The Prime Time of Life: Saturday, Sept. 23, 1978 (the U.S. network TV lineup 45 years ago tonight)

Yes, Dallas aired on Saturday night in the fall of 1978.

[@darkskinneddamsel8203]

They were truly good times. Thanks for the reminder ❤️

[@FredFlix]

You're welcome, DSD.

[@sakaridis]

I wish today's programming could be half as good! So many classic shows... Those were the days! And on another note, Bern Nadette Stanis!!! 😍😍😍😍

[@ChantelleBrown-fb7gy]

Those were my faves! Love boat, fantasy island, good times,Dallas....I was 9 years old and tv was a big thing to look forward to! Thanks Fred!❤

[@FredFlix]

Happy to bring back those pleasant memories, Chantelle.

[@ChantelleBrown-fb7gy]

@@FredFlix it also reminded me that I wanted to be Valerie bertinelli or Charlene Tilton.....Lucy from Dallas....because , well her cup runneth over so I guess God was paying attention! LoL! You want them until you have them and then you realize they're not all they're... perked up to be! LoL!

[@FredFlix]

@@ChantelleBrown-fb7gy Let me be the judge of that, Chantelle. (Blush!)

[@ChantelleBrown-fb7gy]

@@FredFlix LoL! That is from my perspective.....and many other females I'm sure but happy so many others seem to enjoy the visual! And surely it takes more than that to get a blush......you have done whole videos on hot women even I can appreciate.....and you have good taste!!! LoL!

[@BeliaLastes]

Thanks Fredflix for the memories ❤

[@FredFlix]

You're welcome, BeliaLastes.

[@josephpapai5867]

AMAZING SHOWS. I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD. ALSO PRICILLA BARNES WAS 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@bridgetmccracken1381]

Fantasy Island and of course The Love Boat, always tuned in to see who showed up!!! Thank you once again for the sweet look back

[@FredFlix]

Sweets for the sweet, Bridget.

[@marthawelch4289]

Two years married and working at least 11 hours a day Monday through Friday as an engineer in 1978 Dallas, Saturday night was the night to NOT watch TV. So, we would play bridge (Omar Sharif was there if it was a national orll]l international event), go to a movie, go out to eat or fix dinner at home for our friends, attend an entertainment event, visit the megamalls, go to or host a party, or go to a place where the beautiful people like the Dallas Cowboys went. Let's just say that my life now is almost 180 deg away from that life. My parents kept me informed on the latest major plot points on their favorite TV show ("Dallas"). Years later they wrote a letter to the producers to tell them that there was NOBODY who could replace Barbara Belgeddes as Miss Elle so that Donna person had to go. Fortunately, Barbara got better, the producers listened to my parents and she came back to the show which made mom and dad VERY happy. And, yes, Who Shot JR? was a really big deal in Big D.

[@KayGeeBee07]

I was 21 years old in my 4th year at college. On a Saturday night I guarantee I wasn't sitting in front of the TV . Most likely out with my friends at the disco.

[@mikerocks56]

Same here. The only show I watched occasionally from all of these shows was Love Boat. Never saw a minute of Dallas ever

[@KayGeeBee07]

@@mikerocks56 I watched Rhoda, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and occasionally Good Times, but each of these ran for several years so I wasn't watching during the fall of 1978 on a Saturday night- too busy partying.

[@rcdoodles6214]

I was 23 in ‘78 and never missed Dallas. The musical themes for TV shows back then were really well written. So fun to hear them again. Thank you very much for all your wonderful videos. They are reminders of more carefree days of youth and a more stable world, or so it seemed. 😊

[@beatles4-ever]

I loved Dallas and their theme. It was cool that they did a new arrangement of the theme each season.

[@FredFlix]

I was 23 as well, RC. I was writing a daily newspaper TV column and I remember reviewing the Dallas pilot (thumbs up).

[@Ij-jan]

Great video to wake up to. Thank you.

[@FredFlix]

You're welcome, l j.

[@wheeler71]

Memories (now reruns) thx 👍📺

[@FredFlix]

I'm re-running my own memories, lance. My brain had better shows in the past.

[@luisreyes1963]

Only Norman Lear could find humor in The Great Depression (Apple Pie) & life in a housing project (Good Times). Thanks, FredFlix. 📺

[@FredFlix]

Luis, he found humor in the Depression but not enough viewers.

[@merce10554]

I didn't live there anymore and for some of the new shows I had to wait to come over Spain and be translated. Ohhh, that wasn't easy to live with. But we've come a long way. 💜🤟

[@journeytothemosthigh5021]

I was 8 and loved the Saturday night ABC line up..Love Boat then Fantasy Island. These were great times and didn’t want them to end. Still looking for a Time Machine. I appreciate your videos. Thank you!

[@FredFlix]

You're welcome, JTTMH.

[@bobm7250]

Today is the 30th Anniversary of "Frasier" which aired on NBC.

[@bobm7250]

Also, "Third Watch" debuted on this date in 1999 on NBC, and 20 years later "All Rise" on CBS.

[@GuitarAnthony]

Now they're bringing it back and I'm SUUUUUUUURE it won't crap out like the new Night Court did.

[@bobm7250]

@@GuitarAnthony In my opinion, "Big Sky" was crap, because ABC couldn't decide to keep it on Tuesday Nights after season one back in the 2020-2021 season, which is why it moved to Thursday Nights for season two in 2021-2022.

[@ernestcruz6316]

I remember most of these, but not American Girls or Apple Pie. American Girls starred a pre-Three's Company Priscilla Barnes, fresh from her Penthouse centerfold (under the name JoAnn Witty) and Debra Clinger, whom people must get confused with Debra Winger. Still, that's what your loyal fans like myself look forward to from your videos, stuff we remember and stuff we're not so familiar with. Thanks again Fred!

[@FredFlix]

And I get from YOU, Ernest, the knowledge Barnes was in Penthouse. Just looked up some Google images...Yowee!

[@ernestcruz6316]

@@FredFlix You're welcome Fred.

[@josephpapai5867]

@@FredFlix Yes I knew this also. Met Priscilla at a Comic Con about fifteen years ago. Very cool lady to hang out with. Joyce DeWitt and Richard Kline were there too. It was a lower key type of event, so I got to hang with them for about an hour. Great way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

[@robertscott2210]

Some great stuff there, Fred. And some, not so much. I remember Carter Country, what were they thinking lol? Apple Pie and American Girls I don't remember at all. Enjoy your weekend Fred, hope it's not a washout for you like it is here. 👍👍👍

[@FredFlix]

It's just overcast here, Robert. So I take it you're in NC?

[@robertscott2210]

@@FredFlix A little further north than that....NY, but don't hold it against me 🙏

[@johnkaczinski468]

Fred… You stumped me on 2 of those shows. 1. Apple Pie - 2. The American Girls.

[@teresapflaumer5717]

Loads of first year cancelled shows this season, especially in the winter-spring 1979! Tons of short-lived sitcoms!

[@tigre7739]

I'm sure I was in front of the tube on that night watching alot of these. I would watch these with my mom and sister, while my Dad was always in another room watching sports, news, or anything that would be the opposite of these, lol. I had just turned 13, and some of these like Good Times and Rhoda we had always watched, and "CHiPs". The Love Boat and Fantasy Island became our regular Sat. evening favorites. This must have been the Pilot series of Dallas, I started watching it with my Mom during that season , but she she watched it from the beginning. It seemed a bit different than what I was used to watching with her, but I soon became hooked on it, beginning a long history of it being a part of my world. A few years later, during its peak if popularity, we played the Dallas theme in highschool band while performing a choreographed routine during the football games. We played alot of these theme songs, including The Love Boat, "CHiPs". Thanks for the wonderful trip, and added special memories.😇

[@FredFlix]

Sure thing, tigre. Nice comment.

[@jehobden]

Back when there was network tv worth watching on Saturday nights. Great job, Fred! 0:12 - I thought it was eerie that CARTER COUNTRY was set in Clinton Corners, GA, given that a near-future President was named Clinton. 1:17 - Last weekend a friend & I went to a show called RetroExpo in my hometown, and "Jon & Ponch" were there for autographs & photographs, and they also gave a talk later that we missed since we were waiting to meet someone else. I met Larry Wilcox & got his autograph, while my friend met Erik Estrada & got his autograph & a few selfies w/ him. 1:34 - RHODA was in its last 13-week season, cancelled by December. I liked the theme song a lot. 4:01 - I saw that LOVE BOAT episode on MeTV not long ago. Norman Fell was in this episode playing Julie's dad (Betty Garrett played her mom), and Ellen Travolta & Ed Winter were also front-credited, so I guess you found an edited version of the opening. LOVE BOAT is fine once a week, but I couldn't get into it 5 days a week when TV Land showed it that often. 5:35 - NBC SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES came to an end after 17 years on the network during the next month. 8:04 - Irving's Texas Stadium (where the Cowboys played until 2008 or so) was torn down in 2010. The Cowboys have played at AT&T Stadium (nicknamed "Jerry World" for Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones) since then. I've toured the mansion seen in the opening (about 20 miles N of Dallas) a couple times. Some people actually continued living there after the series premiere, but they were bugged by dumb people looking for J.R. or Bobby, so they sold & moved out. Some location filming was done there, but it was mostly filmed in S. CA.

[@FredFlix]

Jon, I edited that Love Boat intro myself from a YT video that presented all the actors who were in the episodes.

[@lamontbradford4630]

Carter Country was named for President Carter.

[@66KIMBLE]

The Knots Landing version of Rhoda!!! Rhoda and Good Times were on the back end‼️

[@theodorerelic2718]

I was 16 in 1978, and my mom loved watching Dallas and Good Times. Though she did get annoyed when the father, played by John Amos, was written out of the show (I assume he was the one who left the show); first he went to work on the Alaska Pipeline, then ultimately was killed off. She always saw him as a great father figure in the show. Oh well, she would see him again in the fantasy movie The Beastmaster :)

[@luisreyes1963]

Actually, John Amos left because of a pay dispute & was written out of the show. Recap: James Evans (John Amos) left Chicago to get a better job in Georgia, but was killed in a highway accident on his way home.

[@theodorerelic2718]

@@luisreyes1963 Hmmm, I guess I remembered wrong, then. Thanks.

[@jeffreysantner3717]

Great SUPER dizzying helicopter shots YIKES....like your gonna fall into Ricardo Montelban's arms!!

[@popdesigner01]

5 days before my 1st daughter was born! Thanks Fred!

[@FredFlix]

You're welcome, popdesigner.

[@carolinebrown8965]

Thank you ❤

[@mariocastro4927]

Boas lembranças Fred, voltar ao passado sempre é muito bom.

[@dannystrat]

I actually stopped actively watching TV around this time. I was only 14 years old! There really wasn't much for me to be interested in with popular television shows at the time. But I love these old TV show theme videos! Thanks for doing this!

[@FredFlix]

You're welcome, Danny.

[@brendajeanproffitt6919]

❤❤❤❤it ...Fred thank you so much

[@FredFlix]

You're welcome, friend Brenda.

[@emilysantoyo918]

This is a great lineup of shows that aired for 45 years Fred.

[@citygirl5705]

How painful was it to not have VCRs back then and have to miss great shows??? And having to wait for reruns. Only 3 networks for most people, but too many good shows. Like I had to choose between "All in the Family" and "Emergency!" That sucked!!!

[@ravenel2]

My favorite show when I was 9, 10, 11 was Love Boat-but there was no social media or any way to celebrate that. I was on vacation with my family and there was a free travel magazine with a picture of the Love Boat cast on the cover. It was like finding a priceless treasure and it was all I ever had. Even if the cast had been in magazines like Teen Beat or Tiger Beat, which they were not, I wasn’t old enough to want to spend my allowance on those kinds of magazines yet. That travel photo was all there was!

[@deementia6796]

Wondering when they moved Dallas from Saturday to Friday. Just looked it up, and it moved from Saturday to Sunday about a month after this episode aired, then went to Friday starting in January of 1979,

[@Modguy61]

Oh Fred, with the exception of American Girls I remember all these shows; even Carter Country & the seldom remembered Apple Pie starring a pre-Golden Girls Rue McClanahan!! Saturday nights were great TV back then.

[@66KIMBLE]

Thank goodness someone at CBS had the good sense to move Dallas to Friday nights away from Fantasy Island!! As for American Girls, this reminds of CBS years later scheduling The Fugitive (2000 series) leading into CSI (a throw in). Look how that turned out‼️

[@wesleyhackney]

Never understood how Mannix & Barnaby Jones were so popular

[@karenford9797]

Thank you Fred for the memories! I guess I'm the only one who remembers The American Girls. One of the episodes guest starred Ross Martin and was titled The Cancelled Czech. It must still stick in my mind from watching reruns of The Wild Wild West. Again, thank you for all your hard work!

[@t.j.payeur5331]

It was long ago and far away and I was a newlywed with a brand new color TV...

[@FredFlix]

I take it the marriage lasted but the TV didn't, TJ?

[@AMStationEngineer]

For four days leading up to that "damn magical" Saturday, I bagged college classes, (freshman year), to work under contract for Fitch Electronics/Fitch Audio, a "large venue concert/event sound services provider. You see, that was the weekend when ELO performed "The Big Tour" at the Philadelphia Spectrum. During a previous engagement near Chicago, the strings and percussion sections were ineffectively 'miked', and being their 'original spaceship' soundstage, the design of the 'visual support props', especially the spaceship, were a royal pain in the arse during microphone setup, making microphonic feedback into the band's audio switching board a real bi_ch! We were very well paid to negate the issue, and did so successfully, Our team was assigned seating behind the prop-wall, which actually ended up being an excellent spot to hear what soon became my musical group, and the best concert ever!

[@FredFlix]

I envy you for all that, AM.

[@karenkingrey6142]

Oh man. Half way through I realized I had a smile that I hadn’t even noticed! Then I saw “45 years ago” & the smile was gone. 😐 😉🤣 I loved the beginning of Fantasy Island, I always thought it was so beautiful even as a kid. (Also, I always wanted to take the Love Boat to Fantasy Island where I’d be greeted by the Partridge Family!😂😂😂😂)

[@FredFlix]

Nice comment, Karen.

[@ChantelleBrown-fb7gy]

Oh man a hat trick of tv wonder! Great idea! LoL 🤣!

[@wesleyhackney]

Apple pie must have been a short lived series I never heard of it

[@RusstheTroubadour]

Thanks Fred as always. "Carter Country" was a solid hit the previous season. Airing on Thursday after Barney Miller and finishing just outside the top 30. Don't know why they moved it Saturday where it was left in the dust by "CHiPs" "Apple Pie" aired 2 episodes (8 were filmed ) before it was cancelled. "The American Girls" was pulled after 5 episodes (11 were filmed) 6 never aired. Julie Kavner played Rhoda's sister Brenda. She has voiced Marge Simpson and her sisters Thelma and Patty since they began as a series of shorts on " The Tracey Ullman Show" in 1987. " Dallas " was moved to Sunday after its fourth episode. Two months later it moved to Friday where it stayed for the rest if its run. Airing at either 9 or 10 PM ( Eastern).

[@FredFlix]

Thanks, Russ.

[@Laceykat66]

THANK YOU. I never remember Dallas on Saturdays. I just though I was fixing out there.

[@FredFlix]

You're welcome, @@Laceykat66

[@Litauen-yg9ut]

Good stuff, Fred..

[@FredFlix]

Thanks, Litauen.

[@thomasbryant6512]

I just watched "Burnt Offerings" recently. I read stories about how Oliver Reed's drunken shenanigans enraged Bette Davis during the filming.

[@scottanddebranelson8419]

dallas was so influential even my middle school class mates talked about it. i couldn't stand soaps back then and they are even more moronic to me now.

[@danielmaher7108]

Yeah, but MAN ,Victoria Principal was hot, especially during the first season. She was beautiful during the run of the whole show, and afterwards- but there's something about her look during that first season that stays with me all these years later.

[@scottanddebranelson8419]

@@danielmaher7108 true as that may be there were plenty of beauties to "grin" about without having to watch a soap opera, best case in point off the top of my head would be charlie's angels.

[@user-ur5ii1sg2q]

Very kool

[@RobertR3750]

Never heard of Apple Pie or the American Girls. It's interesting to compare the size of the cruise ship in The Love Boat with today's ultra decked out behemoths.

[@glusniffermm698]

Regarding the American Girls, Debra Clinger Was Super-Chick of Captain Kool and the Kongs on the Croft Super show!~

[@frankwafer6919]

💖💯👍!

[@thomasseidler3561]

Carter country is downtown Hazzard county

[@fromthehaven94]

They must have changed the opening credits for Dallas, because I don't remember them being done in alphabetical order.

[@dallasbrunson3677]

I started Kindergarten September 1978... Dallas wasn’t exactly a fun name to have, kids can be cruel! My dad tried to make me feel better by telling me “No one plays cards with a guy named after a city”. I was five!

[@FredFlix]

Well, I think Dallas is a better name than, say, Boise.

[@dougbrowne9890]

As a 13 year old, unless there was a James Bond, science fiction or war movie on, I would never have been in front of the TV watching ABC/NBC/CBS. UHF was king with me. WKBD Channel 50 and WXON Channel 20 is where I would have been this day (if not outside causing mischief in the neighborhood), watching Star Trek, The Avengers and the usual monster/war/sci-fi/horror movies. In little over a week, it would have been CBC Channel 9 watching Hockey Night in Canada until after the news then it was SNL on WDIV Channel 4, but only because SNL became so popular that it pushed off the great Ghoul Show on WKBD, so no more fun monster/horror movies. Regardless, Pop and Ma had this stuff on but other than Good Times, I couldn't tell you what they would have watched. Probably the movie, unless Channel 4 had on the Tigers night game (if one was going on). Wow, what a different time it was. Thanks Fred.

[@FredFlix]

Doug, I didn't have UHF at that time, nor even a horror late show. My horror was that network lineup!. EEK!

[@arthuridis]

Just for the record to let anybody know where those stations are from. It's Detroit.

[@jeffreysantner3717]

JANET!!!

[@jettcarlburg356]

Ms Jackson if you're nasty 😆

[@davidrosler5413]

We all know the hits, but I'm always a little amazed at the shows that came and went that I either never heard of or don't remember. Fred, do you remember "He & She"? I was a kid but I loved that show (CBS killed it so they could re-organize it for Mary Tyler Moore because, you know, married to CBS President Grant Tinker.)

[@FredFlix]

I do remember it, David. I wonder if it got good ratings despite the axe by Tinker.

[@davidrosler5413]

@@FredFlix i read an interview with the producer who said everyone, including the stars, were furious because it was very, very funny, likeable and got great ratings. Tinker even wanted Jack Cassidy to play Ted Baxter the knock off of his character Hollister, and Cassidy told his old boss to F off, although he did go back a few years later to play Baxter's equally obnoxious brother. The boarding house, the crazy neighbors, working with an egotistical TV personality, MTM was a slaughter of a rip off job to keep Mary happy. Really terrible. I liked He & She better; funnier and had a much warmer feel to it. I was able to find one episode of it online. Forgotten show deserves huge appreciation and some sympathy.

[@FredFlix]

@@davidrosler5413 Now you're making me want to see it.

[@davidrosler5413]

@@FredFlix if you can find it around, please let me know.

[@davidrosler5413]

@@FredFlix there are several episodes online. Hilarious.

[@GuitarAnthony]

How someone with the name Guich Coock never became a star I'll never understand.

[@ernestcruz6316]

He was in the original version of The Longest Yard, Carter Country and...that was pretty much that.

[@ronsmac]

Good times was a good show but wasn’t the same after the killed off James.

[@junkersish]

I know Dallas was a huge hit but all the other ones look awful

[@FredFlix]

It WAS awful, junkersish. The only show in that lineup I watched was Dallas.

[@arthuridis]

Love Boat and Fantasy Island dominated Saturday nights until 1984 or 1985 when Fantasy Island was discontinued.

[@davidgarris2513]

Dallas was THEE show. The rest are crap🤠🤠🤠

[@rstyeast73]

Great video as always. Even though I was five years old, I remember most of these shows. NBC moved CHiPs from Thursday to Saturday for its second season, complete with the updated opening theme. Plus, ABC had both The Love Boar and Fantasy Island at the same time up until the mid-80s. Last but not least, I didn't know that Dallas was on Saturdays. I always remember that it was on Fridays.