[music] Hello and welcome everybody. It's Wednesday. It's Ken Reed. That's me. I'm Ken Reed. And this is TV guidance counselor. Welcome. Thank you guys so much for checking out the show. If you're a first-time listener, welcome to the show. If you are a regular listener, welcome back. If you're an irregular listener, welcome back. I hope I can help you. Thank you guys. My guest this week, it is James Urbaniak and you will undoubtedly recognize his voice as Dr. Venter from The Venture Brothers. But you've also seen him in a ton of things. I most notably know him as playing an eerily accurate Robert Krom in American Splendor, which is a fantastic movie if you have not seen it. Definitely just pause or stop this right now and go see American Splendor. He's also in a lot of great Hell Hartley films. If you haven't seen any Hell Hartley movies and you like the show and you like things that I like, you should definitely check out Hell Hartley. The Adventures of Pete and Pete was very influenced by Hell Hartley for sure. And if you enjoy that show, you will probably likely enjoy Hell Hartley films as well. James is in a few of them. I know he's in at least Henry Fool and no such thing. And maybe one other, I think the Book of Life, which is a short film. Fun to watch at New Year's Eve. Actually, back to my New Year's Eve special, although you have a few months off now for that. But anyway, I was lucky enough to talk to James. He is a super nice guy, a really interesting guy, and we had some fun talk here about 70s television. So please enjoy this week's episode with my guest, James Urbenik. Mr. James Urbenik, how are you, sir? Hello, America and Points Beyond. Thank you for doing this show. You really seem to enjoy looking through the TV guide. I will say that without a... I did. I began. I picked one up randomly, which I think was from '75. Lloyd Bridges was on the cover in a police hat. Very nice artful rendition of Lloyd Bridges. Yes, a lovely vintage 70s illustration, sort of a realistic illustration of Lloyd Bridges. And a character I did not recognize. What show was that? I think it was a short-lived show. I don't know, actually. Let's see. This is right home of $3 billion mistake. Lloyd Bridges. It's probably... Something Forrester. Yes, it's probably the last name of a cop. Forrester. Forrester. McCann. They were always wondered in the 70s when they would have all of these artful illustrations, because it was very rare to have a photograph cover, it seemed at this time. That's true. Give them to the people, because I just pictured stars of the 70s with a room full of your TD guide cover. Yeah, I'd just be like, "Oh, another oil painting of me." And then there are these sort of realistic illustrations, and then there would be caricatures. Right. You have one here that's a lovely color Hirschfeld, which is not something you see very often. No, no, not very often. Of Valerie Harper and David Grohl from Rhoda. Yes. And then I do remember that the great Mad Magazine cartoonist, Jack Davis, yes, he did several of that. I had SNL. It was a great one. Ubiquitous. Yeah. He did a lot of caricatures. I guess that was usually comedy shows. Right. Figure. Well, it's a comedy show a lot more of a caricature. Since. Because he's doing it in nad usually anyway. We usually draw those. There's a lot of shows that I kind of only found out about through mad parodies, or cracked. Yes. Some like Mort Todd version of that thing. Right. But yeah, it's so ubiquitous to have illustrations of these people on the covers, which is kind of a lost art. Yes. And then on the back cover, always a cigarette and usually featuring a woman. Yes, absolutely. And Virginia Slims. Yes. This one, the one that you ended up ultimately picking the ad on the back is for a cigarette called now. It's a now cigarette. My favorite thing though, it says there are many reasons to smoke now. They did. They were when they came up with that name, there was a lot of they didn't high five in the 76. No, whatever the equivalent was. I think it was probably the double guns. Yeah, it's a lot of double guns. Yeah. And then it says now the lowest tar of all cigarettes. Yes. Tar was a big issue. Yeah. It's like we have it, but there's not that much of it. The tar is Steve Martin references tar in the cigarettes, like his first album. Let's get small. There's a joke about I've taken up smoking. My doctor told me I wasn't getting enough tar. It seems like tar seems like an ingredient that should be a deal breaker. Like any at all in this thing, like people must have been like, surely you don't mean like tar, tar. Now, do you remember if cigarettes were advertising in 76? Because I'm 51 years old, I remember cigarette ads from the 60s. They were still on the Marlboro man ads were still. Oh, that's right. Yes. Until I think about 78 or 79, they didn't outlaw the cigarette ads on television till probably the early 80s. Right. So anyway, the point is I looked at the Lord Bridges issue and said no. And then the next issue I picked up and you brought a large box. Yes. A large priority mail FedEx box full of TV guides in protective dust jackets. Yes. And the set that one was in a sleeve with one from 76. Correct. And would you ultimately pick which is the week of April 10th to the 16th? And I began flipping through this. And it's funny because when you told me most people choose TV guides from when they were kids. What was the age range? Age is eight to 12. That's usually the sweet spot that four year period. For some reason, when you told me that before we did the podcast, I thought, I think I'm going to go a little more like young adulthood, like early 80s, even late 80s. And then I picked up this one from 76. And as God is my witness, I immediately began going, Oh my God. Yeah, everyone. And just remembering just those shows and not even shows that I cared about, but they were just there. You were aware of them. And you watch them. You a lot of there's a weird phenomenon that for people who didn't grow up in a world where you didn't really have that much choice of what you could watch. Yes. We all watch things. We actively disliked and not in like a way that was making fun of it. Like if it was between two shows you liked, you would watch it. If it was the only thing on and the only option is shut the TV off and not watch something. That's right. You would still watch it. You would because it was just on. And there were only 12 channels or whatever. Yeah. Now you look like a very young man, though, Ken. How old are you? I'm 34 years old. All right. So you're kind of on the cusp. I'm on the cusp. I I was walking to you very early, very early. And we got a VCR a little later on, but I still heard that. But you're born of like 80 or whatever. Correct. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Because so I was in high school from 77 to 81. Right. But this issue of TV Guide is April of 76. Correct. Yep. And sort of Ben, did you have April vacation in New Jersey? We had we had like an Easter break. Okay. Yeah. There's Massachusetts had a weird vacation times because weirdly the ski lodge resort, whatever lobby had them basically the ski lodge lobby. The ski lodge lobby. Big ski. Yeah. Big ski. Evil big ski. The people who insisted to pronounce she-ing. They managed to get the schools to make their winter breaks and spring breaks at times that they could get extra skiing in. So for years, I didn't know that. And there are like school vacations at reference. And people would be like, we never had that week off. And April was one of them for some people. I remember there was some sort of break in New Jersey. So you're East Coast like I am. You're Massachusetts. Yep. Boston area. Yeah. But and these TV guys are actually from Connecticut. This one is from someone in Connecticut. We subscribed. I believe. This is what you did. We subscribed. Yeah. You got the best rate when you subscribe. And often a free gift. Oh, I don't remember the free gift. Oh, yes. People, since I started doing the show, people have sent me all kinds of TV guide ephemera, including a lot of the subscription free gifts. So there's like a TV guide phones. Would you get lighters? Lighters. For your tar filled cigarettes. My favorite though is TV guide leather leather covers. So you could put that on your table. You got them like a nice leather cover on your table. And I have several of those. That is that sounds like the best object ever. Yeah, it's very classy. Very classy. But yeah. So 76, of course, was a huge year in America in the culture. Yes. The bicentennial. And so I was 12 when this issue came out. And so I'm like, yeah, middle school, pre high school. Oh, no, I have three lovely sisters, older. They're all younger. Okay. So you're setting the tone for what's being watched, I imagine at this time. It's sort of that's an interesting question. I remember at that time, I think we had the main TV in the living room, which would have been a kind of big boxy color television. Nice piece of furniture. And then my in my parents had a little black and white portable in their room. Yeah. Sometimes I remember watching things in their room. I think basically, yeah, if the if the if I was outvoted, right, and the family was watching something and I wanted to see something else, I would go out to black and white. I could I could watch on the parents black and white set. And then later, like in high school, I had my I may have inherited that set, actually. I don't remember. I probably did because I remember it. The the dial fell off. And people of my generation remember this. I used to turn the channel to pair the pliers. Yes. Everyone had the fliers. And you'd also put a coat hanger in the antenna to get a better antenna. I feel like there's a there's a mechanical skill that people have lost having to not like Jerry Rig there. There are things to watch TV. And I swear, when I turned it with the pliers, I remember often feeling like I felt a mild charge of electricity coursing through my probably probably. So it may turn me into a human television. That could be a very low key superhero. Exactly. Yes. I can change my mood slightly. Yes. With just the twerk of a plier. So you started looking through this and I got it. Yeah, I got deep into it. And the first thing you you noticed too, wasn't even a a TV show. You were very intrigued by one of the editorials in here, the New York report about the fall lineup. Yes. The first thing you've got to pages of ads. Oh, there's a couple of articles. Right. And they've got a beautiful ad here for a track for a record club. And it's eight tracks, which is interesting too, because it's all spines. They're doing album cover work. It's just the spot is the most economically efficient way to show fit the most. But Jim Croci does probably need a Brian work and need a Brian is on there. It's like selling books just by the spine. Yes. Well, it's not about the cover. But yes, I was interested in this column called New York report. Yes. And it says ABC's fall lineup adds nine shows and cancels nine. This is from April. And it's the mid season. Yeah, it actually says the lead is in an unusual move. ABC has become the first network to announce its new fall schedule. Really, this was unprecedented apparently that you'd announced the fall schedule. This was like a full on arms race. People don't understand how heated the networks were battling against each other. And also what an event the unveiling of the fall season was. Absolutely. There were TV specials about the fall. And these would be not in the summer. Yes, the very end of summer. And I don't remember what I guess that was when they were announced. That was the first time they were announced. You would hear what shows were coming back. And it was I guess the closest thing I could describe it to the people who didn't live through it is like when Apple has a new product. Yes. Like people were like, Oh, wow, this is coming out. And they would have a prime. Every network would have a prime time special that was a preview of the new show morning to specific. And I was going to say that as a kid, the most exciting thing was the preview of the Saturday morning cartoon. Yes. And it would usually almost always be the Friday before the Saturday they premiered. So you could get that immediate gratification the next day. It was incredibly exciting. Oh, absolutely. Like, I remember like the premiere of like cartoons that one doesn't even remember anymore. Right. Jabber Jaw. Jabber Jaw with the finest of the Scooby-Doo rip-off. Cashing in on the also it was Scooby-Doo. He played in a band. Yeah. He had a voice like curly from the Shrestujas. And it was all about the Jaws craze. Right. Because he was a shark. They were like, guys, Jaws, Josie and the Pussycats. And curly from the Shrestujas. And the kind of a Scooby-Doo type thing. The kids will love it. But so this is so this is talking about the new schedule. And the first show listed is the comedies are Holmes and Yo-Yo. Now that I had never heard of, but you recognize that. Oh my God. So Holmes and Yo-Yo. All right. So here's something that happened a couple of months ago, somebody on Twitter. I forget who it was. But somebody, a comedian, tweeted, here's an idea for a show. It's a cop in his robot partner. Okay. And then they made up a fake name for this. And I said, it's been done. Right. And I linked the Wikipedia entry to Holmes and Yo-Yo. Okay. See, I would have linked it for man and machine. Oh, what's that? It was a 90s version of that show. Well, this was a sitcom. So this is sitcom Holmes and Yo-Yo. Holmes and Yo-Yo was a sitcom about a cop and his android partner. The cop was played by the character actor Richard B. Shul. The Robert partner was played by the character after John Shuck, who was sort of part of Robert Altman's circle. It was kind of like my living doll with no sexuality. Yes. And it premiered. In the fall of 1976, I watched it. Right. That that was it. It was canceled. Did you like it? Were you like very excited? I liked it. It was it was funny. It was about a robot. It was a cop show. This would be post-bionic man. Yes. 75. Well, a $6 million man and bionic woman were already on the air this time. So they must have been like jumping on that craze a little bit. They were. That's right. And I know that because I saw a bionic woman listed in this TV guy. Yeah, no one. And then I tweeted about this and and the guy sort of couldn't believe that that was a real thing. Oh, yeah. I mean, before people were able to link to a Wikipedia article and even confirm that these things existed, there was like mythology around short-lived shows where you could have been like, I think I might have actually seen this, but I might but this may just have been a dream I had. Yeah, describe these shows to people and you would kind of think you were insane sometimes for like a four or five episode show that no one else remembered. And I actually I remember the opening credits very well. Yeah, I remember the title sequence. I remember the title sequence from a lot of these shows that didn't last very long. Right. Also, I was looking through here and spoiler, the Tony Randall show was on in '76, which was his post odd couple and pre love Sydney pre love Sydney sitcom. And I remember that title sequence in theme song very well. Oh, so anyway, it goes on. Mr. T and Tina, which I also remember very well, which is not the Mr. T people are thinking of. No interesting guess it's before Mr. T was famous. Right. Pat Marita, right? Pat Marita, the title role who played Arnold, the owner of Arnold's unhappy days. And it was as right here, Pat Marita stars in a show about a Japanese widower who moves his family to Chicago and then hires a scatterbrained governess for his children. Classic. Classic TV probably employed more hired help live in hired help than the history of the world. That's true. That was a big template. So many things that I've never met anyone that ever had any sort of live and help. Yes, exactly. Which is very, very odd. You would think that people would live off that oddly speaking of Tony Randall and Pat Marita, the town that I live in now just inside of Boston as a little theater and Pat Marita starred in a revival of the odd couple in this theater who was playing opposite Sherman Helmsley in the town that it lived in. Now this is very confusing because I honestly have no idea who would be Oscar and who would be if you like some of that. You know what? I don't actually know. It'd be funny if they just switched every night. Yeah, yeah. Because everything else, whoever feels like doing it. That's a good idea. One night, Sherman Helmsley's like, I'll just do both, Pat. You can stay home. That's the only way to do it. All right. So then we have the Nancy Walker show. Nancy Walker, of course, was the comic actress who played Rhoda's mother on Rhoda. And was the spin off of Mary Tyler Moore. Palm olive woman for years, right? No, no, she was not the Palm olive woman. That's holes. Yeah, she was a bounty, the bounty bounty. That's right. She's not that you're soaking in it. No, you're soaking in it. I forget that woman's name, but she was a, she played Lenny Bruce's mother and Lenny. Yes. Yes. Yes. I always looked at her as like the, like the tough Catherine Helmand. Yeah. Yeah. She was very matter of fact. She was kind of a been around the block brawl. You're soaking in it. Yeah, you're soaking in it. You trust her. Yeah. Nancy Walker also had that quality. Yes. Sort of. But a little more maternal. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So then the Tony Randall show. I'm sorry, we're spending the entire podcast about this New Yorker sport. This is big news, though. I mean, this is this groundbreaking here. And he played a judge from Philadelphia. The description is a Philadelphia judge who is a bungler off the bench. That is astounding. Who would think of a bungling just? And then this is chilling. The next new show is a show called the Bill Cosby show Sunday seven to eight. And the description is a youth-oriented program. That's a little bit scary. That is a little bit scary. We'll just leave that there. I actually really enjoy that show. I don't know if you remember it. I got a single camera show that was basically Kirby enthusiasm with Bill Cosby, where he played himself. He basically played himself and was just like everyone was annoying around him. And he was like a teacher. And it was geared towards young people. Yeah. He was like a community. Like I remember him when he sort of appeared semi-regularly on the electric company. Yes. Yes. As did Morgan Freeman. Oh, I know. Well, Morgan Freeman was a regular on that. And the book Cosby was sort of on it now and then. Yes. And he would do that when he was all in the fat Albert thing. And then this is also the prime of fat Albert is 76. Yes. Yes. So he was a children's entertainer for many years. And this is interesting. Another new show is being announced as the captain and to Neil. Yes. Which I remember vividly. Who were big pop stars at that time. The pop stars. They had a show called Muskrat Love. Yes. And he always wore that captain set. He did. And a thing several years ago, like at least 10 or maybe even 15 years ago, sort of in the early days of the internet, NBC had a message board where you could write in a sort of a chat room about SNL. And so about at least 10 years ago, if not more, I was just reading the chat room for some random reason. I wasn't watching SNL. Right. I was just reading the chats because it was all teenagers writing in. Right. And apparently they had done a behind the music parody. Yes. And the parody was it was the captain and to Neil. So you have the most generic but nine non edgy group. Right. And it's their dark secrets. Yes. Like as if there are any. The bulk of the kids writing in didn't get it. We're saying thought they were like a made up group. Yeah. They were saying, is this supposed to be a real group? And that was a major moment of me feeling, okay, there's the younger generation. Yes. There are things now that are not for me. Yeah. There's cultural shorthand. Yeah. Like for years, you could just have captained in to Neil. Oh, we all knew what that was. Yeah. They were like the grown inducing band. Like, or if you heard some awful thing coming out of camera, like, what is that? Captain and to Neil? It was just like the easy shorthand for everything. My girlfriend is making a face. So what does Captain and to Neil mean to you, Sarah? Have you heard of them? That means nothing to me. Sarah's 30 years old. Nothing. She's only four years younger than you. Love will keep us together. That was a big one. But that four years is interesting. So you're over. You're aware. Yes. Yeah. I became sentient more early than many of my generation for that stuff. Yeah. I mean, that was an AM gold staple, the Captain and to Neil. Yeah. Yeah. They were like love boat the band. They were. Yeah. What was it? Well, yeah. Yacht Rock, of course, addressed this odd, aquatic obsession that sort of pop had in the 70s. I feel like Yacht Rock was more of a personal boat, though. And Captain and to Neil was more of like a group charter boat. Like, it wasn't about your own wealth. It was like, we saved up and we went on a cruise kind of Yacht Rock instead of like, this is my schooner. Yeah. Maybe splitting hairs. No, no, I like it. So let's let's move on. Yes. Yes. So then we start to get into the week and the first show that struck me was it Monday, April the 12th, 1976, 11 a.m. It's a rerun. It's on also, this is Connecticut. So this is a station. This is the New York station. Yes. Channel five, which was a syndicated station, which would later become Fox, but this time it was W&EW. Yeah, but it was it wasn't a UHF. But it but it but it was syndicated. It wasn't one of the main networks. Yes. Yeah. And they had a bewitched at 11 a.m. Yes. And this was a thing. There's a a joke in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which I'm sure if young people see it today, they don't get the joke. He's taking the day off. And there's just a shot of him at home. It lasts about two seconds. And he's dancing to the bewitched. Right. It's like four notes of the that I dream of a genie. Oh, it's I dream of yes. Yes. Oh, my God. Okay. But they always aired and syndication in an hour block. So 60 watt half a dozen of the other you get. So that's what I thought of when I saw bewitched, but you're absolutely right. It was I dream of a genie, but it was the same thing. It was a show sitcom from the 60s that had a supernatural element. Yes. Yeah. And these shows from 20 years earlier, or maybe seem more like 15 years earlier. Yeah, which seems crazy because it seems like a whole yeah, like this is 76. So it's only like 10 years earlier. They'd be on every morning. And that would just be a thing you would get literate about 60s. If you were homesick, if you were homesick, the more sickly you were, the more you would know about 60s sitcoms. But thank you for that correction. Yes. He's watching I dream of genie. But like I'm sure millennials in this day and age wouldn't get that joke. And when I saw that in the theater, it got a huge laugh because everyone knew what that meant. Yeah. It was just that's what was on TV at 11 o'clock on a weekday. Absolutely. Everyone knew that. Your homesick on a weekday. It's pretty shorted. There was two there was two hour blocks. It was always bewitched and I dream of genie and monsters in Adam's family. Those were constantly on during us to bring up another pairing. Yes. They always paired those together, which was weird because that's like giving someone a coconut Pepsi. Here you go. Here's a tasting of coconut Pepsi. But a monster, of course, was a rip off of Adam's family. Yes. But it found its own way. I found Adam's family superior. Did you have a preference between bewitched and I dream of genie? It's a good litmus test for me. I probably I saw them both constantly in reruns as a kid. I think I probably liked I dream of genie better. Okay. I was a bewitched. This particular episode is is as Morelda's accidental spell sends Samantha on an eating binge. Yes. I loved as Morelda. She was the the the the the very aunt who was just like the bumbling aunt. Well, I was replaced with uncle Arthur. Oh, but who was the who was the aunt who was a little snootie played by Agnes Moore? That's her mother who was not as Morelda, is it? Who was uh would call Darren Derwood. Yeah, Derwood. Yes. She's from Lynn, Massachusetts originally. Yes. And I think she was nominated for an Oscar too. She's a great actress. She worked with Orson Well. She was in the Mercury Theater. Which is crazy that probably most people know her from the witch. Yes. She has an astonishing scene in the magnificent Ambersons. Yes. Where she basically like has a breakdown in the basement. She's in one of my favorite episodes of Twilight Zone that has no dialogue in it. Where she's fighting the uh the tiny alien invaders in the cabin. Oh yeah, I don't I I'm not I'm a little embarrassed to say I'm not that up on Twilight Zone. That's fine. Were you in outer limits or just not either? No, I just I'm I know it peripherally. Yeah. And this has been the Agnes Morehead Corner. Yes. Agnes Morehead getting her. Now we can we can check that off on our taxes that we talked about Agnes Morehead. What was the next thing that struck you in here? Oh well. I wrote down 1130 on CBS was Love of Life which was a soap opera which I didn't watch but I remember the title of and I had never heard of. There was a few soap operas that were on for a long time that kind of ended before the 80s and never yet name checked now. This was one of the other one is Edge of Night that I remember that name very well. But they're not you know general hospital and days of our lives. Did you used to watch the soaps in your homesick? Uh you know I I would one flip channels. Yeah. So I would watch for a few minutes and then move on. I was always there's a thing that soaps used to do that people probably would think is insane now where they couldn't do a rerun. So if someone was sick they would have a replacement actor coming for the day and at the beginning of the soap would be like the part of Derek will be there. Yeah. In the theatrical tradition. Right. Oh I didn't know they did that. And it's really jarring and I remember flipping through as a kid seeing that and being like really sort of taking a back because that would never happen. That's kind of bizarre like they didn't just write the character out for that. No because they'd written you know they're writing so on the fly I guess in advance and you know maybe they had an accident or was like last minute or so I had no idea but it would happen frequently there would be like today the part of whatever will be played by and it was very jarring. But they would tape like a day or two in advance. I guess that's great. That's great. Well that's why the the the dramatic conclusion of Tootsie makes more sense now. Yes. They're like oh we we spilled something on the tape we have to do it live. Yes. Yes. Which always seemed like it's a great movie but that felt like well you're pushing me. Yes. I was buying everything in this movie up until that point. That's when I walked out still haven't seen the end. Yeah. I've had it. Okay so and then at 11 o'clock on Monday with Zoom which I loved. Yes. Which was a children's show. It was a PBS show from Boston from Boston. WGBH produced by WGBH. And I can probably remember the address where you could write into this. Yes. The PO Box. Zoom. Box 350. Boston Mass 02134. Yes. 02134. Yes. The show that popularized a certain very specific type of sweater. Zoom. Yeah the well all the kids wore striped sort of what we used to call rugby. Yes. There's a rugby shirt. Yes. And I remember I just remembered once my I was watching it my mother walked by and she said why do they all dress the same? Yes. It was a very 70s show. Yeah they were like a club. It seemed like an odd question. Well it's a design element. It's just. I guess they look like a team or look like some sort of weird youth movement. Yeah or a cult. Yes it was very culty. And Zoom was great. They took submissions for plays from kids and I did. My friend Ed Stokes and I wrote a play which was a series of fairy tale parodies. Yes. Like fractured fairy tales. Yeah it was a good play but they didn't they didn't do it. That was a disappointment. That's the thing that I certainly did as a kid all the time where anything you could write into any contest I wrote into all of them. Was that something you frequently would do? Or was this kind of a win? No. Only that one time we decided let's write a Zoom play. Right. And I think it was a good play. I think it's actually kind of outrageous that it wasn't produced. It would be amazing to having bended WGBH. I have no doubt in my mind that they have your letter still. They own a whole full album. They just got to it. Compound. Yeah. So they got a lot of submissions. It would be amazing to comb through those and then produce them now. Like things they got 30. There were some wonderful things because it was like kid plays. It was nutty stuff. Like there was one about like two kids who got shrunk and were stuck in a jar. Yes. And then they had like sort of PBS affiliate special effects where they showed two kids in a jar. It was super cool. Yeah it was. And then they also had some sort of kid animations which I remember vividly which were which I remember just being sort of weird and experimental. Yeah. Because kids could get super compelling and I'd still remember them. They could get an 8 millimeter camera and just do some weird stuff. Yeah. It was a sort of golden age of sort of super 8. And I remember a lot of those homemade films and animations very well. And that carried over to the first season of SNL too because like Mr. Bill was essentially a Zoom movie. Was a Zoom movie? That's very true. Which is so odd that these things are Zoom's kind of I'm sure there was a precursor to this but was kind of the first show on a national level at least that was very interactive. It was where he did reach through and be part of the action. That's very true. Years before the internet it had a very strong connection with the fans. And I think that's why it's so low around. So it influenced the content. Which is nuts. I mean it's not looking at ratings. It's real feedback from the kids and this is what makes the show. And the kids were regular kids. Yes. They didn't come off as performers. Not showbiz kids in the least. They tended to be from the Boston area. I remember the ones doing a science project and one kid going wicked. Yes. It's very exciting. Regional slang. Oh yes. Absolutely. Yeah. And there's that one redheaded kid who ended up being like the face of, he would be in all the ads. I remember him being in like the, what was the magazine? It wasn't the Marvel magazine. Dynamite? Dynamite. Yes. There was a lot of Zoom in Dynamite. Now wait a minute. How do you know you were born in 1980? How do you know Dynamite? So we would often frequent flea markets as a child. All right. And if I could get my hands on a box of periodicals or comics, you know, for a dollar, that would have easily for weeks. And for those who don't know, Dynamite was a children's magazine you got through Scholastic. Yes. Through like your Scholastic reader. The catalog. Yeah. Yeah. And it, my God, I also, that was a, that was 70s for awesome. Yeah. It's a popular slang term. Right. The comedian, Jimmy Walker, of course, made it super famous. Dynamite. Dynamite. But you'll see like in Annie Hall, Woody Allen says, Dynamite at one point sort of as a joke. Yeah. And then there's a clip of early Seinfeld doing like, regional New York TV. And he talks about something being Dynamite. I really want to bring that word back. Dynamite should come back. Yeah. The thing I tried to not bring back but do a new version of was in the early 90s when people were saying proper. Yes. I wanted to do get prim to be a thing. All right. That is prim. And it didn't really hit. That's good. But I think we can bring back Dynamite. They're pressing. And you could spell it PRYM. You could absolutely. You did notice too on that same page, the Bobby Van hosts of the fun factory. Yeah. Because I vaguely remembered that the whatever that was. The description is fantastic. It's a really great. Well, it's a premiere premiere today. The fun factory, Bobby Van Bobby Van was like a musical theater actor. Yeah. Did like movie musicals like in the 50s. Yeah. He's like a Frankie Avalon type, but not. Yes. So like if he was in his 20s in the 50s, he would have been in his 40s in the 70s. Yeah. Easily. Sort of a not really remembered today, but a kind of like comedian, musical, just all-purpose, half a believe in man, all around entertainer. Exactly. And he hosted a lot of stuff in this time period. And this is a game show called the fun factory. And it says, it's a variety show too, because all the contests are based on song stances and comedy sketches. Which sounds like such a wonderful train wreck. I just pointed it out because Bobby Van was just a guy I remember from this period. Right. Right. He would just be on TV. He would be too old to be a dynamite. Although he probably used the word dynamite. I'm sure he used the word dynamite. And in the same kind of way. Trying to be hip. Yeah. When you see people say like not, like you're it's very embarrassing. Also, I remember I was on a 12 noon on NBC. And the description in TV guide says the debut of the fun factory, originally scheduled for this time period. Oh no, here's what happened. So there's a big giant ad. Yes. It says 12 noon, the fun factory. It took out an ad. And it's a big deal. 12 o'clock NBC. Then on the same page is the actual listing. Yes. It says 12 o'clock channel four. Magnificent marble machine. Not the fun factory. No, which I also remember. Yes. Game. And then the description is the debut of the fun factory originally scheduled for this time period has been postponed because of the technicians strike. Yes. Which is quite a lot of information that you don't need. There's a lot going on there. Basically, they're saying the role of the fun factory today will be played by the magnificent marble machine. Yes. And then if you if you tune in, are you essentially crossing a picket line? Yes. They want you to know that this is why it's not on. And if you're morally okay with that, please enjoy the marble machine, which was like a pinball theme. Magnificent marble machine. I'm sorry. I know some marble machine. So anyway, that oh, then in here, there was a column called news watch. Oh, yes. Which is written by Patrick Buchanan. Yes. Pat Buchanan. Yes. The right wing. The Pat Buchanan theory. And then he's got his own caricature with a giant chance to offer his powerful message in TV interview. Yeah, he's got a thing about Alexander Solzhenis and the Russian writer. I just I didn't remember that Pat Buchanan years before Fox News. Yes. Was an outlet in TV guy. He did. And he was still kind of hurling the same thing. Yeah, this is this is a very better Russian article. It's an article of it, a Russian dissident. My favorite Pat Buchanan thing, which is something I don't say often. My favorite form of cancer. My favorite form of cancer. I'm sorry. I'll steal so come on. When he was running for president, one of the many times, there was an ad. I don't remember this where a guy starts having a heart attack. And he calls 911. Yes. And the first thing says is a por español, you know, right. And then it goes through all these languages. Yes. And then it cuts to a voice over and guy goes, remember when people in America spoke English. Right. And then it cuts to the guy dead on the floor. Amazing. And the last thing you hear is for English, press nine. Right. And it's like, what the hell? Who was like, this is we're going to be president with this ad right here. That sums up Pat Buchanan to me perfectly. That's that's amazing. We also had its Easter beagle Charlie Brown this week, I should mention, as we're airing some of the, which I was, well, like everybody, I was a huge peanuts fan. So I definitely would have watched that. It's disappointing in light of grit pumpkin and Christmas. But the funny thing is, I saw that in there and I wrote it down because I would have watched that and I have no memory of that special. It's very, very not memorable. It's the bar was set so high for those other two. Well, the first peanut special ever is the Christmas special. Correct. Yeah. And that's perfect. Absolute masterpiece. It's perfect of just form and content. Yes. They come, they, he translates the strip into animation. Incredibly, it's, you can't even, it's beyond praise. It shows beyond praise. In some ways, it improves on some of the stuff for the strip that it can do. It's one of the other things where you go, this is made it better by giving us these extra things. Right. The music and the, it's perfect. Yes. It is, it establishes a tone that's true that would then live in the strip itself. Correct. Yeah. It changed the source material. Oh, we watched it over the holidays and it just, it, it, it really holds up. But I have, so there you go. So that's a masterpiece. It seems to be, so it's an amazing piece of writing. It's one of the best scripts ever written. Yes. The performances are perfect. The music is perfect. It's, it's sort of amazing that it even got made that way. Yeah, absolutely. It's actually very radical in its way. It's so, it's so specific and has such a very specific point of view. You see interviews with Charles, he seems like such an affable Midwestern. Well, what do you know, kind of guy? But he, like David Lynch, there's like a steely point of view there, which is also like David Lynch. Yes. This is my point of view and no one is going to fuck with it. Yes, exactly. And that's what happens. He was in a very powerful place at that time and he made exactly what anyone would make. So that said, no memory of the Easter special. It's terrible. It's terrible. Like, like, the Great Pumpkin is very good. Not, not as good as the, uh, as the Christmas special, but you have these diminishing returns with each special. Yeah. And I remember the Great Pumpkin vaguely. Yeah. Now, is that prior to the Easter special? Yes, it was. So it went, it went Christmas. Then Halloween. Okay. Thanks, Giving, which is the. Do I remember that one? Then Easter. And then they started just the diminishing returns after that, like the four. Was it Charles and Lee Mendelssohn and that whole team was involved, Schultz, not as much as far as I've. Oh, really? Yeah. All right. And I think the networks were like, you guys got this formula. Boom, we put it on any holiday and it doesn't work. Make a million dollars. Does not work. And they really, oddly aired it. They paired it up with Ricky Tiki Tavi. Yes. As an Easter special. So does Linus come out and say and talk about Christ being crucified and then that's what Easter is all about. Yes. He's like, the truth is the bummer. Yeah. It's a little bummer. Sorry. Yeah. It's a little bit of a bummer. Let's say if they summed it up actually, let me. So this is the debut and it says, um, it's Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown Linus insists that an Easter Beagle will magically appear to hand out candy on Easter morning. So we already have a retread of the Great Pumpkin with that. Indeed, we do. But with fresh memories of their feudal vigil for the Great Pumpkin, the children are making their own novel preparations, including boiling eggs without shells. So it's more general. Yeah. Absolutely. The Christmas special is actually about something. Yes. Yes. It's about what is Christmas in 1963 or whatever that was made. And I would argue that Great Pumpkin's about something too, because it's about sort of childhood sincerity. It has like a, like a really, um, a loss of innocence piece to it that is, uh, very good. Right. So at this point, it's more of an assembly line artifact. Absolutely. And they point out it preamps Rhoda, which is sort of the 1976 TD guide version of a sad emotica. Exactly. It's like a passive aggressive, like, whoa, I hope your kids are happy because we don't have a road of this week. That's, that's an adult chiming in. Yeah. Boy, sure. Yes. Easter Beagle. And by the way, let's say one, forget Rhoda was huge. And at the top of your box, the TV guides, we're three different Rhoda covers. Yes. No less than three. The sequel to Merry Time or more. Yes. Yeah. And all very nice art, like three Rhoda covers. We're felt. Yeah. The great, the great caricaturist. There's probably an LA right now, a art installation of fewer thematic, like you could have three Rhoda paintings and you're like, it's a Rhoda exhibit. It's, and that's like a theme show at meltdown. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So what was the next thing that, uh, well, let's see here. So what, well, that was Monday. Oh, so basically, can we backpedal here? Yeah. Because I started, I flipped open to Monday, but then I noticed I'd skip Saturday and Sunday, which is as a kid is just a unforgivable. I know. So we have the Saturday morning cartoons. So that's essential. So I just wrote stuff down that I remember is 730 a.m. Mr. Magoo, you, you would get up early on Saturday to watch this. I would get up at five on this. I would get up earlier on a Saturday than on a school day to watch cartoons. 930 a.m. Scooby-Doo, like the original Scooby-Doo 76, this is pure Scooby-Doo. Yes. Then something I'd forgotten about, 930 on ABC, Adventures of Gilligan, a Gilligan's Island animated kid spinoff, which was one of two. There was one in the early 80s as well, called Gilligan's Planet. Oh, yes. Space set one when they were sending everything to space, post-Star Wars. But then there was also a show around this time on a live action kid's show on Saturday morning called Space Nuts. Far Out Space Nuts with Bob Denver. Which Bob Denver starred in. Yes, which was with Chuck McCann, which was a celebrity crop show. And Full Nation was doing a lot of live action space shows at this time too, like Jason of the Star Command was 76. And there was another one. It's fascinating, because this is pre-Star Wars. Yes, but Star Wars was sort of in the air before then though too, because you had like it, which I think is one of the reasons Star Wars hit so big, because it wasn't totally out of left field. Right, yeah. You're sort of bubbling up with these things. Then for some reason, I don't know why at 930 a.m. was something called Ghost of Frankenstein, which may have been like an old- That's an old universal movie. Yes. Oh, so that's why I wrote it down. Would you have that listing there? Yes, 930 a.m. on Saturday. But this was the thing, yes, where you would see old movies. When I was a little kid, I think it was channel 11. Yes, WPX. And WPX, every thanksgiving would show. King Kong. King Kong, that's right. Yeah, and that's people in the Tri-State area, associated. King Kong with Thanksgiving. And when you say that to other people, they're probably like, what the hell is this? Sub-modern programming in the early '70s decided, well, we're just going to show King Kong. By the way, King Kong has nothing to do with Thanksgiving. It's not like Trump diehard at Christmas. No, there's no tie in there. It's not set at Thanksgiving. There's no turkey scene. They just showed it. And then for some reason, they showed it every-- It was the Thanksgiving tradition, because your family, it was like, after you would eat your dinner, you'd kind of all sit down in a semi-food coma and watch King Kong. Yes, now King Kong is a movie from 1933, the year my father was born. And you would just see movies from that period all the time as a kid. Yeah, absolutely. Could you imagine on Thanksgiving now, you get a 12-year-old, and you show him a 40-year-old movie. Yeah. They would be like, I'm calling the police that you're abusing me. They would not sit down and watch that movie. Yeah. And what would it even be? Like it. So 40 years ago, so we're talking 1975. It would be from the year before this came out. Yes. So you could show them a roller ball. Sure. Hey, everybody. Sorry. It is Ken. I am breaking into the podcast here. As you probably heard, it cut off rather abruptly. Unfortunately, the battery died in my Zoom recorder. And the reason being that I bought cheap batteries. I am not sponsored by anyone in any way, but I will say this, buy brand name batteries, dollar store batteries. Not going to last you. And you will be talking on a podcast with an incredible guest for tens of minutes, maybe not tens of minutes, probably like 10 minutes before you realize it. And you will miss out on all kinds of things. So here is what you missed out on before I realized that the battery was dead and put in new batteries. And we started over recording again. And there's probably some amazing stuff here. I'll say it's probably the best 10 minutes we ever did on the show. Actually, I'm just messing with you. But we discussed things like the Bowery Boys, which was a very weird series of comedy children's shorts that came out of a very dramatic movie. And I bring that up because we reference comedy spun off from dramas and drama spun off from comedies later in the episode. And that is why we first brought that up. We discuss an ad in the TV guide for growing giant tomatoes that is very apocalyptic, which we also reference later. We discuss the Rankin Bass Easter specials, which are terrible. And of course, the Lawrence Wilk Show, which is the whitest of white shows. But I still enjoyed it. You can watch Lawrence Wilk on most local PBS affiliates. And it is kind of a fun, weird show, although you do get Lawrence Wilk's show boat in quite a bit on that show. My grandfather thought he was a show boat. We talk about that. James mentions his grandfather really loved Lawrence Wilk. So that's some of the stuff you missed in the missing 10 minutes. He lost 10 minutes of TV guidance counselor very much like the Nixon tapes. But I did notice we changed the battery and then we went back into the show. So I'm putting you back into the show here with sort of a cliff's notes version of catching up in that 10 minutes that we missed. So here we go. Back to the show. I apologize for you missing out on it. I got to experience it. So, you know, hey, I'm okay with it. But you, you didn't. And I feel bad for you because it was great. But anyway, back to the episode. James or Baniac, here we go. We had a first year. We went through an entire fresh battery pack. Yeah, we had, I'm so sorry. No, no, it's, I think we were talking and suddenly I looked and no lights were on this little device. Yes. And I said to you, are we still recording? Yes. And we weren't. Well, here's thematically why this is appropriate. It died while we were discussing Easter and we've just resurrected it. By God, this was about electricity. It's just so, so appropriate. There is a God. Yes, it's true. So yeah, we were talking about, you know, the Easter special and how Vincent Price was involved and how Reiken Bass were always kind of taking a musical person. All right. Here comes Peter Cotton too. So Danny Kay was in this. Danny Kay in Vincent Price, which sounds like something you would just dream about. Yes, absolutely. Doesn't sound like an actual pairing. And I also, when the device was dying, I don't know if we recorded this, but I was saying, what is it about these Easter specials that didn't stick to my memory? I don't remember any of these. I don't think that Easter time, generally, is not very exciting because your eye on the prize is when school is over in a month. Yes. I don't know if this was recorded, but I think we struck on the idea that Easter is the original mid-season replacement. It truly is. It truly is. And it's sort of just like throw it. The post Christmas holidays of Valentine's Day, which no kid likes, you're forced to give Valentine's everyone in your class. Well, I did enjoy that. I enjoyed making the kid Valentine's Day. Okay. But it's not nearly as exciting as Halloween is the kids holiday. Well, yes. And then Christmas, you get a bunch of stuff. Right. So Easter and, you know, they like placeholder holidays for the most part of this. Right. It's some candy. And it's always nothing that great, candy-wise. So that was that. And so Tuesday night, we have the Peter Cotton Tell special on CBS. On ABC, we have Happy Days in its original airing. Yes. In Laverne and Shirley. And Laverne and Shirley in its original airing, which I remember vividly. Would you watch those every week for those? Yes. Popular? Oh, yes. And then at 10 p.m. was Family, which we mentioned early. Yes, which was a really good nuanced family drama, the anti-gritty bunch. Yes. Christy McNichol. The ubiquitous kid actress of the '70s, Christy McNichol. Vic Tayback's in this episode, as you mentioned. Oh, good lord. Yes. He play a gruff, but lovable owner of a diner. He could. His name is Sergeant Pierce. Well, here's another, we keep talking about these genre spin-offs. Alice doesn't live here anymore, is a beautifully detailed drama, although it has a lot of humor in it. Right. But a very naturalistic '70s drama was Martin Scorsese's first like big studio movie. Yeah. starring Ellen Burston. And then it became a classic three-camera sitcom. Yeah. It said, yeah, it was. It was a three-camera sitcom. It had a very different tone. It definitely did. And the spin-off Flow, right. It totally became more Flow again on Flow. It became more dramatic than Alice. I don't really remember that, but I'm assuming Polly Holliday is a great actress. Yes. She was the breakout character on Alice. Right. Flow, played by Diane Ladd in the Scorsese movie. Yes. Very differently. This sort of, yeah, seen at all a waitress. That reminds me, too, there was a television series of the Baghdad Cafe. There was a sitcom of the Baghdad Cafe with Whoopi Goldberg. Based on the famous movie, which is based on a restaurant in California. Yeah. And it's like a weird, very, very strange. I don't remember that. We'll do a whole restaurant themed television special. I also want to point out on Tuesday, back to the talk of strawberries, there's a great ad from the same company selling big luscious tomatoes. Yeah, big luscious tomatoes, which was my '80s band. Big luscious tomatoes? Oh, BLT's. So now I'm into, where are we? I've been on Wednesday here. Oh, well, Flip Wilson, we mentioned a little house in the prairie, which I didn't love, but I remember watching, because he just watched what was on. Everybody watched it. That show I found to be very off-putting, but yeah, that was one of the shows that it was on, and I would be like, oh, God, little house in the prairie, but then sit and watch it. Right. Now, Sarah just did two thumbs up and like it, like it, I love it. Yes, but is that based on the books or the show? Both. It's got a real resurgence. There's two things that- But you watched the show? I did. Yeah. Did you also watch Sarah Pock? I've got it. Listen, I've seen every Anna Green Gables version that's ever been made. That's the thing I've found that there's a weird parallel. My little girls are into this like prairie shit. Yeah, Anna Green Gables, a little house in the prairie, if they like one, they always are really into the other. It always happens. Right. But I remember watching that. My sisters were into it. Well, that was the thing. There was one TV. Well, there were two TV's, but Wednesday nights, my sisters would watch that. Yeah. So you got- And I would just sort of be there, and I'd be like, okay. But the land seems cool. Yeah, he seems to be doing his thing, and the mean girl was funny. Yes. Yes. You find things to like. And then, oh, and then on ABC, this is quite an evening. You've got Flip Wilson on CBS. You've got Little House on NBC and on ABC. You've got Bionic Woman. Very different kind of programming. My God. Very different. Three very distinct shows. I would imagine that for the people who Little House comes out and they go, oh, great. Bionic Woman, everyone else people would be like, yes. It's a very interesting evening in the pre-VHS DVR era, where you have three very distinct choices. I'm a big fan of this particular plot line of the Bionic Woman. I should read Jamie Spunky, new Indian student, plays a key role in thwarting a plan to steal the first working model of a revolutionary new flying suit. Good Lord. Very exciting. Now this is East Indian, I'm assuming. They don't really say- Okay, it's kind of hard to tell. It's hard to tell what they're saying. And they don't say who the actor is, so I can't really even reply. Yeah. It could be either. Then at 11 p.m. on channel 11, the honeymooners. Oh, and also this particular description seemed very beautifully phoned in. Yes, I think they just rubber stamped this description for every honeymoon. Where's the description? A misadventure strains Ralph and Norton's friendship. A misadventure strains Ralph and Norton's friendship. Yes, that's Cliff Notes for that's just that's the TV guy writer just wanted to go home early. Yeah, wanted to go home early. Then 11 30 burns an Allen, which was another sitcom from the honeymooners era. Yes, very revolutionary weird show. Talk to the camera. Yep, very fourth wall. And again, I just remember seeing that they would just be on. Yeah, it was on all the time. George burns a Gracie Allen. Who looked the same age then as he did on the original show, weirdly, but would just be making more jokes about being old then anybody from the tries to do area will remember this or anyone of a certain age 130 a.m. The Joe Franklin show. Yes. Yes. Joe Franklin was a legendary regional TV host. Yes. He had a show that was on late at night on like channel nine, I think. Yep, channel nine in New York. And he would sort of have anyone he could get. Yes. So he would have sort of obscure old actors, people who were doing cabaret shows in New York who were just sort of aspiring actors. And he was famous for in a very old school way sucking up. Yes. To whoever his guest was regardless of where they fell on the entertainment here is the brilliant. Yes. The astonishing things the best song on the train that you've ever seen. And then it would either be some old actor or some aspiring late seventies show of his person. And Joe Franklin was one of those very local New York things that because so many things were produced in New York, people knew of nationally. Like crazy eddy. Well, and here's the thing in the in the that brief period where Billy Crystal was on SNL. Yes. He did a regular Joe Franklin. He did. Although that was after Uncle Floyd. Yes. His Joe Franklin. Yes. Uncle Floyd of course was a legendary New Jersey UHF kid show host. Yes. Who had a huge cult following amongst hipsters and intellectuals. Really weird to have would have all kinds of comics on that had the Ramones on. Ramones on. And that would get re-aired on Nickelodeon later in the 80s. Well, I I saw it during his original airing and and Uncle Floyd basically created the Joe Franklin impression. Yes. Absolutely. He begins and ends with Michael Floyd. Yes. And then he'd sing on my own grandpa. Yeah. Well, Uncle Floyd was also he loved old show business. Yeah. So he really got Joe Franklin. Okay. So we're moving on to Thursday. Yes. And the Waltons, another ubiquitous show. Could not what that's good night. John Boy Walton. Yes. Yeah. That was John Boy. This is an Easter Waltons. Well, of course. It's very religious. One of the John Boy dies and comes back to life. This is comes back to life. This is the Waltons faith in courage are put to the supreme test. The Waltons are confronted with an overwhelming crisis. Their response is a tribute to the magnificence of the human spirit. Good Lord. How generic is that something bad happens and then it's good. Right. That's that was the honeymooners description. Right. Yes. Yes. Say night. Yeah. This guy. They had an intern this week. I don't know. I don't know what this is. Yes. That was Erin and I haven't. Yes. She was like 21 at the time. Jeez. And here's back to the bitchiness about the Waltons. Expans to two hours preempting Hawaii Five Oh my God. Can you think of someone of a show that somebody wants to watch Hawaii Five Oh does not want to watch more than the Waltons. That is truly the anti Hawaii Five My grandfather. Your grandfather watched the Lord's wealth. Yes. My grandfather loved Hawaii Five Oh and called it his he was an old man from Norway who called it his Hawaii program. His Hawaii stories. Put on that Hawaii program. That's fantastic. Yeah. Big fan. Jack Lord's big fan. So the Waltons was just it was just on you watch it. I didn't particularly care about it but it was just part of the culture. Yeah. It was just out there. That's 8 p.m. on Thursday. Then on NBC you have Mac Davis who was a singer. So that's sort of country-esque but also a little novelty. Yeah. He's going to cross over. Kind of a little comedic. Not quite Ray Stevens territory. No. Not not holy, uh, uh, parodistic but uh, he had a variety show. And then of course the legendary welcome back hotter. Yes. On ABC at eight starring young, uh, the young John Travolta. A show that I cannot watch. Really? I've tried to rewatch it and it's unwatchable to me. Right. It's like can read Kryptonite. Right. I mean, I, I, I see what you're saying. Yes. It was a kind of very broad. It's a show that I think more than any other show someone could just go. You had to be there. Right. Well, I was there. Yeah. And I, I enjoyed it very much. Yeah. That's, that makes sense. And I, but I love Barney Miller, the show it was paired with. Barney Miller was on after that at eight thirty. Which is one of my favorite shows of all time. Uh, a, a, a stencil bowl sitcom that was sort of out of the curve in a way. Because like years before Hill Street blues or, uh, the sort of modern template of a kind of ensemble driven crime show or drama that also had sort of deep comic elements. Yes. Barney Miller was sort of the three camera version of that. Yes. And before that was a thing. Absolutely. And every episode was a bottle episode. It all took place in the one room. Yeah. Well, that was the idea. Yeah. It was a cop show that was set in the, uh, the office. It's a paperwork world. Yeah. And there's a famous quote from, uh, someone who was like the head of the police union who said the most realistic cop show until she was Barney Miller. And this episode I should point out has Linda Lavin in it. There you go. Also credited as a guest star, Adam Arkin in the role of rapist. That's it. It says rapist Adam Arkin or Alan Arkin. Adam Arkin. Oh, the his son. Oh, so he's playing like a very young like a teenage rapist. Good Lord. Yeah. That's very head of the curve. Yes. That's, that's weird. Yeah. And I wonder how that landed at the time with that episode was like, they had a lot of heavy rape episodes. But the thing is, uh, it's not necessarily good thing, but in sort of the up through the mid 20th century, rape was also a kind of just go-to comedy term. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. The concept of it was treated much in a much lighter term. There were heavy episodes of Barney Miller. There's, there's actually a meme. So like, was it Edith Bunker or was it just? It's not quite like all the fantastics that has this fun song. This particular episode is, is probably a little close to the fantastics, but there's a very good episode of Barney Miller where a wife comes into the station to accuse her husband of rape. And Barney is torn because he totally believes her and wants to prosecute him, but because of the way the law is grant. And so it's this dialogue about how, um, you know, and, and, um, some of the other cops disagree that that's wrong. And it's, it's really interesting, um, to have this in a sitcom. Right. Especially at that time. Yeah. No, they, they were trying to, and they had very distant characters. And I recently had the pleasure of working with Max Scale. I played Wojahoa. Great on that show. And nothing like Wojahoa. And no, he's not. And, and he, uh, I, I'm on, uh, the Eddie Daley Show review on Comedy Central. Yes. And we just shot the second season and this season, Max Scale plays Andy Daley's father. So I had the pleasure of, uh, meeting him on the set. I didn't actually have any scenes with him, but he was a lovely guy. And he was, he's a very interesting guy who sort of started out doing theater in San Francisco in the 60s. Yeah. Very counterculture guy. He's a very counterculture kind of dude. And he actually said that he felt weird playing a cop playing the man. Yes. On Barney Miller. And on Barney Miller, he was the conservative cop. Yeah. He plays a sort of a short haired, he's a big, kind of, very black and white, the world is right and wrong. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's hilarious to find out that he's. No, he's sort of an angel. Yes. Absolutely. It's a total aging hippie. Absolutely. But he, yeah, he played a kind of crew-cudded, uh, non-veteran. Oh, the show. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But he's a wonderful actor. But, but yeah, that, that, I remember that show very well. I don't think I, it's funny. I look back at it now thinking, wow, that was really interesting what they were doing. But at the time, it was just another show. Yeah. Yeah. When you, when you have the distance of context, it, it really stands out as a, that's show well worth revisiting. I, I frequently re-watch that show and enjoy it. Then at nine p.m., they're showing the greatest story ever told, the Bible movie. It is Easter week. It's Easter week. Not the greatest story ever told. Lots of God stuff. Um, Friday. Oh, well, uh, the feature, a boy named Charlie Brown. And I want to point out in this particular TV guide, the original owner felt the, I don't know if you noticed this, but there's a one-page ad for the first time on television, special 90-minute movie, Peanuts. That's what the copy says. Yes. The owner of the TV guide took a ballpoint pen and underneath that wrote 90-minute movie. Just to reiterate that this 90-minute movie was a 90-minute movie. Oh, and by the way, this is not the publisher TV guide. This is the person who subscribed to it. He subscribes it out. And they've written in a slant to that parallels the, the title font here. That's very bizarre. They just want to reiterate that it's a 90-minute movie. Oh, but it says first time on television, a special 90-minute movie. Peanuts. Very big 90-minute movie. It seems like, was this a child practicing, uh, I think it might have been their trying to, I don't know. Maybe they're just like, I'm going to make a note of this. It's very odd. I will scan that specific page and post it onto the guy at council.com. Well, Sarah and I watched that like a month ago and I got to say that one in Charlie Brown hadn't seen it in a long time and that is not the Easter special. No, no, this is different. Yeah. They try to push it into sort of a cinematic place and it really works, but it still keeps the kind of optimistic quality of the Christmas special and it's, yeah, it's pretty good. She's nodding. She's not. If she speaks, you have to pay her. Yes, exactly. Yes. We can't have that. Oh, and so then at midnight on Friday, Topper takes a trip. Topper was a series of, uh, comedy franchise about an English ghost played by the great character actor Roland Young. It was originally a movie called Topper, which I think stars Carrie Grant. It's a comedy about a sort of rich couple who see ghosts. Right, right, right, right. But, but then the guy, the actor who played, then they had a series of less interesting spin-offs. And this one's from 1939. So again, you're seeing a movie from 1939. This one is Mr. Topper tries to prevent his wife from divorcing him, helped and hindered by the ghostly Marion Kirby. Yes. And someone named Franklin Pangborn. Oh, someone Franklin Pangborn was the great character actor who always played sort of persnickety major D's. Okay, I would recognize. Oh, you would totally recognize him. My man Godfrey. Do you know that? Oh, yes. Yeah. Yes. Insiding incident is that Carol Lumbard is part of a rich person scavenger hunter in the grid depression. I see. I find a forgotten man. And she finds a bum down on the berry. Yes. And it's it's the title of character Godfrey. And Franklin Pangborn is overseeing the contest. Gotcha. Gotcha. Are you an actual are your whiskers real? I see. I know that this is beard. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. He's kind of one of those yes guys. Excellent. But great. Fantastic actor who always played snooty men in the 30s. Yes. Very, very specific character. But really great. Which is the end of the TV guide. That's the end. And let's see. What else do we have here? Oh, but there's some post scripts. Yes. There's an article about Pang. Yes. Yes. It's amazing. That's six article about Pang. Here we go. There's an article here. Here we are. The article is titled Chairman Mao. Watch out. Yes. Again. Very Patreon. Presumably Pat Buchanan had a hand. Yes. Yes. And then there's an illustration of a Pang screen. Yep. And it says now Americans are playing ping pong in bed. Which is intentionally salacious by S. Michael Schnessel. Which is a wonderful man. Yes. That's a classic schnessel topic. The next TV ping pong match you see probably won't be coming from P King via satellite. I see because there's a ping pong was very popular in China. Yes. But chances are you'll be fascinated. Why? Because you'll be one of the players battling a magical electronic ball across the screen. Try to out maneuver your nimble finger to opponent. The game you'll be playing is called Pang. One of several play at home video entertainments. They haven't figured out video game. Yes. Well, they don't want to collect games. That's video entertainment. That until recently could be found only at the local tavern or amusement arcade. So this isn't ahead of the career article about the video. Weirdly, TV guy does have a history of being pretty on the ball about innovations. Yeah, I literally have a tnessel. Schnessels. Who's on it? I have a TV guy from 1959. And there is a headline that says soon and someday your TV will hang on the wall. And it's about flat screen TV. That is crazy. By the way, here's at the end of the article. It says special units could be adapted for cable gambling channels. Which never happens to cable in 1976. Which did exist? HBO was the wrong one. Originating programs from casinos by the 1980s. Nevada may be more famous for its video roulette or TV poker than its divorces. Yes. Indeed, it's true. So most people don't know that cable, pay cable, originated as gambling channels and channels that were the closed circuit feed of arenas. So the Madison Square Garden Network became, I believe, USA. And sort of each closed circuit thing became a whole channel, which is very odd around this time. Amazing. And then the issue ends with Cleveland. Amory is calm. He was a famous sort of curmudgeonly journalist. He was also a big animal rights activist. Weirdly. Yeah, grumpy guy who loved animals. But you know, you know, who else was grumpy and loved animals? Yeah, we don't have to say. That's it. That's the issue. We did it. The whole issue, the whole week. Well, thank you so much. We did a groundbreaking episode. We've really we've paid. We broke the battery. We broke the battery. It's a battery breaker. It's not a record breaker. It's a battery breaker. Well, thank you. I hope that wasn't too long, but I enjoyed every moment. Well, thank you so much as the guy. Good night, everybody. And there you have it. Really, really smart guy, fun guy. As I said, I've always loved his work. He's in a ton of things. You will see him, or if you haven't already, you've seen him in things, whether you know it or not. But really great guy. Check him out for sure. I'll put all of his social media stuff up on tvguidescounselor.com. Also, I remembered in the 10 minutes James told me a pretty interesting story that in the 80s, I believe when he was in college, he actually won a 1959 tv guide from WFMU by calling in and knowing the theme song to various television shows. And then he never received the issue, which he reminded them of quite a while later, once he was a little more notable to WFMU. And they still didn't give it to him, I don't believe. But I let him keep this issue. So although not a 50s issue, it is a 70s issue. I did offer to make good on WFMU's mistake. But you know, hey, it's not my place to fix all of their mistakes. I try. I do what I can. But anyway, hopefully you liked that episode. I really enjoyed doing that episode. And again, I apologize for the missing 10 minutes there. It surely will never happen again. I'm surprised it took this long to happen. I am very much aware of the value of brand name batteries now whenever possible. So this will be a one time thing that this happened. Anyway, if you want to reach me, you can reach me at can at iconread.com or at tvguidenscounselor at gmail.com or on our Facebook page, just search TV guidance counselor. Please, please, please tell your friends if you like the show. Also, review the show, rate the show on iTunes. It is a huge help. It bumps us up the iTunes charts and people discover the show. And I think if they hear it, they like it. Once they try it, they're soaking in it. I don't know if that's come on. Yeah, okay. I'll go with that. Anyway, we'll see you again Wednesday on a brand new episode of TV guidance counselor. So it may have turned me into a human television before Mr. T was famous. You're soaking in it. This is chilling. No, no, I like it. It's a design element. Americans are playing ping pong in bed.
