Around the dial

David Hofstede at Comfort TV gets us off to a terrific start this week with a piece on television reunions, ending up with the question: which reunions have worked, and which haven't?

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency was Douglas Adams' follow-up to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and while I didn't find the book nearly as funny, it's still good for a smile or two. Now British TV Detectives looks at the TV series based on the books.

Memorial Day was earlier this week - still enough time for reflection on the day and the traditional American values it reflects. Carol at Vote for Bob Crane reminds us that Crane himself felt strongly about those values, not only in Hogan's Heroes but off-screen as well.

Those Were the Days has a picture of Jim Backus with the Kessler sisters from the 1963 CBS summer replacement series Continental Showcase. This would have been just a year after the end of NBC's long-running circus show International Showtime - I never realized circus shows were so big back then.

You'll recall I had a few choice words about the BBC after they sacked Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear last year. Now, with not only Clarkson but co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond gone to Amazon Prime, the new cast (including Matt LeBlanc) don't seem to be doing very well.

The TV Guide Historian shows us the TV Guide Close-Up for the 1977 Academy Awards. Those were always a highlight for me, not only when I was reading the current issue, but when I used to dive into the stacks at the library to look at old issues. I made quite a list of movies to watch for just by writing down the names of nominated films.

The Horn Section looks at the TV Guide issue from May 27, 1967, with the stars of F Troop on the cover. I don't have this issue myself, but I think Hal does a great job of making it feel as if I were holding the issue in my hands right now. I love these kinds of reviews!

Remember Pippi Longstocking? I do, too, but I had no idea there was a television series about her in 1969. Not that I would have watched it if I was, but how do I miss things like this. (It wasn't made in the United States; perhaps it never aired in an area in which we lived.) Good thing Silver Scenes is around to remind us. TV