Vincent Terrace - Television Series of the 1970s: Essential Facts and Quirky Details

Television Series of the 1970s

Television Series of the 1970s

Essential Facts and Quirky Details

Vincent Terrace

Rowman & Littlefield

Lanham Boulder New York London

Published by Rowman & Littlefield

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Copyright 2017 by Rowman & Littlefield

All rights reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Terrace, Vincent, 1948 author.

Title: Television series of the 1970s : essential facts and quirky details / Vincent Terrace.

Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016044272 (print) | LCCN 2017005614 (ebook) | ISBN 9781442278288 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781442278295 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: Television seriesUnited StatesCatalogs. | Television pilot programsUnited StatesCatalogs.

Classification: LCC PN1992.8.S4 T483 2017 (print) | LCC PN1992.8.S4 (ebook) | DDC 791.45/750973dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016044272

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank James Robert Parish, Steven Eberly, Bob Leszczak, Nicole Galiardo, and Madison Gorman for their assistance on this project.

Introduction

This is a volume in a series of books that detail the trivia aspects of largely American television programs by decade. This book follows Television Series of the 1950s and Television Series of the 1960s .

This volume, like its prior editions, is not a book of opinions or essays about 1970s programs. It is a presentation of trivia facts associated with specific TV series that premiered from January 1, 1970, through December 31, 1979.

Did you know, for example, that on All in the Family , the hospital bill for Glorias birth was $131.50; that the bionic ear replacement used for Jaime Sommers ( The Bionic Woman ) has the catalog number 6314 KMH; or that on CHiPs Jon Baker was the only motorcycle officer to carry a policemans nightstick?

What about the sitcom Dustys Trail being known as Gilligans Island out West? How about Mr. Roarke being an immortal on Fantasy Island or that J.J.s favorite drink on Good Times is Kool-Aid (or that his mother, Florida, was not named after the state her name implies)?

Do you know what Mary Hartmans strange hope for her daughter Heather was on M ary Hartman, Mary Hartman ? What Carl Kolchak ( Kolchak: The Night Stalker ) feared most? What name-brand bra Carol wore on Maude or who played TVs first African American policewoman on Get Christie Love ?

These are just a thimbleful of the many thousands of intriguing trivia that can be found within the pages that follow. Television Series of the 1970s is a totally different perspective on a past era of what has been shown on American television.

Note: Programs that premiered in the 1960s and that continued first-run production into the 1970s are not included here. Information on the following programs can be found in the volume Television Series of the 1960s :

B

Banacek

(NBC, 19721974)

Cast: George Peppard (Thomas Banacek), Christine Belford (Carlie Kirkland), Murray Matheson (Felix Mulholland), Ralph Manza (Jay Drury).

Basis: Freelance insurance investigator Thomas Banacek attempts to solve highly complex cases involving lost, missing, or stolen items.

THOMAS BANACEK

Heritage: Polish.

Place of Birth: Sully Square in Boston, Massachusetts.

Business: T. BanacekRestorations.

Home Address: 85 Mount Vernon Street in the Beacon Hill section of Boston.

Occasional Clients: National Fidelity Insurance; the Boston Insurance Company (which he prefers, as it was built on the site of his former childhood home).

Character: A suave and sophisticated ladies man and self-made millionaire.

Military Service: A marine during the Korean War and trained in combat judo.

Background: His father, Leo, a research scientist, was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1924 and immigrated to America (at the age of 16). He worked as a mathematician for an insurance company, but after 20 years on the job, he was replaced by a computer. Because of this, Thomas will not work in an office or in a nine-to-five jobI dont work for anybody. I work for myself.

Fees: $100 a day expenses plus 10 percent of the value of the object that is missing.

Lifestyle: Extravagant. He smokes pencil-thin panatela cigars and has exquisite tastes in wine, women, and food.

Favorite Breakfast: Eggs Banacek (his variation on Eggs Benedict).

Favorite Strategy Game: Chess.

Quirk: Never hands out a business card. As he says, Im in the Boston phone book.

Cars: 1941 Packard convertible, 1969 American Motors AMX, 1973 Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine, and a 1941 Packard 180.

Mobile Phone Number: KL 1-7811.

Specialty: Intrigued by how a crime was committed and why it was impossible for authorities to solve.

Research: The Assurance Reports. The Recovery and Rewards section lists unsolved insurances cases; if they are more than 60 days old, they become public domain and allow anyone to solve them for the reward.

Success Rate: 66 percent. Insurance companies find it cheaper to hire Banacek than assign their own agents to a case. Not solving a case does not seem to anger Banacek; he says simply, I get a little bit older.

Proverbs: Banacek has an old country saying that begins with Theres an old Polish proverb that goes... (Examples are Only a truly wise man chooses not to play leap frog with a unicorn, Only a centipede can hear all the footsteps of his uncle, and No matter how hot the face of the sun, the mother cat has her kittens under the porch.)

Competition: Caroline Kirkland, called Carlie, works first for the National Meridian Insurance Company, then the Boston Insurance Company in the Property and Recovery Division. She drives a 1973 Corvette and claims that Banacek can smell a case just like a rat in a Provolone factory. Carlie would like to leave her job and become an independent like BanacekI can be Dr. Watson to your Sherlock Holmes.

Information Man: Felix Mulholland, the owner of Mulholland Rare Books and Prints. He considers himself very intelligentI am a walking compendium of mans knowledge.