January 20, 2017

Around the dial

Apropos for today, the Broadcasting Archives at the University of Maryland takes a look at the history of broadcast coverage of the Presidential Inauguration. No matter your political bent, it is always a monumental moment in American history.

Once Upon a Screen takes it in a different direction, with a photo gallery showing various movie portrayals of both real and fictional presidents. How many of these movies do you recognize?

I really enjoy these Hitchcock posts that Jack does on bare-bones e-zine, both for the episodes I've seen, and the ones I haven't. This week's falls into the later category, the 1963 story "The Star Juror," based on the French novel by Francis Didelot. As Jack suggests, we may be better off with the book than the episode...

A very interesting question posed by David at Comfort TV: which television series changed the most in the transition from black-and-white to color? There are some shows where it really doesn't much matter, but I think he's spot on that The Fugitive, for example, lost something when it made the switch.

There's a good review of the fourth season Adam-12 episode "Back-Up 1L-20" over at Lincoln X-ray Ida. Is it just my imagination, or did William Boyett play a policeman in just about everything in which he appeared?

At The Lucky Strike Papers, Andrew Fielding has a nice acknowledgement of the late Dick Gautier, who died last week at age 85. Did you know that he played Hymie the KAOS robot on only six episodes of Get Smart? And yet he'll be remembered for it forever.

Television Obscurities reports that the audio from the Super Bowl I post-game show has been recovered. You know, if we keep going at this rate, one of these days we just might be able to find and release the whole game.

Finally, not a link but a question, from loyal reader George Everson, who wonders if there's anyone out there who remembers a show from his youth:

I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio and we regularly got WTAE channel 4.  One of the shows I watched was the early morning showing of the Three Stooges at 7:30 a.m.  However, I remember that in addition to the Three Stooges there would also be circus short films shown in addition to the Three Stooges shorts.  I have been trying for years – without success to track these films down.  I would like to know first of all who made them and second of all if they are still in existence.  I talked last week with the individual in charge of the station’s archives and he assured me that the station’s morning program at that time was all live.  

If you can help George out, just send me an email or answer in the comments section! TV  

2 comments:

  1. Thanks, Mitchell! I'm glad you enjoy the posts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just want to say thank you in advance to anyone who can help me locate these short films. They were a wonderful part of my childhood and I would at the very least like to know who made them and who some of the performers were. I wish I could give more information but the films came without any credits. They also occasionally appeared on the Paul Shannon Show. The only clues I can give regarding them is that many were "hosted" by a silent sock puppet of a clown at the start and at the close.

    George

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!