ONWARD: SEVENTIES SITCOMS INTO THE EIGHTIES PLUS THE BEGINNINGS OF RETRO

It is difficult to imagine now how the sitcoms that defined the seventies ethos lasted well into the eighties.  In this chapter, I will explore how they continued on.  I will also touch on the re-emergence of the sixties sitcoms as nostalgia. In the next chapter, I will discuss the new sitcoms of the eighties.

The reason we saw the continuation of shows that became irrelevant was due to continuing high ratings.  CBS had a powerhouse Sunday night lineup anchored by the remnants of the Norman Lear universe as well as M*A*S*H on Monday night which became even more popular if less irreverent until it's blockbuster feature-length finale.  ABC's Tuesday night lineup remained popular despite the lack of material and the devolution of the characters into stock sitcom hell.  NBC started the 80's sitcom revival with it's family-oriented "Diff'rent Strokes" universe until the critical favorite "Taxi" moves to the network from ABC to usher in a new group from a Boston sports pub.

The most interesting "continuation" involved psychiatrist Bob Hartley.  Bob Newhart's signature series ended it's run in 1978.  But he returned with his droll sense of humor in 1982 with "Newhart" on CBS as Dick Loudon, a self-help author who runs an historic inn in Vermont.  Once again, he was surrounded by a beautiful wife (Mary Frann) and a cast of loonies:  Tom Poston as the bumbling handyman; Julia Duffy as the spoiled housekeeper; Peter Scolari as her yuppie boyfriend (80's alert!); and William Sanderson leading a trio of backwoods hillbillies--Larry, Darryll and Darryll.  The comedy was sophisticated wacky--like the original--but the series long run (eight years) led to predictable character jokes and contributed in a strange way to the re-ruralization of CBS.  The ratings were decent on Monday nights until the end.  And that's where things get crazy.

The amazing finale in 1990 is why "Newhart" is actually an extension of a seventies classic.  As Dick gets hit in the head with a golf ball hit by some Chinese investors who are buying the inn.  When he wakes up, he is in bed with....Emily!  In Chicago.  And Bob Hartley stammers out the incredible (eight-year) dream he just had.  Brilliant.

RUNNING OUT OF TIME.

Following are synopses of the remaining burnouts of the seventies sitcoms as they leeched into the eighties.  Surprisingly, many maintained high ratings until mid-decade.  In alphabetical order:

Alice (CBS).  This is the strangest candidate for longevity into the eighties.  Flo’s replacement, Belle (Diane Ladd) leaves in 1981 to be replaced by Celia Weston’s Jo-Lene, an even more inane sassy southerner. The show continued with the

Jolene Too.

premise of Alice, Vera and Jolene teaming with Mel in slapstick misadventures and aiding overly contrived “musical and comedy” celebrity has-been cameos.  Martha Raye appeared too many times as Mel’s mom.  Doris Roberts appeared some as Alice’s mom.  Vera’s marriage with a mild cop was a highlight. Alice gets a singing gig in Nashville.  Finally, Mel sells the diner and gives the waitresses huge bonuses.  With the exception of one season, the show was comfortably ensconced in the CBS Sunday night schedule throughout the early 80’s.   With Linda Lavin’s real-life husband--country singer Kip Niven--playing her new suitor and a guest appearance from “Boss Hogg” (Dukes of Hazzard), it was obvious that the series was a corn-ponent of the rural renewal. Eighties alert:  Mel throws a group of break dancers out of the diner. 

Flo-Troop

Flo (CBS) continued for a less successful second and final season due to a time slot change.  Other than a Thanksgiving guest shot by Forrest Tucker as Flo’s estranged (go figure) dad, nothing much happened and Flo had nowhere else to go.

Archie Bunker’s Place (CBS).  The flagship show on Sunday night saw the slow and uncelebrated demise of Carroll O’Connor’s Bunker.  Jean Stapleton bowed out completely in 1980 as her much-loved Edith died leaving Archie to mourn and eventually date.  O’Connor actually allows Bunker to break down in a dramatic emotionally-purging scene.  He then becomes a “house mother” when another niece, Billie, comes to live him.  And he transitions

Goodbye, Edith

into a champion of racial harmony when he defends his new black housekeeper from injustices.  Martin Balsam leaves after the second season to be replaced by another Jewish business manager played by child actor Barry Gordon.  His character has an ongoing relationship with Billie.  Younger niece Stephanie starts liking boys and trying to train in song and dance.  Don Rickles made a rare sitcom appearance in one episode as a boarder at Archie’s house.

Sally Struthers returns in two episodes with son Joey after she leaves Mike who has run away with a student.  In the fall of 1982, she gets her own series, Gloria, where the “little goil” moves to the country to become a veterinarian’s

Mourning Gloria

assistant.  It does well in the ratings (following Archie on Sunday nights) but by this time CBS decided to do away with all things Bunker.  O’Connor was upset at the sudden cancellation with no chance for closure.  Although the series continued to court controversial subjects, the execution was ham-handed and uneven as Archie softened up and lost his bite amidst a new ethnic mix and teenage girls--leading to a loss of satire.  The show  had become, to a degree, a Queens Mayberry.

Barney Miller (ABC).  The final two seasons, although well-written and well-acted, were showing signs of repetition and plot re-treads.  The squadroom became a homicide-only unit for a while leading to grittier situations. Luger appeared more as he dealt with the travails of a mail-order bride.  Harris fought a plagiarism lawsuit over his book and even directed a porn film in one episode (as a cover).  The only new cop introduced was Paul Leiber as Dorsey.  He didn’t last long as he seemed like a laconic version of Deitrich with a more conspiratorial bent.  At series end, Barney passes up his long-awaited for promotion and, in a plot twist that seemed more appropriate for “Alice,” the station house is torn down due to the discovery of Native-American artifacts and the precinct is thusly relocated leading to the dissolution of the unit and a dignified farewell episode honoring the series long run.

“Barney Miller” would finally be awarded the Best Comedy Series Emmy in its final year.  A deserved honor.

Benson (ABC).  This show becomes a Friday night staple for six more years so it’s more of an eighties show than a seventies show.  And there is the requisite break-dancing episode!  The 1980 season saw three appearances by young stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld as the wisecracking driver for the governor.  He didn’t fit in with the show.  Makes

Benson and Seinfeld

perfect sense as the series fell into the silly plot device trap what with the numerous cameo-filled murder mystery episodes.  Politics was satired to a degree as Benson dates a congresswoman and is promoted to State Budget Director, then to Lieutenant Governor and eventually even runs against the governor for the main office ending in a cliffhanger--apropos of it’s parent show “Soap.”  Speaking of “Soap” the ghost of Jessica Tate appears in the third season, possibly wrapping up an unresolved story thread from that series (see below). 

After five season, Robert Guillame won his second Emmy, this time for lead actor in “Benson.”

Diff’rent Strokes (NBC/ABC).  Much like “Benson” this series became known more as an eighties sitcom, lasting until 1986.  There were two  housekeepers replacing Mrs. Garrett (see “Facts of Life” below).  Drummond’s Aunt Sophia (Dodie Goodman) would try to find him a wife and he ended up marrying a woman played by Dixie Carter.  When NBC gave up on the show and ABC picked it up for a final tired season, Carter gladly left for “Designing Women” and was replaced by Mary Ann Mobley (who ironically played a date of Drummond’s in the first season).  Poor Dana Plato started having substance abuse problems by the sixth season and her appearances were limited after the producers decided not to incorporate her pregnancy into a storyline.  Plato eventually committed suicide after a life of drugs and pornography.  Todd Bridges as Willis had a post-show life of cocaine abuse and attempted murder but redeemed himself in the nineties.  The recently departed Coleman, whose Arnold character had a number of young friends for misadventures--with Willis becoming less relevant--had a life that parodied his own sad celebrity.

So it is interesting that “Diff’rent Strokes” ushered in the “very special episode” concept.  Whereas, Lear would deal with controversial topics in the seventies within his character’s lives-- attempting valiantly to keep the humor intact-- this new trend tended to over dramatise the situation and eventually

break the third wall in  sermonizing sap-fests that actually became a staple trait of family sitcoms for a decade or so.  There were episodes dealing with bulimia and epilepsy.  In one episode Arnold and Kimberly get kidnapped by a man who has an intention of raping her, with Conrad Bain, stepping out of character, giving information regarding teen runaways.  Nancy Reagan topped this when she co-opted

Just Say What?

one episode to promote her “Just Say No” anti-drug agenda.  And the most damning of all was the two part episode where Gordon Jump plays a pedophile who is thwarted in his attempts to molest Arnold and his friend.  And it didn’t stop there--

Facts of Life (NBC).  The head brass at NBC couldn’t figure out how this “Diff’rent Strokes” spin-off could outlast it’s parent show by two years into (gulp) 1988.  The format changed in the fall of 1980 and the basic cast remained the same.  With all of the girl characters ensembled in the initial

Jo and George: Mullett wars

series tryout  blending together into a wasp-ish mass, it was

decided to pare the show down to Blair, Tootie, and Natalie.  Nancy McKeon was added as Jo, the streetwise one--replacing three or four entitled debutantes.  That provided plenty of comic contrast to the spoiled Blair.  I won’t bother to enumerate the “very special episodes” but the whole series was practically a very long very special episode.  The girls eventually graduate and, in true sitcom form, they run a sweet shop together with Mrs. Garrett . When that burns down, they run a curio shop.  Charlotte Rae leaves the show and in an effort to keep the decently rated sitcom afloat, Cloris Leachman is brought in as the girl’s new moral leader. 

Some trivia: It turns out that budding stand-up Natalie lost her

Acts of Life

virginity first because Lisa Whelchel (Blair) refused to appear in the episode due to her strong religious beliefs.  Geri Jewell, an actual stand-up comedian with cerebral palsy played a semi-regular part as Blair’s cousin….the first regular character portrayed with the condition on the sitcom.  Jami Gertz was Boots St. Clare (not that significant, but it’s a great name) and George Clooney was a regular for a year.  Even Crispin Glover showed up.

Happy Days (ABC).  The final four seasons of this show took place around the early sixties.  It doesn’t really matter though.  We could call it “Fonzie Knows Best.”  By the final season, the celebrated hood was questioning his rebelliousness and even reverted back to his white jacket in protest of his insecurity.  Richie was off to Alaska on military duty now so

From "Heyy" to "Awww"

Fonz was the main guy.  He became a teacher at Jefferson High just to prove what a “square” he was now.  He was still co-owner of the newly remodeled “Arnolds.”  He found the love of his life, a divorcee (Linda Purl) with a young daughter (Heather O’Rourke---“they’re here!!)  and it ended right before he was able to adopt his ‘little brother” in the final episode.  Richie’s new wife Lori-Beth couldn’t live in Alaska, but she returned from a visit with child.  Ron Howard would appear in two episodes the final season having completed his duty and decides he wants to be a Hollywood screenwriter.  So against his parent’s wishes, off he goes to LaLa Land.  Al marries Chachi’s mother (Ellen Travolta) and Pat Morita returns for the final two years as, you guessed it, Arnold!  Most of the hubbub in the final years involved Joannie and Chachi with their on-again, off-again romance and their musical careers.  At one point they spun-off with Al and his new bride in the musically-tinged cringe-inducing “Joannie Loves Chachi” based in Chicago.  It started out strong but fizzled out in it’s second season, leaving the curiously odd couple to return to Milwaukee with a wedding to mark the series finale and a return of all cast members.  Howard, Marion and Potsie would remain through all seasons. 

As for the new characters, Ted McGinley (“Married…with Children”) took over Richie’s duties as Roger, the straight-laced counterpart to the now-tame Fonzie.  He played Marion’s nephew who moves in with the Cunninghams and ends up teaching at Jefferson with Fonzie.  Roger’s tough younger brother Flip arrived to add some rebelliousness to the show now that Fonzie and Chachi have been effectively neutered.  Phil Silver’s daughter Cathy played the previously unseen Jenny Piccollo (Joannie’s nasty friend)--the sitcom

Fonzie Vs. Forrest Gump

legend himself made a guest appearance--and Crystal Bernard (“Wings”) was brought in to fill the Joannie/Chachi gap as KC, the Cunningham’s niece from Texas who also moved in with Mr. and Mrs. C.   But when future two time Oscar winner Tom Hanks arrives to take out Fonzie in a karate match and loses, you know that it will still take a lot to take down Fonzie.

House Calls  (CBS).  This series only lasted two seasons into the eighties in a rather unremarkable fashion.  Buoyed by it’s post-M*A*S*H time slot, the series garnered some headlines when star Lynn Redgrave was supposedly fired at the start of the third season for breastfeeding her baby on the set.  She was replaced by Sharon Gless (“Cagney and Lacey”) but other than one episode dealing with medical marijuana, the series was gone soon without much controversy.

The Jeffersons (CBS).  It is astounding to think this show went on another five years with high ratings.  It basically tent poled the successful Sunday night lineup until 1985.  A review of the story lines indicates more of the same and some retreads.  Basically, George and his money were the stars of the show (even Donald Trump made some appearances.)  George and Tom Willis became Laurel and Hardy.  Louis and Helen Willis teamed up at the Help Center.  Lionel and Jenny (pretty much absent for the last couple of seasons) had marital difficulties, moved to Japan and returned to announce their separation.  (Jenny hung around more at the end with little Jessica).  Paul Benjamin left the series for awhile but returned as Bentley for the final season.  Charlie the bartender and Ralph the doorman had a few featured episodes.  And Florence with her gospel singing took center stage.

Checking Out

Florence had a spin off series late in the 1980 season, “Checking In”  where she worked for a hotel with Larry Linville (Frank Burns of “M*A*S*H”) as her manager.  She ended up back on “The Jeffersons” the next season.  There were a few shows dealing with the topicality inherent in race relations but the silliness overtook everything with many episodes being costumed “dream” sequences, celebrity cameos--Sammy Davis Jr. played himself in a wacky episode.  Spoofs on other TV shows such as a “Mission Impossible”spoof reminiscent of the Sanford’s

Sammy and Weezy

Hawaiian escapade.  And yes, there was a Hawaiian episode  where Tom and George get lost in a wayward boat. And of course, the “murder on a train” show.  But the show was ignominiously dumped without the cast’s knowledge after the “let’s put on a show” episode and George and Tom seeing how many times they could ride an elevator up and down.  So much for “Movin’ On Up.”

The show, never receiving much Emmy attention, won an award for star Isabel Sanford as best actress in 1981.  Acting opposite scene stealer Sherman Hemsley had to pay off somehow.

Laverne and Shirley (ABC).  The girls were back in their Tuesday time slot and back in the ratings after their 1979 scheduling fiasco.  In what was basically a “Lucy” move to

"Way Out" West

justify lots of guest stars in lieu of good scripts, the whole crew pick up and move to Burbank.  Laverne and Shirley try to get into movies--they work in a department store to get by--couldn’t they have done that in Milwaukee?, Frank and Edna run a cowboy-themed barbecue joint (?), Carmine tries to make it big and who knows why Lenny and Squiggy joined them.  Leslie Easterbrook plays their neighbor, an egocentric aspiring actress and Ed Marinaro played stunt man Sonny the first season.  Edna silently leaves during the 1981 season.  Due to contract disputes and a pregnancy, Cindy Williams left the show in the final season--Shirley gets pregnant and married to a soldier--leading to a show that should have been called “Laverne.” 

The final season just became “The Penny Marshall Show”with Laverne getting in crazy situations sans her old roommate.  In keeping with the sixties time setting during these final years, her exploits involved becoming a Playboy Bunny, robbing a bank with a gang of radicals leading to a death sentence, and joining a convent with nuns.  Guest stars were the focus

Princess Lea in Wonderland

though.  Time-appropriate cameos by Tab Hunter, Joey Heatherton and Adam West were mixed up with guest appearances by the who’s who of the new Hollywood: Jeff Goldblum, Anjelica Huston, Harry Dean Stanton, Carrie Fisher, Laraine Newman, Carol Kane, , Louise Lasser,  and Jay Leno.  The set must have just been a big party because there was not much of draw to be involved quality-wise.  Penny Marshall wisely turned down an offer to continue into 1968.

M*A*S*H (CBS).  “M*A*S*H” remained one of the highest rated and celebrated episodic series all the way through it’s record-setting two and a half hour finale in the spring of 1983.  Co-star Harry Morgan admitted that by 1980 the seams were showing what with the Korean War now heading into it’s eighth year and plot lines hard to come by.  But audiences didn’t care.  The laughs were more subdued as Alan Alda’s creative team headed by Burt Metcalfe allowed for a little of the old wackiness amidst the high drama.  But for the most part “M*A*S*H” became more of pedestrian ensemble piece-- albeit critically acclaimed-- preaching the horrors of war.  The series was oft-nominated for directing and writing--many times the duties were done by the stars themselves--especially Alda and even Morgan and Jamie Farr.  Two of the more unusual episodes in the final years involved a ghost only seen by Klinger traveling through the 4077th and another episode having Hawkeye writing his will.  Interesting guest stars in this time frame include Lawrence Fishburne, Patrick Swayze, Andrew Dice Clay, Craig Wasson and Joe Pantoliono.

The finale movie, up until 2010 the highest rated single television event, was an exercise in Bergman-esque

Eleven Year War

gamesmanship.  The war comes to an end and everyone goes home, but not before Hawkeye has a nervous breakdown.  In the fall of 1983, some of the characters continued in “AfterM*A*S*H” where Potter is chief surgeon at a veteran’s hospital back home in Missouri.  He is joined by Klinger (now married to a Korean woman) and Father Mulcahey (with hearing loss from the final episode).  The series had a strong first season but

Aftermash

was moved from Monday night in the second year leading to an early cancellation.  Although Larry Gelbart returned to write a few episodes, it was time to go.  Even Garry Burghoff appeared as “Radar” leading to a failed pilot called “W*A*L*T*E*R.” where the former camp clerk is a cop.

Although the series was heavily nominated in it’s final seasons, it only captured two Emmy awards-- for acting --between 1980 and 1983:  Alan Alda and Loretta Swit.

Mork and Mindy (ABC).  After the overwhelming cast explosion during the last low-rated season, ABC decided to basically keep them and just feature them sporadically as well as bringing Mindy’s dad back as a regular.  But they still

Winters Hatching

decided to add a best friend for Mindy who now works at a TV station as a reporter.  That leads to drunk stand up comedian Foster Brooks being brought in as her boss.  Mork works in a day care center leading to more kid characters including Corey Feldman.  Struggling, the series returned for a fourth season, probably due to Robin William’s star status.  And a lot happens:  Mork marries Mindy and takes her to Ork.  Mork gets pregnant and lays an egg.  Born is Mearth played by Jonathan Winters (Robin Williams comic inspiration)--babies age backward on Ork.  Having Williams comic inspiration on the set led to even more improv-style humor.  There were lots of aliens showing up this final year

Star Trek: The Next Generation?

(John Larroquette played one) and even a cameo by William

Shatner as himself giving the show even more cheesy sci-fi credibility.  Williams himself even cameo'd as himself, the comedican, who meets lookalike Mork.Probably the most bizarre event took place when Shelly Fabares--already in eighteen sitcoms--appears as Mindy’s dad’s new wife.  The show ended with an episode directed by Williams himself where Mork proves to Orson that he must stay with Mindy on earth.  Then he went on to become, well, Robin Williams I guess.

One Day at a Time (CBS).  The final four seasons sort of had the f eel of “My Three Sons.”  In other words, there were marriages and kids and breakups and family additions of all kinds.  The series stayed highly rated on the Sunday night lineup but faltered in it’s final year.  What happened?  This has to be done chronologically:

Season one:  Ann decides to form her own ad agency with Nick,  a divorced graphic artist she met (Ron Rifkin).  He has a son Alex (Glen Scarpelli).  Barbara decides to drop out of college and get a job.  Ann and Nick hook up.

Season two:  Nick dies in an auto accident so Alex becomes the defacto son in the family.  Julie shows up without Max and announces she is pregnant and leaving Max.  It turns out Julie had the affair, not Max.  They move in with Ann.  Barbara starts dating Mark (Boyd Gaines), a dental student.  Ann goes into business with her old nemesis, Francine (Shelly Fabares).

Season three:  Barbara and Mark get married.  Julie has little baby Annie.  Ann starts dating Mark’s dad Sam (Howard Hesseman).  Everyone (including Mama Romano) end up moving in  with Ann.  Ann marries Sam.

Season Four:  Ann adjusts to a new marriage.  Barbara also adjusts to marriage as Mark opens a practice.  Everyone babysits baby Annie.  Alex dates.  Barbara considers adoption.  There may be sparks between Max and Barbara.  Whew. It all ended with Ann moving to London with her agency.

Nanette Fabray as Ann’s mother and Shelly Fabares as Francine played regular roles these final years.  Mackenzie Phillips was in and out of rehab so the character of Julie

appeared sporadically to leave her husband, give birth and desert her husband.  She wasn’t around at the end of the run.  (80’s alert:  Alex gets hooked on video games).

As for Schneider, he was basically a part of the family:  he fell for a younger woman, experienced hearing loss, and spent fatherly time with Alex.  The final episode was actually a

possible spin off for Pat Harrington with Schneider becoming  the legal ward for his wacky niece and nephew when his brother dies.  That never  happened, ending the Romano legacy.

“One Day at a Time” won it’s only two Emmys this season when Alan Rafkin was honored for directing the episode where Barbara discovers she cannot have children.  Pat Harrington Jr. finally won his supporting award for his long-time portrayal of Schneider--forever going through a mid-life crisis.    

Sanford (NBC).  The revival of Fred Sanford returned in the middle of the 1980 season and was as unsuccessful as the last season.  This was despite a complete retooling of the show where the relationship with the upper crust family of his new paramour was dropped in favor of more misadventures with redneck Cal.  Trying to recapture the old magic, now-widowed Aunt Esther and Grady reappeared on a Friday night time slot.  To no avail.

Soap (ABC).  Things slowed down some in the final season in 1980.  Jessica woke from her coma to get involved with South American revolutionaries (Gregory Sierra and Joe Mantegna).  Mary gives birth and experiences alcoholism.  Burt and Danny get blackmailed with pornographic photos by a corrupt sheriff (Hamilton Camp), leading to Danny getting shot and needing a kidney from Chester--who is revealed to be his father.  Danny is involved with a prostitute and subsequently with Chester’s new paramour.  Jodie hires a detective (Barbara Rhoades) to track down his baby and falls for her before becoming hypnotized as an old Jewish man (future Billy Crystal schtick).  Jimmy’s spurned teacher tries to (literally) destroy the family throughout the season.  Burt gets

Ready..aim...cancel.

involved in politics.  Diana Canova (Corinne) had left to be in her own series with Danny Thomas, leaving Eunice to have the sexual adventures with Dutch.   The season ends in a cliffhanger with Jessica facing a firing squad, Chester holding a gun to Danny, Burt walking into an ambush and Mary and Jessica estranged over the revelations.  There was no resolution to any of these plots as the series was unexpectedly cancelled.  (See “Benson” above for Jessica’s ghostly reappearance.)

Taxi (ABC/NBC).  The Emmy awards and nominations  kept this show--which never gave up it’s quality pedigree--on the air despite sagging ratings.  The expert cast pretty much stayed together.  Struggling actor Bobby was dropped after the third season and Latka’s girlfriend Simka took a larger role in the series.  By the final season, Latka and Simka got married and their romantic experiences created many

Vic Ferari

memorable moments.  And Latka explored other personalities such as a sleazeball lounge lizard and even a version of lead cabbie Alex allowing Andy Kaufman’s amazing talents to escape.  Alex, Elaine and Louie all experience love trials.  Alex reunites with his neurotic ex-wife (Louise Lasser) a couple of times and Louie continues his on again off again courtship with Zena, even dating a blind girl in one tender chapter.  Tony

Lasser and Louie

quits boxing and has comebacks.   At  one time Sunshine goes bankrupt and the cast decide their fates.  But still ABC cancelled the show in 1982 without a resolution.  Danny Devito hosted Saturday Night Live and mocked the decision as HBO pondered picking up the series.  NBC took the bait and “Taxi”followed it’s new distant cousin “Cheers” on Thursday nights.  But “Taxi” didn’t return for a sixth season and “Cheers” took over the awards gathering.  But at the end, Reverend Jim, who spent many episodes trying to get to his vast inheritance, ends the show giving away money to all the cabbies.

The guest stars were a veritable who’s who of Hollywood royalty, past and present and future.  Past stage and screen:  Jack Gilford (as Alex’s dad), Victor Buono, Dick Sargent, Barry Nelson, Keenan Wynn, Al Lewis;  current acclaimed film actors:  Eileen Brennan, Paul Sand, Dick Miller, Julie Kavner, Wallace Shawn, Anne Desalvo, Andrea Marcavucci, Vincent Schiavelli, Allen Garfield; future film and TV stars:  Tom Hanks, Ted Danson, George Wendt, Ernie Hudson, David Paymer, Martin Short, and future “Moonlight-er” Allysse Beasley.  Even Marcia Wallace and Penny Marshall play themselves in two unrelated, uncontrived cameos.  The regulars would reunite some fifteen years later to recreate the filming of the show in “Man on the Moon,” the biopic of the mysterious Andy Kaufman, who passed away not long after the series ended.  The movie, directed by Milos Forman (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”) and produced by Devito (“Louie”) would even portray the famous incident where Kaufman’s alter-ego, Tony Clifton, was to make an appearance and ends up getting thrown off the set.

The Emmys kept coming until the end though.  Judd Hirsch picked up two as lead actor.  Devito received one supporting actor and Christopher Lloyd as burnout Jim received two supporting nods.  Carol Kane added a second supporting actress statue to her previous win.  Add one more Best Comedy Award (1980-1981), one directing honor for Jim Burrows and two writing wins (Michael Leeson in 1981 and Ken Estin in 1982) and you have a very well-honored program.  Burrows and many of the writers would go on to provide their winning services to a sports bar in Boston but there names were already known.

Three’s Company (ABC).  Suzanne Somer’s contract disputes led to her leaving the series during the fifth season.  After only two full appearances, she was relegated to telephone “cameos” for the duration.  In the meantime, her clumsy cousin Cindy Snow (Jennilee Harrison) moved in to provide blond bamboozlement.  Larry and Furley played larger parts in the activities by now.  Even the Ropers made a guest appearance (gracefully) where Helen and Furley got together.  In the 1981 season, Priscilla Barnes joined the cast as the

Different Blond, Same schtick

new third roommate, nurse Terri, and she remained until the show’s run was over three years later.  The show continued to rely on misunderstandings for comedy and the only real development occurred as Jack opened his own bistro.  His slapstick antics became the main source of humor by this time.  Lucille Ball, of all people, hosted a retrospective in the 1981 season by praising the “pure” comedy as opposed to the topical “garbage” that Norman Lear put out.  (It was known that Ball had a blood feud with Bea Arthur--“Maude”--during the filming of the “Mame” movie and this probably contributed a lot to her choice of this inane show to champion.  Jeffrey Tambor, fresh off of “The Ropers” played a number of different characters during these seasons.  Other interesting guests were ex-Brady Barry Williams, future Pain-wife Joanna Kerns, future Mrs. Hanks Rita Wilson, and Dick Shawn as Jack’s dad.

The ratings were still decent by the end of the 1984 season, but the producers surreptitiously lured Ritter into a followup as Jack Tripper sans Janet, Terri and Furley.  By the end of that

Crowd-sourcing

season, Janet was married off and Jack met a stewardess and fell in love.  The new series, “Three’s a Crowd” chronicled Jack living with his new love and her domineering father (Robert Mandan of “Soap”) being their landlord.  Jessica Walter (decades later to be Tambor’s wife on “Arrested Development”) would play Mandan’s ex-wife.  The new series did ok, but ABC felt it was time to put the now-dated franchise to an end.

Towards the end of the run, John Ritter took home the only Emmy Award this show ever received--for Best Actor.  He was finally rewarded for all the bruising pratfalls he performed, not necessarily for thoughtful, insightful acting work which he would be known for later in his shortened life.

WKRP In Cincinnati (CBS)   In retrospect, I don’t remember seeing any episodes from the final two seasons.  Like much of America, this underrated series was lost as CBS bounced it around the schedule, allowing only a core devoted audience to keep it on the air.  But I was surprised to see the range of topicality (almost ahead of it’s time) explored in the final two years: a WWII pilot hijacks the news helicopter to bring

Rip Tide lives.

attention to veteran’s rights,; Les’s father is accused of communist ties; Carlson fantasizes after eating Johnny’s pot brownies; Herb deals with alcoholism due to his business “lunches;” the station deals with terrorist bomb threats; the equal threat of unionization crops up (irony attached) as an issue with the dj’s; a right wing minister leads a boycott of the station due to objectionable content; Les deals with an escort service, not realizing it is a front for prostitution; Bailey fabricates a story for newsworthiness; an advertiser sells speed masqueraded as diet pills; Venus experiences issues relating to black identity; Les and Herb attend a 3-D porn movie; and even reality TV is foreshadowed as Herb’s family is targeted for an “American Family” style TV profile.  Pat O’Brien plays an older paramour of Jennifer’s who drops dead during a date.  Johnny Fever gets caught up in his disco identity of “Rip Tide.”  Guests included future “Coach” Craig T. Nelson and future “Newhart” wife Mary Frann and Tim Ried’s wife Daphne. 

The series was unexpectedly cancelled (although ratings were very low) as the fourth season ended with the announcement that WKRP will change to an all-news format.  But there was such a groundswell of love for the series through reruns that Carlson, Les, and Herb returned in 1991 for two seasons of a new WKRP. 

What’s Happening Now! (Syndicated).  Raj, Dwayne and Rerun returned in 1985, six years after it’s 1979 ABC cancellation.  All the original cast members (except Mama) returned as Raj, now a writer, is co-owner of the diner where Shirley works.  Rerun is a used car salesman and Dwayne a computer programmer.  Raj is also married now and he and his wife become foster parents.  Once again, Fred Berry as Rerun has contract issues so he leaves in 1986.  Future comic Martin Lawrence joined the cast in 1988 for the final season of the incarnation.

From Mama Harper to Harper Valley: Mayberry II

  With the new onslaught of dumbed down rural characters, it took a high-class pedigree to trickle down to the mind-numbing exercise of Mama's Family. Carol Burnett’s “Family” characters from her hit variety show would live on into the next decade.  In 1982, CBS aired a made-for-TV videotaped movie update called “Eunice” named after Burnett’s title character.  In the spring of 1983, NBC decided to bring the characters back for a weekly series.  Burnett appeared in a few episodes and Harvey Korman (who played redneck husband Ed originally) portrayed an erudite narrator here.  But the new show was named after “Mama” Harper played by much younger Vicki Lawrence.  She was no Aunt Bee but the show definitely resembled Mayberry.  Ken Berry

Golden Harper Girls

(unsurprisingly from “Mayberry RFD”) played one of her sons and he and his kids moved in with Mama and met his future wife (Dorothy Lyman) the next door neighbor.  Rue McLanahan played Mama’s sister roommate and Betty White played her snobby daughter Ellen.  The two actresses would go on to sitcom gold in “Golden Girls” after this version of the show was not renewed for a third season.  In 1986, however, the "Mama's Family" was pared down for syndication and had a healthy late eighties run with only Berry and Lyman remaining from the first cast.  The show never ventured into anything other than a simple-minded rural farce with the cantankerous Mother Harper getting most of the forced laughs.

In 1981, Barbara Eden returned to sitcoms as she reprised

Sexy Mayberry

her role from the 1977 low-budget sex-comedy  Harper Valley PTA. The single camera series, with old comedy stars like George Gobel and Louis Nye, hearkened back to Mayberry much as Mama’s Family did, but with a bit more cleavage and debauchery.

BRADY REDUX:

Another family from the past had a blast of nostalgic renewal:  The Bradys would cement their franchise value in this decade.  Despite the disastrous 1977 variety show, NBC and Sherwood Schwartz brought the family back for a TV movie "The Brady Girls Get Married".  Immediately

Bradys-In-Law

following in 1981 was a short-lived sitcom The Brady Brides with only the parents, Eve Plumb and Maureen McCormick starring with the new husbands (a sort of "Odd Couple" pairing).  This series was filmed before a studio audience, differing from the original show.  As the reruns of the original became more and more popular, CBS produced the TV film A Very Brady Christmas in 1988 which also led to a

All in the Brady

series.  This time the whole cast (sans McCormick) was reunited in "The Bradys" (1990) in an hour long dramatic format that made the Bradys look like the Bunker’s:  Bobby was a paraplegic, Marcia an alcoholic and Jan couldn’t have kids.  The whole Brady phenomenon was spoofed in two big screen hits in the nineties bringing it all into perspective.

RETRO RETRO:

Audiences seemed to be hungry for the sixties in the eighties rather than the seventies.  The least successful rehash was the embarrassing return of Lucy in Life with Lucy in a much-hyped fall premiere on ABC in 1986.  The series provided a

There Go's Lucy

sad ending to a legendary career as the geriatric queen of comedy teamed up with Gale Gordon in an ill-timed attempt to recreate the old Desilu magic.  “Leave it to Beaver” even returned with a TV reunion movie “Still the Beaver” followed by a syndicated series with most of the original cast (including Jerry Mathers)  from 1984-1989.

Ron Howard returned to TV with Andy Griffith and Don Knotts and most of Mayberry in the hit NBC film “Return to

I Dream of Trapper

Mayberry.”   “The Beverly Hillbillies” had a CBS reunion movie in 1981 with Imogene Coca replacing the late Irene Ryan.  Fellow Hooterville residents the Douglasses also returned to CBS in a “Green Acres” reunion film in 1990.  Wayne Rogers replaced Larry Hagman in an “I Dream of Jeannie” reunion

film on NBC directed by “Bewitched” creator William Asher.  Of course, “Gilligan’s Island”--in which creator Schwartz started the whole retro thing in the seventies--had one more NBC TV movie where they meet the

Gilligan's Fever Dream

Harlem Globetrotters.  To add to the wierdness it also featured Martin Landau and Barbara Bain of “Mission Impossible.”  The Munsters would return in a syndicated series from 1988-1991 with a whole different cast.  And The Addams Family would continue to creep out audiences for generations with animated series, two hit feature films, a Canadian series in 1998, and a Broadway show.  “Family Affair” would return with a new cast in 2002 produced by the Krofft brothers.  Don Adams would return as Maxwell Smart in a big screen return flop “The Nude Bomb” in 1980 and the series would reboot with a new cast in 1989 on ABC. Even Fred Silverman would bring back “The Flintstones” to prime time NBC in a series of specials in 1980 during the actor’s strike.  And “The Jetsons” would return with a new season of syndicated episodes in 1985. In 2004, the cast of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” would reunite for a three-camera TV event.   A lot of these original sitcoms along with the best of the seventies would be revealed to younger generations through the cable network “Nickleodean” and then “TV Land” lessening the need for remakes.  Feature films would be the venue, though, to remake many of these sixties sitcoms with lovingly ironic tones, big name casts and strange plot twists such as with the big-screen “Bewitched.”  “Sgt. Bilko,” “The Honeymooners,” “The Flintstones,”  “Car 54,” “Beverly Hillbillies,” “Get Smart,” “McHale’s Navy, and “My Favorite Martian.”  The fact that the sitcoms of the seventies have not been "remade" or "reimagined" for the big screen is a testament to their quality and originality.

SO  WITH THE SIXTIES IN VOGUE AND THE EIGHTIES IN PLAY,WE SAY TO THE SEVENTIES:

Bob and Emily: twelve years later.



Lucy and Ritter: Slapstick bookends:


Fonzie Vs Hanks:


Edith's farewell:

SEVENTIES SITCOMS: 1979-1980. A TREE GROWS BACK IN BROOKLYN. A RETURN TO MAYBERRY.

The theme of my final installment is one that is not new:  Everything old is new again.  But it only took nine or so years. 

To recap:  CBS “cut the trees down” and de-ruralized sitcoms at the very beginning of the 70’s with Mary Tyler Moore’s series and the Norman Lear tsunami headlined by “All in the Family.”  No more Hooterville and Mayberry.  African-Americans, post “Julia” were represented with more frequency and in more racially-aware scripts, even if still mired in fifties-era stereotypes.  The urban workplace became the “home” for many and diversity in ethnicity and sexuality became the norm in ensemble casts.  Story lines dealt with real-world issues and courted controversy.  When they didn’t explore outside the provincial sitcom boundaries (a la the Garry Marshall 50’s universe), they still provided an outlet for a more ribald and ironic sense of humor.

By the end of the decade, thanks to the resurgence of the rural landscape in Hollywood big screen farces (led by future sitcom star Burt Reynolds) and innumerable Roger Corman low budget drive-in fare, network chiefs saw fit to abandon the sophistication and introspection that had been nurtured and return to the simple-minded  corn-pone of yesteryear.  Just more tight and low-cut.  CB Radio was a “craze” that carried this revival, far outlasting the failed televised attempts to homogenize the disco revolution (“Saturday Night Fever”), frat house slob humor (“Animal House”) and the gritty urban landscape of “The Godfather,” “Rocky,” and “Taxi Driver.”  Instead, “Smokey and the Bandit” won out.

“Alice” began in 1976 as a story about a widow and her son readjusting to a new environment amidst emotional transition.  With the sassy Texas waitress at Mel’s Diner Florence Jean Castleberry becoming the breakout character, network brass saw the crack forming for an audience tiring of Norman Lear’s weekly social navel-gazing and growing weary from trying too hard to understand the subtle character humor inherent in the MTM oeuvre.   Polly Holliday’s Flo would spin-off this season to huge ratings as she moved back to Texas.

HAZZARD AHEAD

And a couple of things premiered on CBS--the network that cancelled “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Green Acres,” and “Mayberry RFD” (not to mention “Hee Haw”--which went on to be highly successful in syndication):  “Dallas” premiering as a night-time serial (starring Larry Hagman as JR, after trying hard to re-enter sitcoms this decade and not succeeding)  and “Dukes of Hazzard.”  “Dukes” was basically a sitcom couched in an hour-long “adventure” format about two good ol’ boys running from an imbecile sheriff and his “boss Hogg.”  There were lots of car chases, skimpy outfits (courtesy of Daisy Duke), and broad slapstick humor.  As a matter of fact, the doltish repartee of these hicks was more juvenile and dumbed-down than anything viewed in the sixties.  But without a laugh track and with lots of action, the hour long series was never actually categorized as a sitcom.  When “Dukes’ premiered in early 1979, NBC countered with “BJ and the Bear” about a trucker and his chimpanzee, also running from the law.  This series was more derivative of Clint Eastwood’s “Any Which Way you Can” films than anything Reynolds dreamed up with Hal Needham.  And both series returned this season.  “BJ” already graced the network with a spin-off in the fall:  “The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo” also an hour-long car-chase with overly broad characterizations.  So basically, Mayberry was back and Barney Fife now came across as Gary Cooper in comparison.  In the fall of 1980, “Dukes” would even have a spin off featuring a law enforcement stooge: “Enos.”  And where Claude Akin’s Lobo was more like Andy Griffith: down-home yet shrewd, Enos was basically Gomer Pyle--he even ended up in a fish-out of water situation with the LAPD!  So basically, we are back to 1970.

But before audiences in the eighties discovered new classics with Cosby, the “Cheers” gang, the Keatons and Golden Girls, they could seek quality with the new critical darlings of the Sunshine Cab Company and the returning exploits of the 12th Precinct and WKRP.  The 4077th would continue to garner acclaim and ratings but at the expense of, ahem, comedy.

But before moving forward:

Return to Form--ula

RATINGS WINNERS  1979-1980

Crissy does Mayberry.

#2.  Three's Company (ABC).  Obviously, the middle-aged Ropers had nothing to do with the astronomical ratings of this series.  As they left for their own doomed sitcom (see below), the oversexed “kids” maintained imperial status as the highest rated sitcom.  TV comedy legend Don Knotts, after winning Emmy’s as Barney Fife, becoming a comedy film star and then headlining Disney fare goes “blue” and joins a swinging sex comedy.  This may not be Mayberry, but Knotts expert buffoonery and cartoony persona was another nail in the coffin of the sophisticated fare that the seventies wrought.      As the over-confident ladies man Ralph Furley, Knotts gained a new generation of fans--just minus the critical accolades.  Furley’s outlandish outfits at the time seemed appropriate for the misguided “swinger,” but now it’s difficult to discern the strangeness amidst the seventies retro hype.  Jack’s “gay ruse” plot device continued under Furley…less homophobic and more ridiculing, although in one episode Furley catches Jack in a heterosexual situation.  “Three’s Company” did become “serious”…as serious as it could get, as Furley becomes suicidal and Crissy is mistaken as dying of an illness….all played for cheap laughs of course.  But basically, stuff happens:  Jack and Crissy get handcuffed together; neighbor Larry falls hard for Janet;Jack must dress in drag to avoid the FBI; Crissy gets caught up in Furley’s strip poker game.  Speaking of Crissy, this would be the final season for Suzanne Somers as contract negotiations break down.  She would make a few "phone" appearances next season and her Texas (of course) cousin Cindy would replace her before Teri moves in for three years.

Another short-lived regular character would be introduced to compensate for the lack of Ropers: new neighbor Lana.  Played by Ann Wedgeworth as a man-hungry southerner, she had the hots for Jack--who didn’t respond in kind….but Furley had the hots for her.  This provided a lot of comic steam until the producers figured out that she didn’t really fit in very well with the show.  But sadly,

The ol' Roper--dope.

The Ropers (ABC) didn’t fit in with their own show.  After being slotted on the powerhouse Tuesday night schedule in their successful tryout last season, Stanley and Helen were booted to the now-weak Saturday night family hour for their second and final season, limping along for the season until cancellation.  The TV tabloid mill has it that the network basically engineered the move to dump Norman Fell and Audra Lindlay and their expensive contracts.  (By the time “The Ropers” was cancelled they could not return to the flagship series--where Knotts had already taken off.)  Nonetheless, ABC tried:  the season premiere had Jack, Crissy and Janet visit for a disco party.  During the season, the Ropers experienced more class conflicts with their snobby neighbor (Jeffrey Tambor) and attempted to adopt a child (they were deemed too old).  Helen got a dog and battled with her snobby sister (Dena Deitrich).  And in a contrived attempt to help the ratings with the now-treasured youth demographic, they discovered a young woman living in their storeroom…she ended up moving in!  I can’t make that up.  But in keeping in touch with the racy roots of the show, there were still sniggering story lines such as when Stanley’s men’s magazines accidentally get donated to a church rummage sale.  Oh, the humanity!

#4.  Alice (CBS).  Leading the pack on the now strong CBS Sunday night schedule (which would continue throughout the early eighties), this series would provide another signal of the decline of the sitcom via high ratings and nothing else.  Not much happens here, except traditional sitcom tripe.  With the “I Love Lucy” show runners still in charge there were plenty of celebrity cameos--Telly Savales and Dinah Shore as themselves, and as more of a nod to sitcoms past, Eve Arden and Art Carney.  The most controversial episode involved Flo driving a truck through Mel’s Diner.  Speaking of Flo, her popular character is spun off into her own series this season in the spring.  In one of the strangest casting moves, she is replaced by acclaimed film actress Diane Ladd (as Belle), who actually played Flo in the dramatic film this series was based on.  She would continue on through 1980 as the “sassy country” component until she had enough of the inane scripts and would be replaced by another corn-pone waitress.

#5.  M*A*S*H (CBS).  Already outlasting the Korean War by four years, the 4077th provided a welcome relief from the juvenile humor found at the top of the Neilsons.  Although with Alan Alda in charge, the scripts were more heavy handed and Emmy voters responded extremely well to the pathos and experimentation, this season saw a brief excursion into the playfulness and satire of the first three years of the extended war.  Such as:  Hawkeye decides to bill the government for his medical services; stuffy Charles gets drunk and married in Tokyo; a crusty colonel makes a visit on April Fool’s Day; the gang take over Rosie’s bar while she recovers from surgery; and Hot Lips (or Margaret as she is called now) is labeled a Communist sympathizer by a visiting Congressional aide.  Character actor GW Bailey as the scheming head of the motor pool added some comic relief as well.  Klinger’s cross-dressing antics were toned down as he replaced Radar as the company clerk, thus becoming to Potter what Radar was to Henry Blake, with far fewer laughs.

Yes, Gary Burghoff, as Radar O’Reilly, would leave the series this season after a few episodes adding another blow to the original format.  His character gets a hardship discharge and when a generator goes out on the base he feels it his duty to stay--but in the end he must go.  Dinner theater awaits.  (There would be an attempt to spin off the character in 1984 but that would never get off the ground.) 

As the popularity of the show would increase (thanks in part to the successful reruns of the first seasons), the cast would take it upon themselves to garnish the legacy on their own:  cast members Alan Alda, Mike Farrell, and Harry Morgan would all direct episodes (a sure sign of a show degenerating by feeding on it’s own renown) and Alda (with Burt Metcalf) would pretty much run the creative control of the show.  Which meant more “special” episodes:

First do no arm.

Dream Cleaver

"We lost the laughs in there!"

the infamous episode where an onscreen clock depicts the surgeons battle to save the life of a soldier; the “dream” episode where the character’snightmares are visually re-enacted to express the brutality of war; Mako plays a Korean soldier who accuses a female counterpart of being an enemy guerrilla; one of the wounded solders, a pianist, must deal with his crippled hand;  another patient (played by Sidney Lassick of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) is suicidal. Hawkeye and BJ get lost in enemy territory with crucial anti-biotics.  Local Koreans play a larger part in episodes as when a group of refugee orphans arrive at the camp.  And the dramatics are not limited to war as the two new “moral standouts” have marital issues: BJ is tempted to cheat on his wife and Potter’s long-term wedded bliss is in danger. 

With the show’s critical cache came quality guest stars:  Edward Herrman, Ed Begly Jr., Susan St. James as a war correspondent, and future sitcom diva Shelly Long.  Even Alda featured his brothers Robert and Antony in an episode--another clue as to the inclusiveness of the new “regime.” 

Although “M*A*S*H” picked up an incredibly high volume of Emmy nominations this year, Loretta Swit and Harry Morgan took home the only statues for supporting performances in a comedy  this year--probably more for the dramatic arcs than the comic bits.

#7.  Flo (CBS).  Back to inanity:  As mentioned above, sassy man-hungry Texan Flo (Polly Holliday) as the breakout character on “Alice” must naturally break out into her own series.  So her mid season solo show has her moving back to Houston but stopping off in Fort Worth along the way to visit her family.  Her journey ends there as she buys a roadhouse and turns it into a honkytonk restaurant, deeming it “Flo’s Yellow Rose.”  Even though there were some interesting guest stars--James Cromwell, Robert Englund (“Freddie”) and Arlen Dean Snyder as her ex-boyfriend--the show was basically designed to appeal to the “trucker” culture now prevalent with the Dukes and BJ.  Future Scientologist Geoffrey Lewis (fresh from his Clint Eastwood orangutan films) played the bartender--who would provide the romantic sparks with Flo during the show’s brief run.  The initial six episodes would take off, but just as "The Ropers" on ABC, the series would be relegated to time-slot hell on it’s return in the fall leading to an early demise.

Carrot top-icality.

#8.  The Jeffersons (CBS).  After two seasons of being bounced around the prime-time schedule, the network put Norman Lear’s upwardly mobile African American family in a Sunday night lineup where it would flourish through the first half of the next decade.  Although  Lear created the series the team behind “Three’s Company” basically ran the show, so there was not as much serious social content as in “the old days.”  Mike Evans did return as son Lionel (after being replaced by a different “Evans”) and he and wife Jenny (Berlinda Tolbert) played prominent roles this season: Baby Jessica is born leading George to angrily ruminate on the possibility of a “white” grandson and Mike experiences serious work-a-holic tendencies with  his new job and potential relocations.  Some cinematic derivative highlights for George: he accepts a “small” businessman award not realizing it was in reference to his height; he is mistaken as a patient when visiting a mental hospital (a la “Cuckoo’s Nest”); he coaches Tom Willis on how to “act black” (a la “Silver Streak”).  In the really silly department:  Louise spots a murder by a giant “killer rabbit” through a telescope leading to a sad tribute to two Jimmy Stewart films; and George tells baby Jessica the story of “fighting inflation” with the cast inhabiting royal garb and Arthurian tropes led by King George.  Charlie the bartender and Marcus the helper at the dry cleaners play more prominent supporting roles and Florence the maid--the breakout here--has many featured story lines--leading to her failed spin off in the 1980 season. 

Jeffersonian politics.

To be fair, there were a few thoughtful serious episodes.  Louise, while being feted in a documentary about her work at the help center, is actually overlooking the needs of a client who attempts suicide.  In a flashback episode, the series chronicles the opening of George’s first store--on the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.

#9.  Dukes of Hazzard (CBS).

#10.  One Day at a Time (CBS).  Another of Lear’s holdouts that found it’s strength on the Sunday night lineup was the continuing saga of divorcee Ann Romano in this, the show’s fifth season.  Actress Mackenzie Phillips had been having serious troubles due to her addictions and her appearances were limited this season.  The “plot device” was to have her marry airline attendant Max (Michael Lembeck) and move to Houston.  The couple did show up quite a few times this season, with story lines involving continued unemployment, credit card debt, and--in the opening episode--a question of rather the “right” man was at the altar.  Mostly however,the show dealt with the romantic life of Ann and daughter Barbara.  Valerie Bertinelli had a rising star among young male viewers and her exploits with dates and college life--Ann even joins Barb in classes--were of paramount importance.  Ann herself dates a comedian, deals with many workplace issues at Connors and Davenport (John Hillerman as Connors was featured prominently, pre-Magnum) and even has a heart attack due to work-related stress.  Even maintenance man Schneider (Pat Harrington, Jr.) is featured with many mid-life crisis issues such as when his male modeling job is not what he thinks, or when a lover having a fatal heart attack during sex causes the self-proclaimed Lothario to experience impotence.  So much for Schneider being the comic relief.

Balsam and Vinegar

#11.  Archie Bunker's Place (CBS).  And the Bunkers-- who started it all--now are a staple on the Sunday night lineup.  With Jean Stapleton limiting her appearances as Edith, the series focused on Archie (Carroll O’Connor) running his new bar and the title was changed to “Archie Bunker’s Place.”  Film actor Martin Balsam was added as Murray Klein, Archie’s liberal Jewish partner in his attempts to turn the bar into a restaurant.  This allowed Murray to provide the ammo for Archie’s continued (yet more cuddly)trademark intolerance.  Archie’s domestic life would take a back seat as new characters were introduced.  Edith would make a few appearances before being “killed off” in the 1980 season next year.  Of course, little niece Stephanie would continue to be featured to provide the younger audiences with someone to relate to.  Along with the rogues gallery of overacting bar hounds and cronies familiar to viewers (Jason Wingreen as Harry the bartender, Danny Dayton as Hank and of course Allan Melvin as Barney), viewers were introduced to the blind patron Mr. Ranseleer (Bill Quinn) and occasionally, Dottie the hooker played by Sheree North.  Ann Meara was added as as the alcoholic cook, Veronica Roony.  Meara’s real-life husband Jerry Stiller played her ex-husband in one show and the character’s gay nephew became a waiter--Archie even tried to “convert” him in one episode.  With the loss of a live audience, O’Connor’s continued editorial input, and tired direction the landmark series lost it’s bite in episodes such as that above.  It didn’t help when other controversial topics came up:  Murray’s anti-napalm protests during Vietnam come back to haunt him as do previous mob ties.  The energy crisis, city hall corruption and construction bureaucracy popped up a lot as a nemesis when the restaurant reopened. 

Although Jack Carter guested as a loan shark, the biggest cameo event was Sammy Davis Jr. returning as himself (seven years later) to help promote the bar.  Sadly, this was proof positive of “All in the Family” turning into a sort of gritty Lucy show in it’s remaining years.

 Here's Archie!

#12.  Eight is Enough (ABC)


#13. Taxi.   The denizens of the Sunshine Cab Company became the new media and critical darlings thanks to major Emmy consideration and great audience numbers. 

Rightfully so as--along with “Barney Miller” and “WKRP"--this was one of the few sitcoms left with expert comic writing and characterization. (The word “comic” takes “M*A*S*H” out of the equation.) It got even better his second season.  Along with the other ex-MTM maestros, future “Moonlighting” creator Glenn Gordon Caron even got his start as a TV scribe here this season.  And sixties burnout Reverend Jim became a regular as he took his driver's test in one of the funniest moments on TV.   One of the most celebrated episodes had Elaine (Marilu Henner) as the new shop steward forced to go on a date with the lecherous Louie (Danny Devito).  The two-part episode, ending with of the funniest kisses in TV history, was proof that comedy could persevere through ugliness and still end with a big laugh and wistful pondering.  Elaine got competition this season as the only female cast member.  Film actress Carol Kane was introduced mid-season as a fellow resident of Latka’s unnamed country of origin.  Although of a lower caste, Kane’s Simka captured the heart of Andy Kaufman’s Latka and the result was comic magic in an unknown language. 

Rhea Perlman would play Louie’s new girlfriend Zena the candy machine girl--a shy and introverted counterpart to Louie’s demonic demeanor.  (Perlman would eventually become Devito’s long-time wife and would herself play an award-winning nasty character on “Cheers.”)

Romance did loom large this season among the cabbies.  Alex is revisited by Angela, the frumpy woman from the previous season, this time looking much different.  He also dates a soap star played by Dee Wallace.  Bobby dates his new agent played by Susan Sullivan.  Tony continues to have heartbreak in the ring.  Actors were clamoring to be on the show as if it were a Woody Allen film:  Tom Ewell played Elaine’s therapist; Jack Gilford played Alex’s dad; Joan Hackett played his sister; Dick Butkus, Erik Sevaried and Lassie rounded out the eclectic guest list. 

The latter can’t be helped when the season finale involves a visit by Herve Villachaize (“Tatoo” in “Fantasy Island”) prompting the cast to imagine their fantasies.  This highly entertaining episode that culminated in a spectacular musical number with the cast performing “Lullaby of Broadway.”  This was the most appropriate way to show off the casts musical abilities rather than the “let’s put on a show for the retirement home” tripe.

“Taxi” rightfully picks up it’s second Emmy for best comedy and adds a directing Emmy for Jim Burrows for the season premiere where Louie asks out Zena.

#14.  House Calls (CBS).  Although it seemed odd to base a sitcom on a hit film about two adult characters in a sophisticated romance in these youth-oriented days, it actually worked due to scheduling magic and one other thing: a nostalgia for the original “M*A*S*H.”  Here’s how:  Wayne Rogers, who--as Trapper John-- was a much funnier cohort to Hawkeye than Mike Farrell’s BJ could ever be , reminded audiences of how funny that series could be if it stopped proselytizing.  So CBS decided to let Rogers take over the Walter Matthau role of a middle-aged divorced Los Angeles-based surgeon in an on-again, off-again sparring relationship with a British hospital administrator--played by Glenda Jackson in the film and Lynn Redgrave here.  Ray Buktenika (from “Rhoda”) played Richard

Benjamin’s part as the fellow surgeon and David Wayne played Art Carney’s befuddled chief of surgery role with less vindictiveness and fewer signs of  oncoming Alzheimer’s.  With Jerry Paris (“Odd Couple”)--having successfully transferred another Matthau vehicle to the small screen--in charge for Universal and ex-“M*A*S*H”-er Hy Averback helping out, “House Calls” captured the wackiness of medical life mixed in with a bit of human drama and some saucy sexy humor with an adult sensibility.  The filmed series also was single camera, letting a subtle laughtrack color the proceedings rather than a videotaped studio audience--now almost passé.  And to schedule the midseason show right after “M*A*S*H” on Monday nights was a stroke of genius.  Look for teen heartthrob Lief Garrett, aging heartthrob Fernando Llamas and future neurotic heartthrob Richard Lewis in guest roles.

Earlier in the fall though, CBS--without the blessings of the new “M*A*S*H” co-conspirators but with the help of Richard Hooker, author of the original book--created an hour-long medical drama (with comic overtones) based on the Trapper John character.  “Trapper John MD” had Pernell Roberts play the title character some thirty years after the Korean War fighting with hospital beauracracy as a surgeon in San Fransisco.  His supporting cast included a sexier young version of his old self, appropriately called “Gonzo.” 

So audiences yearning for the old 4077th had TWO versions of Trapper John to satiate their nostalgic yearnings.

It's come to this.

17.  Happy Days.  This sixth season would be the final season with Richie as a regular. In his swansong he continues his investigative journalism and, in one final fling, suffers the results of spiked punch at a frat party.  Once again, though, the show belongs to Fonz:  Cue the violins--Fonzie falls for a deaf girl; Fonzie hires a disabled assistant at the garage; Fonzie takes a pledge of nonviolence; Fonzie even steps in for a theater performance.  Joannie and Chachi’s relationship starts heating up--Joannie even poses nude for a modeling gig (a little behind the curve on this one, so to speak).

The crossovers continued.  Laverne and Shirley showed up to save Richie and Fonzie in the opening episodes as they get engaged to the “farmer’s daughters” in a ridiculous take on the joke when the gang visit the countryside.  There is also a dream sequence where Chachi sells his soul to the devil’s nephew and an angel shows up to save the day--Jimmy Brogan plays the angel in an attempt to "Mork" the series--see "Out of the Blue" below.   Other interesting guest shots:  Ron’s brother, Clint--the B Movie favorite; a young Julie Brown; Bob and Ray; and Hank Aaron.  There was a Roaring 20’s flashback featuring Pat O’Brien and the cast donning the appropriate period attire and a “let’s put on a show” episode.  This season also featured a girl gang led by Kat Mandu.

The most surprising incident this season was a fire (accidentally started by Chachi) that burns down Arnold’s.  So Fonzie partners up with Al to reopen a new hangout, called Arnolds.  (Fonzie and Archie Bunker are both now proprieters of eating establishments.  That must be where fading sitcom characters go to burn out!)  The producers felt that the audience needed a change in look heading into the sixties and the new set looked more like a Steak n Ale to attract the Beatnik crowd I guess.  

#20.  Barney Miller (ABC).  The season opened with a witchhunt over a homosexual cop in the precinct--that was Dino Natali as Zatelli, the first portrayal of a gay police officer on television.  Well-dressed Harris, whose book is coming along, disappears after going

"The Detective School ain't workin ' Barn."

undercover as a vagrant and also refuses to wear a new standardized uniform.  Deitrich goes undercover in drag in one episode and in another gets arrested during a nuclear protest leading to one of many visits by internal affairs. Lugar refuses to retire and ponders killing himself.  The stationhouse falls victim to possible sniper targeting cops and the release of a viral strain.  Wojo gets hypnotized.  And Barney gets passed up for a promotion again.

A very special guest.

As for the crazy visitors this year:  an inventor who steals his own plans; an architect threatening to blow up his own building because he doesn’t like it; a nuclear engineer who splashes people with toxic liquids; a man claiming to be Jesus Christ; another man predicting he will spontaneously combust; a suicidal suicide hot line worker; a man who shoots up a Muzak machine; a monk who hires a prostitute; an eccentric gun collector; a violent census taker; a woman who is convinced her husband is a clone; another woman who thinks soap operas are reality; an Amish victim who won’t use the phone; and a “time traveler”--who convinces Harris to adjust his stock portfolios.  Guest stars this season included James Cromwell, Stuart Pankin, Joanna Miles, David Paymer, and “Soap”’s Diana Canova.

“Barney Miller” won it’s second Emmy, this time for writing:  Bob Colleary for the episode “Photographer.”

#22.  WKRP In Cincinnati (CBS).    With the station hounds settled down in a secure pre M*A*S*H time slot, this supreme series was able to actually garner some decent ratings before being bounced around into oblivion the following two years.   Although, WKRP successfully mixed pathos and humor, much like “Taxi,” sometimes the show would linger on drama or sentimentality without a joke making it a tad more uneven than it’s filmed counterparts.  But the writing was always topnotch.  Johnny Fever was featured prominently:  he’s threatened with palimony and another time he hears the voice of God.  Newsman Les gets a groupie.  Miss America announcer Bert Parks makes an interesting cameo as

WKUP

Herb’s flamboyant father who escapes from a nursing home.  Sports are not left out as Sparky Anderson makes an appearance. Activism roots it’s ugly head as the dj’s encourage garbage to be dumped on the steps of city hall.  And like Fonzie, the gang finds out that Jennifer, the gorgeous super-receptionist, spends her Christmas alone.  Russian defectors engulf the station office.

Controversy was not alien to WKRP: Jennifer is photographed in the buff inadvertently in a changing room and the crew go after the perpetrator to get the photos.   Station manager Carlson finds out his wife is pregnant at middle age and his stern mother wants the baby aborted. Venus Flytrap experiences many race-related tribulations (affirmative action is a theme in one episode)  and underlying racism is explored when Andy’s sister dates him.   And in an extremely timely and serious episode drawing on real life, months after a stampede at a concert at Riverside Stadium results in eleven deaths, the station experiences a sense of loss and responsibility.

From Tate house to Statehouse

#23.  Benson (ABC).  Robert Guillame, fresh off of his Emmy win for playing the sardonic straight man butler in “Soap,” is given his own series this season.  He works for the governor (James Noble)  as the head of household affairs in a northeastern state.  In true cross-over fashion, the head of state happens to be former employer Jessica Tate's cousin and Katherine Hellmond makes a couple of appearances in this premiere season just to remind audiences of his pedigree.  Although Soap's Susan Harris, Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas continued their involvement with “Benson," the show lacked the biting humor of it’s predecessor.  Although politics took center stage--there were scandals, bugging incidences, Soviet chess defectors--the series was more family-oriented as Benson would take charge of  Governor Gatling’s young daughter (Missy Gold)--except when he accidentally lets her sneak away to a Kiss concert.  And the zany regulars were  populated by ex-“Soap” players:  Inga Swenson as his nemesis, the cook Kraus and Caroline McWilliams as Marcy the receptionist.  Lewis Stadlen would only be featured one season as the governor’s scheming chief of staff.

Benson’s droll delivery gave the comedy a sophisticated bent, even in outlandish situations such as his impersonating a visiting African dignitary, getting stuck in the basement with Gatling--the relationship between the daffy and naive governor and the cynical and levelheaded Benson would be a hallmark of the long-running series--and his investigation of a possible haunting in the mansion.  Plus he gets involved with a woman (Beverly Todd) who happened to be a state senator!  Guests include Denise Nicholas,Roscoe Lee Browne (his replacement on “Soap”), and David Huddleston as senior Gatling.  In comparison to “Soap” the highest level of intrigue this series experienced was when Benson’s past in the Korean War became a security issue.  Although never much of an award winner, the series would end up being a Friday night fixture on ABC throughout  the first half of the eighties.

#24.  Love Boat

#25.  Soap (ABC).  The serialized hi-jinks of “Soap” were still as outrageous in this third season as they were at the beginning of the run.  What happens this season?  Lots of infidelity, that’s for sure. 

Jessica chooses Chester over Donohue and Chester rewards her by fooling around on her again--even with the daughter of the minister (John Hillerman) who counsels them.  Billy is rescued from the cult only to get into a romantic relationship with his teacher, leading to threats of suicide and homicide from her when he breaks it off.

Oh no you din't.

(Another example of something you would never see in a sitcom today, no matter how off-the-wall.)  The aliens that captured Burt have sent a duplicate to earth and he is a sexual dynamo with Mary who becomes pregnant with a child who could possibly be an alien.  When Burt returns to earth, he runs for sheriff (with Danny’s help) and fights a corrupt incumbent (Hamilton Camp).  Danny escapes from the mob thanks to the leader’s girlfriend (Candy Azzarra) who gets involved with Danny.  When she gets enough of the family, Danny falls in love with a black woman (Lynn Moody) leading to  family adjustments and racist threats from the neighborhood.  Jody (Billy Crystal)  sees his son when Carol’s mother brings him to her doorstep.  However she insists he dump his lesbian friend and then he has to go to court to defend himself against Carol’s horrendous lies to keep the baby.  Prisoner Dutch moves in with the Tate’s and becomes the family cook but when Eunice cheats on him, he cheats with Corinne, who has decided to leave ex-priest Tim after the fiasco with the demon baby.  Burt finds out he is going to die so he tries to set world records and then finds out it was a mistake.  And finally, at season’s end, Jessica contacts a mysterious illness and falls into a coma but not before being courted by Malou, Chester, the marriage counselor (Allan Miller) and her new doctor.  The season ends with Jessica dying and Mary going into labor.

Eugene Roche returns as lawyer Malou and Jack Gilford has an

Soap Trek

extended cameo as the alien Saul who helps Burt get back to earth and travels through time sharing famous moments in history with  him.  No kidding.  At times the UFO sequences looked like a bad Saturday morning Krofft show with the costumed creatures.  And after helping Billy escape the Sunnies, Benson leaves for his own show to be replaced by Roscoe Lee Browne as Saunders.  “Soap” would go on with crazy plots for one more season to be unexpectedly cancelled leaving many threads unraveled.

“Soap” picked up it’s only two Emmy awards this year.  Cathryn Damon and Richard Mulligan both received lead performance awards as Burt and Mary Campbell.  Could it be for convincing

acting in a story thread dealing with becoming impregnated by an alien doppelganger or dealing with Burt’s impending death?  Both expert comic actors, Damon would pass away much too soon and Mulligan would go on to win another Emmy for “Empty Nest” in the eighties after starring as Blake Edward’s alter ego in the brilliant Hollywood satire “S.O.B.” 

#26.  Diff'rent Strokes (NBC).  NBC’s only hit sitcom starts it’s second season with Arnold running away with the young girl sharing his hospital room after experiencing the racism of her father (Dabney Coleman).  Race plays heavily in the story lines this season, some serious and some for laughs:  Kimberly’s boyfriend shuns her due to her new brothers; Drummond is mistaken for being African American by a dating service and receives a welfare application; and Whitman Mayo (“Grady”) plays the boy’s Uncle Jethro who tries to thwart the adoption proceedings and return them to their original home.  Guest stars include Mary Ann Mobley as Arnold’s teacher who dates Drummond, James Cromwell as a priest, a young Melora Hardin (“The Office”) as Kimberly’s schoolmate and sports heroes Muhammed Ali and Reggie Jackson as themselves.

Of course, crossover was the name of the game with network chief Fred Silverman and he valiantly attempted to start a successfully spawning franchise here.  The successful:  Mrs. Garrett would leave by mid season to start her new guiding role in “The Facts of Life” which would last longer than the parent series.  Nedra Volz would be the short-time replacement as the Drummond’s housekeeper.  The not-so-successful:  McLean’s Stevenson’s Larry Alder would make two trips to Manhattan with his teenage daughters to do business with Drummond--once even sharing Thanksgiving dinner--but it didn’t help “Hello, Larry” in it’s second embarrassing season.  See below for more information on both of these series in the 1979 season.

 Audience shrinkage.

#27.  Mork and Mindy (ABC).  After a hugely successful premiere season, ABC decides to move the series from it’s new Thursday night flagship to the dead zone of Sunday family hour.  Ironically, they also tried to make the show hipper and younger by changing the cast members around.  The show suffered the “Rhoda” syndrome:  too many characters.  And that was so unnecessary when you had Robin Williams carrying a show.  So Mindy’s dad and grandmother were out as was young Eugene (Conrad Janis would return as the father later in the season--as if there weren’t enough characters).  Jay Thomas and Gina Hecht were the brother and sister owners of a deli--a new hangout.  Garry Marshall couldn’t seem to keep his Italian heritage out of his sitcoms--not that there’s anything wrong with that!  Jim Stahl was Mindy’s waspish city councilman leading to Mork’s takeoffs on politics.  And grumpy neighbor Bickley and crazy man Exidor would feature prominently as well this season.  Exidor would have a girlfriend played by Georgia Engel of MTM.  Even Ronnie Schell of “Gomer Pyle” would show up here and there as Bob Faith. That’s a lot of characters when you consider that Williams would change personalities frequently during the course of one episode.

But the show lost half of it’s new audience by trying to be more

Special guest stars.

topical and edgy, focusing on the two main character's relationship more than Mork’s adjustment to earth.  The trippy season opener had Mork shrinking into nothingness (by taking cold medicine) examining the essence of good and evil.  The show tried to trend topical as well:  Mork deals with white supremacists; Mork may have gotten a girl pregnant; Mork becomes a priest; Mork discovers a radiation spill when he joins the air force; and Mork becomes addicted to television advertising.  But there was science fiction parody as well: Raquel Welch has a character arc as the voluptuous leader of a race of sexy aliens who kidnap Mindy.  And Roddy McDowall voices the reboot of Robby the Robot from “Lost in Space.”

But regardless of the circus, it was still the Robin William's show and the network would learn it’s lesson by cutting most of the characters and returning the show to Thursday nights where it would remain for two more less than successful seasons.  The flame burned hot and bright at first only to fizzle into mediocrity.

RETURNING SERIES (in alphabetical order)

Angie (ABC).   Much like “Mork” and “Rhoda” before it, this romantic comedy gained too many characters, burdening the relationship between Brad and Angie, turning off audiences in this second and final season.  Now that the newlyweds are settled in, they move out of the brownstone into a lower-income neighborhood where Brad actually practices medicine out of the house.  With her new found wealth (and confidence), Angie buys the coffee shop and later opens up a beauty salon with her mom.  The new characters, over the course of the year, include some nuns (childhood friends of Angie's) who were played by Valri Bromfield and Nancy Lane and Gianni, a flamboyant gigolo-like hairdresser played by Tim Thomerson.  Of course, Angie’s mother and sister would have generous camera time.  The  guest star roster was a who’s who of Paramount’s stock players for Garry Marshall:  Ellen Travolta, Lorna Patterson, Peter Scolari, Adrian Zmed, and Leo Rossi.  Even Danny Devito and Rhea Perlman would show up in different episodes.  As well as child actor Corey Feldman.  The most memorable event was Brad’s upper crust family (led by John Randolph) squaring off with Angie’s brood in “Family Feud” hosted by Richard Dawson.

Bad News Bears (CBS).    The movie spin off returned in the fall before being dropped after only a few episodes.  The remainder of the series was burned off during the summer.  Not much happens other than coach Buttermaker having to explain the facts of life to Amanda and proposing to her mother.

Detective School (ABC).  It is obvious that networks were in the mode of dropping shows immediately if they didn’t perform well in the ratings.  This was a bad omen in some instances.  In others it may have been a godsend.  This one barely lasted into the fall after it’s strong summer premiere.  Just as “Bad News Bears” this one was dumped for a quick death in the now-desolate Saturday night prime time schedule. Bruno Kirby would make an early guest appearance.  At least James Gregory could return to "Barney Miller."

Bratty Pack Ringwald

Facts of Life (NBC).  As the summer tryout returned mid-fall, the series looked nothing like the long-running “Facts” most audiences would be familiar with.  Before tomboy Jo would appear, Blair, Tootie, and Natalie were joined by a large gaggle of waspish  classmates as series regulars including a very young Molly Ringwald (right off of "Annie")

The Debs of Life

John Lawlor played the bumbling school headmaster for this season only.  As Edna Garrett left Manhattan and “Diff’rent Strokes” to become a nutritionist at the upstate private girl’s school, she would end up as the “den mother” when dealing with issues inherent in growing up as a young woman.  This first season alone she had to comically tread minefields such as sex education, plagiarism, weight and body image issues, the dangers of marijuana, and divorce. Blair would ponder the loss of her virginity and Natalie would find out she was adopted.  The girls would even band together to help rescue the school horses from a flood.

Even though Norman Lear was not actively involved in this show produced by his company T.A.T., it had the trademark dramatic

Jo-less show

moments jarringly interrupting the stagy comedy that represented his now routine and more family-friendly formula.  By next season, the producers would get rid of the excess characters--Blair, Natalie and Tootie had pretty solid comic personas whereas the other girls all kind of blended together as bunch of privileged young debs.   Well, future Brat-Packer Ringwald would do OK for awhile.

Crossover Hell.

Hello, Larry (NBC).  As mentioned above, the “Diff’rent Strokes” cross-overs did not help this series find an audience in it’s sophomore season as Arnold and company would visit Portland.  The producers decided to focus more on Larry’s home life raising his two daughters and less on his radio job.  That meant re-casting one of his girls into a better-looking model (Krista Erikkson) and adding Meadowlark Lemmon playing himself as a neighbor.  That only cemented the show’s position as one of the worst sitcoms in network history.    And if that wasn’t bad enough, itwas decided that adding Larry’s father as roommate would help the ratings towards the end.  It just added to the embarrassment.  Shelly Fabares appeared a few times as Larry’s ex-wife (adding to the similarities to “One Day at a Time”).  He experiences a mid-life crisis and gets fired at one point, leading to the New York trip to the Drummonds.  The girls have their typical problems including the standard “drinking” episode.  There was some comedy:  One of the girls has a blind date that is actually blind; a neighbor dies in the apartment; and Larry has to strip down to emcee a nude beauty contest.  Well, one out of three ain’t bad.  Guest stars included film legend Gloria Dehaven in a small role  and Joey Travolta as a rock star.  Enough said.  Norman Lear wisely kept his name off of this one as well.  Fred Silveran sadly had to take the credit.

No Ade from Lemmon.

Laverne and Shirley (ABC).  his was the season that wasn’t.  ABC decided to move the girls to Thursday night and away from it’s post-“Happy Days” slot.  I’m not sure what it says about the show when the ratings drop out of the top 30 and it isn’t even airing on the weekend!  Well, they tried.  The opener was the second part of a “Happy Days” crossover regarding the farmer’s daughters and the faux marriage to Ritchie and Fonzie.  Audiences were catching on and tuning out.

The overarching storyline this season involved Laverne and Shirley

Ratings Fatigues

joining the army.  This would be a prescient thrust into  a prevalent theme in sitcoms over the next couple of seasons what with the release of Goldie Hawn’s hit comedy “Private Benjamin” a year later--women in uniform.  Vicki Lawrence, of Carol Burnett’s troupe, would play the commanding officer as the girls provided slapstick situations in the barracks such as acting in a training film that was about venereal disease and enduring a survival test.

As with “Happy Days” the time frame was now the early sixties.  Therefore, Shirley became a beatnik in one episode.  But basically the era had nothing to do with the silliness:  Squiggy believes he is the Duke of Squigmond as he sleepwalks; the girls waitress for Lenny when he opens a cafe; Laverne and Shirley date a couple of dwarfs; and the girls can’t escape when they chain themselves to a power plant protesting high rates and a bomb has to be defused.  And there is a takeoff on “Silver Streak” as the gang solve a murder aboard a passenger train (Scatman Crothers, Wilfred Hyde-White, and Charlene Tilton are suspects).  Laverne’s dad, Frank, finally proposes to Edna.   Art Garfunkle makes an appearance as well this season.  Ed Marinaro, who would play a completely different character next season (when L&S move to Hollywood) plays Laverne’s cousin.  And Pat Morita…well..doesn’t play Arnold.  Don’t ask.

A very special episode.

Oh, there was some melodrama:  Ed Begley Jr. returns as Shirley’s alcoholic brother.  Carmine is involved with loan sharks.  And in one of the strangest sitcom moments ever, Ted Danson plays a firefighter who is dating Laverne until he is killed in the line of duty.  Laverne mourns.  But they will be back on Tuesday the next season and they can run out the next three years with much more favorable Neilson numbers.

The Ropers (ABC).  See “Three’s Company” above.

Stockard Channing Show (CBS).  Channing returns mid-season with a re-tooled starring vehicle as CBS tries to anoint her the new “Mary."  Only her status as a newly divorced woman looking to start life anew in West LA remained the same.  But, like Mary Tyler Moore, she worked for a TV show this time: a consumer affairs segment on the local news.  And like Doris Day, this allowed her to go undercover in many disguises.  But also like Mary, she had a love/hate relationship with her crusty but lovable advocate journalist boss played by Ron Silver (“Rhoda”) and she had a Rhoda in her apartment building played by the same actress that played her best friend in the previous Channing incarnation.  Broadway showman Max Showalter played the flamboyant station owner. Channing’s attempt last season  had decent ratings but now,with the changes, the show had no ratings at all and left the airwaves much quicker.  The single woman making it on her own was now a relic of the past in sitcoms.  The nuclear family would be back in vogue in the eighties.  Until “Murphy Brown” of course.

NOTABLE PREMIERES

At this point in time, series had to make it big in a hurry or risk being unceremoniously dumped after a few airings.  First, the quality:

The Associates (ABC).  James L. Brooks and the crew behind “Taxi” had high hopes for this white collar version of urban wit on the fall schedule.  With the pedigrees and publicity and even Emmy nominations, it is surprising that ABC did not give this show a chance outside of it’s doomed Sunday night time slot.  And what a

Short-changed

cast:  Martin Short (before SNL and SCTV) had his first American sitcom role as the one of the law students starting up the ladder at the prestigious NY law firm headed by the affable and addled senior partner played by Wilfred Hyde-White.  Short’s character was of the Midwestern “outsider” status and he dated the other newcomer, a blue blood with a bleeding heart for the unfortunate and an activist bent, slightly misplaced at this practice.  She was played by Alley Mills (before “Wonder Years”).  Shelly Smith completed the newbies as the sexy yet smart one.  Joe Regalbuto (before “Murphy Brown”) played the junior partner, Streeter, with his comic avarice and ambition driving a lot of the comedy (such as when he kills a fellow lawyer in a squash game).  Tim Thomerson rounded out the ensemble as the horny mail boy, Johnny Danko.

Kings-feld.

The nine episodes that aired (most were burned off during the summer) had such guest stars as Danny Devito, Jack Gilford, Cloris Leachman, Georgia Engel, John Ritter, Stuart Margolin and Jonathan Frakes.  But the most creative casting was having John Houseman play his signature role of Professor Kingsfield from “The Paper Chase” in an episode that has him dealing with ex-student Streeter and his stuttering problem. Sadly, with Paramount’s best writers and directors courtesy of the John Charles Walters Company, this filmed three-camera show was set up to be another unrequited sophisticated classic.

United States (NBC).  Another Silverman attempt at novelty was this domestic “dramedy.”  Comedy writing legend Larry Gelbart, distanced from “M*A*S*H” and working on feature films (including the upcoming “Tootsie”) was the main scribe behind this seriocomic exploration of marriage.  Beau Bridges and Helen Shaver played the suburban LA couple and the show dealt with some very touchy issues that sitcoms  usually didn’t fare well with.  The mid season videotaped series did NOT have a studio audience (or laugh track) or bumper music so the effect was similar to watching a one-act play.  The camera work was inventive though and would focus on the character’s hands during a dialogue scene for instance.  And

there was a lot of dialogue, mostly without closure:  infidelity, financial troubles, their kid’s learning disability.  One storyline involved how to deal with the fact that your child has hooked up with a gang that likes to kill cats.  And Bridges’ husband character even cries in one episode.  Lots of heady, sensitive stuff here.  But audiences didn’t care amidst the new Daisy Duke set.  So the show that promised to “do for marriages what M*A*S*H did for war” became an interesting footnote in TV history.

Six O’Clock Follies (NBC).  Speaking of "M*A*S*H,"  Silverman had another highly nuanced quality tryout series in the spring--this time it took place during the Vietnam War., This series revolved around the exploits of the reporters and staff of the Armed Forces Vietnam Network  (News and Sports) in 1967 Saigon.  As with their Korean counterparts--“M*A*S*H” was really about Vietnam anyway--the wacky hi jinks were melded with drama and insight about the wages of military conflict.  It didn’t hurt that the director of the news show also owned a bar.  But with only three episodes airing and guests such as future stars Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton and Phil Hartman, this three-camera series from Warner Brothers which starred Phillip Charles Mackenzie as the Hawkeye surrogate, didn’t have a chance to do much pontificating or practical joking.

Good Time Harry (NBC).  This summer tryout series was created by Steve Gordon, soon to bring “Arthur” to the big screen and die very young.  Go-to guy Ted Bessell returned to sitcoms as a philandering sportswriter for a San Fransisco newspaper.  The series would generate a lot of critical buzz what with Charles H. Joffe (Woody Allen’s producer) producing for Universal.  Much like “Six O’Clock Follies” the filmed series was framed like a three-camera series but it was questionable whether a live audience was providing the subdued (almost muffled) laughter.  At best it recalls the “feel” of “Buffalo Bill” in the eighties in that respect.  Also starring were Eugene Roche as the editor, Marcia Strassman (fresh from Kotter), and former child star Barry Gordon.

“The Love Boat” would continue on through the eighties and “Eight is Enough” would end by next season at the top of the ratings.  The rural comedy-adventure shows mentioned at the top of this segment would play a large part for a few years.  But as for any laugh track-laden hour-long comedy-dramas, this season only saw two entries:

Shirley (NBC) had Shirley Jones (“The Partridge Family”) return to TV as a widow moving to the big city with her three kids and one stepson.  Rosanna Arquette played one of the teens in this typical family show from Universal. 

When the Whistle Blows (ABC) was a seriocomic examination of the blue collar lifestyle featuring a group of construction workers and their wild and crazy exploits.   Dolph Sweet (future star of “Gimme a Break”) led the pack.

Jack's back.

Struck By Lightning (CBS).  Paramount was probably inspired by “Young Frankenstein” to a degree here.  Science teacher Ted Stein inherits a Massachusetts inn and decides to sell it.  But the caretaker, Frank, just happened to be the 231-year old Frankenstein’s monster and Ted just happened to be related to the good doctor himself.  Cock-eyed character actor Jack Elam found the perfect role playing the “monster.”  This fall series lasted only a few episodes but showed promise as an inspired spoof of the horror genre.  In one show, the mansion is actually used to film a monster movie.  Plus zany comic/contortionist Bill Irwin had an early role as a real estate agent.  Joel Zwick was the producer of the filmed series.

Working Stiffs (CBS).  Paramount teamed with a lot of Garry Marshall’s alumni to come up with this three camera filmed series that was heralded as the male “Laverne and Shirley.”  None other than Michael Keaton and Jim Belushi played the brothers who toiled as janitors and planned to work their way up as their uncle owned

"It don't get better than this!"

the building where they toiled.  Slapstick was the order of the day here and both actors had expert comic timing to insure genuine laughs.  Lorna Patterson and Allan Arbus played the couple who owned the restaurant above the boy's cellar apartment. (That's right, another cellar apartment.)   Laverne herself, Penny Marshall, even directed the first episode.  But this one actually nearly set the record for early fall cancellation with only a four week run.  Keaton and Belushi wouldn’t be hurt one bit by this as both would go on to decent film and television careers into the new millennium.

Support our Tropes.

Goodtime Girls (ABC).  Patterson came back mid season in another Paramount comedy, this time in a lead role for Garry Marshall’s production company.  Marshall once again mined the past with this sitcom about a group of working women during WWII who live in a boarding house together.  Annie Potts played the defacto leader of the group, Patterson was the daffy one who wanted to be a singer, and Georgia Engel played the war bride.  Of course, this being Marshall, Francine Tacker was added as the “snobby” one.  With Potts at the helm, the moralizing made the show seem like a forties version of “Designing Women” and the sentimentality--one episode revolves around a veteran who needs to rallied after dealing with the loss of both his legs--was right out of the Marshall canon.  Speaking of Marshall, the regulars were a who’s who of his recurring players--right off of his fall flops:  Along with Patterson and Engel there was Adrian Zmed and Peter Scolari--hoofer Zmed's presence allowed plenty of “boogie” dance sequences.  Guests were also well represented by Marshall’s other series:  Scott Baio as young enlistee and Michael McKean (Lenny) as the above mentioned wounded veteran.  Even with the serious themes and war backdrop, the writers had some fun as when one of the girls keeps marrying soldiers overseas to boost their morale and one of the returns stateside unexpectedly.  But much as “Happy Days” started to look like the early sixties by way of the seventies, this three camera series with a studio audience was influenced too much by the current sensibilities to be a true period piece.  Steven Spielberg's comedy flop "1941" had just hit theaters and Marshall may have been banking on a WWII fad.

Angels and Orkans, O My!

Out of the Blue (ABC).  And the final Paramount sitcom covered this year was the fall premiere of this Miller-Milkis cross-over.  Trying to capitalize on the success of “Mork and Mindy,” Henderson Productions enlisted another stand up comedian, Jimmy Brogan, to play an angel-in-training living with a group of orphans.  With the typical “group home” themes (runaways, thievery), the three camera filmed series was “Fish” with magical special effects.  Speaking of “Designing Women,” Dixie Carter would play the house mother and Eileen Heckert played the “boss angel.”  In the deepest portals of the geek interwebs, there is a controversy surrounding the status of the “Happy Days” episode where the angel character helps Chachi in a dream:  crossover or spin off?  Yes, this is deemed highly anxiety-inducing amongst some.  (Your guide here is nowhere near that obsessive).  However, when Mork made an appearance on the pilot episode to kick off the series--an angel teaming up with an alien, think of the metaphysical consequences--that was clearly a crossover.  But competing with Disney and “60 Minutes” during the Sunday night family time with the tame Brogan (compared to William’s manic energy) was not a fair fight.

A New Kind of Family (ABC).  This videotaped family series was paired with “Out of the Blue” on the Sunday family hour.  Eileen Brennan again attempted to capture the sitcom zeitgeist as a widow with three kids who ended up sharing an LA house with a divorced mother of one thanks to an unscrupulous real estate agent. Rather than fight over the lease, the two women (with different ways of handling motherhood, natch) decided to save money and just share the domicile.  It was a relatively dour contrivance to set up the scenario, telling of the times.  Future Brat Packer Rob Lowe got his start playing one of the kids.  The series was shut down after a few episodes and retooled for a return later in the fall.  This time, the  white divorcee was replaced by a black divorcee and her daughter (Telma Hopkins of Tony Orlando and Dawn and, again, Janet Jackson).  It didn’t help.  Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon provided some creative input to the series.  Future film star Eric Stoltz would also make an early guest  appearance on the show.

Me and Maxx (NBC).  This family comedy was produced by James Komack and was slightly based on his relationship with his daughter.  Basically, it was a videotaped “Family Affair” with Manhattanite Joe Santos (“Rockford Files”) playing the cynical  swinging dad that unexpectedly ends up with his precocious daughter after her mother decides to go off and “find herself.”  Silverman, still trying to remake NBC,  reportedly cast the show by watching the actor’s clips side by side.  Melissa Michaelson was being hailed as the next big child star with her worldly delivery.  But the sentimental parts of the show rang false and the comedy was forced leading to an early demise of the spring tryout series.

Nobody’s Perfect (ABC).  This series was also hotly hyped as a fall premiere.  It didn’t show up though until the summer for some reason.  But critics liked this one.  “Get Smart”’s Arne Sultan and Chris Heyward, failing with “Holmes and Yoyo,” tried another single camera buddy cop comedy for Universal.  This time Ron Moody, the artful dodger from “Oliver” was cast as an anachronistic Scotland Yard detective Roger Hart assigned to the San Fransisco Police Dept.  Of course, there was plenty of slapstick as the accented clueless accident-prone crime-solver (in the vein of Inspector Clouseau) cavalierly maneuvered his way through the big American city with his female partner (Cassie Yates).  The tone of the series seemed like a throwback to the sixties style of sitcom yet sometimes the humor would be quite contemporary in a farcical way--as when Hart inadvertently startled a man attempting suicide and he actually jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge.  I think the show would have done better with it’s original title:  “Hart of the City.”

Semi Tough (ABC).  Actor Bruce McGill, who played D-Day in the film and TV version of “Animal House” tried again in a feature film adaptation.  This time he played the Burt Reynold's part in “Semi-Tough.”  The series was based on a 1977  film about  modern professional football players.  Michael Ritchie's film was a couple of years old by this time and an odd choice for a three camera videotaped sitcom.   But it didn’t really matter much how audiences reacted with only four episodes airing during the spring.   David Hasselhoff played the Kris Kristofferson role as the other player for the New York Bulls as he and McGill shack up with the owner’s cute but savvy daughter (played by Jill Clayburgh in the film).  Whereas the source book by Dan Jenkins focused on the new permissive culture powering the sports business, the film focused a bit more on sexual politics and the new age movement.  The sitcom didn’t have a chance to touch on any of these issues with any depth.

Last Resort (CBS).  With MTM Enterprises focusing mostly on dramatic series now, it’s only new entry in the fall seemed like a late tag along to the parade of “slob” comedies that had failed so horribly the previous season.  Basically, this three camera filmed ensemble piece dealt with a group of students and ne’er do wells working in the restaurant of a high class resort in the Catskills.  It was appropriate that Judd Hirsch made a guest appearance as the show seemed like a cross between “Delta House” with it’s subversive and juvenile characters (including an overweight irreverent Walter Olkeiwitz) and “Taxi” with the themes of characters lost in a lowly job watching their dreams fade away while they serve the elite.  Larry Breeding led the cast as an aging med student slowly paying for tuition and Stephanie Faracy played a wealthy woman who runs away from her husband to become a pastry chef to add to the class confusion.  And the chef was a stereotypical Japansese character who only pretended not to speak English.  Ronny Cox guested as Breeding’s estranged dad.  This was Gary David Goldberg’s last creation for MTM before he would strike gold with Michael J. Fox and “Family Ties” three years later.

Norman Lear had a relatively lower profile by this time.  As with MTM, he was working on dramatic series.  In March, he collaborated with Alex Haley, Jr. (“Roots”) in “Palmerstown USA.”  The CBS series examined the issues of race in 1930’s small-town America, similar in setting to network’s hit   “The Waltons.”  It generated enough of an audience to return a second season but the series, dealing with bigotry in a much less abrasive manner than Lear’s  Bunker dynasty, was known more for being the first series featuring Canadian Michael J. Fox in an early serious role.

So Lear had little else to say at the cusp of the eighties as far as sitcoms were concerned.  “Archie Bunker’s Place,” “The Jeffersons,” and “One Day at a Time” were far removed from their original topicality, bite and electricity.  Lear’s production company was heavily focused on NBC’s new family of sitcoms derived from “Diff’rent Strokes.”  The following five series this season represented the final remnants of Lear’s empire:

Joe’s World (NBC).  Lear’s TAT produced this new variation on “All in the Family” with Larry Rhine and Mel Tolkin of that series being the head writers here in this taped mid season tryout.  Ramon Bieri played a working class house painter with a long-suffering wife (K Callan) and five kids (including an older post-Brady Christopher Knight).  The issues the series examined were less explosive than it’s earlier counterpart although Misty Rowe played one of Joe’s work partners who breastfed her new baby on the work site--that may be one issue not touched on yet on TV..  Financial difficulties were more the order of the day than social prejudices. Joe was an old-fashioned disciplinarian and had difficulty dealing with the raising a family in the new decade. A young Megan Fellows makes an appearance.

Sanford (NBC).  With Joe hearkening back to the Bunkers, Silverman decided go back to the network’s roots (after many failed experiments) and bring back Redd Foxx as Fred Sanford in a mid season run.  Once again, Lear wisely stayed away.   The Arms were gone and so was Lamont (working on an oil pipeline in Alaska).  So he had a new partner in the junkyard represented by Dennis Burkley (recently passed on) as a somewhat obese white redneck character so popular on TV these days.  He provided a decent foil for Fred

Petticoat Sanford

with his naive country ways.  Nathanial Taylor returned as Rollo as did the local cops Hoppy and Smitty (Howard Platt and Hal Williams).  Donna wasn’t around but Fred was romancing a wealthy Beverly Hills widow (Margarite Ray) and his dealings with her snobby class-conscious family provided lots of Sanford-style comic fodder.  Larry Rhine and Mel Tolkin from “All in the Family” took the reigns here and even having Sammy Davis Jr. not only guest star but direct a couple of episodes couldn’t bring back the magic.

Although the series was still relying on stereotypes and silly humor, it now seemed even more trite and tired.  Dealing with Cal’s weight issues wasn’t the same as the father-son conflicts with Lamont.  Silverman couldn’t even make the old formula work.  “Sanford” returned later in the fall the next season with Grady, Aunt Esther and her grown son as new regulars--getting rid of the Beverly Hills snobs--but that didn’t help. 

One in a Million (ABC).  Speaking of “Sanford and Son,” Lear’s co-creator on that hit, Bud Yorkin had no sitcoms of his own by the fall of ’79 through his own TOY productions.  But in January, he brought back Shirley Hemphill from his “What’s Happening!!” in this tale of the African-American cab driver in New York that ends up inheriting controlling interest in a major Wall Street corporation.  Like “The Jeffersons” this taped series could lampoon racial and class issues in one fell swoop.  But with Hemphill’s one-note delivery and the unrealistic scenario, the show never became anything but a one-note novelty.  Richard Paul (from Yorkin’s “Carter Country”), Keene Curtis (as the token elitist nemesis) and veteran Carl Ballentine provided ample support on both sides of the divide.

Phyll and Mikkhy (CBS).  Lear’s production company had nothing to do with this one, but Rod Parker and Hal Cooper, who developed Lear’s “Maude” were the creators of this odd taped sitcom.  In anticipation of the 1980 Olympics, CBS conceived of this Cold War comedy:  a Russian track star defects and marries a US track star.  They move in with her crusty dad and he is hounded by a comical KGB officer (Michael Pataki).  When Russia invaded Afghanistan and President Carter pulled the US out of the Olympics, “Phyll and Mikkhy” got shelved and then burned off during the summer of 1980.  Populated by soap opera stars, the guest stars provided more notoriety: cult film star Mary Woronov as as Mikkhy’s ex-girlfriend trying to lure  him back to the Soviet Union; and F-Trooper Larry Storch as a rogue Russian agent

The Baxters (Syndicated).  Norman Lear actually took an active hand in developing this unusual series.  Basically, the first half of the series was a typical taped domestic sitcom with a studio audience exploring all the hot button problems of the day.  The father of the St. Louis clan was an insurance agent.  Anita Gillette played the stay at home mom.  The second half would revert to a different studio audience from the local affiliate with a moderator allowing said audience to chime in with questions and comments on the actual issues that the family explored  even discussing possible endings for the episode.

The series was conceived by a Boston TV station and Lear liked the idea enough to bring it to Hollywood.  A harbinger of issue-related audience-driven discussion shows that would flourish in the decades to come--Phil Donohue was the only personality at the time doing it on a large scale--the experiment failed and Lear dropped out, leaving the series to move to Canada and then drop out of sight.

So it is appropriate that the man who ushered in the seventies sitcom revolution by generating discussions at home regarding the most taboo and unexplored themes would, by the end of the decade, actually instigate the concept of replacing thoughtful home-based discussion and introspection with the banal and self-conscious opinions of a group of televised strangers.  The discussion shows of the eighties would eventually give birth to the dreaded reality television in the nineties which is far removed from the sophisticated and subtle programming that made up the seventies and what makes those like me celebrate and rhapsodize the innovation and quality of that decade in comedy.  In the meantime:

Video Nuggets:
Reverend Jim's driving test:


Taxi's Lullaby of Broadway:


And the seventies ended with this:

And you didn't believe me!