Around the dial

Last week, as you may recall, a dearth of new posts from the classic TV blogosphere resulted in an encore presentation of a particularly lame story about the cartoon mascot of a kids' breakfast cereal. I promised, however, to make up for it this week with plenty of interesting reading material including a couple of carryovers from last week, and I'm nothing if not a man of my word. And so, as Jackie Gleason might say, away we go!

One of those carryovers comes from The Horn Section, where Hal's F-Troop Fridays looks at "Wrongo Starr and the Lady in Black," a 1966 episode enlivened by the reappearance of Henry Gibson, funny as always as Private "Wrongo" Starr. And I hope you get the joke about Starr's name—or did you have to be there? 

It's a doubleheader from Comfort TV; last week David shared the subversive plesure of watching Christmas shows after Christmas, which is something I admire but have never been able to do myself; and this week it's an arresting look at TV's top cops. (You like what I did there?) I have to pick Amos Burke over Barney Miller, though.

At bare-bones e-zine, Jack's latest Hitchcock Project continues with "The Avon Emeralds," the sixth contribution of William Fay, featuring Roger Moore as a detective who isn't quite what he seems. The Saint and stolen jewels; who could ask for anything more?

Hugh Downs had to be one of the most versatile performers, if that's the right word for him, in television history: announcer, sidekick, newsman, game show host, narrator, talk show host, and more. It's hard to give him his due, but Jodie does it at Garroway at Large.

You're never going to have to convince me to follow the links to a classic TV Guide, so I'd advise you to do the same as the Broadcast Archives at the University of Maryland steers us to some terrific vintage TV Guide ads from Chicago and beyond.

RealWeegieMidget has been hosting this year's Joan Collins Blogathon, which I wish I could have entered (maybe next year!); while you can read the final three entries here, follow the links and take some time to peruse them all. Meanwhile, at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence offers his own entry; it's the winsome Joan in the Star Trek classic "The City on the Edge of Forever." Quite a career, and quite an actress.

At Television's New Frontier: the 1960s, it's a review of the year 1962 for one of television's most enduring westerns, Wagon Train. The year includes the evolution of John McIntyre as successor to the late Ward Bond, the departure of longtime co-star Robert Horton, and a raft of big-name guests.

There are few simple pleasures more pleasurable than surfing through YouTube for episodes of old TV shows; I've shared more than a few of those here myself. At Television Obscurities, it's the start of a new monthly feature on YouTube finds, and I can promise you'll go down some rabbit holes with delight.

Finally, the veteran newsman Roger Mudd died this week at the age of 93. Mudd was a newsman's newsman, a journalist who brought dignity and gravitas to whatever story he covered, and a professionalism that's sorely lacking in today's news coverage. Here's a look back at his career from his longtime home at CBS; we could certainly use someone like him today. I fear, though, it's a futile wish.  TV  

Around the dial

T
he week leads off at Eventually Supertrain, where Dan and I discuss the final episode of Bourbon Street Beat, the Warner Bros. detective series we've been following for the last couple of years. Listen also for discussions of Nero Wolfe and Shadow Chasers. And don't worry about me—I'm gone for now, but. . .

At Shadow & Substance, a great Twilight Zone/Rod Serling site, Paul talks about the availability (or lack thereof) of classic television programs on streaming services, and makes an excellent point. Two, actually. When classic shows disappear from Prime or Netflix or Hulu, we can always get them on DVD if we know about them. What about people who discover them while they're surfing around Netflix?  As Paul says, "A lot of our cultural memory is fading bit by bit—memory-holed not by censorship, but an accidental victim of convenience." For old shows to survive, they need to be "discoverable by new fans" or they'll drift into obscurity. And that will happen anyway, unless studios open their vaults and either release their inventory on DVD themselves, or let someone else do it.

Rick provides a very good primer on the history of Perry Mason adaptations over at Classic Film & TV Cafe. I've seen several of the pre-Raymond Burr movies that Rick mentions (one each for Warren William, Ricardo Cortez and Donald Woods), which are fun if you forget that the character's name is Mason. I have no appetite for the new version, though.

At Inner Toob, it's a tribute to the late Hugh Downs, including not only his turns on The Jack Paar Show, Concentration, The Today Show and 20/20 but also the many times he played himself on other shows, always with good humor.

That Today reference is a good segue to the latest at Garroway at Large, as Jodie continues her look at Dave Garroway's brush with late night television in the form of Nightlife, ABC's failed Les Crane challenge to The Tonight Show. Garroway would have made a great late night host.

Television's New Frontier: The 1960s moves to the 1962 episodes of My Three Sons, at this point still airing on ABC, with Mike and Bub still part of the family. Always interesting to read about this era of the show; I never watched it that much, but it was always from the CBS/William Demarest era.

At Ed Robertson's TV Confidential podcast, it's an encore of the July 2014 conversation with Dwayne Epstein, author of Lee Marvin: Point Blank, and how Marvin became a household name partly because of television (and, particularly, the terrific nourish crime drama M Squad). TV  

Around the dial

That's how I feel sometimes. I'm staring at the tube, but there's nothing there. Plenty in store here this week, so let's get right to it.

At Comfort TV, David takes a witty, yet bittingly accurate look at statues of classic TV figures, and why you might want to take a look at them while you can, if you know what I mean. When I worked in downtown Minneapolis, I saw our very own Mary Tyler Moore statue every day, but I think I'd be afraid to go down there now—might get shot.

At Classic Film & TV Cafe, Rick looks at one of the few classic TV series to appear (so far) on the new NBC streaming service Peacock: Alfred Hitchcock Presents. As a bonus, he also gives us a list of the best episodes from the first season.

Speaking of Hitch, this week's Hitchcock Project at bare•bones e-zine involves one of those first-season episodes, as Jack goes indepth on Harold Swanton's "Portrait of Jocelyn," a sinister little story that shows us what Philip Abbott did before he ran off and joined The F.B.I.

It's the first of a two-part appraisal of Dave Garroway's career after Today over at Garroway at Large, Jodie looks at a number of the Master Communicator's appearances in various media, including his week guest-hosting ABC's late night show Nightline. (Not that one.) 

Carol Ford and Linda Groundwater present the latest in their podcast series Flipside: The True Story of Bob Crane. In this two-part episode, Carol and Linda try to separate fact from fiction as it relates to the final days of Bob Crane.

At Inner Toob, it's a typically bizarre (and humorous) look at how a "fictional" version of The Hollywood Squares has been part of sevearl other television series. Read it, it'll make more sense than what I've said. Trust me.

Terence remembers Carl Reiner in a very nice obituary at A Shroud of Thought, reminding us of the accomplishments of one of the last legends of the Golden Age of Television. There are other retrospectives, but I thought this was one of the best.

Hugh Downs died on Wednesday at the age of 99. He was one of the few people who could project credibility as a talk show second banana, the emcee of a game show, a newsman on a morning show, and a host of a prime time newsmagazine. If you doubt his gravitas, watch this clip of him talking about the significance of John F. Kennedy on the morning of his funeral.


Nice, wasn't it? Simple and elegant—just like Hugh Downs himself.

Tomorrow's the Fourth of July, and we'll be back with another TV Guide. And though it will be a different Fourth than we're used to, take a moment to remember what the day is all about, and why we should be grateful to the Founding Fathers. And let's be careful out there, okay? TV