As with my two previous pieces on this topic, I’ve selected some stellar programming lineups from the Comfort TV era that can now be recreated thanks to the availability of their shows on DVD (or on retro TV networks like Decades).
While the volume of classic TV releases has slowed considerably in recent years, enough new titles have appeared to fill in some gaps and make more of these nostalgic experiences possible.
So let’s journey back once more to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when there were just three networks, cable was what allowed Ma Bell to hook up your telephone, and satellites were used only for spying on Russians.
ABC: Saturday, 1983
T.J. Hooker
The Love Boat
Fantasy Island
Escapism was the aspiration here, as it often was on Saturdays in the Comfort TV era. With adults off from work and kids off from school, networks delivered shows that specialized in diversion. T.J. Hooker didn’t have the exotic locales of the series that followed, but its depiction of an L.A. cop’s crusade to clean up the streets was about as credible as anything cooked up by Mr. Roarke and Tattoo.
Added bonus: The possibility of seeing Heather Locklear on all three shows.
CBS: Monday, 1979
The White Shadow
M*A*S*H
WKRP In Cincinnati
Lou Grant
Here’s the kind of prestige programming schedule viewers came to expect from the Tiffany network. All four series in this esteemed lineup received Emmy Awards (not in a major category for WKRP, but stars Howard Hesseman and Loni Anderson were nominated).
All of these shows lived authentically in their environments. The White Shadow never whitewashed the challenges faced by inner city high schools. The M*A*S*H condemnation of Vietnam (by way of Korea) captured the insanity of war, from recurring battles over useless territory to doctors patching up young soldiers so they could go out and get shot again. The backdrop was more benign on WKRP in Cincinnati but just as true-to-life. Anyone who worked radio at that time could identify with its bizarre tales of eccentric talent, crazy on-air promotions and gimmicks to boost ratings.
And Lou Grant?Simply the best show about journalism ever created. I wish its portrayal of that profession was still considered a model for how to do it right.
CBS: Saturday, 1961
Perry Mason
The Defenders
Have Gun, Will Travel
Gunsmoke
How remarkable was it to have the opportunity to watch television’s two best legal dramas back-to-back, without even getting up to change the channel?
Start with these shows, in which lawbreakers are read their rights and tried in a court of law, and follow that up with two shows in which justice was delivered without the need for lawyers, judges and juries.
NBC: Friday, 1986
The A-Team
Miami Vice
L.A. Law
There’s something appropriate about the progression here from outlaws to police to lawyers, a familiar pattern in crime and punishment. But I would define this lineup more as a study of professionals at work. Start the evening with a crack military squad helping the innocent (and firing thousands of bullets in every episode that never hit anyone).
Move on to a team of detectives making Miami in the ‘80s slightly less scuzzy; and then head up into a spectacular downtown Los Angeles skyscraper to sit in on a meeting with McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak, where cases are rarely lost despite all the inter-office couplings. Just don’t forget to look down before you get on the elevator.
CBS: Saturday, 1972
All in the Family
Bridget Loves Bernie
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Bob Newhart Show
Mission: Impossible
Not as perfect as the now-legendary CBS Saturday lineup of the following year, when Carol Burnett replaced the IM Force in the 10pm timeslot (providing a less jarring transition from the easygoing Bob Newhart Show) and M*A*S*H replaced Bridget Loves Bernie, which deserved a better fate. Still, there’s not a bad show in the bunch.
CBS: Saturday Morning, 1976
Sylvester & Tweety
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour
Tarzan
Shazam/Isis
Ark II
Clue Club
Saturday morning lineups from the Comfort TV era are hard to recreate, because there is almost always one show in the schedule that was short-lived and not likely to be shown again or released on DVD. But here’s one that can be done, even if you have to cheat by using the Warner Brothers Looney Tune anthologies for the material aired as Sylvester & Tweety and The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour.
After that, settle in for a mini-marathon of Filmation classics, starting with the animated Tarzan series, which has been praised as one of the more faithful adaptations of the Edgar Rice Burroughs books.
The Shazam/Isis Hour and Ark II are delightful throwbacks to when live-action science fiction and superhero stories delivered thrills on what appeared to be a ten-dollar per episode budget.
Round out the morning with Clue Club, the best of Hanna-Barbera’s countless Scooby-Doo knockoffs. Some of the mysteries here, such as “The Disappearing Airport Caper” and “The Dissolving Statue Caper,” are still pretty clever. You may not guess the solution before Larry, Pepper, D.D. and Dottie.
