tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post3470204078563557319..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: Friday QuestionsBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-17260231368994065792017-06-07T14:04:27.829-07:002017-06-07T14:04:27.829-07:00Here's a Friday Question - The film Movie Movi...Here's a Friday Question - The film Movie Movie had been in heavy rotation for a long time, but now it is nowhere to be found. Why does that happen to some films? Why do some of them simply fall off the face of the Earth?slgchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05947656936483533667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-31169079520306988582017-06-06T09:50:48.233-07:002017-06-06T09:50:48.233-07:00I'm not so sure "Bonanza" was a hit ...I'm not so sure "Bonanza" was a hit because it was in color. I am sure that - its first season - it got clobbered by rival "Perry Mason" - then a staple on CBS Saturday nights. NBC got smart - moved the Cartwrights to Sunday nights at 9pm, where they owned that time slot from 1962 forward. Interestingly - "Perry Mason" was moved to that time slot in its last season. And - well - that was that. Gary Westhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04063974316335323136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-27423629467002830372017-06-05T00:44:29.711-07:002017-06-05T00:44:29.711-07:00Stay tuned to this radio station.
Stay tuned to this radio station.<br />Albert Giesbrechthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17742338183833125104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-13218829458768156322017-06-05T00:42:04.148-07:002017-06-05T00:42:04.148-07:00Gunsmoke actually got it's start on Radio, wit...Gunsmoke actually got it's start on Radio, with William Conrad as Matt Dillon. IMHO, was better than any of the Television incarnations.Albert Giesbrechthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17742338183833125104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-11979672133560217762017-06-04T07:46:42.770-07:002017-06-04T07:46:42.770-07:00Michael Callan from OCCASIONAL WIFE was Riff in th...Michael Callan from OCCASIONAL WIFE was Riff in the original Broadway production of WEST SIDE STORY -- on the cast album that's him singing "Cool."AndrewJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-15719665555586221572017-06-03T20:21:11.588-07:002017-06-03T20:21:11.588-07:00To Anonymous, get a tivo You can watch a show a ti...<i>To Anonymous, get a tivo You can watch a show a tivo two others. </i><br /><br />Actually, TiVo has had models with four tuners for some time. I can record four shows at once on mine and watch a previously recorded show at the same time. TiVo recently came out with a model that has six tuners.Hank Gillettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17328364486555780403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-20246215506264643472017-06-03T19:20:46.402-07:002017-06-03T19:20:46.402-07:00Comedies/Variety Shows got better for the viewer (...Comedies/Variety Shows got better for the viewer (Gilligan's Island/Bewitched/Hollywood Palace). If these shows stayed in B/W, they would be forgotten. I am glad that the first year of GI and other shows that began in B/W then switched to color were colorized for the early seasons.<br /><br />Bonanza was filmed in color from day one. That's why the program was a hit for NBC and in syndication.<br /><br />I agree that dramas in B/W keep the viewer focused on the story instead of the scenery.<br /><br />Edwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03428768957017762182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-63557509163943330242017-06-03T10:59:11.254-07:002017-06-03T10:59:11.254-07:00Re: "Don't touch that dial"
There w...Re: "Don't touch that dial"<br /><br />There was a radio sitcom that ran for several years in the '40s titled BLONDIE. It was an adaption of the comic strip that's been running forever. Anyway, BLONDIE always opened with the show's announcer urging, "Uh uh uh uh! Don't touch that dial! Listen to . . . ." Then the actor playing Dagwood (Blondie's husband) would yell, "Blonnnnndieeeee!"<br /><br />It was kind of a stupid sitcom, with Dagwood as one of those idiot husbands who got into some kind of a mess on a weekly basis from which his wife always had to rescue him and straighten everything out. Nevertheless, it ran for about ten years.Lennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-32012358073041594202017-06-02T22:14:23.050-07:002017-06-02T22:14:23.050-07:00@Wayne K: The most similar term of the time probab...@Wayne K: The most similar term of the time probably would have been "stay tuned to this station," as immortalized in this contemporaneous magazine article on World War II news coverage:<br /><br /><a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,792133,00.html" rel="nofollow">http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,792133,00.html</a><br /><br />Of course, "don't touch that dial" would not have been a completely foreign concept at the time, as radios have had tuning dials since their invention. But some higher-end models had push-buttons for easier station selection, a concept that was carried over into car radios.Andy Rosenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-24361523684119554922017-06-02T20:54:45.232-07:002017-06-02T20:54:45.232-07:00Mike Doran, Tucker's Witch started on Tuesdays...Mike Doran, Tucker's Witch started on Tuesdays, but was put "on hiatus" after six episodes. When it returned in March to burn off the unaired episodes, it was on Thursdays.<br /><br />And even though it was critically blasted, unloved by the public, and cancelled, those episodes STILL beat Cheers in the ratings. <br /><br />Hard to fathom it now, but Cheers really was a near-total flop in season 1 ... except, of course, creatively.Y. Knotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11113170603742828515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-7890582336204049752017-06-02T19:42:44.395-07:002017-06-02T19:42:44.395-07:00Why did AfterMASH fail so miserably but Frasier su...Why did AfterMASH fail so miserably but Frasier succeeded to the point of winning 37 Emmy awards. We think of everything Larry Gelbart touched as turning to gold but not AfterMASH. On the other hand, I remember one tv writer in a 1993 Fall TV preview suggesting that "Frasier" had little chance of success because taking Frasier out of the Cheers bar is like a fish out of water: there's nowhere for him to swim. DougG.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16453653494494441510noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-31764588036186522832017-06-02T19:20:12.089-07:002017-06-02T19:20:12.089-07:00Is there a resource for 1940's radio slang? Wh...Is there a resource for 1940's radio slang? What was their way to say "Don't touch the dial"?Wayne Knoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-34282981590867535062017-06-02T19:13:19.084-07:002017-06-02T19:13:19.084-07:00Better in colour? The Avengers, at least for the ...Better in colour? The Avengers, at least for the first colour season. Some of those B&W episodes creak baaaadly.<br /><br />Y. Knotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11113170603742828515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-58133385170034264482017-06-02T17:48:50.605-07:002017-06-02T17:48:50.605-07:00I Dream of Jeannie got better with color. She had ...I Dream of Jeannie got better with color. She had a temper in the first season (even trying to murder a rival in a first-season episode). In the second season, they settled down into good-natured, fast-paced fun.<br /><br />I liked the post about The Beverly Hillbillies essentially being good people. I felt the same way about The O.C., the Fox teen soap from about 15 years ago. What separated it from its peers was that the characters were essentially good people who went out of their way to help others.Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-6895612512831449082017-06-02T17:17:43.240-07:002017-06-02T17:17:43.240-07:00The first episode of Hillbillies has some great ga...The first episode of Hillbillies has some great gags as Grannie inspects her new kitchen. She opens the side by side refrigerator and shakes her head saying, "Who ever heard of putting the cool cupboard on the South side of the house." She then walks over the electric range and tries to build a fire in the oven with a match. When it won't light she yells, "Jed, the stove ain't got no draught!"<br /><br />Didn't every show suffer when it switched from B&W to color? I can't think of one that didn't, but the westerns got hit the hardest. The old B&W Gunsmokes were tight little dramas even if Dodge City was on a soundstage and made up of mostly painted canvas backgrounds. As soon as color came along instead of dialogue you had long shots of Matt Dillon riding across the plains with beautiful sunsets and snow covered mountains (in Kansas? But that's another post) and it became a completely different show.<br /><br />Can anyone think of a show that actually improved with color?ODJenningsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-66220086443419283742017-06-02T17:11:46.357-07:002017-06-02T17:11:46.357-07:00I'm happy to see so much appreciation for &quo...I'm happy to see so much appreciation for "The Beverly Hillbillies," which I've also always thought was one of the most underrated sitcoms ever. Here's what I think is most misunderstood about it: The Clampetts' main attribute wasn't that they were dumb (although the show got a lot of humor out of their confusion surrounding the details of urban living -- and, yes, with the exception of Jethro). It was that they were <i>good</i>. Their generosity, lack of pretension and, yes, hospitality is what clashed with the people around them, and that's what made the show a high-quality (if often silly) satire of modern life. Beneath those tattered clothes wasn't just people no one believed were multi-millionaires, but people who didn't care that they were multi-millionaires -- and who would still be happy to fix your furniture or invite you over to dinner. What made them stand out was their basic human decency.Tednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-39878645084641846352017-06-02T15:04:07.009-07:002017-06-02T15:04:07.009-07:00Besides being a delight, "Beverly Hillbillies...Besides being a delight, "Beverly Hillbillies" gives you an opportunity to watch Buddy Ebsen, one of the great professionals in show business. Before TBH he had done 15 years on Broadway, around 25 movies and about 100 television episodes of one show or another. After the end of TBH he did 178 episodes of Barnaby Jones. His last gig -- at the tender age of 91 -- was as a voice actor on King of the Hill (a very funny and underrated show, BTW).Earl Boeberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07300222007927549893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-37920588230850451562017-06-02T14:20:39.580-07:002017-06-02T14:20:39.580-07:00I always thought Michael Callan, a homeboy, from O...I always thought Michael Callan, a homeboy, from OCCASIONAL WIFE would have had a bigger career. He was great in CAT BALLOU. Just could never catch on to a show that had legs. MikeKPa.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-47808239904462743272017-06-02T13:14:21.055-07:002017-06-02T13:14:21.055-07:00"Beverly Hillbillies" lasted long enough..."Beverly Hillbillies" lasted long enough to do a Clampetts-meet-beatniks episode and a Clampetts-meet-hippies episode. Towards the end they gave Ellie May a nice, unfunny boyfriend who happened to be a Navy frogman and had Granny freaking because she thought he was literally a frog-man. I always thought they missed a huge bet by not giving Ellie or Jethro a suitably loony partner -- a clueless rich city kid, who could bring Eva Gabor-type misunderstandings (and snobby family) to fuel new plots. DBensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01144515471557731622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-255833283597553402017-06-02T13:13:46.569-07:002017-06-02T13:13:46.569-07:00To Anonymous, get a tivo You can watch a show a ti...To Anonymous, get a tivo You can watch a show a tivo two others. The only problem is no vidoe on demand. You can just buy a box. You don't have to use charters equipment. You can probably find a box that where you can dvr two programs and watch a 3rd.<br /><br />As for He and She, here is a good article. It is from a few years ago. The writer contends that it was a fore runner of Mary Tyler Moore. He thinks if the show was on a few years later it would have been a big hit. I always liked Paula Prentiss. I wonder why she stopped acting.sanfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06580867647162091670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-37993788738317001492017-06-02T12:08:44.889-07:002017-06-02T12:08:44.889-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Earl Boeberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07300222007927549893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-52136786672253882592017-06-02T10:10:51.589-07:002017-06-02T10:10:51.589-07:00The counter programming drives me nuts. Thursday ...The counter programming drives me nuts. Thursday night is a nightmare trying to get everything on my dvr that I want to watch. (Charter/Spectrum is behind the technology times with a dvr that only records two shows at once and you have to watch one of those two) When they first announced the lineups, NBC had moved This Is Us to Thursday and I about had a heart attack. But they came back and said they would leave it on Tuesday night. There is very little on network tv that we enjoy...why does it have to all be on Thursday?<br /><br />Pam, St. LouisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-47289243018932642072017-06-02T10:06:43.190-07:002017-06-02T10:06:43.190-07:00Friday question: recently watched the John Cleese ...Friday question: recently watched the John Cleese episode of Cheers, one of the finest ever IMO and I noticed you didn't write it. <br />Respectfully, have you ever worked on a show, seen an episode someone else wrote and been a little jealous of how good it came out?cd1515https://www.blogger.com/profile/13442641020639066876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-23751618098635435422017-06-02T09:41:05.679-07:002017-06-02T09:41:05.679-07:00Two things I didn't plan on adding to my "...Two things I didn't plan on adding to my "to watch" list today: THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES and BEWITCHED. <br /><br />I guess it's sad to say the above conversation will apply to THE SIMPSONS in the future ("No, really! It was once brilliant!") as young people will have grown up watching the modern episodes. <br /><br />Actually, thinking about it, I guess there's lots of hit shows that fall into that category, being marred by their later episodes. <br /><br />It's a shame when shows are pushed past their prime :( <br /><br />Fun fact: Carl Reiner chose to end the THE DVD SHOW early, because he wanted it to go out strong. History genre shows that to be a wise move!<br /><br />What are some shows that NEVER outstayed their welcome? Hmm!<br /><br />Johnny Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13302545167970532080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-47880562698703817222017-06-02T08:52:13.892-07:002017-06-02T08:52:13.892-07:00Regarding "Bewitched" and the nosy neigh...Regarding "Bewitched" and the nosy neighbor Mrs Kravitz even at my young age I was thinking that after the first couple of times of her poking her nose in where it doesn't belong that "Samantha's a witch, why doesn't she just cast a spell on Mrs. Kravitz that anytime she even looks in the direction of the Steven's house she gets violently ill or peeks in the window she just imagines that she's seeing them watch TV?" I think even Darren or "Durwood" would look the other way regarding his "no witchcraft" rule for Samantha when it came to Mrs. Kravitz. If the show was on nowadays, Mrs Kravitz would be arrested and sentenced to a mental institution till she "minded her own business".YEKIMIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01921751875397071034noreply@blogger.com