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Let's begin the week at Comfort TV, where David lists ten occasions where characters returned to a series after having previously been written out. Some of these might have slipped your mind, while others will bring a smile (or laugh) to your face. 

At Cult TV Blog, it's the conclusion of the "Tony Wright Season," as John wraps up his review of the British actor's TV career with his appearance on the series Sykes, as well as his wrap-up on Wright's various television appearances.

Interested in having dinner with the Jetsons? Well, you're in luck, as Bob Sassone links to his 2011 article for the magazine Paleofuture on the food from The Jetsons. How close did their predictions of the future come?

At The View from the Junkyard, Roger looks at the latest A-Team episode, which could be a contender for the best in the series: "Showdown!", in which our heroes confront, of all things, a counterfeit A-Team! 

There's no question but what the DVD market for classic television has slowed down dramatically in the last few years, but it's not gone entirely, and at TV Obscurities, Robert is back with last month's news on classic TV home media.

And in Mitchell Hadley news, you can catch Dan and me discussing the final episode of Garrison's Gorillas at the latest Eventually Supertrain. Don't you dare miss it! Will I return? Stay tuned. TV

If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!

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Ahis week at Cult TV Blog, John continues his "Tony Wright Season" with another of my favorite series, The Persuaders!, starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis, and, in "Someone Like Me," Tony Wright. If you find you're seeing double after watching it, don't say I didn't warn you.

Speaking of seeing double, at The View from the Junkyard, Roger is reviewing The A-Team episode "Double Heat," in which the Team travel to Marina del Ray to involve themselves in a kidnapping designed to keep a key mob informer from testifying.

Bob Sassone has some nice footage, unseen for 60 years, of the great Vince Guaraldi performing "Linus and Lucy," which was actually written for an unsold Charles Schulz documentary, before it went on to great fame in A Charlie Brown Christmas. 

My first introduction to Dick Tracy was not through the comic strips, nor the movies, but through the cartoon version that featured Tracy with some animal assistants. I know, sounds like some kind of drug hallucination, doesn't it? Anyway, Martin Grams has a piece about a Tracy adventure novel from 1945, Dick Tracy Meets the Night Crawler.

Daniel Boone is another of those shows I remember from my childhood, but I never really stopped to watch it much. Why? I don't really know—I like Fess Parker and all— even after reading Paul's review of the series at Mavis Movie Madness. Maybe someday.

We throw the word "great" around quite a bit; I did so myself in referring to Vince Guaraldi above. But Robert Duvall truly was great, and at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence has a fine tribute to his remarkable career; he also shares the TCM Remembers short honoring Duvall.

How about a little more video? At Television Obscurities, Robert has the network promo for ABC's series Room 222, from 1970. Was that series a comedy or a dramedy? I lived in The World's Worst Town™ when it was on, and it aired in our market, as I recall, in a late-afternoon, off-network slot.

And last, but most assuredly not least, I'm back on Eventually Supertrain with Dan to discuss the penultimate (I think) episode of Garrison's Gorillas. And stay tuned for The Yellow Rose and Ghosted; it's another fun show. But how could it not be with that crew? TV

If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!

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Well, here we are on Black Friday, and hopefully, everyone had a thankful Thanksgiving and took at least a few minutes to reflect on the true meaning of the day. It really does represent a whole lot more than just the first cog in the Christmas machine, and we can probably come up with a great many reasons to be thankful, if we just shut out the noise and think about it for a bit. Having said all that, I'm now prepared to add some noise of my own to the general din of the day.  

Mavis Movie Madness commemorates Thanksgiving with a look at A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, one of the lesser Peanuts efforts, as Paul correctly describes it. I know that people like to think of this as a classic, usually packaging it with The Great Pumpkin and A Charlie Brown Christmas, but while there are some good moments, it doesn't add up; never have you had a greater desire to shout, "Where are the adults?"

How many of you remember the sitcom Fay? It was a vehicle for Lee Grant, and ran for ten episodes in the 1975-76 season. At Television Obscurities, Robert shares the video of the fall preview of the series. Does it give us any clues as to the failure of Fay? 

Was there ever an episode of The A-Team that didn't tick all the boxes on the show's signature formula? Well, at The View from the Junkyard Roger reviews "It's a Desert Out There," in which a couple of tweaks to the formula provide a surprising episode.  

At Cult TV Blog, John continues his fascinating series on whether or not The Prisoner could refer to Soviet Russia, with the episodes "Checkmate" and "Hammer into Anvil," and while they may not fit John's thesis, they still make for a couple of fascinating episodes.

Now, as a kid I happen to remember the big screen version of The Flintsones, the spy spoof The Man Called Flintstone. Did we stand in line at the theater, waiting to get in along with a bunch of other kids? Perhaps. I hadn't thought about it for awhile until Captain Video came up with the comic book adaptation of the movie. Whaddya think? Does it still hold up after all these years?

At Eventually Supertrain, I'm back with Dan to talk about Garrison's Gorillas; there's also the continuing saga of Ghosted, and a mystery show! Like Dan, I'm not telling you about it: you'll have to check it out for yourself and see!

Finally, I'm back on Ed Robertson's great TV Confidential podcast to discuss Darkness in Primetime. (Part two is here). Hopefully, I live up to the high standards of Ed's other guests; that's part of what makes it a fascinating show.

Speaking of which: have you started your Christmas shopping yet? TV

If you enjoy the content here and want to support my broader creative work, please consider making a donation at my Ko-fi page. Any amount you contribute helps me continue writing, researching, and sharing these articles and projects. Thank you!

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I claim the top spot for myself this week, with a couple of notes. First, if you haven't yet ordered your copy of Darkness in Primetime, you've still got a couple of weeks to get in on the introductory pricing; go here for details. In support of Darkness, I've launched a new series of two-ish minute videos focusing on the book, what went into its writing, behind-the-scenes stories, and more. You can see that video here, and keep up on additional episodes by subscribing to my YouTube channel, or signing up for my newsletter.

You can also hear me on the latest episode of Eventually Supertrain, as Dan and I discuss the latest on Garrison's Gorillas, plus segments on Bronk and Ghosted. As I am prone to say, don't you dare miss it. And now on to some non-Mitchell related goodies.

At bare•bones e-zine, Jack's Hitchcock Project continues full steam ahead, with "The Impossible Dream," which is not about Don Quxiote but does tell a nasty story of blackmail, written by Meade Roberts and starring Franchot Tone, Carmen Mathews, and Mary Astor.

We're visiting 1961 in the latest episode of Cult TV Blog, as John looks at The Seven Faces of Jim (not to be confused with The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao), part of a succession of three comedy series starring Jimmy Edwards. This week features a comic spin on Quatermass, and sounds like a hit.

It's short but sweet at the Broadcast Archives, with a singing commercial message from Pottsylvainan TV. If you know what the reference means, you know you're in for something fiunny; if you don't, all the more reason to check it out.

At Comfort TV, David's journey through 1970s TV has arrived at Wednesday nights in 1976, and memories of the dominant ABC schedule, including The Bionic Woman, Baretta, and Charlie's Angels. What did NBC and CBS have to counter them? You'll find out.

The Twilight Zone Vortex returns with a look at the final-season episode "The Long Morrow," with Robert Lansing and Mariette Hartley. I agree for the most part, with Jordan's negative assessment, but I've got to make allowances for the episode's lovely score, made up of stock music.

At Classic Film and TV Corner, Maddie visits the TV adaptation of The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, based on the movie with Gene Tierney and Rex Harrision, which ran from 1968-1970. Our TV version, which more than holds its own, stars Hope Lange and Edwards Mulhare.

Apparently the message that we've had enough of death for one year hasn't kicked in yet, as we add Loni Anderson to the list of those leaving us; at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence pays tribute to this native of Minnesota, so familiar from WKRP and television appearances of all kinds.

Finally, if you know anything about nuclear power, you know that heavy water has nothing to do with heavy bread; no, "Recipe for Heavy Bread" is the latest episode of The A-Team to fall under Roger's microscope at The View from the Junkyard. TV  

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I've been reading about the Titanic lately, specifically On a Sea of Glass, the terrific book by Tad Fitch, Kent Layton, and Bill Wormstedt; I'm looking at it right now, in fact, so it's no surprise that we start this week at Realweegiemidget, where Gill is reviewing the 1979 telemovie S.O.S. Titanic, a decent retelling that stars David Janssen as John Jacob Astor, David Warner as Lawrence Beesley, Ian Holm as J. Bruce Ismay, and other stars of the era. If I'd had more time, I might have jumped into this blogathon, but I've had my hands full lately.

I'm also a classic Doctor Who fan, of course, and so you might know I'd be a fan of John's latest post at Cult TV Blog, a look at P.R.O.B.E., the first spin-off from Who, a television show that wasn't really a show but went directly to VHS and then to DVD without passing either go or a TV broadcast. Check it out!

At Comfort TV, David takes the occasion of a recent event in Somerset, Kentucky involving the Dukes of Hazzard General Lee jumping over a fountain as the jumping-off place (see what I did there?) for a look at other classic TV cases of life imitating art. It's nice to remember that we do have fun in this hobby.

Speaking of fun, I was never the biggest fan of The Mike Douglas Show back in the day, but today's talk shows manage to make Mike look like one of the giants of all time. Anyway, the Broadcast Archives looks back at The Mike Douglas Cookbook, featuring recipes from guests who appeared on the show. Fun, and delicious, I'm sure.

And news that's not only great and fun, but great fun: our friend Jodie at Garroway at Large is now the new proprietor of a truly great website, the Monitor Tribute site, dedicated to preserving the legacy of the legendary radio program. I wrote about Dennis Hart's terrific book on Montor several years ago, and I'm so pleased that he's decided to hand the site over to someone who truly cares about it.

At A View from the Junkyard, Roger is back in the world of The A-Team, and this week's episode is "The Beast from the Belly of a Boeing," in which we continue to explore the question of whether or not Murdoch is really mad. Great fun, if you ignore the question Roger poses about pressure equalization in a plane where someone's shot a hole in the side.

From the end of last week, at The Lucky Strike Papers, Andrew celebrates the 75th anniversary of the television debut of Your Hit Parade: July 10, 1950. The show predated this debut, of course; it started on radio in 1935, and continued on television until 1959.

And we've got another appearance from yours truly on Dan's Eventually Supertrain podcast, with another delightful episode of Garrison's Gorillas, plus Bronk and Ghosted. If you're not sated after that, I'm afraid I can't offer you anything more. TV  

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I tried to come up with a picture of George Washington watching television for today, but unfortunately, photography hadn't yet been invented, so we'll go instead with a picture of Sebastian Coe's mother watching her son win the gold medal in the 1500 meters at the 1980 Olympics. This came, by the way, from a 2017 story of how 80 people in Bristol, England, were still watching black and white TV. Among the reasons given were that the license for a black and white TV costs only a third of what one pays to watch TV in color (or, I should say, colour). See, in England, you have to pay a yearly license to watch television at the same time it's being broadcast. This is what subsidizes the BBC, and the current fee is £174.50 for a color license, £58.50 for black and white. It doesn't matter if you watch the BBC or not, or even if you like it; you pay to keep it going. Remember that the next time you're tempted to complain about commercial television. There are, however, no complaints about this week's lineup, however.

Twin Peaks: The Return was one of the most astonishing, confusing, and maddening series to air on television since  The Prisoner, maybe? Apparently, David Lynch wasn't happy with how it was mixed for TV, and so he created one for theaters. Now, it's about to hit the big screen in New York City. I wonder if it will ever make it out here to real America?

My favorite musical of all time is 1776, partially, I suspect, because it has less music in it than almost any musical ever to make it to Broadway. It's the story of the writing of the Declaration of Independence, one of the greatest adventures in human history, and at Captain Video, we see an animated Congress, thanks to a comic book adaptation of the story that captures things quite well.

Returing to British TV, at Cult TV Blog, John writes about "Welcome Home," an episode of the British series Out of the Unknown, that's part mystery, part science fiction. When you get to the heart of the mystery, it proves to be quite intriguing.

At Comfort TV, David takes time to remember some of the major figures who've recently departed, as well as one who, thankfully, is still around: the deaths of Rick Hurst, Lalo Schifrin, Bobby Sherman, and Bill Moyers; and the 100th birthday of June Lockhart. All part of my TV memories, needless to say.

Bob Crane: Life & Legacy is in a reflective mood as well, with June 29 marking the anniversary of Bob Crane's murder, still (and destined to be, apparently) unsolved. Included is a message that serves us well as to how we should view the eternal struggle against the human condition.

At Classic Film & TV Cafe, Rick reviews the two Tony Rome detective movies made by Frank Sinatra. Now, I like Frank, and I like detective movies, so these are both watchable enough, but you get the distinct impression they could have and should have been better.

Paul's latest review at Drunk TV is of season five of Mister Ed, one of those concept sitcoms that managed to transcend the concept and provide entertainment that was genuinely funny on its own. And if that wasn't enough, you get a double dose of Paul this week: at Mavis Movie Madness, he shares his observations on making it all the way through NBC's fabled daytime drama The Doctors, one of those rare soaps that exists virtually in its entirety, except for 290 episodes. That's out of 20 years, folks.

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence looks at a landmark 1973 episode of Medical Center, starring Lois Nettleton as a lesbian doctor. It's frank, unspectacular, and one of the first television episodes to present a homosexual character as "a healthy, well-adjusted human being."

At Television Obscurities, Robert celebrates his annual Lost TV Day with links to some fascinating stories about lost episodes, audio recordings, and more. I have a couple of stories regarding lost episodes myself, ones that I encountered while writing Darkness in Primetime, that I'll share here one day. Suffice it to say, once again, that the television industry has been very sloppy in preserving its own history.

And finally, over at Eventually Supertrain, I join Dan for our latest discussion on Garrison's Gorillas. I can personally recommend that, but make sure you make time for Ghosted and Bronk as well.

If you're reading this on Friday and you live in the United States, I hope you're enjoying the Independence Day holiday, and that you don't lose any limbs with your fireworks! If you're reading this over the weekend or next week, I'll assume you survived in one piece. TV  

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The "Sylvia Coleridge Season" continues at Cult TV Blog, and this week John looks at "The Chicken," a 1965 episode from the police series Cluff, with Coleridge excellent as a bedridden wife in a difficult situation.

At ReelweegieMidget, Gill reviews a movie that many of us saw on our home televisions: Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, a movie that's been on my mind lately for reasons that perhaps I'll explain someday, with Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren (and her fabulous wardrobe) and, well, some birds.

David reaches the end of 1975 in his review of 1970s TV at Comfort TV, with Saturday night specials (Emergency, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett), and not-so-specials (Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell, Doc). 

At Drunk TV, Paul looks at Rankin/Bass's classic Easter special, Here Comes Peter Cottontail, with Danny Kaye, Casey Kasem, and Vincent Price headlining an all-star voice cast. It just seems as if things were better when specials like this were on!

Martin Grams takes inventory of television's various attempts to bring Wonder Woman to the small screen, efforts that started with the success of Batman, and ended finally with the success of Lynda Carter, who we all know is the real WW.

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence pays his respects to two more of classic TV's familiar faces: Will Hutchins, best-known for Sugarfoot, but with many other credits to his name; and Sian Barbara Allen, who seemed to always be on television in the 1970s.

At The View from the Junkyard, Roger takes a look this week at the 1954 Kraft Television Theatre production of "Alice in Wonderland," featuring the great Edgar Bergen, along with Charlie McCarthy, and some commercials for dependable Kraft products.

Finally, at Eventually Supertrain, I'm back for more Garrison's Gorillas, along with segments on Bronk and The Misfits of Science. Don't you dare miss it, or I'll sic Jack Palance on you. TV  

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David has another terrific piece at Comfort TV on expressions that were once commonplace enough that they could be used as premises in television episodes of teh day. I'm so conscious of this kind of thing when I write; if I refer to the Irish Sweepstakes, will anyone know what I'm talking about? Do you know what I'm talking about?

The "Sylvia Coleridge Season" continues at Cult TV Blog with the episode "The Link-Up" from Shoestring, the private detective series he's reviewed recently, and Sylvia's reole as "a beer-drinking radio ham" is one that could have been written for her. It's great how many British character actors you start to follow when you watch enough British TV.

Terence at A Shroud of Thoughts, Paul at Mavis Movie Madness! and Inner Toob all have features on the latest classic TV icon to pass from the scene, Jay North, who died of cancer at age 73. Best known for Dennis the Menace, North had a long career in the industry, and worked with fellow former child star Paul Petersen in supporting current and former child actors.

At A Vintage Nerd, Daffny reviews one of the great features of I Love Lucy: the cameo appearances of guest stars playing themselves. This is something that keeps popping up in Lucy's series through the years, all the way up to Life With Lucy, and it almost always made for a better, more entertaining episode.

Speaking of Lucy, at Classic Film and TV Corner, Maddie takes a look at "L.A. At Last!" from the fourth season of I Love Lucy; she also has a brief anecdote on how and when she discovered Lucy; it's always a lot of fun to read about people and their initial introductions to the classics. It's a moment of wonderment and discovery that stays with them.

Finally, a couple of shameless self-promotions: my latest "American TV with Mitchell Hadley episodes are up at Dan Schneider's Cosmoetica, a double-header on American news legends: Edward R. Murrorw here, followed by Walter Cronkite. You can also here me on the latest Eventually Supertrain, where Dan Budnick and I discuss Garrison's Gorillas. Any other Dans out there who'd like me as a guest? TV  

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You might recall me writing a couple of years ago about The Man in Room 17, a British show that I quite enjoyed watching, although I was only able to see the first season. You might even be familiar with it, if you enjoy British shows from the 1960s. If so, you'll be as glad as I was to hear about the first-ever guidbook to the first season, Behind Door 17: An Unofficial Guide to The Man in Room 17, by Martin Gregory. Beside being an episode guide, it includes essays, mini-bios, and insights into a show that I found both intelligent and entertaining, with a liberal dose of humor included. You can read more about it at Martin's Substack, and hopefully we'll be looking at a review of this in the future.

The lastest episode of Eventually Supertrain is now available, in which your erstwhile correspondent joins Dan for another around of Garrison's Gorillas, plus more neat stuff. Please do give it a listen when you have some time, and if you haven't already added Supertrain to your list of favorite podcasts, now's a great time to do so.

Love That Bob returns at The Horn Section, as Hal reviews the 1959 episode "Bob and the Ballerina." We're at a point in the fifth season where the series tries to get back on track after an unsuccessful attempt to domesticize our hero. Find out how successful it was.

The "Sylvia Coleridge Season" continues at Cult TV Blog, and this week John looks at her appearance in the supernatural 1981 movie Artemus 81, a movie that almost defies explanation. Well, almost, but John gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect if you decide to watch it here.

At The View from the Junkyard, Roger's episode-by-episode recap of The New Avengers arrives at "Three Handed Game," the final episode of the first season, a story that blends mind-swapping, people with amazing memories, spies, and, of course, another great performance by Joanna Lumley as Purdy.

This doesn't really have anything to do with television, but Travalanche reviews Danny Fingeroth's book Jack Ruby: The Many Faces of Oswald's Assassin, and given that I've visited the topic of the Kennedy assassination many times here, you know why I'd be interested in this.

Television's New Frontier: The 1960s returns with the 1962 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which follows the successful formula that's kept the show going for seven successful seasons. Is the show in a rut, or is it following the maxim that you don't mess with success?

Speaking of Hitchcock (and isn't it too bad that Jack's Hitchcock Project isn't this week?), A Shroud of Thoughts reviews the fifth season episode "Arthur," starring Laurence Harvey, which Terence ranks as one of his favorites from the entire run of the series.

Television Obscurities has a note that the Paley Center in New York has now opened the Paley Archive at the Beverly Hills Public Library. It's no more likely I'll make it there than I would get to NYC, but I can always hope that they digitize their archives someday.

At The Lucky Strike Papers, Andrew uses the upcoming 24th anniversary of the death of his mother, Sue Bennett, looking back at her career in New York and Boston television. By the way, if you haven't read The Lucky Strike Papers, you should; it's an excellent book about family, television, and the 1950s. TV  

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Black Friday, as you probably know, was named not for any sense of dread at the day-after-Thanksgiving shopping crush, but because it was the day that retailers would go "in the black," thanks to it being the busiest shopping day of the year. That's one story, at least. Here at It's About TV!, we don't take the day off on Black Friday; it's just another red-letter day around here! Because of the early holiday deadline there might be a few pieces that snuck in under the wire, but we'll get to them next week. In the meantime, let's see what's on tap.

At Eventually Supertrain, a certain old friend returns to talk with Dan about the WWII action drama Garrison's Gorillas; any resemblance between that friend and your humble writer is purely intentional. Hope you like the start of our discussions on this enjoyable series, which I wrote about here.

At The Twilight Zone Vortex, Jordan reviews the fifth-season episode "A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain," starring Patrick O'Neal and the wonderful Ruta Lee. If it doesn't sound familiar, Jordan has the story behind the story, which you might find more interesting than the story itself!

Another TZ episode, "Come Wander with Me," is the topic of discussion at The View from the Junkyard. I sense a slight difference of opinon between Roger and Mike on this one, so I'll let you draw your own conclusions. If it's any clue, it's also from the fifth and final season.

One of my favorite blogs, RealWeegieMidget, celebrates its ninth anniversary, and Gill shares her top three posts of the year. You'll want to check them out, and make this a part of your regular rotation. 

At Cult TV Blog, John's survey of British character actress Ann Way continues with her appearance in Sergeant Cork, the mid-60s police procedural. "The Case of the Bristol Mail" features Way in a typical role, relatively minor yet memorable. See what you think.

You may or may not know this, but Harpo Marx had a pretty successful solo career on television between 1952 and 1962. At Travalanche, Trav talks about some of his great appearances over the years—from Lucille Ball to Carol Burnett.

As Earl Holliman died this week, it's particularly appropriate that Television's New Frontier: The 1960s looks back at one of his starring roles from the 60s, Wide Country, which aired in the 1962-63 season as one of two rodeo-themed series that season, the other being Stoney Burke. It's worth checking out.

At The Classic TV History Blog, Stephen uses the occasion of TV writer Jeri Taylor's death last month to review her career, and that of her writing partner and husband, David Moessinger. Learn more about Jeri and David, separately and together, and the many memorable shows they worked on.

And with Thanksgiving behind us, Christmas is now just around the corner: at Remind, Herbie Pilato looks back at some of TV's most memorable Christmas variety shows. If you, like me, grew up with these shows (and still watch them!), you'll enjoy this article immensely! TV  

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At Comfort TV, David alludes to something I've often wondered about: why is it that we can watch classic TV commercials—even enjoy them—but get so annoyed by the ones on today? Two reasons: less noise, normal people.

John wraps up his Cult TV Blog look at actor Denis Shaw's TV roles with "Are You Going to Be More Permanent?" from Danger Man, and comes to some conclusions about concentrating on an actor and his roles, rather than the plots of the shows themselves.

At Cult TV Lounge (no relation), it's a look back at the 1983 miniseries V. I remember when this first aired; there was something allegorical about the idea of following resistance members fighting against a world takeover, and their use of the "V" as a symbol of their resistance.

Remember the 1976 series Popi? Based on the 1969 movie of the same name, it starred Héctor Elizondo as a widower living with his two sons in New York; although it ran for only 11 episodes, it does occupy a small place in TV history; Terence recalls its significance at A Shroud of Thoughts. 

Remember Rona Barrett? Travanche does, and so do I. She was one of the great gossip columnists of the 1970s and '80s, and if you wanted to know what was going on behind the scenes in Hollywood, you read her column or watched her on TV. This week, she turned 88!

How about some podcasts? At Eventually Supertrain, it's episode #177, and our experts discuss three blasts from the past: Bronk, the police drama starring Jack Palance; Chopper One, a police drama with a helicopter; and Misfits of Science, with young superheroes galore!

At Random Access Television, Zach and Joe turn to T.J. Hooker, with William Shatner as a superhero police sergeant, plus Heather Locklear, Adrian Zmed, and the late, great James Darren. Was this the last series Shatner was in where he wasn't a parody of himself, or was he over the top here too?

At TV Confidential, Ed has a great collection of guests, including Walter Koenig, Louise Sorel, and Dean Butler; there are also segments on Theo Bikel, Sergio Mendes, and more. Also, don't miss where you can hear this week's show, featuring an encore of his interview with Barbara Feldon.

Finally, there's Your 45's Are 50!, where Hugh's weekly recaps are not to be missed. By the time you read this, he'll have this week's episode up, but don't miss the archives; the September 28th, 1974 episode includes a link to my review of that week's TV Guide—thanks again, Hugh! TV  

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This week begins with the return of Love That Bob to The Horn Section, and this time Bob's not the wolf preying on a lovely—he's actually trying to protect the lovely from another wolf: his friend Paul Fonda (Lyle Talbot). How does it work when the shoe's on the other foot, so to speak? Read what Hal has to say.

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  

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I'm not sure; that character on the small screen looks a little like Paul Brinegar, Wishbone on Rawhide, but someone more familiar with the Western genre might be able to tell for sure. It could be someone from a series like Death Valley Days, or it could be some made-up scruffy character. That's one of the great things about these old photos; you never know what you'll find.

For example, at bare-bones e-zine, we're off on a new Hitchcock Project, as Jack introduces us to Leigh Brackett's first Hitchcock script, "Death of a Cop," from 1963. It's a tense crime drama starring one of the great stars of the crime genre, Victor Jory, along with Peter Brown and Richard Jaeckel.

At Cult TV Blog, John turns once again to The Prisoner, with an intriguing idea for watching the series. Patrick McGoohan had apparently originally intended it to run as a series of 90-minute films, and John sets out to watch them this way, beginning with the final two episodes of McGoohan's Danger Man. Can't wait to try this out myself.

Some Polish American Guy, aka my friend Dan Budnik, is back with a new series on his podcast, Eventually Supertrain: Lucan, the 1977-78 drama. His co-host is Made for TV Mayhem's Amanda Reyes, so be sure to check out the link for where you can listen.

At Comfort TV, David takes a look back at the cop buddy series Starsky and Hutch. This is another series I admit to never having seen, although my defense is that I was living in the World's Worst Town™ for most of its run, making it unavailable to me. Granted, I haven't sought it out since, but if you're a fan, you'll want to see what David has to say.

Television's New Frontier: The 1960s returns with the 1962 episodes of The Real McCoys, the final season of the successful, long-running series, and how it copes with the absence of actress Kathy Nolan. who left the series after the fifth season.

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence shares his entry in the "What a Character! Blogathon," a look at the career of Jack Carson, a wonderful character actor who moved between movies, radio and television. Even if you don't recognize the name, you'll recognize him when you see or hear him.

The Outer Limits is a series I've always enjoyed since I saw it in reruns shortly after it went off of first-run on ABC (with the proviso that some episodes are better than others), and Cult TV Lounge reviews three episodes from the first season; "They're not among the best episodes but even lesser episodes of this series are pretty good and pretty interesting." TV  

Around the dial

We'll lead with the biggest story of the week, which is my final appearance on Eventually Supertrain, as Dan and I wrap up the underappreciated Search. There's more cool stuff on this episode, including Kolchak and the original Battlestar Galactica, and hopefully I'll be invited back one of these days! But in the meantime. . .

The Broadcasting Archives has a nice piece on one of my favorite newsmen, the great Howard K. Smith. He and Harry Reasoner were the preferred newscasters in the household when I had a chance to choose. Back then you had to be a real journalist to anchor the evening news; I wonder what he would think of the evening news today?

You would think that a television show about a crime-fighting go-go dancer would be a no-brainer, rather than a candidate for Cult TV Blog's orphaned episodes series, but as John points out, Go Girl didn't even make it to the tube. Better read and find out more.

At The Horn Section, Hal takes a look back at the 1970 made-for-TV movie Hunters Are for Killing, with a pretty good cast that includes Burt Reynolds, Melvyn Douglas, Martin Balsam, Suzanne Pleshette, Jill Banner, and Larry Storch. Hal calls it "an agreeable enough time-waster," and sometimes that's all you need.

Last week I linked to Terence's obituary of Tim Considine, and this week at Comfort TV, David takes a look at Considine's rich body of work with Disney (the real Disney, not the faux one we see nowadays): the Mickey Mouse Club serials Spin and Marty and Annette. 

Speaking of Terence, over at A Shroud of Thoughts, he has a very nice appreciation of Emilio Delgado, who, of course, played Luis on Sesame Street for so many years. He died last week, aged 81, and you might be surprised to see the many roles he played on television.

At CBR, Cassidy Stephenson comments on the increasing trend of rebooting classic shows, including ten that have recently gotten a reboot. I'm not necessarily opposed to the practice, especially when you can bring back a good number of the original cast, but still—is there such a poverty of ideas out there?

Ciera Couto also notices the trend, and at The Medium she points out how rebooting contemporary children's shows like Arthur allow that generation to "[Say] hello to adulthood without saying goodbye to childhood." Here, and I always thought that's what happened when you started to pay income taxes. TV  

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Xf these aren't crisis times right now, I don't know what is. And yet it's also true that life keeps going on; it's important to realize that it does no good to worry about things that are out of your control. You pray about them, and then move on and get on with life—after all, we only get one shot at it. At Comfort TV David looks back at how television has always been a source of relief during those times, and why those programs can still work for us today.

At Garroway at Large, Jodie provides a welcome update on the progress of her Garroway biography, focusing on adventures with gaining access to reproducing various photos of the Master Communicator. (I thought focusing was a good way to describe that, don't you?) I'll really be ready to enjoy this book when it's published.

The Flaming Nose is back with a tribute to The Musketeers, the 2014 BBC adaptation of the Dumas classic that's been so much a part of the adventure genre. A very interesting note: "Twenty years ago, there were 182 series produced. Today, that number has exploded to 559 series." And even so, it can be hard to find gems in all that content.

Let's keep the accent on Britain with Cult TV, and an episode from the BBC comedy Rutland Weekend Television, which John describes as "a Pythonesque account of the nature of television itself." Now, I'm not sure how much more you can satirize television than its reality, but they managed to do it. 

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence says farewell and looks back at the career of Sally Kellerman, who died last week aged 84. She was a mainstay on television in the 1960s before moving to the big screen, but continued her TV work into the 21st Century. 

Television's New Frontier: The 1960s investigates the 1962 episodes of the curious series Thriller. I say "curious" because this series never seemed to quite figure out what it was supposed to be, and never really utilized Boris Karloff to the best advantage. As a whole, it should have been better than it was, but it still has some stellar episodes. 

At Shadow & Substance, Paul looks back at how Rod Serling's attitude toward "the right length for a Twilight Zone" changed over time. (Get it?) At first, Rod thought an hour was the perfect length, but by the time CBS asked him to lengthen the show, he'd come to see that a tightly-written 30 minute script can say a lot.

Care for a little self-promotion? At Eventually Supertrain, yours truly is back with Dan Budnick talking about Search. Sadly, it's the next-to-last episode, so don't miss it! Also on the show, The Night Stalker and Battlestar Galactica. 

And ending on a light note, here's Martin Grams with some very funny cartoons featuring the Lone Ranger and Tonto. If we must face the crisis, we might as well do so with a smile. TV  

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Another family gathered around the TV watching C-SPAN

Whenever I see an article about how classic shows of the past weren't really that good, my Spidey sense starts to in, and I immediately prepare for some kind of knee-jerk reaction—you know, something along the lines of how this author doesn't really know what he (or she) is talking about, blah, blah, blah. And when I saw this Atlantic article by Tom Nichols on how most Christmas specials are terrible, I was prepared to do the same. After all, his focus is entirely on animated specials, leaving out some of the most significant Christmas shows in television history. But in this case, I'm not going to jerk my knee, because as it happens, this is something I like a lot; I feel as if I could have written it myself.

The idea that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is, well, kind of stupid, is not one foreign to this site. Its charm, and its classic status, comes almost entirely from the stop-action animation, the songs, and its connection to our childhood. But let's admit it: Rudolph's Santa is a jerk; if I'd been Rudy, with Santa asking for my help after everything I'd gone through, my answer would have been short and sweet: "Bite me, Santa!" (But then, I suppose Rudolph is a more forgiving soul than I am.) And then there's the idea that King Moonracer, who's apparently able to fly around the world gathering up misfit toys, can't fly to the North Pole himself and ask Santa's help. For that matter, why doesn't the king just fly over to Amazon and let them deliver the toys? Anyway, the point is that, unlike A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the two specials Nichols singles out for praise, Rudolph's story really isn't very good.

There is one thing regarding the Rankin-Bass specials, though, that I ought to point out—and I really am fond of them; I own most of them, including some that aren't commercially available—and that is that they work splendidly, if perhaps unintendedly, as allegories for our modern times. As I've pointed out before, Frosty the Snowman can be seen as a retelling of Christ's Resurrection, while Santa Claus is Comin' to Town works best as an allegory of the fall of Communism, with Sombertown serving as a stand-in for East Berlin. In fact, it seems to me that these readings are the only way either special makes sense. But then, that's just me.

Meanwhile, let's see what else is on tap this week:

At The Guardian, Anne Billson has binged on Christmas romcoms and she's here to see what they're all about. The Hallmark (and now Netflix) Christmas movies have been in my bullseye for a long time, but after reading this article I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom. Fantasy is one thing, but these movies not only dishonor Christmas (although they especially do that), they dishonor moviemaking itself. Remember when the Hallmark Hall of Fame produced class entertainment? One of the things that makes A Christmas Carol timeless is Scrooge's realization that life is not all about "having it all," but about sharing it all, especially yourself, and that you can never undo the past—you can only redeem the present and the future. On the other hand, if this kind of escapism is what people really want, no wonder we have so much trouble confronting the issues we face today.

At bare-bones e-zine, Jack wraps up the Hitchcock Project look at Joel Murcott's contributions to the show with the ninth-season episode "The Dividing Wall," an uneven but nasty little piece of work featuring a nuclear cannister. It isn't quite Kiss Me Deadly, and not nearly vintage Hitchcock.

I've decided this week to use the full name of John's blog, That Blog Where The Bloke With No Shirt Blogs About TV and Tries to Stay on the Subject, as he covers a disastrous rendition of A Christmas Carol as seen on The Play That Goes Wrong, a bizarre series that you really need to see to believe.

And though Christmas is just around the corner, it's not too early to look forward to New Year's, and at Shadow & Substance, Paul lets us in on the episodes that SyFy's chosen for this year's Twilight Zone New Year's Marathon. 

Another icon of 60s television passed this week with the death of Mike Nesmith, and at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence shares an affectionate remembrance of Wool Hat. And don't miss several other articles that Terence has on his favorite Monkees songs.

At Drunk TV, Paul is back with another look at Hanna-Barbera animated specials; this time, it's the 1972 A Christmas Story. No, not the movie, but a sparkling special with an all-star lineup of cartoon voices. 

Finally, since I started this off by talking a lot about myself, I'll end the same way, with a link to episode 118 of Eventually Supertrain, in which Dan and I revisit Search, Dan and Tim talk about Kolchak, and Dan and Chris take on Battlestar Galactica. Don't miss it! TV