Mission:Impossible and MASH

You may not think that these two classic TV shows have anything in common. Well, they were not produced by the same studios (Desilu/Paramount and 20th Century Fox, respectively.) They didn't share the same stars (although Larry Linville and Loretta Swit both guest-starred on episodes of M:I before being cast on MASH). They did share the same network, CBS-TV, but that isn't what we're here to celebrate.

No, both of these classic TV shows made their broadcast debuts on the same night: September 17. Mission appeared first, on September 17, 1966. MASH followed six years later on September 17, 1972.

Another coincidence.....both series had casts that were largely different by the time their series ended! Of the four or five leads on Mission: Impossible in its first year, only Greg Morris and Peter Lupus lasted the whole seven years. And on MASH, of course, only Loretta Swit and Alan Alda lasted all eleven years (although Jamie Farr and William Christopher were supporting characters in the first years before becoming regular cast members). And because they both had vast cast changes, neither of their original line-ups are my favorites! 

So celebrate Classic Television by watching an episode of Mission:Impossible or MASH. Or both!

the original M:I cast

all-time classic M:I cast (1967-1969)

  

Larry Linville played an Eastern bloc military man

in a 1968 M:I episode

Loretta Swit played an old girl-friend of Peter Graves 

in a 1970 M:I episode

 the original MASH cast circa 1974

my favorite MASH cast with BJ, Potter, and Frank (1975-77)

Happy Birthday, Lt Col(ret) Frank Burns, MD!

Lt. Col Frank Marion Burns was born on June 13, 1914. He grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana where he attended St. Jude's Academy, then Indiana University. During University he enrolled in the ROTC. He graduated in 1934 and then attended Indiana University School of Medicine-Fort Wayne. He graduated in 1940. When World War II broke out in 1941 he was immediately commissioned as an Army Major and was assigned to assist in military physicals at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis. He spent the entire war at this post, where he served adequately. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, Burns was assigned to one of the newly-created Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals that were set two miles from the front-lines. He was awarded a Purple Heart in 1951 after he was wounded by a shell due to the proximity of combat. After nearly two years of honorable service he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and transferred to Linville Medical Center in Indianapolis. He retired from the Army with full military honors in 1964. He died April 10, 1972 from a heart attack brought on by high blood pressure.*

















*Well, it COULD be true.....! ;-)

Happy Birthday, Gary Burghoff!

The actor from MASH who had the first relationship with his character is Gary Burghoff as "Radar."  This is because he is the only actor to have appeared in the 1970 Robert Altman MASH film and then go onto join the cast of the TV series, too. Character actor Roger Bowen portrayed Col. Henry Blake in the movie; McLean Stevenson portrayed him on TV. Rene' Auberjonais portrayed Father Mulcahy in the movie: William Christopher portrayed him on TV (in every appearance except for the pilot.) The list goes on and on. However, Gary was Radar in the movie, and then two years later when Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds adapted the movie for television, Gary was cast as Radar again. He stayed with the TV series for seven years.

Today is Gary's birthday, so for all his Emmy Award-winning TV work but also especially for his film work (because today is Film Friday) we wish Gary a very happy day!

Happy Birthday, Gary Burghoff!

Burghoff with Roger Bowen as Lt. Col Henry Blake

 

 

John Schuck as "Painless Pole" (left), unknown,

Burghoff, and Bowen as Henry

 

Rene Auberjonais as Father Mulcahy, Bowen as Henry, Burghoff  

 

The TV Series Cast from the First Season

(The character of Klinger was NOT in the movie)

National Library Week: TV Tuesday Books

To mark National Library Week, this week I am writing about some of my favorite books in my chosen topics: Monday Music, TV Tuesday, Wednesday Comics, and Film Fridays. Today being Tuesday, let's talk about some of my favorite books about television. 

MASH by David Reiss

This wonderful show ended when I was in high school. At the time there were a few resource books printed to take advantage of all of the hoopla. This one is a trade paperback that was originally published in 1981. It was then revised two years later to include the last season and a half. It features biographies of all of the actors plus interviews with all of them AND profiles of their characters. Also there are episode guides for all 11 seasons. The only drawback to the book and it is minor is that all of the photographs included are in black and white. Still, as a resource on the cast and episodes it is hard to beat. 

Similarly, The Complete Book of MASH came out at about the same time. Most of their photographs are in color, but the information is not as in-depth as the earlier book. Whereas MASH went chronologically and alphabetically, Complete Book of MASH  is kind of all over the place. It has more in-depth episode guides, but doesn't list the writers and directors of each. So it's not a bad reference book, but although it is prettier, compared to the other MASH book it is not as good.   

THE AVENGERS by Dave Rogers
When I was in college I bought my comic-books at a used bookstore a few blocks from my campus. There I found this gem, a history of one of the greatest spy series ever. This is where I found out that the show originally starred another British actor and, oh yeah, some guy named Patrick Macnee. Partly by accident and partly by serendipity, the show became a huge popular culture touch-stone.

FANTASTIC TELEVISION by Gary Gerani & Paul Schulman
On another trip to buy comics in college I came across this book. At first I didn't know what to make of it; it features mini-histories of many television series as you can see here: I Dream of Jeannie (?), Batman, The Avengers, Outer Limits (I think?), Superman, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone (or is it The Night Gallery?), Space: 1999, and Six Million Dollar Man. At this time there wasn't a Twilight Zone book, so episode guides of that show was worth the price of admission! Plus at the time I didn't have a Batman book, either, so that was cool to read about them. But the greatest part of this book was the Irwin Allen section: Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, The Time Tunnel, Lost In Space, and the Land Of The Giants. This was before the LOST IN SPACE movie created a mini-boom in LiS merchandise, so for years this was my go-to reference for that show. I think it was the first time I had every read that Irwin Allen's shows were not very good. I think I *knew* that already, but it's something else to actually read it on a page. Still, the depth of content mixed with the fun photos make this one of my favorites.

The Star Trek Compendium by  Allan Asherman

I actually came across the ST:NG Companion by Larry Nemerek first; this was when I was still living in Japan and would buy books during trips back to the US. That would have been when the show ST:NG was still on the air. Even today, I have yet to see all of their episodes. So buying that book was a good way for me to see the "overall" picture of that series. It also helped me to realize that the Original Series version also existed. So although I did read ST:NG, I didn't read it as a reference as so much as a guide. The Star Trek Compendium on the other hand lists guest-stars, plots, and interviews that reference the 79 episodes and the movies. Although there have been an almost infinite number of Star Trek books, this one is still one of the best. 

Growing Up Brady by Barry Williams
I got this book while I was still living in Japan. I can't remember if my sister or someone sent it to me, or if I found it myself. Either way, I devoured it because I grew up on The Brady Bunch. It was definitely my favorite show as a kid. I had crushes on Marsha and then Jan, and I wanted my brother to be like Peter or Bobby. It was fun to read about the back-stage stories from "Greg" himself. This was just before Robert Reed died; I had no idea that he had been gay or that he was dying. I didn't watch the more recent Brady Bunch movies because I couldn't tell if they were making fun of the show or paying it homage; either way, I'd rather just watch another episode.

When my daughter came to live in the States, The Brady Bunch was one of her favorite shows, too.

The Official Batman Bat-Book by Joel Eisner

This is another one of those books that I purchased during a trip back to the States while I was still living in Japan. I think I must have found it during the Michael Keaton BATMAN movie hype era; I don't remember. The spine is cracked and broken now from reading it too much! 

The book starts off explaining how the show got started, then talks about the first season, the movie (yes, there was a BATMAN movie, in 1966) and all the cool gadgets made for it, the less-than-stellar second season, and then the third season with (sigh) Batgirl (Yvonne Craig).

I will have you know that I was not SUCH a Batman geek that I could answer ANY of the trivia questions included here. So there. And the five-plus page list of all of Robin's "Holy (fill in the blank)" seemed excessive to me, too.

Total Television by Alex McNeil

Of all of the books here, this is the most "referential." This 1250 page tome lists any and all series that ever appeared on television, from the earliest shows in 1948 to the 1995 season. So, obviously, this is nearly 20 years behind the times now (!). Wow, I blew my own mind when I wrote that. Anyway, since most of the shows I write about are from waaay before 1995, this hasn't been a problem for me yet. I can tell you that DARK SHADOWS was on from 1966-1971, for example, or that THE WONDER YEARS won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1988.    

The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier by Patrick J. White

This is probably my favorite book on this list because as a kid growing up I wanted to WRITE this book. I used to keep a notebook where I would write up all of the "missions" I saw on television with an eye to combine them all into a huge collection. Congratulations to you, Patrick White, for  actually doing what I dreamt about doing!  

 The book itself starts with how the series was created (never meant to actually sell!) and then goes into detail about all of the different spies and the cast changes behind them. and of course, there are episode guides and explanations of the tricks and devices used throughout the show. What a fun book!

Here On Gilligan's Isle by Russell Johnson & Steve Cox

This is one of the first books I bought after I moved back to the States permanently. I don't know how or why I came across it, but I'm sure that when I did find it I snatched it up. As a kid growing up there were very VERY few "Russells" out there to use as role models or heroes, so I always had a small man-crush on The Professor. Besides, you can't argue that among an island of idiots he was by-far the smartest!

After I read this book I learned that Russell Johnson had a homepage and was selling autographed photographs. I immediately wrote to him and asked for one. About a week later I received the cast photo as shown here with the autograph, "From one Russell to another! Russell Johnson." I treasure it.   

Happy Birthday, Larry Gelbart!

Yesterday February 25, 1928 was the birthday of Producer-Writer-Director extraordinaire Larry Gelbart. Nowadays he is best known as the co-creator of the classic TV series, MASH. When the movie MASH was a financial success, Twentieth Century Fox proposed a television series version to CBS. Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart came up with the simplified TV version, centering the action on "Hawkeye" Pierce, "Trapper John" McIntire, Col. Henry Blake, "Hot Lips" Houlihan, Frank Burns, and "Radar" O'Reilly. From a terrible idea (comedy set in war-torn Korea) came a cultural icon that lasted for 11 years.

Larry Gelbart was the chief creative force behind the show for its first four years. It was Larry, working with  Gene Reynolds, who came up with the idea of killing off Col. Henry Blake when McLean Stevenson the actor wanted out of his commitment. It was he and Gene who came up with four of the greatest TV characters of all-time: Corporal Klinger, the Section 8 candidate; Father Mulcahy, the spiritual leader of the camp; Col Sherman Potter, the Career Army in charge of the insane asylum; and BJ Hunnicutt, a family man surrounded by immorality.

Larry Gelbart died on September 11, 2009. If he was still living he would have been 85 years old.

Happy Birthday, Larry Gelbart! 

Happy Birthday, Larry Linville!

September 29, 1939 is the birthday of actor Larry Linville. He is best-known for playing Major Frank Burns on the TV show MASH. However, he was also a bad guy on several episodes of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and guest-starred on many other series, including MANNIX and KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER. He also did theatre and movies.

I had the great good-fortune of hearing him speak in person when he came to my college in 1985. He was on the speaking circuit, I guess. He talked about the work conditions on MASH and working as a team to try to do good television. It was a wildly entertaining 90 minutes, and one of the funnest things I remember from college. The chapel where it was held was PACKED. The thing I never forgot about the evening was that he said when they were just starting up, the new cast was invited to a screening of the movie MASH, but that nobody went. "I didn't want to be another Bobby Duvall (the actor who played Major Burns in the movie). I had to find my own take on the character."

Larry Linville passed away on April 10, 2000.

Happy Birthday, Larry Linville! 

1939-2000

Anniversary of the End of The Korean War

On July 27, 1953 the representatives from China, the two
Koreas, the US, and the UN agreed to The Armistice Agreement establishing the border between North and South Korea at the 38th Parallel. This was in lieu of a Peace Treaty, but had the desired effect to end the hostilities of  the "police action" that was The Korean War.

The War started on June 25, 1950 when forces from the Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) advanced past the 38 parallel into the Republic of Korea (South Korea).   However, the story starts quite a few years before that.

The nation of Korea had been invaded and conquered by Japan in 1910. From then until 1945 the Koreans fought back against their invaders. Forces and groups who would later create North Korea were supported by the Communists in China (who was also by this time fighting against Japanese invaders). Syngman Rhee, the first President of South Korea, was supported by the other Allies, UK and USA.

After 1945, much like the divided city of Berlin, Korea was cut and spliced for the victorious Allies. However, Kim Il Sung in the North had delusions of grandeur and wanted to re-patriate the entire peninsula. Believing that the South was vulnerable, forces from North Korea attacked.

Three years and a month later, the conflict was ended. Military casualties combined for all forces are estimated to be close to 1.6 million. Another 2 million Korean civilians were killed in the fighting. Countless untold millions of dollars of damage was done, both physically and mentally. The two Koreas have still not signed any Peace Treaty, and South Korea's army is on constant call in case of another attack. All men must serve in the Korean military to help support their country's independance.

For several years the only vision of the Korean War the average American had was from the movie and TV series, MASH. Personally, I always found it a tad ironic that the majority of Korean characters on the TV show were Japanese! I always heard that Koreans hated the show because it made their country to look like it was existing in poverty.

Since the end of the TV series MASH in 1983 Seoul has hosted the Summer Olympics (1988) as well as the World Cup (2002). It continues to have a huge impact on Asian Pop Culture. It is considered more as a developed nation and a strong ally, and the war that brought such chaos and tears continues to fade into the background. The elder Koreans dreamt of uniting the two countries, but it seems that younger South Koreans don't hold that sentiment nearly as much.

Here's to all those people who survived the Korean War (including Jamie Farr, who played "Klinger" on MASH), and in honor of all those souls who didn't.....

Happy Birthday, Jamie Farr!

Today is Jamie Farr's 78th birthday! Thank you, Mr. Farr, for years
and years of wonderful acting!

I enjoyed you on MASH, of course, but I also watched you on THE GONG SHOW and several game shows, like The $10,000 PYRAMID and PASSWORD. Later I came across your appearance  in movies like BLACKBOARD JUNGLE and SCROOGED. And I have seen some of your pre-MASH work on shows like F TROOP.

But it's as loveable Maxwell Q. Klinger that you will live in our hearts forever.

From a fellow "Buckeye," Columbus to Toledo....I raise my Johnny Packo pickle jar to you, sir!!

Happy Birthday, Jamie Farr!

Happy Birthday, Frank Burns!

June 13 is the birthday of Major Frank Burns from MASH, as portrayed by Larry Linville.

In the 5th season episode of MASH "The Most Unforgettable Characters" (by Ken Levine & David Isaacs, directed by Burt Metcalfe), "Radar" O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff) begins his Duty Roster typing/reading aloud thusly:

Staff Duty Log 13 June
Corporal Walter O'Reilly, Company Clerk
0600 hours
The friendly old sun showed his friendly hot face
over the mountains of purple majesty as though
he was salutating, "Good morning to all."

So this clearly sets up that the date is June 13. Because the US entered the Korean War on June 30, 1950, and an earlier episode has already celebrated Frank's birthday with Trapper John (Wayne Rogers), this means this episode occurs on June 13, 1952.

The episode intertwines two plot threads: Radar trying to complete various writing assignments for his Writing By Mail course, and Hawkeye and BJ (Alan Alda and Mike Farrell) fighting to please Frank for his birthday. All the action appears to occur in the course of the one day, as the episode starts in the morning and ends in the evening. 

My favorite MASH episodes occurred during the 4th and 5th seasons. This is partly because of the comedic talents of Larry Linville as Frank but also partly because of the guidance of initial producers Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds. After all three of these creative gentlemen left, the show went in a different direction. It wasn't bad; it just wasn't as funny.

Happy Birthday, Ferret Face!! Hope you and your wife were very happy in Fort Wayne, Indiana after the war....but I doubt it.

The MASH cast from seasons 4 and 5

Happy Birthday, Gary Burghoff!

This Thursday, May 24, is Gary Burghoff's 69th birthday.

He is, of course, best known as Corporal Walter O'Reilly on the TV show MASH. He won an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor on a Comedy Series in 1977 for his role.

Before Burghoff hit it big on MASH, however, he was a professional drummer. He also originated the lead character on the off-Broadway version of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" in 1967. He was then cast in the movie version of MASH (1970) directed by Robert Altman. This led, of course, to being cast on the TV series. He appeared as a regular for seven seasons (1972-79).

Here's a clip from MATCH GAME that I found. Gary was on this show a lot during the 70s, often subbing for regular Charles Nelson Reilly while Reilly was on Broadway. They obviously enjoyed having him around. This clip is interesting because the host, Gene Rayburn, congratulates Gary on his then-recent Emmy Award win!

Happy Birthday, Gary Burghoff!

Thank you for all your great performances!

Larry Linville and Harry Morgan

Rest in Peace
Larry Linville

Sept 29, 1939~April 10, 2000

As a kid I thought he was just evil. As an adult I can see the craft behind the character. Sure, Frank Burns is an evil jerk, but the actor behind him certainly wasn't.

I had the good fortune of hearing Larry Linville speak at my college in 1984 or so. He was entertaining and fun. I'll never forget it, or him.

I'm off to watch one of his MASH episodes, the best way to honor him.

Ironically, today is also the birthday of Harry Morgan. On MASH he and Larry Linville portrayed polar opposites for two years. However, by all reports I've read they were both wonderful, generous actors. I'm sure it was terrible for Morgan to have Linville pass on his birthday.

Harry Morgan portrayed a crazy colonel in season three of MASH before joining the regular cast in season four. However, before that he was very well-known as Sgt Joe Friday's partner on DRAGNET, and he was a character actor in hundreds of films (such as in HIGH NOON with Gary Cooper). Colonel Sherman T. Potter was one of TV's most unique characters, and Morgan said on several occasions that he could have continued to play that character forever. Unfortunately, he couldn't. Morgan passed in 2011.

Happy Birthday, Harry Morgan!

April 10, 1915

WHM 2012 TV Women of the 70s

There were plenty of strong women characters on TV when I was growing up in the Seventies. I woul like to take this time today to talk about some of my favorites.
No conversation about strong television personalities can ignore Lucille Ball, but by the time I was cognizant and choosing what shows I wanted to watch (i.e., the Seventies), Lucy was mostly off the air. So she was never one of my favorites. I LOVE LUCY is a TV classic, and I may write about it some time, but it doesn't fit the theme of today's article. I do remember watching HERE'S LUCY (1968-74) on some Monday nights, though. This was her last show, co-starring an adorable Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. I recall very distinctly the episode where she tries on the diamond ring belonging to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton but then couldn't get it off. I think the most memorable thing about this show was the Puppet Lucy that started the show, haha!

Speaking of Lucy, her co-star in the movie, "MAME" Bea Arthur was also a huge TV star in the Seventies on MAUDE (1972-78). I remember watching this some, but more for Adrienne Barbeau then for Bea Arthur, haha! She scared me, and I was never a fan of her sarcasm. I never watched her later series, GOLDEN GIRLS, either.

Can you identify Loretta Swit in this
photo of MASH cast season 5?

Another bossypersonality of the Seventies was Loretta Swit on MASH (1972-83). Margaret Houlihan started off as "Hot Lips," a shrill, opportunistic Head Nurse surrounded by men (in a cast of more than a dozen men, Swit was the only woman). By the end of the series, she was a more mature, emotionally open, divorced yet fulfilled woman. In many ways her character mirrored the changes going on in women's lives in the Seventies: she started out as dependant on a man but wanting independance, straining for an individual identity. And while I enjoyed MASH very much, Margaret was never my favorite character.

Of course, the most successful woman on US television in the Seventies was Mary Tyler Moore. Not only did she have her own show (1970-77), but her production company MTM (with a kitten instead of a lion; I loved that) was responsible for RHODA, PHYLLIS, WKRP, and dozens more. I always watched MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW but as a youngster it didn't really speak to me if you know what I mean. I was more entertained by BOB NEWHART, whose wife character was portrayed by the wonderful Suzanne Pleshette. I've since come around, of course, and appreciate MTM for being a warm, affectionate look at friends working together.

So which women *did* speak to me? I'm glad you asked!

The first TV woman I really looked forward to watching was Lindsay Wagner on THE BIONIC WOMAN (1975-78). Jaime Sommers was a tennis pro and former girl-friend of Steve Austin (a man barely alive...). When she suffered injuries in a parachuting accidentshe was given bionic legs, a bionic arm, and a bionic ear (the better to hear you with, my dear). She made her debut on a special two-part episode of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN starring Lee Majors. However, for some reason I can't recall now, her mind fought against the bionic implants and she had to lose her memory so that she could survive. I remember how sad it was for her to wake up after her final surgery and have no idea who Steve was, even though they had planned to get married. Talk about a tear-jerker! She was so popular that she had her own series spun-off. According to legend, actress Lindsay Wagner was so concerned about being type-casted as a super-hero that her contract stipulated that she had to play different types of characters as Jaime goes undercover to fight crime. So she played a teacher, a college professor, a wrestler, and a roller-derby player, just to name a few. It made for some fun episodes.

. No discussion of super-heroes on Seventies TV can be complete without mentioning Lynda Carter as WONDER WOMAN (1975-79). The original TV movie featured Cathy Lee Crosby in 1974. A year later the better known version made its appearance as a series of three TV movies set durin World War II. It became a series, but then switched networks (ABC to CBS) and time frames (WWII to the present). I have to say that although I watched it initially, after it became a series I was never a fan. Sure, I liked Lynda Carter. And I wanted to like it. But the stories got dumber, and the producers refused to bring in established bad guys like The Cheetah or Dr. Psycho. How many times were you going to watch Wonder Woman beat up spies and mad scientists?

Two shows where you knew exactly what you were getting were CHARLIE'S ANGELS (1976-1981) and THREE'S COMPANY (1977-1984). Oddly enough, I didn't care much for the first year of ANGELS, with Farrah Fawcett. It was in the second year, when Cheryl Ladd joined with Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith, that I really started to watch it. These three were "my" Angels. I guess I was the only boy in America without a Farrah poster on my wall, haha! I was never  fan of the Seventies "feathered" hair look, for one thing. Give me long, beautiful, straight hair any day! I had a soft spot in my heart for Kate Jackson from when she played a nurse on THE ROOKIES, so she was my favorite. When she quit I stopped watching it.

As for THREE'S COMPANY, I was a fan of it when it first started, but after greed got into the act I moved on. The original set-up was of two women room-mates finding a guy needing a place to stay; he pretends to be gay so that the landlord lets him stay. Originally cast with Suzanne Sommers, Joyce DeWitt, and John Ritter as the room-mates and Norman Fell and Audra Lindley as The Ropers, the show was new and usually pretty funny. Then after the first year or so things started to happen. Joyce DeWitt permed her hair, making her less attractive to me. The Ropers moved off for their own short-lived series and were replaced by Don Knotts. I'm not a huge Don Knotts fan; his bug-eyed expressions just annoy me. And as a character, a swinging bachelor senior citizen is not as funny as a perve and his sex-crazed wife. And lastly, Suzanne Sommers wanted more money to stay; when she didn't get it, she walked. The chemistry of the cast was destroyed, and it never recovered.

One show that I never stopped watching until she retired it herself was THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW (1967-78). Carol Burnett is probably my favorite TV personality of all time. Not only was she incredibly funny but she was honest (I loved those "answer questions from the audience" segments) and she could sing adequately. Best of all, she surrounded herself with equally funny and talented people. Her variety show was one of the few shows that my whole family would watch together. "As The Stomach Turns" was her continuous take-off on silly soap operas. "The Family" was Eunace, Ed, and Mama facing various problems that later morphed into MAMA'S FAMILY. "The Later Show" was their regular parodies of old Hollywood movies which I tended not to know, but somehow still found funny. I mean, you didn't have to know "Gone With The Wind" to think Scarlett wearing a curtain rod in her dress was funny...it helped, sure, but it wasn't required. Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway were her supporting players, and a funnier group of comedian were not assembledon television until The Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Players. Her show had wonderfully talented guests, too: I remember Ken Berry, Jim Nabors, the Jackson Five, Steve Lawrence, and Betty White all making guest appearnances.

The last great comedy of the Seventies as far as I was concerned was WKRP in CINCINNATI (1978-82). This show was an ensemble cast with two equally wonerful women: Loni Anderson as Jennifer Marlowe, the receptionist, and Jan Smithers as Bailey Quarters, gofer-Sales Assistant-News Assistant. Jennifer got the big laughs with her visual high-jinks and arced eyebrows; Bailey got the character-driven laughs. Both were enjoyable additions to the otherwise male cast. Similar to the great "Mary Anne or Ginger?" debate, I couldn't pick just one! And that's my segueway to next week's topic...so be here,aloha! :-)

My Favorite TV Shows

I don't hav any one "favorite" TV show. People often say, "I never missed FRIENDS" or "I'm totally a TREKKER" but I guess I'm just too picky to be able to say one particular show is my absolute favorite above all others. No, my favorites break down like this: shows that I love but also hate, and shows that I love.

SHOWS THAT I LOVE BUT ALSO HATE
aka Shows That I Will Check To See Which Episode It Is Before Deciding To Watch It

The best example of this type of show is MASH. The first three years with Trapper John and Henry Blake are good. The next two seasons with BJ and Frank are great. However, the last six years with Charles are, to put it mildly, uneven. So I can't very well say that MASH is my favorite show when I can barely sit through some of the melodrama of the later years. I understand why Larry Linville as Frank (right) wanted to move on, but when he did, he also took the heart of the comedy out of the show.  

The two shows created by Sherwood Schwartz, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND and THE BRADY BUNCH, veer wildly between awesome (usually the dream sequences on GILLIGAN and the middle years on THE BUNCH) and the awesomely bad (most guest-stars on the island and the last year with "Cousin Oliver").

BATMAN was fantastically entertaining in its first year, but in its second year it went TOO far overboard and then it got repetitive and just plain silly. Even the addition of sexy Batgirl can't make several of the last season episodes worth watching.

Super spy shows like MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE, THE MAN FROM UNCLE, and THE AVENGERS have more than their share of great episodes. However, UNCLE suffered from the same "camp" over-reach that affected BATMAN, and after it stopped taking itself seriously it couldn't find its way back to its core. Patrick Macnee had played John Steed for several years on THE AVENGERS with several other partners before Diana Rigg came on the scene as Mrs. Peel. Yet, it just wasn't the same after she left. And when Martin Landau and Barbara Bain walked away from MISSION the producers could replace the roles, but not the characters. It, too, was never the same without them.  

THE JEFFERSONS started out incredibly fresh and topical: one of the only TV series in the 70s with African-American leads, it also had the first bi-racial couple, The Willises, as supporting characters.

The first few years were all about the characters, but as the show got older and more established it became more pedestrian (for lack of a better term). When it lost its edge, it lost a lot of its appeal to me.

STAR TREK is supposed to be about an international (and inter-galactic!) crew working together to investigate the unknown. However, there are just too many Kirk-Spock-McCoy episodes. All of my favorite episodes featured most if not all of the Enterprise crew. Also, how many episodes did we really need about Man's Over-Dependance On Machines, or set on planets oddly similar to Earth?  

I loved the premise of the Space Family Robinson LOST in SPACE. However, there are just too many episodes centered around Dr. Smith doing something stupid, usually accompanied by Will and The Robot but nobody else. There were six other great actors on this show, but too often they were wasted because the producers took the lazy way out. 

DEEP SPACE NINE is my favorite overall STAR TREK series. It has a great premise, a great cast of characters who shared the spotlight in various storylines, and a great cast of actors portraying said characters. However, in its later years it got bogged down in its own mythology and continuing storyline. If I happened to miss an episode (which I did, because I was living in Japan at the time) it was difficult to figure out what was going on. By the last few years it was less like STAR TREK and more like DYNASTY. 

I was tempted not to include my two favorite variety shows, The MUPPET SHOW and The CAROL BURNETT SHOW, because both were always entertaining enough; it just depended on who the guest star was if the episode was truly classic. Still, I would prefer even the dullest guest on either of these shows to most anything else out there, then or now.

SHOWS THAT I LOVE

aka Shows That I Want to Own on DVD and Watch Repeatedly

F TROOP is the one I guess I have to call my "guilty pleasure." Watching it now there are only a few laugh-out-loud scenes. The repetitive schtick characters (the bugler who can't bugle, the near-sighted guard, the Alamo survivor) get old. The premise of a post-Civil War fort manned by con men and nincompoops, surrounded by peace-loving Indians, doesn't sound all that entertaining. Yet somehow....I find myself enjoying it every time I watch it. Go figure. Maybe it's the fun leads: Ken Berry as Captain Parmeter, Forrest Tucker as Sgt O'Roarke, Larry Storch as Corporal Agarn, Melody Patterson as Wrangler Jane, and Frank DeKova as Chief Wild Eagle. Maybe it's the colorful surroundings (I heard later that the series was filmed on one of Warner Bros.' old "standing lots" which means it looked real cool. Whatever it is, I'm thinking I'll go watch an episode right now. Maybe the one with the Bed Bugs. :-)

THE ODD COUPLE featured the over-the-top sloppiness of Oscar and the persnickity cleanliness of Felix. This was a wonderful dichotomy to base a situation comedy on. Even now, years later, I find myself thinking of scenes or bits from this series. Did everyone learn the "don't assume because it makes an ass of u and me" lesson from this series, or was it just helpful in getting the message out there? Anyway, it was no accident that both Jack Klugman and Tony Randall won Emmy Awards for their work on this show.

WKRP in CINCINNATI was originally supposed to be all about Andy (a great Gary Sandy) and his new life in Cincinnati as a program director at the least popular radio station in town. Pretty quickly, however, the show stopped centering on Andy's life and expanded out to all of his crazy co-workers. Blessed with fine writing and a wonderful ensemble cast, WKRP left us too soon. Plagued with royalty or copyright issues for all the real 70s and 80s music the show used, the DVD releases of this classic are also, sadly, delayed.

It took me about a year to get into the medical comedy/drama SCRUBS. The first few times I watched it, with JD's weird narration and surreal imaginary scenes, it didn't do anything for me. But then I saw a few "serious" episodes: one where the three leads each had to deal with dying patients and one where Dr. Cox has to deal with his best friend having leukemia. I finally got that what JD was doing was his defense mechanism agains the pain, fear, and sadness that surrounded him at Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital. After I "got" it, I  enjoyed it for its entire run.

I didn't know what to expect from MY NAME IS EARL. I'm pretty sure it came on between two shows that I already watched, so I kept it on and then learned to love it. The premise is great: Earl Hickey, perpetual bad guy, wins the lottery but then is hit by a car, causing him to lose the ticket. In the hospital he decides to change his life by writing a list of all the bad things he has ever done ("Lost Dad the election," "Pretended to be dead to break up with a girl," etc) and then going out to make them right. As soon as he leaves the hospital, he finds his lottery ticket, and thusly believes in Kharma. This show was one of the few where I could *not* guess what was going to happen every week. In one episode, Earl frets about having to tell an ex-con buddy that it was his fault that the friend has been sent to prison. The friend was an angry SOB so Earl was scared to confess to him. When they finally get together, however, what happened was something I never saw coming. For that sense of wonder so often missing from mainstream TV, it earned its place on this list.    

To me, the ultimate situation comedy is THE BOB NEWHART SHOW. Bob was fun to be with, whether he was at home with his funny & affectionate wife Emily (a fantastic Suzanne Pleshette) or at the office with his crazy but also very funny mental patients. Jack Riley as angry Mr. Carlin was especially memorable. I always liked Bob's deadpan delivery style of comedy. So while my parents liked ALL in the FAMILY and my sisters liked MARY TYLER MOORE, I always liked Bob. I was very lucky to meet "Carol," Marcia Wallace herself at a Mid-Ohio Comic Convention, and she graciously signed one of my DVD covers. 

If you haven't seen all of these shows I've talked about here, I strongly suggest you go to your local library or to youtube or Target and check them out. They may not all be to your liking, but I am guessing that if you made it this far, you'll find *something* you'll like. If you want specific episode or seaons recommendations, just let me know.