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Sit back and enjoy tales of television long ago -
this blog covers current and classic TV shows
and reviews of upcoming television programs
along with the latest TV on DVD releases!
SUNDAY FUNNIES
Earlier I mentioned some of the great second banana comedians we grew up with on television, guys who were perennial guest stars but never had their own long-running shows.
George Gobel was one of my faves, his deadpan loser shtick was popular with TV audiences - his brilliant TV series ran bi-weekly from 1957-1960 and spawned a couple of catch phrases: "Well I'll be a dirty bird," and "You don't hardly get those no more." He's most famous for his appearances on The Hollywood Squares in the 1970s.
Speaking of which, here's an audio mix of Hollywood Squares quips from Gobel and another TV second banana Paul Lynde. I know most, if not all, of Lynde's jokes were given to him in advance. I'm not so sure that George Gobel wasn't working off the cuff most of the time.
Here's George Gobel and Dean Martin in an amazing duet that was heavily bleeped but delightfully spontaneous.
Sunday, April 4, 2010 6:45am
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COME SATURDAY MORNING
Pete Delaney has a great article on the Cartoon All-Stars To The Rescue special that was meant to turn kids away from drugs in the early-1990s. It aired exactly 20 years ago. Don't miss it!
Speaking of public service cartoons, here's a Time For Timer segment that ran on ABC Saturday mornings in the 1980s, these musical messages were burned into the minds of a generation just like Schoolhouse Rock seared them in the seventies.
Here's a commercial break from a 1985 Saturday morning.
If you were plopped in front of the TV with a bowl of cereal in 1975 these are some of the shows you may have watched.
Here are some commercials from a Saturday morning in 1971. Repetition is the key to selling to children so these ads aired week after week between the cartoon fun.
Saturday, April 3, 2010 7:05am
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PHYLLIS
Dan Wingate points us to the theme song for The Pruitts of Southampton a very funny mid-sixties sitcom starring Phyllis Diller. NBC had high hopes for this show but despite a mid-season retooling it never caught on. The theme song by Vic Mizzy (Addams Family, Green Acres) is a real delight! Is it too much to hope
for this show on DVD? Well, yes...
Now here's female impersonator Jim Bailey doing Phyllis Diller.
Someone has posted a bunch of clips from Liberace's 1969 variety series and here's a silly segment with Ms. Diller.
Friday, April 2, 2010 4:14am
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WEDNESDAY FUNNIES
Let's look at some comedians that never failed to make me laugh.
I loved the late, great Red Buttons and here's his 'never got a dinner' routine from the Dean Martin Roasts. They're very funny, Buttons did variations
on this routine whenever he appeared on talk and variety shows.
Rip Taylor was host of the $1.98 Beauty Pageant in the 1970s, produced by Chuck Barris creator of The Gong Show and The Dating Game. Believe it or not the outlandish comedian appeared on The Dating Game.
Speaking of The Gong Show, I have happy memories spent in the summer of 1976 watching that program. I was stuck in a one light town in eastern North Carolina (Kenansville pop. 1,000) performing in an outdoor drama where the locals treated us like we were radioactive - at least until the show opened, after it was successful they suddenly loved us. There was only one restaurant in town, a Dairy Freeze, and it was disgusting but the owner of the diner that recently closed (who the only Grade D rating I've ever seen in an eating place) re-opened so that we could have lunch there. That's how bad the Tasty Freeze was. This old guy would take our orders and then go next door to the Piggly Wiggly to buy what he needed to make our pork chop sandwiches or whatever. I remember it being delicious but I was just a crazy kid, completely unconcerned about the big, black, hardened blob of unknown substance that sat in a two-inch deep puddle in the middle of the room. Anyway, while we ate, we watched The Gong Show and laughed the half hour away. Here's one of the breakout stars of the show, The Unknown Comic played by Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour supporting player Murray Langston.
This clip from the Gong Show in 1976 features a pre-Pee Wee Herman Paul Reubens.
Wednesday,
March 31, 2010 6:12am
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REMEMBER WONDERAMA?
Wonderama was a popular local NYC show that eventually was syndicated to a handful
of stations around the USA, a multi-hour extravaganza for kids that ran from the 1950s until the late-1970s. Here's a bit from Wonderama's early days when
Sonny Fox was the host. Sonny discusses animation with artist Lou Gifford.
Here's a segment from Bob McAllister's Wonderama in the 1970s, the version most people remember because it was syndicated to a handful of stations around the country. Wonderama episodes are very rare so don't write in requesting the show your were on. No one thought to save that stuff. A popular feature was Snake Cans, Bob could really get his young audience worked up - he had to, the show ran for four hours (down from 6 originally) on Sunday mornings.
Sunday,
March 28, 2010 11:10am
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TELEVISION BLOG
:The Best of TV Blog:
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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, 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:
Rat Pack Golddiggers / Joe E. Ross (Ooh Ooh!) / Sanford & Son meets Two and a Half Men / Ed Asner Interview / Super Circus / Celebrity Fast Food Joints / Eydie Gorme / Carol Burnett Show / Knight Rider Car / 1969 Fall Previews / Groucho! / Crazy Bloopers / Patty Duke Show / 1957 TV set restoration / The Goldbergs on DVD / Wonderama
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