Circus of the Stars # 2 originally aired Monday, December 5th 1977.

HURRY! HURRY! HURRY! See your favorite stars performing under the big top! See them defy death and risk serious injury just for your amusement! See Robert Conrad on the high wire! See Ann Turkel risk her beautiful body in a knife-throwing act! See Lynda Carter ride a horse! See Tony Lo Bianco risk his life in a tiger cage! See Lucie Arnaz precariously held in an elephant's mouth! See George Burns flirt with lovely Lola Falana! See Valerie Perrine ride a porpoise! See Peter Fonda and Lee Meriwether in a breathtaking high wire motorcycle stunt! See Mary Ann Mobley perform on the trapeze with blind actor Tom Sullivan! See Paul Williams jump out of an airplane! See Earl Holliman stretch Mackenzie Phillips to her limits! See little Kristy McNichol cut to pieces by her big brother Jimmy! See Richard Roundtree jump from an amazing height thru a burning ring of fire! See beauty Susan Saint James tame the beasts - six Brahma bulls! See Penny Marshall with a funny baby elephant! See Jack Klugman hopelessly entangled in the web of French beauty Anny Dupérey! With your Ringmasters Lucille Ball, Telly Savalas, Cindy Williams and Michael York. And Abe Vigoda too! Yes, you will see all of this and much much more on tonight's Circus of the Stars!

This is another excellent example in the category of "they don't make tv shows like this anymore". This is a show that belongs to another age, a show from a more innocent time. A time when the family could gather around the television and watch their favorite stars perform without worrying about being offended. No there is nothing offensive or outrageous here, about as outrageous as it gets would be the some of the cute little circus outfits the ladies were wearing (Ann Turkel and Lee Meriwether immediately come to mind). Just two hours of amusing little circus acts that could entertain the entire family while at the same time not be particularly dangerous for our stars (a special accolade to Gary Collins though who did a 40ft high wire act without a net!). No, nothing here but good clean fun the whole family could enjoy together, now in this day and age that's an outrageous concept!

In this episode Kristy and her brother Jimmy have a comic magic act where he puts Kristy, his little "Princess" in her castle then proceeds to skewer her with swords. This is essentially a minor variation on the classic sword cabinet trick that has been a standard of magicians for many years. They do a good job with the magic routine and the skit also has comic banter throughout making for a cute little segment.

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

5-24-2006