Get Christie Love

Starring: Teresa Graves, Charles Cioffi, Andy Romano, Jack Kelly, Harry Guardino
First Aired: January 22, 1974
Number of Seasons: 1
Estimated Production Cost: $100,000 per episode*

Get Christie Love! was a police procedural that was extremely influential on popular culture. Teresa Graves was a brilliant actress who acted as a Black female police officer on the ABC television drama, which aired from 1974 to 1975. She was the second Black woman to play the lead role in a network drama at the time (next to Diahann Carroll in the show Julia). The Ledger, a crime novel written by Dorothy Uhnak, served as the inspiration for the show. Graves had previously appeared on the comedy series Laugh-In, and some of her former co-stars from that show, including Jo Anne Worley, Arte Johnson, and Judy Carne, made cameo cameos on Get Christie Love!

Get Christie Love

Wagon Train

Starring: Robert Horton, Ward Bond, Frank McGrath, Terry Wilson, John McIntire
First Aired: September 18, 1957
Number of Seasons: 8
Estimated Production Cost: $100,000 per episode*

Wagon Train was one of the most expensive television programs on the air at the time it aired. It first ran on NBC from 1957 to 1962, and then on ABC from 1962 to 1965, when it was canceled. The show gained the number one slot in the Nielsen ratings, which allowed it to maintain its massive budget (which appears insignificant when compared to modern shows like the $15 million per episode Game of Thrones), which allowed it to continue running. The experience of early pioneers traveling through the Rocky Mountains in a wagon train was the inspiration for the television series Wagon Train. The train began its journey in Missouri and was destined for the California Gold Rush.

Wagon Train