December 3, 2013

Around the dial

Well, it's hard to believe, but it's already December!  Where has the time gone?  Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  Now let's see if we can keep the momentum going through the end of the year!

First off, the disappointing news that RadioDiscussions.com, home of one of the best classic TV discussion boards, abruptly shut down today.  I'm sorry to see that; I must have put up one of the last posts on it this morning, when I linked to Saturday's TV Guide piece - it was a great place to talk about old program listings and shows of the past.  For those of our regular readers who've been regulars on RadioDiscussions, any suggestions as to where we can continue our discussions?

Joanna at Christmas TV History* is really in her element this month!  Today she's got a great piece on one of my favorite Christmas shows of the past, the Judy Garland Christmas Show.  Sure, there were some campy elements to it, but there was a kind of meta-self-awareness about how everyone seemed to know they were part of a television show.  One of the reasons I like this program is that it gives us an idealized Christmas - perhaps things weren't that way in 1962 (if they'd ever been that way), but the point is that the audience would have understood that this was an accepted presentation of Christmas, realistic or not.

*And by the way, Joanna, if you're reading this - yes, I know I owe you a piece on Amahl - this weekend, I promise!

Comfort TV delves into a topic that's always been of some interest to me - actors and actresses who've starred in more than one television series.  There have been a few, but whenever this has come up for discussion, I've always thought first of Robert Young - such a big hit with Father Knows Best, and then to follow it up with Marcus Welby, M.D. - not bad.

I really like the idea of TV When I Was Born - it reminds me of why I have such an attraction to the TV Guides of my youth.   There's a kind of connection you make (or at least I do) with the shows of that era, whatever era it might be.  And Dixon sounds to be about my age, which means his look back at TV when he was born is roughly the same as mine.  His latest is a look at TV's first great prime-time animated sitcom, The Flintstones.

It probably goes without saying that the blogs I mention in this space each week are among my favorites - otherwise, how would I know what they were writing about?  So I won't say that Television Obscurities is one of my favs, even though it is.  Here's a wrap-up of a great feature that ran throughout November - a month of local Connecticut TV commercials.  I can appreciate how much work that must have been.  I doubt I'd be able to find my favorite Twin Cities commercials - they all date back to TV when I was born...

Alert readers will notice I switched things up - Around the Dial usually appears on Thursday, but this week you're getting it a couple of days early.  That gives me time to come up with something to write about for the rest of the week - but I'll make it! TV  

2 comments:

  1. Yes it is a shame about the closing of the Classic TV Board. I enjoyed your postings. It seems that a few of my favorite websites are missing or have been hacked. Is this a trend. Has Corporate America taken over the Information Superhighway?

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    1. Thanks for the kind words, Albert. I hope not - not to bash Corporate America any more than I have in the past, but there's got to be room out there for the little guy as well.

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Thanks for writing! Drive safely!