I represent the first generation who, when we were born, the television was now a permanent fixture in our homes. When I was born people had breakfast with Barbara Walters, dinner with Walter Cronkite, and slept with Johnny Carson. Read the full "Pre-ramble"
| Show No. 114 | First hour: Ed welcomes author and holiday TV programming expert Joanna Wilson (Tis the Season TV: The Encyclopedia of Christmas-Themed Episodes, Specials and Made for TV Movies). Joanna will moderate the special panel discussion at The Waltons 40th Anniversary Cast Reunion that will take place Friday, Dec. 2 at the Loews Jersey Theater in New Jersey. Also in this hour: Phil Gries with Part 1 of our special tribute to talk show pioneer Joe Franklin, while Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen remember the premiere of Bosom Buddies with Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari. |
Camille
Paglia once described actress, author, singer and comedienne Sandra Bernhard as “an artist with few peers
today, whose lineage goes back through early Barbra Streisand to Lenny Bruce and
the comic monologist Ruth Draper, but whose raging energy is sparked by the rock
idiom, which gives her propulsion and a flirtation with danger.” Known for her
appearance in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, as well as such
popular television shows as Roseanne, Ally McBeal, The Larry Sanders Show,
The Sopranos, Law & Order: SVU, The L Word, Will and Grace and The
New Adventures of Old Christine, Sandra has also written, produced and
performed in many acclaimed one-woman stage shows, including I
Love Being Me, Don’t You, which she will bring to the
cities of Philadelphia, Seattle and La Jolla in early 2012.
Sandra
Bernhard will also be appearing on TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland on Wednesday, Dec. 14.
We’ll ask her about that, as well as some of her early influences as a
performer, when she joins us in our first hour. 
Also joining us this week will be the Alberici Sisters,
Maria Lauren and Linda
Eichberg, who sang with Dean Martin for nearly twenty years,
both on television and in nightclub venues around the world, as members of the
renowned Dean Martin Golddiggers. Here your Black Friday "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths. 
Here is a Thanksgiving "Mental Sorbet" tradition. This is a little brain candy to snack on while dinner is cooking. May we be thankful for what we are about to view.
Stay Tuned and Happy ThanksgivingHere is a Pre-Thanksgiving |
Show No. 113
Nov. 16, 2011 |
First hour: Ed welcomes independent
filmmaker Daron Ker. Daron’s films include I Ride and Rice Field of
Dreams, both of which
tell stories about bridging the gap in different cultures. I Ride takes viewers
into the world of biker culture, as seen through the eyes of The Fryed
Brothers Band, while Rice of Field of Dreams is the
story of Joe Cook, the man who brought baseball
to Cambodia. Also in this hour: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen remember the birth
of Danny DeVito, as well as Television Screen Magazine, an NBC precursor
to 60 Minutes that premiered This Week in TV History.
Second hour: Ed welcomes actor, author and television historian James Rosin. Jim’s latest book, The Streets of San Francisco: A Quinn Martin TV Series, is a comprehensive oral history of the long-running ABC crime drama, featuring comments and insight from the people who made it, including series star Michael Douglas, producers John Wilder and Cliff Gould, and director Walter Grauman. |
The
Joining
|
Show No. 112
Nov. 9, 2011 |
First hour: Ed welcomes
Prism Award-winning actor and five-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Tony Denison
(The Closer, Crime Story, Little
Vegas, Getting Gotti, Playmakers). The Closer resumes
its final season
on TNT beginning Monday, Nov. 28, plus Tony will be co-starring in Major
Crimes, the spin-off of The Closer that will premiere in 2012. Also
in this hour: Tony Figueroa remembers November 13, the day on which "Felix Unger
was asked to remove himself from his place of residence" on The Odd Couple.
Second hour: Ed welcomes Greg Ehrbar, Grammy Award-nominated writer/producer and the co-author, along with Tim Hollis, of Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records, the definitive book on the history of Disney music and its impact on children and families throughout the world for more than six decades. |
Calendar
year 2012 will mark the 40th anniversary of the network television
premiere of The Streets of
San Francisco, the long-running ABC police drama starring
Karl Malden and Michael Douglas and produced by Quinn Martin. The Los Angeles
Times once described The Streets of
San Francisco as “perhaps the best cop drama other than
Police Story,” while Quinn Martin himself believed that The Streets of
San Francisco was the best series that he ever made. 
We'll
take you behind the scenes of Streets this week along with actor, author
and television historian James
Rosin. Jim’s latest book, The
Streets of San Francisco: A Quinn Martin TV series,
provides not only a comprehensive oral history of The Streets of San
Francisco from the people who made it — including comments and insight from
series star Michael Douglas, producers John Wilder and Cliff Gould, and director
Walter Grauman — but some cool extra features that you don’t always see in TV
reference books. We’ll talk about the origins of Streets of San
Francisco, the appeal of QM shows in general, the camaraderie between Karl
Malden and Michael Douglas, and much, much more when Jim Rosin joins us in our
second hour.
Also
joining us this week will be San Francisco-based independent filmmaker Daron Ker. Daron’s films include I Ride and Rice Field of
Dreams, both of which tell stories about bridging the gap
in different cultures. I
Ride takes viewers into the world of biker culture, as
seen through the eyes of The Fryed Brothers
Band — the best rock band you’ve probably never heard of —
while Rice of Field of Dreams is the story of
Cambodian refugee Joe Cook, who escaped the Khmer Rouge and became a successful
chef in the United States, only to return to Cambodia in 2007 to form the
nation’s first competitive international baseball team. 
Also
a native Cambodian, Daron spent his early years, along with his family, in an
internment camp in Thailand during the Killing Fields era of tyranny and
violence. One of his first memories is seeing Stanley Kubrick’s epic
Spartacus projected onto a sheet. Watching Spartacus not only
helped sustain Daron and his family throughout their ordeal, it would later
inspire Daron to become a filmmaker himself when he was a young man. We’ll talk
about Daron’s story, his films, and more when he joins us in our first hour.
November 15, 1926
|
Show No. 111
Nov. 2, 2011 |
First hour: Emmy
Award-winning actress Kathryn
Joosten (Desperate Housewives) talks to Ed about the final season of the long-running ABC
Sunday night series, as well as the work she does on behalf of such groups as
the National Lung Cancer Partnership, a support network for lung cancer survivors (of which
Kathryn is one). Also in this hour: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen remember the
births of David Schwimmer and Roy Rogers, the first telecast of The Wizard of
Oz, and other events that took place This Week in TV
History.
Second hour: Ed welcomes Jon Winokur, co-author, along with James Garner, of The Garner Files, a memoir of Jim's life and career in the motion picture and television industries. |
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