Cult TV Blog revisits one of my favorite shows, The Avengers, looking an an episode early in the show's run and making a very good point about the need to appreciate how a show may appear different to us today than it did to the viewers when it was originally broadcast. And don't forget to page down and read some of his terrific pieces on The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Comfort TV takes a look at an interesting topic - when actors and roles don't mix. It's something I haven't thought that much about before, but reading the examples given both in the article and from the comments section, I have to admit it's almost as much fun as it is when we recast shows with our favorite actors in roles they never played.
A great blast from the past at the Broadcasting Archives at the University of Maryland - a 1985 newspaper clipping of Buddy Ebsen, late of The Beverly Hillbillies and more recently Barnaby Jones, and one of his biggest fans - Richard Nixon. "I don't look at much entertainment television," the former president says, "but I liked Barnaby Jones. It was a good mystery where you knew the good guys from the bad guys." Please tell me I'm not the only one picturing the Most Interesting Man in the World - "I don't always watch television, but when I do I watch Barnaby Jones". . .
Television Obscurities notes something that I should have thought of - yesterday was the 61st anniversary of the publication of the first national issue of TV Guide, with Lucille Ball's new baby (the "$50,000,000 baby") on the cover. And no, I don't have that issue. I have rent to pay.
The Bootleg Files is a great source for oddities from television and movies that, for one reason or another, haven't received a commercial DVD release. This week: the 1974 Tony Awards (which can be seen on YouTube). As Phil Hall reminds us, "TV broadcasts of awards shows weren’t always so dreary" as they are today, a point I've often made with regard to the Oscars. This show sounds like great fun - perhaps the producers of today's awards shows can check it out?
This should keep you satisfied until tomorrow, when we're back with another great TV Guide! TV
What I do when I'm having a slow day …
ReplyDeleteI'm going over some of your old posts, looking for things I might have missed back in the days, and I happen on this one, five years after the fact.
Specifically, the item about Richard Nixon and Buddy Ebsen.
And your passing mention of The Most Interesting Man In The World.
I suppose you might be aware that TMIMITW was an actor named Jonathan Goldsmith.
Mr. Goldsmith had a considerable career in the mid-to-late '70s; for some of this period he used the professional name 'Jonathan Lippe'.
And during this period, Jonathan Goldsmith/Lippe appeared at least five times on Barnaby Jones.
And got Guest Star billing all five times.
This was the '70s, when the gentleman was in his thirties; his hair was jet black, no beard (mustache once), slightly skeevy demeanor, and some of the worst men's wear of those years.
I spent some of this morning (2/20/19) checking IMDb against my complete DVD set of Barnaby Jones as part of my due diligence:
From Season 1: "Sing A Song Of Murder", episode 8.
Season 2: "Death Leap", episode 2.
Season 3: "Poisoned Pigeon", episode 18.
Season 5: "Sister Of Death", episode 11.
Season 7: "Temptation", episode 25.
Between seasons 5 and 7, Jonathan Lippe reverted to Goldsmith, his real name.
All five times, there he was in the QM opening titles, name-checked by Hank Simms - as Lippe in the first four shows, and finally as Goldsmith in the last one.
So The Most Interesting Man In The World might not have been watching Barnaby Jones -
- if he was too busy being on it.