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.
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Showing posts with label TV Land Landmarks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV Land Landmarks. Show all posts
Author James Bigwood will join us on a brand new edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, premiering Jan. 6-11 at the following times and venues:
WROM Radio Detroit, MI Wednesday 1/6 8pm ET, 5pm PT 2am ET, 11pm PT Sunday 1/10 8pm ET, 5pm PT 2am ET, 11pm PT Click on the Listen Live button at WROMRadio.net
KHDN AM-1230 KBSR AM-1490 KYLW AM-1450 Billings, MT part of GLN Radio Network Friday 1/8 3pm ET, Noon PT Saturday 1/9 6pm ET, 3pm PT Monday 1/11 3pm ET, Noon PT
Share-a-Vision Radio San Francisco Bay Area Friday 1/8 7pm ET, 4pm PT 10pm ET, 7pm PT Click on the Listen Live button at KSAV.org Use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in KSAV or hear us on the KSAV channel on CX Radio Brazil
Indiana Talks Marion, IN Saturday 1/9 8pm ET, 5pm PT Sunday 1/10 6pm ET, 3pm PT Click on the player at IndianaTalks.com or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in Indiana Talks
KSCO-AM 1080 San Jose, Santa Cruz and Salinas, CA KOMY-AM 1340 La Selva Beach and Watsonville, CA Sunday 1/10 9am ET, 6am PT Also streaming at KSCO.com
RadioSlot.com San Francisco, CA Monday 1/11 10pm ET, 7pm PT with replays Tuesday thru Friday at 10pm ET, 7pm PT Click on the Talk Slot button at RadioSlot.com
Besides leaving a permanent impression on American pop culture, the Batman television series (ABC, 1966-1968) introduced many young viewers ― not to mention a host of future film scholars ― to Alan Napier, the tall, distinguished British actor who played one of the most popular characters on the series, Alfred the butler. And though Batman brought Napier fame (and some fortune), it also ended up overshadowing a lifetime of work on stage, film and television that saw him work with the likes of Marlon Brando, Ingrid Bergman, John Wayne, Laurence Olivier, George Bernard Shaw, Paul Muni, Sean Connery, Alfred Hitchcock, James Whale, Fritz Lang, Otto Preminger, Orson Welles and John Houseman.
But Alan Napier also led a very full and somewhat bohemian life outside of acting. Among other things, he was a beachcomber, an avid volleyball player, and a prolific writer. In fact, Napier wrote an autobiography in 1969 that, unfortunately, remained unpublished until the fall of 2015, thanks to the efforts of his friend James Bigwood. A writer and producer who has worked on such films and TV series as Bob Roberts and Ugly Betty, Jim first met Alan Napier in 1975 and remained friends with him until Napier’s death in 1988. We’ll tell you how he came to publish Alan’s book ― as well as explore Napier’s life and career, during and after Batman ― when James Bigwood joins us in our second hour.
Also on this week’s program: As January 12, 1966 marks the 50th anniversary of the premiere of Batman on ABC, we’ll look at the legacy of Batman on television as part of This Week in TV History. (Alan Napier’s birthday, by way, is January 7.)
Actor Mike Connors, television writer/producer David Breckman and author JoAnn Paul will join us on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing May 14-19 at the following times and stations:
WROM Radio Detroit, MI Wednesday 5/14 8pm ET, 5pm PT 2am ET, 11pm PT Sunday 5/18 8pm ET, 5pm PT 2am ET, 11pm PT Click on the Listen Live button at WROMRadio.net
Share-a-Vision Radio San Francisco Bay Area Friday 5/16 7pm ET, 4pm PT 10pm ET, 7pm PT Click on the Listen Live button at KSAV.org or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in KSAV
Indiana Talks Marion, IN Weekends, various times Click on the player at IndianaTalks.com or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in Indiana Talks
KSCO-AM 1080 San Jose, Santa Cruz and Salinas, CA KOMY-AM 1340 La Selva Beach and Watsonville, CA Sunday 5/18 11am ET, 8am PT Also streaming at KSCO.com
KHMB-AM 1710 Half Moon Bay, CA Sunday 5/18 9pm PT Monday 5/19 Midnight ET Click on the Listen Live button at KHMBRadio.com or use the Live365 app on your smartphone and type in KHMB
The Radio Slot Network San Francisco, CA Monday 5/19 10pm ET, 7pm PT with replays Tuesday thru Friday at 10pm ET, 7pm PT Click on the Talk Slot button at RadioSlot.com
Mike Connors, of course, is known to three generations of viewers as the star of Mannix, the the long-running private eye series from the late ’60s and early 1970s that was as much known for its cinematic style, iconic theme music by Lalo Schifrin, signature sports jackets and the famous Mannix dune buggy roll as it was for the character of Joe Mannix himself. Still popular today around the world, Mannix paved the way for the wave of private detective shows that dominated network television throughout the 1970s and ’80s, while Connors brought a humanity and vulnerability to Joe Mannix that has rarely been matched among TV protagonists. Mike Connors will join us in our second hour.
Mike Connors also wrote the foreword to And Now, Back to Mannix, a new book by JoAnn M. Paul that not only explores the depth of the Mannix character in great detail, but makes the case that Joe Mannix has all the traits of a classic literary hero. JoAnn Paul will join us in our first hour.
Also joining us will be David Breckman, writer, director and co-executive producer for the long-running private eye series Monk. David wrote the introduction to And Now, Back to Mannix, plus he was instrumental in arranging for Mike Connors’ appearance on our show.
This week’s program will also include an extended edition of This Week in TV History that will include a remembrance of actress Jackie Lynn Taylor, as well as a discussion of both the first Our Gang comedy to be filmed with sound, and the last Our Gang ever to be produced.
Show No. 220 with guests Mary Ann Anderson and Sylvia Resnick Original Airdate: Week of Feb. 5-11, 2014 First hour: Ed welcomes author and longtime entertainment journalist Sylvia Resnick. Sylvia’s books include biographies of Burt Reynolds and Kristy McNichol, plus The Walton Family Cookbook. Also in this hour: Ed plays highlights from a 1989 interview that Jay Leno gave to radio host Sam Yates in which the Tonight Show host discusses his early career in stand-up and his influences as a comedian.
Second hour: Ed welcomes Mary Ann Anderson, author of Ida Lupino: Beyond the Camera, the story of Ida’s life and career (told almost entirely in Ida’s own words) and The Making of The Hitch-Hiker Illustrated, a behind-the-scenes look at the classic 1953 thriller directed by Ida Lupino. The Hitch-Hiker
was not only the first American example of film noir that was directed
by a woman, but a groundbreaking film in many other ways that can still
be felt today. The hour includes excerpts from a 1983 interview with Ida
Lupino (one of the last recorded interviews that Ida gave) in which she
discusses her film and television career.
Listen to me next week on TV CONFIDENTIAL with Ed Robertson and Frankie Montiforte Broadcast LIVE every other Monday at 10pm ET, 7pm PT on Shokus Internet Radio. The program will then be repeated Tuesday through Sunday at the same time (10pm ET, 7pm PT) on Shokus Radio for the next two weeks, and then will be posted on line at our archives page at TVConfidential.net. 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.
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar was born. The comic actor and writer known best as the star of the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour. Caesar began his television career when he made an appearance on Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater. In early 1949, Sid and Max met with Pat Weaver, vice president of television at NBC (and father of Sigourney Weaver), which led to Caesar's appearance in his first series The Admiral Broadway Revue with Imogene Coca. The Friday show, simultaneously broadcast on NBC and the DuMont network (in order for the show to be carried on the only TV station then operating in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania- DuMont's WDTV- the sponsor had to agree to a simulcast) was an immediate success, but its sponsor, Admiral, an appliance company, could not keep up with the demand for its new television sets, so the show was cancelled after 26 weeks on account of its runaway success. According to Sid, an Admiral executive later told him the company had the choice of building a new factory, or continuing their sponsorship of the Revue for another season.
On February 23, 1950, Caesar appeared in the first episode of Your Show of Shows, a Saturday night 90-minute variety program produced by Max Liebman. The show launched Caesar into instant stardom and was a mix of scripted and improvised comedy, movie, and television satires, Caesar's inimitable double-talk monologues, top musical guests, and large production numbers. The impressive guest list included: Jackie Cooper, Robert Preston, Rex Harrison, Eddie Albert, Michael Redgrave, Basil Rathbone, Charlton Heston, Geraldine Page, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Pearl Bailey, Fred Allen, Benny Goodman, Lena Horne and many other big stars of the time. It was also responsible for bringing together one of the best comedy teams in television history: Sid, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, and Imogene Coca. Many prominent writers, denizens of the famed Writer's Room, also got their start creating the show's madcap sketches, including Lucille Kallen, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Michael Stewart, Mel Tolkin, and Larry Gelbart. Sid Caesar won his first Emmy in 1952. In 1951 and 1952, he was voted the United States' Best Comedian by Motion Picture Daily's TV poll. The show ended after 160 episodes on June 5, 1954. Just a few months later, Sid Caesar returned with Caesar's Hour, a one-hour sketch/variety show with Morris, Reiner, a young Bea Arthur, and much of the seasoned crew. Nanette Fabray replaced Imogene Coca who left to star in her own short-lived series. Ultimate creative and technical control was now totally in Caesar's hands. The show moved to the larger Century Theater, which allowed longer, more sophisticated productions and the weekly budget doubled to $125,000. The premier on September 27, 1954 featured Gina Lollobrigida. Contemporary movies, foreign movies, theater, television shows and even opera all became targets of satire by the writing team, whose frenetic and competitive spirit produced some of the best comedy in television history. Often the publicity generated by the sketches boosted the box office of the original productions. Some notable sketches included: From Here to Obscurity (From Here to Eternity), Aggravation Boulevard (Sunset Boulevard), Hat Basterson (Bat Masterson), and No West For the Wicked (Stagecoach). Even silent movies were parodied, which showed off the impressive pantomime skills of the entire ensemble. They also performed some recurring sketches. The Hickenloopers were television's first bickering couple, predating The Honeymooners. As "The Professor", Caesar was the daffy expert who bluffed his way through his interviews with earnest roving reporter Carl Reiner. In its various incarnations, "The Professor" could be Gut von Fraidykat (mountain-climbing expert), Ludwig von Spacebrain (space expert), or Ludwig von Henpecked (marriage expert). Later, "The Professor" evolved into Mel Brooks' famous "The Two Thousand Year Old Man". The most prominent recurring sketch on the show was "The Commuters", featuring Caesar, Reiner and Morris involved with everyday working and suburban life situations. Caesar's Hour was followed by Sid Caesar Invites You, briefly reuniting Caesar and Coca in 1958, and in 1963 with several As Caesar Sees It specials, which evolved into the 1963-'64 Sid Caesar Show, which alternated with Edie Adams in Here's Edie. Caesar also teamed up with Edie Adams in the Broadway show Little Me, a successful Neil Simon play, with choreography by Bob Fosse and music by Cy Coleman in which Sid played eight parts with 32 costume changes. Caesar and Edie Adams played a husband and wife drawn into a mad race to find buried money in the mega-movie-comedy It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
September 8, 1966 Star Trek premieres. Although Star Trek ran for only three years and never placed better than No. 52 in the ratings, Gene Roddenberry's series became a cult classic and spawned four television series and ten movies. The first Star Trek spin-off was a Saturday morning cartoon, The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, which ran from 1973 to 1975 (original cast members supplied the voices). The TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation first aired in 1987 and was set in the 24th century, starring the crew of the new, larger U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D, captained by Jean-Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart). This series became the highest-rated syndicated drama on television and ran until 1994. Another spin-off, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, premiered in 1992, featuring a 24th-century crew that lived in a space station rather than a starship. Star Trek: Voyager, which debuted in 1995 and ran until 2001, was the first to feature a female captain, Kathryn Janeway (played by Kate Mulgrew). In this series, the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager is stranded more than 70,000 light years from Federation space and is trying to find its way home. The final spin-off to air on TV was Enterprise, which premiered in the United States on September 26, 2001. The final two episodes of that show aired in May 2005.
September 9, 1956
Elvis Presley sang "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog" on Ed Sullivan's immensely popular show Toast of the Town. Presley scandalized audiences with his suggestive hip gyrations, and Sullivan swore he would never book the singer on his show. However, Presley's tremendous popularity and success on other shows changed Sullivan's mind. Although Elvis had appeared on a few other programs already, his appearance on Ed Sullivan's show made him a household name.
September 10, 1993 The science fiction series The X-Files premiered. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson stared. Duchovny played FBI agent Fox Mulder and Anderson played Dana Scully, a skeptical doctor. A cult hit, the show attracted an enormous following of loyal viewers. An X-Files movie was released in 1998. David Duchovny left the show in the 2001 season and was replaced by Robert Patrick, who played agent John Doggett.
Stand-up comedian and friend of TV CONFIDENTIALTom Dreesen was born September 11, 1942 .Dreesen grew up in Harvey, Illinois, south of Chicago. His family was one of the few white families in a largely African American community. While working as an insurance salesman in 1968, he met Tim Reid through a local Jaycee chapter, and the two teamed up to form the first biracial stand-up comedy duo in the United States. Though their material is now considered cutting-edge for its time, the pair struggled to make a living together and split up in the mid-1970s. However, each found individual success: while Reid landed a role onWKRP in Cincinnati, Dreesen became a regular on The Tonight Show and toured as Frank Sinatra's opening act. In 1989, Dreesen released a comedy album through Flying Fish Records called That White Boy's Crazy. The album was recorded in front of an all-black audience in Harvey, Illinois. Dreesen gives generously of his time helping struggling comics devoting a great deal of time to charities and benefits. He founded a "Day for Darlene", to benefit Multiple Sclerosis research. The occasion is named for his late sister who was afflicted with the disease. An ex GI, Tom performs on military bases all over the world and recently performed for our troops on bases throughout Iraq. On May 15, 2005 he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor Award for his humanitarian services to his country.In 2008, Dreesen, Reid, and former Chicago Sun-Times sportswriter Ron Rapoport collaborated on the book Tim & Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White . On July 13, 2009 Mr. Dreesen joined us in the second hour as TV Confidential launched its second season from its new broadcast home in the studios of Shokus Internet Radio.
September 12, 1963 Leave It to Beaveraired its last episode. The typical 1950s wholesome family comedy presented the lives of the Cleaver family from the perspective of young Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Jerry Mathers). The clan included parents June (Barbara Billingsley) and Ward (Hugh Beaumont), and older brother Wally (Tony Dow). The show enjoyed much popularity in reruns and a revival in the 1980s as The New Leave It to Beaver . In a 1983 television special, Still the Beaver returned after a twenty year absence from prime-time. Hugh Beaumont's death in 1982 was integrated into the script as a tribute to fatherhood.
The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, was created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, CBS executive Fred Silverman, and character designerIwao Takamoto. The show centers around four kids, whom were unofficially called "Mystery Inc." whose hobby was mystery solving. The basic premise remained unchanged through the many series of the franchise: criminal activities were covered up as faux supernatural events with red herrings and clues leading up to the eventual undoing. The meddlesome kids were Fred Jones is the stocky, straight-laced member; Daphne Blake, beautiful but danger-prone red-head; Velma Dinkley, the pudgy, bespectacled brains of the outfit; Norville "Shaggy" Rogers, the pencil-thin chow hound and the star of the show, the gangly, bow-legged Great Dane Scooby-Doo. The original voice cast featured veteran voice actor Don Messick as Scooby-Doo, Top 40 radio DJ Casey Kasem as Shaggy, actor Frank Welker as Fred, actress Nicole Jaffe as Velma, and musician Indira Stefanianna Christopherson as Daphne.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Donna and got to visit Chicago's Navy Pier and we had to stop and check out the TV Land Landmarks' lifesized sculpture of fictional psychologist Bob Hartley (played by comedian Bob Newhart on The Bob Newhart Show 1972-1978) .
To quote Bob Newhart, "But CBS decided it wanted to concentrate more of the show on my job as a psychologist. ... I think one of the reasons for the change is that some CBS officials heard the word condominium and thought the show was about sex."
But Alan Napier also led a very full and somewhat bohemian life outside of acting. Among other things, he was a beachcomber, an avid volleyball player, and a prolific writer. In fact, Napier wrote an autobiography in 1969 that, unfortunately, remained unpublished until the fall of 2015, thanks to the efforts of his friend James Bigwood. A writer and producer who has worked on such films and TV series as Bob Roberts and Ugly Betty, Jim first met Alan Napier in 1975 and remained friends with him until Napier’s death in 1988. We’ll tell you how he came to publish Alan’s book ― as well as explore Napier’s life and career, during and after Batman ― when James Bigwood joins us in our second hour.
Show No. 220 with guests Mary Ann Anderson and Sylvia Resnick
