Classic TV Nights In Review: A Nostalgic Look Back At A Few Truly Entertaining Evenings
[Note: This article is a work of nonfiction based on the opinion of the author.]
There are many ideal “Classic TV Nights” in the history of television.
Saturday nights, circa 1970 to 1977, initially come to mind.
At one point or another during that period, TV viewers got to watch terrific family shows like Petticoat Junction, The Lawrence Welk Show, All in the Family, M*A*S*H, Bridget Loves Birney, The Governor and J.J., The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, The Carol Burnett Show, and so many more.
It Was Sentimental on Sunday, Too
During one particular time, Sunday nights delivered detective shows Mannix, Kojak, Barnaby Jones on CBS, which had previously presented The Ed Sullivan Show, and later illuminated the night with the beloved Murder, She Wrote.
Over at NBC, the “Peacock Network” variably showcased its Sunday Night Mystery Movie with Columbo, McMillan & Wife, and McCloud. All family-oriented and enjoyable to the hilt.
Into this mix, ABC gave us The Six Million Dollar Man (which actually began on Friday nights), and before that, The Wonderful World of Disney (which began on NBC).
Happy Memory Mondays
One particular Monday night stands out from the rest, on CBS, in 1969.
That year, when prime-time still began at 7:30 PM, the Monday night line-up was Gunsmoke, Here’s Lucy (the third in a long line of Lucille Ball shows), Mayberry RFD, (sequel to The Andy Griffith Show, a previous CBS Monday night staple), The Doris Day Show, and The Carol Burnett Show (before it moved to Saturday nights a couple of years later).
What remarkable evenings of family entertainment, the original likes of which we most likely will never see again.
Turnback Tuesdays
There were also specific Tuesday night schedules with variety shows like The Red Skelton Show on NBC, The Jackie Gleason Show on CBS, and Hollywood Palace on ABC.
For a while there, ABC was going strong on Tuesdays with The Mod Squad, Tuesday Movie of the Week, and Marcus Welby, M.D., among others.
Later, Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley came to Tuesday nights and forever changed that evening’s history.
Then, of course, there was NBC’s legendary Bonanza, the first TV show to be screened in color.
Wayback Wednesdays
Then, of course, for one glorious season, there was ABC’s Wednesday night spectacular of The Bionic Woman, Charlie’s Angels, and Starsky & Hutch.
Throwback Thursdays
On Thursday nights, there was That Girl and Bewitched on ABC, which had previously shown the nighttime soap, Peyton Place, and later aired Kung Fu.
Over at NBC for a while, there was the outstanding Flip Wilson Show.
Years later, NBC premiered “Must-See TV” on Thursday nights with The Cosby Show, Family Ties (which later changed to Tuesday), Cheers, the original Night Court, Seinfeld, Friends, and more.
On CBS, there was Hawaii Five-0, which paved the way for Magnum, P.I. (which was subsequently rebooted).
Flashback Fridays
In the early 1970s, Friday night brought us ABC’s The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222, The Odd Couple, and Love, American Style.
Into the 1990s, ABC furthered its “TGIF” [Thank God It’s Friday] line-up with shows like Step-by-Step (kind of a Brady Bunch remake), Sabrina, the Teen-Age Witch, Dinosaurs, Full House, and Family Matters.
Over at CBS, Friday nights shone for a while with prime-time suds, Dallas, and Falcon Crest.
The Big Picture
Those are just a few of the remarkable evenings of family television entertainment, the original likes of which we most likely will never see again.
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This article originally appeared on Newsbreak.comand was syndicated by MediaFeed.org
