That Wacky Redhead

[stevep]

They might have to give a cameo to Isaac Asimov as well in that case. The Currents of Space is also based upon Southern Slavery with the slaves being very pale skinned compared to the slave-holders.

Cheers,
Nigel.

Nigel

Interesting. Did Isaac say that at some point or someone else? I know you're got the situation of one planet controlling another, although the sub-ordinate people have managed to subvert things somewhat but didn't see anything else that close to plantation slavery, although a long while since I read the book.

Steve

 

[NCW8]

Interesting. Did Isaac say that at some point or someone else? I know you're got the situation of one planet controlling another, although the sub-ordinate people have managed to subvert things somewhat but didn't see anything else that close to plantation slavery, although a long while since I read the book

The main value of the slave planet Florina is that it grows a crop called Kyrt used to make fabric that can't be grown on any other planet. The crop is even referred to as "King Kyrt" at one point. Most of the Florinans live in small villages and tend the crop - only the most talented are taken away to the controlling planet Sark to form the backbone of civil service there (which, as you say, gives them the opportunity to subvert the system).

Cheers,
Nigel.

 

[Shevek23]

Nigel

Interesting. Did Isaac say that at some point or someone else? I know you're got the situation of one planet controlling another, although the sub-ordinate people have managed to subvert things somewhat but didn't see anything else that close to plantation slavery, although a long while since I read the book.

Steve

I was living in Florida when I first read it and the obvious intention to make a parallel with the segregationist Deep South was...well, we didn't have TV Tropes back then and so we didn't say "anvilicious," but that's what it was like. It's actually still one of my favorite Asimov books so I'm not saying he did it badly, but the intent was crystal-clear. If anyone missed the point, the senior guy from the Spatioanalysis Bureau who was trying to track a missing field agent down was described as distinctly more Africanoid than the average Galactic (his homeworld was named something as close to "Liberia" as "Florina" was to "Florida") and he actually indulges in a flight of fancy where he feels extra sympathy for the Florinans because they're very very white, so they are akin in their distant deviation from the average.

So no, The Currents of Space is not strictly a reversed black/white slavery story, but it is very much a race-reversed Jim Crow story, or alternatively it has aspects similar to South African Apartheid--which was to a great extent modeled in its legal codes on American Jim Crow laws.

 

[stevep]

Nigel, Shevek23

Well those points totally passed me by. I was just enjoying a fascinating and good story. Never even twigged any reference to colour differences between the two populations. Will have to dig out my old copy and read it again sometime.

I suppose another possibly parallel is that this is shortly before the Galactic Empire is founded and Trantor already rules about half the galaxy. I remember there is a remark that simply by ruling Florina the Sarkians are the 2nd richest state in the galaxy. So possibly there is a similarity between the plantation south and the far more populated and powerful north in the US.

Steve

 

[Brainbin]

USS Exeter, with Captain Tracy as commander was, of course, the ship that was found abandoned at the start of The Omega Glory IOTL - around Omega IV instead of Ebonia IV.

Indeed it was - and who wrote that episode? Gene Roddenberry. He's reusing those names here, "The Omega Glory" having never made it past the draft script phase ITTL.

AFAIR, The Omega Glory also reversed this formula, with a fight followed by Kirk's speech quoting from the pre-amble to the US Constitution.

Indeed so - I'd like to think that narrative linchpin would have been at the kernel of a story idea contributed by Roddenberry. Certainly it's not any more ludicrous than Captain James T. Kirk dramatically reading the preamble to the United States Constitution, as only he can. Never mind that it really should have been the Declaration of Independence, or the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, or the Magna Carta, or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...

By coincidence IOTL they both appeared as Star Fleet captains in the ST movies.

Metafictionally speaking, I assure you, it was no coincidence (In fact, not only do the redshirts and the crew of the Exeter survive, but so does Paul Winfield!)

The only thing I will say on this is 'interesting times' are fascinating from outside but often not enjoyed much from inside.

Again, as a psephologist, more proportional systems simply aren't as interesting. If the polls are reasonably accurate, you've already got the rough composition of your legislature set in stone before the returns come in. Whether or not it may be fair, it certainly isn't exciting, you understand

Noticed a couple of typos, one in the section above, unless psephologically is something I've never met before.

Psephology: the study and analysis of elections, past and future. One of my other interests, shared by a rather larger contingent of this board's membership

Unless you know something about the Roman empire I don't.

I apologize for the misleading phrasing. What I meant to indicate was that one of the primary drives for expansion throughout the history of the Roman Empire was the need for more slaves (many of whom, as noted, did not survive long due to their use for hard labour - though I'm not nearly enough of an expert on classical history to determine whether this was a chicken or egg situation). The United States, though it was also expansionist, did not view slavery and Manifest Destiny as hand-in-hand; quite the opposite, in fact. Basically, Ebonia IV is Planet Antebellum South, though with the obvious race reversal. Slavery as it existed in the classical world wouldn't make for as "neat" an allegory.

Love the idea of the "complete summarized episode guide for all five seasons of Star Trek".

Thanks, Steve! I look forward to writing it. I'll give myself an easy goal in hoping to have it all done in time for the show's 50th anniversary (September 8, 2016).

In all likelihood, I'll be done long before then, but it never hurts to give yourself plenty of slack when you're setting deadlines

I don't know about the man's personality but, with Star Trek as big as it is in TTL, if I were him I'd just say, "You know, I really love your show, I understand you using some aspects of my works, and while I'm not going to go after you for copyright, I would really love it if you could pay me back with just a brief cameo.

They might have to give a cameo to Isaac Asimov as well in that case. The Currents of Space is also based upon Southern Slavery with the slaves being very pale skinned compared to the slave-holders.

Intriguing suggestions, gentlemen - though if I were to have both Heinlein and Asimov make cameo appearances, I'd have to make room for Clarke too, now wouldn't I?

And thank you all for helping to prove my point about the universality of the allegorical role reversal. Asimov and Heinlein prove that it's a standard of science-fiction.

---

Thanks to my consultant vultan for pointing out something that I'd overlooked in posting the infobox for the 1978 election to the US House of Representatives...



Thus, I present to you a slightly reworked version. Note the replacement of the more moderate Rep. Flowers (who was elected to Senate) by the more... doctrinaire Rep. Rarick in Louisiana. Also, and as is usually the case, the swing in the House was more drastic than it had been in the Senate, as you'll see next time! (And this time, I really mean it.)

 

[Brainbin]

And now, without further delay, allow me to present the final infobox for the 1978 elections, in this case for the United States Senate!



For the first time since 1970, no independent Senators are in office. Sen. Howard Baker was chosen as Senate Majority Leader to replace Sen. Hugh Scott, who remains seated in the upper chamber but has retired from active GOP leadership. Sen. George Wallace, who appointed himself to replace the deceased Sen. James B. Allen, serves as the de facto leader of his party in the Senate, as the previous leader, Sen. Lester Maddox of Georgia, was defeated in his bid for re-election by former Gov. Jimmy Carter.

Note that, by the commencement of the 96th Congress on January 3, 1979, the GOP gained a seat at the expense of the Democrats, due to a resignation. Thus, the party balances in the upper chamber, as of the mass inauguration on that date, are 56 seats for the Republicans, 39 for the Democrats, and 5 for the Americans (3 AIP, 2 ADP).

 

[Brainbin]

I want to thank you all for your incredible patience and understanding during this brief hiatus. It therefore pleases me to announce the return of That Wacky Redhead, which will see the arrival of a new update - the first in the 1979-80 cycle - before the end of April (Eastern Daylight Time). This month, known for its showers, proved something of a drought when it came to this thread, despite a very strong start, but I'm confident that May will nonetheless see the updates flower.

Until then, however, remember that you can find all Official, Canonical Updates on the Wiki page for this timeline. This is as good a time as any to catch up on past posts!

 

[Lord Insane]

I want to thank you all for your incredible patience and understanding during this brief hiatus.

It would be quite hypocritical of me not be patient and understanding about hiatus of less than a month, considering my (theoretical) readers have had to endure hiatus of over a year at times.
With that said, it is always good to see a new update to That Wacky Redhead, and I'm glad to hear you are confident that May will see more!

 

[The Professor]

I want to thank you all for your incredible patience and understanding during this brief hiatus. It therefore pleases me to announce the return of That Wacky Redhead, which will see the arrival of a new update - the first in the 1979-80 cycle - before the end of April (Eastern Daylight Time). This month, known for its showers, proved something of a drought when it came to this thread, despite a very strong start, but I'm confident that May will nonetheless see the updates flower.

Until then, however, remember that you can find all Official, Canonical Updates on the Wiki page for this timeline. This is as good a time as any to catch up on past posts!

Woo!
Just wish I could reply as often

 

[Brainbin]

Evening in America (1979-80)

December 31, 1979

The good people at Desilu Productions worked hard, so it stood to reason that they knew how to play hard as well, and so they did. Everyone in the employ of the studio, and all of their families, had been invited to the massive New Year’s Eve bash, which spanned the entire lot. Thousands had turned out, a marked contrast to the eerie quiet on the other side of the wall, at Paramount. Those in charge over there were in no mood to celebrate. But the atmosphere was jovial at what was once known as the House that Paladin Built, with Lucille Ball holding court over her well-run empire. The 1970s had been very kind to her, despite some ups and downs along the way. Over the course of that decade, virtually her entire staff had turned over, except for those alongside her at the very top – her husband, Gary Morton, and her right-hand man, Herbert F. Solow. They were close at hand as she held court, along with many friends, old and new, and employees, current and former, going all the way back to the studio’s first heyday in the 1950s.

For the first time since the I Love Lucy 25th Anniversary Special in 1976, Ball and her ex-husband, Desi Arnaz, were appearing together at a public event, having reconciled after becoming estranged due to the publication of Arnaz’s dirty-laundry-airing, tell-all autobiography, A Book, that same year. Arnaz was accompanied by his second wife, Edith Mack Hirsch, an old family friend; to everyone’s credit, the night went more than smoothly, not least of all because the grandchildren were present. Desi Arnaz, Jr. (properly Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y Ball IV) and his wife, Patty Duke, had brought their children with them to the party: son Desi V (Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y Duke V) and daughter Lucille Patricia Arnaz, named for her grandmother, aunt, and mother, and known by her nickname of “Lulu”. [1] Among the other children present was Amber Lucas, daughter of George and Marcia; she spent much of the night being chased around rather persistently by Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, Jr., or “Rod”, the son of Gene and Majel Roddenberry. “Just like his father”, multiple observers were overheard to remark. However, Amber wasn’t the only Lucas who felt rather like a deer caught in the headlights.

“I want to thank you for inviting all of us tonight, Lucy,” Marcia said. “I can’t tell you how much your support has meant to me and George. You’ve been a real rock for us.”

“Well, you know I don’t like to get involved in politics,” Ball said. “So I have to judge you on your individual merits, and you’ve been nothing but a treasure to me and this studio. Just because you’re having a little squabble with ol’ Charlie Bluhdorn next door doesn’t mean it has anything to do with me. I like you anyway!”

Marcia grinned; only Lucy could refer to her industry-shaking multi-million-dollar lawsuit as a “little squabble”.

“Besides,” she continued, “there’s so much to celebrate. Have you seen that issue of Variety, Marcie?” As she posed the question, she brandished a copy of the trade paper in question, opening it and flipping through the pages before coming to a sudden stop. “The 1970s in Review. They threw together a very flattering write-up about this studio.”

Marcia chuckled. “You’ve showed it to me a dozen times before, Lucy,” she said. “I think it’s real great, and I’m proud to have some small part in it.”

As she said this, her husband George ambled up to them. “Someday I’d love to have the chance to make Lucasfilm as big and successful a studio as Desilu,” he said.

Ball smiled indulgently; she’d heard George say this more often than she herself had told Marcia about the Variety article. “Anything’s possible, Georgie,” she said, obligingly.

Her right-hand man, Herb Solow, came to join them. “You remember, Lucy? You were in Variety at the end of the Sixties, too.” He produced the paper in question, having retrieved a copy from his office; he had stored it in the drawer underneath the spot on his desk upon which the original three-foot model of the USS Enterprise rested. [2]

“God, was that really ten years ago?” she asked in reply, staring dazedly at the article in question. “We see no reason that she won’t continue to be as firm a fixture in the coming decade as she has been in the last two,” she read. “Lazy journalists! They reused the exact same line in this version. They just swapped three for two.”

“I’d say it feels like ten years,” Marcia remarked. “A lotta things were real different back then. I mean, back in sixty-nine, me and George had only just got married.”

“I don’t know if it’s really felt like that long,” said Solow. “Seems like just last year. Maybe sixteen months ago.”

Ball guffawed at this. “Yeah, back when you were producing four shows in a single season. This decade’s been a breeze for you compared to that.”

“Says the woman who doesn’t have to deal with Fred Silverman on a daily basis,” he shot back, though good-naturedly. Ball immediately burst into laughter, and was soon overcome by shortness of breath, letting out a hacking cough. Marcia offered Ball her drink, which she gulped down, taking a deep breath before lighting up a cigarette.

After taking a long drag, she said, “You got me there, Herbie,” as if nothing had happened.

Suddenly, Amber Lucas dashed out of the crowd, quickly hiding behind her mother’s legs from the pursuing Rod Roddenberry, who nearly knocked poor Ball over.

“Kids, kids!” she cried. “Careful, or Auntie Lucy’s going to drop her cigarette.” She laughed again at this. “Ah, sweet bird of youth. Tell me, Herbie, were we ever that young?”

Her right-hand man grimaced; he got that question a lot, with the frequency only rising as the years continued to pass.

---

“Censorface” – the heavily-derided logo for The George Carlin Show.
​

Desilu Productions, much like Lucille Ball herself, was a veritable Gibraltar in the trying economic times that marked the close of the 1970s. And the studio did it by keeping their audiences laughing… for the most part. Eunice premiered in September, 1979, surprising audiences with its melodramatic overtones, despite the broad and largely comedic characterizations: Carol Burnett, as the perpetual loser and “good daughter”, Eunice Harper Higgins; Vicki Lawrence, as the bitter and sarcastic old crone, “Mama” Thelma Harper; and Betty White, as the self-absorbed housewife, Ellen Harper Jackson, whose character bore a passing resemblance to her previous role of Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Roddy McDowall, the fourth pillar of the cast, functioned as the “straight man”; his character, Philip, achieved great success outside of the small town in which all the characters lived, but was compelled to return largely by the guilt he felt for having “abandoned” his family. His bitter and vindictive relatives begrudged him every ounce of the fame and fortune he earned through his career as a novelist. Eunice was in many ways a “throwback” when compared to other new series from that season; reminiscent in style and tone to the bleaker, more muted and hyper-realistic sitcoms of the earlier 1970s, as opposed to the higher-concept, loud and colourful oeuvre on the rest of the Desilu roster, all of which continued to perform well as the “dinosaurs” of the past decade went into rapid decline. This was to the credit, in very large part, of the excellent cast, whose variety-show heritage had trained them well to go from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again, each and every week.

One of those “dinosaurs” was Captain Miller, a show whose name was synonymous with quality writing, sterling performances, and considered by far the most realistic of the many cop shows on the air, despite being a quirky sitcom. It could not recover from the death of the beloved Jack Soo, who proved as crucial a cog in the well-oiled machine that was the show’s cast as his character, Sgt. Nick Yamamoto, had been at the 12th Precinct of the NYPD. A touching and thoughtful tribute to the actor had marked the premiere of the previous season, as he had died shortly after filming had gone into the summer hiatus, and though ratings for that episode had been very strong, they had been on a steady decline ever since. [3] The show had managed to cling to the very bottom rungs of the Top 30 even in the 1979-80 season solely by virtue of being part of an exceptionally strong lineup; it was not the first time that a favourable timeslot would prove so beneficial for an otherwise struggling program.

Soap aired immediately after Captain Miller, and it showed no signs of slowing or fading from the headlines despite entering a third season. Jessica Tate, the matriarch of her household, had separated from her husband, as both had been carrying on affairs during their marriage; the writers made the decision to ratchet up the tension even further, when Jessica began a relationship with her butler, Benson. Everyone involved delighted in parodying the Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner paradigm, and twisting the traditional morals of such “message” movies. Indeed, Robert Guillaume made it a point to play Benson as unlike a Poitier character as he possibly could. “Dignity does not make people laugh,” as he explained in a contemporary interview. [4] The potential for controversy – the pairing crossed racial and class boundaries, and as Jessica was still married, was technically adulterous – was intense, and indeed in any season other than 1979-80, it might have emerged as the top story in the entertainment press. However, it was still one of the most talked-about plotlines of any show in television; Baba Wawa frequently discussed the topic on The Today Show, despite that program being on a different network than Soap was. It may have had something to do with the Jessica/Benson romance having been partly inspired by the real-life liaison between Wawa herself, and Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke. It had done nothing but good things for his career, as he was comfortably re-elected for a third term in 1978 despite it being a bad year overall for his Republican Party. [5] Wawa, on the other hand, continued to languish away on a morning show, holding out in vain for when John Chancellor finally retired.

The sustained popularity of Soap was reflective of the genre that it parodied having finally reached the mainstream – which is to say, primetime. It was a natural outgrowth of the popularity of another format, the miniseries, in the late-1970s; many of these were, in and of themselves, highly melodramatic in presentation. Sumptuous romances, which were a frequently-occurring genre to be found in the miniseries, were also long-standing, wildly-successful pieces of Americana. Gone with the Wind had been a wartime romance, and so had Casablanca. Peyton Place had been a smash novel, and then a smash film, before becoming a smash series. History was about to repeat itself.

Texas Tea, a miniseries airing in the late spring of 1978, was a mishmash of styles. Set in the Lone Star State, it was evocative of the western and frontier programs which had defined television for the past thirty years, and motion pictures for the last half-century, though in a bizarre fusion with the creature comforts of the suburbs – Houston, the city in which the show was set, had become a thriving and prosperous coastal city akin to those (much older) metropolitan areas all along the eastern seaboard. [6] Texas Tea chronicled the lives of the Walsh family, in particular the trio of brothers who were sons to the family patriarch, oil tycoon Thomas R. Walsh, Sr. [7] His eldest son, T.R., quickly emerged as the key protagonist, however. It was the casting for T.R. Walsh which proved revelatory: chosen for the role of the cunning, unscrupulous scion of the plutocratic dynasty was Larry Hagman, formerly known as Tony Nelson, male lead of the frothy fantastic sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, one-time occupant of the fabled NBC Monday night lineup in the late-1960s. He was actually the second astronaut-made-good from that show, following Bill Daily (who played second-banana Roger Healey) and his part on The Bob Newhart Show (which had ended the very same year that the Texas Tea miniseries had premiered). In converting to a regular series, the “Tea” was dropped from the title, and the show came to be known as simply Texas. Naming the show for the city in which the show was set (Houston) was deemed insufficiently sweeping and romantic. After all, the city (as was the case for Hagman’s previous sitcom, which was set in Cape Kennedy, Florida) was by this time known primarily for its connection to the space program – during the height of Moonshot Lunacy a few years before, tee-shirts and bumper stickers addressing “Houston”, the nerve centre of NASA, had been positively ubiquitous.

But Texas wasn’t the only show to redefine a setting. As far as skewed interpretations of westerns went, as always, Gene “Wagon Train to the Stars” Roddenberry was the reigning champ. Roddenberry, in seeking a blueprint for his series, decided to build off his original work for Star Trek. The complex political situation of the Federation had primarily been the doing of Gene L. Coon, when he joined the show in the middle of the first season; prior to that, the Enterprise had been depicted largely as a frontier ship, remote and isolated from any organized society. Thus would be the case for his space station – it would be way off the beaten trail, on the farthest spur of the most erratic trade route imaginable. The space station which would function as the primary setting of the show was given the twee name “Eagle’s Nest Station”, which was to orbit a marginally habitable planet of mostly scrubland (allowing for the use of the ubiquitous Vasquez Rocks Park in the Sierra Pelona, where a distinctive formation had already become internationally known as “Kirk’s Rock” from its many appearances in Star Trek). Neither the planet, nor the red dwarf star it orbited, were distinctive enough for a proper name, and were often described as simply “the planet” and “the sun”. The star was located in the “Eagle Cluster”, several thousand light-years from the core of “the Systems Commonwealth”. [8] Brandon Tartikoff, who had taken an active interest in the show’s development from the very beginning, encouraged a vibrant alien cast. Tartikoff also chose the eventual title for the series: Deep Space [9] (Eagle’s Nest was flatly rejected, as focus groups had expected a show about anthropomorphic birds). The pilot movie aired in February, 1980, and was a solid success; the timing was impeccable, as there was a hunger for more space-based science fiction emerging (Galactica would end its five-season run that May, with the Colonial Fleet finally arriving at Earth). Ratings were good and the show was picked up for a full-season order starting in September. Tartikoff had floated the idea of tying Deep Space with Star Trek to his superior, Herb Solow, but this was flatly rejected. “Star Trek is those characters, those ships,” Solow noted in a memo. “And I’m pretty sure you can’t do any star trekking on a station orbiting a planet.” Tartikoff disagreed, but he had to yield to the power structure in place at Desilu.

In stark contrast to the strict hierarchy at that studio, production on The Richard Pryor Show was as haphazard and slipshod as was possible for a weekly primetime series. It was only the show’s bravura ratings which kept it afloat; network executives would forgive a great deal if it translated into advertising dollars. And Richard Pryor was a solid hit for NBC in what was otherwise a relatively lean period for them. But the show itself was a mess, plain and simple. If its spiritual predecessor, Laugh-In, had perfected the illusion of an anarchic ruckus passing itself off as a variety show, Richard Pryor had made it a reality. This was even explicitly referenced on the show itself, whenever one of that older program’s cast members guested. However, it was the off-set antics of Pryor and Robin Williams that drew media attention and made them tabloid fixtures, including their infamous partying at the notorious Medina nightclub, off the Beverly Hills Freeway in Westside Los Angeles, where liquor, drugs, and prostitutes were never in short supply. [10]

If Richard Pryor could be described as Laugh-In for a new decade, the inevitable rush of imitators that followed in its wake naturally included a Turn-On. George Carlin, who like Pryor, was a drug-fueled provocateur comedian (who took to profanity like few before, or since), was offered the chance to host his own show in a rather ill-advised move by the rather desperate CBS. [11] Carlin, however, was less apt to “play nice” than Pryor, and insisted that he be allowed to deliver his stand-up routines intact. Carlin was one of those comedians who viewed his profession as important, prone to postulating on the “meaning” and “purpose” of comedy in a societal context (and seldom hitting on the obvious answer: making people laugh). A stumbling block was that his signature routine was entitled “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television”… which spoke for itself. The compromise, such as it was, would entail Carlin being allowed to say whatever he liked, though Broadcast Standards and Practices would of course censor any offending words with the traditional “bleep”, as well as a smiley-face superimposed over his mouth. This smiley-face would become the logo of The George Carlin Show, in one of the more… curious creative decisions behind the show’s production. [12] Carlin did not participate in any of the sketches, leaving that to his cast – which did not include a single potential breakout star in the Williams mould. He would deliver several monologues throughout the show – more so than Pryor, who generally stuck to an intro and an outro.

The broadcast of the premiere episode of Carlin – cobbled together from the original pilot and subsequently-taped episodes – aired on Monday, March 24, 1980 (after months of delays). CBS heavily promoted the series, and a result, ratings were fairly solid; and critics and audiences alike found it funny – hilarious, in fact – but for all the wrong reasons. Carlin appeared in three sketches through the half-hour program, and did not utter a single complete sentence without being interrupted, often multiple times, by his smiley-face logo. Carlin himself (who would later claim to having been “baked out of my mind” while filming all of his routines) strongly implied that he deliberately went over the top (even by his standards) in order to demonstrate the absurdity of censorship regulations; his little experiment, to put it bluntly, went horribly right. [13] Several network affiliates did not return to show after its first commercial break – this on top of over a dozen that had refused to air the show in the first place. Ratings were good enough for a second episode, and five more had already been taped, but overwhelmingly negative reaction (including to the sketches, which were deemed mediocre and forgettable), coupled with righteous indignation from watchdog groups and the FCC, ensured that Carlin would be a one-and-done affair. The remaining episodes would eventually air, but not on network television. Ardent Carlin fans had recorded the episode during its one and only airing, often making drinking games out of how many times “Censorface”, as the logo came to be known, would bleep his monologue. (The question of how to count the myriad instances of Censorface proved problematic, as Carlin would often utter several verboten words in a row, all covered up by a single bleep). Carlin proved just the latest in a string of variety shows to crash and burn, and in retrospect came to be regarded as the straw that broke the camel’s back. “Variety shows just can’t work in the 1980s,” concluded TV Guide at the end of the season, “unless the stars are covered in fur”. This referred, of course, to the two exceptions, Pryor and The Muppet Show. [14] That said, Jim Henson was beginning to tire of the format himself, and hoped to transition to more ambitious projects on the big screen. With Eunice and Deep Space on the table on top of the two other established Desilu hits, it seemed that the time was right to allow The Muppet Show to take its bow. Ball, though reluctant to see it come to an end (surprisingly enough, considering her initial misgivings about the show), agreed that the coming 1980-81 season would be the show’s last. [15] Fortunately for Ball, both Rock Around the Clock and Three’s Company showed no signs of slowing down, remaining firmly ensconced in the Top 10.

For the second consecutive season, Pryor was the #1 show on the air, though in absolute terms, ratings had declined from the previous year. As had been the case a decade before, the singular variety-show smash had bolstered NBC and allowed it to punch above the weight of the rest of its schedule. The Peacock Network had broad but shallow viewership support, eking out a respectable nine slots in the Top 30, though only one of these, Pryor, had ranked in the Top 10. CBS tumbled even further from their already dangerously low vantage point, with just four shows in the Top 30; like NBC, they managed just one finish in the Top 10, with the newsmagazine program 60 Minutes proving their last bastion of relevance. Even the once-reliable Rhoda was fading fast. This left ABC with seventeen of the Top 30 shows, and a whopping eight of the Top 10, at this, the zenith of the Alphabet Network’s popularity. Their failure to secure the top-rated show on television was the one feather missing from their cap. [16]

At the Emmy Awards that autumn, Soap won Outstanding Comedy Series over Captain Miller, Taxi Drivers, WMTM, and Three’s Company. It also repeated for Lead Actress and Supporting Actor, allowing Katherine Helmond and Robert Guillaume to collect their second Emmys in a row. “We’re a pair, and now so are our Emmys,” Helmond joked backstage. The two obligingly shared a (chaste) kiss for the cameras, to top their famous embrace from the previous ceremony. “But if we win again next year, we’re not going any further than that,” said Guillaume. Judd Hirsch won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Taxi Drivers; there was some controversy in Guillaume not having been nominated for Lead himself. Outstanding Variety Series went to The Richard Pryor Show, naturally; however, Robin Williams did not repeat his win for Individual Performance.

Finally, Texas won Outstanding Dramatic Series, as did Hagman for his role as T.R. Walsh; in both cases, there were… extenuating (and topical) circumstances. [17] The season finale of Texas had ended on a shocking cliffhanger a few months prior. Someone had shot T.R., though who that might have been was left a tantalizing mystery. T.R., being a megalomaniacal villain in the finest moustache-twirling tradition, had left a trail of enemies in his wake, with one of any number of them having the means, motive, and opportunity to pull the trigger. The legendary question, “Who Shot T.R.?” was one which would come to define the first year of the new decade, and not just domestically, but abroad as well (as the show had become a major international sensation). Naturally, wags would consistently answer that question with “Schrank” (the man who shot Theodore Roosevelt – also known as TR – in the 1912 Presidential campaign); this joke, which quickly grew tiresome the more frequently it was heard, was credited to the most literate and highbrow of the late night talk show hosts, Dick Cavett. [18] (Cavett was not known as a jokester, and this episode helped to demonstrate why that was the case.) It was all part of the long buildup on the way to finding out the answer, which devotees both old and new would have to endure, with no end in sight…

---

[1] Duke married Arnaz instead of John Astin ITTL, and consequently little Desi V and Lulu were born instead of Sean and Mackenzie Astin. (Technically, Sean was the biological son of Michael Tell, Duke’s previous spouse, though he was adopted by Astin and has always regarded him as his “real” father – but Desi V is the son of Desi IV.)

[2] The three-foot Enterprise model was the first to be completed, having started construction on November 8, 1964, based on the plans created by Matt Jefferies and approved by Roddenberry and Solow. The completed model was delivered to Roddenberry on December 14, 1964, though it (like the subsequent eleven-foot model) was extensively refurbished over time. IOTL, Paramount held onto the model after the show had been cancelled (while sending the eleven-footer off to the Smithsonian) until May of 1975, at which point it was given to Roddenberry (who had commenced pre-production on Phase II). Apparently, he then lent the model out sometime in the late 1970s, but had forgotten to whom he had lent it. It has been missing ever since. ITTL, on the other hand, Solow is given the original Enterprise model in 1971, as a gift for his involvement in the production of the Star Trek from start to finish. It therefore occupies a spot on his desk, in similar fashion to this OTL photo (with Roddenberry).

[3] Soo died on January 11, 1979, living long enough to continue making appearances into the 1978-79 season of Barney Miller IOTL. However, he died on April 11, 1978 ITTL, nine months earlier. (In both cases, he died of esophageal cancer, resulting in his famous deathbed quip: “it must have been the coffee”).

[4] Guillaume has spoken of not wanting to play Benson with “dignity” IOTL; the quote is a paraphrase of one which you can find in this video interview.

[5] Brooke was one of several Rockefeller Republicans to lose his seat in the 1978 midterms IOTL, despite their being a very good year for the GOP in general; ITTL, the opposite happens, and only the Rockefeller Republicans do well for the most part (including Brooke, Sen. Case in New Jersey, and newly-elected Rep. Green in Manhattan, among others).

[6] The city in which the action took place IOTL was, of course, the eponymous Dallas.

[7] Thomas R. Walsh, Sr., was known IOTL as John Ross “Jock” Ewing, Sr. Just as ITTL, his son was named for him.

[8] Roddenberry would use this name for his planned Andromeda series, which was developed and produced after his death IOTL.

[9] As previously noted, Tartikoff was involved in the development of an OTL spinoff of Star Trek which has a very similar name and premise.

[10] Medina is a fictional nightclub; given that we’re over a decade from the POD, along with the ephemeral nature of trendiness in late-night hotspots, the OTL haunts of the late-1970s would likely not achieve popularity ITTL. Medina is so named by analogy to Mecca; the slogan “Pilgrims go to Mecca, partygoers come to Medina” is frequently heard in the Los Angeles clubbing scene of the time. (Devout Muslims naturally aren’t thrilled by the comparison, but then, they wouldn’t be likely to visit that Medina anyway). Also, you may note that Medina is located off a highway extension which was never built IOTL (Houston I. Flournoy may be a moderate, but he’s no Jerry Brown).

[11] No, this never happened IOTL. Even with the comparatively looser content restrictions on network television at this stage ITTL, it’s frankly a ludicrous proposition.

[12] Yes, Carlin would have hated being associated with a smiley-face. You might say the joke was on him (Sometimes lucidity has its advantages.)

[13] Carlin was also under the influence while performing his monologues as he hosted the first-ever episode of Saturday Night Live in 1975, IOTL.

[14] Recall that Robin Williams is an extremely hirsute individual.

[15] The Muppet Show ended in 1981 IOTL, as well, for many of the same reasons.

[16] IOTL, in the 1979-80 season, ABC had fifteen shows in the Top 30, though only two in the Top 10 (though one of them had been the top-rated Three’s Company); CBS had eleven shows in the Top 30, but a truly impressive eight of these cleared the Top 10; and NBC carried behind the rear with just four shows in the Top 30; none of those cleared the Top 10. Believe it or not, CBS is still doing slightly better ITTL than NBC did IOTL; this is despite Silverman (who worked wonders at both CBS and ABC) having been in charge at the Peacock Network since 1978. In fact, Silverman was responsible for two (thankfully butterflied) flops by this time: Supertrain and Pink Lady (and Jeff).

[17] Taxi won for Outstanding Comedy Series IOTL, with Cathryn Damon winning for Lead Actress rather than Helmond (who was also nominated). Her TV husband, Richard Mulligan, won for Lead Actor. Supporting Actor went to Harry Morgan for M*A*S*H, a show which I remind all of you does not exist ITTL. Outstanding Variety or Music Program (as opposed to Series) went to Baryshnikov on Broadway; Outstanding Drama Series went to Lou Grant, with Ed Asner taking home the Lead Actor Emmy for playing the eponymous character. Also worth noting is that, IOTL, the Emmy Awards ceremony took place during an SAG strike; all but one (Powers Boothe) of the nominated actors boycotted the ceremony as a result. ITTL, the circumstances leading up to the strike are… considerably altered, as you will soon discover.

[18] It may not surprise you to learn that Cavett was no longer appearing on private network television by this point IOTL, having sought asylum at PBS.

---

And there we have our Pink Lady of TTL! The show that stands up and tells the world: “Variety is dead!” The sad reality is that the genre simply cannot cope with the changing technology that becomes predominant in the 1980s, at least in the United States, in any timeline with as late a POD as mine. As long as the average American home has more than one television, and as long as the television has more than three or four channels available, variety television is doomed to become superfluous.

That said, thank you all once again for your patience and understanding! I welcome you all to the 1979-80 cycle! Here’s hoping that May will be flowering with updates

 

[Andrew T]

Is there anything better on a Tuesday night than a new episode of That Wacky Redhead??

Jessica Tate, the matriarch of her household, had separated from her husband, as both had been carrying on affairs during their marriage; the writers made the decision to ratchet up the tension even further, when Jessica began a relationship with her butler, Benson. Everyone involved delighted in parodying the Guess Who[/COLOR][/FONT]’s Coming To Dinner paradigm, and twisting the traditional morals of such “message” movies. Indeed, Robert Guillaume made it a point to play Benson as unlike a Poitier character as he possibly could. “Dignity does not make people laugh,” as he explained in a contemporary interview. [4] The potential for controversy – the pairing crossed racial and class boundaries, and as Jessica was still married, was technically adulterous – was intense, and indeed in any season other than 1979-80, it might have emerged as the top story in the entertainment press.

Utterly believable in this world, and, uh, it probably gives new life to Benson's-and-Jessica's banter/catchphrase from the first two seasons. ("You want me to get that?" "If you don't mind.")

However, it was still one of the most talked-about plotlines of any show in television; Baba Wawa frequently discussed the topic on The Today Show, despite that program being on a different network than Soap was. It may have had something to do with the Jessica/Benson romance having been partly inspired by the real-life liaison between Wawa herself, and Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke. It had done nothing but good things for his career, as he was comfortably re-elected for a third term in 1978 despite it being a bad year overall for his Republican Party.

Given the role that interracial romance has played in the gay rights movement IOTL, I wonder if we're in for a comparable acceleration ITTL. 1979 marks the ten-year anniversary of Stonewall, too....

Ratings were good and the show was picked up for a full-season order starting in September. Tartikoff had floated the idea of tying Deep Space with Star Trek to his superior, Herb Solow, but this was flatly rejected. "Star Trek is those characters, those ships,” Solow noted in a memo.

I suppose that even the great ones are entitled to a teeny little Author Filibuster now and then.

Seriously, though: it's my decidedly non-scientific recollection that OTL's Deep Space Nine didn't really take off until they started setting regular plots outside the space station. (And I recall some unfavorable comparisons from the first season to 'Gilligan's Island in Space.') So Deep Space certainly has a tightrope to walk, here....

George Carlin, who like Pryor, was a drug-fueled provocateur comedian (who took to profanity like few before, or since), was offered the chance to host his own show in a rather ill-advised move by the rather desperate CBS. [12] Carlin, however, was less apt to “play nice” than Pryor, and insisted that he be allowed to deliver his stand-up routines intact. Carlin was one of those comedians who viewed his profession as important, prone to postulating on the “meaning” and “purpose” of comedy in a societal context (and seldom hitting on the obvious answer: making people laugh). A stumbling block was that his signature routine was entitled “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television”[/COLOR][/FONT]… which spoke for itself.

I was wondering when Carlin would get a show, given the rampant success Pryor is enjoying ITTL. Also -- and I say this as a life-long fan of Carlin -- I think you've absolutely nailed George Carlin circa 1979 here. (Have you read the parallel accounts of the 15-year-old Carlin meeting Lenny Bruce alongside Bruce's account of the same event? I recommend it if you haven't.)

Pryor will probably also kick off OTL's Seinfeld-esque tradition of networks looking for vehicles in which to showcase standup comedians a decade or so early, although the networks haven't yet hit upon the idea of sticking a standup comic in a sitcom and watching what happens. Yet.

Apropos of nothing, David Letterman has been guest-hosting The Tonight Show for a year and a half now, and is signed to that sell-your-soul contract to NBC....

The compromise, such as it was, would entail Carlin being allowed to say whatever he liked, though Broadcast Standards and Practices would of course censor any offending words with the traditional “bleep”, as well as a smiley-face superimposed over his mouth. This smiley-face would become the logo of The George Carlin Show, in one of the more… curious creative decisions behind the show’s production. [13] Carlin did not participate in any of the sketches, leaving that to his cast – which did not include a single potential breakout star in the Williams mould. He would deliver several monologues throughout the show – more so than Pryor, who generally stuck to an intro and an outro.

Oh, man. This is, of course, exactly how it would go down. In flames. Of hilarity.

Ardent Carlin fans had videotaped the episode during its one and only airing, often making drinking games out of how many times “Censorface”, as the logo came to be known, would bleep his monologue. (The question of how to count the myriad instances of Censorface proved problematic, as Carlin would often utter several verboten words in a row, all covered up by a single bleep).

One alt-anachronism: I'm not sure that the verb videotape would exist ITTL.

At the Emmy Awards that autumn, Soap won Outstanding Comedy Series over Captain Miller, Taxi Drivers, WMTM, and Three’s Company. It also repeated for Lead Actress and Supporting Actor, allowing Katherine Helmond and Robert Guillaume to collect their second Emmys in a row.

I'm not sure this balances out ushering in the Reagan Revolution four years early, but it certainly is a good start.

The two obligingly shared a (chaste) kiss for the cameras, to top their famous embrace from the previous ceremony. "But if we win again next year, we’re not going any further than that,” said Guillaume.

You really convey the love that Guillaume and Helmond had for their art here.

Finally, Texas won Outstanding Dramatic Series, as did Hagman for his role as T.R. Walsh; in both cases, there were … extenuating (and topical) circumstances.

So, will the prime-time soap blossom alongside the prime-time soap parody ITTL? Once Texas Tea succeeds, you know the other networks will race to copy it. (IOTL -- as I know all too well -- this led to multiple years of the execrable Falcon Crest being among the Top 10 shows in the country.)

[5] Brooke was one of several Rockefeller Republicans to lose his seat in the 1978 midterms IOTL, despite their being a very good year for the GOP in general; ITTL, the opposite happens, and only the Rockefeller Republicans do well for the most part (including Brooke, Sen. Case in New Jersey, and newly-elected Rep. Green in Manhattan, among others).

Does VP Mathias go out and campaign for his fellow moderates? Or is he more in the mold of George H.W. Bush IOTL?

[11] Medina is a fictional nightclub; given that we’re over a decade from the POD, along with the ephemeral nature of trendiness in late-night hotspots, the OTL haunts of the late-1970s would likely not achieve popularity ITTL. Medina is so named by analogy to Mecca; the slogan “Pilgrims go to Mecca, partygoers come to Medina” is frequently heard in the Los Angeles clubbing scene of the time. (Devout Muslims naturally aren’t thrilled by the comparison, but then, they wouldn’t be likely to visit that Medina anyway). Also, you may note that Medina is located off a highway extension which was never built IOTL (Houston I. Flournoy may be a moderate, but he’s no Jerry Brown).

Oooh, highway revolts!

Also: does this mean there's no club scene on the Sunset Strip ITTL?

[13] Yes, Carlin would have hated being associated with a smiley-face. You might say the joke was on him (Sometimes lucidity has its advantages.)

If you really want to freak him out, tell him that within two decades, he'll be playing the voice of "Mister Conductor" on the PBS series Thomas the Tank Engine, aimed at two-to-five year olds.

 

[Dan1988]

Well well well, Brainbin, a very blooming update indeed.

 

[Flubber]

“I don’t know if it’s really felt like that long,” said Solow. “Seems like just last year. Maybe sixteen months ago.”

The line I quote above made me laugh out loud.

Superb update, just like all the others in this excellent time line.

 

[Jinx999]

A variety of Deep Space 9 more than a decade ahead of schedule? Seems to be a bit of a stretch and I don't think they could have the same themes and casting choices as IOTL.

What they really need now is a Star Trek series set at a station in the demilitarised zone between the Federation, Klingons and Romulans as a place for negotiation and diplomacy between the rival nations - with Uhura as the Federation ambassador . . . .

 

[Lord Insane]

A variety of Deep Space 9 more than a decade ahead of schedule? Seems to be a bit of a stretch and I don't think they could have the same themes and casting choices as IOTL.

Well, they won't. This one isn't Trek, apparently doesn't become one of the most important places in the Galaxy in the first episode and is made over a decade earlier.

What they really need now is a Star Trek series set at a station in the demilitarised zone between the Federation, Klingons and Romulans as a place for negotiation and diplomacy between the rival nations - with Uhura as the Federation ambassador . . . .

Considering the 'those ships' and 'pretty sure you can’t do any star trekking on a station orbiting a planet' things, that seems... unlikely.

 

[e of pi]

A variety of Deep Space 9 more than a decade ahead of schedule? Seems to be a bit of a stretch and I don't think they could have the same themes and casting choices as IOTL.

What they really need now is a Star Trek series set at a station in the demilitarised zone between the Federation, Klingons and Romulans as a place for negotiation and diplomacy between the rival nations - with Uhura as the Federation ambassador . . . .

It's pretty emphatically not DS9. It's pretty emphatically not Star Trek at all. It'll have very different themes (both than OTL DS9 and TOS), very different plotlines (ditto), and to avoid endangering anything about the lightning in a bottle money tree that is Star Trek, no connection to it at all.

 

[Space Oddity]

You know it struck me that with the flop of M*A*S*H, Donald Sutherland probably won't do his turn as Christ in Johnny Got His Gun... In fact, Johnny Got His Gun probably didn't get made.

Damn.

 

[Andrew T]

It's pretty emphatically not DS9. It's pretty emphatically not Star Trek at all. It'll have very different themes (both than OTL DS9 and TOS), very different plotlines (ditto), and to avoid endangering anything about the lightning in a bottle money tree that is Star Trek, no connection to it at all.

I do get the argument you and Brainbin have made about Star Trek (call it the "lightning in a bottle" argument), but I think it is a shame to lose the richness that is the larger Star Trek universe. For example, Lawrence Krauss almost certainly doesn't write The Physics of Star Trek ITTL, which is a shame.

 

[e of pi]

I do get the argument you and Brainbin have made about Star Trek (call it the "lightning in a bottle" argument), but I think it is a shame to lose the richness that is the larger Star Trek universe. For example, Lawrence Krauss almost certainly doesn't write The Physics of Star Trek ITTL, which is a shame.

I agree as far as the merits of the later Trek franchise go. I grew up on DS9, VOY, and tapes of TNG, and I used to be paid for childhood chores directly in Trek books because it was a more efficient transfer of rewards. However, it's just not to be for the moment. I know Brainbin has something planned for another Trek series ITTL, but he refuses to tell me on the grounds it wouldn't do to spoil all the things for me.

 

[Lord Insane]

I know Brainbin has something planned for another Trek series ITTL, but he refuses to tell me on the grounds it wouldn't do to spoil all the things for me.

Well, that's a big spoiler - if you had been a voice actor, and Brainbin a video-game company, the sort of thing that might lose you a job. Of course, Brainbin might be more understanding.