Welcome to a new Wildcard Wednesday! To complement yesterday’s rerun post on the second season of Maude, this week I’m sharing another, rarer, Bea Arthur television endeavor: the 90-minute clip show that teased the fourth season of Susan Harris’ Soap (1977-1981, ABC) — a series covered in full on this blog back in 2015 — in which our lady-of-the-week guest starred in wraparound segments as Jessica Tate’s guardian angel at the gates of Heaven. Broadcast only once on October 29, 1980, this episode — like each of the other two extended season-opening retrospectives — is not part of any syndication or DVD package. It was, however, released on VHS in 1994 as “Jessica’s Wonderful Life,” as was the 1978 recap show called “Who Killed Peter?” I have both of these specials digitized and available for subscribers who alert me of their interest below! (I don’t yet have the 1979 clip show, which includes new footage of Jessica and Benson and establishes the latter’s upcoming move to his self-titled spin-off…)
To whet your appetite, here’s a clip of Arthur in Soap‘s “Jessica’s Wonderful Life.”
And here’s a bit of the earlier clip show, “Who Killed Peter?” This aired on August 31, 1978.
Come back next week for another Wildcard Wednesday goodie! And tune in Tuesday for another vintage sitcom rerun!