January 3, 2013

Around the dial

You might have noticed the icon on the sidebar touting the Classic TV Blog Association.  This is a small but growing collection of bloggers committed to educating the public on classic television.  For all of us, classic television is a labor of love.  Each of us has a particular specialty or area of interest we look at; taken together, we offer our readers a unique and, we hope, fascinating look at a history that becomes more distant by the day.  We're dedicated to keeping that history alive, and sharing the pleasure we derive from it. 

Each week I'll be taking a look at the latest from the membership, along with great items from other bloggers.  If you're a regular reader of It's About TV!, I hope you'll check these out as well!  This week:

  • Hal at The Horn Section provides a remembrance of Jack Klugman, the great TV star.  I was never a big fan of Quincy, but I always enjoyed The Odd Couple when it was on first-run.  Last night, unable to sleep because of a cold, I turned over in time to see an episode where Felix, bedridden by a cold, threatens to ruin Oscar's romantic weekend.  However, as soon as I saw Felix looking and sounding as bad as I did, I decided it was cutting too close to the bone.
  • I'm currently reading a TV Guide profile of Art Carney in preparation for an upcoming "This week in TV Guide" feature, so I found Aurora's piece at How Sweet It Was on The Art of Art Carney to be particularly timely.  I always enjoyed Carney's work in "The Honeymooners" sketches; he was one of the great straight men, but his Oscar for Best Actor in Harry and Tonto showed how talented he really was.
  • Can't get enough of the Andy Griffith Show?  Check out Mayberry Mondays at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear, where each week Ivan takes an in-depth look at the comings and goings in North Carolina's most famous city.  Currently he's making his way through the Griffith sequel Mayberry R.F.D., and after that it will be The Doris Day Show.
  • Whether he's writing about classic TV or movies, Rick at Classic Film and TV Cafe always has something worth reading.  Here's a link to his top ten posts of 2012 - they all make for fascinating reading, and you'll want to make this part of your regular routine.
  • How many of you remember cigarette advertising on TV?  Over the weekend I was delving into my DVD collection for some classic New Year's Day bowl games, and it's always interesting to see those commercials from the 60s and early 70s.  Michael, of Michael's TV Tray, notes that it was 42 years ago yesterday that the TV advertising ban went into effect.  Why January 2 and not January 1?  Because tobacco companies were sponsoring bowl games, of course!
  • I don't speak Spanish - yet - but the Spanish-language blog RetroEscuadron makes me want to learn right now.  Here's a look back at Farrah Fawcett's sci-fi suspense film Saturn 3 - also known, IIRC, as the one where Farrah dropped her top.  With those points of interest, plus Kirk Douglas and Harvey Keitel, and directed by Stanley Donan, it should have been a much better movie than it was,
  • Damn you, Kliph Nesteroff!  Do you have any idea how much time I've lost by checking out your blog?  I'll be surfing for information on a piece I'm writing, run across his Classic Television Showbiz site, and the next thing I know it's three hours later and I still haven't written a word!  Kliph has an amazing collection of interviews with great entertainers of the past.  This is better than Lays potato chips - I defy you to be able to stop after reading just one of his pieces.  Whenever I'm stuck or on edge and just need to read something, his is always the site I turn to first.

Happy new year, and good reading! TV  

2 comments:

  1. Mitchell, my man -- thanks so much for the shout-out directed at my 'umble scrap of the blogosphere.

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    1. Ivan, the pleasure - as a reader - is all mine! :)

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Thanks for writing! Drive safely!