TV Blog/ / / / / / / TV Shows on DVD / / / / /TV Shows on Blu-Ray/ / / / / Holiday Specials on DVD / / / / / / Classic Commercials / / / / / / Television Blog


Best of TV BLOG

B E S T / /O F
Television Blog / Best of TV Blog

Sit back and enjoy tales of television long ago
and the latest, freshest entertainment news -
this blog covers current and classic TV shows
and reviews of upcoming television programs
along with the latest TV on DVD releases

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
When As the World Turns ends on CBS in September it will be replaced by a clone of The View. Remember Dick Clark's attempt with an all male cast? That didn't last long. CBS's new talker will star Sharon Osbourne, Sara Gilbert (Roseanne), Leah Remini (The King of Queens), Holly Robinson Peete (Celebrity Apprentice), Broadway star Marissa Jaret Winokur, and Julie Chen (The Early Show).

This lady claims she saves a few bucks by bargaining her cable and cell phone bills down.

Leo DiCaprio bailed and won't work with Mel Gibson on the avowed racist's next movie after all. Time to dust off that Lethal Weapon 5 script, Mel. Co-starring your new, white partner played by Billy Baldwin.

Friday, July 30, 2010 - 11:12am
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RESPOND

ED ASNER
Our good friend Jim Longworth, who's written some of the best books about television you'll ever read, has a series of interviews with actor Ed Asner of Mary Tyler Moore Show and Lou Grant fame. Not to mention Up and a million other TV shows and movies.

Jim is about as knowledgeable as anyone on the history of TV and never pulls punches in his interviews, so don't miss this. You can find more at: jimlongworth.net, including segments from his interviews with TV Dads at the Museum of Television in LA and talks with Angela Landsbury, Cloris Leachman, Richard Petty, CCH Pounder, Red Skelton, and more. Jim is also a columnist for one of the finest alt-papers in the nation, Yes Weekly.

Here's part one of Jim Longworth's Ed Asner interview where he talks about unsuccessfully auditioning for Mary's show and transitioning to the drama Lou Grant:

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - 6:16am
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RESPOND?

STOP CABLE TV!
My love of television was no doubt fueled by growing up in one of the first communities in the USA to have cable TV. Although Cable originated in the late-1950s, the Triad area of North Carolina was chosen for expansion in the late-1960s. The concept was a no-brainer for a city like New York of San Diego but would people in the fly over states actually pay for something they were essentially getting for free? It was thought at one time that only folks who got snowy reception would want Cable.

An aggressive campaign against cable TV was waged 40 years ago by local TV broadcasters and movie theater owners who felt threatened by the idea of multiple channels and clear reception. There was even an ad that ran with the previews before the movies that warned of the slippery slope that would come with the dreaded wire.

Oh, you don't believe me do you? Here it is:

Friday, July 16, 2010 - 7:50am
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RESPOND?

SUPER CIRCUS
television blog + Claude Kirshner
Kevin Butler remembers a Saturday morning classic - Super Circus.

Originally, the concept was created for radio as a kids game show set against the backdrop of a traveling circus. Claude Kirchner (who at that time was serving as the announcer of a women's panel discussion program on the ABC TV network called Ladies Be Seated) was hired to MC the program and Mary Hartline (who had just finished appearing on a teen radio music program Teen Town) was hired as the program's pretty young assistant.

The series was going to be sponsored by Super Bubble Gum but the sponsor went out of business and the radio series was dropped. To salvage the format the producer Ed Skotch revamped the show as a kid's circus TV series. Taking on former stage and radio character actor Clifford Sobrier as the lead clown "Cliffy," veteran circus buffoon Nick Francis as "Nicky" The sad faced tramp clown and Bardy Patton as a role model for the kids as "Scampy The Boy Clown" while retaining the services of Ms. Hartline as the show's bandleader and sex symbol. Claude Kirchner remained as the ringmaster/announcer.

mary hartline / TV blogSuper Circus the TV series debuted on ABC on Sunday evening January 16, 1949. The show featured performances by visiting circus acts, well known performers, games played by kids in the studio audience for prizes, and comedy skits performed by the program's resident clowns. There was also music performed by Ms. Hartline and the band.

Super Circus became a hit with the family and was broadcast from a small studio that was very small (although it looked big on camera) on WBKB channel 7 In Chicago. Bardy Patton outgrew the role of "Scampy" and was replaced in the part by Sandy Dobritch.

The series remained a hit until a week before Christmas, 1955 when the heads of ABC TV and the producers decided to replace the Chicago cast and move the program to WABC TV 7 in NYC. The series was broadcast beginning Sunday December 25, 1955 from the WABC studios with comic character actor, singer and musician Jerry Colonna serving as the new ringmaster, Will B. Able and Jerry Koslowski as the resident clowns, and Ms. Sandy Wirth as the new Queen of the Super Circus Band.

The NYC edition of the series was not as successful as the original format and went off the air in June, 1956. Ms. Hartline went on to hosted her own kid's shows in Chicago Princess Mary's Castle with magician Don Alan and The Mary Hartline Show.

Nicky Francis moved to Florida in 1960 to host his last kid's TV show, The Nicky The Clown Show, prior to that he briefly starred in the Chicago version of Time For Fun in the early 1950's. Claude Kirchner also moved to NYC where he began a long stint hosting numerous cartoon shows and The Bozo Show / Circus Circus Circus for WOR TV 9 in NYC and he briefly starred in NBC's Marx Magic Midway Saturday mornings during the late 1950's and into the 1960's.

Friday, July 9, 2010 - 12:33pm
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RESPOND?

FRIED CHICKEN FOR THE FOURTH?
television blog + Minnie Pearl Fried ChickenThe Independence Day holiday reminds me of the great Fried Chicken explosion of the early-1970s. Dinah, Roy Rogers, Mahalia Jackson, Minnie Pearl, Tex Ritter, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and even Popeye all had chicken chains that popped up then mostly quietly passed away. I never ate at a single one of them.

Dinah's (that I thought was named for Dinah Shore but wasn't) still exists in LA and Glendale CA (kinda sorta) and Popeye's continues to flourish world wide - but what the heck did Popeye ever have to do with chicken, fried or otherwise? I'm dying to know what Mahalia Jackson's "Glori-fried" chicken tastes like, there's one left in Nashville. Johnny Carson and Al Hirt also had failed restaurant ventures named after them back in the day but I doubt they were known for their fried chicken.

In the same vein you should head over to Groceteria, the online museum of grocery stores from the early days.

Sunday, July 4, 2010 11:40am
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RESPOND?

SUNDAY FUNNIES
Just for laughs let's pop back 30 years or so and enjoy The Family as they celebrate Mama's birthday, from The Carol Burnett Show:

Sunday, July 4, 2010 11:15am
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RESPOND?

 

EYDIE GORME
One of the greatest vocalists in pop history is sorely underappreciated today and is reportedly not in the best of health. No one could belt a torch song like this saucy gal, she had an amazing range and could hit those high notes like ringing a bell. Thankfully we have many TV appearances, mostly in the 1960s, to enjoy. Eydie and her husband Steve Lawrence turned up less often in the 1970s as musical variety shows fell out of favor and were rare seen on the small screen after that.

Here are two of her best performances - first from The Andy Williams Show 'If He Walked Into My Life.'

She goes ethereal at the end of 'I'll Take Romance' - send me, baby, send me! Not only do they not write songs like these anymore they rarely even come close.

Thursday, June 24, 2010 9:45am
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RESPOND?


READ MORE TELEVISION BLOG ENTRIES

TELEVISION BLOG
:The Best of TV Blog:

TV Blog

This Television Blog is hosted by Billy Ingram, one of the nation's top Pop Culture Gurus and expert on classic TV.

Seen on VH1,
Trio & Bravo!

These TV Blog entries are from the TVparty! website.

(I'm not normally this smug - this photo was shot for a film where I played a villain.)

More Television Blog Highlights:
Star Trek Bloopers / Melvin Monster Comics / The Great Timmie Rogers / William Shatner Sings on Daytime TV in the 1970s / Kids Are People Too / World's Finest Comics /
LCD TVs Sex And The City Casino Game


Actors in North Carolina / TV on DVD Reviews

Ordering TV shows on DVD
from the United Kingdom - Click Here!

Classic Commercials on DVDSaturday Morning TV 1980s on DVD

Latest TV on
DVD Reviews

Classic TV Blog

TV Shows on DVD

Kid Shows on DVD

Christmas
Specials on DVD

TV Shows
on BLU-RAY


Back in the days these guys still used to smoke real tobacco cigarettes. Nowadays you can get electronic cigarettes on the net

- Dish Network

- TV Blog


Patty Duke Show on DVDSaturday Morning Cartoons 1970s V1 on DVD

Classic Commercials on DVDLittle Rascals on DVD

TV Blog

Classic TV

Television's Greatest - local & national TV kid shows

 

PAST TELEVISION
BLOG ENTRIES:

1970's Teen Idols

Groucho & Tallulah

TV Cigarette Advertising

Three Stooges

George Gobel

Phyllis Diller's Sitcom

Stymie

Mannix's
Gail Fisher

New Zoo Review - the Vulgar Outtake!

Is Lost a rip-off of The New People?

Afternoon Talk Shows of the 1970s

The Honeymooners in Color

Mama Cass
TV special

1985 Saturday Morning TV Commercials

Cos

The Goldbergs

Room 222

Johnny Carson Tonight Show

Henry Fonda's TV Shows

Top 30 TV Shows

Carol Burnett Show

TV Pow

Ripcord &
Sea Hunt

1960's Soap Opera Themes

Hee Haw

Dark Shadows Writer Sam Hall

1969 ABC TV Fall Previews

The Dating Game in the 70s

Bozo The Clown

Celebrity Fast Food Chains



TV shows on DVD - order from the United Kingdom Here!

OTHER COOL
TV BLOGS:

Rankin-Bass Blog

TVLoop

TV Time Machine

TV Series Finale

Cheese Says

For Better
or Werts

Otaku Review

SheKnows

Tugley Wood

Just My Show

Aerial Telly

Ken Levine

Lloyd Thaxton

Television Anagrams

Classic Television Showbiz

Televisionista

Tom Gilbert
Timeless TV Blog

Our Word and
Welcome to It


Local & National Kid Shows / Saturday Morning Shows / Video Vault / Fabulous 1950s Television / Unseen Scenes / TV Game Shows / Requested Classic TV Shows / Sixties TV Shows / 1980's Wrestling / TV Blog

Best of TV BLOG

TV's Embarrassing Moments / Action Shows of the Sixties / Mysteries and Scandals / Variety Shows of the 1970s / Eighties TV / The Laugh Track / 1970's Hit Shows
Star Wars / KISS / Lancelot Link / Saturday Morning Cartoons / Wonder Woman / Classic Comic Books / Andy Griffith / Cher / TV Shows on DVD / Outtakes & Bloopers / 1967 TV Shows / Romper Room / ABC Movie of the Week / The Goldbergs / Daws Butler Commercials / Saturday Morning Commercials / Captain Kangaroo / Chicago Local Kiddie Shows / Boston Local TV / Philly Local TV / NYC Local Kid Shows / Amos 'n' Andy / Electric Company / Bette Davis / Judy Garland / Christmas Specials / Redd Foxx / Good Times / Sitcom Houses / What's Happening! / Winky Dink & You / Sonny & Cher / Smothers Brothers / Commercial Icons of the 1960s / Soupy Sales / TV Terrorists / Irwin Allen / The Untouchables / Carol Burnett Show / Celebrity Commercials / Classic TV Commercials / The Carpenters / Route 66 / Bozo / The Carpenters Christmas Specials / Local Kid Shows / Death of TV's Superman / Wonderama / Sesame Street / Bob Hope Specials / Little Rascals / Rudolph / Movie Posters & More!

Looking for classic TV DVDs? See below:
TV Commercials on DVD Wrestling DVDs Classic TV Books
2010 TV Show Reviews Christmas Specials TV Shows on BLU-RAY

Best of TV BLOG
Contact Us