40 Fun Facts About Battle of the Network Stars

Which future late-night host competed for CBS at the November 1978 Battle of the Network Stars?

David Letterman had been a cast member of Mary, Mary Tyler Moore's CBS variety show, cancelled that autumn after three episodes. His own late-night show was still several years away.

Which stand-up comedian, new to ABC that fall, competed at the November 1978 Battle of the Network Stars?

Robin Williams joined the ABC team barely two months after Mork & Mindy premiered and made him a star. His side lost to NBC.

Which Charlie's Angels star competed for ABC at the very first Battle of the Network Stars in 1976?

Farrah Fawcett, billed then as Farrah Fawcett-Majors, was on ABC's winning team in 1976. Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd each took a turn the following year.

Which final event decided the winner between the last two teams at each original Battle of the Network Stars?

Tug of war settled every contest after the lowest-scoring network was eliminated. By one captain's account, a single pull stayed deadlocked for more than 14 minutes.

Which blunt boxing and football commentator hosted nearly every original Battle of the Network Stars?

Howard Cosell missed only the 1985 edition, the one staged abroad, and came back for the final special in 1988.

Which Southern California university's sports facilities hosted nearly every original Battle of the Network Stars?

Pepperdine overlooks Malibu, and ABC went back to the same campus when it revived the show in 2017.

Which future Oscar-winning director competed for ABC as a sitcom actor at the first two Battle of the Network Stars?

Ron Howard was still starring in Happy Days when he competed in 1976 and 1977. He later won the Best Director Oscar for A Beautiful Mind.

Which A-Team actor captained the NBC team at the November 1983 Battle of the Network Stars?

Mr. T took charge of NBC's team in the year The A-Team premiered, having competed as a regular member that spring. ABC won both times.

Catskills entertainer Lou Goldstein led the celebrities in which playground game on Battle of the Network Stars?

Simon Says was a regular event, directed by Lou Goldstein of Grossinger's, the famous Catskills resort hotel.

The 18th Battle of the Network Stars, in 1985, was the only one staged outside the United States, in which country?

Mexico hosted the 1985 special at the Pacific resort of Ixtapa. It was also the only original edition without the show's usual host.

Which ABC captain won a head-to-head run-off race after a disputed relay at the first Battle of the Network Stars?

Gabe Kaplan, the Welcome Back, Kotter comedian, came from behind to beat NBC's furious captain, and ABC went on to win the first title.

Which Battle of the Network Stars captain for NBC once sent a kayak and instructor to a fellow contestant's home?

Robert Conrad wanted her to practise the kayak event in her own pool. He captained NBC to three wins in the 1970s, including the November 1978 edition.

Which sitcom veteran, famed as a fussy neat freak, captained CBS to victory at the May 1978 Battle of the Network Stars?

Tony Randall, The Odd Couple's Felix Unger, led CBS to its first win after the network had lost the first three contests.

Which actor famous from M*A*S*H captained the CBS team at the November 1978 Battle of the Network Stars?

McLean Stevenson, who had played Henry Blake, was starring in the sitcom In the Beginning that year. NBC won the day.

Which star of a CBS superhero series competed at Battle of the Network Stars in November 1978 and May 1979?

Lou Ferrigno, the bodybuilder who played the Hulk, came back almost 40 years later for ABC's 2017 revival, on the Sci-Fi Fantasy team.

Which former UCLA quarterback captained NBC's winning team at the December 1984 Battle of the Network Stars?

Mark Harmon started at quarterback for UCLA in 1972 and 1973 before turning to acting, and competed in four Battles in all.

Which Dynasty actress competed for ABC in five consecutive Battle of the Network Stars from 1982 to 1984?

Heather Locklear was appearing in two ABC hits at once, Dynasty and T.J. Hooker, and three of her five teams won.

Which Happy Days actor appeared at seven Battle of the Network Stars from 1979 to 1984, once as ABC captain?

Scott Baio competed six times for ABC, captaining the team in November 1981, and co-hosted the May 1984 edition.

Which 1977 Hanna-Barbera cartoon spoofed Battle of the Network Stars with teams of animated characters?

Laff-A-Lympics set Scooby-Doo's and Yogi Bear's teams against the cheating Really Rottens, a year after the live-action specials began.

Which sketch comedy series parodied Battle of the Network Stars with a contest called Battle of the PBS Stars?

SCTV's version had William F. Buckley Jr. and Carl Sagan as rival captains, and a boxing match between Mister Rogers and Julia Child.

Battle of the Network Stars borrowed its format from which ABC show where athletes tried one another's sports?

Superstars had been a ratings hit for ABC, so executives reused its format with primetime actors in place of professional athletes.

Which mixed martial arts champion was a permanent team coach on ABC's 2017 Battle of the Network Stars revival?

Ronda Rousey, also an Olympic judo bronze medallist, led the red team all season opposite a Super Bowl champion.

Which Super Bowl 50 winner coached a team throughout ABC's 2017 revival of Battle of the Network Stars?

DeMarcus Ware had retired from the NFL only that March. His blue team met a side coached by an MMA champion every week.

Each episode of ABC's 2017 Battle of the Network Stars opened by remaking which older ABC show's title sequence?

Wide World of Sports was ABC's long-running anthology, whose opening montage famously included a ski jumper's spectacular crash.

On ABC's 2017 Battle of the Network Stars, actors who had played White House staff faced a team of which TV profession?

Lawyers lost that match-up. The revival grouped stars by the roles they had played because network-against-network teams no longer made sense.

Which cable channel aired the 2005 reality-TV spin-off of Battle of the Network Stars?

Bravo's Battle of the Network Reality Stars ran in the summer of 2005 with thirty-three contestants drawn from other reality shows.

Which CBS detective-drama star captained his network's team at the first Battle of the Network Stars in 1976?

Telly Savalas, TV's Kojak, was seen puffing a cigarette on the sidelines as his team headed for third place, and he captained CBS again in 1977.

Which former New York Giants star co-hosted the November 1978 Battle of the Network Stars?

Frank Gifford was already a familiar ABC voice as the play-by-play announcer on Monday Night Football when he shared the hosting job.

Which Three's Company star co-hosted the May 1978 Battle of the Network Stars after competing the previous autumn?

Suzanne Somers competed for ABC in November 1977, then moved to the commentary team six months later. Castmate Joyce DeWitt made the same switch in 1980.

Which Good Times star captained CBS in November 1977 and returned for ABC's 2017 Battle of the Network Stars revival?

Jimmie Walker competed in three of the first four Battles and, four decades on, joined the 2017 revival's TV Kids team.

Which Star Trek actor captained ABC's team four times during the 1980s run of Battle of the Network Stars?

William Shatner led ABC while starring in T.J. Hooker, and had first competed in November 1978 as a member of NBC's winning team.

Which Family Ties actor competed for NBC at both Battle of the Network Stars held in 1984?

Michael J. Fox was on the winning NBC side that December, the year before Back to the Future made him a film star.

Which former professional tennis player captained ABC to victory at the May 1980 Battle of the Network Stars?

Cathy Lee Crosby, co-host of That's Incredible!, had played at Wimbledon. She was the first woman to captain a Battle team and co-hosted the next special.

Which country music star captained the NBC team at the May 1981 Battle of the Network Stars?

Barbara Mandrell was hosting an NBC variety show with her sisters at the time, and one of them, Louise, joined her on the team.

Which M*A*S*H actor captained CBS to victories at Battle of the Network Stars in May 1979 and December 1980?

Jamie Farr, who played Corporal Klinger, first competed in November 1977 before taking over as captain.

Which TV dad captained the ABC team at both Battle of the Network Stars specials held in 1979?

Dick Van Patten, the father on Eight Is Enough, had his on-screen children Susan Richardson and Willie Aames among his teammates.

Which hit pop duo both competed for ABC at the May 1978 Battle of the Network Stars?

Captain & Tennille, the married duo Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille, had hosted their own ABC variety series the season before.

Which former minor league ballplayer competed for NBC's winning team at the February 1977 Battle of the Network Stars?

Kurt Russell played second base in the California Angels' farm system before a torn rotator cuff cut his baseball career short. He was fresh from the NBC western The Quest when he competed.

Which sitcom legend co-hosted the 18th Battle of the Network Stars in 1985, when the regular host was absent?

Dick Van Dyke shared the microphone with Knots Landing's Joan Van Ark, who had competed five times herself.

Which Dallas actress was dangled over a dunk tank at a 1980 Battle of the Network Stars, to one critic's dismay?

Charlene Tilton, who played Lucy Ewing, competed for CBS seven times in the original run and came back for the 2017 revival.