Milton Berle was television’s earliest non-puppet breakout star. Let’s not forget Howdy Doody. Berle’s Texaco Star Theater (1948-’53) a rambunctious comedy-variety series that stood out in the early days of network television, was the most-watched series among early set buyers. Berle himself joked that he sold more TV’s than anyone else. When his show came
If you listened to the 1972 Canada-Soviet Union Summit Series over the radio — as some of us did with a wire running up one arm and into an ear speaker while pretending to pay attention in a classroom — it wasn’t the voice of Hockey Hall of Famer Foster Hewitt calling the play-by-play. It
Remember all that hand-wringing two years ago when Netflix hit the wall with their subscriber growth and their stock value dropped a ton overnight? Well, a very interesting report from Parrot Analytics last week brought things up to date. Turns out that Netflix has almost fully recovered its peak share price. Not only that, the
As brioux.tv: the podcast listeners know by now, executive producer Mitch Azaria loves to go Tripping. These past five years, he has taken us by mahogany lake boat up the Rideau Canal, sailing along the tip of The Bruce Peninsula, on a bird’s eye view over the Niagara region and aboard a Budd train northwest of
What is the most-watched scripted series in America in all of broadcast TV these days? No, not NCIS, or FBI, or Chicago Fire. According to data released Tuesday, April 16 by CBS, it is Tracker, the rookie series about lone-wolf survivalist Colter Shaw played by Justin Hartley. Shaw roams America helping cops and private citizens
This week on brioux.tv: the podcast — Dave Thomas pays tribute to his late, great writer-producer-performer friend, Joe Flaherty. Thomas and Flaherty produced SCTV in its second season, taking their cue from original (sort of) showrunner Harold Ramis and putting more of a spotlight on the cast’s ability to morph into famous celebrities. They also
When you heard that Michael Douglas was cast in the role of Benjamin Franklin, be honest. Your first thought was, Whaat? Michael Douglas?? Maybe Paul Giamatti, but Michael Douglas does not look like the guy on the US hundred dollar bill. Yet, about four minutes into Franklin, AppleTV+’s epic, eight-part historical series about the founding
Just yesterday, I was watching one of my 16mm film prints of CBS sports reels used to promote seasonal programming back in the ’60s and ’70s. Some early ones featured OJ Simpson back when he was a star running back, first in college at USC and later as a member of the Buffalo Bills. Simpson