During the late 1970s, I watched several live-action Saturday morning tv programs, like
Space Academy and
The Kids from C.A.P.E.R., but the 70s Live Action Kid Vid website gives some details about many that I never heard of. They vanished quickly, and left little trace on DVD, though you may be able to find uploads on youtube. Here are the four that look most interesting:
1. Ark II (1976-77): a sort of futuristic trucker show about Jonah (Terry Lester) driving around in a post-apocalyptic world solving people's personal problems, accompanied by his teen sidekicks Samuel (Jose Flores) and Ruth (Jean Marie Hon), plus a talking chimp. Terry Lester, who was gay in real life, went on to become a soap opera hunk on
The Young and the Restless.
2. Dr. Shrinker (1976-77), a segment of the
Krofft Supershow: the teens Brad (Ted Eccles) and BJ (Susan Lawrence), plus their goofy friend Gordie (Boomer MacKay), are trapped on a desert island with a mad scientist who shrinks them.
Child star Ted Eccles starred in
In Cold Blood (1967) and
My Side of the Mountain (1969), and muscled up to hug James Coburn in
The Honkers (1972) and get terrorized by
Scott Jacoby in
Bad Ronald (1974).
3. Bigfoot and Wildboy (1977-78), another segment of the
Krofft Supershow: Bigfoot (Ray Young) and his teen sidekick Wildboy (Joseph Butcher) roam the Pacific Northwest, solving people's personal problems. Sounds like some interspecies buddy-bonding occurred.
The Krofft Supershow was a very busy program. It also featured musical groups like
The Bay City Rollers and
Michael Lembeck (center) as Kaptain Kool (with the Kongs).
4. Jason of Star Command (1978-81): Jason (Craig Littler) and his assistants (including James Doohan, Scotty on
Star Trek) work to keep the evil Dragos from taking over the galaxy in this
Space Academy spin-off.
Craig Littler performed in many movies and tv programs, including
Blazing Saddles (1974) and
Laverne and Shirley. In the 1990s, he became the voice of Grey Poupon mustard in tv commercials ("Pardon me -- do you have any Grey Poupon?").
