Your Mental Sorbet: The Office: Goodbye, Michael Scott

Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.
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That's what she said!

Thank you for seven funny years Steve.
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Tony Figueroa

TV Confidential Archives Apr. 18, 2011

Show No. 84 Apr. 18, 2011

First hour: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen join Ed to discuss the future of daytime soap operas in light of ABC’s decision to cancel One Life to Live and All My Children, as well as OWN's plans to repurpose episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show beginning in September 2011. Also in this hour: Phil Gries remembers Here's Hollywood, an NBC daytime talk show from the early 1960s; a look at the upcoming plans to bring Father Knows Best to the silver screen; and emails from listeners. Second hour: Ed welcomes actress, writer, director and activist Mary McDonough (The Waltons, The New Adventures of Old Christine). Mary’s book, Lessons From the Mountain: What I Learned from Erin Walton, is a behind-the-scenes look at the long-running CBS family drama and the impact that such co-stars as Will Geer, Ellen Corby, Richard Thomas and John Ritter continue to have on her life today. Mary's upcoming appearances include May 6-7 at the Gospel Music Hall of Fame & Museum at Dollywood; May 9 at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Lynchburg, VA; May 10 at the Barnes & Noble in Roanoke, VA; May 11 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; May 14 at the Walton’s Mountain Bed and Breakfast in Schuyler, VA; May 22 at the Barnes & Noble in Fresno, CA; May 27 at the Country Tonight Theatre at Dollywood; and May 28 at the Grand Ole Opry bookstore in Nashville.

This Week in Television History: April 2011 PART III

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 27, 1986

Video pirate disrupts HBO signals.

A video pirate manages to override the satellite transmission of an HBO movie on this day in 1986. He interrupted the show with a message stating he did not intend to pay for his HBO service.

April 29, 1944

Last "Our Gang" film released.

Dancing Romeo, the last "Our Gang" film, is released on this day in 1944. 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."

MAY

May 1, 1931

President Herbert Hoover officially dedicates New York City's Empire State Building.

Less than eight months later, a television-transmitting antenna had been erected atop the structure (The top was originally designed as a mooring mast for dirigibles). During the ensuing 36 years, television and FM radio signals have continued to be transmitted from this location. Today, 22 stations share the site.

To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was". Stay Tuned Tony Figueroa

Lucy, Dynasty, Barbara Walters and Captain Midnight: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL

A blend of old and new is on tap for the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, premiering Monday, Apr. 25 at 9pm ET, 6pm PT on Shokus Internet Radio, with additional airings Tuesday, Apr. 26 at 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT on Passionate World Radio, Friday, Apr. 29 at 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org, and Saturday, Apr. 30 at 8pm PT and Sunday, May 1 at 2pm PT on KWDJ 1360-AM (Ridgecrest, CA).

In our first hour, we’ll pay tribute to pioneer television writer/producer Madelyn Pugh, who passed away last week at the age of 90.

One of the first female writers in the TV industry, Madelyn Pugh wrote for comedy legend Lucille Ball for four decades, including the iconic television series I Love Lucy. Talk show host Stu Shostak will join us for this segment; Stu not only knew Madelyn for 30 years, but was the official archivist for Lucy for the last ten years of her life.














Also in our first hour: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen will take us back to Apr. 22, 1976, when Barbara Walters signed a $5 million contract to join Harry Reasoner as co-anchor of The ABC Evening News. The deal made Walters not only the highest paid TV journalist at the date, but the first female to headline a network news broadcast. We’ll also look back at the 25^th anniversary of the “Captain Midnight” broadcast signal intrusion, and other events that originally took place This Week in TV History.








Our second hour will feature an encore presentation of our conversation with writer, producer and novelist Richard Shapiro, co-creator of Dynasty, The Colbys and other television productions. Richard's novel, Tobacco Brown, is an epic-length story about one man's search for meaning that is not only poignant and thought-provoking, but often hysterically funny. We’ll talk about what inspired Richard to write Tobacco Brown, as well as his work on such acclaimed miniseries and TV movies as East of Eden, Intimate Strangers, Minstrel Man, and Sarah T: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic.











TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television
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Your Mental Sorbet: Gabe Kaplan and Marcia Strassman play the Kotters one more time

Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.

TV Land Awards
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Tony Figueroa

Madelyn Pugh (March 15, 1921 — April 20, 2011)

Madelyn Pugh (Sometimes credited as Madelyn Pugh Davis, Madelyn Davis, or Madelyn Martin, was a television writer best known for her work on the I Love Lucy television series.

A native of Indiana, Pugh became interested in writing while serving as editor of the Shortridge High School newspaper in Indianapolis, Indiana. She graduated from the Indiana University School of Journalism in 1942. Her first professional writing job was writing short radio spots for WIRE, an Indianapolis radio station.

When her family moved to California, she got work as a radio writer, first for NBC and then CBS, where she met Bob Carroll. Pugh credits some of her breakthrough as "the girl writer" to the war effort, which limited the pool of qualified male writers. Early in her career, she was frequently the only female writer on staff

Early in her career, as a staff writer for CBS Radio in Hollywood, Pugh forged a partnership with fellow staffer Bob Carroll, Jr. which lasted more than 50 years. Together they wrote some 400 television programs and roughly 500 radio shows. While the team was writing for The Steve Allen Show, they became interested in writing for Lucille Ball's new radio show, My Favorite Husband. They paid Allen to write his own show one week so they could focus on creating a script submission for My Favorite Husband.

Pugh and Carroll helped create a vaudeville act for Lucille Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz, which became the basis for the pilot episode of I Love Lucy. Together with Oppenheimer and/or Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf, who joined the show at the beginning of the fifth year, the team tackled 39 episodes per season for the run of the series. Although they never won, Pugh and Carroll were nominated for three Emmy Awards for their work on the series.

Pugh and Carroll are credited with helping create the famous "Lucy" character, which Ball played in one form or another for over 40 years. The pair also wrote episodes for The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show (aka The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour) and Ball's final series, the unsuccessful Life With Lucy (1986).

The pair's "non-Lucy" writing credits include work on the television series The Paul Lynde Show, Dorothy, Those Whiting Girls, Kocham Klane (an I Love Lucy series remake in Poland) and The Tom Ewell Show. They also worked on the films Forever, Darling and Yours, Mine and Ours, starring Ball. They created and wrote the Desi Arnaz Productions series The Mothers-in-Law (filmed at Desilu), which starred actresses Kaye Ballard and Eve Arden. The two served for seven years as Executive Producers of the long-running television series Alice and occasionally contributed scripts, one of which was awarded a Golden Globe Award.


Good Night Madelyn

Thanks for setting a standard for everyone else to follow

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Tony Figueroa