Alternate 1970's Scenarios.....

Arizona Ranger

The 1970's : The Decade of Disco, Earth Shoes, Detente, Farrah, John Revolta, STAR WARS, Early Video Games and Vans...

Since Watergate, The Iran Crisis, and Nixon/Ford/Carter POD's have been done to death, Lets explore the following .....

POP CULTURE

- A frustrated Novelist from NJ named Peter Benchley decides to accept a job with NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and shelve his plans to submit his unpublished novel about a Great White Shark attacking swimmers at a New England Resort....

-Tom Baker declines to take over the role of DR. WHO in 1974 or another actor is picked

- Robert Reed and Sherwood Schwartz reach an understanding over how THE BRADY BUNCH should be managed and thus the show lasts past 1974

- CBS TV after recieving much criticism and reviewing less than satisfying ratings for a new show called ALL IN THE FAMILY cancel it after 3-4 episodes

- SNL is cancelled by NBC after 1 season in 1975

- KISS is laughed offstage due to its garish makeup thus causing the band to breakup

- The Young Female Bad Girl Group THE RUNAWAYS (Joan Jett, Cherie Currie, Sandy West, Lita Ford) are better managed and chaparoned and ergo avoid the scandals and problems which affect them in the 1970's and they go on to become a major band

- Jim Croce never takes that fateful Airplane ride in 1973 and survives

- Ditto for the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd who have their Pilot land their plane at the first sign of trouble in September 1977

- Duane Allman decides to sleep over at the home of a friend throwing a party and avoids his fatal motorcyle accident in 1971

- A young singer named Stephanie "Stevie" Nicks gets tired of the near poverty existence she is living with her boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham and breaks up with him, goes back to Phoenix, Arizona. She never joins Fleetwood Mac and decides to become a teacher or go into another genre of music

-Speaking of Fleetwood Mac, Member Bob Welch decides to tough it out with the group and stay on past late 1974 or stick around when new members Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham join

- Roman Polanski has second thoughts about being involved with some underaged girl and sends her home or has the Police remove her from his home, thus avoiding his carerr stifling scandal

THE WORLD SITUATION

-A West German Policeman making the rounds at the Olympic Village in Munich decides to patrol a new area and encounters several suspicious men. He issues a challenge, gunshots ring out and several more Policemen run to assist him and thus the Israeli Olympic Massacre is avoided or...

- The Terrorists kill Mark Spitz and several non Jewish Olympic Athletes

- A nasty fistfight breaks out during the controversial US-USSR Basketball Game due to the teams frustration and anger over the timekeeping and officiating

-Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova are exposed earlier as Lesbians by a jealous Female Tennis Player or disgruntled lover and a huge scandal damages Womens Tennis

- NASA decides to continue with Moon Missions past Apollo 17

- The USSC Decides against Legalized Abortion in Roe v. Wade

- Arthur Bremer is arrested by Police Officers in possession of a firearm before he can get to George Wallace
 
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proximefactum

Rational car colors: no 70's barf green, bright orange, or turd brown cars. I don't know the "official names" for these colors, but it doesn't matter. You guys know what I'm describing.
 

Arizona Ranger

Thanks for the input folks....

Now lets try these out....

Jim Morrison decides to really take a time out, foregoes the Paris trip in 1971, dumps his troublesome gal Pamela Courson and vegs out, giving him time to redirect his creative energies

He avoids his "death/disappearance" and rejoins THE DOORS in 1972 or 1973 and really does a better job....

NASA decides to go past Apollo 17 and plans more Moon Missions foregoing the SKYLAB plans....

Francis Ford Coppola decides in 1976-77 APOCALYPSE NOW is taking too much time, $$$, and energy and he scraps the project to concentrate on other films including doing a proper GODFATHER 3 Sequel

A Muckraking reporter decides to publish a full expose of STUDIO 54 after witnessing Steve Rubell crassly turning away several people and thus creates a scandal which ruins the careers of many of the Politicians and Entertainment figures that patronized the place

Farrah Fawcett-Majors reaches an 11th Hour Deal with Aaron Spelling to stay on CHARLIES ANGLES past Season One and takes better care of herself to show up her fellow actresses on the show and competition from Sexpots like Cheryl Tiegs thus avoiding the fatal encounter with Cancer
 
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MaskedPickle

Talking about presidential assassinations:

-Richard Byck manages to hijack his plane and crash it over the White House in February 1974. Killing Nixon or not, it enhances a better security system on airplanes, making September, 11th impossible.

-Lynette Squeaky Fromme kills the President in 1975...

-If he survives, he or his successor is shot by Sara Jane Moore eleven days later.
 

Arizona Ranger

Another reason why THE BRADY BUNCH was cancelled in 1974 was because of the fact Sherwood Schwartz forgot to plan out for the eventual growth into adolescence by the kids and how to adapt the scenarios....:(

One bit of interesting trivia is that David Hedison (Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea's Captain Crane) was seriously considered for the Mike Brady role but he decided against it and George Takei (Star Trek's Sulu) helped Florence Henderson get to the Studio Hairdressing/Makeup at Paramount so she could audition for the Carol Brady role properly...:cool:

More 1970's Scenarios.....

ENTERTAINMENT

NBC-TV decides in 1977 to pick up a syndicated Canadian TV Show called SCTV as a Summer Late Night Replacement and it becomes a hit. The careers of John Candy, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin, and the others take off earlier....

THE BAND decides against a "Last Waltz" and stays together

Aaron Spelling picks one of the following actresses to take the place of the departing Farrah Fawcett-Majors in 1977 from Charlies Angels...Linda Evans, Joan Collins, Susan George, or Claudia Jennings

Or What If....

Claudia Jennings had avoided her fatal car accident in October of 1979 ?

Or What If....

Farrah stays on and is determined to shake off the Blonde Airhead image by improving her acting and taking better Movie Roles including the part of Lt. Ellen Ripley in a film called ALIEN She plays it just like Sigourney Weaver would in OTL and takes one last encore of the sexpot image by doing the same strip scene towards the end ?

Freddie Prinze takes a break from CHICO AND THE MAN in early 1977 to address his personal and mental issues and never shoots himself ?

Gerry & Sylvia Anderson opt to take a little more time and effort to craft their new show SPACE:1999 and it becomes a hit thus avoiding the involvement of Fred Freiberger...

Lalla Ward decides not to take the Role of Romana II in DR. WHO in 1979....

Joni Mitchell decides to address his serious problem of stage fright and does more Live Concerts and Shows. Joni also takes more time to do better on her album projects after COURT & SPARK thus making her career head in a better direction after 1974...

Wayne Rogers, McLean Stevenson, Larry Linville, and Gary Burghoff decide to remain longer on M*A*S*H...

THE WORLD SITUATION

Margaret Thatcher becomes PM earlier....

The Canadian People sour on Trudeau and his wife Maggies antics and he is voted out of office in 1976-77

The US decides to show the world it can still stay the course against Communism after the Fall of Saigon and decides to intervene in the Angola-Mozambique-Rhodesia situation
 
Mad Bad Rabbit

Mad Bad Rabbit

David Berkowitz fixates on ABBA's "Dancing Queen" instead of Hall and Oates' "Rich Girl". He decides it's a coded message for him to march into Studio 54 and shoot as many celebrities as possible before he himself is shot by the police.

As a result: Andy Warhol dies; Studio 54 is shut down in the aftermath; and (since Berkowitz isn't running loose all summer), Mario Cuomo narrowly defeats Ed Koch in the fall mayoral race.
 

Arizona Ranger

The NYC Blackout and subsequent looting causes a Msssive Police-Military Intervention causing numerous deaths, bloodshed, and Political ripples that last for a long time.....

John Travolta never gets the role of Vinne Barbarino on WELCOME BACK KOTTER and remains a failed actor

ABC TV execs pressure HAPPY DAYS creator Gary Marshall and his team to get rid of the Fonzie character since it is negative and counterproductive and Henry Winkler never achieves his later success
 
Sigma7

Sigma7

Wide World of Sports...

Mark Johnson signs with the Pittsburgh Penguins after the 1977 NHL Amateur Draft and turns pro after his 90 point junior year at Wisconsin, rather than retaining his amateur status and playing for the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team.

Reggie Jackson turns down the Yankees, signs with the Dodgers instead.

Dallas Cowboys draft TE Doug Cosbie in the second round, #55 overall and use their third round, 76th overall pick to select a long term replacement for the aging Roger Staubach: Joe Montana.

New York Nets resist the Philadelphia 76ers ovetures and keep Julius Erving, giving him an ownership stake in the team to compensate for money they don't have to pay him with up front.


At The Movies...

George Lucas picks the best of his "real auditions" and casts Kurt Russell as Han Solo in "Star Wars".

Francis Ford Copola goes with his first instincts and casts Robert Dinero as Santino "Sonny" Coreleone in "The Godfather".

Richard Donner wins the battle of the wills against Alexander Salkind and gets to complete "Superman II" on his own terms.


In Music...

Glen Matlock keeps his opinions on The Beatles to himself, stays in The Sex Pistols.

After some prodding by John Lennon, who finds the concept amusing, and Paul McCartney, the Beatles shock the world and accept Lorne Michaels satirical offer to appear on Saturday Night Live.


Elsewhere...

NASA decides to couple Skylab B with the partially damaged Skylab A and expand the Skylab program.
 
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Arizona Ranger

Bucky Dent and the NY Yankees are forced to produced the suspect Bat in the notorious October 1978 game after huge pressure from Dan Shaugnessy and the rest of the the Boston Press and it is found to be corked or altered thus negated their questionable victory .....

The Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin fracas at Fenway Park earlier in 1977 gets out of hand with major fisticuffs and injuries that causes them to be placed on the DL and suspended for the rest of the Season by the MLB Commisioner...

Harrison Ford decides not to take the role of Han Solo in STAR WARS

Ryan O'Neal decides to be a more sensible and stricter Father and refuses to have his Daughter Tatum take the role in PAPER MOON and gives it to Jodie Foster instead like she did in the short lived TV Series

Or....

Tatum gets busted by the LA PD for her role in a Youth Bicycle Theft Gang in 1973, and gets sent to Juvenile Hall and/or sent to a Strict Boarding School by Ryan
 

Xen

Banned
Jab7345 said:
Here are some 70's Alternate Sports Scenarios:

1. Charlie Finley decides that he wants to keep the A's together, and they don't all leave due to Free Agency.

2. Joe Paterno takes the Steeler job in 1969. He was their first choice.

3. Greg Cook doesn't have the rotator cuff problem, and plays the whole decade of the 70's(and into the 80's).

4. The WHA folds after it's first year.
Click to expand...

More sports scenarios

1) The San Diego Padres move to Washington in 1974 and become the Washington Capitals, the NHL team that enters the league that year becomes the Washington Generals instead

1a) The swap occurs, disappointd by low attendence, Charlie Finley moves his A's to Chicago to replace the White Sox who moved to Seattle and became the Mariners. The A's become the new White Sox, while keeping the kelly green and gold jerseys.

1b) The AL expands to include Toronto (Blue Jays) and San Diego (Clippers)

2) The Baltimore Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom trades franchises with Bill Bidwell, the St Louis "football" Cardinals owner.

3) George Steinbrenner is able to purchase his hometown team, the Cleveland Indians
 

Arizona Ranger

Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious are arrested by the NYPD for POD and other offenses in October 1978 and recieve lenghty Jail sentences/Probation/Rehab avoiding their untimely demise .....

Video Games like PONG are deemed unpopular.....

Jimmy Hoffa decides against going to that fateful Summer Meeting in 1975....

Leon Spinks maintains his lifestlye and retains the WBA Heavyweight Championship....
 

RCAF Brat

Here are a few for 1972:

Stanfield's PCs do a bit better and manage to eke out a slight but significant victory over Trudeau's Liberals.

Or, The NDP decides that Stanfield's Tories are less likely to screw them over than Trudeau's Liberals and offer to back him if he were to attempt to form a Government.

In the US, a group of burglars realize that a place like the Watergate Hotel would have at least one night watchman, and that said watchman might be competent. They are thus more careful and don't get caught. The results of the election aren't any different, but what follows is. Nixon doesn't get caught in that scandal, though there are others. But he finishes his term in 1976, and is acknowledged as being on of America's greatest presidents, even if he was a just a little bit nasty for his enemies' liking.

Or. The Democrats choose someone competent and beat Nixon in 1972. The Watergate break-in still happens as per OTL, but the new administration sweeps the whole matter under the rug because they want to use that particular trick themselves in 1976.

And in sports, The Soviet hockey team decisively wins five of the eight games in the 'Summit Series' against Canada.
 

Arizona Ranger

More POD's

Entertainment

Irwin Allen and ABC-V reach a compromise to Green Light LAND OF THE GIANTS for a Third Season in 1970-71 where the Spindrift and its Passengers & Crew fly off to a Tropical Island and Deanna Lund & Don Matheson's Characters get married and have a child.....

ABC also decides to pick up STAR TREK as a Mid Season Replacement for 1970 like it planned to do after NBC Cancelled it in 1969 but without Leonard Nimoy and the addition of an actress playing Dr. McCoy's daughter Joanna...

ABC also lets up on Darren McGavin as Producer and treats Kolchak The Night Stalker with more respect thus causing it to run for two more seasons past 1975 and a young kid named Chris Carter decides he'd like to produce a series along those lines once he makes the big time

ABC reaches a last minute deal with Glen Larson in Spring 1979 and renews BATTLESTAR GALACTICA for a Second Season

Harlan Ellison, furious with the way his input on THE STARLOST is ignored, goes beserk on the set and starts shooting several cast and crew members and he is put in prison or placed in a mental institution !

Or.....

Paramount quits jerking Gene Roddenberry around and makes a final decision to have Star Trek return as a regular syndicated series in Fall 1978 as part of their new PARAMOUNT TV NETWORK Family of Stations

World Situation

Rhodesia is allowed to attend the 1972 Summer Olympics and due to the heavy security brought on to stave off protestors, several Arab Terrorists are caught and their plans to hold the Israeli Athletes Hostage are revealed

Sports

Kermit Washington keeps a cool head during a 12-9-77 game against the Houston Rockets and never takes that infamous swing against Rudy Tomjanovich and avoids the 60 days/26 games Suspension —at the time, the longest suspension for an on-court incident in NBA history.
 
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Sigma7

Sigma7

Here's one for the techies to ponder...

In 1976, Nolan Bushnell sells Atari to Motorola for $28 mil.

Bushnell is given more lattitude by Motorola in Atari's product development than Warner Communications gave him in OTL and Bushnell is not fired in 1978.

With Bushnell and Co. at the helm with access to "In House" chips (and custom chip sets) what kind of juggernaut emerges from the guys who brought you Pong?

Does Apple even survive the 1970's competing in the home computer market against an Atari 800 series driven by custom made and most importantly "In House" made Motorola 6800 chips? Apple's buying their chips from Commodore from '76 on. Atari's not buying their chips, their parent company is making them for them, reducing the price of 800's (with greater capability) even further compared to Apple IIs.

A Super System that actually works and is fully compatible with the 800 series home computers in 1980? A point of contention between Bushnell and Warner was over the life span of the 2600, which Bushnell felt should be produced for no more than three years. Warner didn't concern itself with innovation as long as the 2600 brought in the cash. Motorola, being a tech company (and a chip producer inparticular) would probably see things much differently.

Console Wars Round 1: Atari vs. Mattel vs. Coleco. Could Mattel or Coleco really compete with an Atari that releases a 5200 that works in 1980 without majorly upgrading the original Intellivision and Colecovision of OTL?

What if Motorola/Atari launches an ST type computer based around the MCP 68000 even sooner, to go head to head with the IBM PC in 1981, THEN beats Mac and Windows to market with their GUI (GEM) in 1983?

War with "Big Blue": Do Atari STs get cloned instead of PCs, widening their market share and overtaking IBM in the buisness market or do we see a "Clone War"?

Quality Control: What if Motorola/Atari sets a series of production standards for software for their machines like Nintendo did, only five years earlier? I don't see the Video Game Crash of 1983 happening under those circumstances.

Console Wars Round 2: Atari vs. Sega vs. Nintendo or do Sega and Nintendo even bother to get into an American market dominated by an inovative and well run Atari? Probably, especially if Mattel and Coleco tank like in OTL, leaving Atari alone in the market. Competition drives markets and innovation, monopolies don't.
 
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Sigma7

Sigma7

Arizona Ranger said:
More POD's

ABC reaches a last minute deal with Glen Larson in Spring 1979 and renews BATTLESTAR GALACTICA for a Second Season

Paramount quits jerking Gene Roddenberry around and makes a final decision to have Star Trek return as a regular syndicated series in Fall 1978 as part of their new PARAMOUNT TV NETWORK Family of Stations
Click to expand...

I think, if Paramount actually did launch their network and featured Star Trek: Phase 2 and it was successful (especially if they could lure Nimoy back...) and considering the Sci-Fi boom Star Wars triggered in '77, ABC definately renews Battlestar Galactica.

Look for both series to produce "The Motion Picture"s by 1980-81 especially after Empire blows the roof off the box office in 1980.
 
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