Your Mental Sorbet: SAMUEL L JACKSON WAKE THE F**K UP OBAMA AD 2012

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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Tony Figueroa

TV CONFIDENTIAL Archives: Sept. 19-25, 2012

Show No. 154 Sept. 19-25, 2012

First hour: Ed welcomes singer/actress Kat Kramer, founder of Kat Kramer’s Films That Change the World, a series of motion picture screenings that raise awareness about important social issues — a sensibility that Kat inherited directly from her father, legendary producer/director Stanley Kramer. Kat will be performing along with Le Petit Cirque at Circus PAWS at the Avalon Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, Sept. 30 beginning at 7pm. Also in this hour: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen with a look back at M*A*S*H, which premiered on CBS 40 years ago This Week in History. Second hour: Ed welcomes actress, author and comedienne Geri Jewell, Cousin Geri on The Facts of Life and a pioneer who has opened many doors over the past 30 years, not only for people with disabilities, but also women in general. Geri 's book, I’m Walking as Straight as I Can: Transcending Disability in Hollywood and Beyond, is a very candid and poignant look at the many obstacles that she has overcome in her life and career, including living with cerebral palsy. Also in this hour: Greg Ehrbar's DVD report.

Andy Williams

I still don't think I'm as good as anyone else - Andy Williams

Andy Williams died today at age 84. His official cause of death was bladder cancer, which he revealed to the public during a concert at his theater in November 2011. There, he vowed to make it to Christmas 2012, which would have been his 75th year of performing.

Williams' first performance was in a children's choir at the local Presbyterian church. He and his brothers formed the Williams Brothers quartet in late 1938, and they performed on radio in the Midwest, first at WHO in Des Moines, Iowa, and later at WLS in Chicago and WLW in Cincinnati. The Williams Brothers appeared with Bing Crosby on the hit record "Swinging on a Star" (1944). They appeared in four musical films: Janie (1944), Kansas City Kitty (1944), Something in the Wind (1947) and Ladies' Man (1947). This led to a nightclub act with entertainer Kay Thompson from 1947 to 1951. The quartet stayed together until 1954.


He became the star of his own weekly television variety show in 1962. This series, The Andy Williams Show, won three Emmy Awards for outstanding variety program. Among his series regulars were the Osmond Brothers. He gave up the variety show in 1971 while it was still popular and reduced his show to three specials per year. His Christmas specials, which appeared regularly until 1974 and intermittently from 1982 into the 1990s, were among the most popular of the genre. Williams recorded eight Christmas albums over the years and was known as "Mr. Christmas",due to his perennial Christmas specials and the success of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", which appears on all of his Christmas albums.







Good Night Mr. Williams

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Tony Figueroa

Morgan Woodward, Plus the Best of Jack Paar: Next on TVC

Actor Morgan Woodward will join us on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing Sept. 26-Oct. 2 at the following times and venues:
WROM RadioDetroit, MI
Wednesday 9/26
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 9/30
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Click on the Listen Live button at WROMRadio.net

Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 9/28
7pm ET, 4pm PT
10pm ET, 7pm PT
Click on the Listen Live button at KSAV.org

Talktainment Radio
Columbus, OH
Saturday 9/29
3am ET, Midnight PT
Click on the Listen Live button at TalktainmentRadio.com

The Coyote KKYT 93.7 FM
Ridgecrest, Calif.
Sunday 9/30
9pm PT
Monday 10/1
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at Coyote395.com

The Radio Slot Network
San Francisco, Calif.
Monday 10/1
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Click on the Talk Slot button at RadioSlot.com

Passionate World Radio
Ann Arbor, MI
Tuesday 10/2
11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT
Click on the Listen Now button at pwrtalk.ning.com
One of the most durable character actors in the entertainment industry, with a career that spans five decades, Morgan Woodward has made than 250 film and TV appearances, including 19 episodes of Gunsmoke (more than any actor guest actor), 12 episodes of Wagon Train (also more than any other guest actor), two episodes of the original Star Trek (including a memorable performance as Captain Ronald Tracey in “The Omega Glory”), as well as such feature films as The Killing of a Chinese Bookie with Ben Gazzara, One Little Indian with James Garner, Firecreek with James Stewart and Henry Fonda, and Cool Hand Luke with Paul Newman, where he played one of the memorable characters in motion picture industry, Boss Godfrey, The Man with No Eyes.

Of course, some of you know Morgan Woodward as Shotgun Gibbs on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, while Dallas fans know him as Punk Anderson, the longtime friend of Jock and Miss Ellie that Morgan played for eight seasons. We will ask Morgan how he came to create some of his famous roles, including The Man with No Eyes in Cool Hand Luke, when he joins us in our second hour.








Also this week, we will pay tribute to legendary late night talk show host Jack Paar as part of a special edition of The Sounds of Lost Television. Though Paar’s five years as host as The Tonight Show (NBC, 1957-1962) have been overshadowed by the 30-year tenure of his immediate successor, Johnny Carson, during five years Paar not only left his own indelible mark on television, but in many respects paved the way for the likes of Jon Stewart today. As always, Phil Gries has put together a very nice package of audio highlights from the Jack Paar Tonight Show, which we will play for you during our first hour.


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
Sat 3am ET, Midnight 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 NetworkTue 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

This Week in Television History: September 2012 PART IV

Listen to me on TV CONFIDENTIAL:

CLICK HERE for a list of Stations

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.

 

September 27, 1954

Steve Allen becomes the first host of The Tonight Show.  

 

The first Tonight!  announcer was Gene Rayburn. Allen's version of the show originated such talk show staples as an opening monologue, celebrity interviews, audience participation, and comedy bits in which cameras were taken outside the studio, as well as music, including guest performers and a house band under Lyle "Skitch" Henderson.

 

When the show became a success, Allen got a prime-time Sunday comedy-variety show in June 1956, leading him to share Tonight hosting duties with Ernie Kovacs during the 1956–1957 season. To give Allen time to work on his Sunday evening show, Kovacs hosted Tonight on Monday and Tuesday nights, with his own announcer and bandleader.
During the later Steve Allen years, regular audience member Lillian Miller became such an integral part that she was forced to join AFTRA, the television/radio performers union.
Allen and Kovacs departed Tonight in January 1957 after NBC ordered Allen to concentrate all his efforts on his Sunday night variety program, hoping to combat CBS's Ed Sullivan Show's dominance of the Sunday night ratings.

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

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa