TV Guide Fall Preview Issue – 1983

This afternoon I received the 2008 edition of TV Guide’s Fall Preview issue. For some reason that even I can’t fathom, I wondered what the Preview Issue looked like 25 years ago. Well, after rooting around my archives of things of dubious worth, I found a copy of the September 10-16, 1983 issue of TV Guide—The Fall Preview Issue.

The 5″x7.5″ issue has a cover price of 50¢, has 96 color pages and 140 pages in newprint for the local/city program and grid listings. This contrasts with the 8″x10.5″ 2008 edition which has a cover price of $3.99, 100 total color pages of which 21 of those pages are devoted to the regular national grid listings.

Something that is striking: despite having 236 pages vs 100, the networks covered in the 1983 edition are combrised of only: NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, an independent station, CNN, ESPN, HBO, Cinemax (only in program grids), Showtime, WTBS, The Movie Channel (only in program grids), USA, and the long since passed subscription TV service: Super TV. That’s it. The 2008 edition lists 82 networks in its grids.

Let’s look at what was new for 1983 (how many of these do you remember):

EARLY STARTERS

Monitor (Lloyd Dobyns)
Goodnight, Beantown (Mariette Hartley, Bill Bixby)
The Mississippi (Stan Shaw, Ralph Waite, Linda Miller)
The A Team (Dirk Benedict, George Peppard, Dwight Schultz, Mr. T, Melinda Culea)

SATURDAY

Cutter to Houston (Alec Baldwin, Shelley Hack, Jim Metzler)
The Rousters (Hoyt Axton, Chad Everett, Timothy Gibbs, Maxine Stuart, Jim Varney)
The Yellow Rose (Noah Beery, Cybill Shepherd, Sam Elliott, Edward Albert, Ken Curtis, David Soul, Susan Anspach, Tom Schanley, Chuck Connors)
Returning shows: T.J. Hooker, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Diff’rent Strokes, Silver Spoons

SUNDAY

Hardcastle and McCormick (Daniel-Hugh Kelly, Brian Keith)
Returning shows: Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, 60 Minutes, Alice, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Trapper John M.D., Knight Rider, Nature, Masterpiece Theatre

MONDAY

Scarecrow and Mrs. King (Kate Jackson, Bruce Boxleitner)
Boone (Barry Corbin, Elizabeth Huddle, Kitty Moffatt, Greg Webb, Amanda Peterson, Tom Byrd)
After-MASH (William Christopher, Harry Morgan, Rosalind Chao, Jamie Farr)
Emerald Point N.A.S. (Sela Ward, Stephanie Dunnam, Doran Clark, Susan Dey, Richard Dean Anderson, Andrew Stevens, Dennis Weaver, Charles Frank)
Returning shows: That’s Incredible!, NFL Monday Night Football, Newart

TUESDAY

Just Our Luck (Richard Gilliland, T.K. Carter)
Oh Madeline (Francine Tacker, James Sloyan, Madeline Kahn, Louis Giambalvo)
Bay City Blues (Pat Corley, Peter Jurasik, Michele Greene, Perry Lang, Dennis Franz, Marco Rodriguez)
Returning shows: Happy Days, Three’s Company, Hart to Hart, Remington Steele, Nova

WEDNESDAY

Whiz Kids (Melanie Gaffin, Todd Porter, Andrea Elson, Jeffrey Jacquet, Matthew Laborteaux)
Hotel (Connie Sellecca, Bette Davis, James Brolin)
Returning shows: The Fall Guy, Dynasty, Real People, The Facts of Life, Family Ties, St. Elsewhere

THURSDAY

Medstar (Bill Randolph, Jayne Modean, Alfie Wise, Wendie Malick, Jack Bannon, james Naughton, Lou Ferrigno)
We Got It Made (Tom Villard, Teri Copley, Matt McCoy)
It’s Not Easy (Billy Jacoby, Rachel Jacobs, Evan Cohen, Carlene Watkins, Jayne Meadows, Bert Convy, Ken Howard)
Returning shows: 9 to 5, 20/20, Magnum P.I., Simon & Simon, Knots Landing, Gimme a Break, Mama’s Family, Cheers, Hill Street Blues

FRIDAY

Mr. Smith
Webster (Susan Clark, Emmanuel Lewis, Alex Karras)
Jennifer Slept Here (John P. Navin Jr., Ann Jillian)
Lottery$ (Marshall Colt, Ben Murphy)
Manimal (Michael D. Roberts, Simon MacCorkindale, Melody Anderson)
For Love and Honor (Gary Grubbs, Rachel Ticotin, Cliff Potts, Shelley Smith, Yaphet Kotto)
Returning shows: Benson, Matt Houston, The Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas, Falcon Crest

A few things stood out for me. First, how many of the new shows I’d totally forgotten existed. Still, amongst the rabble, there are shows such as The A-Team, Webster, Hotel, and Scarecrow and Mrs. King that give one a little faith that even when there are only three major networks, that some new shows can live on in blessed syndication. When you look at the returning shows…not bad. Not bad at all.

As I thumb through the magazine, I see on the Sports section that the top two events for the coming season are the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, and the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (yes kiddies, at one time both the Winter and Summer games were held at the beginning of the same Olympiad).

A Close Up for U.S. Open Tennis lists the expected finalists to be among: (women) Martina Navratilova and defending champ Chris Evert; (men) John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, and defending champ Jimmy Connors. On the facing page is an ad with U.S. Davis Cup captain Arthur Ashe hawking Head tennis racquets.

Looking at some of the other ads: Sears is offering a 19″ TV with precision quartz tuning for only $379.99 (was $499.99) — about $800 ($1040) in 2008 dollars. Oh, and you can get a high quality Betamax VCR for only $399 (was $499.99) with a 3-day timer! What else…there are tons of cigarette ads, and a few hard liquor ads. And some things never change: weight loss/diet pill ads galore.