‘ Network Stars’ battle once again
New version channels the feel of original show
ABC’s new version of Battle of the Network Stars has one thing the original didn’t: nostalgia value. Twenty performers who participated in the specials that ran from 1976 to 1988 are among the 100 competitors from 14 past and current TV series in the new weekly edition of the celebrity athletic competition ( Thursday, 9 ET/ PT).
For Willie Aames, 56, who competed in 1979 while starring in Eight Is Enough, returning to Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., the site of the original edition, was “nostalgic and bittersweet. … The first thing I thought of was (late Eight star) Dick Van Patten, ( who) was always our team captain. I made sure I spent a few minutes remembering Dick.”
As TV has changed since the 1970s, so has the structure of Battle. The original featured big TV stars, including Telly Savalas ( Kojak), Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman) and Mike Farrell ( M* A* S* H), from top- rated hits on the three broadcast networks.
With TV now fragmented, and a less cooperative relationship among broadcast networks leery about sharing their actors with rivals, the new version primarily features castmembers from current shows on Disney- owned networks, including ABC, Freeform and Disney Channel, along with stars of past series.
The stars are divided into 20 fivemember teams, with two — one clad in blue and the other in red — competing each week. The opening episode features TV sitcom stars ( Perfect Strangers’ Bronson Pinchot, Roseanne’s Tom Arnold, Full House’s Dave Coulier, The Goldbergs’ AJ Michalka and Growing Pains’ Tracey Gold) against TV kids ( Blossom’s Joey Lawrence, High School Musical’s Corbin Bleu, Modern Family’s Nolan Gould and The Facts of Life’s Kim Fields and LisaWhelchel).
Whelchel, 54, remembers the stars swimming, running and kayaking when she competed in 1984. With just 10 competitors on a given day, “what was nice about this one was the intimacy of it,” she says. “I enjoyed the bonding of the team. When ( team members) have gone through things that other people haven’t and then you meet them, there’s a sense of understanding.”
Classic events, including the obstacle course and dunk tank, return as the show tries “to recapture the spirit of the original,” executive producer Andrew Glassman says. “We’re trying to play more sports, more games in each episode. … It’s the same track, the same pool. Being there definitely added a lot in terms of summoning up old memories.”
The new TV climate changed the competition from the days when ABC, CBS and NBC were the only players battling for TV primacy, Aames says. “It was friendlier than it used to be,” he says. “When you only had our three networks, ( it) was sort of an extension of the Nielsen ratings. If you weren’t doing well in the Nielsens, you took it out on your competition on the battlefield.”
Whelchel revels in the memory of late announcer Howard Cosell interviewing her after a winning play in the earlier competition. “I caught a pretty cool pass in the end zone, and he interviewed me,” she says. “My kids don’t know how cool that is, but my dad, at the time, was sure impressed.”