Monday, July 30, 2012

This Week in Television History: July 2012 PART V


Listen to me on TV CONFIDENTIAL:

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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.

August 2, 1924

John Carroll O'Connor was born.


Actor, producer, and director whose television career spanned four decades. Known at first for playing the role of Major General Colt in the 1970 cult movie, Kelly's Heroes, he later found fame as the bigoted workingman Archie Bunker, the main character in the 1970s CBS television sitcoms All in the Family (1971 to 1979) and Archie Bunker's Place (1979 to 1983). O'Connor later starred in the 1980s NBC television crime drama In the Heat of the Night, where he played the role of Sheriff William (Bill) Gillespie. At the end of his career in the late 1990s, he played the father of Jamie Stemple Buchman (Helen Hunt) on Mad About You.

August 3, 1940

Actor Martin Sheen is born Ramon Estevez in Dayton, Ohio.


The son of a Spanish immigrant, Sheen was the seventh of 10 children. He moved to New York after high school and began pursuing an acting career while working as a janitor, car washer, and messenger. After several successful Broadway roles, he appeared in his first film, The Incident, in 1967. His film and TV career has included numerous political roles, most recently as fictional U.S. president Josiah Bartlett on the popular TV show The West Wing. Previously, he played Robert Kennedy in the TV movie The Missiles of October (1974), John F. Kennedy in the miniseries Kennedy (1983), and the White House chief of staff in The American President (1995). Sheen is the father of film stars Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen.

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


Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Friday, July 27, 2012

Your Mental Sorbet: George & Archie

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

R.I.P. Sherman Hemsley



Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Thursday, July 26, 2012

TV CONFIDENTIAL Archives: July 18-24, 2012

Show No. 145
July 18-24, 2012

First hour: Dan Farren joins Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen for a look at the careers of comedians Albert Brooks and Dan Rowan, both of whom were born This Week in TV History, and the legacy of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Also in this hour: a tribute to actor Ernest Borgnine.

Second hour: Talk show host Mark Silverman (On the Mark Radio) joins Dan Farren, Tony and Donna for a look at how television has covered the 2012 presidential campaign so far.