9 TV SITCOM THEME INTROS - ONE-SEASON WONDERS OF THE 1970s

[RightWingHunter666]

Quark... wtf... damn that was horrible.

[2nicks]

I watched every episode of "The Partners" and liked it...Every ep of "The Associates" and also liked it...Every ep of "The Paul Lynde Show" and loved it...also "Lot's A Luck" and it was okay...and I loved "When Things Were Rotten...I knew about all of the other sitcoms bit never watched them...Out of all of the ones I watched weekly, the cancellation of "The Paul Lynde Show" really surprised me...I thought his show would be around many seasons!?!?!

[Teletran35]

HOLY COW I remember the second one called "Roll Out"...LOL I loved "CPO Sharky"..I think I watched "Quark" all of one time...The associates was ok.."Lotsa Luck"? wow its has been a long time..."When Things Were Rotten" Was on sunday nights on ABC I think around 7pm

[visor109]

The first theme sounds like "A Quinn Martin Production"

[CajunGypsy]

Ah, QUARK I remember well, being a teen sci-fi fan starved for decent TV shows about space in that era.

[drummer4theperish]

CPO Sharkey was actually on for 2 seasons.

[richardshort2001]

"The Paul Lynde Show?" I thought that was called Hollywood Squares.

[dukes0916]

I remember most of these shows as a kid. Some I don't recall at all? (They probably ran against shows I watched, or were on after my bedtime!) Of course, the fact that they were all short lived may have alot to do with it!

And yes... Don't be so quick to knock 'When Things Were Rotten'! It was actally a funny & innovative show! (Better than his 'Men In Tights' attempt at the Robin Hood legend!)

[MrGVUnited]

@johnnyfoster: "moron creators"? James L. Brooks, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks....

You have no clue, do you?

[rposhard]

Only just discovered this -- remembered all the shows except Roll Out. I remember one of the funniest lines I ever saw was "The Paul Lynde Show". He'd had an argument with his wife and was sleeping on the sofa. Having nothing to read, he read the label on the cushion: "Do not remove this tag under penalty of law." He ripped off the tag and said in his unique sarcastic style "Come and get me!"

[snarkus63]

I have a vague memory of one "Paul Lynde" episode---a bunch of teenagers storm his house protesting God-only-knows.Two of the girls strip down to their underwear.

Oh,and I seem to recall a closing scene joke about his daughter {Pamelyn Ferdin} looking for a key she hid in her bra.

[JohnnyFoster]

Such corny, amazingly silly concepts. Hard to believe the creators would think these would seriously be successful. The obvious ripoff show of "M*A*S*H", but with African-American actors swapping out the roles of "Hawkeye" and "BJ" looked unbelievably silly, not because of the swap-out, but because it was such a close copy of "M*A*S*H". The "Robin Hood" show looks equally as dumb. Again - what were these moron creators thinking ?

[mommapuddin]

I TOTALLY had a crush on Commander Quark and was heartbroken when the show wasn't renewed. Yes, I had NO taste as a child! ;P

[911fever]

Quark's "Bettys" are STILL HOT

[EnjiBEARatsu]

Was just about to post how amazing Quark looks, then just happened to find out it has a DVD release.

I know my next purchase.

[Aeolis7]

I loved Quark!

[TomasTigre]

What an odd juxtaposition between a theme and the subject matter on The Associates.

[Jazzspace38]

How twisted is the logic behind television when NBC puts on Quark but passes on Star Trek The Next Generation?

[TheLSK]

@Jazzspace38 Yeah...but Quark had so many "similarities" to Star Trek I'm quite suprised Roddenberry and Paramount didn't sue for infringement in several areas!

[disneyfan81]

@TheLSK I was told that "Quark" actually was inspired be "Star Wars" rather than "Star Trek".

[Dirtfire]

Hah, that's funny. "The Associates" I thought looked like an early version of Murphy Brown, and then lo and behold one of the actors from Murphy Brown shows up, Joe Regalbudo! lol

Thanks for the post.

[tabbypappy]

I'm trying to figure out why "CPO Sharkey" is the only show I remember out of all of these...!

[jknuttel]

@tabbypappy "CPO Sharkey" actually lasted two seasons. I went to a taping of one episode from the first season. Alas, it wasn't the now-famous one where Johnny Carson interupted the taping to ball out Rickles for breaking his cigarette container on the "Tonight" show.

[mikeysaur65]

5:26 6:36 Hell with the cream-pie-in-the-face, you can pretty much gauge how funny a TV show is by the way important briefcase documents are handled in the opening credits.

[mikeysaur65]

Nice theme music to "QUARK." You'd think they'd have built a discothèque in the Enterprise or something. I can just see Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and the rest of the crew in leisure suits dancin' John Travolta style to this. Leonard Nimoy's new catchphrase: "Live long and... grooooooooooooooooooooooooooov­e on!"

[Harmadi11o]

Note that Tim Thomerson costarred in both Quark and The Associates

[journeyman2mage]

I miss QUARK!

[canadian49]

The Partners!... I thought I was watching GET SMART for a minute there!...LOL

[redheadedgolem]

That's a heck of a fall by Paul Lynde at 6:04.

It's funny, whenever I pack a briefcase - to this day I think about the opening of The Bob Crane Show and how he threw his in the water. And to think, the show was only on for three months!

[TimelordR]

I remember when i was young, seeing CPO Sharkey & When Things Were Rotten, but i only caught half of 1 episode of Lotsa Luck. My Favorite was CPO Sharkey. Pity it was short lived. Maybe someone could do a movie based on that show? Just a thought...

[bjggjb]

You just gave me a big lump in my throat... I remember that "Robin Hood" theme from when I was about 8 years old. I remember it came on at my bedtime and I wondered why my folks wouldn't let me watch "Robin Hood"... good family fare right? (I think I see now why they made me go to bed...)

Thanks for posting this, dude!

[christheone8773]

I remember all these shows - I think I remember, "The Associates", it was a critically acclaimed show and it was yanked after 10 episodes- I defintely remember "Lotsa Luck" and "When Things Were Rotten" - it was so refreshing to see sitcoms that were screwball instead of looking at hard-hitting comedies like "All In The Family", "Good Times" , "The Jeffersons" and "Maude"-

[HellsDonutHouse]

Rupert Crosse, Don Adams' co-star in Partners, was star of John Cassavetes' first feature, SHADOWS.

[slmacph]

While most of the series in this posting are rather obscure, the producers aren't. They were better known for more successful shows, both before and after these series. William Asher, for example, produced (if I'm not mistaken) the ever popular "Bewitched". Mel Brooks: "Get Smart". Carl Reiner: "The Dick Van Dyke Show". etc., etc.

[disneyfan81]

@slmacph And William Asher also was the primary director on "I Love Lucy". And of course remember that Asher was also married to Elizabeth Montgomery when they did "Bewitched".

[999manman]

Never thought I'd ever see " Lotsa Luck " again.....thanks RwD!!!!

[christheone8773]

@999manman I remember "Lotsa Luck" - it was an NBC show, I remember that it used to be on the TV schedule, right behind, "Laugh-In" -

[Pinky39559]

@christheone8773 I remember that show , totally loved it , remembered one episode involving buying a new toilet , too bad it was short lived .

[mandrake2273]

I was born in the early sixties, but I really don't remember these shows!

[Diskoboy1974]

Paul Lynde playing a husband and family man... That is nothing short of hilarious.

And what's even more funny - he was nominated for a Golden Globe for that role.

[bettypro]

@Diskoboy1974 i LOVED paul lynde in whatever he played and shows what an excellent actor he was playing a husband! :)

[Diskoboy1974]

@bettypro - I never said Paul Lynde was a bad actor... Far from it. The man was a godsend to physical comedy.

It's was just too hard to overlook his blatant homosexuality, therefore making it hard to take him seriously in a role as a huband and dad. I know most people kept it private, back then. But some people were just too obvious no matter how much they stayed in the closet.

[christheone8773]

@Diskoboy1974 The Paul Lynde Show was produced by Bill Asher, who, because he and his then wife, Elizabeth Montgomery, did not want to do a ninth season of "Bewitched", opted to produce this show instead-

[disneyfan81]

@Diskoboy1974 Maybe, but his neurotic father character was probably not too different from his Harry Macafee role in "Bye-Bye Birdie".

[Gymbobwe]

I used to LOVE Quark....of course, I was 11 at the time.

[elc1960]

That man playing "Mr. Kellner" in the clip from "The Partners" is Jack Somack, best known as the "Spicy Meatball" guy in the classic Alka-Seltzer ad from the '70s. "Roll Out" was actually a pretty good show that never quite found an audience. The Barnstable twins on "Quark" were the only reason to watch that show - my God, they were hot! Yes, that's B.B. King doing the theme to "The Associates". Quite a cast of future stars on that show.

[Shotgunnova]

LOL...they named a guy Ficus.

[MadameLil]

CPO Sharkey even earned a TV Guide cover, with Don Rickles on a ladder looking up to that tall guy whose name I forgot. I also remember that Bob Crane sitcom which probably didn't last because of his sordid rep ... I also loved When Things Were Rotten.

[elc1960]

@MadameLil I believe the name of the actor you forgot from "CPO Sharkey" was Peter Isacksen.

[MadameLil]

@elc1960  Thank you!

[elc1960]

@MadameLil Anytime, Madame.

[Wheeljack35]

Geez I forgot about most of those shows.I just bought When Things Were Rotten on DVD

[RwDt09]

Actually, you're right and I only realized it too late after posting the video. But it wasn't quite two full seasons. It aired Dec 1976-Apr 1977, then Jul-Aug 1977, then Oct 1977-Apr 1978, and finally Jun-Jul 1978, making the actual run about a season and a half.

[jimzfun1]

CPO Sharkey lasted two full seasons!

[Aeolis7]

QUARK!

Theme by Perry Botkin, Jr.

He wrote the theme from Mork & Mindy also!