September 19, 2016

What's on TV? Wednesday, September 19, 1979

This week we're back in the Twin Cities, in an issue from my own personal collection. At first glance, it looks to be to be as thick as the Minnesota State Editions I used to get when I lived in The World's Worst Town™, even though we only have listings for six stations. The reason? Ads. You can't turn a page without seeing one, two, perhaps three ads for various shows. They're bold, with lots of wide black striping and white lettering. In isolation, it perhaps looks crisp and easy to read, but when you see them bunched one after another, the effect is cluttered and cramped, hard on the eyes, and the busyness of the page makes it difficult to find and focus on the listings. But that's progress.

 
-2- KTCA (PBS)
 
MORNING
 
     7:45
A.M. WEATHER
 
    8 AM
SESAME STREET—Children
 
    9 AM
MISTER ROGERS—Children
 
     9:30
FREESTYLE
 
  10 AM
ONCE UPON A CLASSIC—Children
“The Copter Kids”
 
  11 AM
ONCE UPON A CLASSIC—Children
“The Secret Garden”
         
   11:30
SESAME STREET—Children
 
AFTERNOON
 
   12:30
MISTER ROGERS—Children
 
    1 PM
ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children
 
     1:30
ISSUES IN WORLD COMMUNICATIONS
 
    2 PM
OVER EASY—Hugh Downs
Guests: Robert and Anthony Alda
 
     2:30
DICK CAVETT
Guest: John Ehrlichman
 
    3 PM
MEETING OF MINDS—Discussion
 
    4 PM
MISTER ROGERS—Children
 
     4:30
SESAME STREET—Children
 
     5:30
ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children
 
EVENING
 
    6 PM
ONCE UPON A CLASSIC—Children
“The Secret Garden,” Part 2
 
     6:30
MacNEIL/LEHRER REPORT
 
    7 PM
DICK CAVETT
Guest: John Ehrlichman (part 2)
 
     7:30
DANCING DISCO—Instruction
 
    8 PM
GREAT PERFORMANCES—Music
 
     9:30
IRISH TREASURES—Art
 
  10 PM
RIPPING YARNS—Comedy
 
   10:30
BILL MOYERS’ JOURNAL
 
  11 PM
BLACK MAN’S LAND—Documentary
Special

Quite a difference from earlier schedules for Channel 2, as by this time it's a full-day programming schedule, without the classroom programming of a few years earlier. I'm really sorry to have missed Dancing Disco, though.

 
-4- WCCO (CBS)
 
MORNING
 
    6 AM
WEDNESDAY MORNING
 
    7 AM
ALLAN’S WINDOW—Children
 
     7:30
CAPTAIN KANGAROO
 
    8 AM
PHIL DONAHUE
 
    9 AM
CROSS-WITS—Game
Guests: Marty Allen, Rita Moreno, Orson Bean, Barbara Cason
 
     9:30
WHEW!—Game
 
     9:55
NEWS
 
  10 AM
PRICE IS RIGHT—Game
 
  11 AM
YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
         
   11:30
SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial
 
AFTERNOON
 
   Noon
MIDDAY
 
   12:30
AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial
 
     1:30
GUIDING LIGHT—Serial
 
     2:30
ONE DAY AT A TIME
 
    3 PM
JOKER’S WILD—Game
 
     3:30
MIKE DOUGLAS
Guests: Burt Reynolds, George Hamilton, Lesley-Anne Down
 
    5 PM
NEWS
 
     5:30
CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite
 
EVENING
 
    6 PM
NEWS
 
     6:30
PM MAGAZINE
 
    7 PM
LAST RESORT—Comedy
Debut
 
     7:30
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING
Debut
 
    8 PM
MOVIE—Comedy-Drama
“Sex and the Single Parent” (Made-for-TV; 1979)
 
  10 PM
NEWS
 
   10:30
MARCUS WELBY, M.D.—Drama
 
   11:30
BONANZA—Western
 
   12:30
NEWS
 
    1 AM
PHIL DONAHUE
 
    2 AM
NEWS
 
    4 AM
NEWS
 
Allan's Window, hosted by Allen Lotsberg, is the last kids' show on Twin Cities television. Lotsberg is, to this day, well-loved as Willie Ketchem on the Clancy and Willie show of years past. I suppose we should be grateful to have had these shows for as long as we did.

 
-5- KSTP (ABC)
 
MORNING
 
    6 AM
NEWS
 
     6:20
COUNTRY DAY
 
    7 AM
GOOD MORNING AMERICA—David Hartman
Guest: Psycic Ruth Montgomery
 
    9 AM
TWIN CITIES TODAY
 
  10 AM
LAVERNE & SHIRLEY
 
   10:30
FAMILY FEUD—Game
 
  11 AM
$20,000 PYRAMID—Game
Sal Viscuso, Elaine Joyce
         
   11:30
RYAN’S HOPE
 
AFTERNOON
 
   Noon
ALL MY CHILDREN—Serial
 
    1 PM
ONE LIFE TO LIVE—Serial
 
    2 PM
GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial
 
    3 PM
MATCH GAME
 
     3:30
STARSKY & HUTCH—Crime Drama
 
     4:30
HAPPY DAYS AGAIN—Comedy
 
    5 PM
HOGAN’S HEROES—Comedy
 
     5:30
ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds
 
EVENING
 
    6 PM
NEWS
 
     6:30
MATCH GAME PM
Bart Braverman, Robert Walden, Betty White, Brianne Leary, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly
 
    7 PM
EIGHT IS ENOUGH
 
    8 PM
CHARLIE’S ANGELS
 
    9 PM
VEGA$—Crime Drama
 
  10 PM
NEWS
 
   10:30
   11:40
LOVE BOAT
BARETTA
 
   12:50
NEWS
 
     1:20
DOCTOR WHO—Science Fiction
“Seeds of Doom,” Part 4
 
     1:50
THRILLSEEKERS
 
    2 AM
NEWS
 
     2:20
MOVIE—Western
“Bugles in the Afternoon” (1952)
 
    5 AM
TO BE ANNOUNCED
 
A serious breech of etiquette in the credits for Doctor Who, where Tom Baker is listed as "Dr. Who" rather than "The Doctor." Of course, that's the way his character is listed in the show's end credits as well - they wouldn't make that change for another few seasons. That's what happens when your character has an ambiguous name.
 
 
-9- KMSP (Ind.)
 
MORNING
 
    6 AM
700 CLUB—Religion
 
    7 AM
UNDERDOG—Cartoon
 
     7:30
BULLWINKLE—Cartoon
 
    8 AM
POPEYE—Cartoon
 
     8:30
ARCHIES—Cartoon
 
    9 AM
DINAH!
Guests: Chuck Wollery, Mimi Kennedy, Teri DeSario, Richard Simmons, Jay Johnson, Kazoos Brothers
 
   10:30
GONG SHOW—Game
 
  11 AM
MEDICAL CENTER—Drama
 
AFTERNOON
 
   Noon
NOON ON NINE
 
   12:30
ROOM 222—Comedy-Drama
 
    1 PM
BOLD ONES—Drama
The New Doctors
 
    2 PM
BEST OF GROUCHO—Comedy BW 
 
     2:30
KROFFT SUPERSTARS—Children
 
    3 PM
CASPER—Cartoon
 
     3:30
POPEYE—Cartoons
 
    4 PM
MUNSTERS—Comedy BW 
 
     4:30
GILLIGAN’S ISLAND
 
    5 PM
BRADY BUNCH—Comedy
 
     5:30
DICK VAN DYKE—Comedy BW 
 
EVENING
 
    6 PM
TIC TAC DOUGH—Game
 
     6:30
GOOD TIMES—Comedy
 
    7 PM
GUNSMOKE—Western
 
    8 PM
KOJAK—Crime Drama
 
    9 PM
SANFORD AND SON—Comedy
 
     9:30
NEWS
 
  10 PM
ALL IN THE FAMILY
 
   10:30
JIM ROCKFORD PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR—Crime Drama
 
  11 PM
STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO—Crime Drama
 
   11:40
BARETTA—Crima Drama
 
   12:30
PERRY MASON BW 
 
     1:30
TWILIGHT ZONE—Drama BW 
 
It's been around a year since The Great Affiliate Switch, in which ABC went from Channel 9 to Channel 5 and NBC went from Channel 5 to Channel 11, leaving Channel 9 as the Twin Cities' independent station. And they've assembled a pretty good lineup of programs over that time, shows like The Bold Ones that weren't always commonly seen in syndicated lineups. Before long, they'd be one of the nation's top-rated independent stations.

 
11 WTCN (NBC)
 
MORNING
 
    6 AM
PTL CLUB—Religion
 
    7 AM
TODAY—Tom Brokaw
Guest: Ivan Tors
 
    9 AM
CARD SHARKS—Game
 
     9:30
HOLLYWOOD SQUARES—Game
Conrad Bain, Barbi Benton, John Byner, George Gobel, Joan Rivers, Elke Sommer, Leslie Uggams, Jimmie Walker, Wayland & Madame
 
  10 AM
HIGH ROLLERSGame
 
   10:30
WHEEL OF FORTUNEGame
 
  11 AM
MINDREADERS—Game
Fred Travelena, Marcia Wallace
         
   11:30
PASSWORD—Game
Wesley Bure, Debralee Scott
 
AFTERNOON
 
   Noon
DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial
 
    1 PM
DOCTORS—Serial
 
     1:30
ANOTHER WORLD—Serial
 
    3 PM
MERV GRIFFIN
Guests: David Brenner, Doc Severinsen, the Ritchie Family, Greg Evigan, J.J. Walker, Maureen McGovern
 
     4:30
CAROL BURNETT AND FRIENDS—Comedy
 
    5 PM
M*A*S*H—Comedy
 
     5:30
NBC NEWS—Chancellor/Brinkley
 
EVENING
 
    6 PM
NEWS
 
     6:30
NEWLYWED GAME
 
    7 PM
REAL PEOPLE
 
    8 PM
MOVIE—Drama
“Mrs. R’s Daughter” (Made-for-TV; 1979)
 
  10 PM
NEWS
 
   10:30
JOHNNY CARSON
Guests: Dolly Parton, Patrick Duffy, Henny Youngman
 
     Mid.
TOMORROW—Tom Snyder
 
    1 AM
DATING GAME
 
     1:30
BEWITCHED—Comedy
 
    2 AM
FAMILY AFFAIR—Comedy
 
     2:30
LUCY SHOW
 
    3 AM
MAYBERRY R.F.D.—Comedy
 
     3:30
GONG SHOW—Game
 
    4 AM
IRONSIDE—Crime Drama
 
    5 AM
WHAT’S NEW?
 
This is so typically NBC at the end of the '70s. I'm not entirely sure what it says about a network that its highest-rated show is Real People.

 
17 KTCI (PBS)
 
AFTERNOON
 
     5:30
VILLA ALEGRE—Children
 
EVENING
 
    6 PM
DICK CAVETT
 
     6:30
MacNEIL/LEHRER REPORT
 
    7 PM
MISTER ROGERS—Children
 
     7:30
ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children
 
    8 PM
MacNEIL/LEHRER REPORT
 
     8:30
OVER EASY—Hugh Downs
 
    9 PM
BILL MOYERS’ JOURNAL
 
  10 PM
DICK CAVETT
 
   10:30
ABC NEWS—Frank Reynolds
Captioned for the hearing-impaired

I've mentioned before that KTCI has gone back and forth between offering completely original PBS programming and replaying what was on KTCA earlier in the day or week. At this point in time, they're doing the latter. TV  

4 comments:

  1. This week's episode of "Eight is Enough" was the highest rated show of the week, due to a double wedding (hastily written due to actress Susan Richardson's pregnancy). It was the show's high point, as it soon suffered against "Real People".
    BTW, I love Ch.11's overnight lineup? When did the station go 24 hours and when did it stop?

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  2. Actually we are 6 months in to the network swap, and both 5 and 11 are playing nice and clearing nearly the entire network schedule in the God given times. I do hope that it is a misprint that the Gong Show airs TWICE in the market on two different channels.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought there were two "Gong Shows" at the time; one on NBC's daytime schedule and the other in first-run syndication.

      Thus, KMSP may have aired the syndicated version and WTCN ran the network version in the wee small hours!

      Delete
  3. Reruns from the Gong Show NBC daytime run 1976-1978) were syndicated five days a week starting in the fall of 1979. The once a week-first-run syndicated version would continue for one more season after this thru mid-1980.

    WTCN was owned by Metromedia at the time, and was the sister station of WTTG/5 in DC, which ran the first-run syndicated Gong during this period. KMSP probably ran the daytime NBC reruns, which aired on WRC/4 at 9:30 am in ‘79-80.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!