Around the dial

Xt bare-bones e-zine, Jack's Hitchcock Project continues with the second te,leplay from the team of Albert E. Lewin and Burt Styler, "Craig's Will," a rare Hitchcock comedy, with a fitting cast including Dick Van Dyke and Stella Stevens. 

If you've been reading along, you know that David's been going through prime-timebib television of the 1970s at Comfort TV, to see "if it's possible to watch at least one episode" from every series. Well, you can cross off another series, with the discovery of an episode from The Chicago Teddy Bears. Remember that series?

At Realweegiemidget, Gill looks at that rare breed of TV-movie that acts as an anthology, with separate segments (think Trilogy of Terror for example). Rex Harrison Presents Stories of Love was a pilot for an unsold TV series, with a cast including Agnes Moorehead, Bill Bixby, Leonard Nimoy, and Juliet Mills.

John returns to the British anthology series Armchair Theatre (I always enjoy typing that name), and the offbeat "A Bit of a Lift," deeply flawed but still worth watching (isn't that the way with most TV, though?), and including casual sex, rape, thoughts of suicide, and more. What else do you need?

Combine the words "retro" and "TV," and you're likely to get my attention. That's what happens at Silver Scenes, where the Metzingers report on the new FAST channel PBS Retro, featuring 1970s, 80s, and 90s shows, mostly from the network's inventory of children's programming.

I've long-ago given up on the new version of Doctor Who, but I'm still a fan of the original. (Why else would I have shelled out big bucks recently for personally autographed pictures of Tom Baker and Sylvester McCoy?), So you'll want to read Mike's review at A View from the Junkyard, aof the new colorized version of "The Daleks."

As good as Alex Trebek was, Art Fleming has always been my host of Jeopardy!, and if that makes me old, bite me! On this 100th anniversary of Fleming's birth, Travanche looks back on Fleming's career, and how it lead to the Jeopardy! podium.

One of these days I'll get back to watching Maverick (I've only made it through season one so far), but at Television's New Frontier: The 1960s, we're up to 1962, the fifth and final season of the show, with Jack Kelly carrying on as the sole Maverick brother.

Martin Grams has an interesting little article on the "lost" Batman episode featuring the villain Two-Face, which was written by Harlan Ellison and would have been part of the show's third season until it was cancelled; reportedly, Two-Face would have been played by Clint Eastwood. 

I've written about Lawrence Welk several times, including just a couple of years ago, and that's also Paul's subject at Drunk TV. Paul calls himself "a born-again Welk-oholic," and looks at how the show offers a glimpse into a long-gone past.

I've had some really interesting comments the last week or two, and if you've left one of them and you're hoping I'm not ignoring you, I'm not—it's just that between a busy schedule and a bout of lethargy, I've fallen behind again. Hang on, I'll get to you! TV  

Around the dial

For the first entry of the new year, we'll start at Cult TV Blog, where John reviews "Home Cooking," an episode of the 1980s series Unnatural Causes full of nasty little twists and turns. It's available on YouTube, and John's description makes it sound well worth checking out.

We'll stick with British TV for the next item, which comes from Paul at Drunk TV. It's the DVD box set The Steve Coogan Collection, with highlights from some of his best-known creations, including the Alan Partridge character. Perhaps something else I should be looking at.

At The Lucky Strike Papers, Andrew shares a couple of nice examples of recent classic television questions—er, answers—on Jeopardy. It's always nice to see someone keeping the institutional memories alive!

And speaking of institutional memories, at Cult TV Lounge, it's a review of 2022 cult TV viewing, including introductions to Simon & Simon, Decoy, Miami Vice and other series. As much as I enjoy discovering new pleasures, it's almost as much fun to read about the discoveries others make.

JB takes a look back at January 2, 1977 at The Hits Just Keep on Comin'. I remember most of the events he talks about, and it's nice to bring back some of those memories. I wonder, 50 years from today, what memories people will choose to bring back.

At Classic Film and TV Corner, Maddy's entry in the What a Character! Blogathon is on the Japanese actor Takashi Shimura. Thanks to the Criterion Channel, I've actually seen several of his collaborations with Kurosawa, including Stray Dog and Scandal, movies that ought to be more familiar here. Maybe that' a cue as to what we should watch this weekend. TV  

Around the dial

For those of you searching for something interesting, I'm making my semi-regular appearance with Dan on the Eventually Supertrain podcast, discussing—what else?—Search. The rest of the show is pretty good, too. We'd surely appreciate you tuning in.

At The Ringer, Claire McNear has a pretty unflattering look at the new host (for at least a second or two) of Jeopardy!, Mike Richards. I have to admit I don't have a horse in this race; I haven't watched Jeopardy! in years, at least in part because I'm not much interested in the questions. Having said that, I will allow as to how my favorite host has always been Art Fleming, That's not to diss Alex Trebek, though; we saw him once at the Minnesota State Fair, and the man couldn't have been more gracious. When the station ran out of pictures for him to sign and suggested the crowds should disperse, he not only seemed disappointed, but volunteered to stayed around until they could get more pictures, continuing to sign other things in the meantime. What is class?

As you know, I like to mix my classic television with books about classic television, and if you're of a similar mind, you'll want to check out John's latest at Cult TV Blog, in which he links to several Avengers novelizations available at the Internet Archives. Ah, what a resource.

At Fire-Breathing Dimetroden Time, it's a continuation of Danger Man, which may or may not be the prequel to The Prisoner. This week: the exciting second-season episode "The Battle of the Cameras," with guest star Dawn Addams as "the femme fatale."

Silver Scenes goes back in time to a 1967 interview with Roger Moore that suggests the off-screen Roger Moore is much like Simon Templar, The Saint. Maybe, maybe not, but for all of the distinguished personages who've played the role, from George Sanders to Vincent Price, I've always felt that Roger Moore is The Saint.

At Classic Film & TV Café, Rick looks at one of the classics of the British "kitchen sink dramas," The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, with a brilliant performance by Tom Courtenay. I've always been fond of this period of British movies, which includes This Sporting Life, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Look Back in Anger, and others. Watched almost all of those on late-night TV.

Alex Cord, the venerable actor of television and movies, died earlier this month, aged 88. He was never what you would have called a big, big star, but he was a busy and very good actor, and Terence has an appropriate appreciation of his career at A Shroud of Thougths. And while you're at it, spare a thought for Terence, whose brother (fortunately) survived a massive heart attack last week. 

Have you ever heard of a made-for-TV, family-friendly, disaster flick? Well, you have now, if you go to Drunk TV and read Paul's report on The Beasts are On the Streets, the 1978 NBC movie made by Hanna-Barbera. And that gives me an idea—why not reboot Gilligan's Island in the style of The Poseidon Adventure, but as a comedy with lovable characters? Who wouldn't watch it? TV