The week in which most of NBC's new series premiered in September of 1970 was dubbed--by NBC itself--as NBC WEEK. Note that on several evenings, local affiliates opted to air their own programming instead!
Disney and Bonanza were nearing the end of long runs but still had a few years to go. This version of THE BILL COSBY SHOW was good but didn't make one percent of the impact of his later sitcom. THE BOLD ONES was a rotating series that would stick it out for a few years.
THE RED SKELTON SHOW switched to NBC in a half hour format after nearly 2 decades on CBS with an hour. Red wasn't happy and it showed. LAUGH-IN was in the middle of its groundbreaking run and the NIGHT GALLERY pilot featured Steven Spielberg's first professional credit!
Don Knotts had made some great big screen comedies in just a few short years but saw the writing on the wall and opted to return to television. Sadly, although this series is fondly remembered by those of us who saw it, there weren't very many of us. JULIA was a gentle "message" sitcom and pioneered black the presence on TV. It also gave football player Fred Williamson his real start as an actor.
THE MEN FROM SHILOH was THE VIRGINIAN, updated with new cast members and with a new name so as not to wear out its welcome. The Kraft show, likeweise had been on for ages. FOUR-IN-ONE was the proto-MYSTERY MOVIE where McCLOUD debuted but the other 3 spokes didn't survive the season.
Flip Wilson would be another one to cross racial lines and become a big hit on all sides. IRONSIDE was Raymond Burr's successful post-Perry second act. NANCY was a cute show with a cute cast about the supposed President's daughter. Dino, of course, had been a TV fixture for years. Whether or not he remembered any of it is a different question.
THE HIGH CHAPARRAL was a good western in the tradition of THE BIG VALLEY. THE NAME OF THE GAME was the wonderful semi-anthology series featuring rotating stars Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry and Robert Stack and BRACKEN'S WORLD was a VALLEY OF THE DOLLS riff soap that didn't last too long.
Nothing to do with the content of this post, but I really hated (still do) that style of art. Not sure what it was called, but you saw it lot throughout the 70's.
ReplyDeleteThose are from the WLW network on Chs. 2, 4, 5 until 1976 and 18, 35 are stayed where they belongs. By the way, 2 swapped for ABC in 1980 and came back to NBC in 2004.
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