What was on TV September 10th through 16th, 1977 - Fall Preview Issue

As I suspected, I have been less than productive in posting these Fall Preview issues. They're quite labor intensive with all the scanning and cropping, but I'll see if I can't get at least one more posted this season. Today's issue comes from 1977. Enjoy!

 If a man in knee pants and an ascot sidles up to you while you're fishing, RUN!

I see a pre-"Halloween" Jamie Lee Curtis in the cast of "Operation Petticoat".

I recall my mother liked "We've Got Each Other".  She liked it because the leads were, in her words, "so ugly you gotta like them."  I think in better terms, she meant they didn't have movie star looks and were more relatable.

 Wow.  "Lust Bucket".  Strong words, TV Guide.  Strong Words.

You know, outside of the standards like "Bugs Bunny/Road Runner", "Superfriends" and "Laff-A-Lympics", this Saturday morning lineup is completely foreign to me.  I wonder if this was during the time I went shopping with my mom on Saturday mornings as mentioned in a previous post.

This was the first season of "The Bionic Woman" on NBC, having moved from ABC, and it's last season overall.  The Bionic Dog "Max", short for "Maximillion" because he cost a million dollars to bionicize (I'm pretty sure that's a word), appeared in the first episode and was intended to be a spin off series that was never "green-lighted".  If you care to watch "Max" in action, watch below. Are his feet making that sound???

Being set against the backdrop of Transylvania and the appearance of various classic monsters, this was of course one of my favorite episodes of "Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries".  You can watch this episode on YouTube in 10 parts, starting below.

1977 seems a little late to still be hyping sharks on "The Six Million Dollar Man", "Jaws" having been released in 1975. Oh wait.  This is THE year.  More on that later.

"Dracula's Castle" was a made-for-TV movie from 1973 originally shown on "The Wonderful World of Disney".  I remember watching and liking it back then.  It starred Johnny Whitaker and Scott Kolden who would go on to star together in Sid & Marty Krofft's "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters".  Part 2 can be found on YouTube.

"Lucan" was originally a made-for-TV movie that was turned into a series that only lasted 11 episodes.  In an odd side note, Illinois resident Ray Fulk bequeathed the star Kevin Brophy half of his estate in 2012 with the other half going to "Young and The Restless" actor Peter Barton.  Fulk never met either actor, but was a big fan.

Here we go.  "Happy Days Goes to Hollywood".  I remember this premiere like yesterday.  This was the 5th season of Happy Days and this episode (along with part 2) created the non-famous expression "Jumping the Shark".  I remember my mom watching this episode and saying she thought the show was no longer any good.  She recognized it had "jumped the shark" even before it was an expression.

Not that anyone was surprised (or should have been), but "The Richard Pryor Show" was controversial from the get-go and only lasted 4 episodes.

I won't revisit the trauma of "The Amazing Spider-man" (and it is hyphenated people!) TV show.

For as big of a fan of '70's TV I am, I am shocked myself to say I have never seen an episode of "Charlie's Angels".

"Julie Has Twins!" was a typical "introduce a baby" to revive a series.  It didn't work and by the fourth season the next year, Gabe Kaplin and John Travolta had effectively left the series.

"Carter Country".  So that's why Mr. Edwards left "Little House on the Prairie".  It looks really bad. It actually survived two seasons.

Wow. "The Making of Star Wars" vs the premier of "The New Adventures of Wonder Woman".  I honestly can't recall which one I chose.  I was going to say, "Oh, the days before VCR", but it wasn't. But it was the days before our family had a VCR.

Is that William Conrad narrating?

I'm not sure if I want to laugh or be horrified by "Curse of the Black Widow".  Let's see... June Allyson, Patty Duke, Sid Caesar, Roz Kelly. "Horrified" wins!

"I don't have lung cancer.  I have lip and gum cancer."

I've told the story before about my watching the first episode of "Lou Grant" and expecting the same lovable curmudgeon and maybe an appearance by Ted Baxter.  Didn't happen.

I know I have seen this model on a TV show playing a smarmy character.  Help me out here!

And that's all for the new Fall Season for 1977.  Up next, 1980.  What happened to 1978 and '79? Their time will come.