50th anniversary of CBS TV in 1978

I used to watch on WNBF-TV, Channel 12, Binghamton, NY

cbs 1978 starsOn Facebook, Quora, and undoubtedly other sites, there’s What’s a test to see if you are old? The example involved this photo from the 50th anniversary of CBS TV in 1978. I remember it well. Because Binghamton, NY, only had one VHF station back when that actually mattered, I tended to watch WNBF Channel 12. The reception was generally better on channels 2 to 13 than on the UHF stations 14 to 83.

The Old Wolf shared a list of the participants. But someone complained that “the list should show the CBS SHOWS for which they were attending the CBS 50th anniversary show.” For instance, NOT Sandy Duncan in ABC’s Roots or Cicely Tyson in the 2011 movie The Help.

Old Wolf replied: “Like I said, the shows that I mentioned are the ones that were the most familiar to me and not necessarily the ones that they were best known for. Want a different list? Create one on your own blog.”

A challenge

So, here’s the list with the performer, the shows, whether I likely recognized them in 1978, and whether I recognize them now. (I had to biggify the pic, of course.)

1 Lassie- Lassie, Y,Y
2 Jean Stapleton -All in the Family, Y, Y
3 Walter Cronkite – CBS Evening News, Y, Y
4 Alfred Hitchcock – Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Y, Y
5 Mary Tyler Moore – The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Y, Y
6 Ellen Corby – The Waltons Y, N
7 Gene Rayburn – Match Game, Y, Y
8 Vivian Vance – I Love Lucy, Y, Y
9 Milburn Stone- Gunsmoke, Y, N – I thought he looked like Barry Goldwater
10 Ann Sothern – The Ann Sothern Show, Y, N
11 Barbara Bain – Mission: Impossible, Y, Y
12 Nancy Walker – Rhoda, Y, Y
13 George Burns – The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Y, Y
14 Cicely Tyson – East Side, West Side, Y, Y
15 Arthur Godfrey – Arthur Godfrey and His Friends, Y, Y

Born Richard Skelton

16 Red Skelton – The Red Skelton Hour, Y, Y
17 Gale Storm – My Little Margie, The Gale Storm Show (Oh! Susanna), Y, N
18 Danny Kaye – The Danny Kaye Show, Y, Y
19 Sandy Duncan – Funny Face/The Sandy Duncan Show, Y, N
20 Telly Savalas – Kojak, Y, Y
21 Dale Evans – The Roy Rogers Show, Y, Y; incidentally, this was an NBC primetime show (1951–1957), but rerun on CBS Saturday mornings from 1961 to 1964
22 Roy Rogers – The Roy Rogers Show, Y, Y
23 Ken Murray – The Ken Murray Show (1950-53), N, N
24 June Lockhart – Lassie, Lost in Space, Petticoat Junction, Y, Y
25 Arthur Murray – The Arthur Murray Party, Y, N
26 Kathryn Murray – The Arthur Murray Party, N, N
27 Eric Scott – The Waltons, N, N
28 Cami Cotler – The Waltons, N, N; I could identify them in 1978 as “those kids from the Waltons,” but not by name
29 Bonnie Franklin – One Day at a Time, Y, Y
30 William Conrad- Cannon, Y, Y
31 Eva Gabor – Green Acres, Y, Y
32 Allen Funt – Candid Camera, Y, Y
33 Tim Conway – The Tim Conway Comedy Hour, The Carol Burnett Show, Y, Y
34 Danny Thomas – The Danny Thomas Show, Y, Y
35 Bob Keeshan – Captain Kangaroo, Y, Y; his copy of the picture was up for auction in 2013
36 Dennis Weaver – Gunsmoke, Y, Y
37 Ray Walston – My Favorite Martian, Y, Y
38 Sally Struthers – All in the Family, Y, Y
39 Garry Moore – I’ve Got A Secret, The Garry Moore Show, Y, Y
40 Linda Lavin – Alice, Y, Y
41 Douglas Edwards – Douglas Edwards with the News, N, N

Guinness World Record for “Longest TV career by an entertainer (female)

42 Betty White – The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Y, Y
43 Bob Schieffer- CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, Y, Y
44 Ned Beatty – Szysznyk (a 15-episode show from 1977 I had never heard of), Y, Y
45 Charles Kuralt- CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, Y, Y
46 Arlene Francis- What’s My Line, Y, Y
47 Jamie Farr – MAS*H, Y, Y
48 Adrienne Barbeau – Maude, Y, Y
49 Vicki Lawrence – The Carol Burnett Show, Y, Y
50 Mary McDonough – The Waltons, N, N
51 Don Knotts – The Andy Griffith Show, Y, Y
52 Lucille Ball – I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, Y, Y
53 Ed Asner – The Mary Tyler Moore Show; Lou Grant, Y, Y
54 Jackie Cooper – Hennessey, Y, Y
55 Esther Rolle – Maude;, Good Times, Y, Y
56 Joan Hackett – The Defenders, N, N
57 Eric Sevareid – CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, Y, Y
58 Mike Wallace – 60 Minutes, Y, Y
59 Sherman Hemsley – The Jeffersons, Y, Y
60 Jack Whitaker – The NFL on CBS, Y, Y
61 Isabel Sanford – The Jeffersons, Y, Y
62 Judy Norton Taylor – The Waltons, N, N

Models for Scooby-Doo?

63 Bob Denver – The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis; Gilligan’s Island, Y, Y
64 Caroll O’Connor – All in the Family, Y, Y
65 Dwayne Hickman- The Bob Cummings Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Y, Y
66 Richard C. Hottelet – See It Now, Y, N
67 Will Geer – The Waltons, Y, Y
68 Lesley Stahl – CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, Y, Y
69 Art Carney – The Honeymooners, Y, Y
70 Tony Randall – The Tony Randall Show (which started on ABC but moved to CBS), Y, Y
71 Bob Newhart – The Bob Newhart Show, Y, Y
72 Dick Smothers – The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Y, Y
73 Hughes Rudd – The CBS Morning News, Y, N
74 Ted Knight – The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Y, Y
75 Georgia Engel The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Y, Y
76 Jon Walmsley – The Waltons, N, N (I thought it was Ron Howard from The And Griffith Show!)
77 Charles Collingwood CBS Reports, Y, N
78 Audrey Meadows – The Honeymooners, Y, Y
79 Valerie Harper – The Mary Tyler Moore Show; Rhoda, Y, Y
80 Julie Kavner – Rhoda, Y, Y
81 David Harper – The Waltons, N, N
82 Bill Macy – Maude, Y, Y
83 Ken Berry – Mayberry RFD, Y, Y
84 Art Linkletter – Art Linkletter’s House Party, Y, Y
85 Glen Campbell – The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, Y, Y
86 Buddy Ebsen – The Beverly Hillbillies; Barnaby Jones, Y, Y
87 Michael Learned – The Waltons, Y, N
88 John Forsythe – Bachelor Father (on CBS, NBC, then ABC), Y, Y
89 Steve Allen – The Steve Allen Show (1950-55), I’ve Got A Secret, Y, Y
90 Carol Burnett – The Carol Burnett Show, Y, Y

Sha-ZAM!

91 Jim Nabors – The Andy Griffith Show; Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Y, Y
92 Beatrice Arthur – Maude, Y, Y
93 Loretta Swit – MAS*H, Y, Y
94 Ed Bradley – 60 Minutes, Y, Y
95 Andy Griffith – The Andy Griffith Show, Y, Y
96 Lee Merriwether- Barnaby Jones, Y, Y
97 Demond Wilson – Baby, I’m Back (a 1978 show I had never heard of), Y, Y
98 Lynda Carter – Wonder Women (started on ABC, then CBS), Y, Y
99 James Arness – Gunsmoke, Y, Y
100 Dick Van Dyke- The Dick Van Dyke Show, Y, Y
101 Jack Lord – Hawaii Five-O, Y, Y
102 Ralph Waite – The Waltons, Y, Y
103 Bernard Kalb – CBS Reports, Y, N
104 Martin Landau – Mission: Impossible, Y, Y
105 Rob Reiner – All In The Family, Y, Y
106 Lynnie Greene – On Our Own (a 1977-78 sitcom I don’t remember), N, N
107 John Amos – Good Times, Y, Y
108 Bob Barker – The Price Is Right, Y, Y
109 Bert Convy – Tattletales, Y, Y
110 Dan Rather – 60 Minutes, Y, Y
111 Richard Crenna – The Real McCoys, Y, Y
112 Mike Connors – Mannix, Y, Y
113 David Groh – Rhoda, Y, Y

key CBS list

Interesting list of folks NOT here: Jackie Gleason, Alan Alda (MASH), Ron Howard (The Andy Griffith Show), Eddie Albert (Green Acres), and especially Harry Morgan (Pete and Gladys, MASH).

Sunday Stealing: it’s almost Christmas

Billboard

waiting.christmasThe topic for Sunday Stealing is the December 25 holiday, probably because it’s almost Christmas. I note there are 12 questions, one for the drummers, one for the pipers…

1. What is the best Christmas gift you’ve ever received?
It might have been a subscription to Billboard magazine that my then-girlfriend, now late friend, bought for me in the 1980s. It was rather pricey, and it was not really of great interest to her, but she loved me. When I was in high school, I was a  library page. I read the magazine before putting it away in the basement.

Or maybe it was the first Hess truck that my wife bought for me in the early 2000s and every year since. I am almost encircled by them right now.

 

2. What is the worst Christmas gift you’ve ever received?

At work, we had a gift exchange. One bozo filled up a container with random screws and nails.

 

3. Do you have a favorite Christmas song?

I have LOTS of favorite Christmas songs. Check my upcoming posts and yesterday’s. I’ll pick What Christmas Means To Me by Stevie Wonder or Coventry Carol by Alison Moyet. But I have many holiday albums, religious and secular.

 

4. Does your family have any favorite holiday traditions?

It has morphed over time. We used to go to my in-laws. It seems recently, and certainly since COVID, it’s been rather haphazard. This is also true, BTW, of Thanksgiving.

 

5. What is your favorite Christmas snack?

Eggnog and amaretto.

 

6. Did you believe in Santa growing up?

I believe in Santa now, more than ever.

 

7. How early do you start decorating?

Once again, it is haphazard. It can be from early December to a day or two before Christmas Eve.

 

8. Are you an early or last-minute shopper?

In years past, I was ahead of the curve. There was a medieval faire in October, and I always bought something for my wife, but it’s defunct. So, this year, WAY behind.

 

9. Would you rather give or receive gifts?
With that duality, then receive because I tend to agonize over the correct gift to give. That said, this is a lovely story of giving. There was also a local item about a guy paying for the $2,000 for the Toys for Tots that a local charity had been collecting.
Cinema
10. What’s your favorite Christmas movie?

I’m not sure I have one. It’s A Wonderful Life is a lot better than I thought it would be. Scrooged was interesting in parts. I’ve recorded Elf because I’ve never seen it. Rotten Tomatoes has made a list of the best movies, and they have The Holdovers on it. I’ll say that. Of the old-time ones, possibly Miracle on 34th Street, because I’m a sucker for a courtroom drama.

 

11. What is one of your Christmas memories?

I wrote about a few of them here. 1966: Christmas was on a Sunday. I delivered the paper six evenings a week, back in the olden days when there WERE afternoon papers, and then on Sunday morning, back in Binghamton, NY. My father, who NEVER helped me with my route because it was MY job, not his – not that I ever asked him – got up (or maybe stayed up) to help me deliver that thick newspaper to my customers on Clinton Street, Front Street, and McDonald Avenue. That meant a lot to me, but I doubt I ever said so.

12. Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?
Sometimes.

A Very Special Christmas

Special Olympics

Back when I was buying vinyl, and later with CDs, I was a sucker for music associated with a good cause: No Nukes, a Cambodian refugee cause, USA for Africa, and so many more. And not just the We Are The World single but the whole album.

So, I have several CDs in the A Very Special Christmas series, in fact, the first seven (The live album is the fourth, and the acoustic album is the sixth.). The funds go to the Special Olympics, as noted here. If you have Spotify, which I do, you can hear the whole set of albums. If not, you get the 30-second tease. For those of you in the latter category, my list of some of the songs I like.

The original and still the best (1987)

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town – the Pointer Sisters. They seem to be having such fun.

Winter Wonderland – Eurythmics. Annie Lennox’s great voice shines through.

Do You Hear What I Hear? – Whitney Houston

Merry Christmas, Baby -Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Prime Boss

Gabriel’s Message -Sting. This is in our church hymnal.

Christmas in Hollis – Run-D.M.C. I’ll admit that it took me a moment to embrace it, but now I like it a lot. The last time I took the Long Island Railroad, I noticed the Hollis, Queens stop.

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – U2 -It’s not Darlene Love, as heard on A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, but what is?

Santa Baby -Madonna. I’ve heard lots of complaints that it’s not as good as Eartha Kitt, but I heard this first, so I have an odd affection for it.

The Coventry Carol – Alison Moyet. My favorite song in the entire series.

Volume 2 (1992)

Christmas All Over Again – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. This song always makes my Christmas playlist on the blog.

Merry Christmas, Baby – Charles Brown, Bonnie Raitt. Bonnie had both Charles Brown and Ruth Brown on her subsequent tour.

What Child Is This – Vanessa Williams. That Carol of the Bells intro oddly works here.

Volume 3 (1997)

Children Go Where I Send Theee – Natalie Merchant. I loved this song growing up, and this take is fun.

We Three Kings – Patti Smith. This, by comparison, is particularly dark, which I also enjoy.

The Live album (1999)? There are too many covers of the previous iterations. Volume 5 (2001)? Some OK pieces.

Acoustic (2003)

This is primarily a country/bluegrass album.

Even Santa Claus Gets The Blues -Marty Stuart. It has a great guitar intro.

Christmas Is Near – Ralph Stanley. I love the harmony.

The subsequent album, the 7th volume (2009), is fine, though it covers many of the same songs that I heard before, and the earlier ones are usually better.

After that, 25 Years Bringing Joy to the World and 25 Years of Bringing Peace on Earth (both 2012) I haven’t heard yet. The latter features “Today’s Top Christian Artists.”


Finally, the ICON album (2013) is an odd mix of songs previously on albums from the series (Sting, Aretha, Bon Jovi, Underwood, Petty, Crow), older songs (Lennon, Presley, Wham!), and new songs by Rod Stewart and Josh Groban. You can still purchase these if you’re so inclined.

Why we laugh and why we don’t

That’s My Boy

Ken Levine posited on a recent podcast about why we laugh and why we don’t. He talked about going to a Los Angeles-area theater to see a production of Peter Pan Goes Wrong. It’s a “comedy play by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of the Mischief Theatre Company, creators of The Play That Goes Wrong (2012).”

Apparently, and I’ve never seen it, The Play That Goes Wrong is comedy gold. But he found Peter Pan to be a retread, humorous, but not nearly as side-splittingly funny.

Yet, he might see an old comedy bit that he had watched dozens of times, and it still cracks him up. Why is that?

I wrote to Ken with my working theory. “For you, Peter Pan is not funny to you because of the lack of surprise. “For me, it’s Airplane 2. It’s the same film as Airplane, except for the Art Fleming JEOPARDY bit, which is good. So it’s largely unfunny.

“Why is seeing the same bit again funny? Because you recall the surprise and you relive it. A prime example is Frasier: Niles ironing. That thing always slays me, partly because I was so surprised by that type of physical comedy in a more ‘cerebral’ comedy show. So when I see it again, it’s still funny because I relive the joy.   

“Another of mine is The Germans bombed Pearl Harbor speech in Animal House.” {Language, BTW].” 

Timing

As I think of it, most of the best bits require a build-up, or at least a pre-knowledge of the characters. Who’s On First lives on Lou Costello’s increased frustration with Bud Abbott’s explanation of the baseball players’ names.

In The Dick Van Dyke Show’s That’s My Boy, Rob and Jerry go through absurd testing before the punchline, which, when I was 10, truly cracked me up. (One could start at 18 minutes in and get the gist.)


What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us from Monty Python’s The Life of Brian always works for me. Incidentally, I never understood why some folks found the film anti-Christian since it was clear from the first scene that Brian was NOT Jesus.

But foreknowledge is not always required. I’ve cited Lou Grant’s initial interview with Mary Richards on the first episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. “I HATE spunk,” I wrote to a Wordle buddy, who used it trying to get to SKUNK.

My wife cited bits from The Carol Burnett Show: her Tarzan yell, the curtain dress (at 15:00), and Tim Conway as a dentist. She also noted Bob and Ray’s bit about slow speakers, the chocolate conveyor belt scene from I Love Lucy, and the Michigan J. Frog cartoon.

What comedy bits always make you laugh? And what comedy retreads left you cold?

December rambling: who isn’t running

“Girls were girls, and men were men”

Who isn’t running for re-election in the House and Senate in 2024

A deluge of violent messages: How a surge in threats to public officials could disrupt American democracy

What Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, could teach today’s SCOTUS:  Her embrace of the rule of law and empathetic jurisprudence are sorely missed.

Will Henry Kissinger, the Secretary of State under Nixon and Ford, actually RIP?

Jewish American Families Confront a Generational Divide Over Israel 

Comics For Ukraine, the benefit hardcover comic anthology to benefit folks in Ukraine, which I got in its original crowdfunding push – it’s very good – is still available for purchase 

How Much Pain Is ‘Enough‘ to Prescribe Opioids?

Massive Tuberculosis News

Don’t Neglect Tobacco Use in People Experiencing Homelessness — Cessation programs can save lives and improve financial stability.

Organ & Body Donations: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver 

Why Do You Get to Do That? A few words on your “rights”

Truth-telling

Watch videos from the November 17, 2023 Telling the Truth conversations by the NYS Writer’s Institute. The fifth Telling the Truth event, this 2023 edition featured two panels.

The American Presidency: A conversation about the Biden administration and the prospect of a second Trump administration with  Miles Taylor, former Trump Administration staffer and author of Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump and Franklin Foer, author of The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future.

Also, The American Backlash: A conversation about the politics of revenge, and the impulse to punish ‘out groups’ who have made political gains — particularly racial, sexual, and cultural minorities, and women with Jeff Sharlet, author of The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War and Juliet Hooker, author of Black Grief/White Grievance: The Politics of Loss.

I attended these seasons in person. 

That’s Entertainment

I was on a team for Any Questions Live! WAMC‘s Inaugural Trivia Challenge on December 7. The final question was that five of the 15 largest cities in the United States are in one state. Of THOSE five cities, which one is the smallest in population? Answer below. 

2023’s TIME Person of the Year. I was totally off; I thought it’d be Bibi.

The 100 Most Powerful Women in Entertainment of 2023

Everybody knows Flo from Progressive. Who is Stephanie Courtney?

Actor Andre Braugher Dies at 61. I was a massive fan of the NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street; the episode for which he won an Emmy was gutwrenching. He appeared in six episodes of Law and Order: SVU, including this one featuring Mike Tyson. He appeared in the movies Glory,  Salt, and She Said, all of which I saw. I occasionally watched him on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and some Kojak TV movies.

Marty Krofft, the Brains Behind a Kids TV Empire, Dies at 86

Ryan O’Neal, Star of ‘Love Story,’ ‘What’s Up, Doc?’ and ‘Paper Moon,’ Dies at 82. I never saw Love Story, but I saw the others and the evening soap opera Peyton Place.

The Ritz Brothers, comedy pioneers: A Retrospective. 

‘Doctor Who’ Doctors: Every Actor Who Has Played the Part

‘Home Alone,’ ‘Terminator 2,’ ‘Love and Basketball,’ ‘Desperately Seeking Susan,’ ‘Fame,’ ‘Apollo 13’ Enter National Film Registry. Of these, I specifically recommend 20 Feet from Stardom

The murky math of the New York Times bestsellers list

Why Do Airplanes Dim the Cabin Lights During Takeoff and Landing?

Hinsdale, NH, man had no car and no furniture but died, leaving his town millions.

Now I Know: A Creative Way to Stop a Celebrity Stalker and The Great Puffin Toss and You Is Now Welcome in Sweden and Pokémon Go to Jail and The Politician Who (Technically) Kept His Pledge and The American Enclave That Pretended to Want to Join Canada

To a deluxe apartment in the sky

Norman Lear, the legendary television producer and inclusive storyteller, died at 101. Here’s the family tree for All in the Family and its spinoffs, all of which I watched, at least for a time, as well as Sanford and Son; One Day at a Time, both iterations;  Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and ITS spinoffs, and others. Heck, I even saw his less successful ventures, such as a.k.a. Pablo, Hot L Baltimore, the underestimated The Powers That Be, and the movie The Night They Raided Minsky’s

Performers and critics lauded him not just for his contributions to entertainment but also for his activism with People for the American Way and other avenues. 

 His son-in-law, Dr. Jon LaPook, gave some personal insights. I recommend you check out If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast, the late Carl Reiner’s 2017  documentary where he “tracks down several nonagenarians” – including his friend Lear – “to show how the twilight years can be rewarding.”

This is what I wrote way back when Norman Lear turned 100.

Music 

John Williams’s score to Nixon: “The 1960s: The Turbulent Years

Coverville 1467: The Damien Rice Cover Story and 1468: The Shane MacGowan Tribute

Save Me – Jelly Roll

Rossini: La Cenerentola – Overture

The ten most overplayed piano pieces

Everybody’s Talkin’ – the MonaLisa Twins

Six13 – A Hamilton Chanukah

Arthur describes all of the #1 songs from 1983 and a few more

Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm is now open at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, through April 7, 2024

Denny Laine (1944-2023): a remembrance

The answer to the question above is #15 here. (We got the correct state but the wrong city.)

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