I get a lot of e-mails from people asking me about television shows, made-for-TV movies or miniseries they remember from years or decades past. I try to answer each question as best I can but often recollections are hazy at best and thus impossible to identify, despite my best efforts. Hopefully, by posting these questions here at Television Obscurities for everyone to read someone will come up with the answer. Keep reading for today’s unidentified shows.
This new feature has turned out to be both more popular and more productive than I had hoped. Many of the questions that stumped me have been answered by visitors.
Can You Identify These Shows, Part 1
-Show identified as a British program called The Champions, broadcast by NBC in 1968
-Two-part made-for-TV movies/miniseries identified as Goliath Awaits, aired in syndication as part of Operation Prime Time in November 1981
Can You Identify These Shows, Part 2
-Made-for-TV movie identified as Mother Was Never A Kid, an ABC Afterschool Special broadcast in April 1981
-Show identified as ABC’s Oh, Grow Up!, a sitcom that ran for 11 episodes during the 1999-2000 season
Can You Identify These Shows, Part 3
-Show identified as a British program called Into the Labyrinth
-Early 1990s animated movie still unidentified
Can You Identify These Shows, Part 4
-Show identified as Phyl & Mikhy, a CBS summer series that ran for 6 episodes in 1980.
-Show potentially identified as Showtime’s Hard Knocks, a sitcom that aired in 1987.
Can You Identify These Shows, Part 5
-Episode identified as “They,” broadcast as part of syndicated horror anthology series The Evil Touch (produced in Australia) during the 1973-1974 season.
-Show potentially identified as NBC’s Empty Nest, which ran from 1988-1995.
Can You Identify These Shows, Part 6
-1960s children’s program still unidentified.
-Unsold pilot identified as “Wishman,” broadcast by ABC on June 23rd, 1983.
Here are two more questions that I hope someone can answer. I sure couldn’t.
While recuperating from surgery, I watched a mini-series about a little girl who fell in love with flying when she asked for an airplane ride at age 8. The movie spanned her life, including falling in love with her instructor. It was a sweet movie and I would like to know how to get a copy of it. It ran over three consecutive nights. The male lead looked a lot like James Brolin and the girl as an adult looked like Jaclyn Smith. I hope these hints help you.
Hetty
I took a quick look at the Internet Movie Database pages for both James Brolin and Jaclyn Smith and nothing leaped out at me that could be this miniseries (or perhaps a very short-lived television show?) so I am opening it up to everyone. It will be interesting to see if this did star Brolin and Smith or just people who look(ed) like them.
Does anyone else remember a drama which was broadcast on TV, probably in the early ’70s, in which a group of children removed absolutely everything, including all internal walls and flooring, from the inside of a building? I think this programme was a one-off made for TV drama, not a feature-film or part of a series. I think the children acted without permission and in secret, though I’ve no idea how they could’ve! I also think they finally succeeded in demolishing the building. It’s of no relevance to me whatsoever, but as this is a memory that I’ve been recalling for many years now, I’d be grateful for any further information anyone may have on this broadcast. Thanking you in anticipation.
Pete
This sounds similar to a still unidentified program from Can You Identify These Shows, Part 6. Here’s what Kevin remembered:
I’m trying to find out the details about a 1960s US children’s TV series, set in, I believe, a late 19th century US town. It was centred on an old house where it was rumored that gold or treasure was hidden and where the owner was a recluse and unfriendly. Kids would try and sneak in but to no avail. The series ended when the owner died and the town quickly descended on the house and tore it to bits in search of the money. They found nothing and the building was completely demolished except for the chimney. When the crowd had gone, one of the kids stayed behind and casually threw a stone at the chimney and the gold suddenly flooded out of the chimney. That’s all I can remember. It was one of those programs that left a strong memory and I would love to see again.
Pete doesn’t mention any treasure but otherwise the descriptions are quite similar. Based solely on spelling (Pete uses “programme” rather than “program” and Kevin used “centred” rather than “centered”), I wonder if this was a British program. Does anyone recognize it? Could Pete and Kevin be remembering two entirely different things?
The mini-series sounds like Till We Meet Again (1989). The girl who grows up to be a pilot is played (as an adult) by Courteney Cox and the flight instructor is Barry Bostwick.
The second seems to me very much like Graham Greene’s short story “The Destructors.” According to Wikipedia, that was adapted as an episode of the mid-1970s TV series “Shades of Greene.” I am unaware of the series being broadcast in the US, but there was a tie-in book published here, so it may have been.