On we go in my quest to watch at least one episode from every network prime time series in the 1970s. Hopefully these pieces are bringing back some happy memories of shows that became classics, as well as jogging long-forgotten recollections of a few that didn’t last.
Thursday nights in 1972 introduced audiences to one of TV’s most beloved families, brought back two of the decade’s most popular variety series hosts, and launched a trio of ambitious adventure shows, that were all gone by the following season.
CBS
The Waltons
The CBS Thursday Night Movie
Viewers first met the Walton family in The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971), a TV movie that became so popular it was repeated several times over the next decade, and is still a beloved holiday tradition for many families more than 50 years later.
Despite that success, a series based on Earl Hamner’s reflections about his youth in rural Virginia might have seemed an unlikely contender to draw viewers away from Flip Wilson on NBC and those with-it cops in The Mod Squad. But that’s exactly what happened, as these gentle, loving stories of country folk in the Depression became a welcome escape from headlines about Watergate and Vietnam.
These were not entirely the same Waltons viewers met in The Homecoming – and for once all of the cast changes were not just beneficial but inspired. They would never have gotten Patricia Neal (Olivia) to agree to the grind of a weekly series anyway, and found a very fortunate replacement in Michael Learned. She was always billed as “Miss Michael Learned,” because of her unique first name - this is what constituted gender confusion in the 1970s.
Ralph Waite stepped in for Andrew Duggan as patriarch John Walton, and Edgar Bergen, who played the grandfather, was replaced by veteran scene-stealer Will Geer. Of course they kept Richard Thomas as John Boy, and he deservedly became the series’ breakout star.
Those “good night” scenes at the end of each episode came in for their share of send-ups by those who excelled at that sort of thing, but how pleasant it is to look back at those moments now, and remember a time when families like this were still welcome on television.
NBC
The Flip Wilson Show
Ironside
The Dean Martin Show
We’ve covered all of these shows in previous pieces. Flip Wilson was still near the top of the ratings, but this would his final year of time slot victory, as The Waltons ascended to #2 the following season, while Wilson’s show dropped to #50 and was canceled.
For Ironside it was season six, which opened with a two-part crossover episode featuring E.G. Marshall and David Hartman from The Bold Ones: The New Doctors. It wasn’t the only such cross-promotion this series tried – in other seasons George Kennedy turned up as cop-turned-priest Samuel Cavanaugh from Sarge, and Jessica Walter guest starred in a spin-off episode for her new series, Amy Prentiss.
The Dean Martin Show was also winding down and would be gone after one more season. But it was a heck of a run – nine years and more than 260 episodes in all. Once again Dean welcomed a top-tier array of guests, from show business legends like Gene Kelly to newcomers like Olivia Newton-John.
Country stars Lynn Anderson and Charley Pride might be singing with Dean one week, and the following week he’d be crooning with Steve Lawrence or just listening to opera star Anna Moffo.
ABC
The Mod Squad
The Men (Assignment: Vienna, The Delphi Bureau, Jigsaw)
Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law
Owen Marshall and The Mod Squad are carryovers, but ABC has delivered a major setback to my quest with the debut of The Men, which may have been an attempt to emulate NBC’s umbrella series, The Bold Ones. Three different shows took turns in the time slot, all about manly men on a mission.
Assignment: Vienna was yet another attempt by Robert Conrad to follow up his earlier series success. More of these will follow as we make our way through the decade. Here he played Jake Webster, bar owner by day and undercover spy by night. Several episodes of the series, which was filmed in Vienna, have turned up on YouTube, but they are dubbed into French and without subtitles. Unlike Gomez Addams, French does nothing for me, so this one goes on the “missed” list.
As does The Delphi Bureau, starring Lawrence Luckinbill as the head of a covert US government agency that carries out secret missions for the President. And in Jigsaw, James Wainwright was a special investigator for the California State Police Missing Persons Bureau. In the Brooks/Marsh Directory to Prime Time Shows he is described as “a rebel who broke the rules when necessary.” In other words, like just about every other cop on TV except Joe Friday.
I can’t say that any of these shows sound like lost treasures, but how I hate to add three more entries to the list below.
Shows Missed:
The Don Knotts Show (1970)
San Francisco International Airport (1970)
Nancy (1970)
The Headmaster (1970)
The Man and the City (1971)
The Chicago Teddy Bears (1971)
Search (1972)
Assignment: Vienna (1972)
The Delphi Bureau (1972)
Jigsaw (1972)
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