Leftovers from the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention

When I made my original on-site report from the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention a couple of weeks ago, it was Friday morning, meaning there were still two more days to come. As I mentioned, we had an absolutely great time on Thursday, and if we'd left then, it would have been one of our greatest vacations ever. Having driven nine hours to get there, however, we were going to make sure we got our money's worth, and in fact there was still a lot more fun to come. Herewith a report on some of the things we did during the last two days, not only to gloat about what a great time we had, but to show you all what kind of an experience MANC is, in hopes that you'll be encouraged to become a regular attendee as well.

At the time of my Friday post, I mentioned that we were off to a What's My Line? recreation, and that was great fun (as John Daly would have put it). Martin Grams played the role of John (and I'm so jealous), while three volunteers from the convention served as the panel, and the guests were ordinary people with regular occupations that the panel had to guess. (There were some great questions, by the way; these people were clearly familiar with how the show worked.) Filling the role of Mystery Guest: two of the cosplayers who wandered the corridors of the convention all weekend, "Commando Cody" and "Jake Blues." Martin says they'll be reprising this next year, and I'm looking forward to it. 

Friday evening was highlighted by an interview featuring Hal Linden and Max Gail from Barney Miller, and Tim Matheson, from many shows and movies. It was a charming hour, with the three guests sharing stories and insights from their years in the business, and answering questions from the audience. It was particularly fun watching Matheson, who, when he wasn't answering questions, was watching Linden and Gail and taking it in as if he was in the audience with the rest of us. Three great raconteurs,  especially Linden, who at age 92 has neither missed a step nor forgotten a story. You'll remember that I mentioned how nice each of them was when we met them in the autograph line; they were just as nice in this appearance. You can see a video of the interview here.

After that, in the movie room, it was a showing of the 1957 Playhouse 90 drama "A Sound of Different Drummers," which was never repeated on television, and has seldom been seen anywhere since then, It was a terrific opportunity for me to do some first-hand research, as you'll be reading a "Descent into Hell" essay on "A Sound of Different Drummers" in the next couple of weeks, and I'll leave it at that. That was followed by the 1970 Hawaii Five-O episode "Bored, She Hung Herself," another controversial episode that was never reaired, nor included in the syndication package or Five-O boxed set, because some fool accidentally hanged himself after trying to copy a move from the episode. I wouldn't put it in the upper tier of Five-O episodes, but neither would I ban it from being reshown, and since I'm something of a completist when it comes to series television, I'm glad we were able to see it. That's one of the great things about MANC; it isn't limited to meeting celebrities, but includes seminars, special showings such as these, and vendors. Something for everyone.

Nostalgia isn't limited only to television and movies, of course. My friend David Krell is a fan of both classic television and classic baseball, which helps explain why we're friends. On Saturday morning he gave a talk on primetime television in the 1960s, which included a tough 50-question trivia quiz on various aspects of '60s TV, made all the tougher because it was a multiple-choice quiz in which "all the possible answers are plausible, but only one is correct." Modesty prevents me from identifying the winner of the quiz, but I am saving my answer sheet for posterity. At a previous convention I'd purchased his book "Our Bums": The Brooklyn Dodgers in History, Memory and Popular Culture, and this year I picked up two of his new books, 1962: Baseball and America in the Time of JFK, and Do You Believe in Magic? Baseball and America in the Groundbreaking Year of 1966, and I'm looking forward to reading both of them. I also purchased Veeck as in Wreck, the autobiography of baseball visionary Bill Veeck, for two bucks at a used book table; I've been wanting to read this for years. (The magazine is a publication of the Society for American Baseball Research, in which David has an article; it was given out as a prize for the trivia quiz, which, again, is all I'll say regarding the winner of the quiz.) 

I also got a few minutes to chat with fellow author Garry Berman, who confessed that, like me, he always worries that a question-and-answer segment will expose him as a poseur. After we left, my wife asked me if we were all like that, since I'm always expressing the same apprehensions, almost word-for-word, as Garry. I suspect that at some level we all think we're just playing at this, and I'm not sure I'd want it to be any other way; I'd hate to be one of those snooty academics who's so cocksure about everything and talks down from the Ivory Tower. Anyway, Garry has nothing to worry about—yours truly, on the other hand, has every reason to be afraid.

We wound up getting some classic TV boxed sets at ridiculously good prices, including The Lawless Years, starring James Gregory (who's also a recurring actor in Barney Miller), a progenitor to The Untouchables, for $8. You can't beat that. The Loner, created by Rod Serling and starring Lloyd Bridges, is a philosophical Western that CBS didn't really allow to bloom; Serling found it a typically frustrating experience, but it's well worth watching. Arrest and Trial was a failed experiment on the part of ABC, a 90-minute drama with Ben Gazzara as a police detective making the arrest in the first half of the story, and Chuck Connors as the defense attorney trying to get the suspect off in the second half. It's an interesting concept and features some terrific actors, so I wasn't afraid to buy it at that price. And then there's Nichols, the one-season Western from James Garner that's part-Maverick, part-Rockford Files, and one of the few shows that I actually remember having watched back in the day.

There were other things we'd have liked to have seen or done while we were there, but just as it was impossible in the era of classic television to watch two shows at once, it was impossible to be in two places at once. I think we made the right choices, but I can't imagine that any choice would have been wrong. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, it was such a nice experience being around people who shared your interests, understood what you were talking about (instead of starring at you with blank expressions), and looking for nothing more than having a good time. We'll be back next year, God willing, and I hope we'll see some of you there! TV  

Live from the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention

HUNT VALLEY, MD — One of the advantages to being retired (and there are many) is that, for perhaps the first time in my life, my time is my own. And so, rather than making a hectic, cramped flight to Baltimore followed by a long drive to the hotel, we made the longer (nine hours) but much more relaxing drive to Hunt Valley, home of the Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Convention.  And, thanks to being able to bring far more in the car than one is able to cram into a couple of suitcases and carry-ons, I'm able to report to you for the first time live, more or less, on location, rather than waiting until a few days later.

As I'm writing this, it's the morning of day two of the convention, which started Thursday and wraps up tomorrow; it's been several years since we last attended MANC, but everything feels pretty much the same; the hotel is still inadequate and the air conditioning is only partly functional in the vendor rooms, which isn't all that welcome when the temperatures outside are hovering in the high 90s. (Thankfully, the convention will be moving to a new venue next year, with this hotel seeing the bulldozers). And even though our friends from past years aren't here this time (Carol, Jodie, Kevin: I'm counting on you to be here next year), it's like old-home week being back.

As proof of our attendance, I submit the following, never-before seen on this website:

Hal Linden (L) and Max Gail (R)

Tim Matheson

Diane Baker

We all know these people are actors, and used to dealing with the public. They're still just people, though, like you and me, and I don't think they ever get tired of people complimenting them on how much pleasure they've given you over the years. They were very nice and generous with their time, and each one had a few specific things to say based on whatever comments you'd made to them; for instance, Diane Baker appeared in the final episode of The Fugitive as the woman whom Dr. Richard Kimble presumably settles down with; I joked that we felt he was now in safe hands, and she went on to talk about what a good actor David Janssen was, what a nice man he was to work with, and how intelligent he was—check out some of his interviews on YouTube, she said, and see how articulate he is talking about various subjects. Hal Linden talked about how fortunate he'd been to work with Danny Arnold, who created Barney Miller, and how, as an independent producer, Arnold hadn't had to satisfy all the network suits during the development process. When Max Gail found out we'd driven nine hours to get here, he wished us a safe trip home. And Tim Matheson talked about how much fun it had been working on Animal House, and how smart it had been for the producers to set it as a period piece to make the humor all the more subversive. 

Bond girls Kristina Wayborn (L) and Mary Stavin (R)
from Octopussy, prior to a showing of the movie

It's wonderful being in a place where you can go back in time for awhile without having to worry about what's going on outside, where you're hanging out with people who are interested in the same things you are and appreciate what you think; one of the vendors I spoke with said he'd had a customer who'd mentioned my presentation from a few years ago when I'd talked about TV Guide; he'd gotten into collecting them because of my talk. I wasn't presenting this year; we're here strictly as spectators, which is really the way to go because you get to see the celebrities, listen to the seminars and presentations, and hobnob with the vendors (and shell out some money while doing so, I might add). I'm hoping to be back doing something here in the next couple of years in conjunction with the book I'm finishing up, now, but in any event we'll be back, enjoying the benefits of retirement.

The convention continues through Saturday, so stop by if you're in the neighborhood. In the meantime, you'll excuse me, but there's a panel on What's My Line? to catch. . .

UPDATE: A look at some of the loot:

We went to MANC and got a lot more than a (not) lousy T-shirt!

Yes, we will see more TV Guides on the site next year!

The item on the right is a Rocky Soaky to go along with my Bullwinkle at home

And it's autographed, too!

 TV  

Around the dial

Frank Gabrielson's second and final Alfred Hitchcock Presents script is Jack's subject at bare-bones e-zine. The 1958 episode "The Foghorn" is a superior adaptation of a powerful short story, and as always Jack gives us a good look at the process of adaptation.

 Continuing his consideration of The X-Files and the American Dream, John's latest at Cult TV Blog looks at the show's third season; in particular, I'm interested in the show's link to Operation Paperclip, the real-life operation of U.S. intelligence to integrate Nazi scientists into the American space program. No easy answers here.

I remember the Saturday morning kids' show Land of the Lost; it's from the World's Worst Town era, so if I was watching TV at all, that's what would have been on. I don't want to talk about it much more, because I'm afraid the theme song will start running through my head, but it's the topic of discussion at The View from the Junkyard.

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence has a few suggestions for streaming services. Streamers are struggling lately; we've cancelled most of our services over the last year, leaving only the F1 channel and the Criterion Channel (we get a lot of use out of them). Perhaps more people would stick with them if they took Terence's advice. And stopped raising their prices.

Babyboomers.com has an interesting but fairly superficial article on how classic TV influenced modern college culture. I think it could do with a lot more in-depth consideration (this could have been an AI-authored article), but I think it's spot-on in the discussion "Classic Television as an Educational Tool." I've been advocating this for years.

Speaking of which, one of the nice things about retirement is the ability to travel without regard to time off from work, etc.,  so we're driving out to the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention this year! It's the first time we've gone in a few years, and we could use some fun. I'm not making a presentation this time, we're just spectators. Are any of you planning to attend? If so, let me know and we'll plan to meet up! TV  

Around the dial

Like that image up there? It's from tomorrow's TV Guide, and while I don't usually tell you what's coming up, I'm making an exception in the case of the 1954-55 Fall Preview edition. Don't you love the idea of people dressing up in tuxes and evening gowns to watch television? After all, what would any good cocktail party be without a little entertainment from the TV? Anyway, I think you'll enjoy the issue, but then I always do.

I'd also like to remind you that I still have two copies of The Electronic Mirror available for anyone who wants them, free (plus shipping and handling). At the same time, thanks to those of you who emailed me requesting copies. (And a particular thank you to a generous reader who left a very kind tip for me that is much appreciated. You know who you are!)

Finally, my apologies for taking a long time replying to comments. It's a disturbingly busy period here at HQ right now, with some not-terribly welcome intrusions for me to deal with. Nothing life-threatening, but it will be a welcome time when they're gone. And now down to business.

We've got a double dose of links this week, starting with Jack's latest Hitchcock Project at bare-bones e-zine. It's the third and final contribution of Kathleen Hite's to the show, the fourth-season "The Morning of the Bride," an excellent adaptation with Don Dubbins, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Pat Hitchcock. 

At Comfort TV, we've got a pair from David: first, a look back at the days (and I remember them), when the best remedy for a cold was to "get to bed." Good advice back then, and it tells a lot about what things were like back then. There's also this review of Linda Evans' top TV moments. I can think of a couple—The Big Valley and Dynasty, of course. Why, what did you think I meant?

There's also a pair from John at Cult TV Blog; a reconstruction of the Avengers season one story "The Springers," featuring John Steed and Dr. David Keel—yes, one of the episodes where Steed had a male sidekick. We're also treated to a review of the BBC podcast The Lovecraft Investigations and the episode "The Whisperer in Darkness."

Gotta like this picture of a tin toy NBC remote camera truck over at the Broadcasting Archives. I had toys like this when I was little, but they were toy tanks or race cars or rocket ships. Don't get me wrong; I love all those things, but how cool would this have been?

At Bob Crane: Life & Legacy, Carol shares her thoughts on providing commentary for the Blu-Ray of the season two Night Gallery episode "House, With Ghost," starring Bob, Jo Anne Worley, and Bernard Fox. Reason enough to have this in the library.

Martin Grams provides a recap, in pictures and words, of this year's Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Convention. I used to be able to give you this myself, back when we went every year, and perhaps I'll be able to do that again sometime in the future. Fun times.

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence looks back at the life and career of Henry Silva, who died last week, aged 96, and offers an appreciation on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the premier of the venerable Western The Virginian. 

Hopefully that will keep you all busy until tomorrow, when you can find out about the rest of that TV Guide. TV  

Around the dial

At bare-bones e-zine, Jack's review of Victor Wolfson's Hitchcock contributions concludes with the season five episode "The Ikon of Elijah," which Jack sums up as a "brilliant, haunting story in which a greedy man gets his just desserts." In other words, my kind of story.

Comfort TV, as David points out, may not look the way it usually does (I feel for you, brother), but the content is as good as always, and this week he has an elegant tribute to two departed friends: Vin Scully and Nichelle Nichols. 

Over at Classic Film & TV Cafe, Rick pays homage to the Japanese sci-fi thriller Atragon, which features a submarine that flies and drills! It reminds me a bit of the Mighty Jack compilation we see on MST3K, with a submarine that also flies; alas, though, as far as I know, it doesn't fight monsters.

At Shadow & Substance, Paul is paying close attention to a Night Gallery classic: "Green Fingers," with the great Elsa Lanchester. As Jack does with the Hitchcock Project, Paul looks at the short story from which it is drawn, and Rod Serling's "re-framing."

At Cult TV Blog, John's right: with everything that's happening lately, it's a great time for The X-Files, as a reminder that no matter how strange things seem, they can always be stranger. This week's episode: "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster." At least that hasn't happened. Yet.

Drunk TV is back with a look at "a spare, surprisingly grim little suspenser," the 1974 TV-movie The California Kid, with one of those great ABC Movie of the Week casts, including Martin Sheen, Vic Morrow, Michelle Phillips, Stuart Margolin, and Nick Nolte.

Martin Grams reminds us all that the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention is coming up next month, with a typically stellar lineup. I had the privilege of appearing there a few years ago, and some of the pictures are from that convention; hopefully, we'll be back someday. In the meantime, if you can go, do so! TV  

Around the dial

That little girl has no idea of how historic the image on that TV is. The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. What other kinds of historic notes do we have this week?

First, a reminder that yours truly is one of the guests on Dan Budnick's Eventually Supertrain podcast; we continue our review of the Warner Bros. detective series Bourbon Street Beat, starring Richard Long, Andrew Duggan, Van Williams, and Arlene Howell. You won't want to miss the other segments either; my friend Amanda looks at Masquerade, while Amy the Conqueror talks about Eerie, Indiana.

At The Twilight Zone Vortex, Jordan takes a fond look back at Gamma, the 1963-64 sci-fi magazine that, as Jordan says, was "a showcase for the writers of The Twilight Zone." Some good stuff there.

The tenth-season episode "Triumph" by Arthur A. Ross is the latest installment of The Hitchcock Project by Jack at bare-bones e-zine. Ed Begley and Jeannette Nolan star, and because I haven't seen this episode yet I'm not going to read any further.

At The Horn Section, Hal is back in the thick of Love That Bob! with "Bob Meets Miss Sweden." We all know that Bob has an eye for the trim ankle, and it's hard to beat the real-life Miss Sweden, Ingrid Goude. Bob has competition though, in the form of Gordon Scott, the real-life Tarzan.

Inner Toob has a delightful collection of colorized photos with Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, cavorting with a bevy of beauties who appeared with him on Maverick. As Toby says, there may be any number of Maverick descendants roaming the world of TV land.

I vaguely remember The Interns, a 1970-71 series on CBS; we didn't move to the World's Worst Town™ until 1972, so it's possible I saw it. Just in case, Television Obscurities refreshes our memories with this retro review of the episode "Miss Knock-A-Bout."

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence has a very nice write-up on one of my favorite OTR programs, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. (Isn't that a great name?) We're probably most familiar with the Bob Bailey-led episodes, but the show has a rich history both before and after the Bailey era.

As I mentioned a while back, circumstances prevent us from going to the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention this year, but after reading this preview by the convention's major domo, Martin Grams, you'll see why it's such a great time. TV  

Around the dial

Well, I'm confused, and that's probably as good a way as any to kick things off this week. Lately I've found it necessary to implement comment moderation in order to intercept the odd spam comment that makes it past the spam filter—the price of success, one supposes. I didn't expect to run across anything unusual in the process, but—of course there has to be a but, or else there wouldn't be a story here—I did. Specifically, a batch of comments from January of this year that, for no good reason, were quarantined as spam.  A couple of them were, but the rest—maybe a dozen or so—were not. So first of all, if your comment didn't appear when you wrote it, nothing personal! I will admit, however, that I was sorry to delete all those comments that started off, "You are an excellent writer and I learn much from your blog." Oh well.

Amidst all this, there was a question from one of our readers that was included in this unjust spam crackdown, and I want to rectify that immediately, so here goes. The question originally came from January 3 of this year, and the anonymous writer says: "Hey MY mom was on the Price Is Right in July of 1965, does anyone know where I might find some copies of it?" Readers, what do you think? Any suggestions: (And again, apologies for the delay!)

Now on to the blogs of the week.

At Classic TV and Film Café, Rick has "seven things to know about Robert Goulet," to which yours truly contributed a couple more in the comments section. I always liked Mr. G's voice, enjoyed his appearances on variety shows, and from what I've seen his short-lived espionage series Blue Light was better than TV Guide would have you believe. Speaking of espionage, remember this commercial from Super Bowl XLI?


Garroway at Large and Bob Crane: Life & Legacy both have reports on the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, about which you read my report last week. One of my regrets in life (regrets? I've had a few...) is that we're not able to get together often enough with these friends of ours; on the other hand, it's what makes an event like MANC that much sweeter. (And thanks to both of you for the shout-outs!)

At Comfort TV, David has a thought-provoking (as usual) piece on the recent crowdsourcing campaign for Dawn Wells. One of the many things I like about David's writing is that he forces us to think about things, to consider why we do what we do, even when it's the right thing to do.

I've been wondering when The Horn Section was going to return to Crazy Like a Fox, the mid-80s series starring Jack Warden and John Rubenstein as a father-son duo fighting crime, and it happens this week with a review of the 1985 episode "Fox in Wonderland," a perfect showcase for Warden's comedic talents.

Television Obscurities digs deep into the obscure file once again to look at The Ugliest Girl in Town, a very much of-the-times sitcom from 1968. Anyone out there remember this one? I don't know that I watched it when I was of the age, but I do remember it.

Finally, part four of Jack's Hitchcock Project entry on Bernard C. Schoenfeld is up at bare-bones e-zine. It's the second season episode "The Better Bargain," starring Robert Middleton and Henry Silva in Schoenfeld's elegant and concise adaptation of Richard Deming's story. TV  

Odds and ends for a Friday morning

One of the drawbacks to returning from vacation, especially a working vacation as was just the case, is that things are kind of a mess when you get back.

As you know if you read Wednesday's "diary," we're back from Hunt Valley, Maryland, where we were attending the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention. Welcome, by the way, to the many nice people who stopped by our table during the three days of MANC and either bought a copy of The Electronic Mirror or took one of my cards. It was a pleasure meeting and talking with all of you, and I hope you enjoy both the book and It's About TV. Remember, it all exists for your pleasure as well as mine.

As I said on Wednesday, it was, as usual, a great time, and it was also interesting viewing the convention from the other side of the table, so to speak. There remains, however, the return home—and while I'll never again complain about coming back to Minnesota, it was, as usual, a rude awakening seeing everything waiting for your attention. That would be the case even if I didn't have a "real" job during the daytime, which just adds to the stockpile. There are emails waiting to be acknowledged, comments requiring a response, questions asking to be answered, new material demanding to be written. Trust me, if you fall into one of these categories, be patient—I'm working on it.

In the meantime, while you're waiting, might I suggest a trip to Amazon.com or BN.com to buy a copy of The Electronic Mirror? Carol Ford, who was gracious enough to write a blurb for the cover, says that after reading The Electronic Mirror, "You won't watch TV the same way again!" With no false modesty on my part, it really is a good read—a serious look at the relationship between television and American culture, that manages to be both fun and informative as well. And while you're at it, feel free to check out my other books: The Car, my newest novel, and The Collaborator, which seems more prophetic now than ever. These were a popular item at MANC, going for a special price if bought with The Electronic Mirror, and while that deal has expired, you can't go wrong picking these up! And for any of my books, if you'd like a personal inscription, drop me an email with your name and address, as well as how you'd like me to sign it, and I'll send you a sticker to go in the front of your book.

And now, a solicitation for help from one of our readers, who stopped by after my talk with a couple of questions that I'm confident you can assist with. If I remember correctly (and if I don't, I hope she'll chime in with a correction in the comments), her two questions are as follows:

1. Is there a site out there that provides historical data on weekly series ratings? We all know that several sources provide year-end ratings for each TV season, and I've seen occasional top-10 weekly ratings, but does anyone know where one could find weekly data for every regularly-scheduled program, going back indefinitely? Television Obscurities doesn't have the info, and if that site doesn't, I can't think of another site that does, but if anyone can answer this question, I know one of you out there can.
2. There used to be a blog out there called, I believe, the TV Guide Historian. The blog's no longer being kept current; does anyone out there know what happened?

Again, my apologies if I don't have the questions quite right, but I trust you all to provide the information that I'm lacking.

Then there are the emails. I mentioned earlier, there are emails that you good readers have sent me over the past two or three months, when I was tied up with edits and rewrites to The Electronic Mirror, and I'm shamefully behind in answering these emails. Please understand that it's nothing personal; I read and appreciate every bit of correspondence I get, and it was only my workload, combined with a tight publishing deadline, that has kept me from being responsive. That will change over the next couple of weeks; I will dedicate myself to cleaning out the inbox and getting back you you posthaste, before I've alienated you forever.

Finally: there is an audio version of my presentation, although I'm not yet sure about the quality. If it's sufficiently listenable and I can figure out how to do it, I'll put it up on the website for your enjoyment. And if I really luck out and can synchronize the audio with the actual PowerPoint, I'll do that as well. Keep your fingers crossed.

Anyway, it's good to be back, and hopefully by next week we'll be back to a normal schedule as well. One think you can depend on, though, and that's a TV Guide review tomorrow! TV  

Mid-Atlantic, 2018

Dear Diary,

Last week we were at MANC, and boy, did we have a swell time! MANC stands for Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, in case you didn’t know, and it’s held every year at a place called Hunt Valley in Maryland, not far from Baltimore and Washington, D.C. We flew in to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and I thought maybe we’d be able to see the lights from the monuments while we were in the plane, since it was at night, and we were up high in the sky, but I guess we were still too far away. Either that, or we were looking out the wrong side of the plane. Oh well, maybe next year!

This year wasn’t like the other two years we’ve been here. Those times, we walked around the hotel, looking at all the vendors and the things they were selling—really cool things like old TV Guides and DVDs of old shows and old toys and other old things. Hey, that’s OK—we’re old too! Ha! We did some of that this year, and I bought six old TV Guides—wait, I already said they were old, didn’t I? Anyway, six TV Guides, and a DVD set of The Green Hornet! I don’t remember watching it when I was a kid, but it sure did look like fun!

But the real reason we were at MANC this year is that I was giving a talk and selling copies of my new book, The Electronic Mirror. Isn’t that a cool title for a book? I thought it all up by myself! People seemed to like it—but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start back at the beginning.

Thursday was the first day of the convention, and the first talk was by two of my friends, Jodie Peeler and Kevin Doherty. They were talking about the Today Show, which is that show that’s on early in the morning, and the Tonight Show, which is on real late at night, and the Home Show, which isn’t on at all anymore, but when it was on it was in the middle of the day. Boy, was their talk good! I learned all about Dave Garroway—he was the first host of Today—and Jack Paar, who was the second host of Tonight; and Arlene Francis, who hosted Home and was a nice lady. They were all really interesting people. So are Jodie and Kevin, and real nice too. I’m lucky to have them as friends.

There was another talk after that, and then it was my turn. I was talking about “TV Guide: America’s Time Capsule,” and I had some pictures of old TV Guides—I already said they were old, didn’t I? I was showing people how reading TV Guides could tell you what the cultural world was like back then, and I think it went pretty well. People seemed to like it, and they asked questions that I could answer, and they all clapped when I was done! It made me feel good all over! Later on, people came up to the table where we were selling books, and told me they enjoyed listening to me talk. I didn’t even have to pay them to say that.

In fact, a lot of them bought my book! And they paid me! How cool is that? There were a lot of nice people who stopped by, even the ones who didn’t buy my book. There was a guy who used to work for Marvel Comics, and another guy who acted in Star Trek movies, and a retired doctor, and a retired lawyer, and a nice married couple—well, they were all nice!

And then there was our friend Carol Ford. She’s nice, too. She wrote a book about Bob Crane, who played Colonel Hogan on Hogan’s Heroes. He was a nice guy too, although some bad things happened to him. But he was still nice, and I’m glad Carol wrote about him, so everyone else could see that he was nice too. We only get to see each other once a year, which isn’t often enough. We need to see Jodie and Kevin more often too. That means we have to travel more, and that costs money. My wife said something about winning the lottery; maybe that would help us to travel more.

There were other neat people there too, and they all looked like they were having a swell time. Except for one lady who seemed really mad while we were checking in. She said the hotel people couldn’t show her to her room. She said some bad things, she was so mad. My mom used to tell me that sometimes people would act this way when they’d had something to drink. Boy, that must have been something really bad, to make them act that way. I wonder why anyone would do that? I guess I just don’t understand adults, even though I am one! Ha!

There was this other neat guy named Martin. He’s the guy who puts this all together. He isn’t very big, but all weekend he wore a shirt that said “Security.” I wouldn’t want to tangle with him! Anyway, he did a great job. There were some famous celebrities there too—Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers and three people from a show called WKRP in Cincinnati. They weren’t in Cincinnati this weekend,though. Maybe they flew in. Boy, I’ll bet their arms are tired! That was a joke—did you get it? Ha! Kristy McNicol was there too, and so was Morgan Fairchild, and the guy who played the Creature in the Black Lagoon and Diahann Carroll, and Geri Reischl, who was "Fake Jan" and seemed as excited to be there as the rest of us. She was always taking pictures on her phonealk past us each day while we were sitting at our table, so we got to see them all.

It's all over until next year, but we had a really great time. It was one of our best weekends ever! I’m glad I know such nice people—it was a fun time! I could go on and on! But I’ll have to wrap it up now, Diary—it’s time for me to go to bed, because I have to get up early to go to work tomorrow. My wife says If we don’t win the lottery this is the only way we’ll be able to go places and buy old things, and I guess she must be right—she’s really smart. She married me, didn’t she? Ha!

Talk to you tomorrow, Diary!

Love,
Mitchell TV  

Around the dial

I did not know this previously - which is one reason why I read all these blogs, and why you should, too - that there are now novelizations of The Avengers. They're non-canonical; in other words, not taken directly from an episode of the TV series, but with the same characters and types of plots and so forth. At Cult TV Blog, John talks about one such book, "Too Many Targets," which has now been made into an audio adventure by Big Finish, the people who've done so many entertaining Doctor Who stories.

At Garroway at Large, Jodie reminds us that she, too, will be at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention next month (is it that close?) along with yours truly and a host of others. Her presentation (along with Kevin Doherty) will be the first on the docket Thursday, September 13, while mine will be the third - if you're going to be there, catch us both!

Classic Film & TV Cafe takes us back to the days when Richard Chamberlain was "King of the Miniseries" with a look at The Count of Monte-Cristo. Ah, for the days of the miniseries - some of them were awful, but quite a few of them were quite good.

Bernard C. Schoenfeld wrote the teleplays for 16 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and at bare-bones e-zine, Jack begins his look at Schoenfeld's output with number one on the list, "Decoy," from 1956. This episode was based on a Suspense drama by Richard George Pedicini, and it unfolds rather differently from the radio play; interesting to read along and see the changes.

I love this old Sears ad from The Broadcasting Archives at the University of Maryland. There's just something really exciting about it, isn't there? Chromix Colorguard - they're just making these words up now, aren't they?

And speaking of TV, any thoughts on the image we see on that TV in the picture above? TV  

Come see me at Mid-Atlantic

The lineup for this year's Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention is just about complete, and if you're in the Baltimore-Washington area or have the opportunity to come out for a long weekend, I invite you all to stop by for my talk on "TV Guide: America's Time Capsule" on the Convention's opening morning - Thursday, September 13, at 11:00 a.m. I'll also be available throughout the weekend to sign my upcoming book, The Electronic Mirror: An Opinionated Look at How Classic TV Helps Us Understand Who We Were and Who We Are (and Everything In-Between!). 

From the program:

Throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, there was no better barometer as to the cultural climate in America than the pages of TV Guide. During those days, the little, odd-shaped magazine was arguably the most influential publication in television, and those who think of it merely as something that told us what was on TV, something that could be read and then thrown away as soon as the week was finished, risk overlooking a treasure trove of information, a time capsule that helps us understand who we were then, who we are now, and how we got that way. Presented by TV historian Mitchell Hadley.

That's me! What a blast!

I'm also thrilled to see some other great presentations on tap for the weekend: my good friend (and occasional guest blogger here) Jodie Peeler, along with Kevin Doherty, will be on tap earlier that morning, kicking of the Convention at 9:00 a.m. with "Your Friends From Breakfast to Bedtime: NBC's Today, Home, and Tonight," and I'm going to make sure to step away from my table for an hour and catch what sounds like a fascinating talk. Meanwhile, Rick Goldschmidt, the official Rankin-Bass historian, is giving two presentations this year: at 10:00 a.m. on Friday he'll be talking about "The Making of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," and at 1:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon he'll be back with "The History of Rankin and Bass." Those should be two terrific presentations. Before I get too wrapped up in this, go to the link for the complete list of celebrities and presentations to get more details.

If you've read my pieces the last two years about MANC, you'll know what a great weekend it is (even without me!), and this could be the best lineup yet. I'd love to see you out there and autograph a copy of my book for you, or just have you in the audience on Thursday morning. Go ahead and treat yourself - you're worth it! TV  

Around the dial

Afine roundup of classic TV bits and pieces awaits us, so let's get right to it.

We'll start at The Twilight Zone Vortex, where Jordan reviews the submarine drama "The Thirty Fathom Grave," one of the weaker of the frequently-weak hour-long TZ episodes. Ironic, since I just finished reading Erik Larson's book about the Lusitania, Dead Wake, which - of course - has a lot to do with submarines. It's a better story.

David at Comfort TV remembers the shapely, talented Arlene Martel, a familiar face from many a television show in the 60s, 70s and even 80s. Of course I remember her best from her several appearances as Tiger in Hogan's Heroes; my friend Carol Ford, who interviewed her for her bio of Bob Crane, remembers her as a lovely, very nice woman.

Another visit to the Hitchcock Project at bare-bones e-zine: this week, Jack reviews season seven's "You Can't Be a Little Girl All Your Life," written by Stanley Ellin. This is an episode I haven't yet seen, and against all odds I've managed to refrain from reading Jack's review. That may just be temporary, though - check back next week...

Ooh, combining Doctor Who and The Prisoner! That's the story at Inner Toob, and it's a very funny pictorial view of some of the Doctors inhabiting the world of Number Six. Go take a look - remember, a picture says a thousand words!

Cult TV Blog takes a second - and even third - look at the Roger Moore years of The Saint, and comes away with a new appreciation for his performance. John also notices some differences between Moore's B&W Saint and the color years.

Television's New Frontier: the 1960s looks at the 1961 season one of my favorite Westerns of the 1960s, Wanted: Dead or Alive. There are, as always, some fascinating tidbits about this show, and the actors in it - including the charismatic star, Steve McQueen.

This week was the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Five years ago, I took a look at the coverage on television and especially radio, and how it evokes an earlier time. Yesterday I had a very pleasant conversation with Joseph Benti, the CBS anchorman who led that early-morning coverage on the network; I'll have that up in a couple of weeks.

Plus, a reminder that if you enjoy reading my essays on classic television, I'll be appearing at this year's Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Hunt Valley, Maryland on Thursday, September 13, at 11:00 a.m. discussing TV Guide as "America's Time Capsule." More on that later!

And more on TV Guide tomorrow! TV  

Around the dial

Before we get to the links this week, a couple of things I want to remind you of.

First, as I think I mentioned earlier, I'll be presenting one of the seminars at this September's Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Hunt Valley, Maryland. Martin Grams has put together a terrific lineup of celebrities this year, including Barbara Eden, Stefanie Powers and Robert Wagner, Loni Anderson and Howard Hesseman, Ed Begley Jr., Peter Marshall, Morgan Fairchild, and more. The seminars are always fascinating as well; in fact, I feel quite inferior being a part of it. The schedule is still a work in progress, but I strongly urge you to go to the website and buy tickets now if you can make it there. I can promise you'll have a great time, and of course I'd love to have you in the audience for my presentation!

Something else to look forward to later this year is my upcoming book, The Electronic Mirror: How Classic Television Shows Us Who We Were and Who We Are (and everything in-between!). It will be out in plenty of time for the Convention, and I can guarantee you'll hear more about it before then.

And now on to the week's best.

Really good piece by David at Comfort TV this week. Were classic TV's sitcom families really that unrealistic? He says they were more real than revisionist historians want to say, and I say he's right. This is the kind of thing that's a major part of my upcoming book.

At Classic Film and TV Café, Rick asks if you "Remember When" these Classic TV features were just the way things were. For example, do you remember when "The broadcast networks rolled out their new shows all at the same time as part of 'Premiere Week,'" or when "The World Series was broadcast only during the day." Sadly, I remember all of them.

Inner Toob has a fun piece on real-life movies that find their way into fictional television shows. I think Columbo's use of the Janet Leigh movie "Walking My Baby Back Home" in the episode where she played the killer (a former movie star) is my favorite example, but they're all good examples.

This isn't a recent story, but an interesting one, I think - Television Obscurities takes a look at a 1961 series called The Americans that's very different from the one we have today. It starred Darryl Hickman and Dick Davalos as two brothers fighting on opposite sides during the Civil War; as I think about it, perhaps it's not all that different from today's version.

A Shroud of Thoughts and David Hill's article at The Ringer both offer affectionate remembrances at Harry Anderson, who died this week at a much-too-young 65.

That should be enough to take us to tomorrow, when you'll be sure to return for a TV Guide from the late 60s. TV  

Around the dial

Before we begin, a couple of personal notes: one professional, and one a request I'm relaying from a reader.

The professional note is that I'm confirmed on the schedule for this September's Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Hunt Valley, Maryland. The Convention runs September 16-18, and right now I'm scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on the first day:

I think it's going to be a very cool presentation, even though I'm not absolutely sure yet as to what I'm going to say. Hopefully I'll also have copies of my in-progress book The Electronic Mirror, in which I argue that classic television can help us learn - as the presentation says - who we were then (as a society), who we are today, and everything in-between. The focus on this continues to evolve as well, so I'm probably as interested as you are in finding out what the finished product looks like. At any rate, if you've got vacation time coming, or if you're in a position to make the trip to Maryland in September, I hope you'll consider it; I met some of you out there last year (looking at you, Jack, Jodie, and Carol), and I'd like to run into even more of you this year! (Note that if you're looking at their website, it's an odd mix right now of new information for this year and carry-over information from last year, so keep checking back.)

And now the request: last week, I got an email from Melissa Thomas at the Franklin Township Library in Somerset, New Jersey. The library has a patron looking for some specific articles from TV Guides of the 1980s. I was able to help her out with one of them, but there are several that we're still looking for. I'm going to publish the list below in hopes that one (or more) of you happen to have these issues in your collection and would be willing to scan the articles in question and send them to me.

• TV Guide: Linda Lavin Only Laughs When It Hurts 10/23/1976
• TV Guide: One Heart of Gold, Coming Up 4/8/1978 
• TV Guide: Features article on Beth Howland 5/12/1979 
• TV Guide: No Longer Tied to Vera's Apron Strings 5/12/1979 
• TV Guide: Relates to "Alice" Linda Lavin, Diane Ladd, and cast on front cover 4/19/1980 
• TV Guide: Polly Holliday got where she is by being. . .Brazen and Brainy by Bill Davidson 11/8/1980 
• TV Guide: Features article on Polly Holliday 11/15/1980 
• TV Guide: Features an article on Celia Wesson of Alice 11/14/1981
• TV Guide: 100 Pounds Heavier. . .16 Inches Taller. . .Yes, Philip McKeon has Grown Up on Alice by Kenneth Turan 12/22/1984

Speaking for Melissa, we'd be grateful for any assistance that any of you out there can provide.

And now, elsewhere in classic television land. . .

At The Twilight Zone Vortex, Jordan shares the essential TZ/Serling books that should be on your bookshelf. It's a long but impressive list - even adding two or three of these volumes to your library should be an enriching experience.

Ah, "Miss Paisley's Cat" - that's this week's episode in Jack's Hitchcock Project over at bare-bones e-zine. I loved this episode, although I was sorry to see the cat get it. I also think I would have preferred the original ending, rather than the one that the requirements of the times demanded.

I'm not sure how many people remember Hawkins, James Stewart's 1973-74 series, in which he plays a shrewd down-home lawyer. As Rick points out at Classic Film and TV Café, the series bears more than a passing resemblance to Matlock, especially since Andy Griffith was first choice for the role.

I really like David's title for this piece at Comfort TV - "When Bad Things Happen to Good TV Shows." How true is that? I can't think of a single TV series that I watch where there hasn't been at least one bad episode - well, perhaps The Grand Tour hasn't had any bad episodes, but some are better than others...

At The Lucky Strike Papers, Andrew links to an article in the New York Times Magazine about Rodney Dangerfield. Sometimes when I'm working out, I'll find a clip of Dangerfield on The Tonight Show or somewhere else, and laugh out loud. He's one of those guys that you don't really want to like, but find yourself enjoying immensely, if that makes any sense.

The Land of Whatever has a nice short piece on East Side/West Side, the grim drama on social work in New York City, which appeared on CBS in 1963-64. It starred George C. Scott, perhaps the only star out there intense enough to stand up to the intensity of the series, which ought to be on DVD but isn't.

And at Garroway at Large, Jodie answers a question that demonstrates how hard it is to follow a smash act: whatever happened to Kokomo Jr., the replacement chimp for the famous J. Fred Muggs, such a memorable part of the original Today cast. It's a charming story!

If all this doesn't satisfy you, come on back tomorrow, and we'll do another TV Guide. TV