July 4, 1977 –
Norman Lear’s short lived late night television talk show parody Fernwood 2-Night, starring Martin Mull, Fred Willard, and Frank De Vol, debuted on this date.
Norman Lear originally planned for all of the dialogue on the show to be improvised as Martin Mull and Fred Willard are skilled improvisational comedians. But head writer Alan Thicke insisted that the show would be better scripted with Mull and Willard improvising occasionally. Lear threatened to fire Thicke after the first week of shows but because of the audience’s positive response, Lear relented.
The Haus of Dcaligari 