ForgottenTV

1983-Wizards and Warriors

2009-12-01T20:49:00.002-06:00

This forgettable show was a mid-season replacement for CBS in early 1983.
A full-on stereotypical medieval sword-and-sorcery fantasy adventure, this show was set in the time of King Arthur's Court. Jeff Conaway (Bobby from Taxi) held the starring role. The Wikipedia plot description:

The legendary kingdom is ruled by good King Baaldorf and Queen Lattinia. Their daughter, Ariel, is engaged to Prince Erik Greystone, who becomes Camarand's champion against a neighboring kingdom ruled by evil Prince Dirk Blackpool. Erik is assisted by his servant, Marko, the strongest man in the kingdom and often hindered by his ne'er-do-well playboy brother, Justin.

Interestingly, most episodes were directed by Bill Bixby. Only eight episodes were produced.

1985-Teddy Ruxpin Commercial

2009-09-20T11:18:00.000-05:00

1975-The Lost Saucer

2009-09-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

After a Friday night of having to sit through The Rockford Files and Police Woman, kids could get up on Saturday morning and have their own live action shows to watch in addition to cartoons.
The Lost Saucer was more Sid and Marty Krofft weirdness (although decidedly less so than, say, H. R. Pufinstuf, or Lidsville.)
As pretty much outlined in the opening sequence, The Lost Saucer had two time-traveling futuristic androids. Fi (Ruth Buzzi) and Fum (Jim Nabors) land their flying saucer on present day Earth evidently in the front yard of a young boy named Jerry (Jarrod Johnson.) Jerry and his babysitter Alice (Alice Playten) are waved in by Fi and Fum to check out their saucer.
Nervous about onlookers, Fi and Fum take off with Jerry and Alice inside, damaging the time travel controls in the process.
Episodes depicted encounters on earth in various time periods, usually following a social or environmental theme.
16 episodes were produced. The first six episodes were later rerun as part of The Krofft Supershow 's first season.

1977-Bigfoot and Wildboy

2009-03-14T17:28:00.000-05:00

More Saturday morning weirdness from Sid and Marty Krofft. Originally part of the Krofft Supershow as 15 minute segments, it became its own series in 1979 and 30-minute episodes were produced. There were a total of 20 episodes.
The series has not been released to DVD.

1984-'UFO' Pepsi Commercial

2008-12-20T12:49:00.000-06:00

1982-Herbie, The Love Bug

2008-11-02T13:09:00.000-06:00

Ok, you must be thinking the same thing I am. There was a SERIES of this?? Apparently so.
Also known as Herbie The Matchmaker, the series lasted an entire five episodes.
Dean Jones reprised his role as Jim Douglas who fell in love with Susan, played by Patricia Harty, the mother of three (including a 12 year-old Nicky Katt.) Episodes revolved around...comic situations no doubt, as Larry Linville tried to break up the couple until they finally got married in the fourth episode.

1987-Out Of This World

2008-11-01T19:26:00.000-05:00

This was a syndicated comedy typically shown on Saturday afternoons that was aimed at young girls. The show revolved around Edie Garland, a teenage girl who was half alien. Naturally, being half alien gave her the ability to freeze time, teleport, and bring objects into and out of existence.
The show reused shots from Buck Rogers In The 25th Century the few times that Edie's father's planet was shown.
This show inexplicably ran for 96 episodes over four seasons.

1972-Probe

2008-08-31T17:38:00.001-05:00

Probe was the pilot for the science fiction detective series Search starring Hugh O'Brian as Hugh Lockwood, a high-tech private eye designated “Probe One”. When picked up for series production, the title had to be changed because Probe was the name of an existing PBS series.

Probes were agents for a group known as “World Securities,” who were outfitted with various electronic implants, and were equipped with a button-sized "scanner" that contained a micro-miniaturized video camera, microphone and transmitter, which connected them with a team of technicians and experts who constantly monitored his surroundings, actions and vital signs, and were able to supply the Probe with encyclopedic information on any subject.

Lockwood was an American astronaut now working as a Probe for World Securities. In the pilot, Lockwood sets out for Europe; his assignment is to track down a multi-million-pound stash of gemstones that were amassed by Hermann Goering during World War II.

1973-The Magician

2008-08-30T17:45:00.000-05:00

The Magician starred Bill Bixby as Anthony Blake, a playboy philanthropist and professional stage magician who used his skills to solve crimes and help the helpless.
Blake had been unjustly imprisoned in an unnamed South American country years before the events of the series. He discovered a way to escape with his cellmate, which began his interest in escapology.
The cellmate died and left him a fortune. The escape led to a career in stage magic which made him famous. Never forgetting his imprisonment, it motivates him to seek justice for others.
What was cool about this show was that during the series, Bill Bixby did all the magic on camera as seen. Trick photography and post production special effects were not used.
This show makes me think of CBS's upcoming new series, The Mentalist.

1975-Space: 1999

2008-08-22T23:50:00.000-05:00

Space: 1999 was a British import that was syndicated on American television. Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were married at the time and coasting on their popularity from Mission: Impossible. In the second season, the alien Maya was added to the cast as sort of a female shape-shifting version of Spock. The Moonbase Alpha crew was on a traveling moon and faced aliens and weird situations every week.
Lots of behind the scenes production problems plagued season two. Cast members would come and go with no explanation. Episodes were often shown out of order, especially in the syndicated foreign markets, which added to viewer confusion. 48 episodes were produced in all; the series abruptly ended with the final episode of season two and did not return.

1967-Spider-Man

2008-08-09T09:52:00.000-05:00

The first animated Spider-Man series aired on ABC Saturday morning TV in 1967. Particularly remembered by many for it's funky 60's theme song and repeated use of stock footage, the series ran for 52 episodes and was endlessly rerun in the 70s on afternoon TV syndication.
It's popularity paved the way for several additional animated series, including one currently airing on Saturday mornings on the CW network.

Tribute To Harvey Korman

2008-05-31T17:07:00.000-05:00

Departing from the usual format for this tribute to a great comedian. I remember him and Tim Conway always trying to crack each other up on the Carol Burnett Show.
Harvey Korman has 95 credits on IMDB and was a constant face on TV throughout the 60s and 70s. Harvey Korman was 81.

1974-RC Cola Commercial

2008-05-31T16:57:00.000-05:00

1977-Slinky Commercial

2008-04-24T23:28:00.001-05:00

1967-Birdman

2008-03-17T12:35:00.002-05:00

In the late 60s, Hanna Barbera came up with a slew of original superhero and action hero characters for TV broadcast. Atom Ant, Space Ghost, Shazzan, The Galaxy Trio, Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor, Young Samson and Goliath, The Herculoids, and so on.
These were endlessly rerun and became more popular throughout the 70s in afternoon syndication, where most people probably remember seeing them.
With only a vague and somewhat generic origin, Birdman was somehow endowed by the sun god Ra with the ability to shoot solar rays from his fists and project “solar shields” to defend himself. He also has a huge pair of wings that enable him to fly. I don't think the wings were ever explained. Assisted by Avenger, his eagle sidekick, and thankfully only occasionally by Birdboy, Birdman works for Inter-Nation Security, and fights crime from his secret volcano base that has a sliding door on the crater.
Birdman segments were originally aired as part of Birdman and the Galaxy Trio.
The Birdman character was revived earlier this decade for Cartoon Network as Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.

1970-UFO

2008-03-04T11:55:00.000-06:00

This British series set in the futuristic year of 1980 sports the same funky fashions and look as Space:1999. The reason is they were both created and produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson; the husband/wife creative TV team behind Supercar, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, and Terrahawks.
In 1970 UFO interest was still high and there were a number of TV series and documentaries based on them. Believed to be a threat to Earth, world governments unite and form SHADO (Supreme Headquarters, Alien Defense Organization)! Establishing bases and the Earth and the Moon, SHADO wages a secret battle against alien invaders as it attempts to discover who they are, where they come from, and what they want.

1985-Stingray

2007-12-27T13:51:00.000-06:00

1988-War Of The Worlds

2007-12-25T13:38:00.000-06:00

1987-Dinosaucers

2007-12-24T12:55:00.000-06:00

1968-Tab 'Mindsticker' Commercial

2007-12-19T22:28:00.000-06:00

The first Tab cola mindsticker campaign tv spot. Mmm. Great cola taste with just a hint of misogyny.

1985-Otherworld

2007-12-17T02:22:00.000-06:00

This was a cool sci-fi show on Friday nights for about two months in early 1985. The Sterling family were touring Egypt and were inside the Pyramid of Giza during a rare planetary alignment. When they emerged, they were in a parallel earth populated by humans but with a completely different culture and history than our earth. There were no familiar countries, only zones, each with it's own culture and laws. Travel between zones was forbidden and therefore there were no maps of the zones.
Episodes had them running from one zone to another in search of a way home, pursued of course by the requisite bad guy.
Only 8 episodes were aired, but it was rumored that 13 were actually produced; which would make sense because it was a mid-season replacement and the network would have likely ordered 13 episodes. Although highly unlikely, it would be great if they got this out on DVD.

1978-Sword Of Justice

2007-12-12T01:12:00.000-06:00

70s TV star Dack Rambo starred as Jack Cole, a rich playboy by day and a kind of mercenary at night...Imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, he learns the ways of criminals while behind bars.
Jack's trademark is a playing card, the three of spades, to represent the three years he spent in prison, and it had written on it "The spade is the sword of justice -- its rapier marks the end."

1975-The Ghost Busters

2007-12-07T15:42:00.000-06:00

A Norm Prescott/Lou Scheimer production from 1975, The Ghost Busters was a Saturday morning show that featured Spencer, Kong, and Tracy the gorilla as they would go on missions to find ghosts to use their Ghost Dematerializer on. (Spencer Tracy and Kong. Get it? Groan.) They ended up always going to the same spooky house on the edge of town and they would go all Three Stooges while chasing down the ghost.
It's a shock it didn't last more than 15 episodes. This show was remade as a cartoon in the 80s after the success of the movie Ghostbusters, which shared a remarkable resemblance to the name and plot elements of this show, don't you think?

1987-The Highwayman

2007-12-02T21:28:00.000-06:00

This was a really short-lived show, the first time I met Sam Jones he was surprised that I remembered it at all. There were only 10 episodes if you count the pilot.
The highwaymen were some kind of weird federal marshals that fought crime in the not too distant future. Each was outfitted with a high-tech armored 18-wheeler that was heavily armed.
The cab of the truck could convert into a helicopter and on some episodes the car from the movie Black Moon Rising would come out of the back of the rig. Didn't leave much room for cargo.
Yes this was definitely a Glen A. Larson production.
I don't know if the casting of Jacko as 'Jetto' started, or was a result of, the brief Jacko phenomenon we experienced in the late 80s. Oy!

1985-Street Hawk

2007-12-01T11:23:00.000-06:00

Knight Rider on a motorcycle. There was a rash of these type of shows in the 80s to early 90s.
Airwolf, Knight Rider, Automan, Highwayman, Viper...
As explained in the intro, Street Hawk was an experimental motorcycle usually driven only at night so it would look cooler.
The bike had a top normal speed of 200 mph, 300 mph if 'Hyperthrust' was engaged! (Which happened in every episode.) It sported a laser cannon, machine guns, a rocket launcher, infrared cameras, and a compressed air vertical lift system, which gave it that 'turbo-boost' capability, and the physics-defying ability to turn on street corners at 200+mph.
Although there were only 13 episodes, Street Hawk kept changing without explanation. From watching the show, four different models were clearly used. I guess that fits with the logic of the show, it's an experimental vehicle so modifications would be made from time to time as needed.
Joe Regalbuto went on to star in Murphy Brown and a young George Clooney appeared in episode two in his second role ever. Rex Smith has been a guest star staple for the last 20 years.