Mr. T and Tina

Mr. T and Tina is probably not a show many people. It was a sitcom that ran for only five episodes on ABC from September 25, 1976 to October 30, 1976. The show was not a vehicle for actor and professional wrestler Mr. T, but instead centres on Taro Takahashi (Pat Morita), but instead a single father and inventor who moves from Tokyo to Chicago when his employer, Moyati Industries, wants him to set up a branch there. To care for his children,Sachi (June Angela) and Aki (Gene Profanato), he hires the bubbly and clumsy, but independent Tina Kelly (Susan Blanchard). Other recurring characters on the show included his landlady Mrs. Llewelyn (Miriam Byrd-Nethery), his somewhat stubborn Uncle Matsu (Jerry Fujikawa), Harvard the Handyman (Ted Lange), and his caustic sister-in-law Michi (Pat Suzuki).

The roots of Mr. T and Tina actually go back to another sitcom, Chico and the Man.  Among the concepts creator James Komack considered for Chico and the Man was a young Chicano living with an older Nisei. He also considered developing a show around popular comedy team Cheech and Chong, and Chico and the Man does resemble the Cheech and Chong sketch "Pedro and the Man" to a degree. A collaboration between James Komack and Cheech and Chong would never come to pass, although the parties involved disagree as to why. Cheech & Chong have said they wanted to concentrate on their film career. James Komack said they "couldn't get it together." Chico and the Man would ultimately centre on a young Chicano (Freddie Prinze) and an older white man (Jack Albertson), but James Komack kept the Nisei character in mind for another show, which would become Mr. T and Tina.

Although Pat Morita played the role of Taro Takahashi in the regular series, in the original, unaired pilot it was George Takei (then as now best known as Mr. Sulu on Star Trek) played the role. George Takei had worked with James Komack before, having guest-starred on Mr. Komack's show The Courtship of Eddie's Father. As to why the role was recast, George Takei explained in an interview in Starlog no. 3 (January 1977), "The show was originally intended to be on later in the evening, around 9:30 or 10:00. When ABC decided to to air the show earlier in the evening and not go for the more sophisticated humour like in Maude, they decided to go with Pat Morita as the star of the series." 

Although Mr. T and Tina is often described as a spinoff of Welcome Back, Kotter (even Wikipedia does so), strictly speaking, it was not. Instead it would be more accurate to describe it as a bit of cross promotion. Pat Morita guest starred as Mr. Takahashi in the Welcome Back, Kotter episode "Career Day," which aired on September 23, 1976, which aired only two days before the debut of Mr. T and Tina on September 25, 1976. Mr. T and Tina was conceived before the episode "Career Day" was, so that "Career Day"can't really be counted as a backdoor pilot for Mr. T and Tina. 

Regardless, Mr. T and Tina would not be well-received. When Mr. T and Tina was screened for critics in June 1976 in Los Angeles, the critics voted it "worst new of the new season." The opinions of critics hadn't really changed when the show debuted in September. n the "Tashman on TV" column in the November 3, 1976 issue of The Independent, Tashman described the show as "...a monument to bad taste. Jay Fredericks in the October 17, 1976 issue of the Sunday Gazette-Mail described fellow sitcom Holmes and Yoyo and Mr. T and Tina as "clearly disasters." Critic Lee Winfrey in the October 1, 1976 issue of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, " I feel like suing ABC for damages. If I ever watch Mr. T and Tina again it'll be when I'm bound and gagged."  

Audiences did not take to Mr. T and Tina either. Its ratings were literally at the bottom of the Nielsen survey. According to the earlier cited article by Jay Fredericks, Mr. T and Tina was among the 10 lowest rated shows according to the latest Nielsen survey. To make matters worse, the Asian-Americans for Fair Media and Japanese American Citizens League protested the show, so that the producers had to promise to avoid any Japanese stereotypes.

As hard as it is to believe given the critics' reception of the show, Mr. T and Tina did receive an Emmy nomination, although it was certainly not for its writing. Art director Roy Christopher and set director Mary Ann Biddle were nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Art Direction or Scenic Design for a Comedy Series. 

In the end, Mr. T and Tina only had a brief run. Its last episode aired on October 30, 1976. Although nine episodes were made, only five aired. The show has not been seen since. It has not been rerun in syndication, not even on cable channels, and it is unavailable on streaming. There aren't even episodes available on YouTube.

If it is remembered at all today, Mr. T and Tina is remembered as a show that was lambasted by critics and even considered racist by some.Despite this, it would have an impact on television history. It was Pat Morita's first vehicle after having left Happy Days. It was also the first live-action show since a The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong (starring Anna May Wong) and The Green Hornet (on which Bruce Lee was one of the two leads) to feature an Asian American lead. It was also one of the very first shows, if not the first, to feature a predominantly Asian American cast. Unfortunately, there would not be another show to feature Asian Americans predominantly until Gung Ho in 1986 and All-American Girl in 1994.

Farewell to Ted Turner

Ted Turner, who built WTBS into a superstation and founded Turner Classic Movies, TNT, Cartoon Network, and CNN, died yesterday, May 6, at the age of 87. He had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia in 2018. 

Ted Turner was born Robert Edward Turner III on November 19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was nine years old when his family moved to Savannah, Georgia. He went to The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He initially majored in classics, which his father, billboard magnate Robert Edward Turner II, objected to. He later switched his major to economics. He was expelled because he was discovered with a girl in his room. He then enlisted in the United States Coast Guard. 

After his service with the Coast Guard, Ted Turner became general manger of his the Macon, Georgia branch of his father's billboard business. His father committed suicide when Ted Turner as 24, and he became chief executive and president of Turner Advertising Company. The company prospered in the 1960s, and became one of the largest, if not the largest, billboard company in the Southeast. 

It was in the late 1960s that Ted Turner entered the field of broadcasting with the purchase of several radio stations. It was in 1969 that he sold his radio stations to buy Atlanta TV station WJRJ-TV, at that time a struggling, independent UHF station. He changed the station's call letters to WTCG, the TCG standing for Turner Communications Group. The abbreviation also led to the station's slogan, "Watch This Channel Grow." Initially, the station showed primarily old movies and theatrical cartoons like Bugs Bunny, making it a precursor of Turner Classic Movies after a fashion. As popular reruns, like Gilligan's Island, I Love Lucy, and Beverly Hillbillies, dropped off older, more established stations, WTCG picked them up. 

It was in 1976 that the FCC permitted WTCG to utilise a satellite to transmit to local cable systems across the nation. It was renamed WTCG-TV Superstation. During the same period, Ted Turner bought the Atlanta Braves and began airing their games on WTCG. By 1978, several cable systems across the nation were already carrying WTCG. It was on August 27, 1979 that WTCG was formally renamed WTBS (the TBS for "Turner Broadcasting System). 

It was in 1979 that Ted Turner approached Reese Schofield, who had been vice president of United Press International Television News, about founding the first 24 hour news channel. The Cable News Network (CNN for short) was launched on June 1, 1980.

In 1986, Ted Turner bought  MGM/UA Entertainment Co. from Kirk Kerkorian. Ultimately, having accumulated a good deal of debut, he sold MGM/UA back to Kirk Kerkorian, but kept the pre-May 1986 and pre-merger film and television library. Turner Entertainment, Co. was founded in order to manage the library.The films and TV shows from the pre-1986 MGM/UA library were then syndicated around the nation and, of course, many of the movies and shows found their way on WTBS. 

It was following his acquisition of the MGM/UA library that Turner Entertainment began colorizing old movies in order to draw a younger audience to them. The move received opposition from cinephiles, filmmakers, and film critics alike. It was in part due to the colorization of older films, along with other such modifications of the films as pan and scan, that the Library of Congress established the National Film Registry in order to preserve movies as they were originally made. It was in due in part to backlash from cinephiles, filmmakers, and movie critics, as well as declining interest in colorized films, that Ted Turner abandoned colorization. 

It was in 1988 that Ted Turner bought the professional wrestling promotion Jim Crockett Promotions and renamed it World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It was also in 1988 that Ted Turner launched Turner Network Television (TNT for short), which showed older movies and TV shows, making it yet another precursor to Turner Classic Movies.

It was in 1991 that Ted Turner bought Hanna-Barbera. Along with the MGM cartoons from the MGM-UA library, and old Warner Bros cartoons, they would form the basis of The Cartoon Network. The Cartoon Network was launched on August 9, 1992, the first 24 hour channel that showed exclusively animated TV shows. 

In its early days as WTCG, WTBS had shown older movies. TNT had also had great success with showing older movies. Owning the MGM/UA library gave Ted Turner even more access to classic films. It was then that Turner Classic Movies was founded, TCM was launched on April 14, 1994, at 6:00 PM Eastern, with a ceremony at Times Square in New York City with Ted Turner, original TCM host Robert Osborne, and movie legends Arlene Dahl, Celeste Holm, Van Johnson, and Jane Powell in attendance. 

It was on October 16, 1996 that the Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner. This would give TBS, TNT, and, most importantly, TCM access to Warner Bros.' library of classic films. The merger also made Ted Turner Time Warner's largest shareholder. 

In addition to his work in television, Ted Turner was also known as a philanthropist. In 1990, he founded the Turner Foundation, which dealt with the environment and overpopulation. He also co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative, dedicated to reducing the threat of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and the Captain Planet Foundation, which is meant to educate youth about the environment. With a $1 billion contribution to the UN, he was responsible for the creation of the United Nations Foundation, which supports the UN and its activities. It was in 2016 that he sold 43,000 acres of Osage County tallgrass prairie in Oklahoma to the Osage Nation 

There can be no doubt that Ted Turner is pivotal in the history of television. He pioneered the superstation, with WTCG being carried on many cable systems throughout the south, even before Chicago station  WGN went nationwide. With CNN, he launched the first 24 hour news channel,. In doing so, he changed television news from scheduled programs to something that was available all day long. The Cartoon Network would also revolutionize watching cartoons on television. At a time when the networks and local stations only aired cartoons on Saturday morning and weekday mornings and afternoon, The Cartoon Network made them available 24 hours day.

And while the media may go on about CNN, to me Ted Turner's crowning achievement in television will always be Turner Classic Movies. Of course, Ted Turner's career had always profited from older films. They were much of the reason TBS and TNT were successes. But with TCM, classic movies became available 24 hours a day. With Robert Osborne as the original host, TCM has been responsible for creating a whole new generation of classic movie fans, who might never have watched older films otherwise. It was also responsible for making some rarer films more widely available. Like many TCM fans, there are films I have discovered on Turner Classic Movies that I had never seen before. TCM has also proven responsible for preserving many classic films as well. While there had been classic movie channels before TCM (American Movie Classics and, The Nostalgia Channel), it was Turner Classic Movies that would prove to a lasting success. It was largely Ted Turner's vision for the channel, as well as its enormous library of films, that made such a hit.

Ted Turner was certainly a pioneer. And while he had his faults (he was nicknamed "the Mouth from the South" for a reason), there can be no doubt that he changed television forever. 

TCM Remembers Ted Turner

Ted Turner, who built WTBS into a superstation and founded Turner Classic Movies, TNT, Cartoon Network, and CNN, died today at the age of 87. He had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia in 2018. I plan to write a eulogy for him tomorrow. As for now I am quite ready to do so. In founding TCM, Mr. Turner had an enormous impact on my life. I can't help but be saddened by his death. I will then leave you with TCM Remembers Ted Turner, the channel's remembrance of their founder.

Stop It With the Big Ads

A few months ago I noticed a distressing phenomenon on both IMDB and TV Guide. Both sites began featuring gigantic ads at the top of their pages. What is more, particularly in the case of TV Guide, these huge ads caused more problems than simply forcing the reader to scroll down to get the credits or listings.

Indeed, on TV Guide there are times the ads will actually cover the search bar. As a result, I have to reload the page. This isn't a problem on IMDB, but the ads do make both sites slower to load and sometimes even affect the performance of whatever browser I am using at the time. 

Now I suspect the reason for these gigantic ads is that they think they will draw the reader's attention more than an old-fashioned, modest banner ad would, but I do not think that is the case. Usually I am so irritated by the sheer size of these ads that I don't even notice what is being advertised. I might well notice whatever product is being advertised if they had used a simple banner ad.

Anyway, I am hoping this is something that other sites won't adopt and that TV Guide and IMDB will soon do away with them. The goal of advertising is to convince users to buy a product or use a service. That isn't accomplished if the ads irritate them to no end.

Godspeed Mariclare Costello

Mariclare Costello, best known for playing teacher Rosemary Hunter on the hit TV series The Waltons, died on April 17, 2026 at the age of 90.

Mariclare Costello was born on February 3, 1936, in Peoria, Illinois. Her father, Dallas, worked as a civil engineer for the Illinois Department of Transportation and her mother, Margaret, was a secretary to the Illinois Speaker of the House. Mariclare Costello went to St. Mark School and the Academy of Our Lady in Peoria. She then attended Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa. During her junior year, she spent time at the University of Vienna. She received a Master's degree in Theatre and Education from Catholic University in Washington.

She was one of the 30 actors selected from literally hundreds to be chosen for the original Lincoln Center Repertory Company. In 1964 she made her Broadway debut, originated the role of Louise in the Arthur Miller play After the Fall. In the Sixties, she appeared on Broadway in But for Whom Charlie, The Changeling, Tartuffe, Danton's Death, The Country Wife, Lovers and Other Strangers, and Harvey. She made her movie debut in The Tiger Makes Out in 1967. She appeared in the movie Pound (1970). She made her television debut in an episode of N.Y.P.D. in 1969. She also guest starred on Storefront Lawyers.

It was in 1972 that she began a five year run playing Miss Rosemary Hunter, the teacher at the school on Walton's Mountain, on The Waltons. In 1977 she left the show to play the matriarch Maggie Fitzpatrick on the short-lived drama The Fitzpatricks.She was a regular on the shot-lived Western Sara. She guest starred on the shows Ironside, Kojak, Amy Prentiss, Harry O, Sunshine, Barnaby Jones, This is the Life, The Incredible Hulk, Insight, NBC Special Treat, Visions, Lou Grant, and Little House on the Prairie. She appeared in such TV movies as The Execution of Private Slovik and After the Fall (based on the play and on which she reprised her role as Louise). She appeared in the movies Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971), Raid on Entebbee (1976), and Ordinary People (1980).

In the Eighties, she guest starred on Lou Grant; Fame; Murder, She Wrote; The Disney Sunday Movie; CBS Schoolbreak Special, CBS Summer Playhouse, In the Heat of the Night, and Santa Barbara. She appeared in the movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984). 

In the Nineties, Mariclare Costello appeared in the movie Indecent Proposal (1983). She guest starred on the shows High Tide, Chicago Hope, and Judging Amy. Her last guest appear on a TV show was on Providence in 2002.

Mariclare Costello taught acting at Loyola Marymount University, and headed the drama program at St. Paul the Apostle Elementary School in Westwood. She directed plays at Loyola High School. 

That Mariclare Costello was a talented actress can be seen in what may be two best known roles. As teacher Rosemary Hunter on The Waltons, she was both compassionate and strong-willed, always an advocate for her students. In Let's Scare Jessica to Death, she played a role as far from Rosemary Hunter as one can get, the rather menacing and vampiric Emily. In the Murder, She Wrote episode "Powder Keg" she played hotel owner Cassie Burns. On the Incredible Hulk episode "No Escape" she played the wife of a mental patient who escaped after David Banner hulked out in the van in which they were being transported. Mariclare Costello could play a variety of roles and play them all well. 

The Late Great Gerry Conway

Comic book writer and screenwriter Gerry Conway, who worked for both DC and Marvel and who created such characters as Firestorm, Jason Todd, Power Girl, Ms. Marvel, and The Punisher, died on April 27, 2026, at the age of 73. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2022. Gerry Conway also wrote for such TV shows as Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. 

Gerry Conway was born on September 10, 1952, in Brooklyn, New York City. He was a fan of comic books from an early age and even had a letter published in the letter column of Fantastic Four no. 50 (May 1966). As a teenager, he would sneak into the DC Comics offices and talk with the editors. He was only 16 when his first comic book story, "Aaron Philips' Photo Finish," was published in House of Secrets no. 81 (September 1969). At DC Comics, he also had work published in  All-Star Western no. 1, Hoouse of Mystery, Super DC Giant,The Phantom Stranger, and The Witching Hour. During the same period, he wrote stories for Marvel's Chamber of Darkness and Tower of Shadows. During this period, he also wrote for the Warren titles Creepy and Eerie and Skywald's Nightmare.

It was Roy Thomas who offered Gerry Conway the chance to write superhero comic books at Marvel. He took Marvel's "writing test," and while Stan Lee was not impressed with his work, Roy Thomas was. He wrote a script for Ka-Zar for Astonishing Tales no. 3 (December 1970) and then began writing Daredevil with no. 72 (January 1971).  At Marvel, he went onto write for Adventure into Fear, Amazing Adventures, Astonishing Tales, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Creatures on the Loose, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, Dracula Lives, Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Kull the Conqueror, Marvel Team-Up, Our Love Story, Savage Tales, Sub-Mariner, Thor, Werewolf By Night. The Defender, Ghost Rider, Haunt of Horror, Legion of Monsters, Ka-Zar.Planet of the Apes, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Tales of the Zombie, and other titles. His most notable work in the early Seventies at Marvel was on The Amazing Spider-Man. 

After leaving Marvel, Gerry Conway wrote for the short-lived Atlas/Seaboard line on such titles as Destructor, Targitt, and Tiger-Man. He then returned to DC comics, where he remained for the next decade. During this period he created such characters as Power Girl, Firestorm, Vixen, Jason Todd, and Killer Croc, and others. He wrote on such titles as Action Comics, All-Star Comics, All-Star Squadron, Arak, Batman. Batman Family, The Brave and the Bold, Challengers of the Unknown, DC Comics Presents, Doorway to Nightmare, Firestorm, The Flash, Freedom Fighters, The Fury of Firestorm, Hercules Unbound, House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Jonah Hex, Justice League of America, Kamandi, Kong the Untamed, Legion of Super-Heroes, Man-Bat, Metal Men, Mystery in Space, New Gods. Secret Society of Super Villains, Star-Spangled War Stories, Steel the Indestructible Man, Sun Devils, Super-Team Family, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Superman, The Superman Family, Swamp Thing. Sword Quest, Tarzan, The Unexpected. Weird Western Tales, The Witching Hour, Wonder Woman, World's Finest Comics, Young Love, and other titles. He also wrote the DC/Marvel crossover Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man. 

Gerry Conway also wrote comic books for Eclipse Comics' The Unknown Worlds of Frank Brunner, First Comcs' Hawkmoon: The Jewel in the Skull and Hawkmoon: The Mad God's Amulet, Topp Comics' Nightglider, and Disney Comics' Disney Adventures.

In addition to comics books, Gerry Conway also did substantial work in film and television. He co-wrote the screen play for the Ralph Bakshi animated feature Fire and Ice (1983) with fellow comic book writer Roy Thomas. They also wrote the story Conan the Destroyer (1984). In 1985, he broke into television with scripts for the animated series G.I. Joe. He wrote scripts for the animated television series Transformers, Centurions, My Little Pony 'n Friends, Spiral Zone, Dino-Saucers, and Dino-Riders. He broke into live-action television with a script for Monsters in 1990.

In the Nineties, he wrote for the TV shows Father Dowling Mysteries, Jake and the Fatman, Matlock, Batman: The Animated Series, Under Suspicion, Two, Pacific Blue, Baywatch Nights, Diagnosis Murder, Players, Silk Stalkings, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Law & Order, and The Huntress. He wrote some of the Perry Mason TV movies.

In the Naughts, Gerry Conway wrote for the show Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

In my humble opinion, Gerry Conway was one of the greatest comic book writers of all time. He created several characters who are still pertinent to this day, including Atomic Skull, Firestorm, Jason Todd, Killer Croc, Killer Frost, Man-Thing, Power Girl, and The Punisher, among others. And while I don't particularly like the story (Gwen Stacy is one of my favourite comic book characters, he wrote one of the most revolutionary comic book stories of all time, "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" from Amazing Spider-Man no. 121 (June 1973). While I am not fond of the story, I have to admit it was well-written and it certainly changed the industry forever. 

He was also an excellent television writer and wrote some of my favourite episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, including "Con-Text" and "Probability." For Batman: The Animated Series, he wrote "Appointment in Crime Alley." During his television career, he wrote stellar scripts for everything from Monsters to Matlock.

Above all else, I have to say Gerry Conway seemed like an incredibly nice guy. I followed him on Twitter when that was still a thing, and asked him a few questions about his television work. He always responded and did so politely and with a good deal of humour. He was a great writer and apparently a kind person as well. He will definitely be missed. 

"Dream Police" by Cheap Trick

It has already been a hectic week and I am preparing my eulogy for the late, great Gerry Conway, so I will leave you with one of my favourite songs of all time, "Dream Police" by Cheap Trick.