Sunday, September 20, 2009

NBC Fall 1984 - Sundays & Specials

I conclude my look at the NBC 1984 fall line-up with Sunday nights and Specials. The sticky sweetcom SILVER SPOONS opened the night at 7PM.This four-season atrocity was like RICHIE RICH in sitcom form, except it wasn't funny and it felt like poor Erin Gray was waiting around to be rescued by BUCK ROGERS. Broadway hoofer Alfonso Ribeiro joined the cast this season and the premiere tried to cash in on the wave of Michael Jackson mania that was sweeping the nation at the time. Whatever happened to that guy?
Speaking of sweet, the sugar coma of TV comedy was PUNKY BREWSTER, a two-season oddity about a Little Orphan Annie-like who is taken in by a creepy old curmudgeon named Henry. An animated variation on the show aired from 1985 to 1989.
At 8PM, KNIGHT RIDER drove into it's third of four seasons. The show would return several times over the next few decades. KNIGHT RIDER 2000 aired in 1991 on NBC. KNIGHT RIDER 2010 aired in 1994, also on NBC. A new 22-episode series, TEAM KNIGHT RIDER aired in 1997 in syndication. Yet another two-hour KNIGHT RIDER TV-movie aired in February 2008, with a new KNIGHT RIDER series premiering in September 2008 and ending in March 2009. Not sure how many of these revivals featured appearances by David Hassellhoff. mostly because I just don't care.
For many years, THE MISS AMERICA PAGEANT was an annual event on NBC. Originating live from Atlantic City, the mother of all beauty contests aired on NBC for 30 years from 1966 to 1996. After that it aired on ABC until 2005, CMT in 2006 & 2007, finally finding a new home on TLC, the Learning Channel. Go figure.The late Nell Carter was a larger-than-life talent. The sassy Broadway star was scheduled to star in her own variety special during the 1984-85 season. Research shows that the hour didn't air until the following season. I always enjoyed Ms. Carter and still find it hard to believe she's gone.
Back to Hasselhoff, here he is again with co-host Jayne Kennedy hosting what appears to be the forerunner of today's reality competition shows: THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD.
Home viewers actually got the vote on the contestants - choosing one woman to be the winner.
25 Years Later....

2 comments:

Your Wandering Boy Tonight said...

Wish I had been there.

laura linger said...

Rick Schroeder and his wife have (had?) a house up in North Scottsdale in the late 90s. Ken and I lived nearby then, and I saw Rick and his family quite a lot. The same haunts, I guess you would say. We saw him a lot at Flo's Chinese Restaurant, which is a semi-fashionable North Scottsdale institution. Everyone in Scottsdale eats there. He seemed like a decent enough guy, and people left him alone, so I did too, although I had like eight kajillion questions I wanted to ask him. Frankly, he is so good looking in person, I would have just stuttered and blushed until my husband took my hand and led me away.

Rick is, however, a RABID Republican who campaigned for every sleazebag GOP candidate you can name.