Around the dial

Xet's start this week at Soul Ride, where Gary reviews Impresario: The Life and Times of Ed Sullivan, by James McGuire. You'll recall that several years ago—in fact, now that I look at it, it was the second piece on this blog—I reviewed Gerald Nachman's Sullivan bio; I enjoyed it, but it could and should have been much better. If I ever want another crack at Sullivan's life, this is the book I'd check out. 

At The Horn Section, Hal's look at F Troop continues with "El Diablo," a 1966 episode in which Larry Storch takes center stage as Corporal Agarn and his evil cousin, the notorious bandit El Diablo, who has a $10,000 price on his head. No matter what, this isn't going to turn out well.

Lately, I've been reading Rodney Marshall's Twitter posts on Randall and Hopkirk, Deceased, so naturally I was game for John's take on the series over at Cult TV Blog. He doesn't disappoint, with "The Best Years of Your Death," featuring the late Peter Bowles.

At Television's New Frontier: the 1960s, the focus is on the 1962 episodes of The Flintstones. The cartoon's been on since September 1960, and it's not as fresh as it used to be. It also brings home the question of whether or not this adult cartoon was ever a kids' show.

Terence looks back on the career of Marvin J. Chomsky at A Shroud of Thoughts. Chomsky, who died earlier this week, aged 92, had a glittering resume of directorial work for television, including Roots, Holocaust, Mission: Impossible, Banacek, Mannix, The Wild, Wild West, and many, many more.

I recently saw a comment online from someone who thought it was wrong to consider Gilligan's Island a classic, because it wasn't very good. How can you say that, though, about a series that's had such a profound pop culture impact? At Drunk TV, Paul reviews another of the venerable show's spinoffs, the 1982-83 cartoon Gilligan's Planet. TV