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STUFF Just recently we lost three classic TV stars. Kevin S. Butler notes: Radio / TV announcer Dick Tufeld was the announcer on "Voyage To The Bottom Of the Sea" (ABC TV series) and "The Hollywood Palace", he died at his home in Southern California. Mr. Tufeld was best remembered as the voice of "The Robot" on Lost in Space. We also lost actor Robert Hegyes at his home in Metchuchen, New Jersey, he succumbed to a heart attack. Mr. Hegyes was know for his portrayals as Sweathog Juan Epstein on "Welcome Back Kotter" and one of the police detectives on "Cagey & Lacey". Mr. Hegyes made his last TV appearance with Gabe Kaplan and most of the cast members of "Welcome Back Kotter" on "The TV Land Awards" last year which was pre-taped in NYC and broadcast in April, 2011. A day later it was announced that James Farentino had passed as well, he was one of TV's most prolific supporting players and he had many starring roles as well. Lovers of 1950s TVshows that were popular in syndication in the 1960s - Hulu has the first seasons online free of Highway Patrol, Sea Hunt, The Cisco Kid, Roy Rogers Show, The Buccaneers, and more. The Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention has their confirmed (so far) guest list posted at MidAtlanticNostalgiaConvention.com Friday, February 3, 2011 - 8:37am
FUN! Here's the interview: I brought along my friend Susan Grant, she told me Frank Stasio made her the best cup of coffee she's ever had. He is really cool, knowledgeable and prepared. Prepared is unusual these days, Maria & Linda, the Alberici Sisters, did a TV interview in Las Vegas and I swear the bobblehead that interviewed them had never heard of Dean Martin and maybe barely heard of Frank Sinatra! This was Las Vegas! Neville A Ross has some thoughts on General Hospital's inevitable demise: Mostly because the American soaps are shit-they tell the same unreal stories with the same unreal characters every fracking year, and then some. I believe that if American companies were to make soaps like Coronation Street, Emmerdale, and EastEnders, they would flourish, but the producers, writers, and directors seem to be trapped in the past, and can only deal with people that are super pretty and rich (The Young & The Restless, the Bold & The Beautiful) or with pretty people as real persons (General Hospital and a ton of others). There's no attempt to deal with the real world except in a superficial way on these programs, and I think that because of that, people are starting to tune out and not watch (in Canada where I am, most people I know watch Coronation Street, which airs on CBC each weekday night with a super-repeat on Sunday morning) not only because people work all of the time and nobody's in the house, but because, but because people are aging out of soaps and the soaps that are on are as I've said above. If the American soap producers are to get the genre on its feet again, they have to start doing soaps like these (and I don't mean pseudo-realistic swill like Ryan's Hope either.) That will have to be the minimum if at all. Thanks so much for the comments Neville – so true! I loved watching EastEnders when I was living in London. It seemed like the entire country watched those shows and I was genuinely surprised how much I missed it. Our local PBS station was running two episodes on Saturday nights but they were years behind the then-current storyline. Thursday, January 26, 2011 - 8:37am
THIS STUFF Thanks to Jay Blotcher for this: Ever wonder why so many classic TV shows disappeared without a trace? Here's the log for one 2” quad videotape from NBC. The log is three pages long, this video cartridge was taped over and over again from 1960 until 1971, each time erasing what was on there before. This was very common at local stations, it's why you won't likely find your day on Romper Room. From The Carol Burnett Show - Mr. Tudball and Mrs. Wiggins. You can't see Harvey Korman and Tim Conway together on stage but the wonderful Chuck McCann performs with Tim quite often and I understand the show is hilarious!
Two and a Half Men is still CBS' biggest show but ratings are down this year. Watching the last two episodes that came after a short December hiatus I wondered if the network gave the producers notes that included - up the sex talk and more fart jokes. On last week's episode Ashton Kutcher shaved his beard. Now I know why he grew a beard in the first place. His face filled out in an unfortunate way since That '70s Show. Paula Dean was teaching people to make food that could give them Diabetes. Then she announces she has Diabetes. Then inks a deal to promote Diabetes drugs for millions of dollars. Kids, THAT'S business plan! It's looking inevitable that General Hospital will go the way of its sister soaps. Ratings are down 21%, the network has to give up an hour in the afternoon to its affiliates soon, and Katie Couric has a new show on ABC that the network is heavily invested in. Monday, January 23, 2011 - 4:56am THE TWO MRS. ____ There are classic TV shows that we are all familiar with wherein key supporting cast members were replaced with another actor and you may not have noticed.
Sandra Gould assumed the role of Gladys Kravitz beginning season three and she did a good job of keeping that one joke going for years past its sell by date - but I missed the nails-on-chalkboard raspiness that Alice Pearce's voice possessed.
On the same series Louise Tate, wife of Darrin's boss Larry, was also replaced after season two. Lofty, catty Irene Vernon originated the role before a more sedate Kasey Rogers took over. Vernon was pressured to leave the series after her friend, writer Danny Arnold (who, in many estimations, made the series what it was), left on acrimonious terms after year one.
Sharp viewers may have done a double take with two new cast members on Bewitched playing familiar roles - but then the 1966-67 season was the first year in color. That was a huge change in and of itself. GREEN ACRES: Another key supporting character played by two actors on a popular sitcom of the day was Mrs. Ziffel from Green Acres.
Thursday, January 12, 2011 - 8:34am
THAT'S SURPRISING!
James H. Burns has a cool article - Growing Up With Flash Gordon (And A Tribute To Al Williamson). I continue to be amazed at the late Al Williamson's work in the Creepy Archives hardback reprints of the 1960s Warren horror comic magazines. As a kid Al Williamson and Archie Goodwin were heroes in my eyes. I watched Showtime's House of Lies but didn't find much of anything to like about it - except the phenomenal cast that is totally wasted. Tuesday, January 10, 2011 - 8:31am REMEMBERING SUSAN GORDON Former kid star and current worldwide Jetsetter John Eimen writes about a sad passing: On a sad note, I found out yesterday that Susan Gordon died. She was a really good kid actress and we'd been in touch a couple of years ago via e-mail. As it turned out, we both lived in Japan for over ten years, so we shared a few stories about that aspect of our lives as well as the kid-actor stuff. We both had a very positive feeling about our years in TV. Susan Gordon certainly was a wonderful actress, quite effective at tugging the heart strings so she played a lot of orphans and misfits. The again, she also played the bratty kid superbly, as she did on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ('The Paragon'). You may have seen her in the 1950's TV adaptation of Miracle on 34th Street starring Ed Wynn or another Alfred Hitchcock Presents ('Summer Shade') or Gunsmoke ('Little Girl'), The Twilight Zone ('The Fugitive') or any of her many TV appearances in the days of Black & White. She even appeared with John Eimen when he was starring in the 1962-63 sitcom McKeever and the Colonel ('Love Comes To Westfield'). Here's that Gunsmoke episode, when the series was a half-hour long:
Before that episode of Gunsmoke Susan starred in a very unusual pilot in 1959 - unusual in that the series didn't get picked up for another decade. The Secret Life of John Monroe was based on the writings of James Thurber. Almost the exact concept was picked up by NBC in 1969 and titled My World and Welcome To It with William Windom starring as John Monroe. Monday, January 9, 2011 - 8:31am
OFF SUBJECT In the mid-1970s it became very popular to take an old song and give it a Disco arrangement. Strangers in the Night and just about every other standard from decades past was twisting polyestered bodies on the world's dance floors. It got to be absurd listening to the latest dance remake of the week but Disco was the one music that cut across every world-wide cultural divide at the time. You could hear the same dance music in New York, Monte Carlo, London, Egypt or Paris. One of those Disco purveyors was Walter Murphy. In 1976 he had a massive hit with a Disco version of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, of all things. Massive hit. Like most who charted in the mid-1970s Walter Murphy was basically a one hit wonder but I really enjoyed his 1978 concept LP entitled 'Phantom of the Opera'. It's hardly the perfect album, there are a good many misfires, but I've kept it through all my moves and break it out every year or so as a reminder of what I liked about that era's music. Five singles were released from this project and all failed to chart which was a shame because a few of the tunes were really strong and lingered with me for years. One was 'The Music Will Not End,' a retooling of Mozart's Piano Sonata Number 3 with added lyrics. I suppose it's kinda hokey but it had an invincible pop construct with a soaring vocal by B.G. Gibson.
Friday, January 6, 2011 - 7:58am
AROUND THE DIAL Speaking of gasbgs, Donald Trump is threatening to do something radical if the Republicans pick the wrong nominee. Let me guess - he'll start a TV contest for the next great world leader and it will be decided by who comes up with the best ad campaign for Trump's next book. Finally a new big 4 network show that's loads of fun to watch - Revenge on ABC. I was thrilled to see one of my favorites, CCH Pounder, turn up in episode 7. You can still watch the entire series on HULU until after January 5th. Ratings for FX and History channels are up almost 20% this season. Teen Nick, ESPN2 and G4 are down this year. When a commercial has someone say, "It's unbelievable" they really are telling you that you can't trust what you just saw. Could you identify a victim in a cold case murder victim? In some cities, like Las Vegas, photos of corpses are being posted online in hopes of solving some baffling mysteries. Paramount was the number one movie studio in 2011 with a reach of over 5 billion in sales. Did you know the season 4 volume 2 edition of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea has the first episode as broadcast on ABC in 1964, with original commercials? The episode is kinda hamfisted but exciting with some spectacular underwater scenes. Nothing like the monster-of-the-week-aboard-the-Seaview it became. Snoop Dogg, a longtime fan of the show, was a guest star on The Price Is Right on Monday. Check out how he made his entrance, cool as usual. He aced all the games but one. There will be celebrities on TPIR all week, yesterday was Jennie McCarthy, today Neil Patrick Harris, Chris Daughtry on Thursday and Heidi Klum on Friday. They have a new announcer on TPIR? I liked the last guy, Rich Feilds.
Wednesday, January 4, 2011 - 4:18am
ITEMS OF INTEREST Lounge singer and Rat Pack adjunct Kaye Stevens has died. Besides a career in nightclubs and Vegas she also appeared on "Days of Our Lives" as Jeri Clayton from 1974-79. Fascinating review on Fresh Air of two books about the Chitlin' Circuit. You'll learn the origin of the song 'Fever.' I have a new web blog - NewsRegurgitator.com where I pull quick news bites and quotes from sources around the world so you can have an easily digestible review of what people are talking about - the stuff they DON'T talk about on TV and radio. Spend 2 minutes a day and be more informed and have stuff to talk about over that mythical water cooler. I also host another TV blog at BestofTVblog.com where I collect news and other bits of interest to television lovers. Right now there's a list of returning TV shows in January, and there are a bunch of them, along with info on how you can own a 1966 Batmobile. Friday, December 30, 2011 - 6:28am NOW THAT'S NEWS Cheeta from the Tarzan movies has died - or did he? Reportedly Cheeta was “roughly 80 years old, loved fingerpainting and football and was soothed by nondenominational Christian music.” However experts are questioning the story, doubting a chimp can live that long for one thing so it looks like a hoax. But the animal habitat where Cheeta lived stands by their story. Donna Douglas, who played Elly May Clampett on the "The Beverly Hillbillies," sued Mattel and CBS Consumer Products and they've settled for an undiclosed sum. Ms. Douglas claimed the companies didn't get her approval to use her name and likeness for a Barbie doll. Thursday, December 29, 2011 - 8:43am Read
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Of course, the story of the two Darrins on Bewitched is well-known, but did you notice there were two Mrs. Kravitzs, the nosy neighbor? The first Mrs. Kravitz, my favorite, was Alice Pearce who won a posthumous Emmy Award for her hilarious portrayal of the Stephens' perpetually hysterical neighbor. She was a big part of what made Bewitched so darn funny that first season in particular.
Sadly, Alice Pearce died of Ovarian cancer in 1966 before completing season two. As a result, Mary Grace Canfield, who was also appearing as Ralph the carpenter on Green Acres at the time, stepped in for four episodes playing Abner's sister Harriet Kravitz. She proved to be equally nosy while dusting the drapes; the Kravitz's had the cleanest drapery in whatever town it was they lived in! 
Zaftig Barbara Pepper was originally seen in the role of Mr. Ziffel's constantly complaining farm wife and doting 'mom' to Arnold the pig. 
Few at home guessed that this frumpy housefrau was once a sex kitten in motion pictures of the '30s & '40s. A heart ailment led to massive weight gain and ultimately forced her to give up the job. She died just a few months after leaving the show.
When Fran Ryan stepped in as Mrs. Ziffel in 1969 it was seamless. She easily inhabited the role, adding a sardonic edge while continuing the essence of what made Barbara Pepper's daffy portrayal so fresh.
