The Saturday Seven weekly series has been on a brief hiatus these past few weeks as I've been traveling and on the go of late. But it is back once again to tantalize and tease, bringing you to the very brink of excitement. There were a number of entertaining programs on TV at the time. It was a naughty socially conscious era of television. Women were asserting themselves. Men were learning to shed their sexist opinions of women. Racial barriers were being challenged. This was also the age of the great variety show, sadly, long since gone from the screen. Super Soap Operas. Idyllic Family Sitcoms. Indeed it was a fascinating period in American television. Therefore, I am pleased to bring you another scintillating installment of The Saturday Seven: Sensational Shows of the 70's. I hope you enjoy this stroll down memory lane...
#1 Dallas- salacious, sexy, sinful and compelling drama that ruled the airwaves and had people around the world glued to the tube every Friday night.
#2 Happy Days-Who couldn't like little Richie Cunningham, everybody's Mom Mrs C or the essesence of it all: "The Fonz". These days Mr C lives happily here in Palm Springs.
#3 Charlie's Angels- 3 fabulous chicks that ran around showing off their bodies; nobody really cared that they couldn't hold a gun.
#3 Charlie's Angels- 3 fabulous chicks that ran around showing off their bodies; nobody really cared that they couldn't hold a gun.
#4 Eight Is Enough- Everybody's favorite dad, Tom Bradford. You all know that Dick Van Patten is a friend of mine, so I may be impartial here....
#5 Laverne & Shirley- Two sassy city broads who lived, laughed and learned about life together.
#6 M*A*S*H- Funny, then serious then funny, then serious. At times it was a social commentary on war. Hot Lips Houlihan gave the guys a reason to watch.
#7 Three's Company- Light, bubby, and full of laughs. Chrissy Snow was my favorite. I just wanted an apartment like theirs when I was a kid.
I hope you enjoyed this week's installment of The Saturday Seven: Sensational Shows of the 70's. Which one was YOUR favorite?
-Rick Rockhill
Wow! All the shows I grew up with! Thanks for the memories, Rick!
ReplyDeleteThe one of these I have on DVD is Charlie's Angels. Although a Dallas marathon sounds good right about now!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the trip down memory lane!
There were so many shows that became classics of a sort...And of course--"ALL IN THE FAMILY", which was ground breaking at that time.
ReplyDeleteOld Lady of the Hills- yes, I should have also given an honorable mention to "Maude" for its fantastic social statements of the day.
ReplyDeleteOf the shows you have listed, my favs were M.A.S.H., Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley but my all time fav show in the 70's definitely was ALL IN THE FAMILY! I still watch that show when I can -as well as M.A.S.H. on TvLand! Good programs -funny, now and then just a teensy bit risque but nothing outrageous except of course on All In The Family when they would take various current issues of that day. But even then, it was still basically a "clean" show as compared to many of today's fare.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Three's Company, isn't Suzanne Sommers a neighbor of yours? You never mention her, so I guess you haven't met in your Palm Springs social circles.. either that or she's one of the friends/associates you use discretion with.
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked briefly at the Starbucks where you met me, there was an older gay man (in Palm Springs, go fig!) who came in regularly. He was kind of flamboyant and one day he used the name "Suzanne Somers" for his drink, so when the drink came up that's the name the barista called out.
Henceforth I'd put that name on his cup whenever I took his daily order, and if it was crowded you should have seen everyone crane their necks to catch a glimpse of "Suzanne" whenever the barista called it out. He loved it!
I'm a big M*A*S*H fan. I grew up in the same town were Corporal Klinger was from... My late father played golf with Jamie Farr once. Dad said he was a really nice guy!
ReplyDeleteGood one Rhodester. And yes, Suzanne is practically my neighbor!
ReplyDeleteI swear, there's never been a great time in television history. Those shows were something else. I never missed them.
ReplyDeleteah, I remember them well.!
ReplyDeleteDo you remember the movie "thank god its Friday"? I posted a video of it attatched to a post, and no one has heard of it.
I watched very one of them, but Laugh-In was my favorite. In 2007-8, the channel Trio (which we don't get anymore) played all of Laugh-in's shows and we watched them again; astounded at what they were able to get away with in the 70's!!
ReplyDeleteWow, those really bring back the memories! How about the Love Boat? I'm shocked that wasn't one of your favorites; with your love of cruising.
ReplyDeleteLoved "Dallas" and we're looking forward to the remake.
ReplyDeleteFav has to be "M.A.S.H." Never tire of the show.
I loved Happy Days and Charlie's Angels :)
ReplyDeleteM*A*S*H became my firm favourite about a decade ago when they started the rerun of the whole series on sattellite channel.
Dallas, M.A.S.H. and of course, All in the Family. Those were ones I watched regularly. Nice trip down memory lane. Norman Lear was featured on CBS this morning. Amazing, he is still going strong creatively with the Playing for Change project.
ReplyDelete