This is Tony Figueroa's story from The Story Salon Big Book of Stories. The Big Book of Stories has more than forty original pieces first performed by their authors at Story Salon. You can hear this story and others by tuning in to the Story Salon Radio Show on Passionate World Radio.
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"
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Your Mental Sorbet: Happy Days Be My Valentine
Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.Tony Figueroa
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
TV Confidential Archives Jan. 31, 2011
Show No. 75 | First hour: Ed welcomes Mark Milano, webmaster for the Kuklapolitan website, Kukla.tv, and the producer of Kukla, Fran and Ollie: The First Episodes, 1949-1954, a new DVD collection featuring 20 episodes of the original Kukla, Fran and Ollie series that have been digitally remastered from the original NBC kinescopes. Also in this hour: Tributes to Jack LaLanne and David Frye, plus thoughts on Retired at 35, the new NBCUniversal logo and the controversy surrounding the new MTV series Skins. |
Monday, February 07, 2011
This week in Television History: February 2011 Part II
listen to me on me on TV CONFIDENTIAL:
Mondays 9pm ET, 6pm PT | |
Tuesdays 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT | |
Fridays 7pm ET and PT | |
Saturdays 11pm ET, 8pm PT |
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.
February 10, 2006
Final episode of Arrested Development airs on Fox.
Arrested Development, created by Mitchell Hurwitz, premiered in November 2003. It was almost universally acclaimed by critics, who praised its sharp, complicated writing and stellar acting, as well as the multi-layered plotlines and interesting camera work that set it apart from run-of-the-mill network sitcoms.
Arrested Development was narrated by Ron Howard, the former Happy Days star-turned-Oscar-winning movie director (2001’s A Beautiful Mind), in an uncredited performance. Jason Bateman starred as Michael Bluth, by far the most responsible member of a madcap family whose patriarch, George Bluth Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor), has been sent to jail for dubious accounting procedures. With George Sr. in prison, Michael is forced to take over management of the Bluth Company and provide a much-needed stabilizing force for the rest of the Bluth clan: his manipulative mother (Jessica Walter); his magician older brother (Will Arnett); his self-obsessed sister (Portia de Rossi) and her aspiring actor husband (David Cross); and his child-like youngest brother (Tony Hale), who still clings to the hem of his mother’s fur coat. Rounding out the comedy, Michael’s sensitive son (Michael Cera) harbors a crush on his cousin (Alia Shawkat), with whom he is forced to share a room after the clan starts sharing a model home on one of the Bluth Company’s developments.
At the 2004 Emmy Awards, Arrested Development won no fewer than four statuettes-- for directing, writing, casting and for Outstanding Comedy Series. Bateman also won a Golden Globe Award in 2005 for Best Actor in a Television Series--Musical or Comedy. Despite critics’ rapture and the enthusiasm of its fan base, the series earned low ratings from the beginning. While Fox renewed Arrested Development for a second season, it shortened its run to only 18 episodes--a fact that was worked into the jokes on the show, along with jokes about its corporate sponsor, Burger King, and jokes about its much higher-rated Sunday-night competition (ABC’s Desperate Housewives). A few of the memorable guest stars during the show’s three-year run included Liza Minnelli, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Henry Winkler, Scott Baio and Charlize Theron.
During its third season, Arrested Development’s audience averaged around 4 million viewers, compared with 6 million during the previous season. With the threat of cancellation hovering, rumors flew that Arrested Development might be picked up by HBO or Showtime--either of which might have been a better fit for its offbeat, often racy humor. References to these rumors were also worked into the script.
In February 2006, to the dismay of fans, Fox pulled the plug on Arrested Development for good. The following month, it was reported that Hurwitz had closed long-running negotiations with Showtime and determined that Arrested Development as a TV series was over. With the program named as one of the 100 Best Shows of All Time by Time magazine, buzz began to grow about an Arrested Development movie--exciting news for the show’s loyal fans.
February 11, 1926
Leslie William Nielsen, was born on 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.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Sunday, February 06, 2011
New Orleans and Old Hollywood: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL
Our guests include Peggy Sweeney McDonald, creator and producer of Meanwhile, Back At Café Du Monde, a fun and unique series of live shows that originated at the famous Café Du Monde Restaurant in New Orleans. Top chefs, food personalities, film and TV actors and other celebrities deliver funny and often poignant monologues about their unique experiences with food, and how food connects us all. Meanwhile, Back At Café Du Monde is a rapidly expanding production, with upcoming shows in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara and other venues across the country. Find out if it's coming to a city near you when Peggy joins us in our first hour.
Also joining us this week will be Kevin Martin, co-owner of the Hollywood Show, the legendary autograph show held four times a year in Burbank, California. The next Hollywood Show will take place Feb. 12-13; we'll tell you which celebrities are scheduled to appear when Kevin joins us, also in our first hour.
Our second hour will include an encore presentation of our conversation with Bob Wynn, Emmy Award-winning producer and director of more than 200 shows and specials, including The Judy Garland Show, NBC Follies with Sammy Davis Jr., Alice Through the Looking Glass, Bob Hope on The Road to China, The Tennessee Ernie Ford Nashville to Moscow Express, and the long-running NBC series Real People. Bob's book, I Used to Be Somebody, is an engaging look at his 40-year career in television, filled with great stories that we think you will enjoy.
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
Saturdays 8pm PT
Sundays 2pm PT
KWDJ 1360-AM (Ridgecrest, Calif.)
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
Saturday, February 05, 2011
TV Confidential Archives Jan. 24, 2011
Show No. 74 | First hour: Mark Silverman, host of a weekly radio talk show on news and politics on KSAV.org, joins Ed for a conversation about political talk shows on cable television, including Mark’s thoughts on the new Piers Morgan show on CNN, as well as Keith Olbermann’s sudden departure from MSNBC. Also in this hour: Ed welcomes welcomes Jim Suva, a "star car" researcher contributor who provided the authentic replica of Jim Rockford’s famous Pontiac Firebird that was featured on the "Crime Drama" segment of Pioneers of Television. |
Friday, February 04, 2011
Your Mental Sorbet: Saturday Night Live: Telemundo Winter Olympics
Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.A chilly take on the Winter Games.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Thursday, February 03, 2011
"Don't call me Shirley" - Day
Dr. Rumack: Can you fly this plane, and land it?Ted Striker: Surely you can't be serious.
DR. Rumack: I am serious... and don't call me Shirley.
In Honor of Leslie Nielsen (February 11, 1926 – November 28, 2010) I want to make his birthday "Don't call me Shirley" - Day
The idea is simple. On February 11th when some makes a statement you say, "Surely you can't be serious" and see if they say "I am serious... and don't call me Shirley".
RSVP on FaceBook
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=190703924292282
Monday, January 31, 2011
This week in Television History: February 2011 Part I
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.
February 1, 1887
Official registration of Hollywood.

Wilcox, who had lost the use of his legs as a child due to polio, envisioned the land as the perfect site for a utopian-like community for devout Christians, where they could live a highly moral life free of vices such as alcohol (Wilcox was a prohibitionist). Daeida Wilcox called the new community “Hollywood,” borrowing the name from a Chicago friend who told her that was the name of a summer home she had in the Midwest. Harvey laid out a street map of the settlement, centered on a main street he called Prospect Avenue (it was later renamed Hollywood Boulevard). After filing the map with the L.A. County recorder’s office, Wilcox set about laying out Hollywood’s streets, made of dirt and lined with pepper trees.
As Harvey sold lots, Daeida worked to raise money to build churches, a school and a library. By 1900, nine years after Harvey Wilcox’s death, Hollywood had a population of 500, compared with 100,000 people in Los Angeles at the time. It was connected to L.A. by a single-track streetcar running down Prospect Avenue; it took two hours to make the seven-mile trip, and service was infrequent. In 1910, the community of Hollywood voted to consolidate with Los Angeles due to an inadequate supply of water. Shortly thereafter, the fledgling motion-picture industry began growing exponentially, as moviemakers found their ideal setting in the mild, sunny climate and varied terrain of Southern California. As the years went by, Harvey Wilcox’s dreams of a sober, conservative religious community faded even further into the background, as Hollywood became known throughout the world as the gilded center of an industry built on fantasy, fame and glamour.
February 1, 1951
TV Shows Atomic Blast, Live.

Witnessing the blast telecast first-hand was KTLA reporter Stan Chambers. In a YouTube interview, Chambers described how station manager Klaus Landsberg pulled off the unauthorized broadcast. “We couldn’t get near the field, because it was all top secret. Klaus sent a crew to Las Vegas and put them on top of one of the hotels…. They kept the camera open for the flash of light that would come on when the blast went off.”
Los Angeles viewers tuned in for the one-off event. “We had a rating that was very large for 5:30 in the morning,” Chambers recalled. In the pre-videotape era, there were of course no replays as newsmen Gil Martin, anchoring from Las Vegas, and station staffer Robin Lane at Mount Wilson reported the incident. Chambers continued:
We stayed on the air, they waited for the right time, and all of a sudden there was the flash. The people watched it, Gil described it, Lane talked about it, and that was our telecast. That one flash. You just see this blinding white light. It didn’t seem real. We didn’t have videotape. You couldn’t say, “Let’s look at it again.”
1951’s Ranger Easy bomb was designed to test compression against critical mass in the Demon core, so-called because the plutonium mass became unstable and caused the radiation-poisoning death of a Los Alamos scientist. A B-50 bomber plane dropped the test weapon above the Nevada Test Site about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Part of the Department of Energy’s Operation Ranger program, “Easy” delivered a 1-kiloton payload.
In the decade that followed Operation Ranger, A-bomb tests from Buster-Jangle, Tumbler-Snapper, Upshot-Knothole, Plumbbob, Nougat, Sunbeam and other programs became so commonplace that watching mushroom clouds turned into a Las Vegas tourist attraction.
In 1952, KTLA set up the first live, national feed for a Nevada atomic bomb explosion. That one was carried by the major networks.
February 1, 1954
Charles William "Bill" Mumy, Jr. is born. Actor, musician, pitchman, instrumentalist, voice-over artist and a figure in the science-fiction community. He is known primarily for his roles in movies and television, character-type roles, and who also works in television production.
The red-headed Mumy came to prominence in the 1960s as a child actor, most notably as Will Robinson, the youngest of the three children of Prof. John and Dr. Maureen Robinson (played Guy Williams and June Lockhart respectively) and friend of the nefarious and pompous Dr. Zachary Smith (played by Jonathan Harris), in the cult 1960s CBS sci-fi television series Lost in Space.
He later appeared as a lonely teenager, Sterling North, in the 1969 Disney movie, Rascal, and as Teft in the 1971 film Bless the Beasts and Children. In the 1990s, he had the role of Lennier in the syndicated sci-fi TV series Babylon 5, and he also served as narrator of A&E Network's Emmy Award-winning series, Biography. He is also notable for his musical career, as a solo artist and as half of the duo Barnes & Barnes.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL
Whether you think of him of private eye Stu Bailey in 77 Sunset Strip, Inspector Lewis Erskine on The F.B.I., Daniel Chalmers on Remington Steele, or any of his many other film and television appearances, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. has been a fixture in the lives of anyone who has grown up watching television in the Baby Boomer generation. We'll talk about Efrem's work with such legends as James Garner, Roy Huggins, Gregory Peck and Robert Stack, as well as his book, My Dinner of Herbs, when he joins us in our second hour.
Joining us in our first hour will be Mark Milano, webmaster for the Kuklapolitan website, Kukla.tv, and the producer of Kukla, Fran and Ollie: The First Episodes, 1949-1954, a new DVD collection featuring 20 episodes of the original Kukla, Fran and Ollie series that have been digitally remastered from the original NBC kinescopes.
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
Saturdays 8pm PT
Sundays 2pm PT
KWDJ 1360-AM (Ridgecrest, Calif.)
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