Technical Difficulties

Today I was going to write about the 50th anniversary of The Waltons, which debuted on this date, September 14, in 1972. Unfortunately, we had an internet outage that lasted for hours today, so I was unable to do so. This will make things a bit rough the next few days. I will have to write the post on The Waltons tomorrow. Friday the 9th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon begins. The 50th anniversary of The Bob Newhart Show is Friday, but I will have to write about it sometime next week. Quite simply, the 50th anniversary of M*A*S*H is Saturday and Sunday I will want to write my contribution to the Rule, Britannia blogathon. Of course, next week there are yet more television anniversaries...

Anyway, if you are wondering why the 50th anniversaries of The Waltons, The Bob Newhart Show, and M*A*S*H all fall so close together, it can be summed up by the phrase "premiere week." From the Forties into the Fifties, the networks tended to debut their new shows throughout the month of September and sometimes even as late as October. This changed in the early to mid-Sixties when the networks began premiering their new shows all in one week in September. The tradition of "premiere week" persisted for decades and it has only been in the past few years that they have broken away from it. For fall 1972, CBS's premiere week was from September 11 to September 17. The Waltons, The Bob Newhart Show, and M*A*S*H all aired on CBS, hence they all debuted in the same week.Of course, this means that CBS's premiere week in 1972 was one of the absolute best premiere weeks of all time. Anyway, my post on The Waltons will be out tomorrow evening, barring another internet outage!