By Sylvia Gurinsky
YesterTube continues a look at the Top 100 television programs of all time with numbers 90 to 81:
90. Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii (NBC, 1973): The first television program ever shown live around the world via satellite showed The King still at his best, performing a lot of his hits and raising money for charity besides.
89. Rich Man, Poor Man (ABC, 1976): Based on Irwin Shaw's novel, this mini-series about the Jordache family made many stars (including leads Nick Nolte and Peter Strauss) and kicked off America's love affair with the mini-series.
88. Moonlighting (ABC, 1985-89): The detective show starring Cybill Shepard and an up-and-coming Bruce Willis harked back to old-fashioned detective movies at its peak - including a black-and-white salute, and even a tribute to William Shakespeare. Allyce Beasley added to the fun as the rhyming secretary Agnes DiPesto.
87. The Lawrence Welk Show (Various, 1955-81): America's longest running music show (still shown on PBS today). Critics called it corn, but bandleader Welk latched on to a fundamental rule: Let talented singers perform songs people like to hear, the way they like to hear them.
86. The French Chef (PBS, 1962-73): A star - and a new form of television- was born when chef and author Julia Child took her recipes to PBS. Never has watching someone cooking been more fun - and tasty.
85. Wild Kingdom (Syndicated, 1963-85): Also known as "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom," the show - with hosts Marlon Perkins and Jim Fowler - launched viewers' up-close-and-personal relationship with animals.
84. American Masters (PBS, Since 1985): PBS' excellent continuing salutes to everyone who has been anyone in American culture. Always a program to look forward to, no matter who the subject.
83. The American Experience (PBS, Since 1987): This program, whose subjects have included wars, storms, illnesses, crises, presidents and so forth, provides more insight about our past in a two-hour episode than watching a whole year of The History Channel.
82. Get Smart (NBC, 1965-69; CBS, 1969-70): Would you believe that this spoof of spy shows and films might have led to the creation of cellphones (fortunately not from shoes)? Don Adams was terrific as the bumbling (but successful) Agent 86, Maxwell Smart. Sometimes it seems the scenes are not too far from reality.
81. 1960 Presidential Debates: For better or worse, the 1960 debates between presidential nominees John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon opened up new debates about substance versus style and political image making. Today's debates are nothing but theater, but the nominees had something to say back then.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Friday, October 26, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Week of October 19: So, What's a Presidential Debate?
By Sylvia Gurinsky
This year's presidential debates have been the topics for plenty of discussion and questions. One question at the top of the list is: Is what we've seen the past few weeks - complete with personal attacks - actually a "debate?"
Certainly the tone of such debates has evolved since John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon engaged in the first televised presidential debates in 1960. Here's a look, for instance, at the third debate between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter in 1976:
Carter-Ford #3
It's kind of refreshing hearing them say what they'd do, rather than attacking their opponents beyond disagreeing with policy. (It's also refreshing to hear Ford, a Republican, talk about helping people, and Carter be honest about his discomfort with the fallout from his interview with Playboy magazine.) It was a close election, but Ford and Carter later became friends after their presidencies, and served in many public-service organizations.
The debate also has a far more serious tone - one that lends itself to a serious journalist such as Jim Lehrer, who wound up being criticized for his moderating of the first Obama-Romney debate this year. The real problem was that the debate style (Romney's, in any case, given Obama's passiveness) more closely resembled "American Idol" judges than a serious discussion of the issues.
For many years, televised formats did not let candidates address each other, leading television anchor and reporter Dan Rather to refer to the debates as "joint press conferences."
Now? It seems debates have gone from one extreme to the other.
Somewhere between the two lies a perfect presidential debate.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
This year's presidential debates have been the topics for plenty of discussion and questions. One question at the top of the list is: Is what we've seen the past few weeks - complete with personal attacks - actually a "debate?"
Certainly the tone of such debates has evolved since John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon engaged in the first televised presidential debates in 1960. Here's a look, for instance, at the third debate between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter in 1976:
Carter-Ford #3
It's kind of refreshing hearing them say what they'd do, rather than attacking their opponents beyond disagreeing with policy. (It's also refreshing to hear Ford, a Republican, talk about helping people, and Carter be honest about his discomfort with the fallout from his interview with Playboy magazine.) It was a close election, but Ford and Carter later became friends after their presidencies, and served in many public-service organizations.
The debate also has a far more serious tone - one that lends itself to a serious journalist such as Jim Lehrer, who wound up being criticized for his moderating of the first Obama-Romney debate this year. The real problem was that the debate style (Romney's, in any case, given Obama's passiveness) more closely resembled "American Idol" judges than a serious discussion of the issues.
For many years, televised formats did not let candidates address each other, leading television anchor and reporter Dan Rather to refer to the debates as "joint press conferences."
Now? It seems debates have gone from one extreme to the other.
Somewhere between the two lies a perfect presidential debate.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Friday, October 5, 2012
Week of October 5: Top 100 Television Shows, 100-91
By Sylvia Gurinsky
With this blog post begins a non-consecutive series (meaning when it's possible) of YesterTube's all-time 100 best television shows.
Listings can include series, news programs, sports programs or special events.
This week includes rankings 100 to 91:
100. Entertainment Tonight, syndicated (1981-current): The show was a lot more fun in the pre-O.J. world of tabloidism. But there's no question that the early years of the show improved and expanded coverage of Hollywood. A special gem was Leonard Maltin's movie reviews, which are missed.
99. Candid Camera, CBS and syndicated (various years): "Smile.....You're on Candid Camera" is one of the all-time television catchphrases. Original host Allen Funt figured out how to do reality television and make it good-natured and fun. Best gag: The talking mailbox.
98. Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, ABC (1999-2002): ABC killed this show with oversaturation, but it captured the country's imagination with the "Phone-a-Friend" and another catchphrase: "Is that your final answer?" The show also made a mega-star out of morning host Regis Philbin.
97. Siskel & Ebert (At the Movies), Syndicated (1986-1999): Other television critics had already appeared on television. But rival Chicago movie critics Gene Siskel (Tribune) and Roger Ebert (Sun-Times) had fun with their friendly battles (and sometimes agreement) over movies. Ebert would continue with Richard Roeper after Siskel's death in 1999, but it was never the same.
96. Kojak, CBS (1973-78): It's the show's early years, under the pen of "Judgment at Nuremberg" scribe Abby Mann and before Telly Savalas' star outshined everything else, that earn "Kojak" this placement. This police series did a fantastic job at capturing the grittiness of 1970s New York.
95. Columbo (NBC and ABC, 1971-2003): From the "NBC Mystery Movie" to occasional films for ABC, never did anyone fit better into an ill-fitting raincoat than Peter Falk did as the extremely polite and deceptive Lt. Columbo. He had his suspect - and viewers - from the very beginning.
94. Night Court (NBC, 1984-92): Probably the most offbeat show on NBC during its glory period of the 1980s, "Night Court" never made for water-cooler conversation with its cast of characters, but was successful nonetheless. Harry Anderson, as Judge Harry Stone, anchored a terrific cast that included Emmy winner John Larroquette as skirt-chasing Assistant District Attorney Dan Fielding.
93. The Golden Girls (NBC, 1984-92): A terrific look at the lives of four women of a certain age with four of the best: Beatrice Arthur, Betty White, Estelle Getty and Rue McClanahan. All four won Emmys, deservedly so.
92. DeGrassi Junior High (PBS, 1987-91): One of PBS' imports from Canada, this show took a better, more honest look at the teen years than just about any U.S. series.
91. The Muppet Show (Syndicated, 1976-81): Rejected by all three major U.S. networks, Jim Henson turned to British ITN with his hilarious series. The result was the most successful syndicated show in broadcast history. Sesame Street's Kermit the Frog and the Jimmy Dean Show's Rowlf the Dog were joined by a collection of great new Muppets that entered the hearts of children and adults alike. It was the show just about every major star of note during the era wanted to be on.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
With this blog post begins a non-consecutive series (meaning when it's possible) of YesterTube's all-time 100 best television shows.
Listings can include series, news programs, sports programs or special events.
This week includes rankings 100 to 91:
100. Entertainment Tonight, syndicated (1981-current): The show was a lot more fun in the pre-O.J. world of tabloidism. But there's no question that the early years of the show improved and expanded coverage of Hollywood. A special gem was Leonard Maltin's movie reviews, which are missed.
99. Candid Camera, CBS and syndicated (various years): "Smile.....You're on Candid Camera" is one of the all-time television catchphrases. Original host Allen Funt figured out how to do reality television and make it good-natured and fun. Best gag: The talking mailbox.
98. Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, ABC (1999-2002): ABC killed this show with oversaturation, but it captured the country's imagination with the "Phone-a-Friend" and another catchphrase: "Is that your final answer?" The show also made a mega-star out of morning host Regis Philbin.
97. Siskel & Ebert (At the Movies), Syndicated (1986-1999): Other television critics had already appeared on television. But rival Chicago movie critics Gene Siskel (Tribune) and Roger Ebert (Sun-Times) had fun with their friendly battles (and sometimes agreement) over movies. Ebert would continue with Richard Roeper after Siskel's death in 1999, but it was never the same.
96. Kojak, CBS (1973-78): It's the show's early years, under the pen of "Judgment at Nuremberg" scribe Abby Mann and before Telly Savalas' star outshined everything else, that earn "Kojak" this placement. This police series did a fantastic job at capturing the grittiness of 1970s New York.
95. Columbo (NBC and ABC, 1971-2003): From the "NBC Mystery Movie" to occasional films for ABC, never did anyone fit better into an ill-fitting raincoat than Peter Falk did as the extremely polite and deceptive Lt. Columbo. He had his suspect - and viewers - from the very beginning.
94. Night Court (NBC, 1984-92): Probably the most offbeat show on NBC during its glory period of the 1980s, "Night Court" never made for water-cooler conversation with its cast of characters, but was successful nonetheless. Harry Anderson, as Judge Harry Stone, anchored a terrific cast that included Emmy winner John Larroquette as skirt-chasing Assistant District Attorney Dan Fielding.
93. The Golden Girls (NBC, 1984-92): A terrific look at the lives of four women of a certain age with four of the best: Beatrice Arthur, Betty White, Estelle Getty and Rue McClanahan. All four won Emmys, deservedly so.
92. DeGrassi Junior High (PBS, 1987-91): One of PBS' imports from Canada, this show took a better, more honest look at the teen years than just about any U.S. series.
91. The Muppet Show (Syndicated, 1976-81): Rejected by all three major U.S. networks, Jim Henson turned to British ITN with his hilarious series. The result was the most successful syndicated show in broadcast history. Sesame Street's Kermit the Frog and the Jimmy Dean Show's Rowlf the Dog were joined by a collection of great new Muppets that entered the hearts of children and adults alike. It was the show just about every major star of note during the era wanted to be on.
See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)