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)