There's lots of good stuff out there, and I've been negligent lately in pointing it out to you. Let's take a look, shall we?Cult TV Blog revisits one of my favorite shows, The Avengers, looking an an episode early in the show's run and making a very good point about the need to appreciate how a show may appear different to us today than it did to the viewers when it was originally broadcast. And don't forget to page down and read some of his terrific pieces on The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Comfort TV takes a look at an interesting topic - when actors and roles don't mix. It's something I haven't thought that much about before, but reading the examples given both in the article and from the comments section, I have to admit it's almost as much fun as it is when we recast shows with our favorite actors in roles they never played.
A great blast from the past at the Broadcasting Archives at the University of Maryland - a 1985 newspaper clipping of Buddy Ebsen, late of The Beverly Hillbillies and more recently Barnaby Jones, and one of his biggest fans - Richard Nixon. "I don't look at much entertainment television," the former president says, "but I liked Barnaby Jones. It was a good mystery where you knew the good guys from the bad guys." Please tell me I'm not the only one picturing the Most Interesting Man in the World - "I don't always watch television, but when I do I watch Barnaby Jones". . .
Television Obscurities notes something that I should have thought of - yesterday was the 61st anniversary of the publication of the first national issue of TV Guide, with Lucille Ball's new baby (the "$50,000,000 baby") on the cover. And no, I don't have that issue. I have rent to pay.
The Bootleg Files is a great source for oddities from television and movies that, for one reason or another, haven't received a commercial DVD release. This week: the 1974 Tony Awards (which can be seen on YouTube). As Phil Hall reminds us, "TV broadcasts of awards shows weren’t always so dreary" as they are today, a point I've often made with regard to the Oscars. This show sounds like great fun - perhaps the producers of today's awards shows can check it out?
This should keep you satisfied until tomorrow, when we're back with another great TV Guide!