Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 11-5: ABC'S Star-Spangled Celebration

*Happy Fourth of July! If you aren't in the USA, happy July 4. I guess we call the day that here, too. Just have a great weekend, OK?

*Thanks for watching, and of course, given the subject matter, thanks for reading!

*Can something be spangled with anything besides stars?

*Here is the video playlist for this episode, 

Remember, you can always check out our official YouTube channel for all our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

*Capital Cities bought ABC in 1985, and Disney took over in 1995.

*For another take on the VP Fair, click here.

*For the record, the only carnie I want to be would be Art Carney.

*In sports in St. Louis, the football Cardinals moved to Arizona after the season, but the baseball Cards went to the World Series and played the Twins in a 7-game thriller.

*Me and Mrs. C had 11 episodes in the Summer of 1986, Summer of 1987, and one month in Spring 1987 on Saturday nights on NBC. The Times didn't like it.

*HBO's Welcome Home was taped earlier on the Fourth at the Cap Center in Landover, MD (in the MD suburbs of the DC area; reportedly chosen after lagging ticket sales spurred a move from DC's RFK Stadium) and shown as a special that night. Proceeds were given to various vet groups, and there were tie-ins with various MLB franchises as Vietnam veterans threw out the first pitches at some ballparks that day.

*Paul Molitor entered the Baseball Hall o Fame in 2004. he was runner-up for the 1983 AL MVP and earned many accolades, but he never won a Gold Glove.

*I am not sure, but I think the player standing next to Molitor in that sequence is pitcher Dan Plesac. The Brewers started 13-0 that season but finished in third place in the AL East.

*Click HERE for our look at Yakov Smirnoff's syndicated comedy What a Country!

*William "Bill Brock" was a congressman in Tennessee, chair of the RNC, and Secretary of labor in the Reagan Administration before leaving to run Bob Dole's presidential campaign.

*Barbara Mandrell was married to Ken Dudney in 1987 (and still is).

*You may not see Chubby Checker perform "The Twist" on this special, but you can see it in our video playlist!

*Of Tongan heritage but hailing from Minnesota, The jets had 5 top 10 hits, a platinum-selling self-titled debut album, and worldwide success."Crush on You" and "You Got It All" were both #3 hits, but the latter actually went to #2 on the R&B chart and #1 on the Adult Contemporary, so it's arguably their biggest hit.

*Phil Driscoll is most known for work in Christian music. He had won a Grammy with Debby Boone in 1985 for "Keep the Flame Burning."

*Hopefully me putting this at the end won't spoil your fun, assuming you had as much fun watching the special as I did, but the disgruntled LA Times letter writer I mention on the pod said this:
After (painfully) watching ABC’s “A Star-Spangled Celebration”--a purported tribute to America--one can only ask to what audience of intelligent patriots and lovers of real talent could such a farce have been directed? Despite all the glitz, all the noise, all the Oprah, all the Tony Bennett, all the Kareem, all the Suzanne Somers, Ben Vereen, et al., this was one of the most pointless, over-promoted and unredeeming TV productions ever foisted upon the gullible citizenry of this great country under the guise of combatting illiteracy. When will the youngsters who run American television ever learn that not all of their audience is made up of mindless teen-agers who weren’t even born when such purveyors of real talent as Fred Astaire and Jackie Gleason were in their prime?