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Post by brutalis on Feb 7, 2021 15:19:08 GMT -5
Saturday mornings was the one totally free time where the television was mostly mine or all mine when spending weekends with my grandparents on my mom's side who lived 3 blocks away. That is how I learned of Doctor Who, the local independent station ran the Jon Perwee season Saturday morning at 5a-6am with 2 episodes. Then it was flip from channel to channel watching cartoons (won't try listing, check youtube for various seasons) and then 10:30am-12pm was a science fiction movie on the World Beyond with Action Theater (westerns) 12p-2p and Adventure Theater (cops, detectives, Tarzan etc) 2p-4p.
Of course that was up until my teen years and then that was an on/off thing depending on what chores/running around/hang with friends was happening. Every other Saturday was my weekend as a teen with the above mentioned grandparents. Friday after school I went over watching Dragnet, Adam Twelve and Star Trek with my grandfather. After dinner they crashed early so the TV was all mine til around midnight. Wake up for a home cooked breakfast then I mowed their front/back lawns, trin the trees, clean their storage room and wash their car. Me and grandpa would watch World Beyond and Action And Adventure Theater together. Once every few months instead of the TV movies grandpa and me would go out to movies for stuff like Planet of the Apes, Clint Eastwood, James Bond. Other times grandpa needed to replenish his used paperback reading so we would load up 4-5 paper grocery bags of books (always had a dozen or more bags to read) to trade in for more and spend the early afternoon hitting 3-4 used bookstores with a stop at the bar for his 2 cold beers and pig knuckles or some pickled hard boiled eggs. Coke and peanuts for me and 2md hand cigarette smoke.
But bonding with grandpa was wonderful. I was the oldest grandchild and really the only one wanting to stay and visit and be with them. Occasionally one of my younger brothers or cousins might stay over along with me, but they were all lazy and did it because the parents made them. I did it because I wanted to and enjoyed and loved being with my grandparents. Fun times and special memories...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2021 1:56:14 GMT -5
Speaking of Tarzan, local HD free TV low end station has popped in/out depending on signal quality. ACE the American Classic Entertainment is running the 2 season Tarzan the Epic Adventures starring Joe Lara. A more fantasy style show of the ape Lord which isn't great by any means but a guilty pleasure to enjoy, even if Lara the wimp had to wear boots. 🙂 it is filmed well and looks spectacular in color with a good use of practical creature effects before CGI became the answer to everything. Only problem is ACE is so low end they don't run a schedule on their internet page and is new to broadcasting I haven't been able to find them on any internet station listings yet. So it is catch it at odd times on Saturday so far, never at the same time in the last 3 weeks?!? Not sure if it is the same channel, but our cable system has a channel called I believe Zliving (or something similar as it's abbrviated) that is carrying the Tarzan Epic Adventures on Saturdays and a Tarzan series (plus Space 1999 on Sundays). I stumbled across it 2 weeks ago and the DVR has been piling up episodes each Saturday for me to watch when I get the chance. From what I gather, it wa sa former health and wellness channel that was bought out and now airs classic television. -M |
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Post by tartanphantom on Feb 20, 2021 21:11:18 GMT -5
Didn't any of you watch Roller Derby in the early '70's? It was a staple for me and my buddies as pre-adolescent red-blooded American boys... The women's matches beat the heck out of Saturday night wrestling.
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Post by brutalis on Feb 20, 2021 21:26:17 GMT -5
Didn't any of you watch Roller Derby in the early '70's? It was a staple for me and my buddies as pre-adolescent red-blooded American boys... The women's matches beat the heck out of Saturday night wrestling. It was difficult watching Roller Derby as it wasn't a high viewer show. I did manage to enjoy it whenever I could catch it. Weird times or filler as late night cheap viewing was the norm. Cable helped it bit in the 80's renew some interest. As you noted it was women's matches that were always fun and more entertaining. I remember the Los Angeles Thunderbirds were quite big for awhile with a feisty fiery ball of energy redhead that drew fans. A couple of local women's teams here in Phoenix managed to endure awhile but they eventually folded up. Local indoor semi-pro soccer had a similar fate in the 90's here. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 21, 2021 21:57:38 GMT -5
We had it at a couple of points, but not consistently. There were actually two different "leagues"; Roller Derby and Roller Games. Roller Derby was the old one, beginning in the 30s, growing out of Depression era entertainments and marathon competitions (watch They Shoot Horses, Don't They for examples, if you really want to depress yourself). Roller Games started in 1961, with a more theatrical style to it (Roller Derby was a worked game anyway, but this was like Gorgeous George vs Lou Thesz or Verne Gane, for a pro wrestling comparison). The T-Birds were part of the Roller Games league.
Roller Derby shut down in 1973 and a bunch of the skaters and the Thunderbirds team went to work for Roller Games; but, they died out, too, byt the mid-70s. The IRSL revived things in the late 70s, but only for a few years.
We got the Roller Games shows, for a time, as I recall Ralphie Valladares and the LA T-Birds. Chicago also had a team, which is probably why the show was broadcast in Peoria (my grandparents lived in Bloomington, IL, which got its tv from Peoria) and our affiliate in Springfield. I watched the revival, on ESPN, which was paired up with AWA Wrestling, on ESPN, with the evil manager Georgia Hass and her team of heels. Pretty much pro wrestling on skates, by that point, though that had always been there.
Some of the older pro wrestling newsletters used to cover the promotions when they were active, since there was a lot of crossover between pro wrestling and Roller Derby audiences. Dave Meltzer, the publisher of the Wrestling Observer, was always a big fan and I know he interviewed Ann Calvello, who was the biggest female star, from the glory days.
If memory serves, the movie Rollerball kind of renewed interest in it and I Know the Six Million Dollar Man did a roller derby-themed episode (a group of the skaters were carrying out thefts from government offices) and Charlie's Angels also did a roller derby episode, during the Farrah years. Raquel Welch did a film, The Kansas City Bomber, which is pretty good and did well at the box office. It was originally a darker character piece, but bounced around studios and was lightened up, tonally, at MGM. A good bit of it mirrors the life story of Ann Calvello, who started skating for the Roller Derby League in 1948, left for a time to have children, then divorced her husband and came back in the 50s and skated for Roller Games and others.
I always enjoyed the action; but, I couldn't understand the rules to save my life until the ESPN revival, where they emphasized it over the first few shows. Thing was, it had better storylines going than the AWA did, but the AWA had the better ratings and stayed on the network for the next few years. Roller Games tried to come back with a gimmicked up version, with a banked figure-8 track, with a pit they had to jump and stuff like that; then the Roller Jam thing, on TNN, around the time they had ECW Wrestling on there (ECW used to make fun of it and the network).
That was one of the fun things when I visited my grandparents: roller derby and All-Star Wrestling (the Indianapolis promotion of Dick the Bruiser and Wilbur Snyder, with Bobby Heenan as the heel manager). That and the Japanese adventure shows they got from a Chicago UHF station (Ultraman, Johnny Sokko, Speed Racer, The Marvel Super Heroes and Spider-Man). We didn't get any of that downstate...at least not consistently. We later got All-Star Wrestling, briefly, when they promoted shows in Springfield and, as I said, had Roller Games for a short time; but, never the Japanese stuff, the Marvel Super Heroes or Spider-Man.
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 21, 2021 22:31:17 GMT -5
Speaking of old pseudo-sports programming, how about ABC's Wide World of Sports, The Superstars (and Super-Teams) and The American Sportsman? Back in the 70s, ABC had THE best sports coverage, under the leadership of Roone Arledge, the producer. Saturdays were always Wide World of Sports, with Jim McKay and the various other announcers, depending on the sport involved. If it was boxing, it was Howard Cosell. Otherwise, you might have Kieth Jackson, Chris Schenkel, Curt Gowdy, Frank Gifford, Jim Lampley, Al Michaels, Al Trautwig, Brent Musburger, Chris Economaki, etc. You got color commentary from people like Dick Buttons, Peggy Fleming, Jackie Stewart, Donnie Allison, Don Meredith, ectc.
I was never as big on team sports, but individual sports were a bigger draw for me and I also tended to enjoy the "misfit" sports, like lumberjack competitions, rodeos, The Harlem Globetrotters, martial arts demonstrations (they televised a few of the Madison Square Garden extravaganzas of the 70s), drag racing, alpine skiing, amateur boxing and wrestling, gymnastics, figure skating and the like.
Sundays were the American Sportsman magazine show, with Curt Gowdy as host, and various athletes and celebrities going out fishing and hunting and similar activities.
We even watched the Pro Bowlers tour, hosted by Chris Schenkel; but, I found it a bit too boring (but my brother controlled the tv) and mostly sat through it because Wide World of Sports followed it.
ABC, was also the place to see the Olympics, thanks to their exclusive broadcasting contract, which lasted until 1988, when they broadcast the Calgary Winter Games. I remember watching some of the 1972 Games, in Munich; but, I was too young to watch much of it and I was unaware of the massacre until 1976, after a discussion on Wide World of Sports and a broadcast of the telemovie 21 Hours at Munich, dramatizing the massacre, with William Holden and Franco Nero, with actual ABC coverage edited into the story. I watched the 1976 Innsbruck Winter games and Montreal Summer Games, the 1980 Lake Placid Games (and the Miracle on Ice, as well as Eric Heiden and the Maher Bros), the 1984 Sarajevo Games and the Los Angeles Games and then the Calgary Games in '88 (a little of the Seoul Games; but, not much, as I didn't acre for NBC's broadcast style).
Every Saturday I couldn't wait until I could see poor Vinko Bogataj go crashing down that ski jump (and he wasn't seriously hurt!) and hear Jim McKay's narration....
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 21, 2021 22:33:58 GMT -5
Just for fun, here is Vinko and the jump[, plus the earlier successful jump he made that same day...
Extended interview and footage from the 20th Anniversary, where he received a standing ovation from noted athletes, including Muhammad Ali and Peggy Fleming.....
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Post by berkley on Feb 21, 2021 22:35:54 GMT -5
I did watch some roller derby on tv as a kid in the 70s and still remember some of the names - Paul "the Bear" Rupert, Skinny Minnie Miller, ... hmmm, I thought there were a few more I remembered but those are the only two that come to mind right now. I'm also picturing a blonde woman in a white uniform who seemed to be one of the stars but can't come up with a name.
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 21, 2021 23:04:29 GMT -5
I did watch some roller derby on tv as a kid in the 70s and still remember some of the names - Paul "the Bear" Rupert, Skinny Minnie Miller, ... hmmm, I thought there were a few more I remembered but those are the only two that come to mind right now. I'm also picturing a blonde woman in a white uniform who seemed to be one of the stars but can't come up with a name. Well, here's Judy Arnold...  Ann Calvello....  Joan Weston.....  1972 LA T-Birds....  Here's a clip from the mid-70s, with blonde Darlene Langlois and "Skinny Minnie" Gwen Miller... |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 21, 2021 23:13:51 GMT -5
There are a bunch of clips on Youtube, some from the classic era of both Roler Derby and Roller Games, as well as the 1989 incarnation of Roller Games (with the figure-8 track, etc) and some shot-off-the-screen bits of Georgia Hase from the ESPN show. She looks like Jim Cornette's older sister or something (he was a fan).
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Post by brutalis on Feb 22, 2021 1:03:46 GMT -5
Wide World of Sports was a Saturday staple where you got a nice variety of sporting events you couldn't see regularly. A fave was their yearly Harlem Globetrotters spotlight game. Back when the 'Trotters were famous with Meadowlark Lemon and Curly Neal. Had to wonder how difficult was it to be the opposing team constantly losing as they try to play serious b-ball while the Globetrotters showed their insane skills? They had to get paid some serious cash to face that humiliation ya think?!?
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Post by berkley on Feb 22, 2021 1:35:54 GMT -5
I think it was Diane Syverson, as seen in this interview clip:
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 22, 2021 11:05:43 GMT -5
Wide World of Sports was a Saturday staple where you got a nice variety of sporting events you couldn't see regularly. A fave was their yearly Harlem Globetrotters spotlight game. Back when the 'Trotters were famous with Meadowlark Lemon and Curly Neal. Had to wonder how difficult was it to be the opposing team constantly losing as they try to play serious b-ball while the Globetrotters showed their insane skills? They had to get paid some serious cash to face that humiliation ya think?!? They were actually a separate franchise that had a contract to play as opponents with the Globetrotters; so, they were paid by their own management. However, most of these guys were college players who didn't make the NBA; so, I would bet the pay was probably in the neighborhood of European teams or semi-pro ball. Maybe a little better, especially if they got any cut of merchandise sales. For me, it was that mid-70s team, with Meadowlark, Curly Neal, Marcus Haines, Geese Ausbie, Sweet Lou Dunbar.....really great performers. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 22, 2021 11:18:53 GMT -5
I did watch some roller derby on tv as a kid in the 70s and still remember some of the names - Paul "the Bear" Rupert, Skinny Minnie Miller, ... hmmm, I thought there were a few more I remembered but those are the only two that come to mind right now. I'm also picturing a blonde woman in a white uniform who seemed to be one of the stars but can't come up with a name. For a while around 1972 or so the kids on my street used to play Roller Derby during the winter. Without roller skates, we'd make a ring in the snow and run around it, bumping each other into the snow as we saw the pros do on TV. (I guess we could have done it with actual skates, but we'd have needed a much bigger space and preparing an ice rink is a lot more work than an oval in the snow!) Come to think of it, a lot of our games were inspired by TV... we also role-played at Daktari, Batman, Tarzan, Land of the Giants, Space 1999... But back to Roller Derby; I was mildly curious to see the movie Rollerball on account of having seen Roller Derby on TV, but never got around to it. |
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Post by MWGallaher on Feb 22, 2021 18:48:11 GMT -5
One of the first comics I bought, in Fall 1971, was a Roller Derby-centered story:  |
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