What's on TV? Thursday, January 1, 1970

It's the end of the '60s and the beginning of the '70s, and in commemoration I thought we'd take a look at the broadcast schedule for that first day of 1970.  For many people New Year's Day means parades and football and the listings confirm this.  By the way, one year to the day, January 1, 1971, tobacco advertising in the United States would end; the date was chosen because of the industry's advertising on the parades and games.

One other thing, which I neglected to point out on Saturday; because CBS has joined the late-nite talk show wars with The Merv Griffin Show, there is no national broadcast of Guy Lombardo's New Year's Eve concert.  The always-reliable Wikipedia mentions that during these years, Lombardo's show was broadcast live on a syndicated hookup, but otherwise there's no New Year's Eve special broadcast on any of the networks.  Dick Clark's show is still three years away.

And now, on with the shows!

	KTCA, Channel 2 (NET)
	Afternoon
	04:00p	Guten Tag
	04:15p	The Friendly Giant
	04:30p	Sesame Street
	05:30p	Misterogers
	Evening
	06:00p	Science Convention (special) (B&W)
	07:00p	Washington Week in Review (B&W)
	07:30p	The French Chef (B&W)
	08:00p	Town Meeting
	08:30p	College Concert (B&W)
	09:00p	Bell Library (B&W)
	09:30p	Town and Country
	10:00p	Your Dollar’s Worth (special) (B&W)

Misterrogers was just one name for the first few seasons, until it was changed to Mister Rogers; the rest, as they say, is history.

	WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)
	Morning
	06:30a	Siegfried and His Flying Saucer
	07:00a	Clancy and Carmen
	07:30a	Clancy and Willie
	08:00a	Captain Kangaroo
	09:00a	Rose Parade Preview (special)
	09:30a	Cotton Bowl Parade (special)
	10:30a	Rose Parade (special)
	Afternoon
	12:45p	Cotton Bowl (Notre Dame vs. Texas) (special)
	04:00p	Mike Douglas (guests Ray Milland, Ed Ames, David Fry, Kay Thompson, Chambers Brothers) (time approximate)
	05:30p	CBS News (Walter Cronkite)
	Evening
	06:00p	News (local)
	06:30p	Family Affair
	07:00p	Jim Nabors (guest Jerry Van Dyke)
	08:00p	Movie – “Five Weeks in a Balloon”
	10:00p	News (local)
	10:45p	Merv Griffin (guest Hermoine Gingold, New Year’s in Times Square)
	12:15a	News (local)
	12:25a	Movie – “Walking My Baby Back Home”

We had the Cotton Bowl parade for many years here in Dallas; the parade wound around Fair Park, which is where the Cotton Bowl is.  When the game moved to NBC for the 1993 game, the network declined to cover the parade, and it went belly-up.  Notre Dame's appearance in the game, against top-ranked Texas, guaranteed a massive viewership.

	KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)
	Morning
	06:30a	Minnesota Today
	06:50a	News (local)
	07:00a	Today
	09:00a	New Year’s Parade Salute (special)
	10:30a	Rose Parade (special)
	Afternoon
	01:00p	Days of Our Lives
	01:30p	The Doctors
	02:00p	Another World
	02:30p	Bright Promise
	03:00p	Name Droppers
	03:30p 03:45p	Rose Bowl Pre-Game  Rose Bowl (Michigan vs. USC) (special)
	Evening
	06:45p	Orange Bowl (Penn State vs. Missouri) (special)
	09:30p	Bowl Highlights (special) (not seen if Orange Bowl still in progress)
	10:00p	News (local)
	10:30p	Johnny Carson (guests Jerry Orbach, June Valli, Jacques Levy, Ace Trucking Company)
	12:00a	Ski Scene

Michigan's rookie coach Bo Schembechler suffered a heart attack on the eve of the Rose Bowl and was in the hospital while his team battled USC, losing 10-3.  I remember being puzzled by it all during the broadcast, as Curt Gowdy would only refer to Schembechler being hospitalized, but had no details of what had put him there or what his condition was.  Even though NBC no longer had the Sugar Bowl (see below), it still made for a great day of television, with the prime-time Orange Bowl providing the perfect wrap-up to the day.  Nighttime football was still a rarity back in the day.

	KMSP, Channel 9 (ABC)
	Morning
	07:30a	News (local)
	08:00a	The Farmer’s Daughter (B&W)
	08:30a	Grandpa Ken
	09:00a	Romper Room (Miss Karen)
	09:30a	Steve Allen (guests Lou Rawls, Roger C. Carmel)
	10:00a	Sugar Bowl Parade (special)
	11:00a	Bewitched
	11:30a	That Girl
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Dream House
	12:30p	Sugar Bowl (Arkansas vs. Mississippi) (special)
	03:30p	Peyton Place (time approximate) (B&W)
	04:00p	Lost in Space
	05:00p	ABC News (Reynolds/Smith)
	05:30p	To Tell the Truth (Orson Bean, Kitty Carlisle, Bill Cullen, Peggy Cass)
	Evening
	06:00p	Truth and Consequences
	06:30p	The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
	07:00p	That Girl
	07:30p	Bewitched
	08:00p	This Is Tom Jones (guests Victor Borge, Harry Secombe, Paula Kelly)
	09:00p	It Takes a Thief
	10:00p	News (local)
	10:30p	Dick Cavett (guests Rod Steiger, Bernadette Peters)
	12:00a	Movie – “Love in a Goldfish Bowl”

The Sugar Bowl had been broadcast on NBC since 1959; when the Orange Bowl became a prime-time game and was picked up by NBC, the network had an all-day bowl trifecta consisting of the Sugar, Rose and Orange.  1970 was the first year in the new ABC contract to show the game, which featured Arkansas and Mississippi.  Arkansas, which had lost 1969's Game of the Century to Texas the previous month, could not work up the requisite enthusiasm for the game until it was too late, as Archie Manning led the Rebels to a 27-22 upset victory. The game was overwhelmed by CBS' broadcast of the Cotton Bowl, scoring a record-low 8.3 rating.

	WTCN, Channel 11 (Ind.)
	Morning
	07:00a	Casey and Roundhouse
	07:30a	Dave Lee
	08:00a	The Munsters (B&W)
	08:30a	Mister Ed (B&W)
	09:00a	Patty Duke (B&W)
	09:25a	News (local)
	09:30a	Jack LaLanne
	10:00a	Hawaii Calls
	10:30a	Alfred Hitchcock Presents (B&W)
	11:00a	The Galloping Gourmet
	11:30a	News (local)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Lunch With Casey
	01:00p	Movie – “Wizard of Mars”
	02:45p	News (local
	02:50p	Fashions in Sewing
	03:00p	Girl Talk (host Betsy Palmer, guest Liz Carpenter)
	03:30p	Casey and Roundhouse
	04:00p	Batman
	04:30p	The Flintstones
	05:00p	Gilligan’s Island (B&W)
	05:30p	Star Trek
	Evening
	06:30p	The Deputy (B&W)
	07:00p	Judd for the Defense
	08:00p	The Big Valley
	09:00p	Run For Your Life
	10:00p	He Said! She Said! (panelists the Dick Clarks, the Bill Cullens, the Peter Duchins, Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy)
	10:30p	Movie – “The Desert Song”
	12:30a	News (local)

You might recognize Dave Lee's name (7:30a) from other listings I've done; he would do kids' shows like Popeye and Pete, and also was active in WTCN's promotion of Muscular Dystrophy backyard carnivals.  The show Girl Talk, which started in 1962, was hosted for most of its run by Virginia Graham.  When Graham left to do The Virginia Graham Show, hosting duties were taken over by Betsy Palmer.  He Said! She Said! ran for one season, with Joe Garagolia as host.  It would return a few years later, somewhat modified, as Tattletales.

	KTCI, Channel  17 (NET)
	Morning
	09:00a	Sesame Street
	Evening
	06:30p	Film (B&W)
	07:00p	Continental Comment (B&W)
	07:30p	NET Playhouse

Many of NET's national programs showed up on KTCI, either as first-run programs or as reruns of shows that had been broadcast earlier on KTCA.  NET Playhouse features its own year-end program, looking at the trends in the arts and entertainment industries throughout the '60s. TV