Friday, August 15, 2014

What was on TV August 5th through 11th, 1978

Okay, it's become almost a standard opening for these, but I'm running a few days (okay a week) behind.  Another foregone assumption, friend John contributed to this post.  So without further adieu, I give you television as you knew it last week in 1978.

George Jefferson says, "Weezie, your lack of faith disturbs me."




No, TV Violence just went underground and waited to resurface.  Don't worry, America, The A-Team is just around the corner.





A bittersweet M*A*S*H episode?  Wasn't that pretty much every other episode by this point?

One of the things that amazes me about 70's TV shows is while attempting to show compassion and understanding with a misunderstood and stigmatized condition, they still managed to fit the word "retarded" into the synposis.




I'm not bald! I'm Willie Ames!


Everytime I see Don Kirshner's Rock Concert I always think of Rockin' Mel Slirrup and Mel's Rock Pile on SCTV.






Redd Foxx was so well known for his fake heart attacks that his fellow castmates thought he was doing yet another rendition when he died of a heart attack for real on the set of "The Royal Family".


The thing that always bothered me when tv shows tried to establish a serious relationship with a non-regular on the show was odds were you were never going to see them again.  Did Lennie end up ditching Edna Babish's daughter?  Did he break her heart?  Did she realize even though she was "mentally retarded" she was actually still smarter than Lenny?  I want answers!



More Sha-Na-Na! Make it stop!!

If Channel 2 thinks I'm going to spend my time straining my eyesight reading that font to see "Why NewsCenter 2", they're crazy.


I love the techno-font on the ad for KPLR's weather radar. "The font looks so computery! It must be better than the rest!"


And you thought the polluters were the "dirty birds".  Remember: snitches get stitches.


"World of Super Adventure" was yet another one of my childhood TV disappointments.  Given the ad, I fully expected to see the Hanna-Barbara "Fantastic Four" cartoon at least once at some point.  Not once did they show it.  Every day it was "The Herculoids", "Space Ghost", "Biiiiiiiirrrrrd Maaaaannnn!", "Mightor" or "Shazzan".  All enjoyable cartoons in their own right, mind you, but I wanted "Fantastic Four"!

"What are those weird dials with phone numbers on them?" -- every child born since roughly 1985

Oh, I get it: "high tar" and his dune buggy's tire is high in the air.  Heh, heh, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.


When I first saw "The Jeffersons" when I was a kid, I immediately recognized Mr. Bentley as "The Mad Painter" from Sesame Street.  My brother argued it wasn't.  Oh, 36 years may have passed, but sweet, sweet, vindication is now mine.





This was a new one on me.  Kind of like making "mix tapes" for your girlfriend.  Except with really crappy songs she didn't want to listen to.


And that's a wrap on this, er, last week's TV Guide in 1978.

1 comment:

  1. So I was 7 when this TV Guide was new. The nostalgia-fueled memories are overwhelming. I want to climb back in there, as long as I can keep my eyes on the television.

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