A long time ago, Star Wars on TV really sucked

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https://www.avclub.com/a-long-time-a...ked-1850309378

Before the success of The Mandalorian and Andor, Star Wars on TV meant cheesy variety shows and an embarrassing holiday special.

By Ray Greene



Every Star Wars fan has a favorite Disney+ TV series, including titles like Andor and The Mandalorian, and nearly every fan has a “least favorite” to show hate-watch (we’re looking at you The Book Of Boba Fett). And after last weekend’s Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London, which saw lots of big announcements, there are even more series to come. But it used to be that Star Wars on TV wasn’t either good or bad. It was just bad. Really, really bad.

This is because Star Wars represented a paradigm shift—the shaggy, countercultural New Hollywood elbowing its way onstage in a time that was still governed by old Hollywood “entertainment.” Television in 1977 wasn’t supposed to be good. It was supposed to kill time, as blandly as possible. The top two shows were both set in the 1950s: Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days. Third-ranked was a paragon of what NBC exec Paul Klein derogatorily called “Jiggle TV”—the roommate farce Three’s Company, which could be remembered for John Ritter’s slapstick genius, but was notorious at the time for Suzanne Somers’ revealing outfits.

This is the ecosystem George Lucas was trying to navigate to build out his Star Wars universe. He ****ed things up almost right away.