We’ve had Shout! Factory TV as a mainstay on our TV for a while but a current listing almost escaped my notice, so I wanted to pass it on to anyone else interested. Currently there are a few episodes from the Fridays TV series from their first season on ABC in 1980. I completely missed the entire series when it aired and had completely forgotten about it, so it was nice to see it available. I probably would have loved the skits at the time. Now…ummmm.

The main attractions for me were the musical acts. As you can see from the Musical Guests section on the show’s Wikipedia page, there was a great range of acts performing over their three-season run. In the first season (spring and summer 1980), there was a nice mix of what would have been called pop, rock, punk, and new wave at the time. The two available at Shout that I really enjoyed are listed below. I’ve marked the approximate times in case you want to focus on just the musical performances.

Season 1, Episode 3: The Clash
Only a few months after the release of London Calling, The Clash performed four songs from that album on the show.
(~18 minutes) “London Calling,” “Train in Vain”
(~34 minutes) “The Guns of Brixton,” “Clampdown”

Season 1, Episode 10: Graham Parker and the Rumour
A couple of songs from The Up Escalator played to a welcoming crowd.
(~24 minutes) “Stupefaction”
(~32 minutes) “Empty Lives”

And for no other reason than to clear some space on my phone, here’s a picture of Graham Parker and Brinsley Schwarz, taken almost exactly three years ago on their U.S. tour. Explore and enjoy!