Every decent-hearted American is familiar with the work of Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, better known as… If you’re above a certain age, do not feel shame for playing this over and over a few times. It’s right up there with the legendary “A CBS Special Presentation” animation in that regard. It would be … Continue reading “The Mouse On The Mayflower”: Rankin-Bass Does Thanksgiving
Time for another installment of our series presenting historic television broadcasts as they originally aired, with commercials, station IDs and the like. As always, we’ll put the full video up top if you want to take a gander, and below that will be select screen shots and historic type commentary. It’s January 31, 1968. The … Continue reading W/O/C: “Viet Cong Terror: A Guerrilla Offensive”
A broadcaster who was well-loved by KCOW listeners for years has died. From Dateline Hollywood: Don Kennedy, star of the long-running WSB-TV children’s show “Officer Don and The Popeye Club,” has died at 93. Kennedy died from complications of dementia following a stroke in 2015, his daughter, Rebecca Maple, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Officer Don … Continue reading Remembering Don Kennedy
How was your Sunday? Mine was unusual, in that I was at the office all day. You see, there was a city-wide power outage scheduled for 1:00pm May 21st here in Alliance. We were told for weeks on end that on this date, at 1:00pm, everybody in the city would be sitting in the dark. … Continue reading Grape-Nuts, The Discordant Danny Thomas, and City-Wide Power Outish
You know what the nice thing is about having a blog? It’s there to scratch your itch, as far as writing goes. You can write about whatever you want, for as long as you want. I, for example, decided to do detailed write-ups of every multi-part episode of “Happy Days.” Was anybody asking for that? … Continue reading Three Love Letters To Jack Benny
My Facebook friend Professor Steve Beverly posted his answers to a survey about classic television. The only restriction is that television series referenced in survey answers must have aired for two seasons or more. The Prof gave simple one-line answers for his Facebook post; since I’m bloggin’ it, I shall offer commentary where it seems … Continue reading Classic TV Picks
This is a continuation of my first article regarding the one-hour Jack Benny comedy specials which aired on NBC from 1965 through 1974. These are not to be confused with the many specials Jack did when his regular series aired on CBS (1950-1964). Nor should they be confused with posthumous tribute specials. Clear as mud? … Continue reading “Now That I Don’t Understand At All”: The Jack Benny Specials Part Two
I’m a Jack Benny nut. He’s my favorite dead comedian, and that’s saying something considering Johnny Carson is no longer with us! But Johnny himself would bow to the greatness of Benny, and was not shy about using some of Benny’s takes and reactions on his “Tonight Show”. Though not quite as obviously as this: … Continue reading “It’s An Hour Show!”: The Jack Benny Specials Part One
Before we begin, allow me to put on my “I appreciate The Muppets on a much deeper level than you” T-shirt. I am, as many of you already know, an absolute Muppet freak. And Christmastime is a bonanza of Muppet awesomeness. There’s “Emmett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas”, a show that manages to be a Christmas … Continue reading W/O/C: “A Muppet Family Christmas”
So, Rolling Stone did an article listing, in their editors’ opinions, the 100 Greatest TV Theme Songs Of All Times. Two notes before moving further: One, these lists are generally designed to spark debate and conversation about what was included, what was not, what shoulda been, etc. So I am but a cog in the … Continue reading Ten TV Theme Songs “Rolling Stone” Missed
