Around the dial

Xfter last week's break, we're back for another look at the classic TV blogosphere, so let's dive right in and see what's what.

Sadly, a trio of classic television figures have passed in the last couple of weeks, and at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence has tributes to each one: Lynn Loring (who died in December, but her family just announced it last week), Ron Harper, and the legendary Barbara Rush.

Jack's Hitchcock Project continues at bare-bones e-zine with "Don't Interrupt," the sole script for the series written by Sidney Carroll, a prime example of Hitch's description of the difference between surprise and suspense, and with a nasty twist at the end.

At Comfort TV, David continues his countdown of his 50 favorite classic TV characters with Ricky Nelson as Ricky Nelson. Was he an actor, a character, or a person? You can decide that, but there's no question about his memorable impact.

Hal continues his deep dive into the truth behind F Troop's ratings at The Horn Section,  demonstrating that the perception that the series underperformed in the ratings is a myth, and speculating on what might have been, if it had had more support from the studio and network.

"The curse of the old TV fan," John says at Cult TV Blog, "is the prolific wiping of shows, especially black and white shows." (Truer words were seldom spoken.) To back that up, he looks at another episode of the anthology series Armchair Mystery Theatre, "The Man Who Came to Die."  

At Drunk TV, Paul reviews volume three of the series Greatest Heroes of the Bible. The bad news: these episodes lack that certain "badness" that one gets from a typical Schick Sunn Classic production. What does that mean? Paul has the answer.

Cult TV Lounge returns to the world of Boris Karloff's Thriller with the 1961 episode "Late Date." We all know that Thriller can be uneven at the best of times, but this one happens to be a hit on the hit-or-miss scale, with Larry Pennell (Ripcord) in a starring role.

Certainly The Mickey Mouse Club would count as one of the iconic shows of the late 1950s (although I recall it from reruns when I was small), and Travalanche gives us his own memories of catching the show in reruns.

At The View from the Junkyard, Roger recalls the fifth season Twilight Zone episode "In Praise of Pip," a touching story (thought it didn't touch Roger in quite the right way) of a father and his son. Notable for being one of the first mentions of Vietnam on series television.

Finally, last week I appeared in a pair of episodes of Dan Schneider's Video Interview, looking back at some of the major figures in television's history: first, Barbara Walters, and second, Dave Garroway, for which Dan and I were joined by the wonderful Jodie Peeler for a delightful hour. TV