This Week in TV History February 28, 2021 Gavin MacLeod 90th Birthday

Jack Riley

John A. "Jack" Riley Jr.
December 30, 1935 - August 19, 2016

Jack Riley, died of pneumonia and infection today in Los Angeles. He was 80. 

Riley became a popular radio personality in Cleveland, along with his radio partner and "straight man" Jeff Baxter; The Baxter and Riley Show on WERE (1300 AM) featured not only music but comedy sketches and a slew of offbeat characters which Riley and Baxter voiced.

The show expanded for a time to local television on WEWS.

Riley gave up the radio show in the mid 1960s and moved to Los Angeles, where his friend Tim Conway helped him receive work writing comedy sketches, which later led to acting opportunities.

On May 18, 1975, he married Ginger Lawrence. They have two children.Riley was first a semi-regular in the cast of the 1960s sitcom Occasional Wife, a short-lived show on NBC in which he played Wally Frick, although, and perhaps, his greatest fame came in the character of Elliot Carlin, the neurotic, sour and selfish patient on The Bob Newhart Show.

He soon became one of the busiest guest stars on television in the 1970s and '80s.

Among his other TV credits are multiple appearances on such shows as Barney Miller, Hogan's Heroes, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, One Day at a Time,Gomer Pyle, Diff'rent Strokes and Night Court.

In 1973, he was cast as Gomez Addams in The Addams Family Fun-House, then in 1979, he starred in ABC's holiday telefilm The Halloween That Almost Wasn't (aka The Night Dracula Saved The World) as Warren the Werewolf (Wolf Man) of Budapest.

Riley appeared in a little-known HBO comedy special in 1980 called The Wild Wacky Wonderful World of Winter.

He was a regular cast member in The Tim Conway Show, a comedy-variety show that aired on CBS from March 1980 through the late Summer of 1981, acting in sketch comedy in each episode.

Riley was also a favorite of Mel Brooks, appearing in several of his films: High Anxiety, History of the World: Part I, To Be or Not to Be, and (cameo only) Spaceballs.

In 1985, he reprised his Bob Newhart Show role of Elliot Carlin on St. Elsewhere.

Riley has also been a ubiquitous voice in television and radio commercials, most notably in spots for Country Crock margarine. He also voiced the character "P.C. Modem, the computer genius" in radio commercials for CompUSA which aired in the 1990s, and the character Stu Pickles in Rugrats and All Grown Up!.

He continued to make guest appearances during the 1990s in popular sitcoms, showing up in episodes of Seinfeld, Son of the Beach, Friends, Coach, The Drew Carey Show, That '70s Show and, in a gag appearance, as an unnamed but obvious Mr. Carlin in an episode of Newhart.

He made a cameo appearance on the November 23, 2013, episode of Saturday Night Live, as a subway passenger during the skit "Matchbox 3". One camera angle lingered for an extra moment on Riley.

Good Night  Mr. Riley

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

Tis the Season TV: Next on TVC

Author Joanna Wilson will join us on an encore edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing Dec. 23-28 at the following times and venues:

WROM Radio
Detroit, MI
Wednesday 12/23
8pm ET, 5pm PT
2am ET, 11pm PT
Sunday 12/27
8pm ET, 5pm PT
2am ET, 11pm PT
Click on the Listen Live button at WROMRadio.net

KHDN AM-1230
KBSR AM-1490
KYLW AM-1450
Billings, MT
part of GLN Radio Network
Friday 12/25
3pm ET, Noon PT
Saturday 12/26
6pm ET, 3pm PT
Monday 12/28
3pm ET, Noon PT

Share-a-Vision Radio
San Francisco Bay Area
Friday 12/25
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 12/26
8pm ET, 5pm PT
Sunday 12/27
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
San Jose, Santa Cruz and Salinas, CA
KOMY-AM 1340
La Selva Beach and Watsonville, CA
Sunday 12/27
9am ET, 6am PT
Also streaming at KSCO.com

KHMB AM-1710
KHMV-LP 100.9 FM
Half Moon Bay, CA
Sunday 12/27
9pm PT
Monday 12/28
Midnight ET
Click on the Listen Live button at KHMBRadio.com

RadioSlot.com
San Francisco, CA
Monday 12/28
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

This week’s show will include an encore presentation of our roundtable discussion featuring Joanna Wilson on favorite Christmas episodes and holiday TV specials. Joanna is the author of The Christmas TV Companion and Tis the Season TV: The Encyclopedia of Christmas-Themed Episodes, S.... Then Phil Gries will join us in our second hour for our annual tribute to bandleader Guy Lombardo, with audio highlights from some of the first TV coverage of the ball drop at Times Square… including a rarely heard clip featuring Howard Cosell. Plus we’ll look back at the career of singer Perry Como, with a particular focus on the many TV Christmas specials that he hosted throughout his career.

TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television
Wed and Sun 8pm ET, 5pm PT on WROM Radio
Fri and Mon 3pm ET, Noon PT and Sat 6pm ET, 3pm PT on GLN Radio Network
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

Sandra Bernhard and the Alberici Sisters: Next on TV CONFIDENTIAL

Actress and comedienne Sandra Bernhard and singers Maria Lauren and Linda Eichberg will join us on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, airing Dec. 2-6 at the following times and venues:
Share-a-Vision Radio
KSAV.org
Friday 12/2
7pm ET, 4pm PT
10pm ET, 7pm PT

KWTY 107.7 FM
Ridgecrest, Calif.
Sunday 12/4
TBA

InternetVoicesRadio.com
Tuesday 12/6
11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PT

and at various times throughout the week on WROM Radio.
Camille Paglia once described actress, author, singer and comedienne Sandra Bernhard as “an artist with few peers today, whose lineage goes back through early Barbra Streisand to Lenny Bruce and the comic monologist Ruth Draper, but whose raging energy is sparked by the rock idiom, which gives her propulsion and a flirtation with danger.” Known for her appearance in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, as well as such popular television shows as Roseanne, Ally McBeal, The Larry Sanders Show, The Sopranos, Law & Order: SVU, The L Word, Will and Grace and The New Adventures of Old Christine, Sandra has also written, produced and performed in many acclaimed one-woman stage shows, including I Love Being Me, Don’t You, which she will bring to the cities of Philadelphia, Seattle and La Jolla in early 2012.


Sandra Bernhard will also be appearing on TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland on Wednesday, Dec. 14. We’ll ask her about that, as well as some of her early influences as a performer, when she joins us in our first hour.


Also joining us this week will be the Alberici Sisters, Maria Lauren and Linda Eichberg, who sang with Dean Martin for nearly twenty years, both on television and in nightclub venues around the world, as members of the renowned Dean Martin Golddiggers.

Maria and Linda’s book, Beyond Our Wildest Dreams, is a memoir of their life in show business that also takes you behind the scenes of the world of nightclub entertainment between the years 1973 through 1978 ― a time that saw Maria and Linda perform with such legends as Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Jerry Vale, Louis Prima, Donald O’Connor and, of course, Dean Martin. It’s a book that really captures the spirit of one of the last great eras of show business, when old Hollywood and old Vegas were still alive and vibrant, and nightclub singing acts were more intimate, yet just as spectacular. We’ll learn about the last successful Rat Pack tour with Frank and Dean, the story of Dean’s reunion with Jerry Lewis, and a whole lot more when Maria and Linda join us in our second hour.






TV CONFIDENTIAL: A radio talk show about television
Fridays 7pm ET and PT Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org
Sunday nights KWTY 107.7 FM (Ridgecrest, Calif.)
Tuesdays 11:05pm ET, 8:05pm PTPassionate World Radio
Three times a week
WROM: Realms of Music www.tvconfidential.net
blog.tvconfidential.net
Also available as a podcast via iTunes and FeedBurner
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Your Mental Sorbet: Gabe Kaplan and Marcia Strassman play the Kotters one more time

Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths.

TV Land Awards
Tags: TV Land Awards,Show Video Clips,Photo Galleries

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa