User Reviews

How Mr. Cosell lasted so long in the broadcasting industry is a mystery to me. Perhaps he was in tune with what a lot of middle-aged, white males were thinking but were sometimes afraid to say out loud. All I know is that he was fired from MNF in 1983 for his racist comments during a telecast and he shouldn't have been brought back as the host of this Battle Of The Network Stars telecast in 1984. Maybe it was a contractual thing. He had a lot of snotty comments to make regarding the participants and obviously thought of women as being nothing but weak, pretty little things to be admired and fondled but otherwise ignored.

Things get off to a dull start with a kayak relay and a swimming relay. Neither competition was very close and they are dull to watch. My favorite event was the third one held...3-on-3 football. CBS Captain William Devane was quite impressive as his team's QB. Abby Dalton caught a couple of touchdown passes and Lisa Whelchel (for the NBC team) snagged a beautiful one over her shoulder. Not bad for a couple of girls! The baseball dunk event is one of those dunk tanks where one celebrity tosses a ball at a target and tries to knock another celebrity into the water. ABC thought it would be more interesting if the viewer didn't get to see the target. They show the contestant throwing the ball and then the person sitting over the water either falls in or they don't. It's a stupid idea that didn't work well at all. I wanted to see the target and see how accurate the throws were.

The obstacle course should've been upgraded after all those years of the same simple nonsense. The whole course could be beat in under 20 seconds. This was NOT American Gladiators! The running relay was boring and the only thing notable about the tandem-bike relay was Charlene Tilton. Her team was winning but she didn't pedal the bike at all and made her partner Richard Dean Anderson do all the pedaling while she just sat there getting a free ride. It cost her network CBS the victory in this event. Wonder what she was thinking.

For those of you who are dying to know who won the competition...here is a SPOILER alert! Despite a HUGE victory in the relay race, ABC was left in the dust overall and came in third. That set up a tug-of-war between CBS and NBC. Not surprisingly, little Michael J. Fox, Lisa Whelchel, Vicki Lawrence and the NBC crew was no match for the tough guys on the CBS team. Billy Moses and Richard Dean Anderson switched off sitting in the first position on the rope and used it to their advantage. It provided an energy boost which drove them to victory.

By the time the 16th installment of BOTNS rolled around, little had been done to keep it fresh. It was (and in my opinion still is) a fun concept that needed more changes to keep it interesting. It also needed much less of annoying personalities such as Cosell and the unbearably unfunny Flip Wilson. 3/10

I remember watching this battle about 2 weeks before my 13th birthday. I still remember my Mother passing through, noticing Lisa Whelchel stretched out on the ground during the tug of war, in total agony, asking me "what's wrong with Blair?" That still amuses me. I watched this episode again recently for the first time since it originally aired. All three teams were out to win, obviously. ABC was conceited as always, but seemed somewhat unsure of themselves this time around. John James of "Dynasty" was team captain again, while new faces included C. Thomas Howell and Ted Lange. CBS was unusually cocky, and overconfident. William Devane was team captain once more. I was most delighted to see Celia Weston from "Alice" as a part of the CBS group. NBC was my personal favorite of the teams. I really liked this group. Then again, I always found myself rooting for the NBC team in the mid to late '80s. The disappointment in the equation is the rapport between captain Flip Wilson and his team. He did not seem to know quite how to relate to them, nor did they appear to know how to relate to him. There was an obvious barrier between them, which was uncomfortable to watch. While John James and Bill Devane were easily interacting with their teams, Flip was mostly to himself, or awkwardly standing by. At the beginning, when their team was being introduced by co-host Debby Boone, he complained no one had said anything to him. I am assuming the "no one" was his team. When he would attempt an interaction with them, it was strained and tense. This took away from NBC, and might have contributed to their inability to clinch the victory in the end, much to my personal dismay. A good rapport between a captain and their team is essential to achieving a win. Other than his baseball dunk interaction with Shari Belafonte-Harper, in which he got dunked, he seemed totally out of place, as if he was wondering what was he doing there. Howard Cosell later criticized his treatment towards Debby Boone at the end. When he said he did not appreciate his attitude towards her throughout the entire competition, Flip's response was to silently walk away. Makes you wonder what he did. Another annoying, and highly bizarre event belongs to Charlene Tilton during the bike relay. She and Richard Dean Anderson were the third group of the CBS team to race. At first, she was pedaling normally, then all of a sudden, she stopped for the remainder of the race. Go figure on THAT one... Who knew Lisa Whelchel was so athletic! She made a superb catch in 3 on 3 football, and owned the obstacle course, along with Mark Harmon. Meanwhile, poor Kim Fields looked like she wanted to cry each time she went underwater in the baseball dunk. During the running relay, NBC was in third place, until Michael J. Fox came on strong, causing them to finish second, and giving them a place in the infamous tug of war. Although they made a big comeback with the bike race and running relay, ABC came in third place this time. When they realized the competition was over for them, and had it finalized by Howard, they all looked so pitiful, I felt sorry for them. One humorous moment came prior to the tug of war, when both Heather Locklear and Ted Lange showed their support for the NBC side. Heather appeared to be giving Flip words of support, while Ted was standing on the sidelines cheering them on. CBS won, with Charlene Tilton jumping up and down like a 5 year old. In regards to NBC, when I saw Mark Harmon was NOT going to be a part of the tug of war, but stood on the sidelines instead, I knew a huge mistake had been made. This definitely cost them the victory. All in all, watching this again brought a huge smile to my face. Seeing snooty Blair, and ultra-conservative Alex P. Keaton, along with Tootie, and Mother Harper from "Mama's Family" on the same team??? Priceless! That's what made these battles so much fun to watch- and still does.