I represent the first generation who, when we were born, the television was now a permanent fixture in our homes. When I was born people had breakfast with Barbara Walters, dinner with Walter Cronkite, and slept with Johnny Carson. Read the full "Pre-ramble"
A new book, Everything I Need to Know I Learned in The Twilight Zone, takes all of the various life lessons, ground rules, inspirational thoughts and musings of the series and basically says “We would all be better people if we lived our life by what The Twilight Zone teaches us.” Written by Mark Dawidziak, television critic for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and author of several other books on film and television (including The Columbo Phile and The Night Stalker Companion), Everything I Need to Know I Learned in The Twilight Zone not only lists more four dozen life lessons found in The Twilight Zone, but includes examples of where those lessons apply in various episodes. The book also includes ”Guest Lessons” submitted by such esteemed Twilight Zone alumni as Richard Matheson, Harlan Ellison, George Clayton Johnson, Donna Douglas, James Best, Robert Redford and Jack Klugman, as well as also such noted fans of the series as Dick Van Dyke, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Joseph Dougherty. Mark Dawidziak will join us in our second hour.
This week’s program will include a tribute to Mr. Warmth, Don Rickles, the iconic comedian who passed away on Thursday, April 6. Though widely known to three generations of fans for his singular brand of insult humor, not to mention his numerous appearances on The Dean Martin Hour Celebrity Roasts and late night talk shows (including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson), Rickles was also an accomplished dramatic actor in film and television, particularly throughout the 1960s. We will pay tribute to the television career of Don Rickles during our first hour.  |
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.
April
24, 1962
First coast-to-coast satellite telecast. The first coast-to-coast telecast by satellite takes
place on this day in 1962. Signals from California were bounced off the first
experimental communications satellite, Echo I, and received in Massachusetts.
April 24, 1982
Jane Fonda’s first Workout video released.Hollywood royalty, fashion model, Oscar-winning actress, controversial anti-war activist. Jane Fonda fit all of these descriptions by the late 1970s and 1980s, when she emerged in her latest incarnation--exercise guru. On April 24, 1982, Fonda extended her reach into the home-video market with the release of Workout, the first of her many bestselling aerobics tapes.
April 25, 1992
The final episode of "Growing Pains" aired
on ABC.
The final episode of "Who's the Boss?" aired on ABC.
April 25, 1997
The "Dukes Of Hazzard" television movie
entitled "The Reunion" aired.
April 28, 1957
Mike Wallace was seen on
TV for the first time. He was the host of Mike
Wallace Interviews.
April 29, 1992
The Los Angeles Riots were sparked on when a jury acquitted four Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the videotaped beating of African-American motorist Rodney King following a high-speed pursuit.
Thousands of people in the Los Angeles area rioted over the six
days following the verdict. First day (Wednesday, April 29) The acquittals of
the four accused Los Angeles Police Department officers came at 3:15 p.m. local
time. By 3:45, a crowd of more than 300 people had appeared at the Los Angeles
County Courthouse, most protesting the verdicts passed down a half an hour
earlier and many miles away. Between 5 and 6 p.m., a group of two dozen
officers, commanded by LAPD Lt. Michael Moulin, confronted a growing African-American
crowd at the intersection of Florence and Normandie in South Central Los Angeles. Outnumbered,
these officers retreated. A new group of protesters appeared at Parker
Center, the LAPD's headquarters, by about 6:30 p.m., and 15 minutes later,
the crowd at Florence and Normandie had started looting, attacking vehicles and
people, mainly whites.
April 30, 1992
The sitcom debuted in 1984 at a time when the sitcom
was declared to be dead. Comedian Bill Cosby starred
in the nation's top-rated program for four of its eight years and always ranked
in the top 20 shows.
April 30th 1992
The second day of the Los Angeles Riots, KNBC (NBC's
Los Angeles affiliate) was covering the historic event nonstop.
But that evening the station decided to suspend it’s
around the clock riot coverage to air the series finale of The Cosby Show
giving viewers a brief Mental Sorbet.
Following the broadcast Bill Cosby went on the air and asked Angelinos to pray
for peace.
April 30, 1997
In The Puppy Episode of the ABC
sitcom Ellen, the character of Ellen Morgan (played
by Ellen DeGeneres) announces that she is gay.
The widely publicized episode featured cameos by
Oprah Winfrey, k.d. lang, Demi Moore, Billy Bob Thornton, and Dwight Yoakam. An
estimated 42 million viewers watched the special hour-long program. Ellen
DeGeneres herself had come out earlier that year on The Oprah
Winfrey Show and in TIME. Ellen
is often credited to be the first primetime sitcom to feature a gay leading
character but there was a sitcom titled Love, Sidney (1981 until 1983) staring the late Tony Randall.
The first openly gay regular character on a sitcom was Soap's (1977) Jodie Dallas, played by Billy Crystal.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Stay Tuned Tony Figueroa |
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| Erin Marie Moran October 18, 1960 – April 22, 2017 |
Good Night Shortcake
The only actor to have won an Emmy for the same role in both a network comedy and a network drama—that being, of course, Lou Grant on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show as well as his own hour-long series, Lou Grant—Ed Asner has left his mark on stage, film and television for nearly seven decades. Ed recently won his eighth Emmy Award at The CSA Awards for his guest appearance in the Canadian dramatic series Forgive Me. We’ll talk about that, plus we’ll ask Ed about Lou Grant, Up, his early years in Chicago theatre, and whatever else is on Ed’s mind when he joins us in our second hour.
Ed Asner is about to embark on a national tour of A Man and His Prostate, the critically acclaimed one-man show (written by former Mary Tyler Moore Show producer Ed. Weinberger) that is part comedy, part drama, and part public service announcement. For our listeners on PWRN, Ed will be bringing A Man and His Prostate to Coldwater, Michigan on Friday, April 28. For our listeners on Indiana Talks, Ed will be bringing A Man and His Prostate to Lafayette, Indiana on Sunday, April 30 and to Valparaiso, Indiana on Wednesday, May 3. For our listeners on 920 WON in Brooklyn, Ed will be performing the show in Old Saybrook, CT on Thursday, August 17. For more information and these and other upcoming performances go to www.AManandHisProstate.com/schedule/
The first hour of this week’s program will include a tribute to Chuck Barris, the game show impresario who passed away on Tuesday, March 21. Though arguably best known as the host and co-creator of The Gong Show, Barris changed the face of TV game shows with The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game, plus he left his mark on variety shows, music, books, film and other forms of entertainment. Also this week: A look at how local and network TV news covered at the events surrounding the Los Angeles riots on April 29, 1992. |
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.
April 17, 1937
Daffy Duck debuts.
Daffy Duck makes his debut in the Warner Bros. short Porky's
Duck Hunt. In the 1920s, movie houses had started showing a short cartoon
before feature presentations, but the form became more innovative and popular
after sound was introduced in 1928.
April 17,
2002
General Hospital airs 10,000th episode.
ABC airs the 10,000th episode of the daytime drama General
Hospital, the network’s longest-running soap opera and the longest-running
program ever produced in Hollywood.
April 18, 2012
Dick
Clark, host of "American Bandstand" and "New Year's Rockin'
Eve," dies
On this day in 2012, Dick
Clark, the TV personality and producer best known for hosting "American
Bandstand," an influential music-and-dance show that aired nationally from
1957 to 1989 and helped bring rock `n' roll into the mainstream in the late 1950s, dies of a heart
attack at age 82 in Santa Monica, California. The
clean-cut, youthful-looking Clark, dubbed "America’s Oldest
Teenager," also was the longtime host of the annual telecast "New Year's Rockin'
Eve" and headed an entertainment empire that developed game shows, awards
shows, talk shows, made-for-TV movies and other programs.
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Magnum! I demand you come back immediately!
- Jonathan Q. Higgins III
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This being Easter week, we have put together a program of biblical proportions that includes a replay of our conversation with Paul Green about the life and career of Jeffrey Hunter. Known for his starring roles as Martin Pawley in The Searchers and Christopher Pike in the original pilot episode of Star Trek, Hunter also played Jesus Christ in the 1961 film production of King of Kings directed by Nicholas Ray. Hunter’s sudden death in May 1969 was a shock to everyone who knew him and left many wondering what direction his life and career would have gone, had he lived. Some of those questions are answered in Paul’s book Jeffrey Hunter: The Film, Television, Radio and Stage Performances, which we’ll discuss in our second hour.
Our first hour will include an encore presentation of our tribute to Academy Award winner Charlton Heston. Though mostly known for his work on the big screen, Heston did star in the Dynasty spin-off The Colbys, while for many of us the prime time showings of Ben-Hur on CBS and The Ten Commandments on ABC were annual holiday traditions. Plus: We'll take a look at the recent DVD release of the epic miniseries Jesus of Nazareth. 
