July 27, 2018

Around the dial

At Thrilling Days of Yesteryear, Ivan reviews the DVD release of Laugh-In's fifth season. As he points out, the show is getting a little grey around the edges; now, more than ever, it's become a conventional variety show. According to Dick Martin, “We were called anti-establishment, and pretty soon we were the establishment.” I'm not a Laugh-In fan, but if you are, this is for you.

If you enjoy Jack's "Hitchcock Project" at bare-bones e-zine, you're sure to want to read him this week, as he presents his annual list (complete with links!) of all the Hitchcock episodes covered to date. This is such a fun feature; there are weeks when I'm not sure I'll have time to do "Around the Dial," but invariably that will be a week when Jack's on, and it convinces me I'd better do it!

Jonathan Sowers is the latest entrant in Joanna's "Christmas in July" at Christmas TV History. I link to this to get you to go over there and see the entire list; make sure to read them all. Mine should be up before the end of the month.

The Broadcasting Archives at the University of Maryland reminds us of two notable birthdays this week: Lucy's sidekick Vivian Vance, and George Burns' better half, Gracie Allen. Tell us what you think of Gracie's presidential campaign platform!

At Comfort TV, David remembers Michael Constantine, and although you might not recognize his name, you're sure to recognize his face - he's one of those actors who was in everything. Take a look at just some of the roles he's played over a career that, as David says, may not yet be over.

John is back looking at The Avengers at Classic TV Blog, with the fun sixth season episode "Legacy of Death." John speculates on how popular this episode might be with the hardcore, "Mrs. Peel" type of Avengers fan, but I certainly have no complaints about Tara King.

At The Lucky Strike Papers, Andrew spends a little time discussing the Splendid Splinter, the great Ted Williams. The second of his two posts looks at the PBS documentary on Williams which aired earlier this week.It reminds me that I used to really like baseball, before various things turned the national pastime into a slogfest.

Television's New Frontier: the 1960s moves to 1961 and one of the great adult westerns of the era, Have Gun - Will Travel, with Richard Boone as the iconic Paladin. Interesting sidenote is how the series plummeted in the ratings this season; perhaps, Beestguy speculates, it could be due to Richard Gehman's TV Guide article which said of Boone, "Few other stars are so earnestly, piously, and vehemently hated." Well!

Finally, as I come to the final revisions on The Electronic Mirror, I come across Jodie's article at Garroway at Large: "Where a book comes from." Now she tells me! TV  

1 comment:

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!