My new revelation - 70s TV wasn't that bad! (1 Viewer)

[Frank Soyke]

Every single show on your list was popular and ran for a long time. You mean to tell me that you didn't like one show in the entire decade that didn't last long?

Does that matter? Everyone has different preferences and I've found that most people tend to judge a time period by the most popular shows of that period which is what they were primarily exposed to at the time. Some of us, like you and I, spent a lot of time watching short lived shows but trust me that we are more the exception than the rule

 

[Mr. Handley]

Every single show on your list was popular and ran for a long time. You mean to tell me that you didn't like one show in the entire decade that didn't last long?

Well, I did say it was just a sample (off the top of my head). And "The Bill Cosby Show" only lasted 2 seasons. Some of my other favorite short-lived 1970s shows (again, a sample off the top of my head):

Adam's Rib
Bridget Loves Bernie
Carter Country
CPO Sharkey
Ellery Queen
Petrocelli
Project UFO
Rich Little Show
San Pedro Beach Bums
Van Dyke & Company

 

[JMFabianoRPL]

And the MTM shows did it without all the political baggage which dates the Norman Lear shows. Thank goodness Mary Richards and Emily Hartley never insisted that they be addressed as "Ms" like Ann Romano did.

I don't care about being "dated," to me, viewers should make an effort to know a bit about current events at the time.

 

[BobO'Link]

The Good Life was a funny AMERICAN sitcom starring Larry Hagman and Donna Mills which lasted for a half season. Don't know what show you are thinking of.

...Like he said, "Good Neighbors" (North American title), with Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal, Penelope Keith and a pre-"Yes Minister" Paul Eddington, and arguably part of the great 70's Golden Age of imported Britoms in the US.
(And which had to change its title for the US because of the half-season show.)

What Ejanss said plus it came in at #9 on the BBC "Britian's Best Sitcom" Poll. I don't recall that US series at all but it sounds as if could have been interesting. After reading about the program via the link provided by Ron1973 I don't understand why it didn't make it beyond that half season. Then I took a look at the schedule for the night it ran. I know why *I* didn't watch it. I was never home on Saturday night that year but was hanging out with friends and cruising the streets. TV wasn't something we worried about much. Depending on the "ABC Movie of the Weekend" I can understand why others may not have been watching. Movies on TV were *big* in those pre-VCR days and lots of people would watch them rather than "regular" programming, especially on Saturday night. I can see people watching the first 30 minutes of the ABC movie and if it were not all that good changing the channel to NBC when theirs started. Of course this is also pretty much "pre remote" days as well with most people putting the TV on a channel at 7pm (8pm Eastern) or so and just leaving it on that channel all evening.

I'd always wondered why The Good Life had a name change for the US market. When I found and started watching the program it was on PBS and called Good Neighbors. It's also called Good Neighbors on the cover and menus of the DVD releases but the actual programs have the original open credits with The Good Life title.

 

[BobO'Link]

gosh, i can recall doing the same thing, as a kid. i think what most of us tried to do was watch the re-runs in summer of the shows that we did not watch during the regular season.

When I was a kid it felt like there were few summer re-runs, at least of the shows *I* wanted to see. Summers generally had "Summer replacement programs" where the networks would put assorted variety shows and limited run trials of other programs or groups of failed pilots. I remember summers being pretty much dead time for many series because of that. Your best bet for "re-runs" was that a local channel would pick up a favorite and run it in the afternoons.

 

[Brian Himes]

A few of my favorite short lived shows of the 70's:

The Planet of the Apes (a bit on the fomulaic side put it did have some potential to be rather good at times)
Battlestar Galactica (loved it then and love it now)
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (loved it as a kid. Now I tend to find it a bit cheesey. The 2nd season, however, is better than I remembered)
That's My Mama (I watched it when it first aired, but for some reason I didn't stick with it as a kid. The next thing I knew it was gone)
S.W.A.T. (another show that I loved as a kid but for one reason or another I didn't catch it much and then it was gone)
Get Christie Love (only caught a couple of episodes mainly becuase my mother didn't like it so we didn't watch it)
Harry O (didn't watch this when it was originally on, but I bought it on DVD and loved it)
Space 1999 (loved it then and love it now. I never missed it)
The Hot L Balitmore (another Lear show. The only thing I really remember about it is that Conchata Ferrell was a total hoot on the show)
Just about any of the short lived NBC Mystery Movie shows (The Snoop Sisters, Banacek, Heck Ramsey, Tenefly). All of them were good but most just vanished after one season.

A few that I didn't watch when they were on, but I got them when they were released on DVD:

The Invisible Man (I didn't see much of this one because it was on NBC and we were an ABC family mostly. It was ok, but not great)
Logan's Run (again, like Planet of the Apes, just a bit too formulaic but it had some good moments)
Tabitha (this one was bad from beginning to end. It just doesn't work)
Quark (after all that I've heard about this one over the years, I expected laugh out loud funny, but it just didn't do it for me. I need to watch it again. Maybe I will have a different opinion)
Shaft (his bite is pretty much gone so this one is a big come down after the movies)
Ellery Queen (actually, I haven't watched it yet but I've heard really good things about it)

I plan on getting When Things Were Rotten when it comes out. I did catch a couple of episodes as a kid and found it really funny. My mother hated it so we didn't watch it. Ironically, she was the reason I didn't get to see Get Smart in reruns either. I happen to find Get Smart to be really funny so I am really looking forward to When Things Were Rotten. I hope it doesn't fall flat for me like Quark did.

 

[Ejanss]

A few of my favorite short lived shows of the 70's:
Ellery Queen (actually, I haven't watched it yet but I've heard really good things about it)

Ellery Queen's short run came out on complete DVD from E1, and it's...cute. Not as deep a mystery as Columbo, but with the eternally amiable Jim Hutton (Timothy's dad), John Hillerman as Magnum-esque comedy relief, as much of a 30's setting as Universal's backlot could muster, and the gimmicky "You solve the mystery!" concept that wasn't geared too hard for the folks at home.

Spoiler

(But which didn't give it much repeat value.)

 

[Wvtvguy]

I was a child in the 70's but most of my DVD collection is from this decade. A few are from the 80's & I'm discovering shows from the 60's regularly but the bulk is from the 70's. It was the decade of the cop show so most of my favorites are of that genre. What I love is the variety. Today, all the crime dramas look alike. Actually, many spun off from another show!! Very similar. In the 70's you had Adam-12, Kojak, Hawaii Five O, Police Story, Streets, none of which is similar to the others. Great private eyes shows like Mannix & Rockford. The rest of me collection are a few dramas like Medical Center, Waltons, White Shadow & shows I remember from childhood like Six Mill. I haven't bought many comedies yet but love Bob Newhart & the early Cosby show.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Growing up then and loving television just watched as much as I could, so I remember quite a few of the short-lived ones (1-3 seasons) and recall liking most of them a great deal. Especially crime shows and law drama, which interestingly enough I dislike when made today. Speaking of the briefly seen ones, some of these are already out on DVD but all of them should have a release one way or another; Movin’ On, Kaz, Griff, Petrocelli, O'Hara U.S. Treasury, Toma, Dr. Simon Locke, Eischied, Owen Marshall, Harry O, Sierra, Sam, Most Wanted, The Magician, Doc Elliott, Dan August, Delvecchio, Longstreet, Serpico, Born Free, Andros Targets, Sixth Sense, Bronk, Assignment Vienna, Holmes and Yoyo, The Immortal, Manhunter, Mobile One, Three For The Road, Firehouse, Richie Brockelman, Nashville 99, Man Called Sloane, and Lucas Tanner. A few of those I hardly remember, to be honest just want them released for their rarity status.

 

[Ejanss]

I was a child in the 70's but most of my DVD collection is from this decade. A few are from the 80's & I'm discovering shows from the 60's regularly but the bulk is from the 70's. It was the decade of the cop show so most of my favorites are of that genre.

Of course, back then, it was also the Nixon/Ford era, the decline (and suburban fear) of cities, and the conservative hardline on crime.
Nowadays, a CSI spinoff is more for a retired ex-movie actor (what Gary Sinise and Alfred Molina out already?) to get steady unchallenging work playing the "good guy" role in cops-and-robbers without too much running or car chases.

 

[MattPeriolat]

Seems to me that the 70s was a bit of a renaissance for the sitcom. True, there were dramas like Hawaii Five-0 and Ironside, but man, comedy just blew up. Cannot help but wonder if it was escapism for the drama going on on the nightly news and outside their front doors.Looking at the list posted also shows me that, aside from the Brady Bunch and some Saturday morning/syndicated cartoons, I got almost nothing in my library from the 70s. Not been a like or dislike thing, just priorities. That and, aside from the sitcoms in syndication in the early 80s, I have been exposed to very little from the era. Have to spend some time thinking about that and maybe pick something up in the future.

 

[Wvtvguy]

I've seen "The Immortal" mentioned a few times. Scifi ran it around 1995 & I remember liking it. It was sort of the "man on the run" bridge between "The Fugitive" & "The Incredible Hulk"! Lol!!!

 

[Neil Brock]

I've seen "The Immortal" mentioned a few times. Scifi ran it around 1995 & I remember liking it. It was sort of the "man on the run" bridge between "The Fugitive" & "The Incredible Hulk"! Lol!!!

Loved the show when it was originally on. Like The Fugitive with science fiction elements. Everyone I knew in my age group watched it but that was in the days before ratings were driven by demographics and before young people with no money were considered important viewers.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Ellery Queen's short run came out on complete DVD from E1, and it's...cute. Not as deep a mystery as Columbo, but with the eternally amiable Jim Hutton (Timothy's dad), John Hillerman as Magnum-esque comedy relief, as much of a 30's setting as Universal's backlot could muster, and the gimmicky "You solve the mystery!" concept that wasn't geared too hard for the folks at home. (But which didn't give it much repeat value.)

Ellery Queen was a great show and the DVD release which I got for around $20 is first rate. Anyone who doesn't have it, should check it out.

 

[Mike*HTF]

Another voice for Rafferty, which was a fabulous program.
Wasn't "A Man Called Sloane" also a 70s creation? I recall thinking that was interesting as well.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Yes, 1979.

 

[Tina_H_V]

One short-lived TV sitcom I enjoyed from the 1970s is entitled Ball Four, which premiered in the fall of 1976, based loosely on the controversial best-selling book written by baseball pitcher Jim Bouton six years earlier. Interestingly, and perhaps not-so-much surprisingly, the series starred Bouton, also a series co-creator, as a veteran baseball pitcher. Inspired by M*A*S*H and All In The Family with regard to irreverent humor, in following the book's lead, the show looked to take on controversial subjects such as religion, homosexuality (the series even featured a gay ballplayer), drug use and even fornication!! The series only lasted a few episodes, but I really enjoyed it immensely. Bouton, ironically, went on to stage a comeback IRL with the Atlanta Braves, pitching for them late in the 1978 season after the series had been canceled.

Say, you know??? Considering that Warner Bros.Television DID produce this television series...maybe this could be an idea for a future Warner Archives TV series release?????? Just a thought.

 

[Neil Brock]

Growing up then and loving television just watched as much as I could, so I remember quite a few of the short-lived ones (1-3 seasons) and recall liking most of them a great deal. Especially crime shows and law drama, which interestingly enough I dislike when made today. Speaking of the briefly seen ones, some of these are already out on DVD but all of them should have a release one way or another; Movin’ On, Kaz, Griff, Petrocelli, O'Hara U.S. Treasury, Toma, Dr. Simon Locke, Eischied, Owen Marshall, Harry O, Sierra, Sam, Most Wanted, The Magician, Doc Elliott, Dan August, Delvecchio, Longstreet, Serpico, Born Free, Andros Targets, Sixth Sense, Bronk, Assignment Vienna, Holmes and Yoyo, The Immortal, Manhunter, Mobile One, Three For The Road, Firehouse, Richie Brockelman, Nashville 99, Man Called Sloane, and Lucas Tanner. A few of those I hardly remember, to be honest just want them released for their rarity status.

Born Free is out on DVD.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

I have it, yes. Hopefully they can get a move on with some of their other archive titles, as well. Last I heard, they apparently want to handle their shows themselves again rather than let Shout do it, whether that's for standard or MOD is the question. Or at all, of course. Maybe they care as little as Fox or Universal, because they (Sony) haven't done an awful lot yet.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I might Debate you on Maude, but anyone that dismisses All in the Family as crap well I don't know what to say. It may look simplistic today, but no show up to that point took on and discussed Bigotry, race, politics, domestic abuse, pregnancy I could go on and on, it was a pavesetter and a classic television program. And beyond all that was damn funny to boot.