The Muppets

Following the journey of marine animals who are rescued, rehabilitated and returned to the wild.

Loosely inspired by the career of the real-life family singing group the Cowsills, the ABC sitcom The Partridge Family starred Shirley Jones as Shirley Partridge, widowed mother of five musically inclined children. Almost by accident, Shirley began singing with her kids during an impromptu garage jam session, and thus was born the Partridge Family, a popular singing aggregation who traveled from one engagement to another in the family's battered, psychedelically decorated bus -- all the while trying to lead a "normal" life. The group's agent was Reuben Kinkaid (Dave Madden), who professed to hate kids but who admitted to loving money. As for the kids themselves, they included oldest son Keith Partridge, played by Shirley Jones' stepson David Cassidy, who attained teen-idol status by virtue of this series; oldest daughter Laurie, played by Susan Dey, who grew up to star on such drama series as L.A. Law and Love & War; middle son Danny Partridge, the group's self-appointed business manager, played by future radio talk host Danny Bonaduce; youngest son Chris, played by Jeremy Gelbwaks during season one and thereafter by Brian Foster; and youngest daughter Tracy, portrayed by Suzanne Crough. During the series' fourth and final season, Ricky Segall was seen as Ricky Stevens, a four-year-old neighbor kid who occasionally performed with the Partridges. Also added to the cast that season was Alan Bursky as Reuben Kinkaid's nephew Alan Kinkaid, a shy, neurotic youngster who at the Partridges' urging emerged from his shell to pursue a career as a comedian. The series' theme song went under the title "When We're Singin'" during season one; the following year, the lyrics were rewritten and the song was retitled "Come On, Get Happy." Originally networkcast from September 25, 1970, to August 31, 1974, The Partridge Family also yielded a Saturday-morning cartoon spin-off, 1974's Partridge Family, 2200 AD, and that same year, several of the series' kid actors supplied the voices of their Partridge characters for another animated series, Goober and the Ghost Chasers. Additionally, in 1999, the world was honored with a TV-movie "biography" of the series, Come On, Get Happy: The Partridge Family Story.

One of TV's most durable and wholesome sitcoms is about widower Steve Douglas and his boys, who shared a house with their maternal grandfather, and later, their crotchety uncle. The series was originally scheduled to be a vehicle for the Lennon Sisters of 'Lawrence Welk Show' fame. Characters came and went, but this was an endearing, highly rated series throughout its 1960-72 run; when it moved from ABC to CBS in 1965, Mike, the eldest, was written out, and replaced by adopted son Ernie.

A World War II boat commander and his crew in the South Pacific and Italy. Lt. Cdr. Quinton McHale is a consummate, always-take-a-shortcut con man, incessantly driving the exasperated Capt. Binghampton to distraction.

A look at exotic sea creatures and their similarities to land animals.

Having previously built the popular situation comedy Chico and the Man around the monologues of standup comic Freddie Prinze, producer James Komack followed the same formula in fashioning a sitcom vehicle for another "hot" comic, Gabriel Kaplan. Debuting September 9, 1975 on ABC, Welcome Back Kotter was co-created (with Allan Sacks) by Kaplan, inspired by the routines he'd performed about his own experience while attending a remedial high school class in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. One of his teachers care enough to spur Kaplan to improve himself, and the comedian dedicated his series to that person. Kaplan starred as teacher Gabe Kotter, who, ten years after graduating from Brooklyn's James Buchanan High School, returned to his alma mater to take over the "sweathog" class, comprised of underachievers who'd been written off as "hopeless" by vice principal Michael Woodman (John Sylvester White). Having once been a "sweathog" himself, Kotter empathized with his students, and used a variety of unorthodox but effective techniques to teach them history and social studies, and to curb their enthusiasms in his home-room class. Meanwhile, Mr. Woodman did everything he could to undermine Kotter, whom he still remembered as one of Buchanan's biggest (and funniest) troublemakers. Each episode opened with Kotter telling a joke about his family to his loyal wife Julie (Marcia Strassman), then segued into a session with the Sweathogs. The self-appointed leader of the class was swaggering Vinnie Barbarino, which proved to be a breakthrough role for future movie superstar John Travolta). Vinnie's fellow students included nerdish Arnold Horshack (Ron Palillo), he of the braying laugh and constant shouts of "Ooo! Ooo!"; Juan Epstein (Robert Hegyes), a quick-witted Jewish Puerto Rican who frequently played "Chico Marx" to Mr. Kotter's "Groucho" in their wisecrack-laden dialogue exchanges; and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (later a prolific film and TV producer) as Freddie "Boom-Boom" Washington, a cool black dude with a well-hidden streak of sensitivity. Halfway through season three, Melonie Haller joined cast as Angie Globagoski, loudly proclaiming her intention to be Buchanan's first "female sweathog." When John Travolta's film commitments prevented him from making anything more than token appearances in Season Four, a potential "Vinnie" replacement was introduced in the form of Beau De Labarre (Stephen Shortridge), a Southern-born charmer who was not so much an underachiever as he was an incorrigible prankster, which fact had previously gotten him expelled from seven different schools. Depite the popularity of Gabriel Kaplan and John Travolta, Welcome Back Kotter never cracked the "Top Ten" ratings list, possibly because ABC kept moving its time slot, from Tuesday to Thursday to Monday to Saturday, and finally Friday. Even so, the series had a loyal following, enabling it to remain in active production for 95 half-hour episodes. The series' now-famous theme song was written and performed by John Sebastian. Welcome Back Kotter ending its ABC run on August 3, 1979.