Hello everyone! Welcome to the official beginning of Fall 2024! It's our favorite time of year around here, as longtime readers know. One of the signs of the new fall season is the slate of new and returning TV series appearing on our flatscreens. This year, they will trickle in more so than pour, as the writer and actor strikes of last year are still being felt at this time.
But there was no such stumbling block in 1978!
Here is a preview reel of CBS's fall slate for the year 1978. This was likely shown to advertisers to whet their whistle for what programs they would buy airtime on. You'll see such shows as Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, Lou Grant, and more--even the notorious Star Wars Holiday Special, which would air in November of that year.
Enjoy! And save the date--the Countdown to Halloween starts a day early this year (for my blog, at least): Monday, September 30th! See you then!
4 comments:
The WKRP segment does something I would have thought an impossibility--It makes the series look square and unhip ("boss jocks"?). It's also clear they had no clue of the show's underlying concept with the "conservatives vs. liberals" take they keep hammering. Maybe they only had the pilot to go on, but it all comes across like something Johnny Fever would have blisteringly made fun of.
The "Charlie Brown Thirtieth Anniversary Special" would air the following January as Happy Birthday, Charlie Brown. CBS really jumped the gun, though, as the strip's big three-oh wouldn't occur until October 2, 1980.
Thanks TC! It does appear the "suits" are the ones who put this together. :)
Should have let the 'dungarees' handle it.
To say the least. What an inept attempt to woo the stations...though no more inept than some of the program choices. I might be one of the few to remember actual episodes of most of those new series...WKRP and LOU GRANT were the best of them, and both managed to get several seasons and good ratings for CBS when allowed to do so...which wasn't too often--the inane PEOPLE (the first episode ran around NYC, iirc, trying to pester an unwilling Greta Garbo) damned near killed WKRP as its first lead-in. THE PAPER CHASE was a favorite as well, though it slightly dumbed down the film...I was glad that PBS tried to rescue it, though they did a better job later with I'LL FLY AWAY. KAZ as I recall it was slightly less clumsy than this made it look. I couldn't remember the name of CBS's vocal near-twin of ABC's Ernie Anderson to save me, and one of the commenters on YT reminds us he was Dick Tufeld, which I'll believe though it rings no bells.
Thanks for digging this out, Brian...
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