Looking for something smart on TV this weekend? Try your local movie theatre. “Best of Enemies” opens in selected cinemas—including Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox—this Friday, July 31. The documentary, from filmmakers Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon (“Respect Yourself: The Staxx Records Story”), looks at a fascinating footnote to the explosive year 1968. William F. Buckley
Early on in Patrick Macnee’s rollicking, anecdotal autobiography, Blind in One Ear, the actor describes his great-grandfather Daniel Patrick Macnee as a randy, free-spirited artist known to his friends as “The Prince of Raconteurs.” Like his namesake, the thrice-married actor picked up where the old boy left off with tales of life, lust and showbiz behaviour
I’ll never forget the time I got to hang out with Stiller & Meara. It was in January of 2004 at a CBS press tour party in Los Angeles. I’m guessing Jerry Stiller was there promoting The King of Queens. His wife Anne Meara–who died Saturday in Manhattan–was sneaking onto the Kevin James sitcom around then
Twenty years ago, when my young adults were young children, Sharon, Lois & Bram were superstars. Because I worked at TV Guide at the time, the children’s entertainers were also on my radar thanks to their very successful TV ventures, The Elephant Show and Skinamarink TV. Eric Nagler and Fred Penner were frequent guests. It
Back before Netflix, Amazon, Shomi or Crave, before DVDs and PVRs, before YouTube or Facebook, back when cable or specialty were blips on the TV landscape, there was Anne of Green Gables. Executive producer Kevin Sullivan’s sweet valentine to popular Canadian literature premiered 30 years ago this Christmas. It was an enormous hit, pulling five million viewers back
On the wall of my TV room, next to a cover of a Harpo Marx album, hangs another album cover from the ’50s: “The Best of the Stan Freberg Shows.” Freberg is pretty much forgotten today but in the ’50s he was Jon Stewart, Hank Azaria and Don Draper all rolled into one. Freberg died
It seems to me there is a great movie in the Sam Simon story. I never met the man–one of the three credited creators of The Simpsons–but he appears to evoke a passionate response with people who did know him (including comedy writer Ken Levine; check his terrific blog in the coming days for a promised
Sometimes when a famous TV personality dies, I get asked to talk about the person on the radio. I got a message from a producer today asking if I would speak about Leonard Nimoy. Star Trek‘s original Spock passed away Friday at 83. Since the interview was for Arlene Bynon I quickly said yes. We chat every Monday