The New TV Season--1972

The difference between now and forty years ago is that I can name about three of this season's new TV shows and I have little desire to see either of those. Ah, but this week in 1972, look at all the shows and specials that TV GUIDE introduced us to that are now considered classics of the medium. And even the failures were more interesting than most of last season's hits here in the present day!

Happy 90th Sid Caesar

Sid Caesar was before my time. By the time I knew him, he was mildly amusing in a few movies and guest star appearances. Imogene Coca, on the other hand, was very popular and very funny on TV in the early sixties and my parents always used to tell me, "Oh, she used to work with Sid Caesar and they were SO funny together!"

  

   

In the early seventies, someone took a bunch of Sid Caesar's surviving comedy sketches from the fifties and released them as a feature film for people like myself who hadn't been around to catch them live. 

Sid's own harrowing autobiography revealed years of substance abuse issues.

But Ted Sennett came out with this TV history to remind us that Sid was perhaps the first made-for-TV comedy genius. Ed Wynn and Milton Berle before him were leftover baggy pants comics from burlesque and vaudeville. Sid seemed to arrive full blown and prepared to take advantage of the new medium that was television. 

A few years back, when I was working at the Public Library, we would get donations of old books, CD's, DVD's, etc. The person donating generally envisioned the items being added to the Library's collection but more often than not, the Library would add them to their book sales to make money to buy more specific items. One of the perks of working there was that you got first look at donations and,  if you wanted something, all you had to do was donate at least a dollar and you could take claim it! One day, someone donated the amazing three disc box set of THE SID CAESAR COLLECTION seen here and I was suddenly immersed in all things Sid. At last, every bit of his comedy genius came to light, with interviews and commentary from many of his former writers and co-stars like Woody Allen, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Howard Morris, Larry Gelbart and Sid himself!

  

I know he hasn't been in the best of health in recent years but I hope he enjoys today and every day as much as possible. Thanks for making us all laugh so long and so hard, Sid. Happy Birthday, sir!

Hollywood's Asian Legends-1972

Here's a marvelous photo of a handful of legendary Asian actors, some of whom had been performing since the 1930's. At this point, they were finally playing more substantial parts on television, thanks in part to TV's KUNG-FU.

The Dick Tracy Show

One of my very favorite early cartoon series, at age 2, was THE DICK TRACY SHOW, based on the by-then wacky detective strip I knew from the Sunday Funnies. The strip wasn't as wacky as the TV series, however, which relegated the great detective to the background for all 130 episodes. In the spotlight were brand new characters created for TV including the Oriental detective Jow Jitsu, the Mexican detective Go Go Gomez and the bulldog detective (with the Cary Grant voice) Hemlock Holmes.  In 1965, radio veteran Everett Sloane returned as Tracy in an episode of THE FAMOUS ADVENTURES OF MISTER MAGOO,  this time getting to solve crimes on his own without his animated entourage. The series was revived briefly in 1990 to tie in with Warren Beatty's big-screen TRACY only to have outraged viewers complain about the political incorrectness of the characters.

Clint Eastwood

This week Clint Eastwood, often cited as the most successful example of a TV star turned movie star (and award-winning filmmaker), made an unexpected, bizarre but memorable return to the medium that made him famous five decades ago. In between RAWHIDE and THE OLD MAN AND THE SEAT (as Jon Stewart put it), Clint made a few movies. Below are my personal Top Ten favorites, in order.