Around the dial

Now there's a young entrepreneur hard at work honing his craft. "Check out the 16-inch screen on this beauty. Just use that dial to adjust the sound, and you're all set!" But what would they watch?

Possibly The Twilight Zone, and the fifth-season episode "Probe 7, Over and Out," starring Richard Basehart and Antoinette Bower. It's the subject of Jordon's latest at The Twilight Zone Vortex; while Rod Serling's script seems to suffer from writer's fatigue, the performances and dialogue make the episode worth checking out.

As good as that television set might be, it's unlikely it would still be in use on Friday nights in 1974, which is where Comfort TV is, with David's continuing inventory of 1970s prime time television. The Six Million Dollar Man, Kolchak, Sanford and Son, Chico and the Man, Rockford, Police Woman; back then, Fridays had television worth watching.

If you've been reading along at Cult TV Blog, then you'll know how John is currently looking at shows in which actor Denis Shaw appeared. We're now up to the 1968-70 series Tom Grattan's War, the adventures of a teen boy spending World War I on a Yorkshire farm. Check out a pair of episodes that speak well of the series as a whole.

Sticking with television on the other side of the ocean, The View from the Junkyard reviews "Get-a-Way!", a locked-room mystery from the final season of The Avengers. Roger and Mike don't always agree on their assessments of the series, so see for yourself what they think here.

At The Last Drive In, it's part two of Monstergirl's in-depth look at the career of Adrienne Barbeau, including an interview with Adrienne herself. Both the career retrospective and interview provide a fascinating look at the life and times of the popular actress.

Up for a quiz? If so, then head to Classic Film & TV Cafe, where Rick has the second edition of the "We Name the Cast...You Name the Movie!" game. I think you'll enjoy the challenge, and, possibly, the memories it brings back. No peaking at the comments section, though.

I've been seeing a lot of notices on social media about anniversaries of various series debuts, which isn't surprising since most of them used to premiere around this time of year, and at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence notes the 60th anniversary of The Munsters. And while you're there, be sure to read his obituary of Kathryn Crosby, widow of Bing, who died last week at age 90.

Speaking of anniversaries, Television Obscurities has a couple of more, well, obscure ones for you to consider: the 55th anniversary of The New People, and the 60th of The Baileys of Balboa. Neither of these are among the most famous of programs; do you have any memories of them?

Finally, how about some reading material? At Travalanche, you can learn about Sam and Friends, "the definitive book about early Jim Henson." It's a great look at Henson's first television show, and gives you a chance to see the evolution of some of Henson's great Muppets. TV  

Around the dial

In our last episode, you may recall, we looked at a new series that John was starting at Cult TV Blog concentrating on actors and their roles rather than simply individual series. This week, we look at Denis Shaw's contribution to The Avengers in the final season episode "Requiem." You may also recall that this is the episode reviewed at The View from the Junkyard last week; now it's time for John's authoritative review.

Dick Powell made one of the great career transitions in history, going from a song-and-dance man in light comedies to a a star of hard-boiled noir crime dramas, and at Classic Film & TV Cafe, Rick takes us back to the movie that started it all: Murder, My Sweet, where Powell lays claim to being the definitive Philip Marlowe.

At The Last Drive In, monstergirl gives us part one of a two-part profile of Adrienne Barbeau, who may be best-known to readers here for her long-running role on Maude, but there's much more to her career, as we see in her autobiography, There Are Worse Things I Could Do. Be sure to come back next week for part two, monstergirl's interview with Adrienne.

Paul returns at Drunk TV with a review of the fantastic 1959 TV adaptation of Budd Schulberg's scorching show-biz expose What Makes Sammy Run?, with a terrific cast that includes Larry Blyden, John Forsythe, Barbara Rush, Dina Merrill, and Norman Fell. Paul sees this as an example of how early television could, at times, rival the quality of anything you'd see in the theater, and I agree.

Terence commemorates 70 years of television's Lassie this week at A Shroud of Thoughts. Seventy years, and many permutations over its nineteen seasons. He also members the late, great James Earl Jones, who died this week at age 93. Besides all the roles he played in his distinguished career, it's hard to imagine CNN without him.

We occasionally touch on Land of the Lost here, and so it seems fitting to stop at Travanche, where it's been 50 years since the debut of that series. I was, for lack of a better word, stuck with that show, living in the World's Worst Town™ at the time, and NBC was the only show in town on Saturday mornings. Of course, not watching television was never an option.

At Shadow & Substance, Paul looks at the Twilight Zone episode "A Game of Pool," starring Jonathan Winters and Jack Klugman, in particular how Rod Serling changed the original ending from George Clayton Johnson's script. I agree with Paul that Serling's change made the episode stronger, but there's a lot to be said for Johnson's as well. And you have to like how Winters holds his own with Klugman. TV