TV Guide Tuesday, Part 2

Go to Part 1

Grab a big bowl of Lucky Charms and get comfy on the couch as we find ourselves transported back in time to Saturday, June 10, 1978.  Returning to this long ago Saturday morning once again, there are several viewing options to choose from at 8:30 am: brain melting cartoons include Speed Buggy on channel 2, Globetrotters on channels 3 and 4, or Brady Kids on channel 5 or the more educational live-action Big Blue Marble to watch "hula-hoop hopefuls in California practicing for a national championship" on channel 11 or the always dependable Mister Rogers on PBS Channel 12 WHYY-TV serving the Wilmington, Delaware and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania areas.  We also have our first fright flick of the day, the 1961 black and white film, The Devil's Hand on the great Philadelphia independent WTAF-TV channel 29:

From 9 to 10 there are a couple classic 'toons: Bugs Bunny/Road Runner on channels 2 and 10 or Woody Woodpecker on channel 5, along with the slightly less classic Scooby's Laff-A-Lympics on channels 6 and 7, and some more Mister Rogers on channel 13, with Sesame Street popping up at 9:05 on channel 12.  9:30 brings more Popeye & Friends on channel 5 if you didn't get your Popeye fix earlier at 7:30, along with the possibility of seeing a live action Spider-Man sketch on Electric Company on channel 13:

When 10 am rolls around, 1944's Voodoo Man with Bela Lugosi and John Carradine on channel 9 is the obvious choice, though there's always Flintstones on channel 5 or Sesame Street (again) on channel 13 as an option:

More cartoon goodness at 10:30 with Batman/Tarzan on channels 2 and 10, Pink Panther on channels 3 and 4 and Archies on channel 5, with Wild Wild West as a live action drama alternative on the much beloved independent WKBS-TV channel 48 broadcasting out of Philadelphia:

Saturday morning wraps up at 11:00 with the Krofft Supershow on channels 6 and 7, a rerun of I Dream of Jeannie with guest star Sammy Davis Jr. on Channel 11, some cartoon I have absolutely no recollection of called Baggy Pants on channels 3 and 4, or Zoom on channel 13 for the PBS set.  As we savor the last fleeting minutes of this long gone Saturday morning, 11:30 am presents a trio of intriguing sounding possibilities for our viewing pleasure: Secrets of Isis on channels 2 and 10, Space Sentinels on channels 3 and 4, or the 1970 sci-fi film The Forbin Project on channel 9:

And just like that, we emerge out of the bustling cartoon mecca of Saturday morning and into the vast open plains of Saturday afternoon.  Shall we go outside and play in the sun for the remains of the day like normal, healthy children?  Or shall we instead stay inside only to sit zombie-like in front of this boob tube...our pale, glowing skin becoming an ever more sickly pallor, the very hue of white noise static emanating from an unused channel on the UHF wavelength...?  Tune in next time to find out!

TV Guide Tuesday

I've got a few vintage issues of TV Guide that I "liberated" from my good friend Frank Costanza, so I thought it might be interesting every now and then to see what was on television back in the analog days in this new feature on WODS-TV we're calling "TV Guide Tuesday".

First up is a TV Guide for the week of June 10-16, 1978.
Check out that sweet, sweet Close Encounters of the Third Kind inspired cover painting (sorry about that address label, didn't want to risk tearing the cover by trying to remove it):

Very nice!

Ok kids, set your WABAC machine, flux capacitor or TARDIS (depending upon your generational point of reference) to Saturday, June 10, 1978, 5:50 am Eastern Standard Time, head for New Jersey and turn right at the Pine Barrens. Here's the channel line up and early Saturday morning schedule for the New Jersey/Pennsylvania area for this date:

It's hard to believe but there were only seventeen channels total available between New York and Philadelphia back then in '78, and to be honest I don't recall ever getting in channel 23 or 40 where I grew up in central New Jersey--we only ever pulled in fifteen at most, with the UHF channels usually a bit more fuzzy than the majority of the VHF channels (2 through 13).

Even though the listings start at 5:50 am, the actual kid shows didn't really begin until 6:30 am when you had a choice between Casper & Friends on the independent station WNEW-TV channel 5 out of New York or the local live action kid's show Captain Noah on WPVI-TV channel 6, the ABC affiliate out of Philadelphia--unless you were a weird kid and really enjoyed bleary eyed early morning viewings of Agricultural News or the religious program Patterns for Living.

At 7 am you had a few more choices: Underdog on channel 5 being the front runner along with Three Robonic Stooges on CBS channel 10 WCAU-TV out of Philly or Mr. Magoo on WNBC-TV channel 4 out of New York.  If for some odd reason you craved live action instead of animation, you had a few additional options at this hour with several live action kid shows to choose from, including Patchwork Family on WCBS-TV channel 2 out of New York, Chief Halftown on channel 6, and some show I really don't recall called Carrascolendas on both the NBC affiliate out of Philly KYW-TV channel 3 or the independent WPIX-TV channel 11 out of New York; though if you were a glutton for punishment, there was always the dreaded religious killjoy Pat Robertson on the 700 Club on channel 17 WPHL-TV, an independent out of Philly.

At 7:30 you had Muhammed Ali on channel 4, Bugs Bunny & Popeye on channel 5, Popeye and Friends on channel 6, or Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine on channel 10, but it was at 8 am that things really started to "get crazy", kid TV wise.  If you skipped Three Robonic Stooges earlier at 7 am on channel 10, now was your chance to catch them on channel 2, but chances are those robotic knuckleheads would get passed over yet again for more substantial fare, though you had a hard choice ahead of you: Hong Kong Phooey on NBC channels 3 and 4 or Superfriends on ABC channels 6 and 7 (WABC-TV out of New York) being the main contenders, with the Abbott & Costello cartoon on channel 5 running close behind with the slightly more middle brow Gene London show on channel 10, Dusty's Treehouse on channel 11, and the always stalwart Sesame Street on PBS channel 13 WNET-TV in New York bringing up the rear.

Now if you were of the Lutheran persuasion or even a Clokeyite or just an agnostic with a slight Gumbyist bent, you might just decide to forego Zan and Jayna on the Superfriends and switch the dial to channel 9 WOR-TV, an independent in the New York area, to catch up with Davey and Goliath for a half hour of wholesome fun.  Those capsule descriptions above really do sound oddly intriguing: was "Cousin Barney" really Davey's cousin, was Barney even his actual name at all, and why was "Barney's" dad so eager to pawn him off for the whole summer?  And what was the strange machine Davey and Goliath discovered in that abandoned house?  A spinning jenny?  An old bootlegger's still?  A printing press used for counterfeit money?  An atavachron?

Unfortunately, that's all the time we have for now so those questions will just have to remain unanswered mysteries.  Until next time!