Battle of the Network Stars VII originally aired Friday, November 2nd 1979.

From a more innocent tv age comes this wonderful "reality" show. The premise of the show was that the big three networks (the only three at the time) would have their television stars compete against one another in friendly sports competitions, for the most part no one took themselves too seriously and everyone had a great time. The best thing about this show was the simple fact that you could see your favorite stars outside of their normal television venue, seeing them in some of their best moments and worst. They might be laughing or crying, encouraged or discouraged, frustrated, exhausted or even embarrassed, just like real people might be in the same situation. Yes it was a strange concept to accept at the time but television stars were like the rest of us, they were people too. Of course the competitions weren't too taxing. With some normal sports events like swimming and track and some other out of the ordinary events like a more gentle form of football and the dunking booth there could be something for everyone while at the same time making sure that our stars didn't really hurt themselves competing (except maybe the occasional turned ankle). Put all of this great competitive drama together and then add Howard Cosell's deadpan commentary on top and you have one of the most brilliant television concepts ever offered to the viewing public, a show that it would be quite impossible to recreate in this modern tv age, nor should they even try.

This was Kristy McNichol's third and final appearance on this program competing for Team ABC. This time her fellow teammates were Dick Van Patten (Team Captain), Willie Aames, Diana Canova, Joanna Cassidy, Shelley Smith, Robert Hayes and Max Gail. Kristy competed in the swimming relay, kayak, running relay, football and the obstacle course. Her team won in swimming and she easily beat Melissa Gilbert (NBC Team) in the obstacle course. In the obstacle course final she competed against Judy Norton-Taylor (CBS Team) and beat her by a full second, she was however penalized for a technical and lost to Norton-Taylor. Kristy was robbed! In this episode the NBC team (lead by Robert Conrad) was the big winner of the day. Howard Cosell was once again commentating with help this time from Billy Crystal and Twiki from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Jan Smithers, Joanna Cassidy, Erin Gray and Ed Asner all made for outstanding dunking booth contestants. Talk about your must see TV!

Buying note: This show has never been available on home video. But there are other sources for this as well as other Kristy McNichol appearances that you might be looking for.

5-10-2006