16 MOSTLY MEDIOCRE 70s TV STUFF

[@RjBenjamin353]

I miss the 70’s. My parents were still living and so was my baby sister. I miss them

[@cindypruitt9534]

Yes, getting older sucks, no doubt about it. I would love to go back for just a couple of days to see all the people I've lost.

[@harperstacey9604]

Sorry for the loss of your family. From Ms. Harper Stacey.

[@edie9330]

I share your pain. For me it's my parents and older sister. I miss them too, with all my ❤

[@richdelgado3405]

"Hello, Larry": a classic example of why you should never walk away from a good thing.

[@devileaterinthahowse]

Exactly. That's why I said to myself that he was already on the juggernaut that was M*A*S*H and should've just mashed up the contract he was given for what I could tell was a train wreck of a show.

[@zoperxplex]

@@devileaterinthahowse This wasn't the first time. McLean Stevenson gambled earlier when he left "The Doris Day Show" for "M.A.S.H.". It worked then but failed the second time around.

[@mao2233]

Although, on the flip side, if McLean Stevenson had not left MASH, we would never have gotten to experience Harry Morgan's excellent portrayal of Col. Sherman Potter. He added much needed humanity to that show.

[@mao2233]

@jett woodward I think all the actors on MASH were excellent and all made contributions to a show I will never stop enjoying. Could you fill me in on what happened to Wayne Rogers and McLean Stevenson at CBS and why they left? I had not heard about this before.

[@CaptainSpalding72]

It really wasnt any worse than Different Strokes. I think Johnny Carsons constant slamming of it was the problem. It was a turd still

[@crusty21]

This version of America no longer exists. As much as these shows were bad, it's still nice to have this time capsule for memories sake.

[@thegreenbird795]

Yup..that America got old and died.

[@Authoratah]

Read my mind

[@Frogchannelgaming]

How to get it back....hmmm

[@LannieLord]

COVID and the lockdowns ruined our planet. @@Frogchannelgaming

[@sternuens]

I was born in the 70s , and I'm not dead yet.

[@Jeff98177]

Brown and orange, the official colors of the 1970's.

[@tiernyt2051]

Ain't it horrible,,LOL!!

[@37view37]

Yes! I turned 10 in 1971 and watched a LOT of TV as my dad repaired televisions and we had one in every bedroom. Brown and orange. What a perfect observation! Look at a Burger King uniform during those years and know that every family had that color scheme. You win with this comment, sir.

[@tootruetrivia5715]

I wonder if it has to due with the type of film used at the the time

[@Attmay]

@@tiernyt2051 us 80s kids dodged a bullet.

[@Attmay]

@@tootruetrivia5715 Kodak really started cutting corners on film stock around this time. I collect film, and they told collectors to watch out for any color film printed between 1975 and 1982. That is the “dead zone” between the end of dye-transfer Technicolor prints, and the development of low fade prints. Very few films that originated from this era were ever reprinted on film except for a small handful of Disney movies (one is *Pete’s Dragon* which only has edited low-fade prints from the 1984 reissue after Helen Reddy divorced husband/manager/cokehead Jeff Wald and he made good on his promise to ruin her if she did) and the *Star Wars* movies, *Grease, Apocalypse Now,* and *ET.*

[@MrTrashcan1]

Glad to see Raymond Burr made a recovery from his paralysis.

[@pretorious700]

And then died.

[@frankhenry587]

Lol

[@DNulrammah]

...It was "CONFIDENTIAL" because he was still hiding the fact that he liked to wear dresses. benny Hill use to do a humorous impression of Ironside.

[@55Quirll]

@@DNulrammah I remember that episode on the train, it was hilarious 😆😆😆

[@DNulrammah]

@@55Quirll Oh, You mean "Murder on the Oregon Express" ? There are copies on YT.

[@TheEasyLikeSundayMorningShow]

Back when the opening songs of sitcoms told us EVERYTHING we needed to know about the show and then some. :)

[@GavinBorchert]

Or in the case of Doctors' Private Lives, the title

[@Laceykat66]

While I agree with you on the "mediocre" label of the time, please check out the CURRENT offerings for the Fall 2021-2022 Network season. It makes all of THIS look like Masterpiece Theater.

[@dancalmpeaceful3903]

Heavens yes...the garbage that's on now makes this stuff look like "high brow" entertainment! In fact - it probably is..... Best of all, NONE OF IT IS "WOKE" OR CANCEL CULTURE. Ya see, back then, people were SOBER and weren't offended at every possible thing that existed.

[@unkindestcut]

@@dancalmpeaceful3903 Yeah? Well, all of these shows offended the audience's taste, and all were canceled.

[@dancalmpeaceful3903]

@@unkindestcut Every show gets canceled eventually......these just weren't popular. They should cancel the Academy Awards...that shit is so woke, it's putrid to even consider watching. Can't believe any TV station even WANTS to consider broadcasting it....

[@susanbarnaby7261]

Network TV today is a big zero. But the rest of TV? Streaming service TV? Best ever.

[@saraheart2804]

I agree.

[@Oldbmwr100rs]

Having grown up in the 70's and 80's TV like this is why I went to watching more and more PBS programming. I don't regret it at all.

[@philipargo]

So you're one of those people who love to smell their own farts. Huh.

[@Portugal2025]

Now with PBS streaming, you have a more vast library. I hear you

[@Themaddprof]

I know, right? With only 3 or 4 stations in most cities, and Cable and home video in the future, we were stuck watching such junk until we were old enough to go out a night.

[@Portugal2025]

@nettieskid And so did I. That’s a good thing. You would surprised how few people are intimate with these weird rectangular wood pulp objects or even their digital format

[@Oldbmwr100rs]

@nettieskid Oh yeah, i read a lot, even plowed through the lord of the rigs trilogy after the hobbit, 1984, dune (and i thought LOTR was a chew fest) and many others, all of which were read by older siblings before. I guess that's a lot of the reason i liked PBS and BBC programming, it was easier to watch.

[@GoGreen1977]

I watched a lot of tv in the '70s, but not these. Remember, this was the decade of Mary Tyler Moore, "All in the Family", "The Bob Newhart Show", Carol Burnett, "Columbo", "MASH", the original "Hawaii 5-0", several major miniseries (my favorite by far - "Centennial "), the made for tv movie, "Brian's Song", and several other tv shows, movies, and specials I can't recall off the top of my head.

[@hydrolito]

I watched Sandy Duncan show but don't think it was on long the other shows I didn't.

[@Mike_LaFontaine75]

This is just a reminder that all TV shows from the 70's weren't gems, the same as the music. We tend only to remember the good stuff.

[@Attmay]

@@Mike_LaFontaine75 this was the last decade before they started offering alternatives to the big three dinosaur networks and PBS. I’m glad my childhood overlapped with the early-ish years of home video. I don’t think I could’ve survived if I had to live off of only what the media industrial complex thought was suitable to put on broadcast TV.

[@ronaldsanfran]

I've been convinced for a while now that a lot of nostalgia about the "good old days" is pretty selective lol

[@xaenon]

KIND of 'selective', but you have to remember that we're looking at 40-odd years ago. LITERALLY a different time. If you didn't grow up in that era, you've no idea what you're seeing in videos like this. But, you are partly right. As we get older, we do tend to gloss over the bad stuff, mostly because the new stuff makes absolutely no sense to old farts like me, lol.

[@billolsen4360]

The good old days never existed.

[@malykoth]

All nostalgia is selective...that's it's nature. You paint the past in dreamy sepia tones and block out the crap.

[@Wiley_Coyote]

In the 70s even the successful shows mostly sucked, if we're being totally honest. Not THIS bad, but almost.

[@muddyduck64]

I think I understand where you're going here... and you are right... The racial divide was as big as the grand canyon.... tv was whitewashed for many decades, and the studios are just now starting to get with the times

[@bobnagel6449]

Some of these shows remind me of SCTV skits.

[@anthonymcglinch7503]

I'm surprised there wasn't a Gerry Todd Show intro.

[@afterthefox]

pERRY cOMO..'I LIKE THE NIGHT LIFE'

[@77hodag]

Definitely an inspiration!

[@scottybbadd]

They kinda do

[@gordons-alive4940]

Especially that Husbands and Wives and Lovers show. LOL. SCTV started in '76 according to IMDB, so that's not surprising. It was on during this era of TV.

[@ralphyetmore]

The great thing about the Paul Lynde TV shows were the fact that he could make jokes about how awful they were on Hollywood Squares.

[@MHO999999]

Hollywood Squares is the only show I ever saw him on except for playing Uncle Arthur on Bewitched.

[@averythecoolcat]

Well, he also had his own show, the Paul Lynde Show, where he was this straiglaced lawyers who was constantly as odds with his daughter's smart but never do well fiance

[@55Quirll]

Original Temperatures rising was great, the new one stunk, changed the format and stars, Clevon Little was the only original star to return.

[@MHO999999]

@@averythecoolcat Yeah, I think I've heard of that show now that you mention it.

[@MHO999999]

@@55Quirll No recollection of that at all.

[@vividwatch47]

"The Ken Berry Wow! Show" was a summer replacement and not meant to be a regular series.

[@luisreyes1963]

Thank God for that. 😅

[@pretorious700]

For good reason.

[@glennhendrickson7993]

I thought it was cool but I was 8

[@tsitracommunications2884]

More like The Ken Berry Ugh!! Show

[@thegreenbird795]

@@tsitracommunications2884 lol When one of your guest stars is Peter Lawford, you just know it's bad...

[@sg-yq8pm]

In the 52 years since the Sandy Duncan Show intro was filmed the population of Taylorville Illinois has boomed from 10425 to 10544.

[@thatsme9787]

As a kid growing up in the 70's, I don't remember any of these shows except Hello, Larry. I obviously didn't miss much and very grateful for that.

[@recoveringnewyorker2243]

That's me I had a wild crush on Donna Wilkes! Saw her in “Jaws 2” and couldn’t get her out of my head!

[@joemeyers4131]

I was born in 1963 but grew up thus in the 70s as well . Cannot remember these if when I was in first grade on in 1970 etc .. but was so long ago . 1970s was a good decade for me overall being the way I wish morality went to today ..but it would 'work' if it had went all or most of the ways back then . You know there was less basic crimes and deeper evils in regular hoods then in all ..

[@Attmay]

@@recoveringnewyorker2243 what a coincidence. That was almost Ricky Schroder’s first movie until he was fired along with the original Director along with several other cast members. His show took the idea about a divorced dad getting custody of the kid and made it work at the same production company, even getting the obligatory Gary Coleman cameo with one of my favorite Arnold lines: “I’ll be the first person to need a booster seat for the electric chair!”

[@Dan_Ben_Michael]

I love watching these old videos. It’s like travelling back in time.

[@keithidota]

A couple of examples why tinkering with a good thing or not-so-bad thing is usually not a good idea. Temperature's Rising was a mild success its first season then they tried to make it bigger like casting Paul Lynde, trying for bigger laughs and adding New to the title and the show became unwatchable. Funny Face was a bright light, nothing fancy when it started but they had to stop the show when Sandy Duncan had eye surgery. When it came back a year later it was a totally different show, retitled The Sandy Duncan Show and they went over the top trying to make it like an "I Love Lucy" and it was a total mess. Also, Medical Story tried to repeat the success of Police Story in anthology dramas but medical dramas were on their way out as Marcus Welby and Medical Center were wrapping up their long runs.

[@__hjg__2123]

well, Funny Face had a lead-in from All In the Family. When it returned, it was in a different time slot entirely... which also killed the audience and ultimately the show.

[@randynichols5460]

yeah funny face wasn't bad

[@jamestussey5874]

They moved Paul Lynde over to Temperatures Rising after his own show got cancelled. Maybe that should have told the network, "Maybe Paul Lynde is better in small doses on Hollywood Squares and can't carry a sitcom", but they went ahead and ruined that show too.

[@square-on-wheels]

I'm here to support Ken Berry. Styles and tastes may change, but talent is talent.

[@MeadeSkeltonMusic]

Amen to that

[@AmyLSacks]

He went where the work was. I think in one of the Herbie films his future (in-story) wife hits him in the face with a broiled lobster. o_0

[@frankbonini7085]

He Always Did the Very Best What Was Given to Him

[@pollypurree1834]

I couldn't stand him

[@imeanithonest5704]

I wasjust binge watching Dick Van Dyke. He was a dancing Marine. Seriously.

[@patrixspringer2753]

I completely forgot about "Working Stiffs".... And Cleavon Little...we lost that man way too soon! Paul Lynde running an ER seems funnier than say-- Children's Hospital!

[@TheChuck624]

Right. Paul Lynde, nothing like a gay alcoholic being in charge of an ER.

[@fromthesidelines]

That was the last incarnation of "TEMPERATURES RISING", which began in 1972, and went through two different changes of cast {James Whitmore originally co-starred with Cleavon Little during season one}. William Asher, whose "Ashmont Productions" produced the series, promised his friend Paul Lynde he'd get another chance to headline a sitcom after "THE PAUL LYNDE SHOW" flopped in the 1972-'73 season....and used him in season two.

[@GEMof72]

Huge fan of both. RIP

[@jknuttel]

@@fromthesidelines Not true. William Asher was against bringing Lynde into TEMPERATURES RISING's second season and refused to continue producing the show. See his interview for the Television Academy Foundation: interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/william-asher?clip=chapter9#interview-clips

[@laustcawz2089]

Cleavon Little was in the vampire comedy film "Once Bitten" with Jim Carrey, Karen Kopins & Lauren Hutton.

[@jerseytomato100]

The guy dancing in the "wow" segment is Ken Berry, aka Vinton on Mama's Family. He was also a choreographer.

[@robertcook2680]

He was also a character on late episodes of the Andy Griffith Show, and became the lead after Griffith left and it became Mayberry RFD.

[@explorermike19]

wow, that dude could really jump high and click his heels heels. not easy.

[@MrAlumni72]

Don't forget being the star of F-Troop.

[@RayNDeere]

That was from his 1973 CBS Summer replacement show the Ken Berry "WOW" Show

[@demetriusdillard2863]

Actually, "The Ken Berry 'Wow' Show" aired on ABC during the summer of '72.

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

Paul Lynde - King of The Bitter Old Queens

[@Attmay]

He didn’t even live to be old if he died at 55. Even people with HIV have lived longer than that!

[@brianarbenz7206]

@@Attmay He quit drinking, got sober and apologized to people he had been difficult to. His final year was a great year of freedom and health. He died of a heart attack. What does HIV have to do with him? And I'm sorry that @georgeelmerdenbrough6906 is so bitter. Paul Lynde was insecure about failing, and he grew up self loathing because he was overweight. None of that has anything to do with him being gay.

[@michaelhunziker7287]

Jim Belushi. Approaching his 6th decade of pretending to be an actor.

[@jsivco3sivco785]

But successful, nonetheless! :)

[@m.woodsrobinson9244]

Hey, fake it till you make it!

[@pittland44]

The one that bothers me is Viva Valdez. It promotes the harmful stereotype that Mexicans are automatically funny. This is an extremely toxic and pernicious message because that's how we end up with garbage like the George Lopez show.

[@Noone9227]

I hear he’s a dick too. Must be hard to constantly live in your far more talented brother’s shadow.

[@jeremyc9593]

@@jsivco3sivco785 Sure, if you lower the bar below sea level.

[@Monkofmagnesia]

I loved the Burns and Schriber Comedy Hour, especially when Avery Schreibe would imitate a computer, which remember him doing on an almost weeklt basis at the end of each show.

[@NipkowDisk]

I agree- Burns & Schreiber were quite good.

[@broughmar]

One of the shows I remember too from this era

[@David-yw2lv]

I always liked Burns & Schreiber.They both took turns as the funny one in their routines.

[@luisreyes1963]

I'm sure Jack Burns was in a weak sitcom called Getting Together with teen burnout Bobby Sherman.

[@digital2500]

Kim Richards went from Nanny and the Professor to Hello, Larry to being a Real Housewife of Hollywood!

[@davidbarnes5447]

Remember her from escape to witch mountain

[@austindreher2791]

She was in Tuff Turf too and guest starred in many shows. In the early 80's

[@supergristmill6195]

Kim Richards had alot of work back in the 70's/80's.

[@aquatarkus2022]

Sad to see what she's become. I loved her then.

[@cmendoza9255]

If shes always working, why is Kim Richards net worth 200 thousand and not 200 million?

[@PreApocalypseJitters]

When I worked in a video store during high school in the early 90s, I discovered a dust-encrusted VHS collection of every episode of "Working Stiffs"...very funny stuff!

[@tolfan4438]

PreApocalypseJitters i was going to post this same comment. 1991 i think. every episode on one vhs tape

[@jacklowe3429]

I found that same VHS tape in the Junior College library circa 1988. It was pretty funny stuff.

[@leearnold2061]

Harry Colomby, one of the producers of this show, was once the manager for Thelonius Monk and was the older brother of the Blood, Sweat, & Tears drummer Bobby Colomby.

[@danaernst922]

I love seeing people I recognize when younger, and now remembering as their older in things too, like Ms. Gleason as Rachel's boss on Friends, and Rachel's dad had his own show too. Kim Richards and Ken Berry never changed

[@jacktheripoff1888]

They should have called it WTF instead of WOW . I'd have rather watched Dean Martin just sit on a chair onstage doing nothing but chain-smoke for an hour. At least he would have looked cool doing it.

[@frankreynolds445]

@@allenatkins2263 Great looking girls period.

[@pittland44]

Yeah but you know that Dean would have had some good stories or jokes or something.

[@DP-hy4vh]

I actually remember watching Hello, Larry.

[@pittland44]

What exactly was it about?

[@spiff2268]

@@pittland44 McLean Stevenson was a talk radio guy. That's pretty much it. Think Fraser, but not nearly as good.

[@TheLastchild101]

Single radio talk show host, raising 2 teenage girls. One of whom grew up and ended up on one of those Real Housewives shows; Kim Richards.

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

Looked a lot like Frasier , didn't it ?

[@DeltaEchoGolf]

This is the only show I remember out of this video. Only because it had a decent theme song.

[@TyUnglebower]

When your opening consists of panning out from the "o" of a giant word "WOW" through yet another "o" in yet another "WOW", you've already lost.

[@yournamehere1886]

Maybe they had the title card and sinage upside down, and it actually said MOM....

[@Mumblix]

They DO seem to be a little heavily invested in the brand...

[@Juliaflo]

The main reason 'Funny Face' went off the air for a time and re-tooled as 'The Sandy Duncan Show' was that Miss Duncan had fallen ill with a brain tumor necessitating immediate medical attention.

[@Attmay]

That was when she had that eye surgery.

[@mike5556]

You forget how many variety shows there used to be.

[@frankdenardo8684]

mike5556 there was a lot of those shows back in the day

[@Drchainsaw77]

We _try_ to forget.

[@muddyduck64]

definitely a sign of the times, they could not afford one actor or group to show up nowadays... thats one reason you dont see telethons anymore either.

[@pittland44]

Well they crop back up every now and again. I remember Cedric the Entertainer and Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson both having variety shows in the early 2000's. It's one of those things that TV execs must reach for when they don't have enough shows to fill out their programming block.

[@pretorious700]

Selective memory, most were awful

[@recordman64]

Best show of this bunch is Kaz...Ron Leibman won the Best Actor Emmy for it after it was canceled and quipped, "It's Sunday night, and for once Kaz isn't pre-empted!"

[@jsivco3sivco785]

I used to watch Kaz, Liebman was married to Linda Lavin at the time, but her show "Alice" was more successful. She won an Emmy Award, then they split.

[@CaptainSpalding72]

Liebman is a great actor. The only thing close he ever came to long running was FRIENDS as Rachels dad.

[@zq9m3xh8]

I liked Kaz very much.

[@muddyduck64]

wow... and I thought I was the only one that remembered it. Ron Leibman was like the James Woods of tv..... think about it.

[@eleanorforest9652]

Leibman comic fenius. Check out a movie called your three minutes are up. Scary funny

[@ogami1972]

"Doctor's Private Lives". "Medical Story". Were the people in charge of naming shows on vacation or something?

[@pittland44]

Nope, they were just high off their asses.

[@tygrkhat4087]

Medical Story was the hospital equivalent to the more successful Police Story. Both were anthology series, telling a different story with a different cast each week.

[@seanwilkinson3975]

I didn't catch the title of that first show. Can anyone fill me in? Seriously, the producers must have been hell-bent on crushing the audience's skulls with pure, unadulterated, heavy-duty "WOW". And I think they succeeded with me; I may have to have an MRI to check for braineurysms and blunt force concussion.

[@coolsweetgroovy]

Weren't you listening when the announcer said the title? It's The Ken Berry Wow Show #Duh

[@DaveHof]

@@coolsweetgroovy That whooshing sound you hear...

[@zq9m3xh8]

@@DaveHof lol. It went RIGHT over his ol' noggin!

[@pittland44]

What I don't understand is why the opening begins and ends twice. That made no sense.

[@genki2genki]

Wow, is right. Wow, who came up with this shit?

[@jasonlindsey9946]

Still beats the Fake reality TV of today. I'd rather watch commercials.

[@RonAlbaneseEntertainment]

Some cool stuff here ... would love to find some of the episodes!

[@blacquesjacques7239]

I thought " Sarge" with George Kennedy had some promise by his involvement alone .

[@luisreyes1963]

Viva Valdez? Seriously? ☹️

[@elc1960]

Re "Husbands, Wives & Lovers": I guess Mark Lonow did okay after that bomb, huh? He became part owner of the Improv comedy club in L.A. and became filthy rich. And discovered some of the best comics of the last 30 years.

[@musicom67]

Not to mention if you noticed that show was created by the now late Joan Rivers...

[@DavidTSmith-jn5bs]

+MUSICOM PRODUCTIONS If you think THAT was a bomb, be thankful if you've never heard of the movie that she wrote: "Rabbit Test!" Billy Crystal playing The First Pregnant MAN! Pee-yu!

[@thejdgoodwin]

1970's television was a lot worse than most people remember.

[@billolsen4360]

13:40 George Kennedy as a Marine Corps Sergeant turned Catholic Priest? How could it lose?

[@joeyjamison5772]

LOL!

[@luisreyes1963]

Actually, George Kennedy's character was a former San Diego P.D. homicide detective who left the force to enter the priesthood.

[@pretorious700]

"Husbands and Wives and Lovers" looks like a real cringefest.

[@l.salisbury1253]

It WAS!!

[@ronh.798]

Didn't I see a created by Joan Rivers on that one?

[@Attmay]

Pro-simping propaganda that exists to strengthen the hegemony of the oppressor classes while claiming to challenge it.

[@spiff2268]

The 70s variety show was today's equivalent of reality tv. There were so many!

[@laustcawz2089]

'70s equivalent of today's reality TV.

[@rwfrench66GenX]

70’s variety shows were nothing like today’s reality shows. 70’s variety shows had popular music, comedy and celebrities doing their thing to entertain people. Today’s reality shows are about regular people competing to win a talent show and they add backstories and drama between the contestants.

[@misterhot9163]

Well at least the actors got their 13 episode guarantee from the networks.

[@hifijohn]

hello larry, goodbye mclean's career.

[@Attmay]

He still got two more shows after it. One was the TV version of *Dirty Dancing* in Jerry Orbach’s place after Orbach already committed to a *Murder She Wrote* spinoff that flopped.

[@jwbjpb1338]

Being a kid then a teenager in the 1970s? There were a LOT of mediocre shows that were short lived.

[@davidimrie239]

Ron Leibman won the 1978 Emmy for Best Actor in a Dramatic Role for "Kaz" despite its fast cancellation.

[@SCRANE1115]

Lorimar had a nose for getting a lot out their shows. Kaz was a Lorimar Production. 1970's- early 80's was arguably their peak with hits including The Waltons, Dallas, Hunter and movies like Officer and a Gentleman.

[@dchegu]

I was thinking premise for Kaz isn't that bad. Heck in the right hands, it could make a decent limited series on Netflix or other streaming service.

[@55Quirll]

Ron was great as Kaz, winning cases Patrick O'Neill or the other lawyers couldn't or wouldn't touch. I remember one having to do with breaking into a car, one used a mechanical device to drill out the lock to open the door, took 5 minutes, Kaz did it in a few seconds with a slim Jim 👍👍👍👍😁😁😁

[@Attmay]

They thought that giving it an Emmy might have saved it from cancellation. It didn’t.

[@lisathuban8969]

I vaguely recall really enjoying "Wow". I have no idea why 50 years later.

[@johnbogg3349]

That WOW show seems stuck in the 1920s. Looked so unhip.

[@lisathuban8969]

@@johnbogg3349 I was about ten years old, not really aware of what "hip" meant.

[@johnbogg3349]

@@lisathuban8969 I only remember it very peripherally. Basically that WOW was a show. I did not know KB was involved until I read about it in a book. I think I remember liking a skit or two. I was 5 or 6 so I don’t know why, either.

[@danielanderson6013]

The decade of the variety show! Anybody who was anybody had at least a variety special. I remember even Muhammad Ali had one!

[@TheChuck624]

Right. I commented above as well, but I can recall as a kid in the 70's, my grandma watching all those lame variety shows and loving them. I hated those things.

[@muddyduck64]

I think you are confusing that with Howard Cosell ... and that one did not last maybe one episode

[@readhistory2023]

@@TheChuck624 At least you didn't have to watch the Lawerence Welk Show.

[@hexum7]

theWOW Show -wow. You can almost hear the ghostsof millions of hands reaching to turn the dial to another station. #puttingTheFinalNailInVaudvillesCoffin

[@weltonvillegal6258]

hexum7 - Mine was itching, I can tell you.

[@timemerson4162]

And the piped in crowd noise.

[@mao2233]

WOW was Ken Barry's follow-up to Mayberry RFD. I had really enjoyed MRFD and was very disappointed when it was cancelled. I was 9 going on 10. I had heard abut the new Ken Barry show and could not wait to see what he would do next. I had only heard the title the time it was on (Saturdays at 8 p.m.) and rushed in from playing to see it. To say I was disappointed cannot convey how deeply this piece of crap affected me. I almost vomited during the opening number. Then he spent five minutes explaining why WOW was such a good name for the show ("WOW is MOM upside down." particularly stuck in my craw.). Then they did a tap-dance number which seemed endless and for some reason seemed to spend a lot of time on the dancers' legs and shoes. Then came the sponsor identification, "WOW is brought to you by Kinney Shoes. Kinney Shoes. Tell 'em Kenny sent ya." That whole horrifying opening number just to make a meaningless pun to bring together the sponsor and the star. It literally haunts me to this day. I think this opening number robbed me of my innocence. My Dad then shouted, "Turn that **** off!" My mom changed the channel and I went back outside, never to be the same. I could never watch Ken Barry after that. It was just too embarrassing. I apologize for the length of this entry, but I just had to get this off my chest.

[@ralphyetmore]

Actually, I think the final nail to the variety show was The Star Wars Holiday Special.

[@zoperxplex]

@@mao2233 Ken Berry.

[@Jim-Tuner]

I remember Gibbsville. It was about a guy who drops out of Yale to become a small-town newspaper reporter in the 1940s. Every episode seemed to have something to do with a coal mine.

[@luisreyes1963]

A shame that show never got the attention it deserved.

[@popeyejones9256]

It was Waltons in a big town show?

[@Wiley_Coyote]

How could Avery Screiber's mustache NOT bring people joy?

[@GEMof72]

Exactly

[@efrem1]

I remember some of this stuff. Yeah, mostly forgettable but nostalgic nonetheless.

[@jongilbertson2106]

"You get up each day. That's what life's all about." I can not argue with that. I love those amblewagons in the old medical shows.

[@tubesocksbrigade3031]

And STILL any of those shows are better than anything on TV these days. Rather watch these than any so-called "Reality" shows these days

[@miked6335]

Thank God I was drunk thru most of the 70s! I never heard of, much less saw, any of these. I was in the bar where nightly the piano man found another nail for my heart.

[@d.shannon261]

This is why everybody went bonkers over Miami Vice. They played actual current rock songs, the clothes and cars were amazing, and the plot was current events in Miami. MV changed everything. LOL

[@briggscharleton6139]

Growing up in the 1970s I was a TV addict, but definitely not these shows. I overcame my addiction in about 1976 - when I discovered music and just realized every new show was just a retread of old tired concepts. Although I've watched Temperatures Rising recently and thought it was pretty funny. Most shows in the 70s were just time wasters and mildly amusing and rarely do I revisit them. ABC's Tuesday movie of the week, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, sports and Old movies was what I usually looked forward to and reruns of shows from the 1960s.

[@bukster1]

I grew up in the 70's some of this stuff was pretty dated even back then. The WOW show clearly belonged to another time. Many of these sorts of shows were based on stage type shows that you might have seen in the pre-TV era. Older people would remember them and want to watch similar shows.

[@ian_b]

Agreed, the UK was the same. Variety was getting very tired by this point.

[@pittland44]

I was rather nervous when one of the shows was Burns and Schreiber. For a second there I thought it was going to be George Burns and I'd have to watch him embarrass himself on bad 70's television.

[@50zcarsman]

I thought the same. WOW must have been self-consciously retro, but its audience demographic had to start in the late 60s and range right across the oldster scale. No prime-time show -- even then -- could survive on an audience to which advertisers can only sell adult diapers, Metamucil, and worthless insurance policies for the grandkids. Lawrence Welk being an exception in some markets.

[@pittland44]

@@50zcarsman And don't forget that Lawrence Welk was broadcast on public television.

[@MeadeSkeltonMusic]

@@ian_b still beats Reality TV

[@timharrod]

That first clip needs to be made into a gif for sarcastic expressions of surprise.

[@BebeLush2]

Michael Keaton: "I'm gonna play Batman someday. No, seriously, I am!"

[@mackermaldrill2656]

Boy, that stuff looks horrible. I'm glad I was just a little kid and had no idea what bad taste was.

[@joemartin1253]

Macker Maldrill Have you seen today's shit on tv????!!!!

[@johnerwin9024]

Some of these guys were decent actors, looks like the vehicles offered them sucked-

[@Deemememe]

Joe Martin I’d rather watch these then the crap they have on today. I miss TV from the old days.

[@sinrob1]

So, you can tell the quality of a show's content just from the opening title sequence? Better stick to today's crap with cold openings.

[@johnprovince5304]

Sometime a good memory can be a curse and this is one of those times. It was a simple time, but not this simple. McLean Stevenson actually left MASH for Hello Larry. 😱😱

[@themoviedealers]

No, actually there was a gap of several years in there, and I think he had at least one other show prior to Hello Larry.

[@DanielSanchez-og4ox]

He played a priest somewhere in between. It was bad.

[@spiff2268]

@@DanielSanchez-og4ox It was called In The Beginning.

[@GoGreen1977]

I didn't care for him as an actor or his character on MASH, anyway. I didn't care that he "died."

[@Attmay]

@@GoGreen1977*MASH* was as overrated as *all in the family.*

[@MrTragicDragon]

This stuff really was mediocre! I didn't recognize ANY of these shows.

[@joeyjamison5772]

You're better off.

[@ericroberts5148]

Did these shows actually air? I was in high school in the 70's. I don't remember any of these programs. Being a teenager I definitely had my mind on other things. This is vomit inducing garbage.

[@resistor27]

Yes, they were THAT bad

[@ronmailloux8655]

same here.....some of this dribble can not have made it more than 2 weeks?

[@willielarimer7170]

They aired for ,like 5 minutes and then pitched in the trash

[@thurdi]

Simply incredible rare material. Keep up the great work!

[@momster64]

Anyone remember the variety hour mini-series' ? Usually ran for 4 weeks, The Manhattan Transfer, Starland Vocal Band, a few others hosted these shows. The Captain and Tennille had a variety show that actually did pretty well!

[@shawnmalone9711]

Yep , back in 1976!

[@brianarbenz7206]

"We've got this show about doctors' private lives, but we just can't come up with a good name for it."

[@popeyejones9256]

wasn't that a movie or something simular.

[@brianarbenz7206]

@@popeyejones9256 Not that I've heard.

[@popeyejones9256]

@@brianarbenz7206 this was what i was talking about.....a comdy.....en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Doctors_in_Love

[@brianarbenz7206]

@@popeyejones9256 I just linked to it. It looks hilarious!

[@Adrastia]

So it didn't click until I realised Kim ichards looked familiar. Then I remembered her from Diff'rent Strokes. Her family moves to Portland. I guess it was a spinoff or they used a more popular show to launch Hello Larry. I never actually saw Hello Larry though. It was off the air before I was sentient and I guess it didn't air reruns.

[@donnapuckett4992]

Wow! What memories! I remember seeing 95% of these shows! I remember every time you put the tv on, you would see the same actors/actresses on different shows. Yup, the performers were awesome, like Paul Lynde, (Uncle Arthur from Bewitched) George Kennedy, Raymond Burr, Sandy Duncan, McLean Stevenson (from M.A.S.H.) Incidentally, "Hello Larry" was a spin off from "Different Strokes". So, looking at these shows, I would think it was the behind the scenes that made these shows mediocre. Just my thoughts. God Bless

[@frankberst9849]

What terrifies both my mortal brain and eternal soul down to their very cores is that people watched this stuff in the 70s and actually thought it was good.

[@juliannehannes11]

A lot of people were high then

[@winstonelston5743]

I remember Burns and Schreiber. It really was no worse than a broken hip.

[@johngrauman4208]

They a very popular nightclub act in the 60’s. Their nightclub material wouldn’t have been allowed on television at the time

[@DeanStrickson]

Tonight on Kingston: Confidential - thrill as Raymond Burr reads papers! And don't miss Doctors' Privates Lives as the Doctors play golf! Lots and lots of golf. Again.

[@rajvader]

MediaGold I was thinking "Doctors' Private Lives" = "Grey's Anatomy: 1975"

[@DavidTSmith-jn5bs]

+MediaGold "Tonight on Kingston: Confidential - thrill as Raymond Burr reads papers!" I guess that was a way for him to "get back on his feet again" after "Ironside" was cancelled. Interesting that he later did "Perry Mason" movies which started with Perry resigning from being an appellate court judge due to "being tired of signing subpoenas" and one "The Return of Ironside" film.

[@spiff2268]

@@DavidTSmith-jn5bs I remember those Perry Mason movies. They were hugely popular.

[@4z94]

You can’t go wrong with Pamela Hensley.

[@richdelgado3405]

This comment deserves a LOT more likes.

[@mrcydonia]

Has there ever been a more awkward-sounding title than "The New Temperatures Rising Show"?

[@CaptainSpalding72]

Any time a show called, THE NEW whatever, it failed.

[@algeborusas1883]

Take Temperature's Rising mashed up with The Paul Lynde Show and this what happened.

[@CaptainSpalding72]

It was terrible too despite a solid cast.

[@Wiley_Coyote]

It's Paul Lynde, so it had to be "wacky". Not sure how Cleavon Little got roped into it though.

[@keithwaites9991]

A show about global warming before there was global warming. ..

[@feliciajenkins5041]

Alot of these intros show why most got cancelled

[@Caifo]

Wow, those must've been really crappy things. Never seen any of it here in Mexico, even though we had many time-filler American TV shows.

[@jonathanclark2072]

I swear I don't know why "Viva Valdez" didn't make it. Damn.

[@fromthesidelines]

It was "bought" by ABC, but they didn't schedule it until the summer of 1976, on Mondays at 8pm(et), just before their baseball "GAME OF THE WEEK". It lasted 13 episodes.

[@offthewallproductionsltd6326]

They could've ran the Juan Valdez coffe ads during it.

[@jongilbertson2106]

It looked like every other sitcom, only Hispanic.

[@themoviedealers]

@@jongilbertson2106 Well, yeah, same producers.

[@50zcarsman]

The show was sued by the owners of the Exxon Valdez for tarnishing their ship's reputation by association.

[@SlapthePissouttayew]

In the 70s, every citizen over the age of 12 had their own 'Variety Hour'.

[@clxmasisland6724]

Sandy Duncan could carry a 2 mile freight train for a year, if only given the chance…

[@yodagaming1007]

The 70's - back when every actor had a receding hairline with long unkempt hair

[@veelalynne]

And now that look is back in style.

[@MisterMikeTexas]

I didn't know they tried another Raymond Burr series after "Ironside".

[@maxxxmodelz4061]

The "Working Stiffs" sitcom was so bad it literally aired for just one month in 1979.

[@schizoidman1016]

...and yet , most people's introduction to Michael Keaton and Jim Belushi. No question they deserved better.

[@popeyejones9256]

@@schizoidman1016 oh ...oh...did I just see Batman or Beatlejuce?

[@1964DB]

Did Sandy Duncan have anything that ran longer than a Triscuit commercial?

[@johnpopo8440]

The Hogan Family

[@dannyboyy8465]

6:33 Imagine a Doctor doing that to a nurse today! He would be in prison! lol How times have changed!

[@julioagua]

Luckily.

[@luisreyes1963]

And what about that meathead surgeon sneezing in the OR? 🤒

[@usofator]

I've just found this channel and I already loving it.

[@purpleku7768]

I was in high school in the 70s, and I don't remember any of these

[@doctorcraptonicus7941]

I was high in the 70s, and I don't remember any of these.

[@Attmay]

@@doctorcraptonicus7941 that was the best way to survive this decade, it seems.

[@jerseytomato100]

I remember a different girl playing McLean Stevenson's brunette daughter on Hello Larry. Sandy Duncan was an adorable toddler! I can't imagine anything with Paul Lynde being a "dud" ...the man was hilarious. Michael Keaton was a babe. "Doctor's Private Lives"??? What an odd concept.

[@rogercamp6071]

There were two different actresses playing her,Donna Wilkes and Krista Errickson.

[@weltonvillegal6258]

Vinnie Provolone - Hollywood Squares. Classic Paul Lynde.

[@popeyejones9256]

@@rogercamp6071 I remembered hey fired Donna because she would come in late all the time.

[@danielanderson6013]

I'm glad for the most part we've dispensed with the long painful intros. Many shows probably failed because people got tired of having to sit through them!

[@cmendoza9255]

I would rather sit through those long intros than these commercials for drug companies and fast food we have now.

[@sambethune]

I LOVED Kaz! It’s really sad that CBS pulled the plug on it before it won an Emmy. If they ever make a list of the best TV show series intro themes of all time, the theme from Kaz would have to be in the top 10. The great Ron Leibman passed away in 2020. R.I.P.

[@crusty21]

Loved him in Super Cops...He was a very charismatic actor.

[@durandaldevil]

Ain’t nothing average about Captain Parmenter tap dancing!

[@seththomas9105]

I actually remember Hello Larry. Wonder where the idea for "Frasier" came from? Hmmm.....

[@zaq55]

Sir, no one’s watching “Temperatures Rising” Replace our best actor and change the title to “The New Temperatures Rising” Brilliant, sir.

[@DNulrammah]

I remember "WOW". It was a Summer replacement series. It actually did have some good skits. R.I.P. Ken Berry (1933-2018 - 65 years old)

[@popeyejones9256]

i confuse WOW with Wacko a Saturday morning show.

[@williamhancock6489]

Math does not add up.

[@Portugal2025]

85 years.

[@pollypurree1834]

Typo

[@WarrenParkwoodLinden]

Seems the main title for "Hello Larry" went on longer than the series' run.......

[@brinsonharris9816]

Sad thing is all these actors you’ve never seen or heard from since. They got a network show-they thought it was their big break. This was as far as they got on the fame and success train.

[@bostonblackie9503]

Some people in these shows went on to bigger and better things. Some were already known to the public. However, I don't remember any of these shows. If you blinked you missed them!

[@ThamiumOne]

Yeah, like that Michael Keaton guy who was in "Working Stiffs" -- too bad he never made it big.....

[@bostonblackie9503]

@@ThamiumOne Wasn't John Belushi in the show with him?

[@dreamquesttv]

@@ThamiumOne Who the fuck is Michael Keaton? See? He's right.

[@4z94]

@@bostonblackie9503 Jim Belushi.

[@keithwaites9991]

Ahh, the sound of canned laughter. ..wow indeed

[@POPPASHANGO]

The New Temperatures Rising Show was an award winning show as it harnessed the power of hand and armpit fart as a musical instrument in the theme song. 5:55

[@rexlex1736]

LOL

[@popeyejones9256]

the doctor slapped the nurse on the butt you see that??

[@POPPASHANGO]

@@popeyejones9256 yeah and she liked it....lmao. Not today.

[@broughmar]

@@popeyejones9256 And no one died.....life was more fun

[@l.salisbury1253]

Why was that first show called "Wow"? Was the title "Holy Crap!" already taken...!

[@ShermanWestlake]

I always thought Lorna Patterson (visible at 7:48 during the "Working Stiffs" credits) was one of the most beautiful women on late 1970s/early 1980s television.

[@luisreyes1963]

A decade later, Lorna Patterson started in the TV series Private Benjamin.

[@slidetek]

I still remember one Burns & Schreiber sketch that was hysterical. One of their sketch bits was 2 monks, one eager and devout, the other, well, pretended. Burns one day acquires a parrot, and works hard to teach it to say _"hello brother Jasper"._ Finally one day he succeeds and it does, _on command._ Delighted, Burns will show brother Jasper how patience and love pays off. Of course, when Jasper shows up, the bird is silent and Jasper really doesn't believe the story. Burns gets more and more upset as Jasper walks away, and of course, the bird talks until Jasper returns. Finally, the bird starts singing a song "hello brother Jasper" faster and faster and is finally attacked as Jasper tries to save the bird from Burns. I'd love to see that one again. Probably not as good as this 14 year old remembers. Otherwise yeah, _bleh._

[@popeyejones9256]

didn't burns and schreiber had a saturday morning kids show on cbs maybe it was called wacko or something i forgot.....

[@fredcoz6715]

Anything with Paul Lynde in it is comic gold.

[@thingfish000]

He was a riot!

[@luisreyes1963]

If only they considered him for the role of Basil Fawlty should an American remake of Fawlty Towers wwould have been conceived. 🤔

[@TheNeonRabbit]

People today don't know how truly awful a lot of the 70s was. Yes, we had Peter Frampton but we also had to suffer through the Brady bunch singing "Car wash".