television Archives - Page 8 of 43

Favorite one-season television shows

East Side, West Side

Thank goodness for Greg Burgas. He asked about our favorite one-season television shows. The trick is that some of these shows I haven’t seen since they aired decades ago, so my memories are largely about how I felt seeing the shows rather than the programs themselves.

I’m going to list them in chronological order, with their IMBD ratings.

Grindl 8.1
Sep 15 1963-Sep 13 1964 NBC Sun 8:30-9 pm
“Grindl [Imogene Coca] is an employee of Foster Temporary Service, and her boss Anson Foster [James Millhollin, a very recognizable character actor] accepts a variety of jobs for his employees. Grindl works at everything from babysitting to a theater ticket taker, but typically finds a unique way to accomplish her task.”
I recall this was very funny. Coca was on Your Show Of Shows in the 1950s with Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris. There were a bunch of short-lived programs between Disney and Bonanza that didn’t last very long.

Ahead of its time

East Side, West Side 8.8
Sep 23 1963-Sep 14 1964. CBS Mon 10-11 pm
“George C. Scott plays a dedicated, idealistic yet practical, compassionate social worker trying to solve the problems of his clients in the fascinating mix of cultures that makes up New York City.” Cicely Tyson played the office secretary Jane Foster, the rare non-comedic, non-music role by a black person. The show was probably too downbeat to last. What was I doing up that late on a school night when I was ten? It won an Emmy for best director, and six nominations, including Best Drama and Best Actor in a Drama.

He and She 8.2
Sep 6, 1967-Sep 1968 CBS Wed 9:30-10 pm
“Dick (Richard Benjamin) and Paula (Paula Prentiss) Hollister are a witty, sophisticated couple living in New York City. Dick is a comic-book artist who has become well-known for creating a superhero called Jetman, which has been turned into a TV show starring egocentric actor Oscar North (Jack Cassidy).”
It reminded me of The Dick Van Dyke Show, which had left the air a year earlier. The couple was married in real life. Reruns of the show aired on CBS in the summer of 1970.

“I am not a number.”

The Prisoner 8.5
Jun 1, 1968-Sep 1968 CBS Sat 7:30-8:30 pm
“After resigning, a secret agent is abducted and taken to what looks like an idyllic village but is really a bizarre prison. His warders demand information. He gives them nothing, but only tries to escape.”
The show aired in the UK in 1967. I don’t know if I watched it in ’68, or when CBS reran it on Thursdays in the summer of ’69. But I knew ABOUT it well before I saw it.

My World and Welcome To It 8.6
Sep 15 1969-Sep 1970 NBC Mon 7:30-8 pm
“John Monroe (William Windom) observes and comments on life, to the bemusement of his sensible wife Ellen (Joan Hotchkis) and intelligent, questioning daughter Lydia (Lisa Gerritsen). Monroe’s frequent daydreams and fantasies are usually based on material from New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber.”
I thought this was a great show! It won two Emmys, for Outstanding Comedy Series and Best Actor in a Comedy Series. It was rerun on CBS during the summer of 1972.

Five Emmys

The Bold Ones: The Senator 8.2
Sep 13 1970-Aug 22 1971 NBC Sun 10-11 pm
“Hays Stowe [Hal Holbrook] is a new senator who comes to Washington DC with his wife Erin and daughter Norma. He arrives full of optimism that being on the side of justice can help him change things for the better. His chief aide Jordan Boyle is there to assist him.”
This was a rotating series with The New Doctors and The Lawyers. It won five Emmys, including Outstanding Series – Drama, Best Actor in a Drama, plus directing, writing, and film editing. I LOVED Holbrook in this, and pretty much everything thereafter.

Paul Sand in Friends And Lovers 7.7
Sep 14 1974-Jan 4, 1975 CBS Sat 8:30-9 pm
“Shy, unassuming Robert Dreyfus is a Boston-based symphony violinist who is constantly falling in love. It never seems to work out so Robert generally hangs out with his brash brother Charlie (Michael Pataki) and his wife Janice (Penny Marshall).”
Despite airing between All In The Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, its ratings were OK, but not good enough for its prime time slot.

Mel Brooks

When Things Were Rotten 7.3
Sep 10 1975-Dec 24 1975 ABC Wed 8-8:30 pm
“This short-lived comedy in the style of Mel Brooks is set in Sherwood Forest, in which Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and Robin’s band of Merry Men are struggling heroically against their rotten foes, nasty Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham.”
It may have been silly, but I liked it. Starring Dick Gautier, Dick Van Patten, and Bernie Kopell.

The Associates 8.0
Sep 23, 1979-Apr 17, 1980 ABC Sun 8:30-9 (Sep-Oct 1979); Th 9:30-10 pm (Mar-Apr 1980)
“The working lives of three neophyte lawyers.” (Martin Short, Alley Mills, and Joe Regalbuto)
The firm was run by the crusty Emerson Marshall (Wilfrid Hyde-White). This show often shows up on these lists of great shows gone too soon, in this case, a mere 13 episodes.

Police Squad! 8.4
Mar 4 1982-Sep 1982 ABC Th various times
“Sight gags and non-sequiturs dominate this spoof of police dramas. The six episodes formed the basis for the very successful ‘Naked Gun’ film franchise.”
I recall laughing uncontrollably. It was nominated for two Emmys, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. CBS reran the series in the summer of 1991.

The nineties

My So-Called Life 8.4
Aug 25, 1994-Jan 26, 1995 ABC Thu 8-9 pm
“A 15-year-old girl (Claire Danes) and her trials and tribulations of being a teenager and dealing with friends, guys, parents, and school.”
On Greg’s list. A very moving program. It was nominated for four Emmys, including Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, plus directing, writing, and the theme song.

Freaks And Geeks 8.8
Sep 25 1999-Nov 1999 NBC Sat 8-9 pm; Jan 2000-March 25, 2000 Mon 8-9 pm
“A high school mathlete (Linda Cardellini) starts hanging out with a group of burnouts while her younger brother (John Francis Daley) navigates his freshman year.”
I related HEAVILY to this show, which is on Greg’s list. It won an Emmy for Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series, and it was twice nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series

If I had to pick a handful, it’d be:
5. Police Squad! 4. My World And Welcome To It 3. Freaks and Geeks 2. East Side, West Side 1. The Bold Ones: The Senator.

A helpful aid in this post was the ninth edition (2007) of The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh.

I’m going to miss Ken Screven

a fixture in his community

Damn. I’m going to miss Ken Screven. Ken, who reported for decades at WRGB/CBS6, the first African-American television reporter and news anchor in the Albany market, passed away on May 18 at the age of 71.

I first met Ken back in 1979 when he was covering an arts program at Hamilton Hill in Schenectady, but he doesn’t remember that. He did remember that he interviewed me in January 1985 when we were plugging a benefit concert called Rock for Raoul, in memory of Albany cartoonist/FantaCo employee/my friend Raoul Vezina.

For a number of years, we had this nodding acquaintance. I was going to church in Albany’s Center Square and he lived literally around the corner.

I watched him on the air with his booming voice and compassionate, intelligent presence covering a wide range of stories. One of his best was The Mystery Of Screven County. this was a 3-part series he made in 1996. “Ken spent a week with a producer and a cameraman in 1996…searching for the connection to his name…to a place called ‘Screven County, Georgia’. It was a journey that took him to New York City…Maryland…Savannah Georgia…and the low lands of South Carolina. It went on to win the award of ‘Best Documentary’ from the NYS Associated Press Broadcasters Assn.”

Ken was, as the Times Union’s Chris Churchill noted, “the most recognizable black person here in one of the nation’s whitest metropolitan areas.”

Retirement?

It was The End Of An Era when Ken retired from WRGB after 34 years. Retirement suited him. He was outspoken on Facebook and in his Times Union blog. Since I was also on the TU platform at the time, we ended up comparing notes about audience reactions.

While some, including me, loved what he wrote, others were upset. And part of it was that he acknowledged stuff he had to endure as a black man in the sometimes parochial Capital District. Sometimes, it’s not the big stuff, it’s the little irritants that get under one’s skin. “Gee, you don’t sound black on the radio.” He wrote about being the only black kid in his class, something I could relate to.

When he reviewed the documentary I Am Not Your Negro, he noted, “Even though [James] Baldwin died in 1987, and much of his words contained in the movie reach back 50 years, the issues Baldwin talks about are still with us, raw and festering in the minds of many of Trump nation… This is a significant spotlight on an America we thought no longer existed.” His disdain for Donald J. was unapologetic.

As he noted in The Conscience of the Newsroom for the New York State Broadcasters Association, he encountered “racism as he joined WRGB.” He insisted on “relating the humanity and heart behind the news.” Correctly, I believe, he felt “the art and craft of reporting are succumbing to the demands of the market-driven news cycle.”

Profiled

Ken was often profiled. For our PBS station WMHT, he was part of the
Breaking Stereotypes | Out in Albany series. “Ken Screven, a broadcasting trailblazer, talks about life as a gay black man. Originally from New York City, he started in broadcasting in 1973… ‘When I came here I said, ‘OK, this is your authentic life. The person that you’re supposed to be. And who you are.'”

For Spectrum News: Screven Remains Active, Despite On-Air Retirement (Feb. 18, 2019). Years after his retirement from WRGB-TV after 38 years of telling stories that touched everyone, reporter Ken Screven remains a fixture in his community, from his Albany Times Union blogs to his active social media following. This Black History Month, we take an in-depth look at the trails he blazed to become the first black on-air reporter in the Capital Region.”

Chuck Miller and I had an idea for some Times Union bloggers to get together. I jokingly suggested having it at Ken Screven’s place because Ken was having some mobility problems. Chuck actually pursued it, and it was so. Twice, actually, in early 2015 and late 2016.

Talking at FPC

It may be that the last two times I talked with Ken in person were at funerals at my church. In January 2019, it was after the funeral of Bob Lamar, the former pastor of the church. While we were talking, one of the choir members said he had a voice like a Stradivarius, which was true.

Almost exactly a year later, we talked after the service for our friend Keith Barber. It was at that reception where Ken took this selfie of us, though he didn’t send it to me until a year later, with the message, “Be well.”

In February of 2022, Ken was facing “mounting medical bills.” He went from hospital to rehabilitation a couple of times. His friends started a GoFundMe campaign and raised over $33,000, crushing the goal of $25,000. I contributed, of course. But should this be the way we do health in this country?

Ken was a 2009 Citizen Action Jim Perry Progressive Leadership Award recipient and the In Our Own Voices 2018 Community Advocate honoree. In 2020 he was honored by the Albany Damien Center with its Hero Award, for his commitment to educating and advocating for the community.

But more than that, he was my friend, who died too soon.

Sunday stealing: Do you like…?

on the telephone

Doing another Sunday Stealing, Do you like…

1. Do you like your handwriting? No, and if I’m not careful, it is illegible even to me. I think it was in third grade, and for at least one marking period, I received either a D or an F in Handwriting. So this is NOT a recent phenomenon.

2. Do you like roller coasters? I used to. My family would go to Coney Island, or to Eldridge Park in Elmira. I’d sit with my sister Leslie, while my dad would sit with my sister Marcia. Our mom would hold our glasses. But now, it makes me somewhat nauseous.

3. Do you like scary movies? Not really. I’ve not gone to any Nightmare On Elm Street or Friday the 13th films. The first film to freak me out was called Leech Woman.

4. Do you like shopping? I like going into a store, finding the thing I like, then leaving. Did that with a coat my wife bought for me at JC Penney. The first coat I tried on I liked and it fit. “Don’t you want to try on some more?” NO! It took us longer to pay for it than to select it. So I’ve learned to love mail order.

5. Do you like to talk on the phone? Yes, actually. When I was working, I was the one most likely to call a resource on the phone. And, I might add, I was good at it. In 2020, I called dozens of people, rather as an antidote to COVID despair.

Darkness

6. Do you sleep with the lights on or off? Off. My wife’s aversion to the light at night is primarily the reason.

7. Do you use headphones or earphones? If I’m on a public conveyance (bus, train), yes.

8. Do you have tattoos? Do you want any? No, and no.

9. Do you wear glasses? I have since I was nine or eleven.

10. What is your strangest talent? Making a kazoo sound without a kazoo.

11. Have you ever been in the hospital? Yes. When I was 5 (uncontrollable nosebleed), 19 (car accident), a couple of other times to rule out something more serious.

12. What color mostly dominates your wardrobe? Blue.

13. What’s your most expensive piece of clothing? Probably a suit.

14. Have you ever had braces? No.

15. Have you ever been on TV? Yes. I was on the local kiddie show a few times; I wrote about one experience here. I’ve been interviewed on the local news a handful of times. And, oh, yeah, JEOPARDY twice.

Watching the Oscars and the Grammys

movies and music

Because of scheduling dictated in part by COVID, the Oscars and the Grammys were on successive weekends. I watched them both in 30-minute chunks while riding the stationary bicycle. So not in real time; I’m too busy for that.

There was a point in the mid-nineties when I would listen to the radio at 8:37 a.m./5:37 a.m. Pacific Time, to hear the announcement of the Oscar nominations in the major categories. I’d then scribble them down frantically and quite illegibly. Of course, in a few years, I discovered I could find them on the Internet by 9 a.m. But it was exhilarating at the time.

Last century, I usually DID watch the Oscars live to the very end, or until I got too tired. I would record the program on my DVD or DVR, get up in the morning, and view it, making sure not to see/hear the news. If I don’t know the outcome, it’s new to me!

After I got to The Slap, about which everyone has an opinion, the show rolled on until Will Smith’s acceptance speech for Best Actor. And it took me two days to actually watch it. To my surprise, I was REALLY angry about this rambling half-apology – no playing-off music there.

Yay, CODA, 3 for 3!

Music

I’ve decided to watch the Grammys the last two years, in part as an archeological dig. Hey, I’ve at least I’ve HEARD OF the nominees for Record, Album, and Song of the Year. OK, I don’t know Daniel Caesar or Giveon, who were featured on Justin Bieber’s track Peaches, the live performance of which was the most bleeped of the show.

I know who Anderson Paak is because he appeared as a performer on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah in December 2018; yes, I looked it up. He’s now part of Silk Sonic with Bruno Mars. Mars’ song with Mick Ronson, Uptown Funk, was so ubiquitous in 2015 that even I had heard it quite often.

H.E.R. I know because she was on that Grammy tribute to Prince in 2020, and she’s a fine guitarist.

I actually own THREE of the Album of the Year nominees. The winner, We Are, is the second album by Jon Batiste that I own. The TV special of Tony Bennett’s 95th birthday concert with lady Gaga I found touching, so I got it . The other – don’t laugh – is Sour by Olivia Rodrigo, which I pretty much blame on my daughter playing it incessantly.

For Best New Artist, Olivia Rodrigo was the winner. I didn’t know Arooj Aftab, Jimmie Allen, Baby Keem, Arlo Parks, or Saweetie. FINNEAS is Billie Eilish’s brother and sometimes collaborator. Hasn’t Glass Animals been around for half a decade or more?

As for Japanese Breakfast, I actually heard of the book Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner on The Daily Show and CBS Sunday Morning. Oh, she has a band too?

Every year, Arthur links to these end-of-year video compilations. I asked him, which one is The Kid LAROI? So he wrote a post about him.

There are other artists I did recognize in some categories, such as The Black Pumas (saw on Sam Bee’s show). But most of the nominees I knew were relative dinosaurs like Foo Fighters and Paul McCartney.

Etc.

My, I HATED both of In Memorium segments because I couldn’t always read the names, as the cameras panned out to show the performers. It was particularly egregious at the Oscars. I liked the Sondheim medley at the Grammys, though.

WRGB, Channel 6 in Schenectady, the CBS affiliate, inserted a package of local commercials during the Grammy broadcast. Carrie Underwood was already singing. This is not the first time WRGB has muffed things like this.

I find myself more drawn to music than the movies these days. In no small part, it’s because movies, when I see them on TV or a computer, don’t seem… theatrical.

By contrast, what Batiste said in his acceptance speech is true. “It’s like a song or an album is made and it’s almost like it has a radar to find the person when they need it the most.”

I got that vibe as the Brothers Osborne closed out the Grammys with Dead Man’s Curve, as members of the audience, regardless of their musical genre were clearly grooving to the tune.

Freedom – Jon Batiste
Leave The Door Open – Silk Sonic
I Get A Kick Out Of You – Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga

I may try this again next year.

Ice-T and Honey Nut Cheerios

Can rap lyrics be admitted in court as evidence?

Recently, I bought a box of Honey Nut Cheerios; don’t judge. On the back is Coach Ice-T with the animated Coach Buzz Bee. “In honor of American Heart Month, Cheerios is making it easier and more fun to have a change of heart this February.”

From Business Wire: “‘This stuff doesn’t have to be hard,’ said Ice-T. ‘It can be as simple as a bowl of Cheerios and a walk around the block. That’s why I wanted to join Buzz to share some different ways to start to get your heart pumping regularly, and help make diet and exercise a happy part of your day.'”

It AMUSED me. I’m taken by the way that the rapper has been able to reinvent himself. I’ll admit my knowledge of his music is limited to some songs on the Just Say Yes compilation albums: Somebody Gotta Do It (Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy!), Hunted Child, Girl Tried to Kill Me, and with the band Body Count, the song Body Count.

Also, some verses of the title song of Quincy Jones’ Back on the Block album from 1989. It starts:
Ice-T, let me kick my credentials
A young player, bred in South Central
L.A., home of the body bag
You wanna die, wear the wrong color rag
I used to walk in stores and yell: “Lay down!”
You flinch an inch – AK spray down
But I was lucky cause I never caught the hard time
I was blessed with the skill to bust a dope rhyme

Big-time Sidebar

In December 2020 the highest court in Maryland “ruled that rap lyrics may be admitted in court as evidence of a defendant’s guilt. This blatantly racist decision is a travesty that sets a dangerous precedent.”

This is a position quite opposite of the appeal in New Jersey v. Skinner (2014). Per here: “Skinner’s rap lyrics were admitted at his trial for attempted murder and related charges. The defendant wrote the lyrics years before the shooting occurred. After hearing the lyrics, along with the other evidence against the defendant, the jury convicted him.

“An appellate court ruled that the lyrics were highly prejudicial and should not have been admitted; the State of New Jersey then appealed, but the state supreme court agreed that the verses never should have come into evidence…

“It seems that rap is being viewed as an especially telling form of expression, unlike the murder ballads of everyone from Dolly Parton to the Grateful Dead. For example, imagine the decidedly non-rapper Paul McCartney on trial for mayhem, being forced to listen to ‘Helter Skelter’ with the jury. Not likely—is that because he’s merely a singer, not a rapper?

“This distinction resonated with the New Jersey high court in the Skinner case, as the judge authoring the opinion quipped, ‘One would not presume that Bob Marley, who wrote the well-known song ‘I Shot the Sheriff,’ actually shot a sheriff….'”

Meanwhile, in 2021, New York lawmakers introduced a bill to limit rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials.

Pitchman

Ice-T became an actor, appearing as a cop for the last 22 seasons of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. He’s a pitchman for everything from CarShield, which gets mixed reviews online, to Tide detergent.

So I think this is fine. The great American reinvention. It’s like Lady Gaga going from wearing meat dresses to dueting with Tony Bennett.