Randy West is a highly regarded, very talented voice over artist who has announced a cavalcade of game shows, awards shows and the like. He is also a frequent “warm-up” man, welcoming studio audiences and getting them in the mood to laugh and have a good time. I became most familiar with Randy West through … Continue reading On The Bookshelf: “TV Inside-Out”
I’ve been thinking a lot about my friend who rents a small place in the basement of KCOW, the enterprising weirdsmobile himself, Bob S. Bestos. Bob has been making regular appearances on my morning program again after a long sabbatical in Antarctica. And I have been coercing otherwise sensible people into taping cameo guest appearances … Continue reading Crazy, Bob, Rowlf and The 2000-Year Old Man
Nobody does classic TV on DVD like MPI Home Video. My library is thick with their releases of “The Jackie Gleason Show”, “Here’s Lucy”, “The Mothers-In-Law”, Perry Como specials, Doris Day specials, all kinds of goodies. Their latest release is a genuine rarity, with MPI’s usual outstanding array of bonus features. In Spring of 1965, … Continue reading DVD Review: “Marineland Carnival” and Other “Munsters” Rarities
MPI Home Video is my favorite company where DVDs are concerned. They get that designation by default for releasing not one, not two, but three different Perry Como television shows. (I’d hope for more but that seems piggish, considering that I can’t imagine a combined sales figure of more than 27 copies for the three.) … Continue reading How Sweet It Is!
This is one of my favorite random “SImpsons” bits: Of course, the actual “very late Three Stooges” shorts…the final batch produced at Columbia Pictures in 1955 and 1956, featured Larry, Moe, and Joe Besser. I just finished a pretty lengthy autobiography that, in its initial printing in the early 80s was called “Not Just A … Continue reading On The Bookshelf: The Joe Besser Story, Available in Hardcover and “Not So Ha-a-a-rd” Cover
Starting to put a dent in my “unread books” pile. If Facebook memes are to be believed, I am far from alone in the habit of gathering books faster than I can read them. But I do like to read them…sometimes it just takes a while. “Yabba Dabba Doo! …or Never A Star” is about … Continue reading On The Bookshelf: Reed and Brooks
Fred Flintstone was created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and Alan Reed. Bill and Joe, after seeing large adult audiences for kid-focused syndicated series like “The Huckleberry Hound Show”, decided to try an animated series for adults. They went through all sorts of different historical eras (one of them, ancient Rome, was launched a … Continue reading Alan And Henry (Or: The Two Faces Of Fred)
The first time I saw “The Abbott And Costello Show” was on “The STM Club”, a local kiddie TV show in Syracuse, NY. (The TV station was WSTM, hence the title.) The headliner of the club was Scooby-Doo, and A&C filled most of the second half of the hour. The show was run from grubby, … Continue reading “Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Abboooooooott!”
This is an extremely, weirdly specific article. This weekend has got me thinking about real world adult-type problems, so I’m giving myself a distraction. So ever since the 1950s, prime-time network series would look to a certain goal: Be popular and stay high in the ratings long enough to make 100 episodes or thereabouts. With … Continue reading Wentyworld (Syndication Title: Jason Wentworth, Family Blogger)
Boy, that Charles Dickens didn’t a have a clue what he had unleashed upon the world. There have been, oh, let’s say, 487, 211 film and television adaptations of “A Christmas Carol.” Here are 5 I like. Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol If artistic and musical quality were the only qualifiers, “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol” would … Continue reading Wenty’s Top Christmas Specials Volume 2 (“Whoops! All Christmas Carols” Edition)
