TVC 711.4: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with actress, comedienne, author, and entrepreneur Rhonda Shear ( Up All Night , Rhonda Shear Intimates , Up All Night: From Hollywood Bombshell to Lingerie Model, Life Lessons From An Accidental Feminist ). Topics this segment include the famous "mannequin" act with Rhonda early in her career, along with Kenny Ellis; her many collaborations with game show impresario Chuck Barris, including appearances on The Dating Game and The $1.98 Beau...
Oct 27, 2025•23 min•Season 18Ep. 711
TVC 711.5: Ed welcomes musician, author, and comedy historian Paul Myers ( Kids in the Hall: One Dumb Guy ). Paul's latest book, John Candy: A Life in Comedy , is a heartwarming portrait of the beloved actor, improv comedian, and box office star who would have turned seventy-five this coming Friday, Oct. 31. John Candy died tragically of a heart attack in April 1994 at the age of forty-three. Topics this segment include how Paul's book explores a fundamental question: What was it about Candy tha...
Oct 27, 2025•20 min•Season 18Ep. 711
TVC 711.6: Paul Myers , author of John Candy: A Life in Comedy , talks to Ed about Candy's impact in the movies, particularly at a time when many major comedy stars were also huge box office stars. John Candy: A Life in Comedy tells the full story of the man behind the laughs from the people who knew him best, including Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Steve Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Jennifer Candy, John Hughes III, James Hughes, Robert Crane, Mike Myers, and many, ...
Oct 27, 2025•13 min•Season 18Ep. 711
TVC 710.1: Ed welcomes back Rich Podolsky , longtime journalist, onetime beat writer for the Miami Dolphins, onetime staff writer for CBS Sports and ABC Television, and the author of several books, including You Are Looking Live: How The NFL Today Revolutionized Sports Broadcasting . Rich's latest book, Madden & Summerall: How They Revolutionized NFL Broadcasting , takes a deep dive in the twenty-one-year broadcast partnership of John Madden and Pat Summerall—two stalwarts of the NFL who eac...
Oct 21, 2025•24 min•Season 18Ep. 710
TVC 710.2: Rich Podolsky , author of Madden & Summerall: How They Revolutionized NFL Broadcasting , talks to Ed about the so-called "contest" between Pat Summerall and Vin Scully in the early weeks of the 1981 NFL season over who would welcome John Madden's permanent on-air partner on CBS; how the commercials Madden did for Lite Beer from Miller helped sell then-CBS president Van Gordon Sauter on Madden's appeal to audiences; how the introduction of the Telestrator (aka the CBS Chalkboard) a...
Oct 20, 2025•19 min•Season 18Ep. 710
TVC 710.3: From October 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the premiere of The Phil Silvers Show (CBS, 1955-1959), aka You'll Never Get Rich (the original title of the series), aka Sergeant Bilko and Bilko (as the show was both known once it went into reruns). The series not only made a star of Phil Silvers, but established Nat Hiken as a creative force in television.
Oct 20, 2025•16 min•Season 18Ep. 710
TVC 710.4: Ed welcomes back actress, comedienne, author, and entrepreneur Rhonda Shear ( Up All Night , Rhonda Shear Intimates , Up All Night: From Hollywood Bombshell to Lingerie Model, Life Lessons From An Accidental Feminist ). Rhonda is bringing back Up All Night —by popular demand—as a series of specials, in partnership with the Kings of Horror channel on YouTube , that will spotlight all kinds of indie horror movies, from grassroots DIY to festival standouts, cult classics, and world premi...
Oct 20, 2025•21 min•Season 18Ep. 710
TVC 710.5: Rhonda Shear talks to Ed about studying improvisation from Harvey Lembeck when she first came to Los Angeles, and how Lembeck taught her to become fearless as a comedienne; why learning improv is a good skill to have, no matter what your profession; how the perception of women in comedy has changed considerably since Rhonda began her career; and Rhonda's approach to writing comedy. Rhonda Shear Up All Night premieres Saturday, Oct. 25 at 10pm ET, 7pm PT at KingsofHorror.com , with add...
Oct 20, 2025•19 min•Season 18Ep. 710
TVC 709.6: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Emmy Award-winning actress, producer, and author Mariette Hartley ( The Incredible Hulk, Goodnight, Beantown, Breaking the Silence , Law and Order: SVU ). In this segment, Mariette talks to Ed about "Cotter's Girl," the classic episode of Gunsmoke from 1963 whose storyline is reminiscent of Pygmalion ; her frequent appearances on shows produced by Quinn Martin; and her association with Rod Serling, which began when Mariette asked Serl...
Oct 20, 2025•18 min•Season 18Ep. 710
TVC 709.1: From October 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the premiere of Captain Kangaroo (CBS, 1955-1984) and its impact on other children's television programs, including Romper Room and Bozo the Clown .
Oct 14, 2025•22 min•Season 709Ep. 18
TVC 709.2: From October 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed continue their look at the broadcast history of Captain Kangaroo (CBS, 1955-1984), including a few word about The New Captain Kangaroo , the reboot starring John McDonough, which ran on the Fox Family Channel from 1997-2000.
Oct 14, 2025•21 min•Season 18Ep. 709
TVC 709.3: Part 2 of the conversation that began last week with Howard Smith , author of My Friend Johnny , a memoir of Howard's twenty-year friendship with Johnny Carson, which began in 1985 when Howard found himself living four doors down the street from Carson in Malibu, and which continued until the end of Carson's life. Topics this segment include a look at some of the other celebrities from business, sports, politics, and entertainment that Howard came to know during his career as a tech m...
Oct 13, 2025•16 min•Season 18Ep. 709
TVC 709.4: Howard Smith shares a poignant memory of the last time he and his wife had dinner with Johnny Carson, just before a few days before Carson's death in January 2005. Also in this segment: Howard shares a few memories of his friendship with actor Lloyd Haynes, which began a few years before Haynes became a star on Room 222 (ABC, 1969-1974), and which continued until Haynes' death in December 1986. Howard's new book, My Friend Johnny , is now available at MyFriendJohnny.com ....
Oct 13, 2025•18 min•Season 18Ep. 709
TVC 709.5: Ed welcomes Emmy Award-winning actress, producer, and author Mariette Hartley ( The Incredible Hulk, Goodnight, Beantown, Breaking the Silence , Law and Order: SVU ). Mariette stars, along with her husband Jerry Sroka (who we also hear from in this segment), in Our (Almost Completely True) Love Story , a romantic comedy about two people of a certain age who meet online, strike up an unlikely romance, and weather the storm when an untimely illness threatens to tear them apart. Mariette...
Oct 13, 2025•19 min•Season 18Ep. 709
TVC 709.6: Emmy Award-winning actress Mariette Hartley talks to Ed about some of her other movie and TV roles, including the back story of the long-running, highly successful series of commercials that she did with James Garner for Polaroid cameras—and how the chemistry between her and Garner was so natural, many viewers believed that they were actually married. Mariette co-stars, co-wrote, and co-produced, along with her husband Jerry Sroka , in Our (Almost Completely True) Love Story , a roman...
Oct 13, 2025•17 min•Season 18Ep. 709
TVC 708.1: From October 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the premiere of The Flintstones (ABC, 1960-1966), the first animated series development for prime time, along with the various spinoffs and reimaginings of The Flintstones over the ensuing decades.
Oct 07, 2025•15 min•Season 18Ep. 708
TVC 708.2: From October 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed look back to Game 1 of the 1955 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, the first time that a World Series game was broadcast in color. Mel Allen and Vin Scully covered the game for NBC. Photo courtesy National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Oct 07, 2025•7 min•Season 18Ep. 708
TVC 708.3: From October 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the premiere of Baywatch Nights (Synd., 1995-1997), the spinoff of Baywatch starring David Hasselhoff, Gregory Alan Williams, Angie Harmon, and Donna D'Errico, the premise of which was more or less "Mitch Buchannon, private detective."
Oct 07, 2025•8 min•Season 18Ep. 708
TVC 708.4: From October 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed look back at how the print and television media covered the death of Rock Hudson. The legendary actor and screen heartthrob died from complications on Oct. 2, 1985. Photo of Rock Hudson courtesy People magazine
Oct 06, 2025•5 min•Season 18Ep. 708
TVC 708.5: TV Confidential pays tribute to Academy Award winner Robert Redford by playing highlights from conservations we've had with actors who either co-starred with Redford or were directed by him, including Hank Garrett ( Three Days of the Condor ), Basil Hoffman ( The Electric Horseman, Ordinary People, All the President's Men, The Milagro Beanfield War ), and Dinah Manoff ( Ordinary People ). Also in the segment: special tributes from Stefanie Powers and Joan Van Ark, courtesy of B. Harla...
Oct 06, 2025•23 min•Season 18Ep. 708
TVC 708.6: Ed welcomes Howard Smith , a retired tech mogul who not only found himself living four doors down the street from Johnny Carson in 1985, but became tennis buddies and, later, best friends with the legendary King of Late Night for the next twenty years. Howard shares many stories of the Johnny Carson he knew—a funny, kind, generous, modest, shy, yet deeply complex man that he knew simply as John—in My Friend Johnny: The Last 20 Years of a Beautiful Life with Johnny Carson and Friends ,...
Oct 06, 2025•21 min•Season 18Ep. 708
TVC 708.6: Howard Smith talks to Ed about the five characteristics that Johnny Carson, Sidney Poitier, Clint Eastwood, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, and many other successful people from business, sports, politics, and entertainment have all embodied throughout their life and career. Howard's new book, My Friend Johnny: The Last 20 Years of a Beautiful Life with Johnny Carson and Friends , is now available at MyFriendJohnny.com...
Oct 06, 2025•20 min•Season 18Ep. 708
From September 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed look back at the broadcast history of The Wild, Wild West (CBS, 1965-1969), which originally premiered on CBS in September 1965.
Sep 29, 2025•16 min•Season 18Ep. 707
From September 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the premiere of The Smothers Brothers Show (CBS, 1965-1966), a short-lived sitcom starring Tom and Dick Smothers that is mostly remembered today for being part of Nick at Nite's weekend lineup in the late 1980s. The failure of The Smothers Brothers Show spurred the Smothers (and Tom in particular) to take more creative control when CBS gave them a second chance in January 1967, with the premiere of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (CBS, 1967-196...
Sep 29, 2025•11 min•Season 18Ep. 707
TVC 707.1: From September 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss the legacy of Get Smart (NBC/CBS, 1965-1970), which premiered on NBC on Sept. 18, 1965.
Sep 22, 2025•25 min•Season 18Ep. 707
TVC 707.2: From September 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the premiere of Hogan's Heroes (CBS, 1965-1971) on Sept. 17, 1965.
Sep 22, 2025•18 min•Season 18Ep. 707
TVC 707.3: From April 2012: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the premiere of Truth or Consequences on television on Sept. 7, 1950, ten years after it had premiered on in 1940.
Sep 22, 2025•18 min•Season 18Ep. 707
TVC 707.5: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with John McCafferty, the actor known around the world as Billy Joe Wright on Texas (NBC, 1980-1982), and Tom Lisanti, sixties movie historian and 1970s daytime TV historian. John is among the many actors, writers, directors, NBC executives, and other behind-the-scenes personnel that Tom interviewed for his latest book, Texas : An Oral History of Daytime's Answer to Dallas . Topics this segment include how series producer Paul Rauch pushed...
Sep 22, 2025•19 min•Season 18Ep. 707
TVC 707.6: John McCafferty, Tom Lisanti, and Ed discuss why Texas (NBC, 1980-1982) remains popular with fans more than forty years later, and how the series was particularly popular in Canada during its original network run. Tom's latest book, Texas : An Oral History of Daytime's Answer to Dallas , is available wherever books are sold through our friends at Bear Manor Media....
Sep 22, 2025•11 min•Season 18Ep. 707
TVC 706.1: From September 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed commemorate the milestone broadcast anniversaries for Green Acres (CBS, 1965-1970) and Xena: Warrior Princess (Synd., 1995-2001), both of which originally premiered during This Week in TV History.
Sep 15, 2025•22 min•Season 18Ep. 706
