As we begin to look forward to celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, our journey through the 1970s has reached our bicentennial year – remember the “Bicentennial Minutes” that played between CBS programs that year? Hopefully they won’t be the only memorable programming to debut in 1976. Let’s see what Sunday nights had to offer.
ABC
Cos
The Six Million Dollar Man
ABC Sunday Night Movie
With The Six Million Dollar Man at #7 in the ratings and the Sunday Night Movie at #8, this would be the first of many winning nights for ABC in the latter half of the decade.
Cos – a variety show aimed at children hosted by Bill Cosby – did not fare as well. It was an interesting idea, and Cosby was no stranger to younger audiences with his work on Fat Albert and The Electric Company.
But if kids were watching TV on Sunday evening, they preferred The Wonderful World of Disney. The show was pulled in November of 1976 after just nine episodes and replaced with The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries.
NBC
The Wonderful World of Disney
NBC Sunday Night Mystery Movie
The Big Event
While ABC placed two shows in the top 10, the highest-rated series of the night belonged to NBC, with The Big Event finishing at #6 in the Nielsens.
What was The Big Event, I hear you say, unless your memory is much better than mine? It wasn’t so much a show as a title, under which the network could present popular theatrical films like Gone With the Wind and 2001: A Space Odyssey. This was back before VCRs and video stores, so getting to see these movies on TV was still…well, a big event. These were mixed with original fare that was also well-received, such as Sybil with Sally Field and Jesus of Nazareth. The episode I remember watching was “The First Fifty Years,” a retrospective of NBC programming dating back to the days of radio.
The NBC Mystery Movies remained popular as well, with Columbo, McCloud and McMillan joined by a new installment – Quincy, M.E. starring Jack Klugman as a crusading medical examiner. After just four episodes it was spun off into its own series, which ran from 1976 to 1983.
NBC
The Wonderful World of Disney
NBC Sunday Night Mystery Movie
The Big Event
While ABC placed two shows in the top 10, the highest-rated series of the night belonged to NBC, with The Big Event finishing at #6 in the Nielsens.
What was The Big Event, I hear you say, unless your memory is much better than mine? It wasn’t so much a show as a title, under which the network could present popular theatrical films like Gone With the Wind and 2001: A Space Odyssey. This was back before VCRs and video stores, so getting to see these movies on TV was still…well, a big event. These were mixed with original fare that was also well-received, such as Sybil with Sally Field and Jesus of Nazareth. The episode I remember watching was “The First Fifty Years,” a retrospective of NBC programming dating back to the days of radio.
The NBC Mystery Movies remained popular as well, with Columbo, McCloud and McMillan joined by a new installment – Quincy, M.E. starring Jack Klugman as a crusading medical examiner. After just four episodes it was spun off into its own series, which ran from 1976 to 1983.
CBS
60 Minutes
The Sonny and Cher Show
Kojak
Delvecchio
60 Minutes – back when it still had journalistic credibility and corrupt CEOs cowered at the mere mention of Mike Wallace – kicks off a solid if not highly rated evening. After Sonny and Cher divorced and headlined separate variety shows, neither of which lasted, the duo reunited and tried to recapture the magic of their earlier variety series. I thought they did a pretty good job, but not enough fans returned for the encore.
Delvecchio seemed like an ideal pairing with returning series Kojak, as it too was a show about a no-nonsense big city police detective. Those who remember Judd Hirsch best from Taxi might be surprised that he was cast in a role like this, but it works. Steven Bochco is listed as a writer and producer, and a few years later he’d call two of Hirsch’s costars, Charles Haid and Michael Conrad, to join a new police series called Hill Street Blues.
If you missed Delvecchio during its TV Land revival, many of its 21 episodes can now be enjoyed on YouTube.
Shows Missed:
The Don Knotts Show (1970)
San Francisco International Airport (1970)
Nancy (1970)
The Headmaster (1970)
The Man and the City (1971)
Search (1972)
Assignment: Vienna (1972)
The Delphi Bureau (1972)
Jigsaw (1972)
The Little People (1972)
The Sixth Sense (1972)
Tenafly (1973)
Faraday & Company (1973)
Kodiak (1974)
The New Land (1974)
McCoy (1975)
Joe and Sons (1975)
Beacon Hill (1975)
Mobile One (1975)
Big Eddie (1975)
No comments:
Post a Comment