December 29, 2025

What's on TV? Wednesday, January 2, 1974



Ah, for the days when there were only five stations from which to choose! This old Minneapolis-St. Paul edition is right there: the three commercial networks, independent WTCN, and KTCA, the PBS station that only programs from 4:00 p.m. on. And what a fine lineup WCCO has (with the exception of Sonny and Cher, but even there, they've got a great guest lineup: Laurel and Hardy shorts at 6:30 (now that's the kind of local-access programming I can get behind) and a crime back-to-back of Cannon and Kojak. It certainly beats NBC's schedule, two-thirds of which is going off the air after tonight. Anyway, it's a grand way to get 1974 off to a flying start. Right?
 
-2- KTCA (PBS)
 
AFTERNOON
 
    4:00
MISTER ROGERS
Guest: Al Worden
 
    4:30
SESAME STREET
 
    5:30
ELECTRIC COMPANY—Children
 
EVENING
 
    6:00
TO BE ANNOUNCED
 
    6:30
INQUEST
 
    7:00
BILL MOYERS’ JOURNAL—Report
 
    7:30
CONFLICTS—Drama
“Birdbath”
 
    8:30
TO BE ANNOUNCED
 
    9:00
REVENUE SHARING: WHAT NEXT?
 
    9:30
FRENCH CHEF
Leg of lamb
 
 
 
-4- WCCO (CBS)
 
MORNING
 
    6:30
SUNRISE SEMESTER
Twentieth Century Literature: Tennessee Williams
 
    7:00
CARMEN
 
    7:30
CLANCY AND WILLIE
 
    8:00
CAPTAIN KANGAROO
Guest: Pete Seeger
 
    9:00
JOKER’S WILD—Game
 
    9:30
$10,000 PYRAMID—Game
Jo Anne Worley, Soupy Sales
 
  10:00
GAMBIT—Game
 
  10:30
LOVE OF LIFE—Serial
 
  10:55
LIVE TODAY
 
  11:00
YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS—Serial
 
  11:30
SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial
 
AFTERNOON
 
  12:00
MIDDAY
 
  12:30
AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial
 
    1:00
GUIDING LIGHT—Serial
 
    1:30
EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial
 
    2:00
PRICE IS RIGHT—Game
 
    2:30
MATCH GAME
Charles Nelson Reilly, Richard Dawson, Patti Deutsch, Larry Hovis, Madlyn Rhue, Bret Somers Klugman
 
    3:00
SECRET STORM—Serial
 
    3:30
MOVIE—Musical
“That Midnight Kiss” (1949)
 
    5:30
CBS NEWS—Walter Cronkite
 
EVENING
 
    6:00
NEWS
 
    6:30
LAUREL AND HARDY
 
    7:00
SONNY AND CHER
Guests: Tennessee Ernie Ford, Lyle Waggoner
 
    8:00
CANNON—Crime Drama
 
    9:00
KOJAK—Crime Drama
 
  10:00
NEWS
 
  10:50
MOVIE—Drama
“Desire Under the Elms” (1958)
 
  12:50
MOVIE—Drama BW 
“The Next Voice You Hear” (1950)
 
 
 
-5- KSTP (NBC)
 
MORNING
 
    6:00
MINNESOTA TODAY—Stone
 
    6:30
NOT FOR WOMEN ONLY
 
    7:00
TODAY—Frank McGee/Barbara Walters
 
    9:00
DINAH SHORE
Guest: Peter Lupus
 
    9:30
BAFFLE
Lyle Waggoner, Nanette Fabray, Charles Nelson Reilly, Tina Cole
 
  10:00
WIZARD OF ODDS—Game
 
  10:30
HOLLYWOOD SQUARES
Edward Asner, Elke Sommer, Amanda Blake, Pearl Bailey, Jan Murray, Arte Johnson, Bill Bixby
 
  11:00
JEOPARDY—Game
 
  11:30
WHO, WHAT OR WHERE—Game
 
  11:55
NBC NEWS—Edwin Newman
 
AFTERNOON
 
  12:00
NEWS—John Evans
 
  12:15
DIAL 5
 
    1:00
DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial
 
    1:30
DOCTORS—Serial
 
    2:00
ANOTHER WORLD—Serial
 
    3:00
SOMERSET—Serial
 
    3:30
DICK VAN DYKE—Comedy BW 
 
    4:00
MOD SQUAD—Crime Drama
 
    5:00
HOGAN’S HEROES—Comedy
 
    5:30
NBC NEWS—John Chancellor
 
EVENING
 
    6:00
NEWS
 
    6:30
HOLLYWOOD SQUARES
Marty Allen, Mel Brooks, Gail Fisher, Glenn Ford, Suzanne Pleshette, Vincent Price
 
    7:00
ADAM-12—Crime Drama
 
    7:30
TENAFLY—Crime Drama
[Last show of the series]
 
    9:00
LOVE STORY
[Last show of the series]
 
  10:00
NEWS
 
  10:30
JOHNNY CARSON
 
  12:00
TOMORROW—Discussion
 
 
 
-9- KMSP (ABC)
 
MORNING
 
    7:00
CBS NEWS—Hughes Rudd/Sally Quinn
 
    8:00
NEWS AND VIEWS—Smith
 
    8:30
ROMPER ROOM
 
    9:00
MIKE DOUGLAS
Guests: Maureen Stapleton, Donald O’Connor, Stiller and Meara, George Bach
 
  10:00
GREEN ACRES
 
  10:30
BRADY BUNCH
 
  11:00
PASSWORD—Game
Pat Carroll, Peter Lawford
 
  11:30
SPLIT SECOND—Game
 
AFTERNOON
 
  12:00
ALL MY CHILDREN—Serial
 
  12:30
LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game
 
    1:00
NEWLYWED GAME
 
    1:30
GIRL IN MY LIFE
 
    2:00
GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial
 
    2:30
ONE LIFE TO LIVE—Serial
 
    3:00
LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE
 
    3:30
BEAT THE CLOCK
Dick Shawn
 
    4:00
BIG VALLEY—Western
 
    5:00
NEWS—Boyett/Breman
 
    5:30
ABC NEWS—Howard K. Smith/Harry Reasoner
 
EVENING
 
    6:00
TO TELL THE TRUTH
Bill Cullen, Peggy Cass, Larry Blyden, Kitty Carlisle
 
    6:30
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
 
    7:00
ROCK AND ROLL YEARS—Music
 
    7:30
MOVIE—Drama
“A Brand New Life” (Made for TV; 1973)
 
    9:00
OWEN MARSHALL—Drama
[“Owen Marshall” moves to Saturday beginning Jan. 19]
 
  10:00
NEWS
 
  10:30
ROD SERLING AT LAX—Interview
 
  12:00
NAME OF THE GAME—Drama
 
 
 
11 WTCN (Ind.)
 
MORNING
 
    6:30
FIGURE FITNESS
 
    7:00
NEW ZOO REVUE—Children
 
    7:30
POPPY AND PORKY
 
    8:30
MISTER ED—Comedy BW 
 
    9:00
FLINTSTONES
 
    9:30
I DREAM OF JEANNIE—Comedy
 
  10:00
FATHER KNOWS BEST BW 
 
  10:30
ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy BW 
 
  11:00
THAT GIRL—Comedy
 
  11:30
WHAT’S NEW—Variety
 
AFTERNOON
 
    1:00
MOVIE—Western
“Day of the Badman” (1958)
 
    3:00
GOMER PYLE, USMC—Comedy
 
    3:30
PETTICOAT JUNCTION—Comedy
 
    4:00
FLINTSTONES
 
    4:30
GILLIGAN’S ISLAND—Comedy
 
    5:00
BEWITCHED—Comedy BW 
 
    5:30
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—Adventure
 
EVENING
 
    6:30
LUCY SHOW—Comedy BW 
 
    7:00
STAR TREK—Adventure
 
    8:00
MERV GRIFFIN
Guests: Trini Lopez, Jaye P. Morgan
 
    9:30
NEWS
 
  10:00
PERRY MASON BW 
 
  11:00
MOVIE—Musical
“Lucky Me” (1954)

TV


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2 comments:

  1. The episode of CANNON that aired, "Photo Finish", had probably the highest Nielsen rating for the show, 30.2. Jack Cassidy was the guest star, and despite the super cheesy ending, it is one of my favorites, with an intriguing set up.

    For whatever reason, CBS decided to break up the CANNON/KOJAK duo once SONNY AND CHER ended with the divorce, and the ratings fell in 1974-75 on Wednesdays for CBS, as MANHUNTER didn't make the top 30 and SONNY AND CHER replacement TONY ORLANDO AND DAWN was 25th (SONNY AND CHER joined CANNON and KOJAK in the top 10 in 1973-74

    ReplyDelete
  2. On CBS, THE SECRET STORM was just 1 1/2 months from cancellation, being replaced by a favorite game show of mine, TATTLETALES.

    I have nice memories of two lesser-known NBC game shows listed, BAFFLE (by this time in an all-celebrity format) and THE WIZARD OF ODDS (Alex Trebek's first US game show). Both have been on YT in part or entirety, with a few new WIZARD episodes posted recently, including one with a special guest appearance by Don DeFore from HAZEL.

    "A Brand New Life" was rerun from the previous year. This was a well accepted film with Cloris Leachman & Martin Balsam as a middle-aged couple expecting their first child.

    Your PBS station probably broadcast shows for school classrooms before 4 PM. I remember that these shows were never listed in TVG or the local paper.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!