Archive for Television
TV Super Stars ’79
TV Super Stars ’79 by Ronald Lackman. Xerox Education Publications, 1979. This book is a bit unusual in that it covers all the major actors of the shows it covers. For the most part.
“Wonder Woman” Lynda Carter.
From “Welcome Back, Kotter” Gabriel (not just Gabe?) Kaplan, John Travolta, Ron Palillo, Robert Hegyes, Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, Marcia Strassman.
Then for some reason, Shields and Yarnell.
From “Charlie’s Angels” Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd.
From “Three’s Company” Suzanne Sommers, Joyce DeWitt, John Ritter.
“Bionic Woman” Lindsay Wagner.
From “Family” Kristy McNichol, Gary Frank, Meridith Baxter-Birney.
From “Eight is Enough” Dick Van Patten, Betty Buckley, Susan Richardson, Willie Ames, Lani O’Grady, Connie Newton, Grant Goodeve, Dianne Kay, Lauri Walters, Adam Rich.
From “One Day at a Time” Bonnie Franklin, Mackenzie Philips, Valerie Bertinelli.
“Starsky & Hutch” Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul.
From “Alice” Linda Lavin and Polly Holliday.
Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams from “Lavern & Shirley.”
From “Good Times” Jimmy J. J. Walker.
From “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams” DanHaggerty.
Ernest Thomas, Heywood Nelson, and Danielle Spencer from “Good Times.”
“The Hardy Boys Mysteries” Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson.
“Happy Days” Ron Howard and Henry Winkler.
Donny and Marie Osmond from “Donny and Marie.”
Sha Na Na from “Sha Na Na.”
From “Little House on the Priarie” Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, Melissa Sue Anderson, Melissa Gilbert, and Lindsay and Sindey Greenbush.
TV 80 Scholastic Book
TV 80 by Lisa Freeman. Scholastic 1980.
Jimmy McNichol “California Fever” which I think I remember, Robin Williams “Mork and Mindy”, Shelly Hack “Charlie’s Angels”, John Schneider “Dukes of Hazzard”, Valerie Bertinelli “One Day at a Time”, “CHiPs”, Greg Evigan “BJ and the Bear”, “Three’s Company”, Peter Barton in a show called “Shirley” with Shirley Jones, Gary Coleman “Diff’rent Strokes”, “Bad News Bears”, Gil Gerard “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century”, “Lavern and Shirley”, Lauren Tewes “The Love Boat”, “The White Shadow” I remember that one, Scott Baio “Happy Days”, Mary McDonough “The Waltons”, “Taxi”, “Eight is Enough”, “240-Robert”?, “Out of the Blue”?
Best Movies (that I watched, not that came out) of 2011
Bunched Undies inadvertently gave me the idea to do a post on the top movies I’ve watched in 2011. I meant to post this sooner, but we decided to re-tile the bathroom and that’s taken all my time (I’m slow and methodical and we picked this complicated pattern). I don’t think I went to the theater this year (at least not that I remember), so most of my movies are older. Much older. These are all movies that I had never seen. No particular order. As you can see, I have pretty idiosyncratic taste. I’m not looking at acting, directing, “art,” grittiness, depressing themes, or anything else critics tend to focus on. The main thing I look for is entertainment. Did I really enjoy my time watching this?
Don Camillo (1952) A pugilistic priest named Don Camillo and a Communist mayor bicker and fight and learn to respect each other even though they vehemently disagree about everything. If only we were allowed some fisticuffs to express our aggression in the real world, perhaps there would be less killing and more grudging respect. The crucifix with Jesus talks to the Priest and he argues with Jesus.I read about this at Bunched Undies. IMDB Amazon
Brick (2005) An excellent example of genre blending. Take film noir and mix it with a high school drama and you come out with one of the best movies of all time. Highly recommended. IMDB Amazon
A Colt is My Passport (1967) See the above for a review of this one too. Super cool movie. IMDB Amazon
Network (1976) I had never seen this classic and while it wasn’t perfect, I can sure see why it caused such a stir back in the 1970s. Well worth your time to watch it. IMDB Amazon
The Woman in the Window (1944) Edward G. Robinson is one of the best actors of all time. This Fritz Lang movie twists the screws on an innocent professor (Robinson) who finds himself in a lady’s apartment with a dead man. He tries to cover it to keep his job and his family but can he? IMDB Amazon
Temple Grandin (2010) Claire Danes plays an autistic woman who figures out more humane ways to treat cattle. Fabulous movie if you like biopics. IMDB Amazon
The Inheritance (1997) This is a made-for-TV movie based on a Louisa May Alcott novel. Period Drama, costume drama, class conflict in the 1800s drama, however you want to call it, I liked it. Stars Meridith Baxter. IMDB Amazon
Lorna Doone (2000) Another made-for-TV, but holy cow, this was outstanding! An emotional roller coaster. Based in 1675 England, there’s a clan of thieves and an honest farmer boy. He hates the clan but falls in love with the leader’s granddaughter. Really top notch. IMDB Amazon
Knight and Day (2010) Yes, this is the third 2010 film in my 2011 list. That’s the way we roll here at RetroHound.com. I fully enjoyed this Tom Cruise pic, but it immediately became one of my wife’s top 10 all time. Just a really fun movie. IMDB Amazon
House of Bamboo (1955) You want to see a movie with real men? This Sam Fuller directed Noir has Robert Ryan and Robert Stack as cynical tough gangsters in occupied Japan. IMDB Amazon
Street People (1976) Make no mistake, this is an Italian B movie. I’d be very surprised to see this on anyone else’s top list, but it was very entertaining. Roger Moore is half-Sicilian, Stacy Keach is half-crazy, and they are looking for some stolen drugs in San Francisco. My wife came in while I was watching it and said “There are 500 movies you want to watch and you choose this crap?” It’s so good it’s VHS and Netflix streaming only, no DVD. IMDB Amazon
One, Two, Three (1961) James Cagney is a Coca-Cola executive in Berlin during the Cold War. This fast-talking, wise-cracking comedy makes fun of capitalism as well as communism. IMDB Amazon
Jackie Brown (1997) I’ve wanted to see this since it came out and never have till this year. Maybe it took so long because I read the book. At least waiting this long I forgot what happened. What a great movie I’ve been missing, it’s my favorite Tarantino movie. Robert Forester turned in an Oscar worthy performance. IMDB Amazon
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) A dark Noir (is that redundantly repetitive?). Dana Andrews is a cop who’s very hard on crooks is warned to stop being so violent. When a guy he was looking for is dead, he tries to cover it. IMDB Amazon
The Young Victoria (2009) Another biopic, but one not frequently told about Queen Victoria and her rise to the throne and becoming her own person while falling in love with Prince Albert. IMDB Amazon
The Endless Summer (1966) A surfing documentary that is narrated in a very dry humor. I loved it. IMDB Amazon
A now a few TV shows that I first watched this year and have loved. As I’ve mentioned before, I went many years without a TV, so I’m now catching up thanks to my wife.
“Hart to Hart” (1979-1984) Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers are married and crazy about each other. Together they solve crimes, usually murder. Plus, he wears a pinky ring. IMDB Amazon
“Scarecrow and Mrs. King” (1983-87) My wife loves this show. In the first season Kate Jackson looks so good I can’t stand it. Kinda cute show where a suburban divorced mom gets into the C.I.A. IMDB Amazon
“The Persuaders!” (1971-72) Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. 1971. It’s kinda cool, kinda crazy. Hollywood Dreamland brought this to my attention. IMDB Amazon
TV Super Stars ’78
TV Super Stars ’78 by Ronald Lackmann. Xerox Publishing 1978. Guess what, there isn’t a table of contents! But at least these are all people that I remember, unlike yesterday’s 1978 Television book.
People mentioned here include Farrah Fawcett-Majors, her hubby at the time, Lee Majors, David Soul, Cindy Williams, Pamela Sue Martin, Mackenzie Phillips, Robert Blake, Linda Carter, Levar Burton, Penny Marshall, Shaun Cassidy, Parker Stevenson, Lindsay Wagner, Vince Van Patten as the Bionic Boy.
TV Time ’78
TV Time ’78 by Peggy Herz. Scholastic TX 4219, 1978. Man, she wrote a zillion of these books!
TV shows covered this year are: Thunder (anyone hear of this one?); Welcome Back, Kotter; Happy Days (and she profiles Erin Moran! Hardly anyone did that.), Willie Ames in Eight is Enough, Grizzly Adams, Kristy McNichol in Family; Ernest Thomas in What’s Happening!!; Wonder Woman; Wojo in Barney Miller; The Tony Randall Show? I don’t remember that! Brad Savage was in Red Dawn.; The Fonz in Happy Days. Hey! Happy Days gets two chapters!
Get most of these shows from Netflix.
TV’s Fabulous Faces
TV’s Fabulous Faces by Peggy Herz. Scholastic TX 3709, 1977.
Includes Lavern and Shirley, John Schuck in Holmes and Yoyo (anyone remember that show? I do.), Gabe Kaplan in Welcome Back, Kotter, Lindsay Wagner in The Bionic Woman, Donny and Marie, Barney Miller, Mike Farrell in M*A*S*H, Space: 1999 (My dad was in love with Barbara Bain since Mission: Impossible), Starsky and Hutch (I’ve never even seen one episode of this show), and One Day at a Time.
