I was grateful for the opportunity to salute Matthew Perry Saturday on CP24. Perry’s death at 54 wasn’t so much a shock, due to his well-documented (by him and others) struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. Nevertheless, it struck a chord with fans of many ages. Over the weekend, I also responded to calls from
Boston-based cameraman, Bruins fan and eagle-eyed TV history sleuth Kevin Vahey posted a video on Twitter that dovetails nicely with the podcast I have running this week. The YouTube video shows several commercials and “brought-to-you-by” moments from The Flintstones (1960-’66). The modern stone age family was brought to us by Winston cigarettes, as Flintstones‘ producer
As somebody who collects 16mm film, I’m always on the lookout for surviving remnants of past TV glories. Exhibit One for today: this YouTube video featuring a fresh transfer to digital of some 1973 footage shot 50 years ago in Minneapolis. The producers of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, James L. Brooks and Allan Burns,
Harold Perrineau is a tremendous actor with a deep list of television credit that would be the envy of any performer. They go way back to his early appearance on the ahead-of-its-time network drama I’ll Fly Away (1991-93) to memorable roles on the HBO prison drama Oz (1997-2003), FX’s Sons of Anarchy (2012) and probably
Here is an ad that does my heart good — and saves me the pain of watching even one second of the new Sex and the City reboot. Apparently Mr. Big (Chris Noth) dies in the first episode after training on his Peloton stationary bicycle. There were reports that the fitness company had no idea
Ever since the death of Jon-Eric Hexum on a TV set in 1984, gun safety has been a top priority in film and television productions. It has to be: when you think of the number of times a firearm is discharged on the dozens of cop shows or action movies, it is a wonder that
Aaron Sorkin takes liberties. The creator/executive producer of The West Wing moved a few facts around in telling the story of electronic television inventor Philo T. Farnsworth with his Broadway play “The Farnsworth Invention” (2007). For one thing, he wrote that Farnsworth was defeated in court by wiley RCA boss David Sarnoff over his patent
Check out the trailer, released today, for “The Beatles: Get Back.” The three-part docuseries is re-born from the ashes of Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 1970 documentary feature. The new, extended version, directed by Peter Jackson, was re-edited from nearly 60 hours of unseen footage shot over 21 days in January of 1969. The footage is fully restored