This week in TV Guide: December 6, 1975

Television is a lot like the weather: people complain about it, but nobody does anything about it. In this week's cover story, Neil Hickey looks at one of the most controversial attempts to do something about television: "family viewing time." 

Family viewing time—defined as the hours between 7 and 9:00 p.m. Eastern time—was written into the National Association of Broadcasters' Television Code for the beginning of the 1975-76 season, in response to growing alarm over the amount of violence on television. Now, this is nothing new, as faithful readers will testify; concern over TV violence has been around almost as long as TV itself, and tends to spike in the wake of any traumatic national event. However, the most recent TV Guide poll, conducted by Opinion Research Company, shows that such worries have risen markedly, with more than seven out of 10 Americans convinced that "television programs, overall, are much too violent." Under family viewing time, no program deemed "inappropriate for viewing by a general familiy audience" would be aired during those two hours.

Almost immediately, however, a hue and cry arose that this amounted to "censorship," that the ruling was the result of buckling to pressure from Congress, and that it wouldn't work anyway, since children themselves don't limit their viewing to early evening hours. (More than 20 million children between the ages of 2 and 17 are watching TV at 9:00 p.m., and 5.3 million are still watching at 11:00 p.m.) And last month, the Writers Guild, Directors Guild, and Screen Actors Guild, brought suit against the FCC, the NAB, and the three commercial networks, charging that family viewing time was "the product of political coercion" and a violation of the First Amendment. Defenders of the policy have been equally adamant that family viewing time was, at the very least, a step in the right direction, a guarantee that there would be at least two inoffensive hours of television a day, and an aid to parents attempting to oversee their children's viewing. But what does the public think about it all? 

Well, as Richard Dawson might say, here is what the survey says. Not surprisingly, a little more than half the public had either never heard of it at all or was uncertain as to what the details were. However, once the details were explained to them, the publicsx 's opinion starts to come into focus. Asked if they were in favor of such a rule or opposed to it, 82 percent replied yes, with only seven percent opposing it. Households with children were more strongly in favor than those without, and the approval rate for women was slightly higher than men, 85% to 77%. Seniors and those without a college degree were also more likely to support it. Eight out of ten respondants said they did not feel as if family programming standards were being forced on them, and 56% replied that they were hopeful television might improve as a result of the rule. 

Some other trends to notice: while 54% felt there was too much sex on television, 71% said there was too much violence, and 44% felt violence was more objectionable than sex, while 22% felt the opposite. However, when asked whether or not there should be stricter controls on programming, seven out of 10 felt that the family itself should make that decision, and of those who did think there should be stricter controles, more than half felt those controls should come from the industry, rather than the government. 

The conclusions, says Hickey, are broadly that the public feels there's too much violence, that the concept of family viewing time is a good one, and that 80% of the public approves of the rule designed to bring it about. 

Of course, things have changed since then. In 1976, family viewing time was found unconstitutional as a violation of the First Amendment; the NAB Code itself went away in 1983. Cable programming was never under the control of the government or the NAB anyway, and as cable grew, it became a moot point. Anyway, with the advent of on-demand programming, you can watch what you want whenever you want anyway. But then, one could argue that the definition of "family" itself is so up in the air, so maybe none of it matters. 

 

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On weeks when we can, we'll match up two of the biggest rock shows of the era, NBC's The Midnight Special and the syndicated Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, and see who's better, who's best.

Kirshner #1: Two different syndicated Kirshner episodes again this week; in the first, Steppenwolf, Graham Central Station and Emmylou Harris are guests. Music: “Mr. Penny Pincher”’, and “‘Carotine” (Steppenwolf)

Kirshner #2: Performers: Janis lan, Pure Prairie League and Chuck Mangione. Songs include “At Seventeen,” “When the Party’s Over.”

Special: Helen Reddy's guests are Glen Campbell, Anne Murray, Johnny Rivers, soul group Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, and soul artists the Whitneys. Also: James Taylor's hit “You’ve Got a Friend” and a tribute to Gordon Lightfoot. 

Well, this is a tough one. Ordinarily, I'd be leaning toward the Special, but for two things: I can't stand Helen Reddy, and I can't stand James Taylor. I particularly can't stand James Taylor singing "You've Got a Friend," which only serves to make me an enemy. Meanwhile, Glen Campbell and Johnny Rivers are just fine, but this week's songs are far from their best. And so this leaves a pair of Kirshner concerts, of which I'm going to give the edge to #2, with Janis Ian singing two of her biggest, and Chuck Mangione as the hottest horn around. This week, Kirshner takes the prize.

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From 1963 to 1976, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever they appear, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era.

There are, as Cleveland Amory sees it, four categories of shows in the 1975-76 season: "dicks, docs, damsels in distress and barrel-of-laughs ethnics." Into the last category falls this week's show, the ABC sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, and as Cleve says, "you could do a lot worse." Kotter, as you probably know, gives us Gabe Kaplan as the teacher who returns to his former school ten years later, assigned to teach a class of "Special Guidance Remedial Academics." Although the premise may sound hokey, and it's not particularly convincing (John Travolta, as Barbarino, is "a pretty boy who looks as if someone stole his lollipop."), it is, most of the time, very funny.

Credit for much of that goes to Kaplan, "a versatile comedian who can be convincing when the occasion demands and, when it doesn’t, can break out in the wildest stuff this side of Freddie Prinze." He is, says Amory, "in many ways the best new comedy figure" of the season, who looks like he's having fun, and makes the viewers feel the same way. Marcia Strassman comes in for kudos as well, as "one TV wife whos so charming that she doesn't make you wonder what her husband sees in her." 

Amory also credits strong scriptwriting, especially in an episode that give us Kotter refusing to pass Washington (Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs) a passing grade just because he's an athlete, and another that deals with teenage pregnancy with a twist, when Hotsie Totzi (Debralee Scott) fakes being pregnant to prove to the rest that "I ain't easy. I'm a lady." It is, Cleve says, "both funny and touching," and when it comes to sitcoms, that's a pretty good combination.

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The Yuletide specials are out in force this week, particularly of the animated kind; there's still time to get the kids that present from the commercials!

For all-out value, nothing tops CBS's Friday doubleheader of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (8:00 p.m. PT) and Frosty the Snowman (8:30 p.m.). The Grinch, of course, features Boris Karloff's memorable narration and Thurl Ravenscroft's equally memorable rendition of "You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch."; Frosty has perhaps the weakest of the classic Rankin-Bass storylines, but the irrepressible Jimmy Durante helps make up for it. That's followed by a repeat of The Homecoming: a Christmas Story (9:00 p.m., CBS), the de-facto pilot for The Waltons, with Patricia Neal and Richard Thomas and a tense Christmas Eve, 1933.

Speaking of Rankin-Bass, Mickey Rooney is, for my money, the definitive R-B Santa Claus, and he gets to demonstrate it on consecutive nights, with Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (Tuesday, 8:00 p.m., ABC) and The Year Without a Santa Claus (Wednesday, 8:00 p.m., ABC). In the former, we see how an infant foundling becomes the Jolly Old Elf; the latter gives us an elf who's old but not so jolly, as a cynical, sickly Santa wonders if he's all washed up. Highlights abound, with Fred Astaire narrating and singng on Tuesday night, and Dick Shawn and George S. Irving doing the Snow Miser/Heat Miser duet to hammy perfection. Don't overlook another Tuesday night R-B special, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (8:30 p.m., CBS), with Joel Grey, Tammy Grimes, George Gobel, and John McGiver. 

For those wanting something less cartoony, John Denver's Rocky Mountain Christmas (Wednesday, 9:00 p.m., ABC) follows The Year Without a Santa Claus, and offers Valerie Harper, Oliva Newton-John, and Steve Martin in a tuneful celebration from Aspen. Your enjoyment of this will be directly related to how well you like the participants. And from the big screen, it's the movie that, in my opinion, ranks at the top when it comes to Christmas: Miracle on 34th Street (Sunday, 4:00 p.m., KTVU in San Francisco), with John Payne, Maureen O'Hara, Natalie Wood, and film's greatest Santa, the Oscar-winning Edmund Gwynn. 

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Never mind the Sweathogs—let's take a look at a real bad boy, or at least one that's trying to turn over a new leaf: Tony Franciosa, currently starring in ABC's detective series Matt Helm. As Al Stump reminds us, Franciosa came to Helm known for two things: an undeniable talent (he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar in 1957 for A Hatful of Rain), and a reputation for a hair-trigger temper that has seen him called "hotheaded, arrogant, spoiled, unreliable and a 6-foot-2-inch menace to coexistence on the set." He's feuded with studio executives, punched directors and photographers, and alienated many people with whom he's worked. While he doesn't deny that there have been times—"I've been called a lot of things" he says—he's also less than repentant, nothing that much of the criticism has come from "uncreative, computerized men who are typical of those who've taken over much of the industry. Weird, Kafkaesque types." But, he acknowledges, you can't fight the system, "so I've become more resigned and relaxed about it. I won’t be pushed around, but I'm fatalistic."

It's understandable that there are skeptics out there; some point to the $260,000 that ABC is paying him for 13 episodes of Helm, but others think he really has matured. Franciosa readily admits that he took the part for "three reasons—money, money and money," but he's also settled in his home life with his (fourth) wife and two children. "Five years ago I never thought I'd become a homebody, raising babies, dogs, cats and rabbits." He's also started saving money, to keep the kids from having to deal with the "dirt poor" childhood he remembers. 

His road to stardom, unlike many, started out strongly; a Tony nomination for the Broadway version of Hatful, followed by success in television and movies. Then he started falling into disfavor in some circles for criticizing scripts, going through marriages, and having a brittle relationship with the press. In The Name of the Game, many felt he outacted his co-stars, Gene Barry and Robert Stack, but he claims he was asked to take a pay cut, and had to work in insufferable conditions, including 105-degree heat in Las Vegas that had people passing out. The studio, Universal, has a different story, of course; they eventually sacked him, replacing him with guest stars. 

On the set of Matt Helm, he keeps to himself for the most part, but he's also been—again, for the most part—easy to work with. He's had several opportunities to complain about scripts, blocking, delays, injuries, and the like, but has passed them up. Matt Helm has only a 14-episode run, but Franciosa remains busy doing guest roles through the 1990s, before dying at age 77 in 2006.

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Frank Swertlow reports on change that's on the horizon at ABC, with a batch of cancellations, headed by the highly-touted Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell (thus, and most notably, freeing up the name for NBC's Saturday Night). Other casualties include When Things Were Rotten; That’s My Mama; Barbary Coast; Mobile One and the aforementioned Matt Helm. The network's second season holds some potential: among others series, we can look forward to Six Million Dollar Man spinoff The Bionic Woman, the limited-run series Rich Man, Poor Man (the term miniseries hasn't been coined yet), Laverne and Shirley, a spinoff from Happy Days, the variety hour Donny and Marie, and The ABC Monday Night Movie. Not a bad exchange, if you ask me. 

But enough of the future; let's take a look at what else is on this week, starting with Cosell's Saturday night show (8:00 p.m., ABC). Howard's guests are Orson Welles, Paul Anka, Billy Crystal, and gymnast Olga Korbut. That's a pretty good lineup, leaving one to wonder just who the week link in the show is. And on KQED, the PBS affiliate in San Francisco, it's Night of the Python (9:00 p.m.), three hours of routines from Monty Python's Flying Circus. Unless it's a pledge night, that sounds like a pretty good bet to me.

On 60 Minutes (Sunday, 7:00 p.m., CBS), former Secret Service agent Clint Hill joines Mike Wallace for a candid and emotional interview as he recalls the day President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. I had the opportunity to ◀ meet Hill back in 2013 during one of the 50th anniversary events (back when we were all younger); a very interesting man who suffered a great deal in the years after the assassination; I'm glad that he's been able to deal with the demons that haunted him. 

Monday features a salute to Lucille Ball on Dinah! (8:00 p.m., KBHK), with Lucie Arnaz, Vivian Vance, Lucy's mother Dee Dee Ball, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and PR representative Charles Pomerantz. And in part one of a two-part All in the Family (9:00 p.m., CBS) deals with the Stivics' overdue baby; it's driving Gloria crazy and driving Mike out of the house. (Part two, which airs Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., is a flashback to Mike and Gloria preparing for their wedding.

Police officer-turned actor Eddie Egan (the inspiration for Popeye Doyle in The French Connection) works back-to-back shifts on NBC Tuesday, starting on Police Woman (9:00 p.m.), where he and former police office David Toma (the inspiration for, well, you know) play a couple of hoods who will, I'm sure, cross paths with Pepper. Who'll sneeze first? After that, he plays a cop taken hostage in a bungled robbery, who depends on Lloyd Bridges' Joe Forrester to save him (10:00 p.m.)

Joan Fontaine makes a rare television appearance this week on a special two-hour Cannon (Wednesday, 9:00 p.m., CBS) as a former film star who retains our avuncular private eye to find her missing son. Appropriately, the episode featurse a fine supporting cast, including David Hedison, Richard Hatch, Linden Chiles, Dana Elcar, John Veronon, and Jack Carter. And the old ABC documentary series Saga of Western Man takes a look at the Age of Discovery in "1492," narrated by Fredric March. (9:00 p.m., KTVU in Oakland)

Barbara Walters wasn't the first to present gossip specials masquerading as celebrity interviews; as an example, Rona Barrett hosts an hour's worth of chats with James Caan, Michael Caine, Elliott Gould, and Burt Reynolds. (Thursday 2:00 p.m., CBS) Notice the afternoon air time, rather than a prime time slot; why not, considering that's where you find the soap operas. Incidentelly, CBS plans an announcement warning that the program may not be suitable for ali family members

Friday features the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation "The Rivalry" (8:30 p.m, NBC), the story of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, with Arthur Hill as Abraham Lincoln, Charles Durning as Stephen Douglas, and Hope Lange as Mrs. Douglas, caught between support for her husband and sympathy for Lincoln's anti-slavery message. That wouldn't quite pass muster for a Hallmark Christmas presentation today, would it? 

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MST3K alert: The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) Plutonium transforms an army colonel into a 70-foot madman. Glenn Langan.Cathy Downs. (Saturday, 1:30 p.m., KBHK in the Bay Area) Admit it; you'd be plenty teed off too if you'd been transformed, through no fault of your own, into a 70-foot giant. Unfortunately, since the rights to use the movie expired, you can no longer see the MST3K version except on YouTube. However, you can catch the unwanted, unasked-for sequel, War of the Colossal Beast, with a completely different cast. Take it from me: if you've seen one colossal man, you've seen them all. TV