Many of the TV icons I grew up with are dropping like flies. Poor Tony Dow, for example. The Leave it to Beaver brother clings to life after already being declared dead in many premature on-line reports. It’s wonderful, then, to celebrate the impressive and productive longevity of Norman Lear. The producers of such shows
I’ve interviewed hundreds of TV and movie stars. Only one treated me to a full-throated, operatic aria: Paul Sorvino. The New York native, famed for playing gangsters or cops in film (“Goodfellas”) and television (the original Law & Order), passed away July 25 at 83. In 2017, me and a few other reporters met Sorvino
Back in the early ’90’s. before he became a late-night TV host, Conan O’Brien and his Harvard writing pal Greg Daniels (creator of the American version of The Office) decided to take a road trip to Vancouver. Turning on the TV in the hotel, they became mesmerized by this strange Canadian series about a B.C.
I’ve raved about this before, but if you’re not listening to Lucille Ball’s “podcasts” recorded back in the mid-’60s, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do. The recordings are basically a re-edit of radio show conversations Ball had back in 1964-65. These ten-minute radio show episodes have been kept is a vault for years and number
Think casting The Sopranos was easy? Fagetaboutit. Tony Sirico originally read for the part of Uncle Junior on the award-winning HBO series. After the audition, creator and executive producer David Chase called the actor at home with a “good news, bad news” scenario. The bad news was that Sirico did not get the part of
Expectations were high when Patrick Watson became chairman of the CBC in 1989. Many in the creative end of the television industry cheered that initial impression that the inmates were finally in charge of the asylum. Alas, Watson, who died at 92 on July 4 in Ontario, was as powerless to re-invent and reinvigorate Canada’s
Larry Storch, who died July 8 just six months shy of 100, was everywhere on ’60s television, one of the busiest second bananas on the screen. The New York native seldom headlined and more often guest starred in dozens of sitcoms, variety shows and dramas. To many, however, he’ll always be best known as Corporal
Like a lot of people — especially actor people — James Caan never looked comfortable surrounded by critics. Caan, who died Wednesday, July 6 at 82, was working the Television Critics Association semi-annual network TV press tour in 2003. He was there as the lead on the NBC drama Las Vegas. The series starred Caan