tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post2327453773401886915..comments2024-03-27T22:27:16.556-04:00Comments on It's About TV: This week in TV Guide: December 10, 1977Mitchell Hadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-82086054356131038482016-12-14T19:56:59.002-05:002016-12-14T19:56:59.002-05:00Bing Crosby was a Republican, almost all his life....Bing Crosby <i>was</i> a Republican, almost all his life.<br />During the War, he supported FDR - as most Americans did during that time.<br />There wasn't an "extreme right wing" back then; that didn't come about until after the War, when the Soviet Union asserted itself.<br />Even then, Bing Crosby, following the lead of his friend Bob Hope, stayed out of partisan politics as much as possible; entree to DC and the White House was all-important, no matter how you voted.<br />It was only in the late '60s, when everything blew up generally, that Crosby began to publicly identify as GOP; one time he told David Frost that "... my heroes these days are Bill Buckley, Louis Armstrong, and George Blanda!"<br /><br />We could segue from here to Crosby's morality piece (which was most likely ghosted for him by the like-minded Jim Bacon), and perhaps contrast it with what has become known about how he treated his first wife and his older sons - and maybe tie that in to Edith Efron's advocacy of "Blame the Victim", which even conservative prosecutors place little credence in ...<br /><br />Jeez, this is getting ugly. <br />Change the subject ...<br /><br />Say, did you ever get around to reading my belated Brett Halliday comments (one post late as they were)?<br />Just thought I'd ask ...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05527404061764217504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-83371430318001587012016-12-14T14:58:28.705-05:002016-12-14T14:58:28.705-05:00This year (2016), NBC ran "Grinch", and ...This year (2016), NBC ran "Grinch", and the presentation lasted 35 minutes so that the network could air the original 1966 special in its entirety (minus commercials, it was around 26 minutes).<br /><br />"A Charlie Brown Christmas" this year aired on ABC, while "Frosty" was again on CBS this time around.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-32533991650294393462016-12-10T18:47:37.066-05:002016-12-10T18:47:37.066-05:00Thanks for another good look back at a time, unlik...Thanks for another good look back at a time, unlike many of those covered here, where I can actually remember watching some of the programs that week.<br />As far as Bing Crosby goes, I thought he was a Republican. I heard on tv that on a West Coast trip JFK was supposed to stay with Frank Sinatra one time, but due to Sinatra's alleged mob ties, JFK stayed with Crosby, who was unlike Sinatra (at the time) a Republican. This affront to Sinatra was somehow blamed (probably scapegoated) on JFK's brother-in-law, Peter Lawford, who was more or less kicked out of the Rat Pack after this.<br />THE LOVE BOAT ran its first Christmas episode Saturday night, including Dick Sargent playing a priest taking a group of orphans on the Pacific Princess to sing at a stop in Mexico and John Gavin as a man planning revenge on the man in whose place he'd just served a prison sentence. Oddly enough on Christmas Eve, 2 weeks later, THE LOVE BOAT aired a different original episode that was in no way related to Christmas. It included 1 of Will Geer's last performances outside of THE WALTONS, as he died the next April.<br />I'm pretty sure I saw IT HAPPENED ONE CHRISTMAS this week on Sunday, just before I remember seeing IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE for the first time, so the tv movie was my first exposure to this story. This version, like the 1973 tv remake of MIRACLE ON 34TH ST., had lots of familiar (in the future if not yet then) tv faces, like Wayne Rogers as Mary's husband George Hatch (Mary & George switched last names for the remake.), Richard Dysart & Doris Roberts as her parents, Barney Martin as Uncle "Willie", and Christopher Guest as Mary's brother, Harry (who wasn't turned into Harriet for this movie). <br />While I don't remember the Perry Como, I did see EIGHT IS ENOUGH that Wednesday night, which included Will Geer (again outside of THE WALTONS & on a different network) and it was a real tearjerker, as all the family members ended up crying & reminiscing about the first Mrs. Bradford, who'd been played when the series began by the recently-passed Diana Hyland.<br />I agree with what you wrote about Edith Efron. I imagine if she were scheduled to speak on a college campus now, she'd be banned before the students had to run to their "safe spaces" to avoid her.<br />Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00483417885845331990noreply@blogger.com