Esaw with Phil Esposito: reality TV at its finest If you grew up watching sports on TV in Canada in the ’60s and ’70s you could not miss Johnny Esaw. The Saskatchewan native died Saturday at age 87. “Johnny Seesaw,” as some sports wags called him, was the face of the CFL for two decades
You knew it was coming. Roger Ebert’s message earlier this week that he was “taking a leave of presence” seemed almost too upbeat, a bit like when former Tonight Show producer Peter Lassally started telling reporters Johnny Carson was fine a week before the King of Late Night died. Ebert’s final column, posted Tuesday, was
Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of The Young and the Restless. The daytime serial began on March 26, 1973–way back when President Richard Nixon was still in office. His successor, Gerald Ford, had a reason to watch for a while–his son, Doug, was a regular on the series. Now real life soap operas–like the one
Dave Thomas and Promo the Robot: somewhere on the Niagara Peninsula Do you remember Rocketship 7? The children’s series, which aired weekday mornings from 1962 to 1978 on Buffalo`s WKBW, was your typical, low budget little local morning show effort. You had your cartoons (those weird Davey and Goliath shorts plus Gumby), you had your
Wayne Brady, Monty Hall and Carol Merrill. Monty Brinton/CBS On Friday, Monty Hall returns to Let’s Make a Deal to celebrate the game show’s 50th anniversary. I had an opportunity to speak with him Wednesday and it was a great deal for me. I love speaking with TV pioneers, they always have the best stories
If you grew up watching TV in the ’60s, you know the phrase, “Thunderbirds are go!” The man behind the British children’s series Thunderbirds, Gerry Anderson, died Boxing Day in England at the age of 83. Anderson’s mix of James Bond adventure and classic marionette puppetry was presented in “Supermarionation,” a made up word that
Frazier Moore of The Associated Press has a lovely tribute to two actors who passed away Christmas Eve: Jack Klugman and Charles Durning. Klugman, 90, and Durning, 89, had hundreds of credits and were two of the greatest character actors ever. Read Moore’s column here. Gene Trindl’s 1971 cover portrait of Klugman (right) with Odd
Hagman: the brim kept getting bigger to extend past his eyebrows It was just about a year ago, in January of 2012, when Larry Hagman faced television critics as a group for the final time. The TV icon passed away Friday at 81 of complications from cancer. He was battered but unbowed, thin from the