The 50th Anniversary of Charlie's Angels

It was 50 years ago today that, on September 22, 1976, that Charlie's Angels debuted on ABC. The show would prove to be an immediate hit, ranking no. 5 during its first season and continued to do well for its next few seasons. While ratings for Charlie's Angels would eventually falter and it would be cancelled after five seasons, it would not only prove to be a success in syndication, but would lead to feature films and even reboot series.

Charlie's Angels centred on three female private investigators who work for the Charles Townsend Agency. The original Angels were Sabrina Duncan (Kate Jackson), who was the level headed brains of the three women, Jill Monroe (Farrah Fawcett), the action-seeking athlete of the group, and Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith), the cool, calm glamour girl of the group. Assisting the Angels was Charles Townsend Agency employee John Bosley (David Doyle). As to Charlie (the voice of John Forsythe), the Angels had never met him in person nor would they ever meet him in person. He gave the Angels their assignments via speaker phone. Charlie had many enemies, so he never met the Angels face to face in order to protect them. While the Angels had never met Charlie, Bosley had. In the initial concept, the Angels were all graduates of the Police Academy who found themselves unhappy in their work after being given menial assignments. This would be changed for the final season.

Charlie's Angels was created by writers Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, who had written the classic movie White Heat (1949) and for such shows as Burke's Law, Ironside, and Mannix. Due to the success of Police Woman starring Angie Dickinson, Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts developed an idea for a TV show titled The Alley Cats, which would centre on three beautiful female private eyes. It was early in the pre-production of the series that producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg brought Kate Jackson, who had earlier appeared in their series The Rookies, onto the project. Kate Jackson was initially cast as Kelly Garrett, but found himself more drawn to the role of Sabrina Duncan. She then asked for her role to be switched. She also disliked the title The Alley Cats and requested that the title be changed. Kate Jackson partially came up with the new title after seeing a picture of angels in Aaron Spelling's office. She then suggested the three women could be called "Angels." The series would then be called Harry's Angels, with the Angel's boss being named "Harry." ABC objected to the title, worrying it could be confused with the show Harry O starring David Janssen. What had started out as The Alley Cats and was then named Harry's Angels was renamed Charlie's Angels.

Farrah Fawcett was the second Angel to be cast. At the time, she was married to Lee Majors and so she was billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors. Aaron Spelling had seen her in the movie Logan's Run (1976) and offered her the part of Jill Monroe. Auditions were held for the role of Kelly Garrett. Initially Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg had wanted the women to be a brunette, a blonde, and a redhead, but the role ultimately went to brunette Jaclyn Smith because of how she interacted with Kate Jackson and Farrah Fawcett.

Initially, Charlie would have been a millionaire who assisted the Angels in the field. It was Kate Jackson and Aaron Spelling who decided that Charles Townsend should be more of a mystery. While Charlie remained a millionaire, he communicated with the Angels only by speaker phone. Gig Young was originally cast as Charlie, but showed up so drunk he could not even read his line. In a panic as to what to do, Aaron Spelling made an emergency call to his friend John Forsythe, who was already in bed. John Forsythe rushed to 20th Century Fox wearing only his topcoat and pyjamas and read the lines. John Forsythe then became Charles Townsend.

Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg cast David Doyle as John Bosley. ABC was concerned that audiences would not accept three women fighting crime more or less on their own, so for the pilot David Ogden Stiers was cast as Scott Woodville, who was Charlie's second in command and hence both the Angels and Bosley's superior. As it turned out, the character of Scott Woodville was not well-received by audiences. Aaron Spelling, who felt having both Woodville and Bosley was redundant, used this as leverage to persuade network executives that the character should be cut from the show.. Bosley would then remain the Angel's only liaison with Charlie.

Charlie's Angels proved to be a hit in the ratings, and ultimately ranked no. 5 for the year in the Nielsen ratings for the 1976-1977 season. While television viewers loved Charlie's Angels, many critics dismissed the show as fluff, lacking any substance at all. Worse yet, many critics labelled "Jiggle television" or "T&A Television," the term "Jiggle television" having been coined by NBC executive Paul Klein as a criticism of ABC under Fred Silverman's leadership. Other shows labelled "jiggle television" while Fred Silverman was president of ABC Entertainment were Three's Company and Wonder Woman.

Although Charlie's Angels was labelled "jiggle TV" and developed a reputation for putting its actresses in skimpy costumes, none of this was actually warranted. The vast majority of time the Angels wore what could be described smart streetwear: blazers, button-down blouses, turtlenecks, and the like. The only time that any of the Angels might appear in skimpy clothing was only under very circumstances, such as at a pool party or in a beauty pageant. Indeed, it was in Kate Jackson's contract that she would never appear in a bikini.

The success of Charlie's Angels resulted in a proposed spinoff series. The fourth season episode "Toni's Boys" was a backdoor pilot for show to be called Toni's Boys. It would have essentially been Charlie's Angels with the genders reversed. Toni Blake, played by the legendary Barbara Stanwyck, had her own detective agency in which she employed three handsome young men as her operatives. Unlike Charlie, who always remained hidden from the Angels, Toni ran her agency in person. Ultimately, ABC did not pick Toni's Boys up as a series.

During its run, Charlie's Angels would go through several cast changes. The first and most famous would be when Farrah Fawcett left the show after its first season. Farrah Fawcett left the show for multiple reasons, including the desire to pursue a movie career as well as the intense production schedule of a weekly television series. She had no formal long-term contract, so this would result in a protracted legal battle with ABC.Ultimately, Farrah Fawcett agreed to return for six guest appearances. On the show, it was explained that Jill Monroe had left the Charles Townsend Agency to become a race car driver.

Farrah Fawcett's departure necessitated the search for a new Angel. Eventually Cheryl Ladd had been the singing voice of Melody on the animated series Josie and the Pussycats and had made guest appearances on such shows as The Partridge Family and The Rookies. She was cast as Kris Munroe, Jill Munroe's sister. Cheryl Ladd would remain with the show for the rest of its run.

As Charlie's Angels continued, Kate Jackson became disenchanted with the show. She felt the script quality had declined dramatically from what it was in the first season. During the third season, she was offered the role of Joanna Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) , but the production schedule of Charlie's Angels forced her to turn the role down. Ultimately, Kate Jackson asked to be released from her contract.

Several actresses would be considered as Kate Jackson's replacement. Among them were Barbara Bach, Connie Sellecca, Shari Belafonte, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Ultimately, Shelly Hack was cast as Tiffany Welles. At the time, she was best known as the face of Revlon's Charlie perfume. Unfortunately, Shelley Hack was not well received. Critics attacked her acting ability. Audiences did not warm to her either. Charlie's Angels ranked no. 10 for the year in its third season. With its fourth season, it dropped to no. 20. Ultimately, Shelley Hack would be fired from Charlie's Angels.

As Shelley Hack's successor, supposedly 2000 actress applied to be the new Angel. Among those who tried for the role were Jayne Kennedy and Susie Coelho. Ultimately the role went to Tanya Roberts, who had appeared in such movies as The Yum-Yum Girls (1976) and Tourist Trap (1979) and had guest starred on the show Vega$. Tanya Roberts's character Julie Rogers was a sharp break from earlier Angels. While previous Angels had all been graduates of police academy, Julie was a model who had a rough background including a six month stint in the Sybil Brand Correctional Facility.

While Tanya Roberts appeared to be better received by audiences than Shelly Hack had been, ratings for Charlie's Angels would plummet in its fifth season. Having aired on Wednesday night for its entire run, ABC moved Charlie's Angels to Sunday night where it faced the high-rate Archie Bunker's Place and One Day at a Time on CBS and the high rated CHiPs on NBC. ABC would move Charlie's Angels back to Wednesday at mid-season, but it was too little too late. For the first time ever, Charlie's Angels did not rank in the top thirty for the season in the Nielsen ratings. In the end, Charlie's Angels was cancelled after five seasons.

This would hardly be the end of Charlie's Angels. It proved to have a successful run as a syndicated rerun. It would air on such cable channels as TNT, TV Land, and Cloo, and on such digital broadcast networks as MeTV, Cozi TV, and get TV. It is currently available on several streaming services, including Crackle, Plex, Prime Video, The Roku Channel, and Tubi.

Charlie's Angels would also become a franchise years after the show had been cancelled. The movies Charlie's Angels (2000) and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) could very nearly be considered sequels to the original series, with John Forsythe returning as Charlie. A reboot of the original show aired on ABC during the 2011-2012 season, but was cancelled after only seven episodes. Yer another film, this one again titled Charlie's Angels, was released in 2019.

During its original run, Charlie's Angels was dismissed as fluff and worse yet as "Jiggle TV." From today's perspective, it seems that critics were not giving the show enough credit. True, Charlie's Angels was not Playhouse 90, but it was not necessarily a bad show either. Shelley Hack may have said it best in an article in People after she had been cast on the show, "Of course it's fluff, but high-grade fluff. You don't compare Agatha Christie to Tolstoy."

What is more, it was high-grade fluff with an important subtext. Before Charlie's Angels, there were only a few action-adventure shows with female leads. In the Sixties, there were The Avengers, Honey West, and The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. In the Seventies, there were Police Woman and Wonder Woman. And on most of these shows, the female leads were assisted by a male character. The Angels were intelligent, independent, and competent women who fought crime on their own (Bosley really wasn't that much help). Girls and yong women at a time when women only recently had gotten the right to have their own credit card could look to the Angels and realize that they were not limited to the traditionally female occupations of the era. Charlie's Angels may have been an escapist show, but it was one with an important underlying message.

Thank You for A Successful Blogathon

I want to thank everyone for a successful 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon. Provided no unforeseen circumstances occur between now and next September, I can guarantee the blogathon will return next September! 

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

(This post is a part of the 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon, hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts)

The 1940s saw a number of supernatural fantasy films on both sides of the Pond. From Hollywood emerged such movies as Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), I Married a Witch (1942), It's a Wonderful Life (1946). The British film industry produced such films as The Ghost Train (1941), Blithe Spirit (1945), and Miranda (1948). Arguably, the greatest British supernatural fantasy of the 1940s was A Matter of Life and Death (1946). The movie was produced, written, and directed by The Archers, a film-making partnership consisting of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It counted among the best movies The Archers ever made, and they made some of the greatest movies of all time.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) centres on RAF Squadron Leader Peter David Carter (David Niven), who miraculously survives after parachuting out of his damaged Lancaster bomber over the English Channel. As it turns out, Peter was supposed to die, but survived when his guide to the afterlife, Conductor 71 (Marius Goring) failed to find him in the dense fog. By the time Conductor 71 does make contact with Peter, he has already met and is in the process of falling in love with June (Kim Hunter), a United States Army Air Forces radio operator stationed in England. Fortunately, Conductor 71 tells Peter than he had been granted an appeal. If he can prove his case before a Heavenly court, he will be allowed to return to life.

The origins of A Matter of Life and Death (1946) emerged from World War II. After being united for much of the war, friction began to reemerge between the United Kingdom and the United States late in the war. Jack Beddington, head of the British Ministry of Information’s film commission, then approached The Archers about making a film that would address this friction. Fortunately, for movie lovers everywhere, the Archers agreed to do so. To a degree, A Matter of Life and Death (1946) had some basis in a true story. On March 24, 1944, RAF tail gunner Nicholas Alkemade bailed out of his failing Lancaster bomber from 18,000 feet without a parachute and miraculously survived. Another source of inspiration was the 1938 book Journey Around My Skull by Frigyes Karinthy, which chronicled his experience with a non-cancerous brain tumour and the surgery to remove it. To this mix, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger added a plot involving a romance between a British serviceman and an American, and the plot involving the Heavenly court.

From the beginning, The Archers wanted David Niven to play Peter. This would not set well with actor Marius Goring. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger offered him the role of Conductor 71, but he wanted to play Peter instead. Messrs. Powell and Pressburger solved the problem by telling Mr. Goring that if he turned down the role of Conductor 71, it would go to Peter Ustinov instead. For the role of June, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger had no particular actress in mind, beyond the fact that they wanted an American. They went to Hollywood with the goal of casting the role of June, and even considered Betty Field, who turned out to be in a play on Broadway. It was Alfred Hitchcock who suggested Kim Hunter. Mr. Hitchcock had used Miss Hunter to read lines off-camera for Ingrid Bergman's screen test for Spellbound (1945). 

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) was filmed at D&P Studios and Denham Studios in Denham, Buckinghamshire.The scene on the beach in which Peter meets June after he bailed out of his plane was filmed at  Saunton Sands in Devon. The village seen through the camera obscura belonging to Dr. Reeves (Roger Livesey) was Middle Street in Shere, Surrey. The film was shot from September 2, 1945, to December 2, 1945. 

Pre-production on A Matter of Life and Death (1946) would be both long and complicated.  Much of this was due to the construction of the escalator (nicknamed "Ethel") that connects Earth to Heaven above. The escalator was built under the supervision of the London Passenger Transport Board. It took three months to build  £3,000 to build (that's £116,226.85 today). Ethel was massive. It had 106 steps, each of which was 20 feet wide. To power Ethel, it took a 12 horsepower engine. Over the years, film trivia sites and accounts of the production have claimed that Ethel was so noisy that all dialogue had to be dubbed in post-production. This seems unlikely given cinematographer Jack Cardiff has said that the escalator was completely silent.

With regards to the photography in A Matter of Life and Death (1946), it can be considered the reverse of The Wizard of Oz (1939). The scenes in Heaven were in black-and-white, while the scenes on Earth were in colour. One might think the scenes in Heaven were shot in black-and-white, but in truth they were shot in three-strip Technicolor. When the scenes were printed, color simply was not added.  As a result, the scenes in Heaven look different from most black-and-white movies of the time. In the credits, the process is referred to as ""Colour and Dye-Monochrome Processed in Technicolor." 

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) would be historic as the first film chosen for the Royal Film Performance. This occurred on November 1, 1946, at the Empire Theatre in London. It went into wide release in the United Kingdom on December 15, 1946. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) opened under the title Stairway to Heaven in New York City on Christmas Day, December 25, 1946. The title was changed for American audiences because of Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin, who were marketing the movie in the US. They argued that films with "death" in the title had never done well at the American box office. Emeric Pressburger pointed out the obvious example of Death Takes a Holiday (1934), but Messrs. Krim and Benjamin argued it only did well because Death was on holiday and hence there would be no death in the movie. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) did very well at the box office in the United Kingdom. In North America, it made $1.75 million, a respectable amount for the era.

While the public clearly loved A Matter of Life and Death (1946), critics in 1946 did not quite know what to make of the movie.  E.W. and M.M. Robson thought with A Matter of Life and Death (1946), The Archers  intended to "bash the British in the sight of our Allies." A critic in The Observer was puzzled by the film's tone, writing that it "leaves us in grave doubts whether it is intended to be serious or gay." American critics were much more receptive of the movie. Surprisingly, Bosley Crowther of The New York Times gave A Matter of Life and Death (or Stairway of Heaven, as it was called in the United States) a positive review. He wrote in his review, "And if you will listen now to this reviewer you will hear that the delicate charm, the adult humor and visual virtuosity of this Michael Powell—Emeric Pressburger film render it indisputably the best of a batch of Christmas shows."

Of course, now A Matter of Life and Death (1946) is not only regarded as one of the best supernatural fantasies of the 1940s on both sides of the Atlantic, but one of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's best films. Indeed, A Matter of Life and Death (1946) is an extraordinarily sophisticated film. The "other world" in the film is never referred to as Heaven, although there are several clues that it could be, including a brief scene of individuals being measured for angel wings. It is also unclear whether Carter's visit to a another world and the celestial court are real or simply hallucinations produced by his damaged brain. There are things in the plot of the film that can support both ideas. This sets A Matter of Life and Death (1946) apart from other films of the era, such as It's a Wonderful Life (1946), in which the events in the movie are undeniably real.

While the movie has an impeccable script, in addition to the direction of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and the cinematography of Jack Cardiff, it would not have succeeded without David Niven, Kim Hunter, and the rest of the cast. There isn't one bad performance in the entire film.

British critics were a bit baffled and even offended by A Matter of Life and Death (1946) upon its release, although it proved to be a favourite with audiences on both sides of the Pond. If there is a reason for its success, beyond the fact that it is a very sophisticated movie, it's that it is a film that insists, to paraphrase Song of Solomon 8:6, love is stronger than death. For those who have lost someone or very nearly lost someone, this is a powerful message and one that is full of hope. While there I have no doubt it had an impact on those who had lost loved ones during World War II, it still has an impact to this day.

The 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon

The 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon is Here! While many think of Hollywood when they think of movies, the fact is that many classic films originated in the United Kingdom. From the Gainsborough melodramas to the Ealing comedies to the Hammer Horrors, the United Kingdom has made many contributions to classic film. The Rule, Britannia Blogathon will run from Friday, September 18 to Sunday, September 20 2026.

Without further ado, here are this year's entries

Realweeegiemidget  Reviews: "FILMS… Revisiting Richard O’Sullivan, as a Hip Young Thing in an Early British Slasher Movie" 
Realweeegiemidget  Reviews:  "FILMS… Soft Top, Hard Shoulder (1993)"

Silver Screenings: "Monday at the Theatre: Curtain Up (1952)" 

Smoke in the Library: "Villain"

Films from Beyond the Time Barrier: "What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Four Sided Triangle"

Diary of a Movie Maniac: "If... (1968)"

Crítica Retrô: "Um Gosto de Mel (1961)/A Taste of Honey"

johnrieber: "O Lucky Man! Malcolm McDowell’s “Seinfeld” Connection!!"

Liberal England: "Sammy Going South, Suez and the end of the British Empire" 

A Shroud of Thoughts: "A Matter of Life and Death (1946)"

Moon in Gemini: "The 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon: Waking Ned Devine (1998)"

The Spirochaete Trail: "Kill List (aka There's A Bigger Picture In The Business World)"

18 Cinema Lane: "Take 3: The Winslow Boy (1948) Review"

Godspeed Leslie Parrish

Leslie Parrish, who appeared in the movies Li'l Abner (1959) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and guest starred on shows from 77 Sunset Strip to Star Trek, died on November 14, 2025 at the age of 90. Her death was not made public until late August.

Leslie Parrish was born Marjorie Hellen in Melrose, Massachusetts on March 18, 1935. She grew up in Black Eddy, Pennsylvania. She studied piano when she was very young and studied piano and composition at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music when in her early teens. She was 19 when she became a model with the Conover Agency in New York City, primarily to earn money to continue her education at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. She was "Miss Colour-TV" for NBC, who used her to check skin tones for their colour broadcasts. It was not long before she was signed to Twentieth Century Fox.

At Twentieth Century Fox, she appeared in the movies A Man Called Peter (1955), Daddy Long Legs (1955), The Virgin Queen (1955), How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955), The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955), and The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956). She signed with MGM in 1956 and for the remainder of the 1950s she appeared in such movies as The Power and the Prize (1956), The Opposite Sex (1956), Hot Summer Night (1957), Man on Fire (1957), Missile to the Moon (1958), Tank Battalion (1959), and Li'l Abner (1959). She made her television debut in 1959 in an episode of Steve Canyon. In the Fifties, she guest starred on the shows 77 Sunset Strip; The Rough Riders; Bold Venture; Tightrope; The Aquanauts; The Roaring 20s; Bat Masterson; Hawaiian Eye; The Red Skelton Show; Perry Mason and Michael Shayne.

In the Sixties, Leslie Parrish's career shifted largely to television. She guest starred on the shows Acapulco; Hot Off the Wire;77 Sunset Strip; Bringing Up Buddy; Follow the Sun; Surfside 6; Perry Mason; Bachelor Father; The Red Skelton Show; Hawaiian Eye; Alcoa Premiere; Channing; The Lieutenant; Kraft Suspense Theatre; Kentucky Jones; The Reporter; My Three Sons; The Wild Wild West; Tarzan; Batman; Star Trek; Good Morning, World; The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; Insight; Iron Horse; The Big Valley; My Friend Tony; Family Affair; Petticoat Junction; To Rome with Love; Love, American Style; and Mannix. She appeared in the movies Portrait of a Mobster (1961), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), For Love or Money (1963), Sex and the Single Girl (1964), Three on a Couch (1966), The Money Jungle (1967), The Candy Man (1969), The Devil's 8 (1969), and Brother, Cry for Me (1970).

In the Seventies, she guest starred on Love, American Style; Hogan's Heores; Bearcats!; Marcus Welby, M.D.; Cade's County; O'Hara. United States Treasury; Adam-12;The Magician; McCloud; Logan's Run; and Police Story. She appeared in the movies The Giant Spider Invasion (1975), Crash! (1976), and The Astral Factor (1979). After the Seventies, Leslie Parrish retired from acting to focus on social activism and environmental causes.

Leslie Parrish was certainly lovely, which explains why she was so much in demand as a love interest in movies and TV shows, but her presence on film and television went well beyond merely being ornamental. Leslie Parrish had real talent and could play a variety of roles. She may be best remembered as Daisy Mae, who was hopelessly in love with Abner in L'il Abner, and the sweet, but ill-fated Jocelyn Jordan in The Manchurian Candidate, but she could play roles well-removed from those. In the Batman episode "Ice Spy"/"The Duo Defy," she played the glamorous, slightly narcissistic ice skater Glacia Glaze, who was working hand in hand with Mr. Freeze (Eli Wallach). In the Star Trek episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?,' she played archaeologist and anthropologist Lt. Carolyn Palomas, who becomes the focus of the god Apollo's attentions. In the Wild Wild West episode "The Night of the Flying pie plate she played the leader of a trio of female con artists claiming to be from Venus. In Three on a Couch, she played Southern belle Mary Lou Mauve, one of three women dated by Christopher Pride (Jerry Lewis). Leslie Parrish was a remarkable actress with a great deal of talent, who also accomplished a lot with regards to various social and political causes.

Thoughts on the 60th Anniversary of The Monkees

Sixty years ago today, on September 12, 1966, The Monkees debuted on NBC. The Monkees would go onto become a cultural phenomenon, resulting in a highly successful recording career, a movie, and two television specials. It has also been my favourite sitcom since childhood. The Monkees also remain my favourite American band of all time. I already wrote an extensive post on the occasion of The Monkees' 50th anniversary, so today I will simply write my personal remembrance of both the show and the band.

The earliest I can remember watching The Monkees is when reruns of the show joined CBS's Saturday morning line-up in 1969. That having been said, I remember being excited when I saw the ads announcing The Monkees was coming to CBS, so I must have been aware of the show or the band before then. Given my age, it's possible I may have seen at least part of the original primetime run of The Monkees on NBC. I had certainly heard The Monkees by that time. My much older sister owned their albums and they were constantly played on the radio in thee mid to late Sixties. 

Regardless, I became hooked on the TV show when it was rerun on Saturday afternoons on CBS. According to my siblings, I could not be moved from the TV set and would throw a tantrum if my parents insisted that I did. I played my older sister's records and even cut the 33 1/3 records off Post Cereal boxes that came out in 1970. In 1972, The Monkees moved to ABC, although it was regularly preempted by sporting events, which did not make me happy.

The Monkees entered syndication in 1975, although I would not get to see it regularly. None of the stations carried it in the Columbia/Jefferson City market, and our reception of the St. Louis stations could be hit and miss. I wouldn't get to see it again until February 23, 1986 when MTV showed a marathon of The Monkees. A lot of times we learn that things we enjoyed as children really weren't that good, but that was not the case with The Monkees. I loved it as much in my early twenties as I did when I was five years old. The marathon was such a success that it sparked renewed interest in The Monkees. MTV began airing it daily and Nick-At-Nite also picked it up. Local stations began airing The Monkees again. I was able to watch it on KPLR out of St. Louis.

Unfortunately, MTV, Nick-At-Nite,  and local stations would eventually drop The Monkees, and I would go years without seeing it again. I did watch the special Hey, Hey, It's The Monkees that aired on ABC on February 17, 1997, but as much as I loved it, it wasn't the same as the original series.  Fortunately, in 2000 it was rerun back to back with The Partridge Family as part of the Screen Gems Network that was syndicated to local stations by Columbia Pictures. This programming block would only last for the summer of 2000, when the two shows were replaced by reruns of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie (the shows that had originally aired on the Screen Gems Network). Fortunately, I would not have to wait so long to watch The Monkees again.

It was in 2003 that Rhino Entertainment released the entire series of The Monkees on DVD, with each of its two seasons in a box set, along with the special 33⅓ Revolutions per Monkee. Never again would I have to go without watching The Monkees. Not that I would have to. In 2011, Antenna TV began airing The Monkees and did so for years. IFC also aired the show. FETV started showing it in 2017.  In 2019 MeTV began rerunning The Monkees and did so for time. More recently, it was added to Catchy Comedy's schedule. It was only recently that The Monkees became available on streaming. It can be seen on Tubi and The Roku Channel.

As to why The Monkees has remained my favourite sitcom for nearly sixty years, that is difficult to say. Much of it must be nostalgia. The Monkees reminds me of my early childhood, when I didn't have much responsibility and all of my needs were seen to by my parents. Watching The Monkees transports me back to a time when I felt safe and secure and my biggest worry was what was on television on any given day. And it is easy to see why the show would appeal to little boys. Over the course of the show, The Monkees faced gangsters, mad scientists, spies, Western outlaws, and even aliens. And through all of this they played some of the best pop rock songs of the era.

Beyond the nostalgia factor, another reason it is that in many ways The Monkees was ground-breaking. Not only did it employ the sort of zany humour common to sitcoms in the Sixties, but it was meta before meta was a thing. Not only did the show regularly reference pop culture ("The Spy Who Came in From the Cool" referenced both I Dream of Jeannie and From Russia with Love), but The Monkees regularly broke the fourth wall. For a Sixties show, it was very fast-paced and even experimental in nature, using jump cuts, sped-up film, and montages of the sort for which videos on MTV would become known. Indeed, The Monkees won Emmy Awards, including  Outstanding Comedy Series (beating out The Andy Griffith Show, Bewitched, Get Smart, and Hogan's Heroes) and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy. 

Ultimately, what I think appealed the most to me about The Monkees, especially as a young man, was that no matter what happened, The Monkees won in the end. Here was this down-and-out rock band composed of four twentysomethings who still somehow managed to defeat everything from alien invasions to organized crime to foreign spies. Quite simply, the messages of The Monkees were to never give up in the face of adversity, that even an underdog can win if the cause is just, and that good always defeats evil in the end. As corny as those messages may sound, I think they were important in 1966 and they are still important to this day.

As it is, I think The Monkees will continue to be popular for decades to come. The reruns on CBS and ABC on Saturday morning in the late Sixties and Seventies created a new generation of fans. The syndication run created yet more and the MTV run even more. Each revival of The Monkees has created new fans. Indeed, today I encountered a 19 year-old fan whose favourite show is The Monkees and whose favourite band is The Monkees. She wasn't even born in the century in which the show originated. The Monkees has been popular for sixty years now. I think it will remain popular for sixty more

The 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks

25 years later I still don't have words for the worst terrorist attack on our soil in American history. My heart goes out to the survivors of the victims in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93.

The Late Great Shelley Fabares

Shelley Fabares, who played Mary on The Donna Reed Show and Christine on Coach, died on August 22, 2026, at the age of 82. The cause was pneumonia.

Shelley Fabares ws born on January 19, 1944, in Santa Monica, California. Her aunt was actress Nanette Fabray. She began modelling when she was only three years old. She was only ten when she made her television debut in an episode of Letter to Loretta (later retitled The Loretta Young Show). In the Fifties, she guest starred on such shows as Producer's Showcase, Matinee Theatre, Captain Midnight, Annie Oakley, Fury, and Colgate Theatre. She had a regular role on the serial "Annette," staring Annette Funicello, on The Mickey Mouse Club. It was in 1958 that she began playing Mary Stone, the daughter of Donna Stone (Donna Reed) and pediatrician Dr. Alex Stone (Carl Betz), on The Donna Reed Show. She made her movie debut in 1955 in The Girl Rush. In the Fifties, she appeared in the movies Never Say Goodbye (1956), The Bad Seed (1956), Jeanne Eagels (1957), Marjorie Morningstar(1958), and Summer Love(1958)

In the Sixties, Shelley Fabares continued to appear onThe Donna Reed Show, although she eventually left the series for a film career. In the Sixties, she guest starred on the shows Mr. Novak; The Eleventh Hour; Arrest and Trial; The Twilight Zone; The Ghost & Mrs. Muir; Daniel Boone; Lancer; Bracken's World; and Love, American Style. She played opposite Elvis Presley in the movies Girl Happy (1965), Spinout (1966), and Clambake (1967). She also appeared in the movies Ride the Wild Surf (1964), Hold On!(1966), and A Time to Sing (1968).

In the Seventies, Shelley Fabares starred on the sitcoms The Little People (retitled The Brian Keith Show in its second season) Forever Fernwood, The Practice, and Highcliffe Manor. She also had a recurring role on One Day at a Time  as Francene Webster. She starred in the popular TV movie Brian's Song. She guest starred on the shows The Interns; Mannix; Longstreet; Owen Marshall, Counsellor at Law; Love, American Style; McCloud; Cade's County; Police Story; Ironside; The Rockford Files; The Rookies; Matt Helm; Medical Story; Medical Center; Marcus Welby, M.D.; Spencer's Pilots; Lucan; Vega$; The Incredible Hulk; The Wonderful World of Disney; Hello, Larry; Fantasy Island; and Mork & Mindy.

In the Eighties, she continued to appear on One Day at a Time. It was in 1989 that she began playing Christine Armstrong, the girl friend of title character Hayden Fox (Craig T. Nelson), on the sitcom Coach. She guest starred on the TV shows The Love Boat; Newhart; and Murder, She Wrote. She appeared in the movies Hot Pursuit (1987) and Love or Money (1990).

In the Nineties, Shelley Fabares continued to appear on Coach. She guest starred on the shows A Whole New Ballgame (playing Christine Armstrong). She was the voice of Clark Kent's mother, Martha Kent, on Superman: The Animated Series. She reprised the role on the animated series Justice League in the Naughts.

Shelley Fabares also had a brief recording career. Her song "Johnny Angel" went to no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. She had further hits with "Johnny Loves Me" and "The Things We Did Last Summer." She recorded three albums on her own and was featured on a few compilations as well.

Chances are good that Shelley Fabares will be best remembered as the popular and sweet, but independent Mary on The Donna Reed Show and the sophisticated and intelligent Christine Armstrong on Coach. Indeed, many of her film roles, from the movies she did with Elvis to the Herman's Hermits movie Hold On!, were very much like Mary. But Shelley Fabares could play other roles as well. On One Day at a Time, she played Francene Webster, the work rival of Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin). While Francene was intelligent like Mary nd Christine, she was also overly ambitious, self-absorbed, sharp-witted, and none too nice. On Highcliffe Manor, she played widow and owner of the manor, Helen Blacke, who was somewhat off-centre and largely oblivious to the sinister goings on at Highcliffe Manor. Shelley Fabares was a remarkable actress who was always a delight in anything she did.

The 60th Anniversary of the TV Series The Green Hornet

The 1960s saw a rise in nostalgia for media from the 1930s and 1940s, including everything from Old Time Radio to pulp magazines to movie serials to comic books. It was then only natural that there would be a television adaptation of the popular radio show The Green Hornet. The show starred Van Williams as Britt Reid and his alter ego The Green Hornet and Bruce Lee as Britt Reid's valet and partner in fighting crime Kato. It debuted sixty years ago today, on Friday, September 9, 1966.

The Green Hornet centred on Britt Reid (Van Williams), a millionaire playboy and publisher of The Daily Sentinel, who also happened to fight crime as the masked Green Hornet. Kato (Bruce Lee) was his valet, chauffeur, and partner when it came to fighting crime. In their fight against evil, The Green Hornet and Kato utilized a specially modified, weapons laden Chrysler Imperial called "Black Beauty." The Green Hornet also used a knockout gas gun and a device called the "Hornet's Sting," which emitted ultrasonic waves (it was used primarily to knock down doors). While Kato primarily relied on his skills as a martial artist, he also had knockout darts that he could deliver from his sleeves.

To the world at large, The Green Hornet was a notorious criminal, a cover he used in his fight against crime. Britt Reid's secretary Lenore "Casey" Case (Wende Wagner) knew The Green Hornet's identity, and hence the true nature of The Green Hornet. District Attorney Frank P. Scanlon (Walter Brooke) also knew Britt Reid's secret identity and the truth about The Green Hornet. Mike Axford (Lloyd Gough) was the crime reporter at the Daily Sentinel and was totally in the dark about The Green Hornet.

The Green Hornet was created by WXYZ co-owner George W. Trendle and writer Fran Striker, with some input from director James Jewell. George W. Trendle and Fan Striker had earlier created The Lone Ranger, and The Green Hornet owed a lot to that character. In fact, it was established that Britt Reid was the great nephew of The Lone Ranger. The Green Hornet debuted on January 31, 1936, on WXYZ in Detroit and joined the Mutual Broadcasting System on April 12, 1938 and later the NBC Blue Network and its successors The Blue Network and ABC. The radio show proved to be very popular, so much so it expanded into other media. Helnit Comics and later Harvey Comics published comic books featuring The Green Hornet during the Golden Age of Comics. Two movie serials were made: The Green Hornet (1941) and The Green Hornet Strikes Again! (1941).

Like The Lone Ranger before him, it was perhaps inevitable that The Green Hornet would find his way to television. In 1951, George W. Trendle pitched a Green Hornet television series to the networks and even produced a 25 minute pilot starring Steve Dunne as Britt Reid/The Green Hornet. A Green Hornet series did not emerge and the pilot is now considered lost. Another attempt at pitching a Green Hornet series was made in 1958, but, again, no series emerged. It would take William Dozier, who had produced such programmes as Suspense and You Are There, to television.

While William Dozier would produce the camp classic Batman, it was not due to the success of Batman that William Dozier decided to produce a Green Hornet TV series. William Dozier had already secured the rights to the classic radio show before Batman debuted. Indeed, both Van Williams and Bruce Lee were already cast as The Green Hornet and Kato well before Batman premiered on January 12, 1966. Of course, there can be no doubt that it was the success of Batman that led to ABC placing The Green Hornet on its fall 1966 schedule.

As to casting, Bruce Lee was actually cast as Kato before Van Williams was cast as The Green Hornet. It was hair stylist Jay Sebring who brought William Dozier and Bruce Lee together. Jay Sebring had seen Bruce Lee at the Long Beach International Karate Championships in 1964, where Mr. Lee gave a gung fu exhibition. Jay Sebring told William Dozier about Bruce Lee while trimming Mr. Dozier's hair. William Dozier then asked Bruce Lee to come in for a screen test. 

William Dozier's initial plan was not to cast Bruce Lee as Kato in a Green Hornet series, but instead in a show to be called Number One Son. Bruce Lee would have played Charlie Chan's Number One Son (a role played by Keye Luke in the movies). In the first episode, Charlie Chan would have been murdered, leading Lee Chan (his Number One Son) to avenge his death. The prospective show was described as a "Chinese James Bond." ABC passed on the prospective show, not even ordering a pilot. When William Dozier was planning The Green Hornet, he naturally offered the role of Kato to Bruce Lee. Mr. Lee was initially reluctant to take the role, as he worried it would be a stereotypical houseboy role. Wiliam Dozier convinced him that this would not be the case. It was Bruce Lee who insisted on using Chinese martial arts in fight scenes.

While Bruce Lee was the only actor considered for Kato, other actors were considered for the role of Britt Reid/The Green Hornet. Two screen tests were made with Bruce Lee opposite two different actors: Jan Murray, best known for hosting various game shows, and Michael Lipton, who would become best known for the soap opera Somerset. Ultimately, neither would be cast as Britt Reid/The Green Hornet. Instead, the role went to Van Williams. who had played Ken Madison on Bourbon Street Beat and Surfside Six. 

Although William Dozier produced both shows, The Green Hornet would have a very different tone from Batman. While Batman was played for camp, The Green Hornet was played as a straightforward action show. Much of this was due to William Dozier's desire to differentiate the two. Most it was due to George W, Trendle's desire that the TV show remain faithful to the tone of the radio show. This would result in a conflict between George W. Trendle and writer Lorenzo Semple Jr. (who wrote the pilot and several episodes of Batman). Lorenzo Semple Jr. wrote the pilot with a largely comedic tone, to which George W. Trendle objected. William Dozier intervened in the dispute, but ultimately sided with George W. Trendle. Quite simply, there was a clause in the licensing agreement with George W. Tremble that stipulated that the TV series, "..shall not depict The Green Hornet in a manner substantially different from which he or other major characters were depicted on the radio series."

That is not to say that The Green Hornet did not diverge from the radio show. On the radio show, The Green Hornet's link with law enforcement was Britt Reid's friend Police Commissioner James Higgins. Because Commissioner Gordon played such a large role on Batman, District Attorney Frank P. Scanlon became The Green Hornet's contact with law enforcement instead. On the radio show, it was not until later in the series that Britt Reid's secretary Casey would learn he was The Green Hornet, although on the TV show she knew from the beginning. While The Green Hornet's gas gun and his car Black Beauty were carryovers from the radio show, the Hornet's Sting was created for the TV show. 

As to The Green Hornet's appearance, the TV show differed from both the comic books and the movie serials. The comic books of the Golden Age depicted The Green Hornet as wearing a mask that covered the lower part of his face. The movie serials depicted The Green Hornet as wearing a mask that covered most of his face. The radio show never went into detail about The Green Hornet's mask.

Despite the differences in the two show's tones, The Green Hornet and Kato would appear on Batman. They made a cameo in the first part of the Batman episode "The Spell of Tut"/"Tut's Case is Shut"  during one of Batman and Robin's Batclimbs. Later in the season, The Green Hornet appeared in the episode "A Piece of the Action"/"Batman' Satisfaction." The episode called for a fight between Kato and Robin. According to Van Williams, the original script called for Kato to lose to Robin. Bruce Lee objected on the grounds that Kato would not lose to Robin. The script was then rewritten. In real life, Bruce Lee and Brut Ward (who played Robin) were friends who lived in the same apartment complex. 

Sadly, The Green Hornet was scheduled against The Wild Wild West  on CBS and Tarzan on NBC, two shoes that appealed to the same younger audience as The Green Hornet. This resulted in the show having ratings so low that it reportedly lost $40,000 per episode. It was then that ABC ultimately cancelled The Green Hornet. For a single season show, it would prove to have a particularly good afterlife. It was syndicated to local stations in the late Sixties and Seventies, often alongside Batman. It would later air on such cable channels as FX and Starz Action. It has aired on such digital broadcast networks as MeTV, Heroes and Icons, and Retro TV. 

The Green Hornet would develop a cult following, in a large part due to the presence of Bruce Lee. Here it must be pointed that in many ways the show was ground breaking with regards to East Asian Americans on American television. Prior to The Green Hornet, Jack Soo had played Rocky Sin on Valentine's Day,  the first American television show since The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong starring Anna May Wong and the very first sitcom to feature an East Asian American in a lead role. It was only the day before The Green Hornet debuted that another show featuring an East Asian in a significant role debuted. Star Trek featured George Takei as Lt. Sulu, the helmsman of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Of course, Sulu was only a supporting role while Kato was one of the leads.

The Green Hornet was also significant as the first show to extensive feature kung fu. While both Emma Peel on The Avengers and James West on The Wild Wild West incorporated Eastern martial arts in their fight scenes, neither character used Eastern martial arts as extensively as Kato on The Green Hornet. Bruce Lee's use of kung fu on The Green Hornet would help increase the popularity of Eastern martial arts in the United States. The Green Hornet would also boost Bruce Lee's acting career. Reruns of The Green Hornet had proven very popular in Hong Kong and Kato was so popular that it was often referred to as "The Kato Show." This would ultimately lead to Bruce Lee signing a contract with Golden Harvest.

In the end, The Green Hornet would be one of the most successful single season shows of all time, developing a cult following that it maintains to this day. Indeed, it is not simply a footnote in Bruce Lee's career, but one of the first showcases of his talent as an actor and a martial artist. Chances are good people will still be watching it sixty years from now.

The 60th Anniversary of That Girl

Thursday, September 8, 1966 is a very important date in television. Many know it as the date that the classic Star Trek debuted, but other important shows also debuted on that date. One of them was Tarzan, starring Ron Ely, the first television adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs's hero. Another was That Girl, starring Marlo Thomas. While it would not leave as big a footprint on pop culture as Star Trek, in many ways That Girl was equally important. Quite simply, it was the first television show to centre on a single, independent woman who lived on her own, this four years before The Mary Tyler Moore Show debuted.

That Girl centred on Ann Marie (Marlo Thomas), who had moved from the small town of Brewster, New York to New York City to pursue a career as an actress. Like many young actresses, Ann Marie had to take odd jobs when she wasn't acting in order to make ends meet. Her boyfriend was Don Hollinger (Ted Bessell), a writer for NewView. Her father, Lew Marie (Lew Parker),, ran a restaurant in Brewster. Lew could sometimes get exasperated with Don and could he could be overprotective of Ann, but he basically liked Don (although he wouldn't admit it). In contrast to Lew, Ann's mother Ann was warm and supportive towards Don, although like Lew, she worried about her daughter being in New York City. Jerry Bauman (Bernie Koppell) was Don's fellow writer at NewsView. With the second season, he moved into the same apartment as Ann and became her neighbour.

The genesis of That Girl began with a failed pilot for a prospective show titled Two's Company, in which Marlo Thomas played a former model who returns to modelling after her husband  (Ron Husmann) left his job at a law firm. While Two's Company did not sell ABC executive Edgar Sherick still saw potential in Marlo Thomas as the star of her own show. Various scripts were written for a potential sitcom for Marlo Thomas, although in most of them she would have played a traditional wife for girlfriend role. What Marlo Thomas had in mind was a show centred on a young, independent woman who had aspirations of her own.

It was Danny Thomas who approached writers Bill Persky and Sam Denoff about developing a sitcom for his daughter Marlo Thomas. Messrs. Persky and Denoff had written several episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show, as well as episodes of McHale's Navy, The Joey Bishop Show, and The Bill Dana Show. At the time, the two of them had begun work on their sitcom Good Morning World, which would star Ronnie Schell and Joby Baker), so they weren't particularly eager to do so. In the end, Good Morning World only lasted a single season, while That Girl would go onto last five seasons. While Bill Persky and Sam Denoff are credited as the creators of That Girl, Marlo Thomas had a good deal of say and served as a de facto executive producer, although she was never credited as such.

That Girl would see some changes from its unaired pilot episode. In its pilot, it was Harold Gould who played Ann's father. ABC wanted the part re-cast, and so Lew Parker was cast in the role of Ann's father. In the pilot, her mother was played by Penny Santon. This role was also recast, with Rosemary DeCamp taking the part over in the regular series. Strangely enough, ABC also wanted to get rid of Ted Bessell as Ann's boyfriend. Marlo Thomas fought to keep Ted Bessell, although his character would be entirely reconceived. In the pilot, Ted Bessell's character was part Cherokee and named Ted Blue Sky. Rather than being a writer for NewsView magazine, he was also Ann's agent.

That Girl was originally titled Miss Independence (a nickname her father and mother had given her as a child), although the the title was changed to That Girl before the original pilot was shot. The title would be included in every single teaser for the show, with the dialogue in the teaser inevitably turning to Ann Marie with one of the characters (sometimes Ann herself) referring to Ann as "that girl." At that point the camera would freeze frame on Ann. The theme song was written by Earle Hagen, who had also written the theme song to The Andy Griffith Show. For the first four seasons, the theme was an instrumental, but for the fifth season lyrics were added to the theme. The lyrics were written by Sam Denoff.

While the central cast of That Girl (Marlo Thomas, Ted Bessell, Bernie Kopell, Lew Parker, and Rosemary DeCamp) remained the same throughout the show's run, its supporting cast would change over the years. In the first season, obstetrician Leon Bessmer (Dabney Coleman) and his wife Judy (Bonnie Scott) were Ann's neighbours. In only one episode of the first season Arlene Golonka played Jerry's wife Margie. With the second season and with no explanation of what happened to Margie, Jerry's wife was Ruth (Carol Ann Daniels) and they were now Ann's neighbours. Started with the fourth season, Ruth was played by Alice Borden. Ronnie Schell appeared as Ann's agent in a few episodes. Marcy (Reva Rose) was one of Ann's friends who appeared in the fifth and final season. 

That Girl would feature several notable guest stars. Ethel Merman (playing herself), Sid Caesar, Milton Berle all appeared on the show. The episode "My Sister's Keeper" is notable for guest starring Marlo Thomas's sister Terre Thomas and her brother Tony Thomas, as well as a cameo by her father Danny Thomas. 

While That Girl never ranked in the top thirty of the Nielsen ratings during its run, it still did moderately well. By the fourth season, Marlo Thomas wanted to end the show, but ABC convinced her to do a fifth and final season. It was during the fifth season that Ann and Don finally became engaged, although they never married on the show. ABC executives, as well as the show's sponsor Clairol, wanted Ann and Don to marry in the final episode, but Marlo Thomas rejected the idea for multiple reasons. The primary reason was that she felt it would send the message to younger, female viewers that marriage was the proper happy ending for any young woman. 

That Girl would have a sequel of sorts. In 1973, the animated TV movie That Girl in Wonderland aired as part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie. In the TV movie, Ann fantasizes about being in Alice in Wonderland, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Wizard of Oz, and Cinderella. Of the original cast of the show, only Marlo Thomas returned as Ann, with Ted Schwartz voicing Don.

The last new episode of That Girl aired on March 19, 1971. ABC aired reruns of the show on its daytime schedule from 1969 to 1972, It would prove to have a successful run in syndication on local television stations. When Nick-at-Nite launched as a programming block on Nickelodeon on July 1, 1985, it was among the shows that aired. It was also one of the shows aired on TV Land starting with its launch in 1996. It has since aired on MeTV, Antenna TV, Catchy Comedy, and MeTV+. All five seasons of That Girl has been released on DVD. It is also available on multiple streaming services, including Tubi, Plex, Pluto, Xumo Play, YouTube, and yet others.

At the time that That Girl debuted, it was a rather unique show in more ways that one. Television in 1966 was still dominated by what Sherwood Schwarz called "imaginative comedies," sitcoms that either had fantastic premises to begin with (Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie) or had episodes bordering on the fantastic (Gilligan's Island, The Monkees) or rural comedies (The Andy Griffith Show and so on). That Girl was somewhat grounded in reality, with nary a Martian or witch in sight, and it was set in New York City. 

What really set That Girl apart was that Ann Marie was an independent, single woman trying to make it on her own. She was not someone's wife. She was not someone's secretary, maid, or other sort of employee. While she had a boyfriend, her world did not revolve around him. She had her own dreams and her own aspirations. Many young women in the Sixties, trying to make a career for themselves, probably saw much of themselves in Ann Marie. If That Girl has remained popular for the past sixty years, it is perhaps because it was the first of its kind.

The 50th Anniversary of The Muppet Show

It was 50 years ago today that The Muppet Show debuted on ITV in the United Kingdom. In the United States, it aired in first run syndication on local stations. While the Muppets had appeared in various projects before The Muppet Show and have appeared in various projects since, it may well remain what the Muppets are best known for. What is more, it introduced new Muppets who remain important to the franchise to this day.

As is well known, the Muppets were the creation of Jim Henson. They first appeared on Sam and Friends, a locally produced puppet-sketch comedy show that aired on WRC in Washington, DC and later in syndication. Among the characters was Kermit, a lizard-like creature who would later be established as a frog. From Sam and Friends, the Muppets went onto appear on such shows as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Hollywood Palace, The Mike Douglas Show, and Dinah!. Rowlf the Dog was even a regular on The Jimmy Dean Show. The Muppets, including Kermit, appeared on the children's show Sesame Street from its beginning in 1969. The Muppets appeared in their own TV specials, including Hey, Cinderella! in 1969 and The Frog Prince in 1971. During the 1975-1976 season, the Muppets appeared on the first season of Saturday Night Live, where they performed decidedly more adult material than would be seen on Sesame Street. Among the Muppet segments was the Land of Gorch, which featured alien creatures who could be crude and boorish. Ultimately, Jim Henson and the Muppets left Saturday Night Live due to disagreements with the show's writers.

.Despite having appeared on shows made for adults and general audiences, from The Ed Sullivan Show to The Tonight Show, Jim Henson worried that the Muppets were being typecast as children's fare due to their appearances on Sesame Street. This is one of the reasons they had appeared on Saturday Night Live. It was also the reason Jim Henson began developing the idea of a show that would be made more adults than for children.

It was in April 1973 that Jim Henson met with Michael Eisner, then in charge of programming at ABC, about a holiday special featuring the Muppets. This resulted in The Muppets Valentine Show, which aired on ABC on January 30, 1974 and served as a pilot for The Muppet Show. ABC passed on a regularly scheduled Muppets series at the time, feeling it would not be a hit. Jim Henson then produced a second special that also served as a pilot, The Muppets: Sex and Violence, which aired on ABC on March 19, 1975. The Muppets: Sex and Violence was historic for introducing new Muppets who would become part of The Muppet Show. These included Sam Eagle, Dr. Teeth, hecklers Statler and Woldorf, and The Swedish Chef (a prototype of which had appeared under the name Järnvägskorsning in the Sixties). Miss Piggy was also a part of The Muppets: Sex and Violence, although it was her second appearance. She first appeared in 1974 in the TV special Herb Alpert and the TJB.

Unfortunately, ABC once again passed on a regularly scheduled show featuring the Muppets. Jim Henson then produced a 25 minute pitch reel, written by him and George Schlatter of Laugh-In fame, for CBS. CBS did not pick up a regularly scheduled show featuring the Muppets, though Jim Henson shopped the pitch reel around to other television venues. Fortunately Lew Grade of the British broadcaster ATV made an offer to Jim Henson to produce a regular series. The show would be produced at the ATV Elstree Studios and would air on ITV. It was Lew Grade who proposed that The Muppet Show could be sold to first run syndication in the United States, much as many previous ATV shows had been. After years of Jim Henson trying to get a regularly scheduled show featuring the Muppets off the ground, The Muppet Show finally debuted on IV on September 5, 1976.

While featuring puppets, The Muppet Show was essentially an old fashioned variety show. It featured both comedy sketches and musical performances. It was performed in the Muppet Theatre, which was a grand old theatre of the sort common in the days of vaudeville. Kermit the Frog acted as both the show's host and its showrunner, with plots taking place both backstage and elsewhere in the theatre.

The Muppet Show included both long running Muppets, such as Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, and Gonzo the Great (who first appeared as a background character in the 1970 special The Great Santa Claus Switch), and more recent characters such as Miss Piggy, Dr. Teeth, Statler and Woldorf, and The Swedish Chef. It also introduced some new Muppets, including comedian and Kermit's sidekick Fozzie Bear, Scooter, nephew of the theatre's owner and backstage stage manager and go-fer, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker, Beauregard the janitor, Rizzo the Rat, and yet others. The Muppet Show always began with a cold opening that introduced that week's guest star.

Like other variety shows, The Muppet Show featured several recurring sketches. Among the earliest was "At the Dance," in which Muppets delivered rapid-fire one-liners as they danced in a ballroom. "Bear on Patrol" featured Fozzie Bear as a hapless police officer, with his chief played by Link Hogtrob (best known for the sketch "Pigs in Space"). "Muppet Labs" featured Dr. Bunson Honeydew and Beaker attempted experiments that always went wrong. The aforementioned "Pigs in Space" parodied space operas and sci-fi shows from Flash Gordon to Star Trek, and featured Miss Piggy and Link Hogthrob. "The Swedish Chef" parodied cooking shows, while "Veterinarian's Hospital" parodied medical dramas and soap operas. There were several other recurring sketches throughout the show's run.

As a variety show, The Muppet Show featured a guest star in every episode. Joel Grey was the guest star in the very first episode. The first season would see such guest stars as Rita Moreno, Jim Nabors, Ruth Buzzi, Paul Williams, Peter Ustinov, and Ben Vereen. Once the show became a success, many performers were keen on appearing on The Muppet Show, so that it attracted stars and musical performers one wouldn't usually see on a television variety show. These included Peter Sellers, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Sylvester Stallone, Dudley Moore, Arlo Guthrie, and Debbie Harry. The Muppet Show was also notable for featuring guest stars whose careers went back to the Golden Age of Hollywood and the Golden Age of Radio. Among these were Lena Horne, Vincent Price, George Burns, Milton Berle, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Roy Rogers, and Dale Evans, and Gene Kelly. Among the many other guest stars on the show were Harvey Korman, Ben Vereen, Connie Stevens, Madeline Kahn, Julie Andrews, James Coburn, and yet others. Amazingly enough, no guest star ever appeared on The Muppet Show twice.

The Muppet Show lasted for five seasons and 120 episodes. When it ended, it was not due to its ratings, as it was still extremely popular. Instead, the decision was made to prevent the show from running too long, and so that Jim Henson and the Muppets could concentrate on making movies. While The Muppet Show ended its run, it was hardly the last television viewers would see of the Muppets or even the Muppet Theatre. During the 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 seasons, the Muppets had their own show again, Muppets Tonight, on which they were running their own TV channel. In 2001, during MuppetFest The Muppet Show Live took place at the Hollywood Palace in Los Angeles. This year saw a reunion special for The Muppet Show, guest starring Sabrina Carpenter, in which the Muppets returned to the Muppet Theatre.

The Muppet Show would have a lasting impact on the Muppets. Characters who had appeared earlier, but were not yet major players, rose to prominence on The Muppet Show, including Miss Piggy and Gonzo. Other characters were introduced on the show who would play a major role in subsequent Muppet projects, including Fozzie Bear and Scooter. It also brought the Muppets to its largest audience up to that point. That exposure allowed them to expand into movies, starting with The Muppet Movie in 1979.

What is not often noted about The Muppet Show is that it was a bit of a last hurrah for variety shows in the United States. It was perhaps the last truly successful variety show to air on American television. The Muppet Show also proved that puppet comedy could draw an adult audience. Such puppet shows as Spitting Image in the UK, Les Guignols in France, 2DTV in the UK, and yet other adult-oriented puppet shows may owe their existence to The Muppet Show. The series is available on DVD and can be streamed on Disney+. Chances are good people will still be watching The Muppet Show fifty years from now.

Popeye the Sailor's 70th Anniversary on Television

(Perhaps no one knows as much about Popeye as Fred M. Grandinetti. He was a founding member of the Official Popeye Fan Club. He has also written several books on the character, including Popeye: An Illustrated Cultural History; Popeye, the Collectible: Dolls, Coloring Books, Games, Toys, Comic Books, Animation; Popeye: An Illustrated History of E.C. Segar's Character in Print, Radio, Television, and Film Appearances 1929-1993; He Am What He Am!: Jack Mercer, the Voice of Popeye; and Popeye the Sailor: The 1960s TV Cartoon. This month marks the 70th anniversary of the release of the Popeye the Sailor animated theatrical shorts to television. Fred M. Grandinetti has graciously written a guest post for the occasion.~Terence)

Popeye the Sailor's 70th Anniversary on Television 
By Fred M. Grandinetti

 

There were children's shows with an adult host on the small screen during the golden age of television. However, the format was cemented with the help of a one-eyed sailor.
 
Seventy years ago, the Popeye theatrical cartoons, produced by Fleischer and Famous Studios for Paramount Pictures, made their television debut.
 
Originally, Popeye was the star of E.C. Segar's Thimble Theatre comic strip. He came to life in a 1933 Betty Boop cartoon. Popeye the Sailor became the longest running animated short subject series in motion picture history with a total of 234 episodes.
 
In September of 1956 they were syndicated to numerous television markets by Associated Artists Productions. Local stations across the country generated high ratings! Popeye was often teamed with an adult host whether it was Sailor Bob, Capt. "C" Whiskers, Cooksey the Clown, Commander Jet, Uncle Gus, Capt. Jolly, Mayor Art Finley, Sally Starr or Tom Hatten. Several of these hosts interacted with a live audience of children. The sets often had decorative pictures of Popeye and his crew.
 

While Popeye had been appearing on merchandise since the early 1930's the marketplace exploded following his television debut.  Anything you can imagine was produced due to his overwhelming popularity! Today these items are highly collectible. In 1963 many programs participated in a Physical Fitness Campaign sponsored by the sailor's owner, King Features Syndicate. It was a national youth movement to promote children's health through exercise.
 

Unfortunately, by the 1980's groups like Acton for Children's Television forced the adult hosts off the air.  The group didn't like hosts encouraging children to buy a sponsor's product.  Of course, they failed to realize the same individuals would remind the young audience to obey their parents, do well in school, listen to the bus driver and other important lessons.
 
Despite the loss of adult hosts independent stations continued to air the Popeye theatricals.  By this time the prints looked like they had been swept up off the floor, but children didn't care.  In the year 2000 The Cartoon Network decided to create an anthology series around the films. The plan was to restore the black and white cartoons as they were seen in theaters.  The television distributor's logo would be removed and replaced by the studio which originally distributed them to movie screens; Paramount Pictures.
 

The needed footage was located but The Cartoon Network would not finance the restoration of the films. I was asked to provide the money needed and The Popeye Show made its debut. Unfortunately, The Cartoon Network had a phobia in regard to airing black and white cartoons during prime time.  The series was originally scheduled Monday mornings at 1:30am. I began a public relation's campaign requesting an earlier time period. The fans came through and the show was moved to Sunday nights at 9:30pm and later 7:30pm. It remained on the air for three years highlighting many of the sailor's best adventures. Eventually the Popeye cartoons from 1933 to 1949 were released on DVD from Warner Brothers.
 
The theatrical Popeye films continue to air on Me TV and You Tube. 

Happy anniversary to Popeye and all of the adult hosts who introduced audiences to his animated adventures!

The 15th Anniversary of TCMParty

Today TCMParty turns 15 years old. For those of you who do not know what TCMParty is, it is a collective live posting of movies on Turner Classic Movies using the hashtag #TCMParty. It originated on Twitter and has since largely moved to Bluesky, although the hashtag is used on other social media services as well. Originally, TCMParties were scheduled and had hosts who posted trivia about the specific movie then airing. The hosts essentially curated the live posting. While scheduled TCMParties with a host still take place, TCMParty has evolved to where it takes place 24 hours a day. 

Since the first TCMParty took place on September 3, 2011, TCMParty has become an established part of Turner Classic Movies fandom. TCM has announced TCMParties on their official Twitter account and TCM hosts have served as hosts of TCMParties. On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of TCMParty, Turner Classic Movies celebrated along with the rest of us. On the occasion of our 10th anniversary, they released a video in our honour. 

I already posted a detailed history of TCMParty on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, so I won't repeat myself  here. I will mention that it was not the first collective live tweet by any measure. #TCMBugout and its successor #TCMDriveIn pre-dated it. #TCMDriveIn evolved into #DriveInMob which persists to this day. As to #TCMParty, it originated with Kathleen Crowley, who decided live tweeting to movies on Turner Classic Movies would be easier if there was a hashtag with which fans could keep track of all the tweets. She served as the first TCMParty host, choosing a specific movie from the schedule and then alerting everyone that there would be a TCM Party for that particular film. It was then on September 3, 2011, that the first TCMParty was held with a live tweet to the classic Casablanca (1942). Pault Guthat, the name now most associated with TCMParty, joined as a host in October 2011. Her impact on TCMParty was such that she is often counted as its co-founder. It wasn't long before TCMParty had its own Facebook page and its own Tumblr blog as well. 

Kathleen Crowley left as a TCMParty host in March 2012 to concentrate on her handicrafts and animal rescue. Since then TCMParty has had a few permanent hosts, including silent movie expert Trevor Jost for a time and later Joel Williams, who is still a permanent host to this day. TCMParty has had several guest hosts over the years, including Illeana Douglas, various Turner Classic Movies hosts themselves, and various journalists and film historians. I have hosted TCMParty several times myself, particularly when British New Wave films, A Hard Day's Night (1964) or Stand and Deliver (1988) have aired. 

A few celebrities have been TCMParty members over the years. Songbird Monica Lewis and actress Vanessa Marquez of Stand and Deliver (1988) and ER fame are counted among the founding members. Illeana Douglas has participated in TCMParty even when she wasn't hosting. TCMParty has even had some connection to the Golden Age of Hollywood beyond being fans of the era. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall's son Stephen Bogart has participated in TCMParties, as did the legendary Mitzi Gaynor. 

TCMParty has changed over the years. It can not only be found on Facebook and Tumblr, but also on Instagram and TikTok as well. It was in November 2024 that the official TCMParty moved from Twitter to Bluesky due to changes to Twitter (now called "X") that made the social media service less secure and safe, not to mention several members left the social media service (including myself). Despite this, TCMParties do still take place on Twitter, and on Mastodon as well. 

I cannot begin to estimate the impact on TCMParty on my life. I have made many close friends though TCMParty. I count Paula Guthat, co-founder of TCMParty, as one of my closest friends. And, of course, it was through TCMParty and live tweets of Mad Men that I met the dearest friend in my life, Vanessa Marquez. Indeed, following Vanessa's death, I don't think I would have survived without TCMParty. Besides making friends through TCMParty, it has had other impacts on my life. A Shroud of Thoughts had a following before TCMParty, but I think TCMParty made it even more popular. I also believe it is because of TCMParty that  was chosen as one of TCM's Fan Favourite co-hosts.

Of course, I am not the only one for whom TCMParty has had an impact. Many people have made friends though TCMParty. Some have even met their spouses. Yet others have credited TCMParty with getting them through difficult times and even saving their lives. TCMParty ceased to be a mere live posting of movies on Turner Classic Movies long ago. It has since become a vibrant, close knit community of TCM fans who support each other through the best of times and the worst of times. Quite simply, I think TCMParty has improved the lives of nearly everyone involved with it.  

Grieving Vanessa Marquez

Today it has been eight years since Vanessa Marquez was shot in the back and killed by members of the South Pasadena, California Police Department. At the time, I described it as feeling as if a part of my soul had been ripped out. And I still feel as if a part of me is missing, eight years later. Vanessa's death was definitely the most painful thing I have experienced in my life.

I have written about this before, but for those new to the blog, the fact is that Vanessa Marquez and I were very close. We first encountered each other on Twitter live tweeting movies on Turner Classic Movies and episodes of Mad Men and Downton Abbey. We soon learned we had much in common beyond classic movies and Mad Men, including a love of Star Wars, Star Trek, and other science fiction shows, a love of old music, an interest in popular culture, and shared political views. Eventually we were in touch every day, through social media and later texts and phone calls I considered Vanessa my closest friend and she called me her favourite friend. We never met in person, but our nearly constant contact made up for that.

It was then that the events of August 30, 2018, shook me to my core. The night of her death my heart was pounding so hard and fast that I thought I might have a heart attack or a stroke. What is more, I didn't really care if I did. The fact is that night I experienced something I never had before, suicidal ideation. What is more,it would reoccur over the next several months. I cried every single day during the month of September, usually multiple times. Afterwards, I would still cry over Vanessa regularly for some time afterwards. 

Indeed, after Vanessa's death I think I very nearly lost my mind. There were times when I really couldn't think straight, when I was overly suspicious of people and I could be overly emotional. Dominating this entire period was an overwhelming sense of sorrow. It was difficult to find any real meaning in life.

I am much better than I was then, but I am still grieving Vanessa Marquez. There is still this hole in my life where she should be, and I still miss her terribly. I suppose I should have expected that. Ron, my best friend from college, has been dead for nearly 40 years, and I still miss him. My parents have been dead for a long time and I still miss them. My best friend Brian had been dead for 15 years now and I still miss him. I loved Vanessa more than anyone except close family, so it is natural that I would still miss her.

Indeed, I do not think grief ever goes away. There is no recovering from grief.  When you really, truly love someone, you will always feel the loss. There will always be this hole in your life that can never, ever be filled. You learn to live with grief. You learn to accept it. But you will never fully stop grieving. And perhaps that it is as it should be. I have quoted it before, but there is a line from the WandaVision episode "Previously On" that I think is all too true. Quite simply, Vision tells Wanda, "But what is grief if not love persevering?" You will never completely stop grieving someone you love, just as you will never stop loving them.

And, as I once told a mutual friend, Vanessa was very easy to love. It wasn't because she was a beautiful and talented actress who had appeared in a classic movie (Stand and Deliver) and the number one show of its day (ER).. It's because she was a sweet, loving, intelligent, and funny woman who truly cared about her friends and other people. If one of her friends was attacked, Vanessa was the first to take up for them. If one of her friends was sick, she would worry about them. She was happy when her friends were doing well and sad when they weren't. Vanessa never missed a birthday or an anniversary, and could remember the smallest minutiae about her friends. She was quite possibly the most remarkable woman I ever knew, and I will love her forever.

In the eight yeas since Vanessa's death, I have accepted that I will always miss her and that I will always grieve over her. I know that there will be those times, although they are spaced farther apart than right after she died, that I will break down crying over her. I know there will be those times when I feel her absence more sharply than others. In the end, I don't think we ever get over the deaths of those we love. Grief never completely goes away. It remains with us for the rest of our lives.