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TV History

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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

Those of us who grew up with SCTV have it deep inside our nervous systems. To this day, if Joe Flaherty and John Candy show up on Instagram, as they did for me yesterday, in a sketch as the two hopeless lads from “Goin’ Down the Road,” we watch it all again and love every

Maureen Donaldson would tell such outrageous stories you’d swear she was making it all up. Who packs all this into one life: a May-September affair with Cary Grant? A parrot that once belonged to Muhammad Ali? A first job with The Beatles? Word came via a Facebook posting this week from mutual friend Ray Bennett

In 1982, I was invited to a private dinner with Norman Jewison. Memories of that encounter flooded back on the news this week that the dean of Canadian film directors had passed away Saturday at 97. Forty-two years ago, he had accepted an invitation to be a guest lecturer at the University of Toronto. The

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour had a profound effect on this 10 to 12-year-old. You watched TV as a family back then, in front of the one screen in the house, in our case, a 25-inch Clairtone. “From Television City in Hollywood,” said announcer Roger Carroll. “Ladies and gentlemen, The Smothers Brothers.” Shot from above,

Andre Braugher’s performance as Detective Frank Pembleton on David Simon’s critically acclaimed police drama Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1999) was nuanced and electric. It was almost shocking, therefore, to see him bring such sharp comedy chops 14 years later to Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-2021). Braugher’s impressive range as an actor was absolutely akin to what