Old rarely shown tv shows you have vague recollections of from childhood

I love Mannix. It was on Me-TV. I always wanted to eat Peggy's cunt.

[quote]My mother would watch Julia.

Gowned by TRAVILLA!

My dad watched Holmes & Yo-Yo.

My World and Welcome to It. It was based on James Thurber’s writings. It was on for a season, won at least one Emmy, but was canceled. It was repeated in the summer a couple of years later and I vaguely remember watching it. It was ahead of its time.

The Name of the Game. One of my mom’s favorites. I remember it only very vaguely, but recall it had a catchy title sequence. A quick trip to YouTube confirmed this long forgotten memory. Wow.

My dad loved Gunsmoke, but it was opposite Laugh-In. :(

I loved the Name of the Game!

I remember my Mom watching a soap and only remember a bridge in the opening credits. I asked her about it years later and she said it was "Love is a Many Splendored Thing." I think her soap watching ended around that time although my sisters started watching a new show called the Young and the Restless a year or so later.

There was a show that dubbed mostly B-movies. It was called "Mad" something...Mad City? Mad Movies? I loved it. I specifically remember their version of DOA, dubbing Edmund O'Brien as Desi Arnaz. The cast was so imaginative and clever.

Wow, I remember that one R8.

Mad Movies with the L.A. Connection! I still remember the theme song.

This does not quite fit because the show went on long enough that eventually I was old enough to stay up and watch it and then went through a phase where I watched it a lot in syndication, but I have vague memories of sneaking out of bed and looking down the hall at the TV so I could see the wave at the beginning of the Hawaii 5-O credits, and if I could tell there was going to be a commercial break.

It seems like Golden Girls backdoor spinoff Empty Nest never really plays in syndication.

"Room For One More" - All I really remember is part of the theme song; "Fair Exchange" - two families, one Brit One American, exchange their daughters to attend foreign college/university. Judy Carne played one of the daughters; my mom used to watch "Edge Of Night" and "The Secret Storm" soaps.

Before Mad Movies, there was Fractured Flickers, hosted by Hans Conreid. Very popular when I was in junior high school

Many shows, but chiefly the suburban Liverpudlian soap, BROOKSIDE, written and developed in the early-mid '90s by Phil Redmond (the man behind HOLLYOAKS).

I remember my mother always had it on in our tiny drafty living room, glued to the trashy absurdity while she did the ironing she took in for people in the village and I crawled around with my toys or with the family dogs. Apparently she was unfazed about her infant daughter seeing tv plots concerning local incidents of murder, rape, and incest (the latter being my favourite plot, there's an excerpt at the link). Brookie was considered must-see Frau television, back then.

She also loved Aussie soap HOME & AWAY, light period drama HEARTBEAT, domestic comedy BIRDS OF A FEATHER, and dyke-centric prison drama BAD GIRLS. My father always watched MATCH OF THE DAY highlights when he got home from the jobsite in the evenings, or sometimes late-night male-interest comedies like AUF WIEDERSEHEN, PET, RAB C. NESBITT, THE NEW STATESMAN, and NIGHTINGALES, none of which are replayed anymore on the main U.K. channels as far as I know.

Oooh my dad loved Heartbeat, too R16. Used to tape repeats on the VCR and watch at his convenience (i.e. when my mother wasn't around to make fun of him for liking Heartbeat, lol).

I've got one I'll be truly shocked to get an ID on.

It must have aired in the early-mid 80s and almost certainly on American network TV. Involved a family (two parents, I think two kids, maybe 3) and the premise was either post-apocalyptic (don't think so) or some kind of supernatural alien-invasion/transport-to-another-world/waking-up-in-another-world scenario. I vividly remember a scene from the firs tor second episode involving this family being in their new, uncanny valley-type new world, where things were mostly similar but there were some creepy differences. At one point one of the characters picked up a can in the grocery store only to find the word "meat" written on it (again, iirc) and that was all oooooh weird, we're somewhere else now, dun dun dunnnnn...!

Also remember some jeopardy re: how will we get back to out old home?!

Anyway I remember being TOTALLY sucked into this (in retrospect it was almost certainly shit) as a very young kid and super hyped to see more. Afaik I never saw it again so am pretty sure it didn't get renewed and never became a thing. In my mind this show was called "Another World" or something similar but it definitely wasn't a daytime soap - it aired in the evening.

Have Googled and asked others about this but no one remembers it.

Does anybody else remember the TV series "My Sister Eileen?"

I think it was on CBS on Wednesday night.

R8 I love the Holden/Jones film, but never realized it was developed for television. Sometimes, when I watch the film, I take a drink everytime Dr. Han Suyin says the word "Eurasian".

A dubbed French show called 'The Flashing Blade' - It was later redubbed by a few comedy shows.

It's About Time

[Italics]It's About Time is an American fantasy/science-fiction comedy TV series that aired on CBS for one season of 26 episodes in 1966–1967. The series was created by Sherwood Schwartz, and used sets, props and incidental music from Schwartz's other television series in production at the time, Gilligan's Island.[Italics/]

[italic]Shirley's World,[/italic] Shirley MacLaine's one and only TV show

I don’t understand why the 1983 crime drama MANIMAL isn’t in reruns. Man solves crime by turning into a panther.

Don't forget the shortlived Man From Atlantis.

Petticoat Juuuunction!

Day By Day starring a pre-Seinfeld Julia Louis-Dreyfus and uber-twink Christoper Daniel Barnes (aka Greg Brady and Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid).

Down to Earth- A dead flapper returns to Earth so she can earn her wings. I loved it when I was four.

Wasn't that based on some odd little movie with our dearest "G" called Maxie?

My parents had cable in the early 80s and allowed us to watch pretty much anything we wanted. Brothers is how I discovered what gay meant.

R21 I tried watching that in my late teens, when I was stuck in a lodging situation where the landlord did not have a TV license but did have old tapes of shows like that. I found it absolutely unwatchably boring, and I'm usually all over swords-and-horses historical drama.

Pete and Gladys. 1960-1962. For some reason, I really liked this show when I was very young.

Parlons Français

Love, American Style. Not forgotten maybe but I’ve never seen it in reruns. I don’t remember anything about the show other than the fireworks in the opening credits.

Brothers reminds me of the nostalgic early days of HBO. I remember this, The Hitcher and various movies played over and over. Time After Time, Tim, and some Japanese ghost story with Eddie Albert Jr.

Another early 80s gem - Ann Jillian is a ghost visible only to a teenage boy in JENNIFER SLEPT HERE

Here's one I can't recall the name of and cannot find reference to anywhere. Interested to see if anyone knows what it is.

It was a very dark spooky kids' fantasy drama from the mid-90s airing in the U.K., which featured creepy realistic-looking Dark Crystal-esque puppets & animatronics. The opening sequence featured animatronic owls in a dark tower, lightning and rain storms over muddy torn-up fields and jagged spires, and rats scurrying around in the night. The opening theme music featured a choir singing what sound to my untrained ear like arpeggiated minor scales up and down, sung rapidly and accompanied by plucking strings and plinking piano chords followed by an organ. There was something forbidding, grim and rural gothic about it, though I think it was supposed to be for children.

Can't remember anything of the plot or characters, only the opening. Perhaps I was too scared to watch it, I don't know.

Time Tunnel

Land of the Giants.

I don't actually remember My Sister Eileen but I know it starred DL fav Elaine Stritch, who had starred in stage productions of the musical Wonderful Town, which is based on the same source material. Rosalind Russell had played the part in both the original film of My Sister Eileen and in Wonderful Town. Stritch had replaced Russell on Broadway and later led the first national tour.

Pete and Gladys was a spinoff of December Bride, a popular CBS sitcom starring Spring Byington. Harry Morgan as Pete was supporting as the next door neighbor, who was always complaining about his wife Gladys, who was never seen in December Bride. Forgotten comedienne Cara Williams played Gladys.

I remember "Prisoner Cell Block H" being my first introduction of the women in prison trope, which has been revived by "Orange is the New Black."

Here Come the Brides

I have never seen this on reruns

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I vaguely remember seeing Prisoner Cell Block H on PBS when I was young.

R40 wrote: "Stritch had replaced Russell on Broadway and later led the first national tour."

No, that was Carol Channing. Stritch did play in WONDERFUL TOWN at City Center for three weeks in 1967.

I've seen Here Come the Brides in syndication, r42, although not lately. It was on one of those nostalgic digital over the air subchannels. I thought it was neither especially good nor embarrassingly bad.

It was obviously inspired by the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which in turn had been based on Stephen Vincent Benét's long poem The Sobbin' Women, which was a spoof of the ancient Roman legend of the Rape of the Sabine Women.

Thanks for the correction, r45. I'm embarrassed.

R30 I loved BROTHERS.

Sadly, handsome (but straight) Paul Regina died at age 49 from liver cancer in 2006

Mission Impossible, The FBI (in color - though not on the basement set I would watch with my dad), The Avengers (the Emma Peel years), Daktari, Mannix

The Smith Family 1971

Arnie

Daktari

Most of you guys missed everything - I used to watch reruns of the Topper TV series when I was three! Loved it, but remember very little except that the Kerbys, the ghosts, had died in an avalanche.

I was also a devotee of Beulah, reruns on channel 5 in the late 1950s, the season with Ethel Waters. I remember her but absolutely nothing about the show.

R18 - are you thinking of Fantastic Journey? If I remember the show correctly, the teenage kid (Escape from Witch Mountain's Ike Eiseman - who was everywhere for awhile) gets separated from his parents in the pilot and tries to get back to them throughout the rest of the series. Unfortunately, I saw one or two episodes, and then if conflicted with my basket ball schedule, and it did not make it to summer repeats. I was really bummed at the time -- but fourth graders don't get much of a choice of when they can use the gym.

[quote[My mother would watch Julia. It's one of the few very early memories I have. I must have been four or five.

Me too, gurl.

I always remember one line. She tells her little boy they're having something special for dinner and he says "Steak?" and she says "No, sorry...steak is too expensive!"

For years I'd always think of them when I had steak.

I was never allowed to stay up for THE PRUITTS OF SOUTHAMPTON, starring Phyllis Dinner (1966-7) because it was on past my bedtime. As far as I know, it's never been shown in syndication nor released on DVD.

TV Guide ranked it number 20 on its TV Guide's 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time list.

There is one episode on You Tube and it was a train wreck, but in a deliciously awful way

Ding Dong School with Miss Francis. NBC, early 50s. I couldn't have been more than three years old but I remember it and it was my favorite show. It won a lot of awards in its day. They is very little footage of it left.

r55, you remind me of the Halloween episode of I'll Fly Away, in which Lilly takes both Adelaine (her daughter) and John Morgan (the boy she takes care of all day) to buy John Morgan's Halloween costume. Adelaine could not look more adorable in the fairy princess costume she tries on, but Lilly has to tell her to put it back as "we can't afford it" as she pays the store owner for John Morgan's costume.

I always think of that the way you do Julia's child and the steak.

I remember loving Topper and Beulah and Amos n Andy! Did you know that some of the Topper scripts were written by a very young Stephen Sondheim?

Lancelot Link (kid's show)

Zéro de conduite - it was an early 80s remake of Vigo's classic movie and took place at a boarding school.

Mannix, Mission Impossible, Land Of Giants, Petticoat Junction, and more of shows mentioned are on nightly/daily on MeTV

The New Zoo Revue Animals Animals Animals The Electric Company

THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE, starring Jackie Coper, and featuring Cleo, the basset hound. The gimmick was that the viewing audience could hear Cleo's (supposedly hilarious) inner thoughts, mostly a running commentary on how stupid humans were.

The show ran 3 seasons from 1955 until 1958 and you'd think it would be forgotten, but in the early 2000s, when I'd be walking my basset hound, invariably some old geezer would stop me and tell me my dog looked just like the 'talking dog on that old TV show'.

People have long memories for the strangest things.

BTW, The voice of Cleo was Mary Jane Croft, immortalized as Betty Ramsey, in the DL Hall of Fame's 'I Have Sufficient' episode of I LOVE LUCY

Mr. Ed isn't rerun that I know of though I remember seeing it in the 80's on Sunday mornings when my local station would run a block of old shows. I think Life with Blondie(?) was in the block along with Dennis the Menace.

One Step Beyond

[quote]It was obviously inspired by the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which in turn had been based on Stephen Vincent Benét's long poem The Sobbin' Women, which was a spoof of the ancient Roman legend of the Rape of the Sabine Women.

Actually, it wasn't at all. It was based on a true story of bringing women to Seattle.

[quote]The series was loosely based upon the Mercer Girls project, Asa Mercer's efforts to bring civilization to old Seattle in the 1860s by importing marriageable women from the east coast cities of the United States, where the ravages of the American Civil War left those towns short of men.

Do they still show Only Fools and Horses in the UK? I dated an English guy who talked about it and so we managed to get hold of the entire series on video. I guess it as popular at one time.

One Step Beyond is still rerun. Last weelend Decades TV strip ran it for one or two days. That music!!!

I don't know if they still show it, R68 - it was ghastly the first time.

Everybody knew Here Come the Brides was inspired by Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (inspired by, not based on). If the public story was that it was based on the bringing of women to Seattle to avoid paying royalties, whatever.

From Wikipedia:

[quote]The producers said the show was inspired by the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in an interview with LA Times TV critic Cecil Smith.

The adventures of Black Beauty on UK tv.

Gentle Ben and Flipper - I've never seen a listing for those.

[italic]Alias Smith and Jones[/italic]

R73 no Lassie either.

R74 I had a crush on Ben Murphy.......there was a shot of him in the bath with his feet sticking out and I used to get these strange hot flashes in my 8 yo tummy

I remember once when I was very young flipping channels, there were only about 5 or 6, and came upon Arthur of the Britons on PBS and was fascinated. To my young eyes, there was some fine men on that show and I would tune in in vain for another episode but back in those days the scheduling was strange and erratic.

Harper Valley PTA (later just Harper Valley) was a sitcom spinoff of the movie starring Barbara Eden and Fannie Flagg. Lasted a couple seasons and showed up on TVLand in the 90s but I haven’t seen it since. Also starred Bridget Hanley of the aforementioned Here Come The Brides.

R52, I have no memory of it, but my parents say I loved [italic]Daktari[/italic] when I was a toddler. Apparently I used to scream and holler at the TV like I was Judy the Chimp. LOL

Wasn't there an old Tarzan series?

R77 pleased to meet you, I'm a fan of AOTB!

And I only became one last year, when someone who knew I was really into Ancient British history and Arthurian lore recommended the show to me. It's now one of my all-time favourite programmes. It's such an original and interesting take on the legends, done in a quintessentially British way. The scenes of the British countryside are breathtaking, and true to life.

I have a huge crush on Michael Gothard, who played Kai the handsome stoical Saxon warrior/life partner to Arthur (based on the Welsh chieftain, giant-king and demigod Cai Hir). I was upset to learn that he committed suicide thanks to poor medication for depression. He was a talented actor with a fine list of credits.

As a little kid Murphy did something for me as well when I caught some of the repeats.

I watched some of the series on Netflix when it was still a DVD system. Murphy still does something for me, but Peter Duel does now as well. Not a good show watching as an adult, but the two stars had charisma and Murphy should have had a better career (and Duel had the same potential). You can also see why recurring guest star Sally Field went on to bigger things.

Oh, R76 ...

R83 Thanks.....he's such a handsome lad

R68 Yes, they still show 'Only Fools and Horses' all day Saturday and Sunday on UKTV Gold. I don't think they'll ever stop.

Sierra

R68, yeah, R85 has it. God, ONLY FOOLS is never not showing here, on at least one channel. The apocalypse will come, and OFAH will still be transmitting into outer space. It isn't a programme of which any lower-to-middleclass Brit could have a vague recollection, because everyone is inevitably force-fed it by older family members from a young age (at least at Christmastime).

UKTV Gold is currently showing Seasons Two and Three concurrently and jumbled up, for some reason. I'm sure you'll be thrilled to learn the entire series is now available to stream in one go on Netflix, Britbox, and other services.

While the character work and timing are impeccable, the show really has dated horribly. Perhaps I'm jaded, but to me it doesn't seem funny or to hold up, the way a sitcom from the same time period like THE YOUNG ONES does. I wonder if it was never very good to begin with, or if the fact that it went on too long (seven seasons, and almost 70 episodes) and then got replayed to death sucked all the humour out of it. It seems far older than its time, like it was written and produced long before the early 80s & 90s. Still, can three BAFTA wins, a consistent 4.9 rating, and over 20 million viewers be that wrong?

Useless trivia moment: I learned recently that the working titles of the show were originally 'Big Brother' & 'Readies', and that some scenes were filmed in the car park of Bristol Football Club ground.

R80 -- Ron Ely was Tarzan -- here is with guest stars, the Supremes .... as nuns.

More Ben

Ben still looks pretty good for nearly 80.

R90 Yes indeed he does.

Josh Lucas comes to mind

Gentle Ben, Flipper and Lassie have all been rerun on those over the air digital subchannels. Lassie even ran from beginning to end several times including that lost season with Cloris Leachman as Timmy and Lassie's mother in between Jan Clayton and June Lockhart, which had never been included in syndication before.

Leachman had hated doing the show and the producers hated her after she gave an interview saying she hated Campbell's Soup and only ate homemade. Campbell's Soup was the show's sponsor at the time.

I think seeing Murphy in his snug fitting pants was one of the first time I realized seeing a man's legs and ass did something to me - and not a bad face either.

my all time favorite and also ahead of it's time : Soap

whoops! that wasn't from childhood.

The Time Tunnel

Room 222

The Courtship of Eddie's Father

I loved "Alias Smith and Jones" and I remember asking my father "I know which one is Smith and the other one is Jones, but who is Alias?"

The Time Tunnel

Room 222

The Courtship of Eddie's Father

I loved "Alias Smith and Jones" and I remember asking my father "I know which one is Smith and the other one is Jones, but who is Alias?"

When I was a kid Pat Robertson's CBN network of all places was the one that played some of the more obscure rerun. I also remember the USA Network when it was transitioning away from being a sports network playing some westerns on Sunday -Virginian, Lancer, and Wanted Dead or Alive - that you did not see repeated as much at the time.

Flipper and Lassie I have seen in syndication a little more frequently than Gentle Ben which I don't think I have seen anywhere since I was a kid. The other show that used to be grouped with them for some reason was Courtship of Eddie's Father.

I also remember Mayberry RFD being repeated as a kid, but not sure I have seen that for years.

[quote] I remember asking my father "I know which one is Smith and the other one is Jones, but who is Alias?"

Tony Orlando and Dawn had a variety show. I remember knowing who Tony was but asked which lady was Orlando and which one was Dawn.

I was typing about Eddie's Father as you were posting.

Same, R97! I was like, "But there's only two of them!"

The Wackiest Ship in the Army and Mister Roberts, both short-lived spin offs from movies. Haven’t seen them since.

Medical Center. Such great memories of Dr. Gannon!

I have never seen Daktari in reruns

Dr. Kildare was a huge hit but you rarely see it in reruns

I was the one asking about OFAH. What struck me about it was how "working class" it was and the depressing council flats which I'd never really seen before. Being a middle class suburban white boy from the South I remember the same impression I got from Welcome Back, Kotter. So grimy and "poor".

I recall seeing Julia in syndication briefly in the early 1980s. Enjoyed watching it, but even a mere 15 years later, watching it was like looking into a time capsule from 1968.

Same station that aired Julia also had the New Dick Van Dyke Show with Hope Lange as Dick's wife and Fannie Flagg as his sister. Would love to see it again.

Speaking of Hope Lange, several years Get TV aired the Ghost and Mrs. Muir. I came to love that show. Was so glad to have seen it. Am surprised it only lasted two seasons when it aired on network TV in 1968.

Get TV also aired Nanny and the Professor. Enjoyed seeing that series too. Juliet Mills was really good as nanny Phoebe Figalilly.

Have never seen Courtship of Eddie's Father in syndication.

Also have never seen Room 222 in syndication, although in the 1990s, Nick at Nite on several occasions recreated the ABC Friday night early 1970s lineup -- Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Room 222, Odd Couple and Love American Style.

The Stockard Channing Show.

Surfside Six

R25, I remember THE MAN FROM ATLANTIS, not just because I enjoyed the premise but also because it was the first show I remember which often showcased a shirtless man.

VEGA$ also often showcased shirtless men, especially Robert Urich.

One of the earliest shows I remember was "Karen," about a teenage girl. I recently learned the Beach Boys sang the opening theme.

R5 "The Name of the Game" seemed so adult and sexy to me. It's real "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" stuff.

Was "Karen" the original Karen?!

[quote]Get TV also aired Nanny and the Professor. Enjoyed seeing that series too. Juliet Mills was really good as nanny Phoebe Figalilly.

I loved the tune.

Soft and sweet, wise and wonderful....

She wasn't THAT great, but still...

This show was a NYC local religious show from the mid 70's, one of those that came on at like 6AM on Sunday morning. I don't remember the name of it but hope someone from the area and my age group may recall it.

This show was for kids and the host was a nun(s) - it was an upbeat show with a few songs and some Sunday school bible talk. They had local kids from Catholic schools on as part of the audience, and it was big deal to get chosen to appear. I remember being jealous when a girl I knew from the neighborhood was picked and she told about being picked up by limo and driven to Manhattan to tape. That was a big deal when you were in 5-6th grade in 70's Brooklyn.

I still remember part of the song that they ended the show with - a woman strumming a guitar and singing "...hope you have a shiny day". Aaah, nostalgia.

R22 I remember being at the bus stop, kids singing the theme song, as the show had been on the previous night. "It's about time....it's about space....." and then fucking with last lyric, adding in some kid's name: "...it's about Richard's ugly face."

I fondly remember "Waterfront" starring Preston Foster as a tugboat captain. A daddy at sea!

"Sgt. Preston of the Yukon," starring Richard Simmons( not THAT one, please) Sigh.

"The Life of Riley" was an incredibly popular sitcom, but I don't believe I've ever seen it in reruns. It starred William Bendix.

Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, even Ronald Colman starred in tv series.

"Hank," starring DL fave Dick Kallman, who was very endearing, you really wanted him to succeed.

The Flying Nun is hardly ever shown anymore that I know of.

"Karen" would've been better if she had been a hairhopper and a delinquent.

Does anyone remember a show called "Out of This World?" It was syndicated and was about a girl whose father was an alien who resided in a crystal box or something. Donna Pescow played her mom, her character's name was Edie, and she could freeze time by touching her index fingers together.

I was only 7 or 8 when it aired, but those are the things I kind of remember. Note: I only know who Donna Pescow is because in the early 2000s I watched Even Stevens, and when she appeared as the mom I recognized her from "Out of This World."

Hot L Baltimore. Loved it.

That was a syndicated sitcom from the late 80s/early 90s, r118. Not sure how long it lasted but at least a few seasons.

Kukla, Fran, and Ollie.

Cecil, the Seasick Sea Serpent

The Ernie Kovaks Show

Maya

My Favorite Martian

anyone remember The Ugliest Girl in Town 1968/9?

Bridget Loves Bernie. Hard to think of the cute young Bridget now a lesbian.

Hawaiian Eye

My dad watched Hee-Haw on Saturday evenings. I fucking hated it with a passion! Even at 4 yrs old!

Topper

I Love Lucy. All I remember of it is people shouting at each other.

I remember going to my grandfather's house (Dad's dad) and he was married to Ruby, a biblethumper. They would watch Porter Waggoner followed by Hee Haw and at some point I believe The Lawrence Welk show would come on.

R129, what a great example of a rarely seen show.

I have no recollection of "Day By Day", but I had the hots for the gorgeous Doug Sheehan every time he popped up on any show, which he frequently did.

WHET to Doug Sheehan?

[quote] [R129], what a great example of a rarely seen show.

Sorry, I misread the OP as "shows that should have been rarely seen and forgotten by all."

Alias Smith and Jones- my whole family watched it. Was it trying to be like the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? It seemed like it to me.

Hot L Baltimore- the one season sitcom where I first saw Conchata Ferrell.

Fish- Abe Vigoda sitcom

Land of the Giants

The Smith Family 1971- "Primrose Lane, life's a fa-mi-ly on Primrose Lane..."

The Jimmy Stewart Show- which ran the same season as The Smith Family. I guess bigger stars Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart figured if Fred MacMurray could score such a huge hit playing a tv Dad, how hard could it be?

The Girl With Something Extra

Me and the Chimp

It's My World and Welcome to It

I loved all of these and I likely saw every episode in their (mostly) single seasons!

Rocky Road. I think it was on TBS.

[quote]I loved all of these and I likely saw every episode in their (mostly) single seasons!

Then hardly "vague recollections".

The Debbie Reynolds Show

Nancy

Swans' Crossing.

Babes.

Motherfucker! Motherfucker!

The Equalizer with (?) Edward Woodward (?) I'm not sure if that's his name. The same square jawed handsome man in the original Wicker Man.

[R18] I think the show you remember was called 'Otherworld'. It is an American science fiction television series that aired for eight episodes from January 26 to March 16, 1985 on CBS. In the first episode, the Sterling family (Hal, June, Trace, Gina, Smith) take a tour of the interior of the Great Pyramid of Giza at the same time as a once-in-ten-thousand-years conjunction of the planets. Inside, they are abandoned by their guide, and as they try to get out, they are mysteriously transported to another planet which may or may not be in a parallel universe. Each episode has the family dealing with the bizarre ways of life in each "Zone," and at the end of the episode, fleeing one Zone for another, pursued by Commander Kroll (Jonathan Banks) and his Zone Troopers. Kroll is intent on revenge, given that the Sterlings stole his high security access crystal, acquired during their disastrous encounter in the first episode. It featured DL fave Tony O'Dell (from 'Head of the Class')

Here are some shows I vaguely remember seeing when they aired, and never again:

Shirley, a sitcom starring Shirley Jones.

Kings Crossing, a primetime soap starring Bradford Dillman and a pre-Terminator Linda Hamilton.

A Fantasy Island rip-off that starred Debbie Reynolds as fake Mr. Roarke and Bill Daily as fake Tattoo. I want to say it was called Aloha, Paradise.

I'm a Big Girl Now starring Diana Canova and Danny Thomas and featuring a young and mostly unknown (in the states) Martin Short.

"Mama" with Peggy Wood. Irene Dunne played title role in movie "I Remember Mama." Read years later, Irene was afraid to do live TV.

Wiseguy

Madame

Pink Lady and Jeff. Who the fuck that was a good idea? WHET to them anyway?

When I was about 3 or 4, I remember watching Welcome Back, Kotter in the living room with my parents. At that point, I was considered too young to really process jokes. I have this memory.

In the episode, for whatever reason, Kotter was teaching, and Horshack was the only student in the classroom. At some point, Kotter posed a question. And Horshack raised his hand and said "Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!" My parents laughed at the joke, and I laughed uproariously. My parents looked at each other, and my dad said "Why is that funny?" And I replied "Cause he's the only one in the class and he's raising his hand!"

I think my parents were impressed that I processed that joke at such a young age. Lemme tell ya, it was all downhill from there.

Crime Story

The Monroes

Petrocelli

And what’s the name of that show where his friend was a ghost ?

My Favorite Martian

My Mother the Car

R148 Yes, Crime Story! I loved Billy Campbell and didn't know why.

Captain Nice

Mighty Isis

R154 I loved Mighty Isis!

Combat

Sixth Sense

Peyton Place

R156 What was Sixth Sense? I only remember the movie.

R157

The Millionaire. It was about a guy who would give a million dollars to some unsuspecting shlubs and change their lives. I loved it!

R160 What is that?

I really enjoyed the short-lived 'The Secrets of Midland Heights' (1980-81) from the producers of 'Knots Landing' and 'Flamingo Road'. It starred Linda Hamilton (pre-'The Terminator'), Lorenzo Lamas (pre-'Falcon Crest), Marilyn Jones, Doran Clark, Daniel Zippi and Bibi Besch. And then that was cancelled and it was retooled to a different show altogether, which I also loved, 'King's Crossing' (1982), which brought back Linda, Doran, Marilyn and Daniel, dropped Bibi and Lorenzo (who was now in 'Falcon Crest'), plus added Bradford Dillman, Mary Frann and Oscar-winner Beatrice Straight. Both shows only ran for 8 episodes each.

R109, I remember it too! I was a little kid at the time, but I had the theme stuck in my head my whole life, and also only in recent years discovered why it was so darn catchy. We must be the only two people on earth ever to watch it. I remember the snarky little sister Mimi, and thinking when I saw The Philadelphia Story much later that she was probably inspired by Dinah.

The New Adventures of Gidget -- there was no Sally Field.

"Ding Dong School with Miss Francis. NBC, early 50s"

I saw her in the hall of my father's office building in New York circa 1963 - she passed me by without even a look at little 6 year old me.

You Ben Murphy enthusiasts know of course that his resemblance to Paul Newman got him TV jobs?

Holy hell R141 that's it. That's definitely it. I remember the pyramid scenes from the first (and iirc only) ep i ever saw. I remember how into that show I was based on that one that one ep more than the show itself. Thank you so much for posting, this has literally been bugging me for 30 years!

(also thank you R54 - that '77 wasn't the one I remembered but you also triggered memories of watching Escape From Witch Mountain on Sundays in the 80s when it would sometimes be on the Disney show).

The Equalizer, all four seasons, is free on the NBC Peacock app. Filmed on location in NYC pre-Disneyfication of Times Sq. and worth watching for that alone. Also lots of early roles for now better known actors.

My dad talked about watching Ding Dong School when he was little. Not sure if it was his or if my mom got it at a garage sale but we had a Ding Dong School book in our house as kids. Didn't hold much interest since we'd never seen the show.

I was trying to remember a one-season show about an American guy who followed a girl back to London and for some reason he had to dress like a woman. He pretended to be a model? I have this image of him wearing a tam o’shanter and a frilly white blouse hanging off a red double-decker bus, being photographed.

Friends and Lovers, with Paul Sands

The Sandy Duncan Show

Cliffhangers, with Susan Anton in the segment called "Stop Susan Williams", and Michael Nouri (as Dracula in the "Dracula" segment)

The Family Holvak - Glenn Ford and Julie Harris as a Depression-era preacher and wife.

[quote]I really enjoyed the short-lived 'The Secrets of Midland Heights' (1980-81)

I remember this show because it was the first time I, as a teenager, was for some reason in the house alone and had complete control of the one tv set in our house.

[italic]The Smith Family[/italic] didn't know if it wanted to be a sitcom or a cop drama, which was reflected in its two sets of opening credits.

[italic]Voyagers!,[/italic] which launched the career of Mr. Jon-Erik Hexum

Apple's Way

Davey And Golaith

[quote]I really enjoyed the short-lived 'The Secrets of Midland Heights' (1980-81)

It featured a number of people I would come to know better, later in the decade: Kathleen Widdoes, Marie Masters, Jenny O'Hara, Mark Pinter, Robert Hogan.

[italic]Ozzie's Girls,[/italic] in which Ozzie and Harriet rent rooms to two groovy chicks. Susan Sennett, the blonde, later married rocker Graham Nash.

Cafe Americain, with Valerie Bertinelli

James at 15.

Quincy

The Cliffhangers! I loved the vampire story, but hated Stop Susan. There was a cowboy and alien stuff in the third story.

[170] Ugliest Girl in Town ran for 17 episodes on ABC during the 1968-1969 season. For rather complex reasons, a Hollywood talent agent must pose as a female model in order to join his fiancee in London. Timothy Blair (Peter Kastner) has a photographer brother named Gene (played by Garry Marshal, creator of 'Lavern & Shirley' and regular on 'Murphy Brown'). Gene lost some important photo shoot pics - so he dresses Timothy up in Hippie chick garb and submits these shots to his London publisher. The publishers think they've found the new 'Twiggy', and 'Timmy' becomes a hot fashion model. As a girl, of course. This works out great for Timothy - he gets to fly back and forth to London where his girlfriend Julie Renfield (Patricia Brake) lives. And he gets to be a supermodel, prancing around go-go London in all the latest mod fashions.

Oh god yes. I remember the part about losing the photos.

Famous Five

Best in the West with Joel Higgins and Meeno Peluce

Just thought of one I remember liking as a kid, but it must have been a summer series because it didn't last long.... "Bird's Eye View," about stewardesses. I liked the theme song. Now that I look it up on YouTube, I see that must have been because the opening was a cartoon.

Here We Go Again (1973) - I had a little crush on Dick Gautier. One of my first.

[italic]Wait Till Your Father Gets Home[/italic]

[quote]I had a little crush on Dick Gautier. One of my first.

I had a super big crush on Dick Gautier when he played Robin Hood in When Things Were Rotten, a short lived 1975 series parodying the Robin Hood legend, from Mel Brooks.

Emerald Point N.A.S.

[quote]I had a super big crush on Dick Gautier when he played Robin Hood in When Things Were Rotten, a short lived 1975 series parodying the Robin Hood legend, from Mel Brooks.

I'll bet he was bi. He was so queeny looking.

Tales of the Gold Monkey

The Charmings

r149 Loved that show. Michael Anderson sure was cute.

r151 I don't know why "My Mother the Car" gets such a bad rap, I enjoyed it.

r153 I seem to remember a similar show("Mr. Fantastic"?) came out around the same time. Who leaked?

r156/r158 "Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams." That Bible quote appeared in the opening credits, it was on a sign out front of the institute. Have no idea why that has stuck in my head all these years.

r185 Leonard Frey played the town villain, and not too butch.

"Mr. Lucky" Based on the Cary Grant film, John Vivyan was subbing Mr. Grant.

R140/R168 William Zabka was beautiful in THE EQUALIZER.

ROOMIES with Corey Haim.

In retrospect, knowing all we know about his tortured youth, it is very disturbing. All I remember of it is how the older lead actor had paws all over the poor kid.

Talented and entertaining as Haim was, I get why they don’t show this one anymore.

Car 54, Where Are You? It was the story of two New York City cops based in the fictional 53rd precinct in The Bronx. Car 54 was their patrol car. Starred Joe E. Ross and Fred Gwynne, who later enjoyed greater fame as Herman Munster. Al Lewis also was in the "54" cast and later joined Gwynne as Grandpa Munster.

Never Too Young

That Was the Week That Was

Steptoe and Son

T.H.E. Cat

I think it was called Northport. A group of 20 something guys - a Wall Street banker, a programmer, a cop, an army officer, a loser, a teacher are having life issues taking place against Operation Desert Storm, and keep having flashbacks to their boyhood on the North Shore of Long Island, when life was idyllic except for the very bad thing that happened which made them lose their innocence.

That would have been interesting, r199. I don't find anything called Northport, or even North Shore (except shows set in HI), on IMDB, however.

Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat. That show made such an impression on me, I wanted to be a cat burglar when I grew up (despite being such a scaredy-cat). I remembered Robert Loggia forever after, he certainly had an enviable career.

Earth 2 - a 90s science fiction show on NBC that lasted one season. I remember everyone in my family loving it when I was kid.

Seemed like there was a lineup of police/detective shows every night

One night would be SWAT and Canon Another night Barnaby Jones and Chips Another night would be Rockford Files, FBI, and Simon & Simon

It was just endless and Mom had to watch them all.

Don't forget Streets of San Francisco, Kojak, and Barney MIller

[quote]Don't forget Streets of San Francisco, Kojak, and Barney MIller

What's vague about them?? They ran for years.

Wasn't Dick Gautier in Get Smart? I seem to remember him playing a handsome robot spy or some such character.

I loved the Afternoon Specials. Or was it After School Specials. I guess I didn't really 'love' them if I can't remember their name.

Friends!

I wish someone would produce a collection of all the Bicentennial Minute segments, if they still exist.

Room 222. Never seen it in reruns.

I cannot remember the name of the show, but it was broadcast in the US sometime in the late 70s or around 1980. I believe it was an Australian import. It depicted a society where the roles of the sexes were reversed....women went to work and men were the homemakers.

I remember a bunch of shows in syndication airing in the afternoons when I was growing up:

"Please Don't Eat the Daisies"

"The Streets of San Francisco"

"The Ghost and Mrs. Muir"

"The Courtship of Eddie's Father"

"Nanny and the Professor"

The Farmer's Daughter

Get Christie Love!

R210 same

The Ghost and Mrs Muir is on Youtube in it's entirety.

Not exactly my childhood, more like HS, but the one they will never show is The Days And Nights of Molly Dodd.

It was perfect for my pretentious mug cradling gayling self, who wanted to be sophisticated like Molly with a beautiful old apartment, quirky friends and neighbors, and nerdy, hot pieces of ass like David Straithairn all around me.

Rowan and Martin's "Laugh-In"

Happy. A toddler whose thoughts you could hear. His parents owned a motel in some desert-like place. His name was Hap Good Day Junior (or something like that) “but you can call me Happy”.

R194 - the show you're thinking of is Mr. Terrific.

R187, R189, R191, Dick Gautier was the original Conrad Birdie in BYE BYE BIRDIE on Broadway.

"It's To Laugh," a short-lived "Laugh-In" style show

"Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home" anomated series

"The New Show" sketch comedy series

"Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers"

"Some of My Best Friends," a gay/straight roommates comedy

Mary Tyler Moore Show

My Mom watched "Girl Talk" with Virginia Graham.

My sister liked "Sea Hunt," while I liked "Flipper."

I watched "Romper Room," "Hobo Kelly" and "Sherriff John."

"Getting Together," which starred pop star Bobby Sherman of the "Here Come the Brides" show, and whose pilot episode was actually an episode of "The Partridge Family," so it might be considered a spinoff of that show

As a gayling I loved "Maya," which starred Jay North (previously on "Dennis the Menace") and Sajid Khan (teen idol actor from India). There was one episode where they went skinnydipping, and I almost felt dizzy. I can't remember which episode though.

R225 great find, now I remember. I think I might try watching some on Youtube. Thanks.

I had a crush on James Naughton in the 1974 TV series "Planet of the Apes."

STINGRAY, the nautical cousin to THUNDERBIRDS.

It was the first British tv programme shown in colour.

r227, I preferred David Naughton

The Mothers-in-Law - although I have recently seen the entire series somewhere (Youtube?).

What was that show with Joe Penny and that curly haired blond doctor from St. Elsewhere where they had the boat? My mom loved that because of the two leading men. My dad liked it because of the car.

Riptide

Daria - I think it was on MTV?

American Bandstand

I recall a show on NBC, that had contestants recreate scenes from classic movies. I don't remember if this show was serious or Jokey, but I'm pretty sure that the "winner" of each episode would get a small role in an upcoming movie.

For example, I remember a couple had to do the famous beach scene from "From Here to Eternity" on a soundstage that was covered with sand. There were movie cameras and a "director" who told them their lines, then yelled "action". I recall that they had rigged it so a bunch of water was released to simulate the surf coming in and the force of the water just washed over the "actors" like a tidal wave. Pretty sure this scene took several takes until the director was satisfied. This was on NBC (I think) and it was a short-lived summer show.

It's About Time, I vaguely remember that series. I don't recall if being entertaining.

Look at that cast: Frank Aletter (he was married to Lee Meriwether), Imogene Coca (1950s comedy star), Joe E. Ross (Car 54, Where Are You?), Mike Mazurki (think he was originally a wrestler, he usually played thugs and gangsters), Jack Mullaney (usually played bland Waspy characters) and Cliff Norton (comedian and comedic actor).

Rupert Evert - in his prime

^^^ Everett

R235 - I think that was "Don Adams' Screen Test". It was a lot of fun.

I have vague memories of Room 222.

I loved Batman.

Wow, Maya was apparently filmed in Kashmir. As a kid I assumed it was India (ish) but as an adult I’m surprised it wasn’t Florida.

Wrong thread! Sorry!

Yes! Thanks, R239.

"Big Eddie", with Sheldon Leonard as a mobster trying to "go straight". Also starred Sherri North as his wife and a pre-"Goodbye Girl" Quinn Cummings as his daughter.

Brooklyn Bridge

I'll Fly Away

"The Paul Lynde Show" -- the only good memory I have of this is the theme song:

Double Trouble starring Liz & Jean Sagal

“Please don’t eat the daisies.” “My Mother the Car” and “Karen”. Karen wasn’t a complainer in the 60s.

Westward Ho.

Oh sorry, it was Guestward Ho. Running a dude ranch in NM.

Car 54 (Where Are You?) was on MeTV's rotation for awhile, then it vanished.

MeTV also had Kojak as part of their late night "LE/detective/suspense" rotation, but it went away. Kojak is on Cozi-TV but too early on Saturday mornings for me....

As for OP's question; in no particular order...

Dark Shadows

Chiller horror movies (that hand coming out of ground was cause of no end of childhood nightmares).

Love American Style

The 4:30 Movie

ABC Movie Of The Week

Barney Miller

Syfy used to show Dark Shadows

Pete and Gladys

Boris Karloff's Thriller

Decades is "Binge"-ing Dark Shadows as I type this.

Zoobilee Zoo, a kids show best experienced high on something- it aired on PBS in the 80s and starred Ben Vereen.

MeTV also had Boris Karloff's "Thriller" on their rotation (Sunday nights IIRC), but they dropped it

With this current mania for rebooting old television shows wonder why no one has done Dark Shadows. It still has a decent cult following, and given modern fascination with vampires would seem a natural.

Men of a Certain Age - Ray Romano, Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula as three buddies in their middle years. It was very heartfelt and funny. Plus, the great Alanna Ubach had small recurring role. I don't think the show made it through one complete season.

MeTV needs to change up their late/overnight detective/LE rotation. Mannix, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, and Highway Patrol have been on and done to death.

Am sort of ok with Mannix and Cannon episodes over and over again, but Barnaby Jones stinks. Only reason watch is to gaze upon young Mark Shera, otherwise cannot understand who green lighted that show. Someone must have owed Buddy Ebsen or something.

I liked the Naked City series, especially for the old New York locations. One of the cable channels ran it late at night a few years ago.

[quote]Then hardly "vague recollections".

Well, I can't tell you a thing about the supporting casts or any particular episodes, nor have I thought about them much in forty plus years, but thanks for taking the time to be a fucking fun-hating pill!

Tim Curry's big final number!

Pardon post R263, totally incorrect thread!

Carry on..

I remember a show from maybe the 80s or 90s about late night TV shows that we may have mis-remembered or saw on drugs. It was produced by Lorne Michaels and was very odd. Even at the time, the morning after watching it you weren't sure about what you saw...

Hi, Honey I'm Home

[quote]With this current mania for rebooting old television shows wonder why no one has done Dark Shadows. It still has a decent cult following, and given modern fascination with vampires would seem a natural.

There was a 90s reboot that bombed, and a 2004 pilot that didn't sell. Nevertheless, the CW announced another reboot last year, but that's the last anyone heard of it.

Fernwood Tonight

Fernwood Tonight reminds me of Soap. Is that showing anywhere?

Finder of Lost Loves (1984ish)

R267

Thank you for those bits of information. Maybe it's truly a case of never being able to go home again...

IMHO part of the lure of Dark Shadows was how it was filmed live on tape thus no retakes which meant good, bad or whatever it was done and in the can with no retakes. IMHO that lent a sort of special nature to the series; indeed find same with many television dramas/shows from 1950's and 1960's.

Recall reading something where actors involved with programs like Studio 57 said working under those conditions (live filming, no retakes) forced everyone to know their stuff. You had to know your lines, marks, etc... because once "action" was said that was it; cameras rolled.

r211, I think the show you're thinking of was "All That Glitters" with Greg Evigan, Barbara Baxley, Eileen Brennan , Anita Gillette, Chuck McCann and Linda Gray.

It was produced by Norman Lear and had that "Mary Hartman" flavor. If I'm not mistaken it was at first run in syndication late nights five days a week like a soap, but that didn't last long. It might have been funny, but as I was a young teen I didn't really get it and found it depressing.

Missing Persons, starring gays Daniel J Travanti and Jorja Fox

Cop Rock - a Glee for the 90s

Daniel J. Travanti

Miss Ghurl was hot in her day.

There has to be dirt out there somewhere......

R271 YES, Studio 57 and some of those half-hour director focused shows. All live and either unforgiving or introducing us to future stars.

Not a show per se but; Schoolhouse Rock!

For DL grammar queens!

What is a verb?

Conjunction Junction!

I loved the one about how a bill passed congress!

If you were a boomer kid (born in 1960's) , chances are very high you know Schoolhouse Rock from 1970's.

There were other ways to learn English grammar from old television shows..

My earliest memory of understanding "pronouns" came from Bugs Bunny.

I was more of a teenager, but "Legmen" (1984), with John Terlesky. I'm amazed that there's at least one episode on Youtube, because it only ran for two months.

I dream of Jeannie That Girl Bewitched Mary Tyler Moore WKRP Cincinnati Mr. Ed

More rarely seen shows from R285.

The 'Pruitts of Southampton' with Phyllis Diller and 'The Mother-in-Laws' with Kaye Ballard and Eve Arden. Even at 5 years old, I was attracted to Eve's son Jerry because he looked like he would be grateful in bed. Both absurd situation comedies with loud woman in the starring roles.

"Occasional Wife" with Michael Callan

"The Invaders" with Roy Thinness

Two 45-minute back-to-back shows on Monday night "Music Scene" with David Steinberg as sort of a video Casey Kasem, and "The New People" with annoying teenagers forced to build a new civilization.

"The Monroes" with Barbara Hershey

R206 yes, he was Jaime the robot in get smart

Lee Pussyweather

R283 I was also introduced to opera and classical music by Bugs Bunny.

PBS had a series about classical music and dance. I remember an episode with Leonard Bernstein and another where Gene Kelly demonstrated how sports and dance could be merged.

WHET "Mork and Mindy" and "Perfect Strangers"

Both shows had very long runs but don't seem to have been picked up again.

[quote]Finder of Lost Loves (1984ish)

Hi hussy

Many of these shows aforementioned are readily available. ME-TV shows The Invaders, Land of the Giants, Planet of the Apes, and The Time Tunnel. Dark Shadows is streamable on Amazon Prime and Tubi. The Monroes (complete series) is very cheap to buy on DVD. Bootleg DVDs of rare TV series are sold all over the internet (just Google the series' name and "DVD" and "complete series"); I have purchased *rare* series such as Double Trouble, Hail to the Chief (Patty Duke), Jennifer Slept Here (Ann Jillian), and Emerald Point N.A.S. (Andrew Stevens, Sela Ward, and the McGyver guy).

Dancing Is A Man's Game ran on NBC in 1958. It starred Gene Kelly (who loved sports), and showed how dance could be merged with sports.

Intent was obvious; to convince young boys (and their fathers) that there was nothing automatically sissified about men wanting to be professional dancers.

R293 Mork and Mindy doesn't age well. RW was manic and only funny to people who believed they were cool at the time. His whole shtick is nonsense. He wasn't clever, simply manic and lucky.

R293, Mork and Mindy is on Antenna TV and Perfect Strangers is on Hulu.

R224

Wonder if Bobby Sherman is ever going to open up and spill dirt on his relationship with Sal Mineo; professional and or otherwise.

R298

TW!

Sorry,,

Meant "TY".

Carry on...

R293 Mork & Mindy was a big hit in its first season, but then ratings took a downward turn and it only lasted four seasons, with big changes in the cast each season. It didn't make the magic number (100) of episodes that meant syndication back then, so it dropped off the radar for years.

[quote]Dancing Is A Man's Game ran on NBC in 1958. It starred Gene Kelly (who loved sports), and showed how dance could be merged with sports.

[quote]Intent was obvious; to convince young boys (and their fathers) that there was nothing automatically sissified about men wanting to be professional dancers.

R296 Do you know if this is available anywhere?

I wish TPTB would bring back the old "Run for Your Life" reruns. That series had a lot of celebrity guest stars like "Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island" a decade later.

R303

Where America shops!

R9 I loved Mad Movies. There was one where they did a Shirley Temple movie and overdubbed it to make her sound like she was possessed by Satan, lol.

Also on eBay......

Lucan — about a boy raised by wolves who grew up to be Kevin Brophy. It came on in 1977-78, but not many episodes.

R306 I need to find this show on DVD or streaming. Thank you!

Crazy Like a Fox (1984-1986), starring Jack Warden and John Rubenstein. Never officially released on DVD but I bought the complete series (and reunion movie) from my favorite DVD bootlegger.

On slightly off topic note; IIRC Gene Kelly suited starring role in OBC of "Pal Joey" because not only was he a great dancer, but a "man's man", and thus very believable as a man who was randy for the ladies.

Fred Astaire could handle the dancing and singing, but just cannot picture him as a shirt hound in same way.

Not from childhood, but there was a much-hyped network drama in the 90s called "Tribeca." I think Robert De Niro was involved somehow.

A short lived series I loved was on ABC 1999-2000. It was sometimes considered the Los Angeles version of Seinfeld, called "It's like, you know." Very smart and clever, interlocking plots that came together nicely.

Network cancelled it to introduce "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire."

[quote]I think Robert De Niro was involved somehow.

R312 You lost me right there...

Not Necessarily the News. I remember my sister and I would stay up late to watch it. There was one where Jay North was a serial killer and he was running around dressed as Dennis Mitchell. No one remembers that show.

R311

Correction; skirt hound, not "shirt".

R302

It was those huge changes to season 2 that prompted a dramatic decline in M&M ratings. Suits tried to reverse course and right that ship, but it was too late, Mork and Mindy never recovered initial successful high ratings.

r306 The best one they did was the send-up of Cyrano deBergerac. The "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" bit was very funny. "I love sugar."

Any fans of "My Living Doll"?

What was the comedy series that we saw 4 distinct personalities inside the actor's head? Three were male, one female, IIRC?

"Whoops!" Comedy series about 6(?) disparate people who somehow survive a nuclear holocaust. Hilarity ensued, but not enough to sustain it, unfortunately.

"East Side/West Side." George C. Scott as a social worker dealing with some very gritty stuff in NYC. Very dark and brooding, too much of a downer for many, probably. It lasted a single season.

I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster about two handymen? plumbers? with John Astin before he did Addams Family

Cartoon Network came out when I was super young, but that's who watched cartoons. I've always vaguely remembered watching this show before my memories were fully forming. They only had really old cartoons to air at first.

Thanks, R272!

Mork & Mindy was backdoor pilot from Happy Days.

R36. Kenneth The Page mentioned Jennifer Slept Here on 30 Rock/

The New Zoo Review. This outtake video is hilarious.

"On Our Own" was a one-season show in 1978-79. All I truly recall are the opening credits and Dixie Carter as "April."

But it's now on Amazon Prime. I watched the pilot. It's bad! Notable now for co-starring Lynnie Greene who played "Dorothy" in "Golden Girls" flashback segments.

R318 wrote:

[quote]What was the comedy series that we saw 4 distinct personalities inside the actor's head? Three were male, one female, IIRC?

Herman's Head

"Hot Hero Sandwich", NBC's "SNL meets 60 Minutes" hybrid aimed at pre-teens (IIRC, it was taped in SNL's old Studio 8H). I actually liked it, and despite winning a Daytime Emmy, it never really found its audience because it was constantly preempted by live sports broadcasts.

"3 Girls 3", a 1977 NBC variety show created to showcase three talented unknowns -- Debbie Allen, Ellen Foley, and Mimi Kennedy. I remember it received a lot of hype, but it ultimately lasted only 4 episodes (all are on YouTube).

Debbie performing "The Music and the Mirror" on the show:

[quote] I remember asking my father "I know which one is Smith and the other one is Jones, but who is Alias?"

That was a strange episode - I believe if the show had not already jumped the shark at that point - it would have been its jump the shark moment. I can see why the Fonz became a break-out character and why the increased his role, but the level they had the majority of the characters on the show worship him was a bit.

I was in grade school when Mork premiered and in some ways its target audience. Even though it ran more than two seasons, the swiftness of its decline and ratings and being a show people talked about in year 2 was really amazing. I would maybe throw Twin Peaks in that category, although that might have had more of a cult following ratings wise as well. I am not sure how quickly Miami Vice's ratings declined, but that also seems like it was the hot show and all over pop culture and it had already cooled off by season 2 and was just another detective show by season 3 (although I was in college by then -- and my awareness of what was on TV weekend evenings was at a bit of a low).

Someone mentioned After School Specials and School House Rock. Along with School House Rock - they would have little health tips by a cartoon character called Time for Timer. They were on for years, so I remember the little 30 or 60 second blurbs, but the character was in a longer school house special where he takes some kids in their ?Dad's? body and can see the effect of unhealthy living. That is what I have a vague recollection.

The quote at R329 was supposed to be this - guess I had not copied anything on my computer since yesteday.

[quote]Mork & Mindy was backdoor pilot from Happy Days.

[quote]That was a strange episode - I believe if the show had not already jumped the shark at that point - it would have been its jump the shark moment.

It must not have jumped the shark enough because Happy Days brought back Mork in the following season. Yes, Mork appeared TWICE on Happy Days, a show about the 1950s.

Hodgepodge Lodge, a children's nature show on PBS, hosted by the somewhat mannish Miss Jean

The first tv show I have a strong memory of was a musical tv show my older sister desperately wanted to watch. It was a SPECIAL, she said breathlessly. My father, a violent and unpleasant man, usually ruled the tv with an iron fist, but this time my sister, who inherited some of his pushiness, prevailed.

She settled into her position directly in front of the tv and watched as it started. First the cartoon peacock. Then there was a pretty lady driving in a car. I remember it still, so clearly. She started singing. I remember thinking it’s a good thing daddy isn’t in the car or he’d smack her — he hated singing in the car.

Then there was an RC cola commercial. We didn’t drink that stuff — we were coke people. The commercial was super boring and went on forever. Then the show came back and it was the pretty lady singing again, but then it turned into another commercial for rc cola — with the lady from the show! I was about to give up on this dumb show that was just a commercial when the show started again and the lady drove up to a balloon and then, it was the most amazing thing four year old me had ever seen!

For years, when I got older, I thought this was some sort of dream I had had, but once the Internet was invented I researched it and found out it wasn’t a dream — it was something I’d actually seen.

Omnibus

"Winky Dink and You" ran in black and white in the 1950s and in color in the 1960s. Your parents ordered the kit which had a magic screen that you placed on the TV screen, rubbed it with the magic cloth to make it stick, then drew on it with the magic crayons. You would draw a key element to help Winky Dink, such as a ladder, etc.

Don't Drink the Water, a 1969 film based on a play by Woody Allen.

In retrospect, a very good cast. It fascinated me, because I was too young to hear the difference between Vulgaria and Bulgaria, so I assumed it was some sort of documentary.

I have not seen it on TV for decades, but as a child, I remember watching it several times.

Bracken's World

I have a weird memory of a 1960s black-and-white show (crime drama maybe), specifically a scene where a young woman is having some kind of psychotic break....she's cradling a doll or other inanimate object and singing a kind of lullaby, "Freddie, Freddie....Freddie is pretty." At least that's my probably distorted childhood memory. I wonder what it was.

Apple's Way

"The Governor and JJ" was a big-budget CBS sitcom that premiered in the Fall of 1969 with great fanfare

It starred Dan Dailey and Julie Sommars. Julie Sommars seemed to be one of those young actresses who had been chosen to become a Star.

The show focused on William Drinkwater (Dailey), a governor in an unnamed Midwestern state, who, in lieu of his late wife, had a "first lady" in his 20-something year-old daughter, Jennifer Jo (Sommars). J.J., as Jennifer Jo was called.

It was supposed to represent the "Generation Gap" - JJ was an unconventional young women with Liberal views. Her father was traditional and Conservative.

In spite of all the promotion, the show didn't meet the network's expectations - it got cancelled mid-season of Season 2,

In December 1970, it was replaced by a new show with no big-name stars called "All in the Family" .

Circus Boy, starring Mickey Dolenz (future Monkee) and Noah Beery.

Love, Sidney

Rin Tin Tin

My Friend Flicka

Fury

I watched a PBS childrens educational show called Zoom. It had tween kids singing and dancing, doing skits with a slant towards educational topics. They always ended the show with the cast singing the address kids could write to: "Write Zoom, zee double O em, Box 350, Boston, Mass 02134".

Konrad on PBS. It had Polly Holiday and was about a weird kid. I can’t remember if he was a robot or what,

From same time as "Zoom" there was also "The Electric Company", still remember the title song to this day ....

What is amazing is how many young actors got their early start on these PBS/Children's Television Workshop programs.

Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin and Skip Hinnant though already doing stage and improv work, also did Electric Company.

Judy Graubart was fantastic. She was part of Second City troupe and also short lived CBS television show "Comedy Tonight".

Milwaukee television promos from 1960's/1970's. Where there no POC ? They managed to find just one.

Isn't so much many television shows one recalls from childhood, but the commercials. Maybe because one couldn't get away from them, but also many were very well produced, developed and so forth.

Peyton Place

Please Don't Eat the Daisies, the TV show. Our neighbors got a dog and named it Ladadog!

Does anyone remember That was the Week that Was?

My parents watched it but I have never heard anyone ever mention it. Ever.

You Are There

The Loner

Was thinking about "Please Don't Eat The Daisies" just the other day... Was remembering in one's mind the intro narration about "..... we have four, two singles and a pair of twins". With the last bit camera cut to one of the twins telling his brother "smile, they're taking our picture....".

Twins were still rather rare back in 1960's and 1970's, with families having them seeing all sort of endless fuss made over them; there was even a club for such mothers (Mothers of Twins Club). Of course nowadays thanks to IVF/surrogacy twins and even triplets are far more common with many parents gay or straight having at least one set of multiple birth children. Some doubling down on that bet have two....

Please don’t eat my pussy

NBC News Overnight. Linda Ellerbee and Lloyd Dobyns where the host. One of the most informative news programs.

R357

And so it goes......

Don't know if there is an American equivalent, but for UK some wonderful people have created a searchable database of British television shows.

R367 Linda Ellerby also did a news show just for kids. I was an adult at the time and loved it! She broke down complicated issues into understandable language. RIP

A show about a female detective with a pet ocelot. Anyone remember the name of the show? It was in the 1960s.

Honey West, r361. Bruce, the ocelot, was played by Bruce, the ocelot.

R353- I remember that show and its theme song. My parents watched it and at the time I couldn’t understand how there could be an entertaining show about the news.

I don’t think anyone’s mentioned the show Married the a First Year about struggling teen newlyweds. It starred the handsome Leigh McCloskey who had been Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn about teen whores with Eve Plum. I’m sure there must have been some shirtless scenes and lightly furry chest as I remember being very excited by them.

Glitter (1986-1987)

Sons and Daughters.

r361 - Honey West

I Married Dora.

Honey West was very cool. Her sidekick was named Sam.

I have Honey West on DVD.

I remember Not Necessarily the News. I seem to remember that around the same time as Brothers and the HBO movies I've mentioned before. Tim and Time After Time.

I remember some pilot with Alan Alda's fug daughter. There may have been just one or maybe more. It didn't make the cut and it was dreadful. I think it was about a girl leaving home for either college or just moving out to a new city. This was back when Alda was big from MASH. I googled it but can't find a trace of it.

My favorite Schoolhouse Rock was Figure 8. Very haunting song.

R1 scares me

Just the Ten of Us

I used to love Just the Ten of Us

As a very young kid, I remember loving this show "The Good Guys", although I'm not sure why. I think it was just because it starred Bob Denver, who I knew from "Gilligan", and I got a kick out of seeing him in another role.

It only lasted a season, I think, so of course it never made it to reruns. Also starred Herb Edelman (aka Stanley Zbornak) and Joyce Van Patten.

This was a failed attempt at an "All in the Family" knock-off that I watched as a kid..."Love Thy Neighbor".

A black couple and a white couple live next door to each other! What a wacky concept! Oh, the hilarity!!!

It might be the only thing I ever saw Joyce Bulifant in as an actress; I only remember her as a perennial game show "celebrity".

Amos and Andy, December Bride, Life of Riley, Sheriff John’s Lunch Brigade (with Crusader Rabbit cartoons), I Married Joan, Art Linkletter’s House Party, Love That Bob, Queen for a Day, My Little Margie, Mickey Mouse Club, What’s My Line, Beat the Clock, the Honeymooners, the Red Skelton Show, the Burns and Allen Show, the Jack Benny Show, the Ozzie and Harriet Show, Whirlybirds, Sea Hunt, and more if I think a little longer….

No one likes fucking list R378.

H. R. Pufnstuf and Lidsville WERE my childhood.

I wanted to BE Witchiepoo and HooDoo

Linda Ellerbe narrated the intro to Baby Boom. 1980s Manhattan women are walking to work... "Sociologists say the new working woman is the phenomenon of our time. As little girls they were told to marry doctors and lawyers, instead they grey up and became doctors and lawyers."

I'm too young to have seen her news shows, but YouTube. She was a broke Texas housewife who got a job in local news to pay bills and wound up in New York, with a fabulous townhouse, hosting a nightly national news program.

Witchiepoo was also in the cast of Paul Lynde's 1976 Halloween special, along with Margaret Hamilton and a fun cast.

Paul Lynde, Margaret Hamilton, Betty White, Tim Conway, Florence Henderson, Billie Hayes as Witchiepoo, Roz Kelly, Billy Barty, briefly Donny and Marie Osmond and 3 songs by KISS in their first TV appearance.

My dad was a journo in DC and knew Linda. I'll have to ask him about her. He hobnobbed with a lot of DC journalists back in the day and went to that big dinner thing they have with the president.

Car 54 Where Are You? featured in its title song a mysterious entity called Idlewild. While New York place names were pretty familiar, by the time the show reached Australia in the mid- 60s, we children were completely flummoxed about what this could be.

My Two Dads

My Sister Sam

Just the Ten of Us

What was the show, took place in the Everglades. The guy was a sheriff or a game warden. He was always riding on an airboat which looks like a lot of fun. Lincoln something of the Everglades was the theme song.

Perhaps, r386, the show you are remembering is Everglades!

r386 Is the series you're talking about Gentle Ben, starring Dennis Weaver and Clint Howard (Ron Howard's little brother). Set in the Florida Everglades, it ran two seasons 1967-69.

Another of my earliest TV memories: Virginia Graham and her stupendous hair.

[r8] sounds like it could be Otherworld from1985.

[quote]Car 54 Where Are You? featured in its title song a mysterious entity called Idlewild. While New York place names were pretty familiar, by the time the show reached Australia in the mid- 60s, we children were completely flummoxed about what this could be.

Idlewild was the former name of John F. Kennedy International Airport in NYC, in the borough of Queens, NY, to be precise. There is also an Idlewild in Michigan and The Allman Brothers titled their second LP, Idlewild South. Yet, there is no city called Idlewild in their home state.

Google is always your friend. I'm from NYC, we were told in school that Idlewild Airport was re-named Kennedy Airport..

LOL, r387. It *was* Everglades. “Lincoln Vail of the Everglades” was the theme song, linked below.

"Ghost Story", an anthology series from 1972 that was sort of a poor man's "Night Gallery", although I thought the stories were pretty good (and scary). One story I remember was a woman terrorized by the ghost of a vicious Doberman. Another episode I remember was about a woman terrorized by -- a giant rocking horse? Hey, I was 6 and it was scary, what do you want?

I can't remember "Ghost Story" (aka "Circle of Fear") ever being rerun since its cancellation -- not even on the retro channels. Luckily, several episodes are posted on YouTube.

Tribes. It was a soap opera on Fox in 1990 I think? I want to say it was in black & white but I a... vague recollection. I think it about teenagers in NYC. Or maybe LA.

I watched Tribes (it was in color and started in 1990). Also another syndicated, teenish soap called Swan's Crossing (1992). I think Sarah Michelle Gellar was on Swan's; looks like there are two episodes of that show on Tubi (free).

The story of renaming Idlewild to JFK.

(By the way, there is also Idyllwild, California, a small and pretty mountain resort town about an hour drive from Palm Springs.)

Yes R395, Sarah Michelle Gellar was on Swans Crossing before she got All My Children. Future Oscar winner Mira Sorvino was also on Swans Crossing.

"Our World" with Linda Ellerbee and Ray Gandolf. They would take a certain year or event in a year and run through the history with interviews and film footage. It ran for one season on ABC on Thursday nights up against the "The Cosby Show" which slaughtered it in the ratings. It was a fun and interesting hour for those of us who were not Cos fans.