What's on TV? Thursday, September 30, 1965
This is one of those days that demonstrates the accuracy of NBC's claim to be "The Full Color Network." CBS boasts of only two prime time colorcasts (My Three Sons and Gilligan's Island), while ABC's...
View ArticleThis week in TV Guide: September 25, 1965
There's a good reason Jackie Gleason is known as The Great One; like him, everything he does is larger than life, flamboyant. But, as Thomas B. Morgan writes in this week's cover story, there's...
View ArticleAround the dial
This week's opening salvo comes from Cult TV Blog, where John's review of the actress Patricia Hayes continues with some of her comedic work from the 1960s and 1970s, which gives us a great look at the...
View ArticleThe "It's About TV" Interview: David Hofstede, author of When Television...
It's been awhile since I've put someone in the spotlight for the It's About TV Interview, a process so terrifying that it's been known to send people fleeing in abject horror. But enough about the...
View ArticleWhat's on TV? Monday, September 20, 1971
Tonight represents a landmark in the history of televised sports. No, it's not the inaugural season of Monday Night Football; that was last year. It's close, though: for the second season debut, Frank...
View ArticleThis week in TV Guide: September 18, 1971
IIn the era which we call B.C.—that is, Before Cable—movies on television were a Big Deal. A Very Big Deal, in fact. They were, and had been for years, a staple of local television, and in the late...
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Lets start with some Twilight Zone, shall we? At The Twilight Zone Vortex, Brian reviews the final season episode "Spur of the Moment," which also marked the final contribution to the series of writer...
View ArticleWhat I did on my summer vacation, or, this writing life
It's been said that Labor Day represents the end of summer. I've never been too crazy about that idea, because when I was a kid, the end of summer meant the beginning of the school year. Well, the Lord...
View ArticleWhat's on TV? Sunday, September 14, 1980
This week's international issue reminds us that the United States and Canada aren't all that different, at least when it comes to television. Sunday features pro football, just as it is south of the...
View ArticleThis week in TV Guide: September 13, 1980
It's time once again for the Fall Preview issue, and as I see it, there are three ways I can lay this out for you. I can, of course, try to cover everything, which would take a very long time, and if...
View ArticleTwenty-five years later
The horror of September 11, 2001, is not just in the increasing number of Americans who don't remember it because they were too little or hadn't even been born yet. What remains a vivid moment in time...
View ArticleWhat's on TV? Wednesday, September 6, 1961
At first glance, nothing seems to pop out from today's listings, but a deeper look gives us some gems. For instance, this afternoon's Science Fiction Theater features Vincent Price as a police...
View ArticleThis week in TV Guide: September 2, 1961
How to watch TV: 1. Walk over to set. 2. Turn on. 3. Watch.Well, that's how I learned to watch television when I was a kid, anyway. Obviously, Leo Rosten has something a little more in mind. His idea,...
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We're into the "Patricia Hayes" season at Cult TV Blog, in which John assembles a season's worth of performances from an individual actor who's appeared in various shows he's watched. Hayes was a...
View ArticleIsn't it Devine, or, I've got a Froggy in my throat
I hope you'll indulge me this repeat piece from 2019, but I'm in the middle of a busy couple of weeks, and I'm afraid I don't have the time I'd like to prepare what I wanted to write, so I trust this...
View ArticleWhat's on TV? Thursday, September 4, 1980
We've talked about half-hour shows, hour shows, 90-minute shows, and even 45-minute shows, but here we see an example of the 70-minute show. What's that, you say? You don't remember 70-minute programs?...
View ArticleThis week in TV Guide: August 30, 1980
In May of 1980, the city of Miami was rocked by three days of rioting, described by Dan Rather as "the Nation's worst outbreak of urban disorder in a single city" since 1967 in Detroit and Newark. The...
View ArticleWhat's on TV? Tuesday, August 25, 1959
Let's see: what do we have this week? Well, you might notice that the anchor of the CBS evening news this week is Ron Cochran, and if you're an eagle-eyed reader, you'll probably recognize him more for...
View ArticleAround the dial
Let's start with Cult TV Blog and "The Indian Spirit Guide," an episode of the 1969 American-British series Journey to the Unknown. It's written by Robert Bloch, and stars Julie Harris; let's find out...
View ArticleThis week in TV Guide: August 22, 1959
Wo there's a little something for everyone this week, and there's no better place to begin than at the beginning!Saturday night football! The NFL preseason continues with a game between the Pittsburgh...
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