Showoffs is an American game show which ran on ABC from June 30 to December 26, 1975. Bobby Van was host, with Gene Wood as announcer. The Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production involved two teams competing in a game of charades.
Secret Life of Toys was a 1994 series based on the 1986 TV special The Christmas Toy. Each of the thirteen 30-minute episodes consists of two 15-minute stories. The show was taped in Monheim, Germany, and aired on the Disney Channel in the US, the BBC in the United Kingdom and on ABC TV in Australia.
Star of the Family is an American situation comedy starring veteran actor, Brian Dennehy, as fire chief Leslie "Buddy" Krebs, and Kathy Maisnik as his singer daughter, Jennie Lee Krebs.
The series debuted in 1982 on ABC after Joanie Loves Chachi, and was canceled after ten episodes.
Second Chance is an American game show that ran from March 7, 1977 to July 15, 1977 on ABC. Jim Peck hosted, with Jay Stewart and Jack Clark serving as announcers.
Second Chance is the predecessor to the CBS game show Press Your Luck, and was produced by The Carruthers Company. Artist and animator "Savage" Steve Holland, later a film director, used Second Chance's Devils as his model for the "Whammy" on Press Your Luck.
Make a Wish is an American children's television series which ran on ABC from 1971 to 1976. Produced by ABC News, it was hosted by musician Tom Chapin and created and produced by Lester Cooper. It replaced Discovery, a similar series for children also produced by ABC News.
Each episode of the series, broadcast on Sunday mornings, focused on a particular theme. One episode, for instance, was about snakes, and another was about motorcycles. Chapin would introduce the topic in much the same manner: "I think a snake is what I'll be. Imagine all the possibilities." After that there would be a sort of free association presentation on the theme featuring stock footage, animation, and Chapin's music and voiceover commentary. The quick-cutting, free-association, stream-of-consciousness style of the show caused Chapin, years later on a talk show, to describe Make a Wish as "a show for six-year old speed freaks."
The series won a Peabody Award for Best Children's Series in 1971.
Some songs performed on the show were writte
Animals, Animals, Animals is an educational television series on ABC about different species of animals. The program, produced by ABC News, was hosted by Hal Linden. Information about animals was provided by Roger Caras and, songs about animals were performed by Lynn Kellogg, who also performed the opening theme song. Zoo personnel and animal researchers frequently appeared on the show. During segments about animals, voiceover was provided by Estelle Parsons and Mason Adams. The show first aired in 1976, replacing Make a Wish on ABC's Sunday morning schedule.
The series won Emmies for four consecutive years and the Peabody Award. 1978 Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Informational Series. Animated segments were provided by Al Lowenheim, Arland Barron, Jeff Melquist, Jim Comstock, Ray Pointer, and Stacey Mann of Lions' Den Studio and David Labelle of David Labelle Animation Studios.
Five years later, in 1981, Animals, Animals, Animals was replaced by This Week with David Brinkley; this marked the end of ABC's
Number Please is a Goodson-Todman Productions game show hosted by Bud Collyer which aired from January 30 to December 29, 1961. It replaced Collyer's Beat the Clock when its ABC run completed, and was an early predecessor of Wheel of Fortune and other word-puzzle game shows.
The Professional Bowlers Tour, also known as Pro Bowlers Tour, is a broadcast of the Professional Bowlers Association that aired on ABC from 1961 to 1997. In the telecasts, Chris Schenkel and the graphics displayed during the show would refer to the show as "The Professional Bowlers Tour", possibly to disambiguate from the NFL's use of the term "pro bowler" when referring to players who were selected for the Pro Bowl - an event also televised on ABC for many years.
The Reel Game was an American game show that aired on ABC from January 18 to May 3, 1971. The series was hosted by Jack Barry and announced by Jack Clark.
This show marked Barry's return to producing shows for national television after his 13-year hiatus from television after the quiz show scandals of the 1950s.
Make Me Laugh is an American game show in which contestants watched three stand-up comedians performing their acts, one at a time, earning one dollar for every second that they could make it through without laughing. Each comedian got sixty seconds to try to crack the contestant up.
Caryl & Marilyn: Real Friends is an hour-long daytime talk/variety show that ran on ABC from June 10, 1996 to May 30, 1997. The series was produced by Viacom Productions.
Baby Talk is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from March 8, 1991 until May 8, 1992 as part of ABC's TGIF lineup. The show was loosely based on the popular Look Who's Talking movies and was adapted for television by Ed Weinberger. Amy Heckerling created original characters for the series while using key creative and script elements from Look Who's Talking, which she had written and directed. Weinberger served as executive producer during the first season, and was replaced by Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein in the second season.
ABC's Wide World of Sports is a sports anthology series on American television that ran from 1961 to 1998 and was hosted by Jim McKay. The title continued to be used for general sports programs until 2006. As the title suggests, it aired on the American Broadcasting Company, primarily on Saturdays.
The Big Moment is an American television game show that aired on ABC in 1999 and was hosted by Whose Line Is It Anyway? alumnus Brad Sherwood. John Cramer served as announcer. The show was based on a Japanese show of the same concept, Happy Family Planning.
The show's premise centered on one member of a family who was given one week to practice a certain task before the episode's taping. A video camera was provided to record the rehearsal process at home. At the end of the week, the contestant came to the studio to perform the task. The contestant was given only one attempt; if successful, he/she won a pre-selected prize package worth $25,000. If unsuccessful, he/she received a $2,000 consolation prize. Two contestants appeared each episode.
Some of the stunts presented:
⁕Memorizing pi to the 100th decimal
⁕Playing Beethoven's Für Elise on a piano, without missing a note
⁕Answering ten questions on the film Ghost
⁕Riding around three cones on a unicycle and returning to a starting
The Baseball Network was a short-lived television broadcasting joint venture between ABC, NBC, and Major League Baseball. Under the arrangement, beginning in the 1994 season, the league produced its own in-house telecasts of games, which were then brokered to air on ABC and NBC. The package included coverage of games in primetime on selected nights throughout the regular season, along with coverage of the postseason and the World Series.
Unlike previous broadcasting arrangements with the league, there was no national "game of the week" during the regular season; these would be replaced by multiple weekly regional telecasts on certain nights of the week. Additionally, The Baseball Network had exclusive coverage windows; no other broadcaster could televise MLB games during the same night that The Baseball Network was televising games.
The arrangement did not last long; due to the effects of a players' strike on the remainder of the 1994 season, and poor reception from fans and critics over the coverage was implemen
Howard K. Smith: News and Comment was a half-hour ABC news and documentary program hosted by commentator Howard K. Smith, which aired from February 14, 1962, to June 16, 1963. It was broadcast at the 10:30 Eastern time slot on Sundays opposite CBS's long-running quiz show, What's My Line?, hosted by John Charles Daly, himself the first ever ABC News anchorman.
In 1961, Smith left CBS News because of a dispute about a documentary that he produced on police violence against civil rights demonstrators in Birmingham, Alabama. He then joined ABC, where his contract stipulated that neither the network nor sponsors could interfere with the content of his program.
While at CBS, Smith hosted the documentary program Behind the News with Howard K. Smith for twenty-one weeks from January 11 to September 20, 1959. Selected episodes focused on communism in Cuba, the status of Berlin, the Cold War, Charles de Gaulle, Nikita Khrushchev, unemployment in depressed areas, and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Smith's News and Comment began
Talent Varieties is a country music talent show on American network television and radio in 1955 that featured performers hoping to achieve fame in the entertainment business.
The weekly ABC-TV program was a live half-hour summer replacement series hosted by Slim Wilson. Wilson introduced the amateur and professional talent, including music and comedy acts; and his Tall Timber Trio, composed of Speedy Haworth, Bob White and Bryan "Doc" Martin provided accompaniment. Auditions were handled by Bill Ring. The Westport Kids appeared July 12, and Buck Griffin appeared August 2.
The show aired on Tuesday nights from June 28–November 1. Its original time slot was 7:30–8 p.m. Eastern Time, replacing Cavalcade of America, but moved to 10–10:30 p.m. in September to briefly replace Break the Bank.
ABC Radio simulcast the program under the name Talent Round-Up from 7:30 p.m., as well as carrying an additional half-hour until 8:30.
The program originated from the Jewell Theatre in Springfield, Missouri, ho
FYI was an information series seen on the ABC network in the early 1980s. Hosted by Hal Linden, the program features answers to questions that many viewers ask, from common questions such as, "What's the leading cause of burns in children?", to questions not many ask, but may be interesting to know, like "Can a child dance his/her way to better grades?", just to name a couple.
With each show lasting sixty seconds, FYI was seen three times a day on weekdays, following ABC's popular soaps All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital, using a formula not unlike ABC's Saturday morning mini-programs, such as Time for Timer, The Bod Squad and Schoolhouse Rock.
Two books based on the television series have been published, both by M. Evans and Company: FYI: Unexpected Answers to Everyday Questions and More FYI: Further Tips for Healthful Living.
Bowling Headliners was television's first regularly scheduled bowling show. Bowling Headliners aired on ABC from 1948-1949 and the DuMont Television Network from November 13, 1949 to April 9, 1950.
The series aired from Rego Park Lanes in Queens, New York. The original commentators were Jimmy Powers and Al Cirillo. When the show moved to DuMont, Joe Hasel took over as host.
The show was featured on the cover of the October 29, 1949 TV Guide when the magazine was still a local publication from New York City.