Friday
Yes, another TV viewing week comes to
an end. But donít be sad. Tomorrow night it starts all over again. Until
then, enjoy a night of retro programming mostly from the sixties with one
show from the seventies that doesnít seem the least bit out of place. Címon
get happy. Youíre watching the LakinLand TV Network.
7:30 - THE BUGS BUNNY SHOW
Itís almost worth having this show on the schedule just for the opening song
and dance number by the OscarÆ-winning rabbit and his sidekick/foil Daffy
Duck. Add all those great characters in those wonderful cartoons and youíve
got a solid half hour of entertainment the whole family can enjoy. Forget
Disney. When it comes to cartoon animation, Warner Bros. is king.
8:00 - THE GREEN HORNET
ABC tried to cash in on the success of Batman by taking a masked crime
fighter from the golden age of radio and turning him into a TV super hero.
But a boring actor in an overcoat doesnít have quite the same impact as a
boring actor in a cape and leotards, and without colorful super villains to
battle, this show had only one thing that made it worth watching: Bruce Lee
as Kato. And that was more than enough.
8:30 - THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY
Who says TV and Rock & Roll donít mix? In the fifties, you had Ricky Nelson.
In the sixties, it was The Monkees. And in the seventies, along came The
Partridge Family. Okay, so it was more bubble gum than rock. But they
recorded a few good pop singles and the show was harmless enjoyable fun.
Plus you had a cute young Susan Dey proving she could do comedy long before
proving she couldnít in Love & War.
9:00 - HOGANíS HEROES
A comedy about prisoners in a Nazi P.O.W. camp during World War II. In bad
taste? Certainly. Funny? Ya-vol! But it also carried a positive message. If
only we spent more time developing the perfect strudel instead of the
perfect bomb, wars could be fought without the loss of lives or calories.
9:30 - THE TWILIGHT ZONE
The Twilight Zone was an anthology show that owed its success to great
scripts and the vision of its creator, Rod Serling, who believed TV could
make people think and still be entertaining. He was right and gave us shows
about science, aliens and the supernatural that also dealt with prejudice,
war and manís overall ignorance in general. In other words, he hid the
aspirin in the ice cream and viewers ate it up without gagging.
10:00 - THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
Robert Vaughn starred as Napoleon Solo, the suave agent who usually wound up
with the girl at some point during the show, and David McCallum played
Soloís Russian sidekick, Illya Kuryakin, who often wound up on the cover of
Tiger Beat Magazine in real life. For the sake of variety (and getting a
chance to look at Stephanie Powers in a mini skirt and go-go boots) we will
occasionally run episodes of The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. in this time slot, but
only if Noel Harrison doesnít sing
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