Paul Crouch

Paul Franklin Crouch (March 30, 1934 – November 30, 2013) was an American religious broadcaster who, along with his wife Jan, co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).

Paul Crouch died at his home in Orange, Calif., on Saturday, November 30, 2013 after a decade-long fight with degenerative heart disease, his grandson Brandon Crouch told The Associated Press. "He was an incredible businessman, entrepreneur, visionary; he built something that impacted the world," he said. Trinity Broadcast Network had reported that Crouch became ill and was taken to a Dallas area hospital in October while visiting the network's facility in Colleyville, Texas. Later he returned to California for continued treatment of "heart and related health issues."

Good Night Mr. Crouch

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Paul Walker on a Kids Game Show called "I'm Telling"

I'm Telling! was an television game show, which ran from September 12, 1987 to March 5, 1988 on NBC Saturday mornings and was hosted by Laurie Faso with Dean Goss announcing.

This is the original air from January 1988 featuring Paul Walker.

Paul Walker died today in a car crash north of Los Angeles. He was 40.
A statement on the actor's Facebook page said he was a passenger in a friend's car, and that Walker was in the area to attend a charity event for his organization Reach Out Worldwide.

Good Night Paul.

Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Shop Local Saturday "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY": Mr. Hoopers Egg Cream

Here is your Shop Local Saturday "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.

Telly and Gordon want a "Mr. Hooper Egg Cream."

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa 

Your Black Friday HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: The Jack Benny Program - Christmas Shopping

Here is your Black Friday "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.

The Jack Benny Program: Season 8, Episode 7 Christmas Shopping Show (15 Dec. 1957)

 

Stay Tuned and Safe Shopping


Tony Figueroa  

TV CONFIDENTIAL Archives: Show No. 209 with guests Andrew Kaplan and David Frankham

Show No. 209 with guests Andrew Kaplan and David Frankham
Original Airdate: Week of Nov. 20-26, 2013
First hour: Ed welcomes novelist Andrew Kaplan, creator of the internationally bestselling Scorpion series (the latest of which is Scorpion: Deception) and the author of Homeland: Carrie’s Run, an original prequel novel based on the Emmy Award-winning Showtime series starring Claire Danes. Also in this hour: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen remember the 10^th anniversary of Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming Governor of California, and how he began his campaign by announcing his candidacy on The Tonight Show.  
Second hour: Ed welcomes actor David Frankham (Master of the World, Return of the Fly, 101 Dalmations). David’s memoir, Which One Was David?, is filled with great stories about his work and friendships with such film and television legends as Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone, Rock Hudson, Dirk Bogarde, Roger Corman, William Wyler, Ida Lupino, and Barbara Stanwyck.

Your Holiday Sor-Bay: Thanksgivukkah = Thanksgiving and the start of Hanukkah

For the first time in more than 100 years, Thanksgiving and the start of Hanukkah coincide in a holiday mash-up that's been dubbed Thanksgivukkah.

Here is a Thanksgiving "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" tradition. This is a little brain candy to snack on while dinner is cooking. May we be thankful for what we are about to view...

Station manager -Arthur Carlson comes up with a big idea for a unique holiday promotion involving live turkeys and a helicopter. First aired 35 years ago on October 30th 1978 (Season 1, Episode 7) In 1997 TV Guide ranked this episode number 40 on its '100 Greatest Episodes of All Time' list.


But wait there's more.
Adam Sandler's 3rd Hanukkah Song.

Stay Tuned and Happy Thanksgivukkah

Tony Figueroa

PS: The Sesame Street episode "Farewell, Mr. Hooper" aired on Thanksgiving Day in 1983 so that the entire family could watch the show that dealt directly with the death of character Mr. [Harold] Hooper (actor Will Lee had died the previous year).  Head writer Norman Stiles and his writing staff fashioned a script following extensive research, and the show is most remembered for the scene in which Bird Bird comes to fully understand what is meant by his friend Mr. Hooper's death.  The show was aired once and never rerun and is considered a landmark in children's television programming.  For the 1983-84 season of the show, performer Carroll Spinney (Bird Bird) and the writers of Sesame Street were awarded the Peabody Award; the show also won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing as well.

KFO and The Big O: Next on TVC

Author John Kruth and DVD producer Mark Milano will join us on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing Nov. 27-Dec. 3 at the following times and venues:

WROM Radio
Detroit, MI
Wednesday 11/27
8pm ET, 5pm PT
2am ET, 11pm PT
Sunday 12/1
8pm ET, 5pm PT
2am ET, 11pm PT
Click on the Listen Live button at WROMRadio.net

WYYR: Yesteryear Radio
Vero Beach, FL
Wednesday 11/27
9pm ET, 6pm PT
Click the On Air button at WYYR.com

Indiana Talks
Marion, IN
Wednesday 11/27
11pm ET, 8pm PT
with replays at various times throughout the week
Click on the player at IndianaTalks.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in Indiana Talks

Talktainment Radio
Columbus, OH
Thursday 11/28
2am ET, 11pm PT
Friday 11/29
3am ET, Midnight PT
Noon ET, 9am PT
Click on the Listen Live button at TalktainmentRadio.com

Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 11/29
7pm ET, 4pm PT
10pm ET, 7pm PT
Click on the Listen Live button at KSAV.org
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in KSAV

KHMB Radio 1710 AM
Half Moon Bay, CA
Sunday 12/1
9pm PT
Monday 12/2
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at KHMBRadio.com
or use the Live365 app on your smartphone and type in KHMB

The Radio Slot Network
San Francisco, CA
Monday 12/2
10pm ET, 7pm PT
with replays Tuesday thru Friday at 10pm ET, 7pm PT
Click on the Talk Slot button at RadioSlot.com

Passionate World Radio
Ann Arbor, MI
Tuesday 12/3
8:30pm ET, 5:30pm PT
with replays at various times throughout the week at PWRTalk.com
Click on the Listen Now button at PWRTalk.com

Friday, Dec. 6 will mark the 25^th anniversary of the death of Roy Orbison, the Rock and Rock Hall of Famer whose singular voice and inimitable style inspired the likes of Bruce Springsteen, k.d. lang, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, John Lennon, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, and countless other musicians.

Known for such iconic songs as “Blue Bayou,” “Running Scared,” “In Dreams” and, of course, “Pretty Woman,” Roy Orbison sang about love, pain and heartache like few others — no doubt, because he understood it like few others, having experienced more pain and misery than most of us will see in a lifetime, including the tragic deaths of his first wife and first two children.

We’ll remember The Big O this week by welcoming author and musicianJohn Kruth. John’s book Rhapsody in Black: The Life and Music of Roy Orbison not only provides the back story behind every hit record of Orbison, but also includes information about Roy’s many appearances on television, including Roy Orbison: A Black and White Night, the award-winning special produced by Cinemax that is still considered one of the best concert films ever made. John Kruth will join us in our second hour.























Also joining us this week will be Mark Milano, curator ofKukla.tv, the official website of Kukla, Fran and Ollie, and the producer of Kukla, Fran and Ollie: The First Episodes.

Mark recently released a third volume of Kukla, Fran and Ollie on DVD that includes guest appearances by guitarist Jose Greco, singer Dennis Day, and NBC news commentator H.V. Kaltenborn, plus black-and-white clips of two KFO episodes that were the first color television shows ever broadcast. Mark Milano will join us in our first hour.

Plus: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen with an expanded edition of This Week in TV History.

TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television
Wed and Sun 8pm ET, 5pm PT on WROM Radio
Wed 9pm ET, 6pm PT on WYYR: Yesteryear Radio
Wed 11pm ET, 8pm PT on IndianaTalks.com
Fri 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org
Fri Noon ET, 9am PT on Talktainment Radio
Sun 9pm PT, Mon Midnight ET on KHMB Radio 1710 AM (Half Moon Bay, Calif.)
Mon 10pm ET, 7pm PT on The Radio Slot Network
Tue 8:30pm ET, 5:30pm PT on Passionate World Radio
Tape 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
Follow us now on Twitter: Twitter.com/tvconfidential
Like our Fan Page at www.facebook.com/tvconfidential

Your Pre-Thanksgiving Holiday Sorbet PSA: William Shatner & State Farm® present "Eat, Fry, Love," a turkey fryer fire cautionary tale

Here is the first "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" of 2013. This is a kind of Video Advent Calendar that we could use to artificially stimulate our Holiday spirit.  We start with a Pre-Thanksgiving 

P.S.A.

William Shatner loves deep-fried turkey, but over many Thanksgivings and Christmases he's made mistakes, burned himself, and nearly burned down his house. In this dramatic retelling, Bill shows us how dangerous turkey fryers can be.



Stay Tuned and have a SAFE Thanksgiving

Tony Figueroa

This Week in Television History: November 2013 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.

The Sesame Street episode "Farewell, Mr. Hooper" aired on
Thanksgiving Day in 1983 so that the entire family could watch the show
that dealt directly with the death of character Mr. [Harold] Hooper
(actor Will Lee had died the previous year).  Head writer Norman Stiles
and his writing staff fashioned a script following extensive research,
and the show is most remembered for the scene in which Bird Bird comes
to fully understand what is meant by his friend Mr. Hooper's death.  The
 show was aired once and never rerun and is considered a landmark in
children's television programming.  For the 1983-84 season of the show,
performer Carroll Spinney (Bird Bird) and the writers of Sesame Street were awarded the Peabody Award; the show also won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing as well.

November 26, 1938

Richard Caruthers “Rich” Little is born. 

The Canadian-American impressionist and voice actor, nicknamed “The Man of a Thousand Voices,” by voice actor Mel Blanc. Little was an usher at the Elgin Movie Theatre in Ottawa where he would perfect his voices while standing at the back of the theatre. He started his amateur acting career at Ottawa’s Little Theatre, winning his first acting award at the Eastern Ontario Drama Festival in Deep River, Ontario. He went on to become a successful disc jockey, frequently incorporating impersonations into his show. In 1963, he was asked to audition by Mel Tormé, who was producing a new variety show for Judy Garland. The audition won him the job and in 1964, Little made his American television debut on CBS‘s The Judy Garland Show, where he imitated various male celebrities, including James Mason in A Star Is Born.

In 1966 and 1967, Little appeared in ABC-TV‘s Judy Carne sitcom Love on a Rooftop as the Willises’ eccentric neighbor, Stan Parker. He appeared on That Girl in 1967 as a writer who impressed Marlo Thomas‘ character with his impersonations. He also made two memorable appearances as accident-prone Brother Paul Leonardi on The Flying Nun in 1968; it marked one his few appearances as a character actor rather than an impressionist.

Little was a frequent guest on variety and talk shows. With Johnny Carson he captured The Tonight Show host’s voice and many on-stage mannerisms (and later played Carson in the HBO TV-movie The Late Shift). One of his best known impressions is of U.S. President Richard Nixon (reprising in 1991 the role of Nixon as ideal sperm donor in Gina’s fantasies on the soap opera Santa Barbara.) During the 1970s, Little made many television appearances portraying Nixon. He was a regular guest on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts in the 1970s and was also a semi-regular on the Emmy-winning ABC-TV variety series The Julie Andrews Hourin 1972–1973. In response to his imitation of Jack Benny, the comedian sent Little an 18-carat gold money clip containing this message: “With Bob Hope doing my walk and you doing my voice, I can be a star and do nothing.” He was named “Comedy Star of the Year” by the American Guild of Variety Artists in 1974.

His best-known continuing TV series was The Kopycats, hour-long segments of The ABC Comedy Hour, first broadcast in 1972. Taped in England, these comedy-variety shows consisted entirely of celebrity impersonations, with the actors in full costume and makeup for every sketch. The cast included Little, Frank Gorshin,Marilyn Michaels, George Kirby, British comedian Joe Baker, Fred Travalena, Charlie Callas and Peter Goodwright.

The Rich Little Show (1976) and The New You Asked for It (1981) were attempts to present Little in his own person, away from his gallery of characterizations. Little also appeared on a second season episode of The Muppet Show. 

In 1981 Little appeared in a comedy LP called The First Family Rides Again, which was the fourth and final ‘First Family’ comedy LPs originally created by Bob Booker and Earle Doud. Little starred along with Melanie Chartoff, Micheal Richards, Shelly Black, Jenilee Harrison, Earle Doud, and Vaughn Meader, making light of U.S. President Ronald Reagan‘s years in the White House.

Little has starred in various HBO specials including the 1978 one-man show, Rich Little’s Christmas Carol. He has also appeared in several movies and released nine albums. When David Niven proved too ill for his voice to be used in his appearances in Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) and Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), Little provided the overdub. (Ironically, Little provided the voice for the Pink Panther in two experimental 1965 cartoons, Sink Pink and Pink Ice, in Niven’s voice). He rendered similar assistance for the 1991 TV special Christmas at the Movies by providing an uncredited dub for actor/dancer Gene Kelly who had lost his voice.  As a native Canadian, he also lent his voice to the narration of two specials which were the forerunners for the animated series The Raccoons: The Christmas Raccoons and The Raccoons on Ice. 

Little was the host for the 2007 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Although President George W. Bush was reported to have enjoyed Little’s performance, it was panned by some reviewers for “his ancient jokes and impressions of dead people (Johnny Carson, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan).” 

Little voices as a guest star in Futurama such as Futurama: Bender’s Game, playing his own celebrity head: “This is Rich Little, impersonating Howard Cosell.” Many times he plays a sports commentator.

November 29, 1948

Children's show Kukla, Fran and Ollie premieres 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 before debuting on NBC. 

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 in 1957, PBS revived the series from 1969 to 1971.

November 30, 1918

Efrem Zimbalist Jr. is born.  

Best known for his starring roles in the television series 77 Sunset Strip and The F.B.I.

He is also known as recurring character “Dandy Jim Buckley” in the seriesMaverick and as the voice behind the character Alfred Pennyworth in Batman: The Animated Series and its numerousspin-offs.

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

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa