Hugh Hefner, who died Wednesday at 91, was still a pretty big draw at press tour when he made a memorable TCA appearance in July of 2005. The Playboy founder was there to promote The Girls Next Door, a series that did little to enhance his legend. The reality show co-starred Hef’s “latest posse of helium hotties,” as
Chris Albrecht is one of those guys you don’t screw around with on TCA press tours. So the day he got heckled by Jerry Lewis was one to remember. Albrecht, a former boss at HBO, was running Starz in July of 2011 when he took the podium in front of a roomful of TV reporters
In 2010, I joined a small group of reporters interviewing Martin Landau when he took part in a PBS “Pioneers of Television” press tour session. He was at the Los Angeles gathering along with Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura on Star Trek), Mike Connors (Mannix), Robert Conrad (The Wild, Wild West) and Linda Evans (The Big Valley and Dynasty). Landau
“My name José Jiménez.” With those four words, uttered on The Steve Allen Show on Nov. 23, 1959, Bill Dana built a career. The comedian passed away last Thursday at his home in Nashville, Tenn. He was 92. I met him 20 years ago at one of those autograph-signing shows in Hollywood. That’s where he explained the
Turner Classic Movies almost never takes part in the semi-annual Television Critics Association press tours. I’m always a little disappointed about this, because it is one of my favourite channels. Around ten years ago, TCM cracked open the vault and hosted an evening event outdoors at the Beverly Hilton. They brought a few movie stars from
I met Bill Paxton, with other reporters, on a couple of occasions. Once or twice during the run of HBO’s Big Love, and just last month in Pasadena during the TCA press tour where he was promoting his new CBS series Training Day. He was his usual, good-natured self on that day, dominating the session.
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I had a close encounter with Carrie Fisher. Actually it wasn’t so long ago; it was the summer of 2010. Far away? It was at the Beverly Hilton, in the main ballroom. Fisher was at that summer’s TCA press tour, chauffeured in by HBO to promote their airing of her
Here’s a strange bit of TV trivia: Florence Henderson was born on Valentine’s Day and died on Thanksgiving Day. The actress packed a lot into the 82 years in between. Best known for her five-year run on The Brady Bunch, Henderson died Thursday in Los Angeles after suffering a heart attack. She was 82. Her death was