NBC "NBSee Us"! 1978-79 Season promo

[1985OldSkool]

It was more like "NBSee Ya Later", than "NBSee Us" that season. And, furthermore, the former NBC Blue Network (a.k.a. the American Broadcasting Company) was the top network in 1978-79.

[tyrese3745]

@1985OldSkool That's right. Mainly because of the hit shows produced by both Paramount Television (now CBS Television Distribution) and Aaron Spelling respectively.

[1985OldSkool]

@tyrese3745 CBS Corporation took over Spelling Television shortly after his death in 2006.

[smittykins]

Since "Grandpa Goes To Wasshington" premiered not long after "Chico And The Man" ended, I always thought of it as "Ed Brown Goes To Washington."

What can I say, I was 12 at the time. :)

[smokinj721]

NBC was at an all time low point here, these shows probably got cancelled within a month or two. Luckily for them, Cheers and Family Ties then Cosby Show saved them and they were pretty much a powerhouse network after that.

[hamursh]

NBSee you in HELL!!!

[TIPTON340]

All these new shows fell like a brick in the ratings. That is why NBC was in third

place like today.

[msannomalley]

The only thing I remember from this is the "NBSeeUs" jingle.

[vampyros1]

What a GREAT jingle!

[fromthesidelines]

The title was intended to have been "CAPRA", 'Bonkoz'. But when Fred Silverman became head of NBC in the summer of 1978, he had the title changed before the show's premiere to a more provocative one, "THE EDDIE CAPRA MYSTERIES" (which didn't help, as it soon disappeared). Same deal with a crime drama that was to be have called "THE FORCE" (starring Joe Don Baker) in 1979. Silverman put it on the air as "EISCHIED" because he wanted the character's name "out front" {like "KOJAK"}- same results.

[Bonkoz]

Wait - WTF was "Capra" about?!? A docu-drama series of young Frank Capra goin' around with a movie camera?!?! :-P

[kxx46]

"Capra" was "Eddie Capra Mysteries" a detective drama.

I saw it once or twice and I think I saw the same episode twice. They cancelled it

soon after it debuted.

Has nothing to do with Frank Capra.

[1soniccool]

NBC SSSSSSEEEEEUS NBC SEEEEE US

[fromthesidelines]

"WAVERLY WONDERS" was originally one of two Lorimar TV projects Larry Hagman was offered in early 1978- he decided he wanted to appear in a weekly drama series instead of a sitcom, and took the other one: "DALLAS"...

[Attmay]

Probably the best choice he ever made.

[rkdvideo]

The now infamous tv classic "Diff'rent Strokes" rolled onto NBC in November 78', and during the first season on Friday's at 7 central I NEVER MISSED AN EPISODE!! That last ABC season in 1986 however sucked major!

[jriley1992]

NBSee Us... This Fall! Creative!

[chabba77]

Didn't the infamous "Supertrain" debut later that season? Now THAT was the worst of the worst. Basically ripping off the Love Boat concept and putting it on a train.

[donjabroni]

@chabba77 - Yes, it did, during the midseason of 78-79. Until I watched it again here on YouTube, I only saw the two-hour movie premiere of it and I felt like NBC stole two hours of my life that I want back!

To put it to you this way, it had all of the negatives of The Love Boat times a 100 and none of its positives, especially TLB's charm.

[godgundam10]

Hey, if NBC actually did air "Network Battle of the T's and A's", that might have helped them in the ratings.

[MeAndLenaZ]

This must not have been a good time for NBC - I don't remember any of those shows.

[devulboy1]

What a horrible time for NBC, when ABC under Silverstein dominated the airwaves with a trendy outlook and more popular prime time shows, plus ABC sports' apex in airing most pro sports games and the olympics. The popular joke about NBC at the time was the "Nobody's Watching Network". But in the Palm Springs Cal. area, our NBC affiliate KMIR 36 had the only full-time schedule and local news cast (@6p & 11p), and saw it's competitor KPLM ABC 42 went off the air, so it wasn't that bad for them.+

[rmbb10]

Kewl.

[yerkeskid]

Wow, 0-10 on that promo. NBC had some pretty bad shows back then. I remember watching ABC most of the time back then. They had Happy Days, Mork and Mindy etc. I did LOVE Buck Rogers on NBC back then though

[EarlSnohomish]

I think the only showed that I watched for a brief time was "Dick Clark's Live Wednesday" because of the novelty of a live television program in 1978. That novelty wore off quickly, however.

[smittykins]

I only watched it once, because the band Chicago was on. I even taped it--on an AUDIO tape recorder! :)

[EarlSnohomish]

Heh. I remember recording songs off of the television with an audio tape recorder during the '70s. :-)

[devulboy1]

ABC ruled! However, I lived in a different TV market (Palm Springs Cal.) when in 1980 the previous ABC affiliate was purchased by Esquire Communications to saved KPLM, now KESQ "Newschannel 3". The closest CBS affiliate was KECY 9 from El Centro with a Mountain time schedule (2 hours earlier) and has Spanish language programs (same with KMIR 6) before Univision and Telemundo appeared and to provide 3 hours of minority-oriented programming was a FCC requirement in the really "P-C" 1970's.+

[mikeareal]

Seems "Waverly" was more of a poor man's "White Shadow", the popular CBS show at the time.

[VaultMasterDBT]

Ironically, The White Shadow didn't debut over at CBS until November 1978..The Waverly Wonders only last lasted a matter of weeks during Sept-October of that year. This was probably a matter of NBC knowing what CBS what up to in terms of series development, or vice versa, during the spring of '78, so they could compete harder against each other.

[mikeareal]

Interesting fact Vaultmaster. "Shadow" was one of my favorite alltime shows. Shot on film, with many location episodes. Seemed like NBC went cheap with their studio shot sitcoms. The shows always looked overlit...

[charleskusiak12]

Ahh yes! As I recall, this was from a time when television DIDN'T SUCK!!

[donjabroni]

Yeah, but NBC sure did back then!

[33Mark221]

They've kept this jingle in historical perpetuity as they used it for the introduction to one of Saturday Night Live's fake commercials...I think it was a promo called "Battle of the Celebrity T and A's," or something like that. Nice to actually hear the whole tune again.

That was a tough time to get excited about NBC's programming, as compared with ABC's monster hits. I think W.E.B. had only one airing.

[KNS1996DFS]

Actually, it was "Network Battle of the T's and A's." "Your favorite stars, with some of the biggest T's, and the nicest A's." Classic. But Lifeline looked like a pretty interesting show, very ahead of its time.

[mikeareal]

Catchy jingle indeed! I was a sunburned 14 year old with summer winding down, waiting for school to start. Was "Waverly" a "Welcome back, Kotter" ripoff? Baio's show a pre-curser to "Charles in charge"?

[Attmay]

Waverly Wonders was a show about a high school basketball team starring Joe Namath. Larry Hagman was originally offered Namath's role, but he did "Dallas" instead. Good call on his part because this was gone in 3 weeks and replaced with a show that ran 8 years: "Diff'rent Strokes."

[LindsaysBoys]

They should really bring this creativity back to television.

The jingles is what made BIG 3 back then stick out over the rival networks.

NBCeeeeeeeeeeeUuuuuuuuuuusssss­s This Fall! LOL!

[Bonkoz]

Well, that and the fact that that's all there was to watch, except for syndication! :) Then Fox jumped in in the mid-80's as a syndication network, kind of a "fourth Musketeer."

[MTVCOPS]

Jack Albertson starred in "Grandpa" after "Chico" folded. And Scott Baio in "Who's Watching the Kids" which was Nancy Walker's "Blansky's Beauties" re-made.

[jupitr2]

Wasn't Scott Baio still under contract with Paramount for "Happy Days" then?  Then, he did the horrible "Joanie Loves Chachi" in '82. I do like his reality show on VH1 though, "Scott Baio is 46 and Pregnant" which is a sequel to last season's "Scott Baio is 45 and Single." Pretty entertaining to see what this guy is going through.

[MTVCOPS]

He was on Blansky and Who's Watching first, I believe and then joined Happy Days.

[loverockit]

LOL Grandpa Goes to Washington! Never heard of the show, but doesn't sound like a winner

[nomadcowatbk]

It's about McCain

[4starcashier]

Gee, don't give NBC any ideas to bring this back! Though it is creative!

[Jeff98177]

Waverly Wonders! Scott Baio! WOW! I think I'll go vomit now...

[qtkrispykreme640]

The irony of all this is that the one show that started on NBC during the 78-79 season that lasted for quite awhile on the network (and was spun off of, also on NBC, and it lasted even longer) is one that wasn't promoted at all in this clips or other similar clips here on YouTube. Diff'rent Strokes, and the s/o was The Facts of Life.

[jroyal84]

You're right and those two shows kept the comdey department afloat until The Cosby Show premiered in 1984.

[donjabroni]

@jroyal84 - Don't forget Cheers and Family Ties helped out as well starting in 82.

[nanlisa]

When I was in Los Angeles that fall to celebrate my 21st birthday, I took a tour of the NBC Studios, and on that day, Dick Clark was taping his weekly show, which didn't last very long, and there were some Elvis Presley imitators there.

In the old days, the networks gave its new shows at least 13 weeks or an entire season. Today, they don't even give them a chance. If they ratings are way too low, they'll yank them right off the air as fast as they came on.

[someperson42]

Like with Raines.

[Attmay]

Has anyone here actually NBSeen any of these shows? I never NBSaw them. :D

[blank77]

Don't feel bad,not too many NBSaw them.BTW:"Wavelry Wonders" starred Joe Namath,and it got replaced by,you guessed it,"Diff'rent Strokes".

[dnm728]

One of those ill-fated shows - "Lifeline," a profile of real-life MDs - may have been the prototype for the "reality" show.

[RCmack]

ABC ruled that season in the network ratings. NBC ended up finishing third behind CBS in the rankings. The NBC see us promo didn't work.

The following year, NBC brought back the peacock!

[mrceleb2006]

In fact, during the 1978-1979 TV season, NBC did not place a show in the Nielsen top 20 at all...the first time ever in network history; that feat was repeated one more season...1981-1982, where the slogan was "Our Pride Is Showing". NBC had been placing at least one show in the top 20 ever since.

[34airflow]

Wonderful, catchy jingle for a not-so-good season.

[T00LS]

The biggest T's...with the nicest A's...

I remember that, but I've never heard of any of those crap programs promoted here. No wonder they were in last place.

[brithgob]

The first time I saw this was in a Saturday Night Live compilation of parody commercials -- they had done a phony promo using this tag for something or other.

[blank77]

I remember that skit."Network Battle of the T's and A's".

Funny and sexy at the same time!

[cartoonmusicandfilm]

@blank77 could be the first nbc promo.