Shows That Debuted in Fall of 1973: Don’t Get Too Attached

May 22, 2023May 12, 2023 / thewritelife61 / 4 Comments

This month our blog series is “Potpourri,” and today specifically is “Showpourri.” I thought it would be fun to look at the shows that debuted in 1973, fifty years ago. There were a lot of them. More than 30 shows were new in the fall of 1973; however, only about ten of them were still around the next fall.

Quite a few of these shows were variety shows: Dick Clark, The Dean Martin Comedy Show, Bobby Gentry, The Hudson Brothers, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Mac Davis, and Music Country. We also had several Movies of the Week.

Let’s take a closer look at the other shows that debuted in 1973.

Adam’s Rib: In this half-hour sitcom, assistant district attorney Adam Bonner (Ken Howard) is married to Amanda (Blythe Danner) who is a partner in a law firm. They often face each other in the courtroom which sometimes extends to their personal life. Amanda is also an advocate for women’s rights.

Apple’s Way: Created by The Waltons writer Earl Hamner Jr., this show has a family relocating from Los Angeles to a small town in Iowa where dad grew up. It captures the issues faced from moving from the past-faced city to the rural place where their ancestors grew up.

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice: Definitely a seventies sitcom. Bob (Robert Urich) and Carol (Anne Archer) are a young couple who are part of the swinging seventies; they are good friends with an older couple, Ted (David Spielberg) and Alice (Anita Gillette), who definitely are not.

Calucci’s Department: Joe Calucci (James Coco) is an office supervisor at the New York State Unemployment Department. He has to deal with red tape, unemployed people truly in need or trying to bilk the system and keep his girlfriend (Candice Azzara) happy.

Chopper One: This one was a bit like CHiPs in the air. Two California policemen (Jim McMullan and Dirk Benedict) fight crime from their helicopter.

The Cowboys: An unusual concept for this decade. The series focuses on a group of seven boys who work on a cattle ranch in the Old West.

Diana: Diana Smythe (Diana Rigg), recently divorced, leaves London and moves to New York City to become a fashion coordinator at a Fifth Avenue Department Store. She learns about life in America from her new friends, copywriter Howard (Richard B. Schull), neighbor Holly (Carole Androsky), window decorator Marshall (Robert Moore), and friend Jeff (Richard Mulligan).

Dirty Sally: imdb’s description of this show was that “crotchety old lady Sally Fergus (Jeanette Nolan) roams the Old West with young companion Cyrus (Dack Rambo).” The major character looks more like she should be on The Addams Family than in the old west.

Doc Elliot: Dr. Benjamin Elliot (James Franciscus) leaves Bellevue Hospital in New York to retreat to Colorado. He made house calls by plane and truck and is the only doctor in the area so he deals with a variety of cases.

Faraday & Co: Frank Faraday has been jailed 25 years for murdering his partner, but he did not do it. When he gets to go home, he learns his secretary gave birth to his son Steve who is also a private eye and the two men go into business together and solve mysteries.

Good Times: In this spinoff from Maude, the focus is Florida Evans, Maude’s housekeeper and her family who live in the Chicago housing projects.

Happy Days: Almost everyone knows about this show and the Cunninghams. The focus of the show is on Richie and Joanie growing up in the fifties with the help of The Fonz.

Hawkins: After his first show was canceled, Jimmy Stewart takes on the role of West Virginia attorney Billy Jim Hawkins.

Kojak: Telly Savalas becomes Theo Kojak a bald, lollipop loving police detective who is tough on criminals but a bit of a teddy bear off I job.

Lotsa Luck: Dom DeLuise stars as Stanley, the manager for a lost and found department at the bus company. He lives with his mother, his sister Olive and brother-in-law Arthur. His best friend is a bus driver he works with and they try to work out Stanley’s life problems. One issue they could not resolve was the fact that the viewers did not like the show.

NBC Follies: I’m not sure who came up with this concept. Vaudeville was dead, but this show resurrected it. It was based on vaudeville with a mixture of comedic skits and musical performances and no host. And no viewers.

Needles and Pins: This show had a great cast including Louis Nye, Norman Fell, and Bernie Kopell. Nye was Nathan Davidson, a women’s clothing manufacturer and this show centered on the employees who work there including new designer Wendy, who was a bit naïve, jumping from Nebraska to New York City.

Roll Out: This sitcom was based on the movie Red Ball Express; an African American staff at the Red Ball Express in WWII deal with being far from friends and family who bond with each other. The Red Ball Express was a real trucking convoy that supplied Allied forces in Europe after D-Day. The trucks were allowed to travel on routes closed to civilian traffic and had priority on other roads. It just never found the balance of humor and heartbreak of M*A*S*H or the wacky entanglements of Bilko. This show probably would have made a great drama if it had been done right.

Toma: Toma was a real New Jersey Detective David Toma (Tony Musante). He was a master of disguise and did undercover work. Like Alfred Hitchcock, you can glimpse the real David Toma in many episodes.

The Girl with Something Extra: John Davidson and Sally Field team up as newlyweds beginning their married life together with all the problems typical couples have and one extra, she had ESP and that causes no end of problems for them. Too bad she didn’t tell the network this show would not survive an entire season.

The New Perry Mason Show Photo: imdb.com

The New Perry Mason Show: Monte Markham and Sharon Acker became Perry Mason and Della Street. Impossible roles to fill with anyone but Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale.

When the fall schedule came out in 1975, the only shows remaining on the air were Good Times, Happy Days, and Kojak. Since I have already done extensive blogs on Happy Days and Kojak, next week, we’ll take a closer look at Good Times.

Mabel Albertson: What a Character!

February 24, 2020September 10, 2021 / thewritelife61 / 2 Comments

As we wind up our What a Character series, it seemed fitting to end with Mabel Albertson, perhaps the most recognizable of our character actors. She is often remembered for playing the mother of well-known characters. Mabel was born in Massachusetts in 1901. Her mother, who was a stock actress, helped support the family by working in a shoe factory. Mabel’s brother Jack would also become a famous actor.

Mabel knew she wanted to get involved in the entertainment business at a young age. When she was 13, she played the piano for $5 a performance. She graduated from the New England School of Speech and Expression.

Albertson began working in stock, vaudeville, and night clubs and appeared with Jimmy Durante. Eventually she moved to California where she became involved with the Pasadena Playhouse where Charles Lane got his start.

Mabel married Austin Ripley, and they had a son in 1926, but their marriage soon dissolved. Mabel decided to pursue a career in film. Although she would have credits for 27 movies during her career, her film career was not what she hoped for. So, she switched gears and tried out radio. During the 1930s, she co-starred with Phil Baker on The Armour Hour and from 1936-37, she was in Dress Rehearsal with Pinky Lee. She also did some writing for the show.

photo: imdb.com
All The Fine Young Cannibals

In 1937 Mabel married writer Ken Englund who adopted her son George. He began writing for Paramount Pictures and later would be hired by RKO, Columbia Studios, 20^th Century Fox, and The Samuel Goldwyn Company.

Although her husband’s career was made on the big screen, her career really took off when television made its appearance. Her first role on the small screen was on the Chevron Theater in 1952. During the 1950s, she appeared in 21 different shows. Although many of her roles were on the playhouse and theater shows, she also showed up on Burns and Allen, Topper, December Bride, Bachelor Father, Jack Benny, and Have Gun Will Travel. In 1955, she was offered a role in Those Whiting Girls. She played the girls’ mother. The show was on the air until 1957.

Photo: sitcomsonline.com
Those Whiting Girls

Mabel became the “face” of television sitcom mothers. She played Phyllis Stephens, Darrin’s mother on Bewitched and often said “Frank, take me home, I’m getting a sick headache.” Her husband wrote several Bewitched episodes (season 1, episodes 25 and 30).

She played Mabel, Paul Lynde’s mother-in-law on The Paul Lynde Show; she was the mother of Marilyn’s boyfriend on The Munsters, as well as Alice’s mother on Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Fans of That Girl will remember her as Don Hollister’s mother, and she was seen on The Andy Griffith Show as Howard Sprague’s mother. Her last mother role was on the New Dick Van Dyke Show as his mom.

Her most successful years were the 1960s when she appeared in 39 television shows, including Perry Mason; Ben Casey; My Three Sons; Hazel; Ozzie and Harriet; The Wild, Wild West; Daniel Boone; Gomer Pyle USMC; Love American Style; and Gunsmoke. A review for her performance on Gunsmoke is posted by jlthornb5110 on imdb.

The review states that her role of Kate Heller is one “of the standout episodes of the series with Miss Mabel Albertson giving what is nothing less than the performance of a lifetime. Beautifully written by Kate Hite, this is a powerful presentation and one in which Albertson truly shines. The climax is absolutely soul shattering and among the most dramatically emotional ever filmed for television. Miss Albertson plays it with a sensitivity and an incredible insight you will never forget. The character of Kate Heller is heartbreaking but quietly strong, a survivor of the psychological brutality of loneliness in the old west and the violence that was part of existence. Mabel Albertson gives the character everything she has within her, brings her to life, and makes her one of the most unforgettable personalities to ever appear on Gunsmoke or any other television series in history.”

Photo: cscottrollins.blogspot.com
The Tom Ewell Show

She was offered a role as a permanent cast member in The Tom Ewell Show in 1960. The premise of the show is that real estate agent Tom Potter played by Ewell must learn to live in a household of females including his wife, his three girls and his mother-in-law Irene played by Albertson. Even their dog, Mitzi, was a girl. Although Mabel’s brother Jack would be best remembered for his role on Chico and the Man, he appeared on this series with his sister in 1960. The series aired 32 episodes before it was canceled.

I’m not sure where she found time for Broadway during this decade, but she was in The Egg in 1962 and Xmas in Las Vegas in 1965.

While her career began to slow down in the seventies, she was still quite busy, appearing in The Doris Day Show, Ironside, Marcus Welby, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, among others. She appeared in an episode of Arnie with her brother in 1970. She also worked with her daughter-in-law, Cloris Leachman, in the movie Pete and Tillie in 1974.

Photo: pinterest.com
Frank, I feel a headache coming on

Her family continued to attract talented actors. Her granddaughter-in-law was actress Sharon Stone.

In 1975, Mabel was forced to retire. Her memory was beginning to fail, and she was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. She passed away from the illness in 1982.

Like Milton Frome, I was both sad and disappointed to learn how little information there was about Mabel Albertson. I thought I would learn more about her working relationships considering she had a fifty-year career and played iconic mother roles on so many well-loved shows.

As we wrap of this edition of What a Character! series, my hope is that you recognize and acknowledge these actors when you see them when tuning in to your favorite classic shows and remember how much they contributed to our television history. Personally, to keep Mabel’s memory alive, I think any time we are having a family situation, I will turn to my husband and whisper, “Frank, take me home, I’m getting a sick headache.”