Over 80 television series premiered in 1975, and that’s a lot considering there were only three TV networks at the time. Back then there was no internet, no streaming, and very few cable offerings. But of the many sitcoms and dramas that bowed 50 years ago, only a few had a significant impact on the industry and pop culture. Here, in alphabetical order, are eight of the more memorable ones.
Baretta Robert Blake starred as Detective Tony Baretta whose best pal was a cockatoo named Fred. The series ran for three seasons on ABC and could have gone longer had Blake not made the decision to leave. The show featured some memorable catchphrases, like when Baretta would say to a criminal, “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” It was a prophetic and ironic warning because Blake himself would later be accused of murdering his wife, and spent a year in jail while awaiting trial. He was eventually acquitted.
Barney Miller In the annals of broadcasting, there have only been a few sitcoms set in a police station and this was the best. Hal Linden played the titular role in this ABC series, where he was in charge of a diverse detective squad set in The Big Apple. The series launched on January 23 and aired its last episode in May 1978, but has been in re-runs ever since. I once asked Linden why the show had held up so well for so long. “It was a brilliantly written show. It didn’t settle for cheap jokes. Instead, it was all about the frailties and humor of human behavior. We were also ahead of our time in presenting topics that are still relevant today.”
The Jeffersons Created by Norman Lear as a spin-off from All in the Family, The Jeffersons starred Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford as George and Louise, next-door neighbors to Archie and Edith Bunker. George found success in creating a chain of dry cleaning stores, allowing the couple to move on up to “a penthouse in the sky.” It was also the first prime-time series to depict a prosperous African American family. I met Isabel and Sherman in the summer of 1977 and found them to be delightful individuals. Their groundbreaking series ran for 11 seasons on CBS.
One Day at a Time This Norman Lear creation was a hybrid sitcom, meaning that it was full of laughs, but also covered serious and controversial topics. It starred Bonnie Franklin as a recently divorced mom with two teenage daughters. I first met Bonnie at a CBS junket two years after the show premiered, but we were reunited for a TV Moms event that I produced in 2008 which also featured Family Ties star Meredith Baxter. That evening the audience learned the back story of One Day at a Time. Meredith’s real-life mom, Whitney Blake had pitched a show to Lear titled 38/13 based on her experiences as a 38-year-old single mom raising 18-year-old Meredith. Lear bought the show and retitled it One Day at a Time which lasted for nine years on the Tiffany network.
Starsky and Hutch While police dramas have been a staple of prime-time television since 1949, the buddy cop genre came late to the game. I Spy (1965) was about two secret agents and Adam 12 (1968) featured a pair of uniformed cops riding around Los Angeles. But Starsky and Hutch was the first buddy cop drama series about two plainclothes detectives. The series which aired for four seasons on ABC starred Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul in the title roles. The show also made it cool to drive a two-toned Ford Gran Torino.
Switch This CBS series only lasted three seasons, but it was memorable for two reasons. First, it paired two established stars, Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner, as private detectives, and second, after being cancelled, it propelled Wagner into his most famous role as Jonathan Hart in the long-running hit show Hart to Hart for ABC. I first met Wagner when he was promoting Switch, but we reunited 30 years later when RJ was in Winston-Salem to help raise money for the Humane Society, and we have stayed in touch ever since.
Welcome Back Kotter It is rare for a hit show to be created by its star (Jack Webb did it with Dragnet) and even more rare for a stand-up comedian to create a sitcom in which he is the series lead, but that’s what Gabe Kaplan did in bringing Welcome Back Kotter to ABC. Kaplan played Gabe Kotter a teacher at the fictional James Buchanan High School in Brooklyn. In the series, Kotter, an alum of Buchanan, teaches a class of rag-tag academic underperformers who call themselves Sweathogs. The leader of the gang was a young John Travolta in his break-out role as Vinnie Barbarino. Kotter which faded after four seasons, launched Travolta’s film career which began with Carrie in 1976.
Wonder Woman There are lots of ways to judge how successful a TV show is. Some achieve high ratings. Some are hailed by the critics. But very few series can boast that its main character is still one of the most popular Halloween costumes nearly a half-century after the show went off the air. Wonder Woman, starring Lynda Carter (as superhero Diana Prince), ran for three seasons on ABC, the first of which was set during World War II, and the final two seasons were set in present day. There was never any explanation for why the show jumped 30 years ahead, but hey, Wonder Woman was an Amazon who never ages so we all bought into the time warp. It was fun to watch Wonder Woman deflect bullets with her magic bracelet and throw her lasso on bad guys to make them confess their crimes. It was also fun for us males in the audience to stare at Carter’s iconic, low-cut costume, and fantasize about visiting Paradise Island where women are in charge, kind of like at my house.
1975 certainly wasn’t the greatest year for launching prime-time television shows, but it wasn’t without some bright spots, like the eight series that I’ve just mentioned. And, thanks to a myriad of nostalgia TV channels and streaming platforms, you can go through a time warp of your own to enjoy most all of these classic series.
TV Shows That Premiered 50 Years Ago
Over 80 television series premiered in 1975, and that’s a lot considering there were only three TV networks at the time. Back then there was no internet, no streaming, and very few cable offerings. But of the many sitcoms and dramas that bowed 50 years ago, only a few had a significant impact on the industry and pop culture. Here, in alphabetical order, are eight of the more memorable ones.
Baretta Robert Blake starred as Detective Tony Baretta whose best pal was a cockatoo named Fred. The series ran for three seasons on ABC and could have gone longer had Blake not made the decision to leave. The show featured some memorable catchphrases, like when Baretta would say to a criminal, “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” It was a prophetic and ironic warning because Blake himself would later be accused of murdering his wife, and spent a year in jail while awaiting trial. He was eventually acquitted.
Barney Miller In the annals of broadcasting, there have only been a few sitcoms set in a police station and this was the best. Hal Linden played the titular role in this ABC series, where he was in charge of a diverse detective squad set in The Big Apple. The series launched on January 23 and aired its last episode in May 1978, but has been in re-runs ever since. I once asked Linden why the show had held up so well for so long. “It was a brilliantly written show. It didn’t settle for cheap jokes. Instead, it was all about the frailties and humor of human behavior. We were also ahead of our time in presenting topics that are still relevant today.”
The Jeffersons Created by Norman Lear as a spin-off from All in the Family, The Jeffersons starred Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford as George and Louise, next-door neighbors to Archie and Edith Bunker. George found success in creating a chain of dry cleaning stores, allowing the couple to move on up to “a penthouse in the sky.” It was also the first prime-time series to depict a prosperous African American family. I met Isabel and Sherman in the summer of 1977 and found them to be delightful individuals. Their groundbreaking series ran for 11 seasons on CBS.
One Day at a Time This Norman Lear creation was a hybrid sitcom, meaning that it was full of laughs, but also covered serious and controversial topics. It starred Bonnie Franklin as a recently divorced mom with two teenage daughters. I first met Bonnie at a CBS junket two years after the show premiered, but we were reunited for a TV Moms event that I produced in 2008 which also featured Family Ties star Meredith Baxter. That evening the audience learned the back story of One Day at a Time. Meredith’s real-life mom, Whitney Blake had pitched a show to Lear titled 38/13 based on her experiences as a 38-year-old single mom raising 18-year-old Meredith. Lear bought the show and retitled it One Day at a Time which lasted for nine years on the Tiffany network.
Starsky and Hutch While police dramas have been a staple of prime-time television since 1949, the buddy cop genre came late to the game. I Spy (1965) was about two secret agents and Adam 12 (1968) featured a pair of uniformed cops riding around Los Angeles. But Starsky and Hutch was the first buddy cop drama series about two plainclothes detectives. The series which aired for four seasons on ABC starred Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul in the title roles. The show also made it cool to drive a two-toned Ford Gran Torino.
Switch This CBS series only lasted three seasons, but it was memorable for two reasons. First, it paired two established stars, Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner, as private detectives, and second, after being cancelled, it propelled Wagner into his most famous role as Jonathan Hart in the long-running hit show Hart to Hart for ABC. I first met Wagner when he was promoting Switch, but we reunited 30 years later when RJ was in Winston-Salem to help raise money for the Humane Society, and we have stayed in touch ever since.
Welcome Back Kotter It is rare for a hit show to be created by its star (Jack Webb did it with Dragnet) and even more rare for a stand-up comedian to create a sitcom in which he is the series lead, but that’s what Gabe Kaplan did in bringing Welcome Back Kotter to ABC. Kaplan played Gabe Kotter a teacher at the fictional James Buchanan High School in Brooklyn. In the series, Kotter, an alum of Buchanan, teaches a class of rag-tag academic underperformers who call themselves Sweathogs. The leader of the gang was a young John Travolta in his break-out role as Vinnie Barbarino. Kotter which faded after four seasons, launched Travolta’s film career which began with Carrie in 1976.
Wonder Woman There are lots of ways to judge how successful a TV show is. Some achieve high ratings. Some are hailed by the critics. But very few series can boast that its main character is still one of the most popular Halloween costumes nearly a half-century after the show went off the air. Wonder Woman, starring Lynda Carter (as superhero Diana Prince), ran for three seasons on ABC, the first of which was set during World War II, and the final two seasons were set in present day. There was never any explanation for why the show jumped 30 years ahead, but hey, Wonder Woman was an Amazon who never ages so we all bought into the time warp. It was fun to watch Wonder Woman deflect bullets with her magic bracelet and throw her lasso on bad guys to make them confess their crimes. It was also fun for us males in the audience to stare at Carter’s iconic, low-cut costume, and fantasize about visiting Paradise Island where women are in charge, kind of like at my house.
1975 certainly wasn’t the greatest year for launching prime-time television shows, but it wasn’t without some bright spots, like the eight series that I’ve just mentioned. And, thanks to a myriad of nostalgia TV channels and streaming platforms, you can go through a time warp of your own to enjoy most all of these classic series.