Before Late Night with David Letterman and within a year or two of Saturday Night Live and SCTV there was a little show that firmly planted the irony flag on the comedy landscape: Fernwood 2Nite. This offshoot from the equally groundbreaking Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman deconstructed talk show television in a way rarely seen on
Donald Sutherland had been a major movie star for decades before he appeared opposite Geena Davis in the 2005-06 ABC drama Commander in Chief. I was one of the reporters hoping to get a few words with the acclaimed actor on a visit to the L.A. set of that short-lived series. Davis played the first
Tonight marks the final appearance of pat Sajak as host of the Wheel of Fortune. The 77-year-old entertainer is leaving after 41 seasons and over 9000 shows. That is a lot of spinning, and Sajak, who has had some helath problems in recent years, has opted to step away from one of the cushiest jobs
When we think of mom’s, we think of apple pie and picnics, lunches made before being shipped off to school – basically everything it takes to make a house a home. Mothers, however, haven’t always had it so easy on television. They are often portrayed as witches or villains or simply the butt of all
Milton Berle was television’s earliest non-puppet breakout star. Let’s not forget Howdy Doody. Berle’s Texaco Star Theater (1948-’53) a rambunctious comedy-variety series that stood out in the early days of network television, was the most-watched series among early set buyers. Berle himself joked that he sold more TV’s than anyone else. When his show came
If you listened to the 1972 Canada-Soviet Union Summit Series over the radio — as some of us did with a wire running up one arm and into an ear speaker while pretending to pay attention in a classroom — it wasn’t the voice of Hockey Hall of Famer Foster Hewitt calling the play-by-play. It
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