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These rare fall season previews from the Seventies are brought to you by Daniel J. Ferreira, Jr. and Jeff Vilencia, and they are a stone cold gas! Represented are some of the biggest winners and losers of the decade.

This short film was shot to give CBS execs a look at what the MTM show would be like without shooting an entire pilot and was only broadcast on the CBS Fall Season Preview show in August, 1970.

Notice that Lou Grant's office is completely different here than it is in the final version of the classic first episode, which contains the same verbal exchange between Lou and Mary heard here - word for word, right down to :"You've got spunk - I hate spunk!".

 

Wide World Of Sports / 1970 ABC decided to update the look of their sports anthology series with this new promo song in the Seventies - it was hard to top the excitement of the original "thrill of victory, agony of defeat" theme, but they succeeded.

THE F.B.I. / 1972 This series, loosely based on real stories from the FBI, ran from 1965-1974. At the end of most episodes, one of the FBI's ten most wanted criminals would be profiled. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr (as Agent Lewis Erskine) and Phillip Abbott (as Agent Arthur Ward) were the only two regulars to last the run of the series. The actors who guest-starred on this show actually had to pass a real FBI check before being cast. That may explain why most of the actors were unknowns.

Owen Marshall, Counselor At Law Dramatic series with Arthur Hill and Lee Majors as high-powered Santa Barbara attorneys, seen on ABC from 1971-1974. When Lee Majors left the series in 1973, he was replaced by Reni Santoni, and then HE was replaced midseason by David Soul ('Starsky and Hutch') before the show itself was sacked.

20/20 / 1978

ABC's venerable news magazine debuted over twenty years ago. Hard to believe - but even harder to remember was the show's original line-up of hosts and correspondences. If the hosts don't look familiar in this promo, no wonder - everyone was fired after the first live telecast.

Here's the replacement cast which included Geraldo Rivera, Sylvia Chase and Hugh Downs.

Paper Moon / 1974 TV series starring Jodie Foster, based on the hit movie. ABC had high hopes for this critically acclaimed show, it was probably the only series ever to be filmed on location in Kansas, but it was canceled mid-season due to poor ratings. Richard Ranke adds: "I saw the show Paper Moon once, and here is a big coincidence - how many people remember that Connelly and O'Neal played the Harrington brothers in the prime time soap, Peyton Place (1964-1969)? The female lead in the Paper Moon show was Jodie Foster (who could make a transition from successful child-actor to successful adult-actor) playing a role originated by Tatum O'Neal (who couldn't)." -Richard Ranke

Get Christy Love / 1974 "When you need a cop that's no lady, Get Christy Love." This cop flop starred Teresa Graves ('Laugh-in') in the crime-busting title role. Christy was TV's first black policewoman, snapping "You're under arrest, Sugah!" when she slapped on the cuffs. She's hip, but watch out for her super-bad karate moves and confrontational dialogue like "I got news for you Lieutenant- Christie Love isn't a quitter, Sugah. She intends to fight!" Lasted only one season.

Baretta 1975-1978  When Tony Musante decided not to return for another season of his one-season hit cop show 'Toma', producer Jo Swerling, Jr. signed former 'Our Gang' kid star Robert Blake for the role. But Blake was such a strong personality, they decided to revamp the show a bit and call the character 'Baretta'. It was an immediate hit but the star soon began to battle for more intelligent scripts, leading to original producer Swerling's ousting. Robert Blake's off-camera battles and excesses led to a relatively short run for the series. Because of his outlandish on-set behavior (reported to have been alcohol/drug related), Blake found subsequent work difficult to find, and he hasn't made many appearances on television since. "Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time."

Room 222 1969-1974 This comedy-drama changed the nature of television - a hit show that tackled problems relevant to the times. Busing, prejudice and drugs were the focus of typical episodes. Pretty soon, the network schedules were crowded with 'relevant' shows, but none lasted as long or had half the impact of 'Room 222'. Lloyd Haynes, Michael Constantine, Denise Nicholas and Karen Valentine star as the faculty. Valentine's character Alice Johnson started out as an inept student teacher that eventually graduated to full teacher status. None of the regulars found another successful TV series in their future, except Denise Nicholas who appeared on 'In The Heat Of The Night' from 1989-1994.

Make A Wish 1971-1976 "Make A Wish" was an ABC Sunday morning series starring Tom Chapin, produced, written and directed by Lester Cooper. Educational in nature, this show is fondly remembered for the original folksy tunes, written and sung by Tom Chapin (singer Harry Chapin's bother). Different subjects were explored each week, but in 1975 the show's focus shifted to historical Bicentienial themes exclusively. 'Make A Wish' was one of those rare educational shows that kids actually liked and parent groups lauded with awards. The premier episode of the Bicentienial season (on September 7, 1975) looked back at the first trans-continental railway.

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