Around the dial

As Shakespeare once said, "We have seen better days," but before we get too lost in the moment, let's start the week at Comfort TV, where David looks at eight times when Shakespeare came to classic television. Number five is a particular favorite; I wrote about it here.

It is true, however, that things have been better, and right now we all seem to be looking for someone to come to the rescue. Well, how about Bob Cummings? Hal has the inside story with a look at "Bob to the Rescue," a 1955 episode of Love That Bob!, at The Horn Section.

At Shadow & Substance, Paul takes a side-by-side look at two of the great anthology series of the classic era: The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. They've both been rebooted, but I don't think the new versions have ever come close to the originals. Perhaps it has to do with the hosts.

Let's look at one host in particular: Hitch. Jack's latest piece at bare•bones e-zine continues the Harold Swanton project with "Summer Shade," the sixth-season episode starring James Franciscus and Julie Adams, and shows again how a talented writer can improve a story by adapting it.

It's a couple of days old now, but I think you'll still have time to play the 1950s sci-fi version of Rick's "The Alternate Movie Title Game" over at Classic Film & TV Café, as long as you don't check out the answers in the comments section first. We're on the honors system here, people.

That's it for another week; hang in there everyone, because we will see better days. Be back here tomorrow, aloha. TV