Wednesday, July 28, 2021

EP235: The Golden Age of TV Comedy


The early ‘70s gave us amazing comedy shows — ALL IN THE FAMILY, MASH, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, THE BOB NEWHART SHOW, THE CAROL BURNET SHOW… and one year they were all on the same night on the same network. They were all very different shows but had one key thing in common. It’s that common denominator that is missing today. What is it and why is it important? Ken fills you in.

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13 comments :

Rob Greenberg said...

The other common denominator is that Lear, Gelbart, etc were SKILLED at comedy. They knew the mechanics of a good laugh beyond simply writing the word 'vagina.'

Mike Barer said...

Then there was Brigit Loves Bernie. I also remember "Arnie" which at the time, I really liked.

Jeff Alexander said...

Mr. Levine:

VERY good podcast on the Saturday night sitcoms. Your tale about Mike Dann's hating the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" dovetails with what I've read previously about producers James L. Brooks and Allan Burns' attempts to get the series on the air. One of Dann's last programming moves was scheduling the MTM Show on Tuesdays for the 1970-71 season in a timeslot that would have killed the series within 13 weeks. I'm not sure myself how the lineup went but I believe it was slated for 8 p.m., Tuesdays, with Beverly Hillbillies preceding it and Hee Haw to follow. It also would have competed against a major ABC hit at the time, The Mod Squad, and, on NBC, The Don Knotts Show, a variety series which many believed would have been a breakout hit.
When Dann was bounced from his job (not necessarily because of his handling of the MTM Show), it was Fred Silverman who orchestrated the move of the series from Tuesdays to 9:30 p.m., Saturdays, sandwiched between "Arnie" with Herschel Bernardi at 9 p.m., and "Mannix" at 10 p.m., making MTM Show a linchpin for Saturday night viewing (previously in that slot for several years -- Petticoat Junction).
The point of my discussion here is that Dann (who passed away at 94 in 2016) actually took credit in his autobiography, "As I Saw It" (as told to writer Paul Berger) for getting the Mary Tyler Moore Show on the air!
From his book on Page 157: "I did many great things, shows that I can be proud of - The Defenders, East Side, West Side, Hogan's Heroes, Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore, even All in the Family ...."
The book was written circa 2009 when he was in his late 80s, so MAYBE his memory isn't what it should have been.
Keep up the great work!

Brian Phillips said...

I have not heard the podcast yet, so if this is mentioned, I apologize.

FRIDAY QUESTION: Did you and David Isaacs ever write a Room 222 spec script?

Jeff Boice said...

Back to the previous year- The CBS Saturday night lineup was the same except that after All In the Family, CBS aired "Bridget Loves Bernie", a show that we (we being me and my high school friends) disliked. We liked M*A*S*H, but it was in a terrible timeslot- Sunday Nights after Anna and the King. We'd read how Bridget was in the top 10, that M*A*S*H was on the cancellation bubble, and grouse about how unfair TV programming was. Then to our astonishment CBS cancelled Bridget and replaced it with M*A*S*H. Our reaction was "Great! Now M*A*S*H will become a hit".

If you wondered why in the past TV had so many fantasy sitcoms like "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeannie", the saga of "Bridget Loves Bernie" will explain why.

Gary said...

This is slightly off-topic, but CNN's latest installment of History of the Sitcom made an interesting claim. They said Mary Tyler Moore's husband Grant Tinker was the one responsible for beefing up Moore's role as Laura on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Everything else ever written about that show says it was producers Carl Reiner and Sheldon Leonard who recognized Moore's comedic chops very early, and started dividing the focus between Rob Petrie's home life and work life. With those two powerhouse producers, it's hard to imagine Tinker having any real say in the creative direction of the show.

tavm said...

Interesting thing about "Bridget Loves Bernie": Stars Meredith Baxter and David Berney had fallen in love in real-life and married after the show's cancellation. Meredith eventually starred in "Family" of which David occasionally appeared. Then in 1982, Meredith did "Family Ties" and David did "St. Elsewhere" and they were starting a clan of their own. While Meredith continued on "FT", David left "SE" after one season. After their divorce many years later, Meredith eventually revealed David was abusive to her much of that time which he categorically denied. He seems to have disappeared while she is still active and now seems to enjoy a relationship with a member of the same sex...

DwWashburn said...

I still enjoy three of the five '74 CBS Saturday programs (MASH, Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett).

I understand the historical significance of AITF and it was entertaining at times. However I've never seen bigotry as a source of humor. Since 2015 we have been living with blantant bigotry in this country and believe me I'm not laughing. Also topical shows lite AITF, Laugh In, Murphy Brown, etc. do not hold up in reruns 20 to 50 years after their original broadcast. I enjoyed them in first run but they seem outdated now.

I never understood the appeal of MTM. In '74 I worked the Saturday night shift in a small convenience store in rural Tennessee. The boss had put a TV in the store and we had it on CBS. On three consecutive Saturdays the plot of MTM was 1) a 10 year old boy falls in love with Mary, 2) a senior citizen falls in love with Mary and 3) a visiting dignitary falls in love with Mary. No originality. I just never caught on to the fascination that the Acedemy and press had for the program.

YEKIMI said...

A Friday question of sorts...I noticed this mostly on All In The Family but seems like a lot of early 70s shows seem to have done this....a close of of say, Archie or Edith's and the rest of the actor's faces, I mean to the point were you could count Archie's nose hairs, where the face filled the whole damn screen. I found it disconcerting at best. Any reason why they would have done it this way or was it a "Norman Lear" thing?

Kosmo13 said...

Discussing CBS on Saturday nights in 1974 would be incomplete without at least mentioning the show that replaced MASH, occupying its time slot in the Fall of 1974. 'Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers' ran in the hammock between All in the Family and the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

'Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers' was not the brilliant, enduring classic CBS' other 1974 Saturday shows were, but I watched it every week and enjoyed the series. It was great to see Penny Marshall get so much screen time.

Mike Barer said...

I would say that Thursday nights on NBC in the 90s would place a very close 2nd to Saturday night on CBS in the 70s.

WB Jax said...

As much as I love "The Bob Newhart Show" I have to say that I was never a big fan of his follow-up series (which actually ran longer than the first show). The show for me is like "Murphy Brown," a series that just didn't "resonate"(the same goes for "The Tony Randall Show," this despite loving Tony Randall on "The Odd Couple"). Also, someone mentioned the short-lived "Arnie," a show I actually liked that, IMO, should have had a much longer run (Herschel Bernardi perfectly cast as the likable title character).

Jack West said...

Many today appear frightened of being really funny; comedy at a belly laugh level requires a bit of courage.