My Journey Through 1970s TV: Saturday Nights, 1974

 

To go out, or to stay in on a Saturday night? That was the question (and probably still is), but in 1974 one network offered a compelling reason to skip the restaurant and the movie, and order in a pizza.

 

Saturday, 1974

 

CBS

All in the Family

Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

The Bob Newhart Show

The Carol Burnett Show

 

CBS programs dominated the mid-‘70s on Saturday nights; All in the Family remained the season’s #1 show, followed by Mary Tyler Moore at #9, Bob Newhart at #12, and Carol Burnett at #27. 

 

All in the Family was about midway through its nine-season run, but was already such a phenomenon that CBS aired a special salute to the Bunkers in December, hosted by Henry Fonda. This was also the season in which George and Louise Jefferson were spun off into their own successful series. 

 

 

New to the lineup was Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers, but not for very long. What an odd title – I assume they wanted Sand to have his name in the title like Mary, Bob, and Carol – but they were all already known quantities to viewers, where he was not. According to series co-creator Allan Burns, they gave Sand his own series because he and James Brooks were so impressed by his guest spot as an IRS agent on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. But despite being surrounded by hits on the schedule, the series never found an audience. 

 

 

It’s been decades since I’ve seen it, but in my memory Sand came off like a slightly less nebbish-like Woody Allen, and that’s not the type of character that viewers would embrace on a weekly basis. CBS dropped it after 15 episodes, but Sand continued to work steadily for decades, and is still with us at age 92.

 

NBC

Emergency

NBC Saturday Night Movie

 

Emergency continued to draw enough viewers in its fourth season to stick around, even against such formidable competition. Did you know that the Squad 51 fire engine shown on the series is now housed at The Los Angeles County Fire Museum, along with other equipment used on the show?  

 

 

ABC

The New Land

Kung Fu

Nakia

 

The returning Kung Fu would survive another season, even sandwiched between two shows that were given hasty exits.

 

I’ve never seen The New Land, so on the “Missed” list it goes. But from what I’ve read and the clips I’ve seen it appears ABC was trying to pull in some of the Waltons audience with another series about a rural family struggling to survive hard times. Here its Minnesota in the 1850s, and the Larsen family, immigrants from Scandinavia, try to claim their share of the American dream. 

 

 

Bonnie Bedelia and Kurt Russell are in it, and John Denver performed the theme song, but it was pulled from the schedule after just six episodes. That was bad news for the Lookinland family, given the cancellation of The Brady Bunch at the end of the previous season. Todd Lookinland played young Tuliff Larsen, and was hoping to keep those network paychecks coming in, but it was not to be. Mike would be back on the air two years later, singing and dancing with his TV family plus Fake Jan, on The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

 

Nakia was another ‘70s law-and-order series set in the wide-open spaces of the Southwest. Previous attempts (Cade’s County, Man of the City) hadn’t made it, and this one didn’t either. 

 

 

But it had Robert Forster in the title role as a deputy sheriff of Navajo heritage, based in Davis County, New Mexico. According to IMDB, this series gave Lynda Carter her first acting credit, just one year before she became Wonder Woman. That clip is on YouTube along with one full episode. Forster's always good, but I enjoyed the clip more. 

 

 

 

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)

 

Classic TV Commercials: Less Noise, Normal People

 

The list of activities that truly make me happy seems to dwindle with each passing year. One that still qualifies is watching compilations of vintage TV commercials on YouTube, particularly those that share a Halloween or Christmas theme. And thankfully we’re now into the season when doing so would seem slightly less strange than watching them in April. But I do that too.

 

 

This time, however, I am revisiting my favorite compilations not just for pleasure but also as a scientific analysis. After enduring far too many current commercials, which can lower a viewer’s IQ in just 30 seconds, I was curious to study how many of those 1970s and ’80s ads also featured people acting like idiots.

 

Before revealing the result I should clarify what “acting like an idiot” entails, as there are many idiots loose in the wild today that see nothing unusual in their behavior. For the purpose of this study an idiot is defined as someone who, if they did what they are doing in the real world and not in a commercial, would draw incredulous stares from everyone in the surrounding area.

 

I would also like to clarify that I am unaware of any offensive connotation (outside of the obvious) to the word “idiot” and whether it is now discriminatory or intolerant to any subset of humanity based on any pre-existing condition over which they have no control.

 

Can’t be too careful these days.

 

I will also not classify all unusual behavior as idiotic if there is a supernatural element involved, as is frequently found in Halloween spots. If a housewife turns into a witch, that’s just seasonal fun. 

 

 

This is the Halloween video I reviewed. It contains about 80 commercials.

 

How many of these spots do you think would measure on the idiot scale? Here’s the answer – two. Just two out of ±80. I think that’s a ratio viewers would welcome now, as it means far fewer lunges for the mute button. 

 

 

Not long after completing my study, I turned on a network with commercials – doesn’t really matter which one – and not three commercials passed before a first ballot hall-of-fame idiot popped up to celebrate his drug prescription. A few minutes later, just two commercials aired before another cringe-worthy exhibition.

 

Can we learn anything from this? Does it say something about how television has changed, how the culture has changed, or is it merely a result of advertisers having to fight so much harder now to get our attention?

 

These are the real questions. I’m not sure I have the answers. But as this blog has evolved I hope it has become a place to not just celebrate the wonderful shows of the past, but also to look beneath the surface, and try to understand why television is the way it is now, and why the decisions being made by content producers seem so different from what they used to be.

 

I understand the pressure of having to pull viewers away from other distractions that did not exist in the Comfort TV era, when the television screen was the only screen in the house. When people watched TV then their focus was not distracted by incoming text messages or the latest viral TikTok upload.

 

Knowing that an audience was watching and listening (mute buttons were also less commonplace), commercials didn’t have to shout to get your attention. Advertisers hired spokespersons with pleasing voices, or gave us a glimpse into recognizable home and business settings, with a more simple, straightforward message: here’s a product we think you’d like, and this is why.

 

 

But that might not be enough anymore, so they yell, or try to compensate for muted sound with visuals so bizarre they hope viewers will restore the audio to find out what’s going on.

 

Does it work? And if it works for commercials, would it not make sense to try the same strategy for a TV series? I pulled up a list of the 25 best TV series according to RogerEbert.com. I won’t judge them without having watched them, but from the descriptions it’s clear that many feature characters that exist far outside the mainstream, and capable of extreme behavior. 

 

 

Maybe there is a through-line here, in a time when it’s become fashionable to denigrate the normal. The traditional. The spiritual (Halloween ghosts? Yes! Holy Ghost? No.) And that is the culture television now reflects. It depends on your perspective, I guess. All I know is that the Halloween commercial compilation I watched now has more than 1.3 million views, and has elicited thousands of comments like the following:

 

“There was never a better time in history to be a kid then the 70's and 80's. Thanks for putting this together. Great memories!”

 

“There’s something magical about old commercials, like there’s a certain charm about them”

 

 “I would do anything to be able to go back and live in this time period.”

 

“Little did we know how good we had it back then. Is so different today I wish my kids could have grown up back then.”

 

“I look back at all these retro commercials with nostalgia and some sadness. It reminds me of those days when we had hope for our lives, our country, our loved ones. Unlike now where it feels like we are on the verge of collapse and our quality of life is deteriorating fast. We don’t have to pretend to be frightened of evil spooks in an imaginary world, we are living that reality now.”

 

Will today’s commercials – will today’s television shows – elicit a similar response 50 years from now? I seriously doubt it.

My Journey Through 1970s TV: Friday Nights, 1974

 

Every night in the 1970s offered interesting shows to explore (and revisit!). But sometimes there is an evening that stands out more than usual. Such is the case with the Friday prime time network schedules from 1974. Even the shows that didn’t last were memorable, and some have a following that remains to this day.

 

Friday, 1974

 

ABC

Kodiak

The Six Million Dollar Man

The Texas Wheelers

Kolchak, the Night Stalker

 

After several years of popular, if not always high-rated shows like The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222 and Love American Style, ABC ditched its entire Friday night lineup from previous seasons and introduced four new shows. Only one lasted, and since you’ve already looked at the titles you know which one. 

 

 

To be honest I can’t recall whether I watched Kodiak or not, so I’ll add it to the “missed” list. But it sounds like something I would have enjoyed. Clint Walker, who I thought was wonderful in Cheyenne, played Alaska State Trooper Cal “Kodiak” McKay, whose territory covered 50,000 miles of harsh wilderness. 

 

 

The 6’6” Walker was an imposing figure but a very kind gentleman. A long time ago I wrote a piece about western TV shows for Cowboys & Indians magazine, and shortly thereafter received a phone call from him thanking me for my praise of Cheyenne. I’m not even sure how he got my phone number, but that gesture was much appreciated.

 

So it’s  a shame about Kodiak, which sounds like a one-hour action drama that should have worked. But it was a half-hour series, and maybe that was part of the problem. It was pulled after just 13 episodes.

 

Viewers had already met Lee Majors as bionic astronaut Steve Austin in three TV movies that aired in 1973, which proved successful enough to bring him back again for The Six Million Dollar Man. The very popular and heavily-merchandised series ran for five seasons, and introduced Jaime Sommers in the spinoff The Bionic Woman (which I actually liked more). 

 

The Texas Wheelers provides another example of what usually happens when a veteran supporting actor/second banana gets cast in a lead role. It rarely works, especially when the banana in question is Jack Elam, who played nasty and crazy old coots in about a thousand westerns. He didn’t go full Elam here, dialing down the eccentricities to play a father who returns to his family after abandoning them for years.

 

Two of Elam’s sons were played by Gary Busey and Mark Hamill, which could raise the curiosity factor for anyone wanting to check it out now. Several episodes are on YouTube – it struck me as a series that didn’t have a clear idea what it wanted to be. But if you like banjo music, this is the series for you. 

 

 

Kolchak: The Night Stalker followed the same formula as The Six Million Dollar Man: introduce a character in TV movies, then give him his own series. But what worked for Steve Austin did not for Carl Kolchak, despite The Night Stalker being one of the most popular and acclaimed made-for-TV movies of its era.

 

What went wrong? To find the answer I consulted an expert – Mark Dawidziak, author of multiple books about Kolchak and his adventures.

 

“That was back in the day when horror might have worked as a one-shot movie event in prime time, like Rod Serling's Night Gallery or, of course, The Night Stalker, but, in a three-network universe, there wasn’t a big enough regular audience to sustain a weekly series,” Mark told me. “The Night Gallery series didn't make it, either. It also didn't help that the series was on the lowest-rated network.” 

 

Take heart, ABC - you won't be the lowest-rated network in the 1970s much longer. 

 

 

CBS

Planet of the Apes

CBS Friday Night Movie

 

In the 1970s, when a hit motion picture was first shown on television, it was still a big deal. That was the case with Planet of the Apes, for which CBS paid $1 million. Their investment was validated when the movie aired and drew an amazing 60 share of the audience. Given that response, would a series work?

 

It didn’t, but it wasn’t a bad try. The show took its cues from the first Apes movie – two astronauts (played by Ron Harper and James Naughton) land on a planet ruled by monkeys with rifles who view them as an inferior race. Roddy McDowell, who had played two ape characters in five films, returned once more to endure what had to be grueling makeup sessions to play Galen, an ape who joins the humans on their adventures. Their nemesis, General Urko, was played by Star Trek’s Mark Lenard. 

 

 

There were high hopes for the series (Mego released an entire line of action figures featuring its characters), but reviews were poor and the show found its most enthusiastic audience only among the elementary school set. 

 

“Of people 50 and over, apparently, only four are watching,” said then-CBS head programmer Fred Silverman. “Two old ladies in Iowa and a couple who owns a zoo.” However, it did get a DVD release, which is rare for a series with just 14 episodes.

 

NBC

Sanford and Son

Chico and the Man

The Rockford Files

Police Woman

 

If any network executive ever earned a bonus, it’s the one that gave a green light to three successful new shows and scheduled them all on Friday night, following the evening’s most popular returning series.

 

Sanford and Son finished the season at #3, and Chico and the Man seemed like an ideal pairing to complete the hour. The Rockford Files featured James Garner, one of TV’s most charismatic leading men, as Jim Rockford, aka “Jimbo,” “Rockfish,” Beth Davenport’s most troublesome client, and the only person on earth who could tolerate Angel for more than ten seconds. 

 

Great show with a great theme song, and who didn’t look forward to the different voicemail messages that opened each episode?

 

Police Woman was more standard fare, though a female lead in a cop show was still somewhat original in 1974. Angie Dickinson played pop culture’s most famous Pepper until the MCU launched, and was ably supported by Earl Holliman as her commanding officer. Viewers voted with their remotes to watch Angie instead of Carl Kolchak, keeping the series around for four seasons. Maybe Darren McGavin should have gone undercover in more slinky cocktail dresses. 

 

 

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)

 

Smile and Say “Classic TV!”

 

I’ve had an iPhone for years, and I know all the things it can do, but I still mainly use it just for phone calls and occasional texting. The camera feature that seems to be a favorite among most people is something I’ve used less than a handful of times.

 

For whatever reason the idea of taking a picture still demands, for me, some genuine purpose as it did back in the day, when a roll of film required you to consider what was important enough to merit one of the 24 exposures you paid for at Fotomat.

 

That perception is continually reinforced by so many classic TV shows, when family photos were perceived as something more special than they are now. On more than one episode of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, one of the boys would bring a date home, and they would spend part of the evening looking through the family photo album. The fact that the series was sponsored by Kodak may have influenced that choice. 

 

 

And just like other families on TV, my family used to gather in the living room and look at slides projected on the wall. I can still hear the ‘click-click’ that fed each slide into the projection chamber, and feel the heat when I held my hand over the light bulb that provided the illumination.  Birthdays, holidays, vacations, family gatherings, there was a moment worth remembering captured in each image. Not a single selfie in the bunch.

 

Granted, sometimes these presentations were not enthusiastically welcomed by guests.  Even the Comfort TV era acknowledged that, though no one took it as far as Night Gallery. In one brief segment. a hippie is sent to hell and forced to spend eternity with an older couple, watching their nonstop vacation slide show.

 

Thankfully Rod Serling also saw more intriguing story possibilities in photography. In the Serling-scripted Twilight Zone episode “A Most Unusual Camera,” three crooks find a camera that can take pictures from the future. They soon realize the profit potential it holds, but greed quickly gets the better of them. 

 

And in “Camera Obscura,” another Night Gallery tale, an equally greedy banker is undone by another supernatural camera.

 

Cameras could also solve crimes and right injustices, as in “The Night of the Hangman” on The Wild, Wild West, in which Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin, also featured in “Camera Obscura”) is able to exonerate a wrongly convicted assassin with photographic evidence. And on The Brady Bunch, Greg takes a picture that proves a receiver on his high school football team caught a touchdown pass in bounds - though he was actually aiming his camera at a cheerleader (“Click”). 

 

 

Comfort TV classics remember when a single image could hold our attention for hours, and be treasured as a beloved keepsake: The boy or girl you loved in high school, who went on to marry someone else; family members who have passed on; the puppy in the box at Christmas time.

 

Speaking of Christmas, remember those commercials for Sears Portrait Studio? They aired year-round in the Comfort TV era but were more prominent around the holidays. A framed 8 x 10 portrait of a family member, especially kids, was a wonderful gift that would hang on a wall in the recipient’s home. 

 

Usually Sears also provided some Christmas cards where a smaller photo could be mounted inside. Now, most people don’t even send cards anymore.

 

How far we’ve come. Or have we?

 

Such are the unavoidable repercussions of technological advancement that renders mundane what once seemed impossible. No one alive now can remember the time when it felt like a miracle to pick up a device called a telephone and speak to someone on the other side of town – or in another state.

 

When television came along that first generation of viewers must have been thrilled to watch a movie right in their living room – as long as the antenna was pointed just right. And now there’s a small dish mounted on the side of my home pointed toward space – space! that beams a signal into my television set, so I can watch Scooby-Doo help Sonny and Cher solve a mystery. The only constant is always change. 

 

 

People take more pictures now than ever, and 99% of them are deleted shortly thereafter. What is so special about one photograph, when your phone can hold thousands of them, just as your TV can access thousands of programs – nothing much special about those either these days. The more of something that exists, the less valued it becomes.

 

And if  you don’t believe that, consider what would happen if  Thanksgiving and Christmas were held once a week instead of once a year. Would we approach them with the same anticipation and appreciation?

 

For me watching the old shows is like paging through a photo album, remembering happier times and interesting people, recalling the moments when we first met and wishing I could spend more time with them now – or know what they’re up to these days.

 

“Every time I see your face

It reminds me of the places we used to go.

But all I’ve got is a photograph

And I realize you’re not coming back anymore.”

-- Ringo Starr, “Photograph.”

 

Yeah, I  miss The Beatles too.

 

 

The 15 Best Classic TV Shows Still Not Available on DVD

 

I know most people don’t care about DVDs anymore. Certainly no one under 40 does, as evidenced by the limited floor space they now occupy in stores like Target and Best Buy that once stocked row after row of films and TV shows. The emergence of streaming services has placed all physical media on the path to extinction: move over videocassettes and laserdiscs – company is coming.

 

But not in my house. I will always prefer having my favorite television series on those silvery discs, patiently waiting in colorful cases across neatly-sorted shelves to be taken out and enjoyed once more. I own almost all the shows I want. Almost. There are a few holdouts, and with each passing year the likelihood of their being released diminishes. Here, in no particular order, are the ones I am most eager to purchase.

 

The Defenders

Imagine hearing raves about the quality of a TV series that has been out of circulation for decades, finally getting to see what all the hype was about, and being surprised to find the show actually exceeded your magnified expectations. That was my experience when Shout Factory released season one of The Defenders, a magnificent courtroom drama starring E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed as father-and-son attorneys. 

 

 

The blog I wrote about the show was so effusive in its praise that Shout used a quote from it to promote the DVD release. But apparently it didn’t help sales because that was eight years ago, and seasons 2-4 are still locked away. Those who remember the show have said that, yeah, season one is pretty good, but the other three seasons are even better.

 

Nanny and the Professor

As the goofy but impossibly catchy theme songs asks, “What is this magic thing about Nanny?” For a show that lasted just 54 episodes, the series has enjoyed a surprisingly robust syndication afterlife, consistently popping up on UHF channels and cable networks for decades. Yes, I’ve acquired it through unofficial sources, but it would be nice to have a quality set, perhaps with Juliet Mills and Kim Richards providing commentaries on favorite episodes. 

 

 

Fame

Is it a music rights issue, as it so often is with television shows left in a vault? Or is it MGM, the studio that put out seasons 1 and 2 and then apparently lost interest? 

 

 

Either way, the series that launched hit albums and singles (mostly in England) and sold-out cast concert appearances has yet to see its remaining four seasons reach DVD. That is bad news for anyone still nursing crushes on Cynthia Gibb, Billy Hufsey or Nia Peeples.

 

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show

When I was young, George Burns was that guy with the cigar who always looked 100 years old, and would sit next to Jack Benny on Dean Martin Roasts. I just waited for the moment when Rich Little would do spot-on impressions of both of them. It wasn’t until years later, when I caught several grainy episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on some obscure network, that I realized Burns, like Ernie Kovacs, was one of TV’s first innovators. 

 

 

At first you’re in a standard sitcom, albeit with George and Gracie playing themselves (along with their adult son, Ronnie) – but then George turns on a TV and watches the show with you, commenting on the action, and discussing how to best handle what’s about to happen. Add able support from Harry Von Zell and Bea Benaderet and the recreation of a classic George and Gracie nightclub routine at the end of each episode, and you’ve got a series that deserves a wider audience, even more than half a century later. A few public domain “best of” sets have surfaced, but I want them all, or at least all that still exist – the first 50 or so episodes were broadcast live and not saved.

 

Family

A case could be made for Family being the best series of the 1970s. In 2014 I wrote, “After 20 years of sensationalized reality TV, the idea of dramatizing the normal low-key reality of life with one Pasadena family now seems like an incomplete pitch; what’s the hook? Is the father psychic or is the mother leading a double life? Does the son have super powers? Is the daughter a Muslim or a pop singer or something else that will bring in a broader demographic? 

 

 

When the writing and the acting are as perfect as they are here, no other incentive should be necessary. To watch Family is to be wholly drawn into the joys and sorrows and relationships of fictional characters, and to believe that every word they say is extemporaneous, and could not possibly have been typed by someone else months earlier.” The first two seasons were released on DVD. There are three left. I have them – but everyone who treasures quality television should be able to see them as well.  

 

The Rogues

I first heard about this show while researching my Charlie’s Angels book. Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts wrote the Angels pilot, built around a multilayered con similar to those in The Rogues, a series they created in 1964 that lasted just one 30-episode season. It would be several more years until the series briefly popped up in syndication, and it amazes me that a show that starred three major film stars - David Niven, Charles Boyer and Gig Young - could remain so obscure. It’s a wonderfully clever show, oozing James Bond class, opulent backdrops and smart storytelling. 

 

 

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

Another one I have in bootleg form, though it has been given an official release in Australia. How is that fair? It’s not like we’re hoarding Skippy, The Bush Kangaroo DVDs here.

 

Room 222

Shout Factory released the first two seasons, which received scathing reviews for the terrible picture quality. The criticism was fair, but likely also played a role in Shout scrapping any plans to continue the series.

 

Judd For the Defense

This is the series on this list that I know the least about. I’ve only seen one episode, but that was enough. 

 

 

My World and Welcome To It

It won Emmy Awards as Outstanding Comedy Series in 1969, and in the Comedy –Best Actor category for star William Windom. But it lasted just 26 episodes, another victim of Gunsmoke’s enduring popularity on another network. I’m frankly shocked this one hasn’t surfaced yet, as it remains one of TV’s most innovative experiments in situation comedy. It was deemed ahead of its time 50 years ago, and still plays like nothing else on TV before or since.

 

Flying High

Total 70s cheese. Not like that’s a bad thing. Pat Klous, Connie Sellecca and Kathryn Witt play a trio of flight attendants just out of stewardess school, who make the friendly skies even friendlier and a lot better looking. 

 

 

The Electric Company

As I wrote last year, I know this is an impossible dream. A video release of a show with more than 750 episodes? Only Dark Shadows managed to beat those odds. I know it was created as an educational series for early grade schoolers, but The Electric Company was funnier than most sitcoms from its era, and featured countless memorable original songs by composers like Tom Lehrer and Joe Raposo.  I have the two Shout Factory Best Of.. sets, featuring 40 expertly chosen episodes, but I can’t ever have enough Fargo North, Easy Reader, Julia Grownup and the Short Circus. If I can’t have it all, can I least have a Best Of, Volume 3 with Bayn Johnson singing “Today Is My Favorite Day?”

 

The Farmer’s Daughter

Yes, this is the second William Windom series to make the list, and that’s no a coincidence. I like what the guy brings to every role he plays. Here, he’s a stuffy widowed congressman who hires a beautiful blond Swedish nanny to take care of his house and his two young sons. 

 

The nanny is played by Inger Stevens, who had a tumultuous and tragic off-screen life reminiscent of Marilyn Monoe. She died of apparent suicide at age 35, and this fine family-friendly series should be her best-remembered work. A DVD release would help make that happen.

 

The Nurses

Usually I’m not that big on medical shows, but this one has a really unique history. Set at a bustling New York City hospital, The Nurses followed the on and off-duty lives of head nurse Liz Thorpe (Shirl Conway) and student nurse Gail Lucas (Zina Bethune) and the doctors they assisted through challenging medical and moral cases. 

 

After a three-season prime time run, the show continued for another three years as a daytime drama. As with Judd For the Defense, I've seen one episode and am eager for more.

 

77 Sunset Strip

This is one of the bigger holes in my classic TV knowledge base. I’ve seen a few shows here and there and would like to take the full journey, but the only DVD releases happened in Germany. If you’re curious, “Kookie, lend me your comb” in German is  “Cookie, leih mir deinen Kamm.“