Forgotten TV: Young Guy Christian (1979)

 In the 70's, the idea of parodying spy movies was best left to Saturday morning television, not primetime. 

But, nearly a decade after Get Smart had ended its initial run, someone thought it might be a good idea to try a new take on the spy genre. However, Young Guy Christian leaned more toward the camp of Batman than the dramedy of Smart (Yeah, I know, "dramedy" didn't become a buzzword until Hooperman a few years later).

Barry Bostwick had the title role as a playboy spy, with a pre-Cheers Shelley Long as his partner and prospective girlfriend, and Pat Morita (ex-Mr. T & Tina, Happy Days) as her father and Guy's boss.

Stuart Margolin, on a break from The Rockford Files, directed. I don't know if he'd done anything for ABC since leaving Love, American Style prior to this.

The video includes commercials and the last part of the closing credits of Mork & Mindy, but the closing credits of Christian are cut off in mid-stream.

Additional information is scarce, which tells you something about how badly ABC wanted to bury this show.

No rating. As this aired during baseball season in 1979, well, what d'ya think the parents and I were watching back then?