February 8, 2019

Around the dial

Ever heard of an episode of Father Knows Best called “Twenty-Four Hours in Tyrantland”? Neither had I, until it wound up on David's list of "The Unshakeables" at Comfort TV. I mentioned on Wednesday how much have changed—this would be right there. Wish I'd included this in my book.

The first time I ever saw the Twilight Zone episode "Miniature," it was as a colorized presentation, and the big news was that this was the first time the episode had been seen on TV since the original broadcast, due to legal technicalities. It's a masterpiece, as Jordan shows at The Twilight Zone Vortex.

What I like about our classic TV blog community is that it is a community, with new friends and heretofore unknown treasures just around the corner. That's why I take a moment to share Carol's story about the passing of her friend (and former colleague of Bob Crane) Morgan Kaolian over at Bob Crane: Life & Legacy. Sounds like he was quite a guy, Carol.

One of my favorite television books of all time—but why narrow it to that? a favorite book period—is The Lucky Strike Papers, Andrew Lee Fielding's warm and wise memoir of his mother's time in television, particularly on Your Hit Parade. Good news from The Lucky Strike Papers: a revised edition is coming out! You really should have this book in your library.

At Garroway at Large, Jodie points to another reason why Garroway deserves to be remembered, and not just by historians. As we can see in "Lost Garroway," Dave was truly the face of NBC, both TV and radio. It's beyond foolish to even consider anyone with that kind of stature in television today, and to think that someone who was as much a part of the American consciousness as Garroway is now all but forgotten—well, I just don't get it.

Oh, I used to love watching the Oscars. Of course, this is back when the show only ran a couple of hours, meaning I could stay up at least that late, even though I had to go to school the next day. Today, you'd have to pay me. But it's a good excuse to look at Classic Film and TV Cafe's "Snubbed by Oscars" poll. Vote for your favorites; it's not as if the Oscars got it right every time.

TV Guide promises a Hot February! in the issue of February 4, 1989, the latest in Television Obscurities' look at 30 years back. Among other things, there's a story welcoming the return of Columbo, and an on-location report on the heralded miniseries Lonesome DoveTV  

1 comment:

  1. I knew about "24 Hours in Tyrantland" years ago...it was a special episode of the show produced for the Treasury Department to promote the sale of Savings Bonds and Stamps. It was never intended to air on TV, but shown at gatherings at schools, offices, factories, and other places. Over the years a number of TV shows did just that--I owned a tape featuring versions of SUPERMAN, LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, MISTER ED, THE ODD COUPLE, WKRP IN CINCINNATI and BENSON.

    Paul Duca

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