April 6, 2018

Around the dial

This is about how it looks in Minneapolis right now.
.
Another week, another treasure trove of pieces from the classic TV blogosphere. Here's what you ought to be reading this week:

Inner Toob presents us with a great premise, the kind of alternate reality I love: what if the famed Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (you know, the one where Shatner sees the gremlin on the wing of the plane) and "Odyssey of Flight 33" occurred in the same universe. In other words, what if Shatner sees that gremlin on a previous trip of Flight 33?

At The Horn Section, Hal posts on what he says is his favorite B&W episode of F Troop: "The Day the Indians Won." And no, it has nothing to do with the World Series - otherwise, it would have been on Twilight Zone instead.

Joanna is back at Christmas TV History with another installment of Christmas Booksand once again we're faced with "who knew?" books such as an adaptation of B.C.: A Christmas Special, a comic book on The Honeymooners Christmas Special, a kids' version of It's a Wonderful Life, and more. Seeing as how we're sitting in the middle of nearly a foot of snow here in Minnesota, Christmas books seem right at home.

David's latest version of Comfort TV nights takes us to ABC's lineup for Saturday nights, 1983: T.J. Hooker, The Love Boat, and Fantasy Island. That's a powerhouse lineup, and a far cry from today, when the network regularly broadcasts college football and NBA basketball on Saturday nights in order to avoid scheduling any series.

Some Polish American Guy presents episode 42 of the podcast Eventually Supertrain. I highly recommend you listen to this immensely entertaining podcast, which features recaps of single-season series, featuring commentary by Dan and guests. Also, in the near future yours truly will be one of those guests!

At Cult TV Blog, Paul recaps the rare Avengers season one episode "The Frighteners," with Patrick Macnee and Ian Hendry. Even without the invariably beautiful companion of the later years, The Avengers is still a kick - as it always will be whenever Patrick Macnee is in it.

For some time, Jack has been going through Francis and Marian Cockrell's episodes for Alfred Hitchcock Presents at bare-bones e-zine, and this week he presents a summary of their contributions to the series. I've said this often enough that you'll think I'm getting a kickback from Jack, but reading these recaps is often as entertaining as the episodes themselves.

Television Obscurities notes the 65th anniversary of TV Guide with a few interesting statistics: the current circulation of the magazine is 1.3 million nationally (down from 1.8 million at the end of 2014). When the magazine first started in 1953, its circulation - for 10 cities - was 1.5 million. At its peak, the number was 20 million. I know that the proliferation of TV channels makes it impractical as a station guide, but do you think some better articles might just help?

In addition to her Wednesday guest essay, Jodie appears this week at her own blog, Garroway at Large, with a rest-of-the-story look at Dave Garroway's famous sign-off, "Peace."

All in all, a great week, and nice to be back with the regular Friday feature. Come back tomorrow and we'll read another TV Guide - as Mel Allen would say, how about that?  TV  

1 comment:

  1. To be honest, I don't see TV Guide anywhere anymore. For many years the current issue had a home near the cash register at most stores. Now the rack that once held them has mini recipe books, Sudoku books, or digest-format Archie comics (about the only comics still seen outside of comic book shops). As you noted, TV Guide simply can't be a TV listings anymore, back when I still had cable it had ballooned to roughly 300+ channels - of nothing on :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!