August 7, 2014

Around the dial

Some of you may think I take the easy way out by devoting Thursdays to links.  Au contraire!  What it really does is give me a chance to read some terrific pieces at other blogs, and steer them your way.  Let's get started, shall we?

Cult TV Blog has been concentrating on allegory in The Prisoner, and you can check out the latest excellent entry here.  But I want to draw your attention to his analysis of the 1998 film version of The Avengers, viewed in light of the original series.  I never saw the movie; first of all, it was before I became such a fan of the series, and second, it seemed to have gotten some pretty poor reviews.  But you might think kinder of it after reading this piece.

Classic Film and TV Cafe takes a look this week at one of my favorites, Fred Astaire - specifically, the 1961 movie The Pleasure of His Company.  The funny thing about this is that I really don't like musicals; my favorite, 1776, holds the distinction of having the longest stretch without music of any Broadway musical.  I don't even like the stories of many of Fred's movies - but I always like him.  That man has style just standing and breathing.  And he made three very good television specials, as well.

All Things Kevyn is all sitcoms in this post, where he shares with us some of his favorites in the genre.  Like me, his first memories of many of these shows comes from watching them after coming home from school.  I mean, I don't think I ever saw an episode of Gilligan's Island in prime time; it was always in that period between 4 and 6 pm.  Ah, yes - before the afternoons became all about bad talk shows and bad local news.

We haven't checked in on I Love Dino Martin lately, but this is a good week to do so - as our gracious host links to a terrific piece that speculates on celebrities who should have been guest villains on Batman.  And yes, I can absolutely see Dino as Two-Face.  It's almost painful that we won't ever get a chance to see how that would have gone.

Thanks to my friend Andrew Lee Fielding at The Lucky Strike Papers (and by the way, if you haven't bought his book yet, why not?) for this link to some very interesting looking titles by Bear Manor Press, many of them concerning our favorite classic television shows and stars.  I'm intrigued by this Nat Segaloff bio of Sterling Silliphant - I've taken some jabs at Silliphant in the past for being able to turn any script into a pulpit for his social beliefs, but his story sounds like a very interesting one.

Seems like some of the bloggers out there are on vacation, or at least slowing down for the month.  Why can't I do that?  Who knows.  I guess it's just the lure of attention, that I have to keep on writing.  That and I enjoy what I'm writing about.  See what I mean on Saturday, when I'm back with another TV Guide blast from the past! TV  

1 comment:

  1. I wouldn't call reading my ramblings the easy way out! Thank you for another positive reference - to two posts at once! I've always been inclined to look down on slowing down for the Summer - it implies a more scholastic timetable than I get nowadays!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!