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"
Wednesday, February 08, 2017
Homer Simpson, Oscar Levant and the Legacy of MTM: Next on TVC
Actor and playwright Dan Castellaneta and authors Vince Waldron and Jennifer Armstrong will join us as we remember Mary Tyler Moore on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing Feb. 10-13 at the following times and venues:
Richard Hatch
It's rare to get a really truly wonderfully written,
acted and produced sci-fi show, period
-Richard Hatch
 |
| Richard Lawrence Hatch May 21, 1945 - February 7, 2017 |
Hatch began working in television in 1970 when he starred as Philip Brent in the daytime soap opera All My Children, a role he played for two years. For some years, he then made guest appearances in primetime series such as Cannon, Nakia, Barnaby Jones, Hawaii Five-O, and The Waltons, as well as appearing in several made-for-TV movies such as The Hatfields and McCoys with Jack Palance, Addie and the King of Hearts with Jason Robards, Last of the Belles with Susan Sarandon, and the 1978 TV movie Deadman's Curve in which he portrayed Jan Berry of the musical duo Jan and Dean.
In 1976, Hatch gained his first major television role as Inspector Dan Robbins on the detective series The Streets of San Francisco, a replacement for Michael Douglas (who played Insp. Steve Keller) who had left the series that year. Though the role was only for one season, Hatch won Germany's Bravo Youth Magazine Award for the role. Following this, he had a recurring role on the series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, also for one season.
Hatch then gained a starring role in Glen A. Larson's sci-fi series, Battlestar Galactica (1978), which aired for a single season before cancellation. Hatch was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the role.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Hatch made guest appearances on such series as Hotel, Murder, She Wrote, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Baywatch, Dynasty, and MacGyver. In 1990, Hatch returned to daytime soap operas and appeared on Santa Barbara, originating the character Steven Slade.[7] His next prominent role would be as Tom Zarek in the reimagined version of Battlestar Galactica, in which he made semi-regular appearances from 2004 to 2009.
Hatch has made several low-key theatrical film releases, including Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981) and Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983). An abridged version of the pilot episode of Battlestar Galactica was released in cinemas, initially overseas and then for a limited run in the U.S., as was a sequel film, Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack, which was also made from episodes of the series. He starred with Leif Garrett in Party Line (1988).
Hatch attempted to revive Battlestar Galactica. In the 1990s, he began writing novels based on the series, and also wrote, co-directed and executive-produced a trailer called The Second Coming in the hopes of enticing Universal Studios (the rights holders for the franchise) into producing a new series that would have been a direct continuation of the original 1978 series (ignoring the events of the failed spin-off Galactica 1980, in which Hatch did not appear). Original actors John Colicos (Baltar), Terry Carter (Col. Tigh) and Jack Stauffer (Bojay) appeared in the trailer with Hatch. Although the trailer won acclaim at science-fiction conventions, Universal was not interested in Hatch's vision to revive Battlestar Galactica, and instead opted for a remake, rather than the sequel for which Hatch had campaigned. Hatch, who reportedly remortgaged his house to make the trailer, was bitterly disappointed by this turn of events and was highly critical of the prospective new series.[12]
In 2004, he stated to Sci-Fi Pulse that he had felt resentment over the failure of his planned Galactica continuation and was left "exhausted and sick ... I had, over the past several years, bonded deeply with the original characters and story ... writing the novels and the comic books and really campaigning to bring back the show".
Alongside his attempts to revive the original Battlestar Galactica, Hatch created his own space opera entitled The Great War of Magellan. Despite his resentment, Hatch developed a respect for Ronald D. Moore, the new series' writer and producer, when Moore appeared as a featured guest at Galacticon (the Battlestar Galactica 25th anniversary convention, hosted by Hatch) and answered questions posed by a very hostile audience. Later, in 2004, Hatch was offered a recurring role in the new Battlestar Galactica series, which he accepted. He played Tom Zarek, a terrorist turned politician who spent twenty years in prison for blowing up a government building. After Zarek's death, Hatch commented that "never did I play this character as a villain nor did I think he was one and I still feel that way", and that he considered the character to be a principled figure who is driven to violence after being "blocked in every way possible" by Roslin and Adama. "Zarek, Adama and Roslin all wanted power for the same reason, to make a positive difference".
Alongside his attempts to revive the original Battlestar Galactica, Hatch created his own space opera entitled The Great War of Magellan. Despite his resentment, Hatch developed a respect for Ronald D. Moore, the new series' writer and producer, when Moore appeared as a featured guest at Galacticon (the Battlestar Galactica 25th anniversary convention, hosted by Hatch) and answered questions posed by a very hostile audience. Later, in 2004, Hatch was offered a recurring role in the new Battlestar Galactica series, which he accepted. He played Tom Zarek, a terrorist turned politician who spent twenty years in prison for blowing up a government building. After Zarek's death, Hatch commented that "never did I play this character as a villain nor did I think he was one and I still feel that way", and that he considered the character to be a principled figure who is driven to violence after being "blocked in every way possible" by Roslin and Adama. "Zarek, Adama and Roslin all wanted power for the same reason, to make a positive difference".
Hatch portrayed Jan Berry in the 1978 television biopic "Deadman's Curve", which depicted the lives of rock and roll sensations, Jan and Dean. Hatch also appeared in InAlienable, a 2008 science fiction film written and produced by Walter Koenig. In 2011, Hatch worked on a new reality TV series called Who the Frak?, which he created and appeared in as himself. The series was touted as "the world's first social network reality drama". In 2012-13, Hatch appeared in the web series The Silicon Assassin Project. In 2013, he ventured into the Steampunk genre, starring in the short film Cowboys & Engines alongside Malcolm McDowell and Walter Koenig. In 2014, he played the Klingon Commander Kharn in the Star Trek fan film Prelude To Axanar and was to appear in the subsequent fan production Star Trek: Axanar in 2015.
With various co-authors, Hatch wrote a series of seven tie-in novels set in the original Battlestar Galactica universe.[18]
- Armageddon (August 1, 1997)
- Warhawk (September 1, 1998)
- Resurrection (July 1, 2001)
- Rebellion (July 1, 2002)
- Paradis (July 1, 2003)
- Destiny (June 29, 2004)
- Redemption (November 25, 2005)
Good Night Captain Apollo
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Monday, February 06, 2017
This Week in Television History: February 2017 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 6,1917
Zsa Zsa Gabor is born Sári Gábor.
The Hungarian-born American actress, who acted in supporting roles in movies, on Broadway, and occasionally on television. Gabor was also a socialite.
February 10, 1992
Alex Haley, author of Roots (1976), dies of a
heart attack at age 70 in Seattle.
Roots, which portrayed four generations of an African
American family based on Haley's own family, became a TV miniseries in 1977.
The eight-part series was aired on consecutive nights and became the most
watched show in TV history. Some 130 million people-nearly half the country's
population at the time--watched the last episode of the show. Haley's books led
to an increased interest in the study of black history and heritage.
Born in Ithaca, New York,
Haley grew up in Henning, Tennessee, where he listened to family stories told
by his maternal grandmother. A mediocre student at Alcorn Agricultural and
Mechanical College and at Elizabeth City Teachers College, Haley later spent
two decades with the U.S. Coast Guard as a journalist, writing adventure
stories to take the edge off his boredom. When he retired, he moved back to New
York to pursue a writing career. He interviewed trumpeter Miles Davis and
political activist Malcolm X for Playboy in the 1960s and later
collaborated with the Black Muslim spokesman to write The Autobiography of
Malcolm X (1965), an acclaimed work that fueled the black-power movement in
America and was cited extensively in institutions of higher learning.
Haley then started his
best-known work, Roots: The Saga of an American Family, published in
1976. The blend of fact and fiction, drawn largely from stories recited by
Haley's grandmother, chronicles seven generations of Haley's family history,
from the enslavement of his ancestors to his own quest to trace his family
tree. To write the mostly nonfiction work, Haley pored over records in the
National Archives and went by safari to the African village of Juffure to meet
with an oral historian (Haley later donated money to that village for a new
mosque). In the early 1970s, he and his brothers founded the Kinte Foundation,
named for Haley's ancestor Kunta Kinte, to collect and preserve African
American genealogy records.
Haley
received special citations from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award
committees in 1977 for Roots, which sold more than a million copies in one
year. It was translated into 26 languages. Later in his life, Haley wrote a
biography of Frank Wills, the security guard who discovered the break-in at the
Watergate Hotel that brought down Richard Nixon's presidency.
February 12, 2002
The six stars on NBC's Friends
signed a deal for $24 million each for the ninth and final season of the
series.
|
Friday, February 03, 2017
Your Mental Sorbet: "Make Room for Daddy" Lucy Upsets the Williams Household
Here is another "Mental Sorbet"
that we could use to momentarily forget about those
things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.
Danny convinces Ricky Ricardo to move to his apartment during their nightclub engagement, assuring Ricky that Kathy will be a good influence on an out of control spendthrift, his infamous wife, Lucy Ricardo.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Tributes to Barbara Hale and Mike Connors: Next on TVC
Producer/director Arthur Marks will join us as we remember Barbara Hale and Mike Connors on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing Feb. 3-6 at the following times and venues:
Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 2/3
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 2/4
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 2/5
6pm ET, 3pm 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 2/4
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 2/5
9am ET, 6am PT
Also streaming at KSCO.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in KSCO
KHMB AM-1710
KHMV-LP 100.9 FM
Half Moon Bay, CA
Sunday 2/5
9pm PT
Monday 2/6
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at KHMBRadio.com
RadioSlot.com
San Francisco, CA
Monday 2/6
10pm ET, 7pm PT
with replays Tuesday thru Friday at 10pm ET, 7pm PT
Click on the Talk Slot button at RadioSlot.com
PWRNetwork
Ann Arbor, MI
Various times throughout the week
on the Entertainment Channel at PWRNetwork.com
and the PWR channel on TuneIn
Arthur Marks will join us this week as we pay tribute to television icons Barbara Hale, the actress known to three generations as Della Street on Perry Mason, and Mike Connors, the star of Mannix. Hale passed away on Jan. 27 at the age of 94, while Connors died Jan. 26 at the age of 91.
Arthur Marks directed seventy-six episodes of the original Perry Mason television series, more than any other director. He also worked behind the scenes in nearly every episode of the long-running series (CBS, 1957-1966), first as assistant director, then as a director, then as associate producer, and, finally, producer and showrunner for the last five seasons. Art will share a few memories of Barbara Hale, but he’ll also talk about a little about his friend Mike Connors, whom he directed both on Perry Mason (“The Case of the Bullied Bowler”) and on Mannix. Arthur Marks will join us in our first hour.
The second hour of this week’s show will include a replay of our March 2014 conversation with Barbara Hale in which she talked about playing Della Street, both on CBS and on NBC, her friendship with Raymond Burr (which spanned five decades), and her long motion picture career, which included films with the likes of James Stewart, Rock Hudson, Anthony Quinn, James Arness, Frank Sinatra and James Cagney.
In addition, our first hour will include a replay of our May 2014 conversation with Mike Connors. Known to three generations of viewers as Joe Mannix, Connors arguably defined the private eye on television more than any other actor. We talked to Mike about Mannix, Tightrope, his work with William Wellman and John Wayne, and more.
Also this week: Chris Korman will discuss his upcoming appearance at the 54th annual Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) conference, which will take place Feb. 16-19 in Baltimore, Maryland. Chris’ father, actor Harvey Korman (The Carol Burnett Show), was once national spokesman of the LDA. Chris will also share a few memories of his friendship of Mike Connors, which stemmed from the annual charity golf tournament that benefited The Frostig School for children with learning disabilities—a tournament that Chris and Harvey hosted together for many years. Chris Korman will join us in our first hour.
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
Sat 10pm ET, 7pm PT on WON 920 The Apple
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 9pm PT, Mon Mid ET on KHMB-AM and FM (Half Moon Bay, CA)
Mon 10pm ET, 7pm PT on The Radio Slot Network
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
and now on your mobile phone via Stitcher.com
Follow us online at www.tvconfidential.net
Follow us now on Twitter: Twitter.com/tvconfidential
Like our Fan Page at www.facebook.com/tvconfidential
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!
Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 2/3
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 2/4
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 2/5
6pm ET, 3pm 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 2/4
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 2/5
9am ET, 6am PT
Also streaming at KSCO.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in KSCO
KHMB AM-1710
KHMV-LP 100.9 FM
Half Moon Bay, CA
Sunday 2/5
9pm PT
Monday 2/6
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at KHMBRadio.com
RadioSlot.com
San Francisco, CA
Monday 2/6
10pm ET, 7pm PT
with replays Tuesday thru Friday at 10pm ET, 7pm PT
Click on the Talk Slot button at RadioSlot.com
PWRNetwork
Ann Arbor, MI
Various times throughout the week
on the Entertainment Channel at PWRNetwork.com
and the PWR channel on TuneIn
Arthur Marks will join us this week as we pay tribute to television icons Barbara Hale, the actress known to three generations as Della Street on Perry Mason, and Mike Connors, the star of Mannix. Hale passed away on Jan. 27 at the age of 94, while Connors died Jan. 26 at the age of 91. Arthur Marks directed seventy-six episodes of the original Perry Mason television series, more than any other director. He also worked behind the scenes in nearly every episode of the long-running series (CBS, 1957-1966), first as assistant director, then as a director, then as associate producer, and, finally, producer and showrunner for the last five seasons. Art will share a few memories of Barbara Hale, but he’ll also talk about a little about his friend Mike Connors, whom he directed both on Perry Mason (“The Case of the Bullied Bowler”) and on Mannix. Arthur Marks will join us in our first hour.
The second hour of this week’s show will include a replay of our March 2014 conversation with Barbara Hale in which she talked about playing Della Street, both on CBS and on NBC, her friendship with Raymond Burr (which spanned five decades), and her long motion picture career, which included films with the likes of James Stewart, Rock Hudson, Anthony Quinn, James Arness, Frank Sinatra and James Cagney.
In addition, our first hour will include a replay of our May 2014 conversation with Mike Connors. Known to three generations of viewers as Joe Mannix, Connors arguably defined the private eye on television more than any other actor. We talked to Mike about Mannix, Tightrope, his work with William Wellman and John Wayne, and more. Also this week: Chris Korman will discuss his upcoming appearance at the 54th annual Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) conference, which will take place Feb. 16-19 in Baltimore, Maryland. Chris’ father, actor Harvey Korman (The Carol Burnett Show), was once national spokesman of the LDA. Chris will also share a few memories of his friendship of Mike Connors, which stemmed from the annual charity golf tournament that benefited The Frostig School for children with learning disabilities—a tournament that Chris and Harvey hosted together for many years. Chris Korman will join us in our first hour.
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
Sat 10pm ET, 7pm PT on WON 920 The Apple
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 9pm PT, Mon Mid ET on KHMB-AM and FM (Half Moon Bay, CA)
Mon 10pm ET, 7pm PT on The Radio Slot Network
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
and now on your mobile phone via Stitcher.com
Follow us online at www.tvconfidential.net
Follow us now on Twitter: Twitter.com/tvconfidential
Like our Fan Page at www.facebook.com/tvconfidential
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!
Monday, January 30, 2017
This Week in Television History: January 2017 PART V
|
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.
January 30, 1977
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries debuted on ABC. ABC turned teenage detectives Frank and Joe Hardy,
lead characters of The Hardy Boys book series, into TV stars with The
Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. The series starred teen heartthrobs Parker
Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy as the Hardy brothers; actress Pamela Sue Martin
portrayed amateur sleuth Nancy Drew.
At first, the Hardy Boys Mysteries and Nancy
Drew Mysteries — which were based on the young adult novels written
under the pseudonyms Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene, respectively —
alternated on ABC’s Sunday night schedule. By the second season, Martin’s Nancy
Drew was incorporated into the Hardy Boys’ mysteries, a move that prompted the
actress to leave the show before the season’s end. She was replaced by Janet
Louise Johnson.
The show’s title was shortened to The Hardy
Boys Mysteries for its third and final season.
February 1, 1887
Official
registration of Hollywood. On this
day in 1887, Harvey Wilcox officially registers Hollywood with the Los Angeles
County recorder’s office.
 
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, 1937
Garrett Gonzalez Morris is born.
The comedian and actor
from New Orleans,
Louisiana. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program Saturday Night
Live, appearing from 1975 to 1980. In 1986, Morris began playing
a regular occasional character, "Arnold 'Sporty' James," on the NBC
cop drama Hunter,
starring Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer. Morris continually
appeared as "Sporty" on "Hunter" through 1989.
In 1994, he was shot in an apparent robbery attempt but went on to make a
full recovery. In a radio interview, he mentioned that the robber who shot him
was eventually incarcerated, and in prison some fans of Morris's who happened
to be inmates there teamed up and beat up the robber in revenge.
Morris starred on Martin
as Martin's first boss Stan. Morris's shooting had caused him to be unable to
continue in the role, and he was written out of the show by having the
character become a national fugitive. The scene
where he is about to undergo plastic surgery was shot on the hospital
bed Morris occupied while recuperating from the 1994 assault.
February 1, 1982
Late Night with David Letterman debuted.
After his morning show on NBC got cancelled in
October 1980 after only 18 weeks on the air, David Letterman was still held in
sufficient regard by the network brass (especially NBC president Fred
Silverman) that upon hearing the 33-year-old comedian is being courted by a
syndication company, NBC gave him a $20,000 per week deal to sit out a year and
guest-host a few times on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.
February 2, 1937
Thomas Bolin
"Tom" Smothers III is born.
Comedian, composer and musician, best known as half of the musical comedy team the Smothers Brothers, alongside his younger brother Dick.
February 2, 1947
Farrah Fawcett is born.
A multiple Golden Globe
and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to
international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the TV series Charlie's Angels in 1976. Fawcett later
appeared off-Broadway to
the approval of critics and in highly rated television movies in roles often
challenging (The Burning Bed,
Nazi
Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story, Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story,
Margaret
Bourke-White) and sometimes unsympathetic (Small Sacrifices). Fawcett was also a pop culture figure whose hairstyle was
emulated by millions of young women and whose poster sales broke records,
making her an international sex symbol in the
1970s and 1980s.
February 5, 1967
The Smothers Brothers Comedy
Hour first aired.
The comedy
and variety show hosted by the Smothers Brothers aired on CBS
from 1967 to 1969. The show started out as only a slightly "hip"
version of the typical comedy-variety show of its era, but rapidly evolved into
a show that extended the boundaries of what was considered permissible in
television satire. While the Smothers themselves were at the forefront of these
efforts, credit also goes to the roster of writers and regular performers they
brought to the show, including Jim Stafford (who served as their head
writer and producer), Steve Martin, Don Novello ("Father Guido
Sarducci"), Rob Reiner
("Mike Stivic"), Presidential candidate Pat Paulsen, Bob Einstein ("Super Dave Osborne",
"Marty Funkhouser",
and "Officer Judy"), Einstein's brother, Albert (who works
professionally as Albert Brooks),
and resident hippie Leigh French ("Share a Little Tea with
Goldie"). The show also introduced audiences to pop singer Jennifer Warnes (originally billed as
Jennifer Warren or simply Jennifer), who was a regular on the series. The
television premiere of Mason Williams'
hit record, Classical Gas,
took place on the show.
|
Friday, January 27, 2017
Your Mental Sorbet: "Mary" and the "The Mary Tyler Moore Hour"
Here is another "Mental Sorbet"
that we could use to momentarily forget about those
things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.
 |
Mary was a comedy-variety show hosted by and starring Mary Tyler Moore that aired Sundays at 8:00 pm (EST) on CBS from September 24 to October 8, 1978, with a total of three episodes produced over one season. Moore's supporting cast included a repertory company of young actors and actresses, most notably Swoosie Kurtz, Dick Shawn, Michael Keaton, Merrill Markoe, and David Letterman.
|
The Mary Tyler Moore Hour was an sitcom-variety show starring Mary Tyler Moore, Dody Goodman, Joyce Van Patten and Michael Keaton as a studio page named Kenneth (Sound familiar?). The show aired on CBS from March 4, 1979 to June 10, 1979, with a total of 11 episodes spanning over one season.
In the 4th episode that aired March 25, 1979.
Mary is worried when a brush fire nears her California home and she may be forced to evacuate. At the same time, Dick Van Dyke meets the show's creative team to mull over ideas for a possible guest appearance and they fantasize about what a sketch of The Dick Van Dyke Show would look like on Rob and Laura Petrie's 50th wedding anniversary.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
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