Top Ten #411

1) Summer begins: If I write "summer solstice," I feel like something cult adjacent is going to follow and not, hey, remember when "summer replacement shows were a thing, or, hey, remember when you could "discover" a show that aired during the day because you didn't have to go to school?

2) Father's Day: Among the many amazing things Dad has done for me: Introducing me (along with my mom) to The Honeymooners. Thanks, Dad!

3) Sanford and Son: Antenna celebrates today's holiday with a marathon of this series. What father hasn't yelled, "You big dummy!" at his son with love?

4) Siskel and Ebert: Check out the lineup of movies they reviewed this weekend in 1986: American Anthem, Legal Eagles, Karate Kid II, Running Scared. Oh, yeah, it's the mid-Eighties, baby!

5) Me and Mrs. C: 40 years ago tonight, this sitcom began a summer run on NBC. From IMDB: A young Black female ex-convict becomes a boarder with elderly white Mrs. Conklin in an effort to turn her life around

Hilarity ensues! Anyone have an over/under on jokes about hiding the silverware?

6) Action Park: The Retroist podcast just released an episode about this infamous destination and mainstay of 1980s NYC commercial breaks. Every visit was an adventure, all right!

7) The Tonight Show: 40 years ago tonight, guest host Freddie Prinze Jr. welcomed the Jacksons, Jim Bishop, and Brett Somers. Carson really did take a lot of vacation.

8) Bernie Kopell: Among today's TV birthdays, Dr. Adam Bricker of The Love Boat turns 93 today!

9) Check It Out!: We've launched a new regular feature here on the site taking a look at the Eighties Don Adams sitcom. Check it out each week (or so)!

10) R.I.P. Jimmy Burrows, Ronnie Schell, Anne Scheeden, Pete Doherty, John Sanders. Tom Dreesen:

Checkin' in with Check It Out (whoa-oh) #2: Critical reception

I think before I get too deep into the land of--Hold on a second.

Ok, I looked up where Check It Out! was supposed to take place because I didn't remember. it was produced in Canada and aired on CBC, but it also aired in syndication here and on USA Network. I always assumed the grocery store at the center of the action was in California, just like most everything else on TV.

Not so! According to Wikipedia, Cobb's Grocery is in Brampton, Ontario. I don't remember anything in the series pointing to a Canadian setting, but it's been a long time. I wonder if there was ever a scene in which a customer complained at the register about the price of crackers or something and the cashier says, "Oh, but remember, these are CANADIAN dollars."

So before I get to deep into Brampton, Ontario, let me get a sampling of how the show is received, its legacy, so on and so forth.

Harry and Wally's Favorite TV Shows, one of my favorite books, gives the program ** out of *** and, in a brief capsule review, calls it a "simple but sometimes satisfying sitcom." That's better than I expected, really!

IMDB gives it a 5.9 out of 10. That is not good at all.

The New York Times trashes the show twice. In April 1986, Richard F. Shepard says Check It Out! is "silly without being funny at all." He adds, "The comedy deals more with jokes and gag lines, none of them very good, than with situation." Shephard says, There are standards even for inanity, which can be highly entertaining in skilled hands. Here one is left only with inanity that is placebo for entertainment."

In the Fall, tied to the show's debut on USA Network and marketing push, the paper's head TV critic talked about Check It Out! and a few other syndicated sitcoms like What a Country!.   Adams, he explains, manages a supermarket "with a staff consisting exclusively of morons and bimbos, those old standbys of television comedy a couple of decades ago." What, morons and bimbos were passe in 1986?

He continues: "This is the kind of comedy in which somebody gets to leave the room by announcing, 'I have to go to the potty.'" O'Connor closes by saying, "This is the kind of effort that makes any further talk of 'the promise of cable' seem thoroughly pointless."

What am I getting into, folks?

O'Connor stuns me by saying the "first-rate cast" of What a Country! "can make the material seem surprisingly fresh."

Top Ten #410

1) School's out for Summer: Many students around the USA are finishing up school and getting ready for an exciting summer of...I don't know what kids do these days, watching reruns on TV?

2) Little House on the Prairie: A full trailer for the new Netflix series premiered this week. I'm not sure it "feels" like the original. Not enough pestilence.

3) Marla Gibbs: Happy 95th birthday! May it be sassy and classy.

4) Lily: Here's an interesting unsold pilot: An eccentric museum curator travels the globe searching for artifacts. Lee Goldberg's Unsold Pilots book calls her a female Indiana Jones. The lead actress? Shelly Duvall! CBS aired this 40 years ago tonight. It's on YouTube!

5) Disclosure Day: Whoa, the guy who directed Duel has a movie in theaters this weekend?

6) Jigsaw John: 50 years ago, this NBC drama starring Jack Warden as a real-life LAPD detective aired its 15th and final episode.

7) John Davidson Show: Also ending its Summer run this day in 1976 was this variety program, with guests Norm Crosby and Charo. Well, at least it went out with a cuchi.

8) Strawberry Shortcake Day: It's actually celebrating the dessert, but...

9) Karl Malden: In a new Criterion Closet YouTube video, John C. Reilly gives major props to The Streets of San Francisco star.

10) R.I.P. Gene Shalit:

Checkin' in with Check It Out (whoa-oh) #1: How we got here

A while back, my tag team partner and co-conspirator Mike gifted me a TV DVD box set. The show assembled, in its entirety, on that set: The immortal Canadian sitcom Check It Out!

"Immortal" is a vast exaggeration. I think the only time I mentioned the show here on the site is a Don Adams birthday post 5 years ago. We have never come close to giving it a full episode on the podcast. It has hit multiple streaming services in recent years, but it's not like there was some Suits effect that kindled a new appreciation of the show.

(If you want to watch along, the DVD set is still in print and available, and the show is on demand for free streaming at Tubi, Plex, and Pluto among other outlets.)

So why, then, did Mike buy this set for me?

Wouldja believe--No, wait, wrong Don Adams show.

The answer is simple: Mike is awesome, and he knew I would enjoy this.

Now it is time for me to start enjoying this set. I have watched a few episodes, but we are between seasons (Season 13 Battys will come!) and have time to do some other things. So I am going to begin a journey through Check It Out!, watching every episode and checking in (Ha! I'm already on a roll) here on a regular basis.

Note that I didn't write "weekly." I am not 100% sure I will make it through this journey. The series lasted 3 seasons and 66 episodes. Will I?

Top Ten #409

1) Masters of the Universe: A new movie hits theaters this weekend based on the decades-old cartoon series we talked about here, and in case you're wondering, we think they are saving Monteeg for a sequel.

2) NBC Nightly News: David Brinkley joined John Chancellor at the main desk 40 years ago tonight as NBC returned to its old dual-anchor format. This of course led to the catchphrase that swept the nation: "John, you ignorant slut."

3) The Tony Awards: Don't quote me, but I believe one of the scheduled highlights of tonight's ceremony is the presentation of a posthumous award for Tony Roberts' performance as Julie's love interest Jack in several episodes of The Love Boat.

4) The Great Heep: This special premiered 40 years ago tonight on ABC. In it, the great C3PO and R2-D2 team up to remind everyone that Droids is still a thing on Saturday mornings!

5) Byron Allen: With CBS intent on destroying 60 Minutes, I wonder if Allen is prepping Journalists Unleashed.

6) Lorne: The new documentary premieres on Peacock this weekend because if there's one thing we need, it's another/special about Saturday Night Live. I mean, don't get me wrong; I still want to see it!

7) Steve Allen's Laugh-Back: What a title! 50 years ago tonight, this syndicated program premiered. Allen welcomed colleagues from his old shows to reminisce and show old clips from his programs--interestingly, it seems that he showed clips from his shows on all networks. All barriers fall for Steve Allen!

8) Good Times: In The New York Times on this date, an interesting article discussed the departure of John Amos from the series and how it prompted complaints that not replacing him removed one of the few positive Black father figures in prime time. "Not to mention," the story continues, "he's liable to win a Genius Award in 45 years and make letting him go look like a disaster."

9) The French Open: 40 years ago on this date, Chris Evert beat Martina Navratilova in 3 sets to win the title.

10) NBA and NHL Playoffs:

Top Ten #408

1) Summer Movies: Yes, we are all about TV here, but I always think of big blockbusters and fun summer movies this time of year, and the commercials touting them were a huge part of the viewing experience. So let's look at what was opening on Memorial Day weekend in 1986. What classic big, fun seasonal but enduring film premiered 40 years ago?

Jake Speed?

Cobra and Top Gun were still around, but, wow, even Siskel and Ebert apparently took the weekend off!

2) Eddie Murphy: Speaking of movies, Murphy gets an AFI tribute in a special premiering on Netflix today. These tributes used to be a staple of network television.

One more movie note: Clint Eastwood turns 96 today. Eastwood got an AFI Lifetime Achievement tribute THIRTY YEARS AGO!

3) Viva Valdez: Part of the wave of "ethnic" sitcoms of the Seventies, this one premiered 50 years ago but didn't last long. Sony has posted some full episodes on its YouTube channels.

4) Monday Night Baseball: 50 years ago tonight, it was an MLB showcase in primetime on national TV, and it featured the Yankees and the Red Sox. The more things change...

5) Al Capone's vault: I just listened to a great episode of the Most Notorious podcast featuring an interview with William Elliott Hazelgrove, who wrote a book about the whole spectacle of Geraldo Rivera's live broadcast in 1986. The book is pricy, but it sounds great.

6) World No Tobacco Day: So don't listen to these guys:

7) The Love Boat: A rerun of the show aired this night in 1986. What's so special about that? Well, the series finale had aired the previous Saturday! So this was the first Saturday with no new Love Boat on the Horizon since the show premiered in 1977. The world kept spinning, but arguably it was much less joyous.

8) Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol: TV Confidential recently interviewed David Spencer about his book The Novelizers, and I was delighted to hear the Magoo special touted as a master class in adaptation!

9) Robert Pine?: I posted this in our Facebook group, and I post it here: Is this our Genius Emeritus Robert Pine in the Bank of America spot at the 26-minute mark?

10) R.I.P. Howard Storm, Jay Daniel, Bob Horner: We wouldn't include every 1980s Atlanta Brave on this list, but how can you not associate Horner, who died this week at 68, with SuperStation TBS? And when he went to St. Louis and faced the Braves, TBS shouted him out in the promo:

Shirley Jones didn't get along with Dick Clark?

A recent video on the "Retro Rules" YouTube channel by Paul Van Scott teased co-stars Shirley Jones hated. Turned out it was guest stars. Van Scott got the info from Jones' autobiography.

Ray Bolger, who played Shirley's father on The Partridge Family was self-centered and demanding in Jones' view. The other name really surprised me: Dick Clark, who has a limited role in the very episode Mike and I discussed this season, "Star Quality!"

Why did she not care for him? There doesn't seem to be a lot of info from Jones on it. Now, far be it from me to jeopardize a possible Batty campaign for Clark, but I feel like I should put this info out there.