TELEVISION IN 1971

New Series 1971

The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (1971-1974) – No longer producing hit songs Sonny and Cher took their act on the nightclub circuit. Fred Silverman of CBS saw the show and thought it would be a good variety show to fill the Sumner doldrums. It became a hit and ended in 1974 not for lack of interest but by Cher divorcing Sonny Bono. Movie actress Teri Garr got her start as regular on the show while Cher went on to super Diva stardom. Sonny Bono became a California Congressman in the 1994 conservative sweep of Congress. He was a favorite of Robert K. Dornan and Newt Gingrich.

Columbo (1971-1978) – Starring Peter Falk as the disheveled Los Angeles detective whose proficiency was always underestimated. The format was called inverted in that each show began with the viewer witnessing the crime and the perpetrator. Without supporting cast, great writing or the Who Done It factor, the success of the show was carried by the acting idiosyncrasies of Peter Falk and his glass eye.

McMillan and Wife (1971-1977) – Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James star as Police Commissioner and his young wife mixing with the upper crust of San Francisco society. John Schuck, Nancy Walker (Rosie and Rhoda’s Mom) and a sometimes Martha Raye add the comedy.

Rosie and the quicker pickerupper

Masterpiece Theatre PBS (1971-present) PBS brings us serious television theater from England. Introduced and narrated by Alistair Cooke, the first year ran mult-episode dramas The First Churchills,The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Elizabeth R, The Possessed, Pere Goriot, and The Last of the Mohicans.

Soul Train (1971-2006) – From Chicago comes the first black television show. Created, produced, directed and moderated by Don Cornelius.

The Electric Company (1971-1977)

The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971-1974).

Series End 1971

Julia (1968-1971)
Family Affair (1966-1971)
That Girl (1966-1971)
The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971)
Mayberry R.F.D. (The Andy Griffith Show) 1960-1971)
Dark Shadows (1966-1971)
Hogan’s Heroes (1965-1971)
Green Acres (1965-1971)
The Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971)
The Johnny Cash Show (1969-1971)

Television News 1971

“They canceled every show that had a tree in it.”

Said Pat Buttrum on CBS ending production of Green Acres(and his part as Mr. Heney), The Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry R.F.D., and Hee Haw

The final cigarette advertisement is presented during The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson on NBC.

Lawrence Welk and company sing goodbye after a 16 year run on ABC. The Lawrence Welk Show was picked up for syndication a few months later and ran for another 11 years until 1982.

The Emmy’s for 1971 – 1972

Outstanding Series, Drama – Masterpiece Theatre: Elizabeth R

Outstanding Continued Performance By an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series – Peter Falk, NBC Mystery Movie – Columbo

Outstanding Continued Performance By an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series – Glenda Jackson, Masterpiece Theatre: Elizabeth R

Outstanding Single Program, Drama or Comedy Movie of the Week – Brian’s Song

James Caan and Billy Dee Williams

Outstanding New Series – Masterpiece Theatre: Elizabeth R

Outstanding Series Comedy – All in the Family

Outstanding Continued Performance By an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series – Carroll O’Connor, All in the Family

Outstanding Continued Performance By an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series – Jean Stapleton, All in the Family

Outstanding Performance By an Actor in a Supporting Role in Comedy – Edward Asner, The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Outstanding Performance By an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy – (tie) Valerie Harper, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Sally Struthers, All in the Family

Outstanding Variety Series Musical – The Carol Burnett Show
Most Watched 1971 – 1972

1 All in the Family
2 The Flip Wilson Show
3 Marcus Welby M.D.
4 Gunsmoke
5 ABC Movie of the Week
6 Sanford and Son
7 Mannix
8 Funny Face
9 Adam 12
10 The Mary Tyler Moore Show
11 Here’s Lucy
12 Hawaii Five-O
13 Medical Center
14 The NBC Mystery Movie
15 Ironside
16 The Partridge Family
17 The F.B.I.
18 The New Dick Van Dyke Show
19 The Wonderful World of Disney
20 Bonanza

TELEVISION EVENTS IN 1971.

• January 1 – The final cigarette advertisements are televised in the United States, with the final one occurring during that evening’s broadcast of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson on NBC.
• January 3 – BBC Open University broadcasts begin in the UK.
• January 12 – CBS airs the first episode of All in the Family, with a disclaimer at the beginning of the program warning viewers about potentially offensive content. Within a year, it became television’s most popular program, and started a trend toward realism in sitcoms.
• January 27 – Valerie Barlow is electrocuted by a faulty hairdryer, and then perishes in a house fire on Coronation Street.
• February 23 – The Selling of the Pentagon documentary airs on CBS.
• March 2 – On an All in the Family episode, Archie and Edith get brand new next-door neighbors, The Jeffersons; Michael and Gloria‘s best friend, Lionel Jefferson (played by Mike Evans) and his mother, Louise (played by Isabel Sanford) appear this season, George Jefferson (played by Sherman Hemsley) is not depicted until 1973.
• March 11 – ABC cancels The Lawrence Welk Show after sixteen years on the network. The show, however, returns to the airwaves in syndication in September, where it would run for another eleven years.
• April 3 – RTÉ launches Color television in Ireland with the Eurovision Song Contest 1971, held in Dublin.
• May – CBS debuts its schedule for the fall 1971 season, and cancels, in the words of Pat Buttram, “every show that had a tree in it.” Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry R.F.D., and Hee Haw all end production. However, the latter show continued on for two decades in syndication.
• June 7 – The UK children’s magazine show Blue Peter buries a time capsule in the grounds of BBC Television Centre, due to be opened on the first episode of the year 2000.
• November – Top-rated As the World Turns loses the #1 slot in the daytime Nielsens for the first time since 1959.
• Michael Zaslow first appears as Roger Thorpe on The Guiding Light.
• CBS presents the first U.S. airing of the much-acclaimed 6-hour BBC miniseries The Six Wives of Henry VIII, starring Keith Michell, over six consecutive Sundays, from August 1 until September 5.
• September 13 – Prime Time shrank as the original Prime Time Access Rule took effect. NBC, unable to take advantage, immediately felt the pinch and failed to win any of the 1971-72 season’s first 13 weeks.

DEBUTS

• January 10 – Masterpiece Theatre debuts on PBS (1971-present).
• January 12 – All in the Family premieres on CBS (1971-1979).
• April 3 – Kamen Rider premieres on MBS in Japan (1971-1973).
• April 10 – The Two Ronnies debuts on BBC1 in the UK (1971-1987).
• April 21 – The Return of Ultraman debuts on TBS in Japan. (1971-1972)
• September 11 – Sabrina, the Teenage Witch premieres on CBS Saturday Morning (1971-1972).
• September 11 – Help! It’s the Hair Bear Bunch premieres on CBS Saturday Morning (1971-1974).
• September 11 – The Jackson 5ive premieres on ABC Saturday Morning (1971-1973).
• September 11 – The Funky Phantom premieres on ABC Saturday Morning (1971-1972).
• September 11 – Lidsville premieres on ABC Saturday Morning (1971-1973).
• September 17 – McMillan and Wife (1971-1977);
• September 21 – The Old Grey Whistle Test premiered on BBC2 (1971-1987).
• October 2 –Soul Train, the African-American equivalent to American Bandstand, premieres (1971-present).
• October 10 – Upstairs, Downstairs debuts in the UK on ITV.
• October 25 – The Electric Company, a skit-based children’s program aimed at teaching reading skills, premieres on PBS (1971-1977).
• September 18 – The New Dick Van Dyke Show premieres on CBS (1971-1974).
• August 1 – The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour premieres on CBS (1971-1974).
• NBC Mystery Movie premieres (1971-1977) as a wheel show featuring:
  • McCloud (premiered in 1970);
  • Columbo (1971-1978).