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Thursday, August 29, 2024

Show Notes and Episode Playlist: Episode 12-4: Dan August

*We hope you enjoy our look at Dan August as Summer comes to a close. If only we could have released The Kid with the Broken Halo (with June Allyson) in June.

*We talk about Dan August and Robert Pine not in a standalone Pick Your Pine but at the end of our Celebrity Bowling episode!

*Shout-out to Jonathan Martin's book Quinn Martin, Producer.

*Dan August aired for 26 episodes in the 1970-71 season on ABC Wednesdays at 10:00 PM, then Thursdays at 9:30. After Burt Reynolds became a big movie star, CBS showed reruns in its late night lineup in Summer 1973 and Summer 1975.

*World Vision International is the Christian aid agency. Worldvision Enterprises was the programming distributor that emerged from the FCC's Fin-Syn rules that blocked original owner ABC from syndicating its own programs. Aaron Spelling's company was involved with it, and then Spelling's company was absorbed into Viacom.

*The episode with Richard Basehart and John Ritter is #12, "Quadrangle of Death." Robert Pine appears in episode 21, "Bullet for a Hero." Ricardo Montalban is in the second episode, "The Murder of a Small Town."


*Dave Grusin did not win a Batty for the St. Elsewhere theme song, which lost to Henry Mancini's What's Happening!! for Outstanding Instrumental. Cheers won that season for Theme with Vocals (Season 6 Battys).  Good Times did, however, win in the Season 4 Battys over Punky Brewster and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, giving Grusin his Batty.

*Grusin also created themes for The Name of the Game, It Takes a Thief, and more.

*Ena Hartman's lone role as a series regular is Dan August, but she is considered a trailblazer for her work in other TV series of the era. She is in the first Airport movie and stars in Terminal Island.

*Barney Phillips' coroner is named Mike Golden.

*"The Manufactured Man" premiered March 11, 1971, the 22nd episode of the series.

*Harrison Ford was 28 when this episode aired. Billy Dee Williams was 33. David Soul was 27, Mickey Rooney was 50.

*Keith Andes (Lawrence Merrill II) was the lead in This Man Dawson (1959) and NBC soap Paradise Bay (1965).

*Harry Harris of the Philadelphia Inquirer, who we quote on the podcast, wrote his own obituary, and you can see it here.

*Hawk is Burt's 1966 ABC series. Reynolds is an Iroquois NYC police detective.


*And here is this week's video playlist! Click below for promos, commercials, a whole lot of theme songs and intros, and...cabbage?


And remember, you can always check out our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!








 

Episode 12-4: Dan August

After 12 seasons, we finally talk about a Quinn Martin Production--Dan August! Before Burt Reynolds was BURT REYNOLDS, he starred as the titular homicide detective Dan August for one season alongside Norman Fell, Richard Anderson, and in this episode a galaxy of guest stars. A murder of a young woman leads Dan into the dark alleys of California politics, where he encounters a scoundrel, an old smoothie, and a sparkplug political operative. If you're lucky, he might make a leaping tackle or three!

#podcast #tv #retrotv #seventies #quinnmartinproduction #burtreynolds #burt #copshow #danaugust

 



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Sunday, August 25, 2024

Top Ten #316

1) The Golden Girls: Thank you for being a listener! We took a brief pause in our Season 12 lineup this week to bring you an encore presentation of our Season 2 (Wow!) episode on The Golden Girls. In it we talk the series and special guest star (on the original episode, not our podcast) Burt Reynolds.

2) Burt Reynolds: Burt has since returned to BOTNS with his appearance on Entertainment Tonight promoting Paternity. Who knows, maybe he will return to the podcast someday.




3) National Banana Split Day: Enjoy!




4) Make Room for Granddaddy: This short-lived (13 episodes) reboot of Make Room for Daddy is now on Roku Channel, and odds are good it will show up elsewhere like other FilmRise properties. It's not peak Danny Thomas, but it's a true rarity that looks great, so I'm thankful to see it.

5) Blair Underwood: Happy birthday to the former L.A. Law star.



6) College football: The second-most popular form of American football returns this weekend with a handful of games that should be just the ticket to take your mind off transfer portals, NIL, and--Nope, didn't work. I'm still thinking of that. Maybe an old Penn State football game promo will take my mind off it.


It did!


7) There Have Been Some Changes Made: The most popular form of American football received a prime-time special on CBS 50 years ago tonight leading into a preseason game. Pat Summerall hosted a look at the rule changes in the NFL, and man, that title is pretentious even for NFL Films. 

In case you're wondering, the changes were mostly designed to increase scoring. The league went from encouraging utter mayhem to encouraging extreme violence.

(The below clip is not from 1974)



8) Tom Skerritt: Happy birthday to the star of a quite different David E. Kelly show, Picket Fences.





9) Rashomon: The film's Japanese premiere was on this date in 1950, and it went on to inspire countless TV plots (Actually, THIS is how it happened...), including--wait, Small Wonder?



10) R.I.P.: Phil Donahue, Roger Cook: You can listen to our Donahue episode right here. We also salute the longtime castmember of This Old House.





Friday, August 23, 2024

Promo Theatre: Report to Murphy on CBS

Here's another look at Report to Murphy, the short-lived Michael Keaton sitcom we mentioned last week when discussing The Kid with the Broken Halo.


Thursday, August 22, 2024

Encore: The Golden Girls

This week, we revisit an episode from all the way back in season two. Tickets to the world premiere and after party for Mr. Burt Reynolds' latest movie land the Golden Girls in exactly the wrong place--jail...for prostitution. Will they get out in time to meet Burt and the rest of the Burt Pack? Will Rose ever get over losing Butter Queen? Will Burt lead a game of Win, Lose, or Draw? It all depends on the kindness of Sophia! Uh-oh.

#podcast #tv #retrotv #eighties #sitcom #goldengirls #beaarthur #bettywhite #burtreynolds

 



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