This curiosity was born in the seventies. It was when TV stars were connected with their home network. ABC, CBS, and NBC would all send stars to compete with each other. I will admit it was fun to watch. You would see Telly Savalas, Lynda Carter, Kristy McNichol (remember her?) compete with each other with no other than Howard Cossell announcing.
Regular events included swimming, kayaking, volleyball, golf, tennis, bowling (on custom-made outdoor lanes), cycling, 3-on-3 football, the baseball dunk, running, and the obstacle course. As a pre-teen boy, I still remember Kristy McNichol was great on the obstacle course.
TV now is so fragmented that it would not work. They did try to bring it back in 2017 but it wasn’t the same and fewer viewers viewed with every episode. The networks didn’t want to share their actors with rivals. All of the contestants were from the Disney owned networks or older casts from long ago shows.
The original show ran from 1976 to 1988… Some of the Contestants are below the video.
Some of the Contestants
Howard Cosell
Gabe Kaplan
Darleen Carr
Lynda Carter
Farrah Fawcett
Richard Hatch
Robert Hegyes
Ron Howard
Hal Linden
Penny Marshall
John Schuck
Telly Savalas
Adrienne Barbeau
Gary Burghoff
Kevin Dobson
Pat Harrington Jr.
Bill Macy
Lee Meriwether
Mackenzie Phillips
Loretta Swit
Jimmie Walker
Robert Conrad
Melissa Sue Anderson
Karen Grassle
Tim Matheson
Ben Murphy
Barbara Parkins
Joanna Pettet
Kevin Tighe
Demond Wilson
Mark Spitz
Peter Lawford
Lona Barrett
Caitlyn Jenner
Bob Rosburg
Reggie Jackson
Nadia Comaneci
Joyce Brothers
Robert Stack
Roosevelt Grier
Howard W. Koch
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This program and the ABC sports “Superstars” were a fun watch- but only for a while. They really tried to build those shows up as being important. I can’t imagine the Superstars ever happening today- fear of injury. Remember Smokin’ Joe Frazier in the swimming competition walking and being disqualified? He couldn’t swim. I wonder what Kyle Rote Jr is up to these days.
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Yea serious should have been against the spirit of the show. Some of the stars though were quite good… some terrible but they played it for a laugh.
Oh I forgot about the Frazier deal!
I haven’t thought of Kyle in a long time!
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I remember the name Kristy McNichol and her face but no clue what she shows/movies she did. This series does not ring a bell in any way although I do recognize names in the list.
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Little Darlings was a big movie she did.
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I liked ‘Superstars’, but this one I don’t remember watching. I bet it was a hoot.
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Oh I remember that one… thanks. Superstars had real athletes like baseball and football teams.
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It was watching the real athletes that I valued.
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Enjoyed that! If this was in Japan something would be electrified haha
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LOL…yea I’ve seen some of their competitions. They think different…I give them that.
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Indeed they do
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Yep- good memories, Kristy McNicol and all! The Superstars is the show which also came to mind, whole family used to like that one for a couple of years back then. I think it would be very interesting to see that (Superstars) done these days see how Tom Brady , LeBron James, Mario Lemieux, Mike Trout, Selena Williams and many others would do head to head running, riding bikes, doing high jumps and so on but there’s no way with today’s sports money their contracts would allow it.
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Yep it’s too much money involved now to even walk on a field with the fear of tripping and causing an injury. It is really sad now. Those were a lot of fun.
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Do you remember Saturday Night Live doing one of their fake commercials for “Battle of the Network T&A”? A friend’s father saw that, and thought it was a real thing and was looking forward to it…
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I remember that… I think it was on the same one where the Rolling Stones were on… I remember them showing the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders on there get sprayed with water I believe.
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And let’s not forget the awesome tv series, Family, with Kristy McNichol.
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Oh yes…I think every boy in America was in love with her. I do remember watching Family.
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I remember this show! I always thought it was cool to see the stars outside of the show. Lynda Carter …. I still remember her swimsuit!!!!
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Who could forget that! It was a lot of fun watching that.
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