Tommy Hawkins and the Sounds of Lost Thanksgiving: Next on TVC

We’ll replay our conversation and television pioneer and former NBA star Tommy Hawkins on this weekend’s edition on TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing Nov. 24-27 at the following times and venues:

Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 11/24
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
Hear us on the KSAV channel on CX Radio Brazil
Hear us on your cell phone or landline number by dialing 712-432-4235

Indiana Talks
Marion, IN
Saturday 11/25
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 11/26
10am ET, 7am PT
Click on the player at IndianaTalks.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in Indiana Talks

WON 920 The Apple
Brooklyn, NY
Saturday 11/25
10pm ET, 7pm PT
Streaming at www.920won.caster.fm

KSCO AM-1080 and FM-104.1
San Jose, Santa Cruz and Salinas, CA
KOMY AM-1340
La Selva Beach and Watsonville, CA
Sunday 11/26
9am ET, 6am PT
Also streaming at KSCO.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in KSCO

CROC Radio
Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada
Sunday 11/26
1pm ET, 10am PT
Streaming at CROCRadio.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in CROC

KHMB AM-1710
KHMV-LP 100.9 FM
Half Moon Bay, CA
Sunday 11/26
9pm PT
Monday 11/27
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at KHMBRadio.com

RadioSlot.com
San Francisco, CA
Monday 11/27
10pm ET, 7pm PT
with replays Tuesday thru Friday at 10pm ET, 7pm PT
Click on the Talk Slot button at RadioSlot.com

PWRNetwork
A member of the Truli Media Group
Ann Arbor, MI ~ Boston, MA ~ Chicago, IL ~ Melrose, FL ~ Los Angeles, CA
Various times throughout the week
on the Entertainment Channel on PWRNetwork.com
and the PWR channel on TuneIn

This week’s program will include an encore presentation of our conversation with Tommy Hawkins, the Emmy Award-nominated broadcaster, renaissance man and former NBA star who passed away on Aug. 16, 2017 at the age of 80. Tommy Hawkinsenjoyed a 10-year career in the NBA for both the Minneapolis Lakers, the Los Angeles Lakers and the old Cincinnati Royals, playing alongside such Hall of Famers as Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Oscar Robertson. When his basketball career ended, he embarked on new challenges, first in radio and television (including co-hosting Mid-Morning Los Angeles with Stephanie Edwards and Meredith MacRae, as well as broadcasting for NBC Sports), then as a baseball executive for 18 years with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

At the time we spoke to Tommy in February 2012, he had just published a coffee table book, Life’s Reflections: Poetry for the People, that reflects his many interests, which include such subjects as sports, jazz, art, poetry, travel, life, love, family, and the turbulent decade known as the 1960s. We talked about his playing career, his passion for poetry, and how Regis Philbin played a key role in one of his first breaks as a broadcaster. We’ll replay our conversation with Tommy Hawkins in our second hour. 

Our first hour this week will feature an encore presentation of our special holiday-themed edition of The Sounds of Lost Television. Phil Gries will play rare audio highlights of some of the earliest surviving network TV coverage of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, including clips from broadcasts hosted by Lorne Greene, Betty White, Martin Milner, Kent McCord and June Lockhart, as well as highlights from vintage network Thanksgiving TV specials, including programs hosted by Dean Martin and Bob and Ray. 

TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television 
Fri 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org and CX Radio Brazil
Sat 8pm ET, 5pm PT and Sun 6pm ET, 3pm PT on Indiana Talks (Marion, IN)
Sat 10pm ET, 7pm PT on WON 920 The Apple (Brooklyn, NY)
Sun 9am ET, 6am PT KSCO-AM 1080 (San Jose, Santa Cruz and Salinas, CA)
Sun 9am ET, 6am PT KOMY-AM 1340 (La Selva Beach and Watsonville, CA)
Sun 1pm ET, 10am PT CROC Radio (British Columbia, Canada)
Sun 9pm PT, Mon Mid ET on KHMB-AM and FM (Half Moon Bay, CA)
Mon 10pm ET, 7pm PT on The Radio Slot Network (San Francisco, CA)
Replays various times throughout the week on the Entertainment Channel at PWRNetwork
Tape us now, listen to us later, using DAR.fm/tvconfidential 
Also available as a podcast via iTunes, FeedBurner, SoundCloud
and now on your mobile phone via Stitcher.com
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If you listen to TV CONFIDENTIAL, and like what you’ve heard, please consider supporting our efforts by becoming a patron of our show through Patreon. It’s easy to do, it does not cost much, plus you can receive some cool rewards (such as coupons that will allow you to download up to six free programs every month from the TV CONFIDENTIAL Archives store). For more information, please visit www.Patreon.com/tvconfidential... and thanks!

Dynasty Creators Richard and Esther Shapiro: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL

writer/producers Richard and Esther Shapiro will be our special guests on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, premiering Monday, July 4 at 9pm ET, 6pm PT on Shokus Internet Radio, with additional airings Tuesday, July 5 at 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT on Passionate World Radio, Friday, July 8 at 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org, and Saturday, July 9 at 8pm PT on KWDJ 1360-AM (Ridgecrest, CA).


Co-creators, co-writers and co-executive producers of the long-running ABC-TV series Dynasty, Richard and Esther Shapiro have also written and produced 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. For a time Esther Shapiro was vice president in charge of miniseries for ABC, where she oversaw the production of such top-rated minis as Masada, Pearl, Ike, The Winds of War and Inside the Third Reich, while Richard Shapiro is the author of Tobacco Brown, an epic novel about one man’s search for meaning that is poignant, thought-provoking and often hysterically funny.

Richard and Esther join us in the studio during our first hour. We’ll talk about the origins of Dynasty, their collaboration with Aaron Spelling, the casting of such stars as John Forsythe, Joan Collins, Diahann Carroll and Rock Hudson, some of the great cliffhangers in Dynasty history, and much, much more.












Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen will join us in our second hour as we continue our look at notable network shows that were recently canceled, including America’s Most Wanted.




We’ll follow that with an encore presentation of our conversation with Keith Eliot 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, documentary-like look at the events that shaped what turned out to be the final day of John Lennon’s life.












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
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This week in Television History: "'The Flintstones" Turn Fifty

Listen to me on TV CONFIDENTIAL with Ed Robertson and Frankie Montiforte Broadcast LIVE every other Monday at 9pm ET, 6pm PT (immediately following STU'S SHOW) on Shokus Internet Radio. The program will then be repeated Tuesday thru Sunday at the same time (9pm ET, 6pm PT) on Shokus Radio for the next two weeks, and then will be posted on line at our archives page at TVConfidential.net. We are also on Share-a-Vision Radio (KSAV.org) Friday at 7pm PT and ET, either before or after the DUSTY RECORDS show, depending on where you live.

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.

Yes Folks, The Flintstones turn 50 and I want the world to know!

"Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyabba-dabba-doooooooo!"

The Flintstones ran from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966 on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones is about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family Fred & Wilma Flintstone and his next door neighbors and best friends Barney & Betty Rubble. Critics and fans alike agree that the show was an animated imitation of The Honeymooners with rock puns thrown in. It aired during an era when color television was becoming popular in America. Its popularity rested heavily on its juxtaposition of modern-day concerns in the Stone Age setting. The Flintstones also became the first primetime animated series to last more than two seasons this record wasn't surpassed by another primetime animated TV series until the third season of The Simpsons in 1992.

The show is set in the town of Bedrock where dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, and other long extinct animals co-exist with barefoot cavemen. Like their 20th century peers, these cavemen listen to records, live in split-level homes, and eat out at restaurants, yet their technology is made entirely from pre-industrial materials and largely powered through the use of various animals. For example, the cars are made out of stone, wood, and animal skins, and powered by the passengers' feet.

It has been noted that Fred Flintstone physically resembled voice actor Alan Reed, and also Jackie Gleason. The voice of Barney was provided by legendary voice actor Mel Blanc, though five episodes (the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 9th) during the second season employed Hanna-Barbera regular Daws Butler while Blanc was incapacitated by a near-fatal car accident. Blanc was able to return to the series much sooner than expected, by virtue of a temporary recording studio for the entire cast set up at Blanc's bedside. It should be noted, however, that Blanc's portrayal of Barney Rubble had changed considerably after the accident. In the earliest episodes, Blanc had used a much higher pitch. After his recovery from the accident, Blanc used a deeper voice. Additional similarities with The Honeymooners included the fact that Reed based Fred's voice upon Jackie Gleason's interpretation of Ralph Kramden, while Blanc, after a season of using a nasal, high-pitched voice for Barney, eventually adopted a style of voice similar to that used by Art Carney in his portrayal of Ed Norton. The first time that the Art Carney-like voice was used was for a few seconds in "The Prowler" (the third episode produced).

In a 1986 Playboy interview, Jackie Gleason said that Alan Reed had done voice-overs for Gleason in his early movies, and that he (Gleason) considered suing Hanna-Barbera for copying The Honeymooners but decided to let it pass. According to Henry Corden, who took over as the voice of Fred Flintstone after Alan Reed died, and was a friend of Gleason’s, “Jackie’s lawyers told him that he could probably have The Flintstones pulled right off the air. But they also told him, “Do you want to be known as the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air? The guy who took away a show that so many kids love, and so many parents love, too?”

Henry Corden handled the voice responsibilities of Fred after Reed's death in 1977. Corden had previously provided Fred's singing voice in The Man Called Flintstone and later on Flintstones children's records. After 1999, Jeff Bergman performed the voice of Fred. Since Mel Blanc's death in 1989, Barney has been voiced by both Frank Welker and Kevin Richardson. Various additional character voices were created by Hal Smith, Allan Melvin, Janet Waldo, Daws Butler and Howard Morris, among others.

Although most Flintstones episodes are stand-alone storylines, the series did have a few story arcs. The most notable example was a series of episodes surrounding the birth of Pebbles. Beginning with the episode "The Surprise", aired midway through the third season (1/25/63), in which Wilma reveals her pregnancy to Fred, the arc continued through the trials and tribulations leading up to Pebbles' birth in the episode "Dress Rehearsal" (2/22/63), and then continued with several episodes showing Fred and Wilma adjusting to the world of parenthood. A postscript to the arc occurred in the third episode of the fourth season, in which the Rubbles, depressed over being unable to have children of their own (making The Flintstones the first animated series in history to address the issue of infertility, though subtly), adopt Bamm-Bamm. The 100th episode made (but the 90th to air), Little Bamm-Bamm (10/3/63), established how Bamm-Bamm was adopted. About nine episodes were made before it, but shown after, which explains why Bamm-Bamm would not be seen again until episode 101, Daddies Anonymous (Bamm-Bamm was in a teaser on episode 98, Kleptomaniac Pebbles). Another story arc, occurring in the final season, centered on Fred and Barney's dealings with The Great Gazoo (voiced by Harvey Korman).

The Flintstones was the first American animated show to depict two people of the opposite sex (Fred and Wilma; Barney and Betty) sleeping together in one bed, although Fred and Wilma are sometimes depicted as sleeping in separate beds. For comparison, the first live-action depiction of this in American TV history was in television's first-ever sitcom: 1947's Mary Kay and Johnny.



The show contained a laugh track, common to most other sitcoms of the period. In the mid-1990s, when Turner Networks remastered the episodes, the original laugh track was removed. Currently, the shows airing on Boomerang and the DVD releases have the original laugh track restored to most episodes (a number of episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 still lack them). Some episodes, however, have a newer laugh track dubbed in, apparently replacing the old one. Because of this practice, the only episode to originally air without a laugh track ("Sheriff For a Day" in 1965) now has one.

Following the show's cancellation in 1966, a film based upon the series was created. The Man Called Flintstone was a musical spy caper that parodied James Bond and other secret agents. The movie was released to theaters on August 3, 1966 by Columbia Pictures. It was released on DVD in Canada in March 2005 and in United States in December 2008.

The Flintstones had several spin-offs and TV specials.
The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971–72)
The Flintstone Comedy Hour (1972–73)
The New Fred and Barney Show (1979)
The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980–82)
The Flintstone Funnies (1982–84)
The Flintstone Kids (1986–88)
The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (1987)
I Yabba-Dabba Do! (1993)
Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1993)
A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
The Flintstones: On the Rocks (2001)

There weree also two Live action Flintstone Movies



The Flintstones (1994)
The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000)

After fifty years, Fred still hasn't won the fight, And that cat has not stayed out for the night.

"Wiiilllllmmmmmmaaaaaa!!!"

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Tony Figueroa

Tony Figueroa VERTICAL HUMOR 07.31.09

Vertical Humor

A Stand-Up Comedy Show at the Coffee Fix in Studio City, CA held on the last Friday of the month. VH is produced by Shari Becker and Dan Farren.

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Tony Figueroa