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Sunday, March 31, 2019

BOTNS Top Ten #9

1) Cheers: This week, new sitcom Abby's drew numerous comparisons to Cheers, and The Big Bang Theory surpassed Cheers as the longest-running multi-camera sitcom of all time. My big

2) Janet Jackson: BOTNS congratulates the star of Good Times for entering the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this weekend, apparently based on some kind of career she had after abandoning television.

3) Danny DeVito: The Taxi star has a prominent role in Tim Burton's new live-action Dumbo.

4) Night Court: Returns to Laff, though I'm still hoping it somehow comes to Amazon Prime. Who cares about things like multibillion dollar headquarters plans when Night Court and Alice are out there waiting to be streamed on Prime Video?

5) Gabe Kaplan: Happy birthday to the former Mr. Kotter, or as we like to refer to him after watching Battle of the Network Stars, The World's Fastest Comedian.

6) Quantum Leap: Celebrated its 30th anniversary this week. Our dream episode would involve Sam leaping into Fred Silverman's body and attempting to change the course of NBC history.

7) William Shatner: After making the list for his 88th birthday last week, Shatner learns this week that the series he is going to host, The UnXplained, will debut on History. The show sounds like a sort of companion piece for the ongoing revival of BOTNS fave In Search Of.

8) Punky Brewster: It debuts on Tubi TV--the logical next step for those looking for more high-octane action and adeventure after burning through the Magnum and A-Team reruns Tubi had added.

9) Mary Cadorette: The actress was born today in March 31, and as a birthday gift, we're gonna assure her that she was not the reason Three's a Crowd was so lame.



10) Count von Count: He was the number one choice in this list of iconic TV vampires. So why is he only #10 here? Well, this gives the guy the chance to list 9 more numerals, of course.



Friday, March 29, 2019

Happy birthday, Dianne Kay!

Dianne Kay, who played Nancy Bradford on our beloved (well, my beloved, at least) Eight Is Enough, was born on this day. Check out these two promos and tell me you don't want to sit down and watch the heck out of the show all over again:



Show Notes: Listorama--TV Shows that would make good comic books

We hope you enjoyed our newest bonus episode, a listing of 70s and 80s TV shows we'd like to have seen become comic books. Here is a handy rundown of our picks and some notes on what we discussed, but please download and listen to the pod first!

Mike #1 The Learverse
#2 Magnum P.I.
#3: Search
#4: In Search Of
#5: The White Shadow

Honorable mentions:
Sandbaggers, Voyagers, The Incredible Hulk (adaptation of the TV series)

Rick #1 Maude
#2 The Greatest American Hero
#3: Gemini Man
#4: Miami Vice
#5: Battle of the Network Stars

Crisis on Infinite Earths is the landmark 1985 miniseries that served as a turning point in DC comics continuity. It's going to be a crossover event in the CW's Arrowverse TV shows this fall.

The British Magnum comics Mike mentions appeared in 1982, and you can get a good look here at the definitive Magnum Mania site. An in-depth review here proves that...it was pretty awesome!

Gold Key Comics were published for just over 20 years. It featured a lot of titles starring licensed characters and properties.

Just because:


Gil Thorp continues as a newspaper comic strip to this day! Creator Jack Berrill started it in 1958, and after his death in 1996, the first person to take it over was the co-author of the Left Behind series!

We couldn't find a cartoon drawing of Rona Barrett, but I want this magazine:

See the source image

Also couldn't find a Jack Davis illustration of Bea Arthur, but there is this:



We'd love to hear what you think of our ideas and also if you have any suggestions of your own! Thanks for listening to the show, and get ready for our next season, coming soon to wherever you get your podcasts!

Thursday, March 28, 2019

List-o-rama: TV Shows That Should Have Had Comic Books

Back in the BOTNS era and before, many TV shows had licensed comic book adaptations, but many more didn’t. Rick and Mike pick five each that should have had their own comic, suggest possible details like look and format, and Mike even offers to write some of them! Join us for this mixed media adventure.


Check out this episode!

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

BOTNS salutes David Janssen

The late star of The Fugitive was born on this date in 1931, and though his peak was in the Sixties, we'd love to get him on the podcast eventually, whether as Harry OO'Hara, U.S. Treasury, or even through his role in this 1972 movie of the week on ABC:


Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...


Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Happy birthday, Leonard Nimoy...or is it?

There is a preponderance of evidence that suggests today is the late Leonard Nimoy's birthday. But we can't rule out the possibility that more evidence will turn up at some point that disproves the conventional wisdom.




In addition to hosting BOTNS favorite In Search Of, Nimoy edged into our era through Mission Impossible, on which he played master of disguise Paris. In this excerpt, Nimoy gets across his essential coolness without a word--with a great sweater, yes, but without a word:


Saturday, March 23, 2019

BOTNS Top 10 #8

1) Search: This week's Warner Archive podcast celebrates the 10th anniversary of the WA label and highlights one of its proudest achievements: Getting this cult series out on DVD! Check out our discussion of the show from our season 2 right here.



2) The Brady Bunch Hour: TV Shows on DVD reports a giant box set commemorating the Bunch's 50th anniversary--a collection including all the movies, spinoffs, and the original series. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE BRADY BUNCH HOUR? No Rip Taylor duets with Ann B. Davis, no sale.

3) Here's Boomer: TV Shows on DVD also announced the ill-fated attempt to make a series star of the lovable pooch is coming to DVD. The bad news is it's MOD, which stands for "Manufactured on Demand" and "expensive"--as in MSRP of $50 for 22 half-hour episodes ($25 per season).

Early 1980s NBC! Can we possibly resist doing a podcast episode about this show? Well, at that price, maybe we can.
Here's Boomer, Season 1


4) Sidney Freeman: I'm not so sure I believe this story, but Alan Alda says Allan Arbus was so convincing as the resident therapist on MASH that he approached him for advice off camera.

5) Diahann Carroll: Back in the news as her character from the original Dynasty is going to be played by Michael Michele in the ongoing revival. I was tempted to not rank her just so I wouldn't have to look up how to spell Diahann. Classy actress, sketchy name.

6) Sesame Street: A Twitter question asked which of 4 characters you'd want to be stranded with on a desert island, and even if for only 8 hours or so, the response proved the show still has a hold on us. For the record, Oscar.

7) Thomas Magnum: The arrival of the original Magnum P.I. on Tubi TV this week is a welcome reminder that this is the one true Magnum (with the possible exception of former U.S. champion Magnum T.A.).

See the source image


8) William Shatner: The star of such legendary TV series as T.J. Hooker,  Rescue 911, and Barabary Coast...had...a...birthday...this...week. He's 88 years old, folks. 88!

9) Hal Blaine: The late Wrecking Crew drummer played on iconic BOTNS-era TV staples like I Think I Love You, Love Will Keep Us Together, and In the Air Tonight. OK, just seeing if you were paying attention on that last one, but he did drum on the other two and countless other huge recordings.

10) Hunter: Hey, Decades is showing a Hunter marathon this weekend! Bring your...bring your...wht do Hunter fanatics consume when they get together? I'm thinking Coors and nachos.

Not ranked: Roseanne Barr, Jason Bateman, Barbara Walters

Sunday, March 17, 2019

BOTNS Top Ten #7

1) Jed Allan: Another R.I.P. to the longtime soap star and host of Celebrity Bowling.

2) The Keaton family: Is there a more quintessentially Irish-American family than the Keatons from Family Ties?

OK, there are many, but did any of them win 5 Emmys and finish in the Nielsen top 10 3 years in a row?

3) Sam Malone: Maybe he isn't exactly the most Irish character on TV, either, but he sure got lucky enough times.

4) Scarlett (AKA Shana O'Hara): Could take out Black Widow with ease.


5) The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold: I love how every St. Patrick's Day, families all over the nation gather around the television set and participate in the annual tradition of viewing this enduring holiday classic.


Wait, they don't? What is wrong with this country, anyway? Just for that, the top 10 is disassociating itself from St. Patrick's Day the rest of the way.

6) Irish Spring soap: Except for this 1979 ad featuring Cindy Morgan from Caddyshack:


7) Card Sharks and Press Your Luck: ABC can't get enough of revived game shows and plans to introduce new versions of these two staples. Personally, I never saw the appeal of the lowbrow Press Your Luck and much preferred the sophisticated game play of people yelling "Higher!" or "Lower!" while Jim Perry turned over giant playing cards.

8) Lotsa Luck: OK, we can't quit you, St. Patrick's Day: Antenna TV runs a marathon of the short-lived Dom DeLuise sitcom today.

9) Norman Lear: Eloquent as ever at the age of 162 as he bemoans Netflix's cancellation of One Day at a Time, but why couldn't he have spent some time getting the original and BOTNS-era version streaming somewhere?

10) Bert Convy: You see, Mike was watching a series we plan to cover when--hey, wait. Since when do we have to explain ranking Bert Convy?

Not ranked: Lori Loughlin, Pat Harrington, Carroll O'Connor

Saturday, March 16, 2019

Happy St. Patrick's Day weekend from BOTNS!

May we suggest celebrating by having Christmas in March and revisiting The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold?




We discussed this Rankin-Bass special in our first holiday episode.

Remember to avoid the imposter leprechauns this year, though. Remember when they tried to fool Inspector Gadget?

Friday, March 15, 2019

R.I.P. Jed Allan

We at BOTNS hoist a Lowenbrau for the late Jed Allan, who passed away last weekend at the age of 84. A lot of the coverage mentioned his role on Santa Barbara, and this warm tribute by Ian Ziering centered around his playing Steve Sanders' father on the original Beverly Hills 90210.

We salute him for his role as emcee of that classic example of 1970s pop culture, Celebrity Bowling. As we discussed in a season 3 episode, Allan brought a certain charm to the series with his easygoing yet confident manner on the set, his snazzy dressing, and his--well, his attempts to explain that cursed "best ball" format (Hey, that was a tough task for anyone).

Let's all fire up our Amana ranges and cook up a memorial feast for Mr. Allan!

Sunday, March 10, 2019

BOTNS Top Ten #6

1) Luke Perry: 90210 isn't really in our era (and I don't know how many remember his late eighties stint on Another World(, but I bet a lot of us saw quite a bit of ol' Luke back in the day, and it's a shame he's gone so soon.

2) Ed Asner: He'll be in a later episode of the ongoing streaming program Doom Patrol, but he earns the high spot because as I heard people debating the possible conflict of interest of ESPN announcer Jessica Mendoza taking a prominent job with the Mets, I kept wondering how Lou Grant would react.

3) Shazam! : The Filmation 1970s show is on DC Universe, looking good and apparently with the morals! How in the world do kids learn right from wrong these days without the likes of Captain Marvel, Isis, and BraveStarr telling them what's what?

4) Punky Brewster: I saw a few extremely heartwarming episodes this week. Is the world blind or just a little unkind? I'm surprised no one has thought about reviving this with Punky as a single mom raising a rambunctious preteen.

5) Lisa Whelchel: She just had another one of her brilliant ideas: hosting an upcoming original series for Me-TV showcasing pop culture

6) Jan Michael-Vincent: Shout-out to the late Airwolf star. I hate to be the one to say it, but all things considered...74 years was a pretty good run, no?

7) Paul Reiser: One half of My Two Dads finally found a home for that Mad About You revival he's been pushing for seemingly half a decade, and it's...Spectrum Cable? Why the heck wouldn't Sony put this on its own Crackle?

8) Alex Trebek: The legendary Jeopardy! host announced he is fighting pancreatic cancer. It's easy to take the show for granted, but don't forget his work on Classic Concentration in the BOTNS era. It's fun to revisit those earlier shows now and see the more casual, looser, but still excellent Trebek.

9) In the Heat of the Night: Kind of on the edge of our timeframe, but several seasons were just added to Prime Video...in case you haven't gotten enough of it airing 10 times a day on places like WGN.

10) King Kong Bundy: How can I forget the memorable Saturday Night's Main Event episode in which the dastardly Bundy broke Hulk Hogan's ribs, setting up their WrestleMania II main event. The wrestler died at 61 this week after a distinguished career that included acting roles in Moving and on Married with Children. He even inspired the creator of the latter by frequently putting his hand down his singlet like Al Bundy later would. No, actually he inspired the name "Bundy," but I like my story, too.

Monday, March 4, 2019

Vanilla Extract Epidemic: Time for a BOTNS investigation?

Hey, remember early in the podcast's run when, while discussing Tom Hanks in "Say Uncle" on Family Ties, we speculated on the efficacy of using vanilla extract to get drunk?

Well, it's happening in Atlanta, folks!

https://www.wthr.com/article/school-officials-warn-students-getting-drunk-vanilla-extract

Uncle Ned approves! Well, the OLD bottle-chugging, maraschino cherry-gulping, Alex-slapping Uncle Ned would, but maybe the reformed Ned would speak out against this.

Sunday, March 3, 2019

BOTNS Top Ten #5

1) Regina King: I mean, she won an Oscar, so that's a pretty big deal, especially considering we all assumed Jackee would be the one from 227 to win an Academy Award.

2) Nathaniel Taylor: Shout-out to the late great actor, who died this week after a career that would have been distinguished if it had only included his role as Rollo, my favorite auxiliary character on a series (Sanford and Son) that was loaded with them.

3) The Golden Girls: Have you listened to the bonus episode we dropped this week? We delve into Golden Girls Mad-Libs, and the results are more satisfying than a night with...a delicious cheesecake. Where did you think we were going with that?

4) Little House on the Prairie: Amazon Prime just rolled out the entire series for your viewing pleasure--if "pleasure" means enjoying pestilence, fires, armadillo attacks, Mrs. Oleson's nagging, mumblety peg accidents, and all the other calamities that hit Walnut Grove each week.

5) Katherine Helmond: Is it wrong that after hearing of her passing this week, all I wanted to do was imitate Tony Danza saying, "Mona"?

6) Good Times: The entire series hit the Starz app this week. Come for the work of Esther Rolle and Genius Award winner John Amos, stay for the great closing version of the theme song.

7) Diff'rent Strokes: It returns to Starz this week, but it goes a notch below Good Times because Danny Cooksey was never on Good Times.

8) Erin Gray: In this clip, recently posted on the excellent Bionic Disco YouTube channel, Ms. Gray shows why she's a BOTNS favorite. I don't remember being quite as...enthusiastic about the cars in the B.J. and the Bear episode we talked about on the podcast.



9) Ken Berry: And also on that same YT channel, in this spot for Kinney Shoes, the late versatile performer proves he's not to be outdone by--oh, who are we kidding, he's a nice guy, but he's totally outdone by Erin Gray.



10) Jaclyn Smith: She did us all a service this week on The Hollywood Reporter's podcast It Happened in Hollywood by assuring us that all the hair on Charlie's Angels was real, unlike the wigs and extensions they use today. Yep, David Doyle was all natural.