Friday, August 31, 2012

Your Mental Sorbet: Jim Henson's Favorite Songs

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

I found this when I was putting together my
obituary for Jerry Nelson. Toward the end of Jim Henson's Memorial (May 21st, 1990) the Muppeteers sang Jim's favorite Songs.



Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

TV CONFIDENTIAL Archives: Aug. 22-28, 2012

Show No. 150
Aug. 22-28, 2012

First hour: Author Wesley Hyatt (Television’s Top 100: The Most Watched American Broadcasts, 1960-2010) joins Ed for a look at the series finales of M*A*S*H and The Fugitive, the “Who Shot J.R.” revelation episode of Dallas, the groundbreaking miniseries Roots, and other highly-rated television broadcasts of the past five decades.

Second hour: An encore presentation of our January 2012 conversation with actress Jacqueline Scott about David Janssen and The Fugitive, as well as her work with the likes of Uta Hagen, Paul Muni, Louis Calhern, James Stewart, and Walter Matthau.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

World War II, Early CBS Television and The California Women's Conference: Next on TVC

World War II, Early CBS Television and The California Womens Conference: Next on TVC

Author, psychotherapist and former CBS-TV sound editor Stephen J. Weiss and California Women's Conference organizer Michelle Patterson will join us on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing Aug. 29-Sept. 4 at
the following times and venues:
WROM RadioDetroit, MI
Wedn
esday 8/29
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 9/3
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Click on the Listen Live button at WROMRadio.net

Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 8/31
7pm ET, 4pm PT
10pm ET, 7pm PT
Click on the Listen Live button at KSAV.org

Talktainment Radio
Columbus, OH
Friday 8/31
9pm ET, 6pm PT
Click on the Listen Live button at TalktainmentRadio.com

The Coyote KKYT 93.7 FM
Ridgecrest, Calif.
Sunday 9/2
9pm PT
Monday 9/3
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at Coyote395.com

The Radio Slot Network
San Francisco, Calif.
Monday 9/3
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Click on the Talk Slot button at RadioSlot.com

Passionate World Radio
Ann Arbor, MI
Tuesday 9/4
11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT
Click on the Listen Now button at
pwrtalk.ning.com
Our guests this week include author Stephen J. Weiss, a highly decorated World War II veteran who was also one of the early pioneers of television. As a soldier for the U.S. Army in World War II, Steve landed on the beaches of Southern France in 1944, where he, along with seven others, became separated from their company during a ferocious battle in central France and found themselves caught enemy lines. Listed as Missing in Action by the U.S. Army, Steve not only managed to evade capture with the help of the French Resistance, but went to serve the French Resistance and an OSS Operational Group behind enemy lines — for which he later received, among other honors, the American Bronze Star, two Croix de Guerre, and the French Resistance Medal (the only American soldier, by the way, ever to receive this honor). When he returned to the United States at the end of World War II, Steve spent 35 years in the television industry as a music and videotape editor, including ten years at CBS, where he worked alongside such broadcast legends as Edward R. Murrow and Jack Benny.

But, like many soldiers who return home from the war, Steve struggled to adjust back to civilian life after experiencing the trauma of combat. For that reason, he not only sought therapy, he began to study psychotherapy, and eventually earned his masters degree and Ph.D. in clinical psychology, with a particular focus on helping soldiers who may be at risk from suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. Steve writes about his wartime experiences, his work in television, his teaching career and more in
Second Chance: In Combat with the US 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance during the Liberation of France, 1943-1946, a riveting new book that we will talk about during our first hour.

Stephen J. Weiss will be coming to several U.S. cities in the weeks leading up to Veterans Day, Nov. 11, including the ParkPlace Book Store in Kirkland, WA on Tuesday, Sept. 4; Los Angeles, CA, where he has appearances lined up between Sept. 7-14; New York City, where he’ll be appearing at the Union Club on Wednesday, Sept. 19; and Washington, D.C., where he has appearances scheduled between Oct. 22-28.


Joining us during our second hour will be Michelle Patterson. Michelle’s company, EventComplete, specializes in the strategy, production and marketing of large scale conferences, such as the California Women's Conference, that are informative and entertaining. One of the most respected tributes to the power of women for nearly 30 years, this year’s California Women’s Conference will take place Sept. 23-24 at the Long Beach Convention Center, 300 East Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach, CA. Scheduled guest speakers include Gloria Allred, Patricia Arquette, Marcia Cross, Mary McDonough, Michael Learned, Julie Newmar, Tippi Hedren, Rose Marie, Mark Victor Hanson, Shannon Tweed, Carol Channing and David Misch, while Grammy-winning recording artists Melissa Manchester and Helen Reddy will perform at the opening and closing of the conference. For tickets and more information, call (949) 218-0866, email info@CalforniaWomensConference.com or visit www.californiawomensconference.com.

Also this week: Sam Yates with a tribute to Phyllis Diller, and Greg Ehrbar with the return of the DVD report.

TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about televisionWed and Sun 8pm ET, 5pm PT on WROM Radio
Fri 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org

Fri 9pm, 6pm PT on Talktainment Radio
Sun 9pm PT, Mon Midnight ET on
The Coyote KKYT 93.7 FM (Ridgecrest, Calif.)
Mon 8pm ET, 5pm PT on The Radio Slot Network
Tue 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT on
Passionate World RadioTape 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 www.stitcher.com/TVConfidential
Follow us online at www.tvconfidential.net,
blog.tvconfidential.net and www.facebook.com/tvconfidential

Monday, August 27, 2012

This Week in Television History: August 2012 PART IV

Listen to me on TV CONFIDENTIAL:

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.

August 31, 1957

Children's show Kukla, Fran and Ollie airs its last episode on prime-time network TV.


The show featured beloved puppets Kukla, Ollie (a dragon), and others, with live actress Fran Allison as host. The show began as a local Chicago program and moved to NBC in 1948. It was one of the two most important series made in Chicago, along with Garroway at Large, during the city's brief period as an important production center for network programs in the late 1940s. After its network cancellation, PBS revived the series from 1969 to 1971.


September 1, 1922

Yvonne De Carlo is born.


Her most prolific appearances in film came in the 1940s and 1950s and included her best-known film roles, such as Salome Where She Danced and The Ten Commandments, opposite Charlton Heston. In the 1960s, she gained a whole new generation of fans, playing "Lily Munster" on CBS television series The Munsters, opposite Fred Gwynne.

To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa