Television Broadcast Facts during September of 1977

[TVFactFan]

Lots of controversy in the beginning of season 1. Right before the show aired the ABC network in New York added additional switchboard operators because they was expecting the station to be flooded with phone calls but only received 40. One ABC affiliate in North Carolina decided not to air the show at all and the Baltimore ABC affiliate decided to not air the first two episodes.

[BestTVever]

On New Years Day I watched the pilot episode and episode 2. Its a completely different show than it was in the last 2 seasons. Clearly it threw in everything including the kitchen sink for controversy and the ratings proved that. Benson had grey hair! The racial jokes, the gay jokes. Billy Crystal has to act gay but not too gay to offend viewers. In episode 2 he is dressed in drag telling everyone he is going to have a sex change operation. These articles discuss that the pilot aired without the controversy ABC expected. Yet after a year or so the censors clamped down on the show. The last half of this sitcom dropped all the controversial stuff and it just became crazy. Alien abductions and weird stuff. Even the gay community was up in arms because one of the first gay characters on TV was a cross dresser wanting a sex change. You can see how Benson got his own show though. His smart a** jokes towards the rich white family were hysterical. Sadly he was gone by the last season.
Casey Kasem was offered to do the opening monologue but he turned it down wanting nothing to do with the trashy sitcom. It really was a different kind of show LOL

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

On New Years Day I watched the pilot episode and episode 2. Its a completely different show than it was in the last 2 seasons. Clearly it threw in everything including the kitchen sink for controversy and the ratings proved that. Benson had grey hair! The racial jokes, the gay jokes. Billy Crystal has to act gay but not too gay to offend viewers. In episode 2 he is dressed in drag telling everyone he is going to have a sex change operation. These articles discuss that the pilot aired without the controversy ABC expected. Yet after a year or so the censors clamped down on the show. The last half of this sitcom dropped all the controversial stuff and it just became crazy. Alien abductions and weird stuff. Even the gay community was up in arms because one of the first gay characters on TV was a cross dresser wanting a sex change. You can see how Benson got his own show though. His smart a** jokes towards the rich white family were hysterical. Sadly he was gone by the last season.
Casey Kasem was offered to do the opening monologue but he turned it down wanting nothing to do with the trashy sitcom. It really was a different kind of show LOL

Never had a chance to sample the show I will once football is over