Today would have been Tony Curtis’ 100th birthday. TCM is celebrating with several of the actor’s best films, including “Some Like it Hot,” “Sweet Smell of Success” and “The Defiant Ones.” I met him on a couple of occasions, and asked about one of his more forgotten films. That story and others are part of
Imagine being locked into a TV schedule where the only time you could see your favourite cartoons on TV was on Saturday mornings. These TV ‘toons were also packed with commercials for sugary cereals, none were vetted by educators and child care specialists and many had jokes that sailed right over your head. It was
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
Back in 1986, when I was based in Los Angeles while working for TV Guide Canada, I had the good fortune to interview Joe Barbera. I met the Hanna-Barbera Studio chief at his office on Ventura Boulevard. The savvy TV producer/studio head was 75 at the time and had plenty to talk about. He was
After over two years of writing, recording and rendering, Brent Butt launches Corner Gas Animated Monday night at 8 p.m. on the Comedy Network. A one-time Sheridan school of animation student (albeit for about a week; after which he committed to stand-up), Butt has been extremely hands-on with this project. Wife Nancy Robertson says he was
Monday was the 45th anniversary of the launch of Sesame Street. It was produced by the Children’s Television Workshop and funded by the U.S. Office of Education, the Ford Foundation and the Canarnegie Corporation. I was already too old to be interested in Sesame Street when it came out. I grew up on wildly diverse