THE BOBBY DARIN SHOW (1973)

On this day in 1973: THE BOBBY DARIN SHOW debuted on NBC-TV.

This new variety series came in the wake of a seven-episode series that had aired the previous summer starring crooner Bobby Darin, known for hits like "Dream Lover", "Mack the Knife", and "Beyond the Sea". The show featured Darin playing various characters in skits with guest stars, including his popular Groucho Marx impersonation. He also performed duets with female guest stars, such as Nancy Sinatra, Connie Stevens, Cloris Leachman, Freda Payne, and Helen Reddy. Additionally, Darin created a character known as "The Godmother," a tough, comedic take on The Godfather.

The show also included recurring segments, such as city tributes where the cast sang and performed sketches about a specific city’s history. Geoff Edwards played multiple characters, including a comic drunk in the city tributes. A young fan-favorite, eight-year-old Charlene Wong, appeared in several episodes, singing or joking with Darin on stage. Each episode began with Darin singing an opening number, followed by a real fan letter that was delivered on a giant paperclip. Shows would conclude with a rendition of "Mack the Knife".

Sadly, Bobby Darin died later that year on December 20, 1973, at the age of 37, due to complications from a previous heart surgery. Reportedly he had failed to take antibiotics ahead of dental work and suffered a subsequent sepsis infection, damaging his artificial heart valves. 13 episodes were produced. Although released to DVD in 2014, the shows were heavily edited, with numerous songs removed due to music rights issues.

48 Hours (1988)

On this day in 1988: 48 𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙍𝙎 debuted on CBS-TV.
Created by former CBS News president Howard Stringer, this newsmagazine was inspired by CBS News documentary 48 Hours on Crack Street, airing September 1986, a since-highly criticized piece which presented Dan Rather delving into a claimed "crack crisis", contributing to a moral panic over crack cocaine.

Like that documentary, 48 Hours focused on events occurring within a 48-hour time span; but this format was eventually phased out by the early 1990s, while the title remained. Rather was the primary host of 48 Hours for its first 14 years on the air. The program moved to 'true crime' style topics in the 2000s and even started producing 'NCIS' versions of the show, reflecting the popularity of the various 𝙉𝘾𝙄𝙎 series among the aging viewers of the network.

Delta House (1979)

January 18, 1979: 𝘿𝙀𝙇𝙏𝘼 𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙎𝙀 debuted on ABC-TV.
While NBC was offering bizarre live-action superheroes, ABC aired 𝘿𝙚𝙡𝙩𝙖 𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 immediately following 𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙮 at 8:30/7:30pm Central.

In the wake of the popularity of 1978 film 𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙇𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙤𝙣'𝙨 𝘼𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙡 𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚, every TV network rushed out their copycats: CBS had 𝘾𝙤-𝙀𝙙 𝙁𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧, NBC birthed 𝘽𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙎𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨; while ABC brought back producers Marty Simmons and Ivan Reitman, as well as four members of the cast for this sitcom TV adaptation of the film that started it all. John Vernon was back as Dean Vernon Wormer; Stephen Furst as beanied sad sack Kent "Flounder" Dorfman; Bruce McGill was motorcyclist Daniel Simpson Day; and James Widdoes returned as head prankster Robert Hoover. Of course, missing was John Belushi, unavailable to return...so Josh Mostel stepped in as Bluto's younger brother "Blotto" Blutarsky. Michelle Pfeiffer also appeared in the show as "The Bombshell," and while it did not last, it gave her exposure and helped her career.

The theme song for 𝘿𝙚𝙡𝙩𝙖 𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 was written by Jim Steinman, with lyrics by Tony Hendra and Sean Kelly. The show's episodes featured various plots involving the Delta fraternity's pranks on the Omega House and their conflicts with Dean Wormer. The sitcom aimed to capture the spirit of the movie, but it just wasn't the same; especially having to run up against television standards and practices, as writers played the 'what will they let us leave in' game with ABC's Susan Futterman. The raunchy humor, sexual references, and foul language which made 𝘼𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙡 𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 what it was were thus watered down to be "family hour" friendly.
13 episodes were filmed with laughtrack added.

Legends of the Superheroes (1979)

 

January 18, 1979: 𝙇𝙀𝙂𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙎 𝙊𝙁 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙐𝙋𝙀𝙍𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙊𝙀𝙎 aired on NBC-TV.

This two-part special produced by Hanna-Barbera aired on January 18 and 25, 1979, and featured characters from the DC universe in a bizarre comedy/variety show format.
Adam West and Burt Ward reprised their roles as Batman and Robin over a decade after their 60s TV series had ended, joined by comic heroes Captain Marvel (Garrett Craig), Green Lantern (Howard Murphy), Hawkman (Bill Nuckols), The Flash (Rod Haase), The Atom (Alfie Wise), Black Canary (Danuta Wesley), Huntress (Barbara Joyce), and Scarlet Cyclone (William Schallert), a character invented for these specials.

Shot on videotape with a laughtrack added, the first airing was called "The Challenge" and featured our heroes uniting to celebrate Scarlet Cyclone's birthday. The party is interrupted by the Legion of Doom (Riddler, Weather Wizard, Sinestro, Mordru, Doctor Sivana, Giganta, and Solomon Grundy), who announce they have hidden a deadly bomb in a secret location, and the heroes must follow clues to find it. Here Frank Gorshin reprises his Riddler role. The second airing was "The Roast"...an actual Dean Martin-style celebrity roast hosted by Ed McMahon, where the villains 'roast' the heroes. This includes the addition of Ghetto Man (why...) who does stand-up, and Aunt Minerva (Ruth Buzzi), Captain Marvel's enemy who is seeking a new husband.

While notable for being the first live-action appearances of all the heroes apart from Batman, Robin, and Captain Marvel, and a very early uncredited appearance by Night Court's Marsha Warfield, this was just goofy. The fact that it made it to air was a testament to the skill of Joe Barbera able to sell ideas to TV networks. Reportedly dozens of concepts were pitched to NBC, one morphing into the next, an exec said "That's great, Joe. We'll buy two hours." Barbera and agent Sy Fischer weren't sure exactly what concept had actually sold, and this is what they went forward with.

It is available on Warner Archive DVD. https://amzn.to/40kyeCG

Read more about Hanna Barbera: A Cast of Friends by Bill Hanna https://amzn.to/3DYxFqH

Baretta (1975)

January 17, 1975: 𝘽𝘼𝙍𝙀𝙏𝙏𝘼 debuted on ABC-TV.

Its 50 years for 𝘽𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙖, the ABC detective series starring Robert Blake as unorthodox plainclothes police detective Tony Baretta. The show followed Baretta, who lived in an unnamed city, residing in an apartment of the run-down King Edward Hotel with his Triton cockatoo, Fred. A master of disguise, Baretta often uses them while performing his duties and when not working he usually wore a short-sleeve sweatshirt, casual slacks, a brown suede jacket and a newsboy cap. Baretta is known for his catchphrases, such as "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time," "You can take dat to da bank," and "And dat's the name of dat tune". 

Baretta drove a rusted-out Mist Blue 1966 Chevrolet Impala nicknamed "The Blue Ghost" and frequented Ross's Billiard Academy. The series also features Billy Truman, a retired cop who worked with Baretta's father, Rooster, a streetwise pimp, and Baretta’s supervisors, Inspector Shiller and Lieutenant Hal Brubaker. The show's theme song, "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow," was composed by Dave Grusin and Morgan Ames and sung by Sammy Davis Jr.
The series was created by Stephen J. Cannell and came about as a reboot of earlier series 𝙏𝙤𝙢𝙖, after actor Tony Musante left the show. Robert Blake was given creative control over much of the production. Though initially faring badly, Baretta was moved to Wednesday nights and ratings soared, with Blake winning an Emmy for Best Actor.

Despite the show's success, Blake expressed his dislike for being committed to the series and left when his contract was up. Baretta entered pop culture, being spoofed in Mad magazine and mentioned in the films Reservoir Dogs and That '70s Show. The series has enjoyed extensive reruns, showing up in recent years on TV Land and MeTV. 

82 episodes were produced over four seasons, the first of which was released to DVD. Word is the episode transfers for the remaining seasons were destroyed in Universal's 2008 fire, meaning great expense to pull original film elements out of the vault and restore/transfer them. At this point, any remaining release is unlikely barring a network licensing the show for reruns and footing the bill. 

Baretta - Season One DVD https://amzn.to/4gaHmzw

Ohara (1987)

January 17, 1987: 𝙊𝙃𝘼𝙍𝘼 debuted on ABC-TV.

This one-hour police procedural was a starring vehicle for the post-𝙆𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙆𝙞𝙙 Pat Morita in the title role. Lieutenant Ohara was a Japanese-American police officer in Los Angeles who used spirituality and meditation in his home shrine to solve crimes. He initially did not use a gun but would use martial arts if necessary. Morita was involved in co-creating the show along with Michael Braveman and John A. Kuri. The series was notable for being one of the first television shows to feature an Asian-American actor as series lead. The show had a relatively large initial cast, including Catherine Keener as Lt. Cricket Sideris, Richard Yniguez as Det. Jesse Guerrera, Jack Wallace as Sgt. Phil O’Brien, Kevin Conroy as Capt. Lloyd Hamilton, and Madge Sinclair as Gussie Lemmons.

The show was renewed for a second season, but along with that came the dreaded (say it with me now) NETWORK RETOOLING. The original introspective Japanese-inspired Bill Conti theme instrumental was gone in favor of a flashy Miami Vice-style opening with theme by Joel Goldsmith (son of Jerry). Ohara was now a federal officer paired with a conventional partner, Lt. George Shaver (Robert Clohessy). The cast was pared down quite a bit to four key roles. By episode 14, the opening theme changed again, now with rock lyrics (!!) and Ohara and Shaver were now private detectives. By now, Ohara used a gun, and virtually all the original concept was watered down to be unrecognizable.

The progression of the theme song is jarring, and well worth a watch.

The episode count seems up for debate...Wikipedia and IMDB cite 30 episodes, but TV blogger 𝗠𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿, 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 disputes this, noting that the episode "Eddie" is in actuality the pilot, which would bring the first season ep count to 10. She also indicates the final episode "Hot Spell" was actually the episode of 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙖 𝘽𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 from that week, somehow being added to these lists (which were all originally entered by TV enthusiasts anyway and become accepted 'Internet fact' after a while). I've found the same types of inaccuracies for several series I've done deep dives on and am not going to contest her research. This would bring season two to 18 eps for a total count of 28. The show has never been released on home video, but a few eps can be found online.

Chopper One/Firehouse (1974)

January 17, 1974: 𝘾𝙃𝙊𝙋𝙋𝙀𝙍 𝙊𝙉𝙀 and 𝙁𝙄𝙍𝙀𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙎𝙀 debuted on ABC-TV.
ABC aired action-crime series 𝘾𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙊𝙣𝙚 and drama/adventure series 𝙁𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 in a one-hour programming block.

𝘾𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙊𝙣𝙚 depicted the activities of a fictional California police helicopter team, starring Jim McMullan and Dirk Benedict as police officers. The show followed the two officers as they used their Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter to aid officers on the ground with airborne surveillance or by assisting in chases. The series also featured Ted Hartley as their boss, Capt. McKeegan, and Lou Frizzell as Mitch, the mechanic. Chopper One aired on Thursdays at 8/7 Central and was produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions. Each half-hour episode cost approximately $140,000 to produce due to needing two chopper pilots, two helicopters, and having to pay the city of Los Angeles various fees. The directors of each episode also reportedly received stunt pay wages because they had to fly in the helicopter to direct the action.

𝙁𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 followed the exploits of the firefighters of Engine Company Number 23 of the Los Angeles Fire Department, with James Drury starring as Captain Spike Ryerson. The series was inspired by the book "Report from Engine Co. 28." Firehouse aired on Thursdays at 8:30/7:30 Central directly following Chopper One and was also produced by Spelling/Goldberg. The show also featured actors Richard Jaeckel, Michael Delano, Brad David, and Bill Overton. Each episode contained two stories involving a fire to fight and a rescue. Both series were mid-season replacements that lasted for 13 episodes. Chopper One got a DVD https://amzn.to/3Ws0nXk and all eps are you YouTube, while Firehouse completely disappeared.

Schoolhouse Rock (1973)

January 6, 1973: 𝙎𝘾𝙃𝙊𝙊𝙇𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙎𝙀 𝙍𝙊𝘾𝙆! debuted on ABC-TV!
𝑨𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒃𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒓
𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓
𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏
'𝑪𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓
𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌
𝑶𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆, 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒄𝒌!

This series of animated, musical educational short films aired as interstitials during ABC's Saturday morning programming. The series was the brainchild of advertising executive David McCall, who noticed that his son struggled with multiplication tables but could easily memorize rock song lyrics. This led McCall to hire musician Bob Dorough to write a song about multiplication, "Three Is a Magic Number," which became the first in the Schoolhouse Rock! series. The show's segments expanded to cover a variety of subjects, including grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics.

𝙎𝘾𝙃𝙊𝙊𝙇𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙎𝙀 𝙍𝙊𝘾𝙆! was known for its catchy tunes and memorable characters, which helped make learning fun for children. Bob Dorough served as the musical director for the series between 1973 and 1985 and wrote many of its most popular songs. Some of the most well-known songs included "Conjunction Junction", "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here," and yes, "Three Is a Magic Number". Many Gen Xers still have these little ditties rattling around in our heads after five decades.
(𝟯 𝟲 𝟵...𝟭𝟮 𝟭𝟱 𝟭𝟴... 𝟮𝟭 𝟮𝟰 𝟮𝟳... 𝟯𝟬!)

What you might not recall is that the episodes were released in themed batches. The first was Multiplication Rock, followed by Grammer Rock in the fall of 1973, with America Rock coming along in fall 1975, Science Rock in fall 1978, and Computer Rock in January 1982.
𝙎𝘾𝙃𝙊𝙊𝙇𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙎𝙀 𝙍𝙊𝘾𝙆! has had a lasting impact on American culture and has been added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. The original run was from 1973 to 1985, and it was later revived from 1993 to 1996, with additional episodes produced in 2009 for direct-to-video release. The series was adapted into a musical theater production, Schoolhouse Rock Live! in 1993, and was celebrated with a 50th-anniversary singalong special on ABC. It has been released several times on various forms of home video.

Schoolhouse Rock! 30th anniversary edition DVD https://amzn.to/4ar6VuM

Extended article on this topic up at Patreon.

Riptide (1984)

On This Day in 1984: 𝙍𝙄𝙋𝙏𝙄𝘿𝙀 debuted on NBC-TV.

This light drama/adventure series was created by Frank Lupo and Stephen J. Cannell and was co-produced with Columbia Television. The series followed the adventures of three friends and former Army buddies, Cody Allen (Perry King), Nick Ryder (Joe Penny), and computer hacker Murray "Boz" Bozinsky (Thom Bray), who run a private detective agency based out of Cody's boat, the Riptide. The team uses a variety of tools in their fight against crime, including Murray's computers and robot, Roboz, Nick's aging Sikorsky S-58T helicopter, The Screaming Mimi, and Cody's speedboat, the Ebb Tide. The show was a midseason replacement that debuted as a two-hour TV movie.

Riptide seemed like a blender of other popular shows of the time, mixing up elements from Magnum, P.I., The A-Team, and Simon & Simon along with pop culture stuff like home microcomputers and robots. The pilot episode introduces the main characters and their first case together, which involved a stolen yacht and international smuggling. 

Jack Ging played Lt. Quinlan, a local police officer who continually harasses the trio. The show's serviceable theme music was composed by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter and included a Beach Boys-style middle eight. The show's penultimate episode, "If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em", parodied Moonlighting, the show that was Riptide's main competition on Tuesday nights. 58 episodes were produced over 3 seasons. The show was rerun on USA Network during the late 1980s, and the show currently appears occasionally on getTV and Decades.

The Arsenio Hall Show (1989)

 On this day in 1989: 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘼𝙍𝙎𝙀𝙉𝙄𝙊 𝙃𝘼𝙇𝙇 𝙎𝙃𝙊𝙒 debuted on US television.

This was a syndicated late-night talk show hosted by comedian Arsenio Hall, who had previously hosted The Late Show on Fox in 1987. The show debuted with guests Brooke Shields, Leslie Nielsen, and Luther Vandross and was one of two late-night shows to premiere that month; the other being The Pat Sajak Show on CBS. The Arsenio Hall Show (often just shortened to "Arsenio") was an immediate hit with 135 local stations carrying it out of the gate, targeting a younger, urban audience. The show was marketed as a "Night Thing" and had a party or nightclub theme.

A number of recurring themes were featured, including the "Dog Pound," which was a section of the studio audience behind the band. The show's intro, in which Burton Richardson would hold the letter "O" in Arsenio's name for as long as ten seconds, was another staple of the show. Hall was also well known for his long fingers, which he would often use to point at the audience. The house band, called "Posse," was led by Michael Wolff. A frequent joke in Hall's opening monologue was that he lived in Cleveland and drove to Los Angeles to host the show.

 
The show also gained popularity for its diverse guests not common on other talk shows and became the show for entertainers to reach the "MTV Generation". In June 1992, then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton appeared on the show and played "Heartbreak Hotel" on the saxophone, an appearance that is often considered an important moment in Clinton's campaign, helping build his popularity among minority and young voters.

High Mountain Rangers (1988)

On this day in 1988: 𝙃𝙄𝙂𝙃 𝙈𝙊𝙐𝙉𝙏𝘼𝙄𝙉 𝙍𝘼𝙉𝙂𝙀𝙍𝙎 debuted on CBS-TV.
This adventure-drama series centered around a group of highly trained wilderness search and rescue/law enforcement officers in Tahoe, Nevada. The series starred Robert Conrad as Jesse "Top Gun" Hawkes and also featured his sons Christian and Shane Conrad as Matt "Flying Tiger" Hawkes and Cody Hawkes, respectively. Robert Conrad's daughter, Joan, served as the executive producer. Each ranger had a call sign which was used when the HMRs were in the field. Other members of the cast included Russell Todd as Jim "Flash" Cutler, P.A. Christian as Robin "Frostbite" Kelly, and Timothy Erwin as Izzy "the Pocatello Kid" Flowers.

The series debut had been preceded by a TV movie pilot airing April 19, 1987, which featured Jesse Hawkes, an ex-Marine who founded the High Mountain Rangers 35 years prior, coming out of retirement to track down criminal T.J. Cousins (Tom Towles), who had escaped from prison and fled into the mountains. The escape scene in the pilot was filmed at Folsom Prison, and because the permit was only for one day, two crew members, Tim Forrest and Larry Mahan, were recruited to take the place of two injured stuntmen.

The series was filmed on location at places like Bear Valley and Lake Tahoe. The Bear Valley Sheriff's office was used as the Ranger station in the pilot. 12 one-hour episodes were produced in addition to the pilot film. High Mountain Rangers also had a short-lived 6-episode spin-off series in 1989 titled 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚 𝙃𝙖𝙬𝙠𝙚𝙨.

𝙃𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙧, 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙚 𝘽𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣! (1986)

On this day in 1986: 𝙃𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙧, 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙚 𝘽𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣! aired on CBS--TV.

This Peanuts holiday special stands out for a unique blend of melancholy and charm. Unlike other specials where Charlie Brown experiences a positive resolution, this one ends with him not achieving his goals. The plot centers around Charlie Brown's struggle to complete a book report on Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, assigned by his cruel teacher, while also dealing with the pressure of attending a New Year's Eve party. He even tries to invite his crush, the Little Red-Haired Girl, to the party. Despite his efforts to understand the book through audiobooks and computer games, and his courage to invite his crush, he ultimately falls asleep at the party, misses midnight, and discovers that Linus danced with the Little Red-Haired Girl. Despite these setbacks, Charlie Brown does not give up trying to do better.

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! was the last film made by original Peanuts animator Bernard Gruver. The special features the voices of Chad Allen as Charlie Brown, Jeremy Miller as Linus van Pelt, and Kristie Baker as Peppermint Patty. This special deserves more recognition for its relatable message about the value of effort and perseverance, even in the face of failure.

It is available on DVD in the releases:
I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown https://amzn.to/3W3DwRv
Snoopy's Holiday Collection https://amzn.to/3ZYb8l4

[Amazon links are affiliate, and your support of Forgotten TV is appreciated.]