This week in TV Guide: September 16, 1972

The start to the new television season, as I've often said, used to be an exciting time, with both new and familiar vieing for attention. This week is a perfect example, as the NFL returns, big movies make their TV debuts, and new shows pop up everywhere. One of the shows you'd think would have done well is Anna and the King (Sunday, 7:30 p.m. ET, CBS), with Yul Brynner returning to the role for which he won an Oscar on the big screen, but no, it's 13 episodes and out. Maybe Walt Disney was too much competition? At any rate there's plenty more to see here, starting with those movie blockbusters.

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It may seem odd that one of the big attractions of the new TV season is the theatrical movie, but this is the way it is before cable, before streaming, when Hollywood's biggest hits used to take years to make it to your living room set. The action starts right away, with NBC rolling out In the Heat of the Night, winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture, on Saturday night (9:00 p.m. ET) Sterling Silliphant won an Oscar for his screenplay adaptation, and in doing so demonstrates something he must have learned from Naked City: if you're going to do a genre story, no matter what kind of message you want to send, you're still going to have to respect the demands of the genre at the same time. Indeed, although In the Heat of the Night is about race relations, ignorance and prejudice, and the old south coming to terms with a new world, Judith Crist reminds us that it still succeeds as a top-notch whodunit. Of course, having Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger in the cast doesn't hurt.

Neither does it hurt Richard Brooks to have a superior cast for his 1966 The Professionals, led by Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Jack Palance, and Claudia Cardinale. CBS brings it to the small screen on Thursday night at 9:00 p.m., so that everyone can appreciate what Crist calls a "supurbly entertaining adventure-suspence Western" that garnered two Oscar nominations for Brooks, for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It runs twenty minutes over the normal two-hour timeslot, but that includes a Republican political announcement that we're told follows the movie.

Crist's also going to give a good reivew to Tuesday's late movie, Roger Corman's House of Usher (11:30 p.m., CBS), in which Vincent Price "established himself as the nonpareil in the portrayl of intellectual and sophisticated madmen." She isn't as big a fan of Sunday night's big premiere, ABC's Goldfinger, which she writes "isn't up to the standards set by 'Dr. No' and 'From Russia with Love'," as the franchise begins to change focus "from emphatic action and vicarious heroism to sex and sadism, which outweigh the good dirty fun that initially gave Bond his adult comicstrip status with grown-ups." I understand what she means by that, though most fans rate Goldfinger at or near the top; nevertheless, as she points out, "compared with all the imitations that have come along in the past eight years—good old 007 still holds his own."*

*Oh, the things I could say but won't. 

However mild that criticism may be, it's nothing compared to what she thinks of CBS's offering on Friday night, Valley of the Dolls (9:00 p.m., followed by a Democratic political announcement). Quoting in full, "It's a bowdlerized version of the Jacqueline Susann book which provided a mawkish, trite, cheap story and smut; the movie lacks the smut but compensates by being badly acted, badly photographed and sleazily made, with a cheapjack production underlining the near-idiot literacy level of the script. Patty Duke, who scores high in the repulsive bracket, and Susan Hayward, who can count this as her horror movie (all middle-aged stars have to do one, it seems) fortunately survive their appearances herein." Well, I didn't want to watch that one anyway.

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A couple of soon-to-be classics make their debuts on Saturday night. ABC introduces The Streets of San Francisco (9:00 p.m.), with Karl Malden and Michael Douglas co-starring with The City itself. It features one of television's most dynamic opening credit sequences. It serves the series well, as it embarks on a five-season run, the latest success in the Quinn Martin stable. If you don't remember Streets from Saturday, there's a good reason why: it's on up against a CBS sitcom block that starts with Mary Tyler Moore, beginning its third season; the second half of that block is the night's second notable debut, The Bob Newhart Show (9:30 p.m.), the story of "A psychologist who can't handle his own hangups." Throw in In the Heat of the Night, and this really is the kind of night for which the VCR was invented.

Say goodbye to Sunday afternoons; the NFL is in town. The Shield kicks off its 53rd season with a doubleheader on NBC as the New York Jets travel to Buffalo to take on the Bills (1:00 p.m.); the main men in the game: Joe Namath for the Jets, O.J. Simpson for the Bills. Neither makes it to the playoffs. That's followed by the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs, in the first regular season game played at the new Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The last time these two teams met, it was Christmas Day 1971, with the Dolphins defeating the Chiefs in a double-overtime thriller. Over on CBS, it's the New York Giants and Detroit Lions, from Tiger Stadium in Detroit. (2:00 p.m.)

"The Movie Fractured You. The Series Will Have You in Stitches." That's the way CBS advertises the debut of M*A*S*H on Sunday night (8:00 p.m.). If I didn't know any better, I'd think it was going to be something like Hogan's Heroes. Of course, the tenor of the program does evolve somewhat over the years. If family fare is more your thing, Walt Disney begins its 19th season with "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes," staring Kurt Russell*. Turning to crime, it's the second-season premiere of Columbo "Etude in Black" (9:00 p.m., NBC), starring John Cassavetes in possibly the worst impression of a conductor ever seen on television. (His performance otherwise is quirky and good, working with his old friend Peter Falk.) Elsewhere in the crime racket, Eddie Egan, the real-life former NYC detective who was the basis for Gene Hackman's character in The French Connection, is "a cop out to nab a killer" in the sixth-season opener of Mannix. (9:30 p.m., CBS) 

*Stay tuned for a Kurt Russell tie-in later on in this feature.

Monday Night Football begins its third season with a major-league showdown between the Washington Redskins and Minnesota Vikings (9:00 p.m., ABC), but right before that ABC features another of its new series, The Rookies (8:00 p.m.), starring Georg Stanford Brown, Michael Ontkean, and Sam Melville as the rookie cops, Gerald S. O'Loughlin. as their mentor, and Kate Jackson as Melville's wife. And do you remember Bill Cosby's variety show? I didn't either, until I was reminded of it here; his big-name guest lineup includes Peter Sellers and Lily Tomlin. (10:00 p.m., CBS)

On Tuesday, WCBS presents the season premieres of two old favorites in new skins (syndicated skins, that is). First, at 1:00 p.m., it's Larry Blyden as the host of the all-new What's My Line? Then, at 7:30 p.m., it's Steve Allen hosting I've Got a Secret. Both harmless entertainment; neither come close to the sophistication and star power of the originals. Later in the evening, The Bold Ones (9:00 p.m., NBC) has the conclusion to one of those crossover episodes that you can only get when diferent series share the same television universe. This time, "The New Doctors" wraps up a storyline that began last week on Ironside; seems a surgeon's (Vic Morrow) daughter has been kidnapped, and only Raymond Burr and his gang can get to the bottom of it. I'm betting on the Chief.

Wednesday's a big night with several new series, including The Paul Lynde Show (8:00 p.m., ABC) with Lynde woefully miscast as a family man. Later, after ABC's Wednesday Movie of the Week, it's the second episode of The Julie Andrews Show (10:00 p.m.), with guests Carl Reiner, Cass Elliot, and Alice Ghostley joining Julie in a wild take-off of All About Eve.

Meantime, NBC has a couple of rookie series that, unfortunately, fail to return for seconds. The night begins with Adam-12 (8:00 p.m.); that's followed by Richard Widmark, reprising his movie role of the tough New York cop Madigan, as part of the network's new Wednesday Mystery Movie (8:30 p.m.); after that, it's SEARCH (10:00 p.m.), a sadly underrated show featuring Tony Francoisa, Hugh O'Brian, and Doug McClure alternating as leads and Burgess Meredith as the hub that keeps them together. 

CBS doesn't need anything new, with a lineup that includes The Carol Burnett Show, Medical Center, and Cannon. But Medical Center (10:00 p.m.) does catch my eye, because something tells me Chad Everett's Dr. Gannon is going to have a very tough day: "Mrs. Slade has a happy secret: after many years of marriage, she is finally pregnant. Mr. Slade has a secret, too, and the implication isn't as happy—three years ago he had a vasectomy." Oops! (Evidentelly, the wife didn't have to give written concent back in those days.) Yes, I think Dr. Gannon's going to need some aspirin before this hour is over, along with a stiff drink.

Thursday gives us the series that becomes the surprise hit of the year. The Waltons (8:00 p.m., CBS), based on the Christmas movie The Homecoming, isn't expected to amount to much in the ratings, but the network puts it on the fall schedule to appease critics (including those in Congress) who've harshly criticized the network for its Rural Purge; the suits figure it won't be much more than fodder for NBC's successful Flip Wilson Show, but the joke's on them, as The Waltons goes on for nine successful seasons, hitting number one in the ratings. On the other hand, ABC rolls out another of those wheel shows, but unlike SEARCH, this one is made up of three separate shows, none of which make the grade: Jigsaw, which debuts tonight (9:00 p.m.) stars James Wainwright as a California state investigator; he'll be alternating with Robert Conrad in Assignment Vienna and Laurence Luckinbill in The Delphi Bureau. 

Friday gives us an example of another staple of the new television season: a multi-episode spectacular. Tonight, in the first of a three-part adventure, The Brady Bunch takes a vacation in Hawaii. (8:00 p.m., ABC) Of course, if you think some fun and sun is all there is to it, you've got another think coming, I recommend Howard Cosell's guest spot on The Odd Couple (9:30 p.m., ABC). NBC presents a lineup that, save Sanford and Son, is entirely new: The Little People (8:30 p.m.), with Brian Keith as a pediatrician and Shelley Fabares as his daughter; Ghost Story (9:00 p.m.), a horror anthology hosted by Sebastian Cabot; and Banyon (10:00 p.m.), a period detective piece with Robert Forster. The Little People, renamed The Brian Keith Show, manages to survive for two seasons; Ghost Story (renamed Circle of Fear, and without Cabot) and Banyon do not. If you're staying up late, I suggest heading over to WNEW at 1:30 a.m. to catch The Stranger, a superior suspense movie starring Orson Welles (who also directed) as a Nazi war criminal masquerading as a teacher, Loretta Young as his fiancee, and Edward G. Robinson as the United Nations agent hunting Welles down. 

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Not to be left out, ABC rolls out its new Saturday morning lineup this week, apparently making it the "place to be," at least on Saturday mornings. Compared to cartoons of the past, some of which can still be seen Saturdays on other networks, this lineup strikes me as—what? Trendy, taking advantage of headlining music groups? (The Jackson 5ive, The Osmonds.) Cynical, spinning off from the network's own primetime shows? (The Brady Girls, with magic myna bird and pandas thrown in for good measure.) Unimaginative, regurgitating some of those old, favorite characters in an hour-long story with a social message? ("Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Top Cat, Magilla Gorilla and his other animal friends sail away from Jellystone National Park to escape pollution.") Perhaps all three? It strikes me that this would have been about the time I stopped watching Saturday morning cartoons, which is a shame because I still enjoy the best of them (Rocky and Bullwinkle, Alvin, Felix the Cat, Bugs Bunny), but I'm afraid most intelligent children will see right through some of this claptrap.

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The Doan Report offers a recap of the Munich Olympic Massacre, which had only happened the past week. ABC's coverage of the Games, which started out in color and pagentry, ended in a "spectacle of horror," but the network acquitted itself magnificently, with Jim McKay and Howard Cosell "suddenly cast in the role of headline-news reporters." NBC and CBS scrambled as best they could to provide coverage, but were limited in the amount of satellite time they were able to access, although CBS was able to get an hour, using coverage from the German police TV camera that ABC also had. Hard to imagine now, that one network could have virtually exclusive live coverage of a breaking news story like that, but in 1972 it wasn't all that easy to get satellite time under the best of circumstances; as I recall, ABC faced the same challenges in staying on the air.

Doan also notes that NBC is engaged in a "nation-wide search" for someone to host their proposed new late-late show, Tomorrow. While entertainment is forseen as being part of the new program, the emphasis will be on talk, often on "very important subjects of a nature that might not get discussed on TV at an hour before 1 A.M." No speculation as to the host will be, although it might be someone from "outside show business." (As indeed it is. ►) ABC and CBS are said to be "taking a wait-and-see attitide" toward NBC's new venture.

As for the new season, experts don't see any new trends coming from the new series; All in the Family, Marcus Welby, M.D., and Flip (Wilson) are expected to once again lead the pack. The heavy favorite among the new series is CBS's Bridget Loves Bernie, which lasts only a single season. The real interest lies with public reaction to the so-called "New Permissiveness." "Titillations with the gay life, abortion, unmarried sex and such will abound on TV in the weeks ahead. It's going to induce either drooling or damnation, or both."

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Two months later. . .

Some additional industry news from the Teletype: Here's a program I remember, from the day after Thanksgiving, 1972. They don't have a name for it yet, but it will be called "The Jerry Lucas Super Kids Day Magic Jamboree," filling three hours for ABC on the morning after Turkey Day, and it will feature the New York Knicks star performing magic tricks, passing along basketball tips, and "display[ing] his freakish memory (which allows him to memorize hundreds of pages of telephone directories.)" As I recall, Lucas would go on talk shows and memorize the names of everyone in the audience, and one of his greatest feats was the ability to take any word, at the instant it was spoken, and alphabatize it. He was a very good player, but disarming and fascinating in all these other ways. Sports Illustrated had two interesting articles on him; this one at the height of his memory fame, and this one from 30 years later telling of the interesting turns his life has taken since.

Also: Neil Diamond's received offers from all three networks to do music specials for them. He's mulling them over, but as I recall, he winds up going with NBC, doing a special called "Neil Diamond at the Greek Theatre."  Jerry Lewis plans an appearance on Sonny & Cher on CBS, including a skit in which he and Sonny play chess. (It happens to be the episode that airs this Friday.) And finally, Robert Young plans to star in a TV movie for ABC, entitled "All My Darling Daughters." Now TV Guide doesn't mention this, but I've heard they were going to call it "All My Darjeeling Daughters," but Young said it wasn't his cup of tea. . .

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Believe it or not, NBC's Laugh-In is about to start its fifth season. (Sock it to me.) Almost the entire supporting cast has turned over in that time, with only Ruth Buzzi remaining on the show, and Leslie Raddatz takes the opporunity to catch up with the "six who bowed out," and gets some surprising insights along the way.

Of the six, Goldie Hawn has, by far, enjoyed the most successful post-Laugh-In career, having appeared in three movies, and winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for one of them, Cactus Flower. "There was an excitement about Laugh-In then," she remembers of the early days. "There were no egos. Everything was funny." She explains that when she first started, she had a hard time reading the cue cards without giggling, and producer George Schlatter "decided to make something of that." She remembers the camaraderie of those days fondly: working until 2 a.m., singing songs because they'd gotten so slap-happy. "But it had to end sometime," she says wistfully. When the show did its hundredth show, she was the one who didn't come back, because "you can't recapture the past."

Judy Carne only appeared on Laugh-In for two years, during which time she'd do anything for a laugh. Besides being dunked in water, she was sawed in half and shot from a cannon; "I guess I'm just a frustrated stuntgirl." She regrets having left the show when she did. "I was emotionally involved and disturbed, and I felt I had to go. Now I can sit back and view things, and I realize it was not too smart a move." Since then, she did a Broadway show that was less than successful ("The Boy Friend"), and spent six months doing what she called a "disastrous" night-club act. "And I was married for three months." 

Jo Anne Worley remembers that halfway through the first season, "Goldie and I decided that we weren't getting anywhere. Then one day we went shopping together, and we were mobbed. That changed our minds!" She left the show at her agent's suggestion, and since then "I've guested on practically every show and done commercials and been a semiregular on Andy Williams' show." She also spent time in London, doing shows with Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. "I don't miss Laugh-In as such. It was the relationship that was important—we all laughed and had such a good time." 

Arte Johnson was the only member of the cast to win an Emmy, and though he's most remembered for his "Verrry Interesting" WWII German soldier, he recalls how it took 40 minutes for him to be made up for the old man, another of his signature characters. "Doing him was a tremendous psychological problem. It was always the old man, not me—I stayed constant." He left Laugh-In to pursue other opportunities; "You reach a certain plateau, and you want to reach a higher plateau." He never had time for anything else while on Laugh-In, but since then, "I've done a pilot, two specials, a lot of guest shots, and some summer theater." Like the others, he has fond memories of his time: "It was sheer mayhem sometimes, but nobody in the history of show business ever had the opportunity we did."

Henry Gibson seems to have been an unlikely member of the cast, having studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and earned a dregree in drama from Catholic University, but his entrance to TV was as "a bucolic poet from the Deep South." He recalls his first meeting with Schlatter; after sitting quietly whle Schlatter juggled phone calls from Milton Berle, Frank Sinatra and others, he decided something drastic was needed. "I had paid a stuntman $50 once to teach me a triple flip for a show, so finally I pretended to faint and then did the flip George put down the phone and said, 'I don't know who you are, but you're hired.'" "I hated to leave the show, but after four years you have to make a choice." He wanted a chance to return to his acting roots, and has guested on several shows since, as well as played the voice of Wilbur the pig in Charlotte's Web.

Alan Sues worked in night clubs prior to Laugh-In; his funniest memories involve things that weren't planned, such as the time he was supposed to "fly" in for a scene and was left hanging on wires when everyone else broke for lunch. He considered himself a revue performer rather than a comic, a situation he considers more of a challenge for his abilities: "On TV, they just turn up the laugh track, but out there [on stage] you'd better be funny." Like some of the others, he's done guest shots and some summer stock; "I miss Laugh-In, but when I think about going through tha ttrap door, I don't know."

Only Ruth Buzzi is still on the show (along with Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, but as Judy Carne remembers, they were "never part of" the closeness that the others felt working together as part of a repertory company. "I can see why the others left the show," Buzzi says, "but I don't think anything would have happened for me that hasn't happened anyway." She's done a failed plot, some commercials, and some guest shots; "Now, I'm the last of the red-hot mammas. In my mind, it's a whole new show"

It's difficult, from the perspective of 50+ years, to avoid comparing the sitaution to that of the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players on Saturday Night Live, although the latter left as a group rather than individually. SNL has persisted since then (although Lord knows why), with cast members coming and going, but they're always compared to the originals. Much the same could be said for Laugh-In; despite an effort to reboot the show with a new cast, everyone looks back to the the six who left and the one who remains. 

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MST3K alert: Revenge of the Creature (1955) A young scientist sets out to capture the Creature and use him for scientific studies. John Agar,  Lori Nelson, John Bromfield. (Saturday, 2:30 p.m., WCBS in New York City). One of MST3K's favorite whipping boys, John Agar (aka Mr. Shirley Temple) is out-acted by the great Ricou Browning, and Lori Nelson takes the place of Julie Adams. There's a reason why this movie, and not the original, is on MST3K. On the other hand, we're introduced to Professor Bobo and The Nanites, so how bad can it be? Or is that just a rhetorical question? TV