Friday, July 29, 2011

Your Mental Sorbet: Matthew Perry Sitcom 'Second Chance' Predicted Gaddafi Would Die in 2011

Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.

When the FOX Network was new there was a 1987 Matthew Perry sitcom that predicted Muammar Gaddafi would be killed in 2011.

The show opens in 2011 and the main character Charles, played by Kiel Martin, dies in a hovercraft accident, and after meeting St. Peter at the gates of heaven, is judged to be neither good enough for heaven or bad enough for hell. He's sent back to earth to help his teenage self, played by Matthew Perry, to live a more virtuous life. 
 
Colonel Gaddafi appears before St. Peter who sentences him to spend eternity in hell.
Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Your Mental Sorbet: Jimmy Kimmel Live - Harrison Ford Settles a Feud

Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.





Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

TV Confidential Archives July 18, 2011






Show No. 97
July 18, 2011


First hour: Television historian and author Wesley Hyatt (Emmy Award Winning Nighttime Television Shows, Television’s Top 100: The Most Watched American Broadcasts from 1960 through 2010) joins Ed, Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen for a round-table discussion on the careers of writer/producers Sam Denoff (That Girl, The Dick Van Dyke Show) and Sherwood Schwartz (Gilligan’s Island, The Brady Bunch).

Second hour: Ed welcomes actress, author, producer and publisher Kathryn Leigh Scott, star of the iconic ABC daytime drama Dark Shadows and other stage, film and television productions. Kathryn's books include Dark Passages, a paranormal romance novel that pays homage to Dark Shadows while also capturing the romance and innocence of the JFK Camelot era of the early 1960s, and The Bunny Years, a behind-the-scenes history of The Playboy Clubs in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Tokyo and other cities and their impact on American culture. Kathryn's upcoming appearances include the Diesel Bookstore at the Brentwood Country Mart in Santa Monica, CA on Sunday, August 7; the Barnes & Noble at 86th and Lexington in New York City on Wednesday, August 17; the Dark Shadows 45th Anniversary Cast Reunion and Fan Convention in New York City on August 19, 20 and 21; Book Soup in West Hollywood, CA on Tuesday, September 13; the West Hollywood Book Fair in West Hollywood, CA on Sunday, October 2; and the New York Comic-Con on October 14 and 15. Also in this hour: A look at this year's Emmy nominations.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Tribute to Peter Falk: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL

The life and career of Emmy Award-winning actor Peter Falk will be the subject of the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, premiering Monday, July 25 at 9pm ET, 6pm PT on Shokus Internet Radio, with additional airings throughout the week, including Tuesday, July 26 at 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT on Passionate World Radio, Friday, July 29 at 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org, and Saturday, July 30 on KWDJ 1360-AM (Ridgecrest, CA).

Known to two generations of TV
audiences throughout the world as rumpled L.A. police detective Lieutenant Columbo — a character he played in one form or another over the course of 35 years, from his original appearance on NBC in Prescription: Murder (1968) through his final appearance on ABC in Columbo Likes The Nightlife (2003) — Peter Falk passed away on June 23 at the age of 83.

Our guests this week as we remember Peter Falk will be William Link, co-creator and co-executive producer of Columbo, and Mark Dawidziak, author of The Columbo Phile, the definitive book on the Columbo television series.


Bill and Mark will talk about their friendship with Peter Falk; his idiosyncratic personality; his dedication as an actor both on-camera and behind the scenes; his collaborations with Neil Simon, Frank Capra and John Cassavetes; and, of course, his fondness for and devotion to the Columbo character.

William Link will be joining us in our second hour. Mark Dawidziak will be with us in our first hour. We hope you’ll join us for both hours as we remember Peter Falk.








































TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television
Mondays 9pm ET, 6pm PT
Shokus Internet Radio
Tuesdays 11:05pm, 8:05pm PT
Passionate World Radio

Fridays 7pm ET and PT
Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org

Saturdays 8pm PT
Sundays 2pm PT
KWDJ 1360-AM (Ridgecrest, Calif.)

www.tvconfidential.net
blog.tvconfidential.net

Also available as a podcast via
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Find us now on
Facebook

This Week in Television History: July 2011 PART IV

Listen to me on me on TV CONFIDENTIAL:




Shokus Radio Mondays 9pm ET, 6pm PT with replays three times a day, seven days a week at 11am ET, 8am PT 9pm ET, 6pm PT and 1am ET, 10pm PT



Passionate World Radio Tuesdays 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT



KSAV – San Francisco Bay Area Fridays 7pm ET and PT


KWDJ 1360 AM – Ridgecrest, CA Saturdays 11pm ET, 8pm PT Sundays 5pm ET, 2pm PM



As always, the further we go back in Hollywood history, the more that fact and legend become intertwined. It's hard to say where the truth really lies.


July 27, 1940



Bugs Bunny first appears on the silver screen in A Wild Hare.



The wisecracking rabbit had evolved through several earlier short films. As in many future installments of Bugs Bunny cartoons, A Wild Hare featured Bugs as the would-be dinner for frustrated hunter Elmer Fudd.




July 27, 2003


Bob Hope dies at age 100 in Toluca Lake, California.




Known for entertaining American servicemen and women for more than five decades, Hope had a career that spanned the whole range of 20th century entertainment, from vaudeville to Broadway musicals to radio, television and movies.



He was born Leslie Townes Hope, the fifth of seven sons, on May 29, 1903, in Eltham, England. In 1907, Hope’s family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. As a young man, he began his entertainment career as a dancer and vaudeville performer. During the 1930s, he appeared in Broadway musicals, along with such performers as Fanny Brice and Ethel Merman. In 1934, Hope wed the nightclub singer Dolores Reade; the marriage would endure until his death. In 1938, Hope, who became known for his snappy one-liners, rose to national fame with his own radio show on NBC and his first feature film, The Big Broadcast of 1938.



In 1940, Hope co-starred in the box-office hit Road to Singapore with Bing Crosby. The film, about a pair of singing, wisecracking con men, was the first of seven “Road” movies the pair would make. Hope appeared in more than 50 feature films during his career. He hosted the Academy Awards 18 times, although he never won an Oscar himself, an occurrence he turned into a long-running joke. However, he did receive five special awards from the Academy, including two honorary Oscars. Hope was also a top entertainer on TV and from 1959 to 1996 he made 284 “Bob Hope specials” for NBC.



Starting with World War II, Hope began entertaining American troops at military bases around the world. His USO tours traveled to military bases during times of war (Vietnam, the Persian Gulf), as well as times of peace. He was so beloved for his work with the military for more than half a century that Congress passed a resolution in 1997 making Hope an honorary veteran. It was one of the countless honors that Hope received throughout his career. In 1998, he was granted honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth.



To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".




Stay Tuned







Tony Figueroa

Friday, July 22, 2011

Your Mental Sorbet: Star Trek: The Captain's Summit

Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.

Whoopi Goldberg sits down with Trek stars William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes and gets personal with them.




Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

TV Confidential Archives July 11, 2011

Show No. 96
July 11, 2011


First hour: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen join Ed to discuss the plans to continue broadcasting All My Children and One Life to Live online after the long-running daytime dramas complete their run on ABC. Also this hour: Phil Gries plays highlights from Playboy's Penthouse, an early 1960s talk show featuring Playboy magazine founder and publisher Hugh Hefner. Plus: a replay of our Sept. 13, 2010 conversation with Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Aviva Kempner (Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg) on the life and career of television pioneer Gertrude Berg (The Goldbergs).

Second hour: Ed welcomes actress, author and radio host Dee Wallace (E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, Cujo, The Howling, The Frighteners, 10, Together We Stand, The New Lassie, Sons and Daughters). Dee’s latest book, Bright Light: Spiritual Lessons from a Life in Acting, tells the story of her journey in show business and also through life itself, and features many poignant and humorous stories about lessons she learned from the likes of Peter Jackson, Joe Dante, Wes Craven, Blake Edwards, Dudley Moore, acting coach Charles Conrad, and her late husband, actor Christopher Stone.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Kathryn Leigh Scott: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL

Actress, author and publisher Kathryn Leigh Scott will be our special guest on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, premiering Monday, July 18 at 9pm ET, 6pm PT on Shokus Internet Radio, with additional airings Tuesday, July 19 at 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT on Passionate World Radio, Friday, July 22 at 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org, and Saturday, July 23 on KWDJ 1360-AM (Ridgecrest, CA).

Known internationally for her starring role in the
long-running, groundbreaking and iconic ABC daytime drama Dark Shadows, Kathryn Leigh Scott is also founder of Pomegranate Press, one of the leading independent book publishers in the industry, and one of the first companies to specialize in books on classic television and the entertainment industry. An accomplished author, Kathryn has written several books, including The Bunny Years, a behind-the-scenes history of The Playboy Clubs in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Tokyo and other cities and their impact on American culture.

Kathryn’s latest book, Dark Passages, is a paranormal romance novel that pays homage to Dark Shadows while also capturing the romance and innocence of the JFK Camelot era of the early 1960s. We’ll talk about Dark Passages, as well as some of Kathryn’s other roles on stage, film and television, when she joins us in our second hour.

Kathryn Leigh Scott has several appearances coming up over the next few weeks, including
Comic-Con in San Diego, CA on Friday, July 22 and Saturday, July 23; the Diesel Bookstore at the Brentwood Country Mart in Santa Monica, CA on Sunday, August 7; the Barnes & Noble at 86th and Lexington in New York City on Wednesday, August 17; the Dark Shadows 45th Anniversary Cast Reunion and Fan Convention in New York City on August 19, 20 and 21; Book Soup in West Hollywood, CA on Tuesday, September 13; the West Hollywood Book Fair in West Hollywood, CA on Sunday, October 2; and the New York Comic-Con on October 14 and 15.


















Our first hour will include a round-table discussion of the careers of writer/producers Sam Denoff (That Girl, The Dick Van Dyke Show) and Sherwood Schwartz (Gilligan’s Island, The Brady Bunch). Television historian and author Wesley Hyatt (Television’s Top 100, Emmy Award Winning Primetime Television Shows) will join us for that, along with Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen. Plus: a look at this year’s Emmy nominations.






















TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television
Mondays 9pm ET, 6pm PT
Shokus Internet Radio
Tuesdays 11:05pm, 8:05pm PT
Passionate World Radio
Fridays 7pm ET and PT
Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org
Saturdays 8pm PT
Sundays 2pm PT
KWDJ 1360-AM (Ridgecrest, Calif.)
www.tvconfidential.net
blog.tvconfidential.net

Also available as a podcast via
iTunes and FeedBurner
Find us now on
Facebook

This week in Television History: July 2011 Part III

Listen to me on me on TV CONFIDENTIAL:


Shokus Radio Mondays 9pm ET, 6pm PT with replays three times a day, seven days a week at 11am ET, 8am PT 9pm ET, 6pm PT and 1am ET, 10pm PT

Passionate World Radio
Tuesdays 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT

KSAV – San Francisco Bay Area
Fridays 7pm ET and PT

KWDJ 1360 AM – Ridgecrest, CA
Saturdays 11pm ET, 8pm PT Sundays 5pm ET, 2pm PM As always, the further we go back in Hollywood history, the more that fact and legend become intertwined. It's hard to say where the truth really lies.





July 19, 1989



Rebecca Shaeffer (age 21) is murdered at her Los Angeles home by Robert John Bardo, a mentally unstable man who had been stalking her.


Schaeffer’s death helped lead to the passage in California of legislation aimed at preventing stalking.



Schaeffer was born November 6, 1967, in Eugene, Oregon. She worked as a teenage model and had a short stint on the daytime soap opera One Life to Live, but was best known for co-starring with Pam Dawber in the television sitcom My Sister Sam. Bardo, born in 1970, had written Schaeffer letters and unsuccessfully tried to gain access to the set of My Sister Sam, before showing up at her apartment on July 19, 1989. The obsessed fan had reportedly obtained the actress’s home address through a detective agency, which located it through records at the California Department of Motor Vehicles. On the day of the murder, Schaeffer reportedly complied with Bardo’s request for an autograph when he appeared at her home and then asked him to leave. He returned a short time later and the actress, who reportedly was waiting for someone to deliver a script, answered the door again. Bardo then shot and killed her.

Arrested the next day in Tucson, Arizona, Bardo was later prosecuted by the Los Angeles County district attorney Marcia Clark, who later became famous as a prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial. In 1991, Bardo was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In 1994, California passed the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, which prevented the Department of Motor Vehicles from releasing private addresses.

The 2002 film Moonlight Mile, loosely inspired by Schaeffer’s story, was written and directed by Brad Silberling, who had been dating the young actress at the time of her death.


July 23, 1984


Miss America 1984 Vanessa Williams (The first black Miss America) resigns ten months into her reign.


She received an anonymous phone call stating that nude photos of her taken by photographer Tom Chiapel prior to her pageant days had surfaced. Williams believed the photographs were private and had been destroyed. Days later, Bob Guccione, the publisher of Penthouse, announced that his magazine would publish the photos in their September 1984 issue, and paid Chiapel for the rights to them without Williams' consent. After days of media frenzy and sponsors threatening to pull out of the upcoming 1985 pageant, Williams felt pressured by Miss America Pageant officials to resign. The title subsequently went to first-runner up, African-American Suzette Charles. In early September 1984, Williams filed a $500 million lawsuit against Chiapel and Guccione. According to a Williams family representative, she eventually dropped the suit to avoid further legal battles choosing to move on with her life. Williams is quoted as saying "the best revenge is success." Although she resigned from fulfilling the duties of a current Miss America, she was allowed to keep the bejeweled crown and scholarship money and is officially recognized by the Miss America Organization today as "Miss America 1984" and Suzette Charles as "Miss America 1984b."



July 24, 1956

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform their last comedy show together at New York's Copacabana Club. Born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio, Martin started a nightclub act after working as a prizefighter and a steelworker in the 1940s. Lewis, the son of performers, debuted in comedy acts with his parents at age five and was working steadily as a comic by 1946, when he met Dean Martin. The pair performed an act in which screwball Lewis constantly interrupted straight man Martin's singing. They made their first appearance in 1946 at a club in Atlantic City and were an instant hit, soon in demand for radio and movie performances. The pair made 16 movies together, starting with My Friend Irma in 1949. By 1956, though, the pair decided to call it quits.

After the duo split up, Martin launched his own TV variety show, which ran from 1965 to 1974. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Martin teamed up with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop to perform in Las Vegas. The group quickly became known as the Rat Pack, a suave group of young, fast-living entertainers. The group made several movies together in the early 1960s, including Ocean's Eleven (1960), Sergeants Three (1962), and Robin and the Seven Hoods. Martin died in 1995.



Lewis went on to sign one of the most lucrative film contracts of the day, a $10 million deal for 14 films with Paramount. Lewis' films, including Cinderfella (1960) and The Nutty Professor (1963), failed to attract much praise from American critics but made him a star in France, where he has long been considered a comic genius. After a long absence from film, he gave an acclaimed performance in the 1986 film The King of Comedy, co-starring Robert De Niro.



To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".


Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Tony Figueroa on American Airlines - Something special in the air



On my L.A. to Chicago Flight (Number 1350 - Departed 6/16/11), I had a problem being seated next to a very large person who took up some of my seat (and even more after he fell asleep), he prevented me from lowering my tray table. He lifted the arm between us. I could not move my left arm to even read. It was a full flight. I gestured to the flight attendant who smiled and shrugged. I went to the galley to formally complain and again she smiled and shrugged. This large person should have been given two seats. I understand that there are people at every airline called "Conflict Resolution Officials" (CROs) who are trained specifically for situations with passengers with disabilities as well as obese passengers. He has National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) to go to if he gets the Southwest Airlines treatment. Please understand, I am not anti-obese, the guy next to me seemed like a nice guy, but why is my comfort and personal space less important than his? I did not want to hurt the guy's feelings or act like a jerk in public. It was bad enough that I could not sit with my wife (Donna Allen-Figueroa) but I did not expect to be spooning with a guy almost twice my size.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Your Mental Sorbet: Gilligan's Island Reunion - 1988

Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.

Gilligan's Island reunion on The Late Show with Ross Shafer from 1988. The last time the entire cast was together.




Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Sherwood Schwartz

“Gilligan's Island ... I knew that by assembling seven different people and forcing them to live together, the show would have great philosophical implications.”
Today we lost Sherwood Schwartz. He died in his sleep of natural causes. Born Sherwood Charles Schwartz in Passaic, New Jersey to a Jewish family.

Schwartz's entertainment career came "by accident." He relocated from New York to southern California to pursue a master of science degree in biology. In need of employment, he began writing jokes for Bob Hope's radio program, for which Schwartz's brother, Al Schwartz, worked. Schwartz recalled that Hope "liked my jokes, used them on his show and got big laughs. Then he asked me to join his writing staff. I was faced with a major decision — writing comedy or starving to death while I cured those diseases. I made a quick career change."

He went on to write for Ozzie Nelson's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and other radio shows. He was a writer on the Armed Forces Radio Network. He wrote for Command Performance, Mail Call, Jubilee and other Army shows, working with just about every major star in the entertainment world.before he got his break in television.

In 1963, Sherwood created Gilligan's Island, a very successful C.B.S. comedy series based on the misadventures of a group of shipwrecked castaways who form a social microcosm in which various types of people have to learn to live together. Gilligan's Island has become a TV cult classic, and continues as perhaps the most popular syndicated show in television, having been rerun more than any other series in TV history.

Gilligan's Island fathered two animated series. The New Adventure of Gilligan and Gilligan's Planet; plus three two-hour TV movies. One of them, Rescue From Gilligan's Island ranks among the highest rated TV films of all time.

It's About Time
is an American fantasy/science-fiction comedy TV series that aired on CBS for one season of 26 episodes in 19661967.

Two astronauts, Mac (Frank Aletter) and Hector (Jack Mullaney), travel faster than the speed of light, resulting in being sent back in time to prehistoric days. There, they have to adjust to living with a cave family led by Shad (Imogene Coca) and Gronk (Joe E. Ross). (In the pilot Coca's name was credited as Shag; when CBS censors realized that term meant to have sex in the current youth culture, they changed her name to 'Shad'.) Their children were 18-year-old Mlor (Mary Grace) and 12-year-old Breer (Pat Cardi). The chief of the tribe, Boss (Cliff Norton) and his right-hand man Clon (Mike Mazurki) were always suspicious of the astronauts.

During the first few weeks on the air, ratings were impressive, but soon plunged. Schwartz came to the conclusion that three factors were the cause of the decline in audience interest:

  • Repetition of the astronauts being in danger from dinosaurs, clubs, spears, volcanoes and cavemen.
  • An unattractive look to the show (i.e. caves, dirt streets, etc.)
  • The cave dwellers speaking a primitive form of English that was difficult to listen to.

For the aforementioned reasons, the series was retooled starting with the January 22, 1967 episode. Essentially reversing the premise which had been followed the first half of the season, the astronauts repair their space capsule and return to 1967, with Shad, Gronk, and their children in tow. The prehistoric family must begin adjusting to life in the 1960s, reacting to the unfamiliar surroundings, and setting up home in 20th-century New York City. For example, one episode had Gronk and Shad learning to write their names and signing them for many salesmen who brought "presents", which had to be paid for.

Schwartz also created The Brady Bunch, one of television's favorite shows. After a long successful run in prime time, it has also become a TV cult classic, with spectacular success in syndication.

The Brady Bunch inspired an animated series, The Brady Kids, and a two-hour TV movie, The Brady Girls Get Married, which Sherwood wrote and produced with his son, Lloyd J. Schwartz.

The Brady Bunch spawned the first translation of a TV series into a stage production, The Real Live Brady Bunch, which used the actual scripts from the TV series. The play first appeared in Chicago, then New York, Los Angeles, Australia, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington D.C. and completed a national tour of the U.S.

In 1988, Sherwood and Lloyd wrote and produced a two-hour TV film, A Very Brady Christmas, which aired in December 1988. It was the highest rated TV film of the year, and led to an hour long series called The Bradys, which aired on C.B.S. in 1990.

In 1994, Sherwood and Lloyd produced a feature film, The Brady Bunch Movie, for Paramount. It was critically acclaimed and was also a major hit at the box office, domestically as well as foreign. Sherwood and Lloyd co-produced a second theatrical film, A Very Brady Sequel which was released in July 1996.

He wrote the theme song for three of his shows: Gilligan's Island (co-wrote), It's About Time, and The Brady Bunch.

Schwartz won the highest honor in television, the Emmy Award, from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the following year was nominated for another Emmy. His scripts, among other prizes, have the unique distinction of receiving five consecutive nominations for awards from the Writers Guild of America in three different categories; comedy, variety and play adaptation, receiving the award in the comedy category. He has received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from DeWitt Clinton High School, and many other awards, among them the R.P. "Vision Award," and the "Spotlight Award" from the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild.

He is survived by his wife of 69 years, Mildred Schwartz and their four children.



To Quote Sherwood Schwartz, “The critics say it's a bad show, but there ain't no critic who can climb into people's windows and turn off their sets.”


Good Night Mr. Schwartz

We joined you each week my friend and we sure did get a smile.

Stat Tuned


Tony Figueroa

TV Confidential Archives July 4, 2011






Show No. 95
July 4, 2011


First hour: Ed welcomes Richard and Esther Shapiro, co-creators and co-executive producers of Dynasty, The Colbys, Emerald Point, NAS and many acclaimed made-for-TV movies and miniseries, including Minstrel Man, Friendly Fire, East of Eden, Intimate Strangers and Sarah T: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic. Topics include the origins of Dynasty, Richard and Esther's collaboration with Aaron Spelling, favorite cliffhangers and the worldwide impact of the show, which continues to this day.

Second hour: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen join Ed for Part 2 of our look at The Event, America's Most Wanted and other notable network shows that were recently canceled. Also in this hour: An encore presentation of our Dec. 13, 2010 conversation with Keith Elliot Greenberg, producer of America's Most Wanted and author of such books as December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died, a minute-by-minute, almost documentary-like look at the events that shaped the final day of John Lennon’s life.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Dee Wallace: This Week on TV CONFIDENTIAL

Film and television actress Dee Wallace will be our special guest on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, premiering Monday, July 11 at 9pm ET, 6pm PT on Shokus Internet Radio, with additional airings Tuesday, July 12 at 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT on Passionate World Radio, Friday, July 15 at 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org, and Saturday, July 16 following Dodgers baseball on KWDJ 1360-AM (Ridgecrest, CA).

A beloved actress, acting coach, radio host and author, Dee Wallace has appeared in more than 130 movies, including Cujo, The Howling, The Frighteners, 10 and, of course, E.T.: The Extraterrestrial. She has also starred in four television series, including Together We Stand, The New Lassie and Sons and Daughters, as well as made guest appearances in such popular shows as The Streets of San Francisco, Lou Grant, Hart to Hart, Saving Grace, Without a Trace and Ghost Whisperer.


Dee’s latest book, Bright Light: Spiritual Lessons from a Life in Acting, is the story of her own journey in show business and also through life itself, filled with many poignant and humorous stories about some of the lessons she learned along the way from the likes of Peter Jackson, Joe Dante, Wes Craven, Blake Edwards, Dudley Moore, acting coach Charles Conrad, and Dee’s late husband, actor Christopher Stone. We’ll talk about these stories and more when Dee Wallace joins us in our second hour.















All this, plus the Sounds of Lost Television, the latest in the world of daytime television, and more. Full program as always... we certainly hope you’ll join us.

TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television
Mondays 9pm ET, 6pm PT
Shokus Internet Radio
Tuesdays 11:05pm, 8:05pm PT
Passionate World Radio
Fridays 7pm ET and PT
Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org
Saturdays 8pm PT
Sundays 2pm PT
KWDJ 1360-AM (Ridgecrest, Calif.)
www.tvconfidential.net
blog.tvconfidential.net

Also available as a podcast via
iTunes and FeedBurner
Find us now on
Facebook

This Week in Television History: July 2011 PART II

Listen to me on me on TV CONFIDENTIAL:

Shokus Radio Mondays 9pm ET, 6pm PT with replays three times a day, seven days a week at 11am ET, 8am PT 9pm ET, 6pm PT and 1am ET, 10pm PT

Passionate World Radio Tuesdays 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT

KSAV – San Francisco Bay Area Fridays 7pm ET and PT

KWDJ 1360 AM – Ridgecrest, CA Saturdays 11pm ET, 8pm PT Sundays 5pm ET, 2pm PM


As always, the further we go back in Hollywood history, the more that fact and legend become intertwined. It's hard to say where the truth really lies.

July 12, 1908

Milton Berle the Emmy-winning American comedian and actor is born.

As the manic host of
NBC's Texaco Star Theater (1948–55), he was the first major star of television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr. Television to millions during TV's golden age.

July 16, 1967

Will Ferrell is born in Irvine, California.

After rising to fame on TV’s Saturday Night Live, Ferrell starred in a string of big-screen comedies, including Old School and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

Ferrell graduated from the University of Southern California in 1990 and went on to join The Groundlings, an improvisational comedy group whose members have included Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz and Lisa Kudrow. In 1995, Ferrell became a cast member of Saturday Night Live (SNL). Over the course of his seven seasons with the show, he became known for his impersonations of such celebrities as President George W. Bush, game show host Alex Trebek and Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton. Ferrell also became known for the fictional characters he created, including cowbell player Gene Frenkle of Blue Oyster Cult, cheerleader Craig Buchanan and dense nightclubber Steve Butabi.

In 1998, Ferrell reprised the Butabi character for the feature-length movie A Night at the Roxbury, which co-starred his SNL castmates Chris Kattan and Molly Shannon. The following year, Ferrell and Shannon appeared together in another SNL sketch movie spin-off, Superstar, about the nerdy Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher (played by Shannon). During his years at SNL, Ferrell also had supporting roles in movie comedies like Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1995), Zoolander (2001) and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001).

In 2003, Ferrell starred in the box-office hits Elf, about a human raised by Santa’s elves, and Old School, about three men in their 30s who try to relive their college days by starting their own fraternity. Ferrell, along with his Old School co-stars Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn, came to be known in the media as members of the so-called “Frat Pack,” a group of male Hollywood actors who appeared together in comedies in the late 1990s and 2000s. Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller were also considered members of the group.

In recent years, Ferrell has starred in several sports-themed comedies, including 2006’s Talladega Nights, about auto racing; 2007’s Blades of Glory, about figure skating; and 2008’s Semi-Pro, about basketball.

To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".



Stay Tuned



Tony Figueroa