Monday, November 24, 2014

What was on TV November 20th through 26th, 1982

I apologize for being a bit scant this month.  The combination of gearing down from Halloween, the lack of garage/estate sales and gearing up for Christmas have put a crimp in my blogging.  But as consolation, here's this month's TV Guide from 1982 (the fat years).  Not a whole lot of comments this time, but I wanted to get this out before the week was up.




I'd forgotten there was a period in the early '80s when woman dressed in Victorian dress and hairstyle.


That actor wouldn't happen to be William Shatner by any chance?  "I don't say 'spaghetti', I say 'sabotage'".




It appears the news of Alice's death was greatly exaggerated.  The show lasted until 1985.  "Filthy Rich" and "Tucker's Witch" weren't so lucky.




Video games had already begun the creep into Saturday morning cartoons.  ABC offered an odd combination of Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich.  I was 14 by this time and alas sleep was more appealing than cartoons.


Channel 11 was still replaying Abbott & Costello, Shirley Temple and The Duke.



And another Duke movie at 7:00 pm.  What would they have done without John Wayne?





Jerry Lewis was another staple.  Here he faces off against himself in "Cinderfella" vs "The Big Mouth".

I'm sure there are fans of "Yogi's First Christmas" out there, but I recall it being kind of lame.



One of my favorite shows of the early '80's was "Voyagers!"  Starring Meeno Peluce and Jon Erik Hexum, the show followed the adventures of two time travelers set on correcting history where it had gone astray.  John Erik Hexum would die less than two years later from an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound.  Though the gun was only loaded with a blank cartridge, the impact of the wadding was enough to shatter a portion of his skull causing a brain hemorrhage.

Who is The Beast of Bikini Beach?  From the looks of it, Matt Houston's 'stache.


Today's television needs more galas, but a Bob Hope tribute to The Pink Panther is just odd.



In case there was any doubt this was the '80's.

Skip Stephenson... Urge to punch... RISING!


Calling this a "portable car garage" might be stretching it more than that plastic is.

"Preview" was over the air pay tv that was scrambled and could only be watched with a de-scrambler, although if you messed around with the horizontal and vertical adjustments, you could convince yourself you saw something.


"Supercharged man conducts electricity"?  That's "That's Incredible" worthy?  They've obviously never seen me when I shuffle across the floor in my fuzzy slippers.  I will give your ear such a zap!



The cast of "The Walton's" had become almost unrecognizable to me by this point.  And even with a reduced original cast, Kami "Elizabeth" Cotler and David "Jim-Bob" Harper still didn't get star billing in the line up.


Gabriel Toys catalog insert.







No one else comes close to Atari service? Tell that to North and South Dakota, Montana and large swathes of Idaho and Wyoming.


It's pre-Terminator, so Loni Anderson might have a chance. Terminator II Linda Hamilton would have kicked her butt.


80's shows pretty much looked for any excuse to have a dirt bike scene.




I've commented on this ad before how The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come looks more like a jawa.


I knew something bothered me about this ad for "In Love with an Older Woman" and it just struck me: where does the opportunity arise to approach a naked woman in a clawfoot tub while in full suit.


Thanksgiving morning was a milestone in the years of my childhood.  CBS offered the "All-American" Thanksgiving Day Parade" which was a combination of several parades including Macy's.  I actually enjoyed their coverage of the Macy's Day parade over NBC's dedicated coverage. CBS tended to broadcast the actual parade instead of performances by bands and various stars in decline.






Mel Blanc supplied the voice (in thought) of "baby Andrew" on "Too Close for Comfort"?  I'm struck by two thoughts: "How did I miss that?" and "Thank God I missed that!"

"Secret Agent Boy" looks like a show I would have watched, but I don't recall it.  I was a sucker for those CBS Playhouse movies and their ilk.



Thanksgiving Friday always offered cartoons you never saw any other time of the year.  Usually those "Famous Classic Tales" and those religious "Benji" movies produced by the Lutheran Hour Ministries like "Christmas Is" and "The City that Forgot About Christmas".




The Sebastian Cabot/David Hartman version of "Miracle on 34th Street" was actually the first one I saw.


"Knight Rider" and "Remington Steele" on the same night?  I must have been in Geek Heaven.

At first glance, the ad appears to read "Is She the Victim...The Oriental Mob Makes or The Bait?  Sushi out of Steele?"  I would totally watch that.




So how did going elsewhere to make it big work out for Richard Kline?






And that's all for this time.  Stay tuned.

13 comments:

  1. i had forgotten about that brief neo-victorian women’s style, too. for some reason that ad makes me think of the 80s “Newhart.”

    whatever happened to the little Presto Fry Daddy fad? i’m gonna have to keep my eyes on the thrifts… i’d love to have one of those now.

    you’re right — without john wayne and jerry lewis movies, TV on the weekends would’ve been a barren wasteland.

    star trek all day on thanksgiving? WHY did we let his tradition die? who came up with the idea of football in place of it? what a dumb idea THAT was!

    aww, Archie Bunker’s Place. the sad slow death of a great show… this wasn’t the greatest follow-up to All In The Family (clearly, The Jeffersons was), but it had its moments. the episode with archie grappling with life after edith died was heartbreaking.

    i see ads for “Real People” and i think of two things: the famous yogi who crammed himself into that small lucite box on camera, and WKRP.

    calling a plastic tarp a “Portable Car Garage” is just genius marketing spin. /hats off to the guy that came up with that.

    the only walton i recognize in that ad is the grandma.

    i LOVED cagney and lacey!

    …and i can’t believe you didn’t mention the Atari service ad!

    it’s interesting to see St. Elsewhere advertised as “the best new dramatic series of the season.” — if they only know just how huge that show would become.

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    1. >for some reason that ad makes me think of the 80s “Newhart.”

      Well, Joanna did rock that look in a few episodes.

      >i see ads for “Real People” and i think of two things
      I'd forgotten about that yogi, but you're right! Or was that "That's Incredible!"? And that may be my favorite WKRP episode, running close with the turkey drop. "It's a synagogue, Herb!"

      >…and i can’t believe you didn’t mention the Atari service ad!

      I wanted to say something, but outside of "Hey, look, an Atari service ad!" nothing came to mind.

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    2. ohhh, you're right -- that was definitely "That's Incredible!" -- same time period. things tend to blur... but i am certain that WKRP was a spoof of Real People.

      it's true, not much else to say about that atari ad, other than i can't imagine what sort of service they would need... i mean, they were basically hollow!

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    3. > i can't imagine what sort of service they would need...
      Well, aside from that time I got mad and slammed my controller down on the system and broken the on/off switch. I could get pretty tense playing Cosmic Ark.

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  2. That certainly appears to be an Edward Gorey illustration on pp. 3-4. We weren't a TV Guide house so I'm not very familiar, but I had no idea he did work for them.

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    1. Yes, that is an Edward Gorey. I've noticed a few illustrations done by him in my collection of TV Guides. I wasn't aware he worked for them either. But a guy's gotta make a buck, I guess.

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  3. 11:30 Friday night, KSDK: Robin Williams on SCTV! Wow!

    Man, I remember when Channel 11 played unedited movies after midnight. Too bad you didn't post the Saturday night post-midnight schedule!

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    1. Your wish is my command. I'll scan and post tonight. Stay tuned. Yes, I was always surprised at what Channel 11 would play after hours. Especially when they were running "Bizarre". That got me through a lot of cold nights, let me tell you.

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    2. I uploaded the Saturday evening through Sunday morning pages. Enjoy!

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  4. Voyagers!!! My favorite. :D I really miss the original TV Guides. They were the best.

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  5. What was the name of the To Be Announced movie on Ch.11, at 2:30AM late Friday Night?

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    1. I'm afraid that answer is lost to time. Probably whatever the poor schmuck who was stuck with the overnight shift at Channel 11 wanted to watch.

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