Sunday Showcase February 22, 1976

It was Grammy time back in 1976 so that year's hosts grace the cover of the Sunday Showcase. Andy Williams gets interviewed and lets us all know what he thinks about hard rock. And to think I used to like Andy.

Now, let's just go through this Sunday Showcase in order.

I never went shopping at Bernie's, but it seems like it must have been a great department store. 

The super exciting news this week is the arrival of WZTV channel 17. It was a big deal.

The one tune on the Top 10 Records list from February 22, 1976 that I was super crazy about was the "Theme From "S.W.A.T"." I loved the funky track and I loved the show. I still have the 45.

If you couldn't watch Channel 17 on its scheduled debut of February 28, you could go check out some Southern rock at Municipal Auditorium with The Outlaws and Elvin Bishop opening for The Marshall Tucker Band. Note how many banks you could purchase tickets from back then. 

If I had to pick a favorite station from my childhood it would have to be Channel 2 which used to be Channel 8. ABC was where it was at for me. Here's a big ad for what was showing that Sunday night. Six Million Dollar Man was one I rarely missed. 

Channel 2 was my favorite prime time viewing, but channel 5 was my afternoon fix. They would show movies in the afternoon during the weekday and this week was a theme week featuring Universal horror films. Plus it was their Dialing for Dollars call in contest for added thrills. Here is what was shown this week.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Steve Martin would be at the Exit/In on Sunday and Monday. 

David Bowie would be coming to play Nashville again soon on what was dubbed his Isolar tour. He played Nashville often during the 70's, but I don't believe he ever came back after his 1978 Isolar II tour. If he did let me know in the comments section. Even better if you were at this show share your experience in the comments.

I don't know about you, but nothing screams 70's as much as creating my own plant oasis.

The Ask Showcase page was often near the end of the section, but this week's edition we find on page 32. I'm mystified that someone would think Michael Learned and Karen Grassle were the same person, but I do love a good conspiracy theory. It's also funny to me that someone thought the Bionic Woman was married to the Six Million Dollar Man. 

It's time once again to play a game I call what was little Wally watching. The date would be Saturday February 28, 1976 and unless it was unseasonably warm or perhaps snowing the odds are pretty good I would be inside watching a little television. So, here's what I had to choose from.

7 AM I would be digging Scatman Crother's voice over work as Hong Kong Phooey or I might be catching Pebbles and Bam Bam. 

730 AM It's an hour of Bugs Bunny and Road Runner. I still enjoy Road Runner cartoons to this day, but Bugs Bunny just annoys me now. 

830 AM I was a huge Scooby Doo fan so I'm leaving the channel alone. My kids can attest that my love of Scooby Doo is still strong. 

9 AM Land Of The Lost is totally great. There's no way I would miss it. This would either be a season 1 or 2 rerun. 

930 AM I'm switching over to either Super Friends or the Shazam/Isis Hour. 

10 AM I'm probably switching between Planet Of The Apes and the Far Out Space Nuts. "I said lunch not lunch."

1030 AM Look at the choices! Soul Train, Ghost Busters, or Mister Rogers, I loved all of those shows. I guess it would depend on my mood or parents's mood on which one of these shows I'd watch.

11 AM Zoom is easily one of my favorite shows when I was growing up. I learned the Boston zip code thanks to it. 0-2-1-3-4! Send it to Zoom. This episode would probably be from the 1975-1976 season.

1130 AM It's either Fat Albert or American Bandstand

12 Noon If the CBS Children's Film Festival was showing something cool I would watch it. If not I would click over to Bandstand or the Sesame Street rerun. One thing I remember about these Sesame Street reruns shown on Saturday was that the end credits would just be a shot from a train of the tracks as you rolled along. I have yet to find any proof of this memory. If anybody out there reading this also recalls these let me know. 

1 PM to 5 PM it's sports, and more sports. I might watch some of these broadcasts, but I was quite likely to be doing something else. 

5 PM The Lone Ranger was a big deal in my house as my father loved the show, but we also tended to watch the Porter Wagoner show often too. 

530 PM It's time for that Ole Nashville Music.

6 PM Hee Haw was definitely on at our house. We wouldn't have been able to receive Channel 17 yet, so if we happened to have this week's Showcase I would have looked longingly at the schedule showing Wrestling airing at this time. 

7 PM Emergency! was in its fifth season, but I still loved it. 

8 PM S.W.A.T. was so good although it did briefly make me think the local UPS trucks were full of police in tactical gear. 

9 PM I'm only 9 years old so it's usually off to bed for me. Sometimes my parents would let me stay up. They might have watched the Grammy awards on this night. Notice it's on late and only for an hour and a half. 

If I managed to stay awake I would want to tune into the Nick Gulas promoted wrestling at 1030. SNL is not shown live as it doesn't come on until 1130 Central here. 

Daddy Said Sell

Joe Cocker would be coming to play Municipal on March 16 with Point Blank and Ozark Mountain Daredevils opening. I got to see Ozark Mountain Devils live at the One For The Sun concert held at Starwood Amphitheater in June of 1986. 

There were still many drive-in theatre's back in 1976. This isn't even all of them. 

The second to last page of the Sunday Showcase is for Tune In and this week's song is an oldie covered by Nazareth. I like how the band talks about how they run amok when they play live. 

That's it for this week. I hope you enjoyed it.