Eight Decades of American Television: Next on TVC

Pop culture historians Harry Castleman and Walter J. Podrazik will join us on an encore edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing June 2-5 at the following times and venues:

Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 6/2
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 6/3
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 6/4
10am ET, 7am PT
Click on the player at IndianaTalks.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in Indiana Talks

WON 920 The Apple
Brooklyn, NY
Saturday 6/3
10pm ET, 7pm PT
Streaming at www.920won.caster.fm

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

CROC Radio
Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada
Sunday 6/4
1pm ET, 10am PT
Streaming at CROCRadio.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in CROC

KHMB AM-1710
KHMV-LP 100.9 FM
Half Moon Bay, CA
Sunday 6/4
9pm PT
Monday 6/5
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at KHMBRadio.com

RadioSlot.com
San Francisco, CA
Monday 6/5
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

Harry Castleman (left) has worked as a media producer and consultant for many political organizations and campaigns. Walter J. Podrazik is a communications and logistics consultant who currently serves as television curator at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago. Together they have collaborated on eight books on popular culture, including Watching TV: Eight Decades of American Television, a sweeping look at the history of television from 1944 through the present day, from its early inception as a passive activity to its current form as a multi-tiered experience. Watching TV not only takes you behind the scenes of every prime time season and prime time schedule over the past eight decades, but includes an ongoing timeline of the major personalities, trends and breakout shows of each season. It is also, hands down, one of the best, most informative and engaging books on television that you will ever find.

Harry and Wally will join us for an expanded conversation that will begin near the end of our first hour. We’ll weigh in on the impact that Netflix and Amazon have had on TV programming, the current trend among the broadcast networks for so-called “limited run” series, the recent passings of Morley Safer and other TV icons, and a whole lot more.

Speaking of TV icons, Greg Ehrbar will share a few thoughts on the passing of longtime actress and voice artist Janet Waldo. Not only has Greg written extensively about Waldo’s accomplishments in music, film and television, but had an opportunity to direct her once. Plus: This Week in TV History.

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 (Marion, IN)
Sat 10pm ET, 7pm PT on WON 920 The Apple (Brooklyn, NY)
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 1pm ET, 10am PT CROC Radio (British Columbia, Canada)
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 (San Francisco, CA)
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, SoundCloud
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. For as little as a dollar a month, you will help offset the costs of production and receive some cool rewards. For more information, please visit www.Patreon.com/tvconfidential... and thanks!

This Week in Television History: May 2017 PART V

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.

June 1, 1980

CNN (Cable News Network), the world's first 24-hour television news network, makes its debut. 

The network signed on at 6 p.m. EST from its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, with a lead story about the attempted assassination of civil rights leader Vernon Jordan. CNN went on to change the notion that news could only be reported at fixed times throughout the day. At the time of CNN's launch, TV news was dominated by three major networks--ABC, CBS and NBC--and their nightly 30-minute broadcasts. Initially available in less than two million U.S. homes, today CNN is seen in more than 89 million American households and over 160 million homes internationally.

June 3, 2002

Lew Wasserman dies

Lewis Robert "Lew" Wasserman (March 22, 1913 – June 3, 2002) was an American talent agent and studio executive, sometimes credited with creating and later taking apart the studio system in a career spanning more than six decades. He was also the manager of MCA.

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

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Your Mental Sorbet: EXCLUSIVE: Mar-a-Lago Sinkhole Finally Breaks His Silence

Here is another "Mental Sorbet" 

A little spark of madness

that we could use to momentarily forget about those

things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.

Published on May 23, 2017

Exclusive footage of the Mar-A-Lago Sinkhole reveals why it has suddenly appeared in Donald Trump's most sacred of spaces.

Subscribe now: https://www.youtube.com/c/funnyordie?...

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Roger Moore

I enjoy being a highly overpaid actor

-Roger Moore

Sir Roger George Moore 
October 14, 1927 – May 23, 2017

Roger Moore's family announced his death in Switzerland from cancer.
I wanted to highlight some of Sir Rodger's work in television.

Ivanhoe (1958–1959)

Moore made his name in television. He was the eponymous hero, Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, in the 1958–59 series Ivanhoe, a loose adaptation of the 1819 romantic novel by Sir Walter Scott set in the 12th century during the era of Richard the Lionheart, delving into Ivanhoe's conflict with Prince John. Shot mainly in England at Elstree Studios and Buckinghamshire, some of the show was also filmed in California due to a partnership with Columbia Studios' Screen Gems. Aimed at younger audiences, the pilot was filmed in colour, a reflection of its comparatively high budget for a British children's adventure series of the period, but subsequent episodes were shot in black and white. Christopher Lee and John Schlesinger were among the show's guest stars and series regulars included Robert Brown (who in the 1980s would play M in several James Bond films) as the squire Gurth, Peter Gilmore as Waldo Ivanhoe, Andrew Keir as villainous Prince John, and Bruce Seton as noble King Richard. Moore suffered broken ribs and a battle-axe blow to his helmet while performing some of his own stunts filming a season of 39 half-hour episodes and later reminisced, 'I felt a complete Charlie riding around in all that armour and damned stupid plumed helmet. I felt like a medieval fireman.'^[9]

The Alaskans (1959–1960)

Moore's next television series involved playing the lead as "Silky" Harris for the ABC/Warner Brothers 1959–60 western The Alaskans, with co-stars Dorothy Provine as Rocky, Jeff York as Reno and Ray Danton as Nifty. The show ran for a single season of 37 hour-long episodes on Sunday nights. Though set in Skagway, Alaska, with a focus on the Klondike Gold Rush in around 1896, the series was filmed in the hot studio lot at Warner Brothers in Hollywood with the cast costumed in fur coats and hats. Moore found the work highly taxing and his off-camera affair with Provine complicated matters even more. He subsequently appeared as the questionable character "14 Karat John" in the two-part episode "Right Off the Boat" of the ABC/WB crime drama The Roaring 20s, with Rex Reason, John Dehner, Gary Vinson and Dorothy Provine, appearing in a similar role but with a different character name.

Maverick (1960–1961)

Moore's debut as Beau Maverick occurred in the first episode of the 1960–61 fourth season, "The Bundle From Britain," one of four episodes in which he shared screen time with cousin Bart (Jack Kelly). Robert Altman wrote and directed "Bolt from the Blue," an episode featuring Will Hutchins as a frontier lawyer similar to his character in the series Sugarfoot, and "Red Dog" found Beau mixed up with vicious bank robbers Lee Van Cleef and John Carradine. Kathleen Crowley was Moore's leading lady in two episodes ("Bullet For the Teacher" and "Kiz"), and others included Mala Powers, Roxane Berard, Fay Spain, Merry Anders, Andra Martin and Jeanne Cooper. Upon leaving the series, Moore cited a decline in script quality since the Garner era as the key factor in his decision to depart. In the wake of The Alaskans, Moore was cast as Beau Maverick, an English-accented cousin of frontier gamblers Bret Maverick (James Garner), Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) and Brent Maverick (Robert Colbert) in the much more successful ABC/WB western series Maverick. Sean Connery was flown over from England to test for the part but turned it down. Moore appeared as the character in 14 episodes after Garner had left the series at the end of the previous season, actually wearing some of Garner's costumes; while filming The Alaskans, he had already recited much of Garner's dialogue since the Klondike series frequently recycled Maverick scripts, changing only the names and locales. He had also filmed a Maverick episode with Garner two seasons earlier in which Moore played a different character in a retooling of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 comedy of manners play entitled "The Rivals." In the course of the story, Moore's and Garner's characters switched names on a bet, with Moore consequently identifying himself as "Bret Maverick" through most of the episode.

The Saint (1962–1969)

The Saint ran from 1962 for six seasons and 118 episodes, making it (in a tie with The Avengers) the longest-running series of its kind on British television. However, Moore grew increasingly tired of the role, and was keen to branch out. He made two films immediately after the series had ended: Crossplot, a lightweight 'spy caper' movie, and the more challenging The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970). Directed by Basil Dearden, it gave Moore the opportunity to demonstrate a wider versatility than the role of Simon Templar had allowed, although reviews at the time were lukewarm, and both did little business at the box office.Worldwide fame arrived after Lew Grade cast Moore as Simon Templar in a new adaptation of The Saint, based on the novels by Leslie Charteris. Moore said in an interview in 1963, that he wanted to buy the rights to Leslie Charteris's character and the trademarks. He also joked that the role was supposed to have been meant for Sean Connery who was unavailable. The television series was made in the UK with an eye to the American market, and its success there (and in other countries) made Moore a household name. By spring 1967 he had achieved international stardom. The series also established his suave, quipping style which he carried forward to James Bond. Moore went on to direct several episodes of the later series, which moved into colour in 1967.

The Persuaders! (1971–1972)

Television lured Moore back to star alongside Tony Curtis in The Persuaders!. The show featured the adventures of two millionaire playboys across Europe. Moore was paid the then-unheard-of sum of £1 million for a single series, making him the highest paid television actor in the world. However, Lew Grade claimed in his autobiography Still Dancing, that Moore and Curtis "didn't hit it off all that well." Curtis refused to spend more time on set than was strictly necessary, while Moore was always willing to work overtime.

According to the DVD commentary, neither Roger Moore, an uncredited co-producer, nor Robert S. Baker, the credited producer, ever had a contract other than a handshake with Lew Grade. They produced the entire 24 episodes without a single written word guaranteeing that they would ever be paid.

The series failed in America, where it had been pre-sold to ABC, but it was successful in Europe and Australia. In Germany, where the series was aired under the name Die Zwei ("The Two"), it became a hit through especially amusing dubbing which only barely used translations of the original dialogue. In Britain it was also popular, although on its premiere on the ITV network, it was beaten in the ratings by repeats of Monty Python's Flying Circus on BBC One. Channel 4 repeated both The Avengers and The Persuaders! in 1995. Since then, The Persuaders! has been issued on DVD, while in France, where the series (entitled Amicalement Vôtre) had always been popular, the DVD releases accompanied a monthly magazine of the same name. True Entertainment are now showing the entire series from start to finish.

And finally The Muppet Show

Good Night Sir Roger
Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Donelle Dadigan and Randall Kenneth Jones: Next on TVC

Donelle Dadigan, founder and president of The Hollywood Museum, and author Randall Kenneth Jones will join us on a brand new edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing May 26-29 at the following times and venues:

Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 5/26
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 5/27
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 5/28
10am ET, 7am PT
Click on the player at IndianaTalks.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in Indiana Talks

WON 920 The Apple
Brooklyn, NY
Saturday 5/27
10pm ET, 7pm PT
Streaming at www.920won.caster.fm

KSCO AM-1080 and FM-104.1
San Jose, Santa Cruz and Salinas, CA
KOMY AM-1340
La Selva Beach and Watsonville, CA
Sunday 5/28
9am ET, 6am PT
Also streaming at KSCO.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in KSCO

CROC Radio
Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada
Sunday 5/28
1pm ET, 10am PT
Streaming at CROCRadio.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in CROC

KHMB AM-1710
KHMV-LP 100.9 FM
Half Moon Bay, CA
Sunday 5/28
9pm PT
Monday 5/29
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at KHMBRadio.com

RadioSlot.com
San Francisco, CA
Monday 5/29
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 ~ Boston, MA ~ Chicago, IL ~ Melrose, FL ~ Los Angeles, CA
Various times throughout the week
on the Entertainment Channel on PWRNetwork.com
and the PWR channel on TuneIn

This week’s program will include a return appearance by Donelle Dadigan, founder and president of The Hollywood Museum, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Hollywood. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce will honor Donelle on Thursday, June 1 with the Distinguished Service Award in Memory of Johnny Grant, the pioneering radio and TV broadcaster who served as honorary Mayor of Hollywood for almost thirty years. Initiated by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce after Grant’s death in 2008, The Distinguished Service Award is not given out annually; rather, it is reserved for those outstanding individuals whose contribution and commitment to the entertainment community rises to a level that implies a lasting positive impact to the city, the people and the dream that is Hollywood. Donelle Dadigan is only the third person to receive the Johnny Grant memorial award.

We will talk about the career of Johnny Grant, his influence on Donelle, and more when Donelle Dadigan joins us in our second hour.

Among the exhibits this summer at The Hollywood Museum is Jean Harlow: Hollywood's First Blond Bombshell, a tribute to the first of many leading ladies from the Golden Age of Hollywood that was discovered by Howard Hughes. Among the items on display are costumes from some of Harlow’s films, furniture and artifacts from some of her homes in L.A. (including her last home in Beverly Glen), Harlow’s one-of-a-kind 1932 dual phaeton four-door Packard convertible, a portrait of Jean Harlow that was commissioned by her mother after Harlow died in June 1937, and more. The Hollywood Museum is located at 1660 North Highland Ave., at Hollywood Blvd. in the Max Factor Building. For tickets and more information call 323 464-7776 or go to The Hollywood Museum.

This week’s show will also feature Randall Kenneth Jones, an entrepreneur, creative thinker, speaker and self-described “professional storyteller” who has worked with such companies as Walgreens, TJMaxx, Marshall’s, GEICO, Sears and Pier 1. Randy’s new book, Show Me: Celebrities, Business Tycoons, Rock Stars, Journalists, Hu..., promotes creative thinking, positive communication, innovation, authenticity, respect and laughter while dispelling the wisdom of such film, TV, sports, music and business icons as Shirley Jones, Erin Brockovich, Kathy Griffin, Magic Johnson, Colin Mochrie, Vanessa Williams, G.W. Bailey, Sonny Jurgenson, Pat Benatar and more than 100 others. Randall Kenneth Jones will join us during our first 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 (Marion, IN)
Sat 10pm ET, 7pm PT on WON 920 The Apple (Brooklyn, NY)
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 1pm ET, 10am PT CROC Radio (British Columbia, Canada)
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 (San Francisco, CA)
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, SoundCloud
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!

This Week in Television History: May 2017 PART IV

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.

May 22, 1992

Johnny Carson's last Tonight Show. As his retirement approached, Johnny Carson tried to avoid too much sentimentality, but would periodically show clips of some of his favorite moments and revisit with some of his favorite guests.

However, no one was quite prepared for Carson's next-to-last night, where his final guests his guests were Robin Williams and Bette Midler. 

Midler found the emotional vein of the farewell. After the topic of their conversation turned to Johnny's favorite songs ("I'll Be Seeing You" and "Here's That Rainy Day"), Midler mentioned she knew a chorus of the latter. She began singing the song, and after the first line, Carson joined in and turned it into a touching impromptu duet. Midler finished her appearance when, from center stage, she slowly sang the pop standard "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)." 

This penultimate show was immediately recognized as a television classic, and Midler would win an Emmy Award for her role in it.

Carson did not have guests on his final episode of The Tonight Show. An estimated 50 million people watched this retrospective show, which ended with him sitting on a stool alone on the stage, curiously similar to Jack Paar's last show. He gave these final words of goodbye,
 “And so it has come to this: I, uh... am one of the lucky people in the world; I found something I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it. I want to thank the gentlemen who've shared this stage with me for thirty years. Mr. Ed McMahon, Mr. Doc Severinsen, and you people watching. I can only tell you that it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you. And I hope when I find something that I want to do and I think you would like and come back that you'll be as gracious in inviting me into your home as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt good night”.
During his final speech, Carson told the audience that he hoped to return to television with another project and that hopefully "will meet with your approval". A few weeks after the final show aired, it was announced that NBC and Carson had struck a deal to develop a new series, but ultimately he chose never to return to television with another show of his own.

Johnny Carson died of complications from emphysema on January 23, 2005 at age 79.

May 25, 1992

Jay Leno's first Tonight Show. 

When Carson announced his retirement in 1992, Jay Leno succeeded him as host (Jay Leno, who became "permanent guest host" in 1987.), much to the outrage of David Letterman, host of Late Night, which ran after Tonight. The following year, Letterman accepted CBS's $42 million offer for his own show and launched the Late Show in 1993, running against Leno's time slot. Letterman beat Leno every week for the show's first year. 

May 27, 1972

Comedian George Carlin first listed in his monologue "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television". 

The words are shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits. At the time, the words were considered highly inappropriate and unsuitable for broadcast on the public airwaves in the United States, whether radio or television. As such, they were avoided in scripted material, and bleep censored in the rare cases in which they were used; broadcast standards differ in different parts of the world, then and now, although most of the words on Carlin's original list remain taboo on American broadcast television as of 2012. The list was not an official enumeration of forbidden words, but rather was compiled by Carlin. Nonetheless, a radio broadcast featuring these words led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that helped establish the extent to which the federal government could regulate speech on broadcast television and radio in the United States.

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

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Your Mental Sorbet: Amazon Echo - SNL

Here is another "Mental Sorbet" 

A little spark of madness

that we could use to momentarily forget about those

things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.

The Amazon Echo Silver is specifically designed for the greatest generation (Kenan Thompson, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Kyle Mooney, Aidy Bryant).

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

David Frankham and Ralph Senensky: Next on TVC

Actor and author David Frankham and television director Ralph Senensky will join us on a brand new edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing May 19-22 at the following times and venues:

Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 5/19
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 5/20
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 5/21
10am ET, 7am PT
Click on the player at IndianaTalks.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in Indiana Talks

WON 920 The Apple
Brooklyn, NY
Saturday 5/20
10pm ET, 7pm PT
Streaming at www.920won.caster.fm

KSCO AM-1080 and FM-104.1
San Jose, Santa Cruz and Salinas, CA
KOMY AM-1340
La Selva Beach and Watsonville, CA
Sunday 5/21
9am ET, 6am PT
Also streaming at KSCO.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in KSCO

CROC Radio
Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada
Sunday 5/21
1pm ET, 10am PT
Streaming at CROCRadio.com
or use the TuneIn app on your smartphone and type in CROC

KHMB AM-1710
KHMV-LP 100.9 FM
Half Moon Bay, CA
Sunday 5/21
9pm PT
Monday 5/22
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at KHMBRadio.com

RadioSlot.com
San Francisco, CA
Monday 5/22
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 ~ Boston, MA ~ Chicago, IL ~ Melrose, FL ~ Los Angeles, CA
Various times throughout the week
on the Entertainment Channel on PWRNetwork.com
and the PWR channel on TuneIn

Known for his leading roles in such films as Return of the Fly, Master of the World and Tales of Terror, not to mention the voice of Sergeant Tibbs in 101 Dalmations, David Frankham also worked steadily in television for more than three decades, including such classic shows as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Maverick, Thriller, 77 Sunset Strip, The F.B.I., The Outer Limits and the original Star Trek. His memoir, Which One Was David?, is filled with great stories about his film and TV career, as well as his friendships with the likes of Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone, Rock Hudson, Dirk Bogarde, Angela Lansbury, Roger Corman, William Wyler, Ida Lupino and Barbara Stanwyck.

David has a new project in the works, plus another that is available to the public right now. We’ll talk about both, and more, when David Frankham joins us in the studio during our second hour.

The first hour of this week’s show will include Part 2 of the conversation we began on our May 5 program with Ralph Senensky, whose long and eclectic career as a television director includes multiple episodes of some of the most popular drama and comedy series of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, including The Waltons, The F.B.I., the original Star Trek and the original Twilight Zone.

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 (Marion, IN)
Sat 10pm ET, 7pm PT on WON 920 The Apple (Brooklyn, NY)
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 1pm ET, 10am PT CROC Radio (British Columbia, Canada)
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 (San Francisco, CA)
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, SoundCloud
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!

This Week in Television History: May 2017 PART III

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.

May 19, 1992
Vice President Dan Quayle criticized the Murphy Brown character for "ignoring the importance of fathers by birthing a child alone". 

In the show's 1991–1992 season, Murphy became pregnant. When her baby's father (ex-husband and current underground radical Jake Lowenstein) expressed his unwillingness to give up his own lifestyle to be a parent, Murphy chose to have the child and raise it alone. Another major fiction-reality blending came at Murphy's baby shower: the invited guests were journalists Katie Couric, Joan Lunden, Paula Zahn, Mary Alice Williams and Faith Daniels, who treated the fictional Murphy and Corky as friends and peers.

At the point where she was about to give birth, she had stated that "several people do not want me to have the baby. Pat Robertson; Phyllis Schlafly; half of Utah!" Right after giving birth to her son, Avery, Murphy sang the song "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin. This storyline made the show a subject of political controversy during the 1992 American presidential campaign. On May 19, 1992, then Vice President Dan Quayle spoke at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. During his speech, he criticized the Murphy Brown character for "ignoring the importance of fathers by birthing a child alone".

Quayle's remarks caused a public discussion on family values, culminating in the 1992–93 season premiere, "You Say Potatoe, I Say Potato", where the television characters reacted to Quayle's comments and produced a special episode of FYI showcasing and celebrating the diversity of the modern American family. Because Quayle's actual speech made little reference to Murphy Brown's fictional nature (other than the use of the word character), the show was able to use actual footage from his speech to make it appear that, within the fictional world of the show, Quayle was referring to Murphy Brown personally, rather than to the fictional character. At the end, Brown helps organize a special edition of FYI focusing on different kinds of families then arranges a retaliatory prank in which a truckload of potatoes is dumped in front of Quayle's residence, while a disc jockey commenting on the incident notes the Vice President should be glad people were not making fun of him for misspelling "fertilizer", (On June 15, 1992, at a spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey, Quayle had erroneously corrected an elementary school student's spelling of "potato" to "potatoe".) When Candice Bergen won another Emmy that year, she thanked Dan Quayle. The feud was cited by E! as #81 on its list of "101 Reasons the '90s Ruled."

In 2002, Bergen said in an interview that she personally agreed with much of Quayle's speech, calling it "a perfectly intelligent speech about fathers not being dispensable" and adding that "nobody agreed with that more than I did."

Quayle would eventually display a sense of humor about the incident—after the controversy died down, he appeared for an interview on an independent Los Angeles TV station and for his final question was asked what his favorite TV show was. He responded with "Murphy Brown—Not!" The station would later use the clip of Quayle's response to promote its showing of Murphy Brown re-runs in syndication.

May 20, 2007

The Simpsons airs 400th episode. 

The Simpsons was created by Matt Groenig, whose comic strip Life Is Hell caught the attention of the Hollywood producer James L. Brooks. Brooks enlisted Groenig to create a cartoon short that would run during the Fox sketch comedy series The Tracey Ullmann Show. Two of the show’s regulars, Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner, provided the voices for Homer and Marge Simpson, while Nancy Cartwright (who had originally auditioned for the role of their daughter, Lisa) landed the role of their troublemaking adolescent son, Bart. Lisa (voiced by Yeardley Smith) rounded out the speaking parts for the dysfunctional Simpson family, who made their debut on The Tracey Ullmann Show in April 1987. Brooks later convinced Barry Diller, Fox’s then-chief executive, to turn the shorts into a half-hour weekly series, to be developed by Brooks, Groenig and Sam Simon. The Simpsons debuted on Fox in December 1989 with a special Christmas episode, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.”

The first animated prime-time sitcom since The Flinstones in the 1960s, The Simpsons burst onto the scene during a period when most of the successful comedy series on television were family-friendly offerings such as The Cosby Show, Full House, Growing Pains and Family Matters. Offbeat and dysfunctional, The Simpsons offered a far different view of family life. Critics raved about the show and its edgy, pop-culture savvy humor from the beginning, and it became a huge ratings hit.

In 2005, The Simpsons became the longest-running sitcom ever, passing The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which ran for 14 seasons (1952-66). Over the years, the series racked up no fewer than 23 Emmy Awards, and was named by TIME magazine as the best show of all time in 1999 and as No. 1 on Entertainment Weekly’s list of New Classic TV Shows in 2008. Its incredible success paved the way for other adult-oriented animated series, notably Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill, The Family Guy and South Park.

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

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Tony Figueroa