January 16, 2015

Around the Dial

The Broadcasting Archive at the University of Maryland nails it with this one.  Star Trek III on VH-1?  In a previous installment we talked about the idea that so many niche cable networks have completely lost their way - and their reason for being.  Will the inevitable ala-cartization of cable TV finish them off for good?

The Flaming Nose has a story, appropriate for the coming long weekend, that tells how the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. played a role in keeping Nichelle Nichols on Star Trek.  Nice way I've been able to link these first two stories, hmm?

I haven't made a commitment to catching Maverick every week, but I'm almost always entertained when I do, and The HORN Section provides the background on yet another episode with this week's "Maverick Monday" on the final season episode "Epitaph for a Gambler."  Be warned, though: this is from the post-James Garner era of Maverick, though Jack Kelly was always good.

Bosom Buddies was not on my watch list when it was on TV, though I knew enough about it to notice that one of its stars hit it pretty big in the movies, and the other didn't do too badly in television.  But Comfort TV suggests that the show should be remembered as more than a punch line - in fact, it was pretty good.

This week's TV Guide review at Television Obscurities takes us to the issue of January 16, 1965.  Among other things, it gives us a preview of TV's coverage of the upcoming presidential inauguration, a look at behind-the-scenes battles at Peyton Place, and Cleveland Amory's savage review of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  Some great images from this week's issue!

Finally, The Bootleg Files gives us some insight on the beloved Sherlock Holmes movies of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, which many of us have seen on television, and tells us about the one person who wasn't a fan at all - Basil Rathbone himself.

Sorry for the relative shortness this week, which shouldn't reflect on all the great stuff out there.  See you back here tomorrow for another big TV Guide, right? TV  

6 comments:

  1. Going to go read the first article in a moment, but I am constantly struck by how networks lose their way and just don't seem to give a damn. VH1 with Star Trek, MTV with no music and now TVLand purposely aiming for younger and younger viewers. I have to just take solace in that I can watch what I want on DVD and YouTube, and hope that MeTV doesn't lose their way any time soon!

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    1. Hahaha Went to the link, to Broadcast Archives tumblr post with VH1 and it was a reblog of my comment from my own My Third Parent tumblr. Quite the circle! LOL

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    2. Aside from news oriented programming on CBS, I watch virtually no broadcast and cable network programming. My viewing consists of YouTube, Netflix, MeTV, PBS, Antenna TV and Comcast on demand. A decade or more ago, networks like Bravo, A&E, Discovery, The History Channel, etc... would've been filled with great documentaries, original series, science programs and so on, but now those channels are indistinguishable with all of the stupid and mind numbing reality shows that have taken over all areas of TV like a plague.

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    3. If only we had a channel like MeTV in Australia. I'd be watching it constantly. Sure, there are some classic shows doing the rounds on the multi-channels here but they are just circulating the same dozen titles over and over and not necessarily 'classics' either. Would be nice to have a genuine 'retro' or 'classics' channel.

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  2. Where, exactly, is the link about cable networks losing their way? I recently upgraded up to digital cable after 5 years and was depressed at how mediocre many of the "specialty channels" (BBC America, Logo, etc.) had gotten

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  3. Fortunately we seem to have more options than ever before for classic TV despite TVLand's sellout. MeTV is my favorite by far, but Cozi, Antenna and FamilyNet (which has many 70's classics) are all terrific, and of course there's streaming, which has allowed me recently to get reacquainted with oddball classics like DAKTARI, FLO and SURFSIDE SIX via Warner Archive's channel (they also offer shortlived series like ROAD WEST & MAYA as well).

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Thanks for writing! Drive safely!