It has been a 24-hour MTM marathon ever since the news broke Wednesday that Mary Tyler Moore has passed away. I was honored to be asked to share memories of watching and, on a few occasions, meeting Moore. The first time I met Moore was in January of 1986 at a TCA press tour gathering in
What makes even a crusty TV critic cry? News that Mary Tyler Moore has passed away. I first fell in love with her on The Dick Van Dyke Show, but who didn’t? Certainly Dick Van Dyke did. Look at the photo above — how much in love were these two kids? They were even asked,
Did you know Sammy Davis Jr. could not land a special on a U.S. network TV schedule in the late ’50s — so he made one in Canada instead? That’s just one of the things I learned Monday from my pal Stan Taffel, 16mm film collector extraordinaire. Taffel is the president of Cinecon, an annual Los
“Oh Rob! They’ve colorized The Dick Van Dyke Show!” Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET/PT, two newly-colorized episodes of the classic sitcom will premiere on CBS. Purists may pass, but if the process is anywhere near as good as the I Love Lucy episodes CBS has been presenting in December the past few years, fans
Poor Hector Elizondo. Now what is he going to do? I thought of Elizondo first when I heard the news last week that Marshall, who’d had a series of strokes very recently, had passed away. He was 81. Back in 2007, CBS held a TCA press tour party outdoors. I got talking to Elizondo at
If they were saluting TV players instead of film stars, Ann Morgan Guilbert would fit right in on that TCM segment “What a Character!” The Minnesota-native, who died earlier this week at 87, made a career stealing scenes–especially back on the series she is most remembered for, The Dick Van Dyke Show. It is worth
Look up “’60s TV Dads” in the dictionary and there should be a photograph of the gentleman to the right: William Schallert. The actor passed away earlier this week at 93. Best known as patriarch Martin Lane on The Patty Duke Show (1963 -’66), Schallert’s face and voice were as familiar as test patterns throughout the
What are the best regular series Christmas episodes ever? I wrote a story this week for The Canadian Press listing 10 of the best-ever Christmas-themed episodes. The hook was Monday’s episode of Murdoch Mysteries, a two-hour Christmas special featuring guest stars Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey) and TV legend Ed Asner. Even Peter Mansbridge gets in on