Here are four very different sitcoms of 1979—none of which made the cut.
family
The Kinescope Initiative 0096 /
Four flops of 1979—but at least one of them shares its name with a later monster hit.
The Kinescope Initiative 0095 /
An earworm of an opening theme and a spinoff are the bread of a 3 flop 1979 sandwich, with another bomb as a side dish.
The Kinescope Initiative 0094 /
It’s 1979, and we get three iterations of “Animal House” knockoffs, all of which implode.
The Kinescope Initiative 0093 /
We’re wrapping up 1978? “Whatchoo talkin’ bout?”
The Kinescope Initiative 0092 /
Four 1978 flops are heard from, including Garry Marshall’s second attempt at a Frankenstein-esque series.
The Kinescope Initiative 0089 /
Five flops in a row, including the abbreviated return of WJM’s favorite newscaster.
The Kinescope Initiative 0088 /
More flops as we move from 1977 to 1978, with a witch and a sci-fi-spoof.
The Kinescope Initiative 0086 /
Two sitcoms from 1997—one that hearkens back to daytime soaps, and the other to the halcyon days of the Carter administration.
The Kinescope Initiative 0085 /
We have six bombs in a row from 1977.
The Kinescope Initiative 0084 /
A spinoff and a remake are the bread in a Frankenstein sitcom sammich.
The Kinescope Initiative 0083 /
We finally wrap up 1976 and move on to 1977, with four flops and a rare hit for NBC at the time.
The Kinescope Initiative 0082 /
Three 1976 flops including robot cops and stereotypical Asians, plus a show that changed networks, to no avail.
The Kinescope Initiative 0081 /
1976’s run continues with two flops surrounding the "new girl in town".
The Kinescope Initiative 0080 /
1976 brings us four stinkers and an African-American hit with more problems offscreen than on.
The Kinescope Initiative 0079 /
We kick off 1976 with a flop, closely followed with a huge spinoff with gals who were “doing it their way”.
The Kinescope Initiative 0078 /
We wrap up 1975 with a few failures and a long running Norman Lear series—I guess This Is It.
The Kinescope Initiative 0077 /
Four of 1975’s sitcoms are heard from, including two Italian flops, a cursed MTM spinoff, and you can’t go home to the Sweathogs again.
The Kinescope Initiative 0076 /
The networks strike out with four more 1975 sitcoms, with bad timing leading to an incident on Carson.
The Kinescope Initiative 0075 /
Four of 1975's sitcoms are heard from, none of which survive the season.