Around the dial

Wet's see, we'll start this week at Silver Scenes, where the Metzingers have a review of Character People, a book that looks at the careers of some of the great character actors of Hollywood and Britain. It covers movies, but how many of these faces will you also remember from your favorite shows?

And speaking of character actors, at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence offers a Memorial Day retrospective on those character actors who showed their character by their service in World War II. Thanks to all of them.

At Cult TV Blog, John's latest entry in his review of the series The Omega Factor is the episode "St. Antony's Fire," and the mysteries in this ten-episode series continue to mount and deepen. When things calm down a bit here, I'm definitely checking this out.

One of the things I really like about Herbie Pilato is his insistence that we drown out the noice and look at what's right in the world, and at The Upbeat News with Herbie J Pilato, he offers a 50th anniversary personal tribute to two of his favorites, Charlie's Angels and The Bionic Woman. Has it really been that long?

A small company being bullied by a rival business. Just another day in the life of The A-Team, as Roger points out at The View from the Junkyard in the episode "Knights of the Road." Of course, these baddies don't know the kind of trouble they're getting into, do they?

How many of you remember "Miniature," the sole Twilight Zone appearance by the great Robert Duvall? Well, at Shadow & Substance, Paul looks back at one possible reason why Duvall starred in this memorable episode.

And in case you missed it on Wednesday (and if you did, why?), here's the latest episode of "American TV" in which Dan and I talk with Michael J. Socolow about the rise and fall of CBS. Check out a great show, if I do say it myself. TV

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

Around the dial

This week begins at Reelweegiemidget, where Gill reviews Bionic Ever After, the 1994 telemovie that wraps up the saga of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman love story. Hopefully.

At Cult TV Blog, John takes a rare excursion into the world of Monty Python and the final series episode, "Michael Ellis." And I wonder if you really can purchase a flame thrower in a department store? I'll have to head over to Wal-Mart and find out.

If ever there's a time to sit back and enjoy a good horror movie (or even a non-so-good one), it's Halloween, and so David is right on point at Comfort TV with his look at the 1972 movie "Moon of the Wolf," with David Janssen, Barbara Rush, and John Beradino on hand to lend gravitas.

Let's continue with the genre at Classic Film & TV Café, where Rick riffs on 1981's Ghost Story, with Fred Astaire, John Houseman, Melvyn Douglas, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. If the movie could have measured up to the book, or its distinguished cast, we might have had one for the ages. . .

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence pays tribute to Ron Ely, most famous as the star of the late-60s series Tarzan and the movie Doc Savage, who died last month, aged 86. He also appeared in the early-60s series The Aquanauts, many, many TV guest-star roles, and, infamously, as the man who replaced Bert Parks on Miss America. I also enjoyed his piece on the Los Angeles Dodgers on 1960s television; they were kind of the default team of TV, in some very enjoyable episodes. With the World Series coming up, this seems appropriate!

I always enjoy reading Andrew's posts at The Lucky Strike Papers when he references his mother, singer Sue Bennett, and her appearances on television, especially on Your Hit Parade or, in this case, Kay Kyser's television show. Some nice pictures as well.

The Hits Just Keep On Comin' goes back 20 years, to October 23, 2004, when, as JB remembers, there was a presidential election going on as well, as well as a World Series. There's something reassuring in tsignposts like those, the dependability that one can find in the rhythms of the calendar.

At Classic Fim and TV Corner, Maddy looks at one of the great acting dynasties of film and television, the Mills family: father John, and daughters Juliet and Hayley. All terrific, and of course I've got a soft spot for Juliet, whose autographed picture appears in our den. Maybe we'll add Hayley next year.

Finally, singer Jack Jones died today, aged 86; in addition to his recording career, he was a guest star on many variety shows over the years. And yet, for TV viewers, he's perhaps best-known for a show you didn't see him in, but he was part of every episode: The Love Boat, which wouldn't have been nearly as memorable if his rendition of the theme song didn't set the stage. Since we're only a couple of months from Christmas, why not end with a clip of him on the famed Judy Garland Christmas special. TV  

Around the dial

It's kind of a light week for TV blogging out there, which probably means that a lot of people out there have better things to do with their time than I do. Be that as it may, you all are teh beneficiaries from the combined wisdom that can be found Around the Dial.

Alfred Hyes is the latest screenwriter to receive the Hitchcock Project treatment from Jack at bare•bones e-zine. His first effort for Hitch is the eighth-season opener "A Piece of the Action," not to be confused with the Star Trek episode of the same name. Gig Young stars, with an early appearnce by Robert Redford.

It's another episode of "The Unshakeables" at Comfort TV, those episodes that just stay with you long after the show's over, and this week David looks at "Doomsday is Tomorrow," a 1977 episode of The Bionic Woman with a memorable payoff.

It was F Troop Friday last week at The Horn Section, but I'd already gone to press when it came out, so I'm making it up to Hal by making this F Troop Friday. It's "Honest Injun," from season one, when the series was in B&W, and it involves a fake gold mine and more.

I tried to watch the early '60s detective series Checkmate several years ago; I had a sampler set that gave me a handful of episodes, but it just didn't do it for me. Not enough Sebastian Cabot; Anthony George and Doug McClure just didn't do it for me, at least in this series. Anyway, it's the latest show at Television's New Frontier: The 1960s.

Here's a big shout-out and happy anniversary to Realweegiemidget, celebrating 5 years (and over 100,000 hits) as a film and TV review site, as well as host to a host of blogathons. Here's hoping there are more years ahead.

And finally, at Silver Screen, here's a 1956 British Pathé newsreel with a profile of Alban Adams, the inventor of the slot car. Nothing to do with television, but I've loved slot cars since I was a kid. Too bad we don't have room for a layout here. TV  

Around the dial

Everyone still hanging in there through all this? As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we're fine here; take a moment to drop a line in the comments box and let us know how you are!

I don't do the grocery shopping in our family, and I doubt they'd let me in some stores right now (only the shopper need enter), but I have fond memories of riding around in the grocery cart basket when I was a kid. At Comfort TV, David brings back some of those memories with a look at how grocery stores have been portrayed in classic television. I do like that old packaging!

It's Wednesday comics week at The Twilight Zone Vortex, and in this week's issue (May, 1971), Jordan gives us a story called "The Man-Beast of Paris." And no, they're not talking about Andre the Giant here.

Television's New Frontier: the 1960s travels out west to look at the 1961 episodes from Tales of Wells Fargo, starring Dale Robertson. The year covers the second half of season five and the first half of season six, including the show's move to color. That isn't all that moved, though; the network moved the show to Saturdays, up against Perry Mason. Need I mention that it's the show's last season?

We haven't stopped in at Eyes of a Generation for awhile, and I can't think of a better reason to look in today than this color film tour of CBS's Studio 72 in 1954. It was never aired, and features color productions of both The Ed Sullivan Show and Danger.

Speaking of tours, Inner Toob takes us on a tour of Alan Hale Jr.'s career as Jonas Grumby, The Skipper on Gilligan's Island. And if you know how Inner Toob works, then you won't be surprised to see some other areas where Hale pops up--but could that have been, in fact, The Skipper that we actually saw?

At Realweegiemidget, it's time for a look at "Black Magic," a second season episode of The Bionic Woman, with a guest cast that includes not only Vincent Price (in a dual role!) but also Abe Vigoda, Julie Newmar, and William Windom.

From the mailbag, loyal reader Mark Waldow writes that he collects print ads about local affiliation changes, and wonders if anyone else out there does this. Of course, we went through a few affiliate changes here in the Twin Cities, and I'm going to check on the advertising during an upcoming weekend when I rearrange all my issues of TV Guide. But do any of you have examples you'd like to share? If so, please let me know in the comments or via email.

As for that picture at the top? It's Dick and Pat Nixon, of course, watching the Republican National Convention on TV. There's no date on the picture, but I'm betting it's 1960, the year he's nominated for his first run at the presidency. Something else about this picture; I know that Nixon was a very private man, and I don't think that sharing himself or his feelings came easy to him. You notice that even though they're sitting very close together, there's no physical contact. Now, expressions of public emotion were far less common back then; still, I can't imagine that being the case with my wife and I, regardless of the occasion but especially during such a momentous time. When Pat died, he took it very hard; I think he regretted not having shared more with her. Like him or not, there's always been something very Shakespearian about Richard Nixon, in the most tragic of contexts. TV