TVC 727.1: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen join Ed for an expanded edition of This Week in TV History that remembers Rob Reiner, the Emmy Award-winning actor and writer and Academy Award-nominated director and producer who died tragically on Dec. 14, 2025. Reiner was born on Mar. 6, 1947. The segment begins with Tony sharing a story about the circumstances that led him to spend an afternoon with Reiner about thirty years ago. Photo courtesy Newsday
Mar 13, 2026•19 min•Season 18Ep. 727
TVC 727.2: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss Rob Reiner's experience as a staff writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (CBS, 1967-1969), as well as some of Reiner's notable "non-Meathead" roles on television, including his guest appearances as Myrna's boyfriend Sheldn on The Odd Couple in September 1974 (in the episode that also marked Penny Marshall's final appearance as Myrna) and as second-rate pro football quarterback King Sturtevant in "The No-Cut Contract," an episode of The Rockford Files...
Mar 12, 2026•21 min•Season 18Ep. 727
TVC 727.3: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss Rob Reiner's production company, Castle Rock Entertainment, which produced, among other things, the long-running sitcom Seinfeld ; the role that Reiner played in bringing Michael McKean and David L. Lander to the attention of Garry Marshall, which led to Marshall casting McKean and Lander as Lenny and Squiggy on Laverne & Shirley ; and Reiner's marriages to Penny Marshall and Michele Singer. Rob Reiner was born Mar. 6, 1947 as part of This Week in TV Hi...
Mar 12, 2026•22 min•Season 18Ep. 727
TVC 727.3a: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss some of the lighter moments between Mike and Archie on All in the Family ; why it was notable that many episodes of All in the Family took place on a Sunday; and how Rob Reiner created Norman Lear with recognizing that he could be funny on camera, even before his dad, Carl Reiner, did. Rob Reiner was born Mar. 6, 1947 as part of This Week in TV History.
Mar 11, 2026•14 min•Season 18Ep. 727
TVC 727.4: Ed welcomes back authors, playwrights, and producers Anthony Wynn and Robert Wood. Tony and Bob worked closely with actor Barry Morse on numerous projects during the last thirteen years of Barry's life, including the publication of his memoir, Remember with Advantages , as well as two stage productions of A.R. Gurney's Love Letters featuring Barry Morse. Tony and Bob's latest book, Two for the Road , chronicles the lifelong love story of Barry Morse and his wife of sixty years, actres...
Mar 10, 2026•20 min•Season 18Ep. 727
TVC 727.5: Barry Morse biographers Anthony Wynn and Robert Wood talk to Ed about how Morse helped start PAL, the Performing Arts Lodges of Toronto (the Canadian equivalent of the Motion Pictures Actors Home in Woodland Hill, CA), shortly after his wife, Sydney Sturgess, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, as well as Morse's many efforts to raise funding for PAL throughout the last two decades of his life. Tony and Bob's latest book, Two for the Road: The Lives and Love of Actors Barry Morse ...
Mar 10, 2026•19 min•Season 18Ep. 727
TVC 727.6: Barry Morse biographers Anthony Wynn and Robert Wood share some behind-the-scenes stories about the benefit productions of Love Letters from 1995 (featuring Barry Morse and June Lockhart) and from 1999 (with Morse and Barbara Bain). Other topics this segment include how Morse considered the fans of Space: 1999 to be his "honorary grandchildren." Tony and Bob's latest book, Two for the Road: The Lives and Love of Actors Barry Morse and Sydney Sturgess , is available for purchase at Ama...
Mar 09, 2026•12 min•Season 18Ep. 727
TVC 726.1: From February 2016: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss the final episode of Shindig (ABC, 1964-1966) on Jan. 8, 1966, the premiere of Third Rock from the Sun (NBC, 1996-2001) on Jan. 9, 1996, and the premiere of Sam 'n' Henry on Chicago radio station WGN on Jan. 12, 1926. Created by and starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, and considered by many to be the first situation comedy, Sam 'n' Henry was reworked two years later as the long-running but controversial series Amos 'n' Andy ....
Mar 05, 2026•11 min•Season 18Ep. 726
TVC 726.2: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Hal Eisner , the multiple award-winning broadcast journalist who covered the news every day for fifty-eight years, including fifteen years at various radio stations in Texas and Louisiana and the last forty-three years on television in Los Angeles. Hal's memoir, An Accidental Career , is available through Amazon.com. Topics this segment include how Hal's encounters with such celebrities as Ed Asner and Roy Scheider; how news reporting...
Mar 04, 2026•20 min•Season 18Ep. 726
TVC 726.3: Ed welcomes Jennifer Jones , the first African-American member of the world renowned Radio City Rockettes, and an award-winning performer who is celebrated for her pioneering achievements and unwavering advocacy for equal rights in the arts. Jennifer's memoir, Becoming Spectacular: The Rhythm of Resilience from The First African-American Rockette , not only tells the story of how she helped establish a transformative era for The Rockettes while inspiring other black dancers, but also ...
Mar 03, 2026•19 min•Season 18Ep. 726
TVC 726.4: Jennifer Jones , the first African-American member of the Radio City Rockettes, talks to Ed about her battle against colorectal cancer in 2018 (including the importance of having the right medical team for her); how she came to write her children's book, On the Line ; how she came to create the Dancing Jenn doll ; and how she first dreamed of dancing on stage when she was nine years old, after seeing The Wiz on Broadway. March is both Women's History Month and Colorectal Cancer Awaren...
Mar 02, 2026•15 min•Season 18Ep. 726
TVC 725.1: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Harvey Lisberg , the legendary music manager who shaped the careers of such iconic artists as Herman's Hermits, 10cc, and Tony Christie. Topics this segment include why Herman's Hermits did not tour the United States during the last three years when they were together; how changing trends in the music industry ultimately played a role in the band's demise; and why Don Kirshner respected Harvey's uncanny ability to recognize a hit reco...
Feb 26, 2026•20 min•Season 18Ep. 725
TVC 725.2: Harvey Lisberg , manager of Herman's Hermits, talks to Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter about the important role that radio played in the band's rise to the top of the charts; Harvey's favorite songs of Herman's Hermits; and why Peter Noone continues to be a true showman to this day. Harvey's memoir, I'm Into Something Good , is available wherever books are sold through Omnibus Press....
Feb 26, 2026•14 min•Season 18Ep. 725
TVC 725.3: From January 2012: Award-winning television writer/producer Larry Brody talks to Ed about some of the ways in which television has changed since he first broke in as a writer in the late 1960s; Larry's experience working on Barnaby Jones , The Streets of San Francisco , and other shows produced by Quinn Martin; and why the medical drama House also serves as an illustration for how the television industry works.
Feb 25, 2026•18 min•Season 18Ep. 725
TVC 725.4: Ed welcomes Hal Eisner , the multiple award-winning broadcast journalist who covered the news every day for fifty-eight years, including fifteen years at various radio stations in Texas and Louisiana and the last forty-three years on television in Los Angeles, primarily as a field reporter for FOX 11, but also for KCOP (Channel 13) and, for a few years, as a reporter for the L.A. bureau of CNN. Hal's memoir, An Accidental Career , is available through Amazon.com. Topics this segment i...
Feb 24, 2026•20 min•Season 18Ep. 725
TVC 725.5: Award-winning broadcast journalist Hal Eisner talks to Ed about the day in March 2021 when he was nearly killed after being struck by a drunk driver while covering a story in Hollywood—and the remarkable role that social media played in helping him get back on his feet. Hal's memoir, An Accidental Career , is available through Amazon.com. For our listeners in the Greater L.A. Metro area, Hal Eisner will appear at Vroman's Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, CA on Wednesday, ...
Feb 23, 2026•19 min•Season 18Ep. 725
TVC 724.1: Ed welcomes back Harvey Lisberg , the legendary music manager who shaped the careers of such iconic artists as Herman's Hermits, 10cc, and Tony Christie. Harvey's memoir, I'm Into Something Good , a captivating journey through the golden era of music, is available wherever books are sold. Topics this segment include what made Herman's Hermits different from most other British bands of the 1960s; how "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" began as a novelty song before becoming one...
Feb 19, 2026•20 min•Season 18Ep. 724
TVC 724.2: Harvey Lisberg , manager of Herman's Hermits, talks to Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter about the band's brief foray into motion pictures in the mid 1960s (including Where The Boys Meet the Girls and Hold On! ), and why the band's voices, particularly on the harmonies of their songs, was critical to their success. Harvey's memoir, I'm Into Something Go od: My Life Managing 10cc, Herman's Hermits, and Many More , is available wherever books are sold through Omnibus Press....
Feb 18, 2026•18 min•Season 18Ep. 724
TVC 724.3: Harvey Lisberg , manager of Herman's Hermits, talks to Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter about why Hold On! (1966), the first movie starring Herman's Hermits, is "a poor man's A Hard Day's Night ; how frontman Peter Noone handled the band's sudden burst to fame when he was just sixteen; and why the music of Herman's Hermits was never as respected in England as it was in the United States. Harvey's memoir, I'm Into Something Good: My Life Managing 10cc, Herman's Hermits, and Many More ...
Feb 17, 2026•17 min•Season 18Ep. 724
We took a few days off, but we'll be back with a brand new edition of TV Confidentia l later this week. In the meantime, please enjoy this Blast from the Past clip from February 2016 in which Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss the television career of Sandy Duncan ( Funny Face, The Hogan Family ) as part of This Week in TV History. Sandy Duncan was born on Feb. 20, 1946.
Feb 11, 2026•10 min•Season 8Ep. 306
TVC 723.6: From July 2020: Actor, author and acting teacher Basil Hoffman ( Acting and How to Be Good at It , Cold Reading and How to Be Good at It ) talks to Ed about how Jim Hutton and James Garner were two of the many actors he worked with who happened to be tall; how Richard Benjamin and Alan J. Pakula are examples of "actor first" directors (and how Steven Spielberg and the Coen Brothers exemplify "camera first" directors); and how Basil also happened with a number of actors who were father...
Feb 09, 2026•17 min•Season 18Ep. 723
TVC 723.1: Ed welcomes Glenn Stewart, an adjunct professor at Westfield State University (Westfield, Massachusetts) whose background in media includes twenty-five years in radio, both as an on-air personality and as a station programmer for many stations across the United States. Glenn's new book, Columbo Explains the Seventies: A TV Cop's Pop Culture Journey , asks the question, "If you sealed all forty-five episodes of the original Columbo (NBC, 1971-1978) in a time capsule and unearthed them ...
Feb 05, 2026•20 min•Season 18Ep. 723
TVC 723.2: Glenn Stewart, author of Columbo Explains the Seventies , discusses some of the differences between the original Columbo (NBC, 1971-1978) and the revival of Columbo in the 1990s (ABC, 1989-2003), and how one of his goals for the book is to get readers to revisit the NBC series. Columbo Explains the Seventies is available through Bonaventure Press and Amazon.com....
Feb 05, 2026•18 min•Season 18Ep. 723
TVC 723.3: Glenn Stewart, author of Columbo Explains the Seventies , talks to Ed about Patrick McGoohan's peculiar relationship with Columbo as an actor, writer, and director. While McGoohan starred in two of the very best episodes of the original Columbo ("By Dawn's Early Light," "Identity Crisis") and one of the better episodes of the ABC series ("Agenda for Murder"), he also contributed to some of the problems that plagued Columbo in the 1990s (including, most notably, the episode "Murder wit...
Feb 04, 2026•13 min•Season 18Ep. 723
TVC 723.4 : Ed welcomes Barry Pearl, the award-winning actor, director, and producer known to musical lovers around the world as "Doody" in Paramount's iconic film Grease (1978), although Barry's association with Grease dates back to the early 1970s (and continues to this day). Barry is getting ready to direct a new stage production of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change , a witty, honest and affectionate look at modern love that is also the longest running revue in off-Broadway history. I Lo...
Feb 03, 2026•24 min•Season 18Ep. 723
TVC 723.5: Actor, director, and producer Barry Pearl talks to Ed about teaching improv to special needs students at Inclusion Films (the film company, run by Joey Travolta, that teaches and employs people in the film industry who have developmental and physical disabilities); how actor and director Jerry Paris mentored Barry when Barry first came out to Los Angeles in the mid 1970s; Barry's experience working with Don Rickles on CPO Sharkey in 1976; and how being eliminated from the cast of Shar...
Feb 03, 2026•20 min•Season 18Ep. 723
TVC 722.1: From January 2016: James Bigwood joins Ed for a look at the life and career of Alan Napier (1903-1988), the British actor best known to three generations of TV viewers as Alfred the butler on Batman . Jim is co-author of Not Just Batman's Butler: The Autobiography of Alan Napier , a combination memoir, biography and filmography that is largely based on a manuscript that Napier wrote himself in 1969. Jim first learned about this manuscript in 1975, when he interviewed Napier for Films ...
Jan 29, 2026•21 min•Season 18Ep. 722
TVC 722.2: James Bigwood , co-author of Not Just Batman's Butler: The Autobiography of Alan Napier , talks to Ed about what an eloquent writer Alan Napier was; the variety of characters that Napier played in his stage and film career; and how Napier was often cast as older men (even when he was young) because of his height. Not Just Batman's Butler is available through McFarlandPub.com . You can also order it by calling (800) 253-2187. Audio clips of Alan Napier heard in this segment courtesy of...
Jan 29, 2026•20 min•Season 18Ep. 722
TVC 722.3: James Bigwood , co-author of Not Just Batman's Butler: The Autobiography of Alan Napier , talks to Ed about how Alan Napier overcame a stammer when he was a child; why he likely enjoyed wearing the Batsuit on Batman when asked to do so; and Napier's various collaborations with John Houseman and Orson Welles for radio, film, and television. Not Just Batman's Butler is available through McFarlandPub.com . You can also order it by calling (800) 253-2187. Audio clips of Alan Napier heard ...
Jan 29, 2026•15 min•Season 18Ep. 722
TVC 722.4: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Mark Malkoff , host of the award-winning Carson Podcast and the author of Love Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan's Journey to Find The Genius Behind the Legend , a deep dive into Johnny Carson's thirty-year reign as host of The Tonight Show . Topics this segment include why the act of Carson inviting young comedians to join him on the couch after performing their set had a much greater impact in Los Angeles than when the show was based...
Jan 28, 2026•22 min•Season 18Ep. 722
