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"
Friday, April 30, 2010
Your Mental Sorbet: Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Puerto Rico
From the Mike Nelson era of MST3K PUERTO RICO!!! One of two shorts originally showed before their required viewing of "Beast of Yucca Flats"
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Tony Figueroa
Monday, April 26, 2010
This week in Television History: April 2010 Part IV
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.
April 26, 1989
Lucille Ball dies. Comedian Lucille Ball dies at age 78. During her career, she and husband Desi Arnaz transformed TV, creating the first long running hit sitcom.
Ball starred as a ditzy wife in My Favorite Husband from 1948 to 1951. CBS decided to launch the popular series on the relatively new medium of TV. Lucy insisted Desi be cast as her husband in the TV version, though the network executives said no one would believe the couple were married. Desi and Lucy performed before live audiences and filmed a pilot, convincing network executives that audiences responded well to their act, and CBS cast Desi for the show.
I Love Lucy became one of the most popular TV sitcoms in history, ranking in the top three shows for six years and turning the couple's production company, Desilu, into a multimillion-dollar business. Ball became president of the company in 1960, after she and Desi divorced. She also starred in several other "Lucy" shows, including The Lucy Show, which debuted in 1962 and ran for six seasons, and Here's Lucy, in which she starred with her two children until the show was cancelled in 1974. A later show, Life with Lucy, featuring Lucy as a grandmother, was cancelled after only eight episodes. Ball worked little in the last years of her life. She died of congestive heart failure following open-heart surgery earlier in the month.
April 29, 1944
Last Our Gang film Dancing Romeo released.
The first film, featuring a band of mischievous youngsters, was produced in 1922 by Hal Roach. Roach produced the short films until 1938, when he sold the rights to MGM. In all, more than 100 Our Gang films were made. Later, they were shown as TV comedies under the name The Little Rascals.
April 29, 1992
The Los Angeles Riots were sparked on when a jury acquitted four Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the videotaped beating of African-American motorist Rodney King following a high-speed pursuit. Thousands of people in the Los Angeles area rioted over the six days following the verdict. First day (Wednesday, April 29) The acquittals of the four accused Los Angeles Police Department officers came at 3:15 p.m. local time. By 3:45, a crowd of more than 300 people had appeared at the Los Angeles County Courthouse, most protesting the verdicts passed down a half an hour earlier and many miles away. Between 5 and 6 p.m., a group of two dozen officers, commanded by LAPD Lt. Michael Moulin, confronted a growing African-American crowd at the intersection of Florence and Normandie in South Central Los Angeles. Outnumbered, these officers retreated. A new group of protesters appeared at Parker Center, the LAPD's headquarters, by about 6:30 p.m., and 15 minutes later, the crowd at Florence and Normandie had started looting, attacking vehicles and people, mainly whites.
At approximately 6:45 p.m., Reginald Oliver Denny, a white truck driver who stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of Florence and South Normandie Avenues, was dragged from his vehicle and severely beaten by a mob of local black residents as news helicopters hovered above, recording every blow, including a concrete fragment connecting with Denny's temple and a cinder block thrown at his head as he lay unconscious in the street. The police never appeared, having been ordered to withdraw for their own safety, although several assailants (the so-called L.A. Four) were later arrested and one, Damian Williams, was sent to prison. Instead, Denny was rescued by an unarmed, African American civilian named Bobby Green Jr. who, seeing the assault live on television, rushed to the scene and drove Denny to the hospital using the victim's own truck, which carried twenty-seven tons of sand. Denny had to undergo years of rehabilitative therapy, and his speech and ability to walk were permanently damaged. Although several other motorists were brutally beaten by the same mob, Denny remains the best-known victim of the riots because of the live television coverage.
April 30, 1939
NBC began regular U.S. television broadcasts, with a telecast of President Franklin D. Roosevelt opening the New York World's Fair. Programs were transmitted from the NBC mobile camera trucks to the main transmitter, which was connected to an aerial atop the Empire State Building.
April 30, 1992
The final episode of the The Cosby Show aired.
The sitcom debuted in 1984 at a time when the sitcom was declared to be dead. Comedian Bill Cosby starred in the nation's top-rated program for four of its eight years and always ranked in the top 20 shows.
The show focused on the Huxtable family, an upper-middle class African-American family living in a brownstone in Brooklyn Heights, New York. The patriarch was Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable, an obstetrician. The matriarch was attorney Clair Huxtable. Despite its comedic tone, the show sometimes involved serious subjects, such as son Theo's experiences dealing with dyslexia, inspired by Cosby's child Ennis, who was also dyslexic.
Although the cast and characters were predominantly African-American, the program was unusual in that issues of race were rarely mentioned when compared to other situation comedies of the time, such as The Jeffersons. However, The Cosby Show had African-American themes, such as civil rights marches, and it frequently promoted African-American and African culture represented by artists and musicians such as Jacob Lawrence, Miles Davis, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Miriam Makeba.
April 30th 1992
The second day of the Los Angeles Riots, KNBC (NBC's Los Angeles affiliate) was covering the historic event nonstop. But that evening the station decided to suspend it’s around the clock riot coverage to air the series finale of The Cosby Show giving viewers a brief Mental Sorbet. Following the broadcast Bill Cosby went on the air and asked Angelinos to pray for peace.
April 30, 1997
In The Puppy Episode of the ABC sitcom Ellen, the character of Ellen Morgan (played by Ellen DeGeneres) announces that she is gay. The widely publicized episode featured cameos by Oprah Winfrey, k.d. lang, Demi Moore, Billy Bob Thornton, and Dwight Yoakam. An estimated 42 million viewers watched the special hour-long program.
Ellen DeGeneres herself had come out earlier that year on The Oprah Winfrey Show and in TIME. Ellen is often credited to be the first primetime sitcom to feature a gay leading character but there was a sitcom titled Love, Sidney (1981 until 1983) staring Tony Randall. The first openly gay regular character on a sitcom was Soap's (1977) Jodie Dallas, played by Billy Crystal.
In the spring of 1994, Ellen DeGeneres was cast in a series called These Friends of Mine, but in the fall of 1994, she took center stage and the program was retiled Ellen. The program finished in the top 20 shows for the 1994-1995 season.
The outing ignited a storm of controversy, prompting ABC to place a parental advisory at the beginning of each episode.
Despite her success, and the enormous audience drawn by the coming-out episode, ABC cancelled the series at the end of the 1998 season. Although the network pointed to dwindling ratings, Ellen DeGeneres contended that the network buckled under pressure from conservative groups and stopped promoting the show after the controversial episode.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Director Paul Bogart: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL
TV CONFIDENTIAL with Ed Robertson and Frankie MontiforteEvery night at 9pm ET, 6pm PT Shokus Internet Radio
Fridays 7pm ET and PT Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org www.tvconfidential.netblog.tvconfidential.net
Also available as a podcast via iTunes and FeedBurner
Friday, April 23, 2010
Your Mental Sorbet: Diff'rent Strokes Minisodes: The Reporter
Mar 19, 1983 — Season 5 Ep. 22 — Ah, the "Just Say No" Episode of Diff'rent Strokes. This is a must watch. First Lady Nancy Reagan comes to the rescue when she reads an article written by Arnold about drugs in the school.
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Tony Figueroa
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
TV Confidential Archives Apr. 12, 2010
Second hour: A look back at the media coverage of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on April 19, 1995, as well as that of the shootings at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colorado on April 20, 1999.
Monday, April 19, 2010
This week in Television History: April 2010 Part III
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.
The National Broadcasting Company launched experimental television broadcasts from the Empire State Building. These experiments aired only five hours a week to very few TV households.
April 22, 1976
Barbara Walters signs $5 million contract. Barbara Walters signs a record-breaking five-year, $5 million contract with ABC. The contract made her the first news anchorwoman in network history and the highest paid TV journalist to date.
A group of firemen responding to an alarm in Camden, New Jersey, is televised. It was the first time an unplanned event was broadcast on television, anticipating the development of live TV news coverage. Fortunately, the event would not inspire anyone to create reality programming.
First coast-to-coast satellite telecast. The first coast-to-coast telecast by satellite takes place on this day in 1962. Signals from California were bounced off the first experimental communications satellite, Echo I, and received in Massachusetts.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Friday, April 16, 2010
Your Mental Sorbet: The TV Theme Medley
TWO Fredriks (Just one person!), performing a medley consisting of themes and openings from a collection of TV shows.
Fredrik Larsson a.k.a. Freddegredde is 24 years old and lives in Gävle, Sweden, and has made a bunch of YouTube videos.
FreddeGredde.com
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Monday, April 12, 2010
This week in Television History: April 2010 Part II
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.
April 14, 1956
First video camera for sound and pictures demostrated.
April 15, 1948
Hollywood Screen Test debuts. TV talent show Hollywood Screen Test debuts on this day in 1948. Unlike other talent shows, the program featured aspiring professionals, not pure amateurs, performing in drama and comedy sketches with established stars. Grace Kelly, Jack Klugman, and Jack Lemmon all got their big break on the show, which ran until 1953.
April 16, 1949
Garroway at Large debuts.
Dave Garroway started out as a page at NBC and worked his way up to the position of radio announcer for various NBC programs. From 1944 to 1948, he announced for the NBC radio series The World's Great Novels. The show featured dramatic readings of classic novels and later evolved into NBC University of the Air, which offered accredited radio-assisted degrees in literature. Garroway also hosted his own radio talk show with music, which aired under various names from 1946 to 1955.
Starting in 1952, Garroway became the longtime host of NBC's Today show. He continued some prime-time work, though, and when Garroway at Large ended, he tried another show, called The Dave Garroway Show, in 1953. The second show, however, didn't take off, partly because of stiff competition from the other networks, which were airing popular programs Mama and Ozzie and Harriet.
April 17, 1937
Daffy Duck debuts.
Daffy Duck makes his debut in the Warner Bros. short Porky's Duck Hunt. In the 1920s, movie houses had started showing a short cartoon before feature presentations, but the form became more innovative and popular after sound was introduced in 1928.
April 18, 1929
First Our Gang film with sound Small Talk debuts .
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Submitted for Your Approval, “The Twilight Zone”: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL
TV CONFIDENTIAL Show No. 44: Hour 1: Tribute to James Garner and "Maverick" with guest Mick Martin. Remembering Dick Martin with guest Rob Newhart
Ed and Frankie celebrate James Garner's birthday by replaying their tribute to the 50th anniversary of Maverick, a program that originally aired in September 2007. Joining them is journalist and radio host Mick Martin, co-author of Video Movie Guide and the last writer ever to interview Jack Kelly, James Garner's co-star on Maverick.The hour also features comments from the late Roy Huggins on the origins and development of Maverick, as well as audio clips from such classic episodes as Duel at Sundown (featuring Clint Eastwood) and Shady Deal at Sunny Acres. Also: David Krell remembers "Long Gone," the 1987 HBO movie about minor league baseball featuring William Petersen, Delmot Mulroney, Virginia Madsen, Henry Gibson and Teller from Penn & Teller.
TV CONFIDENTIAL Show No. 44: Hour 2: Remembering Dick Martin with guest Rob Newhart
Ed, Frankie and guest Robert Newhart remember the life and career of actor, director and comedian Dick Martin in a conversation that originally aired in July 2008. Rob's dad is legendary comic Bob Newhart, a longtime friend and collaborator of Martin. Also: in a new edition of This Week in TV History, Tony Figueroa remembers the premiere of Twin Peaks, the Andy Griffith Show reunion movie Return to Mayberry and the firing of Tom and Dick Smothers.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Dixie Carter
Carter was born in McLemoresville, Tennessee,and spent many of her early years in Memphis. She attended college at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College). She is a graduate of Memphis State (now University of Memphis) with a degree in English.
At school, she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. In 1959, Carter competed in the Miss Tennessee pageant, where she placed first runner-up to Mickie Weyland.
She made her professional stage debut in a Memphis production of Carousel then moved to New York City in 1963 and got a part in a production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.
After an eight-year hiatus from acting, she returned to the craft in 1974, when she filled in for actress Nancy Pinkerton as Dorian Cramer on One Life to Live, while Pinkerton was on maternity leave. She subsequently was cast in the role of Assistant D.A. Olivia Brandeis "Brandy" Henderson on the soap opera The Edge of Night, on which she appeared from 1974 - 1976. (She went along with the show when it switched from CBS to ABC.) Carter took the role even though some advised her that doing a daytime soap might negatively affect her career. However, it was with this role that Carter was first noticed, and after exiting The Edge of Night in 1976, Carter relocated from New York to Los Angeles, and pursued prime time television roles.
She appeared in series such as Out of the Blue, (playing Aunt Marion) On Our Own, (playing publishing executive, April Baxter) Diff'rent Strokes, (playing the first Maggie McKinney Drummond) and Filthy Rich (1982), in which she played the snooty Carlotta Beck (also featured future Designing Women cast member Delta Burke).
She married for the third time on May 27, 1984, to Hal Holbrook (14 years her senior), who is most noted for his appearances as Mark Twain.
Carter's appearance in Filthy Rich paved the way for her best known role, that of interior decorator Julia Sugarbaker in the 1980s/1990s television program Designing Women, set in Atlanta, Georgia. Filthy Rich had been created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who went on to create Designing Women. The show enjoyed a seven-year run and made Carter a household name. Hal Holbrook, her real-life husband, had a recurring role as Julia's beau, Reese Watson; and her daughters, Ginna and Mary Dixie also had guest star roles as Julia's nieces, Jennifer and Camilla Sugarbaker, the latter niece, Camilla, acted exactly like Julia, whilst her sister, Jennifer, acted in a similar manner to Julia's sister, Suzanne (Delta Burke).
In a twist of irony, actress Mary Ann Mobley, who had replaced Dixie as Maggie on Diff'rent Strokes, also guested on Designing Women playing a snide Historical Society representative named Karen, whom Julia found aggravating, especially after she exaggerated her family's history and outright suggested that her male partner, Anthony Bouvier (Meshach Taylor), dress in a slave costume.
From 1999 to 2002, she portrayed "Randi King" on the legal drama Family Law, portraying a lawyer for the first time since she was Brandy Henderson on The Edge of Night. In 2004, she would later make a guest appearance on Law and Order: SVU, playing a defense attorney named Denise Brockmorton in the episode called Home, in which she defended the paranoid mother of two children (Diane Venora) who had manipulated her older son to kill the younger son, after breaking her home rules. (Coincidentally, Carter's longtime Designing Women costar Annie Potts also has a recurring role on Law and Order: SVU as another defense attorney.)
She also starred in several Broadway musicals and plays, She appeared on and off-Broadway as well, most recently portraying diva Maria Callas in Terrence McNally's Master Class, a role created by Zoe Caldwell. (Faye Dunaway sought to purchase the film rights to the play, but no film has been made as of 2007)
Carter is noted for her portrayals of Southern women and is known for her Southern pride, which is evident in her product endorsements, like her appearances in commercials for Southern Bell (later BellSouth).
In 2006 and 2007, Dixie Carter found renewed fame with a new generation of fans as the very disturbed and disturbing Gloria Hodge on Desperate Housewives, earning an Emmy nomination for her work on the series. Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry started out in Hollywood as Carter's assistant on the set of Designing Women.
In 1996, Carter published a memoir entitled Trying to Get to Heaven, in which she talked frankly about her life with Hal Holbrook, Designing Women, and her plastic surgery during the show's run. Carter was also a registered Republican who described her political views as libertarian. She was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly along with Pat Boone at the 2000 Republican National Convention. This affiliation often put her at odds with what she was expected to say as Julia Sugarbaker during her years on Designing Women.
Julia, her Designing Women character, was nicknamed "the Terminator" for her cutting tirades. Many of the earliest monologues were witty and full of common sense, and Julia espoused very liberal ideals. This became reinforced as the series progressed, and she even toasted Bill Clinton in one episode. Carter, who had established a singing career and been featured as the headliner in many concerts, made a deal with the show's producers that for every liberal tirade, she'd get to sing a song in an upcoming episode. Carter once kiddingly described herself as "the only Republican in show business" a reference to Hollywood's purported political slant.
To quote Dixie Carter, “I will not do humor that is derived from private parts or going to the bathroom. I won't do anything that involves making fun of people.”
Good Night Ms. Carter
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Friday, April 09, 2010
Your Mental Sorbet: Battle of the Network Stars - Conrad vs. Kaplan
1976 Battle of the Network Stars Bob Conrad goes crazy over a technical call and has it out for Gabe Kaplan! This is vintage 70's tv at it's best, you know when there was only 3 networks, disco replays, smoking joggers, girls running without bras, and don't forget the insane amount of racist jokes when they were PC.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Monday, April 05, 2010
This week in Television History: April 2010 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.
Twin Peaks debuts.
Director David Lynch's surreal series, Twin Peaks, premieres on ABC. The show, with its bizarre characters and baffling story line, became an instant cult hit. Kyle MacLachlan starred as Dale Cooper, an FBI agent assigned to visit a small town in the Pacific Northwest to try to unravel the mystery of the murder of resident Laura Palmer. The series ran until June 1991.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Tributes to James Garner, "Maverick" and Dick Martin: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL
In our first hour, we'll mark the occasion of James Garner's birthday by replaying our salute to Maverick, a program that originally aired in September 2007. Our guest will be film and TV journalist Mick Martin, co-author of Video Movie Guide and the last writer ever to interview Jack Kelly, Garner's co-star on Maverick. The program will also feature comments from the late Roy Huggins, creator and producer of Maverick, audio clips from noted episodes from the series, and a whole lot more. Then in our second hour, we remember comedian, actor and director Dick Martin (Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In) along with Robert Newhart, son of legendary comedian Bob Newhart, and a longtime friend of Martin and his family. Dick Martin was not only the regular director on the popular Newhart series from the 1980s, he also directed many episodes of The Bob Newhart Show from the 1970s. All this, plus regular commentary from David Krell and This Week in TV History with Tony Figueroa. We certainly hope you'll join us.
TV CONFIDENTIAL with Ed Robertson and Frankie MontiforteEvery night at 9pm ET, 6pm PT Shokus Internet Radio Fridays 7pm ET and PT Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org
www.tvconfidential.netblog.tvconfidential.net
Also available as a podcast via iTunes and FeedBurner
Friday, April 02, 2010
John Forsythe
As a bit player for Warner Brothers, Forsythe successfully appeared in several small parts. As a result he was given a small role in Destination Tokyo (1943). Leaving his movie career for service in World War II, he appeared in the U.S. Army Air Forces play and film Winged Victory, then worked with injured soldiers who had developed speech problems.
In 1955, Alfred Hitchcock cast Forsythe in the movie The Trouble with Harry, with Shirley MacLaine in her first movie appearance. The film was unsuccessful at the box office, and Forsythe found high profile movie work harder to find.
Throughout the 1950s, Forsythe successfully appeared in the new medium and regularly on all the networks, especially as a guest star. For example, during this period, Forsythe notably appeared on the popular anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents in an engaging episode entitled "Premonition" opposite then up-and-coming Cloris Leachman. In 1957, he took a leading role in the situation comedy Bachelor Father for CBS as Bentley Gregg, a playboy lawyer who has to become a father to his niece Kelly (played by Noreen Corcoran), upon the death of her biological parents. The show was an immediate ratings hit and moved to NBC the following season and to ABC in the fall of 1961. He Later starred in The John Forsythe Show on NBC with Guy Marks, Elsa Lanchester, Ann B. Davis, Peggy Lipton, and Forsythe's two young daughters, Page and Brooke. (1965–1966) and To Rome with Love on CBS (1969–1971) with co-star Walter Brennan. Between 1971 and 1977, Forsythe served as narrator on the syndicated nature series, The World of Survival. He was also the announcer for Michelob beer commercials from the 70s through about 1985, notably during the "Weekends were made for Michelob" era.
In 1976, cast in the role of the unseen millionaire and private investigator Charles Townsend in the crime drama Charlie's Angels (1976–1981). Townsend's voice is heard over a speaker phone, instructing the eponymous Angels of their mission for the episode. Following heart problems, Forsythe underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1979. This was so successful that he safely returned to work on Charlie's Angels, and also appeared in the courtroom drama ...And Justice for All later that year. By 1980, Charlie's Angels was starting to decline in ratings, but Forsythe remained under contract to Aaron Spelling.
In 1981, nearing the end of Charlie's Angels, Forsythe was selected as a last minute replacement for George Peppard in the role of conniving patriarch Blake Carrington in Dynasty (ABC's answer to the highly successful CBS series Dallas). Between 1985 and 1987, Forsythe also appeared as Blake Carrington in the short-lived spin-off series The Colbys.
Dynasty was a hit for Forsythe and proved his most successful role yet. Forsythe and his character became pop culture icons of the 1980s, making him one of Hollywood's leading men and sex symbols. The series explored real-life and fictionalized topics including family feuds, foreign revolutionary gunplay, illegitimate children, sex, drugs, and featured lavish lifestyles and glamorous clothes.
The series reunited Forsythe with Bachelor Father guest star Linda Evans, who had replaced Angie Dickinson to play Blake's compassionate and caring younger wife Krystle. The chemistry between Forsythe and Evans was apparent and as the principal married couple on the show, the two appeared on numerous talk and news magazine shows. During the run of the series, Forsythe, Evans and Collins promoted the Dynasty line of fragrances. Dynasty came to an end in 1989, after a total of nine seasons, with Forsythe being the only actor to appear in all 220 episodes.
Forsythe was nominated five times for the Soap Opera Digest Awards, also winning twice.
In 1992 Forsythe returned to series television starring in Norman Lear's situation comedy, The Powers That Be for NBC. The show was cancelled after only one year.
Forsythe reprised his role as Charlie for the film version of Charlie's Angels (2000) and its sequel Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), then retired from acting.
On May 2, 2006, Forsythe appeared with Dynasty co-stars Linda Evans, Joan Collins, Pamela Sue Martin, Al Corley, Gordon Thomson and Catherine Oxenberg in Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar. The one-hour reunion special of the former ABC series aired on CBS.
It was announced that Forsythe was being treated for colorectal cancer on October 13, 2006. He was discharged from the hospital after one month.
Your Mental Sorbet: Albert Brooks Starless De-Spangled Banner
Albert Brooks Starless De-Spangled Banner.
From: The Flip Wilson Show.
Airdate: December 5, 1972.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa