*The Face the Music episode we cover aired in syndication in 1980; the Sale of the Century aired at 10:30 A.M. on NBC in 1985. A commenter on YouTube believes the latter aired in November.
*Jim Perry was born in New Jersey but first hosted game shows in Canada. He was the first emcee of Card Sharks (1978-1981) but was busy with Sale of the Century and other work when the series was revised--hence the use of Bob Eubanks and Bill Raferty.
*In addition to his work on Face the Music, Tommy Tedesco was a regular on Fernwood 2Night and of course played on countless recordings. As Mike mentions, his son Denny directed The Wrecking Crew documentary that features him.
*Renae Jacobs, a contestant on the episode of Sale of the Century that we watched for the podcast, was April O'Neil on the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series that premiered in 1987. She also starred in Masters of the Maze on The Family Channel.
*CBN was a cable network from 1977 to 1988, when it became CBN Family Channel. It later morphed into Family Channel, Fox Family, ABC Family, and is now Freeform. It hasn't aired anything like Face the Music reruns in a long, long time.
*Summer Batholomew won the 1975 Miss USA pageant representing California, edging Miss Alabama and North Carolina. She had a short stint on a version of Wheel of Fortune. A clip of that pageant is in our playlist for this episode!
*Ron Ely's stint as Tarzan on the NBC series lasted 1966-1968. Besides his acting career, he hosted several Miss America pageants
*Fred Dryer was an NFL player turned actor who starred on NBC's 1980s action series Hunter.
*Lisa Donovan, the vivacious singer on Face the Music, still performs, and according to her website had a stint in Nunsense in Las Vegas.
*Make me Laugh aired in 1958, 1979-1980, and in 1997. The "classic" version is the 79-80 one, which was syndicated and featured Booby Van as host.
*Sale of the Century began as an NBC daytime series in 1969 with host Jack Kelly of Maverick fame, then later Joe Garagiola. After becoming a success in Australia, producers brought it to the USA in 1983, where it aired on NBC until 1989. A syndicated version also hosted by Perry ran from 1985 to 1986.
*The TV Guide game at the end of this episode uses the October 27-November 2, 1984 edition and focuses on Saturday morning, 8:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M.
*The Get Along Gang cartoon was inspired by a greeting card line.
Friday, June 16, 2017
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Episode 2_11: "Face the Music" and "$ale of the Century"
This week, we dive into the world of game shows with a look at the syndicated "Face the Music" and NBC's fast-paced "$ale of the Century." Plus, an all-new TV Guide Game! Will one of us go home with a brand-new car?!
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Friday, June 9, 2017
Show Notes: Episode 2-10: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
🎵🎵🎵 HE-MAN 🎵🎵🎵
*This episode, "Castle of Heroes," is #57 in the "first season" of the series and premiered in syndication on November 9, 1983.
*Filmation Studios cranked out animation and live action programming for over 25 years. We may well revisit more of its work in the future!
*The Mattel toy line that spawned this series began in 1981 after several years of development. Mattel had to fight off a lawsuit that claimed the concept was a ripoff of Conan. The Princess of Power line that introduced She-Ra debuted in 1985.
*The action figures came with mini-sized comic books that introduced the characters and the universe. There was also a DC Comics series in the early 1980s.
🎵🎵🎵 HE-MAN 🎵🎵🎵
*Skeletor (Alan Oppenheimer) apparently started out as a minion of Hordak, but much like with Darth Vader, I refuse to believe he was ever subordinate to another super villain.
*The voice of He-Man/Prince Adam is John Erwin, who did other voice work for Filmation in various Sabrina and Archie (as Reggie) series. He also had a recurring role on Rawhide.
*Hannibal of Carthage (born 247 B.C., died in the 180s) was a legendary general and renowned military strategist, not just the dude who rode an elephant through the Alps into Italy. But he did do that, which is pretty cool.
🎵🎵🎵 HE-MAN 🎵🎵🎵
*Mattel did not make a Blackbeard action figure, unfortunately, but there are several cool figures of the historical figure, including a Pirates of the Carribbean tie-in and a "historical"one from Accoutrements.
*The real Blackbeard straddled the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries and is one of the most infamous pirates in history. He died quietly of natural causes surrounded by loved ones who sang sea shanties at his bedside.
No, actually, he suffered a violent death in battle. Doesn't that make you feel better?
🎵🎵🎵 HE-MAN 🎵🎵🎵
*In fairness to Orko, he comes off as buffoonish sometimes in part because his powers do not work in Eternia as they do on his home planet.
*The 1987 movie with Dolph Lundgren, Courteney Cox, and Frank Langella is indeed a Cannon production. It draws more from the toys themselves than from the cartoon, and Prince Adam is not even a part of it. According to Wikipedia, a proposed sequel was recycled for the Jean Claude Van Damme vehicle Cyborg when Cannon had to bail due to being unable to afford the licensing fees.
🎵🎵🎵 HE-MAN 🎵🎵🎵
*This episode, "Castle of Heroes," is #57 in the "first season" of the series and premiered in syndication on November 9, 1983.
*Filmation Studios cranked out animation and live action programming for over 25 years. We may well revisit more of its work in the future!
*The Mattel toy line that spawned this series began in 1981 after several years of development. Mattel had to fight off a lawsuit that claimed the concept was a ripoff of Conan. The Princess of Power line that introduced She-Ra debuted in 1985.
*The action figures came with mini-sized comic books that introduced the characters and the universe. There was also a DC Comics series in the early 1980s.
🎵🎵🎵 HE-MAN 🎵🎵🎵
*Skeletor (Alan Oppenheimer) apparently started out as a minion of Hordak, but much like with Darth Vader, I refuse to believe he was ever subordinate to another super villain.
*The voice of He-Man/Prince Adam is John Erwin, who did other voice work for Filmation in various Sabrina and Archie (as Reggie) series. He also had a recurring role on Rawhide.
*Hannibal of Carthage (born 247 B.C., died in the 180s) was a legendary general and renowned military strategist, not just the dude who rode an elephant through the Alps into Italy. But he did do that, which is pretty cool.
🎵🎵🎵 HE-MAN 🎵🎵🎵
*Mattel did not make a Blackbeard action figure, unfortunately, but there are several cool figures of the historical figure, including a Pirates of the Carribbean tie-in and a "historical"one from Accoutrements.
*The real Blackbeard straddled the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries and is one of the most infamous pirates in history. He died quietly of natural causes surrounded by loved ones who sang sea shanties at his bedside.
No, actually, he suffered a violent death in battle. Doesn't that make you feel better?
🎵🎵🎵 HE-MAN 🎵🎵🎵
*In fairness to Orko, he comes off as buffoonish sometimes in part because his powers do not work in Eternia as they do on his home planet.
*The 1987 movie with Dolph Lundgren, Courteney Cox, and Frank Langella is indeed a Cannon production. It draws more from the toys themselves than from the cartoon, and Prince Adam is not even a part of it. According to Wikipedia, a proposed sequel was recycled for the Jean Claude Van Damme vehicle Cyborg when Cannon had to bail due to being unable to afford the licensing fees.
🎵🎵🎵 HE-MAN 🎵🎵🎵
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Episode 2_10: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe "Castle of Heroes"
In this episode, we take another look at the animated toy tie-in phenomenon of the mid eighties with the granddaddy of them all He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Skeletor's "friend" Monteague, a toad-like wizard, unleashes Hannibal and Black Beard on Eternia in a plot to recruit He-Man into his army and, um, take over the universe or something. Listen. He drank a bunch of martinis with his pinky before he hatched the plan. He probably doesn't even understand it. Will Monteague prevail (doubtful)? Will Orko annoy us (probable)? Will we get to the bottom of Skeletor's anatomy (doubtful, but we'll try)? Plus, a band-new game: PICK YOUR PINE.
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Friday, June 2, 2017
Show Notes: Episode 2-9: Wonder Woman
*Third-season episode "Disco Devil" premiered Friday, October 20, 1978, at 8:00 P.M. on the CBS television network.
*The Diana Prince as Kind of emma peel "depowered" version of the Wonder Woman character lasted from 1968 to early 1973. Diana voluntarily gave up her powers so she could become more of a secret agent (I'm sure cashing in on the spy craze--albeit a few years late--was a nice coincidence).
*The Cathy Lee Crosby pilot movie aired on ABC in March 1974. It's not a direct pilot for the eventual series; the concept was changed after the modest success of the Crosby version.
*FX Networrk showed Wonder Woman reruns weekdays when it launched in June 1994.
*The series theme song was composed by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, who also did the themes for Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. Fox co-wrote the Love American Style theme with Arnold Margolin.
*Wolfman Jack (1938-1995) did indeed start on a blowtorch border radio station heard all over the country, but he also appeared in syndication, on Armed Forces Radio, and even in New York City for a year.
*Here is the official site for the Touchdown Club, which hosted the Timmie Awards event Rick attended years ago and kind of saw Lynda Carter: http://dctouchdownclub.com/
*The Diana Prince as Kind of emma peel "depowered" version of the Wonder Woman character lasted from 1968 to early 1973. Diana voluntarily gave up her powers so she could become more of a secret agent (I'm sure cashing in on the spy craze--albeit a few years late--was a nice coincidence).
*The Cathy Lee Crosby pilot movie aired on ABC in March 1974. It's not a direct pilot for the eventual series; the concept was changed after the modest success of the Crosby version.
*FX Networrk showed Wonder Woman reruns weekdays when it launched in June 1994.
*The series theme song was composed by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, who also did the themes for Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. Fox co-wrote the Love American Style theme with Arnold Margolin.
*Wolfman Jack (1938-1995) did indeed start on a blowtorch border radio station heard all over the country, but he also appeared in syndication, on Armed Forces Radio, and even in New York City for a year.
*Here is the official site for the Touchdown Club, which hosted the Timmie Awards event Rick attended years ago and kind of saw Lynda Carter: http://dctouchdownclub.com/
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