Show No. 81 Mar. 21, 2011 | First hour: Ed welcomes pop culture critic Walter J. Podrazik, co-author of Watching TV: Six Decades of American Television, one of the first, best and most comprehensive books on American network television ever published. Also in this hour: DVD recommendations; how to improve the Academy Awards telecast; and Ed's thoughts on the use of a question about reality TV that appeared on this year's SAT test. Second hour: Actor John O’Hurley (Seinfeld, Spamalot, Dancing with the Stars) joins Ed for some thoughts on how some of this season’s contestants might do on DWTS, as well as his memories of working on Seinfeld and hosting Family Feud. Also in this hour: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen look back at the premieres of Nightline and Dateline, the final episode of Little House on the Prairie, and other events that occurred This Week in TV History. |
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"
Thursday, March 31, 2011
TV CONFIDENTIAL Archives: Mar. 21, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
This week in Television History: March 2011 PART IV
listen to me on me on TV CONFIDENTIAL:
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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 2, 1941
Life of Riley radio show debuts. Radio sitcom Life of Riley debuts this day in 1941.
The show starred William Bendix as a bullheaded family man. The show ran for 10 years on radio and about six years on television.
April 3, 1956
Elvis sings his first RCA recording, "Heartbreak Hotel," on NBC's Milton Berle Show.
An estimated 25 percent of America's population saw him sing that night; by April 21, the song had become Elvis' first No. 1 single.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Elizabeth Taylor, The Naked City and The Sounds of Lost Television: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL
Our guests this week include television historian Stephen Bowie, publisher of The Classic TV History Blog, an excellent resource that pays homage to some of the great shows from the first 25 years of television. Stephen recently published a three-part series on The Naked City that discusses some of the many great character actors that came into prominence as a result of their appearances on The Naked City, including Bruce Dern, Joe Santos, Ken Kercheval, Sharon Farrell (pictured, along with Paul Burke) and Richard Castellano. 
Stephen’s writings also include an in-depth look at the short-lived but controversial series East Side, West Side starring George C. Scott, Elizabeth Wilson and Cicely Tyson. We’ll talk about these shows and more when Stephen joins us in our second hour. Also joining us this week will be Phil Gries, founder and owner of Archival Television Audio, the only extensive television audio archive in existence on the Internet, featuring thousands of rare audio soundtracks that, in many cases, represent the only broadcast record of historic moments captured on television in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, including Don Pardo announcing the death of John F. Kennedy on NBC-TV on Nov. 22, 1963, and Red Barber’s call of Roger Maris’ then-Major League record setting 61st home run, which he hit on the final day of the 1961 season. We’ll play those clips and talk to Phil about how he came to amass this impressive collection when he joins us in our first hour. Also in our first hour: film critic and entertainment writer Jane Boursaw with some thoughts on the legacy of Elizabeth Taylor. 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 FacebookFriday, March 25, 2011
Your Mental Sorbet:: Elizabeth Taylor on The Tonight Show staring Johnny Carson
Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Thursday, March 24, 2011
TV Confidential Archives: Mar. 14, 2011
Show No. 80 | First hour: David Krell joins Ed for a breakdown of the various issues at stake in Charlie Sheen’s lawsuit against Warner Bros. following his dismissal last week from Two and a Half Men. Plus: Tony Figueroa, Donna Allen and another visit with Doctor Rerun. |
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Elizabeth Taylor
Good Night Ms. Taylor
Monday, March 21, 2011
This week in Television History: March 2011 Part IV
Listen to me on me on TV CONFIDENTIAL:
Shokus Radio
Mondays 9pm ET, 6pm PT with replays three times a day, seven days a week at 11am ET, 8am PT 9pm ET, 6pm PT and 1am ET, 10pm PT
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Fridays 7pm ET and PT
Saturdays 11pm ET, 8pm PT Sundays 5pm ET, 2pm 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.
March 21, 1980
J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman), the character millions loved to hate on TV’s popular nighttime drama Dallas, was shot. The shooting made the season finale, titled A House Divided, one of television’s most famous cliffhangers and left America wondering “Who shot J.R.?” Dallas fans waited for the next eight months to have that question answered because the season premiere of Dallas was delayed due to a Screen Actors Guild strike. That summer, the question “Who Shot J.R.?” entered the national lexicon. Fan’s wore T-shirts printed with "Who Shot J.R.?" and "I Shot J.R.". A session of the Turkish parliament was suspended to allow legislators a chance to get home in time to view the Dallas episode. Betting parlors worldwide took bets as to which one of the 10 or so principal characters had actually pulled the trigger. J.R. had many enemies and audiences were hard-pressed to guess who was responsible for the shooting.
The person who pulled the trigger was revealed to be J.R.’s sister in law/mistress Kristin Shepard (Mary Crosby) in the "Who Done It?" episode which aired on November 21, 1980. It was, at the time, the highest rated television episode in US history. It had a Nielsen rating of 53.3 and a 76% share, and it was estimated that 83,000,000 people watched the episode. The previous record for a TV episode, not counting the final installment of the miniseries Roots, had been the 1967 finale for The Fugitive. "Who Shot J.R.?" now sits second on the list, being beaten in 1983 by the final episode of M*A*S*H but still remains the highest rated non-finale episode of a TV series.
March 21, 1983
The last episode of the long-running TV series Little House on the Prairie aired. The series, based on the children's book by Laura Ingalls Wilder, premiered in 1974.
The show was one of television's 25 most highly rated shows for seven of its nine seasons. When series star and executive producer Michael Landon decided to leave the show in 1982, the show's title changed to Little House: A New Beginning and focused on character Laura Ingalls Wilder (Melissa Gilbert) and her family. The show lasted only one more season. Three made-for-television movie sequels followed: Little House: Look Back to Yesterday (1983), Little House: Bless All the Dear Children (1983), and Little House: The Last Farewell (1984).
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was". Stay Tuned
Sunday, March 20, 2011
John O'Hurley: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL
Known worldwide for playing J. Peterman on the long-running NBC series Seinfeld, John O’Hurley has also enjoyed great success performing on Broadway in Chicago and Monty Python’s Spamalot, as well as hosting such popular game shows as Family Feud and, of course, his triumphant appearance on Dancing with the Stars.With Dancing with the Stars returning to ABC this week, we’ll ask John for his thoughts on how some of this season’s contestants might do, as well as his memories of working on Seinfeld, and much, more more. John O’Hurley will be joining us during our second hour.
Joining us in our first hour will be pop culture critic Walter J. Podrazik, co-author of Watching TV: Six Decades of American Television, one of the first, best and most comprehensive books on American network television ever published.
Plus: DVD recommendations, a look at entertainment headlines and This Week in TV History.
TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television
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Fridays 7pm ET and PT
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Sundays 2pm PT
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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
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Saturday, March 19, 2011
The Story Salon Radio Show
Go to our link at tinyurl.com/storysalononair
Cities, States & Countries Listened: Altadena, CA; Athens, Attiki, Greece; Beverely Hills, CA [4]; Brooklyn, NY; Burbank, CA; Canoga Park, CA; Chula Vista, CA; Costa Rica; Escondido, The Welk Resort, CA; Glendale, CA; Honeoye Falls, NY; Hurst, TX; Inglewood, CA; Kalamazoo, MI; Kansas City, MO; Los Angeles, CA; North Hills, CA; Oakland, CA; Redding, CA; Riverside, CA; Rochester, NY; San Diego, CA; Santo Domingo, Distristo Nacional, Dominican Republic; Sherman Oaks, CA; Singapore, Sinapore; Sterling Heights, MI; South Pasadena, CA; Valencia, CA; Vancouver, WA; Van Nuys, CA; Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, West Palm Beach, FL; Winter Park, FL; Woodland Hills, CA;
ARCHIVES:
2/25/11
2/18/11 Story Salon Radio Show
2/11/11 Story Salon Radio Show
2/4/11 Story Salon Radio Show
“Gemstones of narrative. Something new, funny, astonishing.”
-Los Angeles Daily News
“Tales tall, tragic, and tantalizing.”
-Sunset Magazine
“Stories from all walks and talks of life. Tales of yore and ones that
make you scream for more-those that will delight with insight while moving an
audience from laughter to tears.”
-Studio City Sun
Story Salon is Los Angeles’s longest running storytelling venue. What
began as an alternative to stand-up clubs and self-conscious performance spaces
has been challenging performers and audiences for more than a decade.
Created in a North Hollywood coffee house Story Salon now reaches the globe
through Podcasting, publishing, and recordings.
The rules of the Story Salon haven’t changed since it started: Five to
seven minutes of original material performed by the author. The result is a
unique blend of observation, memoir and comment that makes the Salon one of
the most eclectic entertainment experiences available. More than a dozen
solo theater works have been developed at Story Salon, as well as a CD of
stories, and several books.
“Live storytelling is a unique art form,” says Story Salon founder,
writer/actor/comedian Beverly Mickins. “Words spoken aloud paint pictures
capable of evoking laughter and tears, the whole range of emotion. People have
been telling each other stories since the first campfires, talking about the
whole mix of things, important and trivial, that go into making life.
Storytelling is one of the ways we figure out how to be human.”
It’s an omnibus of memories, rants, affirmations, and shaggy-dog stories
that once opened is impossible to shut.
The writer/performers of Story Salon include actors, comedians, musicians,
photographers, war correspondents, students, life coaches, former clowns,
recovering attorneys, one admitted juggler, an international fashion model,
several husbands and wives, and one mother and daughter.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Your Mental Sorbet: The Original Kings of Catchphrase Comedy are back and bringing the house down with laughter.
Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.
The Original Kings of Catchphrase Comedy are back and bringing the house down with laughter.
I knew some of these guys
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Monday, March 14, 2011
Adam Sandler, Celebrity with Heart: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL
The star of such box office smashes as The Waterboy, Billy Madison, The Wedding Singer and Happy Gilmore, Adam Sandler first came to prominence in the early 1990s as one of the stars of Saturday Night Live. But though he tends to play broad, over-the-top type of characters on screen, Sandler is surprisingly quiet and private off screen, devoting much of his time and resources to many charitable causes with little to no fanfare.In many respects that is the focus of Adam Sandler: Celebrity with Heart, a new book by award-winning author and journalist Michael Schuman. We’ll talk about Sandler’s early work in television, including his appearances on The Cosby Show, MTV’s Remote Control and Saturday Night Live, when Michael joins us in our second hour.
Joining us in our first hour will be David Krell with a breakdown of the various issues at stake in Charlie Sheen’s lawsuit against Warner Bros. following his dismissal last week from Two and a Half Men. Plus: Tony Figueroa, Donna Allen and another visit with Doctor Rerun.
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
This week in Television History: March 2011 Part III
Shokus Radio
Mondays 9pm ET, 6pm PT with replays three times a day, seven days a week at 11am ET, 8am PT 9pm ET, 6pm PT and 1am ET, 10pm PT
Tuesdays 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT
Fridays 7pm ET and PT
Saturdays 11pm ET, 8pm PT Sundays 5pm ET, 2pm 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.
March 14, 1948
Billy Crystal is born in Long Beach, California.
Crystal began performing in comedy clubs as a teenager; after graduating from New York University's film school, he formed his own comedy troupe, 3's Company. As a young stand-up comic, Crystal opened for acts like the singer Barry Manilow and was particularly known for his impression of the sportscaster Howard Cosell interviewing Muhammad Ali. After setting off for Hollywood, Crystal landed the role of Jodie Dallas, one of the first openly gay characters on television, on Soap (1977-81). Though his first film, Rabbit Test (1978)--in which he played the world's first pregnant man--flopped, Crystal's star kept rising. His popular live performances and regular appearances on TV's Saturday Night Live landed him roles in a string of movies, including Rob Reiner's This is Spinal Tap (1984), Running Scared (1986) and The Princess Bride (1987), and Throw Momma From the Train (1987). In 1989, he made his highest-profile star turn yet, playing opposite Meg Ryan in the hit romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally..., also directed by Reiner.
In 1990, Crystal won over audiences with his first Oscar hosting gig, performing silly songs based on the nominated films and popping up in film-clip montages. He would host the ceremony seven more times (1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2004), along with a number of other events, including the Grammy Awards and the HBO benefit series Comic Relief, alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams. Crystal scored his biggest movie hit to date in 1991, playing a radio executive going through a mid-life crisis in City Slickers (1991), which he also executive-produced. The film's success led to a memorable moment at the 1992 Oscars, when Crystal's 73-year-old co-star, Jack Palance, dropped to the stage to perform one-armed pushups when accepting his statuette for Best Supporting Actor. As emcee that night, Crystal wrung maximum comedic potential about the incident with his follow-up jokes. The film's sequel, City Slickers 2: The Legend of Curly's Gold, came out in 1994.
Crystal had less success with his next producing and acting effort, the ambitious 1992 film Mr. Saturday Night, which he also directed. In the film, Crystal played the stand-up comedian Buddy Young Jr., a character he had originated in 1984 and later portrayed on Saturday Night Live, among other shows. Mr. Saturday Night received mixed reviews, and was a failure at the box office. In 1995, Crystal wrote, directed, produced and starred in Forget Paris, a romantic comedy co-starring Debra Winger; the film was a critical and commercial disappointment.
Crystal appeared in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996) and Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry (1997), but another producing effort, 1998's My Giant, also flopped. He came back strong, however, with 1999's blockbuster hit Analyze This, as a therapist who counsels a mob boss, played by Robert De Niro. A sequel, Analyze That, was released in 2002. In between those big-screen successes, Crystal earned an Emmy Award nomination for directing the HBO movie 61*, about the home run race between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in 1961; the project was driven by Crystal's longtime love of baseball. He also wrote and co-starred in the Hollywood-skewering comedy America's Sweethearts and provided the voice of one of the lead characters in the animated hit Monsters, Inc., all in 2001.
After a three-year absence, Crystal returned to his Oscar hosting duties in 2004, for the eighth time. He was reportedly offered the Oscar hosting gig for the 2006 ceremony but turned it down to concentrate on his autobiographical one-man show, 700 Sundays, on Broadway. Attendance was so good that the show's run was extended past its original booking; it also won a Tony Award for Best Theatrical Event. That same year, Crystal became a best-selling children's book author with the release of I Already Know I Love You (2006), based on his experiences with the birth of his first granddaughter.
March 19, 1953
First Academy Awards program on network TV.
The first network broadcast of the Academy Awards takes place on this day in 1953. Some 174 stations across the country carried the awards. Gary Cooper won Best Actor for his performance in High Noon, and Shirley Booth won Best Actress for her role in Come Back, Little Sheba. The Greatest Show on Earth won Best Picture.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Stay Tuned
Friday, March 11, 2011
Your Mental Sorbet: Charlie Callas roasts Frank
Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.
RIP Charlie Callas
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
TV Confidential Archives Feb. 28, 2011
Show No. 78 | First hour: Media consultant and radio talk show host Tony Trupiano joins Ed for a discussion of Detroit 187, the critically acclaimed ABC police drama that is one of many film and TV productions currently being filmed on location in Detroit, Michigan, as well as the controversial the tax credit program that was designed as an incentive to bring film companies to Michigan, but which has become the subject of political debate. Plus: pop culture critic Robert J. Thompson on Charlie Sheen’s meltdown and what that bodes for the future of Two and a Half Men. |
Monday, March 07, 2011
The Music of Jerry Goldsmith: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL
One of the most prominent and prolific motion picture composers of the 20th century, Jerry Goldsmith composed the scores for such classic films as Planet of the Apes, Patton, Chinatown, The Omen, The Boys from Brazil, Alien, Poltergeist, Hoosiers, Basic Instinct, Rudy, L.A. Confidential, three of the Rambo films and five of the films in the Star Trek motion picture series. But Goldsmith also left his mark in television, composing the themes to such diverse series and miniseries as The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Room 222, Police Story, Barnaby Jones, Masada and QB VII, as well as contributing music to The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, G.E. Theater and many of the great anthology series from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Joining us this week as we pay tribute to Jerry Goldsmith will be Jon Burlingame, one of the leading authorities on the subject of music in film and television, and the author of such books as TV’s Biggest Hits: The Story of Television Themes from Dragnet to Friends.Jon will be moderating a panel discussion on Goldsmith on Sunday, Mar. 13 at UCLA’s Royce Hall as a part of a day-long event honoring the composer’s many contributions to American music and the advancement of the art of composing for film and television. We will talk about this, as well as play samples of some of Goldsmith’s work in television, when Jon joins us in our second hour.
Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen will join us in our first hour as we look back at last week’s Oscar telecast, as well as catch up on the latest with Charlie Sheen. All this, plus This Week in Television History.
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
This week in Television History: March 2011 Part II
listen to me on me on TV CONFIDENTIAL:
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March 7, 1955
The first Broadway play to be televised in color, featuring the original cast, airs. The play was Peter Pan, starring Mary Martin.
Mach 8, 1993
The first episode of the animated series Beavis and Butthead airs.
Beavis and Butthead offered audiences rude and crude buddy humor in the tradition of The Three Stooges, Cheech and Chong, and Wayne and Garth of Saturday Night Live and the Wayne’s World movies. The titular main characters were two teenage boys living in the fictional town of Highland; they attended Highland High (based on a real school in creator Mike Judge’s hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico) but spent most of their time eating junk food, talking about girls and--most importantly--watching music videos. Beavis and Butthead alternated between animated storylines and clips of actual music videos, which Beavis and Butthead commented on in their signature bone-headed style, punctuated by sarcastic comments and grunt-like laughter.
Despite the mixed critical response, the show earned MTV’s highest ratings. It also sparked a heated controversy over the influence of TV programs on impressionable young children, especially after an incident in 1993, when a mother blamed Beavis and Butthead’s well-documented pyromaniac tendencies for inspiring her five-year-old son to set a fire that killed his two-year-old sister. In response to the uproar over this tragedy, MTV pulled four episodes off the air, cut all references to fire and moved Beavis and Butthead to the 10:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m. time slot, claiming they were simply targeting an older audience.
Regardless of its dubious influence on young audiences, the success of Beavis and Butthead prompted MTV to launch a spin-off program featuring the boys’ nerdy female classmate, Daria Morgendorffer. Daria first aired in March 1997, eight months before Beavis and Butthead ended its run. Judge later created the Emmy-winning animated series King of the Hill for Fox and directed films for the big screen, including a feature-film version of Beavis and Butthead, Beavis and Butthead Do America (1996) and the cult hits Office Space (1999) and Idiocracy (2006).
March 9, 1976
ABC premiered Family, a weekly prime-time drama about a Pasadena California suburban family. The show was created by novelist and screenwriter Jay Presson Allen, directed by film director Mark Rydell, and produced by film director Mike Nichols, as well as television moguls Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg.
During its five seasons Family received fourteen Emmy Award nominations, three of them for Outstanding Drama Series. The show won four awards all in acting categories: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Sada Thompson in 1977), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Kristy McNichol in 1976 and 1978) and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Gary Frank in 1976).
March 9, 1996
Comedian George Burns dies at age 100.
Born Nathan Birnbaum in New York City, Burns was one of 12 children. As a young child, he sang for pennies on street corners and in saloons, and at age 13, he started a dance academy with a friend. In 1922, Burns was performing the latest in a string of song-and-dance acts in Newark, New Jersey, when he teamed up with a fellow performer, Gracie Allen. Though Allen began as the straight one in their partnership, her natural comedic ability prompted Burns to rewrite their material to give her most of the punch lines. From then on, Burns played the straight man to Allen’s ditz, with hilarious results.
In 1950, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show made a seamless transition to television, airing on CBS and becoming one of the top-ranked programs for the duration of the decade. The Burns-Allen team remained in the public eye until Allen’s retirement in 1959. She died of a heart attack in 1964, at the age of 58. Though Allen was a Roman Catholic, Burns buried her with Episcopal rites, explaining that as a Jewish man he couldn’t be buried in Catholic-consecrated ground, and he wanted to be buried beside her.
After Burns underwent major heart surgery in 1975 at the age of 79, his career got a second wind. That year, he played a retired vaudevillian in the film adaptation of Neil Simon’s play The Sunshine Boys, co-starring Walter Matthau and Richard Benjamin. Burns won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role. After that, there was no shortage of movie parts for the octogenarian actor, who played God in Oh God! (1977) and its sequels, Oh God! Book II (1980) and Oh God! You Devil (1984), in which Burns was featured as both God and the Devil. He also starred in Just You and Me, Kid (1979), Going in Style (1979) and Eighteen Again (1988).
In 1988, Burns won an award for lifetime achievement from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He wrote two best-selling autobiographical works, including Gracie: A Love Story (1988) and All My Best Friends (1989), along with eight other books that earned him his well-deserved reputation as an invaluable first-hand observer of the history of 20th century entertainment.
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.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa