My Journey Through 1970s TV: Thursday Nights, 1977

At last, CBS strikes back. After an impressive run of ratings dominance by ABC, CBS bested its rivals with a trio of returning favorites. ABC still managed to place two series in the top 30, and even NBC debuted a new hit, followed by a show that became one of the decade’s favorite punch lines.

Otherwise, to be honest this isn’t the most interesting of nights to reflect upon within my journey through the 1970s. Let’s hope Friday is more exciting.

NBC
CHiPs
The Man from Atlantis
Rosetti & Ryan

For all the jokes that have been made about The Man from Atlantis (many of them originating from its star, Patrick Duffy), NBC had reason to believe there was an audience for this sci-fi adventure.

The character of Mark Harris, with his webbed fingers and toes and his ability to breathe underwater, was introduced in a series of TV movies, all of which drew impressive ratings. But when it became a series it got sillier. In one episode, Mark’s nemesis Mr. Schubert (Victor Buono, grandiose as ever) threatens the earth with a giant jellyfish. In another, Mark is transported via underwater landslide to Italy and meets Romeo and Juliet. The show was canceled after 13 episodes.

The network had better luck with CHiPs, which ran for six seasons thanks mostly to likable leads Larry Wilcox and Eric Estrada as California Highway Patrol officers. Like Emergency! It balanced serious stories with lighter fare, with the occasional glimpse at how our public servants spend their off-hours.

Rosetti & Ryan might have been a hit as well if NBC wasn’t so trigger-happy. This was Tony Roberts’ first attempt at series stardom, and the one I think had the most potential. He and Squire Fridell played law partners with opposite personalities; Roberts, as Joe Rosetti, was something like Arnie Becker on L.A. Law: high-class style, active social life, while Fridell’s Frank Ryan, a former cop, was more focused on a by-the-book approach to each case.

Had NBC not canceled the series after just six episodes, I think it might have found an audience. The two leads worked well together, and the scripts were better than those used in other legal dramas that lasted longer. Fridell would later find a career-defining role as the successor to King Moody in the role of Ronald McDonald, which he played in dozens of commercials from 1984 to 1991.


ABC
Welcome Back Kotter
What’s Happening
Barney Miller
Carter Country
The Redd Foxx Show

Both Welcome Back Kotter (#26) and Barney Miller (#17) still had impressive followings, and What’s Happening benefited from its more successful time slot neighbors on each side.

New to the schedule was Carter Country, set in the small southern town of Clinton Corners. Victor French played the police chief opposite Kene Holliday as the Sergeant Curtis Baker. Baker, who is black and from a big-city, higher-education background, gradually ingratiates himself among the rednecks. Richard Paul as the slick-talking mayor was a natural scene-stealer. It ranked just outside the top 30, enough to merit a second season.

As for The Redd Foxx Show, it deserved some credit for being more experimental with the standard 1970s variety show format. But the genre was just about played out by 1977, and it was gone by Christmas.


CBS
The Waltons
Hawaii Five-O
Barnaby Jones

CBS won the night with the return of three established hits, though all were starting to show their age. Season six of The Waltons (ranked #20) is when viewers began to see less of John-Boy and Grandma. Hawaii Five-O finished its tenth (!) season at #23, and Barnaby Jones (#22) held steady in its sixth season. It would run two more years, but star Buddy Ebsen began cutting back on his schedule, leaving costars Lee Meriwether and Mark Shera to carry more episodes.

Like I said, not that exciting. But at least no shows will be added to the "missed" 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)
Search (1972)
Assignment: Vienna (1972)
The Delphi Bureau (1972)
Jigsaw (1972)
The Little People (1972)
The Sixth Sense (1972)
Faraday & Company (1973)
Kodiak (1974)
The New Land (1974)
McCoy (1975)
Joe and Sons (1975)
Beacon Hill (1975)
Mobile One (1975)
Big Eddie (1975)
Executive Suite (1976)
Ball Four (1976)
Young Dan’l Boone (1977)
Rafferty (1977)
Mulligan’s Stew (1977)
Big Hawaii (1977)