Shifting Gears (1977-78)
“I’m so glad we had this time together,
Just to have a laugh or sing a song.
Seems we just get started, and before you know it,
Comes the time we have to say, so long.”
– The Charwoman (Carol Burnett), singing the sign-off theme from The Carol Burnett Show
Television, being an industry dominated by serialized programming, unsurprisingly tended to operate in a cyclical fashion. The annual production seasons made this obvious, of course, but it was also true of overall themes and trends which became associated with the medium in popular culture. The upheaval in the industry at the beginning of the 1970s, with the Rural Purge and the end of the “Classic TV” Era, would lay the groundwork for the many shows which would come to define the decade… but even they would not last forever; and sure enough, by this time, many of them were now coming to an end. The most auspicious finale was that of Those Were the Days, whose ratings had long been in decline, and whose core tenets had been undermined by a seismic shift in the political environment since its début. One of the few constants had been the deteriorating image of New York City, dominated by rampant crime and homelessness, which had spread beyond the core of Manhattan into the suburbs. Thus, the series concluded with Richard and Gloria departing Astoria, Queens, along with their son Michael, to the sunnier pastures of California (as so many Americans before them had done); Richard had accepted tenure at a small liberal arts college in the Bay Area, and Gloria had already arranged for interviews in hoping to secure a new management position at one of any number of the retail establishments there. Archie and Edith, by contrast, were now left alone at 704 Hauser St. The poignant final shot of the series finale framed the two, having retreated to their iconic living room chairs after saying their final goodbyes, and gazing into nothingness, overcome with their emotions, as if thinking “Well, what now?” [1] A wonderfully evocative and ambiguous ending, it seemed to many observers a skewed homage to The Graduate, demonstrating the similarities of “Empty Nest syndrome”.
Another person who might well have been asking “What now?” was producer Norman Lear. What had once been his defining triumph was now off the air, having barely clung to the bottom rungs of the Top 30 in its final season (bolstered, in fact, by the surprisingly strong ratings for the series finale, without which it likely would not have cleared said threshold). Lear, were he not exceptionally gifted at interpreting the course of events the way he wanted to see them, would probably have taken umbrage: Those Were the Days had been shepherded by its star, Carroll O’Connor, who had a much more realistic view of the sociopolitical situation, despite his own biases; the show that once trumpeted the supremacy of the Great Society was even forced to acknowledge the upsides of that movement’s opposite and nemesis, Ronald Reagan, when Archie was able to buy into part-ownership of his local watering hole thanks to “Ree-gan and his for-small-business initiations”. [2] With regards to the early years of the Gipper’s Presidency, the primary reactions were gloating on the part of Archie and bewilderment on the part of Richard, echoing much of the real-world intelligentsia (including, obviously, Lear himself). Beyond Those Were the Days, even Lear had trouble ignoring that shows reflecting his personal vision were failing to have much staying power. Maude had crashed and burned, and with Those Were the Days off the air, he was already beginning to be seen as something of an anachronism, of the crushing earnestness of the early 1970s. What had once seemed so sophisticated in comparison to the mindless drivel that had come before it was now, in turn, deemed hopelessly naïve.
Meanwhile, Paramount Television found themselves in much the same boat as Lear, facing a mounting perception by outside observers that their time had also passed. It would be the final season for The Bob Newhart Show, which had always flown under the radar in comparison to the more “important” Mary Tyler Moore (not to mention that it did not star the wife of the network’s President). This season did see the launch of the final spinoff from that pioneering series, which (like its predecessors Rhoda and Phyllis) focused on a supporting member of the original cast: irascible workaholic Lou Grant (played by Ed Asner), who moved to Los Angeles with his wife, Edie [3] (played by Priscilla Morrill) to accept a position as City Editor of a (fictional) newspaper serving that area (Grant had been established as having formerly worked in the papers throughout his tenure at WJM-TV). The series was decidedly dramatic in tone, engaging in hard-hitting social commentary at the behest of its star, the very liberal Asner. It was a radical departure from its parent series and both of its sister series, to say the least. Speaking of which, though Phyllis had been cancelled, Rhoda continued to be a smash hit, with viewers dependably tuning in and identifying with the formerly dowdy, single gal made good with her attractive new family; but the producers detested having to take their beloved character – some of them had nurtured her growth ever since The Mary Tyler Moore Show – in that direction. [4] A great many of them would head elsewhere on the Paramount lot; for in addition to Lou Grant, the studio also saw the premiere of a new sitcom, in their traditional low-key, work-oriented, character-based vein: Taxi Drivers. [5]
The 1977-78 season was also the last for The Carol Burnett Show, which had run for over a decade. The eponymous star, a former protégée of Lucille Ball, had chosen to appear in a variety show over the sitcom that she had been offered by the studio chief, and for the most part had been very successful in that endeavour, but her show’s last few seasons had been… challenging. Two of her original castmates, Lyle Waggoner and then Harvey Korman, had departed the series in successive seasons: Waggoner left in 1974, having sought to rekindle his dramatic acting career (he was famously the runner-up for the role of Batman, and might have offered a more “straight” interpretation of the character, had he not lost out to Adam West); Korman inevitably followed in 1975, following his Academy Award win for Best Supporting Actor (which got plenty of mileage on the show proper; even the statuette itself frequently appeared in sketches). [6] 1974 also marked the premiere of The Muppet Show, which would eventually garner the acclaim and popularity necessary to challenge the older show’s supremacy. In the end, it was a classic case of death by a thousand cuts, despite attempts at regrouping by hiring Tim Conway on as a regular starting in 1974, followed by Dick Van Dyke in 1975 (his previous attempt at a comeback sitcom having ended with a whimper). An inspired Gone with the Wind parody (entitled “Went with the Wind”) was a highlight of this otherwise lackluster period for the show; a combination of increasingly poor ratings, and fatigue on the part of Burnett, finally brought about the end. Lucille Ball, returning the favour made by Burnett a decade earlier through her appearance in the series finale of The Lucy Show, was invited to appear as the last official guest of the series. Once Burnett was released from her contract with CBS, Ball immediately began courting her to appear in a sitcom for Desilu. “Honey, as far as I’m concerned, the original offer still stands,” she was quoted as saying. Desilu had reason to be eager to expand their roster of sitcoms, as their last action-adventure series, The Questor Tapes, had fallen out of the Top 30 after four seasons, and the next, its fifth, would almost certainly be the last. Gene Roddenberry, the series creator, was taking things surprisingly well, all things considered; and (perhaps being willfully ignorant of the changes taking place at his longtime studio) he was eager to move on and make new pitches, to the point that he had minimal involvement with the highly-anticipated Star Trek miniseries airing in this season.
Variety shows were hardly limited to either Burnett or the Muppets in the 1970s, the final decade of their prime. An unlikely champion of the genre was Fred Silverman, who had killed off a number of rural-tinged extravaganzas on CBS, only to replace them with more “hip” and “relevant” substitutions, as was his wont wherever he went. One of his great “triumphs”, at least from his perspective, was Donny and Marie, starring two of the kids from the famous Osmond troupe, known for an abundance of teeth… and a modicum of talent. They were also known for their Mormonism, up to and including having supported their coreligionist, Sen. George Romney, in his 1976 Presidential campaign. [7] Detractors of the Osmonds and their white-bread music contrasted them against the Jackson 5, who came from poorer surroundings (the gritty steel mills of Gary, Indiana, as opposed to the squeaky-clean suburban tracts of Ogden, Utah), and yet had much greater talent, not to mention record sales – both courtesy of the Motown hit machine. But as would become common knowledge in the not-too-distant future, success in the record industry did not automatically translate into success in television. And Donny and Marie were nothing if not a hit – the second-most popular traditional variety show on any network save for The Muppet Show. Although the 1970s continued to see the racial divide breaking down in almost every facet of everyday life, music continued to prove an unusual sticking point. The traditional Soul Train vs. American Bandstand dichotomy endured, with “white music” (originally Prog, but later Punk and New Wave) and “black music” (various post-Funk genres, along with Disco [8]) continuing to stand apart, with attempts at creating a “fusion” genre usually – though not always – foundering. Those rare crossover successes of the era would inevitably become major smash hits.
But racial issues and variety television collided in a big way during the 1977-78 season, with the launch of The Richard Pryor Show, starring the controversial provocateur comedian of the same name. It aired on NBC, having followed a successful one-off variety special Pryor had previously done for that network. Obviously, Pryor would not be allowed to adapt his no-holds-barred stand-up comedy (with its notoriously ribald language) directly to the small screen, but he was mostly able to translate its essence, with the help of his writers. However, and just to be on the safe side, the program was aired after the newly-established (and increasingly tenuous) Family Viewing Hour, and started at 10:00 PM, on Tuesday nights. [9] Richard Pryor, like many new shows, initially had some difficulty finding its feet, but quickly settled on a largely sketch-based program, interspersed with stand-up “host” segments by Pryor (who would open and close every show with a monologue, sometimes as one of his regular characters, a technique borrowed from the late-night talkers). It was for this reason that the many aficionados of variety programming were disinclined to describe that series as a straight exemplar of that genre. [10] And indeed, the sketches, though typically hit-and-miss, proved the main draw – provocative, challenging, and prime water-cooler material. And most of the sketches were well-served to feature the superlative cast. In addition to Pryor, the breakout star was an anarchic, stream-of-consciousness style comedian named Robin Williams, who frequently ad-libbed and improvised his own material, often causing his cast-mates (including Pryor himself) to break up with laughter. [11] Between the two of them, they created an anarchic atmosphere where it seemed that anything could happen. It was an instant hit. [12]
Though it was NBC that broadcast Richard Pryor, at the end of the day (or rather, the end of the season), ABC still had plenty to celebrate, even notwithstanding the Muppets or the Osmonds; Rock Around the Clock had repeated as the #1 series on television for the third year in a row. [13] It was helpful that the series had progressed into the late 1950s, and was thus finally able to live up to its title; the crowning achievement on this score was a licensing agreement between Desilu Productions and Elvis Presley, announced on August 16, 1977: the music of the King would feature prominently in several episodes, as the third season took place in the 1956-57 period, the very height of his commercial success. Tentative plans of an actual appearance by Elvis (perhaps even re-creating a concert tour stop in nearby Chicago on March 28, 1957) were quickly overruled due to his extensive actual worldwide touring schedule. (That Elvis was by now twenty years older than he had been at the time of his Chicago concert appearance was, strangely, not a factor.) The King was a busy man, and though his personal life was marred by his (amicable) divorce from his wife Priscilla (who had tired of staying home alone at Graceland with the children for months at a time), he was in many ways utterly revitalized after the doldrums of the early 1970s. [14] The season as a whole ended with ABC maintaining their perch atop the ratings heap, airing a lucky thirteen shows in the Top 30. Four of those were in the Top 10, including the #1 show on the air, Rock Around the Clock. NBC were comporting themselves nicely; though they had only nine shows in the Top 30 – less than the average of ten – they matched ABC in having four shows in the Top 10. This left CBS with a mere eight shows in the Top 30, and just two in the Top 10: Rhoda and the news-magazine program, 60 Minutes. [15]
The Emmy Awards that year were the standard mix of shocking and predictable. Although The Carol Burnett Show was ending, the Emmys chose not to give it the going-away present of Outstanding Variety Series, and nor did the long-running favourite The Muppet Show repeat for the award; instead, The Richard Pryor Show took the award home, cementing the clout and influence of this breakthrough sketch comedy series. The Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series was awarded to Lou Grant, with Outstanding Lead Actor going to its star, perennial favourite Ed Asner. Outstanding Comedy Series went to Captain Miller, but Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton of Those Were the Days won for Lead Actor and Actress, respectively. Supporting Actor was awarded to Abe Vigoda for Captain Miller, and Supporting Actress to Julie Kavner for Rhoda. [16] Though in contention for most of the conventional awards, the venerable Desilu went home empty-handed on that score; however, certain other Emmy categories would prove more generous…
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[1] This is exactly the same as the OTL season (not series) finale for All in the Family in 1978, called “The Stivics Go West”. It was originally intended as the series finale by Norman Lear (who had decided to move on to other projects), but the network, along with stars Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton, convinced him that the show could go on without him – which it did, for one more season, before being re-tooled into Archie Bunker’s Place in 1979; that carried on for four more seasons before it was summarily cancelled in 1983, ending the twelve-year story of Archie Bunker without a definitive conclusion (Edith had died in 1980 after Stapleton chose to depart).
[2] Archie bought into the bar IOTL as well (Archie Bunker’s Place is the name of the establishment in question), in a surprising contradiction to the show’s intended message: a blue-collar, working-class conservative (whom even O’Connor, an old-school socialist, would frequently describe as a “victim” of society), through dint of hard work, was able to pay off his mortgage and then leverage that into becoming a successful entrepreneur (and in a fairly difficult time and place economically, it must be said).
[3] Lou and Edie Grant divorced IOTL, but ITTL they remained married (though they did still separate and seek marriage counseling) in the face of criticism from social commentators who denounced Paramount as “anti-marriage” and “anti-children” (as, at the time, even the young married couple on Barefoot in the Park was childless).
[4] IOTL, the writers seemed to have a vision for Rhoda that was completely contrary to what audiences wanted. They believed that Rhoda simply was not funny as a happily married woman, and chafed at having to write her that way. In the first episode of the third season (in 1976), they had Rhoda and her husband Joe separate and, eventually, divorce. Ratings sank like a stone that season, with Rhoda going from a Top 10 series to falling out of the Top 30 entirely. It staged a modest recovery for the following season (1977-78, the one being depicted in this update), but it never regained its former glory, and was cancelled at the end of 1978. ITTL, on the other hand, the higher-ups at Paramount continue to be wary of the “anti-family” accusations being leveled at their shows, so they force the writers keep to the status quo. Note also that, for the same reasons, Rhoda and Joe had a daughter (named Mary, of course) in the second season, which also helps to mitigate the prospects of a separation, at least in the short term.
[5] Known as simply Taxi IOTL; the name Taxi Driver was taken by a film which, effectively, does not exist ITTL. (And yes, I will explain further in a later update.)
[6] Korman remained with Carol Burnett until 1977 IOTL, and it was he who appeared in the Rhett Butler role in the famous “Went with the Wind” parody. Dick Van Dyke, his replacement, lasted for only half of the final season IOTL, but ITTL he remains for the full three seasons, and it is he who plays the Rhett Butler role in Korman’s stead.
[7] So closely tied to the Latter-day Saint Movement in the popular consciousness were the Osmonds that Donny was actually officially permitted by the leaders of his Church to defer his missionary duties in lieu of continuing to serve as a representative of his religion to the general public (Osmond turned 19 in 1976, at the height of his career).
[8] Disco remains only a modestly popular genre ITTL, because it not have the key mainstream breakthrough of a Saturday Night Fever. This will allow it to endure and form a clear continuity with its descendants (as opposed to the rather abrupt break of OTL), given the lack of an overwhelming backlash against it.
[9] The Richard Pryor Show rather inexplicably aired at 8:00 PM IOTL, and (unsurprisingly) the network censors constantly feuded with Pryor. Given that this is still network television, Pryor won’t have free rein, but his show will be allowed to be only slightly less risqué than Saturday Night Live was at about this time IOTL.
[10] This is the same reason that, IOTL, Saturday Night Live is not generally considered a variety series, as most of the “true” variety series elements were expunged after the first season (though it, unlike Richard Pryor, does have musical guests). This technicality also allows The Muppet Show to be remembered as “the last great variety show”.
[11] Williams appeared in The Richard Pryor Show IOTL, as well, and after it was cancelled he then appeared as Mork from Ork in Happy Days (and, later, Mork & Mindy).
[12] The show lasted a grand total of four episodes IOTL, and was cancelled before the end of 1977 – whereas, ITTL, it serves as the breakout hit of the season.
[13] The (ITTL, non-existent) spinoff of Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, finished at #1 for the first time this season IOTL, with Happy Days itself at #2.
[14] Both their second child and the lack of a debilitating drug addiction on his part kept their marriage together for a few more years ITTL.
[15] During the 1977-78 season IOTL, ABC finished with four shows in the Top 10 (and those four were the four highest-rated shows on television, including Laverne & Shirley at #1), as IOTL, but fifteen shows in the Top 30 (fully half, and again more than ITTL); CBS finished with a truly impressive five shows in the Top 10 (again, fully half), and a solid eleven in the Top 30. Finally, NBC maintained their track record from the previous season, with just one show in the Top 10 (Little House on the Prairie), and four in the Top 30. Though the Peacock Network isn’t doing great ITTL, it’s leaps and bounds ahead of its OTL position (and, far more importantly, ahead of another network).
[16] IOTL, All in the Family won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1978, Rob Reiner won Outstanding Supporting Actor, The Rockford Files won Outstanding Drama Series, and (ironically enough) The Muppet Show had its only win in Outstanding Variety Series at these awards. All other wins are as per OTL (or equivalent).
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Another transitional season! Appropriate that it happens seven years after the previous one (1970-71). Both of these were also transitional seasons IOTL as well, as was the one seven years hence (1984-85)… but I’m getting ahead of myself. A lot of you have asked after the show that will replace Saturday Night Live in the popular consciousness, and now you have (part of) your answer! (Richard Pryor won’t be the only game in town, of course). Please also note that the narrator is beginning to disparage these “dated” 1970s shows with just as much enthusiasm as he heaped praise upon them some years before. This, too, serves to demonstrate the cyclical nature of television.
A few shows (and one miniseries, obviously) which had a significant impact on popular culture ITTL have intentionally been omitted in order to devote my full attentions to their development in future updates, so please bear that in mind. In fact, I’ve already been working on the coming updates, and will be posting them very soon!
But I very much appreciate your enthusiasm, and I can promise you that it will not go unrewarded!
