Top Ten #357

1) The Tony Awards: Last year, Tony Danza and Tony Franciosa were the big winners, but this year insiders expect Tony O'Dell to be honored for his work on Head of the Class.

2) Murder, She Wrote: The long-running series, which we cover here, is now on Tubi. Have I mentioned I've seen all 260+ episodes? I feel that's my biggest accomplishment in life over the last 5 years.

3) Simon and Simon: Finally hitting streaming this month is this former CBS top-10 hit, which I mentioned in our "forgotten hits" episode last season. Roku Channel added this last week.

4) Quincy and The Equalizer: Roku added a bunch of other Universal shows, too, like Emergency! and The Six Million Dollar Man. Considering Simon and Simon is now available and Kojak is on Roku, Prime, and Tubi, I am putting these two shows on notice! It's time to bring them back to streaming.

5) The French Open: 40 years ago today, Chris Evert beat Martina Navratilova in the final. The clay was flying, the croissants were flaking...Ah, it's just like you were there, isn't it?

6) Late Night with David Letterman: Also 40 years ago, SNL's timeslot was occupied by a rerun of Late Night's third-anniversary special.

6) Vaudeville: This was an odd syndicated series that aired sporadically and featured variety acts, mostly comedy, with a series of guest hosts. 50 years ago this weekend, Red Buttons emceed and welcomed the likes of Barbara McNair.

7) Fred Stoller: The comedian guested on the Inside Late Night podcast last week and told interesting stories about Norm MacDonald and others. Stoller is always an engaging presence, and this is a good listen.

8) National Best Friends Day: Just remember, you can speak your mind, but not on my time. Was that song supposed to be Kip and Henry addressing each other?

9) Pee Wee Herman: He goes here because Laurie and I just saw the first half of the new HBO docuseries Pee Wee Herman as Himself, and it's excellent.

10) R.I.P. Crackle: this must be the third or fourth time I have lamented the loss of Crackle, but it looks like the once-great VOD site is finally gone, with the website vanishing. Well, "great" is a bit strong; the selection was often great, but the app never worked well. Still, any outlet that bothers to give us reruns of Melba should be celebrated.

NBA Game of the Week > Roundball Rock?

This may be a controversial statement, but maybe NBC should not bring back John Tesh's "Roundball Rock" when it carries the NBA again starting next season. I am here to tell you that instead of looking back to the Nineties, the network ought to go to the Seventies:

I love "Roundball Rock," but here are some reasons for my suggestion:

1) It's already been played out with people speculating/celebrating/discussing it.

2) It's been used by Fox Sports for years and isn't as fresh as it otherwise would be.

3) NBC itself killed it with a cheesy promo announcing its return.

On the positive side of things, here is why I embrace the earlier song:

1) It has LYRICS! Every sports theme song should have lyrics.

2) And WHAT lyrics! "Sit back and do something nice for yourself." What could be more evocative of professional basketball?

3) The song combines several musical styles.

4) It still has some mystery. One of the joys of seeing that clip is reading all the comments wondering if it's Terry Kath on vocals.

5) Just imagine this song leading right to Keith Jackson and Bill Russell. That scenario makes me smile on even my darkest days.

If NBC won't do it, maybe new NBA TV partner Amazon Prime Video will. Someone should do it! If not, then please find a higher-quality clip of the original we can all enjoy.

Top Ten #356: Special "It's June" Edition!

1) Emotional Summer: It is underway, folks! Let's enjoy the season!

2) National Game Show Day: A bit of a contrived one, perhaps, but are YOU gonna sit back and refuse to celebrate?

3) CNN: The Cable News Network began 45 years ago today.

4) NBA and NHL Playoffs: The second season of each league is heading to the final rounds.

5) My Father's House: Wait, my father's house was...my house. I guess not everyone was so lucky. Anyway, a TV movie by this name debuted 50 years ago tonight on ABC. Cliff Robertson is a workaholic exec who reflects on his life while recovering from a heart attack.

Hey, let's get back to celebrating Summer, eh!

6) Harry Castleman and Wally Podrazik: The authors of a couple of my favorite TV books made several appearances in recent weeks on Ed Robertson's TV Confidential radio show. The good news: Their Watching TV has a new edition. The bad news: It costs more than the budget of some of the episodes we've covered on the podcast.

7) The Young Ones: The Britcom debuted on MTV 40 years ago last week, and it went on to play about 500 times a week on the channel.

8) Gidget's Summer Reunion: This syndicated TV movie aired 40 years ago this weekend. Cliff Robertson is a workaholic--Sorry, that was the other movie.

9) NBC: Also 40 years ago, it was announced that NBC had climbed to number one for the just-concluded season. We can of course give full credit to the show that carried the whole network:

10) R.I.P. Loretta Swit, Jeff Margolis, James McEachin:

Happy Memorial Day!

From all of us at BOTNS to all of you, have a safe and happy Memorial Day in the U.S. of A (To the rest of you, have a safe and happy Monday!). Thanks to all who served and sacrificed. 

Top Ten #355

1) Memorial Day weekend: Special thanks this weekend to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice--like when CBS put Tour of Duty on at 9:00 P.M. on Saturdays against The Golden Girls. 

2) Lynda Carter: The iconic actress won a Paley Center Honors winner for her portrayal of Wonder Woman, "which brought Wonder Woman to life with strength, courage, and compassion, resonating deeply with audiences and reshaping TV forever," and "for being sizzling hot in that episode where she wore the blue swimsuit." OK, I may have added the last bit.

3) Good Morning America: The Paley Center also celebrated the 50th anniversary of Good Morning America, which rolls on today but will always be associated with David Hartman and Joan Lunden in BOTNSville.

4) Connie Sellecca: Happy birthday (Since we mentioned Lynda and Connie, let's complete the trinity: Erin Gray)!

5) Little House on the Prairie: Today ran a segment from the vaults explaining the destruction of the original sets. You didn't See David Hartman and Joan Lunden doing this kind of journalism!

6) The Ups and Downs of Henry Kissinger: 50 years ago tonight, CBS ran this documentary about the statesman, and why does it sound like a whimsical Britcom?

7) Tap Dance Day: Did anyone else see this ad hundreds of times back in the day?

8) Pee Wee Herman: HBO Max premieres an acclaimed documentary about the star this weekend.

9) The Indianapolis 500: 50 years ago today, the 1975 running of the race ended 26 laps short due to heavy rain. The broadcast on ABC wasn't even live, but it aired in prime on tape delay. What a bummer!

10) R.I.P. George Wendt: The great was nominated for a Batty in Season 6 but lost to Kelsey Grammer (no shame there), but of course he's an essential part of Cheers, which dominated the awards that season.

RetroFan #37

TwoMorrows Publishing seems to have had some issues of late, what with losing Barnes and Noble as an outlet and the bankruptcy of Diamond distributors, but I am glad to be one of the supporters of my favorite magazine, RetroFan. I'm a little late with this peek at issue 37 (cover-dated March 2025), but here it is anyway (The company has experienced publication delays since the Diamond situation, but it seems to be about to release mags again soon).

The editorial switch at RetroFan (Michael Eury retired) has been a smooth transition, and the latest issue is another great effort. Here are a few highlights for BOTNS fans:

The cover story is about TV staple The Jetsons, which I remember as a weekday rerun but was of course originally a Sixties program. Will Murray's article does get into the Eighties revival and movie. For me, it just feels like the show was always on at one time or another, whether weekend mornings or weekday afternoons.

On the heels of Mark Arnold's previous look at real rock bands on Saturday mornings, Andy Mangels covers fictional rock bands. Mangels' work is always a highlight, and here he discusses not only famous bands like The Banana Splits, but lesser-known outfits like The Nutty Squirrels.

It's not directly TV, but Scott Shaw! writes about the life and times of prolific toy producer Marvin Glass. What Saturday morning back in the day was complete without a toy ad or two?

Speaking of commercials, Scott Saavedra delivers a funny story about various retro kitchen gadgets, and of course he talks about this one:

Dan Murphy contributes a somewhat offbeat piece, a history of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling focusing on the 1980s era. It's not my favorite piece of Eighties pro wrestling, but the subject matter fits well with the magazine.

You get all this and more (Speaking of commercials again...) in issue 37. It comes, as always, with my strong recommendation!

Top Ten #354

1) The Real Trivial Pursuit: I remain fascinated by this 1985 ABC special combining celebrities and the megapopular board game. I can't find any footage, but at least I can look up how many bones there are in the human body. I don't WANT to, though! I want Ted Knight to tell me!

2) Friendly Persuasion (1975): 50 years ago tonight, ABC aired this TV movie, an adaptation of the novel by Jessamyn West. Starring Richard Kiley and Shirley Knight, the project was conceived as a series. The 1950s film directed by William Wyler starred Gary Cooper.

3) Stepfanie Kramer: In my post yesterday, I forgot to mention a cool profile TV Guide ran on the Hunter star, who comes across very well. The story even justifies/explains the odd spelling (an Actors Guild thing), which always bugged me. Sorry, Stepfanie! Here's a look at the piece:

4) Darkroom: Kino Lorber's Frank Tarzi has confirmed the 1981 anthology, which we talked about here, is coming to Blu Ray eventually. We talk about the show here.

5) Cinemax Comedy Experiment: Mothers: 40 years ago tonight, the premium network aired this special hosted by David Steinberg (It premiered about a week earlier). Various celebs including Richard Simmons talked about and interviewed their moms.

6) NFL schedule release: Give it to the National Football League for making a big event out of unveiling the dates its games will be played. Mike and I have thought about doing a podcast schedule release, but, hey, it's not all about money for us, man. How cool would it be if the NFL didn't announce the games until the day before they happened?

7) Bill Carter: The veteran chronicler of late-night TV was on Mark Malkoff's Inside Late Night podcast recently, and they had a great discussion. I note that Carter gave a pretty strong endorsement of the new Lorne Michaels biography, too.

8) International Museum Day: One way to celebrate: Visit the TV Hall of Fame. Say hi to Paul Lynde for us!

9) Gunsmoke: The series keeps on making the Nielsen charts for acquired programs on streaming, proving people do like watching old shows.

10) Joe Don Baker: R.I.P., Eischeid!