Around the dial

Photo by Stockcake.com

We start this week at Comfort TV, where David takes a look at five classic shows overdue for a remake. Keeping in mind how often these remakes fail (and even the ones that didn't, should have), I wouldn't mind seeing new versions of Playhouse 90, Ellery Queen, Honey West, and more.

John steps away from his Prisoner series at Cult TV Blog to review the 1988 miniseries Menace Unseen, a sinister little tale that takes from conspiracy theories, tech revolutions, some nice '80s vibes, and Ian Ogilvie to craft a compelling, if perhaps overly ambitious story.

At Television Obscurities, Robert shares an interesting compilation video of interviews taken with Ithaca College students regarding Rod Serling, who was a visiting professor at Ithaca for many years. Like Robert, I can't imagine what it would have been like to take a class from him.

Terence honors Rock Hudson at A Shroud of Thoughts on the occasion of the one-hundredth anniversary of Rock's birth. The man really had an impressive CV of movie and television work; whether or not you think he was a great actor, there's no question he was a star. 

Care for some literature? Martin Grams has a look at Dick Tracy, Ace Detective, a full-length novel "written" and illustrated by Tracy creator Chester Gould. It's the first of two Tracy novels published by Whitman in the 1940s; I really should give him a second look.

At A View from the Junkyard, The A-Team comes to the assistance of a crime-fighting minister in "Pure-Dee Poison"; unfortunately, the episode has more than a few flaws, including what may perhaps be the dumbest group of bad guys forever, who make The Three Stooges look like geniuses. 

I always enjoy giving a shout-out to blogs celebrating anniversaries, and it's the third anniversary of Classic Film and TV Corner: congratulations, Maddy!

Finally, my latest American TV History video with Dan Schneider is up; it's the 100th anniversary of the Golden Age of Radio, which seemed like a good reason to talk about radio series that made the transition to television. It's a fun topic, and there are bound to be a few of your favorite TV shows that you didn't know had their origins in the theater of the mind. Enjoy! TV

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Around the dial

We'll start off the week with a twin bill from the "American TV" series I do with Dan Schneider: episode #1 is a look at the history of ABC and its reputation as a network willing to take chances, while episode #2 is a fun change-of-pace, in which we answer questions about how our series started, some of our favorite shows, early TV crushes, and more! 

My friend Alan Hayes has some exciting news on the horizon: Escapades: An Exploration of Avengers Curiosities, a new book co-authored with J.Z. Ferguson, which takes a deep dive into aspects of the classic series that haven't been previously covered, such as the London stage play, the South African radio series, a couple of unmade TV scripts, and a Mexican wrestling film—and that's just for starters! The book is available for pre-order here, and I'd encourage all you Avengers fans to look into it. And stay tuned to this space over the next few weeks, for an interview with Alan and a review of the book.

Let's work it a little more, as Roger's review of The New Avengers continues at A View from the Junkyard, with the latest episode being "Target!" He sees it as "another superb episode in a season that hasn’t put a foot wrong yet," and even ventures that it's better than the original series. What do you think?

The Broadcast Archives has several classic TV stories this week, covering everything from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me to the first made-for-TV movie. They're all fun, but why not start out with the single-season series Mr. Lucky, a Blake Edwards creation starring John Vivyan. 

At bare-bones e-zine, Jack's Hitchcock Project continues with "Total Loss," a fourth-season episode by J.E. Selby that is most assuredly a product of its times. Nancy Olson and Ralph Meeker star; find out if the bad guy gets away with it.

The Rose Medallion is the next series in line in John's continuing "private detective season" at Cult TV Blog. John says that we have to watch this 1981 series about an uncovered skeleton and the quest to find out the rest of the story, and he's a pretty good judge of shows.uuu

The Globe and Mail has this essay on ditching streaming in favor of DVDs. I've been in this camp for quite awhile; aside from the fact that it's difficult to find some of the more obscure programs on streaming, it's too often a case of "here today, gone tomorrow." I'll always be a believer in physical media.

David's journey through 1970s TV at Comfort TV has now come to Wednesday, 1975, and if we can't remember When Things Were Rotten, Kate McShane, and Doctors' Hospital, we can certainly recall Little House on the Prairie, Starsky & Hutch, Cannon, and more.

At RealWeegieMidget, Gill (and Darlin' Husband) take a look at movie recommendations from January, including a miniseries with Barry Bostwick and Stefanie Powers, a movie with brothers Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, and Gary Coleman as a pint-size arsonist!

Do we ever get tired of the latest schemes cooked up by Sgt. O'Rourke and Corporal Agarn at F Troop? Not if we're Hal at The Horn Section, and the latest sure-to-fail scam, "The West Goes Ghost," involves ghosts, the railroad, and the two passing themselves off as medical men, for starters.

At Drunk TV, Paul reviews the second season of Simon & Simon, one of the quintessentially '80s series of, well, the '80s, with Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker as the brothers running the Simon & Simon detective agency. Thrilling cases and beautiful women galore!

Martin Grams, who wrote one of the definitive books on The Twilight Zone, looks at books containing adaptations of Rod Serling's TZ scripts (done by Serling himself), as well as adaptations and original stories written by Walter Gibson, all of which were quite successful.

I've written before about Turn On, the legendary one-episode ABC series that was virtually cancelled before that one episode was done. But was it really as bad as history says? Not so fast, says Travalanche, who believes it was far from the worst show of all time. TV  

Two for today: Mike Wallace and Rod Serling

My latest appearance on the Dan Schneider Video Interview is now up. Make that plural; we recorded a pair of shows on two legends in the television industry: Mike Wallace and Rod Serling. 

What with our collective memory getting shorter and shorter every day, it's good to take some time and reflect on the importance of these two men to American culture: one, the most feared interviewer on television; the other, one of its most articulate and socially conscious writers. They're both known for seminal programs—60 Minutes and The Twilight Zone—yet there's much more to their contributions. 

They each run about an hour (or 60 Minutes, if you prefer), starting with Rod Serling:

And finishing with Mike Wallace:

 

And for good measure, here's the Rod Serling interview with Mike Wallace which we refer to; it's from 1959, just before the premiere of The Twilight Zone.

TV  

The rural purge and its aftermath

My latest appearance on the Dan Schneider Video Interview is a discussion of the infamous "Rural Purge" of the early 1970s, a purge that saw several series (particularly on CBS), including The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, The Lawrence Welk Show, and Hee Haw bite the dust despite the fact that they continued to draw high ratings. 

But the rural purge was about more than just getting rid of "hayseed" comedies skewing to older audiences; by programming shows that prioritized attracting viewers from specific demographics rather than those with broad, widespread appeal, the rural purge signaled a difference in how networks and advertisers viewed urban viewers (and content that appealed to them), versus those shows that reflected values and themes popular in middle America. It introduced the beginnings of a parallel distribution system that allowed shows like Lawrence Welk and Hee Haw to bypass the networks and reach their audiences via first-run syndication. It confirmed and exacerbated a divide that already existed between urban and rural America, one steeped in stereotypes, suspicion, mistrust, and condescension. And it was a major step in codifying that division through such terms as "red" and "blue" America, with television programs geared to support that confirmation bias. The end result: a television Balkanization of viewers that has become prevalent in virtually every aspect of American culture, politics, and entertainment.

At least that's my assertion in this episode; watch our discussion and draw your own conclusions. As always, your thoughts here and elsewhere are welcome! TV  

Around the dial

The picture above is of Sinatra Sr. watching Sinatra Jr. on television. Whether it's staged or not, it's still a pretty candid shot. Interesting, isn't it?

My latest appearance on Dan Schneider's Video Interview is up; this month, Dan and I discuss some of the notable (as well as some of the lesser-known) legal dramas on television, and their place within the larger cultural zeitgeist. I also tried to touch on some of the larger socio-political issues raised through these programs, such as the correlation between the law-and-order movement of the late 1960s and the decline of popularity in shows featuring defense attorneys; that alone is worth a show from someone. Anyway, take a listen if you've got a couple of hours.

It's been an appalling week or so for deaths in the world of classic television and movies, and the most recent—such as Bob Newhart—will probably be covered in-depth next week. However, Terence at A Shroud of Thoughts keeps up with this remembrance of Hill Street Blues veteran James B. Sikking, who passed last week at the age of 90, and Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed actress Shannen Doherty, who died at the far-too-young age of 53. Travalanche remembers the deaths of Dr. Ruth Westheimer and Richard Simmons, who also died this week. 

At Comfort TV, David has one of those think pieces I'm so fond of: how dead shopping malls serve as an allegory the state of television today. Both malls and TV rose in the 1950s, offered something for everyone, and now have audiences that are a fraction of what they once were. There's much more to his essay; I urge you all to take a moment to read it.  

Jordan returns at The Twilight Zone Vortex with an in-depth look at volume 3, number 5 of The Twilight Zone Magazine, from November/December 1983. There's coverage of the premiere of The Twilight Zone: The Movie, filming Stephen King's Dead Zone, an interview with David Cronenberg, a retrospective on The Outer Limits, and more. 

At Cult TV Blog, John reviews "The State of England," an episode of teh 1971 series The Guardians, which presents an alternative history of England in which the country is ruled by a fascist dictatorship. As you know, I'm partial to these kinds of stories, which—as John points out—almost always rely on a heavy dose of fear. A nasty piece of work.

At Garroway at Large, Jodie celebrates the birthday of the blog, as well as that of the master communicator himself, Dave Garroway. It's an update along with a couple of pictures that continue to give us insight into the early years of Today, and the progression of time on Garroway.

An additional post from Travalanche reminds us that looks can be deceiving, asT he offers a retrospective on the voiceover career of Dallas McKennon, veteran character actor (and Denver Pyle-lookalike) from Westerns like Daniel Boone, Wagon Train, and Bonanza, and voice artist of, among others, Gumby!

And one more from A Shroud of Thoughts that I wanted to touch on: a reminder of the three books that Terence has written, along with information on where to get them. Remember to support your bloggers in all their efforts! TV  

F is for Fake

I'll admit, on a good day, that I can be a little bit neurotic. Not crazy; I mean, it's a given that anyone who spends the amount of time watching and writing about old television shows has to be at least a little cracked, right? No, what I'm talking about is this deep-seated fear that, even though I've written about classic television for fifteen years and authored a book abut it, sooner or later I'm going to be unmasked as a poseur, a fraud, someone who isn't really the expert he pretends to be. 

Having talked with several of my fellow TV historians over the years, I've found that my insecurity isn't unusual; in fact, it seems to be something we all have in common, along with the love of shows that nobody else has ever heard of. This provides absolutely no consolation to me; after all, there's nothing that prevents multiple people from sharing the same neuroses, nor would it be out of the ordinary for us to congregate in the same places. It's something I've learned to live with, though. I suppose we all have our little hang-ups.

When I'm asked what I do, I generally reply that I'm a writer, as well as a TV historian. As the late novelist Paul Auster once said, "Writing is no longer an act of free will for me; it's a matter of survival." And when it comes to writing, let me tell you, I can massage the hell out of a sentence, revising it three or four (or a dozen or two) times, moving paragraphs here and there and working things to death until I'm satisfied. (The computer has been a great blessing in that sense.) Some pieces never completely satisfy me, but then, you can't always let the perfect become the enemy of the good, and sometimes you have to just let it go or give up on it altogether. 

I mention this because, as you probably know, I've been a guest on Dan Schneider's Video Interview regularly during the past couple of years. I have a great time with Dan; he's an excellent host, and our conversations are always enjoyable. But, at least for me, it's much easier to communicate knowledge and information through the written word rather than verbally. 

For example, looking back on the recent program we did about Mary Tyler Moore, at one point I'm talking as if, in addition to providing the shapely silhouette for Sam, the shadowy figure of Richard Diamond's answering service, she also supplied Sam's voice. Now, that's not the case, and I knew that; later on, I pointed that out more clearly. Now, if I had been writing the same thing, I would have reworked the paragraph over and over (as I have in writing this paragraph) until it said exactly what I meant. You don't get the chance to do that when you're working in a "live" medium, unless you're able to edit and reedit the tape, which we don't.

I don't know how many people are truly comfortable in the video and audio worlds, but to be even passably competent, you have to have a fleetness of mind, a nimble way an easy way of thinking that enables you to self-edit as you go along, and the ability to segue from one topic to another without falling flat on your face. And there's no question, as far as I'm concerned, that I'm not nearly as nimble in that respect as I used to be. Words and thoughts don't come as quickly or easily as they used to, and they don't flow as smoothly as they once did. It doesn't concern me in the bigger picture; it's called getting old (deal with it!) and it happens to everyone. 

But it frustrates me that I can't transition as quickly as I could fifteen years ago, that it's harder for me to articulate what I mean to say as precisely as I once did. I never did enjoy watching myself on television, and now I don't even try; I find it too cringeworthy. And it bothers me that it might, in the eyes of viewers, make me sound less credible as a historian. It's one thing to be wrong; it's another to sound wrong, 

And then there's the tendency that I have to take off on some tangent, a rabbit hole that barely touches on the topic in question and that only I have any interest in. I suppose this comes in part from any historian's desire to demonstrate everything he's learned about a topic, but I prefer to blame it on my political background, where they taught us that, when doing interviews, to redefine the question to what it is that you want to talk about, and answer that instead. (Another gift we're taught is how to deflect blame to someone or something else, which I've just tried to demonstrate.)

This isn't to suggest that I hate doing podcasts; in fact, I like doing them, and I wish I could do more of them. (Hint, hint!) And I've never had a problem with public speaking; I gave a lot of speeches when I was running for the state legislature all those years ago, and let me tell you this: giving a good speech is an exhilarating experience; it provides a mental and physical high that's far better than anything any drug can give. When I did my presentation at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention a few years ago, I thought I was as good as I've ever been. (No brag, just fact.) Of course, in these situations I was in control, either working from a prepared text or being in command of the material.

It's another thing when you're being interviewed. No matter how well one prepares, the difficulty comes from trying to make sense without running off at the mouth or digressing into a thousand and one black holes. The first or second time I appeared on television, in a panel discussion show, I was immensely pleased afterward; I thought I'd been assertive in stating my positions, aggressive in pursuing the fallacies being offered by my fellow panelists, and appropriately witty when appropriate. Many years later, when I rewatched the broadcast, I was—well, not mortified, but sorely disappointed. Again, it happens; things are seldom the way we prefer to remember them. 

It all comes back, I think, to that fear of being unmasked, of being found out as a fake and a fraud. And again, the fact that many people, including my peers, have the same fear—well, as I said at the start, we're all kind of neurotic that way. But, in all fairness, I don't pretend to know everything. No historian worth his or her weight does, or should. In fact, I've been quite candid at times in mentioning how some of our viewers probably know more about a particular topic than I do. But what fun would life be if you weren't always learning something new? Very, very dull, I should think. I know that every time I research a show for the podcast, or look up something for one of these articles, I come away knowing more than I did at the outset. (Of course, you might suggest that this can be a pretty low bar to overcome.)

And anyway, isn't television, like movies, supposed to represent the magic of make-believe? So next time you're watching me on Dan Schneider, or any other podcast (Hint, hint!), remember that the people you see are often smarter than they appear on TV. And if I really drop the ball, be kind: don't rewind. TV  

Around the dial

One of the reasons for this website is my belief that classic television has value: not just entertainment value, but something beyond that. Fortunately, David feels the same way at Comfort TV, where he writes about how classic TV inspires still inspires people every day.

At Cult TV Blog, John writes about "Fear of God," an episode of the 1978-80 British anthology series Armchair Thriller. As good as the writeup on the episode is John's comment that "when I started blogging about old TV I had no idea how much like being an archaeologist it is, often like assembling the pieces of a pot and still not being sure about it." You and me both, John.

The View from the Junkyard has moved on to the Tara King era of The Avengers, and, as Roger says, while Tara, unlike Emma Peel, is more typically "a damsel in distress," the series has also become "a huge amount of fun." Typical is this week's reviewed episode, "Game."

The 1970s sitcom Good Times was more than just a popular sitcom and spinoff from Maude: it was, as Terence points out at A Shroud of Thoughts, a historic television series. Find out what makes this series special, and why.

Remember Warren Beatty's big-screen movie Dick Tracy? Martin Grams does, and this week he shares the bizarre story of the battle between Beatty and the Chicago Tribune over movie rights to the story, and how this results in Beatty making 25-minute TV specials—in character as Tracy. Read about it here, and see the latest installment.

At Drunk TV, Paul reviews the 1990 cable movie Psycho IV, which manages to be both "lumpy and unnecessary" and "entertaining." Anthony Perkins returns as the unfortunate Norman Bates, with Olivia Hussey as his equally disturbed mother.

I've written several times about how there was television prior to World War II, and how further development (understandably) went into hibernation during the war. But as the Broadcast Archives recalls, RCA reminded people that after the war, TV would be back. 

Finally, my latest appearances on the Dan Schneider Video Interview are now up. It's a classic TV doubleheader: first, a look at the legacy of legendary television producer Quinn Martin, followed by an affectionate salute to Fred Rogers. TV  

Around the dial

At The View from the Junkyard, Mike continues his examination of Star Trek: The Animated Series with "The Infinite Vulcan," an episode written by Walter Koenig. Does this episode live up to expectations? Well, you'll have to read it and find out, but, like it or not, it's undeniably Star Trek.

Ready for some seasonal fare? At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence takes a look at "The Haunted House," a fourth-season episode of The Andy Griffith Show. It's considered the only Halloween episode of the series, though it's not specifically referred to as such. But when you've got a haunted house to play with, who's going to complain?

Speaking of Halloween, just about any episode of Night Gallery could qualify as a story worthy of the season, but at Shadow & Substance, Paul uses the episode "Dr. Stringfellow's Rejuvenator" as background for how Rod Serling loved using roving pitchmen as a plot device. I suppose pitchmen still exist today in a city like New York, but I've only seen them at state fairs.

At Cult TV Blog, John continues his series on the Seventies with a look at two British game shows that are very much of the time: The Indoor League, which ran from 1973 to 77 and involves people playing pubroom games (darts, foosball, etc.); and The Joker's Wild (1969-74), which bears no resemblance to the American game show of the same name.

David has a new Comfort TV piece that should be seen to be appreciated, as it deals mostly with pictures of famous television pairings (Lucy & Ethel, Matt & Miss Kitty, Ozzie & Harriet, etc.), through which you can essentially trace the history of classic television. See if this doesn't bring back some fond memories for you!

Finally, my latest appearance on Dan Schneider's Video Interview is available for your viewing pleasure; in this episode, Dan and I discuss the history of television variety shows. It's an interesting topic, to which I hopefully did some justice, so when you have some time, check it out!  TV  

Around the dial

Well, we're back this week after last week's special report from—where was I again? Oh yeah, the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention. (By the way, I'll have a final entry on that next Wednesday.) As is always the case when this feature takes a week off, we've got a full batch of links, so let's get right to it!

We'll start off with my latest appearance on the Dan Schneider Video Interview. This week, we look at the history of special event news coverage, from the death of Stalin to the Gulf War. There's a lot more to this than you might think, and I'd be interested to see what you all think. You can see the entire episode here.

John takes another break from his excellent series at Cult TV Blog on The X-Files and the American Dream for a look at The Avengers, and the early episode "Box of Tricks," a rare Steed-Venus Smith story. I like it not only because he mentions yours truly (thanks, John!) but because he goes deeper into an episode which has received valid criticism but still entertains. 

At Classic Film & TV Café, Rick reviews the 1964 version of Ernest Hemingway's short story The Killers, starring Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager. Most of you probably know it was originally slated to be the first TV movie, but wound up in the theaters due to its violence; like Rick, I quite like this movie. He also reviews Tenebrae, Dario Argent's 1982 giallo thriller, which might be worth a look.

The latest entry in the Hitchcock Project is Allan Gordon's "The Man Who Found the Money," from Hitchcock season six. Jack takes a deep look at this very nasty episode, starring Arthur Hill and Rod Cameron, at bare-bones e-zine.

Much of the appeal to classic television lies in its uncanny ability to revive happy memories of the past, and David demonstrates this at Comfort TV with his fond review of the superb PBS children's show The Electric Company, featuring Bill Cosby, Rita Moreno, Morgan Freeman, and Irene Cara. It's proof that educational television doesn't have to be boring at the same time.

Cult TV Lounge pulls up a blast from the past—an episode of the 1950-51 Dick Tracy TV series, included as a bonus in the box set of Dick Tracy serials. It's an excellent look at the challenges involved in doing a half-hour drama series, and how the writers have to really know what they're doing.

Collider has an interesting article on how the excellent neo-noir movie Experiment in Terror may have influenced David Lynch, especially in the making of Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet. Now, the article doesn't actually quote Lynch as acknowledging this, though I wouldn't doubt it; still, I'm in a kind of prove-it mindset. Nevertheless, it seems hard to refute! 

Not long ago, I posted a review of the 1970s miniseries Captains and the Kings, looking primarily at the striking coincidences between the story's Armagh family and the real-life Kennedys, and author Taylor Caldwell's political message. If you're interested in the ins and outs of the series itself, Paul has an excellent extended look at Drunk TV. 

At Travalanche, it's a nostalgic look back at the Labor Day tradition that was the Jerry Lewis Telethon, an annual tradition for so many of us around here. Labor Day just isn't the same anymore, sad to say, but that doesn't make it unique.

A View from the Junkyard takes a look at what must be one of the most famous non-cartoonish animated shows, Star Trek: The Animated Series. It really was quite something at the time: a cancelled primetime show making a comback as a Saturday-morning show, feauring the voices of the original cast members; as Mike says, it's essentially season four of the series.

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence dips way back into the memory files for NBC Follies, the network's 1973 attempt to revive the variety show genre. The fact that NBC Follies is, as Terence says, "largely forgotten except by television historians and fans of Sammy Davis Jr. and Mickey Rooney," tells you what you need to know about its success. Of course, since he's describing me, I had to link to it. TV  

Around the dial

Most of today's commercials are—what would you say? Odes to crass materialism? Of course, that's always been a part of advertising. But sometimes a commercial can evokes an era long left behind, and at Comfort TV, David looks at one such commercial: the 1977 "Here's to good friends" commercial for Löwenbräu. I think you'll know just what David is talking about.

Christmas has produced more than its share of good times, at least for me, and at Christmas TV History Joanna continues her month-long look at some of those memories created by various adaptations of A Christmas Carol. Next up: Ebenezer, a 1998 Western-themed remake with Jack Palance as a terrific Scrooge.

At bare•bones e-zine, Jack continues the Hitchcock Project with the second of Charlotte Armstrong's scripts for the Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "Sybilla," a domestic drama with a very big twist, starring Alexander Scorby and Barbara Bel Geddes.

John takes a break from his American Dream and The X-Files series at Cult TV Blog to watch The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the second-season episode "The Birds and the Bees Affair," an "insane" story about bees being used as killer weapons. Some of the ideas could have come right out of the CIA handbook. . .

We haven't heard from The Horn Section for awhile, so this week Hal makes up for it with a two-parter from Love That Bob's final season in 1959: "Bob Helps Martha," and "Bob Helps Von Zell." The great Rose Marie plays Martha in the first episode, while Harry Von Zell appears as himself in the second, as does George Burns. 

At Cult TV Lounge, we're up to a fine Tara King episode that I quite enjoyed: "The Interrogators," with Christopher Lee in terrific form as a sinister British office who may or may not be what he seems. Of course, any episode in which Steed gets to use his armored bowler hat is a guarantee.

Martin Grams has some book reviews for you in you're in the mood for some nice reading material. The five books in question are career bios of Betty White, Carol Lynley, Jeanne Eagels, Barbara Nichols, and Sylvia Sidney. A star and an era for just about anyone, I'd say.

Here's something from last week that I'm catching up on: at Television Obscurities, Robert celebrats "Lost TV Day" with a look at the programming shown on ABC on Thursday, January 12, 1961. This inclusive article shows just how difficult it can be to accurately research American television. It also shows how such a valuable archive was treated with so little care.

At  The View from the Junkyard, Roger reviews the Columbo episode "Murder in Malibu," one of the "new" Columbo episodes, and a rarity: a truly bad episode, featuring bad acting from almost everyone, a weak twist, and a case against the killer that's "falling apart at the seams, inside-out, back-to-front, and the label is showing." Ouch!

Travlanche celebrates the 110th birthday of Dave Garroway, and talks about his legacy in television history, especially Today. And if there's anyone who can tell you what that legacy is all about, it's my friend Jodie at Garroway at Large, who wrote the book on Dave. Her book, Peace, is a winner for anyone who wants to know more about both Dave Garroway and television history, and you can buy it here.

Finally, a link to my latest appearance on The Dan Schneider Video Interview. It's a real treat this week, as the aforementioned Martin Grams joins us to talk about The Twilight Zone, and I can't think of anyone more qualified to do so. You can view it here. By the way, things have been a bit busy here, so if you've left a comment on the blog and haven't seen a reply yet, I'll be doing those today. TV  

Around the dial

We'll start this week on a self-serving note; my latest appearance on the Dan Schneider Video Interview is up. We're talking about the original Mission: Impossible: why it's a terrific show, why it's a problematic show, and why you should watch it. I hope you do check out the video (as well as the rest of Dan's interviews). Let me know what I'm doing right, and what I need to improve. 

at Cult TV Blog, where John is beginning a series of posts about The X-Files and the American Dream—specifically, how the show overlays the American Dream with "a dystopian scenario of government corruption, interference, violence, experimentation, and is largely a delusional front to what is portrayed as a controlling despotic country." Needless to say, I'm interested in this kind of thing, considering the scope of my "Descent into Hell" series, so I'll be following this closely.

From the website of the Brownstone Institute, Thomas Harrington writes about "those silly dads on TV" —a situation that's existed since virtually the beginning of the medium—and why this isn't particularly good for our culture.

At The View from the Junkyard, there's the usual Avengers post (which I'm always going to read), but also "Agenda for Murder," a fine episode of the rebooted Columbo featuring the third appearance of Patrick McGoohan as a killer, who is almost—but, of course, not quite—a match for the wiley detective.

There's a nice piece at Travalanche about Bud Collyer, whom most classic TV aficionado recognize from hosting a variety of game shows (most notably To Tell the Truth), as well as voicing Superman on the radio adventures and animated cartoons. There's more to him, as you'll see here.

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence notes the 75th anniversary of The Ed Sullivan Show, one of the great shows in televisison history. As you know from my Sullivan vs. Palace TV Guide feature, I'm vested in Ed's place in pop culture history, and glad those performances continue to be available for viewing. 

A good week; as I've said in the past, what we lack in quantity we make up in quality. TV