Around the dial

Does the Dali Lama read It's About TV?

I think most of us who are of a certain age got their introduction to many classic movies by seeing them on television, and so it's fitting that Classic Film and TV Cafe helps celebrate National Classic Movie Day with five favorite films from the 1950s. And if that's not enough, Once Upon a Screen chips in as well. How many of these did you first see on TV?

And how many of these did you first hear on TV? It's the conclusion to David's 100 most memorable songs introduced by classic TV at Comfort TV. And yes, this list is filled with classics that will give you an earworm if you're not careful.

Back to movies for a sec; RealWeegieMidget has some great stills from Joan Crawford's appearance on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., one of several two-part episodes over the run of the series that were turned into theatrical releases.

At Garroway at Large, Jodie takes us back to the premiere of Today, and gives us what may be our best (and certainly most fascinating) look at what the RCA Exhibition Hall, home of the Today set, looked like. The set only made up a small part of that large building, after all.

The Horn Section is back to Love That Bob!, with this week's episode being "Bob Tangles With Ruthie," first broadcast in 1957. Bob Cummings is, I think, an often-overlooked TV star of the 1950s and 60s, and it's good to be reminded how funny this show was.

The Broadcast Archives at the University of Maryland links to this Vanity Fair story about how Carl Reiner went toe-to-toe with CBS over the content of a classic Dick Van Dyke episode, and almost left the series because of it. Of such things is television history made.

Television's New Frontier: the 1960s has made it to Maverick in 1961, in which the show's  fourth and fifth seasons are seen. Creator Roy Huggins and star James Garner have both left, but with Jack Kelly still carrying the water (along with Roger Moore and a very brief appearance by Robert Colbert), the series still manages to hit some of the highs it was always known for.

And finally, two entertainment giants died this week, Doris Day and Tim Conway. I seldom have the time anymore to do the kinds of obituaries I like to do, but at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence has fine appreciations of both Conway and Day. We won't see their likes again. TV