Thursday, April 3, 2014

What was on TV March 31st through April 6th, 1979

Baseball was on the minds of TV viewers this week in 1979.




I'm not sure what the band-aid implies in the Polaroid picture.  At first I thought it was supposed to be the woman in the picture who had struck her finger while hammering.  But those are man hands.  So I'm assuming the story is her husband started the job but was so incompetent, he smashed his finger and she had to finish it for him.  Sounds about right.  

Trust me.  Nobody likes his style.

Pam Dawber is teaming up once again with Robin Williams on his show "The Crazy Ones" on April 10th.



Hey Wranger, you ever hear the saying "Stick with what you know"?



Herein lies a mystery.  I cannot find any reference to an ABC Weekend Special called "The Baby with Four Fathers".  It's not even in the imdb nor Wikipedia episode lineup for the show.  Also, I watched this show regularly and don't recall this episode.  Anyone out there remember this?






Okay, the "Fruit Friends" are a little disturbing.


Now parents have "no internet" days.

More weight loss ads.


I never saw the attraction of 8-track tapes.  I guess portability was their claim to fame.  But for playing, they kinda sucked.  You couldn't choose what track you wanted and it was a crap shoot choosing between the 4 channels which song you were going to get.




Meg Foster was one of those actresses you always recognized, but who never really made a role for herself.  It was the eyes.  I never could decide if they were sexy or creepy.  She looked like she might be transforming into the Incredible Hulk. She was the original "Cagney" of "Cagney and Lacey" (actually Loretta Swit was pegged to be the original, but was unable to get out or her M*A*S*H* contract), but CBS felt she was too aggressive in the role and "too likely to be perceived as a lesbian by the viewers."

And another weight loss ad.

Is Florence flipping out?  Based on the picture, that's an affirmative.  Multiple personalities were all the rage since the Sally Field film "Sybil".  The real Sybil, Shirley Mason, later admitted she had faked her disorder.


Thank goodness the girl in the middle didn't wear a floral shirt too or it would look like 3 heads floating on a couch.

THEY'RE DOGS...AND THEY'RE PLAYING POKER!

I don't recall "Razzmatazz", but it appears to be another kids' magazine show. I'm guess Mr. Wizard gave a demonstration in "forced perspective".


I think I had one of these pens.  Now I want one of these pens.

I recall watching "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane" expecting a scarefest.  The scariest scene I got was an old lady getting hit in the head with a trapdoor.

My brother had a "bullworker" when I was a kid.  They work on spring compression and are actually pretty versatile and work fairly well.  That being said, the guy in the ad is really creepy looking.

I never laughed at Bernie Kopell.



"Tooth fairy's been her three times!  No, Grandma, really !  She's been here every night this week!  And last night she told me she was coming back tonight and this time she was bringing pliers!  Grandma, I'm scared!"

An interesting article on how much the networks paid for the rights to air theatrical movies.  Do they even show theatrical releases on network tv anymore?




This may be the first sighting of a knit tie.  Oh, the '80's were coming, my friend, the 80's were coming.

8 comments:

  1. Always good. I am so psyched for the Dawber-Williams reunion. I hope it is fun stuff. Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams just had a reunion on a Disney or Nickelodeon show, Sam and Kat. Was not that great, at all.

    My brother-in-law has a whole 8-track set up in their home. I still don't see the appeal, especially in this day and age. To each their own I guess.

    I miss the shared experience element of television. Seems like there are so many channels and choices now that the "specialness" of seeing a movie on a network has lost its appeal. Ah well.

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    1. Yes, I'm usually disappointed with reunion shows. It's hard to recapture the magic.

      I still collect and play vinyl, so I guess I can't say anything about your brother, but at least I can pick which track I want to hear!

      I know what you mean about the shared experience. You always had something to talk about in the schoolyard the next day, like when Fonzie jumped the trash cans on his motorcycle and crashed. We were all abuzz the next day.

      Delete
  2. - the lion, the witch, & the wardrobe cartoon. i remember that!
    - dogs playing poker, whooo! a classic.
    - the workout guy seems perfect to me. well, 80s hair, but still.
    - ahhh, the horror that was champale.

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    Replies
    1. I don't remember the lion, the witch & the wardrobe cartoon. The animation looks pretty bad.

      Technically, the guy was still wearing 70's hair, this being 1979. Don't you think the yellow bikini is a little much???

      I'm surprised you didn't comment on the Bell Telephone ad. It was my homage to a classic strip I'm sure you remember:
      http://tinyurl.com/lm6p8rf

      Delete
    2. i have no problem with the yellow bikini. and doh, i don't know how i missed your Far Side reference! /ashamed

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  3. Hi, that ABC Special was based on a true story that happened to my father in law when he was in junior high. I'm trying to find a copy of it, any idea where I might get one? ABC doesn't respond to my queries and it's not at the Library of Congress.

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    Replies
    1. Hi RiotGyrl,that's cool. It looks like there is an IMDB entry for the movie now. It doesn't connect it to The ABC Weekend Special. I still can't find any other references to it. The best bet might be to keep an eye out for a 16mm film print of it on eBay.

      Thanks for stopping by.

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  4. Here is the IMDb link to "The Baby with Four Fathers": https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1201032/

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