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"
Mr.Levine was a presence at NBC since 1950 when he began covering the Korean War until his retirement in 1995. After joining NBC, he covered assignments from Korea, Moscow and Vietnam to Algeria, Poland and South Africa. As NBC correspondent in the Soviet Union, he did a half-hour program in 1955 giving a tourist's eye view of Moscow, showing Cold War-era Americans that the Communist capital had "an amusement park not unlike Coney Island (and) another park in which old men played chess and mothers relaxed with their children," The New York Times reported. He explored similar themes in his 1959 book, "Main Street, U.S.S.R."
In 1965, while in Rome, he interviewed the great film director Federico Fellini.
Always known for his dry, delivery and trademark bow ties, he had become the NBC's full-time economics correspondent in 1971 and in the last five years on the job also did weekly commentaries on CNBC. He also appeared more than 100 times "Meet the Press".
In a humorous 2001 essay in The New York Times, Levine welcomed the return of the middle initial as epitomized by then-new President George W. Bush. He recalled that producers trying to shorten a television news story of his "finally suggested I drop the R in my sign-off, Irving R. Levine. I held my ground." "`No,' I said, 'I'd rather drop the B in NBC.'"
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.
March 23, 1940 Truth or Consequences originally aired on NBC radio with its creator, Ralph Edwards, as the Host. A decade later it moved to television on CBS. Contestants on the show were asked trick questions which they almost always failed to answer correctly. If they answered incorrectly, or failed to come up with any answer in a short time, Beulah the Buzzer went off. The host then told them that since they had failed to tell the truth, they would have to pay the consequences. Consequences consisted of elaborate stunts, some done in the studio and others done outside, some completed on that week's episode and others taking a week or more and requiring the contestant to return when the stunt was completed. Some of the stunts were funny, but more often they were also embarrassing, and occasionally they were sentimental like the reunion with a long-lost relative or a relative/spouse returning from military duty overseas, particularly Vietnam. Sometimes, if that military person was based in California, his or her spouse or parents were flown in for that reunion.
The spa city of "Hot Springs" in Sierra County, New Mexico took the name Truth or Consequences in1950, when host Ralph Edwards announced that he would do the program from the first town that renamed itself after the show. Ralph Edwards came to the town during the first weekend of May for the next fifty years.
The original TV version of this series, with Edwards as host, lasted only a single season. When in returned three years later on NBC, Jack Bailey was the host, later replaced by Steve Dunne. NBC aired a daytime version of the show from 1956 to 1965, first with Jack Bailey again as host, succeeded by Bob Barker. Barker remained with the show through the rest of the daytime run and on into the original syndicated run from 1966 to 1974. During Barker's run as host, "Barker's Box" was played. Barker's Box was a box with four drawers in it. A contestant able to pick the drawer with money in it won a bonus prize. Bob Hilton hosted a short-lived syndicated revival from 1977 to1978 and in the fall of 1987, comic Larry Anderson became the host of another short-lived version.
March 21, 1980 J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman), the character millions loved to hate on TV’s popular nighttime drama Dallas, was shot. The shooting made the season finale, titled A House Divided, one of television’s most famous cliffhangers and left America wondering "Who shot J.R.?" Dallas fans waited for the next eight months to have that question answered because the season premiere of Dallas was delayed due to a Screen Actors Guild strike. That summer, the question "Who Shot J.R.?" entered the national lexicon. Fan’s wore T-shirts printed with "Who Shot J.R.?" and "I Shot J.R.". A session of the Turkish parliament was suspended to allow legislators a chance to get home in time to view the Dallas episode. Betting parlors worldwide took bets as to which one of the 10 or so principal characters had actually pulled the trigger. J.R. had many enemies and audiences were hard-pressed to guess who was responsible for the shooting.
The previous record for a TV episode, not counting the final installment of the miniseries Roots, had been the 1967 finale for The Fugitive. "Who Shot J.R.?" now sits second on the list, being beaten in 1983 by the final episode of M*A*S*H but still remains the highest rated non-finale episode of a TV series.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
PS: March 21, 1983 The last episode of the long-running TV series Little House on the Prairie aired. The series, based on the children's book by Laura Ingalls Wilder, premiered in 1974. The show was one of television's 25 most highly rated shows for seven of its nine seasons. When series star and executive producer Michael Landon decided to leave the show in 1982, the show's title changed to Little House: A New Beginning and focused on character Laura Ingalls Wilder (Melissa Gilbert) and her family. The show lasted only one more season. Three made-for-television movie sequels followed: Little House: Look Back to Yesterday (1983), Little House: Bless All the Dear Children (1983), and Little House: The Last Farewell (1984).
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.
I had Sherman set the WABAC machine all over the space time continum for this week’s instllment.
First we go back to March 9th 1959. The International Toy Fair in New York premiered Barbie. That event was followed by 50 years of Barbie comercials during Saturday morning cartoons. This is the first Barbie commercial that aired during The Mickey Mouse Club.
Then we go to March 10th 1989 when the new Fox network primered the reality series COPS. The show that follows police officers, constables, and sheriff's deputies during patrols and other police activities. The show came out right after the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike and the new network needed material. An unscripted show that did not require writers would be ideal for FOX.
The show covered COPS in 140 different cities in the United States, and also filmed in Hong Kong, London, and the former Soviet Union. 2,044 arrests have been made on COPS. The oldest person arrested was 90 years old (for battery) The youngest person arrested was 7 years old (for a bike theft) Roughly 120 hours of footage goes into one broadcast segment.
Finally we go back to March 9th 1976 when ABC premiered Family, a weekly prime-time drama about a Pasadena California suburban family. The show was created by novelist and screenwriter Jay Presson Allen, directed by film director Mark Rydell, and produced by film director Mike Nichols, as well as television moguls Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg.
The show featured James Broderick and Sada Thompson as Doug and Kate Lawrence. Doug was an independent lawyer, and Kate was a housewife. They had three children: Nancy (portrayed by Elayne Heilveil in the original mini-series and later by Meredith Baxter Birney), Willie (Gary Frank), Letitia, nicknamed "Buddy" (Kristy McNichol) and the family later adopted a girl named Annie Cooper (Quinn Cummings). The show attempted to depict the "average" family, warts and all. Storylines were very topical, and the show was one of the first to feature shows to be termed as "very special episodes." In the first episode, Nancy, who was pregnant with her second child, walked in on her husband Jeff (John Rubinstein) making love to one of her friends. Other topical storylines included Kate having to deal with the possibility that she had breast cancer. In the later seasons, there were instances in which Buddy had to decide whether or not to have sex (She always chose to wait, most notably in an episode with guest star/teen idol Leif Garrett). One episode featured guest-star Henry Fonda as a visiting elderly relative who was beginning to experience senility.
During its five seasons Family received fourteen Emmy Award nominations, three of them for Outstanding Drama Series. The show won four awards all in acting categories: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Sada Thompson in 1977), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Kristy McNichol in 1976 and 1978) and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Gary Frank in 1976).
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Singer/actress Sally Kellerman joins Ed and Frankie in the first hour as they discuss her new CD, Sally, her music career, her collaborations with Robert Altman (including the iconic motion picture M*A*S*H), and her other movie and TV roles, including Loving Couples, A Little Romance, Back to School, Slither, Serial, Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins, Last of the Red Hot Lovers and Centennial.
Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.
Steve Martin: I'd like to talk seriously just for a moment. One of the great art exhibitions ever to tour the United States is the Treasures of Tutankhamen - or King Tut. But I think it's a national disgrace the way we have commercialized it with trinkets and toys, T-shirts and posters. And three months ago I was up in the woods, and I wrote a song. I tried to use the ancient modalities and melodies. I'd like to do it for you right now. Maybe we can all learn something.
(King Tut.)
Now when he was a young man, he never thought he'd see
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.
I had Sherman set the WABAC machine to February 22, 1980 when the U.S. men's ice hockey team, led by coach Herb Brooks, defeated the Soviet Union team, 4 - 3. The event was forever known as the "Miracle on Ice". The Soviet Union team, who were considered to be the best international hockey team in the world, they entered the Olympic tournament as heavy favorites, having won every ice hockey gold medal since 1964, and all but one gold medal since 1956. On February 9th, the American and Soviet teams met for an exhibition match at Madison Square Garden in order to practice for the upcoming competition. The Soviet Union won (10-3) so the odds were in favor of the Russians. The day before the match, columnist Dave Anderson wrote in the New York Times, "Unless the ice melts, or unless the United States team or another team performs a miracle, as did the American squad in 1960, the Russians are expected to easily win the Olympic gold medal for the sixth time in the last seven tournaments". The game ended with Al Michaels delivering the most famous call in Hockey history, "Eleven seconds, you've got ten seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow, up to Silk...five seconds left in the game... Do you believe in miracles? YES!!!"
Two days later on February 24th, 1980 the U.S. Hockey Team won its "Do you believe in miracles?" gold medal during the 1980 Olympic Winter Games beating Finland (4-2) in their final medal round game. The Soviet Union took the Silver Medal by beating Sweden in their final game. Sweden took home the Bronze Medal, with Finland finishing fourth.
On a personal note February 24th 1980 was the day my baby sister Laura was born. I mention this here because people her age and younger don’t truly appreciate the historical significance of these event and what was happening in the world at that time.
Though the Olympic Games are supposed to be an arena free of politics the Soviet and American teams were long time rivals due to the Cold War.
At the same time there was another international drama playing out. Despite President Carter’s initial refusal to admit the Shah of Iran into the United States, on October 22, 1979, he finally granted the Shah entry and temporary asylum for the duration of his cancer treatment. In response to the Shah's entry into the U.S., Iranian militants seized the American embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981.
The "Miracle on Ice" was a shot in the country’s morale during a time of great uncertainty.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was February 22nd, 1980.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Photo of Tony with baby sister Laura
Well, it's been a while since I wrote a "Never Judge a Show by its Pilot" segment. We had a lackluster fall (FALL 2007 Part II) where the only interesting on TV then was the Election 2008 coverage. It is not my intention to make that statement political, I'm just saying that the election coverage was the only thing that I wanted to watch live as it happened. Everything else could be programmed on my DVR and watched at a later time. Ask yourselves dear readers "Are there any scripted shows that you just have to watch when they are being broadcast?" Now before I go further on this tangent, let us foccuss on the show in question.
First Impressions of Trust Me: If you told me a few years ago that TNT was going to do a drama about the fast pace world of advertising, I would ask, "Why?" Advertising is something that characters like Darrin Stephens (Bewitchd) or Jamie Buchman (Mad About You) did, but those shows were not based around that world. I can not think of one successful TV show that centered on the world of advertising except Mad Men. Speaking of Mad Men... If you told me a few years ago that AMC was going to do a 1960's era drama about the fast pace world of advertising, I would ask, "Why? I keep hearing from network television industry professionals that nobody wants to see a peroid piece on TV". Nice to see the cable channels think outside the box. It seems that the cable channels are becoming the home to scripted dramas and the networks will be the home to sitcoms and other stuff. Trust Me is a drama that stars two talented actors who are known for comedy Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) and Tom Cavanagh (Ed) and was created by the team that brought you The Closer (a crime drama) and Nip/Tuck (a medical drama). With all that I am expecting smart humor, drama, sex/T&A and action. Where Mad Men’s key ingredient is nostalgia, TNT is claiming that the friendship of the two main characters Mason McGuire (McCormack) and Conner (Cavanagh) will draw an audience. The TNT web site says, "Their yin-yang relationship is put to the test when Mason is named a creative director of the agency, making him Conner's boss. The series follows the changing dynamics between the two friends, who are better together than they are apart". Let me watch the show and see if it lives up to the hype.
I watched the pilot and I found the the show to be very diferent from Mad Men. The show did have elements that remended me of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip except I really liked Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (CHILD OF TELEVISION: Never Judge a Show by its Pilot: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip). The pilot does center on Mason being named a creative director of the agency after the current creative director Stu Hoffman (Jason O'Mara) dies of a heart attack. Both Mason and Connor have trouble adjusting to the new pecking order. The episode ends with Mason creating a cell phone ad campaign on the spot with Connor sending the tag line "What can you do with one hand?" via text message. The characters are smart, they have humor but I see did not any drama, sex/T&A or action. The chemestry between Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh was great. In fact I'd say that the entire cast did the best they could with the material they had. Like Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip we see the behind the scenes operations of an industry that most Americans don't identify with or care about. After all how can they feel any sympathy for people whose job it is to get working people in this economy to buy stuff that they don't need and can't afford? The show is a perfect example why there has never been any successful TV shows that center on the world of advertising except Mad Men. Perhaps the idea for this show was hatched when our economy was diferent. Perhaps I'm overthinking all of this. Perhaps I should never judge a show by its pilot.
I watched the next episode. The big crisis here is that a focus group thought that the tag line "What can you do with one hand?" was about masturbation and the team has to come up with a new tag line by the end of the day. Their deadline gets moved before the team was ready and when Mason calls Connor who is having sex. Connor comes up with the tag line "Do Thumb Thing" (Sounds like "Do Something" with a lisp). Mason later realises that Connor subconsiously stole "Do Thumb Thing" from an egotistical 26-year-old perspective employee's portfolio. Our heroes now have to infultrate a focus group and make them hate the new tag line. The premise reminds me of an episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip that centered on an alleged-stolen joke.
Even though this type of TV drama is escapist the audience still has to connect with the characters and the plot. They need be able to cheer the good guys and boo the bad guys. I can’t see that the viewers will have any emotional investment in the show. I’m starting to think that TNT doesn’t really know drama. I have an idea on how to save this show. Heres the pitch. We keep the talented cast, change the format to a half hour sitcom, add a Larry Tate type character (I like Larry Miller) and have Tina Fey write and produce.
To quote the tag-line from a cell phone campaign in the pilot, "What can you do with one hand?" My answer is give the show a thumbs down.
Mr.Levine was a presence at NBC since 1950 when he began covering the Korean War until his retirement in 1995. After joining NBC, he covered assignments from Korea, Moscow and Vietnam to Algeria, Poland and South Africa. As NBC correspondent in the Soviet Union, he did a half-hour program in 1955 giving a tourist's eye view of Moscow, showing Cold War-era Americans that the Communist capital had "an amusement park not unlike Coney Island (and) another park in which old men played chess and mothers relaxed with their children," The New York Times reported. He explored similar themes in his 1959 book, "Main Street, U.S.S.R."
Always known for his dry, delivery and trademark bow ties, he had become the NBC's full-time economics correspondent in 1971 and in the last five years on the job also did weekly commentaries on CNBC. He also appeared more than 100 times "Meet the Press".
Two days later on February 24
