1970s
Sanford and Son an instant, impressive hit (1972)
NBC TV’s midseason situation comedy series, ‘Sanford and Son,’ about an aging black Los Angeles junk dealer, appears to be an instant, impressive hit.
NBC TV’s midseason situation comedy series, ‘Sanford and Son,’ about an aging black Los Angeles junk dealer, appears to be an instant, impressive hit.
Laverne & Shirley ran on ABC from January 27, 1976 to May 10, 1983. The comedy starred Penny Marshall as Laverne De Fazio, Cindy Williams as Shirley Feeney, as well as Michael McKean and David L Lander as Lenny & Squiggy.
Find out about the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, get some behind-the-scenes from the actual jewelry store, and hear from Audrey Hepburn herself in this collection of articles from the 1960s.
Anyone who remembers Frankenstein and his monster might think the actors’ favorite recipe would have wolfbane and batwings, but no. Here’s Boris Karloff’s guacamole recipe.
Old Halloween songs never die – they just reappear on the chart every decade or so. Such is the case with Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett’s million-seller, ‘Monster Mash.’
You can create new fashions from old clothing! Here, see how a moth-eaten bathrobe and skirt, an outgrown blouse, knee-worn slacks were converted into sparkling new accessories.
Revisit the picture-perfect view of the ’50s with the Cleaver family, and their oh-so-retro daily ups and downs on the classic TV show, ‘Leave it to Beaver.’ You’ll also find out how Alfred Hitchcock was involved with this success story!
Campy or vampire spoof, call it what you like – The Lost Boys, a movie starring Kiefer Sutherland – is decidedly offbeat entertainment… with a twist.
Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid,’ based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, is a movie with the richest colors, the brightest melodies, and the most vivid illustrations.
Gene Wilder: A hardworking star (1975) By Al Cohn – The Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio) April 27, 1975 Gene Wilder is thoughtful, articulate and quite sane,
“I Love Lucy,” a domestic comedy TV series, reduces the role of husband to roughly that of the male spider, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if, at the end of the season, Miss Ball ate him.
Silent movies were not part of a primitive style of filmmaking, but an alternate form of storytelling – with artistic triumphs equivalent to or greater than those of the sound films that followed.
If you haven’t heard of ‘Rocky’ or Sylvester Stallone, welcome back from Mars – about the only place where you could not see or hear about this movie about a boxer, and the rags-to-riches story of the guy who wrote it.
You liked the side action upstairs in the bedroom during the wedding from the book The Godfather? In the movie, you got it. Liked the horse-head bit? You got it. The restaurant caper with the crooked police captain? You got it, you got it.
‘Family Ties’ has the most enviable time slot in network TV, following ‘The Cosby Show.’ But the four-year-old sitcom has managed to create its own following, and now clocks in at #2.
For two years, Tom Hanks pounded the streets of the city searching for a job. Then he was flown to LA, screen tested, and finally selected for the role of Kip Wilson in ‘Bosom Buddies.’ And so a star was born.
Released in the summer of 1975, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws single-handedly drove more Americans away from the beaches and into the theaters than any storm or other force of nature ever possibly could have.
Set in New York, ‘Taxi’ concerns the lives of folks laboring for the Sunshine Cab Co. Judd Hirsch plays the only real cabbie – the others are just hacking until they get a break in their real calling.
There’s a lot of magic and humor practiced in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Written and directed by John Hughes, this energetic and offbeat comedy captures the best feelings about being young.
Michael Landon’s ‘Big House in Beverly Hills’ is a far cry from the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ featured in his hit TV series. But, says the former Bonanza star, he and Lynn and their six lively children “really live in this house — we don’t just look at it.”
His style at WKRP finds him falling asleep at the turntable as he puts a needle to the station’s current playlist. But then everything changes, and as creatures trapped at a station in transition, the WKRP folk are quite funny.
‘Superman’ star Reeve paralyzed in fall from horse Charlottesville, Va — Actor Christopher Reeve, star of “Superman” movies, was paralyzed and breathing with the help
Gary Coleman stars as Arnold, a street-wise youth from Harlem, who is adopted by a white millionaire and becomes confused and suspicious about his sudden change of fortune on the comedy series, Diff’rent Strokes.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the 1985 TV season is the success of ABC’s “Growing Pains,” a family sitcom starring former talk-show host Alan Thicke as psychiatrist Jason Seaver.
Bob Crane, a breezy, articulate ex-drummer and recent disc jockey-turned-actor, stars in Hogan’s Heroes, a CBS comedy series which has Col. Hogan (Crane) as the leader of Allied prisoners in a German POW camp in World War II.
If “The Outsiders” looks polished, there’s good reason. The movie was made by the practiced hand of Francis Ford Coppola, responding to a petition sent to him by seventh and eighth graders in Fresno, California.
Panic followed an Orson Welles radio broadcast of the book ‘War of the Worlds’, during which armies and navies were wiped out right and left and the real radio audience was frightened as the actors pretended to be.
It is useless to deny that motion picture stars have been getting the best of it (as to immunity from draft). Some have been given special deferments and choice assignments and have been allowed extra months to finish pictures before having to report for active duty.
The Courtship of Eddie’s Father was a TV sitcom about a widower, Tom Corbett (Bill Bixby) and his son, Eddie (Brandon Cruz), that debuted on September 1969 and lasted for 73 episodes. The memorable theme song, ‘Best Friend, was written and performed by singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson.
The television sitcom Cheers ran on NBC from September 30, 1982 until May 20, 1993 — that’s 11 seasons, and a total of 275 half-hour episodes. Here, see the Cheers theme song from the opening credits, plus the song lyrics, along with a little look back to 1993, at the end of the show’s run.
Airplane! uses disaster movie conventions as platforms to interject humor at every turn. Like a streamlined club act, it’s all over before the welcome gets worn. Stars Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Julie Hagerty, Robert Hayes. Also: See the Airplane movie trailer!
“Green Acres” debuts on CBS (1965) Eddie Albert, eager actor who says he never turns down any role, will star in his first television comedy
In her first special, “Diana!” on ABC. Sunday. April 18th, Diana Ross displays not only her exciting singing talent, but a flair for comedy and impersonation. And in her choice of guest stars — Danny Thomas, Bill Cosby and the Jackson Five — she demonstrates sound judgment as well,
Bewitched ‘is for viewers who want to have the fun of losing themselves in fantasy. Our witches, Samantha and Endora, are believable. The audience can identify with them. They are treated as much as possible as humans with special gifts.’
Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow grew up in somewhat of a fairytale world on television’s ‘Leave It to Beaver.’ 20 years later, in 1977, both actors talked about what it was like to be childhood stars who had to grow up and cope with the adult world.
James Garner and producer-creator Roy Huggins are having another try at a wry, tongue-in-cheek series, ‘The Rockford Files.’ Jim Rockford is a modern-day private eye, money-hungry, and a man who gets heroic only if he’s forced into it.
“The Odd Couple” TV show recounted the madcap experiences of Felix Unger (Tony Randall) and Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman), two of Neil Simon’s most endearing and enduring characters.
Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, with their progeny David and Rick, are synonymous with the American family image both on and off television. The Nelson boys are perhaps the only people who have literally grown up before the eyes of millions of weekly viewers.
“Safety Last!” was one of the best-known movies of the silent film era — not only because people found it hilarious, but also because of the iconic image of the Harold Lloyd, dangling off the edge of a building — his grip on a clock hand the only thing keeping him from falling.
Catchphrases have a way of enlivening our lives. Catchphrases become code words for some not-so-secret organization of people whom the catch-phrases have hooked.
Do you remember these classic TV catchphrases of the ’60s — and are there any that you still find yourself saying sometimes?
Do you remember these totally awesome TV catchphrases of the ’80s? Which of these lines from the eighties do you still find yourself saying every now and then?
The year is 1997. On an uncharted planet, somewhere in the infinite reaches of the universe, an American family is marooned while on a voyage to colonize a new world.
What do you get when you mix equal parts Mel Brooks and James Bond? Get Smart – one of the most hilarious spoofs on spies and private eyes ever to be presented on television or in any other medium. (Also see the memorable opening credits!)
Andy Griffith, who stars as a slow-talking, story-telling jack-of-all-trades with a sly Southern sense of humor in the new ‘Andy Griffith Show,’ is very much like the character he plays. The only difference is that Griffith is famous.
Ronnie Howard, the red-haired moppet of “The Andy Griffith Show,” is that rare child actor without guile and a Hollywood head.
A 20-year-old newcomer to show business and a 40-year veteran made it to the top of the ratings charts recently as NBC’s “Chico and the Man” took the No. 1 spot.
The life of young Elvis Presley Excerpted from an article by Tina McElroy, The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) August 27, 1977 In 1933, a 13-dollar-a-week
In the cautious movie business where everyone is looking for sure-fire hits, “Grease” is one of the surest. lt cashes in on two fads — nostalgia and John Travolta.
Shaun Cassidy has a show-business tradition to follow. His mother is Shirley Jones, an Oscar-winning actress-singer, and his father is the late Jack Cassidy, star of Broadway musicals and TV performer. And his brother is David Cassidy.
‘The Sound of Music,’ thanks to superior handling and affectionate care, has made the tricky transition from stage to screen with all its virtues intact. If anything, there is an extra glow of magic to this operetta in its movie offspring.
Who were the top TV stars of 1979? America’s teens had favorite television programs and favorite stars, but those two categories had surprisingly little to do with each other, according to a national survey.
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