http://www.televisionarchives.com/index.htmlProtecting Our Television Heritageendavid@davidkrell.comCopyright © 2009 Blue Stripe Media Group, LLC, All Rights Reserved2010-07-03T07:38:14-04:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:08:04 -0400david@davidkrell.comNone2010-07-03T07:38:14-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Return_of_Television_Legends.html#unique-entry-id-131http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Return_of_Television_Legends.html#unique-entry-id-131by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

In the 1986 song Modern Woman, Billy Joel sings, And after 1986, what else could be new?

Nothing if you consider the return of two television legends to the small screen

Their television personas were extraordinarily familiar to us.

Andy Griffith appeared as Atlanta-based attorney Ben Matlock in Matlock. The show aired on NBC from 1986 to 1992 and then switched to ABC where it aired from 1992 to 1995.

Matlock was a Harvard-educated but folksy defense attorney who had strong friendships with his staff and opposing counsel.

In the spring of 1986, Griffith reprised his hallmark role of Sheriff Andy Taylor in the NBC tv-movie Return To Mayberry. Its tremendous success, nostalgic appeal, and safe familiarity undoubtedly influenced NBC and Griffith to find a new but familiar television vehicle for him.

Simply, Matlock is Perry Mason by way of Sheriff Andy Taylor.

Former Andy Griffith Show co-stars Aneta Corsaut and Don Knotts made guest appearances on Matlock.

Unfortunately, Lucille Ball did not fare so well in the Fall of 1986.

She returned to television with the sitcom Life with Lucy on ABC. Co-starring with Ball was her familiar foil, Gale Gordon. He played her in-law. On the show, the daughter of Ball’s character was married to the son of Gordon’s character.

Life With Lucy only lasted a couple of months.

Aaron Spelling produced Life with Lucy with Douglas Cramer and E. Duke Vincent. The sitcom starring an aging but appealing legend contrasted with Spelling’s shows based in adventure, glitz, and glamour. Vega$. Charlie’s Angels. Hotel. The Love Boat. Hart to Hart.

During the mid-1980’s, nostalgia abounded. In the 1985 box office blockbuster Back to the Future, the story recaptured a slice of life in 1955, complete with fashion, music, and popular culture indicators.

Return to Mayberry recalled a simpler time when a transistor radio was the groundbreaking technology achievement for teenagers compared to the 1980’s Sony Walkman or today’s iPod.

Life with Lucy brought back the biggest comedienne of the 20th century in a pre-TGIF family sitcom.

Lucy was a grandmother in the show, not the young or middle-aged housewife or mother we remembered fondly from decades past. Was the show a mistake? Were the physical antics of a 75 year-old woman frightening rather than entertaining for the audience?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But there’s nothing wrong with bringing back a legend to recapture previous glory. The failure of Life With Lucy doesn’t make Ms. Ball’s work on the program any less significant compared to her other work on more popular shows.

She was, indeed, the same Lucy. She gave 1000 percent for her fellow castmates and the audience.

As Peter Allen once sang, Quiet please. There’s a lady on the stage. She may not be the latest rage. But she’s singing. And she means it.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-07-03T07:26:18-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Space_Craze_of_the_1960s.html#unique-entry-id-130http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Space_Craze_of_the_1960s.html#unique-entry-id-130by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

NASA’s Golden Age of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo during the 1960’s inspired television decision makers to use space as a theme.

I Dream of Jeannie featured Larry Hagman as Tony Nelson, an astronaut in the starring male role. Several scenes featured Captain (later Major) Nelson’s job responsibilities at Cape Canaveral, known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973. Nelson lived in a small house in Cocoa Beach with Jeannie, a beautiful blonde genie played by Barbara Eden who couldn’t stop herself form trying to help her master. Nelson met Jeannie after his space capsule splashed down and he washed up on the beach. He found her bottle, opened it, and out came Jeannie. He rescued her and she served him as payback. Eventually, they married.

Set in the future, Star Trek explored worlds, universes, and planets. The U.S.S. Enterprise went where no man had gone before. Essentially Wagon Train in space, Star Trek showcased the adventures of the Enterprise staff. The episodes were often allegories about peace, war, brotherhood, and racism.

Lost In Space showed us a space launch gone awry. A space takeoff on Swiss Family Robinson, Lost In Space depicted weekly adventures of the Robinson family on strange planets. Initially, the Robinsons’ mission is to colonize space for the United States. A foreign agent, Dr. Zachary Smith, caused the Robinson’s space craft to malfunction. His efforts backfire as he can’t leave the space craft before it launches. Smith becomes the comic relief, foil, and wacky neighbor character.

The Twilight Zone had episodes with a space theme. The Little People tells a lesson about bullying.

Astronauts William Fletcher and Peter Craig encounter a malfunction with their space ship, so they land on a planet to make repairs. Craig discovers an area inhabited by people who are the size of ants. He destroys their property and declares himself their god. He forces them to build a statue of him. Fletcher finishes repairing the space craft but Craig wants to stay. You reap what you sow. Two giant explorers from another planet are repairing their ship. One accidentally kills Craig. The “little people”are ecstatic and they bring the statue down.
]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-05-25T07:38:45-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Adieu_24_Lost_and_Law_Order.html#unique-entry-id-129http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Adieu_24_Lost_and_Law_Order.html#unique-entry-id-129by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

“Appointment television” may be defined as the need to be home when a television show airs to ensure we capture every second of the show.

In a Hulu-You Tube-On Demand universe, appointment television in the strictest sense is no longer necessary. We’ll still seek quality, although the viewing time is in our hands. We need to make the appointment to watch the show, not the broadcast or cable networks. But after 24, Law & Order, and Lost, will prime time television ever be that good again?

On Sunday night, we learned that the Flash Sideways story line on Lost was really a waiting state for the dead. Our favorite characters remained there until they remembered their time on the island. Apparently, they needed to remember so they could move forward on their afterlife’s journeys.

Last night, we said goodbye to Jack Bauer. He’s on the run after triggering the exposure of a massive cover-up that reached the Oval Office, not to mention pulling the trigger to seek revenge on almost everyone involved. The cover-up killed Renee Walker, Jack’s paramour and fellow CTU agent.

We also bid adieu last night to Law & Order, one of television’s true stalwarts. With twenty years of episodes, we will easily have ample time to relive the stories of Lennie Briscoe, Mike Logan, Jack McCoy, Anita Van Buren, and the many others who dramatized true-life stories.

When a television show creator pitches a show, he or she explains the first few story lines or ‘bible.’ On Inside the Actors Studio, Dick Wolf recalled pitching L&O to Brandon Tartikoff, then the President of NBC Entertainment. When Tartikoff asked about the story bible, Wolf said that he would get his stories from the front page of the New York Post.
]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-05-19T08:34:05-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Saturday_Night_Live_and_TV_Icons.html#unique-entry-id-128http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Saturday_Night_Live_and_TV_Icons.html#unique-entry-id-128by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Saturday Night Live has been and continues to be a launching pad for actors to break into the movies.

Chevy Chase and Foul Play.

John Belushi and Animal House.

Eddie Murphy and 48 Hours.

Mike Myers and Wayne’s World.

Tina Fey and Mean Girls.

But Saturday Night Live is also the launching pad for television icons beyond Saturday nights in Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center.

In 1993, SNL creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels took over NBC’s Late Night franchise after David Letterman bolted for CBS. Michaels tapped Conan O’Brien to succeed Letterman. O’Brien was a writer on Saturday Night Live in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. He hosted Late Night for sixteen years, from 1993 to 2009.

Again, Michaels need to find a Late Night host. He went to the ultimately likable Jimmy Fallon, an SNL icon who had the keystone role of a Weekend Update co-anchor with Tina Fey.

Fey created and stars in the comedy 30 Rock airing Thursday nights on NBC. Michaels’ company Broadway Video produces 30 Rock.

30 Rock, a multiple Emmy Award winner, concerns the behind-the-scenes antics of the staff at TGS or The Girlie Show, an NBC comedy-variety show, like Saturday Night Live. Fey plays Liz Lemon, the head writer. Alec Baldwin, a longtime guest host of SNL, also stars on 30 Rock. He plays NBC executive Jack Donaghy. Donaghy retools TGS by bringing in Tracy Jordan, played by Tracy Morgan in a thinly veiled depiction of his bombastic, hilarious, and affable public persona.

Another former Weekend Update anchor has a Thursday night comedy on NBC. From the team that brought you The Office, you now have Parks and Recreation starring Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, a dedicated public servant in the fictional Pawnee, Indiana. Though idealistic about Pawnee’s Parks and Recreation Department, she encounters apathy, bureaucracy, and ignorance among her staff, the town, and other public servants.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-05-14T10:14:39-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Hill%20Street%20Blues.html#unique-entry-id-127http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Hill%20Street%20Blues.html#unique-entry-id-127by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Hill Street Blues began NBC’s tradition of quality drama in the Thursday night 10:00pm time slot. That tradition ended in 2009 when The Jay Leno Show took over 10:00pm time slot. Now The Marriage Ref owns the time slot.

Airing from 1981 to 1987, Hill Street Blues changed television.

The bad guys didn’t always get caught by the end of the hour.

The good guys weren’t always angels.

And story lines could last for multiple episodes, maybe even a season.

At the heart of Hill Street Blues was Captain Frank Furillo, a recovering alcoholic who guided the Hill Street precinct with compassion, toughness, and experience. He was trusted by his officers, detectives, and the gangs. Jesus Martinez, leader of the Diablos, often called him ‘Frankie’ out of affection, respect, and teasing. In later years, Jesus became a paralegal.

If Frank Furillo was the Hill Street precinct’s heart, Sergeant Phil Esterhaus was its soul. Played by Michael Conrad with a textbook definition of being avuncular, Esterhaus led off each episode in the middle of the morning Roll Call with the phrase Let’s be careful out there. Conrad died in 1983. Robert Prosky replaced him at the Roll Call as Sergeant Stan Jablonski with the less watchful and more bombastic Let’s do it to them before they do it to us.

Veronica Hamel played the sensitive, skilled, and sexy Joyce Davenport of the Public Defender’s office. The advocate shared a bed with Captain Furillo and later married him.

Despite the urban chaos surrounding them, the officers and detectives never stopped in their mission to clean up the streets.

And creators Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll set a standard for television producing. Multiple story arcs, scenes involving walking and talking, and three dimensional characters are hallmarks seen in St. Elsewhere, L.A. Law, thirtysomething, ER, The West Wing, and Friday Night Lights, to name a few.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-05-14T09:47:56-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Larry_Sanders_Show.html#unique-entry-id-126http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Larry_Sanders_Show.html#unique-entry-id-126by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

With all of the talk about the late night talk show wars during the past few months, one name has been left out of the discussion.

Larry Sanders.

From 1992 to 1998, The Larry Sanders Show aired on HBO. It was a look at a fictional late night talk show hosted by Larry Sanders, played by Garry Shandling.

Occasionally, episodes featured scenes from the actual talk show hosted by Sanders in front of a television audience.

Stars played themselves.

Dana Delany. Sharon Stone. Dana Carvey.

For advice about navigating the shark-infested waters of the entertainment industry and his own staff, Larry frequently turned to veteran producer Artie for advice. Rip Torn played Artie while Jeffrey Tambor played sidekick announcer Hank Kingsley.

Jeremy Piven played Jerry, a young writer on Larry’s staff. Years later, a mini-reunion occurred when Jeffrey Tambor played himself on an episode of Entourage while Piven played his agent, Ari Gold.

The Larry Sanders Show debuted in the firestorm of the early 1990’s when Johhny Carson left The Tonight Show, David Letterman started a late night franchise at CBS, and the audience split its loyalties between Jay Leno and David Letterman.

The area was ripe for exploration as the public became more aware of the business side of show business.

But The Larry Sanders Show explored another side beyond advertisers, demographics, and ratings. This side features topics familiar to every industry -- insecurity, office politics, and the high pressure of job performance in an increasingly competitive atmosphere.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-04-20T09:22:35-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Baseball_and_Television.html#unique-entry-id-125http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Baseball_and_Television.html#unique-entry-id-125by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

For most of us, baseball games have always been televised.

People listening to baseball games on radio or watching highlights in newsreels are events depicted in movies, though our parents and grandparents can actually remember doing those things.

For those of us who weren’t at the ballpark, we’ve had the good fortune to see some of baseball’s greatest moments from the comfort of our couch.

Carlton Fisk’s body language that practially willed his home run over Fenway Park’s Green Monster during an epic World Series game in 1975.

Tom Seaver getting his 300th win at Yankee Stadium on a hot August day in 1985 when he played for the Chicago White Sox.

Kirk Gibson winning Game 1 of the World Series for the Dodgers with a home run and his subsequent limping trot around the bases that let us know he wasn’t truly in top form.

And then there were and continue to be the announcers whose voices form the background of our summers.

Vin Scully calling Sandy Koufax’s perfect game in 1965.

Phil Rizzuto reminiscing about playing with Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin, Whitey Ford, and Yogi Berra.

Lindsay Nelson, Ralph Kiner, and Bob Murphy forming the initial trio of Mets announcers and staying in that position for several years.

Ernie Harwell and the Tigers.

Harry Caray and the Cubs.

Harry Kalas and the Phillies.

Red Barber and the Dodgers.

Bob Costas.

Howard Cosell.

Joe Garagiola.

Play ball.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-04-19T07:06:26-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Long_Gone.html#unique-entry-id-124http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Long_Gone.html#unique-entry-id-124by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Long Gone is a 1987 tv-movie that first appeared on HBO.

Based on a novel by Richard Hemphill, it’s a tale about baseball, corruption, and sex centered on a minor league baseball team in Florida in the late 1950’s.

At the heart of the Tampico Stogies baseball team is Cecil “Stud” Cantrell, a long-time minor-league pitcher, manager, and slugger who almost made the big leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals.

He competed with Stan Musial. Cantrell says that he hit the ball harder but Stan the Man had a prettier swing. It was at the dawn of World War II. Cantrell served his country, but war injuries prevented him from going farther than minor league ball.

William Petersen of CSI fame plays Cantrell.

His protégé is Jamie Don Weeks, played by Dermot Mulroney. At first a naive player who simply wants to play baseball, Jamie transforms into a grown man and emulates Stud’s mannerisms.

He also gets his girlfriend pregnant -- Esther Wrenn, played by Katy Boyer.

Cantrell’s girlfriend is the young but world-wise Dixie Lee Boxx, played by Virginia Madsen.

Henry Gibson plays Hale Buchman, owner of the Stogies. Teller of Penn and Teller plays his son in a rare talking performance.

Larry Riley plays Joe Louis Brown, a catcher with tremendous power. In one scene, the KKK stops the Stogies’ team bus in the middle of the night. The Stogies chase off the Klan with baseball bats and Brown knocks a burning cross to the ground with a powerful swing.

The Stogies’ chief rival is the Dothan Cardinals. J. Harrell Smythe, the Cardinals’ owner, makes Cantrell and Riley an offer. Throw a decisive game against the Cardinals. Brown gets a brand new car. Cantrell gets a contract with the Dothan Cardinals. An enticing offer for Cantrell considering he never gave up his dream of working in the Cardinals’ organization after losing a spot to Musial.

To see how the story ends, check out Long Gone if you can find it.

Long Gone may be long gone, but not forgotten.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-04-05T14:00:00-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Bob_Crane.html#unique-entry-id-123http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Bob_Crane.html#unique-entry-id-123by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Most of us know Bob Crane as the actor who played Colonel Robert Hogan in Hogan’s Heroes, a kind of Mission: Impossible set in a POW camp in Germany during World War II.

Some of us know Bob Crane as a darker figure in his private life. The 2002 movie Auto Focus explores this area.

Bob Crane began his career as a disc jockey. He made his way to the West Coast where he starred in his own radio show in morning drive time on KNX in Los Angeles. Crane branched out into television. His resume includes guest appearances on The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Twilight Zone.

He increased his exposure with a regular role on The Donna Reed Show.

And in 1965, Crane got his big break when he was cast as the lead role in Hogan’s Heroes.

During the run of Hogan’s Heroes, Crane met John Henry Carpenter, a video expert from Sony. Fascinated by the new technology of the VCR only available to the elite in the 1960’s, Crane formed a friendship with Carpenter. The video salesman introduced the television star to a world of underground sex. Crane frequently photographed and videotaped his bedmates.

The Murder of Bob Crane by Robert Graysmith details Crane’s biography and his murder that took place on June 29, 1978 in Scottsdale, Arizone where Crane was performing in a dinner theatre production of Beginner’s Luck.

Paul Schrader directed Auto Focus based on Graysmith’s book.

In Auto Focus Greg Kinnear plays Bob Crane. Kinnear’s dramatic portrayal of a television icon reveals a private side of Bob Crane that the public never knew about when he was alive.

Crane was bludgeoned to death in his sleep. Allegedly, on the night that he was killed, Crane told Carpenter that he wanted a new life. No more parties or anonymous women. The friendship was over.

DNA testing did not exist in 1978. But Carpenter was arrested and indicted on murder charges in 1992. He was acquitted in 1994. He died in 1998.

The murder of Bob Crane remains an unsolved case.

Bob Crane’s story is one of a gradual but inevitable rise to television icon status that he could never recapture after Hogan’s Heroes ended.

But it is also a story of sadness.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-04-05T13:50:55-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/A_Face_in_the_Crowd.html#unique-entry-id-122http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/A_Face_in_the_Crowd.html#unique-entry-id-122by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

A Face in the Crowd is a 1957 film about corruption rooted in ego, power, and fame. Budd Schulberg wrote the screenplay based on his short story The Arkansas Traveler.

Andy Griffith stars as Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, a southern storyteller and singer with an abundance of charm.

Griffith’s portrayal reveals his deep acting talent. Lonesome Rhodes is an upside down and backwards version of Griffith’s iconic character, Sheriff Andy Taylor.

Marcia Jeffries discovers Rhodes and soon helps catapult him to stardom. Patricia Neal plays Jeffries.

Rhodes is also helped by Mel Miller, an intellectual writer. Walter Matthau plays Miller.

Anthony Franciosa plays an agent who puts Rhodes on national television.

While charming in public, Rhodes is egocentric to the point of being abusive in private.

He advises a presidential candidate on communications and image but his comments in private belie his true condescending feelings about the candidate.

Jeffries cannot help but fall in love with the star she helped create. But she feels betrayed because he is not divorced from his first wife and he marries a teenage baton twirler played by Lee Remick.

Jeffries brings down the Frankenstein monster that she nurtured, inspired, and built.

During a live television performance when Rhodes thinks the broadcast has ended, Jeffries keeps the microphones live so the national television audience can hear Rhodes’ caustic comments about the audience. Now revealed as an egomaniac with no respect for his fans, Rhodes faces an incredible plunge in popularity.

He breaks down at his apartment and pleads for Jeffries’ help. Miller tells her that Rhodes will never have the acclaim or fame that he once enjoyed but his career may be somewhat salvageable.

Nevertheless, despite the shouts and pleas from Rhodes, Jeffries leaves with Miller and leaves the audience wondering what ever became of Lonesome Rhodes.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-02-27T09:33:45-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Wiseguy.html#unique-entry-id-121http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Wiseguy.html#unique-entry-id-121by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Wiseguy aired on CBS for four seasons, from 1987 to 1990.

Ken Wahl stars as Vinnie Terranova, a federal government agent in the Organized Crime Bureau who went deep undercover to capture criminals.

In the beginning of the show, he has just completed a year-and-a-half prison stint. It’s a set-up to give Vinnie a viable criminal background cover. To the outside world, he’s a wiseguy, a term applied to organized crime figures.

Jonathan Banks plays Frank McPike, Vinnie’s government handler who coordinates strategy with Vinnie. Banks appears in Beverly Hills Cop as one of the henchman of Victor Maitlin, the nemesis of Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley character.

Daniel Burroughs plays Jim Burroughs. Nickname: Lifeguard. Essentially, he is Vinnie’s communications link to McPike. His nickname is appropriate -- if Vinnie gets in danger, he calls Lifeguard with appropriate codes to send backup.

Wiseguy rarely contained self-contained episodes. Rather, it used story arcs comprised of multiple episodes.

The first story arc sees Vinnie become a trusted member of the crime family of mob boss Sonny Steelgrave, played by Ray Sharkey. Steelgrave electrocutes himself in front of Vinnie when he discovers Vinnie’s true identity.

The second story arc showcases Kevin Spacey as Mel Profitt, an international criminal with roots in arms dealing.

Other story arcs focus on white supremacy, the garment district in New York City, the record industry, a Japanese Yen counterfeiting conspiracy, mafia wars, a small town in the Pacific Northwest rooted in corruption, a Cuban-American crime lord, and the drug trade in the New York City school system.

ABC aired a reunion tv-movie in 1996. The canon is questionable.

In the fourth season of Wiseguy, Vinnie is killed.

The 1996 tv-movie stars Wahl as Vinnie. So either the fourth season story line did not occur in official Wiseguy canon or the events in the tv-movie occurred before his death.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-02-18T07:08:35-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Double_Rush.html#unique-entry-id-120http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Double_Rush.html#unique-entry-id-120by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Double Rush was a short-lived sitcom on CBS that aired from January to April 1995.

Stephen Nathan and Diane English created the show.

Its setting was familiar -- the workplace.

Cheers had the bar in Boston where everybody knows your name.

WKRP in Cincinnati had a rock and roll radio station in the Queen City.

And Double Rush had a bicycle messenger service in Manhattan named Double Rush.

The owner is would-be rock musician Johnny Verona, played by Robert Pastorelli.

Pastorelli earned the respect, laughter, and loyalty of fans of Murphy Brown as Eldin Bernecky, the house painter who constantly created new projects for Murphy’s home.

Corinne Bohrer plays the practical-minded Harvard Business School grad Zoe Fuller, a good complement and potential love interest for Johnny.

There is a dynamic between dreamer Johnny and intellectual yet unfulfilled Zoe that is reminiscent of Sam and Diane on Cheers.

Double Rush was funny. Its characters were well-defined. And its supporting cast was solid.

D.L. Hughley, Adam Goldberg, and David Arquette play bike messengers.

Sam Lloyd plays dispatcher Barkley. You may know him as Ted Buckland, the attorney for Sacred Heart Hospital on Scrubs.

Veteran comedic character actor Phil Leeds plays veteran bike messenger The Kid.

In the pilot, we learn that Johnny won’t sell Double Rush to a competitor because if he does, the competitor will lay off the messengers.

We also learn that Johnny’s loyalty is inherent. Twenty-five years prior, Johnny had the opportunity to sign with a record label. But the label only wanted Johnny, not his band mates.

Johnny wouldn’t sign without them, so he continued his bike messenger job to pay the bills. Eventually, he bought Double Rush.

Despite the cast and writing, Double Rush did not live to see the Fall 1995 lineup.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-01-27T21:28:19-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Sorkin_Similarities.html#unique-entry-id-119http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Sorkin_Similarities.html#unique-entry-id-119by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Before he became the architect of the fictional Bartlet presidency by creating The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin designed a slice of the fictional Shepherd presidency in The American President.

The American President shows us the end of the first term of democrat Andrew Shepherd, a widower whose wife died before the election that sent him to the White House.

The most notable link between The American President and The West Wing is Martin Sheen.

In The American President, Sheen plays Shepherd’s Chief of Staff, A.J. Macinerney.

In The West Wing, Sheen plays President Bartlet.

Anna Deavere Smith is another link between the two stories.

She plays Press Secretary Robin McCall in The American President.

She has a recurring role on The West Wing -- Dr. Nancy McNally, National Security Advisor.

Joshua Malina also has roles in both Sorkin stories.

In The American President, Malina has a minor role -- an associate of President Shepherd’s environmental activist girlfriend, Sydney Ellen Wade, played by Annette Bening.

Malina replaced Rob Lowe in The West Wing. When Lowe’s character of Sam Seaborn runs for Congress, Malina’s character of Will Bailey replaces Sam as Deputy Communications Director.

In West Wing canon, the last real president acknowledged in dialogue is President Nixon. However, one scene takes place outside the Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine at George Washington University Hospital. The West Wing does not directly reference Reagan as a U.S. president.

We also do not know whether President Shepherd is part of the post-Nixon history of The West Wing.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-01-27T21:14:30-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Television_Ad_Agencies.html#unique-entry-id-118http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Television_Ad_Agencies.html#unique-entry-id-118by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

If you had to choose an advertising agency, which one would you choose?

Would it be McMahon & Tate? You might bump into Darrin Stephens, a good-natured, smart, creative ad executive with a wife named Samantha who is a little mysterious. You might even say she is bewitching.

Would it be Livingston, Gentry & Mishkin? You might see artist Kip Wilson and word man Henry Desmond. They report to Ruth Dunbar, a red-headed, confident, experienced ad woman.

Kip, Henry, Ruth and Amy, a secretary, start their own commercial production company -- Sixty Seconds Street.

Henry and Kip are friends since childhood. They’re bosom buddies.

Would you choose Jack MacLaren’s agency? He is a success in advertising who started his own agency. He looks a lot like Tom Selleck. You might hear the words ‘the closer’ around his office.

Would you choose The Michael & Elliott Company? Two thirtysomethings named Michael and Elliott started this ad agency in mid-1980’s Philadelphia. By the late 1980’s, the agency went under. Michael and Elliott joined DAA, an advertising powerhouse.

Would you choose Rothman, Greene & Moore? Creative Director Mason McGuire and his irresponsible yet productive copywriter colleague Conner will treat you right. Their slogan might as well be called Trust Me.

Would you choose Sterling Cooper, the prototypical 1960’s ad agency with a charming, mysterious, and instinctive Creative Director -- Don Draper.

Who would you choose to do the photographs for print ads? Would it be Felix Unger, portraits a specialty?

Who would you choose to write a jingle? Would it be Charlie Harper, a womanizing, alcohol loving, Malibu beach house owning songwriter who also houses his brother, a chiropractor, and his brother’s son. Together, they comprise two and a half men.

Whichever agency, photographer, or jingle writer you select to promote your product or service, you have plenty of choices in the annals of television history.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-01-15T09:25:37-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/My_Life_As_Sung_By_Conan.html#unique-entry-id-117http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/My_Life_As_Sung_By_Conan.html#unique-entry-id-117by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

To the tune of “My Life”

Got a call from Jeff Zucker
We used to be real close
Said he wanted to give my time slot to Jay
Told my staff, told my reps
That I’m staying at 11:35
Now I’m learning all about life in L.A.

I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright
I don't want you to tell me it's time to move my show
I don't care what you say anymore, read my contract
Go ahead and schedule prime time, leave me alone

I never said you had to offer me “The Tonight Show”
(I never said you had to)
I never said you had to take it away from Leno
(I never said)
I still belong, don't get me wrong
You can talk a lot
But stay away from my time slot

They will tell you, you can't trust anybody in showbiz
Then they'll tell you, your soda is losing its fizz
Ah, but sooner or later my agents will handle it
Either way it's okay, no biz like showbiz

I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright
I don't want you to tell me it's time to move my show
I don't care what you say anymore, read my contract
Go ahead and schedule prime time, leave me alone

I never said you had to offer me “The Tonight Show”
(I never said you had to)
I never said you had to take it away from Leno
(I never said)
I still belong, don't get me wrong
You can talk a lot
But stay away from my time slot

I don't care what you say anymore, read my contract
Go ahead and schedule prime time, leave me alone]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-01-14T14:17:06-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Is_NBC_Really_Going_With_Jay.html#unique-entry-id-116http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Is_NBC_Really_Going_With_Jay.html#unique-entry-id-116by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

To the tune of “Is She Really Going Out With Him?”

Execs are here and walking down the NBC halls
From my office I'm staring while my coffee grows cold
Look over there! (Where?)
There's a man that I used to know
He’s firing me or moving my show so I’m told

(Chorus)
Is NBC really going with Jay?
Are they really gonna give him my “Tonight”?
Is NBC really going with Jay?
'Cause if my eyes don't deceive me,
There's something going wrong around here

Tonight's the night when I go to all the parties in the hills
I wash my hair and I kid myself I look real smooth
Look over there! (Where?)
Here comes Zucker with his best friend Jay
They say that contracts don't count for much
If so, there goes your proof

(Chorus)
Is NBC really going with Jay?
Are they really gonna give him my “Tonight”?
Is NBC really going with Jay
'Cause if my eyes don't deceive me,
There's something going wrong around here

But if looks could kill
There's a man there who's marked down as dead
Cause I've had my fill
Listen you, read my contract it says
I get to stay or you pay me forty-five mil

(Chorus)
Is NBC really going with Jay?
Are they really gonna give him my “Tonight”?
Is NBC really going with Jay?
'Cause if my eyes don't deceive me,
There's something going wrong around here
]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-01-03T08:47:07-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Opie_the_Birdman.html#unique-entry-id-115http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Opie_the_Birdman.html#unique-entry-id-115by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

In the Opie the Birdman episode of The Andy Griffith Show, we learn a valuable lesson about creative parenting.

Andy Taylor, Sheriff of Mayberry, North Carolina, orders his son, Opie, not to use his slingshot.

Opie ignores the mandate and plays with the slingshot anyway.

Consequently, he kills a mother bird and leaves three baby birds without a parent.

Andy punishes Opie.

Not by a spanking.

And not by a lecture.

By leaving the window open so Opie can hear the birds chirping and crying for their mother throughout the night.

The punishment proves inspirational.

The following morning, Opie takes responsibility to repair the damage he caused and decides to raise the birds himself in a cage. He names them Winkin, Blinkin, and Nod.

Clearly, Opie learns his lesson about the importance of obeying instructions and the consequences of disobeying.

But soon, the birds prove too big for the cage that Opie provides. And the time comes to let them fly.

It’s a bittersweet moment. He laments the cage’s emptiness. But Andy points out that the trees are full.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2010-01-03T08:38:14-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Hotel.html#unique-entry-id-114http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Hotel.html#unique-entry-id-114by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

The Hotel television series was more a land-locked The Love Boat with revolving guest stars and less a hard-hitting drama.

Starring James Brolin as Peter McDermott, Hotel aired for five seasons, from 1983 to 1988.

Before Hotel was a 1980’s television series produced by Aaron Spelling, it was a 1967 movie starring Rod Taylor, Merle Oberon, Karl Malden, Kevin McCarthy, and Melvyn Douglas.

Before Hotel was a movie, it was a 1965 novel by Arthur Hailey.

While the television series was set at the fictional Saint Gregory Hotel in San Francisco, the movie and novel were both set at the fictional Saint Gregory Hotel in New Orleans.

Arthur Hailey’s origin story of Hotel takes place during one week in the life of the Saint Gregory, its employees, and its guests. The main character is Peter McDermott, the hotel’s General Manager with a past.

McDermott has to run the hotel while navigating a possible takeover, handling the aftermath of an attempted rape of a young woman by sons of prominent local businessmen, and tending to a mysterious guest who falls ill.

In addition, a Duke and Duchess are guests trying to avoid capture for a hit-and-run.

A local thief named Keycase Milne furthers his craft at the Saint Gregory.

An elevator with serious mechanical problems has potentially disastrous consequences.

And racial policies indicative of the deep south in the 1960’s manifest to the massive dismay of the president of a dentist convention at the Saint Gregory.

Hotel by Arthur Hailey.

Check it out.

Or should I say, “check in?”]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-12-31T06:45:09-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Year_in_Review.html#unique-entry-id-113http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Year_in_Review.html#unique-entry-id-113by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

As 2009 turns into 2010, we take a look back at the year in television.

We saw Ziva David leave her role as a Mossad liaison in NCIS and return to the Mossad full-time under the reign of her father, Mossad Chief Eli David.

After she got captured during a mission in North Africa, the NCIS crew rescued her.

And Ziva returned to NCIS as a full-fledged member of the team, thereby abandoning any remaining and confusing loyalties to her father.

We met the team’s Los Angeles counterparts in a crossover appearance that set the stage for the spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles.

We saw Sarah Palin confront David Letterman in the media because of a joke about her daughter’s pregnancy.

And we saw David Letterman in another media controversy rooted in his extracurricular relationships with female staff members.

We saw Jay Leno move to 10:00 pm with the slogan It’s About Time. We saw Conan O’Brien move into The Tonight Show host position with a new studio at NBC Universal.

We saw Jimmy Fallon take over Conan’s old job as the host of Late Night.

We saw Julianna Marguiles return to network prime time as the scorned spouse of an adulterous Chicago politician in The Good Wife. Her character returns to the practice of law after a 15-year absence so she can support her children.

We saw a story line span all three CSI shows during the November sweeps period.

On Entourage, we saw Ari Gold merge his agency, Miller Gold, with the agency of his mentor and nemesis, Terrence McQuewick.

We saw Johnny Chase get his big break with a network holding deal for a television series to be centered on him.

We saw Eric fold up his small talent management company to take a job with a legendary talent management company.

We saw Turtle and Jamie-Lynn Sigler break up.

And we saw Eric and Sloane get engaged.

On cable news channels, we saw a balloon that looked like a huge Jiffy Pop container travel across Colorado and we feared that a six-year-old boy was inside the balloon.

We soon learned that no one was inside. It was a hoax so the parents could get media attention and pitch themselves for a reality show.

We saw Jon and Kate split up.

We saw Southland get cancelled before its second season even aired one episode because its content is suited for a 10:00 pm broadcast time slot, but NBC does not have that time slot available. TNT picked up the show.

We saw the return of sitcom favorites.

Courtney Cox in Cougar Town.

Ed O’Neill in Modern Family.

Kelsey Grammer in Hank.

Patricia Heaton in The Middle.

Ray Romano in Men of a Certain Age.

We saw Jim and Pam get married on The Office.

We saw the end of King of the Hill and the launch of its replacement -- Family Guy spinoff The Cleveland Show.

We saw The Simpsons begin its 20th season.

We saw the debut of Amy Poehler’s comedy, Parks and Recreation.

We saw Chevy Chase finally ready for prime time as part of the ensemble cast of NBC’s rookie comedy, Community.

And we saw America’s favorite high school football coach, Eric Taylor, begin the next chapter of his career in Friday Night Lights. Same town -- Dillon, Texas. Different high school -- East Dillon High.

We saw unknown Taylor Schilling capture our hearts as the lead character in Mercy, Veronica Callahan, a nurse at the fictional Mercy Hospital in Jersey City, New Jersey.

We saw Saturday Night Live begin its 35th season.

We saw a remake of The Prisoner, the revolutionary late 1960’s drama.

And we saw a Seinfeld reunion of sorts on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

We said hello to Royal Pains, White Collar, and Castle.

We said goodbye to Monk, The Unusuals, and Life on Mars.

We also said goodbye to icons of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.

Soupy Sales, who entertained children of the 1960’s as an unofficial precursor to Pee Wee Herman.

Farrah Fawcett, who inspired women in the late 1970’s to wear their hair long and feathered.

And Michael Jackson, who helped launch MTV in the 1980’s with videos that told stories.

2010 is just around the corner. If it’s anything like 2009, it should take us on quite an odyssey in the world of television.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-12-08T07:23:47-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Murphy_Brown.html#unique-entry-id-112http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Murphy_Brown.html#unique-entry-id-112by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

From 1988 to 1998, Murphy Brown showed us the personal and professional lives of a fictional, accomplished, perpetually single television newswoman.

Candice Bergen stars in the title role -- a Motown-loving, Barry Manilow-detesting, alcoholic-reforming anchor of the fictional FYI prime time news program. Each FYI show begins with anchor Jim Dial saying some variation on the phrase For your information, tonight.

Bergen had the great fortune of solid writing, a strong cast, and exemplary guest stars and recurring actors.

In the guest star category, Darren McGavin and Colleen Dewhurst play Murphy’s parents, Morgan Fairchild plays an actress researching a sitcom role loosely based on Murphy, and Harry Shearer plays an image consultant.

Real-life celebrities play themselves, including Connie Chung, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Walter Cronkite, Katie Couric, and Paula Zahn.

Jane Leeves plays the recurring role of Audrey, girlfriend of FYI Executive Producer Miles Silverberg.

Alan Oppenheimer and Garry Marshall play the recurring roles of network executives Eugene Kinsella and Stan Lansing, respectively.

The central cast gives Murphy a strong quasi-family.

Charles Kimbrough plays veteran television newsman Jim Dial.

Grant Shaud plays the young, eager, and initially inexperienced executive producer, Miles Silverberg.

Faith Ford plays beauty queen turned television journalist Corky Sherwood.

And Joe Regalbuto plays Murphy’s best friend and investigative journalist Frank Fontana.

One hallmark of Murphy Brown is the constant changing of Murphy’s secretaries.

One secretary ran a phone sex line from her desk!

Another hallmark is Murphy’s house painter Eldin Bernecky, played by Robert Pastorelli. Eldin is Murphy’s sounding board at home because he always finds new work to do in Murphy’s elegant house.

In 1992, art met life on Murphy Brown.

Murphy got pregnant by an old flame. But he did not stick around because his passion is traveling the world to help less fortunate people.

Murphy decides to have the baby. And Vice President Dan Quayle criticizes the Murphy Brown character for having a child out of wedlock and calling it just another lifestyle choice.

Quayle’s comments reflect the importance of a father in a child’s life. But it triggered a media firestorm.

Murphy Brown incorporated Quayle’s comments into the show. In the Murphyverse, Quayle criticizes the real-life Murphy Brown rather than a fictional character.

Murphy Brown responded to the vice president’s criticism by saying that families come in all shapes and sizes.

In a later season, Kay Carter-Shepley replaces Miles Silverberg as Executive Producer of FYI. Lily Tomlin plays Carter-Shepley.

In the final season, Murphy battles and defeats breast cancer.

Murphy Brown. For your information, she’s America’s favorite fictional television news superstar.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-12-07T19:41:41-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Last_Great_Ride.html#unique-entry-id-111http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Last_Great_Ride.html#unique-entry-id-111by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Brandon Tartikoff saw the best of times and the worst of times during his reign as NBC’s uberprogrammer.

The best of times -- Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Night Court, Cheers, The Cosby Show, St. Elsewhere, Family Ties, Miami Vice, Crime Story, Hunter, Late Night with David Letterman.

The worst of times -- Manimal, Misfits of Science, Supertrain, Lewis & Clark, Hull High, Pink Lady, Gavilan, Nightingales, The Nutt House, Partners in Crime.

Tartikoff was a rare television executive in that the general public knew his name. He was a guest host on Saturday Night Live. He appeared as himself in an episode of Night Court.

Tartikoff passed away in 1997. Fortunately, he recorded his life story in his 1992 autobiography, The Last Great Ride with Charles Leerhsen.

Tartikoff explains the television business as if he was talking to you informally at the kitchen table, the corner bar, or the airport terminal. And he’s fiercely honest about the realities of ratings, missed opportunities, and severe pressure in television’s executive suites.

The Last Great Ride unveils terrific television stories through the eyes of a baby boomer who possessed extraordinary passion, talent, and drive.

Tartikoff tells the details of how NBC cast Michael J. Fox instead of Matthew Broderick for the role of Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties, how William Devane lost the role of Sam Malone during his audition for Cheers, and how The Cosby Show helped rebuild NBC.

We also learn the turning points in Tartikoff’s career and personal life, including his battle with Hodgkins Disease. Ultimately, he lost the battle. But his constant strive to win under pressure in his personal life matched the same desire in his professional life.

Consequently, NBC’s peacock rose like a phoenix with newfound success in the 1980’s.

Indeed, when Brandon Tartikoff was at the helm, NBC’s shows, stations, and viewers enjoyed a great ride.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-30T06:42:51-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Odd_Couple_Series_Finale.html#unique-entry-id-110http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Odd_Couple_Series_Finale.html#unique-entry-id-110by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

On November 13th, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife.

Deep down, he knew she was right. But he also knew that someday, he would return to her.

Five years later, he did.

In the final episode of The Odd Couple television series, Gloria Unger gave her fussy, neat, photographer ex-husband a second chance.

Felix and Gloria remarry in the apartment that Felix shares with his best friend -- New York Herald sportswriter Oscar Madison at 1049 Park Avenue in Manhattan.

Oscar’s sloppiness contrasts with Felix’ neatness. Great comedy results.

Their friendship endured their arguments, differences, and opposite views of life.

Where Oscar was chaotic, disorganized, and sloppy, Felix was careful, methodical, and neat.

Where Oscar was happily divorced, Felix kept a candle burning in his heart for Gloria.

In the series finale, the cherry on top was the final scene.

In a salute to their friendship, Felix empties a garbage can on the living room carpet. And Oscar says that in honor of Felix, he will pick up the garbage and put it back in the can.

Felix trusts him and the two men say goodbye as Felix departs for the next chapter in his life. But Oscar dismisses the garbage and leaves the living room.

A few seconds later, Felix returns and says that he knew Oscar wouldn’t pick up the garbage and does it himself.

A great ending to a great show. The final scene perfectly reflects the characters’ respective essences. It keeps Oscar and Felix true to themselves.

Where Oscar promises action, he often does not follow through, merely because he does not think the act in question presents import on any level.

Where Felix requests action, he often commits the act in question himself because it means more to him than it does to Oscar.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-29T11:50:42-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Be_True_To_Your_School.html#unique-entry-id-109http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Be_True_To_Your_School.html#unique-entry-id-109by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

In 1964, the Beatles made their first live television appearance in America on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The Rogues premiered on NBC. It features David Niven, Gig Young, and Charles Boyer as con men using their skills to fool wealthy people who lack honesty, decency, and other intangible scruples.

And a teenager named Bob Greene kept a journal of his life.

The Bob Greene who became a Chicago reporter, columnist, and best-selling author -- And You Know You Should Be Glad, Late Edition, When We Get To Surf City, Hang Time, Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen.

In 1987, Bob Greene took his journal detailing the incidents of his daily life and reconstructed it into a book -- Be True To Your School.

The inspiration for the journal came from a lecture to journalism students where the lecturer suggested keeping a daily record of events as practice.

Be True To Your School captures the timeless exasperations, exultations, and heartbreaks associated with being a teenager, specifically, a junior and senior in high school.

Too old to be a kid, too young to be an adult.

To be fair, some of the innocence may be lost on today’s teenagers.

But the emotions, occurrences, and trivia of everyday life in high school, friendships, and families exist in any generation.

The first job.

Crushes.

Pop quizzes.

Family dinners.

Struggles with parents and siblings.

Pop culture trend setters.

And it’s all set in the All-American Midwestern town of Bexley, Ohio -- a comfortable suburb of Columbus.

Greene reconstructs his diary and, in turn, his life concerning the year he turned seventeen, began his life as a journalist by working as a newspaper copyboy, and encountered everyday obstacles on the way to adulthood.

Read Be True To Your School.

You will laugh. You will cry. You will remember fondly the bitter sweetness of growing up, no matter what generation you belong to.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-28T07:48:43-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Philadelphia_TV.html#unique-entry-id-108http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Philadelphia_TV.html#unique-entry-id-108by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia returned to FX this fall.

The show about four slackers who run a bar in the City of Brotherly Love derives its comedy from a zany, chaotic, and somewhat nonsensical base.

But it works. And it benefits from veteran actor Danny DeVito playing the father of two of the characters.

Before Sunny rose on FX, Philadelphia served as the setting for other television shows, all of which were short-lived but of solid quality.

Angie aired on ABC in the late 1970’s. This sitcom features a post-Saturday Night Fever Donna Pescow in the title role as working class waitress Angie Falco.

Angie’s paramour was Dr. Brad Benson, member of an old-line, wealthy Philadelphia family. Robert Hays plays Brad.

And before she found fame as Raymond’s mother, Marie Barone, Doris Roberts played Angie’s mom, Theresa Falco.

Angie was a sweet sitcom with likable leads, but despite ABC’s build-up, it did not last more than a couple of seasons.

Neither did The Tony Randall Show, another late 1970’s entry based in Philadelphia. Randall plays Judge Walter O. Franklin in this offering from MTM Productions. Like Mary Tyler Moore, The Tony Randall Show focuses on the home life and work life of its star’s character.

thirtysomething lasted four seasons, from 1987 to 1991. The show’s stories about Philadelphia yuppies in their thirties showed us the true depths of emotions during the time in our lives when we reach adulthood but yearn for our youth.

Shannon’s Deal stars Jamey Sheridan as Philadelphia lawyer Jack Shannon, a former big-time lawyer with a big-time gambling problem. After losing his job and his marriage, Shannon starts over as a solo practitioner.

While Shannon battles the District Attorney, he has a solid support system -- a secretary who works for him in exchange for legal services concerning her boyfriend, a fellow solo practitioner in his office building, and a daughter approaching her teenage years.

Shannon’s Deal was a 1989 pilot. It lasted less than a full season in 1990 on NBC.

The aptly named Philly from Steven Bochco Productions lasted a single season -- 2001-2002.

Philly stars NYPD Blue alumnae Kim Delaney as attorney Kathleen Maguire, a woman trying to balance her work life with a personal life after the ending of her bad marriage to an Assistant District Attorney.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-27T08:19:20-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Thursday_Nights_At_Ten.html#unique-entry-id-107http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Thursday_Nights_At_Ten.html#unique-entry-id-107by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Now that The Jay Leno Show is in the 10 pm time slot on NBC, a look back at Thursday nights at 10 on the Peacock Network reveals an amazing consistency of quality for nearly thirty years.

Hill Street Blues debuted in 1981 and changed the production of television drama.

Story lines became story arcs and lasted several episodes.

Moving cameras shifted seamlessly from one set of characters having a conversation to another set of characters. Gone were standard cuts.

And sometimes the good guys lost.

Hill Street Blues focused on the gritty, tough, and somewhat chaotic life in an unnamed metropolitan precinct, specifically, an area known as ‘The Hill.’ However, early visual evidence indicates Chicago and early dialogue indicates New York City.

Created by Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll, Hill Street Blues ended its run in 1987.

Just a year prior, L.A. Law premiered in the Friday at 10 pm time slot following Miami Vice. Steven Bochco teamed with Terry Louise Fisher to create this show about yuppie lawyers in Los Angeles.

When Hill Street Blues ended, L.A. Law took its Thursday at 10 pm time slot and enjoyed a successful tenure until its end in 1994. Eight years of serious legal issues, comical legal issues, and everyday legal issues.

ER continued the tradition of quality drama. It captivated the audience immediately upon its debut in September 1994. And it secured the NBC Must See TV Thursday night programming block.

Revived from an old movie script by Michael Crichton, the ER pilot showed life in a Chicago emergency room on Saint Patrick’s Day.

Casts changed. Characters died. Quality continued.

For fifteen years.

An astounding record for a television show.

Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and ER won several Emmy awards, broke ground in the issues they covered and how they covered them, and captured our hearts.

For twenty-eight years, from 1981 to 2009

From Captain Frank Furillo’s leadership to Sergeant Phil Esterhaus’ avuncular delivery at Roll Call.

From Arnie Becker’s sleazy tactics as McKenzie Brackman’s family law attorney to Arnie Becker’s heart of gold in acting like a big brother at times to mentally retarded office worker Benny.

From Mark Greene’s quiet determination to practice emergency medicine in the face of massive bureaucracy, office politics, and budget concerns to John Carter’s slow emergence from clueless intern to confident ER chief.

And hey, one more thing -- Let’s be careful out there.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-27T07:35:15-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Rescue_from_Gilligans_Island.html#unique-entry-id-106http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Rescue_from_Gilligans_Island.html#unique-entry-id-106by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale.

One of the most successful television series -- Gilligan’s Island -- starts with those words.

More successful in syndication than its initial three-year run on CBS from 1964 to 1967, Gilligan’s Island charmed us.

It didn’t ask anything of us.

It didn’t make us think.

It didn’t make us analyze.

But it did use hallmark elements.

Ginger’s sexy walk. Mary Ann’s girl-next-door appeal. The Professor’s valiant attempts to create inventions with coconuts, palm trees, and other natural items.

About ten years after the show left CBS, Gilligan’s Island creator Sherwood Schwartz had an idea -- Whatever happened to those castaways from the S.S. Minnow?

In 1978, Schwartz answered the question in Rescue from Gilligan’s Island, a tv-movie.

Budget constraints at the network level forced Schwartz to finance part of the production if he wanted to realize his vision.

The story depicted the castaways on a raft after a vicious storm sets them out to sea. The Coast Guard rescues them. An espionage plot adds intrigue.

A year after their rescue, the castaways gather for a reunion on the Minnow II. Another vicious storm puts them out at sea. Ultimately, they find themselves at the same island.

Rescue from Gilligan’s Island aired in two parts -- one hour at 9:00 to 10:00 pm on consecutive Saturdays.

It inspired two additional tv-movies -- The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island, The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-27T05:07:21-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/When_Lucy_Meets_John_Wayne.html#unique-entry-id-105http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/When_Lucy_Meets_John_Wayne.html#unique-entry-id-105by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

When Lucy and Ricky went to Hollywood with Fred and Ethel, Lucy’s mission changed. Instead of trying to be a part of Ricky’s nightclub act, she tried to meet movie stars. And she succeeded -- Harpo Marx, Richard Widmark, William Holden.

But Lucy’s encounter with John Wayne presents an interesting moment. Business historians might call it one of the first instances of cross-marketing on television.

Lucy and Ethel steal John Wayne’s footprints from Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Then, they attempt to convince Wayne to make another set of footprints. The dialogue references the current movie on which John Wayne is working -- Blood Alley.

It sets the stage for the cross-marketing.

In a later scene set in John Wayne’s trailer, an assistant shows John Wayne the proposed movie poster.

Wayne thinks it is okay. But he suggests that the assistant show the poster to Mr. Wellman -- William Wellman, the film’s director.

Although the exchange lasts a few seconds, it is brilliant in its simplicity, subtle in its promotion of Blood Alley, and viable in its fit into the story line.

First, the simplicity.

The scene revolves around a simple question asked by the assistant with a one sentence response by Wayne. No elaborate explanation of the film. No empty dialogue. No complications.

Simple. Strong. To the point.

Just like John Wayne’s characters.

Second, the subtlety.

The assistant holds up the poster for John Wayne, the studio audience, and the television audience. Because he only shows the poster for a few seconds, the scene does not insult, browbeat, or overtake the audience. The impression is made, however.

Third, the viability.

Because John Wayne was shooting Blood Alley at the same time he shot this I Love Lucy episode, the scene is perfectly logical.

Why wouldn’t John Wayne see the draft of the movie poster?

Wayne shows tremendous comedic talent in the episode. More than fifty years after its first broadcast, it still holds up.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-26T10:21:52-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Growing_Up_Brady.html#unique-entry-id-104http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Growing_Up_Brady.html#unique-entry-id-104by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

For television historians, fans, and enthusiasts, Growing Up Brady is a must-have book. Written by Barry Williams with Chris Kreski in the early 1990’s, Growing Up Brady gives an inside view of life at the fictional address of 4222 Clinton Way -- the home of The Brady Bunch.

The Brady Bunch aired on ABC from 1969 to 1974. Barry Williams plays Greg Brady, the oldest sibling.

Growing Up Brady tells us how Barry Williams got the part.

Growing Up Brady tells us about the fights, arguments, and tension between Robert Reed and Sherwood Schwartz, the show’s lead actor and creator/executive producer, respectively.

Growing Up Brady tells us about Barry Williams interconnected social life on The Brady Bunch -- his date with Florence Henderson who plays his stepmother on The Brady Bunch and his romance with Maureen McCormick who plays his stepsister, Marcia.

Growing Up Brady also displays Williams’ view on the continuous reinvention of The Brady Bunch -- The Brady Kids (early 1970’s Saturday morning cartoon show), The Brady Bunch Hour (1977 variety show), The Brady Girls Get Married (tv-movie), The Brady Brides (sitcom), A Very Brady Christmas (1988 tv-movie), The Bradys (1990 drama series).

Additionally, Paramount produced two feature films in the 1990’s -- The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) and A Very Brady Sequel (1996). Finally, The Brady Bunch in the White House was a tv-movie that aired on FOX in 2002. The main story line features patriarch Mike Brady becoming President of the United States.

Robert Reed wrote the Foreword for Growing Up Brady. Williams does more than explain Reed’s aforementioned conflicts with Sherwood Schwartz. He uses Reed’s own words -- memoranda that Reed wrote to Schwartz concerning various points of contention in the scripts.

Williams provides another bonus for Brady fans. He frequently shares opinions, memories, and personal stories. Williams’ efforts complement the factual information of episode title, synopses, and credits. It truly is a behind-the-scenes peek.

He also reveals the harsh realities of show business. In excruciatingly honest detail, Williams portrays the contract renegotiations between the child actors’ representative and Schwartz and the consequent effect on the relationship between the actors and their father figure boss.

Williams writes, All along, we had basically been a bunch of ordinary kids who liked each other and who interacted naturally with each other on camera. Now, with burnt business deals, lawsuits, angry parents, and a jaded mistrust of those in charge thrown into the mix, our chemistry went from spontaneous to stilted and our united ensemble mentality burst into six-sided selfishness. Worst of all, our spirits were dampened and that resulted in some noticeably low energy episodes. We listened to the hype, believed it, and screwed up big time.

Growing Up Brady -- a behind-the-scenes look at an American television icon.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-26T07:03:14-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon.html#unique-entry-id-103http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon.html#unique-entry-id-103by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a game that can be played anytime and anywhere by anybody. Perfect light enjoyment for holiday conversation during travel, turkey, or dessert.

The purpose is to connect an actor or actress to Kevin Bacon in six steps or less by using movies as the connectors.

For example, William Holden can be connected in three steps. Holden was in Network with Faye Dunaway. Dunaway was in Chinatown with Jack Nicholson. Nicholson was in A Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon.

Television icons can also be used as starting points because their resumes include movies. Mary Tyler Moore was in Change of Habit with Elvis Presley and Ed Asner. Presley plays a doctor and Asner plays a cop. Asner also plays a cop in Fort Apache, The Bronx with Paul Newman. Newman was in The Road to Perdition with Tom Hanks. Hanks was in Apollo 13 with Kevin Bacon.

Dick Van Dyke was in Mary Poppins with Julie Andrews. Andrews was in 10 with Dudley Moore. Moore was in Arthur with Liza Minelli. Minelli was in New York, New York with Robert de Niro. de Niro was in Sleepers with Kevin Bacon.

Alan Alda was in Same Time, Next Year with Ellen Burstyn. Burstyn was in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood with Sandra Bullock. Bullock was in Speed with Keanu Reeves. Reeves was in The Devil’s Advocate with Charlize Theron. Theron was in That Thing You Do! with Tom Hanks. Hanks was in Apollo 13 with Kevin Bacon.

Lucille Ball was in Yours, Mine, and Ours with Henry Fonda. Fonda was in Mr. Roberts with Jack Lemmon. Lemmon was in JFK with Kevin Bacon.

Sid Caesar was in Grease with John Travolta. Travolta was in Moment By Moment with Lily Tomlin. Tomlin was in Nine to Five with Dabney Coleman. Coleman was in North Dallas Forty with Nick Nolte. Nolte was in Cape Fear with Robert de Niro. de Niro was in Sleepers with Kevin Bacon.

Bob Hope was in Spies Like Us with Chevy Chase. Chase was in Caddyshack with Rodney Dangerfield. Dangerfield was in Back to School with Sally Kellerman. Kellerman was in M*A*S*H with Tom Skerritt. Skerritt was in Singles with Kyra Sedgwick. And Kyra Sedgwick is married to Kevin Bacon.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-25T11:27:15-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Jimmy_Smits.html#unique-entry-id-102http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Jimmy_Smits.html#unique-entry-id-102by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Prime time soap operas dominated the 1980’s. In the 2000’s, not so much, except for the teenage version of the genre on the CW television network.

Jimmy Smits was part of an effort to reignite the genre with Cane, a short-lived offering on CBS in 2007. Cane revolved around a Cuban-American family and its power, wealth, and dynasty stemming from its rum and sugar business interests.

This is the third consecutive decade where Jimmy Smits has been a focal point of a prime time television series.

In the 1980’s, he played Victor Sifuentes on L.A. Law. Sifuentes worked in the Public Defender’s office before Michael Kuzak recruited him to the private law firm sector.

While Victor began as the ‘cleanup’ attorney for McKenzie Brackman, Chaney & Kuzak, handling the firm’s pro bono cases and other matters that burdened the firm’s workload, he ventured into other legal territories.

In the episode Victor Sifuentes confronted legendary attorney August Redding, played by legendary actor Ralph Bellamy. Victor’s client sues Redding for legal malpractice. In the episode’s climactic scene, Victor puts Redding on the witness stand. He reveals Redding’s deep loss of memory when the aging lawyer cannot remember Victor’s name.

Victor confronted another legendary attorney in Hamilton Schuyler, a dwarf attorney who specializes in products liability cases.

Nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Actor six times during his L.A. Law tenure, Smits won once.

In the 1990’s, Smits took over the lead position in NYPD Blue after the sudden departure of David Caruso. Smits’ Bobby Simone character is suave, sophisticated, and strong. With quiet confidence, he gains the respect of his partner, Andy Sipowicz. He also wins the love of fellow detective Diane Russell.

NYPD Blue eased out Bobby Simone in a story arc centering on a terrific heart problem. In the episode where Bobby dies, the last scene shows him flatlining and then we see the Executive Producer credits in black against a white background. It’s a direct contrast to the usual format -- white lettering against a black background.

Smits returns as Bobby Simone in an episode near the show’s end. Andy has a waking dream where he talks to Bobby.

Smits also hosted the retrospective that aired near the end of the show’s successful twelve-year run.

Smits did not win an Emmy Award for his work on NYPD Blue, though he received five nominations.

In the 2000’s, Smits appeared on The West Wing as Matthew Santos, a three-term congressman from Texas and former Mayor of Houston who wants to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Lyman convinces Santos that he has a legitimate shot at the presidency. Initially an also-ran candidate, Santos slowly gains recognition during the primaries. The Democratic National Convention occurs with the delegates still unsure of a nominee. Santos gives an inspiring speech concerning the voters’ freedom to choose a nominee without the pressure of power brokers making the decision for them.

The speech inspires many delegates to vote for Santos. He also gets a little help from President Bartlet who convinces an influential New York delegate to cast the Empire State’s delegate votes for Santos.

Santos’ choice for the VP nominee slot -- Leo McGarry, President Bartlet’s Chief of Staff.

In a narrow election, Santos beats a veteran politician, Senator Arnold Vinick from Santa Paula, California.

Jimmy Smits’ contributions to television have been significant, enjoyable, and challenging. Making a name for himself while part of an ensemble on L.A. Law. Taking over a lead position on a hit show from an actor who made a notorious exit from success on NYPD Blue. Joining a team that’s played together for several years while adding to the chemistry of the cast on The West Wing.

Bringing interest, enthusiasm, and novelty is a difficult challenge for any actor. Smits met the challenge directly.

By the way, Jimmy Smits also deserves a place in television trivia history. Smits plays Eddie Rivera, the partner of Detective Sonny Crockett in the pilot of Miami Vice. Rivera died in a car bomb explosion triggered by Crockett’s nemesis.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-25T07:47:35-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/ER.html#unique-entry-id-101http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/ER.html#unique-entry-id-101by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

An emergency room in a Chicago hospital.

A multi-racial cast.

Humor covering up the pain of working in a trauma situation.

Sounds like ER.

It is ER. But it’s not the one that immediately comes to mind.

Not the one that debuted in 1994.

Not the one that was a cornerstone of NBC’s Thursday night lineup for fifteen years.

This ER lasted only one season.

It was a sitcom based on a 1982 play. It was a nicely written, nicely acted, nicely produced show that aired on CBS during the 1984-85 season.

Elliott Gould plays Dr. Howard Sheinfeld, a twice divorced doctor who moonlights at Clark Street Hospital’s Emergency Room to pay his alimony bills. With Gould’s veteran comedy instincts, ER seems like a good idea for a sitcom. And it was, particularly in hindsight considering
the show’s talent, star power, and ensemble performances.

Conchatta Ferrell plays veteran nurse Thor. She later appeared on L.A. Law as entertainment attorney Susan Bloom. Currently, she stars as Berta, the wisecracking maid on Two and a Half Men.

Mary McDonnell took over the role of Dr. Eve Sheridan, Sheinfeld’s boss and potential love interest. Five years after ER, McDonnell captured America’s attention in Dances With Wolves. Marcia Strassman, Julie Kotter in Welcome Back, Kotter, plays Sheridan in the ER pilot.

Pamela Adlon plays Jenny Sheinfeld, the daughter of Dr. Sheinfeld. She voiced Bobby Hill on the long-running cartoon series King of the Hill.

Before he found fame, accolades, and notoriety as Larry David’s alter ego on Seinfeld -- George Costanza -- Jason Alexander played hospital administrator Harold Stickley on ER.

Lynne Moody plays young, love-seeking, good-natured nurse Julie Williams. In a bit of inspired crossover casting, Sherman Helmsley brought his George Jefferson character to ER as Julie’s uncle in a guest appearance.

Luis Avalos plays Dr. Tomas Esquivel. Avalos is probably best known to Generation Xers from The Electric Company.

And, of course, George Clooney. He appears on both ER shows. In the sitcom, he is Ace -- a heart-throbbing, pulse pounding, personality plus paramedic with rock and roll dreams. The name of his band is The Body Fluids.

Ace’s nickname reinforces his reputation as a ladies man -- My Place Ace. Coincidentally, Tomas reminisces about his younger days with a corresponding nickname -- Mi Casa Tomasa.

Like Night Court, Barney Miller, or Taxi, ER revolved around the workplace. But the potential romance between Sheinfeld and Sheridan, the wonderful acting and writing, and the quirky patients who populated the emergency room at Clark Street Hospital were not enough to keep ER from flatlining.

ER holds a special significance for me. In one episode, a guest character named Dr. Krell makes an appearance. Dr. Sheinfeld remarks on the name. He says, If I wasn’t a Sheinfeld, I’d like to be a Krell.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-24T06:56:47-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Brians_Song_and_Something_For_Joey.html#unique-entry-id-100http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Brians_Song_and_Something_For_Joey.html#unique-entry-id-100by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

In the 1970’s, two tv-movies became instant classics, particularly with men. With football as a backdrop, Brian’s Song and Something For Joey are at the top of the list of guy-cry entertainment fare. These tv-movies don’t merely tug at heartstrings. They grab them.

Statistics measure an athlete’s performance. But no statistic can measure the impact of Brian’s Song and Something For Joey or their real-life inspirations.

In 1964, Brian Piccolo was the top college football rusher in the country. His success capped a terrific college football career at Wake Forest. Surprisingly, his credentials did not impress any NFL team during the draft. Fourteen teams. Twenty rounds. No Brian Piccolo. Ultimately, Chicago Bears owner and coach George Halas signed Piccolo as a free agent.

Piccolo soon discovered he had cancer --embryonal cell carcinoma. He died in 1970 at the age of 26.

In 1971, the country discovered Brian Piccolo’s story in Brian’s Song, an ABC tv-movie produced by Columbia. The Columbia set used for the home of Bears player Gale Sayers and his wife may look familiar. It is the set for Darrin and Samantha Stephens on Bewitched, another Columbia property.

Brian’s Song showed Brian Piccolo’s gifts of courage, friendship, and strength.

Courage -- Brian Piccolo fought cancer with the same fierce competitiveness he displayed on the gridiron.

Friendship -- Brian Piccolo bonded with Sayers. Each player encouraged the other during their competition to play in the Bears backfield rather than ride the bench. Piccolo and Sayers were the first interracial roommates in the NFL.

Strength -- Brian Piccolo tackled his disease head-on.

Brian’s Song reveals the brutal honesty of pain in an athlete cut down in his prime. It also reveals two stars to be. Before their signature roles in The Godfather and Lady Sings the Blue, James Caan and Billy Dee Williams took on the immense responsibility of playing Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers respectively. No easy task, considering the subject matter.

They made the somber story interesting, compelling, and inspiring, not maudlin, depressing, and angry.

Sayers’ locker room speech in one of the final scenes makes grown men cry and shows children that even tough guys weep when a friend battles an opponent meaner, tougher, and more vicious than any football player.

In another powerful scene, Sayers accepts the George S. Halas Most Courageous Player Award. He dedicates the award to Brian Piccolo because of Piccolo’s courage in battling cancer. The last part of the speech is particularly compelling.

I love Brian Piccolo. And I’d like all of you to love him too. And tonight, hit your knees, please ask God to love him.

Brian’s Song grabs at the heartstrings and doesn’t let go. Not for a scene. Not for a minute. Not for a second. Michael Legrand’s theme song The Hands of Time compounds the story’s emotional intensity.

Brian Piccolo’s story reflects the A.E. Housman poem To An Athlete Dying Young. One passage in particular stands out.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose

In 2001, ABC aired a remake of Brian’s Song with Sean Maher as Brian Piccolo and Mekhi Pfifer as Gale Sayers. The remake focused more attention than the original on the physical effects of Piccolo’s disease.

No less compelling of a story is Something For Joey, a 1977 fact-based NBC tv-movie about Penn State powerhouse running back John Cappelletti and his kid brother, Joey.

While John tramples over opponents on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy in 1973 Joey suffers from leukemia. Their interdependence makes Joey’s fight all the more noble and John’s helplessness all the more saddening. Powerful on a football field, John Cappelletti embodies the powerless suffering that anybody endures with a family member battling a fatal disease.

Upon winning the Heisman Trophy, John has to make a speech as is the custom with Heisman winners.

Where John’s physical ability gained him respect as a football player, his emotional strength cemented his respect as a man.

During his speech, John dedicates the award to his eleven year-old brother Joseph because college football is a battle fought on Saturdays in the fall, but his brother’s battle with leukemia is year-round.

Joseph Cappelletti died in 1976. John went to the NFL and played for the Los Angeles Rams and San Diego Chargers in a nine-year career.

Marc Singer plays John and Jeffrey Lynas plays Joey in Something For Joey.

Brian’s Song and Something For Joey are two outstanding examples of high quality television. While football is a backdrop, the stories are universal.

Everyone knows the reality of disease. A friend, a loved one, maybe even we have suffered the harshness.

Brian’s Song and Something For Joey are for everyone.

For everyone who’s ever won.

For everyone who’s ever lost.

And for everyone who’s still in there trying. ]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-22T09:05:07-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/1970s_Saturday%20Morning_Music.html#unique-entry-id-99http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/1970s_Saturday%20Morning_Music.html#unique-entry-id-99by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Between the hard rock sounds of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and the Doors and the disco beat of the Bee Gees, bubble gum music thrived in the early 1970’s, specifically on Saturday morning cartoons.

Whether used as literary devices to complement the story line or merchandising tools to promote record sales, songs added a dimension to the cartoons. They provided another example of the inevitable connection between music and television.

Kid Power is a show that may be described as Peanuts meeting the Rainbow Coalition. The late 1960’s and early 1970’s messages of peace, friendship, love, and harmony filled the series. Based on Morrie Turner’s Wee Pals comic strip, Kid Power revolved around a melting pot of kids in a group called Rainbow Club. Different colors, nationalities, and backgrounds did not stop the kids from joining forces to accomplish their goals.

Music giant Mike Curb was the show’s Music Consultant. The song for each episode illustrated that episode’s lesson.

Kid Power aired on ABC during the 1972-73 season with seventeen episodes. The following season consisted of reruns.

The Partridge Family went off the air in 1974 after four seasons. In the fall of 1974, Partridge Family, 2200 A.D. showed us a futuristic view of America’s favorite singing family.

Except for Shirley Jones and David Cassidy, the cast voiced their cartoon counterparts.

The Brady Kids capitalized on the popularity of Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby, and Cindy from The Brady Bunch.

Music was a natural fit for the cartoon because the child actors released albums, toured in concert, and performed on The Brady Bunch. Unlike Partridge Family, 2200 A.D., however, The Brady Kids broadcast history coincided with its parent show. The Brady Kids aired 22 episodes and debuted in the fall of 1972.

The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show depicted Bedrock’s favorite boy and girl as teenagers. Sally Struthers (All in the Family) and Jay North (Dennis the Menace) voiced the title characters.

Pebbles, Bamm-Bamm and their friends -- Moonrock, Penny, and Wiggy -- formed The Bedrock Rollers, a stone age rock and roll group.

Plots in The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show focused on Pebbles’ outrageous ideas that often recalled Lucy Ricardo. Pebbles and Lucy shared enthusiasm, optimism, and inspiration. But their plans often went awry, aside, and down the tubes.

The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show first aired in September of 1971.

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids showed stories that were universal to growing up. Bill Cosby’s stand up comedy routines about his childhood in Philadelphia laid the groundwork for this animated version of Fat Albert, Weird Harold, Cosby and his brother Russell, and the rest of the gang.

Cosby addressed the audience about the lesson in the story and the kids sang a song corresponding with the lesson learned.

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids debuted in September of 1972.

Rankin-Bass produced two shows about family singing groups at the pinnacle of their respective successes -- The Osmonds and Jackson Five.

Jackson Five debuted in September of 1971 on the heels of their four number-one hits in 1970 -- I Want You Back, The Love You Save, ABC, and I’ll Be There.

The Jacksons voiced their animated likenesses for the show’s twenty-three episodes.

The Osmond brothers from Utah who got their big break on The Andy Williams Show got their shot at cartoon fame a year later. Debuting in September of 1972, The Osmonds featured the boys with big smiles, harmonious sounds, and innocence.

The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan featured a cartoon version of Charlie Chan with ten kids. Chan led his children in solving crimes. The older kids had a rock band -- The Chan Clan. Ron Dante, the lead singer for The Archies, filled the same role here.

Josie and the Pussycats also enjoy a connection to the Archieverse. The title character first appeared under the Archie comics banner in 1963. In Television Cartoon Shows, Hal Erickson writes, It was at the suggestion of CBS executive Fred Silverman that Hanna-Barbera (taking over from The Archies’ home studio Filmation, then overloaded with product) reshape Josie into the lead singer of a rock group -- hoping no doubt for a reprise of the success that greeted the Archies’ hit single Sugar Sugar.

After the show aired during the 1970-71 season, Hanna-Barbera retooled it with a space theme. Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space aired for two seasons -- 1972-74.

Josie’s comic book cousins from Riverdale, Archie et. al., inspired the music-cartoon nexus. The Archie Show is the first show in the Saturday morning music toon genre. It debuted in September of 1968 and lasted one season. Sugar, Sugar launched during The Archie Show tenure in 1969. It became a #1 song.

The Archie characters continued in different shows and formats between 1969 and 1978 -- The Archie Comedy Hour, Archie’s Fun House Featuring the Giant Juke Box, Archie’s TV Funnies, Everything’s Archie, U.S. of Archie, The New Archie / Sabrina Hour, Archie’s Bang-Shang Lalapalooza Show.

Although Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids aired for several years on television (1972-84), the other programs did not fare as well. But they were still enjoyable to watch, listen to, and learn from, especially during a time where real-life events increasingly challenged innocence -- assassinations, riots, Vietnam War.

On those sleepy Saturday mornings in the early 1970’s, children woke up to these shows that gave entertainment, optimism, and hope.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-21T15:20:05-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Harry_Morgan.html#unique-entry-id-98http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Harry_Morgan.html#unique-entry-id-98by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Before he was Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H, Harry Morgan was one of Hollywood’s cornerstone character actors. He shared the silver screen with legends.

Inherit the Wind with Spencer Tracy and Fredric March.

High Noon with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly.

The Glenn Miller Story with Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson.

The Shootist with John Wayne.

Frankie and Johnny with Elvis Presley.

Support Your Local Sheriff with James Garner.

Dragnet with Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd. In Dragnet, Morgan reprises his role of Bill Gannon from the television series of the same name in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Gannon has climbed the ranks to become a police captain.

Morgan played Pete Porter in the television series December Bride and its spinoff -- Pete & Gladys. He also played Judge Bell in the trio of 1990’s Incident tv-movies starring Walter Matthau -- The Incident, Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore, Incident in a Small Town.

But Harry Morgan’s role of the authoritative, compassionate, and wise Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H is likely the role most identified with Morgan. Potter is Morgan’s signature character.

Morgan had big shoes to fill. When M*A*S*H producers killed off Colonel Henry Blake in the spring of 1975, the creative decision sparked shock, dismay, and even outrage. Who ever heard of a show killing a major, beloved, and valuable character? Blake’s death offered no chance for a spinoff, return appearance, or revival.

While McLean Stevenson’s popularity soared as the affable, bumbling, and concerned Colonel Blake who was also one of the guys, Harry Morgan won the respect of fans by playing Colonel Potter with dignity, understanding, and a voice of experience.

Potter led Hawkeye, B.J. and the rest of the M*A*S*H 4077th, but he never talked down to them. He was a Regular Army style solider but he ignored the rules and regulations if they interfered with treating wounded soldiers.

Potter was a combat veteran who became a doctor. But he never forgot the courage of soldiers in the field.

In a vicious ocean of injury, violence, and death, Morgan’s Colonel Potter was the calm oasis of experience, wisdom, and compassion.

Harry Morgan actually made a pre-Potter appearance on M*A*S*H. In the third season premiere -- The General Flipped At Dawn -- he plays General Steele, a half-crazed general. Morgan received an Emmy nomination for his guest appearance in this episode that kicked off the 1975-76 season.

For his role as Colonel Potter, Morgan received eight nominations for Best Supporting Actor. He won once. He also received an Emmy nomination for Best Director.

Harry Morgan continued playing Colonel Potter in the sequel After M*A*S*H. The show is set in a stateside Veterans Administration hospital in Missouri. Jamie Farr and William Christopher joined Morgan to continue their roles as Max Klinger and Father Mulcahy respectively.

After After M*A*S*H, Morgan mostly enjoyed guest appearances on television shows -- The Jeff Foxworthy Show, Grace Under Fire, Third Rock from the Sun, and The Simpsons.

On The Simpsons, Morgan once again reprised his role of Bill Gannon. ]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-21T08:18:51-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/America.html#unique-entry-id-97http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/America.html#unique-entry-id-97by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

God bless America.

Take a look at a program schedule from the last few years.

Patriotic fever apparently strikes television executives.

America’s Next Top Model.

America’s Most Wanted.

American Chopper.

American Masters.

American Hot Rod.

America’s Next Producer.

American Justice.

America’s Got Talent.

American Experience.

American Inventor.

American Idol.

American Dad.

What accounts for these allusions to the red, white, and blue in television program titles that we might expect during an anniversary year, like a bicentennial?

First, size matters.

America is a pretty big, powerful, and awesome place. With a version of the word America in the title, the program naturally targets a mass audience -- all of us.

Second, success matters.

American Idol is popular, so subsequent offerings borrow from the name as well as the format

Models meet American Idol = America’s Next Top Model.

Inventors meet American Idol = American Inventor.

Third, pride matters.

America gives the audience a sense of pride -- the show could not take place anywhere but America.

For example, American Chopper is a series about the prototypical American success story of a family business -- Orange County Choppers. But success does not come easy for this upstate New York business focused on making one-of-a-kind motorcycles. It is a result of hard work, dedication, and passion.

Paul Teutul started Orange County Choppers in his basement because of his passion for building motorcycles. The business ballooned into a marketing, licensing, and television juggernaut.

Although Made in the U.S.A. fever seems to be contagious given the numerous America-based titles, we’ve actually seen the use of America throughout television history.

American Gladiators.

Good Morning, America.

America’s Funniest Home Videos.

American Dream was a short-lived series in the early 1980’s centering on a family’s move back to the city from their quiet home in suburbia.

American Dreamer took an opposite premise. This early 1990’s sitcom stars Robert Urich as a widower who trades in his globetrotting journalism work for a quiet life in Wisconsin with his family and a job as a newspaper columnist.

Amerika was a 1987 miniseries on ABC that depicted life ten years after a Soviet takeover. Robert Urich also starred in this offering along with Kris Kristofferson.

Americathon was a 1979 tv-movie showing what the country would be like in 1998 -- America is bankrupt, the president is a skirt chaser, and the oil supply is facing depletion. Were the writers prescient or was the plot line simply a coincidence?

The title comes from a telethon to save America.

American Bandstand starred eternally youthful Dick Clark from the 1950’s to the 1980’s. Clark capitalized on the American Bandstand brand and library with American Dreams. This NBC show enjoyed a three-season run -- 2002-2005. It showed us life in the 1960’s through the Pryor family, specifically Meg Pryor. Meg was an All-American teenage girl in Philadelphia who faced the trials and tribulations of growing up as she fulfilled her dream of being an American Bandstand dancer.

Finally, Love, American Style used an anthology format and featured guest stars in love stories that were varied, funny, and somewhat realistic.

Coincidentally, except for American Dreams and American Dreamer, many of the shows mentioned appeared on ABC -- American Broadcasting Company.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-20T07:22:28-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Hill_Street_Blues.html#unique-entry-id-96http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Hill_Street_Blues.html#unique-entry-id-96by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

To kick off its third season in 1982, Hill Street Blues used a story that could make a combat veteran cry.

The episode Trial By Fury featured the Hill Street precinct investigating the rape and assault of a nun that results in her death.

The episode still holds up today, nearly thirty years after its initial broadcast.

The story line is shocking, revolting, and riveting.

In its first two seasons, Hill Street Blues proved it was not just another cop show.

Car chases featured standard, boring cop cars instead of souped up roadsters.

Story lines overlapped and continued beyond a single episode.

Characters had depth, pain, and curiosity.

Meanwhile, urban blight, gang warfare, and office politics contributed to the chaos on the Hill. Like the USS Enterprise, Hill Street Blues went where no one had gone before. Trial By Fury cements the evidence.

When Officers Bobby Hill and Andy Renko catch the two suspects -- Celestine Gray and Gerald Chapman -- the case seems like a lock. But Captain Frank Furillo soon realizes that the case will not be successful because of a lack of hard evidence.

With a city calling for swift retribution, a virtual lynch mob threatening violence, and organized crime holding killing contracts on the suspects, Captain Furillo has a snowball of a problem that can easily become an avalanche of bloodshed.

Enter Lieutenant Howard Hunter -- Hill Street Station’s resident military historian, strategist, and tactician. As head of the Emergency Action Team (EAT), Lieutenant Hunter’s responsibilities include overseeing tactical operations in hostage negotiation and gang violence countermeasures.

What better place to share his view of the situation than the Hill Street Station’s Men’s Room?

Lieutenant Hunter says that he would just as soon let the outraged public decide the fate of Gray and Chapman. Hunter’s offhand comment inspires Furillo.

Furillo wants to turn the liability of a lack of hard evidence into an asset. He believes that he can use the lynch mob as leverage. He wants Assistant District Attorney Irwin Bernstein to drop the charges against Gray and Chapman because he gambles that the suspects would rather face the justice system than mob justice.

Better to be tried by twelve jurors than carried by six pallbearers.

Enter Joyce Davenport -- Public Defender, Furillo’s girlfriend, and attorney for one of the suspects.

After a verbal outburst targeting the judge in the courtroom and a consequent, quick, and severe admonishment, Davenport confronts Furillo and his manipulation of the system to get what he wants -- a confession.

She argues that the confessions were coerced -- dropping the charges without putting forth a legitimate attempt at prosecution is tantamount to beating a confession out of a suspect with a lynch mob ready, willing, and able to dispense its own form of justice in addition to the looming threat of organized crime contracts.

Furillo justifies his actions, or lack thereof, by pointing out that Gray and Chapman committed the crimes even though the evidence cannot prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. A confession by one of the suspects is proof enough.

The ends justify the means.

Furillo confidently furthers his argument by saying that he did nothing different than what he’s seen Davenport do for her clients. He used the system.

When Davenport says that she can’t be with Furillo tonight, the police captain’s respect for the tenacious lady lawyer shows clearly when he responds that he understands.

In a twist ending, we see Furillo drive to a church and enter the confessional.

The episode ends with Captain Furillo saying, Bless me Father, for I have sinned.

Somewhere, O. Henry is smiling.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-18T09:38:46-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Mel_Blanc.html#unique-entry-id-95http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Mel_Blanc.html#unique-entry-id-95by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

One of television’s greatest stars would probably be unrecognizable to most people. But his voice is burned in our collective memory.

Mel Blanc.

In fact, he had many voices.

Mel Blanc gave us Bugs Bunny’s trademark line -- What’s up, Doc?

Mel Blanc gave us Porky Pig’s declaration -- Th-th-th-that’s all folks!

Mel Blanc gave us Tweety’s witness -- I tawt I taw a puddy tat!

Mel Blanc was the man of a thousand voices.

But his contributions to television were not limited to Merrie Melodies or Looney Tunes cartoons.

One of his hallmark characters was the frustrated train conductor on episodes of The Jack Benny Show. When no passengers got on the train after he made several announcements of the train stops Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga, Blanc exclaimed in exasperation, Doesn’t anybody want to go to Anaheim, Azusa, or Cucamonga?!

Mel Blanc also provided the voice of Benny’s Maxwell car that made more noise than any lemon you can imagine.

The television world almost lost Mel Blanc in 1961 after a horrific car accident. His 1989 obituary in the Los Angeles Times recounted the incident. After the accident, Blanc was in a coma at the UCLA Medical Center. Doctors tried to talk to Blanc to find out how he was feeling.

The man of a thousand voices was silent.

Finally, a doctor tried another approach.

He asked how Bugs Bunny was feeling.

Blanc responded in character, Just fine, doc. How are you?

The doctor asked how Porky Pig was feeling.

Blanc again responded in character, J-j-just fine, thanks.

Mel Blanc did more than give a voice to a character. He gave personality.

What would Daffy Duck be without stubbornness, perseverance, and frustration?

What would Bugs Bunny be without the Brooklyn accent, wiseguy attitude, and inevitable charm?

What would Woody Woodpecker and Barney Rubble be without their distinctive laughs?

When Mel Blanc died in 1989, his epitaph summed up the impact of his talent, a talent the likes of which we’ll probably never hear again.

Under a Star of David, the epitaph on the tombstone reads That’s all folks.

It’s Mel Blanc’s statement to the world. The world’s statement to Mel Blanc was nicely portrayed in an advertisement with the Looney Tunes characters bowing their heads sadly before a microphone. The word Speechless appears right above Mel Blanc’s name and his birth and death years, 1908-1989.

The characters had no words to give because the man who gave them their voices was gone.

Mel Blanc did more than give his characters a personality. He gave them immortality.

Saturday morning cartoons do not have the same status today as they did during the childhoods of baby boomers and Generation Xers. But through DVD, cable television, and our personal television memory banks, we can relive, rediscover, and remember a Golden Era of animation built largely because of one man and his voice -- a thousand of them.

Th-th-th-that’s all folks!]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-18T08:11:38-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Archie_The_First_Fifty_Years.html#unique-entry-id-94http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Archie_The_First_Fifty_Years.html#unique-entry-id-94by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

(This entry is an abridged version of an article featuring Archie. For the expanded article, click here.)

He doesn’t have superpowers resulting from a yellow sun like Superman or a radioactive spider bite like Spiderman.

He’s not a quasi-vigilante hero avenging the death of loved ones like Batman or the Lone Ranger.

And he never saved the universe like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.

In fact, his extraordinary characteristics appear to be his uncanny ability to get in trouble and his immense inability to choose between two extremely attractive girls.

Who is this mere mortal?

Archie Andrews, of course. The All-American Teenager and Riverdale’s favorite son.

As the United States entered World War II in December of 1941, Archie debuted in Pep #22 as a supporting feature. This initial Archie story also features Jughead and Betty.

MLJ Comics published Pep, the arena for its contribution to the superhero genre -- The Shield. Three publishing colleagues formed MLJ. They named the company after their initials -- Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John Goldwater complemented each other with their experience as an accountant, publisher, and reporter/editor respectively.

Artist Bob Montana gave the Archie universe its center. He drew upon his own experiences growing up in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

Bob Montana drew. Vic Bloom wrote. Harry Shorten edited.

Truth be told, though, Montana gave the Archie stories their heart, soul, and ultimate appeal.

In the retrospective book Archie: The First 50 Years, Charles Phillips credits Montana.

A rootless child who loved his high school years, Montana gave more than the statue of The Thinker, the hometown soda shop, and a number of his teenage pals to Riverdale. He gave the strip the emotional strength of his own nostalgia to create an idealized picture of teenage life that we all recognize but none of us quite lived.

Montana and the creative team behind Archie added new characters in the adventures of Riverdale’s red-headed Romeo. Waldo Weatherbee -- Riverdale High School’s beloved, bald, benign principal -- first appeared in Jackpot #5 (Spring 1942). The story contains the mainstay Archie elements of slapstick, Weatherbee’s rotund shape, and Archie’s penchant for getting in hot water with “the Bee.”

Jackpot #5 also introduces, albeit briefly, Reggie Mantle.

Pep #26 (April 1942) introduces rich girl Veronica Lodge and compares her to Egypt’s Cleopatra and Hollywood’s Hedy Lamarr. Although Pep #26 showcases Veronica’s first appearance, Archie #1 (Winter 1942) revisits the origin of Veronica in the story Prom Pranks.

Prom Pranks sets the foundation for a well-known Archie hallmark -- the Archie-Veronica-Betty love triangle.

Where familiar themes provide reliability, stability, and continuity, signs of the times reflect an ever-changing society. They continually challenge Archie writers to pace fads, norms, and popular culture.

In the 1950’s, Archie stories frequently paralleled benchmarks of the rock and roll decade -- hula hoops, sock hops, beatniks.

Celebrities, fictional and real, also enjoy depictions in Archie stories -- Elvis Presley, Fonzie, Tom Cruise.

Social conscience features prominently in one story from the 1970’s -- A Matter of Prejudice. The story sends a powerful message about the dangers of prejudging the views of others. When Veronica explains that some of Archie’s friends are not welcome at her party because they simply don’t fit in, Archie immediately thinks the reference points to Chuck Clayton, a black student at Riverdale High.

In fact, Veronica likes Chuck. She declares, He’s welcome at my house any time he pleases to come.

Jughead, on the other hand, needs to change his slovenly ways for the party. Chuck and Archie tell him that Veronica is prejudiced...against slobs!

Expanding into other media was inevitable for the Archieverse. It occurred almost from the beginning. Archie and the gang found success on a radio program in the 1940’s.

In the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s, Archie characters found success in Saturday morning animation.

In 1978, two live-action music and comedy specials on ABC featured the characters. Dennis Bowen plays Archie.

Riverdale High’s 15-year reunion served as the basis for the 1990 NBC tv-movie To Riverdale and Back. Archie returned to Riverdale, reunited with friends, and reignited passions for Betty and Veronica. This time, he’s in Riverdale to stay. But the choice between Veronica and Betty remains undecided.

Some things never change.

The best things never do.

(For an expanded article on Archie, click here.)]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-17T07:03:28-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Sixties_Sitcom_Music.html#unique-entry-id-93http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Sixties_Sitcom_Music.html#unique-entry-id-93by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

If music be the food of 1960’s television sitcoms, play on.

In the 60’s, the Beatles headed a British invasion across the Atlantic Ocean and inspired sitcom versions of themselves.

We saw the real-life Standells perform I Want To Hold Your Hand on The Munsters.

And who could forget the Bedbugs -- the F Troop answer to the boys from Liverpool.

Gilligan’s Island welcomed the Mosquitoes, known individually as Bingo, Bango, Bongo, and Irving.

On the same episode featuring the Mosquitoes, we saw the girls from Gilligan’s Island transform themselves into the Honeybees. It was an homage to Diana Ross and the Supremes and other members of the girl group genre.

The Beach Boys introduced us to the surfing sound and we heard Jimmy Darren sing Surfing Craze on The Flintstones as Stone Age rock and roller Jimmy Darrock.

The modern Stone Age family embraced rock and roll as a cornerstone of its adventures. By the way, the puns in the previous sentence are intended.

One example is Ann Margret as prehistoric singing sensation Ann Margrock. To the Flintstones and Rubbles, though, she was simply Annie -- Pebbles’ babysitter.

Fred and Barney take Annie under their wing and even bring her into their soft shoe act. They quite a a shocker at the concert when they realize that Annie is really superstar Ann Margrock.

This episode featured Ann Margret’s wonderful rendition of the lullaby The Littlest Lamb and an nergized performance of I Ain’t Gonna Be Your Fool No More.

Another family sitcom benefited from the musical talents of its stars -- The Dick Van Dyke Show. This program frequently featured title star Dick Van Dyke and co-star Mary Tyler Moore dancing and singing.

She, of the 50,000 watt smile, Capri pants, and famous cry Oh Rob! The whole cast got into the act during the only Christmas themed episode -- The Alan Brady Show Presents. For those who need a reminder, Dick Van Dyke’s character -- Rob Petrie -- is Head Writer for The Alan Brady Show, a network television variety program.

The premise was simple. In a show within a show, Alan Brady gives his staff a chance to perform during his Christmas show. Larry Matthews (Richie Petrie) sings The Little Drummer Boy.

Another scene features Rob Petrie, Laura Petrie, Buddy Sorrell, Sally Rogers, and Mel Cooley sing an old favorite -- I Am A Fine Musician.

The characters are played respectively by Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Morey Amsterdam, Rose Marie, and Richard Deacon.

The Dick Van Dyke Show also gave us its version of the Twist -- the Twizzle. It’s a song and dance made popular at a local bowling alley by Randy Twizzle (Jerry Lanning).

Apparently, Rob Petrie also dabbled in writing songs along with writing comedy. When he hears a certain song on the radio, he claims that he co-wrote the song -- Bupkis. Bupkis is a Yiddish term with a not so family friendly translation. In family friendly terms, Bupkis is a lot of nothing. The song’s lyrics reflect that definition.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-11-06T06:46:13-05:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/When_It_Was_A_Game.html#unique-entry-id-92http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/When_It_Was_A_Game.html#unique-entry-id-92by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Today, the New York Yankees celebrate a 27th World Series Championship with parade in Manhattan’s Canyon of Heroes.

The excitement of the 2009 World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees overshadowed the recent steroid scandal.

But baseball has suffered scandals since its beginning.

The Black Sox Scandal of 1919 where the Chicago White Sox suffered accusations of fixing the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.

The betting scandal involving Pete Rose betting on baseball games, including games played by the team he managed -- Cincinnati Reds.

For a time when the lines were clearer, the heroes were greater, and the myths were bigger, look no further than HBO’s When It Was A Game documentaries.

HBO made three documentaries in 1991, 1992, and 2000 respectively under the When It Was A Game banner.

The musical score, appealing visuals, and artful narration combine for a step into history that even the most casual fan will appreciate.

The musical score’s foundation is its fanfare. It appropriately shows the reverence for the heroes depicted in the documentaries.

The visuals come from home movies -- 8 millimeter and 16 millimeter films shot by fans and insiders from the 1930’s through the 1960’s.

You see stadiums that don’t exist anymore -- Polo Grounds in Manhattan, Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.

You see legendary players -- Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams along with old-timers Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Babe Ruth, and Cy Young.

And throughout the When It Was A Game trilogy, you hear wonderful narration from people who love the game of baseball.

James Earl Jones -- Actor.

Robert Creamer -- Writer.

Jim Bouton -- Pitcher.

Maury Wills -- Shortstop.

Frank Robinson -- Outfielder.

Jim Kaat -- Pitcher.

Al Kaline -- Outfielder.

Thomas Boswell -- Writer.

Bob Costas -- Broadcaster.

John Sayles -- Filmmaker.

When It Was A Game recalls eras when legendary players enjoyed unbreakable associations with teams. Fans could count on their favorite players spending most -- if not all -- of their careers with one team.

Roberto Clemente -- Pittsburgh Pirates.

Al Kaline -- Detroit Tigers.

Hank Aaron -- Milwaukee Braves / Atlanta Braves.

Willie Mays -- New York Giants / San Francsico Giants.

Jackie Robinson -- Brooklyn Dodgers.

Bob Gibson -- St. Louis Cardinals.

Harmon Killebrew -- Minnesota Twins.

The eras depicted in When It Was A Game were eras of greatness in baseball. But the bottom line definitely existed. Promotions took place. And owners were hard-nosed in their negotiations with players in the time before free agents, massive bonuses, and free agency.

But the eras enjoyed deep reverence. And that depth shines clearly in the When It Was A Game trilogy.

Before the first pitch of a baseball game was sponsored, before .220 batters got million dollar contracts, and before stadiums were named for corporations, there was indeed a time when baseball was a game.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-10-26T00:45:14-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Legacy_of_Soupy_Sales.html#unique-entry-id-91http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Legacy_of_Soupy_Sales.html#unique-entry-id-91by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

When Soupy Sales died last week on October 22nd, his obituaries focused on his hallmark -- throwing a pie in someone’s face on his television show.

But the legacy of Soupy Sales is not the elevation of pie throwing to a comedic art form.

The legacy of Soupy Sales can be summed up in one word -- work.

Although best remembered as the host of a baby boomer children’s television show bearing his name, Soupy Sales also enjoyed fixture status on the syndicated version of What’s My Line?

He appeared on other game shows in addition to guest starring on popular television shows -- The Beverly Hillbillies, Route 66, Love, American Style, Burke’s Law, The Love Boat, Wings.

He gave radio a shot in the 1980’s with a stint on WNBC-AM in New York City.

And he served as host of the mid-1970’s Saturday morning children’s game show Junior Almost Anything Goes -- a spinoff of the mid-1970’s prime time game show Almost Anything Goes.

Soupy Sales. More than just a pie in the face.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-10-23T06:16:43-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Dick_Van_Dyke_Show_Book.html#unique-entry-id-89http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Dick_Van_Dyke_Show_Book.html#unique-entry-id-89by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

From 1961 to 1966, America watched the adventures and misadventures of a television comedy writer at work and at home.

The Dick Van Dyke Show broke ground as the first sitcom to regularly show the father’s workplace as a significant part of the show. The workplace was the writers’ room for The Alan Brady Show. It also provided a rich source for story lines.

In 1994, Vince Waldron wrote the definitive book about the program -- The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book.

It’s a terrific resource.

The episode guide has the following information -- episode titles, air dates, guest stars and their respective characters, writers, directors, and story synopses.

In addition, Waldron details Carl Reiner’s pilot -- Head of the Family. It was the progenitor of The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Head of the Family aired on CBS on July 19, 1960 with Carl Reiner in the lead role of Rob Petrie.

Reiner tweaked his creation and it became The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Waldron also plunges into other parts of the show’s history.

The casting of Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie.

The brink of cancellation because of sponsor Procter & Gamble almost pulling its sponsorship.

The effect of the John Kennedy assassination on the show’s production schedule, not to mention the emotions of the cast and production staff.

Waldron also describes the background, history, and production of key episodes. One example is It May Look Like A Walnut, a takeoff on The Twilight Zone.

The Dick Van Dyke Show was successful largely because of Carl Reiner’s devotion to reality. In the chapter Playing To An Empty House, writer Jerry Belson tells Waldron about Reiner’s commitment to finding realies.

He was always saying, “We need more realies! Give me more realies!” Carl would ask us, “How do you use that rubber thing on the end of a toothbrush? Well, put that in the show!” Carl didn’t care about funny, he wanted realies. If you sat down with Carl, instead of saying, “What’s funny?” he would sit you down and say, “Okay, what happened to you this week? What’d you fight with your wife about?” And those things that happened to you were the realies that Carl wanted. And so we were always searching for more realies.

The Dick Van Dyke Show aired 158 episodes in black and white. Was color given serious thought? Waldron explains in a footnote in the chapter Curtain Calls.

Although Reiner chose not to heed his executive producer’s [Sheldon Leonard] advice to keep the series on the air, Reiner insists that both he and Sheldon Leonard had given serious thought to filming The Dick Van Dyke Show in color as early as the show’s third season. But, says Reiner, the plan was quickly abandoned as soon as they discovered that filming the show in the more expensive color process would have added about seven thousand dollars to their weekly budget. “It didn’t seem to make any sense at the time,” explains the producer. “There was no big argument. It was like, ‘What do we do? It’ll cost us seven thousand dollars a week more to go to color.’ ‘Oh. Well, in that case, let’s not.’”

For a fan of television sitcoms in general and The Dick Van Dyke Show in particular, The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book by Vince Waldron is a fine addition to the bookshelf.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-10-22T06:59:28-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Matthew_Perry.html#unique-entry-id-88http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Matthew_Perry.html#unique-entry-id-88by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Before Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry teamed up in Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, they worked together in Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing.

During the seven season run of The West Wing, Whitford played the knowledgeable, savvy, and cynical but sensitive Josh Lyman -- White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Santos For President Campaign Manager, and White House Chief of Staff.

For three episodes, Perry played White House attorney Joe Quincy.

While interviewing Joe for a position in the White House Counsel’s office, Josh wonders why he has never heard of Joe Quincy, an eminently qualified attorney with experience including a stint in the Solicitor General’s Office.

Josh figures out the mystery -- Joe Quincy is a republican.

He wants to work in public service in a democratic White House because he is in the dog house with his own party. He wrote a memorandum contradictory to the party line on soft money political donations.

With the help of Donna Moss, Josh’s assistant, Joe convinces Josh to hire him.

The interview scene reveals a great chemistry between Whitford and Perry, likely the reason for Sorkin’s casting them in the starring roles of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

On his first day in the new job, Joe Quincy uncovers a massive scandal involving Vice President John Hoynes.

Hoynes told a socialite, Helen Baldwin, that he saw signs of life on Mars in classified reports when he was having an affair with her. He also bragged about a top secret deal involving a Justice Department antitrust settlement with a corporation that resulted in 100,000 computers being given go schools.

Quincy finds out that Baldwin has a book deal. He also discovers phone records that confirm several calls from Hoynes to Baldwin.

Hoynes admits that he likes to show off and Quincy’s investigation results in Hoynes’ resignation of the vice presidency.

And it all takes place on Joe Quincy’s first day at the White House.

Perry’s appearances on The West Wing took place concurrently with his starring role as sarcastic, lovelorn, and wise-cracking Chandler Bing on Friends.

Warner Brothers produced Friends and The West Wing.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-10-15T08:28:06-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Beverly_Hills_90210.html#unique-entry-id-87http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Beverly_Hills_90210.html#unique-entry-id-87by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

In the Summer of 1991, FOX showed us what high school students do during summer vacation.

They work.

They party.

They go to summer school.

Beverly Hills 90210 premiered in the Fall of 1990.

During its freshman season, 90210 added value to the youth-oriented programming on FOX. But the show about privileged kids in the country’s most famous zip code did not overwhelm the competition with its counter-programming content.

Enter the summer.

A time when networks traditionally burn off unsold pilots, episodes of unsold shows, and regular programming in reruns for a third broadcast.

But FOX is not a traditional network. And it certainly wasn’t a traditional network in its nascent days.

When FOX started in 1986, it was not airing a full slate of programming, so it legally, logically, and historically could not be called a “television network.”

In any case, FOX saw an opening in the summer schedule.

Airing new episodes of 90210 in the summer would be true counter-programming.

Original episodes against burned off pilots and reruns.

And perfectly logical.

High school students have lives from late June to early September.

90210 reflected that reality.

Summer relationships.

Summer jobs.

Summer vacation.

The six original episodes of 90210 in the Summer of 1991 helped launch the show into the stratosphere.

It helped stretch story lines across multiple episodes, contrary to the self-contained episodic story line format in the first season.

And it helped open up new story lines for the second season.

The programming exercise was successful and FOX repeated it in the Summer of 1992 with six new episodes.

By this time, 90210 was a Goliath.

It also spawned a spinoff in the Summer of 1992 -- Melrose Place.

The CW presently airs revived versions of both shows.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-10-14T06:38:47-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/SNL_at_the_Movies.html#unique-entry-id-86http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/SNL_at_the_Movies.html#unique-entry-id-86by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Saturday Night Live is in its 35th season.

35 years of sketches, recurring characters, and Weekend Update.

35 years of Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!

35 years of laughter.

Shortly after it premiered in 1975, cast members started appearing in movies. They soon became box office gold.

Animal House, Caddyshack, Beverly Hills Cop, Wayne’s World, Wedding Crashers, Stripes, Meatballs, The Blues Brothers, Foul Play, Land of the Lost, Old School, Ghostbusters, Trading Places, Scrooged, Seems Like Old Times, Tootsie, Tommy Boy, 48 Hours, Driving Miss Daisy, Anchorman, Semi-Pro, Dr. Doolittle, Mean Girls, Baby Mama, and Shrek.

These movies all starred or featured at least one SNL cast member in a prominent role.

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are not and were never cast members of Saturday Night Live, but their numerous appearances as guest host arguably give them honorary cast member status.

Add their movies to the SNL cast member movie roster.

Altogether, the total box office gross of these movies will likely be in the billions.

Quite a contribution for a show that was christened Saturday Night Dead by the media at several times in its history.

Saturday Night Live cast members leave Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center for the big screen.

It’s part of the show’s history dating back to a little movie directed by John Landis that captures America’s fascination with a time that was simpler -- before the Vietnam War, the JFK assassination, and Watergate.

The setting was 1962.

The film was National Lampoon’s Animal House.

Produced on a budget reportedly less than $3 million in 1978, Animal House became a pop culture icon, conquered the box office dragon, and secured John Belushi’s rightful place as a box office attraction.

He was the first SNL cast member to truly break through the television-film barrier.

Belushi was also a good dramatic actor. The romantic comedy Continental Divide pits Belushi’s hardened, cynical, Chicago newspaper columnist Ernie Souchak against Blair Brown’s environmentally aware eagle researcher Nell Porter.

Belushi died in 1981 from a drug overdose at the age of 33. His premature death prevented us from knowing the true depths of his acting talents.

But Belushi’s breakthrough role as Bluto in Animal House set a trend that continues today.

From Eddie Murphy to Mike Myers.

From Dan Aykroyd to Tina Fey.

From Bill Murray to Will Ferrell.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-10-13T07:33:41-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Taking_of_Pelham_123.html#unique-entry-id-85http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Taking_of_Pelham_123.html#unique-entry-id-85by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

The remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 opened in theaters this past summer. The film stars three actors who got their big breaks on the small screen.

Denzel Washington.

In Pelham, Washington plays Walter Garber, a New York City civil servant who becomes the link of communication to hostage takers on a subway train.

Washington was part of the terrific ensemble cast of St. Elsewhere. In this 1980’s NBC drama set in a Boston hospital, Washington plays the Yale-educated Dr. Phillip Chandler.

His breakthrough movie was Glory, a 1989 film set during the Civil War. Washington earned on Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

John Travolta.

In Pelham, Travolta plays Ryder, the leader of the hostage takers.

Travolta exploded onto America’s consciousness as dim-witted, girl-crazy, and self-involved high school student Vinnie Barbarino in Welcome Back, Kotter.

Kotter premiered in 1975. In the space of three years, Travolta’s career became hotter than a supernova. On the silver screen, he starred in 1977’s Saturday Night Fever and 1978’s Grease.

For the most part, notoriety subsided during the 1980’s. Travolta signaled his comeback in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction in 1994.

James Gandolfini.

In Pelham, Gandolfini plays the Mayor of New York City. If managed properly, the hostage crisis can be good for the politics business. Or very bad.

After highly significant roles on Broadway and supporting roles in films, Gandolfini got the role for which he will forever be identified.

Henry Winkler has Fonzie.

Alan Alda has Hawkeye.

And James Gandolfini has Tony Soprano, the main character in The Sopranos.

Gandolfini’s emotions as the New Jersey mafia don range from the tender to the explosive. He reveals a touching side when talking about or interacting with animals, like his racehorse, Pie-Oh-My.

There is a flip side. Disloyalty, betrayal, and disrespect trigger rage, violence, and an underlying fear of a weakened position in the Soprano mob family.

In 1973, Morton Freedgood wrote the novel The Taking of Pelham 123 under the pseudonym John Godey.

A year later, the story hit the big screen for the first time with Walter Matthau as Garber, Robert Shaw as Ryder, and Lee Wallace as the mayor.

The film accurately captures the aura of violence, fear, and despair surrounding New York City in the 1970’s. Riots. Crime. Financial turmoil. They all contributed to the pressure.

The feeling permeates the film. Walter Matthau’s Garber is in the middle -- a civil servant trying to do his job. On this particular day, it is an ordinary job under extraordinary circumstances. Matthau perfectly fits the role of the rumpled Garber.

The ending of this version of Pelham is an excellent example of a setup and payoff. Something occurs early in the story that recurs at the end.

Hector Elizondo and Earl Hindman play two of the hostage takers. Elizondo later starred in Chicago Hope and played supporting roles in a deep roster of films that include The Flamingo Kid, The Princess Diaries, and Pretty Woman.

Hindman’s face is not recognizable from his signature role -- Wilson, the neighbor on Home Improvement. The running gag on the show was the hiding of Wilson’s face behind the backyard fence and other objects.

Jerry Stiller plays a policeman working with Matthau. Maybe the hostage crisis was a source of sorts for Frank Costanza’s anger.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-10-09T10:03:18-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/TV_Doctors.html#unique-entry-id-84http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/TV_Doctors.html#unique-entry-id-84by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

A medical situation forces you to seek the insight of a doctor.

In the televerse, you have many choices.

For a heart problem, you might go to St. Eligius Hospital in Boston and meet with Dr. Mark Craig. Egotist. Patrician. And an expert cardiac surgeon who even developed his own version of an artificial heart.

Perhaps you will go to San Francisco Memorial Hospital and seek the advice of Trapper John, M.D. John McIntrye has been battle tested in surgery, in a matter of speaking. He operated on Korean War soliders at the M*A*S*H 4077th.

If it’s a kind father figure with a good bedside manner you seek, then Marcus Welby is your man. I you think the exterior to his home and office looks a lot like the exterior of the home of Wally and Beaver Cleaver, you’d be right. They’re identical because the houses are one and the same.

You may want a doctor’s practice with a one-stop-shopping approach.

Look no further than the Oceanside Wellness Center in Santa Monica.

Formerly of Seattle Grace Hospital, Addison Montgomery is an OB/GYN and a neo-natal surgeon.

You’ll also find an alternative medicine specialist who used to work in the Doctors Without Borders program, a fertility specialist, an internal medicine specialist, a psychiatrist, and a pediatrician.

The aforementioned Seattle Grace Hospital is home base for one of the country’s leading neurosurgeons -- Dr. Derek Shepherd. By the way, his paramour is Dr. Meredith Grey. Dr. Grey’s mother was a groundbreaking doctor.

If you are in south Florida and you need a children’s doctor, you may want to visit Dr. Harry Weston, pediatrician and neighbor of Blanche, Rose, Sophia, and Dorothy, a.k.a. the Golden Girls.

In an emergency situation, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better team than the one at Rampart Hospital in Los Angeles.

Starting with paramedics Roy DeSoto and John Gage of Engine 51, the team consistently shows how to perform successfully in pressure situations. Engine 51’s Rampart Hospital counterparts consist of Dr. Joe Early, Dr. Kelly Brackett, and the incomparable, beautiful, and inspiring Dixie McCall, nurse extraordinaire.

Also in southern California are young Dr. Joe Gannon and his mentor, Dr. Paul Lochner. They work at a university hospital. We just say they work at Medical Center.

You will find the young doctor / senior doctor paradigm a constant in the televerse. Trapper John and Gonzo Gates at San Francisco Memorial Hospital. Dr. Ben Casey and Dr. David Zorba at County General. Dr. James Kildare and Dr. Leonard Gillespie at yet another large metropolitan hospital.

Dr. Perry Cox leads a team of dedicated, sometimes goofy doctors at Sacred Heart Hospital in an unnamed metropolis.

But don’t let Dr. Cox’s crass treatment of the younger doctors throw you off balance. He treats them with toughness because he wants them to be as good as he is, if that’s possible. So he rides them hard.

For the extremely intricate diagnosis, you will want to visit Dr. Gregory House at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital and his team of younger doctors.

Dr. House specializes in the seemingly impossible diagnosis, though his all-around blunt, sometimes caustic manner may throw off patients and doctors alike, even those who are his friends.

But his commitment to treating the patient and defeating the condition, illness, or disease is unparalleled.

In Chicago, you can visit a group of talented, unappreciated, and undervalued emergency room doctors at Cook County General Hospital -- Dr. Peter Benton, Dr. John Carter, Dr. Doug Ross, Dr. Mark Greene, Dr. Kerry Weaver.

Also in Chicago, you can visit the smaller ER staffed by Dr. Howard Sheinfeld and Dr. Eve Sheridan at Clark Street Hospital or the glossier Chicago Hope Hospital.

No matter what your ailment, you will find doctors throughout the televerse.

They are experts.

They are dedicated.

And they might even tell you that laughter is the best medicine.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-10-02T14:43:31-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Three_Blind_Mice.html#unique-entry-id-83http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Three_Blind_Mice.html#unique-entry-id-83by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

In the 1980’s, America’s three television networks changed hands.

ABC to Capital Cities.

NBC to General Electric.

CBS to Loews.

Ken Auletta’s 1991 book Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way chronicles the takeovers, trials and travails of the players involved.

In a ratings game dominated by numbers, the 1980’s saw the rise of the Video Cassette Recorder and the increased attention paid to demographics.

Auletta goes through a tremendously detailed approach to bring the reader the thoughts, strategies, and fears of the media moguls in television’s executive suites.

In the chapter NBC: Tartikoff In His Sandbox, 1987, Auletta writes about a favorite son of the television industry -- NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff. Auletta zeroes in on the programming wunderkind’s observations of the obstacles for network television.

Nor was Tartikoff sure that with the explosion of buyers -- from cable, Fox, and first-run syndication, among others -- there was sufficient talent to stock a twenty-two hour prime-time schedule. Tartikoff knew that success in network television often came when a producer believed passionately in a project -- be it Norman Lear with All in the Family, James Brooks with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, or Steven Bochco with Hill Street Blues. But Tartikoff also knew the network television production system was a sausage factory.

In addition, the Big Three also faced the VCR, an affordable device by the mid-1980’s that allowed viewers to tape shows off the air and watch them at their leisure. No longer viewers tied to air times.

If viewers could shift the viewing times of their favorite shows, they would probably fast forward through the commercials. Consequently, advertisers become unhappy. Networks become worrisome about the prospect of ad dollars decreasing or disappearing.

In a world where viewers are no longer captive, advertisements can lose their impact.

The Big Three faced another challenge in the upstart FOX network. In its nascent days in the mid-1980’s, FOX did not have seven nights of programming each week. It did not have a network news division. And it did not have recognizable stars, save for one.

Its first programming attempt was The Late Show starring Joan Rivers in November 1986 followed by Sunday night programming in Spring 1987.

But it did have sister companies in other areas of media. A movie studio. A publishing house. Newspapers.

This synergy was attractive. And great ideas have to start somewhere. With the edgy sitcom Married With Children, the innovative cartoon show The Simpsons, and the funny sketch comedy program The Tracey Ullman Show, FOX began to make pinpricks in the armor of the Big Three. Their invulnerability proved to be a fallacy in the 1990’s when FOX attracted the highly valuable younger demographic of teenagers and twentysomethings with nighttime soap operas -- Beverly Hills 92010 and Melrose Place.

In the chapter ABC: More Sancho Panza Than Machiavelli, September to December, 1986, Auletta summarizes the impact of FOX chieftain Rupert Murdoch’s initial foray into network television.

The future also belonged, some feared, to Rupert Murdoch’s scheme to make Fox a fourth network by acquiring stations in six of the top ten markets, lining up affiliated stations, and setting up a programming department, just as the three networks did.

Auletta delves deeply beneath the surface to get to the heart of the matter for television networks. Really, it is the heart of the matter for business. Money.

Auletta frequently writes about the costs of contracts and programming. He shows that programs may be part creativity, part talent, and part instinct. But it is part dollars and cents, too.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-10-02T08:38:00-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Leonard_Goldenson.html#unique-entry-id-82http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Leonard_Goldenson.html#unique-entry-id-82by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Leader. Visionary. Gentleman.

Leonard Goldenson. The founder of ABC.

In the early years of television, NBC and CBS had glamor, prestige, and history.

ABC had Leonard Goldenson.

NBC and CBS had marquee A-list talent.

ABC had Leonard Goldenson.

NBC and CBS had their blueprints for running a television network based on their predecessor radio networks.

ABC had Leonard Goldenson.

A leader who gained the trust of his business partners, the loyalty of his staff, and the admiration of his competitors.

A visionary who took a struggling, unstable, third-rate television network and shaped, built, and transformed it into a massive media force.

A gentleman who knew everyone’s name in the building, from the executive suite to the janitorial staff.

Leonard Goldenson could see around corners where his competitors could not even see the corners.

But this commentary is not about Leonard Goldenson’s business instincts.

It is not about ABC’s groundbreaking programming during his reign -- Wide World of Sports, Monday Night Football, Roots.

It is not even about television.

It is about one man’s dream to make the world better for those in need.

Leonard Goldenson’s oldest daughter, Genise, was born in 1943 with cerebral palsy. Soon, Leonard and Isabelle Goldenson met Jack and Ethel Hausmann. The Hausmanns faced a similar circumstance.

As he did so often in building ABC into a media colossus, Leonard Goldenson saw opportunity where others saw obstacles. While Leonard Goldenson’s power opened doors to the political, cultural, and business elite, other doors remained closed, unanswered, or slammed in the face.

People were ignorant, cruel, or just plain unknowing about treating the disabled both medically and personally.

The Goldensons and the Hausmanns joined to form United Cerebral Palsy in 1948. They formed the United Cerebral Palsy Research and Educational Foundation in 1955. Because of the framework established by the Goldenson and Hausmann families, researchers developed the first fetal heart monitor, isolated the rubella virus, and took the first steps towards conquering neonatal jaundice.

Behind every great man, there’s a woman. And Isabelle Weinstein Goldenson was no ordinary woman. Concerning the lives of the disabled, she was a force to be reckoned with. Her passion for improving the conditions, treatment, and access regarding disabled people led to new laws that seem simple in retrospect, but revolutionary at the time of their respective creations.

Buses allowing wheelchair access with special steps.

Ramps at crosswalks and public buildings.

Handicapped Only parking spaces.

This commentary does not begin to scratch the surface of the societal contributions of Leonard Goldenson and his wife, nor does it pretend to.

These are just the headlines.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-10-02T06:23:30-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Dr_Sidney_Freedman.html#unique-entry-id-81http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Dr_Sidney_Freedman.html#unique-entry-id-81by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

The doctors at the M*A*S*H 4077th bandaged limbs, tended to wounds, and operated on organs torn apart by grenades, bullets, and shrapnel. Beyond the physical wounds were mental injuries. To treat them, the M*A*S*H doctors called in their secret weapon -- Dr. Sidney Freedman.

With understanding, patience, and calm, Sidney went into the most mysterious part of the human body -- the mind.

In the M*A*S*H episode Pressure Points, Colonel Potter calls Sidney down to the 4077th for a special patient -- Colonel Potter himself.

Reluctant to discuss his concerns at first, Potter eventually opens up to Sidney thanks to the psychiatrist’s gentle strength in dealing with matters of the mind.

Potter’s afraid of growing old and losing his surgical skills.

Sidney tells him that his fears will eventually become real. He encourages Potter to accept his current challenge of leading war time doctors without worrying so much about the future.

In Bless You, Hawkeye, Sidney counsels Hawkeye. The star surgeon is suffering from an unknown illness.

Sweating profusely, constantly sneezing, and violently scratching itches, Hawkeye is a walking wreck with no diagnosis in sight.

When Potter calls in Sidney Freedman, he gets to the heart of the matter.

Typically, the problem is rooted in childhood. Hawkeye begins his conversation with Sidney by saying that he is swimming in cold sweat. He then talks about his hometown, Crabapple Cove, Maine as if it were a tidal wave of Americana. He goes on to talk about the big brother he never had -- his older cousin Billy.

Sidney quickly sees that Hawkeye’s problem stems from a childhood incident when Billy saved Hawkeye after the latter fell from the cousins’ fishing boat into the pond. But Hawkeye reversed the event in his mind. Sidney guides him to reveal the reality that Billy pushed Hawkeye into the pond. Hawkeye did not fall into the pond accidentally.

Hawkeye unconsciously provided clues to Sidney with water analyses -- swimming in cold sweat, tidal wave of Americana. The trigger for the current problem was an odor. After the incident, Hawkeye came home smelling like a wet burlap sack. It was the exact analogy he used to describe one of his patients on the operating table.

After Hawkeye’s highly emotional breakthrough and subsequent realization of the incident, the illness disappears.

Sidney wrote a letter to Sigmund Freud in the episode Dear Sigmund. He explained happenings at the 4077th. Letter writing was a popular theme for M*A*S*H. Characters voiced their letters for the audience over scenes. The verbalization served as a narrative for the audience.

For example, Hawkeye wrote letters to his dad. Klinger wrote a letter to his uncle. Potter wrote a letter to his wife.

In the episode War of Nerves, Father Mulcahy talks to Sidney about a friend. This friend his causing concern for the gentle priest. The friend is Sidney.

Sidney reveals his distress that when he has lost a patient, he has lost a mind. In contrast, when the surgeons lose a patient, they lose a body. Father Mulcahy points out that when he loses someone, he loses a soul.

Perhaps Sidney’s greatest case was Hawkeye’s breakdown in the final episode -- Goodbye, Farewell, Amen.

Through persistence, Sidney peels back the layers of the incident that sparked Hawkeye’s breakdown.

On a return bus trip from a July 4th holiday at the beach, a local Korean woman smothered her chicken to keep it quiet. As in Bless You, Hawkeye, Hawkeye alters the incident. The bus stops because of a mechanical glitch. The woman smothered her baby because the baby’s crying could reveal the position of the bus to enemy soldiers.

Again, Sidney guides Hawkeye through a torturous, volatile, and eventual cathartic trip.

Dr. Sidney Freedman. Counselor. Listener. Psychiatrist.

One of his best lines was his last line on the series.

Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice.

Pull down your pants and slide on the ice.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-10-01T09:36:15-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Crime_Story.html#unique-entry-id-80http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Crime_Story.html#unique-entry-id-80by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

In the 1980’s, an NBC show about cops had it all.

A new look.

Story arcs that existed over several episodes.

And the elevation of lesser known actors into household name status.

Hill Street Blues? No.

Miami Vice? No.

Crime Story.

Michael Mann’s production of a Chicago cop and his mobster prey only lasted two seasons from 1986-1988.

But it was a terrific two years.

Set in the early 1960’s, Crime Story followed the exploits of Chicago Police Department Lt. Mike Torello and his squad at MCU or Major Crimes Unit. Their mission is to take down mobster Ray Luca.

When Luca moves his base of operations to Las Vegas, Torello and team follows, only to trade in their Chicago police badges to work for the feds.

At the end of the first season, Ray Luca and his addlebrained sidekick, Paulie Taglia, escape to the desert where they find themselves in the middle of nuclear testing. Because they survive, the federal government gives them immunity from prosecution and increases the difficulty of Torello’s job.

The medical information learned from their survival is simply invaluable during the Cold War and immunity from prosecution is the government’s compensation.

Crime Story was created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. It starred Dennis Farina as Mike Torello. In a perfect example of art imitating life, Adamson and Farina worked for the Chicago Police Department before their show business careers. John Santucci played Paulie Taglia. Santucci was a thief in Chicago in his previous career. Adamson and Farina knew Santucci from their Chicago days. They arrested him!

Anthony Denison played Ray Luca. He went to the other side of law enforcement during a brief stint on Wiseguy when he replaced Ken Wahl. Denison played a former FBI agent drawn back into the fight against crime.

A reading of the list of guest stars on Crime Story is impressive.

Kevin Spacey. David Caruso. Julia Roberts. Ving Rhames. Gary Sinise. David Hyde-Pierce. Billy Zane. Laura San Giacomo. Dennis Haysbert.

Regular and recurring actors on Crime Story will also be familiar.

Before he was Corky’s dad on Life Goes On, Bill Smitrovich was Detective Danny Krycheck.

Before he was a single dad looking for a chance at true love on Once and Again, Billy Campbell was Detective Joey Indelli.

And before he sold out sports arenas, comedian Andrew Dice Clay was Max Goldman, a savvy partner of Ray Luca.

Del Shannon’s Runaway was the show’s theme song. It set the tone perfectly for the series. An upbeat tune balanced by somber words.

Crime Story paid great attention to style, setting, and detail. It captured the viewer. In Chicago, Torello and his squad often regrouped at a bar called the Orbit Room, a nod to the fascination inspired by the Space Age of the 1960’s.

In one episode, Torello and the guys talk about the Chicago Bears. He says that Ditka is the best player on the team. It was essentially a wink to the viewer. Mike Ditka played for the Bears in the 1960’s and coached the team during the mid-1980’s, the period of the show’s broadcast history.

Cars with fins. Suits with thin ties. Men with hats. All details of another era. But Crime Story recaptured them in an old-fashioned good guy vs. bad guy story line.

Crime Story ended with a cliffhanger. The principal characters airborne in a pilotless plane. Maybe one day, a tv-movie will tie up loose ends. And we will find out the ultimate destiny of Torello and Luca. Until then, you can create your own Crime Story ending.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-10-01T05:59:48-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Elvis.html#unique-entry-id-79http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Elvis.html#unique-entry-id-79by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Elvis.

More than thirty years have passed since he went to rock and roll heaven in 1977.

And just the mere mention of his name opens a lockbox of tremendous memories.

His movements.

His movies.

His portrayals.

Elvis Presley moved on stage like no other performer before him, swiveling his hips to the delight of teenage girls, the jealousy of their boyfriends, and the fright of their parents.

Elvis’ movies may have been formulaic.

Sing a few songs. Charm a few girls. Win the heart of the female lead.

But he surrounded himself with veteran actors who shouldered the load. In lesser hands, the movies would have been unwatchable instead of simply enjoyable.

Angela Lansbury in Blue Hawaii.

Gary Merrill and James Gregory in Clambake.

Gale Gordon and William Schallert in Speedway.

Portrayals of Elvis on television also add to the King’s legacy by interpreting, explaining, and depicting certain aspects of his life.

Okay. So you may not remember some of them. But they deserve a second look, if for no other reason than a sense of completion in looking at Elvis’ career.

We’ve all seen the black and white footage of Elvis dancing and singing Jailhouse Rock in the 1957 movie of the same name, a precursor to the dance videos that would appear during the early days of MTV twenty-five years later.

But did you see Elvis and the Colonel, a 1993 tv-movie starring Rob Youngblood as Elvis and Beau Bridges as Colonel Tom Parker, the manager and mastermind behind a highly significant part of Elvis' career?

How about Elvis and the Beauty Queen, a 1981 tv-movie starring Stephanie Zimbalist as the King's girlfriend, Linda Thompson, and Don Johnson as Elvis? Zimbalist and Johnson made terrific contributions to NBC's revival as a television network powerhouse in the 1980's. She starred in Remington Steele and he made pastels fashionable in Miami Vice.

In 1988, Dale Midkiff portrayed Elvis in Elvis and Me, a four-hour miniseries told from wife Priscilla Presley's point of view. It was based on the book of the same name that Priscilla wrote with Sandra Harmon.

In 2005, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers played Elvis in another four-hour miniseries simply titled Elvis.

Michael St. Gerard filled the shoes of a young Elvis when he played the aspiring King of Rock and Roll on the cusp of breaking into the record business. Elvis was an ABC television series that showed the rarely explored early years of Elvis Presley. The show had a brief run in 1990.

St. Gerard's portrayal was not limited to the small screen, however. He played Elvis in a non-speaking role in the 1988 Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire.

But the one that started it all was a two-and-a-half tv-movie that aired on February 11, 1979, just two-and-a-half years after the King's death. Kurt Russell starred in Elvis, a highly anticipated tv-movie. Produced by Dick Clark Productions, Elvis captured the imagination of fans still reeling from the King's death on August 16, 1977. John Carpenter directed Elvis. Coincidentally, Elvis' character in the movie Change of Habit was named John Carpenter.

Kurt Russell actually appeared in one of Elvis' movies. In It Happened at the World's Fair, he kicks Elvis in the shins. But the connection between the two men do not end there. In the movie 3000 Miles to Graceland, Kurt Russell plays an Elvis impersonator.

Finally, the 1980's revival of The Twilight Zone gave a twist on Elvis' life, legacy, and allure. In the episode The Once and Future King, an Elvis fanatic and impersonator named Gary has an agent named Sandra. She tells him that she met Elvis during one of his Las Vegas stints when she was 18. After avoiding an accident, Gary somehow travels back in time and meets Elvis in 1954 Memphis. The meeting happens right before Elvis is supposed to record That's All Right, Mama, also known as That's All Right, his initial record.

Elvis believes that Gary is really Jesse Aron Presley or a reincarnation of him. Jesse was Elvis' twin brother who died at birth. When Gary tells Elvis about That's All Right, Mama and the massive success awaiting him, Elvis is simply not interested. He thinks the music that Gary plays is the devil's music. When argument between Gary and Elvis escalates to a violent level, Elvis dies in the fight.

There's only one way out for Gary. Become Elvis. Gary buries him and assumes his identity.

Confession time occurs at the end of the episode set some time during the early 1970's in Las Vegas. Elvis is talking to a groupie. He reveals that he tried to perform the songs and acting roles as closely as he could remember from the original Elvis.

The groupie is Sandra, Gary's agent in his previous life.

The meeting takes place just as she described earlier with Elvis talking for hours and showing signs of paranoia. Only this time, she met with Gary.

Or was it really Elvis?]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-09-30T17:09:10-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Baa_Baa_Black_Sheep.html#unique-entry-id-78http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Baa_Baa_Black_Sheep.html#unique-entry-id-78by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

After the United States pulled out of the Vietnam War in 1975, a war-weary country looked back to a simpler time for war heroes.

The Flying Misfits was a television pilot based on Baa Baa Black Sheep, the autobiography of World War II Marine pilot ace Greg “Pappy” Boyington.

Bruce Gamble wrote two authoritative books about Boyington and his pilots -- Black Sheep Squadron and Black Sheep One: The Life of Gregory “Pappy” Boyington.

Gamble’s comprehensive research details the story of the real-life heroes of the VMF 214 squadron.

Known as the ‘black sheep,’ these pilots were the champions of the World War II Pacific Theatre.

In one chapter, Gamble nicely explains the genesis of The Flying Misfits and the subsequent television series Baa Baa Black Sheep, also known as Black Sheep Squadron.

Frank Price was the head of Universal Television in 1975.

He commissioned Stephen J. Cannell to write the script for Flying Misfits.

The tv auteur behind The A-Team, Hardcastle & McCormick, and The Rockford Files admitted that he took some pretty good liberties.

NBC aired The Flying Misfits in 1976 and picked up the series loosely based on Boyington and the VMF 214 pilots.

The liberties that Cannell mentioned are evident and sometimes necessary in writing a television series based on real people and real events.

Indeed, the premise of the show seems like The Dirty Dozen meets World War II Marine pilots.

In fact, pilots of VMF 214 were not misfits or screwballs.

They were fine pilots with sharp senses, killer instincts, and rare skills.

Their ability to confront, engage, and defeat the Japanese in the Pacific Theater was a key element to the Allies victory in World War II.

But the creative powers looked at the bigger picture -- the relationships, respect, and regard between Boyington and his men.

In Black Sheep One, Gamble quotes Robert Conrad, the tough guy actor who portrays Boyington.

His feeling about the show was that if the producers wanted to embellish it, if they wanted to Hollywood it, that was fine with him. Poignant moments between the commanding officer and his pilots were important to him. How his character related and played that part. Esprit de corps was very important to him. Anything that was fictionalized didn’t bother Boyington.

Inspired by the success of Charlie’s Angels, Price looked for sex appeal to attract more viewers. Four nurses known as Pappy’s Lambs became fixtures in the show’s later episodes.

Baa Baa Black Sheep left the airwaves in 1978. But the show about masters of the air laid the groundwork for a tremendous television legacy.

John Larroquette plays Lt. Bob Anderson. He later won several Emmys as Assistant District Attorney Dan Fielding on Night Court.

Larry Manetti plays Lt. Bobby Boyle. He later moved to a Hawaii setting as Rick Wright -- friend, confidante, and information feeder to Thomas Magnum, Hawaii’s favorite private investigator, on Magnum, p.i.

And Donald Bellisario, a former Marine Corps sergeant, wrote and produced for Baa Baa Black Sheep. He became one of television’s most successful creators -- Magnum, p.i., JAG, Airwolf, NCIS, and Quantum Leap.

It might not have been true to detail.

It might not have been exact to history.

And it might not always have been recognizable to the actual participants and witnesses.

But Baa Baa Black Sheep deserves recognition as a show that honored the spirit of the Marine Corps.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-09-30T08:14:30-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/My_Favorite_Year.html#unique-entry-id-77http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/My_Favorite_Year.html#unique-entry-id-77by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Everybody has a favorite movie star.

For some of us, our favorite movie star is an everyman, like Tom Hanks or Jimmy Stewart.

For some of us, our favorite movie star is a sex symbol, like Marilyn Monroe or Jennifer Lopez.

For some of us, our favorite movie star is a swashbuckling action hero.

The 1982 movie My Favorite Year pays homage to this popular actor genre.

Set in 1954, My Favorite Year focuses on one week in the life of junior television comedy writer Benjy Stone and his hero, movie star Alan Swann.

Benjy’s assignment -- make sure that Alan Swann is sober, prepared, and ready to be the guest star on Comedy Cavalcade starring Stan “King” Kaiser and airing Saturday nights at 8:00pm on NBC.

Mark Linn-Baker plays Benjy.

Peter O’Toole plays Swann.

And Joe Bologna plays Stan “King” Kaiser.

The movie takes us on a journey through Benjy’s eyes as he balances on the line between being Swann’s worshipper and his chaperone.

It’s a wonderful tale about hero worship, identity, and fame.

On the day of the show, Swann reveals a deep secret to Benjy.

His name is not really Alan Swann. It’s Clarence Duffy.

Alan Swann is a fictional name, created by a Hollywood studio in the 30s, a common practice in those days.

Another secret revealed -- the only reason Swann agreed to do the guest spot on Comedy Cavalcade is to satisfy a debt to the IRS.

Later that day, Swann tries to reach out to his estranged 12-year-old daughter, Tess. But when he arrives at the house in Connecticut, he cannot even bring himself to get out of the car. He instructs his driver, Alfie, to take him back to the city.

In just a few hours, the live broadcast of Comedy Cavalcade will take place. When Swann finds ouit it’s actually a live broadcast with no chance of a second or third take, he ends his quasi-sobriety and begins drinking. Heavily.

Benjy calls his hero’s bluff and tells Swann that he did not even have the courage to see his daughter, so his backing out of the show is not a surprise.

Now Benjy gives instructions to Alfie. Take Swann back to the Waldorf.

Alfie, disgusted with Swann by this point, throws the keys at Swann. It’s a turning point because Alfie has been Swann’s loyal driver and confidante for years whenever Swann comes to New York City.

And now the emotional climax comes when Swann makes his way into the halls of 30 Rockefeller Center and tells Benjy that he’s just a man, life-size, not the hero on the silver screen.

Benjy then screams the lament of any hero worshipper. Don’t tell me you’re life-size. I can’t use you life-size. I need Alan Swanns as big as I can get them. What does it matter if it was an illusion? It worked!

While Benjy and Swann make their way to the studio balcony, King Kaiser has an urgent problem.

He frequently parodies a well-known mob boss, Carl Rojeck. Kaiser’s character of Boss Hijack inspires the rage of the real mob boss. He sends henchmen after King Kaiser in front of a live studio audience and 40 million people watching at home.

A brawl begins on the Boss Hijack set.

Alan Swann then becomes that hero on the silver screen.

Captain from Tortuga.

Defender of the Crown.

The Last Knight of the Round Table.

With improvisation, athleticism, and grace.

Swann grabs a rope, swings down to the stage, and joins King Kaiser in beating up the henchmen.

The studio audience erupts in applause because it all looks planned.

Kaiser grins at Swann and whispers sarcastically before introducing him to the audience, What took you so long?

Already dressed as a swashbuckler for a musketeer sketch later in the show, the scene of Swann swinging down to save the day seems plausible and actually parallels an earlier scene when Benjy shows the writing staff a similar clip from one of Alan Swann’s movies as an introduction to Swann’s work.

Benjy tells us in the closing narration while Swann takes an extended bow that Swann saw his daughter the following day.

The characters and setting of My Favorite Year are very loosely based on fact.

Alan Swann and Errol Flynn.

King Kaiser and Sid Caesar.

Comedy Cavalcade and Your Show of Shows.

Indeed, Your Show of Shows starring Sid Caesar aired Saturday nights at 8:00pm on NBC just like its fictional counterpart.

The writing, producing, and broadcasting of the fictional Comedy Cavalcade and the real Your Show of Shows both take place at NBC’s headquarters, 30 Rockefeller Center or 30 Rock

And there is yet another connection.

Mel Brooks. Yes, that Mel Brooks. He was a writer on Your Show of Shows and his company produced My Favorite Year.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-09-21T12:39:28-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/MASH%20Guest%20Stars.html#unique-entry-id-73http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/MASH%20Guest%20Stars.html#unique-entry-id-73by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

The list of guest stars on M*A*S*H is an entertainment hall of fame list.

From 1972 to 1983, this powerhouse show on CBS boasted actors and actresses who later became fixtures on America’s favorite television shows on the Eye Network.

Joan Van Ark and Knots Landing.

Gregory Harrison and Trapper John, M.D.

Vic Tayback and Alice.

Sorrell Booke and The Dukes of Hazzard.

Linda Kelsey and Lou Grant.

Susan Saint James and Kate and Allie.

Some actors and actresses became fixtures on America’s favorite television shows on other networks.

Ed Flanders and St. Elsewhere.

Ed Begley, Jr. and St. Elsewhere.

Shelley Long and Cheers.

George Wendt and Cheers.

John Ritter and Three’s Company.

Robert Ito and Quincy.

Jack Soo and Barney Miller.

Larry Wilcox and CHiPs.

And some actors and actresses became movie stars.

Laurence Fishburne.

Patrick Swayze.

Teri Garr.

Some guest stars on M*A*S*H played roles that helped peel back the layers of the regular staff of the 4077th.

In the episode The More I See You, Blythe Danner plays Carlye, a nurse and long-lost flame of Hawkeye.

We learned that Hawkeye and Carlye actually lived together.

But timing is everything.

The relationship couldn’t go further because Hawkeye was in residency and work was his priority.

Now assigned to the 4077th, Carlye is married. Hawkeye tries to reignite the flame.

And he succeeds.

Until he gives a rambling monologue about commitment while walking around his tent, a.k.a. the Swamp. Carlye shows him that he cannot have a relationship because he’s literally talked himself into a corner while talking about long-term commitment.

Dennis Dugan appears in two M*A*S*H episodes -- Love and Marriage and Strange Bedfellows.

In Strange Bedfellows, he plays Potter’s son-in-law.

And Potter learns about the son-in-law’s betrayal to his wife, Potter’s daughter. Though angry, Potter reveals that he himself got a little friendlier than he should have with a nurse early in his career.

Ron Howard guest stars in the first episode that showed M*A*S*H could go beyond the antics of draftee doctors to places of deep emotion, pathos, and sobriety.

In the landmark episode Sometimes You Hear the Bullet, Hawkeye’s friend, Tommy Gillis, is researching a book about war.

James Callahan plays Gillis.

He theorizes that a soldier never hears the bullet that kills him. Gillis’ theory directly contrasts the depiction of combat in the movies. He wants to call his book You Never Hear the Bullet.

During his research on the front lines, Gillis gets shot and winds up on Hawkeye’s operating table. Gillis tells Hawkeye that he heard the bullet and dies before Hawkeye can operate.

Meanwhile, an underage soldier named Wendell Peterson is in post-op.

Played by Howard, the 15-year-old Wendell stole his brother Walter’s identity to become a soldier only to impress a girl.

Hawkeye initially tells him that the secret will not be revealed.

But after seeing his friend die, Hawkeye gets a speech from Colonel Henry Blake.

There are certain rules about a war. Rule Number One is ‘Young men die.’ Rule number two is ‘Doctors can’t change Rule Number One.’

Hawkeye’s response is to keep one young man from dying in one war.

He reports Peterson to Major Houlihan, thus saving Peterson from future harm, at least on the battle field.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-09-10T07:12:41-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon.html#unique-entry-id-72http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon.html#unique-entry-id-72by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

In 1994, Ron Howard brought the story of Apollo 13 to the big screen. Directed by Howard and starring Tom Hanks as astronaut Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 is the classic kid stuck in a well story line. Except it takes place in outer space.

Apollo 13 served as the basis for space buff Hanks to further explore NASA's Golden Age in the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.

Co-produced by Hanks, Howard, Michael Bostick, and Brian Grazer, From the Earth to the Moon is a 12-part miniseries detailing the Apollo space program based on the book Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin.

Hanks introduces each episode with a brief monologue.

From the Earth to the Moon won an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries.

It shows the intensity, creativity, and dedication of the Apollo engineers, managers, and astronauts.

It reveals stories that aren't likely known beyond space historians, space buffs, and NASA insiders.

We learn about the improvements in the Apollo spacecraft triggered by the investigation into Apollo 1 fire that killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Ed White.

We learn about the engineers' trial and error that led to the creation of the lunar module used by the astronauts to land on the moon.

We learn about Alan Shepard's comeback from an inner ear problem that grounded him to groundbreaking surgery that allowed him to fly on Apollo 14 in 1971. At the time, he was the oldest astronaut to launch into space. He was 47.

The Greek chorus in From the Earth to the Moon Emmett Seaborne, the news anchor of the fictional National Television Company.

Character actor Lane Smith plays Seaborne, a journalist with deep knowledge about the space program.

From the Earth to the Moon also shows the behind-the-scenes drama of America's heroes.

How did NASA decide who would be the first astronaut to set foot on the moon and how did Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin address that situation between themselves?

What impact did the astronauts' professional lives have on their families.

And how did the astronauts train for subjects beyond flying, for example, geology, to familiarize themselves with moon rocks that could unlock secrets of the universe?

From the Earth to the Moon is a terrific miniseries that intensifies a long faded spotlight and shines it on America's space pioneers.

During a decade of war, assassinations of political leaders, and riots in the streets, the brave men and women involved in America's space program gave something good to America and the world.

Something inspirational.

Something awesome.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-09-03T06:34:22-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Uncle_Milties_Lifetime_Contract.html#unique-entry-id-71http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Uncle_Milties_Lifetime_Contract.html#unique-entry-id-71by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

When did Milton Berle debut as the host and star of Texaco Star Theatre on NBC?

Before.

Before Jackie Gleason introduced Ralph Kramden.

Before Lucille Ball began a 20+ year career on network television sitcoms bearing the shortened version of her name -- Lucy.

Before Phil Silvers showed the art of con artistry as Sergeant Ernie Bilko.

Milton Berle was the first television star. He made his television debut in 1948.

Berle had a rich history in show business prior to 1948. He started at the age of five in silent movies.

Vaudeville, nightclubs, and films followed.

Berle's deep experience as a Master of Ceremonies in nightclubs gave him a nice foundation for keeping the attention of the live audience of Texaco Star Theatre, a variety show.

And Berle dominated America's attention in the infant days of television on Tuesday nights at 8:00pm.

A television soon became a household necessity, not merely a luxury, thanks to Uncle Miltie.

And it replaced radio as the primary medium of entertainment.

With relatively little competition, Berle was a sensation.

So sensational that NBC gave him a lifetime contract.

Signed on May 3, 1951, the exclusive contract bound Berle to NBC for $200,000 per year for thirty years.

Locking America's Uncle Miltie into an exclusive deal showed the confidence that NBC had in its first television personality.

And it showed the confidence that Berle had in NBC.

The glory days of television looked endless with a corresponding limitless reign of its king.

But like all good things, it came to an end.

In 1953, the show changed sponsors.

The Buick-Berle Show a.k.a. The Milton Berle Show aired until 1956.

With increasing competition, Berle could never recapture the wonder of America that he enjoyed as the country's first television superstar.

Because of the exclusive contract with NBC, Berle could not appear on other networks.

And his program offerings diminished.

Jackpot Bowling was one of them.

To expand his possibilities, Berle renegotiated with NBC in 1965 and the exclusive contract became a non-exclusive contract. And the yearly salary of $200,000 became $120,000.

The end date of 1981 stayed.

Berle appeared rather steadily on television as a guest star during the remainder of the contract, including appearances on Here's Lucy, The Joey Bishop Show, The Mod Squad, Batman, Love, American Style, Mannix, and The Love Boat.

But the record will show that his greatest television contribution was his first. So great that he got a 30-year deal.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-08-25T11:52:19-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/George_Clooney.html#unique-entry-id-70http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/George_Clooney.html#unique-entry-id-70by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

For the first time in fifteen years, ER will not be a part of the NBC Thursday night lineup.

When the show aired its last episode in April of 2009, it left a legacy of excellence that network television will be hard pressed to match.

When the show aired its first episode in September of 1994, it nicely filled the 10:00 pm cleanup hitter spot in Thursday night prime time with sheer dominance. ER steamrolled every program that competed.

And a familiar face found his breakout role.

Not yet a star, but on his way.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's, George Clooney's steady work makes his breakout role of pediatrician Doug Ross on ER seem inevitable in retrospect.

He had a nice run as Falconer, a cop and love interest of Sela Ward's character on Sisters -- Teddy.

He was part of the ensemble cast on the short-lived CBS detective show Bodies of Evidence with Lee Horsley of Matt Houston fame.

And in early episodes of Roseanne, he played Booker Brooks, the boss of Roseanne and Jackie.

When we first meet George Clooney as Dr. Doug Ross in the pilot of ER, the setting is Saint Patrick's Day 1994 in Chicago.

And he is drunk with a shift starting in a few hours.

Dr. Mark Greene, Chief Resident and Doug's friend, treats Doug with an IV to sober him.

Beyond a drinking problem, Doug Ross is a womanizer.

He cheats on his girlfriend, Nurse Carol Hathaway, played by Julianna Marguiles.

She attempts suicide in the pilot with a drug overdose. Unclear is the motive, though the fractured relationship with Doug could be a contender.

Also debuting on NBC in September of 1994, Friends immediately captured the hearts and minds of America.

Three commonalities exist between the two shows.

First, a cross-promotion of sorts took place that inaugural year with George Clooney and co-star Noah Wyle guest starring on an episode of Friends as New York City hospital doctors.

Second, besides airing on NBC, Friends and ER had another production factor in common. Warner Brothers produced both shows.

And third, both shows featured a character with similar names. Dr. Mark Greene's daughter was Rachel Greene. She was a recurring character on ER while Jennifer Aniston starred on Friends as Rachel Green.

In 1999, Doug Ross leaves County General in Chicago for Seattle, not knowing that Carol is pregnant by him with twin girls.

The real-life reason was George Clooney's pursuit of a full-time film career after starring in films including One Fine Day and Batman and Robin.

Carol later realizes that Doug is her soul mate and she leaves for Seattle to be with him.

In this pivotal episode, George Clooney makes a cameo at the end, welcoming Carol.

Warner Brothers kept the guest appearance a secret, so NBC was unable to promote it.

Clooney shot the cameo appearance on location in Massachusetts where he was shooting The Perfect Storm.

Clooney and Marguiles reprised their ER roles in an episode towards the end of the series. Still happily married, they were unwittingly involved in the donation of a kidney that went to a former colleague -- Dr. John Carter, played by Noah Wyle.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-08-11T08:02:03-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Underdog.html#unique-entry-id-69http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Underdog.html#unique-entry-id-69by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

There's no need to fear, Underdog is here!

That's the motto of America's Canine Crusader.

With speed of lightning and roar of thunder, Underdog sprung onto the pop culture scene in 1964 on NBC.

He made a lasting impression on the hearts and minds of baby boomers who grew up cheering him in his adventures.

Mega-star Tom Hanks proved Underdog's enduring popularity into the 1990's by recanting the theme song word-for-word on The Rosie O'Donnell Show.

In addition, Friends mentioned the Underdog balloon, a Thanksgiving Day Parade staple. The occasion was a story line focused on the holiday.

And in 2008, Underdog reached the big screen in a live-action feature film of the same name.

Only a year after his television debut, Underdog made his inaugural Thanksgiving Parade appearance with a special showcase following the parade.

In a shrewd cross-promotion, NBC aired the parade from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm Eastern on Thanksgiving Day -- November 25, 1965. A thirty-minute Underdog show followed from 12:00 pm to 12:30 pm. The name of the episode is No Thanksgiving.

No Thanksgiving features Underdog squaring off against Simon Barsinister.

The evil scientist wants to use a time machine to cancel the first and all subsequent Thanksgivings so he can stop the current parade and capture the entire city.

Underdog's name has great appeal because everyone has felt like an underdog at one time or another.

Indeed, character names were descriptive.

Riff Raff is a stogie-smoking bad buy whose name tells us he is nothing more than a common hood.

Simon Barsinister's name certainly sends a message that the character's scientific knowledge will not be used to help society.

Sweet Polly Purebred's name tells us that she is the ideal dog.

The mutual devotion between this rather perky television news reporter and her champion reinforces a romantic match made in doggie heaven.

After all, every hero needs a damsel in distress.

Underdog valiantly fights evildoers, changing immediately from his identity as Shoeshine Boy whenever he saw trouble on the horizon. Each episode put Underdog in a seemingly impossible situation to overcome. But he always emerged the victor.

Shrinking Water -- Simon Barsinister wants to become the biggest man in the world.

Vacuum Gun -- Simon Barsinister captures crooks to build his own criminal army.

Safe Waif -- Underdog's focus is a young boy who gets locked in a bank vault.

Riffraffville -- Underdog fights Riff Raff when the villain leaves the city to take over the west. The story culminates in an old-fashioned showdown in a western town.

From Hopeless to Helpless -- Riff Raff uses an Underdog lookalike to commit crimes.

Tricky Trap By Tap Tap -- A sequel to From Hopeless to Helpless showing what happens to Underdog's lookalike, Tap Tap, when he tries to disguise himself as the Canine Crusader again.

Because Underdog originally appeared during the Space Age of the 1960's, space themes fit naturally in some episodes.

Underdog vs. Overcat -- Underdog fights the toughest alien in the galaxy -- Overcat.

The Flying Sorcerers -- Aliens force Sweet Polly Purebred to bake for them, but she falls into the giant mixer.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-07-28T05:41:35-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Gil_Grissom.html#unique-entry-id-68http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Gil_Grissom.html#unique-entry-id-68by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Two days after Barack Obama took the Oath of Office and became the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2009, another transfer of power took place.

Laurence Fishburne took over the lead role on CSI after a story arc introducing his character -- Dr. Raymond Langston, a former pathologist turned professor.

Las Vegas CSI team leader Gil Grissom met Dr. Langston when he audited one of the professor's classes where a serial killer is interviewed via satellite by students. William Petersen plays Grissom who also has a Ph.D.

Grissom's quest, as always, is to find information that will help him in a current case.

His cover is blown after he shouts a question that Langston immediately recognizes as one that would only be asked by a cop.

During his tenure on CSI, Petersen's depiction of Grissom showed a multi-layered character. Fascinated by people and their motives, psychology, and behavior, Grissom took a pure observer's role in his investigations.

One CSI episode dealt with furry fandom, a lifestyle where people dress up in full-body animal costumes and sometimes engage in sexual behavior.

While team member Catherine Willows thought the lifestyle was disgusting, Grissom looked at it as a scientist observing a subculture.

Grissom also became entranced with Lady Heather, a dominatrix played expertly by Melinda Clarke.

Clarke made several appearances on CSI that led to an ambiguous relationship between the Ph.D. entymologist turned crime solver and the dominatrix.

When Grissom walked through the CSI offices for the last time, he looked at the members of his team doing their jobs. And a smile crossed his face, telling the audience that he'll miss his co-workers but he knows they can move forward without him.

Perhaps the greatest expression of the love the team had for its leader took place as Grissom looked at Catherine Willows and Jim Brass through a window as they discussed a case in a conference room. Paul Guilfoyle plays Brass and Marg Helgenberger plays Catherine.

Played by the ageless, beautiful, and deeply talented Helgenberger, Catherine looks up and sees Grissom. She slowly winks at him and they share a smile that reveals the tremendous love, respect, and friendship linking the two veteran CSI investigators.

In the last scene, we see Grissom's destiny. He's walking through a jungle in Costa Rica with a GPS guiding him.

Grissom finds his way to a camp where he sees his former love and CSI subordinate Sara Sidle, played by Jorja Fox. Their romance initially took place in seasons past.

Fox left the show and returned for a short stint only to leave again.

Grissom and Sara embrace, thereby satisfying fans who wanted this particular case of television romance closed.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-07-21T11:29:13-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Ultimate_TV_Network.html#unique-entry-id-67http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Ultimate_TV_Network.html#unique-entry-id-67by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

If I created the ultimate television network, the prime time program lineup would probably look like this:

On Sunday, I would start with the legends. I Love Lucy at 8:00pm followed by The Jack Benny Program at 8:30pm.

The pairing makes sense since Lucille Ball and Jack Benny were not only show business icons, but also neighbors in real life. They lived next door to each other on North Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills.

Then, we turn to the rural heavyweights. The Andy Griffith Show at 9:00pm and The Beverly Hillbillies at 9:30pm.

Sunday nights should be nice and easy, after all. And what's nicer and easier than our friends in Mayberry and the hillbilly transplants to the land of Rodeo Drive?

At 10:00pm, The Sopranos.

On Monday nights, I would pair The Dick Van Dyke Show and Mary Tyler Moore in the 8 o'clock hour, followed by M*A*S*H and Murphy Brown in the 9 o'clock hour.

At 10:00pm, St. Elsewhere.

Tuesday nights would start with family comedy. The Cosby Show and Family Ties 8:00pm and 8:30pm respectively.

Everybody Loves Raymond at 9:00pm and Two and a Half Men at 9:30pm.

At 10:00pm, Law & Order.

Wednesday nights would start with sophistication.

Frasier at 8:00pm and The Odd Couple at 8:30pm. I'm sure Felix Unger would have enjoyed talking wine, opera, and art with the Crane brothers.

The 9 o'clock hour would consist of You'll Never Get Rich starring Phil Silvers as Sergeant Bilko and The Twilight Zone.

At 10:00pm, Hill Street Blues.

Of course, Thursday nights would truly be Must See TV with Cheers, Taxi, Seinfeld, and Friends followed by ER at 10:00pm.

Friday night would be another family-friendly night, starting with The Brady Bunch at 8:00pm and The Wonder Years at 8:30pm.

At 9:00pm, Friday Night Lights, a depiction of a west Texas town obsessed with high school football.

At 10:00pm, The Wire.

Saturday night begins with cartoons.

The Simpsons at 8:00pm and King of the Hill at 8:30pm.

The Honeymooners at 9:00pm and Curb Your Enthusiasm at 9:30pm.

At 10:00pm, Homicide: Life on the Street, an undervalued, underrated, and underwatched program during its tenure on NBC in the 1990's.

Reasonable minds can differ.

Should Happy Days be in the lineup instead of The Brady Bunch?

What about L.A. Law, thirtysomething, Scrubs, or All in the Family?

What's the standard for making the linuep?

All good questions.

For now, it's merely instinctive.

Programs can be replaced.

Or I can start another network.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-07-17T09:18:35-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Hogans_Heroes_and_Christmas.html#unique-entry-id-66http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Hogans_Heroes_and_Christmas.html#unique-entry-id-66by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

During the month of December, television shows enjoy holiday themes.

The Hollywood Palace was no exception in 1965.

With the Christmas season as a backdrop for one particular episode in December of '65, host Bing Crosby mentions that this time of year means people traveling to see families.

He then references a group of men far from home.

And we see the Allied POW's of Hogan's Heroes climbing down the ladder into their escape tunnel.

Moments later, the soldiers emerge from a huge staircase prop on stage, climb down the staircase, and engage in some light banter with Bing Crosby.

Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane reveals to his comrades in arms that Bing Crosby is the boss, the owner of Hogan's Heroes.

Mere coincidence? Highly unlikely.

Indeed, the crooner was a formidable businessman, owning stakes in real estate, oil wells, the Pittsburgh Pirates, Minute Maid, and a television production company bearing his name.

Debuting in September of 1965, Hogan's Heroes became a rookie hit on CBS, showcasing the fictional exploits of the Allied POW's of Stalag 13 during World War II.

It became a home run for Bing Crosby and a natural tie-in for this installment of The Hollywood Palace.

Soon, Sergeant Schultz arrives on stage. Colonel Klink follows.

The exchange between the Hogan's Heroes cast and Crosby is enjoyable, even topical.

Werner Klemperer, as Klink, mentions that he learned how to drop out because he came to the studio by way of Berkeley.

The cast appears in later segments of the episode.

Shedding their usual dumbkopf images of Klink and Schultz, Werner Klemperer and John Banner perform what might be the highlight of the program -- a somber, sentimental, and gripping rendition of Silent Night in German -- Stille Nacht.

Robert Clary, who played LeBeau, also shows his singing talents with a performance of Le Divine Enfant.

And the cast joins with more songs.

The appearance of the Hogan's Heroes cast on the Christmas episode of The Hollywood Palace in 1965 brings some buzz phrases to mind.

Stunt casting.

Synergy.

Cross-promotion.

But the scheme works because it doesn't overwhelm the audience and it doesn't shy away from the fact of a cross-interest of Mr. Crosby.

Some might say that Bing Crosby used The Hollywood Palace to promote one of his programs.

But that program just happened to be one of the hits of the television season.

Why wouldn't he want the Hogan's Heroes cast to be a part of the Christmas episode of The Hollywood Palace.

Again, the cast appears in more than just the one segment exchanging punch lines with Crosby. It wasn't a self-serving cameo.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-07-15T09:31:18-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Dennis_Franz.html#unique-entry-id-65http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Dennis_Franz.html#unique-entry-id-65by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Dennis Franz stayed with NYPD Blue for its entire 12-year run from 1993 to 2005.

But before his Emmy-winning turn as Detective Andy Sipowicz, Franz starred in some television series that are long gone and perhaps forgotten.

After the critically acclaimed debut of Hill Street Blues in 1981, NBC aired an even more ambitious ensemble program in 1982 -- Chicago Story.

Each episode was 90 minutes in length.

The stories centered on doctors, cops, and the justice system.

Naturally, Franz played a tough Chicago cop -- Officer Joe Gilland.

Chicago Story did not last, perhaps because of the length of each episode and despite an outstanding cast -- Craig T. Nelson, Maud Adams, Vincent Baggetta, Molly Cheek, Kristoffer Tabori, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Richard Lawson.

In 1983, Franz was part of Steven Bochco's attempt at a baseball-themed ensemble drama. Set in fictional Bay City, California, the short-lived Bay City Blues focused on a AA minor league team, the Bluebirds.

Bay City Blues starred Michael Nouri, Ken Olin, Sharon Stone, and Bernie Casey. Franz played pitching coach Angelo Carbone.

In Bochco's more successful 1980's ensemble drama Hill Street Blues, Franz played two roles.

He first guest starred as dirty cop Sal Benedetto in a multi-episode story arc. After Benedetto's story line ended with his suicide, Bochco brought Franz back to Hill Street Station as Detective Norman Buntz.

Buntz' informant was Sid the Snitch, played by another Bay City Blues alumnus, Peter Jurasik.

The pair offered comic relief and gained enough confidence from NBC to star in a spinoff -- Beverly Hills Buntz.

The show lasted a few episodes in 1987 and featured Buntz opening a private investigation agency in the glamorous southern California locale of Beverly Hills.

In 1989, Franz starred in a 2-hour NBC tv-movie entitled Nasty Boys. The theme song was the popular eponymous song of the day.

Nasty Boys featured an elite undercover narcotics squad in Las Vegas led by Franz' Lieutenant Krieger.

In 1990, NBC expanded Nasty Boys into a television series. Benjamin Bratt of Law & Order also starred.

In addition to these starring roles, Franz' resume includes numerous guest spots -- Hunter, Matlock, The A-Team, Riptide, Simon & Simon, Street Hawk, T.J. Hooker.

Dennis Franz' work on NYPD Blue secured his place in the annals of television history.

But his earlier television work ought not be overlooked.

And the aforementioned shows starring Franz have a common thread with NYPD Blue -- the ensemble.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-07-14T14:13:07-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Eddie_Albert.html#unique-entry-id-64http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Eddie_Albert.html#unique-entry-id-64by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

In the 1960's television show Green Acres, Eddie Albert stars as Oliver Wendell Douglas. Oliver is a successful New York City attorney who gives up the lavish life of urban success for the rural challenges associated with owning and operating a farm.

Oliver was constantly frustrated by his lack of control concerning the ineffective, inefficient, and impractical ways of the citizens of his adopted hometown, Hooterville.

In the 1974 movie The Longest Yard, Eddie Albert stars as Rudolph Hazen. Hazen is a ruthless, power-hungry, and morally devoid prison warden who tries to secure his power base by fixing a football game of the prison guards against the prisoners.

Oliver Wendell Douglas directly contrasts Warden Rudolph Hazen.

Where Oliver has no control over the neighbors, protocols, and attitudes in Hooterville, Hazen has complete authoritarian control over the prisoners, rules, and way of life in his prison.

Where Oliver tries to change the status quo to improve Hooterville, Hazen seeks only a reinforcement of the status quo, thereby continually strengthening his power base.

Where Oliver likes being a part of his community, Hazen likes ruling his community.

Hazen's antagonist in The Longest Yard is former pro quarterback Paul Crewe, played by Burt Reynolds.

Crewe is in prison after pushing his girlfriend, taking a joyride in her car, and wreaking roadside havoc.

He also shaved points when he was a pro football quarterback.

Through a deal struck with Hazen, Crewe agrees to throw a football game where the prisoners will play against the guards.

From Hazen's point of view, the action is necessary to preserve his iron-fisted rule.

Albert's portrayal of Hazen was full of cunning, manipulation, and a single purpose -- to maintain his power.

He even went so far as to tell the captain of the guards' team to inflict as much pain as possible on the prisoners.

Oliver Wendell Douglas, on the other hand, continually sees life in Hooterville as an exercise in futility with a complete lack of common sense enjoyed by the people who call Hooterville their home.

Then again, he did his farming in a three-piece suit.

In both roles, Eddie Albert plays authoritative characters.

And even though Green Acres is a terrific example of the fish-out-of-water theme, the denizens of Hooterville accept Mr. Douglas and look kindly on his efforts to be a part of the community, even if they reject his ideas from time to time. But they never reject him as a person.

If Oliver Douglas seeks inclusion in the decision-making process, he does so only for the improvement of the Hooterville community.

Warden Hazen seeks power for power's sake.

One seeks change. One keeps change from happening.

In the hands of Eddie Albert, Oliver Wendell Douglas and Warden Rudolph Hazen are two characters firmly entrenched in popular culture.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-07-14T13:59:03-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_General_Flipped_At_Dawn.html#unique-entry-id-63http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_General_Flipped_At_Dawn.html#unique-entry-id-63by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

M*A*S*H had a terrific roster of guest stars during its eleven-year run on CBS.

Ron Howard.

Laurence Fishburne.

And Harry Morgan, to name just three.

Harry Morgan?

Didn't he play Colonel Potter?

Yes, but he also appeared as a guest star in the third-season episode The General Flipped At Dawn in 1974.

In this episode, Morgan plays General Hamilton Steele, a no-nonsense, Regular Army, military disciplinarian who inspects the 4077th.

Steele quotes great generals to inspire Colonel Blake.

Of course, the quotes are fictional and sometimes ridiculous.

Indeed, General Steele is in his own world.

While reviewing the troops, he tells Father Mulcahy that he'd like to see a shine on the cross that the 4077th's chaplain wears.

And when Klinger comes to the lineup dressed like a woman to convince the general that he's a candidate for a Section 8 discharge, General Steele dismissed him by saying, Not now Marjorie, I'm inspecting the troops.

It leaves Klinger with a terribly confused look on his face. Where Klinger usually gets wisecracks upon being dismissed, the general actually thinks Klinger is someone named Marjorie, perhaps his wife.

The conflict in the episode stems from Steele's order to move the M*A*S*H 4077th unit to a location closer to the front.

You do your best business on Main Street, says Steele.

He also says, MASH means Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and mobile you shall be.

Unfortunately, General Steele needs a helicopter to view the move at the same time that Dr. Hawkeye Pierce needs a helicopter to transport a patient to Tokyo for further medical treatment.

A shouting match leads to Hawkeye telling the general that he's nuts.

And a court martial of Hawkeye ensues with disastrous results for the general after he makes inappropriate comments to the black helicopter pilot during the hearing.

But that doesn't stop General Steele. He gets a promotion.

Teddy Wilson played the helicopter pilot. He reunited with Harry Morgan in 1987 for the short-lived television series You Can't Take It With You.

The General Flipped At Dawn is an interesting episode.

It shows the great range of Harry Morgan.

Where he plays Potter as wise, compassionate, and avuncular, he plays Steele as single-minded -- his way or the highway.

But instead of making him a caricature, Morgan makes him a realistic character unafraid to use his authority, befuddled and clueless though he may be.

For M*A*S*H fans, The General Flipped At Dawn has historical importance because of Morgan's pre-Potter appearance. And it has entertainment value that puts the episode among the most noteworthy M*A*S*H episodes.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-07-02T07:53:56-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Mid-Year_Review.html#unique-entry-id-62http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Mid-Year_Review.html#unique-entry-id-62by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

And so 2009 is officially half-finished.

What kind of half-year has it been?

A half-year of transition.

We saw a transition of power from a republican president to a democratic president -- the first-ever minority to be elected to the highest office in the land.

We saw a transition of power in the coveted Tonight Show host job from Jay Leno to Conan O'Brien.

O'Brien passed the torch at Late Night to Jimmy Fallon.

And we saw a transition of power in the technological sense from antenna television to digital television.

A half-year of controversy.

Controversy was in abundant supply during the first half of '09.

Because of a joke during a monologue about Sarah Palin's daughter getting pregnant by New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez during the Palin's visit to New York City, David Letterman went from television star to hot-button topic.

Although he meant Bristol Palin, the daughter who got pregnant by her then boyfriend Levi Johnston last year, 14-year-old Willow Palin was the daughter accompanying her mom at the Yankee game.

The Palins took action and belittled Letterman.

A clarification of sorts took place a few days later with Letterman showing self-deprecation, humor, and a literal wink at the audience that the controversy was nonsense.

The Palins took action and again belittled Letterman.

But after a weekend of thought, deliberation, and analysis, David Letterman gave a sincere apology the following Monday night.

The Palins accepted Letterman's apology.

We saw Miss California lose her crown because of an honest answer to a politically-charged question.

A half-year of television shows that deserved a longer chance to find an audience.

In Life on Mars, the series finale revealed that Sam Tyler was actually an astronaut on the first manned to Mars. The events he experienced in 1973 were triggered by a meteor shower wreaking havoc with virtual reality program. He was supposed to be a New York City cop in 2008, but the meteor incident caused the virtual reality glitch that sent him to 1973.

We saw The Unusuals, another solid program with depth of characters, unique stories, and realistic relationships set in the fictional 2nd precinct of Manhattan. This show starring Adam Goldberg and Terry Kinney looks like it will not be renewed.

A half-year of veteran sitcoms and dramas setting up story lines that were months, sometimes years in the making.

We saw Michael Scott, inefficient manager extraordinaire, attempt to start a paper company with receptionist Pam and temp Ryan. He sought to compete with Dunder Mifflin, only to have Dunder Mifflin buy the company on The Office.

We saw Barney and Robin reveal their feelings for each other on How I Met Your Mother.

We saw Justin propose to Rebecca and we saw Rebecca say Yes on Brothers and Sisters.

And we saw Michael J. Fox in an Emmy-worthy guest role on Rescue Me as Dwight, the paraplegic, pill-popping boyfriend of Tommy Gavin figurative ex-wife Janet, played by Denis Leary and Andrea Roth respectively.

A half-year of goodbyes.

In the space of a few days, we lost three legends -- an angel, an icon, and a voice. Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and Ed McMahon.

If the second half of '09 is anything like the first half, then fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-26T06:57:20-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Badge_of_Honor.html#unique-entry-id-61http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Badge_of_Honor.html#unique-entry-id-61by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Based on the novel of the same name by James Ellroy, the 1997 movie L.A. Confidential boasts an outstanding cast.

Guy Pearce.

Russell Crowe.

Kevin Spacey.

Kim Basinger.

Danny DeVito.

James Cromwell.

David Straithairn.

But it also has a treat for fans of classic television.

In the setting of 1953, the popular television show of the day is Badge of Honor, a direct nod to Dragnet.

Kevin Spacey's character of Detective Jack Vincennes is Technical Director on the show.

He's a friend of the show's star, Brett Chase. Television veteran Matt McCoy plays Chase. McCoy is probably most recognizable to Seinfeld fans from his guest appearances as Lloyd Braun, childhood rival of George Costanza.

Vincennes clearly enjoys the aura of celebrity.

In an early scene, he's dancing with a girl who is enamored with Jack's glamourous nexus to Brett Chase and the world of television.

Indeed, Vincennes is a Hollywood detective.

Badge of Honor plays a highly significant role in the relationship between Pearce's novice Detective Edmund Exley and the veteran Detective Jack Vincennes.

When Exley has to figure a scheme to rat out certain cops, he convinces the higher-ups to use Vincennes' Badge of Honor job as leverage against him so he'll testify against the bad apples in the department.

He knows Vincennes lives for the glory that the show gives him.

With the police department's threat of disallowing Vincennes' association with Badge of Honor, Vincennes agrees to testify.

Vincennes counters, however, and tells Exley he simply testified against old-timers who were close to retirement anyway. He gets to keep his Badge of Honor job. The bosses are satisfied.

Vincennes plays his Hollywood connections like Yitzhak Perlman plays the violin -- with sheer expertise.

He has an information-sharing arrangement with Sid Hudgens, a sleazy tabloid writer played by Danny DeVito.

Think Louie DePalma of Taxi with a typewriter but with more cunning, deceitfulness, and an absolute lack of morals.

Vincennes gains fame with Hollywood busts of celebrities and Hudgens increases circulation with stories of the same.

Vincennes becomes embroiled in the investigation at the heart of L.A. Confidential.

And later in the movie, we see that Jack Vincennes does a 180-degree turn with his own morals. He fatally pays for his conscience.

In L.A. Confidential, we actually see a snippet of Badge of Honor, the show within a movie. And the famous phrase attributed to its real-life counterpart appears as a clear nod -- Just the facts.

The first incarnation of Dragnet occurred in the same time frame as L.A. Confidential, 1951-1959. ]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-25T18:18:23-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Michael_Jackson.html#unique-entry-id-60http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Michael_Jackson.html#unique-entry-id-60by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

In the 1980's, three revolutions took place in the entertainment industry.

Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll changed a major production techniques of television drama with their show Hill Street Blues. They favored story arcs instead of self-contained episodes. Producers continued that technique with Hall of Fame television dramas -- St. Elsewhere, L.A. Law, thirtysomething, ER, The Shield, The Sopranos, and Rescue Me.

Television networks went the conglomerate route. Loews, GE, and Capital Cities took over Network Row as they incorporated CBS, NBC, and ABC respectively into their massive corporate families. Gone were the days of network chiefs like William Paley, David Sarnoff, and Leonard Goldenson being synonymous with the networks they founded.

And Michael Jackson, for all intents and purposes, made the marriage of music and television complete with his numerous music video plays on MTV. Before he danced on a car and made a mockery of court proceedings concerning child molestation allegations, before he underwent massive plastic surgery that drastically altered his appearance, and before his deep money troubles, Michael Jackson had it all -- fame, money, adoration of fans.

Jackson's 1982 album Thriller gave him terrific fodder for music videos. He defined the genre by creating visual stories to match the songs. He set the bar higher for bands and singers who wanted rotation on MTV. And he formed the center for USA For Africa's We Are the World in 1985 by singing the first chorus. Forty-five singers comprised an inspirational unit to sing this song that raised money for Ethiopian famine sufferers, but Michael Jackson was arguably a keystone to the song's success.

It all happened back in the day described eloquently by Bowling For Soup in its song 1985: Way before Nirvana, there was U2 and Blondie and music still on MTV.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-25T15:50:46-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Heaven_Has_One_More_Angel_Tonight.html#unique-entry-id-59http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Heaven_Has_One_More_Angel_Tonight.html#unique-entry-id-59by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

And so a piece of my childhood is gone.

Farrah Fawcett died today after a battle with cancer.

She may have started her career as an All-American Girl with the 100,000 watt smile, luscious hair, and toothy smile.

She may have gained household name status when Charlie's Angels debuted in 1976 and became an instant hit television show on ABC.

She may have entered sex symbol superstardom because of an iconic pose in a red bathing suit. Posters, t-shirts, and other merchandise with Farrah's famous image belonged to every prepubescent and teenage boy in America. I still have an oversize button.

But she showed us the depths of her acting ability with her portrayals of victims in the 1980's.

In the play and film Extremities, she plays a would-be rape victim who turns the tables on her stalker. In the tv-movie The Burning Bed, based on the non-fiction book by Faith McNulty, she plays an abused Michigan housewife who kills her husband because she burns their house down while he is asleep.

Farrah Fawcett's name, talent, and career courage allowed her to take on roles in highly volatile stories. Her deeply touching, inspiring, and haunting portrayals increased our awareness of issues that would make the toughest among us weep.

Heaven has one more angel tonight.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-25T10:03:50-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_West_Wing.html#unique-entry-id-58http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_West_Wing.html#unique-entry-id-58by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Two presidential candidates.

A moderate, republican United States senator from a western state in his golden years with decades of political experience.

A fortysomething, ethnic, democratic congressman with just a few years on his national political resume.

John McCain and Barack Obama?

No.

Arnold Vinick and Matthew Santos.

The last years of The West Wing gave us a fictional presidential race featuring two television heavyweights. Senator Arnold Vinick from Santa Paula, California, played by Alan Alda. Congressman Matthew Santos from Houston, Texas, played by Jimmy Smits.

In this parallel political universe, Vinick and Santos want to succeed President Jed Bartlet, the liberal, Nobel Prize winning economist from New Hampshire who built a political life -- congressman, governor, President of the United States. Martin Sheen plays Bartlet.

Santos' team enjoyed the leadership of Bartlet's former Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman, played by Bradley Whitford. Josh sees the congressman's incredible political intuition and convinces him not to retire from politics as originally planned.

A novice at presidential campaigns, Santos proves himself to be a quick learner.

But Vinick throws fear into the democratic side, particularly Bartlet's Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, played by John Spencer.

He knows that Vinick has the invaluable ability to connect with voters at the grass-roots level.

Combined with years of political experience, his brand-name quality in politics, and savvy campaign skills, Vinick will be a tough competitor.

For his running mate, Vinick chooses the conservative governor of West Virginia to shore up the conservative base -- Ray Sullivan, played by Brett Cullen.

Santos stays close to home and selects Leo McGarry, a terrific administrator with unparalleled political knowledge, wisdom, and instinct.

The presidential campaign arc of The West Wing features a live debate and a Democratic National Convention with ballots, unlike the scripted infomercials with which we've become familiar.

Santos wins the nomination of his party after a rousing, inspiring, and honest speech to the delegates encouraging them to vote for who the believe will do the best job as president.

John Spencer's death in December of 2005 left a void in The West Wing. The writers constructed a plot line where Leo McGarry dies of a heart attack on Election Night. The device is not a terrific stretch as McGarry had major heart problems in a previous story line.

Santos wins the election. Dialogue indicates the president-elect will replace McGarry with Pennsylvania Governor Eric Baker, a candidate during the democratic presidential primaries, because of Baker's executive experience.

In a show of bipartisan unity, Santos asks Vinick to be Secretary of State because of his strategic thinking and strong relationships with the democratic corps.

The last episode of The West Wing takes place on Inauguration Day. Appropriately, Martin Sheen has the last word in the series. When his wife asks him what he's thinking about, he replies, Tomorrow.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-24T05:14:19-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Late_Night.html#unique-entry-id-57http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Late_Night.html#unique-entry-id-57by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

In the late 1980's and early 1990's, the late night television arena was a free-for-all.

With Johnny Carson leaning toward the exit, Jay Leno and David Letterman battled for the dream job of any comedian -- host of The Tonight Show.

Bill Carter captures the behind-the-scenes action in his excellent book -- The Late Shift.

Arsenio Hall attracted younger viewers when he debuted the first-run syndicated The Arsenio Hall Show in 1989.

With friends including Magic Johnson and Eddie Murphy, Arsenio redefined 'hip' in the era of Vanilla Ice, Milli Vanilli and the first George Bush.

As Jimmy Durante used to say, Everybody wants to get into the act.

CBS attempted to bring a powerhouse game show host into its nighttime galaxy.

Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak got the 11:30 pm job on the Eye Network. He competed with Johnny Carson for a little more than a year from January 1989 to April 1990.

It was a standard talk show format.

Pat Sajak performed a monologue.

Dan Miller was the announcer.

Couch for guests on the left, desk for host on the right.

Miller and Sajak worked together on WSM-TV newscasts in Nashville back in the day.

Tom Scott was the band leader.

Scott was also the band leader for another short-lived offering -- The Chevy Chase Show. It debuted in the Fall of 1993 concurrently with Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Radio DJ Rick Dees gave late night a try on ABC with Into the Night. It debuted in 1990.

Like Sajak, Dees' tenure could be measured in months, Chase's in weeks.

The Arsenio Hall Show ended in 1994 after a five-year run.

During this era, television entered a transition phase with a passing of the baton to the future custodians of late night television.

Why didn't these shows work?

Perhaps Sajak was overexposed because of his daily air time on Wheel of Fortune.

Perhaps Dees simply couldn't compete with Arsenio for the younger viewers.

Perhaps Arsenio Hall got too political during the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots in 1992.

And, of course, the Johnny factor.

America could always revert to Johnny for familiarity, which breeds comfort.

At least the decision makers tried to take on the late night Goliath. In the cases of Dees and Sajak, the networks jumped into the fray. For Arsenio Hall, the strength of a network was absent.

Now, late night is dominated by the next generation -- Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson, and the new eminence grise, David Letterman.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-22T07:34:27-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Love_Boat.html#unique-entry-id-56http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Love_Boat.html#unique-entry-id-56by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

From 1977 to 1986, America went on vacation once a week, beginning with short jaunts to Puerto Vallarta and graduating to longer trips to other ports of call, including Alaska, Australia, and the Panama Canal.

America went on The Love Boat every Saturday night on ABC.

Perhaps we enjoyed the terrific diversity of guest stars.

Old-school actors -- Dana Andrews, Robert Vaughn, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

Current stars -- Kristy McNichol, John Ritter, Loretta Swit, Gene Rayburn.

Perhaps we enjoyed being whisked away via television to sun-soaked places during the frigid, winter months on the Pacific Princess, the setting for The Love Boat.

Perhaps we enjoyed the camaraderie of the crew members who supported, encouraged, and helped passengers through whatever problems arose on each cruise in addition to their own problems. At its base, The Love Boat was a workplace sitcom.

But we cannot overlook the hallmark of the show, perhaps its signature.

The theme song.

Jack Jones sang it for most of the show's run and Dionne Warwick sang it in the final season. Paul Williams and Charles Fox wrote the lyrics and music respectively.

The song set the tone beautifully for the show for three reasons.

First, the lyrics.

They're inviting the viewer to take a trip on The Love Boat with welcoming phrases like Come aboard, we're expecting you and Love won't hurt anymore, it's an open smile on a friendly shore.

The lyrics give the viewer a sense that he or she is taking a virtual vacation that will be safe, warm, and fun.

Second, the music.

It has the sound and feel of a song you might hear in one of the ship's lounge acts.

And third, Jack Jones.

He sings the song with feeling, belief, and enthusiasm. He makes you feel immediately welcome as if you were a real guest on the Pacific Princess.

Though Dionne Warwick sang the theme song in the final season of The Love Boat, the Jones version is the one uniquely associated with our television memory.

Other factors add to the appeal of The Love Boat theme song.

The guest stars that we saw in the animated life preserver at the beginning of the song.

The beautiful video of the Pacific Princess accompanying the song.

And the titles of the characters.

The show introduced the characters as they would on a real cruise -- Your Captain, The Ship's Doctor, Your Yeoman Purser, Your Bartender, Your Cruise Director.

The operative word is Your.

This technique reinforced the theme song's welcoming, safe, and relaxed aura that gave the viewer a sense that he or she is indeed a passenger on the Pacific Princess.

At least for an hour each week.

Anchors aweigh.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-19T09:29:47-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Richie_Brockelman_Private_Eye.html#unique-entry-id-55http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Richie_Brockelman_Private_Eye.html#unique-entry-id-55by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Some television spinoffs do very well.

Frasier.

Laverne & Shirley.

The Jeffersons.

And not so well.

Joey.

Models Inc.

Richie Brockelman, Private Eye.

This show was a spinoff of the popular 1970's show The Rockford Files. Richie Brockelman, Private Eye starred Dennis Dugan in the title role, an eager private investigator in his early 20's.

Well, maybe it wasn't technically a spinoff.

Richie Brockelman, Private Eye aired in 1978 with a half-dozen episodes. The character first appeared, however, in a 1976 tv-movie pilot entitled Richie Brockelman: Missing 24 Hours.

Richie appeared in a guest spot in the 2-hour Rockford Files episode The House on Willis Avenue in 1978 that led to the series.

Although Richie Brockelman, Private Eye only lasted five episodes with the pilot being a sixth, the guest star roster is impressive because of the guest stars' contributions to long-running television shows.

Norman Fell -- Three's Company.

Sharon Gless -- Cagney & Lacey.

Suzanne Pleshette -- The Bob Newhart Show.

Charles Siebert -- Trapper John, M.D.

Caroline McWilliams -- Benson.

Barbara Bosson played Sharon, Richie's secretary. She also played Fay Furillo, ex-wife of Captain Frank Furillo, on Hill Street Blues.

Paired back-to-back with The Rockford Files on Friday nights, Richie Brockelman, Private Eye was a fun show to watch.

Where Jim Rockford had a hard-boiled, weathered, and experienced air about him, Richie Brockelman relied on book smarts, enthusiasm, and persistence to solve cases.

But they did share one highly significant factor in their respective quivers of private eye arrows -- the police contact.

Where Rockford had Becker, Brockelman had Coopersmith. Robert Hogan, one of television's ubiquitous character actors, played Coopersmith.

After the shows cancellation, Richie Brockelman returned to The Rockford Files in the 1979 episode Never Send A Boy King To Do A Man's Job.

Dennis Dugan did terrific work on the short-lived show as the eager, youthful, and optimistic private investigator. He may not be the most remembered actor who played a private eye on television, but his resume is outstanding, particularly as a director of comedy films.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.

Happy Gilmore.

Saving Silverman.

National Security.

Big Daddy.

You Don't Mess With the Zohan.

As for Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, it's long since gone but not forgotten.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-16T09:18:32-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Bad_News_Bears_in_Breaking_Training.html#unique-entry-id-54http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Bad_News_Bears_in_Breaking_Training.html#unique-entry-id-54by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Summer means baseball.

It also means rainouts for baseball games.

When a rainout occurs, you can get your baseball fix with a baseball movie. For those of us who grew up in the 1970's, one movie in particular has just the right amount of fantasy, emotional depth, and baseball.

The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training.

Gentler than its predecessor (The Bad News Bears) and more compelling than its successor (The Bad News Bears Go To Japan), The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training gives the underdogs from the North Valley League in southern California a shot at the Houston Toros. The Toros players are bigger, stronger, and faster.

Where else could the climactic game take place but the Houston Astrodome, the post-modern Eighth Wonder of the World and a popular cultural touchstone?

With Tatum O'Neal and Walter Matthau absent as star pitcher Amanda and Coach Morris Buttermaker respectively, the Bears need a pitcher, a coach, and a way to get to Houston.

Except for Timmy Lupus. The Bears' worst player can't travel with the team because of health reasons -- he broke a leg while skateboarding.

Jimmy Baio plays Carmen Ronzonni, the replacement pitcher.

The Bears employ an almost mute maintenance worker to play the part of the coach. Bears star Kelly Leak teaches him to say some scripted bland sentences because he wants to convince the players' families that a coach will be chaperoning them. They gather at one of the players' homes for the sendoff.

As soon as the families leave, the Bears take a van to Houston with Kelly at the wheel. Jackie Earle Haley plays Kelly.

Along the way, they almost pick up a gorgeous hitchhiker, evade cops on the highway, and motor to a catchy 1970's song called Looking Good, lyrics by Norman Gimbel, music by Craig Safan, sung by James Rolleston.

A subplot reveals itself when Kelly confronts his long-absent father, factory worker Michael Leak. William Devane plays Michael Leak.

Tanner Boyle, the Bears' loudmouth shortstop, writes to Lupus a.k.a. Looper that nobody knew Kelly had a father.

However, earlier in the movie, we learn that Carmen may have prior knowledge of Kelly's secret. The Bears know that Kelly knows a guy in Houston. After one of them inquires further, Carmen says that it's just some guy that Kelly knows. One can infer that Carmen's vagueness is merely a cover for Kelly.

Initially, for appearances sake, Michael agrees to be a figurehead coach. His status soon changes because the Bears realize he can actually help them in their game against the Toros.

The already strained relationship between Kelly and Michael continues to fracture during a tense moment in a practice where father eclipses son as the team leader.

Right before the game at the Astrodome, Tanner gives a locker room speech mirroring the climactic Win One For the Gipper speech in Knute Rockne, All-American. Tanner saw the movie on late night television while the rest of the team slept, except for Kelly who watched the scene quietly in the background.

Tanner's Win One for the Looper speech motivates the Bears.

The four-inning game between the Toros and Bears takes place between the games of a doubleheader at the Astrodome.

Only one problem. The powers that be call the game on account of time.

Real-life Houston Astros Bob Watson and Cesar Cedeno appear in the Bears' dugout and Watson says, Come on, let the kids play!

Inspired, Michael Leak takes the field and shouts, Let them play! Let them play! Soon, Kelly, the rest of the Bears, and the entire Astrodome join the chant. Meanwhile, Tanner refuses to leave the field and continues to evade the two suited gentleman trying to capture him.

Caving into massive crowd pressure, the powers that be resume the game.

Carmen Ronzonni hits an inside the park grand slam to win the game.

Michael and Kelly repair their relationship after the game.

And the Bears have Japan in their sights for their last adventure in the little league trilogy.

The television connections are highly significant in The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training.

William Devane played Greg Sumner for several seasons of the CBS nighttime soap opera Knots Landing.

Pat Corley plays the coach of the Houston Toros. He also played Phil, the favorite bar owner and bartender for the gang from the fictional television news program FYI on Murphy Brown.

Lane Smith plays a sheriff in Breaking Training. He also played The Daily Planet editor Perry White in the 1990's yuppie version of Superman -- Lois and Clark starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher.

CBS aired a short-lived comedy based on the movies. The Bad News Bears starred Jack Warden as Coach Buttermaker. ]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-16T08:17:54-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Cesar_Romero.html#unique-entry-id-53http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Cesar_Romero.html#unique-entry-id-53by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Heath Ledger's chilling, sinister, and violent portrayal of the Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor -- Motion Picture and a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Ledger continued the standard of excellence in portraying the character.

Jack Nicholson owned the role in 1989's Batman.

And Cesar Romero owned it in the 1960's camp version of the Batman franchise on ABC's Batman.

With his maniacal laugh, wide smile, and refusal to shave his mustache, Cesar Romero lit up the screen when he was the Special Guest Villain. White makeup somewhat covered up the mustache, but we could still see it. It added to the character's bizarre qualities.

But Cesar Romero did much more than embody the Joker, the character with the most guest appearances on Batman.

He was a serious dramatic actor with credits forming a terrific body of work, including the movie The Thin Man. He plays a villain opposite William Powell.

And he plays Duke Santos, a highly significant role in the 1960 Rat Pack movie Ocean's 11.

Santos is the fiancé of the mother of Jimmy Foster, played by Peter Lawford.

Santos is also a reformed gangster who figures out that Foster and his buddies pulled a New Year's Eve heist on five Las Vegas casinos. He becomes a thorn in their side as he pledges to the casino owners that he will get the money returned, provided he gets a percentage.

Besides Batman, Romero guest starred on several iconic television programs.

In an episode from the 1960's spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E., he plays the head of U.N.C.L.E.'s rival spy agency T.H.R.U.S.H.

He played Gilberto, Chico's absentee father, in the Chico and the Man episode Chico's Padre.

He also guest starred on The Golden Girls, Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, Magnum p.i., The Love Boat, and Ironside.

In addition, Romero had recurring roles on Alias Smith and Jones and in Disney's Medfield College starring Kurt Russell.

He also played Peter Stavros for a few seasons of the 1980's CBS nighttime soap opera Falcon Crest.

But for baby boomers who saw the original 1960's television show Batman in its initial run and the Generation Xers who saw it in reruns, Romero's defining role is the Dark Knight's greatest villain -- the Joker.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-15T11:17:53-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Odd_Couple_Guest_Stars.html#unique-entry-id-52http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Odd_Couple_Guest_Stars.html#unique-entry-id-52by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

During the broadcast history of The Odd Couple on ABC from 1970-75, we saw many celebrities play themselves interacting with Oscar Madison and Felix Unger, the famous sports writer for The New York Herald and the photographer with portraits a specialty, respectively.

Game show hosts were a constant presence.

Felix and Oscar went on Password and met host Allen Ludden and his wife, Betty White.

Richard Dawson played himself as a talk show host before his iconic role as the host of Family Feud. At the time, Dawson was known for his appearances on Match Game and Masquerade Party.

The consummate deal maker also guest starred on The Odd Couple. No, not a young Donald Trump. Monty Hall, the host of Let's Make A Deal, appeared as Oscar's pal from college. Oscar and Felix tried to win on Let's Make A Deal dressed as a horse.

Tennis great Bobby Riggs played himself and constantly battled old friend Oscar with bets about simple things. For example, Riggs bet that Oscar couldn't type his own name in less than ten seconds. Oscar lost the bet because he typed Oscar Madisoy.

The episode with Riggs captures his rivalry with Billie Jean King, his opponent during the Battle of the Sexes tennis match at the Houston Astrodome on September 20, 1973.

Riggs and King revive the rivalry in a ping-pong match. It's fun to watch because you see how much fun Riggs and King are having.

Bob Hope had a cameo in an episode as did Dick Clark and Wolfman Jack. 1970's child star Rodney Allen Rippy had a cameo as the owner of the building where Felix and Oscar live. His reason for ownership -- tax shelter.

David Steinberg, a wry comedian popular during the 1960's and 1970's, played himself in one episode.

Steinberg evolved into a well-known director of television comedies -- Curb Your Enthusiasm, Designing Women, Mad About You.

No list of guest stars would be complete without Howard Cosell.

Cosell was a natural foil for Oscar Madison in his two guest appearances on the episodes Big Mouth and Your Mother Wears Army Boots.

The sportscaster versus the sports writer story line provided a cross-branding for ABC. Arguably, Cosell was the most recognizable person on ABC in the 1970's. ABC aired The Odd Couple.

In Big Mouth, Felix gives unsolicited advice to Cosell about his nasal twang. Felix believes the source to be similar to the triggers of his allergies or sinus problems.

Cosell confidently responds, That nasal twang is the most identifiable voice in all of broadcasting.

He also calls Felix "an inane drone." When Oscar asks Felix to explain the term, Felix searches for a meaning and says that it's "a dull bee." Oscar agrees.

Roone Arledge appears with Cosell in Your Mother Wears Army Boots, another natural fit as Arledge headed ABC Sports. He later ran ABC News.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-15T10:43:25-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Private_Parts.html#unique-entry-id-51http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Private_Parts.html#unique-entry-id-51by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

The 1997 movie Private Parts, based on Howard Stern's autobiography of the same title, has fairly rich television connections.

The shock jock plays himself in Private Parts. His gang of Robin Quivers, Gary Dell'Abate, Fred Norris, and Jackie Martling also play themselves.

But Private Parts does more than merely take Howard Stern's storybook rise to fame from the page to the silver screen.

The movie features future stars of the small screen.

Mary McCormack plays Alison Stern, the wife of the self-proclaimed King of All Media. She steadfastly supports her husband as he finds his unique broadcasting voice.

In the final years of The West Wing, McCormack played Deputy National Security Advisor Kate Harper.

Currently, she stars in the USA drama In Plain Sight where she plays Deputy US Marshal Mary Shannon. Shannon is responsible for shepherding federal witnesses through the Witness Protection Program in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Allison Janney also shares a West Wing - Private Parts connection.

In Private Parts, she plays Dee Dee, a radio executive.

In The West Wing, she plays Press Secretary extraordinaire C.J. Cregg who later gets promoted to President Bartlet's Chief of Staff.

Kelly Bishop plays Howard Stern's mother in Private Parts.

We also know her as the matriarch on the poignant, successful, and thoughtful mother-daughter drama Gilmore Girls. Bishop played Emily Gilmore -- mother of Lorelai, grandmother of Rory, and wife of Richard.

Film is a director's medium. Private Parts benefits from a television veteran who draws on her experience to create a definite realism in her productions.

Betty Thomas got her big break as Officer (later Sergeant) Lucy Bates on Hill Street Blues, the highly acclaimed 1980's television drama. Thomas directed the HBO tv-movie The Late Shift based on the book of the same title by Bill Carter. The Late Shift recounts the controversy concerning who would ultimately succeed Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show. Thomas has also directed other movies with roots in television -- I Spy, The Brady Bunch Movie.

And lastly, Paul Giamatti.

This fine character actor has starred in American Splendor, Sideways, and Cinderella Man.

In March - April 2008, Giamatti starred in the title role of the HBO miniseries John Adams based on the book of the same title by David McCullough. Giamatti won an Emmy for his portrayal of the unsung founding father.

In Private Parts, Giamatti plays Pig Vomit, Howard Stern's corporate nemesis during his days at WNBC-AM radio in New York City. Stern supplied the moniker.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-09T06:49:18-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/BMOC.html#unique-entry-id-47http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/BMOC.html#unique-entry-id-47by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

A lesson about being thankful for your individuality can be seen in the episode BMOC of The White Shadow.

BMOC is an acronym for Big Man on Campus. The term accurately describes Warren Coolidge, the star center for the Carver High School basketball team, the focus of The White Shadow. This late 1970's, early 1980's show revolves around Coach Ken Reeves, a white ex-NBA player coaching a team composed primarily of minorities.

Because of his height, Coolidge slam dunks the basketball with ease, intimidates opponents, and leads his team to victories.

But Coolidge's greatest asset on the basketball court makes him a target for height jokes off it.

And the jokes start to wear on Coolidge.

Realities add to his frustration. For example, he constantly outgrows new clothes.

Coolidge shares misery with a female student who has an early well-developed build. Her body also makes her a target of jokes and jealousy.

On a trip to the mall with Coach Reeves, played by Ken Howard, Coolidge finds little comfort in Reeves' attempts to soothe his injured feelings.

Reeves tries to explain that he might still be growing. This phase is simply a part of life.

Reeves then calls in a big gun, so to speak.

But even a special appearance by Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell fails to lift Coolidge's spirits. While the rest of the team shoots question after question at Russell, Coolidge nonchalantly leaves the gym.

On the playground, Russell catches up with Coolidge and they play a game of one-on-one.

Coolidge even learns a few moves from the legendary center. He gets the guidance that he would not accept from Reeves.

Essentially, Coolidge finds a kindred, heightened spirit with whom he can share the joys and agonies of towering over people.

Eventually, Coolidge comes to accept his physical difference and the jokes that come along with it.

BMOC has an afterschool special feel to it, but that doesn't reduce the episode's resonance.

The episode stands out from other White Shadow episodes that deal with more topical matters, for example, drug abuse, racism, and child abuse.

The episode ends with teammate Wardell Stone cracking a joke about Coolidge's height. Coolidge takes it in stride.

Byron Stewart plays Coolidge, the affable, clear-headed, sometimes cocky center for Carver High.

BMOC provides a good lesson, especially because it focuses on an athlete, a popular high school figure who has no self-esteem problems. At least that's the popular perception.

Coolidge's cocky exuberance gets taken down a notch or two in BMOC. We see that the seemingly invulnerable have weak spots too.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-06T08:43:17-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/King_of_Comedy.html#unique-entry-id-46http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/King_of_Comedy.html#unique-entry-id-46by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Inevitably, the best laid plans of summer will conflict with Mother Nature. The day at the beach, the picnic, or the softball game will be postponed because of bad weather.

Perfect time to watch a movie on the flat-screen television. I suggest a dark comedy with a television setting.

In the 1981 film King of Comedy, Robert de Niro plays against type. He does a 180-degree turn from his tough-guy roles and plays Rupert Pupkin. Pupkin is a nebbishy, wannabe comedian from New Jersey who idolizes late night talk show host Jerry Langford, played by Jerry Lewis.

Pupkin meets Langford outside the stage door to the Manhattan studio where Langford tapes his show.

Essentially, Rupert Pupkin stalks Jerry Langford.

Pupkin lives with his mother and sets up the basement to look like Langford's talk show set complete with Jerry and guest Liza Minelli. Pupkin pretends to be a guest on the show and talks to the cutouts.

Pupkin also fantasizes about Langford needing a break from the show and asking him to fill in as host for six weeks.

Because he is delusional, Rupert Pupkin believes he shares a connection with Jerry Langford. He even goes to Jerry's house in the country with Rita, a crush from high school. His goal is to impress her. Langford unceremoniously tosses the couple out of the house.

Pupkin partners with fellow autograph hound Marsha to kidnap Jerry Langford and hold him for ransom.

Not for money, but for time.

A few minutes of air time so Rupert Pupkin can introduce himself to America as its next great comedian.

But the audience must stay in the theatre until the taped show is broadcast at 11:30 pm Eastern time. Rupert wants to make sure Rita sees his appearance. Then, he will release Jerry Langford.

The network agrees. Pupkin gets his chance at stardom and an ovation after his appearance.

But Jerry Langford escapes from Marsha anyway.

The epilogue informs us that Rupert Pupkin went to prison because of the kidnapping and wrote a best selling autobiography called King of the Night.

Currently, he is considering several offers upon his release.

Jerry Lewis gives a stellar performance as America's fictional favorite late night talk show host. No funny voices, no funny faces, no funny lines. Just pure acting. You forget that he's Jerry Lewis and you believe he's Jerry Langford. Quite a feat for a comedy icon.

Robert De Niro's performance deserves equal praise. He doesn't merely play Rupert Pupkin. He is Rupert Pupkin.

De Niro performs the stand-up routine that is the basis for the kidnapping. Indeed, it's the climax of the film.

The Jerry Langford Show is a fleshed-out talk show in the film with verisimilitude to give it realism a la The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.

Real life broadcaster Ed Herlihy plays himself as Langford's version of Ed McMahon.

Real life broadcaster Lou Brown plays himself as Langford's version of Doc Severinsen.

And Jerry Lewis plays Jerry Langford complete with monologue and an interview sequence on the show with Rupert Pupkin during a fantasy scene.

On the night that Pupkin performs his monologue, Tony Randall fills in as guest host.

And director Martin Scorsese has a cameo as does his mother. Scorcese plays a behind-the-scenes staffer at the Langford show. His mother plays Pupkin's mother though we only hear her voice when she tells Pupkin to keep quiet in the basement, his base of operations for rehearsing his fantasy that actually becomes reality.

He's played Mafia dons, cops, and overprotective fathers with an espionage resume.

But in this movie, Robert De Niro is the king of comedy.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-05T00:06:14-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Tim_Russert.html#unique-entry-id-45http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Tim_Russert.html#unique-entry-id-45by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Approximately one year has passed since Tim Russert died on June 13, 2008.

And America's Sunday mornings still are not the same.

From 1991 until his death last year, Tim Russert served as the caretaker of NBC's classic jewel, Meet the Press.

He was the everyman.

The favorite uncle who always asks how you're doing.

The neighbor who shares your passion for sports.

The teacher who is truly interested in your ideas.

Tim Russert loved politics and he loved explaining it to us.

Talking with popes, presidents, and prime ministers, Tim Russert never forgot his roots in south Buffalo.

He never let us forget them either, rooting for the Sabres and Bills regularly at the end of Meet the Press.

While other newscasters may come from the Ivy League or work themselves up the ladder from humble beginnings, they often forget about the average Joe.

Tim Russert never forgot about the average Joe.

The son of a sanitation worker, Tim Russert knew, respected, and embraced the working class that comprises the true backbone of America.

Tim Russert let us into his personal world, writing books with a deep appreciation for a father's sacrifice -- Big Russ and Me and Wisdom of Our Fathers.

To say that his passing leaves a void in television news is like saying Babe Ruth could hit a baseball. The words do not even begin to do justice to the reality of the situation.

During the memorial service, we took comfort in Tim Russert's tremendous legacy at NBC News and in his family, primarily his son who gave a thoughtful, inspiring, and deeply touching eulogy. Luke Russert is a tremendously poised, mature, and well-rounded young man who graduated from Boston College last year. The family went to Italy to celebrate Luke's graduation. Tim Russert returned to Washington, D.C. ahead of his wife and son so he could tape his MSNBC show and work on the June 15, 2008 edition of Meet the Press.

Perhaps appropriately, Tim died at work while recording a track for Meet the Press. Luke Russert described the show as "a second child."

At the memorial service, we also saw many colleagues give thanks, condolences, and memories of the political professional turned public personality.

Once a staffer of New York political icons Mario Cuomo and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Tim Russert became a staple of Sunday mornings -- leisurely breakfast, Sunday newspapers, and Meet the Press.

Luke Russert's eulogy encouraged us to think of a Meet the Press special edition in heaven. Maybe Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr will be on for the full hour. Maybe JFK and Barry Goldwater will debate.

During the 2008 presidential election, transition of presidential power, and these early days of the Obama administration, we miss Tim Russert's enthusiasm as we do his affection, acumen, and stability.

If it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press.

But it's still not the same without Tim Russert.

Go Bills!]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-04T08:44:03-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Get_Smart.html#unique-entry-id-44http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Get_Smart.html#unique-entry-id-44by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

For those who missed it by "that much," the 2008 film Get Smart comes to cable television this summer.

Perfect casting -- Steve Carrell as Maxwell Smart, Anne Hathaway as Agent 99, and Alan Arkin as the Chief.

The roots of Get Smart date back four decades when it parodied the spy genre in 1960's television. The show countered more serious offerings -- The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Saint.

Created by comedy giants Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, Get Smart gave America a humorous view of the espionage world.

Don Adams masters the role of Maxwell Smart, a well-meaning, sometimes befuddled, and gadget-dependent spy for C.O.N.T.R.O.L.

Sexy sidekick Barbara Feldon plays Agent 99, always ready to steer Max back on track after a mishap.

Feldon plays a send-up of her spy actress position in the Mad About You episode The Spy Who Loved Me. Feldon's Diane Caldwell is a somewhat airy actress whose high career point was Spy Girl, a 1960's television series.

Once the object of boyhood fantasies for cousins Ira and Paul, she becomes the reality for adult Ira. But one night of fantasy realized with a bubble-headed actress does not go further as Caldwell dispassionately dismisses any thought of a future with Ira.

Edward Platt plays the Chief on Get Smart. The boss of Max and 99 never loses faith in his espionage duo.

Dick Gautier plays Hymie the Robot.

David Ketchum plays Agent 13.

And Bernie Kopell plays Siegfried, a nemesis of Max and Agent 99 from rival agency K.A.O.S.

Get Smart begins each episode with an ominous sounding brass theme and Max pulling up to C.O.N.T.R.O.L. Headquarters in a sports car. Max must go through an elaborate set of doors to get to his ultimate destination, presumably a meeting with the Chief.

Probably the most recognizable props of Get Smart are Max's shoe phone and the constantly malfunctioning Cone of Silence.

Get Smart inspired the 1980 farce The Nude Bomb, a film that sums up the plot in its title. The bomb at the heart of the film has the capability to remove people's clothing.

In 1989, Adams and Feldon returned to their signature roles in Get Smart Again, a tv-movie. Just a few years later in 1995, Get Smart returned as a television series for a post-Cold War incarnation. Andy Dick plays the son of the now long-married spy couple. Max and 99 also have daughter. Like her mother, she does not have a name.

Get Smart holds a tremendous distinction in the annals of television. Its versions have appeared on four major networks.

The original 1960's series first aired on NBC and then switched to CBS. Get Smart Again aired on ABC and the 1995 version of Get Smart aired on FOX.

Echoes of The Brady Bunch.

The original Brady Bunch show aired on ABC as did The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

The Brady Brides, an early 1980's sitcom aired on NBC as did its progenitor the tv-movie The Brady Girls Get Married.

The 1988 tv-movie A Very Brady Christmas aired on CBS. And the more somber drama series The Bradys followed suit a couple of years later.

The 2002 tv-movie The Brady Bunch in the White House aired on FOX.

But these nostalgic icons are not the only shows to achieve the feat of four incarnations on four television networks.

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet aired in the 1950's on CBS, ABC, NBC, and Dumont.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-04T08:22:49-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Recount.html#unique-entry-id-43http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Recount.html#unique-entry-id-43by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

HBO's 2008 tv-movie Recount dramatizes the events surrounding the controversial Florida votes in the 2000 presidential election.

The docudrama faces an enormous challenge because we viewed the real-life drama day after day on 24-hour cable news channels.

Recount takes us behind-the-scenes of the respective Gore and Bush campaigns, showing us the conversations, strategies, and debates that emerged in the post-2000 presidential election confusion concerning Florida's electoral votes.

Tom Wilkinson plays Bush team leader, Bush family friend, and former Secretary of State James Baker, a street-smart, no-nonsense, bottom-line politician.

John Hurt plays his counterpart, Gore team leader Warren Christopher. Christopher was also Secretary of State.

At the center of the controversy is Katherine Harris, Florida's Secretary of State and Co-Chair of the Bush Presidential Campaign in Florida.

Laura Dern plays Harris, a woman who must navigate through the pressures of Republican politics, sudden media attention, and jokes about her hair and makeup.

At the heart of Recount is Kevin Spacey, an acting force on stage, film, and television.

Spacey plays Ron Klain, a Gore insider once aced out of his pole position by an internal campaign competitor in the fast track world of presidential campaign politics. Now, Klain is back in the eye of the storm joined by Michael Whouley, a Democratic operative, genius political analyst, and brother-in-arms. Denis Leary plays Whouley.

Recount may take liberties with the behind-closed-doors conversations, but the subject matter is relevant.

And the factual scenario doesn't change.

Gore did concede to Bush, then called back to retract the concession.

And that's when things pretty much started to transition from a snowball to an avalanche.

Protests.

Lawsuits.

And pundits around the clock on CNN and the relatively fledgling cable news channels MSNBC and FOX News Channel. Both channels debuted in 1996, just four years prior to the Bush-Gore presidential contest.

Recount is somewhat nostalgic. Though the events in the story took place less than ten years ago, the time seems like another era.

Since the 2000 presidential election, we've seen...

...the horror of the September 11, 2001 attacks,

...the war in Iraq,

...new stadiums for the Mets and Yankees,

...Must See TV sitcoms losing exalted status to filmed comedies without a laugh track or studio audience -- My Name Is Earl, The Office,

...the first African-American President of the United States,

...and the last of a Clinton wanting to be President of the United States.

Well, maybe not everything changed.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-04T07:54:18-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Law_and_Order.html#unique-entry-id-42http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Law_and_Order.html#unique-entry-id-42by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Last night, Law & Order completed its 19th season.

The current detectives on NBC's long-running Law & Order came to Manhattan's fictional 27th precinct with rich resumes.

Jeremy Sisto plays Cyrus Lupo. But fans of HBO's Six Feet Under will recognize Sisto as the actor who plays Billy, brother of Brenda and sometimes bane of the existence of Brenda's significant other, Nate.

Sisto brings depth, pain, and reality to Billy, a truly three-dimensional character with three-dimensional mental issues.

He intrigued us and inspired our empathy.

He scared us and inspired our curiosity.

He welcomed us and inspired our interest in the causes, effects, and monitoring of mental illness.

Sisto's film career began with the 1991 film Grand Canyon where he enjoys a stellar cast including Kevin Kline, Mary McDonnell, Steve Martin, Mary-Louise Parker, and Danny Glover.

In the film, Kline and McDonnell play the parents of Sisto's character, Roberto. Inspired by baseball great Roberto Clemente, Kline's character names his son after the Pittsburgh Pirates legend.

Although he plays a relatively small part, Sisto stays pace with the veteran actors/

In addition to Law & Order, Sisto delves into another fictional crime fighting world with its own iconic status.

He voices Bruce Wayne and Batman in the 2008 direct-to-video offering Justice League: The New Frontier.

Anthony Anderson plays Kevin Bernard in Law & Order. Bernard is a recently transferred detective from Internal Affairs. Anderson has big gumshoes to fill as he succeeds Jesse Martin. Martin debuted as Ed Green in Season 10. He left in Season 18.

Martin's Ed Green left the NYPD after Bernard investigated him because of a shooting. At the time, Bernard worked for Internal Affairs.

Although the department dropped the charges, Green left the force rather than fight disciplinary action.

Anderson recently starred in K-Ville where he paired with Cole Hauser. This buddy cop show on FOX was set in New Orleans. It incorporated the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina into the story line.

Anderson also played a significant, recurring role in The Shield -- drug kingpin Antwon Mitchell.

Back in prison after enjoying a brief stay on the outside, Mitchell reinforces his status as a player. Indeed, when the cops from the fictional Farmington section of an unnamed southern California city need a favor on the inside, they must strike a deal with their sometimes nemesis, sometimes ally Antwon Mitchell.

Anderson's comedy roles include a part in Malibu's Most Wanted, a hysterical, perhaps politically incorrect film starring Jaime Kennedy as a wannabe boy from the hood. Ryan O'Neal and Bo Derek play Kennedy's parents.

Anderson's film resume includes King's Ransom, Big Momma's House, and Scary Movie 3.

Additionally, he had a short-lived sitcom on the WB -- All About the Andersons.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-03T00:06:22-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Boston_TV.html#unique-entry-id-41http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Boston_TV.html#unique-entry-id-41by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Boston is a terrific site for television programs.

Where do you go when you want to be where you can see the troubles are all the same and everybody knows your name?

Cheers in Boston -- Cheers.

Where do you go when you want to hire Spenser, the private investigator?

A revamped firehouse turned living quarters in Boston -- Spenser: For Hire.

Where do you go when you need Dr. Marc Craig, an egotistical, egocentric, and egomaniacal heart surgeon who is also a leader in the field of cardiac care?

St. Eligius Hospital in Boston -- St. Elsewhere.

Goodnight Beantown is also set in Boston. This mid-1980's sitcom revolved around a male-female television news anchor team played by Bill Bixby and Mariette Hartley.

Boston Common enjoyed a coveted role on NBC's Thursday night Must See TV lineup in the mid-1990's. The show features stand up comedian Anthony Clark, familiar to fans of Yes, Dear as good-natured, hard-working, and fun-lacking Greg Warner.

Crossing Jordan stars Jill Hennessy of Law & Order fame as a coroner who goes beyond the obvious to solve crimes. The show exists in the same televerse as Las Vegas.

David Kelley's legal trifecta of Ally McBeal, The Practice, and Boston Legal takes place in Kelley's old stomping grounds of Boston. One can trace Kelley's creative roots in the Boston law genre to his 1987 movie From the Hip starring Judd Nelson.

Kelley also created Boston Public, a show about a high school that enjoyed a crossover with The Practice as did Ally McBeal.

George Peppard plays the title role in Banacek, a 1970's show on NBC about an insurance investigator in Boston who receives a percentage of a property's value upon recovering it after a theft.

Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place, later simply named Two Guys and a Girl, centers around...well, the title says it all. Three platonic twentysomething friends share misadventures, advice, and problems, in college and thereafter.

For the younger set, the Disney Channel's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody takes place in the fictional Tipton Hotel in Boston. Twin boys, Zack and Cody, live in a hotel because their mom is the headline singer and the residence is part of the contract.

HBO made a first in 2006 when it aired its first sitcom, the adult-themed, Boston-set Lucky Louie featuring stand up comedian Louis C. K.

Beyond the racy language, adult themes, and spare apartment set lay a working-class basis that parallels All in the Family and The Honeymooners.

Lucky Louie only aired six episodes in the summer of '06.

Boston is the setting for later episodes of Dawson's Creek when the core characters attend college.

And even though we never saw Boston through his eyes, we certainly heard about it from his nostalgic recounts, the Boston revered by Major Charles Emerson Winchester III on M*A*S*H.

Boston is a great sports town.

Boston is a great history town.

And Boston is a great television town.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-02T08:04:54-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Herman_the_Rookie.html#unique-entry-id-39http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Herman_the_Rookie.html#unique-entry-id-39by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Baseball season prompts a look back at guest stars from the national pastime who give a little oomph to a favorite television program.

Don Drysdale on The Brady Bunch.

Henry Aaron on Happy Days.

Willie Mays on The Donna Reed Show.

In 1965, The Munsters used the baseball theme and player-turned-manager-turned-Los Angeles Dodgers executive Leo Durocher for that oomph.

The Dodgers welcomed Durocher back into the fold after he defected to the crosstown Giants when both teams played in New York City -- the Dodgers at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field and the Giants at Manhattan's Polo Grounds.

While talking with reporter Charlie Hodges, Leo the Lip gets knocked on the head by a baseball hit from several blocks away. He discovers that Herman Munster hit the ball.

Eager for a brand-new discovery, Durocher arranges a formal tryout with the Dodgers for Herman. Undoubtedly, Herman's physical strength is the tool that will propel the Dodgers to win the National League pennant and the World Series.

By literally crushing the ball out of the park, Herman could probably single-handedly win every game.

But every asset has a consequent cost or liability. In Herman's case, his asset of strength is the liability.

Wearing #37 for his tryout, Herman takes batting practice. The force of his swing causes a ground ball to literally go under ground and destroy the infield. A home run knocks over the scoreboard.

Durocher exclaims that he doesn't know whether to sign him to the Dodgers or send him to Vietnam!

Herman's dreams of big-league status will not be realized. The Dodgers won't sign him because of financial cost. Salary is not the issue. Walter O'Malley, then the Dodgers owner, would have to spend $75,000 after each game to repair Dodger Stadium.

Baseball fans will enjoy the episode because of the tryout scenes at a practice field.

The episode has a nice tag before the credits when former Los Angeles Rams player and current Rams executive Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch discovers a football kicked from several blocks away, much farther than the length of a football field.

Upon advice from Hodges, Hirsch forgets about identifying the kicker and signing him to the Rams.

Leo Durocher also made a guest appearance on The Beverly Hillbillies where he tried to learn more about Jethro Clampett's pitching prowess. What a combination! Jethro's ability to make the ball dance in the air from the pitching mound and Herman's ability to crush the ball over the fence.

Only in television land.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-06-01T12:32:22-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Seinfeld.html#unique-entry-id-38http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Seinfeld.html#unique-entry-id-38by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Seinfeld left network television on May 14, 1998.

On that date, we said goodbye to Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer.

We said goodbye to puffy shirts, Kramerica Industries, and Newman.

We said goodbye to a timeless comedy that had the powerhouse Must See TV Thursday 9:00 pm time slot (8:00 pm in the Midwest).

Through reruns, DVD, and the Internet, we can relive the adventures of George wanting to be an architect, Kramer creating elaborate business schemes, and Elaine searching for the perfect mate.

The final episode of Seinfeld places the central four characters in the small town of Latham, Massachusetts after a forced emergency landing derails their plane ride to Paris.

They fight charges of breaking a Good Samaritan law by failing to help an overweight victim of a mugging.

Familiar faces from past Seinfeld episodes testify for the district attorney. They attack the character of the comedian, his neurotic friend from childhood, his girlfriend turned platonic friend, and his hipster doofus neighbor.

Bookman. The library cop who tracked Jerry down after twenty years for not returning a Henry James book to the New York Public Library.

George Steinbrenner. New York Yankees owner and George Costanza's boss.

Arthur Vandelay. Yes, George's favorite moniker of "Art Vandelay" actually belongs to the judge presiding over the case.

Naturally, the Jackie Chiles character inspired by famed attorney Johnnie Cochran provides the legal defense. Phil Morris inimitably plays Jackie Chiles.

The episode ends with the four characters going to prison. The episode tag shows Jerry doing standup comedy for his new prison friends. It's a nod to the Seinfeld episode structure that showed Jerry performing at a nightclub with the jokes relating to the episode story. In later years, Seinfeld dropped the tag from the episodes.

In the end, the show about nothing gave its characters a comeuppance because they did nothing.

Self-absorbed?

Sure.

Egotistical?

You bet.

Selfish?

Affirmative.

But what would life be like for the gang in prison? Would things be any different?

Would George continue to come up with schemes, perhaps to outsmart security and smuggle in food?

Would Elaine continue on her quest to find true love, perhaps with the warden or another female prisoner if she "switches teams?"

Would Kramer continue his wild entrances, perhaps into Jerry's cell?

Would Jerry continue his observations of the mundane and translate them into the hysterical?

For example, what is the deal with prison food?]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-05-31T19:44:35-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Homicide_Life_Everlasting.html#unique-entry-id-37http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Homicide_Life_Everlasting.html#unique-entry-id-37by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

After Homicide: Life on the Street ended its seven-year run on NBC from 1993-1999, a final story came in the form of a tv-movie in 2000.

Homicide: Life Everlasting used the assassination of Lieutenant Al Giardello as the main plot point.

Giardello runs for Mayor of Baltimore with a platform hinging on a drug legalization strategy. Apparently, his days in the homicide squad convince him that legalizing drugs will decrease murders. During a campaign stop, Giardello is assassinated.

His subordinates rise to the occasion. Their loyalty for "G" is so deep that they return to find the shooter even though they have moved on to other careers and jobs.

Appropriately, Detectives Tim Bayliss and Frank Pembleton track down the shooter. The two were clear opposites during the run of Homicide.

Pembleton betrayed little, if any, emotion.

Bayliss strove for a deeper relationship with his colleagues.

Pembleton saw meaning in the work.

Bayliss sought a Zen philosophy for deeper meaning.

Pembleton was a pure detective. Natural police.

Bayliss came from the mayor's security detail.

If Homicide had a center, it was this odd couple relationship of Bayliss and Pembleton. Homicide was a true ensemble show, however. In Homicide: Life Everlasting, we saw again the characters we enjoyed throughout the show's run.

Still, the teamwork of Pembleton and Bayliss allows for an exchange framed by the picturesque Baltimore skyline at night.

Bayliss confesses to Pembleton that he murdered a criminal. The investigation is still open.

Despite Bayliss' pleadings, Pembleton refuses to arrest him. Now a teacher, Pembleton does not even have the authority to arrest. But that's a minor point. He simply refuses.

Ultimately, Bayliss hands his badge to Pembleton. Did he resign or turn himself in? The choice is up to the viewer.

After this exchange, Pembleton offers his condolences to Giardello's son, Michael, in what used to be Giardello's office.

Pembleton: Death goes on and on and on.

Giardello: And that's because life goes on and on.

As Michael Giardello and Pembleton leave the squad room, Al Giardello enters and encounters two detectives who are dead -- Crosetti and Felton.

They're playing cards and they invite G to sit down. The scene marks G's official transition into the afterlife.

And another homicide on the board goes from red to black.
]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-05-30T21:25:02-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Leno_Legacy.html#unique-entry-id-36http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/The_Leno_Legacy.html#unique-entry-id-36by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

In what might be the classiest act in television history, Jay Leno explained the legacy of his tenure at The Tonight Show last night in the final moments of his last show.

He reminded us that the first Tonight Show staff baby born during his reign as host occurred just weeks into his tenure in May 1992. Trombone player Matt Fenders and his wife Terry had a baby girl named Hannah. Leno brought the 17-year-old girl on stage and she gave him cookies. He revealed that she has baked him cookies since she was four years old.

Then, Leno recounted several marriages that occurred between staff members. And he proudly raised the curtain to show all the children born to those Tonight Show marriages -- 68 children in total.

Leno proudly declared the marriages and children to be his legacy. He beamed as he said that when the kids ask how their parents met, the answer will be, They met on the stage of The Tonight Show.

You can add grace, class, and integrity to Mr. Leno's legacy.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-05-29T23:03:28-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Television_Cartoon_Shows.html#unique-entry-id-35http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Television_Cartoon_Shows.html#unique-entry-id-35by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Who was the voice of Harry Boyle, the father in Wait Til Your Father Gets Home?

When did The Jetsons initially air?

What was the name of the prime time cartoon series that Steven Bochco produced?

The answers to these and just about any other cartoon questions can be found in Hal Erickson's 1995 book -- Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 through 1993.

Erickson provides painstaking detail on the genre.

From Abbott & Costello to Zorro, it's all here.

From the well-known to the obscure.

The Funky Phantom.

Speed Buggy.

Frankenstein, Jr. and the Impossibles.

The Smurfs.

Super Friends.

Josie and the Pussycats.

The Pac-Man Show.

Inspector Gadget.

The Gary Coleman Show.

Erickson goes beyond titles and dates. He gives a thorough background on each program.

The history, genesis, and syndication information is detailed, where available. Fans, collectors, and historians will be in their glory.

Beyond the detail of individual shows, Erickson takes a true historian's look at the genre with its roots dating back to the 1920's debuts of Mickey Mouse and Felix the Cat.

For nearly fifty pages, Erickson tracks the evolution of cartoons and television.

Erickson matches his information with opinions and sets out a caveat in his introduction.

As much as I had intended an impersonal, scholarly work, I confess that my opinions run rampant throughout the book.

Erickson also warns against the inevitable television vs. film debate.

The first rule I learned was not to condemn television animation outright simply because it is not up to the standards of theatrical cartoons. Plagued as they are by attenuated budgets, precious little production time, and the added creative handicaps imposed by sponsors and network censors, it is miraculous that the makers of television cartoons can get anything done at all, either good or bad.

By the way, the answers to the questions that started this commentary:

Tom Bosley. 1962-63 television season. Capitol Critters.]]>david@davidkrell.comNone2009-05-29T11:27:32-04:00http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Heeeeres_Conan.html#unique-entry-id-34http://www.televisionarchives.com/blog_files/Heeeeres_Conan.html#unique-entry-id-34by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com

Tonight is Jay Leno's last night as host of The Tonight Show.

Leno enjoyed great success because of his immense dedication to the craft of comedy, a Must See TV lineup lead-in with powerhouses Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU