Retro retro TV news #2

*Yesterday we linked to a Sitcoms Online article detailing changes to the Antenna TV and Rewind TV schedules. It's nice to see some "new" (really returning) series from the 1970s and 1980s, but it's not so cool to see the older shows get dumped. granted, Antenna has aired the likes of Father Knows Best and The Jack Benny Show for a long, long time, but I think there should be a place for them on TV.

*Last week I had a great time revisiting one of my all-time favorite books: This comic digest reprinting 1960s Dennis the Menace stories. Of course we talk about Dennis in this episode here.

This digest has a lot of great and hilarious Dennis adventures, including an epic in which he visits his grandfather in Bethlehem...Pennsylvania!

*A New Year's tradition is The Twilight Zone, and SyFy starts its marathon 5:00 AM EST December 31. it runs until Friday morning. Heroes & Icons starts its own marathon at 8:00 PM EST on Wednesday, and it will run until 6:00 AM EST on Friday.

 

Outside the timeline: Retro retro news

This may become a semi-regular feature: A roundup of items related to classic TV outside our standard 1970s/1980s timeline!

ITEM: Dick Van Dyke celebrated his 100th birthday this weekend, and PBS premiered a new American Masters devoted to him. Check your local listings or the PBS app.

We mentioned this in yesterday's Top Ten post, but Tubi now has The New Dick Van Dyke Show.

ITEM: Some relatively rarer Westerns are making their way to streaming platforms. Here are a pair that have been on diginets and are now on SVOD:

Stoney Burke: The 1962 series with Jack Lord as a rodeo star is now on Plex.

Whispering Smith: This 1961 series with Audie Murphy as the titular detective appears to be coming to Tubi. I say that because as of now there is only one single episode!

ITEM: ClassicFlix announced the latest in its Rare Television line of DVD releases, and, boy, is it a rare one: 1951's The Ad-Libbers!

Here is the complete story. I pre-ordered this one right away to show support for the line and to ClassicFlix for working on stuff like this--Oh, and also because it sounds fascinating!