What was on TV - February 18-24, 1978

It's time once again for "What was on TV".  Today's blog looks at 35 years ago: February 18th through the 24th, 1978. 

On the cover is the ever-changing cast of Charlie's Angels.  Apparently, there was much strife on the set amongst the girls.  Blame at this point had been laid upon Kate Smith.

No, that's not where Cheryl Ladd scratched out Kate Smith's eyes.  It's where the address label was removed.

That's not what Cheryl Ladd says.

Sony was still shouting into the wind at this point.  Though they would ultimately lose to JVC and its VHS format, various forms of the Betamax machine were manufactured up until 2002.

Who remembers these?  I used to love these and would eat them even when I wasn't sick.  Later, it was determined giving aspirin to children could result in Reye's Syndrome and they were removed from the market.  Sometimes, I still get a hankerin' for some.

I was a Saturday morning TV zombie.  Here's the Saturday morning lineup from that week:

Starting at 7:00 (nothing but farm shows on before that), you would have found me watching Superfriends (or possibly Hong Kong Phooey followed by Speed Buggy if I'd already seen the Superfriends' episode), Scooby's Laff-a-lympics, Krofft Supershow, and wrapping up the morning with either The ABC Weekend Special or Land of the Lost, already a year into repeats.

At this point, I would switch over the afternoon line up on Channel 11 (yes, I watched a *lot* of television).  Today appears to have been a great one: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.  I loved Abbott & Costello and I loved Frankenstein -- how could I lose?  Actually, I was a bigger fan of Lon Chaney Jr.'s Wolfman (who always insisted that you didn't understand) who also appeared along with Bela Lugosi reprising his role as Count Dracula (the only time, by the way).  Glenn Strange played Frankenstein's monster, assuming the role made famous by Boris Karloff.

In a programming tactic I don't recall, Channel 4, the CBS affiliate,  also broadcast an Abbott & Costello movie that afternoon -- Lost in a Harem.  I don't believe I've ever seen that one.

 

The made-for-TV movie of the week was "The Ghost of Flight 401" which was based on Eastern Airlines Flight 401 which crashed in the swamps of Florida on December 29, 1972.  

The NBC affiliate KSDK 5 pm news team lineup.  Clif St. James also played the starring role in Corky's Colorama, a children's show featuring cartoons and Clif as Corky the Clown (see Saturday at noon on Channel 5).

A Tuesday night line-up with which I was very familiar, with the exception of Soap. I wasn't allowed to watch that and wouldn't see it until it was in reruns abou 5 years later.

You could always count on a melodramatic tear-jerker (particularly coinciding with the word "retarded") in the '70's.

Encounters with the Unknown freaked me out as a kid and I hadn't even seen it.  I just heard  a synopsis of one of the stories from my sister.  It was about a boy and his father who find a mysterious fog-shrouded hole in the middle of a forest.  The father sticks his head down the hole and we hear him scream.  When pulls his head from the hole, his hair has turned white.  After hearing that, I became convinced the groundhog hole in the woods behind our house held the same horror and gave it wide berth whenever I passed. You can watch here, if you dare.

Despite being right in my wheelhouse, I somehow managed to miss this Peanuts' special.  I don't even recall it being on and didn't see it until years later.

CBS was really promoting it too.  A full-page ad and a TV Guide Close Up.

Paired up with Snoopy was Bugs Bunny in "An All-New Special" which I'm sure in reality was some original shorts strung together with crappy animation and clumsily-written segue.

The 20th Grammy Awards were on that week.  In case you're wondering, The Eagles "Hotel California" won Record of the Year and Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" won Album of the Year (somebody explain the difference between Record of the Year and Album of the Year, please).  Best Song of the Year appears to have been shared by Barbra Streisand/Paul Williams for "Evergreen (Theme Song from A Star is Born") and Joe Brooks for "You Light Up My Life".  Best New Artist was Debby Boone for her performance of the latter song.

I always confused Bo Hopkins with Jerry Reed.  I still do.

And finally a double-page ad for RCA's SelectaVision.  In your face, Betamax!