May 1978 - Pete Rose, Unabomber, Atlantic City

If I Can't Have You...I'll take May 1978!

A number one hit on the Cash Box Top 100 list in May 1978 was 'If I Can't Have You' by Yvonne Elliman.

May 5 – Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds gets his 3,000th major league hit.

May 6 – Ethelda Bleibtrey, Olympic swimmer, dies.  She was a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and former world record holder in multiple events. (born 1902)

May 10 - It Lives Again and The End movies premiere.

May 12 - The Greek Tycoon movie premieres.

May 16 – William Steinberg, conductor, dies. (born 1899)

May 18 - The Buddy Holly Story movie premieres.

May 19 - Thank God It's Friday movie premieres.  'Last Dance', sung by Donna Summer in the movie, won a Golden Globe award for Best Original Song - Motion Picture.

May 20 – Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becomes the first woman to run across the U.S.  Her trek took 69 days.

May 22 - Joe Colombo, gangster, dies. (born 1914)

May 23 - Harper Valley PTA movie premieres.

May 25 – A bomb explodes in the security section of Northwestern University, wounding a security guard (the first Unabomber attack).

May 26 – In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Resorts International, the first legal casino in the eastern United States, opens.

May 26 - Big Wednesday movie premieres.  Australian champion surfers Peter Townend and Ian Cairns doubled for William Katt and Gary Busey in the surfing sequences of this movie.

May 28 – Indianapolis 500: Al Unser wins his third race, and the first for car owner Jim Hall.

Captain America comic for May:

Flying Aces toy (released in 1978):

1978 Lincoln Mark V:

Playboy playmate of the month, Kathryn Morrison, and Playgirl man for May, Norbert Blecha:

Albums released in May 1978 (album / artist):
You're Gonna Get It! / Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Powerage / AC/DC
Stranger in Town / Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
Black and White / The Stranglers
But Seriously, Folks... / Joe Walsh
Misfits / The Kinks

Nielsen top 20 shows for the week ending May 14th: 1 Laverne and Shirley; 2 Three's Company; 3 Wheels Part II; 4 Happy Days; 5 Wheels Part IV; 6 All Star Family Feud; 7 Wheels Part III; 8 Charlie's Angels; 9 Carter Country; 10 Love Boat; 11 Starsky and Hutch; 12 Alice; 13 M-A-S-H; 14 Barney Miller; 15 Barnaby Jones; 16 The Incredible Hulk; 17 60 Minutes; 18 Eight is Enough; 19 All in the Family; 20 Sunday Movie "Leave Yesterday Behind".

Railroad Modeler magazine for May:

Woman's Day magazine for May 19th:

Heavy Metal magazine for May:

Peanuts comic strip from May 1978:

For detailed news/info on what happened each day in May 1978, check out this really good site:  ultimate70s.com

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.