Newsday TV Book, June 12-18, 1977.

I can't claim to be much of a fan of summer anymore. I could do without the heat and humidity, and, as an inveterate night-owl, the daylight that feels endless. When I was a kid it was a different story, of course, with summer a blessedly school-less stretch of days spent splashing in my family's above-ground pool or visiting the park at the end of our suburban block, making an occasional trip to a Long Island beach, and chasing the ice cream man as he jingled through my neighborhood a few times a week. This week's TV Book comes from a particularly epic summer: the one that brought Star Wars into my life, less than three weeks earlier, an obsession that would last for another five years or so. (I can't claim to be a fan of Star Wars anymore either, but the nostalgia for that feeling is still strong with this one.)

I was definitely a fan of Shields and Yarnell, the married mime duo that graces this issue's cover. I didn't quite grasp the concept of a summer replacement series, so as school reared its Catholic head in the fall I was left wondering where my robot friends The Clinkers had gone, and the same went for the Keane Brothers Show and other temporary variety-show timeslot-fillers.
(Click each pic to enlarge)

Their story is told by Bill Kaufman, with an interesting mention of another fan of note: Groucho Marx (who would pass just two months later) compared the pair to his brother Harpo.

In the TV Line column, inquiring Islanders ponder such topics as the whereabouts of the eldest Semonski Sister, Kristy MacNichols' favorite, and that goony beanpole on CPO Sharkey.

Here's Sunday morning, when Bud & Lou and the Bowery Boys met the Keystone Kops and ghosts, respectively...

...and Sunday afternoon, with a Viskupic illustration for an exploration of the brain, and a choice at 1pm between the Marx Brothers and Jerry Lewis. (No choice at all, in fact--The Bellboy is nearly unwatchable merde, John Cashman's charitable review notwithstanding.)

We move along to Friday and Saturday, the full days' schedules for ya.

Finally, some ads, starting with Harvey Sound in Woodbury touting the new, smaller Advent VideoBeam 750 projection TV.

In the "1977 Photoview of Long Island" (whatever that means), we see the whole coo-coo cutting crew of Shear Shack in Selden, plus the Crest Hollow Country Club of Woodbury.

Now that I'm headed down the other side of the middle-age peak, if you will, I'm trying to appreciate the sweaty summers I have left. Ice cream helps... just as it always did.
See you next time!