What Really Happened to the Class of '65?

There were some episodes of this series that featured the lovely actress Meredith Baxter Birney in one, John Rubinstein in another with Jessica Walter. However, the titles of these episodes escapes me. Anyway, it was a great series even though short-lived. I do believe that if this series had moved to another night, it might have survived a little bit longer. It seems like over the last several decades, NBC has let high quality programs just vanish, never to be seen or heard of again. Too bad the same NBC President responsible for salvaging "Hill Street Blues", "Cheers" and "St. Elsewhere" wasn't around to save this series. Perhaps a VHS or DVD would be nice, but since it was so short with very limited episodes, that's probably highly unlikely.

I also recall this as being a summer series, although IMDb lists the it as being 'released" in December. As a high school kid, I loved the concept, and remember being quite moved by one particular episode. A girl who was part of a popular clique in high school, ends up in some kind of job assisting the poor. When she runs into these same friends again years later, she can no longer relate to them, due to their cruelty toward somebody she had brought (to a reunion?). I, too, would love to see this again. Perhaps it was a mid-season replacement starting in Dec. 77, and then was repeated in the summer of 78? Our family owned a cabin in the mountains, and we would spend a month there each summer. I remember that, during the summer this was broadcast, our TV died and I had to find a neighboring cabin with a TV, to make sure I didn't miss an episode.

Update 2010: My 30th reunion this year - would love to see this series.

This was an engaging anthology program which came on NBC on Thursdays the summer of 1977. Each week we followed the lives of different members of the high school Class of '65. I still remember some of the episodes: A girl becomes a semi-successful folk singer; two buddies try to open a restaurant in the desert where a highway will go through; and Richard Hatch (from "Battlestar Galactica") played a ne'er-do-well. I would love to find this on DVD, or at least on TVLand. It's lifespan was short but it gave me many fond memories along with other great 70's television like "Rockford Files."

This was one of those "drop what you're doing and watch" kind of shows. Each week the viewer could get involved with the life of one of the '65 grads. The stores were sometimes funny, serious, heart-warming, and never boring. In the one season it was on, it made quite an impression on me. Probably because I was a '65 graduate, myself. It kind of hit home. It's too bad TV isn't like this anymore. Rather than quality shows, we're hammered with just another reality offering. If you like celebrity trout fishing, well power to you, but it's too bad people these days can't be treated to something like "What Really Happened To The Class of '65." It was great TV, and I think would hold up in re-runs. I miss this show a lot.

I remember this show so well. It was on Thursday nights after James at 15-16 which was another one I never missed. I can remember a few lines of the theme song...........we're all the class of 65, we're really glad to be alive. Every week the host who graduated from the school in 1965 and was now a teacher would have the yearbook in his hands. He would start off by showing their picture in the book and then go briefly into what they were doing now. Then the story would start. I always wondered why TV land or one of the other stations does not do a series of great but forgotten shows. The vaults are full of them. I loved anthology shows but sadly they seem to be a relic of the past.