Newsday TV Books, March 1973.

Boy, I thought I had this catching-up-on-1973-thing in the bag, but it's taken fuh-EVUH to get this damn post done! And it's still not done! [Editor's note: It is in fact now done.] So let's proceed without further procrastination, heh?

Kirk Douglas does his best Steve Bannon impression (alongside Susan Hampshire) for the musical TV version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. (Click photos if you don't feel like squinting. Click again if you're as old as me.)

Someone very concerned about the exact status of Julie London and Bobby Troupe's kids writes in to the TV Line this week. And you think I have too much free time.

Bill Kaufman gives us the skinny on the cover production, which also featured Donald Pleasance and Susan George.

Here's a look at that Thursday evening, with something no one has ever asked for: a close-up of Marjoe Gortner.

Liza's "With a Z" special is repeated, and tripped-out Gary Viskupic saw only legs and a giant head.

I know you (meaning me) always love to see what was slated for late-night viewing on weekends, and this particular Friday has some neat items, including reviewer John Cashman throwing in a guest review from fellow Newsday scribe Stan Isaacs.

On to the next week, when Marlo Thomas rounded up some of the sexiest men of '73 for her special.

I guess the Charlie Brown musical from last month was a hit with Long Islanders, as it elicited two questions this week--one about Mark Montgomery who played Schroeder and another about Bill Hinnant, who, as previously mentioned, would tragically drown just a few years later.

In the cover story, Marlo talks about her lefty causes and teases the upcoming Free to Be... You and Me.

The Sunday night listings that week including a close-up on the special There's No Time For Love, Charlie Brown, which tackled the sensitive issue of grade-school venereal disease.

Late Monday here, with a look at a Zero Mostel show with an all-star cast.

Wednesday night brought Hal Linden, pre-Barney Miller, starring on the terribly-titled pilot Mr. Inside / Mr. Outside.

Friday gave us an Ed Sullivan special, and the late-night programs offered zombies, werewolves and... EEEEK! Roman Polanski! RUN!

Remember when some piece of crap like The Amazing Colossal Man would come on TV and you had no fucking choice but to sit there and watch it because it may not be on for like another six months to a year? Yeah, that was great.

In case you ever wondered what Adrienne Barbeau's face looked like, she's on our next cover.

She was a "disco dancer" at the Salem Inn in Port Washington. Sounds like a nice place, I don't know why she left.

Long Islanders ask about Mary and Flip, and complain about dirty movies in the daytime.

Here's an ad for a Sunday Bell System Theatre showing of The Red Pony with little Clint Howard, already showing signs of aging into a Morlock.

Here's a close-up on a TV movie cashing in on Michael Cole's white-hot Mod Squad star power, along with Tuesday's late listings.

The following night, Toma made its debut.

Finally for our coverage of this week (also notable for my fourth birthday--I got checkered slacks, photo forthcoming), NBC presents some pilots on Friday night. I don't think the Lee Grant show went anywhere, but Chase lasted a season and was later in a syndication package (along with Toma) that aired on USA in the mid-eighties.

At last, we've reached the end of March, and this week brought the Tonys, the Oscars, and Mitzi.

It feels like the first time for Mitzi, and she shares it with Ken Berry and Touch Connors. Here's a clip from the special, with Mitzi on the L.A. Coliseum scoreboard, as mentioned in the article.

This week's TV Line is notable as the first mention, as far as I can tell, of the Newsday TV Book's "Phantom Reviewer," later to be revealed as John Cashman.

Here are the Tony Award nominees for 1973. Wait, there aren't any musicals based on Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, or The Incredible Mr. Limpet, or DC's Shazam! So what childish bullshit did adults pay hundreds of dollars to see on Broadway back then?

On Monday, Diahann Carroll sings songs about rain in a special with a hell of a guest line-up. Bread in the rain? Gross!

Now, the Academy Awards do their thing, and again, not one movie based on a comic book! BO-RING!

Connie Stevens guests on Bobby Darin's show, and Hodgepodge Lodge features a pebble, perhaps explaining why you can barely find a mention online of Hodgepodge Lodge.

This is part of an ad for Castro Convertibles which I've enlarged so you can see the tiny depiction of Bernadette Castro opening a sofabed. For some reason I always liked seeing that on TV as a kiddie, but the 70's ads are scarce. (You get a hint of it here.)

Last and possibly least for the month, another close-up on NBC pilots, notable for two reasons, both about Savage: This pilot featured Barbara Bain and Martin Landau a few years before they starred on Space:1999 together, and it was directed by some young nebbish named Steven Spielberg.

That'll do it for March.  Just wait until you see what April has in store! I can't wait either because I haven't so much as glanced at those issues yet! Oy, with the scanning and the editing and the researching, it's a whole thing...

(Here's that pic of my snazzy pants, but I edited it to look like my memories.)