Monday, January 31, 2011

This week in Television History: February 2011 Part I

Listen to me on TV CONFIDENTIAL with Ed Robertson and Frankie Montiforte. Broadcast LIVE on 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. PIV World Radio Tuesdays 11:05pm ET/8:05pm PT. KSAV – San Francisco Bay Area Fridays 7pm ET and PT

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.

February 1, 1887
Official registration of Hollywood.

Harvey Wilcox officially registers Hollywood with the Los Angeles County recorder’s office. Wilcox and his wife, Daeida, had moved to Southern California four years earlier from Topeka, Kansas, where Harvey had made his fortune in real estate. They bought 160 acres of land in the Cahuenga Valley, located in the foothills to the west of the city of Los Angeles. A once-sleepy settlement founded in 1781 as El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Poricuncula, Los Angeles was by then expanding rapidly thanks to the completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1876 (the Santa Fe Railroad would arrive in 1885).
Wilcox, who had lost the use of his legs as a child due to polio, envisioned the land as the perfect site for a utopian-like community for devout Christians, where they could live a highly moral life free of vices such as alcohol (Wilcox was a prohibitionist). Daeida Wilcox called the new community “Hollywood,” borrowing the name from a Chicago friend who told her that was the name of a summer home she had in the Midwest. Harvey laid out a street map of the settlement, centered on a main street he called Prospect Avenue (it was later renamed Hollywood Boulevard). After filing the map with the L.A. County recorder’s office, Wilcox set about laying out Hollywood’s streets, made of dirt and lined with pepper trees.
As Harvey sold lots, Daeida worked to raise money to build churches, a school and a library. By 1900, nine years after Harvey Wilcox’s death, Hollywood had a population of 500, compared with 100,000 people in Los Angeles at the time. It was connected to L.A. by a single-track streetcar running down Prospect Avenue; it took two hours to make the seven-mile trip, and service was infrequent. In 1910, the community of Hollywood voted to consolidate with Los Angeles due to an inadequate supply of water. Shortly thereafter, the fledgling motion-picture industry began growing exponentially, as moviemakers found their ideal setting in the mild, sunny climate and varied terrain of Southern California. As the years went by, Harvey Wilcox’s dreams of a sober, conservative religious community faded even further into the background, as Hollywood became known throughout the world as the gilded center of an industry built on fantasy, fame and glamour.

February 1, 1951
TV Shows Atomic Blast, Live.
For the first time, television viewers witness the live detonation of an atomic bomb blast, as KTLA in Los Angeles broadcasts the blinding light produced by a nuclear device dropped on Frenchman Flats, Nevada. One of a hundred above-ground nuclear tests conducted between 1951 and 1962 in the Nevada desert, the A-bomb telecast found its way into the history books (and blogs) when cameramen secretly positioned on top of a Las Vegas hotel focused on the blast. The images were relayed to the station’s transmitter on Mount Wilson Observatory about 200 miles away, and early-bird viewers saw their television screens fill with white light at 5:30 in the morning.
Witnessing the blast telecast first-hand was KTLA reporter Stan Chambers. In a YouTube interview, Chambers described how station manager Klaus Landsberg pulled off the unauthorized broadcast. “We couldn’t get near the field, because it was all top secret. Klaus sent a crew to Las Vegas and put them on top of one of the hotels…. They kept the camera open for the flash of light that would come on when the blast went off.”
Los Angeles viewers tuned in for the one-off event. “We had a rating that was very large for 5:30 in the morning,” Chambers recalled. In the pre-videotape era, there were of course no replays as newsmen Gil Martin, anchoring from Las Vegas, and station staffer Robin Lane at Mount Wilson reported the incident. Chambers continued:
We stayed on the air, they waited for the right time, and all of a sudden there was the flash. The people watched it, Gil described it, Lane talked about it, and that was our telecast. That one flash. You just see this blinding white light. It didn’t seem real. We didn’t have videotape. You couldn’t say, “Let’s look at it again.”
1951’s Ranger Easy bomb was designed to test compression against critical mass in the Demon core, so-called because the plutonium mass became unstable and caused the radiation-poisoning death of a Los Alamos scientist. A B-50 bomber plane dropped the test weapon above the Nevada Test Site about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Part of the Department of Energy’s Operation Ranger program, “Easy” delivered a 1-kiloton payload.
In the decade that followed Operation Ranger, A-bomb tests from Buster-Jangle, Tumbler-Snapper, Upshot-Knothole, Plumbbob, Nougat, Sunbeam and other programs became so commonplace that watching mushroom clouds turned into a Las Vegas tourist attraction.
In 1952, KTLA set up the first live, national feed for a Nevada atomic bomb explosion. That one was carried by the major networks.

February 1, 1954
Charles William "Bill" Mumy, Jr. is born.
Actor, musician, pitchman, instrumentalist, voice-over artist and a figure in the science-fiction community. He is known primarily for his roles in movies and television, character-type roles, and who also works in television production.
The red-headed Mumy came to prominence in the 1960s as a child actor, most notably as Will Robinson, the youngest of the three children of Prof. John and Dr. Maureen Robinson (played Guy Williams and June Lockhart respectively) and friend of the nefarious and pompous Dr. Zachary Smith (played by Jonathan Harris), in the cult 1960s CBS sci-fi television series Lost in Space.
He later appeared as a lonely teenager, Sterling North, in the 1969 Disney movie, Rascal, and as Teft in the 1971 film Bless the Beasts and Children. In the 1990s, he had the role of Lennier in the syndicated sci-fi TV series Babylon 5, and he also served as narrator of A&E Network's Emmy Award-winning series, Biography. He is also notable for his musical career, as a solo artist and as half of the duo Barnes & Barnes.

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

Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL

Actor Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. will be our special guest on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, premiering Monday, Jan. 31 at 9pm ET, 6pm PT on Shokus Internet Radio, with additional airings Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT on Passionate World Radio, Friday, Feb. 4 at 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org, and Saturday, Feb. 5 at 8pm PT on KWDJ 1360-AM (Ridgecrest, CA).

Whether you think of him of private eye Stu Bailey in 77 Sunset Strip, Inspector Lewis Erskine on The F.B.I., Daniel Chalmers on Remington Steele, or any of his many other film and television appearances, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. has been a fixture in the lives of anyone who has grown up watching television in the Baby Boomer generation. We'll talk about Efrem's work with such legends as James Garner, Roy Huggins, Gregory Peck and Robert Stack, as well as his book, My Dinner of Herbs, when he joins us in our second hour.

Joining us in our first hour will be Mark Milano, webmaster for the Kuklapolitan website, Kukla.tv, and the producer of Kukla, Fran and Ollie: The First Episodes, 1949-1954, a new DVD collection featuring 20 episodes of the original Kukla, Fran and Ollie series that have been digitally remastered from the original NBC kinescopes.

TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television
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Sundays 2pm PT
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Three times a day, every day
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Friday, January 28, 2011

Charlie Callas

Charlie Callas was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 20, 1924. Callas served in the United States Army during World War II. He began his career as a drummer playing in groups with Tommy Dorsey, Claude Thornhill, and Buddy Rich.

The comedian and actor was most commonly known for his work with Mel Brooks, Jerry Lewis, and Dean Martin and his many stand-up appearances on television talk shows in the 1970s.
Appearing on an episode of The Merv Griffin Show in 1967, one of the guests, Jerry Lewis, practically fell off his chair in hysterics as Callas performed his hunting routine. Lewis turned to Griffin and said he had to use Callas in his current project. The one appearance on the Griffin show landed Callas a role in Lewis' film, The Big Mouth. Lewis recalled the story on his short lived 1984 talk show in which Callas served as his sidekick and performed the hunting routine.



Familiar from his many appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (from which he was eventually permanently banned by Carson himself, on air, for shoving Carson in a desperate attempt to generate laughs while bombing), he is known for his rubbery face, trademark nervous chattering and dark comedy. He appeared on The Andy Williams Show at various times as "Captain Weird", a parody of superheroes. Aside from comedy, his only known dramatic role was that of a restaurant owner, Malcolm Argos, in the popular 1970s show, Switch. He was also a regular performer on The ABC Comedy Hour in 1972.

Instead of a quote from Mr. Callas I sugest you play the above vidoos and enjoy all of his great sound effects.

Good Night Mr. Callas

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Your Mental Sorbet: William Shatner Sings F@#% You!

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, January 25, 2011

TV Confidential Archives Jan. 17, 2011

Show No. 73
Jan. 17, 2011

First hour: Ed, Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen look back at All in the Family, Batman, Dynasty, Hill Street Blues and other classic television series that celebrate milestone anniversaries in January 2011.

Second hour: Ed welcomes television writer, producer, director and novelist Lee Goldberg (Diagnosis Murder, Monk, Psych, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire). Lee recently wrote, produced and directed his first film, Remaindered, a 20-minute short that will be featured at the Beauford International Film Festival in Beauford, South Carolina (Feb. 16-20), as well as the Derby City Film Festival in Louisville, Kentucky on Sunday, Feb. 20.

Monday, January 24, 2011

This week in Television History: January 2011 PART IV

Listen to me on TV CONFIDENTIAL with Ed Robertson and Frankie Montiforte. Broadcast LIVE on 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. PIV World Radio Tuesdays 11:05pm ET/8:05pm PT. KSAV – San Francisco Bay Area Fridays 7pm ET and PT

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.

January 27, 1976
The Happy Days spin-off Laverne and Shirley, featuring two Milwaukee women who work on a brewery assembly line preimers.

The show starred Penny Marshall, sister of producer Garry Marshall, and Cindy Williams.

Fierce rivalry erupted between the two stars, and Williams left the show in 1982. The show lasted only one more season before its cancellation in 1983.

January 28, 1956
Young country-rock singer Elvis Presley makes his first-ever television appearance on the TV musical-variety program Stage Show.

Presley sang "Heartbreak Hotel," which quickly became a hit single. In total, Elvis appeared on six shows. The program was hosted by swing band leaders Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Elvis went on to appear on Ed Sullivan's immensely popular variety show, Toast of the Town, in the fall of 1956. The appearance made Elvis a household name.

January 28, 1996
Jerry Seigel, creator of Superman, dies at age 81.

Writer Seigel created Superman with artist friend Joe Shuster when they were both teenagers in the 1930s. All the major newspaper syndicates rejected the character, who was born on the doomed planet Krypton and bundled off by his parents in a space capsule to Smallville USA, where he's raised by kindly earthlings. In 1938, however, Seigel and Shuster finally landed a comic book deal, and Superman's adventures as mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent moonlighting as the Man of Steel became an instant hit. The comic book spawned a newspaper strip that ran for 28 years, as well as a radio series that ran from 1940 to 1951.
The character, along with his friends cub reporter Jimmy Olson and ace newswoman Lois Lane, who never seem to penetrate Superman's Clark Kent disguise, appeared in movie serials from 1948 to 1950, and in a feature film in 1951. A popular Superman TV series ran from 1951 to 1957. Filmed on a shoestring budget, the show's special effects were limited to Superman crashing through walls, flying around, and witnessing fiery explosions. The same flying sequences were used repeatedly. Actor George Reeves was so well-known as Superman that he couldn't find other work when the series ended.
The Man of Steel reappeared on the big screen in 1978, with Christopher Reeves in the role. The hit film launched three follow-ups. In 1993, Superman appeared again in the TV comedy Lois and Clark.

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

Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Politics, Star Cars and TV Noir: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL

Author Ray Starman, talk show host Mark Silverman and Pioneers of Television consultant Jim Suva will be our guests on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, premiering Monday, Jan. 24 at 9pm ET, 6pm PT on Shokus Internet Radio, with additional airings Tuesday, Jan. 25 at 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT on Passionate World Radio, Friday, Jan. 28 at 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org, and Saturday, Jan. 29 at 8pm PT and Sunday, Jan. 30 on KWDJ 1360-AM (Ridgecrest, CA).

Ray Starman is the author of TV Noir: The Twentieth Century, a new book that discusses the portrayal of film noir in such classic shows as Dragnet, The Fugitive, The Untouchables, M Squad, The Lineup, The Prisoner, Miami Vice and other popular television series over the past 60 years. Though often considered a genre that strictly applies to crime and detective dramas, film noir lends itself to other television genres, including war dramas such as Twelve O'Clock High, as well as explorations of paranoia and the paranormal, as seen in The Invaders and The X Files. We'll talk about these shows, as well as the various kinds of film noir depicted in television, when Ray joins us in our second hour.

Joining us in our first hour will be Mark Silverman, host of a radio talk show on news and politics that is broadcast every week on our affiliate station KSAV.org. We'll talk a bit about political talk shows on cable television, including Mark's thoughts on the new Piers Morgan show on CNN, as well as Keith Olbermann's sudden departure from MSNBC.

Also in our first hour we'll welcome Jim Suva, a "star car" researcher who not only is a consultant to the upcoming "Crime Drama" segment of Pioneers of Television that premieres Feb. 1 on PBS, but also provided an authentic replica of Jim Rockford's famous Pontiac Firebird that will be featured on the program. We'll talk about Jim's involvement with Pioneers of Television, as well as his interest in film and TV cars in general.

All this, plus a new edition of This Week in TV History. Full program as always... we certainly hope you'll join us.

TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television
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.)
Three times a day, every day
on Shokus Internet Radio
www.tvconfidential.net

blog.tvconfidential.net
Also available as a podcast via iTunes and FeedBurner
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Jack LaLanne

John "Jack" LaLanne born on September 26, 1914 in San Francisco, California, to Jean LaLanne and Jennie Garaig. His parents were immigrants from Oloron-Sainte-Marie in southwest France. LaLanne had an older brother, Norman (1908–2005), who lived to the age of 97. The fitness, exercise, nutritional expert, and motivational speaker has been called "the godfather of fitness". LaLanne gained recognition for his success as a bodybuilder, as well as his prodigious feats of strength. He was inducted to the California Hall of Fame and had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

LaLanne blamed overly processed foods for many health problems. He advocates a vegetarian diet, though he eats some fish himself, and has described organic food as "a bunch of bull."



After graduating from high school, LaLanne attended night classes at Oakland Chiropractic College in San Francisco and graduated with a Doctor of Chiropractic degree. In 1936, he opened his own health spa (gym) in Oakland, California and encouraged clients to better themselves through weight-training. LaLanne designed the first leg extension machines, pulley machines using cables, and the weight selectors that are now standard in the fitness industry. He was the inventor of the Smith machine. LaLanne encouraged women to lift weights (though at the time it was thought this would make women look masculine and unattractive). By the 1980s, Jack LaLanne's European Health Spas numbered more than 200. He eventually licensed all his health clubs to the Bally company, and they are now known as Bally Total Fitness. He is no longer associated with any gym, but still lifts weights.



Jack LaLanne presented fitness and exercise advice on television for 34 years. The Jack LaLanne Show was the longest running television exercise program. It began as a local program on San Francisco's ABC television station, KGO-TV, but eventually was carried on the ABC network nationwide. In 1959, LaLanne recorded Glamour Stretcher Time, a workout album which provided phonograph-based instruction for exercising with an elastic cord called the Glamour Stretcher. LaLanne has published books and videos on fitness and nutrition, appeared in movies, recorded a song with Connie Haines. He has marketed exercise equipment, a range of vitamin supplements, and two models of electric juicers. These include the "Juice Tiger", as seen on Amazing Discoveries with Mike Levey, and "Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer".[9] It was on the show that LaLanne introduced the phrase "That's the power of the juice!".

LaLanne celebrated his 95th birthday with the release of a new book titled, Live Young Forever. In the book, he discusses how he has kept healthy and active well into his advanced age.

Until his death at the age of 96, LaLanne continued to work out every morning for two hours. He spent 1½ hours in the weight room and half an hour swimming or walking. LaLanne was married to Elaine LaLanne; they lived in Morro Bay, California. When interviewed by Katie Couric on NBC's Today show, LaLanne said his two simple rules of nutrition are: "if man made it, don't eat it", and "if it tastes good, spit it out." He often said, "I cannot afford to die, it will ruin my image." On December 8, 2009, the 95-year-old LaLanne underwent heart valve surgery at a Los Angeles Hospital.


Jack LaLanne died on January 23, 2011 of respiratory failure due to pneumonia at his home in Morro Bay, California. LaLanne was an Inaugural Inductee into the National Fitness Hall of Fame in 2005.

On December 15, 2008, in a ceremony presided over by California Governor (and fellow 2005 inductee of the National Fitness Hall of Fame) Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, Jack LaLanne was inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts along with 11 other legendary Californians inducted that year.

Good Night Mr. LaLanne

Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Friday, January 21, 2011

Your Mental Sorbet: Oscar meets Osvaldo

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

Sesame Street Episode 1316
Oscar isn't too happy with his experience in Puerto Rico so far. But then he notices a pair of eyes peeking out of a nearby trash can to where he has stopped. These eyes belong to Osvaldo, el Gruñón. Osvaldo explains that he's getting ready for a stroll in the morning rain, and Oscar is delighted to hear that it rains in such a sunny place as Puerto Rico. When Oscar asks if he can join, Osvaldo snaps, "¡NO!" and shuts his can. Oscar remarks, "I think this is the beginning of a great friendship!" and chases after Osvaldo's rolling can.

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

TV Confidential Archives Jan. 10, 2011

First hour: Marian Edelman Borden, author of Paul Newman: A Biography, joins Ed for a look at the life and times of Academy Award-winning actor/director Paul Newman. Marian's book discusses not only Newman's distinguished film career, but his early work in television, his passion for auto racing, his business acumen, his work with various charities, his political activism, and his 50-year marriage to actress and fellow Oscar winner Joanne Woodward.

Second hour: Ed welcomes Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning writer Howard Gordon (24, The X Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel). Howard's first novel, Gideon’s War, is a page-turning political thriller similar to 24 in that it features non-stop action, reversals, cliffhangers and a protagonist who has only "24" hours to prevent a global disaster. Also in this hour: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen join Ed for a look at how television news is portrayed in films such as Morning Glory and Broadcast News and the extent to which these movies inspire young people to enter the world of broadcast journalism.

Monday, January 17, 2011

This week in Television History: January 2011 PART III

Listen to me on TV CONFIDENTIAL with Ed Robertson and Frankie Montiforte. Broadcast LIVE on 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. PIV World Radio Tuesdays 11:05pm ET/8:05pm PT. KSAV – San Francisco Bay Area Fridays 7pm ET and PT

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.

January 17, 1949
The Goldbergs debuts as television's first situation comedy.



The show, which evolved from a nearly 20-year-old popular radio program of the same name, followed the adventures of a middle-class Jewish family in the Bronx. Gertrude Berg played gossipy housewife Molly Goldberg, and Philip Loeb played her husband, Jake, who worked in the clothing business. They had two teenagers, Sammy and Rosalie.
In each episode, the family would face another typical middle-class problem--and Molly enjoyed trying to help the neighbors in her apartment complex solve their problems, too. Later, when the fictitious family moved from the Bronx to suburban Haverville, the cast was joined by philosophical Uncle David, Sammy's fiancee (who later became his wife), her mother, and new neighbors. In 1952, Loeb was blacklisted for alleged Communist sympathies.
The show's sponsor, General Foods, dropped the series, and the show moved to NBC-without Loeb, though Berg had fought to keep him aboard. Loeb declared under oath he had never been a member of the Communist Party, and the charges were never proved, but his career was destroyed. He died in 1955 after taking a fatal overdose of sleeping pills in a hotel room. The show ran until 1954.

January 18, 1974
Six Million Dollar Man debuts.



The popularity of the Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors as Steve Austin, the world's first bionic man, inspires a superhero trend in the late 1970s, which spawns shows like Wonder Woman in 1976 and The Incredible Hulk in 1978. In 1975 two-part episode entitled The Bionic Woman introduced the character of Jaime Sommers, a professional tennis player who rekindled an old romance with Austin, only to experience a parachuting accident that resulted in her being given bionic parts similar to Austin. Ultimately, however, her bionics failed and she died. The character was very popular, however, and the following season she was revived (having been cryogenically frozen) and was given her own spin-off series, The Bionic Woman, which lasted until 1978 when both it and The Six Million Dollar Man were simultaneously cancelled. Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers returned in three subsequent made-for-television movies:The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987), Bionic Showdown (1989) — which featured Sandra Bullock in an early role as a new bionic woman; and Bionic Ever After? (1994) in which Austin and Sommers finally marry. Majors reprised the role of Steve Austin in all three productions, which also featured Richard Anderson and Martin E. Brooks.

January 22, 1947
The first television station west of the Mississippi River goes on the air.



The station was KTLA-TV in Hollywood. The station began broadcasting at 8:30 p.m. from a converted garage. When the first Emmy Awards were handed out two years later, KTLA swept the awards for its original programming.

January 22, 1972
Emergency! premieres.



Emergency!, produced by Dragnet star and producer Jack Webb, premieres, featuring the same semidocumentary style popularized by Webb's earlier police drama. Emergency was based on the paramedic program that started in Los Angeles, California in 1969. Senator Alan Cranston actually praised the show for informing the public about the value of funding such programs. The show focused on the adventures of paramedics Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage. The show, which ran from 1972 to 1977, foreshadowed later hits like E.R., with its interwoven comic and serious subplots. Julie London was married to fellow Emergency cast member Bobby Troup. In an earlier marriage, London was married to Jack Webb. Bobby Troup was a bandleader before becoming an actor.

January 23, 1983
The A-Team debuts on NBC.



In the pilot episode of the NBC television series The A-Team, the go-getting newspaper reporter Amy Allen (Melinda Culea) seeks the help of a mysterious group of Vietnam-veterans-turned-soldiers-for-hire to find her missing colleague in Mexico. An elite commando unit in Vietnam, the so-called A-Team was wrongly imprisoned by the Army. They escaped and began working as mercenaries, doing whatever needed to be done for their various clients while consistently eluding the fanatic Army officers sent to catch them. The A-Team went on to become a huge hit and make a star of the-then little known actor Mr. T.
Produced by Stephen Cannell and first envisioned by Brandon Tartikoff, NBC’s president, as a volatile combination between films such as The Dirty Dozen, The Magnificent Seven and The Road Warrior and TV programs such as Hill Street Blues, The A-Team became a bona fide phenomenon during its five-year run. Despite its late entry to the 1982-83 ratings season, The A-Team was on its way to a No. 1 ranking by season’s end. It also topped a list of the most violent shows on TV, compiled that year by the National Coalition on Television Violence.
George Peppard, who memorably starred opposite Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), played the A-Team’s leader, John “Hannibal” Smith; he called his A-Team role “probably the best part I’ve had in my career.” The show also featured Dirk Benedict as Templeton “Faceman” Peck and Dwight Schultz as H.M. (Howling Mad) Murdock, but its breakout star was the mohawked, gold-bedecked Mr. T. Born Laurence Tureaud in a tough Chicago neighborhood, Mr. T got into show business after winning a contest as the “World’s Toughest Bouncer.” He was spotted by Sylvester Stallone, who cast him as a boxer in Rocky III (1982). As the surly A-Team mechanic B.A. (Bad Attitude) Baracus, Mr. T uttered some of the show’s most memorable catchphrases, including “You better watch out, sucker” and “Pity the fool.”
Campy and outrageously violent, The A-Team was particularly popular among children and teenagers, and with male audiences. Over the years, the show’s producers experimented with adding a woman to the mix--including Culea’s Amy Allen, Marla Heasley as Tawnia Baker and Tia Carrere (who later starred in Wayne’s World) as a Vietnam war orphan meant to provide a link to the soldiers’ past--but these stints were relatively short-lived, and the team’s testosterone-heavy vibe remained intact. By its fourth season, the show’s popularity was waning, due partially to its formulaic nature and partially to the growing trend towards family-friendly comedy that was being driven by the success of The Cosby Show. In the spring of 1986, Cosby-inspired shows such as Who’s the Boss? and Growing Pains on ABC were beating The A-Team handily in the ratings each week.
A-Team producers tried different tricks to win audiences over, including one episode centered on the popular game show Wheel of Fortune and various guest appearances by such prominent personalities as the pop star Boy George, the professional wrestler Hulk Hogan and the Chicago Bears defensive lineman William “Refrigerator” Perry. The show hung on into a fifth season, but aired only 13 episodes, ending unceremoniously in March 1987.



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

Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Television Writer/Producer Lee Goldberg: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL

Edgar Award-nominated writer, producer, director and novelist Lee Goldberg will be our special guest on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, premiering Monday, Jan. 17 at 9pm ET, 6pm PT on Shokus Internet Radio, with additional airings Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT on Passionate World Radio, Friday, Jan. 21 at 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org, and Saturday, Jan. 22 at 8pm PT on KWDJ 1360-AM (Ridgecrest, CA).

Lee Goldberg’s credits as a television producer include Martial Law, The Cosby Mysteries and the long-running CBS series Diagnosis Murder, while he has also written episodes of Monk, Psych, Hunter, Baywatch, Sliders, Spenser: For Hire and other popular series.

In addition, Lee is a successful author with nearly 30 published books to his credit, including
11 original novels based on Monk, and seven original novels based on Diagnosis Murder.












Lee also recently wrote, produced and directed his first film, Remaindered, a 20-minute short that William Link describes as “a most enjoyable mini feature, professional all the way… with great touches of wry comedy.” Remaindered will be featured at the Beauford International Film Festival in Beauford, South Carolina (Feb. 16-20), as well as the Derby City Film Festival in Louisville, Kentucky on Sunday, Feb. 20. We will talk about Remaindered, as well as Lee’s career in television and his work with such legends as William Link and Stephen J. Cannell when Lee joins us in our second hour.

In our first hour, we’ll take a look back at All in the Family, Batman, Dynasty and other classic television series that all celebrate milestone anniversaries in January 2011 as part of a special expanded edition of This Week in TV History.













TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television
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.)
Three times a day, every day
on
Shokus Internet Radio
www.tvconfidential.net
blog.tvconfidential.net
Also available as a podcast via
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Facebook

Friday, January 14, 2011

Your Mental Sorbet: Unaired 1968 & 69 "All in the Family" pilots

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

There were three different pilots shot for the series. The first, shot in New York in 1968, was named Justice For All in reference to Archie's family name (later changed to Bunker). The second, shot in Hollywood in 1969, was titled Those Were The Days.



Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

David Nelson

David Nelson died yesterday in Century City, California from complications of colon cancer.
He was born David Oswald Nelson on October 24, 1936. He was the son of bandleader/TV actor Ozzie Nelson and singer Harriet Hilliard and the older brother of late singer Ricky Nelson. David Nelson worked as an actor, director and producer.

David Nelson appeared on the long-running sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in the 1950s and 1960s. During the run of the series, Nelson directed several episodes. After the series' end, Nelson continued acting, directing and producing. Nelson's last film appearance was in Cry-Baby (1990).

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, David Nelson was inducted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1501 Vine Street, on May 9, 1996.

He had two marriages, two sons from first marriage and a daughter and two more sons from the later marriage. He attended Hollywood High and was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity while attending the University of Southern California.

Monday, January 10, 2011

This week in Television History: January 2011 PART II

Listen to me on TV CONFIDENTIAL with Ed Robertson and Frankie Montiforte. Broadcast LIVE on 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. PIV World Radio Tuesdays 11:05pm ET/8:05pm PT. KSAV – San Francisco Bay Area Fridays 7pm ET and PT

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.

January 10, 1971
Masterpiece Theatre debuts.

Among the show's many presentations are Upstairs Downstairs (1974-1977), I. Claudius (1978), and A Tale of Two Cities (1989). Program hosts included Alistair Cooke and Russell Baker.

January 12, 1971
All in the Family debuts
.

The show, which was one of TV's top hits for much of its run, starred Carroll O'Connor as bigoted Archie Bunker; Jean Stapleton as his wife, Edith; and Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner as the couple's liberal daughter and son-in-law. The show changed the course of television by portraying the harsh realities of bigotry and racism and dealing with controversial subjects like birth control, rape, and politics. The show changed its name to Archie Bunker's Place in 1979, when the action shifted from the Bunkers' living room to the bar Archie owned.

January 12, 1981
Dynasty premieres on ABC.

The oil tycoon Blake Carrington (John Forsythe) prepares to marry his former secretary, the beautiful and innocent Krystle (Linda Evans), in the three-hour television movie that kicks off the prime-time ABC soap opera Dynasty.
Over the next eight years, the Carringtons, a rich Denver oil clan, and another wealthy family, the Colbys, would form the center of the campy, glamorous universe that was Dynasty. Envisioned as bitter rivals, in the style of the Montagues and Capulets of Romeo and Juliet, the two families intermarried and plotted against each other with equal enthusiasm. At the beginning of the second season, as buzz around the show began to grow, the British actress Joan Collins entered the mix as Blake Carrington’s evil ex-wife, Alexis; her clash with the good girl Krystle became one of the central plotlines of the show. In one of the series’ more memorable moments, Alexis and Krystle had a catfight in a lily pond.
Dynasty’s elaborately melodramatic plot lines resembled those of the daytime soap operas (kidnappings, amnesia, characters returning from the dead, etc.) and its style fit perfectly with the over-the-top excesses of the 1980s. It was no wonder, as the show was produced partially by Aaron Spelling, the man behind such hit shows as The Mod Squad, Charlie’s Angels, The Love Boat, Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place. By the end of the 1982-83 season, Dynasty was fifth in the top-rated programs; it climbed to third place in 1983-84 and grabbed the number one spot in 1984-85. Its success spawned a short-lived spin-off, Dynasty II: The Colbys, and an entire line of licensed products such as clothing, bedding and perfume.
The over-the-top cliffhanger ending to the fourth season in May 1985 marked the beginning of the end, as the entire Carrington family gathered for a wedding in the fictional country of Moldavia. The festivities were disrupted by a terrorist attack, and while all of the main characters emerged unscathed, the show’s ratings began to drop precipitously. During its final season, 1988-89, Dynasty fell to a dismal 57th place and was unceremoniously dropped from the ABC lineup. Various plot lines were left unresolved, but disappointed fans got their long-awaited closure two years later, when ABC aired a two-part movie Dynasty: The Reunion in October 1991.

January 15, 1981
Hill Street Blues premieres on NBC.

The show, which ran until 1987, won Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series in 1982, 1983, and 1984. The show revolved around police officers in an unidentified city.

January 16, 1976
Donny and Marie premieres
.

Music variety show Donny and Marie premieres, starring 18-year-old Donny Osmond and his 16-year-old sister, Marie. The show ran for only three years, but the brother and sister were reunited in 1998 with a daytime talk show.

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

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Tony Figueroa