Episode Guide

by G. Jack Urso
 

There were eleven first-run episodes of Hot Hero Sandwich broadcast on NBC from Nov. 10, 1979, to Jan. 26, 1980, with repeats continuing through April 5. This episode guide was compiled with the help of various TV Guides, the New York Times TV listings, Hot Hero writer Sherry Coben, and Richie Annunziato and Mike Ratti of the Hot Hero band.

The TV Guide had the most accurate descriptions. The New York Times were helpful, but inconsistent when compared with the TV Guide. While the New Yok Times has a good reputation, TV listings are an afterthought for them while for the TV Guide it is their job, so I'm going with them for the episode descriptions, which appear below verbatim, as originally published.

Nailing down the correct number of episodes proved a challenging task, particularly when it came to Episodes 10 and 11. In an interview with Aeolus 13 Umbra, the Emmy Award winning writer of Hot Hero Sandwich Sherry Coben, and her husband Patrick McMahon, who was an editor for HHS and also has three Primetime Emmy nominations, reported that due to college basketball preemptions, some parts of the country, as in the West, never saw some episodes. The last episode, according to McMahon, may have only run in four or five markets.

All the episode descriptions provided below are verbatim from TV Guides except for episode 10, which was provided by Coben and episode 11, prepared by myself.

Prior to this list, there was little information about individual episodes. In fact, I could not find any descriptions anywhere on the Internet in my many hours of research. This represents, to the best of my knowledge, the first comprehensive episode list with descriptions for the series published anywhere.

Episode 1, Nov. 10, 1979: Debut: A potpourri of interviews, music, and comedy characterizes this series aimed at young people. On the first show, Erik Estrada (“CHiPs”), Bruce Jenner, Olivia Newton-John and Donna Pescow (“Angie”) talk about subjects ranging from dating to divorce. Music: “He’s the Greatest Dancer” and “We Are Family” (Sister Sledge). (60 min)

Note: Episode 1 celebrity interview guests also include Hal Linden and McLean Stevenson.

Episode 2, Nov. 17, 1979: Coretta Scott King, Pam Dawber of “Mork and Mindy,” Jimmy McNichol of “California Fever” and “Superman” star Christopher Reeve are interviewed: the Little River Band performs “Lonesome Loser.” (60 min)

Note: Episode 2 celebrity interview guests also include Richard Pryor and Gloria Steinem.

Episode 3, Nov. 24, 1979: Leonard Nimoy, Donna Pescow (“Angie”), Richard Pryor and Sally Struthers are interviewed. Also, Eddie Money Sings. (60 min)

Episode 4, Dec. 1, 1979: Interviewed are Henry Fonda, Ron Howard (“Happy Days”), country singer Loretta Lynn and Marlo Thomas. Also: Stephen Stills performs “Love the One You’re With.” (60 min)

Episode 5, Dec. 8, 1979: Kareen Abdul-Jabbar, Pam Dawber (“Mork and Mindy”), Robert Guillaume (“Benson”) and Michael Learned (“The Waltons”) are interviewed. Also, Joe Jackson sings “Radio,” and the Hot Hero Band. (60 min)

Dec. 15, 1979: Preempted for NFL special. See notes below.

Episode 6, Dec. 22, 1979: Happy and sad Christmas memories are recalled by Robert Guillaume, Bruce Jenner and Marlo Thomas. Also, Barbara Walters discusses her much-publicized salary; Eddie Money performs “Jealousy.” (60 min)

Episode 7, Dec. 29, 1979:  Stockard Channing, basketball’s Julius Erving, Sally Struthers and McLean Stevenson (“Hello Larry”) are interviewed. Also: a film about the rock group KISS. (60 min)

Episode 8, Jan. 5, 1980: Erik Estrada, Richard Pryor, Gloria Steinem and Cheryl Tiegs are interviewed. Also: Latin disco by the Palmieri Brothers. (60 min.) 

Episode 9, Jan. 12, 1980: Author Judy Blume, Hal Linden, Olivia Newton-John and Christopher Reeve are interviewed. Also: the Persuasions sing “Return to Sender.” (60 min.)

Episode 10, Jan. 19, 1980: Levar Burton, Michael Learned, McLean Stevenson and Stockard Channing are interviewed. Musical guest Rex Smith performs "Tonight."

Episode 11, Jan. 26, 1980: Loretta Lynn, Leonard Nimoy, Richard Pryor are interviewed, the Puberty Fairy visits Ym and Ur, and the infamous marijuana sketch. Musical guest Joe Jackson sings "Are You Really Going Out with Him," and Andy Breckman leads the Hot Hero Band in a rousing rendition of "Here We Come, and There We Go."

Notes: Hot Hero Sandwich did not air on Dec. 15, 1979, as the show was preempted for a broadcast of an hour-long NBC NFL special at 11 am EST on the career of Dick Butkus, who was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1979. This was followed by a Jets vs. Dolphins game at Noon. Unlike a "breaking news special report" preemption, this was planned in advance, so the episode for that week would not have been scheduled. Typically, that means rescheduling it for the following week.

Confusing matters, however, in my research of TV Guides for various markets, I found one station, WBAL (Ch. 11, Washington/Baltimore), ran an episode of Hot Hero Sandwich at 8 am-9 am Sunday, Dec. 16; however, no synopsis is provided, so it is unclear which episode they aired. Of the other TV Guides, the NY Times, and the microfilm records of the Times Union (Albany) of the listings for WRGB, Ch. 6, my local station, which aired the show, no episode was aired that week, so the WBAL listing seems to be an anomaly. Granted, this was not a comprehensive study due to my limited resources, but it does suggest a pattern.

The NY Times does not specifically begin to list the (R) symbol (indicating a repeat broadcast) in the episode descriptions until Feb. 9, 1980; however, as my interview with Sherry Coben and Patrick McMahon of HHS establish, the last episode was definitely Jan. 19, 1980.

As a side note, it should be mentioned that two episodes of Hot Hero Sandwich were later rebroadcast in 1982 and 1983 as part of the NBC Special Treat, an afterschool anthology show geared towards teenagers, much like the ABC Afterschool Special and the NBC Schoolbreak Special. The episodes re-broadcast included HHS Episode 1 on Nov. 2, 1982, and HHS Episode 5 on Mar. 3, 1983.

The post-mortem for the show was written up in the TV Guide for Mar. 29, 1980. The last repeat of Hot Hero Sandwich on NBC was reported by the NY Times on April 5, 1980. On April 12, the show was replaced with reruns of Weekend Special, the NBC version of the ABC Afterschool Special series.

Here is the list of the markets covered by the TV Guides I obtained.

  • Carolina-Tennessee
  • Denver
  • Evansville-Paducah
  • Illinois/Wisconsin
  • Missouri
  • New Hampshire Edition
  • NY Metropolitan
  • Penn/NYS edition
  • Portland
  • Spokane
  • Tucson
  • Washington/Baltimore (WBAL, see note above)


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