Category Archives: TV

RIP Ron Popeil

Posted on August 4, 2021 by Steve

I thought he was already dead. Shows you what little I knew. He did live long enough and then some to be on Futurama and get credited as the man who invented immortality through Head in a Jar technology. Also known as how … Continue reading →

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1981: MTV begins 40 years ago, started sucking within 10

Posted on August 1, 2021 by Steve

I’m confident the original pitch at Warner Communications, MTV’s birth parent, was met with tons of resistance by the old farts in charge. When the proposers got around to explaining how little programming would cost, because music videos were free, … Continue reading →

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RIP Jackie Mason

Posted on July 24, 2021 by Steve

The majority of people younger than Boomers know him as Krusty’s rabbi father, a role he returned to play about a dozen times. Pretty good for a recurring guest character. He was also Navin’s brief employer in The Jerk, until the … Continue reading →

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1996: The Daily Show launches

Posted on July 22, 2021 by Steve

Damn! Time flies too quickly at my age. I’m glad this outlasted South Park and probably will. It wasn’t necessarily Comedy Central’s first attempt at current events-based comedy. Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect didn’t survive ABC’s cowardice and Maher’s love of his own … Continue reading →

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Happy posthumous birthday to Robin Williams

Posted on July 21, 2021 by Steve

Today would’ve been his 70th birthday and we really needed him during the Girth Vader years to make us intelligent and empathetic people cope better. I do feel somewhat bad about liking Robin again near the end of his life … Continue reading →

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RIP Biz Markie

Posted on July 17, 2021 by Steve

Another pioneer in many ways. Sure, he didn’t have a long-lasting musical career like his other contemporaries Public Enemy or RUN-DMC, nor did he quite make the shift to acting as Ice-T, Ice-Cube and Tone-Loc did. But he did contribute … Continue reading →

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What Moe Szyslak would look like if he were “real”

Posted on July 1, 2021 by Steve

Click on the picture if you want to see a larger, scarier, up-close view. I do admit, it’s less frightening than Homer’s. You can also notice the greater resemblance to Moe’s original source, comedian/writer Rich Hall from Fridays, SNL, Not Necessarily … Continue reading →

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MCU TV is off to a solid start with these two

Posted on June 27, 2021 by Steve

Both of these original mini-series via Disney+ did a pretty great job scratching my MCU itch during the Pandemic since Black Widow and other movies were pushed back until it was safe to sit in a theater. I also think the … Continue reading →

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RIP Frank Bonner

Posted on June 23, 2021 by Steve

I know Frank passed away last week but I finally worked in the time to give him his proper due instead of rushing it. Like many in Gen X, I knew Frank mostly for his role as Herb Tarlek, the … Continue reading →

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RIP: Clarence Williams III & Ned Beatty

Posted on June 14, 2021 by Steve

These gentlemen were staples on both screens in the Seventies. Clarence got his start in the Sixties with the groundbreaking cop show The Mod Squad on ABC. Three undercover officers who were young enough looking to infiltrate evil gangs of Hippies … Continue reading →

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The actual reality was a better show

Posted on June 13, 2021 by Steve

As the legacy broadcast networks continue to sink into oblivion, they’ve all been pursuing cheap-ass programming to fill time. Fox’s favorite is moronic, celebrity game shows: the Masked Something with Bimbo Judges! NBC, not to be outdone by Murdoch’s vulgarity used … Continue reading →

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1961: Newton Minnow gives his “Wasteland Speech”

Posted on May 30, 2021 by Steve

This one is under the wire for the month for it happened on May 9, 1961; roughly four years into the new Kennedy administration, FCC Chairman Newton Minnow declares American TV a vast wasteland. Pretty funny given that there were … Continue reading →

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RIP Gavin MacLeod

Posted on May 30, 2021 by Steve

Gavin had quite a run as an actor! After many years as the writer Murray on The Mary Tyler Moore Show he landed a decade-long gig as Captain Stubing on The Love Boat. I do hope he took quite a vacation after … Continue reading →

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RIP Paul Mooney

Posted on May 20, 2021 by Steve

It has been a rough week in comedy since we lost the other master of the deadpan delivery and a pioneer in Comedy for the world, not just Black Americans. Paul was at Cap City a few years ago during … Continue reading →

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RIP Billie Hayes

Posted on May 17, 2021 by Steve

Best known as Witchiepoo on Sid & Marty Kroft’s breakout hit H R Puffenstuff but I recall she continued the role for a short-lived show starring the Bay City Rollers. I can confirm she starred alongside Margaret Hamilton (the witch from … Continue reading →

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