Week of Jan. 21: Hi Bob......and Hu?

By Sylvia Gurinsky

Personal comment: I was among those disappointed with Bob Newhart's appearance on "NCIS" this week as medical examiner Dr. Walter Magnus. I thought the plotline resembled too closely a previous appearance Newhart had on "ER." And on a drama show that distinguishes itself from all others with its comedy, this would have been a great chance to showcase the classic Newhart sardonic wit.

Even the phone conversation with a Chinese restaurant fell short, but triggered memories of the classic "Moo Goo Gai Pan" scene in the 1975 episode "Over the River and Through the Woods" on "The Bob Newhart Show."

Here's Newhart in an interview with EmmyTVLegends.org talking about that scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh2PSs6XnS8

The first four seasons of "The Bob Newhart Show" and the first season of "Newhart" are available on DVD; the first three seasons of "The Bob Newhart Show" can be found at Hulu.com. YouTube has classic clips of Newhart variety show skits, including this air traffic controller skit from "The Smothers Brothers":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD1MW-nyhxg


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The visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to the White House this week triggered memories of another classic skit, from "The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson," featuring Carson as President Ronald Reagan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuLsXHzE1t8

Hu's on the phone......

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This week, PBS kicked off a second collection of "Pioneers of Television" programs; they focus on science fiction, crime dramas, Westerns and children's programming. Check your local PBS station for time and date.

See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!

Week of Jan. 14: Remembering the Nelsons

By Sylvia Gurinsky

This week's news of the death of David Nelson triggered memories of the first real-life family comedy, "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet." ("I Love Lucy" doesn't quite qualify, since Desi Arnaz went by another first (and last) name on the show.)

It ran from 1952-66 on ABC, featuring the real-life Nelsons - former bandleader Ozzie (though no job was specified on the show), former singer Harriet and budding singers David and Rick (who became lawyers on the show). While the show featured the real family, including the sons' real wives (first wives, as it turned out), it did not feature the reality of the turmoil-filled world.
But here's a look back at simpler family television:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3BbrSVegLg

And some more detail about the show from The Museum of Broadcast Communications:

http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=adventuresof

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See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!

Week of Jan. 7: Time For More Female Private Eyes

By Sylvia Gurinsky


This week, classic television lovers mourned the death of Anne Francis, who broke the PI gender barrier with "Honey West" during the 1960s.

Still, there haven't been many females on commercial television playing private eyes, and certainly not without a partner. For instance, Laura Holt, played by Stephanie Zimbalist, had to hire Remington Steele, played by Pierce Brosnan in the enjoyable series that ran on NBC from 1982-87. Generally, female detectives have always had a man either as a partner or a boss. Where's the female version of Jim Rockford?

Jessica Fletcher, played by Angela Lansbury in the wonderful CBS series "Murder, She Wrote," doesn't count; she's an author who happens to solve crimes. Charlie's Angels were, well, working for Charlie. And while "Honey West" broke ground, Anne Francis was frequently shown dressed in sexy attire, meaning that men's style wishes usually overcame women's substance.

The British do slightly better, with the successful "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency," which is only available on cable here.

Don't expect any more groundbreaking from ABC, CBS, NBC or FOX in this respect, alas. And that's the saddest eulogy that can be delivered for Anne Francis. She may have broken a barrier, but practically no one's run past it.

Week of Dec. 24: Happy Holidays!

By Sylvia Gurinsky

As YesterTube takes a two-week hiatus for the holidays, here are some happy holiday memories:

For this week, the irresistible performance of "The Nutcracker" that made its television debut on PBS in 1977. The ballet, and this clip, star the great Mikhail Barishnikov and Gelsey Kirkland:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb4Ps7vqgU0

For next week, it's not just another New Year's Eve when Barry Manilow sings his holiday classic, "It's Just Another New Year's Eve." Can't find a performance from one of Dick Clark's NYE specials (Though he has sung it), so this will have to do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P66Bjh0IcRo

Have a festive holiday season and a happy, healthy and classic-TV-filled 2011.

Oh, yes - Happy Viewing!!!! See you next year!

Week of 12/17: Larry King's Miami Roots

By Sylvia Gurinsky

With the end of Larry King's interview show on CNN, it's a good time to look back at his television roots in Miami.

From 1957 to 1978, King's home base and audience were in South Florida. Whether it was a newspaper, a radio station or a television station, King's words could be read or heard. And while his home bases included television stations WLBW (now WPLG) -Channel 10 and what was then WTVJ-Channel 4, they could also include the old Pumpernick's restaurant across the street from the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach. King might interview anyone who stopped by.

Here's a 1974 interview that King did for WTVJ (in the studio, not in Pumpernick's). The suspenders may be out of view, but the style is the same:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCH0BQ2nSMo&feature=related

The Miami years weren't easy ones for King; serious financial problems got him into repeated trouble.

But the Magic City can rightly claim a share of King's success during the last two decades. Larry Zeiger may have been born in Brooklyn, but the interviewer CNN viewers came to know during the last quarter-century was born in Miami.

See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!

Week of 12/10: Remembering Monday Night Mayhem

By Sylvia Gurinsky


The death of former football player and announcer "Dandy" Don Meredith this week triggered memories of the legendary ABC Monday Night Football. During the years Meredith, Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford were in the booth, nothing topped the trio for entertainment value - often including the game:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOkgcFj6MJQ

No need to turn out the lights on this.

See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!

Week of Dec. 3: Surely, Nielsen Was Tops (And Don't Call Him Shirley)

By Sylvia Gurinsky

The story about Leslie Nielsen is that he was generally a serious actor until 1980, when his comic talent was discovered by everyone in "Airplane!" and the series of "Naked Gun" movies later on.

As usual, it's less simple than that. Nielsen broke in as a young actor in secondary roles in various MGM films, then turned to television.

He set up a solid career in various television series; he was featured in "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" in "The Swamp Fox":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc7tbE7VPh0

He had the distinction of guest-starring in the pilot episode of "Hawaii Five-O" (the real one) as intelligence chief Brent, and in a later episode of the long-running series as well.

Nielsen guest-starred in many popular series of the 1960s and 70s, from "Ironside" and "Cannon" to "M*A*S*H."

The "Naked Gun" movies were so successful that it's easy to forget the character of Frank Drebin actually originated in a brief ABC series called "Police Squad!" Only six episodes long (the epitome of "Brilliant But Cancelled"), the series spoofed "Five-O" and other beloved police shows and spawned the legend of the films:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLXyC1cuN3M

Besides the first episode of "Hawaii Five-O," Nielsen also had the distinction of being in the final episodes of NBC's "The Golden Girls" as the groom of Dorothy (Bea Arthur).

Here's an appropriate goodbye. Goodbye, as a Nielsen comic character would probably say, is a way of leaving. Fortunately, we'll always have the clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_3rJqHWYjs

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Al Masini, who created "Entertainment Tonight" and "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," has also died. Here's a look at the show's 1982 opening with its original hosts, Ron Hendren and Dixie Whatley, back when there were actually stars to cover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIwBE6Tq3J0

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Finally, a little geographic fun.

Looking through vintage postcards yesterday, I came on one of "Surfside Six," the little houseboat and the title of the popular early 1960s ABC series that starred Troy Donahue. A few miles down the road from the real Surfside, Florida, the setting is actually mid-Miami Beach, in front of the classic Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels.

But the series was filmed at the Warner Brothers backlot in California. It would take more than two decades and visionaries named Mann, Yerkovich and Tartikoff to bring "Miami Vice" to Miami.

Here's a link to the postcard with "Surfside":

http://cgi.ebay.com/Television-Show-Surfside-Six-Miami-FL-1960-62-Postcard-/180595169256

See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!