Top Ten #261: Special "National Filet Mignon Day" Edition!

1) The Rifleman: Our retro retro episode this season looks at a terrific oater (there's that word again) from the golden era of Westerns on TV. it was a lot of fun revisiting the series...and it gave me an excuse to post that comic book cover (No, I am not gonna do it again).

2) Chuck Connors: Sure, someone could talk about the things Chuck didn't do as well as other actors, but how about we focus on what he COULD do: Play baseball, play basketball, handle the heck out of a rifle, be tall, dispense parental advice in a credible manner, sock guys in the jaw, and glower. To me that's an icon.

3) Johnny Crawford: The actor who played Mark on The Rifleman is one of the more effective child performers we've talked about in all our podcasts. 

4) Paul Fix: The veteran actor did a fine job as Marshal Micah Torrance on The Rifleman but wasn't in the episode we discussed, "Ordeal," so I want to commend him here.

5) Fairies and Kudzu: 40 years ago tonight, CBS led prime time with these two shows back to back. The latter is based on the Doug Marlette comic strip (I had no idea they tried to make a series out of it), and the former is a 1981 Emmy-nominated animated special. Based on a children's book, it offers a voice cast including Hans Conreid, Frank Welker, June Foray, and Morgan Brittany.

6) Gretchen Corbett: Happy birthday to one of our favorite Rockford stars! To celebrate, here she is in an entirely different 1970s Universal show!

7) Black Sheep Squadron: Friend of the Show Steve Cloutier and his pal Dave Brodbeck have expanded their podcast roster, supplementing their episode-by-episode Rockford Files (Hey, there's that one again!) show 200 a Day Plus Expenses with a new one dedicated to this WWII-set 1970s program. Now we just need to get BSS on streaming so we can all watch it! I think in the USA, the only place currently running it is Heroes and Icons.

8) Barbie: The movie continues to dominate the box office! She's been a superstar for decades, though!

9) Lou Brock: On this date 50 years ago, the Hall of Famer known for stealing bases got his 3,000th hit.

10) Danny Bonaduce: Happy birthday to the actor-turned...turned...well, turned all kinds of things! In the words of Beavis, "Bon-a-DUUUU-ceeee!" He has had serious health issues in recent years, including brain surgery, so we hope is recovering well.