tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post6238376685171293822..comments2024-03-27T22:27:16.556-04:00Comments on It's About TV: This week in TV Guide: January 19, 1980Mitchell Hadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-24693617060110205782020-01-18T20:52:39.049-05:002020-01-18T20:52:39.049-05:00Re: 'Tonight Show' vacation schedules:
Ed ...Re: 'Tonight Show' vacation schedules:<br />Ed began taking the same weeks off as Johnny later in 1980, when Johnny's new contract kicked in, and the show dropped from 90 to 60 minutes.oneillb454@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09871027852560385711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-50515303481892915632020-01-18T11:51:28.080-05:002020-01-18T11:51:28.080-05:00Once again, I don't have the issue, so we'...Once again, I don't have the issue, so we're potshotting around.<br /><br /> - Using the old <i>What's My Line</i> standard:<br />The British Royal Family, separately and together, are salaried and deal in a service - said service being as goodwill ambassadors for the United Kingdom.<br />The Royals <i>do not</i> rule the Kingdom; Parliament does that, and has done so for the last couple of centuries at least.<br />Putting it more snarkily, the Windsors are fronts for the UK, symbolic at most - which I'm guessing is why the British are so protective of the family, and so rough on any who don't toe the line.<br />In the case of "the Duke and Wally", it was all about keeping up appearances - royalty wasn't supposed to behave like that.<br />Thus, the abdication, which was likely not Edward's idea, nor that of his BFF; nonetheless, they went with the rules, and became the World's Guests for the rest of their days.<br />Some while back, I told you about Phillippe Halsman, the photographer who contributed many covers to <i>TV Guide</i> over the years, and of his custom of having his subjects jump into the air at the end of a session.<br />As I told you then, Halsman compiled these shots in his <i>Jump Book</i>, which was reissued a few years back.<br />I pulled it from the shelf to double-check - and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor get a double-page spread, jumping separately and together.<br />It really defies description: you have to see it for yourself.<br />(You should see the whole <i>Jump Book</i>, comes to that; one double-take after another, guaranteed.)<br /><br /> - This might be a misrembering:<br />At some point late in his tenure, Johnny Carson swung a part of his deal with NBC that Ed McMahon would take the same weeks off that he did; thus Ed would always have second chair while he was there.<br />If this deal was in place in 1980, Doc Severinsen would definitely be in all five shows this week, since he was designated backup announcer for <i>Tonight</i>.<br /><br /> - When <i>TV Guide</i> announced the launch of <i>Panorama</i>, I became a charter subscriber.<br />Sad to say, I don't have any of the issues to hand; these fell victim to pesky clean-up campaigns by those I was living with at the time.<br />My memories of <i>Panorama</i> are that it was very much worth the effort that was put into it; Walter Annenberg took a lot of pride in this magazine, justifiably so.<br />That it didn't catch on was reputedly one of the reasons that Annenberg retired from publishing altogether (I may have the exact timing wrong, but his disenchantment with the business probably dated from this time).<br /><br /> <br /><br />Mike Doranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14427528138598549103noreply@blogger.com