The Power Records Podcast 29 – 70’s TV Favorites!

THE POWER RECORDS PODCAST 29 - 70's TV FAVORITES!

Chris and Rob discuss audio adventures starring two 1970s TV favorites - The Six Million Dollar Man in "The Bionic Beserker" and Kojak in "The Prodigal Son"!

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18 responses to “The Power Records Podcast 29 – 70’s TV Favorites!

  1. Look, guys. There are regrettably few opportunities in my particular field of medicine for bionic limb replacement, so I’m no expert. But surely the Tennessee kid who got his arm cut off in the cardboard crusher must surely be in the running for becoming the next Six Million Dollar Man?
    (In 2022, six million dollars doesn’t feel like it’d buy you a whole load of cybernetic enhancement. What’s the equivalent cost now? Six Billion Dollars?)
    And I’m sure I’ve seen babies in onesies with “Who lives ya, baby?” plastered over the chest.

    Oh… the records! Yeah, I’m surprised there was no Bionic Man/Woman cartoon, but Toby was a particularly irritating super-intelligent tween sidekick. How did he get to “know more about the geology of the Moon than most space scientists”? And if that’s true why didn’t NASA hire the squeaky little twerp. That story was a big Nope from me.

    Kojak was a much more interesting tale, but definitely seemed more nuanced and adult, and I also wondered exactly what Power Records thought would be the audience for this particular disc.

  2. Hi Gents. Another great podcast. As a child of the late ‘60s / early ‘70s we only had the three networks, PBS, and maybe a UHF station (look it up kids). We also only had Saturday morning cartoons and early afternoon cartoons or reruns. That said, Kojak was in a weird way kid friendly. His catchphrase, the lollipop, and his general attitude (yelling at his boss and underlings) was much more entertaining than say Marcus Welby, MD. We were so starved for something a little fun that we were happy when are parents chose a show like Kojak. These were the days of family viewing, also known as we have to watch whatever mom and dad are watching because there is only one TV.

    As to toy licensing, would the licensors approach a TV show? We can generate a little extra revenue by slapping Kojak on our existing toy guns, badges, handcuffs, et cetera. Remember, this is pre Star Wars, so the studios didn’t even think about licensing revenue. It was an afterthought or the icing on the cake. That all changed after Star Wars where suddenly licensing was big money.

    Travis Morgan

  3. Oh, yeah. What a wonderful trip down the memory lane of ’70s TV. Speaking of which, when you mentioned that Saturday night line-up of shows, I have to say that as far back as I can remember, MASH always aired on Monday nights – didn’t know it was originally slotted on Saturdays.
    And when Chris mentioned the Thursday night line-up with Magnum followed by Simon & Simon, I big smile came to my face. For a few years running in high school, that was probably my favorite night – I *loved* both of those shows so much, and they went together perfectly, like peanut butter and chocolate.
    As for the Power Records in question, I have to ask: did anybody else notice that the radio station’s call letters were WGBS? I was almost hoping the reporter would identify himself as Clark Kent…
    As for who could have played a live-action Toby or other teen sidekick, I’d suggest Chris Makepeace – he would have been about the right age, i.e., mid-teens, when 6 Million Dollar Man was originally aired. They actually appeared in a movie together, 1981’s The Last Chase, a rather mediocre dystopian SF action film, in which Makepeace was in fact the teen sidekick to Majors as the leading man.
    Anyway, I think Kojak was much better here, but as you both noted here and in the previous show when you covered Kojak, it doesn’t seem like it should be a Power Record aimed at kids.

  4. I was’nt allowed to WATCH it but Hill street blues WAS a HUGE thing in my house cuz my uncle loved and my dad did not
    Steve Austin sounds like David Niven doing Lee majors.
    As a wheelchair user of the late 70s yep we ALL wanted to be bionic.

  5. Two distinctly different crime fighters from 70s television! I loved The Six Million Dollar man as a kid. Didn’t have his s as cation figure, but I had a cool beach towel featuring the cybernetic superhero! Kojak I encountered later in life in syndication. One of the greatest hard as nails cop shows ever. This episode was the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of the Power Records Podcast. Two great tastes that taste great together. Maybe we can get Steve Austen together with The Gemini Man for a 70s TV superhero episode. Sort of a sweet & sour episode.
    My guess ti why we never got a Six Million Dollar Man cartoon is the licensing. The series was based on novels and the studio probably didn’t want to pay more for a cartoon or pay royalties. The Bionic Woman however could have been a cartoon since she was an original creation, but, I’m betting they didn’t think a cartoon with a female character would bring in ratings on Saturday mornings.

  6. Great episode gentlemen. As a kid I never really watched Kojak but I was really into the Six Million Dollar Man and especially the first Big Foot episode. I hope you can cover that episode on some part of the network someday. I think the first meeting of Steve Austin and Big Foot in the woods is one of the coolest scenes in 1970s TV. I like the bionic sound effects and how they seem to play the bionic sound effect backwards when Steve falls or lands after jumping or being thrown by Big Foot. Have you ever noticed that?

    I also enjoyed your prefatory remarks about TV lineups in the 70s. Tuesday night was always my favorite because I was into Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, and Three’s Company. As I recall Mork and Mindy was on Thursday nights most of the time, and I watched that also. I was too young in the 70s for the classic adult sitcoms like the legendary Saturday night lineup of All in the Family, MASH, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, and Carol Burnett, but I got into all those shows later in reruns.

    And speaking of how so many 70s shows had Saturday morning cartoon versions, it would have been hilarious to see a Saturday morning cartoon version of Archie Bunker or Frank Burns. I’m half joking about that but I could seriously imagine some MASH characters in a cartoon like maybe Klinger!

    Anyway great discussion guys and I always enjoy Power Records every time you’re on.

    1. “The Barkleys” was a short- lived 1972 cartoon loosely based on All in the Family. NBC aired 13 episodes starring the voices of Henry Corden & Joan Gerber. I believe it’s available on dvd.

      1
  7. Bionic Elvis ,… dear Rob and Chris , you guys are the greatest , that portion where Mr Chris started to sound like Elvis had me laughing and grinning for the rest of the podcast

    p.s — that Spidey meets Bat-pen story is a legendary status encounter too lol

  8. This was a really funny podcast with the impressions and anecdotes. I was a big Bionic Man fan and loved the Maskatron toy and the comic strip in Look-in magazine. The UK was really Bionic obsessed back then. I enjoyed the Power record complete with mind-bogglingly obvious sound effects which really made me laugh. You could certainly tell when someone had opened a door. Sadly we never got the Mr T cartoon over here but I will now search it out on YouTube.

  9. Impressive podcast most impressive. Kojak and Steve Austan Power Records cool. The Kojak story was cool, though the lawyer in the story was not very smart. Not that I know anything about criminal activities. But, just shooting the gag he will pay you automatically his brightest thing the world. He could threaten to release the stuff. Is fully release can so that bits of it and then contact the guy again. Also he probably should’ve made person he probably should’ve used a middleman to do this particular blackmailing. Our fuel. Also does releasing the thing sale it to newspapers. He probably could make a good bit of money selling this to the local papers. A corrupt politician up for something big. Also his ego is a bit out of check . Both my parents are retired store managers. Had no point did I think I was going to get any special treatment. For the few times I worked with them.

    I now work at a different store. Not to connected to anybody related to. But at no point did I think I was gonna get any special treatment. I busted my butt like everybody else. This kid is downright delusional. Well grown man, still he seems to be under some sort of illusion. Doesn’t matter how smart he is or how good he thinks he is. Or how well views school. These are the real world you pay your dues. Granite talking about it power record so there’s that. I guess the only have so much time to build up his character and what was going on. Still it was entertaining enough story. It was cool to hear another Kojak story. I was in shock when you did the first. And now you are covering the second one. That is pretty cool. They guide during the Kojak voice does pretty well.

    Moving on to the six million dollar man story. IT was expecting a lot more from the title. The berserker cyborg. Something like it was gonna be a greater story and it was. It was fine for what it was. But, it could’ve been an alternate dimension Steve Austin. Our a competing cyborg with a different name. Instead we get the your special just the way you are story. Sprinkled with the bit where his cybernetics are out of control. Though I’m not sure how radiation would do that. If you’re strong enough to do that would get us killed everyone around it? I’m pretty sure industrial-strength cybernetics are put into Steve Austin would not be that glitchy. Document now the stuff we get isn’t going to be that glitchy. Deftly not stuff that was made back then. The leak required to get to do anything like that would killed anyone there anyway.

    Still I guessed for a zany power record story it was fine but the concept could be used to better effect. The acting was finding these. Then I didn’t exactly sound like Lee Majors. But, there’ve been several actors anything that sounded nothing like what I expected the character’s to sound like. And there a lot of power record like that. However they didn’t go to the Oy point of the Star Trek records. The department store Spiderman. I actually met one of them when I was a child and got my photo with one. That was kind of a cool experience. It was probably just someone they hired to do these things. Or a clerk that worked at the store. I remember when I worked at Albertsons years ago. The person who is supposed to be the mascot for their Brown’s milk. Are some company I don’t knows a big hot suit that looks like a cow with a cowboy hat on it. They had a session within said Mr. Brown. I remember this because I was working as a stock crew member. And we’re just stocking shelves in fitting stuff in. And they asked me to do the thing.

    Realizing I can get paid to just walk around the stupid things and we didn’t have a truck that day. This was years ago at an Albertsons. None of the story currently work at which is not Albertsons. I walked around greet people and they had people from the company there. To bring attention to the milk. This was the store’s grand opening so they had things like that. We even had a coffee shop that was going to be in the store. So they had me go over there and get one of their coffee drinks like a frozen coffee but it wasn’t Starbucks. It had a different name. I was happy to get the frozen coffee goes against the costume was hot. Every so once all I went and stood in the freezer just about burn up in that thing. So I have appreciations for people had to go around as mascots. For whatever reason the seafood department wanted that type attention to.
    So they got one of the other guys on our crew was almost 7 foot tall to where a giant lobster custome. Though it basically consisted of a cheesy foamer lobster that went over his upper torso with his head sticking out of it. Any had an lobster claws over his hands. With his regular work uniform under it. He did go up to the coffee shop that was in the store. And the Reese Witherspoon incident had just happened. And since I had just gotten a free frozen coffee. He wanted one 2. Loudly proclaiming don’t you know who I am? When they said no. He said he was red lobster. At any rate because of that whole thing I can appreciate the poor guy who was walking around in the Spiderman costume all day. But back to the childhood stuff.

    Not only did I meet the guy dressed as Spiderman. But, I was also had a ball where they had a guy dressed as Darth Vader where it was able to get an autograph. As a small child at the time. And when there’s this guy like 6’4 ft. speaking in his best intimidating Vader voice for asking me my name. And I was like maybe 5 or something years old I don’t. It was a long time ago. All I could say was I….I….I finally he just signed Darth Vader and walked on. Me and my cousin had gotten one. He wasn’t there his mom had gotten him his. Still those were kind of cool events. Though now I having worked one of those things. A much lesser extent. As the big cow character. Who had the cowboy hat. The vest and for some reason a sash a rounded that had the name Mr. Brown on it. I’m not a mr. but the character was. And it’s a big plush animal looking costume. With eyeholes through the nose. As I walked around pantomime. Since I was pretty sure my voice would not sounded great coming out of this costume.

    Old crazy woman voice coming out of Mr. Brown probably wouldn’t work. But, I will give you one thing no one would recognize the big plushy cow outfit. Even people I knew. Except for the people who saw me put on the cow head in the back room. Back on-topic, I am impressed at the amount of different properties that power record was able to get. And to a certain extent Peter Pan records. As a kid I had the old Mickey Mouse record player. Irony thing is how many Marvel power records I put on that. As the needle was under Mickey’s finger as he’s pointing at the record’s. Since now Disney owns all Marvel. I also played some Star Wars records and of course the Indiana Jones one.

  10. About the different casting of the Six Million Dollar Man. Have you considered that this one might have come first? So they didn’t realize they had a better Lee Majors on hand? I ask because you seemed to recognize him as another character.

    The thing that confuses me most about the brat son/killer in the second story is that he didn’t try to milk the blackmail for all he could. Like… he had a specific goal and it wasn’t even to just be a layabout. It was to open his own firm, which is so different from everything ELSE he was doing. And he specifically targeted someone who wasn’t just blackmail-able, but shady as heck! Like, his dad wasn’t a bastion of integrity either! He even commented on how much his client had hidden away! I also know I wasn’t supposed to… but I really felt for the Fed. I couldn’t help but think that Kojak just messed up a major Rico Case! And he told Kojak who did it! Yeah, it wasn’t the most professional he could have been but clearly there was something bigger on the line and I just get the sense he would have been willing to provide evidence for Kojak once his own case was wrapped up… I don’t know. It just seemed like there was way more to the story and if it had kept going we would have found out that Kojak really put his foot in it.

    1. PS I have heard from other people about a lack of geek/nerd girls and it boggles the mind for me. My mom grew up a Trekkie with a crush on YODA (she now adores baby Yoda, living her best life). Most of my friends were girls and we all bonded over superheroes, anime, and sci-fi/fantasy. No clue if this is an element of different decades or if it’s because of some gender stuff as kids. I’m really curious if Cindy had a friend group like mine or if this is more of a time period shift.

  11. Hooray! 6 Million Dollar Man and Kolchak!……wait, Kojak? Eh, close enough. This was thoroughly entertaining, gents. Though, to be somewhat nitpick-y, both voice leads sounded very disinterested in their parts. I kind of understand they were trying to impersonate the actors from the shows, but these voice actors were so laid back, it sounded like they were bored!

    To add my two cents to family night must watch TV, I don’t remember too many nights were we all sat down as a family together to watch a specific program. It was mostly just “what’s on tonight, and what is Mom going to choose”. Later as my older brother got to choose, I remember having fights on whether we would watch Alf or McGyver. The only time I can think of where it started to become tradition is Sunday nights. We would finish up dinner early so we could all sit down and watch the Wonderful Word of Disney, followed by two Canadian shows, The Raccoons and The Beachcombers. Good times!

    With Chris’ voice talents and Rob’s artistry, have you guys considered making your OWN Power Records?? Fire and Water Podcast Network presents a Fire and Water Production of Fire and Water!

    These was lots of fun as always! Keep up the great work!

  12. First time caller long time listener .

    I was born in 88 so power records was never a thing for me but I enjoyed the show and Kojac is a favorite as my dad is a police officer . On a side note the first radio show I listened to was burns and Allen on audio cassette the episodes where the hand writing expert and the other episode was Gracie adopting Mickey Rudy. Great show . Keep up the good work

  13. Great show as always, gentlemen. Just loved it.
    The Six Million Dollar Man record was fine, but I REALLY enjoyed that Kojak yarn. Much more than I expected to. Some especially fun quips in that one. Steve Austin’s dialogue, not so much. As a guitarist AND a pasta lover, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have any trouble finding a guitar string in a vat of spaghetti.
    Please don’t take so long between episodes this time.

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