Around the dial

Portrait of the Author as an Old Man

Xet's lead off this week with Cult TV Blog, where John tells us about "Who Plays the Dummy?" an episode of the 1969-70 series Department S. And why should we care about Department S? Well, I can't do any better than John's description of the series: "Department S is one of my all-time favourite shows, simply because the plots are insane and the characters wild. It is as if they looked at every other show, dropped a few LSD and started writing what they saw." This series has just gone on my wish list.

"Ask not what your country can do for you"—wait, let me try that again. Ask not "For Whom the Bugle Tolls," it tolls for thee. And for anyone else watching this 1966 episode of F Troop, as brought to you by the indefatigable Hal at The Horn Section.

David has a very interesting piece on how things get a different perspective as we get older. In this week's Comfort TV, he looks back at the words of Abner Kravitz, henpecked husband of Bewitched's nosy neighbor Gladys, and finds that the older you get, the more wisdom you discover in them.

I always enjoyed Dean Stockwell, always liked the work he did, whether in movies or television, and particularly when he was playing someone strange. The stranger, the better. Anyway, Dean Stockwell died this week, aged 85, and Terence has a fine appreciation of his career at A Shroud of Thoughts.

Does it seem as if there's been less to link to lately than there used to be? Possibly, but quality always makes up for quantity, doesn't it? TV