Q & A: Can You Identify These Shows, Part 10

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.

Can You Identify These Shows, Part 7
-Miniseries tentatively identified as Till We Meet Again, broadcast in November 1989 by CBS.
-1960s children’s program still unidentified (potentially the same as unidentified show from Part 6).

Can You Identify These Shows, Part 8
-Televised theater production tentatively identified as “Aladdin,” staged for CBS by The Prince Street Players on December 6th, 1967.
-TV special identified as “Rose On Broadway” starring Dora Hall (wife of Leo Hulseman, founder/owner of Solo Cup Company).

Can You Identify These Shows, Part 9
-Supernatural drama series identified as Shadow Chasers, broadcast on ABC from November 1985 to January 1986.
-Opening credit sequence identified as being from The Darkroom, hosted by James Coburn and broadcast on ABC from November 1981 to January 1982.

Here’s another question that I hope someone can answer. I sure couldn’t.

I am trying to find some information about a late 1960s-early 1970s TV show about prehistoric man. I remember watching it on Sunday mornings in the mid-1970s. However, I believe these were just reruns. The characters were not Neanderthals but rather Homo sapiens. For some reason I want to believe that one of the female characters was named Nova, but I am not positive, and wonder if I haven’t gotten this part confused with one of the Planet of the Ape movies. Something also tells me that “B.C.” was in the title. It was not Korg 10,000 BC nor was it a Planet of the Apes movie. It was a weekly series. Do you have any idea what this show is?
Mike

My initial attempts to identify this program proved fruitless. I remembered seeing a black-and-white press photograph of a woman in what looked like an ape suit and thought perhaps it could have been promoting the show Mike was remembering. But I couldn’t recall any details about the press photograph. Mike replied twice with some additional information:

Thanks for writing me back. Yes, it is frustrating me to no end. The show was in fact live-action. But unlike Land of the Lost and other live-action ‘cartoons’, the show I’m thinking of was true-to-life, that is, an attempt at an actual depiction of prehistoric times, but the people I remember in the show were not Neanderthals but Homo sapiens. Let me give you a brief checklist of things I remember about the show: I watched it on Sunday mornings in the early to mid-1970s, but I don’t necessarily think this was the original airing time or network of the program, but rather an early morning filler; I don’t remember what network I watched it on. It was either a local affiliate of one of the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC), or it was on PBS. We did not have cable TV; I vaguely remember something at the closing credits that indicated it was a program of the Canadian Broadcast Company or something like that; I vaguely remember ‘B.C.’ being in the title. I have Googled B.C. in every form imaginable and have come up with nothing. Any further assistance you can give me will be much appreciated. Thanks.
Mike

I just wanted to add that, although I too have pondered the possibility of combining different shows including Planet of the Apes, I was a huge Planet of the Apes fan back in the 1970s, and so I don’t think it possible that I am thinking of that. Yet, for some reason I remember the woman in the show being named Nova (I could be wrong, though) just as in the first Apes movie. When I asked my sister for help with this show, the name Nova seemed to ring a bell with her as well.
Mike

By this point, I was just as obsessed with uncovering the name of this program as Mike was. I found a four-part documentary series called Primal Man aired on ABC in prime time between 1973 and 1974. Produced by David Wolper, it could have been repeated on Sunday mornings. I also came up with a ninety-minute made-for-TV movie/pilot called “The Tribe,” aired on ABC in December 1974. I had my doubts that either of these were what Mike was remembering, though.

Mike sent one last e-mail in which he laid out a case suggesting that perhaps he was confusing a variety of programs from his youth:

I must admit I’m getting confused as to what I remember and what I think I remember about the show. I’m actually leaning to the notion that the show I’m thinking of is in fact Korg 70,000 BC., and that maybe, as you mentioned, I am confusing it with certain aspects of Planet of the Apes, such as my insistence that there was a woman named Nova and that the characters were Homo sapien. However, Korg aired on Saturday mornings at around 10:30 am, and I know the show I watched was on Sunday mornings at about 7 or 8 am. In 1974 I was an avid 8-year old Saturday morning cartoon watcher, and know I would have remembered Korg if it would have been on Sat. at 10:30, supposedly after Land of the Lost, which I watched on a regular basis. One of the reasons I don’t have a lot of details regarding the show I’m trying to find is that I didn’t like it, it freaked me out, and therefore didn’t watch very much of it. I’ve started reading that Korg was a little weird and perhaps not appropriate for kids, so maybe it is the show I’m looking for. Because it was a little controversial, perhaps my local affiliate ran the show early on Sunday morning instead of the usual Sat morning time slot. I’ve tried to contact the ABC affiliate here where I live to see if it is possible to attain this information, but no one has responded.
Mike

Keeping in mind that even Mike admits that his memories may be confused, does the show he remembers sound familiar to anyone reading this?


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5 Replies to “Q & A: Can You Identify These Shows, Part 10”

  1. If it was not a cartoon, then it was not “VALLEY OF THE DINOSAURS.”

    One thing to keep in mind for the 70’s is the fact that alot of stations would time-shift programs to other days to accomodate schedules that might include multiple networks as did my local station at the time, KTRE. So to see a Saturday morning lineup on Sunday morning in 1974 might not be common, but is possible.

  2. The show described sounds very much like Korg, which was rerun on Sunday mornings during the 75-76 season. I remember this because I never watched it on Saturday mornings because it ran at the same time as something else that meant more to me then, although I can’t remember what that was now.

  3. I remember the show from the 60’s. I believe it was called “It’s About Time”. I can still sort of remember the theme song -It’s about time, it’s about space, it’s about the human race…..

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