I’ve always been fascinated by TV’s earliest child stars, the kids who gained fame on television nearly 70 years ago as the medium began to spread to millions of homes. Among the most prominent were those associated with The Mickey Mouse Club (1954-57). That popular Disney series made instant stars of the early “Mouseketeers,” but
When film fans think of Sally Kellerman, the first image that comes to mind is generally of her screaming out of the shower in Robert Altman’s movie version of “M*A*S*H” (1970). While that part earned her an Academy Award nomination, she stood out in many other roles, big and small, over a six decade career
As expected, the Canadian women’s hockey team emerged triumphant in Beijing, with viewership spiking to 2.7 million viewers vs. Team USA Feb. 16 at 11:41 p.m. ET on CBC, TSN and Sportsnet. Still, the just-ended 2022 Olympic Winter Games did not seem to bring the same golden glow with North American viewers as they have
Ivan Reitman (above right, with Dan Aykroyd and Rick Moranis on the set of “Ghostbusters”) packed a lot of movie theatres when I was a university student and beyond. His low-budget cottage country comedy “Meatballs”(1979) co-starred an actress named Kate Lynch who went to my high school in Etobicoke (Michael Power-St. Joseph’s). She was great,
Ralph Mellanby was the guy who put Don Cherry in Coach’s Corner. The Hamilton, Ont. native died last Saturday, Jan. 29, at 87. Raised near Windsor, Ont., the innovative executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada was one of the country’s most influential television broadcasters. Back in the ’60s, he was quick to embrace modern
When I interviewed him in 2014, Hugh Wilson, the creator of WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-82), admitted many of the episodes of the series were a tad underwritten. “In the beginning, he said, “the scripts were pretty tight. By the third year, we almost had blank pages, we were so far behind.” Fortunately, Wilson had cast
Good grief! Pieces of our childhoods keep falling like snowflakes in January. News that Peter Robbins had passed away at 65 should give every boomer pause. His face may not be familiar, but on television he was the original voice of Charlie Brown. Tormented by mental health issues in his later years, his family announced
Louie Anderson won three Emmy awards. One as a woman. The Minnesota-born comedian played Christine Baskets, mother to professional clown Chip (played by Zack Galifianakis), on the FX comedy Baskets (2016-2019). “I feel wonderful about the award, for two reasons,” Anderson told reporters gathered in Pasadena, Calif., in 2017 for the semi-annual Television Critics Association