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Summer reruns: What's in a name?
When people find out I write about television, especially from the era of the 50s and 60s, I’m inevitably asked whether or not I’ve ever seen Mad Men. The truth of it is: I haven’t. I’m not really sure...
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This week in TV Guide: August 30, 1980
So just how smart are these televisions of 1981, anyway? Well, for starters, they've got computers! And keypads have replaced dials! Now you can use your TV's remote to tune your cable stations!...
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Around the dial - post-vacation edition
One of the great things about technology is that it enables you, in a way, to be in two places at the same time. I was on vacation last week, but you might not have known it since new pieces continued...
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Summer reruns: when government was "the good guys"
PETER BRECK (CENTER) WITH THE MESSAGE: "DON'T MESS WITH THE GOVERNMENT, DAMN IT."One of the goals of this blog is to analyze how television interacts with American culture - the ways in which it forms...
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This week in TV Guide: September 8, 1979
It's always a bit hard for me to decide how to write about TV Guide's famous Fall Preview edition, which is one of the reasons why I don't do them often.* They're so big, so sprawling, it's often hard...
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Television with (Golden) Balls
The brilliance of television, and the tragedy, lies in its uncanny ability to reflect in its tube the essence of human nature. Nowhere is that more apparent, for better or worse, than in reality...
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From Ric Burns' extraordinary documentary New York, here's one of the more extraordinary moments; a reading by Josh Hamilton of the "Moloch" section from Allen Ginsburg's epic poem "Howl."
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This week in TV Guide: September 12, 1964
There's a good reason why they're called the "Dog Days of Summer." From the Latin diēs caniculārēs, the term originated with the Romans' belief that the star Sirius - the "Dog Star" was, because it...
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Around the dial - catch-up edition
Well, I did it again last week - skipped an edition of "Around the Dial." I'm nothing if not a creature of habit, which explains why, for the most part, I stick to a Saturday-Tuesday-Thursday posting...
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Philip Marlowe on TV
POWERS BOOTHE AS PHILIP MARLOWE, CIRCA 1983I've been taking a break from heavier reading the last month or so, instead catching up with one of my old friends on the bookshelf: Raymond...
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This week in TV Guide: September 20, 1980
What is "the Washington that TV news can't cover"? Why can't they cover it? If they can't, how do we know it's there? And is it being covered today, 34 years later?So many questions. We'll be back...
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The life and death of the greatest radio program
Monitor: The Inside Story of Network Radio's Greatest Program, by Dennis Hart, iUniverse, Inc., 270 pages, $19.76Why, you may ask, am I reviewing a book about classic radio on a blog devoted to classic...
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Around the dial
I've mentioned this series before, but it's worth repeating with Rick's fine write-up at Classic Film and TV Cafe regarding the British spy series Man In a Suitcase. I've managed to catch a couple of...
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This week in TV Guide: September 28, 1963
On the cover this week is the lovely Inger Stevens, star of the ABC series The Farmer's Daughter. The show ran for three seasons, from 1963 through 1966, and was based on the 1947 movie of the same...
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Police procedurals and (non-existent) civil liberties
I've commented before on this habit I have of finding material in unusual places. I think this is due in part to how my mind works, but also it demonstrates how pervasive television is in our culture....
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Around the dial
Last week I linked to Classic Film and TV Cafe write-up of the '60s British spy drama Man In a Suitcase. This week, my go-to blog for Brit shows, Cult TV Blog, presents a dissenting opinion on...
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This week in TV Guide: October 4, 1980
Ed Asner and Mason Adams, the stars of Lou Grant, are on the cover of this week's issue, and with a name like Lou Grant it has to be good, right?**Bonus points to anyone who gets that joke. If you're...
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You can be sure if it's Westinghouse
I saw a billboard for Westinghouse the other day, on my way home. For a minute I was probably more distracted than they recommend if you're behind the wheel; it's just that I was surprised. I didn't...
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Around the dial
The series Ozzie and Harriet is often included with other sitcoms of the '50s and '60s as shows idealizing an America that never really was. Television's New Frontier: the 1960s takes a closer look at...
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This week in TV Guide: October 15, 1960
I had two issues to choose from this week, and up until I selected the image you see on the left I fully intended to write about the other one, the issue you don't see. At the last minute, however, I...
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