Tuesday, October 16, 2007

"Battle of the Network Stars"

What would a television blog be without a mention of the “Battle of the Network Stars”?

Beginning in November of 1976, the special featured your favorite network stars (that’s ABC, CBS and NBC, before the days of FOX).

After the first show, the special aired twice a year from 1977 through May 1985. Another show aired in 1988.

The majority of the shows were hosted by Howard Cosell (repeat after me, “This is Ho-ward Co-sell…") and, according to the info I found in Wikipedia on the Web, the competitions included swimming, golf, kayaking, cycling, tennis, the baseball dunk, running and the obstacle course (my favorite). The final two top-scoring teams would battle it out in a tug-of-war.

Network captains of the first show were Gabe Kaplan (ABC … OK, everybody sing, Welcome back…), Telly Savalas (CBS … Who loves ya, baby?), and Robert Conrad (NBC …. Go ahead, knock that Eveready battery off his shoulder. I dare ya.). The show even garnered a mention in Sheryl Crow’s song, “The Na Na Song.”

I miss it.

Who would you like to see from television shows of today compete if "Battle of the Network Stars" was revived?

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