You'd never get a comic like Countdown or TVAction today - at least not with the same licenced comic strip content. Yes, TV's Dr Who was a children's/family programme but what about the other strips? You can hardly say that Cannon, The Protectors and the often grim Hawaii-Five-0 were child friendly. That was the way things were back then. With so little targeted programming (at least compared to 21st century television) of a certain quality, the kids of yesteryear found their favourite programmes to be the adult fare offered to their parents. (The late Trevor Preston pointed this out in his 1969 pitch document for Ace of Wands.)
Flash forward to 2020... Children's television is now more targeted towards them with specific channels whilst family drama/adventure shows on the main channels are virtually non-existent (save for TV's Dr Who, of course!) In spite of this, let's have a look at modern schedules and see what choice TV shows would fit inside a Countdown or TVAction published today...
Elsewhere on this blog are some modernised versions of the comic which have given their pages over to the current TV scene. This is the link to them.
Here are some additional variants based on the covers of the three Countdown and TVAction annuals published in the early seventies... along with an annual based around The Persuaders! they also released. (I really scraped the barrel coming up with a TV show that fitted into the design of that one!!!)
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This week has seen the publication of a new (one-off?) issue of Doctor Who Adventures - the popular comic for 7-11 year olds based on the popular BBCtv series that adults adore and argue about.
Older readers of this blog will no doubt recall a time when children's comic cravings were satiated by the likes of Countdown and TV Action with "All Your TV Favourites" and Cannon.
Here's a taste of what things would've been like had Countdown and TV Action been published today...
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...was always good for a laugh back in the day!
When the early 70s comic weekly Countdown dropped its science fiction remit and became TV Action, it broadened its comic strips to include other TV show genres.
In particular, shows that the young me (at the time) didn't bother about like Hawaii Five-0, Cannon and Alias Smith & Jones. There were plenty of other shows that DID interest me but alas they failed to materialise in the comic's pages.
Until now... with apologies to purists who may argue about broadcast dates and the years the comic was originally published.
(Admittedly, this was all an excuse to do a cover for The Invaders following my rediscovery of it on The Horror Channel...)
Elsewhere on this blog are some modernised versions of the comic which have given their pages over to the current TV scene. This is the link to them. 
