Edward Herrmann

I'm an actor. I'll take a lead if it's offered. The really good actors can fill a character, no matter what the role is. A good leading man is a character actor; a good character actor can be a leading man

- Edward Herrmann

Edward Kirk Herrmann

July 21, 1943 – December 31, 2014

Edward Herrmann died on December 31, 2014 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Hospital of brain cancer, at the age of 71.

Herrmann was known for his portrayal of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the made-for-television movies, Eleanor and Franklin (1976) and Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977) (both of which earned him Best Actor Emmy Award nominations), as well as in the first feature film adaptation of the Broadway musical Annie(1982). 

Herrmann portrayed Herman Munster in the Fox made-for-television film Here Come the Munsters, which aired on Halloween, October 31, 1995.

He was nominated for a Tony Award for Plenty in 1983 and Emmy Awards in 1986 and 1987 for two guest-starring appearances as Father Joseph McCabe on St. Elsewhere. He played Tobias Beecher's father on Oz. Herrmann earned an Emmy in 1999 for his guest appearances on The Practice.

From 2000-07, he portrayed Richard Gilmore on The WB's Gilmore Girls.

Herrmann was known for his voluminous voice work for The History Channel and various PBS specials, including hosting a revival of Frank Capra's Why We Fight, and made appearances and done voiceovers in Dodge commercials from 1992-2001. His voice work includes dozens of audiobooks, for which he won several Audie awards. He played Gutman in Blackstone Audio's Grammy-nominated dramatization of The Maltese Falcon and played Cauchon in Blackstone's audio version of Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan.

After his well-received portrayal of J. Alden Weir in the play My Dearest Anna at the Wilton Playshop in Wilton, Connecticut, he was a special guest of theMormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square in their Ring Christmas Bells holiday concert in Salt Lake City, Utah, December 11–14, 2008.He reprised his role of Franklin Roosevelt in 2014, providing the voice of F.D.R. in Ken Burns' PBS series, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.

To quote Edward Herrmann, "I think it's much richer and much more fun to be an artist than to be anything else. I can't think of a better life than acting".

Good Night Mr. Herrmann

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

A Tribute to James Garner: Next on TVC

We’ll celebrate the life and career of James Garner on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing Dec. 31-Jan. 5 at the following times and stations:

WROM Radio
Detroit, MI
Wednesday 12/31
8pm ET, 5pm PT
2am ET, 11pm PT
Sunday 1/4
8pm ET, 5pm PT
2am ET, 11pm PT
Click on the Listen Live button at WROMRadio.net

Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 1/2
7pm ET, 4pm PT
10pm ET, 7pm PT
Click on the Listen Live button at KSAV.org
Use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in KSAV
or hear us on the KSAV channel on CX Radio Brazil

Indiana Talks
Marion, IN
Saturday 1/3
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 1/4
6pm ET, 3pm PT
Click on the player at IndianaTalks.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in Indiana Talks

Pittsburgh Talks
Pittsburgh, PA
Saturday 1/3
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 1/4
6pm ET, 3pm PT
Click on the player at PittTalks.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in Pittsburgh Talks

KSCO-AM 1080
San Jose, Santa Cruz and Salinas, CA
KOMY-AM 1340
La Selva Beach and Watsonville, CA
Sunday 1/4
11am ET, 8am PT
Also streaming at KSCO.com

Boost Radio Network
Paramus, NJ
Sunday 1/4
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Click on the On the Air button at BoostRadioNetwork.com

KHMB-AM 1710
Half Moon Bay, CA
Sunday 1/4
9pm PT
Monday 1/5
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at KHMBRadio.com
or use the Live365 app on your smartphone and type in KHMB

RadioSlot.com
San Francisco, CA
Monday 1/5
10pm ET, 7pm PT
with replays Tuesday thru Friday at 10pm ET, 7pm PT
Click on the Talk Slot button at RadioSlot.com

PWRNetwork
Ann Arbor, MI
Various times throughout the week
on the Entertainment Channel at PWRNetwork.com

Whether you think of him as Jim Rockford, Bret Maverick, Grandpa Jim on 8 Simple Rules, Charlie Madison in The Americanization of Emily, Dr. Harold Lear inHeartsounds, Murphy in Murphy’s Romance, Noah Calhoun in The Notebook, his Polaroid commercials with Mariette Hartley, or his many other memorable roles in film and television, James Garner was one of those actors that you never got tired of watching. That’s one reason why his career spanned six decades — and his fan base spans an amazing four generations.

James Garner passed away on July 19, 2014. This week’s program will be devoted entirely to the iconic actor who, time and again, changed the way we looked at our film and TV heroes. We’ll play highlights from some of our previous conversations with the people who knew and worked with James Garner, including Jon Winokur (co-author of The Garner Files, Jim’s memoirs of his career in film and television), Emmy winners Roy Huggins (creator of Maverick, co-creator of The Rockford Files) and Stephen J. Cannell (co-creator of The Rockford Files), writer/producer Juanita Bartlett (Nichols, The Rockford Files), and a few other surprises. We’ll also read some of the emails and Facebook comments about Garner that you have posted over the past few weeks. Plus we’ll hear from James Garner himself, in the form of two rarely heard radio interviews.

TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television
Wed and Sun 8pm ET, 5pm PT on WROM Radio
Fri 7pm ET and PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org and CX Radio Brazil
Sat 8pm ET, 5pm PT and Sun 6pm ET, 3pm PT on Indiana Talks
Sat 8pm ET, 5pm PT and Sun 6pm ET, 3pm PT on Pittsburgh Talks
Sun 10am ET, 7am PT KSCO-AM 1080 (San Jose, Santa Cruz and Salinas, CA)
Sun 10am ET, 7am PT KOMY-AM 1340 (La Selva Beach and Watsonville, CA)
Sun 8pm ET, 5pm PT Boost Radio Network
Sun 9pm PT, Mon Mid ET on KHMB-AM 1710 (Half Moon Bay, CA)
Mon 10pm ET, 7pm PT on The Radio Slot Network
Replays various times throughout the week on the Entertainment Channel at PWRNetwork
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 Stitcher.com
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 HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: The Last New Years Rockin Eve with Dick Clark

Here is a New Years Eve

"HOLIDAY SOR-BAY"

that we could use to artificially stimulate our festive spirit as we look forward to

The last time we will saw a New Years Rockin Eve Countdown with Dick Clark

... AND NOW

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Happy New Year and Stay Tuned

  

Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: Tracey Ullman

Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" a little spark of madness that we could use to artificially maintain our Christmas spirit.

Today in Television History

December 30, 1959

Comedian Tracey Ullman is born in Hackbridge, England. She attended theater school from ages 12 to 16. At age 21, she began performing with an avant-garde drama group, the Royal Court Theater, where she won rave reviews. She landed her own U.S. TV show in 1987. The Emmy-winning Tracey Ullman Show ran from 1987 to 1990. The show featured short skits starring Ullman and a regular cast of players, and also aired short animated segments-one was an offbeat cartoon about underachieving 10-year-old named Bart Simpson and his oddball family. The cartoon was later spun off into its own hit show, The Simpsons.

December 30, 1984

Crazy Like a Fox first aired.

The series starred Jack Warden as Harry Fox, a free-spirited private detective who lived by his wits and John Rubinstein as his high-strung attorney son, Harrison, who unwillingly, and frequently, found himself dragged into his father's cases.

The show's opening would always feature Harry and Harrison talking on the phone in their offices like this:

·        Harrison: Hello?

·        Harry: Harrison, I need your help.

·        Harrison: Dad, you keep forgetting. I'm a lawyer. You're the detective!

·        Harry: Aw, come on son. All I need is a ride. What could possibly happen?

Originally airing Sundays at 9 PM (EST), the show was a hit in its first season, even cracking the Nielsen Top 10 with an average household share of 19.9. However, midway through the second season, CBS brought back its Sunday Night Movie, which displaced the show (along with Trapper John, M.D., which followed Crazy Like a Fox up to that point) and resulted in it being bounced around to various time slots, which caused ratings to drop significantly and led to its cancellation at the end of the season.

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: What Are You Doing New Years Eve?

Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" that we could use to artificially maintain our Christmas spirit for a few more days.

  

What Are You Doing New Years Eve? 

by Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt 

Joseph & Zooey Web

Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: Rudolph's Shiny New Year

Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" a little spark of madness that we could use to artificially maintain our Christmas spirit.

Today in Television History

December 28, 1954

Denzel Washington born in Mount Vernon, New York. In 2002, for his performance as a corrupt cop in Training Day, Washington became the first black man to win the Best Actor Academy Award since 1964, when Sidney Poitier received the award for Lilies of the Field.

Rudolph has just come back from delivering Christmas presents with Santa Claus when he is asked by Father Time to find the missing Baby New Yearbefore midnight on New Year's Eve. The baby, named Happy, ran away because everyone laughed at his large ears, although no one meant it in a cruel way. 

Rudolph's Shiny New Year (Rankin Bass) by theperminator

Unless Happy is returned before December 31 to take his position as the new year, the current year will not end and the date will perpetually remain December 31 forever. If this happens, the evil buzzard named Aeon will rule the world forever.

Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: Merry Christmas Knots Landing

Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" a little spark of madness that we could use to artificially maintain our Christmas spirit.

December 27, 1979

The pilot episode of Knots Landing aired on CBS.

Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. A spin-off of Dallas, it was set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles, and centered on the lives of four married couples living in acul-de-sac, Seaview Circle. By the time of its conclusion, Knots Landing had become one of the longest-running primetime dramas on U.S. television after Gunsmoke and Bonanza.

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: B.J. and the Bear "Silent Night, Unholy Night."

Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" a little spark of madness that we could use to artificially maintain our Christmas spirit. 

The 1979 Christmas episode of the B.J. and the Bear entitled 'Silent Night, Unholy Night.' "BJ helps a pregnant woman who has some very incriminating evidence against the evil sheriff on Christmas Eve." 

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: Dean Martin

Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" a little spark of madness that we could use to artificially maintain our Christmas spirit.

December 25, 1995

Actor and singer Dean Martin dies at the age of 78.

Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio, in 1917. After working as a prizefighter and a steelworker, Martin started a nightclub act. In 1946, he teamed up with comedian Jerry Lewis, and they became one of the most successful comedy duos of all time. A hit with live audiences and on television, Lewis and Martin made 16 movies together over 10 years, starting with My Friend Irma in 1949. After the duo split up, Martin launched his own TV variety show, which ran from 1965 to 1974. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Martin teamed up with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop to perform in Las Vegas. The group, known as the Rat Pack, made several movies together in the early 1960s, including Ocean's Eleven (1960), Sergeants Three (1962), and Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964).

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

TV CONFIDENTIAL Archives: Show No. 260 with guests Bobby Burgess, Herbie J Pilato, Gil Bernard Anthony, Lorraine Santoli and Adam-Michael James

Show No. 260 with guests Bobby Burgess, Herbie J Pilato, Gil Bernard Anthony, Lorraine Santoli and Adam-Michael James
Original Airdate: Week of Dec. 17-22, 2014

First hour: Ed welcomes authors Adam-Michael James and Herbie J Pilato. Mike and Herbie collaborated on The Bewitched Continuum, a fun new book that looks at continuity issues in the world of Bewitched. Also in this hour: Radio/TV journalist and novelist Gil Bernard Anthony (Bolivar Solution) joins Ed for some thoughts on the latest developments in the allegations against Bill Cosby. Plus: Greg Ehrbar with last-minute DVD gift ideas for classic TV lovers.

Second hour: Ed welcomes dancer and singer Bobby Burgess, one of the original Mouseketeers, a longtime member of Lawrence Welk’s “musical family,” and the author of a new memoir, Ears and Bubbles: Dancing My Way from The Mickey Mouse Club to The Lawrence Welk Show. Bobby’s collaborator, Lorraine Santoli (The Official Mickey Mouse Club Book), also joins us in this hour.