And I think you are taking this too seriously, too. You’re matching me post for post. Do we each win half a cookie?
I don’t know, there probably isn’t any answer since, like I said, you can’t quantify art. I was just asking what, in your opinion, made Fretts and Roush the apparent end-all-be-all of judging TV shows.
Whatever night Sanford and Son was on was the best.
Early 80’s ABC Tues night had Happy Days, Laverne Shirley, Too Close for Comfort and Hart to Hart.
That was the night that I always stayed home. 79-80 featured Taxi instead of Too Close Comfort.
It was the block of shows that I enjoyed. It was a fun evening.
Whether or not this was the best lineup ever, can we agree that it’s amazing that a lineup of good to great shows was scheduled for first-run broadcast on a Saturday evening?
You were four years old when the lineup we’re discussing was on!
This is almost the “great lineup” that I remember most, except with L. A. Law instead of Hill Street Blues.
It isn’t quite up to the level of the OP’s, but that one was sort of before my time (I was alive then, but too young to be watching and appreciating those shows).
Same here, My bedtime was 9pm back then. I know the 3 late shows from either later years or repeats.
The 80s lineup I watched when it was new.
Well, see, there you go. Plug in Hill Street Blues and it’s all puppies and sunshine.
My night’s viewing always ended when dad came into the den. He took control of the remote.
I was too young to appreciate MTM or Carol Burnett. I saw them later in syndication.
Holy moly, that was one great, groundbreaking show. I actually cried at the end of the pilot. Also had a crush on Capt Furillo (goddamned Joyce Davenport!)
I’m not so sure that was amazing - or that it meant people stayed in to watch those shows. I was around before VCRs and DVRs and I never knew anyone of any age who stayed home on Friday or Saturday night just to watch a particular TV show(s). But you also didn’t have to - because the 1973-74 Saturday line-up didn’t have shows with continuing storylines - for the most part, if I missed an episode or two of
All in the Family
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Bob Newhart Show
The Carol Burnett Show
I wouldn’t have been lost when I watched it the next week. And that means even if I’m not home every Saturday, I might still watch that line-up on the Saturdays I am home. On the other hand put a St Elsewhere or Hill Street Blues or LA Law on Saturday and I will never watch even if I am home because you can’t really watch those shows inconsistently.
It’s just a guess but I don’t think most people are/were out every Saturday night or even close to it - I surely wasn’t out every Saturday night in 1973-74 since I was only ten years old and had to be home by 8pm or so. And that meant my parents weren’t out every Saturday night either, not with me and my three younger siblings at home. I’m nearly 60 years old and there have been a total of maybe 13 years where I was out most Saturday nights.
No argument with your OP or with the TV Guide list, and I was a frequent watcher of The Bob Newhart Show, but I feel I must register a complaint! Maybe it’s just me, but I always felt that his later series Newhart didn’t get as much recognition as it deserved, and was often funnier and more creative than the earlier series (but at least, according to Wiki, “TV Guide, TV Land, and A&E named the Newhart series finale as one of the most memorable in television history”).
As a hapless innkeeper with his wife Joanna in a quiet but eccentric little Vermont village, I thought he was more likeable than he was as a big-time Chicago shrink. The only problem with Newhart is that it doesn’t really hit its stride until the third season, when Julia Duffy (as Stephanie Vanderkellen) and Peter Scolari (as Michael Harris) replace the rather unlikable previous characters.
Anybody else start reading this thread title and think for a moment it was going to be a limerick?..
Well, if so, I wouldn’t want you to be disappointed:
There once was an old TV Lineup
That stacked four best-shows-of-all-time up,
What with Mary and Bob
And that loud Bunker yob—
But some think the list needs a shine-up.
Stephanie and Michael weren’t all that likable, either.
I’ve always felt that Bob Newhart’s shows tended to break the usual TV comedy template. Usually, the main character is eccentric and goofy, interacting with a supporting cast of mostly normal, sane people. Newhart always played to reasonable center, surrounded by a cast of crazies.
Quite true. “Likable” wasn’t really the right word here. I guess what I meant was that Stephanie and Michael’s self-indulgent over-the-top shallowness was funny, in a Seinfeld-like way, whereas the previous pair – especially Kirk – were just annoying.
I remember watching that with my mother. Three hours of solid entertainment on one channel.
There was also the British series UFO on Channel 9 at 7:00 PM, but that’s neither here nor there.
Cosby Show and Family Ties – could do without, but were all right. Could not stand Cheers Like Night Court quite a bit.
Hill Street Blues is still one of the best shows in television history.
You had a remote? I was the remote: “Change it to channel 4 and turn it up a bit.”
We had a remote in the 1970s which only came out of its original Styrofoam case in the original box if a kid was home sick. Other than that, it was “get up and change it”
Just stumbled upon Sanford & Son on FreeVee.
Hasn’t held up too well. Insanely politically incorrect! The laugh-track was so loud it’s nearly unbearable.