70s at 7

In February of 1974, heiress Patricia Hearst was kidnapped by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army. She became an active member of the group and changed her name to "Tania". Angelenos were riveted to their television sets on May 17, as the Police swarmed down on a house where the group was staying. A shoot-out ensued, one of the largest shoot-outs in LAPD history with over 9,000 rounds of ammunication fired.

5 people were killed in the shoot-out, and surviving members (including Tania) straggled back to the bay area, and shortly after committed a bank robbery in which one customer, Myrna Opsahl was killed. Tania was captured in September of 1975, did some time, had her sentence commuted by Gerald Ford, was pardoned by Bill Clinton, and went on Larry King (don't they all?) where she talked about her book, Sarah Jane Olson and finding "closure".

70s at 7

Instant Karma!




Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō

70's at 7

Before the musical diversity and brilliance of Arcade Fire, there was the genius of Tom Wood and Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra. Combining a rock sensibility with orchestral strains, the music of this band is as relevant today as it was in the 70's. Check out the bouffants on Jeff Lynne and Co.! That was back when white dudes could get away with the "caucasian-'fro". Remember when all the Brady Boys were wearin' them back in the late 70's on "The Brady Bunch"?

A promo shot for "The Brady Hour Show" back in the late 70's. By then, Eve Plumb had had enough of Jan Brady, so the producers brought in a Fake Jan

The 70s at 7

That's right, in the 70s, Saturday morning was all about the music and the moves. First, you had American Bandstand with Dick Clark; but if you really wanted to get down and funky, you had to wait for the Don. No, not Don Q, but Don C., as in... Cornelius. The Soul Train dance line was the highlight of the show. And if you've never danced in a Soul Trainesque dance line (either at a school dance, company holiday party, or hell ... even in your own living room) you've missed out on an important part of 70's soul history. But it's never too late... you just need a few friends, some funky soul dance classics, and you're all good.

The 70s at 7

It's 1975 and you need to buy a car. What are you going do??

Dudes... go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal. He will stand upon his head, till his ears are turning red. Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal...

And don't forget his dog, Spot.

The 70s at 7

Before Chuck E. Cheese's; before the lavish, opulent catered affairs for toddlers... if you had a child growing up in the 70's or were a child growing up in the 70's, locally you would have celebrated yours or a friend's birthday at Farrell's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlour.

In the Valley, we had two: one in Van Nuys on Van Nuys Blvd., and in Northridge on Reseda Blvd. Man, oh man, those were the days.

Pig Trough, anyone? Or how about The Zoo; the multi-scoop ginormous metal bowl filled with ice cream scoops and rimmed with plastic animals?

I'm suddenly craving ice cream.

The 70s at 7

Bell bottoms and leisure suits galore in Montgomery Wards Spring 1976 Catalog.

The 70s at 7 (ish)

How many of you remember rushing home from school to watch Match Game hosted by Gene Rayburn and featuring all those great 1970s celebrities like Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Richard Dawson, Fannie Flagg and more.

Match Game was a show that was less about the game or contestants but more about the celebrities and the interaction between them and Rayburn. Often, their banter was full of double entendre that no doubt pushed the patience of network censors. The show from from 1973 to 1979 as daytime show on CBS and then spent three more years as a syndicated evening program

Match Game had many incarnations including a far less racy and more laid back predecessor version in the 60s (which also starred Rayburn) . Less than spectacular re-makes of the show include The Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour (a terrible concept co-hosted by Rayburn and former Sha Na Na member Jon Bowzer Bauman) and a 1990 revival hosted by Bert Convy and then Ross Shafer, another in 1998 hosted by Charlene Tilton and later Michael Burger. A one shot edition was part of CBS' Gameshow Marathon mini-series and was hosted by Ricki Lake. This special sported a fairly exact replica of the 1970s set, essentially followed the same format and featured at least one original Match Game recurring guest, Betty White.

One of the annual features on the show during the 70s - when it included the year of production in the title - was the annual ceremony renaming the show on the New Year's Eve episode. Below are clips of all five seasons renaming ceremonies:

1973 to 1974


1974 to 1975


1975 to 1976


1976 to 1977


1977 to 1978


1978 to 1979 (the last change)

The 70s at 7

Sigmund and the Sea Monsters was a children's television series that ran from 1973 to 1975. The show was a Sid and Marty Krofft production and was shown on Saturday mornings. There were 29 episodes spanning two seasons.

Its basic premise was that Sigmund (Billy Barty), a friendly (if somewhat cowardly) sea monster who runs away from his comically dysfunctional undersea family, is discovered and befriended by brothers Johnny (Johnny Whitaker) and Scott Stuart (Scott Kolden), who let Sigmund stay in their hideout.

The 70s at 7

Yesterday Valley Doll brought back memories of bubblegum rockers Bay City Rollers. But who remembers that early king of Disco, none other than KC and his Sunshine Band. This one is a two-fer you get a video of the band doing their signature That's The Way I Like It.

In 1974:



And over 30 years later - for an old guy the dude can dance!

70s at 7(ish)

C'mon girls, you know Les McKeown totally made your 13-year-old selves totally melt, back in the day.

The Bay City Rollers , dudes!

The 70s at 7

If you were a kid growing up in the 70's, and especially a girl, certainly you remember the Saturday's kid show, "The Secrets of Isis".

Isis was played by hottie Joanna Cameron, and hot dang --- she could kick ass and still look good in an egyptian goddess mini-dress.

That Isis was my kinda gal.

The 70s at 7

What can we learn from the 70s? One college professor is teaching that to his students.

The 70s at 7

For today's feature here are snippets from local television news during the 70s. See if you remember any of these.

KNXT (now KCBS) 11:00 p.m. news from around 1978 featuring a very young Connie Chung and Jim Hill.

Here's a KNBC News clip from the 70s back when Pat Sajak did the weather.



And Channel 7 Eyewitness News with Jerry Dunphy.

The 70s at 7

How many of remember waking up early Sunday mornings to catch Wonderama starring Bob McCallister for like 3, 4 hours on KTTV? How badly I wanted to be a member of the studio audience of that show, alas, it was filmed in New York City. Here's a clip of that show with a staple feature of the show, the snake can game. 70s kids shows like this would be WAY too slow for the ADD generation of today.



Then later in the 70s, Wonderama moved to ABS as a hipper, faster paced version of itself, Kids Are People Too, named after McCallister's closing theme song on Wonderama, and aimed at the same kids who watched Wonderama but who were now teens. Sadly creative differences led to McCallister's departure and after the first season he was replaced by Michael Young. However the upside of the change was that taping of the show moved to the former KABC studios on Prospect Avenue in Hollywood and yours truly (finally!) attended a taping in 1979 featuring guests Eddie Money and Suzy "Chapstick" Chaffee.

The 70s at 7

Starting a new feature here on the blog that all of you 40somethings should appreciate - The 70s at 7.

Tonight's post salutes that magnificent creation of the Lord himself, the girl who assisted most of the men of my generation to get through puberty, none other than teen diva Brooke Shields who thirty years later is even more beautiful and talented than ever.

Here's Brooke at age 13 on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.



She had a significant modeling career going back to her infancy. Of course Brooke's first big break was in the controversial film Pretty Baby and then later in The Blue Lagoon. Brooke later made a Miley Cyrus type scandalous (for the time) career move appearing in television commercials for Calvin Klein.



Brooke later put her career on hold for college, dated everyone from Michael Jackson to Dean Cain to Michael Bolton to John F. Kennedy, Jr. and later married tennis star Andre Agassi. She made a career comeback starring in the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan and this past season came back to television with Lipstick Jungle. Here's Brooke being interviewed in recent times by Tom Green.