View Full Version : Shows Celebrating 50 Years - What's Your Favorite Show That Premiered in 1974?


TJ
08-20-2024, 01:25 PM
1974 was a pretty good year for shows making their debut. These shows are celebrating their 50th Anniversary in 2024.

https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=tv_series&release_date=1974-01-01,1974-12-31

Chico and the Man (NBC)
Good Times (CBS)
Happy Days (ABC)
Kolchak: The Night Stalker (ABC)
Land of the Lost (NBC)
Little House on the Prairie (NBC)
Police Woman (NBC)
Rhoda (CBS)
The Rockford Files (NBC)
The Six Million Dollar Man (ABC)
That's My Mama (ABC)

I voted for Happy Days.

What's your favorite?

stevea
08-20-2024, 02:01 PM
I liked Rhoda and Happy Days, but my favorite of the group was Good Times.

I remember a co-worker whose small kids called one of the shows the Six Dollar Man.

Alan Brady's Hair
08-20-2024, 02:14 PM
It looks like the Barney Miller pilot, The Life and Times of Barney Miller, aired in 1974. If not Barney Miller, then Nova, which is probably the best science show we've had.

Of those on the list, probably Happy Days - three terrific years before veering off toward cartoon.

TJ
08-20-2024, 02:25 PM
It looks like the Barney Miller pilot, The Life and Times of Barney Miller, aired in 1974. If not Barney Miller, then Nova, which is probably the best science show we've had.

Of those on the list, probably Happy Days - three terrific years before veering off toward cartoon.

The series was born out of an unsold television pilot, The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller, that aired on August 22, 1974, as part of an ABC summer anthology series, Just for Laughs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Miller

https://lostmediaarchive.fandom.com/wiki/The_Life_and_Times_of_Captain_Barney_Miller_(Found_1974_Pilot)

ThisLittlePiggy
08-20-2024, 02:48 PM
For me, it's really a close tie between The Rockford Files (which I voted for here) and Little House on the Prairie. I love both shows for different reasons.

icecream
08-20-2024, 03:02 PM
I voted for Happy Days, with The Rockford Files in 2nd. Two good game shows that premiered in 1974 were Bill Cullen's version of the $25,000 Pyramid (not as good as Dick Clark but much better than the trash Michael Strahan has made that franchise), and the Jack Narz version of Now You See It.

Adamantium
08-20-2024, 03:20 PM
Chico and the Man is my pick. It's a top ten favorite sitcom. I'm so glad after years of absence, it's finally back in my life via Tubi and an unofficial blu-ray set. Too bad Freddie Prinze, Jack Albertson, Scatman Crothers and Della Reese are not around to celebrate the anniversary.

I also love Rhoda and Happy Days. I like Land of the Lost, too.

icecream
08-20-2024, 03:25 PM
Too bad Freddie Prinze, Jack Albertson, Scatman Crothers and Della Reese are not around to celebrate the anniversary.Crothers had to scat, man (couldn't resist). :D

Willbo
08-20-2024, 03:39 PM
Two short lived series premiered that I liked in the fall of 1974, The Planet of the Apes and Sons and Daughters. Glynnis O'Connor was in Sons and Daughters and I had a crush on her. Really liked Planet of the Apes as well. I guess I was about the only one watching these shows. Good memories.

Dude111
08-21-2024, 01:22 AM
I picked Land of the Lost but I like $6 million dollar man also.........

AMackII
08-21-2024, 10:15 AM
I voted Happy Days. i also liked Good Times, Little House on a Prairie, The Rockford Files & Police Woman.

KurtfromPitts
08-21-2024, 10:53 AM
I voted for Good Times.

1960'sTVfan
08-21-2024, 10:56 AM
My two favorites that premiered in 1974 are Harry O on ABC and Petrocelli on NBC. Glad to have DVD's of both series.

Dude111
08-22-2024, 07:17 PM
I was told 6 million dollar man started in 1973 and not 74.....

Ah well...........

TJ
08-22-2024, 07:42 PM
I was told 6 million dollar man started in 1973 and not 74.....

Ah well...........

There were three television movies intended as pilots in 1973. It began as a weekly series on January 18, 1974.

I'm talking about weekly series that premiered in 1974 for this thread.

Happy Days began as an unsold pilot starring Ron Howard, Marion Ross and Anson Williams, which aired on February 25, 1972, as a segment titled "Love and the Television Set" (later retitled "Love and the Happy Days" for syndication) on ABC's anthology show Love, American Style.

Most people would say Happy Days started in 1974 and not 1972.

Dude111
08-22-2024, 07:50 PM
Ahhh ok buddy,I didnt realise it started in 1972!!

franciis
02-19-2025, 02:08 AM
a tie..love tv series (chico and the man) & policewoman

howilu
02-19-2025, 10:49 AM
My three favorite shows from that era were Happy Days, Rhoda and Chico and the Man.

merlinjones
02-19-2025, 07:49 PM
Shazam!

Charles Knox
02-19-2025, 10:15 PM
Voted for The Night Stalker, but also a fan of Happy Days.