Chương trình truyền hình hàng đầu năm 1978 năm 2022

The Bob Newhart Show, Six Million Dollar Man, The Carol Burnett Show, Maude, Police Woman, Barretta, the 'Barney Miller' spin-off Fish, Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, Kojak, Chico and the Man, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and the Bionic Woman.

What's Happening!! debuted in August, 1976 and ran until April, 1979 featuring a young cast of unknowns.

First season for two long running hits, The Love Boat [based on a very popular series of 1976 TV-movies] starring MTM's Gavin McLeod and CHIPS with Eric Estrada.

Nancy Walker returned to Rhoda after two flops - The Nancy Walker Show and Blansky's Beauties were both aired then canceled on ABC during the 76-77 season.

Chico and the Man and Eight is Enough return despite stars that died the previous season. Freddie Prinze [Chico] committed suicide and Diana Hyland [who played the mom on 'Eight is Enough'] died of Cancer. Scott Baio joins Happy Days as Fonzie's cousin Chachi.

Ester Rolle left Good Times because too much focus was put on Jimmie Walker [she returned a year later for a last season] and Larry Linville [Maj. Frank Burns] quit M*AS*H and disappeared into obscurity.

The Bing Crosby Christmas Specials come to an end, the last one [with guest David Bowie] was taped five weeks before Bing's death.

Program Profile
James at 15
Thursday nights at 9:00
NBC / Oct. 1977 - July 1978

Why someone hasn't snatched this series up for a revival is beyond me, it's the 'Malcolm in the Middle' of the polyester decade, 'That Seventies Show' for real.

Lance Kerwin starred as James Hunter, a displaced high school student in this semi-realistic hour long drama about growing up in the Seventies. James' hobby was photography and he would often have elaborate daydreams ala Walter Mitty.

Typical plot: James' friend from school is distraught over her affair with a professor. Late in the season, this show was renamed 'James at 16' - this was when James had sex with a Swedish exchange student, a first for a teen TV character. There were protests, but light ratings [despite critical accolades] made cancellation inevitable.

Program Profile
The Betty White Show
Monday nights at 9:00
CBS / Sept. 1977 - Jan 1978

For the past 7 seasons, 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' ruled on CBS. When Mary quit the series, all of the cast members were herded into new productions.

The Lou Grant character [played by Ed Asner] was successfully spun off as a hour-long drama while Betty White and Georgia Engle were teamed in a very funny half-hour sitcom. Both were produced by MTM productions.

In the CBS comedy, Betty White played a TV actress starring in a fictional police series ['Undercover Woman'] and the cast was a good one - including dour John Hilerman, who later played basically the same character in 'Magnum PI'. Even though 'The Betty White Show' was bright and genuinely hilarious, the show failed to catch on opposite ABC Football and NBC movies and was gone by mid-season.

Two other MTM alumni got their own shows during the 77-78 season. Gavin McLeod clicked with The Love Boat and The Ted Knight Show flopped on ABC, but Knight had a better run with 'Too Close For Comfort' 1980-1986 [later re-titled 'The Ted Knight Show'].

The Man From Atlantis was an embarrassment for NBC in the fall, but series star Patrick Duffy gained success on a CBS show that debuted on CBS just weeks after 'Man From Atlantis' was cancelled - Dallas.

A young Stuart Pankin is one of five moronic frat guys living in a houseboat onThe San Pedro Beach Bums. This toxic beach was cleared in December.

Patrick McGoohan ['Secret Agent Man', 'The Prisoner'] stars as Rafferty, an unconventional doctor. The series, the only medical show on the schedules, lasted only a few weeks.

Young Dan'l Boone on CBS is trumped by Little House on the Prairie [then in a fourth season on NBC]. The Fitzpatricks, Richard Pryor Show, Rosetti and Ryan, Busting Loose, The Oregon Trail, Mulligan's Stew, Big Hawaii and Sanford Arms all went down quickly in 1977.

Popular in syndication in the South - World Wide Wrestling.

Program Profile
Lucan
Monday nights at 8:00
ABC / Sept. 1977 - Dec. 1978

A 20 year-old boy, raised by wolves in the woods, tries to make his way in civilization, looking for the parents who left him behind. Lucan has a special connection with wild animals and has wolf-like senses.

Tracking him are bounty hunter Prentiss [Don Gordon] and ruthless University researcher Dr. Hoagland - who performed experiments on Lucan when he was discovered as a boy.

This adventure/drama only ran irregularly but got strong ratings, at least for the first few outings. Kevin Brophy starred in the title role. In the first episode, Lucan helps a foreign gymnast caught up in a sinister plot.

Dr. David Banner experiments with gamma Rays and finds himself morphing into a raging, green alter ego, The Incredible Hulk, when he gets angry.

Bixby was firm in his contention that Banner was the focus of the show, not the monster. The formula followed those of previous hit shows like 'The Fugitive', 'The Invaders', and others. Dr. Bruce Banner must stay on the run for a murder he didn't commit, looking for a cure and avoiding newspaperman Jack McGee [played by Jack Colvin] who follows him from town to town.

It wasn't long before Lou Ferrigno began to have a problem with his second banana status. After all, the show was called The Incredible Hulk and he played the title character - he deserved more airtime, and the Hulk should have some lines now and then, he reasoned. This led to behind the scenes battles later in the series run.

One of the few hit shows of the 1977-78 season - the first TV show to be controversial before it even debuted. Religious and family groups were up in arms that adulterers and homosexuals were being paraded before the home audience, and that was just on the pilot.

Advertisers pulled out and some ABC affiliates refused to carry the show - at first. Big ratings changed that.

Program Profile
Operation Petticoat
Monday nights at 9:00
CBS / Sept. 1977 - Oct 1978

From the executive producer of 'Get Smart', Leonard Stern, comes the mis-adventures of a co-ed med crew serving aboard a pink submarine during World War II. Lots of sexist jokes and obvious humor in the 'Three's Company' vein.

John Astin ['Addams Family'] heads a large cast that includes a young Jamie Lee Curtis [her first acting gig] and Jim 'Ernest' Varney.

When the show returned for the 1978-79 season, most of the cast was let go [including Jamie] and Jo Anne Flug joined the cast, but the series was one of the first casualties of the season.