Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" that we could use to artificially stimulate our Christmas spirit. The twelfth episode of the Brady Bunch
View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
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"
Monday, December 06, 2010
Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: The Brady Bunch
Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" that we could use to artificially stimulate our Christmas spirit. The twelfth episode of the Brady Bunch
View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
This week in Television History: December 2010 PART I
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.
December 8, 1980
John Lennon, is murdered by a deranged fan in front of his New York apartment building.
Lennon was born in 1940 in Liverpool, England. As a boy, Lennon lived with his aunt after his father left the family. Lennon attended Quarry Bank High School, from which he derived the name for his first band, the Quarrymen, formed in 1955. In 1956, he met Paul McCartney, who joined the band, and the two began writing songs together. George Harrison joined the band in 1957, and the three played together under several different names and with varying members until 1960, when they adopted the name the Beatles.
The band toured German beerhouses in 1961 and debuted later that year at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where they gave more than 300 performances during the next two years. Drummer Ringo Starr joined the group in 1962. The group scored several U.K. hits in 1963, launching the "Beatlemania" tidal wave that hit the United States in 1964. In a little more than 10 years, the group transformed rock and roll, scoring 20 No. 1 hits on the Billboard pop charts, more than any group in history. The group's records spent a total of 59 weeks topping the charts between 1964 and 1970.
Lennon divorced his first wife, Cynthia Lennon, the mother of his son Julian, and married artist Yoko Ono in 1969. With Ono, he released the album Two Virgins in 1968. He became more involved in liberal political causes and pursued projects with Ono. In 1970, McCartney announced that the Beatles had broken up. Lennon released his first solo album, Imagine, in 1971, and it rose to No. 1 on the charts. During the next few years, he released projects with Ono as well as his own solo albums, including chart-topper Walls and Bridges (1974). He gave his last public performance in 1974 and released his last solo album, Rock 'n' Roll, the following year. In 1975, Lennon and Ono had a son, Sean, and in 1980 the couple released their album Double Fantasy, which topped the charts and included the No. 1 single "(Just Like) Starting Over."
December 9, 1965
A Charlie Brown Christmas is the first of many prime-time animated TV specials based upon the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz aired for the first time.
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Abominable "Bommi" Snowman MySpace Video
It was produced and directed by former Warner Bros. and UPA animator Bill Meléndez, who also supplied the voice for the character of Snoopy. Initially sponsored by Coca-Cola, the special aired on CBS from its debut in 1965 through 2000, and has aired on ABC since 2001. For many years it aired only annually, but is now telecast at least twice during the Christmas season. The special has been honored with both an Emmy and Peabody award.
A Charlie Brown Christmas is also one of CBS's most successful specials, airing annually more times on that network than even MGM's classic motion picture The Wizard of Oz. Oz was shown thirty-one times on CBS, but not consecutively; between 1968 and 1976, NBC aired the 1939 film.
December 11, 1944
Teri Garr is born in Lakewood, Ohio.
Garr was born into a show business family: Her father was a vaudeville performer and her mother was a Rockette. After launching her own performing career as a dancer, she made her film debut with a tiny role in 1963’s A Swingin’ Affair. She went on to appear in a string of Elvis Presley films, including Fun in Acapulco (1963), Kissin’ Cousins (1964), Viva Las Vegas (1964) and Clambake (1967). In the early 1970s, Garr was a regular on such TV shows as The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Garr’s big-screen breakthrough came in 1974, when she was featured in writer-director Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation, a psychological thriller starring Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert. The film received three Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. That same year, the blonde actress played Dr. Frankenstein’s pretty lab assistant Inga in director Mel Brooks’ hit horror spoof Young Frankenstein, which co-starred Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman.
In 1977, Garr co-starred in director Carl Reiner’s Oh, God!, playing the skeptical wife of a supermarket manager (played by John Denver) who is picked by God (George Burns) to spread his message. In Steven Spielberg’s multiple Oscar-nominated hit Close Encounters of the Third Kind later that year, Garr played another disapproving mate, this time of a cable guy (Richard Dreyfuss) who displays increasingly strange and obsessive behavior after an encounter with a UFO. In 1979, Garr appeared in The Black Stallion, based on the classic children’s novel by Walter Farley.
In 1982, Garr co-starred in Tootsie, writer-director Sydney Pollack’s comedy about an out-of-work actor, played by Dustin Hoffman, who dresses in drag to land a role. The film was a huge box-office success and earned nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Garr’s portrayal of Sandy Lester, the neurotic actress friend of Hoffman’s character. Garr lost the Oscar to her Tootsie cast mate, Jessica Lange, who played a soap actress for whom Hoffman’s character falls.
Garr went on to appear in such films as Mr. Mom (1983), with Michael Keaton, After Hours (1985), Mom and Dad Save the World (1992) and Dumb & Dumber (1994). Known for her comedic talents, she’s hosted Saturday Night Live several times and has been a frequent guest on The Late Show with David Letterman. Garr also appeared on the hit sitcom Friends as the estranged biological mother of Phoebe Buffay, played by Lisa Kudrow.
In 2002, Garr publicly announced that she has been suffering from multiple sclerosis for a number of years. Since then, she has been a dedicated advocate for awareness of the disease. Garr published an autobiography, Speedbumps, in 2005.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
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.
December 8, 1980
John Lennon, is murdered by a deranged fan in front of his New York apartment building.
Lennon was born in 1940 in Liverpool, England. As a boy, Lennon lived with his aunt after his father left the family. Lennon attended Quarry Bank High School, from which he derived the name for his first band, the Quarrymen, formed in 1955. In 1956, he met Paul McCartney, who joined the band, and the two began writing songs together. George Harrison joined the band in 1957, and the three played together under several different names and with varying members until 1960, when they adopted the name the Beatles.
The band toured German beerhouses in 1961 and debuted later that year at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where they gave more than 300 performances during the next two years. Drummer Ringo Starr joined the group in 1962. The group scored several U.K. hits in 1963, launching the "Beatlemania" tidal wave that hit the United States in 1964. In a little more than 10 years, the group transformed rock and roll, scoring 20 No. 1 hits on the Billboard pop charts, more than any group in history. The group's records spent a total of 59 weeks topping the charts between 1964 and 1970.
Lennon divorced his first wife, Cynthia Lennon, the mother of his son Julian, and married artist Yoko Ono in 1969. With Ono, he released the album Two Virgins in 1968. He became more involved in liberal political causes and pursued projects with Ono. In 1970, McCartney announced that the Beatles had broken up. Lennon released his first solo album, Imagine, in 1971, and it rose to No. 1 on the charts. During the next few years, he released projects with Ono as well as his own solo albums, including chart-topper Walls and Bridges (1974). He gave his last public performance in 1974 and released his last solo album, Rock 'n' Roll, the following year. In 1975, Lennon and Ono had a son, Sean, and in 1980 the couple released their album Double Fantasy, which topped the charts and included the No. 1 single "(Just Like) Starting Over."
December 9, 1965
A Charlie Brown Christmas is the first of many prime-time animated TV specials based upon the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz aired for the first time.
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Abominable "Bommi" Snowman MySpace Video
It was produced and directed by former Warner Bros. and UPA animator Bill Meléndez, who also supplied the voice for the character of Snoopy. Initially sponsored by Coca-Cola, the special aired on CBS from its debut in 1965 through 2000, and has aired on ABC since 2001. For many years it aired only annually, but is now telecast at least twice during the Christmas season. The special has been honored with both an Emmy and Peabody award.
A Charlie Brown Christmas is also one of CBS's most successful specials, airing annually more times on that network than even MGM's classic motion picture The Wizard of Oz. Oz was shown thirty-one times on CBS, but not consecutively; between 1968 and 1976, NBC aired the 1939 film.
December 11, 1944
Teri Garr is born in Lakewood, Ohio.
Garr was born into a show business family: Her father was a vaudeville performer and her mother was a Rockette. After launching her own performing career as a dancer, she made her film debut with a tiny role in 1963’s A Swingin’ Affair. She went on to appear in a string of Elvis Presley films, including Fun in Acapulco (1963), Kissin’ Cousins (1964), Viva Las Vegas (1964) and Clambake (1967). In the early 1970s, Garr was a regular on such TV shows as The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Garr’s big-screen breakthrough came in 1974, when she was featured in writer-director Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation, a psychological thriller starring Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert. The film received three Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. That same year, the blonde actress played Dr. Frankenstein’s pretty lab assistant Inga in director Mel Brooks’ hit horror spoof Young Frankenstein, which co-starred Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman.
In 1977, Garr co-starred in director Carl Reiner’s Oh, God!, playing the skeptical wife of a supermarket manager (played by John Denver) who is picked by God (George Burns) to spread his message. In Steven Spielberg’s multiple Oscar-nominated hit Close Encounters of the Third Kind later that year, Garr played another disapproving mate, this time of a cable guy (Richard Dreyfuss) who displays increasingly strange and obsessive behavior after an encounter with a UFO. In 1979, Garr appeared in The Black Stallion, based on the classic children’s novel by Walter Farley.
In 1982, Garr co-starred in Tootsie, writer-director Sydney Pollack’s comedy about an out-of-work actor, played by Dustin Hoffman, who dresses in drag to land a role. The film was a huge box-office success and earned nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Garr’s portrayal of Sandy Lester, the neurotic actress friend of Hoffman’s character. Garr lost the Oscar to her Tootsie cast mate, Jessica Lange, who played a soap actress for whom Hoffman’s character falls.
Garr went on to appear in such films as Mr. Mom (1983), with Michael Keaton, After Hours (1985), Mom and Dad Save the World (1992) and Dumb & Dumber (1994). Known for her comedic talents, she’s hosted Saturday Night Live several times and has been a frequent guest on The Late Show with David Letterman. Garr also appeared on the hit sitcom Friends as the estranged biological mother of Phoebe Buffay, played by Lisa Kudrow.
In 2002, Garr publicly announced that she has been suffering from multiple sclerosis for a number of years. Since then, she has been a dedicated advocate for awareness of the disease. Garr published an autobiography, Speedbumps, in 2005.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Behind the Scenes of Quincy: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL
Behind the Scenes of Quincy: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL
Enter the fascinating sphere of forensic medicine with television historian James Rosin, author of Quincy: The Television Series, on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, premiering Monday, Dec. 6 at 9pm ET, 6pm PT on Shokus Internet Radio, with encore presentations Tuesday, Dec. 7 at 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm on Passionate World Radio, Friday, Dec. 10 at 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org, plus three times a day on ShokusRadio.com through Sunday, Dec. 12.
Author of several books on classic TV shows as Route 66, Peyton Place, The Invaders and Peyton Place, James Rosin's latest effort is Quincy: The Television Series, an excellent history of the long-running, Emmy Award-winning series starring Jack Klugman. Jim not only takes readers behind the scenes of Quincy, but comes at it from a true insider's perspective - he wrote and appeared in several episodes of Quincy, including "A Test for Living," a highly acclaimed story about autism that he co-wrote with series star Jack Klugman. We'll talk about Jim's experience working with Jack, and how Jack's passion and desire for quality, excellence and integrity in every aspect of production was the driving force behind the show's success. Jim Rosin will be joining us approximately 40 minutes into the program, as part of an expanded second hour. The second hour will also include a replay of our conversation with Jack Klugman (The Odd Couple, Tony and Me) in which we discuss Jack's longtime friendship with actor Tony Randall, their many collaborations on stage and television, and how Tony encouraged Jack to return to acting after losing his voice to cancer.
In our first hour, we'll take a look at Saturday morning cartoons, a touchstone of childhood that has virtually disappeared from network television in recent years. All this, plus holiday DVD recommendations and a whole lot more.
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
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
Find us now on Facebook
Enter the fascinating sphere of forensic medicine with television historian James Rosin, author of Quincy: The Television Series, on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, premiering Monday, Dec. 6 at 9pm ET, 6pm PT on Shokus Internet Radio, with encore presentations Tuesday, Dec. 7 at 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm on Passionate World Radio, Friday, Dec. 10 at 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org, plus three times a day on ShokusRadio.com through Sunday, Dec. 12.
Author of several books on classic TV shows as Route 66, Peyton Place, The Invaders and Peyton Place, James Rosin's latest effort is Quincy: The Television Series, an excellent history of the long-running, Emmy Award-winning series starring Jack Klugman. Jim not only takes readers behind the scenes of Quincy, but comes at it from a true insider's perspective - he wrote and appeared in several episodes of Quincy, including "A Test for Living," a highly acclaimed story about autism that he co-wrote with series star Jack Klugman. We'll talk about Jim's experience working with Jack, and how Jack's passion and desire for quality, excellence and integrity in every aspect of production was the driving force behind the show's success. Jim Rosin will be joining us approximately 40 minutes into the program, as part of an expanded second hour. The second hour will also include a replay of our conversation with Jack Klugman (The Odd Couple, Tony and Me) in which we discuss Jack's longtime friendship with actor Tony Randall, their many collaborations on stage and television, and how Tony encouraged Jack to return to acting after losing his voice to cancer.
In our first hour, we'll take a look at Saturday morning cartoons, a touchstone of childhood that has virtually disappeared from network television in recent years. All this, plus holiday DVD recommendations and a whole lot more.
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
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
Find us now on Facebook
Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: MST3K #521 - Santa Claus
Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" that we could use to artificially stimulate our Christmas spirit. Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Santa Claus It's Christmas time on the SOL! After Mike and the 'bots exchange gifts, they get to watch a movie where Santa Claus has to outwit Satan in order to deliver gifts.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: Home Is Where the Hurt Is
Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" that we could use to artificially stimulate our Christmas spirit. The Bob Newhart Show: Season 3 - Episode 15
Depressed about spending the holidays with her domineering parents, Carol passes Christmas Eve with Bob and Emily recounting all her childhood disasters.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Friday, December 03, 2010
Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: Frasier The Fight Before Christmas Season
Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" that we could use to artificially stimulate our Christmas spirit. Season 7 Episode 11
Frasier plans an extravagant Christmas party. Daphne feels awkward around Niles after learning of his feelings for her.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: The Nanny - Hanukkah Story
Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" that we could use to artificially stimulate our Christmas (& Hanukkah) spirit. Fran's excited about celebrating her first Hanukkah with Maxwell, only he has to drive to Boston on business, and takes C.C. and Gracie with him.During their drive, the car goes off the road and Fran is left with no news on them.Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: The Addams Family
Here is your first "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" of 2010. This is a Video Advent Calendar that we could use to artificially stimulate our Christmas spirit. The Addams Family: Season 2 - Episode 15
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Monday, November 29, 2010
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen, was born on February 11, 1926 in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Nielsen appeared in over 100 films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career beginning with dramatic roles on television appearing in almost 50 live programs in 1950 alone during what is now known as "The Golden Age".
Nielsen first appeared in films in 1956 when he made his feature film debut in the Michael Curtiz-directed musical film The Vagabond King. His lead roles in the films Forbidden Planet (1956) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972) received positive reviews as a serious actor.
Although Nielsen's acting career crossed a variety of genres in both television and films, his deadpan delivery as a doctor in Airplane! (1980) marked a turning point in his career, one that would make him, in the words of film critic Roger Ebert, "the Olivier of spoofs." Nielsen enjoyed further success with The Naked Gun film series, based on his short-lived television series Police Squad!.
His portrayal of serious characters seemingly oblivious to (and complicit in) their absurd surroundings gave him a reputation as a comedian. He was recognized with a variety of awards throughout his career and was inducted into both the Canada and Hollywood Walk of Fame. Nielsen married four times and had two daughters from his second marriage. Nielsen died in his sleep in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida hospital of complications from pneumonia.
Shirley this can't be Good Night Mr. Nielsen.
To Quote Leslie Nielsen, as Lieutenant Frank Drebin on Police Squad when asked 'Who are you and how did you get in here?' he answered, "'I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith."
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Nielsen first appeared in films in 1956 when he made his feature film debut in the Michael Curtiz-directed musical film The Vagabond King. His lead roles in the films Forbidden Planet (1956) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972) received positive reviews as a serious actor.
Although Nielsen's acting career crossed a variety of genres in both television and films, his deadpan delivery as a doctor in Airplane! (1980) marked a turning point in his career, one that would make him, in the words of film critic Roger Ebert, "the Olivier of spoofs." Nielsen enjoyed further success with The Naked Gun film series, based on his short-lived television series Police Squad!.
His portrayal of serious characters seemingly oblivious to (and complicit in) their absurd surroundings gave him a reputation as a comedian. He was recognized with a variety of awards throughout his career and was inducted into both the Canada and Hollywood Walk of Fame. Nielsen married four times and had two daughters from his second marriage. Nielsen died in his sleep in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida hospital of complications from pneumonia.
Shirley this can't be Good Night Mr. Nielsen.
To Quote Leslie Nielsen, as Lieutenant Frank Drebin on Police Squad when asked 'Who are you and how did you get in here?' he answered, "'I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith."
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
This week in Television History: Novenber 2010 PART V
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.
November 29, 1948
Children's show Kukla, Fran and Ollie premieres on prime time network TV.
The show featured beloved puppets Kukla, Ollie (a dragon), and others, with live actress Fran Allison as host. The show began as a local Chicago program before debuting on NBC. It was one of the two most important series made in Chicago, along with Garroway at Large, during the city's brief period as an important production center for network programs in the late 1940s. After its network cancellation in 1957, PBS revived the series from 1969 to 1971
December 1, 1940
Richard Pryor is born in Peoria, Illinois. According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Pryor was “the first African-American stand-up comedian to speak candidly and successfully to integrated audiences using the language and jokes blacks previously only shared among themselves when they were most critical of America….His comic style emancipated African-American humor.”
After being expelled from school in the eighth grade, Pryor worked a series of jobs and served in the U.S. Army before he was discharged for getting into a fight. He began performing in comedy clubs and by 1963 was doing stand-up in New York City, modeling his routines after the clean-cut, non-offensive style of such fellow African-American comedians as Bill Cosby. The following year, Pryor made his national TV debut on a variety show hosted by Rudy Vallee. In 1967, he released his first comedy album, Richard Pryor. The funnyman made his big-screen debut that same year with the comedy The Busy Body, featuring Sid Caesar.
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.
November 29, 1948
Children's show Kukla, Fran and Ollie premieres on prime time network TV.
The show featured beloved puppets Kukla, Ollie (a dragon), and others, with live actress Fran Allison as host. The show began as a local Chicago program before debuting on NBC. It was one of the two most important series made in Chicago, along with Garroway at Large, during the city's brief period as an important production center for network programs in the late 1940s. After its network cancellation in 1957, PBS revived the series from 1969 to 1971
December 1, 1940
Richard Pryor is born in Peoria, Illinois. According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Pryor was “the first African-American stand-up comedian to speak candidly and successfully to integrated audiences using the language and jokes blacks previously only shared among themselves when they were most critical of America….His comic style emancipated African-American humor.”
After being expelled from school in the eighth grade, Pryor worked a series of jobs and served in the U.S. Army before he was discharged for getting into a fight. He began performing in comedy clubs and by 1963 was doing stand-up in New York City, modeling his routines after the clean-cut, non-offensive style of such fellow African-American comedians as Bill Cosby. The following year, Pryor made his national TV debut on a variety show hosted by Rudy Vallee. In 1967, he released his first comedy album, Richard Pryor. The funnyman made his big-screen debut that same year with the comedy The Busy Body, featuring Sid Caesar.
During the 1970s, Pryor’s comedy evolved, and he tackled racially sensitive topics in his stand-up routines and bestselling, Grammy Award-winning comedy albums, often using raunchy, politically incorrect language. According to his 2005 obituary in the New York Times: “At the height of his career, in the late 1970’s, Mr. Pryor prowled the stage like a restless cat, dispensing what critics regarded as the most poignant and penetrating comedic view of African-American life ever afforded the American public. He was volatile yet vulnerable, crass but sensitive, streetwise and cocky but somehow still diffident and anxious. And he could unleash an astonishing array of dramatic and comic skills to win acceptance and approval for a kind of stark humor.”
Pryor’s movie career took off with the 1976 box-office hit Silver Streak, a comedy-thriller about a murder on a train, co-starring Gene Wilder. Pryor and Wilder went on to collaborate on such films as Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil Hear No Evil (1989) and Another You (1991). During the 1970s, Pryor also appeared in such movies as 1977’s Greased Lightning, in which he plays a race car driver; The Wiz (1978), a version of The Wizard of Oz that featured an entirely African-American cast, with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson joining Pryor (who played the title role); writer Neil Simon’s California Suite (1978), with Alan Alda, Jane Fonda, Walter Matthau, Maggie Smith and Bill Cosby; and The Muppet Movie (1979). In 1979, Pryor also released his first concert film, Richard Pryor, Live in Concert, which according to a 2005 Times article “remains the standard by which other movies of live comedy performances are judged.”
In 1980, Pryor, who battled substance-abuse issues during his life, was severely burned in an explosion caused while he was freebasing cocaine. After spending several months recovering in the hospital, he resumed his career, performing stand-up and appearing in a string of movies, including Bustin’ Loose (1980), in which he plays an ex-con who gets a second chance; Superman III (1983), with Christopher Reeve; Brewster’s Millions (1985), with John Candy; the semi-autobiographical Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling (1986); and Harlem Nights (1989), written, directed by and co-starring Eddie Murphy.
In 1986, Pryor was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He made his final film appearance in David Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997). Pryor, who was married six times, died at the age of 65 on December 10, 2005, in California after suffering a heart attack.
December 3, 1948
John Michael Ozzy Osbourne is born in Birmingham, England.
The heavy-metal musician and star of the pioneering reality TV program The Osbournes, which originally aired from 2002 to 2005, is born .
Osbourne first gained fame in the 1970s as a founding member and the lead vocalist of the heavy-metal band Black Sabbath. After being fired from the group in the late 1970s, he embarked on a successful solo career. In the mid-1990s, he and his wife Sharon launched Ozzfest, a popular annual tour of heavy-metal and rock acts. As a performer, Osbourne became infamous for biting the heads off a dove and a bat onstage and was also accused of promoting suicide and Satanism through some of his lyrics.
Osbourne’s fame widened beyond the music world with the debut of The Osbournes, a reality TV show featuring the rocker and his family that debuted on MTV on March 5, 2002. The idea for the show reportedly sprang from an episode of MTV’s Cribs, which featured the feisty, frequently foul-mouthed Osbourne clan at home. The Osbournes focused on Ozzy’s relationship with his spunky wife Sharon and the couple’s two teenagers, Kelly and Jack; a third sibling, Aimee, opted not to participate in the show. Filmed largely at the Osbournes’ Beverly Hills, California mansion, the show covered a range of topics, from Ozzy’s battles with a vacuum cleaner to his efforts to stay sober; to Sharon’s fight against colon cancer; to Jack and Kelly’s partying and often-bratty behavior; to the family’s pack of misbehaving pets.
The Osbournes, which aired its last original episode on March 21, 2005, proved to be one of the highest-rated series in MTV’s history and spawned a string of reality TV shows about celebrities on various networks, including MTV’s Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, with pop stars Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson, which aired from 2003 to 2005, and Hogan Knows Best, which featured pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and his wife and children and debuted in 2005 on Vh1. Gene Simmons of the rock group Kiss starred with his family in Gene Simmons Family Jewels, which premiered in 2006 on A&E, while Denise Richards, the actress and former wife of Charlie Sheen, appeared in a show about her professional and domestic life, Denise Richards: It’s Complicated, which debuted in 2008 on E!.
In addition to turning Ozzy Osbourne into a household name and sparking a boom in celebrity-focused reality TV, The Osbournes transformed his wife and longtime manager Sharon into a star in her own right. From 2003 to 2004, she hosted her own TV talk show and later went on to make numerous guest appearances on various TV programs and to serve as a judge on the TV competition America’s Got Talent.
December 5, 1952
The Abbott and Costello Show debuts.
They made only 52 episodes, but the show appeared in reruns for decades.
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello teamed up in the early 1930s to form a vaudeville comedy act. The team soon became one of vaudeville's biggest successes. In 1940, they launched their own radio program, which ran until 1949.
They made their first film in 1940, One Night in the Tropics, followed by the hit Buck Privates (1941). The pair made more than 30 films together, including a series of horror-movie spoofs, including Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeAbbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955). (1953), and To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
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