TV Show Intros: Emergency!

I really loved this show, and I see that the equipment in it from the very early 1970's were on par with what we had as volunteer firefighters in the late 80's and very early 90's...although we didn't have a ladder truck.

This is the long intro from the two hour movie pilot from 1972. I could not find the TV Version posted on You Tube.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the series:

Emergency! is a television series, combining the medical drama and action-adventure genres, that was produced by Mark VII Limited (Jack Webb’s company) and distributed by Universal Studios. It debuted as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, on NBC, replacing the short-lived series The Good Life, and ran until September 3, 1977. It was created and produced by Jack Webb and Robert Cinader, both of whom were also responsible for the police dramaAdam-12. The shows were similar in that they featured dedicated civil servants handling two or three varied and unrelated incidents during a typical shift; however, its larger cast and full-hour format typically allowed for more plot and character development.

The show returned as a series of six "Movie of the Week" specials between late 1977 and the spring of 1979. Three of the TV movies have the two paramedic characters traveling to San Francisco (twice) and Seattle for EMS conventions. While in both cities they end up assisting the local agencies (San Francisco's Rescue-2 and Seattle's Medic One) with several rescues. The others were "Steel Inferno" (a high rise blaze), "Survival on Charter #220" (two airplanes crash over a residential neighborhood—at the time it was reportedly the most expensive TV-movie ever made^{[citation needed]}) and a finale in which the firefighter/paramedics are promoted to captain.

Composers Nelson Riddle and Billy May are credited with the music for the series.

Read More

TV Show Intros: Battlestar Galactica (1978)

I think this show has the best theme of any show, before or since!

Battlestar Galactica also had some good themes, but even in my preteen years, the new alien civilization every week was a bit much...but I didn't care as long as they had plenty of space battles in the episodes.

Here is the Wikipedia article on the show:

Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, produced in 1978 by Glen Larson and starring Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict.

The premise of the series incorporates themes from Chariots of the Gods? and Mormondoctrine, world view and culture.^[1] The show lasted only one season in 1978–1979, but has since developed a cult following and several books have been written continuing the sagas of the characters. After its cancellation, its story was continued in 1980 as Galactica 1980 with Adama, Lieutenant Boomer, now a colonel in the Colonial Service, and Boxey, now called Troy, being the only continuing characters.

Read More

TV Show Intros: Space 1999

I so totally believed that we would have moon bases by 1999 when I was a kid in the early 1970's. I mean, we were putting men on the moon, and one day, I'd go.

Anyhow, I loved this show, but I can't remember anything about it now except that I loved it, and it frightened me a little.



From Wikipedia:

Space: 1999 (ITC Entertainment and RAI, 1975-77) is a British science-fiction television series. In the series, nuclear waste from Earth is stored on the moon. The waste explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, which knocks the moon out of its orbit and sends it and the 311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha hurtling uncontrollably into outer space. The series was the last produced by the partnership of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, famous for the TV series Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Fireball XL5, and UFO.

Read More

TV Show Intros: Baa Baa Black Sheep

Baa Baa Black Sheep takes me back. I can remember playing this at Cowee Elementary during recess. We would take turns being either Black Sheep or Japs...

From Wikipedia:

Baa Baa Black Sheep (later syndicated as Black Sheep Squadron) is a television series that aired on NBC from 1976 until 1978. Its premise was based on the experiences of United States Marine Corps aviator Pappy Boyington and his World War II "Black Sheep Squadron". The series was created and produced by Stephen J. Cannell. The opening credits read: "In World War II Marine Corps Major Greg 'Pappy' Boyington commanded a squadron of fighter pilots. They were a collection of misfits and screwballs who became the terrors of the South Pacific. They were known as the Black Sheep."

Read More

TV Show Intros: Little House on the Prairie

Little House on the Prairie was another favorite of mine, and my 4th Grade Teacher, Mrs. Fouts, read the books to us during lunch time...

Here is the Wikipedia article:

Little House on the Prairie is an American one-hour dramatic television program starringMichael Landon as Charles Ingalls, a farmer who cares very much about his family. It aired on the NBC network from September 11, 1974, to March 21, 1983, bumping the long-runningAdam-12 series to Tuesday nights. During the 1982-83 television season, with the departure ofMichael Landon, the series was broadcast with the new title Little House: A New Beginning. A three-hour compilation special called The Little House Years was aired in 1979. (The series itself was preceded by a two-hour pilot movie that first aired on March 30, 1974).

Read More

TV Show Intros: What's Happening!!

I was a big, big big fan of TV Shows when I was growing up.

Over the next few months, I'll be embedding a few of them here to share...

I'll start it off with What's Happening!!...

From Wikipedia...

What's Happening!! follows the lives of three working-class African-American teens living in theWatts section of Los Angeles. The show stars Ernest Thomas as Roger "Raj" Thomas, Haywood Nelson as Dwayne Nelson, and Fred Berry as Freddy "Rerun" Stubbs. Co-starring are Danielle Spencer as Roger's little sister, Dee; Mabel King as Roger and Dee's mother, Mabel; and Shirley Hemphill as Shirley Wilson, a waitress at "Rob's Place", the boys' favorite restaurant. Recurring characters include Rob (Earl Billings), owner of Rob's Place; and Miss Collins (Fritzi Burr), a sarcastic history teacher and the sponsor of the school newspaper.

Unlike Good Times, a contemporary show that also had African-American cast, What's Happening!! only rarely and mildly ventured into social commentary. TV Guide once famously referred to What's Happening!! as "a look at urban black life that manages to capture the offensiveness of Amos and Andy while avoiding that program's fun." Most episodes focused on the goals of teenage males — meeting girls, finding after school jobs, and planning for the future. Episodes sometimes featured subplots involving Mrs. Thomas, Raj's bratty sister Dee, or waitress Shirley.

Read More