It’s May 22. 29 years ago today NBC aired the final episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson”. Johnny’s “Tonight Show” was one of those rock-of-Gibraltar presences in American life. The radio equivalent would be Paul Harvey…you just couldn’t imagine a day without them. Until it happened. So today, I watched Johnny’s last “Tonight … Continue reading “I Bid You A Very Heartfelt Goodnight”
On the Pluto TV “Johnny Carson Channel” they air a rotation of vintage “Tonight Show” broadcasts. One late evening I was watching an episode from December 14, 1972. Johnny’s final guest was author Terry Galanoy, who–of all things–had just written a book called “Tonight!: An Anecdotal History Of America’s Favorite Talk Show.” And here’s that … Continue reading Book Review: “Tonight!” (Or Whenever You Get Around To Reading It.)
When Bob S. Bestos and I chat on the morning program, I am George Fenneman. Bob is Groucho. For every Groucho there must be a George Fenneman–or a Margaret Dumont. George Fenneman was born in China; his parents were importer-exporters–in fierce competition, one assumes, with Vandelay Industries. The Fenneman family moved to San Francisco 9 … Continue reading FORGOTTEN ICONS OF BROADCASTING: George Fenneman
ILLUSTRATING THE ARTICLE: Screenshots from “Behind The Iron Curtain”, which aired live on CBS February 16,1957. In the early 1950’s Jackie Gleason hosted a variety show on the DuMont network, which ain’t here no more. It was called “Cavalcade Of Stars” and Gleason introduced several popular characters during its run including Ralph and Alice Kramden … Continue reading And Away They Go…To Europe!
I’ve been watching a lot of “The Muppet Show” lately. I just finished season 2, which means 48 episodes down and 60-some to go. I have watched the series completely in order thus far with two exceptions: I watched the Spike Milligan episode to see why Disney gave it one of its disclaimers, and I … Continue reading The Sophie’s Choice of TV Theme Song Battles
This started with a brief Facebook post of mine last evening, to wit: I’ve always been a sucker for old TV shows. Lucy, “Honeymooners”, Dick Van Dyke, all the classics. But you learn quickly that “old” does not necessarily mean “good.” The “Classic TV” channel on Pluto TV is airing “Dennis The Menace”, the live … Continue reading Old TV Shows Wenty Hates
There’s this streaming app called “Pluto TV.” It has like a jillion channels of streaming content. There’s a “Happy Days” channel, there’s an all-Johnny Carson channel, and now there’s a “Price is Right” channel. I have been watching the latter a heck of a lot lately. They’re showing episodes from 1982 and 1983, and I … Continue reading “John, Give Me Another Player Please!”
Well, my birthday is six days away but I just got the best present ever. (I mean, there’s still time. You could knock my socks off with like, a big bag of Tootsie Rolls or something.) When Disney Plus launched I wrote a blog about it, and mentioned in passing the presence of a few … Continue reading “Muppet Show”? 30 Days Till Curtain “Muppet Show”!
I am a broadcasting nerd. Which means I have watched a LOT of old TV and listened to a LOT of old radio. Even more in the last, oh, let’s say 11 months or so. So I thought I’d write a post about Garry Moore. He was a radio comedian in the 1930’s and 40’s, … Continue reading FORGOTTEN ICONS OF BROADCASTING: Garry Moore
Here we have two blog posts in one. I do this because I’m not sure I have enough to say about either topic to fill a decent post. So here we go. ____________________________________ It’s been a while since I posted some of my commercial work. A major part of my job at Radio City in … Continue reading Commercials, and “You Blockheads!”
