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
Was up north painting the unplugged cottage and a bit behind on posting, so missed this milestone from Sunday: the 50th anniversary of the first Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. Carson’s official debut on Oct. 1, 1962 only survives on a short audio clip. As has been noted here before, the first 10 years of
I’ve been up at the unplugged cottage, sanding and painting, so was not in front of my laptop Sept. 28 to do the 40th annual salute to St. Paul. A few catch up musings: Henderson’s goal was, without a doubt, the most electrifying thing I ever saw on TV. It is hard to put in
Have to agree with colleague David Bianculli of TV Worth Watching that the 1969 moon landing was “the best TV show I ever saw in my life.”Neil Armstrong, who died today at 82, was the biggest star on or off the planet that summer. It was July 20, 1969, and–like every July–I was up at