Oh yeah, I remember that one...

Everyone can probably rattle off at least a few of the tv shows that were big in the disco years. ‘Happy Days’, ‘Charlie’s Angels’, ‘Three’s Company’, ‘Laverne & Shirley’, MASH…we all know’em and love’em, but here are a few shows that ended up rated in the top 25 (some even in the top 10), that you may have forgotten about.

1976-77 Season
‘The Tony Randall Show’. Remember him from ‘The Odd Couple’? In this comedy he played a judge in Philadelphia. I'm drawin' a blank on this one…

‘What’s Happening’. This one I know from reruns. Sassy black women crack me up, so Shirley the waitress and Dee the sister were favorites. Of course, everybody liked Rerun.
‘Baretta’ (top 10 show). This one may be fresher in your memory because of the big scandal with Robert Blake a few years back. He plays a tough guy cop in this show. My bedtime was 9:00, so I could watch this, but not ‘Charlie’s Angels’, which followed it. I’m still bitter.

1977-78
‘Project UFO’. I don’t remember this one even though I’m a big Sci-Fi fan. It was about a couple of Air Force investigators who investigated UFO sightings, which sounds pretty awesome! Of course, I was mainly subject to whatever shows Mother and Daddy wanted to watch…like ‘Baretta’…argh…

‘Barnaby Jones’. Good ‘ole Jed Clampett’s follow up. The whole family liked this detective show. The lady in the pic look familiar? That's Lee Meriwether, who was (one of) the actresses to play Catwoman in the 'Batman' tv series.

‘Family’. This was one of those serious family dramas that tried to make you cry every week. Not a favorite, but I thought Kristy McNichol was the deal.

1978-79
‘Angie’. If you remember Donna Pescow, consider yourself a scholar of disco years tv! (Trivia: Her first movie role was in ‘Saturday Night Fever’.) I think sassy white women are almost as fun as black ones.

‘The Ropers’. I thought ‘Three’s Company’ was great, but was never really a big fan of the Ropers on that show so I wasn’t very interested in this spin-off. Sadsack Stanley kinda grates on the nerves.

‘Vega$’. A detective show set in…somewhere I can’t remember. Saw it a few times (again, past my bedtime). I remember he parked his sports car in his living room, which may not have been practical...but was totally cool!

1979-80
‘That’s Incredible’ (top 10…actually #3 for the year). This was a fun show that featured people doing crazy/dangerous/stupid stunts. Guess this would be considered one of the precursors to today’s reality tv. We’ve come a long way…nah!

Flo (top 10). I really liked ‘Alice’ and, like everyone else, Flo was my favorite on the show. My little sister and I yelled ‘kiss my grits’ at each other with some regularity for awhile there…we were edgy like that. I don’t remember watching this spin-off, but ‘Alice’ was never quite as good without Flo.

'House Calls'. We watched this hospital-based comedy off and on. Not my thing.