Grant Tinker

First be best, then be first.

-Grant Tinker

Grant Almerin Tinker
January 11, 1926 – November 28, 2016

Grant Tinker died at his Los Angeles, California home on November 28th at the age of 90.

Tinker was born in Stamford, Connecticut, the son of Margaret (née Hessin) and Arthur Almerin Tinker. During World War II, Tinker served in the Army Air Forces Reserve. Tinker graduated from Dartmouth College. He is the father of producers Mark Tinker and John Tinker.

Tinker married Mary Tyler Moore in 1962, and in 1969 they formed the television production company MTM Enterprises. While creating MTM, Tinker hired Room 222 writers James L. Brooks and Allan Burns to create and produce the company's first television series, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. MTM produced such popular American sitcoms and drama television series such as Rhoda, The Bob Newhart Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere.

After his divorce from Moore in 1981, Tinker left MTM to become the chairman and CEO of NBC, then the perennial last-place American television network (in terms of Nielsen ratings and profits). During Tinker's tenure in NBC's top position, the network regained ratings and produced popular shows like The Cosby Show, Family Ties, The Golden Girls, Cheers, Night Court, and Hill Street Blues. Tinker left the network in 1986, shortly after its parent company RCA was bought by General Electric.

After leaving NBC, Tinker tried to repeat his success with MTM by forming GTG (Grant Tinker-Gannett) Entertainment but the business venture failed and the company closed in 1990.

Good Night Mr. Tinker

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: MST3K #521 - Santa Claus

Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY"

a little spark of madness

that we could use to artificially maintain our Christmas spirit.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Santa Claus It's Christmas time on the SOL! After Mike and the 'bots exchange gifts, they get to watch a movie where Santa Claus has to outwit Satan in order to deliver gifts.

Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Gary Lockwood: Next on TVC

Actor Gary Lockwood join us on a brand new edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing Dec. 2-5 at the following times and venues:

Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 12/2
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
Hear us on the KSAV channel on CX Radio Brazil
Hear us on your cell phone or landline number by dialing 712-432-4235

Indiana Talks
Marion, IN
Saturday 12/3
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 12/4
6pm ET, 3pm PT
Click on the player at IndianaTalks.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in Indiana Talks

KSCO AM-1080 and FM-104.1
San Jose, Santa Cruz and Salinas, CA
KOMY AM-1340
La Selva Beach and Watsonville, CA
Sunday 12/4
9am ET, 6am PT
Also streaming at KSCO.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in KSCO

KHMB AM-1710
KHMV-LP 100.9 FM
Half Moon Bay, CA
Sunday 12/4
9pm PT
Monday 12/5
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at KHMBRadio.com

RadioSlot.com
San Francisco, CA
Monday 12/5
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
and the PWR channel on TuneIn


Most of you know Gary Lockwood as Frank Poole in 2001: A Space Odyssey, while Trekkies know him as Gary Mitchell in “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” the second pilot for the original Star Trek. He has also worked with such film and TV legends as Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Anthony Perkins, Joshua Logan, Elia Kazan, Elvis Presley, Natalie Wood, Basil Rathbone, Anthony Quinn, and, of course, Stanley Kubrick.

Gary was also a fixture on prime time television for more than four decades, including such classic shows as Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Night Gallery, Mission: Impossible, The Six Million Dollar Man, Murder, She Wrote, and many of the crime dramas produced by Quinn Martin. In addition, he headlined his own series, The Lieutenant, the first series created by Gene Roddenberry. Gary Lockwood will join us in our second hour.

TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television
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
Sun 9am ET, 6am PT KSCO-AM 1080 (San Jose, Santa Cruz and Salinas, CA)
Sun 9am ET, 6am PT KOMY-AM 1340 (La Selva Beach and Watsonville, CA)
Sun 9pm PT, Mon Mid ET on KHMB-AM and FM (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

If you listen to TV CONFIDENTIAL, and like what you’ve heard, please consider supporting our efforts by becoming a patron of our show through Patreon. It’s easy to do, it does not cost much, plus you can receive some cool rewards (such as coupons that will allow you to download up to six free programs every month from the TV CONFIDENTIAL Archives store). For more information, please visit www.Patreon.com/tvconfidential... and thanks!

Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: WKRP in Cincinnati

Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY"

a little spark of madness

that we could use to artificially maintain our Christmas spirit.

WKRP in Cincinnati: Season 2, Episode 11

Jennifer's Home for Christmas (17 Dec. 1979)

WKRP s02e11 Jennifer's Home For Christmas by carpalton

Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: The Richard Pryor Show - Santa Claus

Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY"

a little spark of madness

that we could use to artificially maintain our Christmas spirit.

Today is Cyber Monday

Disgruntled Santa Claus concerning the celebration of Christmas.

Stay Tuned


Tony Figueroa

Ron Glass

I wanted to do an hour-long show, and I wanted to something that was dramatic and sometimes funny and humorous, as well. I'm just delighted to have this opportunity to be a part of this project.

- Ron Glass

Ronald E. "Ron" Glass
July 10, 1945 – November 25, 2016

Ron Glass died of respiratory failure on November 25, 2016 at the age of 71.
Glass was born in Evansville, Indiana, the son of Lethia and Crump Glass. Graduating from Saint Francis Seminary in 1964, Glass attended the University of Evansville, where he received a Bachelor of Arts double majoring in Drama and Literature. Years later, the university honored his work in television and film with their highest commendation, the Medal of Honor. Glass stated in an interview that he knew he wanted to act while he was in college. A teacher liked his voice and encouraged him to try out for a play. He went on to act in that play (and many others) during his time there.

Glass made his stage debut at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis before moving to Hollywood. His earliest TV appearances include episodes of Sanford and Son in 1972, an episode of Hawaii Five-O in 1973, an episode of All in the Family in 1973, an episode of The Bob Newhart Show, and episodes of Good Times in 1974. 

In 1975, he landed the role of Det. Ron Harris in Barney Miller which ran until 1982. The following season, Glass also co-starred with Demond Wilson on television in the short-lived remake of The Odd Couple, called The New Odd Couple. 

On December 13, 1985, he played a soul-collecting devil opposite Sherman Hemsley's mathematics professor in an episode of the revived Twilight Zone series. 

In 1992, he co-starred in the short-lived sitcom Rhythm and Blues, a kind of "black WKRP", playing "the fifth Top" opposite Roger Kabler.

In 1996, Glass was cast as uptight history teacher Roland Felcher in the NBC sitcom Mr. Rhodes opposite comedian Tom Rhodes. In 1999, he appeared in an episode of the NBC sitcom Friends as Ross Geller's divorce lawyer, Russell.

After that, Glass appeared in dozens of television series, including sitcoms such as Family Matters and the series Teen Angel where he played God's cousin Rod. He had a guest appearance in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Nightingale". 

He was a series regular in the science fiction series Firefly (2002) and the sequel film Serenity (2005), in which he played Derrial Book, a pseudo-Christian "Shepherd" with a mysterious past. 

Glass provided the voice of Randy Carmichael for the Nickelodeon series All Grown Up! and Rugrats, and the character Garth in the video game Fable II. In 2008 he appeared in the film Lakeview Terrace alongside Samuel L. Jackson, and starred in the 2010 version of Death at a Funeral as Duncan.

Good Night Mr. Glass

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

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

Here is your Shop Local Saturday 

"HOLIDAY SOR-BAY"

a little spark of madness

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

Florence Henderson

I still get so much fan mail addressed to Carol Brady,

and I think a lot of it's through the Net.

And I always answer it,

if it's legible. 

- Florence Henderson

Florence Agnes Henderson
February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016

Florence Henderson died on yesterday of heart failure, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends.  

Henderson, the youngest of ten children, in Dale, Indiana, a small town in the southwestern part of the state. Henderson was a daughter of Elizabeth (née Elder), a homemaker, and Joseph Henderson, a tobacco sharecropper. She was of Irish Catholic ancestry. During the Great Depression, she was taught to sing at the age of two by her mother, who had a repertoire of fifty songs. By the time she was eight, her family called her "Florency", and by age twelve, she was singing at local grocery stores. Henderson graduated from St. Francis Academy in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 1951 shortly thereafter, she went to New York City, enrolling in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She was an Alumna Initiate of the Alpha Chi chapter of Delta Zeta sorority.

Henderson started her career on the stage, performing in musicals, such as the touring production of Oklahoma! and South Pacific at Lincoln Center. She debuted on Broadway in the musical Wish You Were Here in 1952, and later starred on Broadway in the long-running 1954 musical, Fanny (888 performances) in which she originated the title role. Henderson, along with Bill Hayes, appeared in the Oldsmobile commercials from 1958 through 1961 on The Patti Page Show for which Oldsmobile was the sponsor. Henderson also appeared on Broadway in The Girl Who Came to Supper (1963). In 1962, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre, and the same year became the first woman to guest host The Tonight Show in the period after Jack Paar left as the show's host, and before Johnny Carson began his 30 years as the show's longest serving host in October of 1962. She also joined the ranks of what was then called "The Today Girl" on NBC's long running morning show, doing weather and light news, a position also once held by Barbara Walters.

Primarily owing to her role in The Brady Bunch, Henderson was ranked by TV Land and Entertainment Weekly as No. 54 on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Icons. Her most widely recognized role was as Carol Brady in The Brady Bunch which aired on ABC from 1969 until 1974. Henderson's best friend, Shirley Jones, had turned down the role, but the following year accepted the similar role of a mother with five children, named Shirley Partridge in The Partridge Family. (The Partridge Family aired from 1970 - 1974).

Henderson was a frequent panelist on the original version of the television game show Hollywood Squares and made occasional appearances on The $25,000 Pyramid.

Henderson was the spokeswoman for Wesson cooking oil from 1976 to 1996. During that time, she hosted a cooking show on TNN called Country Kitchen, and also did ads for Prange's, a former Wisconsin department store chain. Henderson co-hosted the talk show Later Today on NBC (1999–2000) with co-hosts Jodi Applegateand Asha Blake. In the 2000s, she was the spokeswoman for Polident denture cleanser. In 2003, Henderson seemed to poke fun at her wholesome image by appearing in a Pepsi Twist television commercial with Ozzy Osbourne.

Henderson also appeared with her TV children, as she did with Christopher Knight on the reality television series My Fair Brady. She was also in the sixth season of VH1's The Surreal Life.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, the song "God Bless America" was performed by Henderson at the Indianapolis 500 accompanied by the Purdue All-American Marching Band, at the request of the Hulman-George family, the owners of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and friends of Henderson's.

She appeared in the "Weird Al" Yankovic video for "Amish Paradise" and co-hosted the daily talk show Living Live with former Designing Women star Meshach Taylor on Retirement Living TV. The show was reworked to focus on her and was renamed The Florence Henderson Show. In 2002, she made a memorable guest appearance on improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, participating in on-screen kisses with Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie.

From 2007-2009, Henderson was the host of her own television series, The Florence Henderson Show on RLTV (Retirement Living TV). The show was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2010. In May 2010, Henderson did a series of promotional radio ads for Fox. On the July 12, 2010 edition of WWE Raw, Henderson appeared as the night's guest host.

Henderson was one of twelve celebrities competing on the eleventh season of Dancing with the Stars which premiered on September 20, 2010. Her professional partner was Corky Ballas, father of two-time champion, Mark Ballas. On October 19, 2010, she was eliminated from the show after receiving the lowest combined total of judges' scores and viewer votes.

Henderson made a special appearance on May 11, 2012 in a special Mother's Day episode on The Price Is Right with Drew Carey, displaying prizes as well as one of the showcases.

In February 2013, Henderson began hosting her own cooking show, Who's Cooking with Florence Henderson, on RLTV.

Henderson appeared on Dancing with the Stars just three days before her death, which would be her final television appearance.

Good Night Mrs. Brady

I promise not to play ball in the house.

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa