It is what it is!
Man From UNCLE
now on DVD!
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Man From UNCLE now on DVD! |
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SUNDAY
YOU TUBING
Was there anything funnier than Redd's battles with 'Aunt Ester' aka LaWanda Page? Not for me. The funniest episode at all for me was the one where Fred introduces his bride to be to his family. Recognize the fellow playing Reverend Trimble? It's Alvin Childress who played Amos on Amos 'n' Andy who had something of a comeback in the 1970s playing small roles in movies and on sitcoms like Good Times and The Jeffersons.
As you may know, Redd passed way on the set of his comeback sitcom, The Royal Family. Here's footage shot moments before his tragic death in 1991.
Sunday,
August 12, 2007 - 10:04am
NEW You should shoot over to this page and read L. Wayne Hick's new interview with Pamelyn Ferdin. Don't know who she is? Sure you do, she was the voice of Lucy in the first, best Charlie Brown specials. She played the character even after the other voices were recast because the kids grew out of the roles. She also appeared on dozens of sitcoms and TV dramas during the 1960s and '70s. You'll also enjoy his interview with one a TV legend, Steve Allen, it's one of the last interview's he gave before his death in 2000. What a massive talent Steve Allen was, I just watched his and his wife Jayne Meadows' 1998 appearance on Homecide: Life on the Street and they were both wonderful in their serio-comic roles. One of my personal favorite TV stars Merv Griffin is said to be in grave condition suffering from cancer. Friday,
August 10, 2007 - 10:54am
TOOL
Thursday,
August 9, 2007 - 12:34pm
WHEEL Thursday,
August 9, 2007 - 11:38pm RATINGS There's a weekend version of Wheel of Fortune?!? Wednesday,
August 8, 2007 - 12:04pm
IN
THE NEWS For heaven's sake, how many times have we heard this story?!? Van Halen & David Lee Roth are reuniting. Not that I care... Shout! Factory has announced a new CD is coming from Darlene Love this Christmas. This is great news, I love Darlene Love. In fact, I went to a taping of an hour-long intimate concert video shot in 1982 (or '83) and we talked about doing a project together. I assume you can see me in that video, at one of the front tables, but I never saw the finished product or know what happened to the fantastic footage. She was wonderful that night. And now she's currently starring in Hairspray on Broadway, what a great choice she is for the role made famous by Ruth Brown in the original movie! Like Brown, Love's a titanic talent that never really got the recognition she deserved. When I met her she was singing backup for Dionne Warwick and anxious to move away from that long-standing but unsatisfying gig. You can hear her in the background of Warwick's brilliant out-of-print LP 'Live and More,' it's one of my favorite albums of all time. The CD is occasionally available for a king's ransom on Ebay. She also was half of the backing duo for Sonny Bono when he went out on tour after his breakup with Cher, Bono and Love had worked together back in their Phil Spector days. From the press release: On October 2nd Shout! Factory will release Darlene Love's first Christmas album, It's Christmas, Of Course, which is sure to start a holiday tradition of its own! For the album, Darlene gives us her take on 12 tastefully selected holiday neo-classics of the '70s and '80s from a diverse array of artists like The Pretenders, The Band, James Brown, Tom Petty, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and more. On this album of modern day classics, the Wall of Sound that surrounded her voice on her Phil Spector-produced hits has been stripped away, leaving her beautiful voice front and center. "We had a rule on this album: no oldies. We wanted to leave the '50s and '60s behind," says Shawn Amos, Shout! Factory's Vice President of A & R. Darlene Love is a woman of many talents. She's primarily recognized for her vocal contribution to some of Phil Spector's biggest hits like 'He's A Rebel' and 'He's Sure The Boy I'm Gonna Marry' (The Crystals), and her unmistakable backing vocals for such luminaries as Sam Cooke, Elvis Presley, The Mamas and Papas, Dionne Warwick, The Beach Boys, and Cher. Love has recently been seen lighting up Broadway with her performances in Grease, the Tony-Award nominated 'Leader of the Pack', and her current 2-year run as Motormouth Maybelle in Tony-Award winning 'Hairspray'. Wednesday,
August 8, 2007 - 8:27am
LINKS
& LOVE 'That whole period was insane. Friar Park was a madhouse.
Our lives were fueled by alcohol and cocaine, and so it was with everyone
who came into our sphere. We were all as drunk, stoned and single-minded
as each other. Nobody seemed to have appointments, deadlines or anything
pressing in their lives, no structure and no responsibilities.'
Thanks to
Jay Blotcher for sending us this link - lunch
boxes for adults. There's a web site devoted to writer Thorne Smith, he created Topper. Remember that jerk of a judge who sued a dry cleaning establishment for $54 million dollars for his lost pants? He even tried to squeeze this poor immigrant family for $15,000 to rent a car every weekend to drive to another dry cleaners! Looks like that bum is going to lose his job. Justice? As
our President constantly reminds us, this is a different kind of war we're
fighting today. He's
right. From the BBC: What in the heck is this all about? This MSNBC reporter completely loses it on the air while talking about the market. Should I be worried that a bunch of idiots went out and bought houses with adjustable interest rate mortgages and the lenders are now going out of business?
Tuesday,
August 7, 2007 - 8:29am
From the very first episode where Tod and Buz meet and almost get lynched in Mississippi the series consistently maintained a high level of quality. The scripts (mostly by Stirling Silliphant), the direction (by Arthur Hiller and others) and the acting are superior and lots of seminal guests stars turning up in the first half of season 1 - E. G. Marshall, Joey Heatherton, Inger Stevens, Edgar Buchanan, Anne Francis, Jack Lord, Barbara Bostock and Harold J. Stone are a few familiar faces discovered along the road. This DVD collection will be a huge seller and, no doubt, one of the top releases of the year based purely on the strength of the show itself, whether or not there are any extras.
Fox sent me a screener of the 6th disc in the DVD collection of this riveting drama, the season finale, which I hadn't seen yet. I've only seen a handful of episodes of season 2 but it's every bit as good as the freshman year. I can't wait to soak in the entire season, it's a show filled with surprises, with more shocking twists and turns than a mountain road. Prison Break Season 2 arrives on September 4th - don't let it escape your clutches, pre-order now. Monday,
August 6, 2007 - 9:49am
SUNDAY
YOU TUBING
Harry Shearer in a scene from For Your Consideration, a marvelous mockumentary by Christopher Guest (This Is Spinal Tap) that you really should check out now that it's on DVD.
Shearer was a writer on one of my favorite shows of all time, Fernwood 2night. Martin Mull and Fred Willard starred. Willard can be seen in the new sitcom on Fox this fall, Back To You with Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton.
The Stu Osborn Show, a parody short directed by Christopher Guest starring Fred Willard and Michael Hitchcock. This is a web viral video advertisement for Microsoft.
Sunday,
August 5, 2007 - 11:15am
HONEY
WEST Bob also points out that the punk rock collection from Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show contains entire episodes, further illuminating my ignorance on the subject. Thursday,
August 2, 2007 - 8:47am
In fact, although our DVD players are compatible, Canadian and US DVD releases can be wildly varied, released by separate companies with different extras. For instance, Gimme A Break Season 2 was released by VEI in Canada last year but didn't the light of day in the US until a few months ago; included with VEI's version (but not in the US set) was a season 3 show and one episode of Kate & Allie. VEI released Riptide Season 1 with a bonus episode of Street Justice that's not found on the US version from Sony. If I'm not mistaken, you can get an all regions DVD player - and there is a way to unlock some machines to play all regions if you just know the code to enter. When I was in living in London we bought an all regions DVD player which was just the regular model - only the salesperson provided us with the region breaking code. I suppose there are web sites that would be more specific, I'm just typing off the top of my head. Bob Huggins reminds me that there are some excellent Tom Snyder Tomorrow Show DVD compilations. I wish there were entire programs rather than snippets - but I like these bands so I think I'll Netflix them.
Wednesday,
August 1, 2007 - 11:34am
DVD
REVIEWS I honestly didn't think I'd like this one, I never really watched the show when it aired in syndication between 1976 and 1981. I guess I alway caught episodes with boring guest stars. But this second season DVD has some amazing live performances from artists like Cleo Laine, Lou Rawls, Judy Collins, Petula Clark and Teresa Brewer in addition to some hilarious comedy from Steve Martin and Edgar Bergen and others. I've posted a review here. Dallas Season 7 was another DVD set I devoured but Dallas is my guilty pleasure, I think J.R. is hilarious. Tuesday,
July 31, 2007 - 10:44am
TOM
SNYDER, RIP Monday,
July 30, 2007 - 12:44pm
SOUL
ALIVE A staple of TV markets around the country in the 1960s, local dance shows were rare by the late-seventies; they fell out of favor at the end of the 1960s and we aren't likely to see a revival. (Then again, you never know. Similar in nature, nationally broadcast Dance Party USA was a hit in the 1980s.)
The main feature on Soul Alive was the heated competition between dancers representing some of the City's top discotheques or local high schools. The winning couple's names were delivered via the 'Mechanical Hand' - they could collect a bounty of prizes including a trip, new sound system or might end up with a package that included Bic disposable shavers. Well, they were new then!
One regular (and unintentionally hilarious) segment of the show had dancers revealing their working life in pictures that were mixed into their solo spots. Similarly, when schools competed, a profile of the student body was aired.
There was no place in the world where you would find better dancers than in the Big Apple in the 1970s, hence there was no shortage of experienced hoofers with the smooth moves eager to strut their stuff for TV exposure. They even boogied down on roller skates which were also hot again in 1978. The on set DJ worked the hyperkinetic crowd by playing extended remix versions of the hits rather than the singles you'd typically hear on American Bandstand and Soul Train.
Little has been written about Gerald Bledsoe but he was a big influence on a number of present day broadcasters. He died of a heart attack at age 51 on September 27, 1994. I'll have a page dedicated to Soul Alive soon with more info, pictures and video. VIDEOS
CLIP FROM SOUL ALIVE: Dancers are shown on the disco floor and at their glamorous jobs - Quicktime More examples of 'Golden Voice' Gerry Bledsoe's soulful raps and the close of the show - Quicktime Whatever you do today - keep your soul alive! Monday,
July 30, 2007 - 8:27am
SUNDAY YOU TUBING First up a bit from Hullabaloo with the Lovin Spoonful, Sonny & Cher, The Supremes and Sammy Davis, Jr. singing their chart topping hits.
One of my favorite entertainers Jerry Lee Lewis tears it up on Shindig in tandem with the immortal Jackie Wilson.
Here's the first 1/3 of an episode of Where The Action Is, a summer happening hosted by Dick Clark from the mid-sixties. It comes complete with commercials.
Batman was a new show coming to ABC, note the cool exaggerated Batman costume worn by Dick of Dick & Dee Dee as they perform 'Lightning Strikes' from Shindig, January 8, 1966. Actually, Batman replaced Shindig the very next week. Holy cancellation! This one won't embed but it's worth watching. Sunday,
July 29, 2007 - 3:39pm
POLITICS
AND POKER Which reminds me why I had to drop the TVparty message board - it was constantly bombarded by spammers, many with links to porn. I would check it every once in a while but it took too much effort to moderate. Then an organization which trolls the internet informed me that one of the links on that message board led to kiddie porn. I shut it down immediately and never reinstated it. It's a shame because there were some interesting threads going but I was eternally grateful to that organization for catching it and notifying me. I would have never caught it, the headline was concerning some innocuous classic TV show. Disgusting. Without a full time moderator how can I or anyone else control what some pervert or opportunistic business person wishes to post? I can't and neither can billoreilly.com despite the fact they surely have a substantial staff to specifically take care of those things. So he's lying when he claims otherwise (Bill O'Reilly lie?!?).The difference between Daily Kos and Bill O' is that Kos deletes offensive comments and O'Reilly's site won't apparently - because the Hillary death threat and calls for the violent overthrow of our government (after the Dems take over, natch) remained posted long after they came to light. You know the site is closely monitored because the person who pointed out the offensive comments on billoreilly.com got banned. Me, I never read public comments attached to articles on Kos or any other site. I'm not interested in the opinion of anyone I don't 'know' even in the limited terms that we get to know one another on the internet. Have I told you lately that I love you? Bill O'Reilly: “It’s like the Ku Klux Klan. It’s like the Nazi party.” Steven Colbert: “Exactly! The Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis were both notorious for allowing people to express unpopular views in an open and free forum.” You may be seeing the name Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp buzzing around the Net soon. He's New Republic's anonymous Iraq diarist, the guy relating some extremely disturbing stories concerning the behavior of our troops. Powerline, Red State and Free Republic zombies made up their minds early on that these stories were bogus, our soldiers would NEVER commit such heinous acts, the author was anonymous because it's all made up left-wing, America-hating propaganda. But then again, these guys are living in an alternate reality, one where inconvenient truths dare not enter. Now that the writer has come forward watch as hypocritical blowhards like Jonah Goldberg attempt to destroy this brave individual who has his boots on the ground - as opposed to the vociferous chickenhawks out there that 'support' the war effort from the air conditioned comfort of their couches. Nothing will bring on a shitstorm like the truth, and because of that Private Beauchamp will feel the heat from both sides of the Atlantic beginning today. We'll get to witness first hand why he believed it was a good idea to write under a pseudonym. That said, I don't blame any of our troops for what they do in Iraq, up to a point. They have no business being there so they aren't responsible for reacting to the environment they find themselves in. Most of these guys are kids, I can remember how reckless I was at 19 and 20. It's probably a good thing for the neighbors that I didn't have a gun, grenades, assault vehicles and a platoon behind me when I was punk rockin' 20 year old. Who knows how you or I would react under similar circumstances? I was actually appointed to a military related position a few years ago on behalf of President Bush and have nothing but admiration for our men and women that serve. I'm such a softy it was all I could do to hold back the tears of joy and gratitude when I watched the WWII and WW1 veterans marching in this year's 4th of July parade. If you think for a moment I don't love this country I'll reach through the screen and throttle you right now. I just think it would be nice to see some sanity restored.
Thanks to Crooks & Liars for reminding me of this hilarious film short, Red Nightmare, created for the Department of Defense in the 1950s by Warner Bros. at the height of their Film Noir period. Narrated by Jack Webb, you may have seen it in edited form on Night Flight in the 1980s. The film contrasts the Ozzie & Harriet proto-typical family life with what could happen if violent ideologues took over our communities. It seemed silly in the 1980s, now it's eerily prescient. Note how one of our political parties actually has set out to turn churches into ministries of information. Remember the pro-war rallies that demonized those against the war in Iraq - even though the protesters were right all along? Thanks to one political party, as in this film, we can now be imprisoned without charges being filed or proper representation. And recently we had the story of someone being thrown in jail for meerly criticizing the Vice-President - the guy was arrested in front of his 7 year old kid for telling Cheney his Iraq policy was reprehensible. There was no threat involved but he was charged with assault, then harrassment and almost had his kid dragged off to child services. God bless America. Wednesday,
July 26, 2007 - 12:55pm
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Contact Us / Survey Other Cool TV Sites TVparty! Television Blog |
From
TVparty reader Ray Mora comes an amazing find - an ultra-rare episode
of Soul Alive starring WWRL radio DJ 'Golden
Voice' Gerry Bledsoe. Soul Alive
aired during 1978 in New York City for an hour on WPIX channel 11 Saturday
mornings at 11:00am.
With
the Disco craze in full swing and nationally syndicated Soul Train
still hot on Saturdays, WPIX saw an opportunity to bring that stone cold
format back to TV screens.
Big
name guest stars frequented the program, after all, this was the number
one TV market in the world and a lot of record albums were sold in the
city of New York. On this episode, Cissy Houston lip-synced her latest
single while the Rolling Stones appeared in a video.
Elliot
V writes, 'I remember my school (John F. Kennedy H.S. in the Bronx)
holding internal dance tryouts for our upcoming appearance.' Unfortunately,
the show was cancelled before Elliot's school made it on the air.
Silver-tongued
host Gerry Bledsoe was a legendary voice in New York. With a cool on-air
demeanor, he was known to break out into effervescent raps about peace,
love and soul between the high-energy tunes and he ended every program
with, 'Keep your minds together, you're hearts full of love, and
keep that thing that we call soul alive.'
