBC’s David Brinkley and John Chancellor, stationed atop the World Trade Center in Manhattan, also signed on at 8 a.m. and logged 10 hours, taking breaks for local news, “Meet the Press” (guests included Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis) and “Bob Hope’s Bicentennial Star-Spangled Spectacular,” a prime-time special featuring Sammy Davis Jr., Debbie Reynolds and the Captain and Tennille (“Bob’s new friends,” according to the TV Guide ad).

ABC, still considered something of a lesser network in those days, scattered three one-hour Harry Reasoner-anchored specials throughout the day.

The day’s activities included President Ford’s speeches at Valley Forge and Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, a San Francisco Bay regatta and the lighting of 33 tons of fireworks in Washington, D.C.

The big highlight: Operation Sail, in which hundreds of vessels navigated the Hudson River.

“As the images of one parade blurred with another, as the clichés of one speech overlapped another, the pictorial surveys of Operation Sail were always distinctive, frequently stunning,” wrote the New York Times’ John J. O’Connor.

He dismissed the rest of the coverage as “easily disposable moments,” including a lecture from Cronkite when he became “rather upset at some young Danes interrupting their Queen’s speech with an anti-American demonstration.”

The Washington Post’s Tom Shales deemed NBC as offering the day’s best coverage; he praised the network for recognizing “that this was a day for people and not just scenery. NBC showed us faces; CBS showed us crowds.”

Shales also pointed out the networks’ different approaches to selling airtime on the Bicentennial:

[On CBS,] Jane Russell sang the praises of a certain bra; kitty litter, suppositories, and a “whole different kind of deodorant” were hawked. But on NBC, Mutual Benefit Life picked up the whole tab and ran only institutional spots with a gently patriotic motif. Commercials may be as American as custard pie, but it was gratifying that on the Fourth of July 1976, at least one company didn’t find it necessary to hit us in the face with them.

Viewers may have enjoyed the nonstop Bicentennial coverage during the daytime but they weren’t much interested after sunset.

The week’s most-watched shows were all reruns, led by CBS’s “M*A*S*H.”

Only two Bicentennial shows cracked the top 20 – Hope’s special, which ranked 20th, and a Brinkley/Chancellor-anchored recap that finished 23rd. CBS’s prime-time coverage ranked 53rd.

Hopefully, most Americans turned off their sets and experienced the historic occasion for themselves.

Elsewhere on Television

TV Guide listings for July 4, 1976:

SYNDICATED JIMMY SWAGGART – Religion

The sermon on “Fear” concludes.

 

For the Record

Also on July 4, 1976:

Top song: Wings’ “Silly Love Songs.” Top book: “Trinity” by Leona Uris. Top movie: “The Omen.” In the news: President Ford’s popularity continues slipping.

Sunday, March 5, 1972

“Gay Days” continues.

It’s no secret ’70s medical dramas have a crummy track record when it comes to casting gay people in a positive light.

In 1973, “Marcus Welby, M.D.” advised a closeted, married father that the man’s homosexuality was a “serious illness,” urging  him to resist his urges so that he could “deserve the respect” of his young son.

Later that year, on “Medical Center,” a gay psychiatrist urged a young girl that her lesbian feelings shouldn’t be taken seriously.

All of which makes “Discovery at Fourteen,” “The Bold Ones” installment that NBC aired on this night in 1972, so surprising.

The episode, which aired as part of “The New Doctors” medical series, cast Jane Wyman as Amanda Fallon, a pediatrician trying to determine why 14-year-old patient Cory Melino (Ron Howard) has a bleeding ulcer.

After some digging, Amanda learns Cory has secretly discovered his father Jack (Robert J. Hogan) – who long ago divorced the boy’s mother and moved away – is gay and is worried he’s going to grow up to be gay, too.

Amanda, with help from a young associate played by Mike Farrell, helps Cory understand that he won’t inherit his father’s homosexuality.

Quite remarkably, Amanda also shames Cory’s mother and Jack’s estranged father (Lynette Mettey, Jim Davis) for their prejudice against Hogan’s character. “We’re not going to get anyplace until you crawl out of your Victorian caves. These are enlightened times,” Amanda says.

(At the end of the episode, viewers learn Jack and his father are moving toward reconciliation.)

Of course, “Discovery at Fourteen” isn’t without its flaws. Amanda’s search for Jack takes her to a gay bar populated by homosexuals straight from Central Casting (pencil mustaches and ascots abound) and, despite Amanda’s counsel that homosexuality isn’t inherited, we know today there’s plenty of genetic evidence to the contrary.

But hey, let’s not quibble. This isn’t “Marcus Welby, M.D.”

Besides, how can you not appreciate a show in which Angela Channing (Wyman’s “Falcon Crest” character) treats Richie Cunningham’s ulcer, pals around with B.J. Hunnicutt (Farrell’s “M*A*S*H” alter ego) and lays the smackdown on Jock Ewing (Davis’s “Dallas” role)?

 

Elsewhere on Television

TV Guide listings for March 5, 1972:

9:00 NBC BONANZA (CC)

Roscoe Lee Browne, who has played everything from light comedy to heavy drama, stars as a crippled old man on an unlikely odyssey: nailing his grandson’s murderer. Written and directed by Michael Landon (Joe). Jamie: Mitch Vogel. (60 min.)

Guest Cast

Joshua …… Roscoe Lee Browne

Zack …………. William Watson

Clem …………… Robert Doyle

Jonah ……….. Edward Crawford

Hal ……………… Jeff Morris

Sheriff Tyson …….. Joseph Perry

 

For the Record

Also on March 5, 1972:

Herman Wouk’s “The Winds of War,” William Peter Blatty’s “The Exorcist” and John Updike’s “Rabbit Redux” are best sellers. Nilsson’s “Without You” tops the music chart. And freshmen entering Columbia University next fall will pay an average of $3,668 for tuition and housing, or $1,103 more than current seniors paid when they arrived in 1968.

Tuesday, February 24, 1976

“Challenging the Classics” reviews classic episodes to see how they stand the test of time.

The show: “M*A*S*H”

The episode: “The Interview,” which is presented as a black-and-white 1950s TV documentary about life in the 4077th. Clete   Roberts, a real-life Korean War correspondent, interviews the “M*A*S*H” actors, who appear in character and mostly improvise their answers.

The broadcast: 34 years ago tonight, from 9 to 9:30 on CBS.

Why it’s a classic: “The Interview” was the final episode of “M*A*S*H’s” wonderfully innovative fourth season. (Other installments that year included “The Bus,” which took place entirely outside the 4077th camp, and “Hawkeye,” which was essentially a half-hour monologue by Alan Alda.) “The Interview” won no awards, but it’s remembered fondly by fans and critics.

Does it hold up? Absolutely. In true “M*A*S*H” style, “The Interview” is alternately hilarious …

MAJOR FRANK BURNS (Larry Linville): I don’t see any harm in doctors being order to behave as patriotically as possible.

ROBERTS: Doesn’t patriotism have to come from the heart?

BURNS: I don’t have that problem.

… and heartbreaking:

 

FATHER FRANCIS MULCAHY (William Christopher): When the doctors cut into a patient and it’s cold – you know, the way it is now, today – steam rises from the body and the doctor will … will warm himself over the open wound. Could anyone look on that and not feel changed?

While it depicts a conflict from a half-century ago, “The Interview,” like all good classics, is resonant. When the buffoonish Burns shares his belief that “Korea will become a shining policy of benign military intervention,” you can hear the echo of Dick Cheney’s prediction that the United States would be greeted as liberators in Iraq.

“The Interview” is also a lovingly authentic tribute to early TV journalism: the edits are occasionally choppy, Roberts’ microphone is omnipresent – even the on-screen font used to identify the characters is done in utilitarian ’50s style.

Finally, it’s impossible to watch “The Interview” today and not think about “The Office,” “Modern Family” and other contemporary shows that employ the mockumentary format each week. Of course, “The Interview” turns out be much more satisfying than almost any installment from those shows.

 

Elsewhere on Television

TV Guide listings for February 24, 1976:

8:00 ABC HAPPY DAYS

Fonzie needs glasses but he would rather go blind than make a spectacle of himself. Jack Dobson plays Ralph’s father the optometrist. Fonzie: Henry Winkler. Howard: Tom Bosley. Ralph: Donny Most. Potsie: Anson Williams. Marion: Marion Ross. Joanie: Erin Moran. Richie: Ron Howard. Supporting cast … Betty: Joan Roberts.

 

… And in the News

New York Times excerpts from February 24, 1976:

SCHORR RELIEVED OF DUTIES BY CBS
The Network Acts Pending Resolution of Inquiry Into Leak of House Report

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 – CBS News formally relieved Daniel Schorr today of all duties as a Washington correspondent pending resolution of a Congressional investigation of his leak of a House committee’s intelligence report to The Village Voice.

Monday, February 1, 1982

Holy moly! How many ministers did John Ritter play during his TV career?

In “Pray TV,” an ABC movie that aired 28 years ago tonight, Ritter – immortalized as “Three’s Company’s” Jack Tripper – portrayed Reverend Tom McPherson, an idealistic young preacher who falls under the spell of charismatic televangelist Freddy Stone (Ned Beatty).

It was one of at least four turns Ritter took behind the TV pulpit.

He also played Reverend Matthew Fordwick, who ministered to “The Waltons” from 1972 until 1976, and guest starred on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” as Reverend Chatfield, the tennis-shorts-clad preacher who married Ted and Georgette (Ted Knight, Georgia Engel) in 1975.

In addition, Ritter played an Episcopal minister married to Meredith Baxter in “Holy Joe,” a 1999 TV movie, and he portrayed a priest in a 2000 installment of the short-lived legal drama “Family Law.”

Of Ritter’s many clerical roles, “Pray TV” may have been the least interesting.

Televangelism was big business in the 1980s – shows like Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s “PTL Club” were attracting huge audiences in syndication, while Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network was reaching millions of cable subscribers – but critics dismissed “Pray TV” as a toothless critique.

The movie also flopped with viewers, failing to crack Nielsen’s top 20 in the week it aired.

“Pray TV” was a surprise hit for the phone company, though.

During the film, Reverend Stone urged his viewers to call 800-555-6864 to join his TV flock.

A whopping 15,000 people dialed the non-existent number on the night “Pray TV” aired, the Associated Press reported. The phone company typically received 300 calls to non-existent numbers each night.

 

Elsewhere on Television

TV Guide listings for February 1, 1982:

9 PM CBS M*A*S*H

A deeply distressed AWOL private (Cyril O’Reilly) seeks refuge at the 4077th. Mulcahy: William Christopher. Lieutenant: David Graf. Hawkeye: Alan Alda. B.J.: Mike Farrell. Potter: Harry Morgan. Sal: Val Bisoglio.

9 PM NBC MOVIE (CC) – Drama

“World War III” concludes with escalating hostilities, as President McKenna (Rock Hudson) and Secretary Gorny (Brian Keith) conduct an exercise in brinkmanship. A 1982 TV-movie. (2 hrs.)

Additional Cast

Colonel Caffey ………… David Soul

Kate …………… Cathy Lee Crosby

General Rudenski ….. Robert Prosky

Dorothy ………. Katherine Helmond

 

… And in the News

New York Times excerpts from February 1, 1982:

MORE STATES TESTING TEACHERS IN RESPONSE TO SCHOOL CRITICS

A growing number of states are beginning to test teachers before letting them into the classroom, in an effort to produce better teachers and counter increasing dissatisfaction with the nation’s public schools.

M.T.A. FEARS A RISE IN NEW YORK FARES

New Federal budget cuts expected to be announced next Monday have raised the possibility that New York’s 75-cent subway and bus fare may be raised a nickel or more by this summer, transit officials said yesterday.

U.S. TO PAY PART OF POLISH DEBT
DEFAULT AVOIDED

The Administration has decided to repay $71 million that Poland owes to American banks.

Saturday, January 5, 1974

Introducing “Good Night!,” a periodic flashback to an evening of great television with tips on using DVDs, downloads and other media to recreate it. First up: CBS’s lineup from 36 years ago tonight.

In this historic winter – with jobs scarce, the deficit growing and the government poised to adopt sweeping health care reform – it’s worth recalling a time when another president pursued a pricey health care overhaul in a period of economic anxiety.

Back then, people stayed home on Saturday nights – who could afford to go out? – and took their minds off their troubles with CBS’s top-rated lineup of “All in the Family,” “M*A*S*H” and the Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett shows.

The first Saturday in 1974 brought solid episodes from each series, although Burnett’s variety hour was the standout.

Her funniest sketch cast guest star Steve Lawrence as a Madison Avenue advertising executive who discovers client Tim Conway having drinks with rival Harvey Korman in a smoky cocktail lounge. Double entendres abound:

LAWRENCE: This isn’t the first time this thing has happened. Every time I turn my back he has an “innocent lunch” with some other ad agency president.

CONWAY: Uh, wait a minute. That’s not true.

LAWRENCE: Oh yeah? Well what about the time in Boston?

KORMAN: What happened in Boston?

LAWRENCE: I found him in a motel room – with three account executives from Benton and Denton. … You should have seen the room: There were presentations and dummy ads all over the bed!

The episode’s other highlight is the splashy musical finale, a light-hearted tribute to Hollywood death scenes (“With a Pow! Pow! And a Bang Bang!”).

Also quite funny is “WJM Tries Harder,” the “MTM” installment, which finds news producer Mary Richards (Moore) feeling embarrassed when she begins dating the anchor from a rival station with better ratings and a bigger budget.

“Mike and Gloria Mix It Up,” the “All in the Family” episode, centers on a big fight between the young couple (Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers) – a rare story in which Archie and Edith (Carroll O’Connor, Jean Stapleton) barely appear.

“Oh, Brother,” the “Bob Newhart” episode, is distinguished by a young Raul Julia’s appearance as the kid brother of dentist Jerry Robinson (Peter Bonerz), while

the “M*A*S*H” installment, “Henry in Love,” focuses on a fling between Lt. Col. Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson) and a 20-year-old nurse who’s more interested in Hawkeye (Alan Alda).

Each of the four sitcom episodes are available on DVD; the “Bob Newhart” installment can also be purchased from iTunes and streamed on Hulu.

Finding “The Carol Burnett Show” is a bit trickier.

The ninth volume in Columbia’s rare 2002 “Carol Burnett Show: The Collector’s Edition” DVD set contains the Steve Lawrence episode from January 5, 1974; this disc – as well as the full collector’s set – regularly pops up on eBay.

 

From the Pages of TV Guide

Also airing January 5, 1974:

6:30 CBS NEWS – Dan Rather

6:30 NBC NEWS – Tom Brokaw