Now that I’m ambulatory enough to ride one of those motorized carts at the store (you can bet your ass I run into people and their carts on purpose―they never say shit to the “handicapped”), I noticed the other day that Walmart has school supplies loaded up and ready to go for all the little bastards heading back to s-cruel. And for the first time in over 30 years, I don’t have to buy any of it.
Continue reading Classic Educational Shorts (Volume 6: Troubled Teens): Back to school with Drunk TVTag Archives: 1970s
All-Time Time-Wastin’ Champ: I’ve finished NBC’s soap, ‘The Doctors’!
After years and years of false starts, I’ve finally achieved another worthless TV-watching milestone: I’ve made it through The Doctors, the NBC daytime serial that ran for 20 years, and won the first Emmy for Best Show Daytime (1972).
Continue reading All-Time Time-Wastin’ Champ: I’ve finished NBC’s soap, ‘The Doctors’!
‘The Odd Couple’ (Season 3): Every episode is a treat in this exceptional season
Continuing my goal of tying up all the loose ends in my life by December 2025 (don’t particularly care about a will…but I am gonna fix that guy at the paramutial who keeps “accidentally” printing the wrong program number on my track tickets), let’s keep rolling on series reviews, including one of my top five favorite sitcoms, The Odd Couple, starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. Simply put: it’s bright, sophisticated, urbane TV farce, at its very best.
Continue reading ‘The Odd Couple’ (Season 3): Every episode is a treat in this exceptional season
‘Wait Till Your Father Gets Home’: A bright spot in Hanna-Barbera’s ’70s output
In case all 17 of my readers were wondering, I’ve been on medical leave here at the Drunk TV offices, and haven’t been posting much. Nothing serious, just life threatening. Fortunately, our fearless leader and editor, Jason (or as he gently chides, “That’s ‘Mr. Hink‘ to you, scumbag!”) has excellent health coverage here so everything’s fine. For him. He has the coverage. I have none.
Continue reading ‘Wait Till Your Father Gets Home’: A bright spot in Hanna-Barbera’s ’70s output
‘The Rhinemann Exchange’ (1977): Final ‘Best Sellers’ miniseries is a 4-hour drag
Okay, okay. I know I wrote months ago (wait…was it years?) that I would finish off my look at the NBC Best Sellers “series of mini-series” from the 1976-1977 season, with a review of The Rhinemann Exchange, based on the Robert Ludlum WWII espionage thriller, starring Lauren Hutton, John Huston, Roddy McDowall, Claude Akins, Vince Edwards, Jose Ferrer, Rene Auberjonois, Larry Hagman, Werner Klemperer, Trisha Noble, and that pedo. I’m also fairly certain that I told you people that I was experiencing actual physical discomfort in doing so, not so much because I would have to write about Stephen Collins (we’ll dissect him later), but because The Rhinemann Exchange is so cosmically dull, so existentially dead, that I honestly don’t know—I mean right now, sitting here—what the hell I’m going to say about it.
Continue reading ‘The Rhinemann Exchange’ (1977): Final ‘Best Sellers’ miniseries is a 4-hour drag
‘Here Comes Peter Cottontail’ (1971): Light, jovial tale is perfect Easter viewing
Do the linear “Big 3” networks still air the Rankin/Bass specials anymore? I know they still show the big one, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but I’m talking about all those “B team” ones they did like The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July, and Here Comes Peter Cottontail? I know people freaked out when Apple bought the Charlie Brown specials and yanked them off linear, but this all started way before streaming.
Continue reading ‘Here Comes Peter Cottontail’ (1971): Light, jovial tale is perfect Easter viewing
‘The Odd Couple’ (Season 2): Sitcom undergoes drastic production changes. Do they work?
This time of year always brings (drunken) promises of tying up loose ends and making things “right” (how many times can a bookie break your arm? Apparently…lots), so when I sobered up after the holidays (and figured out how to type one-handed), I went back and looked at partially-reviewed titles here on Drunk TV that needed to be completed. And sure enough, one of my top 5 favorite sitcoms, The Odd Couple, had somehow been abandoned after a measly season one review.
Continue reading ‘The Odd Couple’ (Season 2): Sitcom undergoes drastic production changes. Do they work?
‘The Norliss Tapes’ (1972): Can the creepy thrill of ‘The Night Stalker’ be duplicated?
Fall’s here! Fall begins with the letter “f,” kids! There are lots and lots of other words that begin with the letter “f,” now that fall is here! Can you think of any? I know can! Like…”f******” leaves to rake! “F******” snow tires to drag out of the garage! “F******” heating bills I can’t afford! “F******” pumpkin spice everywhere you “f******” turn! “F******” elections that are fixed! And “f******” sitting alone in your den, drinking heavily on a dark, rainy afternoon, cleaning the pistol your old man blew his brains out with, while you mentally flip a coin to see if you should just f****** follow suit! Can you think of any others? You can? Great! So remember: Fall means f****** fun!”
Continue reading ‘The Norliss Tapes’ (1972): Can the creepy thrill of ‘The Night Stalker’ be duplicated?
‘Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom’: Thrilling & educational, Marlon Perkins paves way for ecology & conservation
Hey―we care about the planet here at the DrunkTV HQ. But we don’t wear diapers and tampons about it, that’s all. We don’t want to get taxed for it, or eat ground-up bugs so cows won’t fart, or drive an electric lawn mower instead of a kick-ass V-8. We like the Earth…we’re just not pussies about it. That’s why we like ultimate outdoor chad Marlin Perkins and his Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom series.
Continue reading ‘Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom’: Thrilling & educational, Marlon Perkins paves way for ecology & conservation
‘Greatest Heroes of the Bible (Vol. 3) – God’s Power’: Your Easter Sunday viewing is here, and it’s…good enough!
Forgive them, Father, for they know not this is Schick Sunn Classic entertainment.
Continue reading ‘Greatest Heroes of the Bible (Vol. 3) – God’s Power’: Your Easter Sunday viewing is here, and it’s…good enough!
‘The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case’ (1976): Anthony Hopkins hams it up in shallow true crime performance
So, wait: Lindbergh willingly sacrificed his kid to Nobel Prize-winning biologist Alexis Carrel in some Abrahamic gesture to provide Carrel a body for eugenics experimentation that went wrong…and then covered it up? That promotion for a new whack-job book conspiracy theory came over my news feed the other day, and sucker though I am for any and all looney conspiracy theories, it immediately reminded me of NBC’s 1976 long, long telemovie, The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, where the real crime wasn’t the kidnapping, but Anthony Hopkins’ deliciously awful Emmy-winning performance.
Continue reading ‘The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case’ (1976): Anthony Hopkins hams it up in shallow true crime performance
‘Seventh Avenue’ (1977): Third ‘Best Sellers’ miniseries really moves!
Oy vey iz mir did I get myself into something.
Continue reading ‘Seventh Avenue’ (1977): Third ‘Best Sellers’ miniseries really moves!
Thanksgiving ’71 on TV: Cricket on the Hearth, Laurel & Hardy, Yogi & Marine Boy – a look back
This holiday TV season, let’s go back…waaaaaaaay back, to a Thanksgiving in a more innocent time, a more gentle time, a kinder time.
Continue reading Thanksgiving ’71 on TV: Cricket on the Hearth, Laurel & Hardy, Yogi & Marine Boy – a look back
‘Crawlspace’ (1972): Excellent TV thriller a reminder to not invite strangers into your home
As with any kid—whether it’s your own or some crazed Manson hippie living and crapping in your crawlspace—you eventually just want them gone.
Continue reading ‘Crawlspace’ (1972): Excellent TV thriller a reminder to not invite strangers into your home
‘Once an Eagle’ (1976): NBC’s second ‘Best Sellers’ mini a sprawling epic across two world wars
Back when “the Big Three” were the only game in town, do you remember how exciting Septembers were, you vintage TV-crazed viewer? Sure you do. How exciting the prospect was for the upcoming slew of new TV shows, thoughtfully brought to you by your friendly networks, entirely free of charge? It was as if you had this whole new group of friends who were waiting to entertain you, and all you had to do was turn on the TV to see them, to welcome them into your home.
Continue reading ‘Once an Eagle’ (1976): NBC’s second ‘Best Sellers’ mini a sprawling epic across two world wars
‘Captains and the Kings’ (1976): Kennedyesque mini was the first of NBC’s ‘Best Sellers’ series
Hot creepers are they really trying to foist another Kennedy on us for the White House? As a VP replacement for Madame Word Salad? That family of bootlegging, pill-popping, ballot box-stuffing, movie star- shagging poon-hounds? Incrapitable!
Continue reading ‘Captains and the Kings’ (1976): Kennedyesque mini was the first of NBC’s ‘Best Sellers’ series
‘Sweet Hostage’ (1975): Martin Sheen kidnaps Linda Blair in TV exploiter
A must-have primer for every would-be romantic kidnapper out there…although the only way Sweet Hostage would be remade today is if Bradley Cooper kidnapped Dylan Mulvaney.
Continue reading ‘Sweet Hostage’ (1975): Martin Sheen kidnaps Linda Blair in TV exploiter
‘Korg: 70,000 B.C.’: Live action Hanna-Barbera adventure is all about the hunt!
‘Greatest Heroes of the Bible (Vol. 2) – God’s Chosen Ones’: More good lovin’ from the Good Book
Oy gevalt what’s with this meshugganah Easter season? The last time I put something out specifically for Easter (the Shick Sunn Classic TV epic Greatest Heroes of the Bible: Volume One review), we were in the middle of a deliberately manufactured global lockdown that was designed by our elitist overlords as a dry run for who-knows what’s to come…and God didn’t do anything about it (or them). To say I was in a snit with His rather, shall we say, casual attitude about the whole thing is an understatement, and it convinced me not write any more about Him or his people.
Continue reading ‘Greatest Heroes of the Bible (Vol. 2) – God’s Chosen Ones’: More good lovin’ from the Good Book
‘Perry Como’s Christmas Show’ (1974): The Carpenters join Como for a look back on a world long gone
Despite my wife’s adamant aversion to Karen and Richard, for me it just doesn’t seem like Christmas without the mellifluous strains of The Carpenters warbling out some beloved carol (Donna’s a Quaker, but “smash them in their stupid smiling faces” seems to be her default comment whenever they come on the radio). So why not ditch the stress and strain of today’s world and cool out with not one but two mellow masters of easy listening: The Carpenters and Perry Como?
Continue reading ‘Perry Como’s Christmas Show’ (1974): The Carpenters join Como for a look back on a world long gone
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