 This is the SF Productions podcast network Wonderful TV year 1980 from the pop culture bunker. I'm Mindy and I'm Mark you can check out our audio podcast How I got my way free comics on iTunes or on our website SF podcast network comm Now I've collected TV guidefall preview issues over the years and thought it would be fun to talk about which shows made it Which didn't and which ones we actually watched okay, and we've done this before but now it's 1980 Which was a big year for me. Yeah So 1980 fall TV had a few hits and many failures as always There were only 14 new shows that year. They were normally close to 20 or 21 There was an actor strike that pushed most new shows into late fall like like November and December which back then you never did yeah so starting with Saturday night and Breaking away on ABC one of a long tradition of remaking movies as TV shows and you know We've discussed before how successful that is It's a bicycle racing family drama with Sean Cassidy He's a cutie and Jackie Earl Haley in an early role had to be an early role. Yes Only seven of eight episodes actually aired. I don't think I ever watched that I saw the movie of course But slightly more popular and long-lasting was Hill Street Blues on NBC Really the prototype for later cop dramas in the 90s and beyond Began as a low-rated but highly reviewed series NBC was struggling and left it on if they hadn't been so struggling it probably would have been gone Yeah, it won eight Emmys its first year. It won 98 Emmys during its run Wow Most of the cast seemed to go to theater after its run It was the first major success for Steven Bochko who ended up having all Empire of his own Yes, indeed and it ran for seven seasons. Did you watch it? Yeah. Oh, yeah, I don't think I did You know, I was never like every week or anything. I watched it. You know, it was probably really one of the first serialized TV Cup shows right because normally was bad guy the week and that was it drag that thing. Yeah at the end And that was it Yeah, this was very much a different style of show which changed changed cop dramas in most dramas going forward. Yes Less influential was secrets of Midland Heights on CBS a nighttime soap opera based in a Midwest town BB Bech an early role for Linda Hamilton and Lorenzo Las Yeah, that didn't last very long either six out of eight episodes actually aired. Don't remember that one at all Now this next one. I remember at least the name of I don't know if I ever watched it But I remember freebie and the bean now. This was another TV show based on a movie. Oh, maybe that's why I remember the movie It was about buddy cops and early early work for Hector Elizondo and Tom Mason whoever Tom Mason is nine episodes These shows to really didn't last very long now before I move on Note all those shows premiered on Saturday. Yeah, including one of the classic shows of the 1980s Nothing is on Saturdays anymore because the networks gave up on Saturday night, and I don't know why yeah But Sunday night those amazing animals on ABC. That's incredible Well, it's a spin-off of that's incredible. Yes, it's really what passed for reality shows in 1980 Yes, Burgess Meredith Priscilla Presley and Jim Stafford were the hosts. That was a one-and-done just one season Monday night ladies man on CBS a token male at a woman's magazine and wackiness ensues Lawrence Pressman starred on that show along with other people that I did not recognize at all Okay, 16 episodes now that same title will later be used in a 1999 sitcom Tuesday night Harper Valley PTA on NBC and that was also a movie first also them but the movie was based on a song Yes, so you're really spreading it out by this point stretching it up quite a bit Barbara Eden returns to series television about a woman fighting the power in a small southern town She even played her evil twin in a black wig in one episode a la genie Goodness, this was one of Sherwood Schwartz last productions. You know, I can't see this as Sherwood Schwartz It's not wacky enough. No, I don't know, but it didn't run for two seasons Too close for comfort on ABC. This was very popular Ted Knight returns to series television based on actually a British series But a father with two daughters living downstairs, he's also a cartoonist Nancy Dessault played his wife Deborah Van Valkenburg played the brunette daughter Lydia Cornell played the blonde daughter With future Hollywood Square Jim J. Bullock as the obvious but not stated gay man. Yes Three seasons on ABC the show moved to first run syndication in 1984 and ran for three more seasons after that this happened a lot on shows in the 80s because syndication of First run shows really got started at that point The final season was renamed the Ted Knight show with major cast changes And you know, you have to remember to that back then there wasn't the cable networks that did all the shows either So those first run syndications were sort of like the cable channels of today You know a lot of ways pretty much Flamingo Road on NBC another prime-time soap in a southern town with Mark Harman and Howard Duff and Morgan Fairchild and her first major role that ran for two seasons Mark Harman was really in a lot of stuff. Yeah Wednesday night Enos on CBS a dukes of hazard spin-off Deputy Enos moves to LA wackiness ensues Sonny Shroyer reprises the role. He was born to play apparently because he never did anything after this One and done. I never watched dukes of hazard or any of its spin-offs Not to say anything bad about them because I didn't watch them, but you know, just wasn't for Thursday night Magnum PI on CBS Tom Selleck and his mustache star John Hillerman at the long-suffering butler of the unseen Robin Masters estate where Magnum lives Did they ever? Introduce Robin Masters or they inferred very highly in the last couple seasons that Hillerman was Now this kicked off Donald bear Bellisario's Empire quantum leap Jag NCIS so this was what really got him started. Yes Many many guest stars dropped by including Frank Sinatra in his last role Only Love Boat had more stars. Oh gosh This is this laundry list of if anybody who had was on a 60s TV show or your 70s TV show Vacation in Hawaii exactly Magnum be I can I be on your show cuz I want a trip to Hawaii There were also crossovers with murder. She wrote and Simon and Simon The lead was killed off in season 7 but fans demanded a do-over in season 8 and they got it It's a living on ABC a sitcom about waitresses on the top floor of a hotel restaurant This was the show that brought a angillian to the forefront Barry young fellow crystal Bernard later for from wings. Yes Susan Sullivan Also start during the run This was a show that ran for two seasons on ABC and then returned in first-run syndication in 1985 for four more So it was like 80 to 82 Two seasons then it skipped all the way to 85 and then it did four seasons in syndication Bullsum buddies on ABC. This is a classic When two guys can't find a cheap apartment, what do you do? Well, you dress up as women to live in an all-female apartment building of course, of course Some guy named Hank's got his first role in the show. I don't know whatever happened to him Yeah, Peter Peter Scolari the other one co-starred Along with Donna Dixon and Wendy Joe Sperber The drag elements were minimized into the second season only ran two seasons It seems like it was much longer than that. Yeah, but it really wasn't but I guess just because it's so iconic because of Tom Hanks, yeah, basically, you know, it could you could never put that on now. Oh, no, no, and then Friday night I'm a big girl now ABC Diana Kanova who was previously on soap and the same producers made this show is a newly single mother and her dad Danny Thomas returning to series TV. That was a big thing in the 1980 moves in wackiness and zoos, but it wasn't quite wacky enough because it only lasted one season. Yeah Yeah, that was a pretty sparse for the new offerings there. Yeah, 1980 again only 14 new shows And so many of them were based on a movie So many of them went to first-run syndication fairly quickly But there was at least one that really made a big splash with Hill Street Blues And and there's some that you can still hear references to on other things today. Yeah, so So if you want to try to find any of those online you might be able to but while you're there You can also check out our audio podcast how I got my wife treat comics on iTunes or on our website as a podcast network Com from the pop culture bunker. I'm Mindy and I'm mark. Thanks for watching