Remember the late Shirley Booth's OTHER short-lived series - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Rezny@gmail.com · 01-23-2011, 05:27 PM

"A Touch Of Grace",which aired in 1973 on ABC?It didn't last too long,and WASN'T as good as "Hazel"(although Shirley Booth tried hard,),and was kind of sad and pathetic.Does anyone else remember this one?

Retro4Life · 01-23-2011, 05:29 PM

Yes, I remember it. It was a sweet and very well written show.

Du Mont · 02-04-2011, 01:57 AM

I remember "A Touch of Grace" as a sweet family show, and I remember that the show got some good critical reviews too. It was one of those increasingly rare shows focused on older characters (even though she lived with her kids)...speaking of which, I also loved Mr. Barnard Hughes in "Doc" on CBS.

"A Touch of Grace" was an ABC Saturday at 8:30 pm mid-season replacement for "Alias Smith & Jones", and it was paired with "Here We Go Again", a sitcom starring the post-"I Dream of Jeannie" Mr. Larry Hagman playing a divorced man in a new marriage with all the ex's about.

Sadly, Both shows got steam-rollered in the ratings...ABC was already waving the white flag of surrender on Saturday nights, and they began to sked shows they had no real faith in on the night. "Here We Go" was up against "All in the Family" and averaged a 7.2HH coming in dead last in the regular season (75th of 75 shows), while "A Touch of Grace" did a little better against "Bridget" and averaged a 11.6HH, 70th of 75 regular season shows. By comparison, the red-hot number one "All in the Family" averaged 33.1HH and number five "Bridget Loves Bernie" averaged 24.4HH on CBS, while NBC came a respectable second with "Emergency" averaging an 18.6HH (tied in 37th place with "The Doris Day Show").

I have heard on another thread that the production company has preserved the tapes for this show and a future DVD issue is possible.

bencasey · 03-01-2011, 01:14 PM

I never saw it at the time as I was watching the CBS shows like everybody else. I did get a chance to see the pilot last year and I have to say, I really liked it. Very funny show! As to the episodes, all of the 2-inch masters reside at the UCLA archive, not that anyone would ever do anything with them, but at least they exist, for whatever that's worth.

01-23-2011, 05:27 PM	#1
Rezny@gmail.com Member Senior Member Join Date: Jul 20, 2007 Location: Nebraska Posts: 2,675	Remember the late Shirley Booth's OTHER short-lived series "A Touch Of Grace",which aired in 1973 on ABC?It didn't last too long,and WASN'T as good as "Hazel"(although Shirley Booth tried hard,),and was kind of sad and pathetic.Does anyone else remember this one?

01-23-2011, 05:29 PM	#2
Retro4Life Accept No Substitutes Forum Veteran Join Date: Feb 04, 2009 Location: IL Posts: 6,708	Yes, I remember it. It was a sweet and very well written show.
	__________________ Alex Reiger :[Trying to convince Louie not to antagonize Bobby] "It's not hard to make people feel bad about their lives. What's hard is making people feel good about their lives."

02-04-2011, 01:57 AM	#3
Du Mont Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Apr 15, 2007 Posts: 331	"A Touch of Grace", ABC, Saturday at 8:30 pm, January to April 1973 I remember "A Touch of Grace" as a sweet family show, and I remember that the show got some good critical reviews too. It was one of those increasingly rare shows focused on older characters (even though she lived with her kids)...speaking of which, I also loved Mr. Barnard Hughes in "Doc" on CBS. "A Touch of Grace" was an ABC Saturday at 8:30 pm mid-season replacement for "Alias Smith & Jones", and it was paired with "Here We Go Again", a sitcom starring the post-"I Dream of Jeannie" Mr. Larry Hagman playing a divorced man in a new marriage with all the ex's about. Sadly, Both shows got steam-rollered in the ratings...ABC was already waving the white flag of surrender on Saturday nights, and they began to sked shows they had no real faith in on the night. "Here We Go" was up against "All in the Family" and averaged a 7.2HH coming in dead last in the regular season (75th of 75 shows), while "A Touch of Grace" did a little better against "Bridget" and averaged a 11.6HH, 70th of 75 regular season shows. By comparison, the red-hot number one "All in the Family" averaged 33.1HH and number five "Bridget Loves Bernie" averaged 24.4HH on CBS, while NBC came a respectable second with "Emergency" averaging an 18.6HH (tied in 37th place with "The Doris Day Show"). I have heard on another thread that the production company has preserved the tapes for this show and a future DVD issue is possible.

03-01-2011, 01:14 PM	#4
bencasey Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 29, 2001 Location: Long Beach Posts: 1,692	I never saw it at the time as I was watching the CBS shows like everybody else. I did get a chance to see the pilot last year and I have to say, I really liked it. Very funny show! As to the episodes, all of the 2-inch masters reside at the UCLA archive, not that anyone would ever do anything with them, but at least they exist, for whatever that's worth.