All articles filed in television

For every television series that can trace its lineage back to a motion picture – think The Odd Couple or M*A*S*H or Friday Night Lights or Fame – there are a plethora of ill-advised attempts to turn a popular motion picture into a backdoor pilot for a TV series.  Would you believe, for example, the…

Some of us grew up with these characters from watching Sesame Street. Others watched The Muppet Show on weeknights. And I’m sure there’s some Fraggle Rock and Muppet Babies fans out there as well. Just for a lark, here are several video clips – some of which you might not have seen in a long,…

You may not be aware that one of the best holiday specials of all time, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, is entering its 50th year of broadcast.  That’s fine.  You may also not be aware that the Christmas special was actually part of an anthology show called the General Electric Fantasy Hour – or that the…

It’s a television subgenre that doesn’t get as much support from fans as, let’s say, medical dramas, legal dramas, cop show dramas or forensic procedurals.  But if you think about it, classroom dramas and comedies can be fun to watch, and fun to get into.  You get to see the interaction between a charismatic teacher…

Back in the 1960’s, NBC aired The Monkees for two seasons.  The knockabout adventures of Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and Michael Nesmith were fun to watch, the group sold a gazillion record albums and 45’s, and the show even won an Emmy Award or two. And ever since then, networks have tried to…

Oh I know you’ve been waiting for this. Last year, millions of television viewers – including yours truly – got hooked on Downton Abbey, the British period drama that currently airs in America as part of PBS’s Masterpiece anthology series.  We got hooked on the machinations and intricacies of the world of Lord and Lady…

That headline is not a misprint.  And I’m still wondering how it all happened.  But trust me… I’m not complaining.  Not one iota. It’s Saturday morning – maybe 2 a.m. – and I can’t sleep.  When I’m feeling low, my insomnia kicks in, and that’s never a good thing.  So after playing a game of…

There’s nothing wrong with re-casting a classic television series and re-airing it with new plotlines and new stories and new everything.  Sometimes it works in ways nobody ever expected – the reboot of the 1970’s Battlestar Galactica, for example, became one of the most popular science fiction shows of the last few years.  And Star…

Today, I’d like to step back and reflect on a pioneer of children’s television, Art Clokey.  Clokey was the creator of the legendary stop-motion animated series Gumby, and was also famous for his work with the show Davey and Goliath.  He passed away in January 2010, but his clay creations, memories of our pop culture…

Ah, you’re living in the TV suburbs.  You’ve got a mom, a dad, a couple of siblings and a pet dog.  And suddenly, in the first episode, you discover that your next door neighbor – or the person who’s renting a room over your garage – or the cute couple across the street… are… It’s…