September 14, 2015

What's on TV? Saturday, September 14, 1974

There's nothing special about this week's listing, and that's precisely why I've chosen it. - to demonstrate to you how utterly terrible Saturday cartoons have become.  They totally lack imagination, most of them being ripoffs of lame live-action sitcoms, and as tiresome as kids' TV do-gooders can be, it makes me completely sympathize with their position.  But as MST3K has demonstrated, even looking at bad things can be fun!  The listings are from the Twin Cities, so let's get started.


KTCA, Channel 2 (PBS)

Morning

08:00a
Sesame Street

09:00a
The Electric Company

09:30a
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

10:00a
Sesame Street

11:00a
The Electric Company

11:30a
Sesame Street

Afternoon

12:30p
The Electric Company

01:00p
Zoom

01:30p
The Electric Company

02:00p
Victory at Sea (special)

05:30p
Black Perspective on  the News

Evening

06:00p
The Roundhouse Show

06:30p
Zoom

07:00p
Carrascolendas

07:30p
The Great American Dream Machine

08:30p
Chrome-Plated Nightmare (special)

09:30p
David Susskind

11:30p
Membership Week Special

12:15a
Boarding House

Very creative daytime programming from Channel 2, isn't it?  I can't recall if these were all reruns of the same episodes, or if it was more of a "best-of" in that different episodes from the past week were shown.  Victory at Sea is likely part of KTCA's pledge month programming; episodes run today and tomorrow, and next weekend as well.  The Roundhouse Show features Lynn Dwyer, who played Roundhouse Rodney on Lunch With Casey.


WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)

Morning

06:30a
Summer Semester (The American Presidency)

07:00a
Speed Buggy

07:30a
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?

08:00a
Jeannie

08:30a
The Partridge Family

09:00a
Valley of the Dinosaurs

09:30a
Shazam!

10:00a
Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine

10:30a
Hudson Brothers

11:00a
U.S. of Archie

11:30a
Fat Albert

Afternoon

12:00p
News (local)

12:30p
Newsmaker

01:00p
NFL Game of the Week

01:30p
Animal World

02:00p
The Dating Game

02:30p
The Six Wives of Henry VIII

04:00p
CBS Sports Spectacular (Marlboro Cup horse race)

05:00p
The Outdoors and You

05:30p
CBS Evening News with Dan Rather

Evening


06:00p
News (local)

06:30p
World of Survival

07:00p
All in the Family

07:30p
Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers (debut)

08:00p
Mary Tyler Moore

08:30p
Bob Newhart

09:00p
Carol Burnett (guest Jim Nabors)

10:00p
News (local)

10:50p
Movie – “Gypsy”

01:30a
This Must Be the Place

Now, let's take a closer look at the cartoons for CBS.  Jeannie, an animated, loosely based version of I Dream of Jeannie with Barbara Eden neither in-person nor via voiceover.  Why bother?  That's followed by an animated version of The Partridge Family.  Once we switch to live action, we've got comedy shows featuring the Harlem Globetrotters and the Hudson Brothers.  That's a sad, sad lineup.  Your results, of course, may vary. 


KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)

Morning

07:00a
The Addams Family

07:30a
Wheelie

08:00a
Emergency Plus 4`

08:30a
Run, Joe, Run

09:00a
Land of the Lost

09:30a
Sigmund the Sea Monster

10:00a
Pink Panther

10:30a
Star Trek

11:00a
The Jetsons

11:30a
Go

Afternoon

12:00p
Wally’s Workshop

12:30p
Chmielewski Funtime

01:00p
Baseball Pre-Game Show

01:15p
Game of the Week (Teams TBD)

04:00p
World Open Golf Championship

05:00p
The Good Ole Nashville Music

05:30p
Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom

Evening


06:00p
News (local)

06:30p
Bowling for Dollars

07:00p
Emergency!

08:00p
Saturday Night at the Movies – “Klute”

10:15p
News (local)

10:45p
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (guests Joel Grey, Karen Valentine, Carol Wayne, Muhammad Ali)

12:15a
Movie – To Be Announced

Although, it should be said, NBC's animated lineup is even worse.  Animated version of The Addams Family?  Check.  Animated version of Emergency?  Check.  Animated version of Star Trek?  Check, check and double-check.  To be honest, the animated Star Trek is actually very good, the only one of these cartoon spinoffs to both add something to the premise and to be accepted as a part of the show's canon.  Wally's World was hosted by Wally Bruner, who hosted the first syndicated season of What's My Line?  About Chmielewski Funtime, which originated from KCMT in Alexandria and was the bane of my existence for six years, the less said, the better.


KMSP, Channel 9 (ABC)

Morning

07:00a
Yogi’s Gang

07:30a
Bugs Bunny

08:00a
Hong Kong Phooey

08:30a
The Adventures of Gilligan

09:00a
Devlin

09:30a
Korg: 70,000 B.C.

10:00a
Super Friends

11:00a
These Are the Days

11:30a
Action ‘74

Afternoon

12:30p
College Football Pre-Game Show

12:45p
College Football (Stanford vs. Penn State)

04:00p
Wide World of Sports (Southern 500 auto race)

05:30p
The Reasoner Report

Evening


06:00p
Lawrence Welk

07:00p
The New Land (debut)

08:00p
Kung Fu

10:00p
News (local)

10:30p
Movie – “The Legend of Custer”

01:00a
ABC News

What's that, another animated version of a sitcom?  Yes, it's The Adventures of Gilligan.  What were these people thinking?


WTCN, Channel 11 (Ind.)

Morning

07:30a
Farm Forum

08:00a
University of Minnesota

08:30a
Story Time

09:00a
Probe

09:30a
Madagimo

10:00a
Random Access

10:30a
Big Blue Marble

11:00a
Star Trek

Afternoon

12:00p
Daniel Boone

01:00p
The Virginian

02:30p
All-Star Wrestling

04:00p
Movie – “The Visit” (B&W)

Evening


06:00p
Raymond Burr (aka Ironside)

07:00p
Dealer’s Choice

07:30p
Hee Haw (guests Ernest Borgnine, George Lindsey, Lulu Roman)

08:30p
Kopykats

09:30p
News (local)

10:00p
Raymond Burr

11:00p
Movie – “CinderFella”

For those of you who might be wondering who or what Madagimo is, it's a public affairs program focusing on Minnesota's substantial Native American population, although in TV Guide they're simply referred to as Indians.  At least Star Trek is the original, as opposed to the cartoon.  And it's nice to see another appearance of the convention in which programs that are still in network first-run adopt alternative names when they appear in syndication.  The Raymond Burr Show - I mean, if I heard that, the first thing I'd think of is Perry Mason. TV  

5 comments:

  1. Interesting (slightly) that CBS aired animated versions of NBC's "I Dream of Jeanie" and ABC's "Partridge Family," while ABC aired an animated version of CBS's "Gilligan's Island;" NBC aired an animated "Addams Family" which was originally an ABC sitcom. It's almost as if the programmers were thinking that if they couldn't have had the original on their network, they'd get the animated version

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  2. Heck, forget about the cartoons, just look at that killer prime time lineup on CBS (sans Paul Sand in Friends & Lovers) which lasted less than 1 season (thank goodness). M*A*S*H replaced that dog of a series later that year. Has there ever been a 3 hour block of programming as good as that? Even during ABC's first shot at the top of the Nielsen's in the late 1970's or NBC's rise from the dead in the early 1980's with their strong "Must see TV" Thursday night lineup, nothing matched Saturday night on CBS in the 1970's, in my opinion.

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    1. Actually it was PSiF&L that replaced M*A*S*H on the CBS Saturday night lineup. M*A*S*H aired on Tuesday nights during the 1974-75 season after reaching hit status on Saturday nights the previous season, and F&L was replaced by The Jeffersons the next January.
      I was pretty young at this time and remember watching most of the sitcom-based cartoons at the time. I actually have stronger memories of "The Addams Family" cartoon than I do of the sitcom when I was young. I remember seeing the Addamses on the Scooby Doo Mystery Hour, which employed John Astin as Gomez' voice, and thinking it sounded strange to me. Actually Gomez from the cartoon (voiced by Lennie Weinrib) had a weirder voice, sounding quite a bit like Johnny Carson's Art Fern.

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    2. Scott, I agree. the previous season '73/'74 CBS Saturday Night lineup of All In The Family, M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Bob Newhart Show & Carol Burnett Show was the greatest prime time lineup.... ever. Not just because all five shows were quality shows, but they were in their "prime". None of them were in those final, uneven years (like All In The Family, & M*A*S*H suffered in their later years) and they were all solid, VERY funny shows/

      I was 13 years old when this TV Guide came out so I was no longer an avid Saturday morning viewer, but would tune into several of the shows from time to time. I do recall watching the animated “I Dream of Jeannie” show and what I most remember was that former Stooge (well, he replaced Shemp for a short period) Joe Besser was the voice of the comic-sidekick Genie, Babu. And I did find out, years later, that future Jedi Knight, Mark Hamill voiced one of the main characters.

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    3. Of those Saturday night lineup of shows, only All in the Family ran too long. It was at it's peak from Season 1 (71-72) through Season 5 (75-76). Once Mike & Gloria moved out and other less interesting characters took their place, it wasn't nearly as good. I don't feel the same way you do about M*A*S*H. My only complaint was that I wish they could've stripped away the phony laugh track for reruns. Wikipedia has a nice blurb about the controversy of using a laugh track for the series. CBS felt it was needed, while Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds didn't want it.

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Thanks for writing! Drive safely!