Batman, Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers: Next on TVC

Emmy Award-winning writer/producer Loren Bouchard and author and TV historian Joel Eisner will join us this weekend on TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing June 30-July 3 at the following times and venues:

Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 6/30
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 7/1
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 7/2
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 7/1
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 7/2
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 7/2
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 7/2
9pm PT
Monday 7/3
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at KHMBRadio.com

RadioSlot.com
San Francisco, CA
Monday 7/3
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

Loren Bouchard is the creator and executive producer of Bob's Burgers, which begins its seventh season this fall on Fox. He is also a composer, writer and actor whose other TV credits include Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Home Movies and The Ricky Gervais Show.

The Bob’s Burgers Music Album, a magnum opus soundtrack release featuring the music from the first six seasons of the Emmy-winning prime time animated sitcom, is now available. Greg and Loren will talk about the album, ukuleles, the music of the show in general, why Bob’s Burgers is character-driven, and other topics in a free-wheeling conversation that will air during our second hour.

Our first hour will pay tribute to the life and career of Adam West, the iconic actor known to three generations of television viewers around the world as Batman (and, to fans of Family Guy, Mayor Adam West). Our guest for this segment will be Joel Eisner, author of The Official Batman Batbook, plus we’ll play highlights from our interviews with actresses Lee Meriwether and Julie Newmar.

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!

Your Mental Sorbet: 4th of July Disney Style

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

Stay Tuned  
Have a Happy and Safe 4th.

Tony Figueroa

This Week in Television History: June 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.

July 1, 1952

Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, the Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning Canadian-American comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist is born. 

He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers (with John Belushi) and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.

July 2, 1947

Lawrence "Larry" Gene David the American actor, writer, comedian, producer, and film director. 

David is the co-creator and producer of two successful television comedies, Seinfeld (1989-1998) and Curb Your Enthusiasm (1999-present) is born. In 1989, he teamed up with Jerry Seinfeld to co-create the television series Seinfeld, where he also acted as head writer and executive producer. David's work won him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1993. In 1999, he created the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a mostly improvised sitcom in which he stars as a fictionalized version of himself.

Formerly a standup comedian, David went into television comedy, writing and starring in ABC's Fridays, as well as writing briefly for Saturday Night Live.

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

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Your Mental Sorbet: Steve Allen Don Knotts Tom Poston Bill Dana Comic Relief '87

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

Sketch performed by Steve Allen, Tom Poston, Don Knotts and Bill Dana (as Jose Jiminez) at Comic Relief '87 in Los Angeles

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Anson Williams and George Schlatter: Next on TVC

Actor and entrepreneur Anson Williams and writer, producer and director George Schlatter will join us on a brand new edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing June 23-26 at the following times and venues:

Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 6/23
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 6/24
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 6/25
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 6/24
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 6/25
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 6/25
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 6/25
9pm PT
Monday 6/26
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at KHMBRadio.com

RadioSlot.com
San Francisco, CA
Monday 6/26
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 to television audiences around the world as Potsie Weber on Happy Days, Anson Williams is also an award-winning television director, writer, producer, and entrepreneur who has been honored by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and served on the Board of the USO. An entrepreneur for most of his life, he is always looking to create products that serve an important public need. Anson’s latest product, Alert Drops, addresses the issue of drowsy driving—an ongoing problem not only in the United States, but around the world. According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, approximately one out of every five fatal car accidents in the U.S. results from ..., while in European nations, drowsy driving accounts for up to 30 percent of all car crashes.

Inspired by the knowledge and wisdom of Anson’s uncle, Dr. Henry Heimlich—the man behind the Heimlich Maneuver—Alert Drops is an all-natural spray that, when applied to the tongue, uses the citric acid of a lemon to stimulate the tongue’s sensory neurons. This will cause an immediate reflex action that will keep you awake, without caffeine or stimulants, in the event you find yourself nodding off while driving. (Available exclusively at AlertDrops.com, Alert Drops is not intended as a substitute for sleeping. Rather, it is intended to keep you alert long enough to pull over safely, so that you can rest when tired.)

Anson Williams is working with numerous organizations in several cities to create an ongoing campaign to raise awareness of drowsy driving. We’ll talk about the pivotal role that Dr. Heimlich played behind the scenes in the development of Alert Drops, and why Heimlich believed that this product will save even more lives than the Heimlich Maneuver. We’ll also talk about Anson’s recent appearance on The Odd Couple, and more, when he joins us in our second hour.

Also joining us this week will be Emmy Award winner George Schlatter, the creator and producer of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and Real People. A fixture in the world of variety television for more than fifty years, George Schlatter produced the first five years of the Grammy Awards. He also created The American Comedy Awards (and produced that annual telecast for fifteen years), as well as produced a host of series and specials starring Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Eddie Murphy, Cher, Elton John, Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Liza Minnelli, Michael Jackson, Doris Day, Jonathan Winters, Richard Pryor, Shirley MacLaine, Bill Cosby, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Diana Ross, Lena Horne, Dinah Shore, Nat King Cole, Placido Domingo and many, many others.

The 2017-2018 television season will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the premiere of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. George will share a few memories of the show, and more, when he joins us in our first hour.

Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In is now available in its entirety from TimeLife. Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In: The Complete Series includes all 140 episodes on thirty-eight DVDs—all digitally remastered, all available together for the first time ever in a single collection, and more than half of which have never been released before to the public. The complete series box set also includes a slew of exclusive new bonus features, including the pilot episode of Laugh-In (which originally aired on Sept. 9, 1967); interviews with Dick Martin, Ruth Buzzi, Gary Owens, Arte Johnson, Alan Sues, Lily Tomlin and George Schlatter; Laugh-In Memories, a collectible memory book filled with jokes, pictures from the show, behind-the-scenes photos, and a note from George Schlatter; a free bonus DVD; and a whole lot more.

Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In: The Complete Series is availably exclusively through TimeLife. You can order it right now by going to TimeLife.com/LaughIn.

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!

Bill Dana

We just want to be remembered before something is set in stone.

-Bill Dana

Bill Dana
October 5, 1924 – June 15, 2017

Dana was born as William Szathmary in Quincy, Massachusetts. He was of Hungarian-Jewish descent. He took his stage name "Dana" after his mother's first name "Dena" as he felt "Szathmary" was unpronounceable. The youngest of six children born to Joseph and Dena Szathmary, Dana benefited from the expertise of an older brother, Arthur, who was fluent in several languages and gave his sibling his second entry into foreign languages. The first was growing up in a polyglot neighborhood where Spanish and Italian were among the languages spoken and having a Hungarian immigrant for a father. His older brother was Irving Szathmary, composer of the Get Smart theme.

During World War II he served in the United States Army with the 263rd Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division as a 60mm mortarman and machine gunner, as well as an unofficial interpreter.

Dana began his career as a page at NBC's famous Studio 6B while performing comedy in nightclubs around New York with partner Gene Wood. In the 1950s, he performed on The Imogene Coca Show, The Danny Thomas Show and The Martha Raye Show, as well as writing for and producing The Spike Jones Show.

Dana's career took a major turn when he began writing stand-up routines for the young comedian Don Adams, including the now well-known "Would you believe?" jokes popularized by Get Smart. From there, he was brought in as a writer for The Steve Allen Show, where he created the José Jiménez character for the show's "Man in the Street" segments.

On an Ed Sullivan Show appearance, Dana related a story of how a woman recognized him on the street, but knew him only as José Jiménez, and asked what his real name was. Instead of his stage name, "Bill Dana", he gave her his real name, "William Szathmary". The woman rejoined: "Wow, no wonder you changed it to Jiménez!"

Dana had several comedy albums but only one that strictly featured the Jose Jimenez character. One of the cuts; "The Astronaut (Part 1 and 2)"...an interview from news reporter, writer and producer Don Hinkley...made it to the Billboard Top 40 charts at #19 in September 1961. Hinkley and Dana met as writers for the Allen show.

Before appearing in front of a television camera for the first time on The Steve Allen Show in 1959, Dana had been a prolific comedy writer, an activity he continued into the 1980s, producing material for other actors on stage and screen. Dana co-wrote the script for the Get Smart theatrical film The Nude Bomb. His brother, Irving Szathmary, wrote the famous theme for the Get Smart television series. In 1961, Dana made the first of eight appearances on The Danny Thomas Show, playing Jimenez as a bumbling but endearing bellhop. The character was so well-received that it was spun off into his own NBC sitcom, The Bill Dana Show (1963–1965). Jiménez was still a bellhop, but now at a posh New York hotel. His snooty, irritable boss was played by Jonathan Harris. The cast also included Don Adams as a hopelessly inept house detective named Byron Glick; when the show was cancelled, Adams quickly used the Glick characterization as the basis for Maxwell Smart, and Get Smart premiered on NBC that fall.

In 1966, Dana appeared uncredited in episode 48 of Batman playing Jose Jimenez, opening the window in the wall Batman was climbing and talking with him.In 1966, Dana wrote the animated TV-movie Alice in Wonderland (or What’s a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?), in which he also supplied the voice of The White Knight (using his José Jiménez voice). That same year, the Jiménez character was animated for the Paramount cartoon I Want My Mummy, written by Dana in collaboration with Howard Post.

In May 1967, Dana hosted his own late-night talk show, The Las Vegas Show, on the new United Network. Originated live from the Hotel Hacienda in Las Vegas, Nevada, the program was cancelled by the end of May when the United Network folded.

Joey Forman's 1968 parody album about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, called The Mashuganishi Yogi("mashugana" meaning crazy or bizarre in Yiddish), was produced by Dana, and includes a cameo of Dana as Jiménez, as well as a cover appearance. The album is a mock news conference, an extended question-and-answer session. The ersatz Bolivian–accented Jiménez asks the ersatz Indian-accented Yogi: "Why do you talk so funny?"

In 1970, responding to changing times and sensitivities, Dana stopped portraying the José Jiménez character; however, he played the character again on the 1988 revival of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Dana wrote the script for possibly the best known episode of the hit situation comedy All in the Family, entitled "Sammy's Visit", which featured Sammy Davis Jr. In 1976, he appeared in the "A Doctor's Doctor" episode of the NBC situation comedy The Practice as the hospital roommate of Danny Thomas's character Dr. Jules Bedford.

The José Jiménez character was part of several scenes in the 1983 film The Right Stuff. The government officials watch The Ed Sullivan Show before recruiting the Navy pilots. Sullivan is talking to Jiménez. ("Is that your crash helmet?" "Oh, I hope not!") Later during medical testing, a large, Hispanic worker (played by NFL offensive tackle Anthony Muñoz) takes offense to Alan Shepard (Scott Glenn) mimicking the Jiménez character. The hospital worker gets a measure of revenge later on when it comes time for Shepard to receive an enema.

Although his film appearances were few, Dana had roles in a few movies including The Busy Body (1967), Harrad Summer (1974), I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now? (1975), and the aforementioned The Nude Bomb (1980). Dana would also have a recurring role on The Golden Girls as Sophia Petrillo's brother Angelo. He also played her father in a flashback. In addition, he played Wendell Balaban on Too Close for Comfort, as well as Howie Mandel's father on the series St. Elsewhere.

Dana reprised the role of Bernardo the servant on the CBS TV series Zorro and Son, but his performance was different from Gene Sheldon's silence on the 1950s live-action show. Both series were produced by Walt Disney Productions.

Bill Dana was integral in creating the American Comedy Archives, a series of audiovisual interviews with such luminaries in the comedy world as Phyllis Diller, Dick Gregory, Don Knotts, Norman Lear, Bob Newhart, Tom Poston, Paul Rodriguez, Dick Van Dyke, Betty White, and Jonathan Winters. The American Comedy Archives are housed at the Iwasaki Library at Emerson College, but transcripts of some interviews (Dana's included) have been made available on the library website.

Good Night Mr. Dana
Buenas Noches Jose

Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa

This Week in Television History: June 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.

June 19, 1897

Moe Howard is born Moses Harry Horwitz. 

He is best known as the de facto leader of the Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades. That group originally started out as Ted Healy and His Stooges, an act that toured the vaudeville circuit. Moe's distinctive hairstyle came about when he was a boy and cut off his curls with a pair of scissors, producing a ragged shape approximating a bowl cut.

June 24, 1987

Jackie Gleason dies. Actor Jackie Gleason dies on this day in 1987.

Raised by a single mother who worked at a subway token booth in New York, Gleason dropped out of high school and began performing on the vaudeville circuit in his teens. Signed to a movie contract by the time he was 24 years old, Gleason played character roles in a handful of movies in 1941 and 1942, but found much more success in television. He became one of TV's most popular stars in a number of shows, including The Jackie Gleason Show, which ran throughout most of the 1950s and '60s. On the show, he created the character of Ralph Kramden, a bus driver who became the beloved star of the spin-off television show The Honeymooners. On June 24, 1987, Gleason died at his Florida home. After a private funeral mass at the Cathedral of Saint Mary in Miami, Gleason was interred in an outdoor mausoleum at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Cemetery in Miami. At the base is the inscription, “And Away We Go.” 

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

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Stephen Furst

The magic is you can change more things than you could ever dream of. 

-Stephen Furst

Stephen Furst born Stephen Nelson Feuerstein
May 8, 1955 – June 16, 2017

Stephen Furst worked as a pizza delivery driver while looking for acting jobs in the mid-1970s, and included his headshot in pizza boxes. After Matty Simmons saw his photo, Furst was cast as Flounder in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). He reprised this role in the 1979 spin-off series Delta House. Others include 'Junior' Keller in The Unseen (1980), as Gonzer in the feature film Up the Creek (1984), as Dr. Elliot Axelrod in the television series St. Elsewhere (1983–1988), and as Vir Cotto in the science fiction television series Babylon 5(1994–1998). Furst was amused by the report that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un modeled his haircut after Furst's character in Babylon 5.

In 1979 he played the role of an overweight high school tuba player coerced onto the wrestling team in Kieth Merrill's feel-good underdog film, Take Down. Also in 1979, as pointed out above, he reprised the Flounder character in the ABC sitcom Delta House. He also reprised the character and repeated his famous line, "Oh boy, is this great!" in the Twisted Sister music video for "I Wanna Rock."

In 1980, he played the character of Harold in the cult classic movie, Midnight Madness, and the character of "Junior" Keller (the unseen) in the horror movie The Unseen. In 1983, he also appeared in a supporting role as Aldo in the provocative ABC TV movie The Day After. In 1989, he played the character of Albert Ianuzzi in the film The Dream Team.

In 1983, Furst also appeared in an episode of CHiPs titled "Fun House," alongside Erik Estrada, Tom Reilly, and Heather O'Rourke; in this installment, Furst acted out a student who belonged to the college fraternity "DDT."

Although not a regular, he also appeared in the short-lived 1992 TV series The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys.

In the 1995 animated TV series Freakazoid!, he voiced the character Fanboy. Also in 1995, he took a hiatus from Babylon 5 to star in a short-lived TV series, Misery Loves Company. 

In 1997, he played Derby Ferris in Little Bigfoot 2: The Journey Home. He also voiced a young Colonel Hathi in Season 2 of Disney's Jungle Cubs, had a starring voice role as Booster in the 2000 series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and also played a hulky walrus named Dash in the 2000 Disney movie The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. He starred in Magic Kid and its sequel.

Furst was a regular in the science fiction series Babylon 5 playing Centauri diplomatic attaché Vir Cotto and as Dr. Elliot Axelrod on St. Elsewhere.

Good Night Flounder

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Your Mental Sorbet: Miley Cyrus Busks in NYC Subway in Disguise

Since I am still in a New York state of mind...

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

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa