I've been revisiting some old shows, most televised before I had a chance to watch them. Part of it is nostalgia for the groovin' 60s and 70s, and part of it is is the tight writing and characters. Seasons 1-4 of Kojak are really very good, though there are a few dud episodes mixed in with the good. Kojak, the character, had a heart of gold underneath that cynical, jaded New Yawhk attitude. And the original Mission Impossible series (at least Season 1 and 2 that I've watched) have tight plots with multiple moving parts. If you just miss a minute or so, it's hard to know what is going on, especially when the team is presented with a problem that throws their original plan off kilter. I've also taken to The Avengers, low-budget and all for their little interesting spy stories (and a young Dianna Rigg!) Also Cannon - which I've really grown to love, maybe more so than Kojak. The stories - in general - are better written, and the plots tighter. Also William Conrad does a great job playing the overweight detective, even poking fun at his weight issues. He's incredibly harsh toward his enemies, but also a caring person toward children and distraught women.
I dunno; maybe so it would stick in one's cranium? It's been 50 years since those shows were on TV and I always remember that---obviously so did Abrams/Zucker/Abrams when they made Police Squad! The Mighty Quinn was one clever Armenian!
a lot of the shows that even have a studio audience seems sweetened up. I feel like it's gotten worse and worse with trying to make every line hysterically funny.
It's true that many current "live" comedy shows have LAUGH and APPLAUSE lights which of course serve as laugh tracks. But the 70s sitcoms had much more of a stage parlor-drama atmosphere.
And Barney Miller, at least for its first 3.5 seasons, IINM, was, in the words of its credits, "Videotaped before a live audience at ABC Television Center in Hollywood"-- I trust that that had the same effect as filming before a live audience (meaning, no laugh track). I think it just went to straight taping on the set on one 1978 episode, and just became "Videotaped at ABC Television Center in Hollywood."
The discussion of concise TV shows reminded me of the original "Danger Man" 1/2 hour shows. I thought it was amazing how they were able to fit a complete episode of this genre into such a small time slot (I guess less than 25 minutes actual), and IMO it worked most of the time. No need to have seen previous episodes to enjoy the one being watched. In some respects, I liked these better than the hour long shows from a few years later. Doug
And there have been some great examples of that concise format, like M Squad on NBC from 1957-60 (w/the late Lee Marvin as Lt. Frank Ballinger of the titular fictional squad of the Chicago Police), and Wanted: Dead or Alive on CBS from 1958-61 (w/the late Steve McQueen as bounty hunter Josh Randall).
yes, they knew how to make them back then...and when I was a kid I loved the cool toy guns...Greenie Stik-M- Caps...
Closed-captioning bumpers, especially on ABC (a big example being the Southwest-style version from 1985, before an ABC Monday Night Movie presentation of The Hearst and Davies Affair, Jan. 14, 1985):
The network movie of the week. Whether it was the network getting the rights to a theatrical release or an original network movie, they made a big deal out of it with a theme song and booming voice. Networks taking pride in their brand and programming. It was the added touches of intro promos, yearly slogans, videos/songs of all the network stars together, or promo specials that got viewers excited for the new fall season.
Saturday Morning cartoons on the big three networks. Memorable commercial jingles. Variety shows. Drama shows that weren't so grim and depressing. Shows like "Lou Grant", "Family", "Eight is Enough", "Rockford Files", "Quincy", the real "Hawaii Five-O", etc. Afternoon or late night movies broadcast by local stations, often with a theme ("Monster Chiller Horror Theater") or with a local host or sponser(s). Locally produced programs - kids, entertainment and public affairs shows.
And of course, the thick issue of TV Guide that listed all the new shows that came out early in every September.
I miss the digest-sized TV Guide. I thought that magazine wouldn’t last a year after it changed format and removed the local listings, but they proved me wrong.
As a kid in the early 70s it used to amuse the frilly heck out of me when some US channel would pretty much inevitably brag about a "world television premiere" of some popular movie airing a day or two after a Canadian channel had already broadcast it. It happened so often that it quickly became a running joke in the family.
