Something unusual at Cult TV Blog; John looks at the never-aired pilot for Blackadder, Rowan Atkinson's wonderfully funny alt take on British history. The entire Blackadder series is one of my favorites, and its quite interesting to document the differences between the series as aired and this pilot; as John says, it's hard to disagree with the changes made between the pilot and the series.
At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence pays tribute to the career of producer and director Bert I. Gordon, who died last week, aged 100. Dedicated MST3K fans will recognize many of his movies, which tormented and delighted the show's fans: King Dinosaur, Beginning of the End, The Amazing Colossal Man, War of the Colossal Beast, Earth vs. the Spider, Tormented, Village of the Giants. Colossal!
Here's something you're not going to see in any store anytime soon, unless it deals in antiques: a television tube tester, courtesy of the Broadcasting Archives. I'm grateful, of course, for the new technology in TV, but there was something warm about those old sets, especially in the store, that I still remember. Wouldn't the tech who operated the tube tester have had a great line for What's My Line?
Episode 144 of Eventually Supertrain is up, and while we haven't gotten to Supertrain yet, Dan does have discussions of Lucan, Gemini Man, and something new, so be sure and check it out when you've got some time.
At Travelanche, a subject that, as he says, is sure to divide his audience: Jerry Lewis on television. I've always enjoyed him as a performer and humanitarian (I'm agnostic on his personal life), but there's no questioning that the man made a major impact on television history.
And if all this talk about classic television has got you in the mood for watching some, a reminder that one of the best places on the whole internet for viewing is Uncle Earl's Classic Television. This is one of my go-to sites, especially for shows that lack a proper DVD release. If you want to see for yourself what I keep talking about, go over there and visit the library. TV
Sort of off-topic:
ReplyDeleteA couple of posts back, I mentioned "health woes", which you read to mean that I'd been ill; that wasn't exactly the case, as I'll explain here.
As I often find myself having to clarify, "health woes" is how I describe "getting older".
As of today - Saturday the 18th of March - I'm 72 and a half, and every day in every, I'm more and more aware of this.
Most recent marker: A few days ago, I went in for jury service, maybe the seventh or eighth time I've gotten the summons.
My "history" as a juror is mainly uneventful, and I went to the courthouse hoping for the same outcome.
When I got there, the nice lady at the front desk showed me the very small print on the summons card that said since I was past seventy, I had only to call the phone number and tell them, and I would be automatically excused without having to come in (I hadn't noticed).
Well, I was already there, and the nice lady gave me the option, so I stuck around, collected the $35 check, and it was a slow day in court, and we all got turned loose at lunchtime, and there you are.
Anyway, I went home, but the old age thing was on my mind.
A few weeks ago, the mail brought me the latest issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, February-March 2023 (Vol. 161, Nos. 3&4, Whole Nos. 978 & 979).
According to the mailing label, my two-year renewal runs until 06/25, which is the May-June 2025 issue - or putting it another way, the sixtieth anniversary of my first starting to read EQMM.
I think of that as a marker in my life; as a late-in-life collector, I found myself with two copies of my first EQMM, June 1965 - and I sent one of them as a gift to you (along with scads of other stuff, but that's another story ...).
And that brings me to a multi-part Question:
- (1) By any chance, do you still happen to have that EQMM from 1965?
- (2) Have you gotten around to reading any of it?
- (3) If so, what did you think of the stories - and for that matter, of the magazine as a whole?
This is just "old man talk".
Frankly, I'm curious as to your reactions to the 1965 contents (I'll admit that a few of the stories just might be targeted to you for possible reactions - maybe).
Since I don't have an Indiana address for you, you most likely won't be getting any more gifts from me in the future, so my curiosity is in force.
Anyhoo, I'd kinda like to know ...
Think about it, won't you?
By the bye, that 2025 issue of EQMM -
- if I've got the count right, this will be Whole No. 1000-1001.
I'm definitely looking foward to that one ... and I'll be coming up on 75 when I get it ...
First, glad to know I was wrong; I'm about a decade younger than you, but as a new retiree, I sure know what you're talking about!
DeleteSecond - I have all the EQMMs that you've sent along (along with everything else you've sent!) - of course, I read "Unc Solves Flix Flap" because it's based in Indiana! And I had no idea that John Jakes wrote pulp and scifi before he did the "North and South" books. (I also had no idea that there was a magazine with stories based on Mike Connors' "Tightrope" until I looked up Jakes' body of work and saw he'd written for it.) I'm glad you mentioned this, because I need to get back to reading these stories - they're fun, and they make for a nice break when I'm reading long, dry histories.
By the way, do you still have the same email address? I can email you our new address here.
Same Email as always:
Deletemike.doran9740@att.net
Fair warning:
I have a whole bunch of overflow in my inventory, which I'd be more than happy to dump on/share with you, should the need arise ...
thanks for the shoutout! I need to pick up the pace on the Bob reviews if I'm going to get all 173 episodes covered eventually.
ReplyDelete