Anyway, have a look and see what you think:
http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Chron0.htm
Very interesting, and very detailed. I didn't see anything about rewrites or ret-conning, where the shared universes could become un-shared and even re-shared.
Some examples are harder to define. There's an episode in the last season of
Newhart where Julia Duffy's character Stephanie gives birth (to baby Steph) and at the end of the episode, other CBS stars offer her their congratulations. These are very quick 'best wishes'-- but we are not told if it's Patrick Duffy saying congratulations or if it's Bobby Ewing; or if it's Candice Bergen chiming in or Murphy Brown; and there were several other actors/characters from other top CBS shows also appearing. If they were really the characters they play, then that would mean Stephanie and the Loudons up in Vermont would know the Ewings down in Texas, and Murphy and her coworkers in Washington D.C., and so forth. Obviously, CBS and the writers of
Newhart thought it was a cute idea and a way to cross-promote those other programs. But again, it's not clear if the brief cameos at the end are the actors or the characters they play.
Then several episodes later, when the show ends, it all turns out to be the dream of Dr. Bob Hartley (the character from Bob Newhart's previous sitcom). So that would mean
Dallas and
Murphy Brown would all connect back to
The Bob Newhart Show. But yet it was all a dream. It gets pretty insane. LOL
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pacwarbuff
7 years ago
The Newhart "crossover" reminds me of CBS' "We've Got the Touch" promos of 1983-84, when the likes of Newhart, Higgins from Magnum, P.I., Victoria Principal--or is she Pamela Barnes Ewing?--and getting more screentime than anyone else, Rick and AJ Simon, who play basketball with the two kids who enter the CBS TV world. It looks like all those CBS characters--or is it just the actors?--inhabit the same universe.
I suppose it's far too tenuous to make any sense of, but it was a fun promotional campaign with a catchy jingle I still remember thirty years later. The singer of the jingle sounds like Richie Havens (of Woodstock music festival fame).
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jarrodmcdonald-1
7 years ago
I forgot about all those catchy promos they used to do in the 80s to sell the new fall line-ups. Now you have me wanting to look for them on YouTube.
In those days, the TV networks had taken on the same function the old movie studios had in previous decades-- developing content for the stars that were under contract. And I think a lot of those stars knew each other quite well since they worked together to not only promote their respective programs but the network as a whole.
When I watched the cameos at the end of the Newhart baby episode, it made me nostalgic for the cozier, more intimate days of network television. I was born in 1971, so my childhood centered on these series and the characters in them. If a show ended, I watched the performers take on similar roles in other network programs. It was before cable and DVDs and internet streaming took hold.
I still go back and look at these programs. They represent my adolescent youth and the zeitgeist of the cold war 80s before the Berlin wall came tumbling down.
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pacwarbuff
7 years ago
I was also born in 1971, so our TV exposure is probably very much alike. I was a big CBS fan though I really didn't care for many tv shows circa 1976-80. It wasn't until Magnum, P.I. and Simon & Simon aired that I found "my" shows I would end up loving for the rest of my life.
Pop music was mostly Baby Boomer solipsism so I was mostly a film score music listener as a young child. It wouldn't be until the so-called "Second British Invasion" of 1983 that I was introduced to the kind of music I enjoyed, though for the most part, I prefer music from the decades before I was born (primarily jazz).
As for the 1980s, I lost interest in the decade in mid 1985, when the entertainment landscape changed on all fronts, at least from my perspective. Heck, I even stopped watching Magnum and the Simons by then. In seeing them now, especially the Simons, I can often see what it was that turned me off of mid-'80s and on pop culture.
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jarrodmcdonald-1
7 years ago
You didn't say what it is about the mid-80s culture that turned you off..?
You and I grew up, or came of age, in the same decade-- so we would share those experiences, along with other TV watchers of our generation.
My dad's family was from rural Wisconsin. We lived on a farm until I was almost eight years old-- my mother was a suburban Chicago girl and it was her goal to get us off the farm and over to a bigger town (like Green Acres in reverse). Out in the country, before the days of cable or satellite dishes, we could only receive two channels-- NBC and CBS. We did not watch ABC until 1979 when we moved off the farm and could get the third network on our TV in our new home. So of course, in the early 80s, my sister and I were trying to 'catch up' and watch things we had never seen before-- like Happy Days and Mork & Mindy.
But yeah, I think I always preferred the shows on CBS the most. There was a certain quality they represented. I really loved Scarecrow & Mrs. King-- the perfect blend of cold war espionage, comedy and romance. Someone on the S&MK IMDb board called the program a Reagan-era relic, and it definitely is-- but that's what makes me still love it. All our generation's fears, and hopes and dreams, as well as the technology and pop culture, can be found in those episodes. It takes me back every time.
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ringfire211
7 years ago
SCARECROW & MRS. KING was great! What was really great about the show was that it could be light-hearted escapism and romance (a la NBC's REMINGTON STEELE) but at the same time tense enough where the story could be about a renegade Russian general trying to detonate a nuclear device at Arlington Cemetry in DC. You would never get something like this on REMINGTON STEELE (which I also liked, primarily for Pierce Brosnan, but it lacked any real tension). In this sense SAMK was more like James Bond than a silly romantic sleuthing show. So yes CBS did have some fine shows. And let's not forget AIRWOLF (from MAGNUM creator Donald Bellisario), a show that was definitely ahead of its time. Very dark (especially the pilot episode), considering that this was on the same network that was giving us ridiculously juvenile stuff like DUKES OF HAZZARD.
Connery, Moore, and Brosnan! Accept NO substitutes!
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jarrodmcdonald-1
7 years ago
SCARECROW & MRS. KING was great! What was really great about the show was that it could be light-hearted escapism and romance (a la NBC's REMINGTON STEELE) but at the same time tense enough where the story could be about a renegade Russian general trying to detonate a nuclear device at Arlington Cemetry in DC.
Yes,
Scarecrow & Mrs. King could give us hard-hitting stories about nuclear bombs, rogue agents, toxic waste and assorted cold-war tensions. But it also showed the lighter side of life, too-- a suburban mother (Kate Jackson) who was getting in way over her head with dangerous situations as an undercover spy, dealing with a fellow agent (Bruce Boxleitner) she was falling for, plus all the normal growing pains involving her pre-teen sons, meddling mother and ex-husband.
Most of the stories properly balanced the comedy with the drama, though some of the episodes were rather enigmatic and grim. I've always thought
S&MK should have a modern updating-- because the two were married at the end, and I'm sure they they probably had a daughter who would now be an agent today, dealing with issues in the Middle East and North Korea. And she'd probably need her parents (at this point, retired spies) to bail her out of trouble every so often.
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ringfire211
7 years ago
a suburban mother (Kate Jackson) who was getting in way over her head with dangerous situations as an undercover spy
Yep, by the end of the pilot episode she was already flying a helicopter!!
That's a pretty tall order for an ordinary soccer mom.
Connery, Moore, and Brosnan! Accept NO substitutes!
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tenement-funster
7 years ago
That first series of "Airwolf" was gloriously dark and atmospheric. Really grown up stuff (though still fun). It got watered down horribly in subsequent seasons though. Season three is particularly trite. Such a shame! I don't think the network knew what to do with it, amongst the usual fun eighties fare.
It later got a revamp of course. Season four is hilarious. Check out the episode when Dick van Dyke turns up as a killer robot. Seriously!
I remember enjoying "Scarecrow & Mrs King", though I don't think we got much of it in the UK. I preferred "Remington Steele", probably because of the 1940s aesthetic. Some episodes were pretty gritty, though it wasn't as prevalent on that show as on others, certainly.
My favourite at the time was "The A-Team". I am such an intellectual! I think I probably enjoy S&S more these days though. I like the mix of comedy and drama.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I find concussion quite invigorating.
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ringfire211
7 years ago
Yep, season 1 of AIRWOLF was fairly grown-up. Then it got more "family friendly". They were forced to add a female member to the team so in came Jean Bruce Scott as Caitlin in season 2. Oddly enough as a kid I enjoyed seasons 2 and 3 more than 1, no doubt because they appealed more to my fun-loving side. I found season 1 a bit dull at the time. Now season 1 holds up better. But I still think seasons 2 and 3 were solid (a few turkeys notwithstanding). Season 3 had great ones like "The Horn of Plenty", "Airwolf II", "Fortune Teller", "Kingdom Come", "Discovery", "Hawke's Run", and a few others. Unfortunately by that time Jan-Michael Vincent was so sloshed (he was a serious alcoholic which basically killed his career) that he couldn't even remember his lines. You could actually tell in some episodes where he's struggling to keep his balance and is slurring his lines. It's a shame, really. At the time he was the highest paid TV actor!
Season four is hilarious. Check out the episode when Dick van Dyke turns up as a killer robot. Seriously!
Oh I believe you! I remember that episode! Heck, I even enjoyed it at the time. But hey, I was a kid. I couldn't imagine enjoying it today. Season 4 was pretty bad. I tried watching an episode a few years ago and just couldn't do it. That was the season where they changed the whole cast and got Barry Van Dyke to be the star of the show. Hence his dad guest-starring as the mad scientist/killer robot!
Connery, Moore, and Brosnan! Accept NO substitutes!
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h-corbett
7 years ago
A few months ago I uploaded a series premiere promo for Simon & Simon on YouTube.
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