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For a while, I wasn’t a huge fan of ‘80s television. I considered the ‘90s a great time for TV and the same went for the ‘70s, but the ‘80s I thought was maybe a little lacking. These days, I am a little higher on the ‘80s, though watching Newhart recently has played a big part in that (I will write about that show eventually, I promise). However, my time writing about ‘80s television as passed. I’ve arrived in 1976. Cable is in the past. Any network other than the big three aren’t in the picture. The television world was much smaller, but it didn’t lack for quality. What was 1976 like on the airwaves?
This was the year that Lorne Michaels offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on Saturday Night Live. It was a gimmick done tongue in cheek to promote a new show. After all, SNL only debuted in 1975. It was not an institution yet. A few months earlier the Blues Brothers had made their debut on the show. Apparently Margaret Hamilton appeared as the Wicked Witch on Sesame Street but it caused controversy because she freaked out a bunch of kids. That was almost 40 years after Wizard of Oz came out. How old was she at the time? I mean, I could look it up, but does it really matter?
The way you know things were a lot different back then is because a lot of the news events were about movies debuting on television for the first time. People didn’t really have VCRs in 1976, after all.
Two big-time game shows debuted in 1976. The one that had a long run is Family Feud. That’s one of the iconic, indelible American game shows. Notably, Richard Dawson got the gig hosting that show because of how good he was as a panelist on Match Game, which he was a true legend. I still consider him the best Family Feud host. I don’t like Steve Harvey. Sue me. The other game show is more of a cult favorite, and that’s The Gong Show. I have an affinity for its existence, but I never have any interest in watching it.
In terms of other shows that were introduced, there was Alice, which gave us “Kiss my grits!” There was Quncy, M.E., the show about the medical examiner who solves crimes played by Jack Klugman. The top show added to the landscape in 1976, though, has to be Laverne & Shirley. Yes, it’s a spinoff of Happy Days. However, it’s on par, if not better, than its predecessor. Honestly, I think Happy Days may be worse than both Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy. R.I.P. to Squiggy.
We didn’t really lose any notable shows, though Land of the Lost ended its two-year run. Also, Jabberjaw ended after 16 episodes. That truly surprised me. I figured that show had existed much longer than that. Hey, we can all learn things that are new when we delve into television history.
