Around the dial

We'll begin the week with couple of blog updates. First, if you read Wednesday's article on Combat!, you'll notice that I've added the series to my Top Ten favorites. With this, the revised Top Ten is now complete; you can view the list here, or through the link on the sidebar.

Speaking of updates, I've also updated the links to my podcast appearances, which you can find on the "Video and Podcasts" tab on the top; they're also available on the It's About TV YouTube playlists page. I'm hoping to add more material to that in the future, by the way.

Finally, I've been pleased to publish several excellent guest essays here over the nearly fourteen years, of this blog. If you have something you'd like to share, please email me, and we'll talk. As I get closer to completing my latest book, your contribution not only entertains our readers, it helps me devote more time to the book.

Now, on to something more interesting, beginning with the latest look at private detective series from John at Cult TV Blog. The series is The View from Daniel Pike (a series that sounds like it's right up my alley), and the episode is "The Manufactured Clue." Try it; I think you'll like it.

At The Horn Section, Hal is back on the F Troop route, with "The West Goes Ghost," Am I giving anything away by saying that it involves another scheme courtesy of O'Rourke Enterprises? And that said scheme is doomed to failure? Probably not.

A week or two ago I mentioned the passing of baseball "legend" Bob Uecker; this week, Inner Toob takes a look at some of the Ueck's more memorable TV appearances, both as himself and as an actor. I'm not sure there was much of a difference; what you see is what you get, and it's always funny.

Roger is back at A View from the Junkyard with another in his continuing series of reviews of The New Avengers, and this time it's "Cat Amongst the Pigeons," which plays very much like an episode from the Emma Peel era, but done in the style of the new series. 

At The Hits Just Keep On Comin', JB has a nice remembrance of the famed NBC radio program Monitor; if you're not familiar with it, I urge you to check out the links JB provided, or to read my review of the definitive book on the program, Dennis Hart's Monitor.  

At Television's New Frontier: The 1960s, it's the 1960 episodes from the single-season sitcom Angel, with Marshall Thompson and Annie Fargé. It comes off somewhat as an imitation of I Love Lucy, but with somewhat less success. However, thanks to Classic Flix, it's out on DVD; take advantage of it. TV  

Around the dial

Xet's start this week across the pond at Cult TV Blog, where John has turned his attention to the private detective genre, one of my favorites. The show is the 1979-80 series Shoestring, the star is Trevor Eve, the premise is that he's a "private ear" for a radio station, and the episode is "Stamp Duty." Intriguing.

At RealWeegieMidget, Gill takes her monthy tour of TV movies and miniseries watched last month, including Baby Snatcher with David Duchovny; the miniseris Mistral's Daughter, based on the novel by Judith Krantz; Till We Meet Again, starring Barry Bostwick (another Judith Krantz story); and Ring of Musketeers, which wasn't by Krantz but was made in Germany and stars David Hasselhoff. 

Doorbells aren't what they used to be; people come to the door a lot less often than they used to, and when someone does ring it, you're not always sure you want to answer it. But such was not always the case, and at Comfort TV, David loos back to when doorbells were an essential part of classic television, as well as life. 

A few hours before I started typing this, the news came that David Lynch had died, age 78. It wasn't terribly surprising, but sad nonetheless, and a great loss to both movies and television. At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence looks back at the career of the great man and his accomplishments. We'll never know what really happened to Dale Cooper now, and I think that would have pleased David Lynch. And for a bonus Shroud, Terence talks about the 60th anniversary of NBC's music show Hullabaloo, which made a wonderful cameo appearance in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.

Baseball announcer Bob Uecker died on Thursday as well, age 90. He was not only a beloved announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers, he was a terrific raconteur (just watch him on The Tonight Show), a very good actor in both television and the movies, and the star of a memorable series of commercials for Miller Lite. It's often a cliche to call someone an "original," but Uecker truly was, and both baseball and television are richer for his life and poorer for his death. Farewell, Mr. Baseball.

Martin Grams has reviews of five recent classic television books: Five Fingers: Elegance in Espionage, starring David Hedison as a Cold War CIA agent; The History of Hiram Holliday, about the post-Mr. Peepers series starring Wally Cox; Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: A TV Companion, based on the sci-fi series of the early 1980s; Banacek: A Behind-the-Scenes History and Episode Guide, which was a series I really enjoyed (George Peppard is especially good in it); and The Jeffersons, about, well, The Jeffersons. You can get the authors' names and more details on their books at the link.

At Drunk TV, Paul looks at the second season of The Odd Couple, a season which saw some fairly substantial changes made in the wake of the show's inaugural season. I guess it's been a while since I've seen the series; while I remember getting rid of the laugh track, for example, I'll have to go back and look at the changes made by going from a one-camera to three-camera layout.

And the latest issue of Opera has a review of my friend Nancy Spada's book Beyond the Handsomeness: A Biography of Thomas Schippers, the dynamic American conductor whose career would have known no limits had he not died at 47. Schippers, you will remember from this blog, was the conductor for the landmark telecast of Amahl and the Night Visitors, as well as other operas for NBC Opera Theatre, and was a wonderful talent. TV