What's on TV? Sunday, November 12, 1978

It's a very sleepy Sunday in the Twin Cities, as reflected in today's listings. Even though I subscribed to TV Guide, I generally threw most of the issues out; this one I kept, for reasons that even now aren't apparent to me. I remember this particular day, though; or at least I remember The Word, which began its four-night run on Sunday. I'd also be willing to bet I watched Soccer Made in Germany; more on that below.

	KTCA, Channel 2 (PBS)
	Morning
	08:00a	Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
	08:30a	The Electric Company
	09:00a	Studio See
	09:30a	Freestyle
	10:00a	Rebop
	10:30a	Hot Dog
	11:00a	Zoom
	11:30a	The Electric Company
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Black Perspective on the News
	12:30p	Congressional Outlook
	01:00p	Geraldine Fitzgerald at Reno Sweeney (special)
	02:00p	Great Performances – “The Good Doctor”
	03:30p	Common Man’s Courage
	04:00p	Firing Line (guest Australian P.M. Malcolm Fraser)
	05:00p	People and Causes
	05:30p	Julia Child & Company
	Evening
	06:00p	Soccer Made in Germany (Kaiserslautern vs. Schalke)
	07:00p	Nova
	08:00p	The Duchess of Duke Street (part 4)
	09:00p	Global Paper: The Fight For Food (special)
	10:00p	Monty Python’s Flying Circus
	10:30p	An Evening With Chuck Mangoine (special)
	12:30a	Show on the Road

One of my introductions to international soccer came with Soccer Made in Germany, which I loved watching back in the day. Toby Charles called the games, and it made the game seem incredibly exciting - easy to do when you're only presenting extended highlights. For old times' sake, here's a clip of Toby calling a game from the '70s.

	WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)
	Morning
	06:00a
	07:00a	Jobs Now!
	07:15a	Allen’s Window
	07:30a	Sunday Morning
	08:30a	Rex Humbard
	09:30a	John Gallos Comedy Hour
	10:30a	McHale’s Navy (B&W)
	11:00a	Face the Nation
	11:30a	Newsmaker
	Afternoon
	12:00p	News (local)
	12:30p	Comedy
	01:45p	This is the NFL
	02:15p	Pro Football Preview
	02:30p	The NFL Today
	03:00p	NFL Football (Chicago at Minnesota)
	Evening
	06:00p	60 Minutes
	07:00p	The Word (part 1)
	09:00p	Dallas
	10:00p	News (local)
	10:30p	Movie – “The Stone Killer”

Allen's Window was hosted by Allen Lotsberg, who as Willie Ketchum was the longtime sidekick to John Gallos' Clancy the Cop on weekday mornings. (I was in the audience for one of those shows, my first exposure to a TV studio, as well as the first chance I had to see the set in full color.) Gallos followed at 9:30 with his long-running Sunday morning show, probably featuring either Laurel & Hardy (he was a big part of the comedy duo's revival in the early '70s) or the Bowery Boys.

	KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)
	Morning
	06:00a	Vegetable Soup
	06:30a	Your Church of the Air
	07:00a	People
	07:30a	Campus Church
	08:00a	Day of Discovery
	08:30a	Henry Wolf (guest political scientist Dr. Lincoln Bloomfield)
	09:00a	Jimmy Swaggart
	09:30a	Robert Schuller
	10:30a	High School Bowl
	11:00a	Call Stoll (U of Minnesota football)
	11:30a	NFL ‘78
	Afternoon
	12:00p	NFL Football (Denver at Cleveland)
	03:00p	NFL Game of the Week
	03:30p	Open Forum
	04:30p	Youth in Profile
	05:30p	News (local)
	Evening
	06:00p	World of Disney – “The Boatniks”
	08:00p	Movie – “Ode to Billy Joe”
	10:00p	News (local)
	10:30p	World War II: G.I. Diary
	11:00p	World at War
	12:00a	Movie – “The Reivers”

For all the jabs I take at today's weekend television being nothing but infomercials and nonstop sports, I would have been driven crazy by this week's schedule. Only two games, since the Vikings were playing at home (no game could be broadcast opposite it, in this iteration of the NFL's blackout policy), and the rest of the programming was pretty weak.

	KMSP, Channel 9 (ABC)
	Morning
	07:00a	Directions
	07:30a	Jerry Falwell
	08:30a	Oral Roberts
	09:00a	Senior Citizen’s Forum
	09:30a	Kids Are People Too
	10:30a	Animals, Animals, Animals
	11:00a	News and Views
	11:30a	College Football ‘78
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Issues and Answers
	12:30p	Focus
	01:00p	Movie – “Terror on the Beach”
	02:30p	Juke-Box (guests Jimmy McCullough, White Line)
	03:00p	Next Step Beyond
	03:30p	Alias Smith and Jones
	04:30p	All-Star Anything Goes
	05:00p	Hee Haw
	Evening
	06:00p	Pat Boone and Family (guests Bob Hope, The Hudson Brothers, John Byner) (special)
	07:00p	Battlestar Galactica
	08:00p	NFL Football (Pittsburgh at Los Angeles (special)
	11:00p	News (local)
	11:30p	Baretta
	12:40a	The Mod Squad
	01:40a	ABC Sunday News (Sylvia Chase/Tom Jarriel)

When ABC agreed to show four NFL games on Sunday nights as part of their Monday Night Football package, people thought that football was reaching a saturation point on Sunday. The ratings for these games were not very good, even though the MNF crew were in town and the games were pretty good. Just too many games on the day. Boy, things have changed since then, haven't they?

	WTCN, Channel 11 (Ind.)
	Morning
	06:30a	Probe
	07:00a	American Town Hall Meeting
	07:30a	The World Tomorrow
	08:00a	Concern
	08:30a	Church Service
	09:00a	The Flintstones
	10:00a	Tom and Jerry
	11:30a	The Lucy Show
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Father Knows Best (B&W)
	12:30p	Andy Griffith (B&W)
	01:00p	Star Trek
	02:00p	Movie – “The Odd Couple”
	04:00p	Movie – “El Dorado”
	Evening
	06:00p	Movie – “McCabe & Mrs. Miller”
	08:00p	Merv Griffin (guest host Mel Tillis, Jacqueline Bisset, Rita Moreno, Grits Greshem, Steve Bluestein, Steve Dacri)
	09:30p	News (local)
	10:00p	The Six Million Dollar Man
	11:00p	Adam-12
	11:30p	Get Smart
	12:00a	Ironside
	01:00a	Harambee

The Channel 2 listings at 2:00 pm included a Great Performances presentation of "The Good Doctor," a Neil Simon play. Much better to switch over to Channel 11 at the same time, where you can see what is perhaps Simon's best (and funniest) play, The Odd Couple, with the original pairing of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, every bit as good as Jack Klugman and Tony Randall. TV