Like most people from my generation, I have loved watching TV since I was a little kid. For as long as I can remember the boob tube has been my best friend and babysitter, and nurtured my creativity growing up. With that said - one of the exciting things for me when I was younger was getting the annual Fall Preview issue of the TV Guide every early September in the mail!
I know that sounds strange, but back then there were only three networks and throughout the summer all we could watch were re-runs of our favorite shows from the previous season. So when the Annual Fall Preview arrived in the mail, I couldn’t wait to read what exciting new shows were coming soon and what the latest TV schedule was going to look like.
The one Fall Preview issue that I remember the most was the one for the year 1979. Mainly because that was the year that a number of my favorite shows premiered like “Hart to Hart” starring Stefanie Powers and Robert Wagner, “Trapper John, M.D.” with the handsome Gregory Harrison, “The Facts of Life” with Charlotte Rae, “Benson” with Robert Guillaume, “B. J. and the Bear” starring Greg Evigan and the adorable Sam the chimp who played "The Bear", the campy sci-fi adventure series “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” with Gil Gerard and the “Dallas” spinoff “Knots Landing” starring Joan Van Ark and Ted Shackelford!
Since you can find almost anything on the internet, I actually found that particular issue of TV Guide and here are some fun facts that I found flipping through its pages..... 1979 was the year that "Manly" actor Dean Butler joined the cast of “Little House on the Prairie”, actor Christopher Lloyd joined the cast of “Taxi” as the hilarious Reverend Jim Ignatowski, my future good friend Lorenzo Lamas (post his “Grease” debut) starred in his very first prime time show “California Fever” which only lasted 10 episodes, and my favorite musical variety series “Dance Fever” (think “Dancing With The Stars” minus the stars and lots of Disco music) hosted by “Saturday Night Fever” choreographer Deney Terrio joined the airwaves!
Returning shows that year included “M*A*S*H”, “Dallas”, “The Jeffersons”, “One Day at a Time”, “Eight Is Enough”, “Taxi”, “Happy Days”, “Vegas”, “WKRP in Cincinnati”, “The Love Boat”, and “Fantasy Island”.
To give you a better idea of what was happening on some of the biggest shows that year, here's a quick look at some of my favorites …
THREE'S COMPANY
The hit series had many cast changes over its run. The first of these changes took place in the spring of 1979 with the relocation of the Ropers to their own television series, which revolved around Helen and Stanley and their neighbors in a townhouse community after Stanley had sold the apartment building; unfortunately, their "funny-ish" sitcom spinoff lasted for only one and a half seasons.
Also, three changes took place in the fall of 1979, at the beginning of the fourth season. The first was the addition of Lana (Ann Wedgeworth), an older woman who chased Jack. She kept pursuing him but he was unappreciative of her advances. Since Wedgeworth disliked her diminishing role in the series, producers dropped Lana from the show with no explanation before mid-season. The second addition that fall was the new building manager, Ralph Furley (played by Don Knotts), whose brother Bart bought the building from the Ropers. Mr. Furley pursued Lana unsuccessfully, as she unsuccessfully pursued Jack. Unlike Lana, Mr. Furley remained until the end of the series. Third, Jack's best friend Larry Dallas (played by Richard Kline), previously in a recurring role, was upgraded to a full-cast member.
ALICE
Actress Polly Holliday starred in “Alice” from 1976 to 1980, and then moved to her own short-lived spin-off show, titled “Flo”, in which Flo left Arizona and moved back home to Texas. The show was successful during its abbreviated first season, but ratings declined during the following season due to a time change, and it was canceled in 1981.
LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE
Season six which aired from September 17, 1979, to May 12, 1980, introduced new characters to the hit series including Almanzo "Manly" Wilder (Dean Butler) who comes to Walnut Grove with his sister Eliza-Jane (Lucy Lee Flippin), the new schoolteacher. By the end of the season, he becomes romantically involved with Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert), they eventually get married, have a baby, and get their own spinoff series called "Little House: A New Beginning" after Michael Landon decides to leave the show.
CHiPs
Eric Estrada - who would do a lot of his stunts on the hit series - was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident while filming a season three episode in August 1979, fracturing several ribs and breaking both wrists. The accident and Estrada's subsequent hospitalization were incorporated into the series' storyline.
CHARLIE'S ANGELS
For the fourth-season premiere of the show the angels went on another popular Aaron Spelling show, “The Love Boat”, and met the crew Gavin MacLeod, Bernie Kopell, Fred Grandy, Ted Lange, and Lauren Tewes guest starred as their ‘Love Boat’ characters. The episode called "Love Boat Angels", aired on September 12, 1979, and was the debut episode of new Angel Shelley Hack as Tiffany Welles.
BARNEY MILLER
Towards the end of the fourth year, actor Jack Soo (Detective Nick Yemana) was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and was absent for the last five episodes of the 1977–78 season. Soo returned to Barney Miller at the start of the 1978–79 season but his cancer had already metastasized and spread very quickly. As a result, he was only able to complete nine episodes that year.
He died on January 11, 1979, at the age of 61. The fifth-season finale "Jack Soo: A Retrospective" aired on May 17, 1979, and was a tribute to him. For this installment, the cast of Barney Miller led by Hal Linden appeared as themselves on the 12th Precinct office set as they fondly shared stories and reminiscences about Soo as an actor and as a friend. At the end of the episode, the cast raised their coffee cups in loving memory of Jack Soo.
MORK & MINDY
For its second season, new cast members were added. Among the new supporting characters were Remo and Jeanie DaVinci (Jay Thomas and Gina Hecht), a brother and sister from New York City who owned a new neighborhood deli where Mork and Mindy now spent a lot of time. Also added as regulars were their grumpy neighbor, Mr. Bickley (who was occasionally seen in the first season, and ironically worked as a verse writer for a greeting-card company), portrayed by Tom Poston, along with Nelson Flavor (Jim Staahl), Mindy's snooty cousin who ran for city council.
Aside from television shows several memorable miniseries premiered in 1979 including “Salem’s Lot” the two-part vampire miniseries based on the 1975 horror novel 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King premiered on CBS in November of 1979. Directed by Tobe Hooper and starring David Soul and James Mason. And "Roots: The Next Generations", based on the last seven chapters of Alex Haley's 1976 novel 'Roots: The Saga of an American Family', also first aired on ABC in February 1979, it was the sequel to the 1977 “Roots” miniseries, tracing the lives of Kunta Kinte's descendants in Henning, Tennessee, from 1882 to 1967.
Nineteen seventy-nine was also the year that some of my favorite shows went off the air including “All In The Family”, “Battlestar Galactica”, “Good Times”, “The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries”, “Starsky and Hutch”, “What’s Happening”, “Welcome Back Kotter” and one of my all-time favorite shows “Wonder Woman” to name a few.
Overall 1979 was a very memorable TV season. And, yes, I still miss the thrill I would get when I received my TV Guide Fall Preview issue in the mail. Ohh well...as Archie and Edith Bunker would sing at the beginning of every episode of "All In The Family".....' those we're the days'! 🥲
Some fun facts and dates were taken from IMDB & Wikipedia
To listen to my fascinating conversation with actor DEAN BUTLER (Episodes 73 & 74), who played Almanzo Wilder on the classic TV series “Little House On The Prairie”, on my podcast - click on the links below. Enjoy!
Episode 73 - HERE
Episode 74 - HERE
