A Picorial Tribute to Leslie Nielsen on His 100th Birthday

It was 100 years ago on this date that Leslie Neilsen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. His career spanned 60 years and he appeared in both films and on television. What is more, there was a good deal of variety in Leslie Nielsen's performances. He appeared in dramatic roles in such classic movies as Forbidden Planet (1956) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972), but may be best known for his comedic work on the TV show Police Squad! and such movies as Airplane! (1980) and the "Naked Gun" movies (spun-off from Police Squad!). In tribute to Mr. Nielsen on the occasion of his centenary, there are some images from his career. 

Years before his movie career began, Leslie Nielsen made his television debut in 1950 on an episode of Actors Studio. He made several guest appearances on television in the early to mid-Fifties on such shows as Stage 13, The Magnavox Theatre, Lights Out, and You Are There. Here he is the Suspense episode "The Brush Off" from 1950.

Here is Leslie Nielsen as Commander John J. Adams from Forbidden Planet (1956). It was only his second film as an actor and his first starring role.

Although he continued to appear on television, by the late Fifties, Leslie Nielsen was a bona fide movie star. Here he is with Debbie Reynolds in a promotional photo for Tammy and the Bachelor (1957).

Leslie Nielsen made several guest appearances on television in the Sixties. He guest starred on The Virginian five times alone, playing a different character each time. Here is H.M.Wynant with Leslie Nielsen from the episode "The Fortress." 

A promotional photo of Leslie Nielsen as Major Fred Gifford in The Reluctant Astronaut (1967). He played opposite lead actor Don Knotts and was one of his earliest comedic roles. 

Bracken's World was a drama series that centred on Century Studios, headed by John Bracken. In the first season, John Bracken was unseen, although Warren Stevens provided his voice. For the second season, Leslie Nielsen joined the cast to play John Bracken. The show was cancelled in its second season at 15 episodes.

 

Leslie Nielsen continued to guest star on such television shows as Ironside and M*A*S*H and in such movies as The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and Day of the Animals (1977). He had a bit of a recurring role on the TV show Kung Fu, appearing in four episodes as the villainous Vincent Corbino. 
 

In 1980, Leslie Nielsen appeared in the movie Airplane! as Dr. Rumack. The movie would totally turn Mr. Nielsen's career alone. Previously known for dramatic roles, he would become best known for his comedy roles. 

David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, who gave the world Ariplane!, created the TV show Police Squad!, on which Leslie Nielsen played Lt. Frank Drebin. The show would only last six episodes, but proved to be a cult series. It ultimately inspired the "Naked Gun" movies, of which the first was The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! in 1988. In the end, Leslie Nielsen would make several more parodies, including Repossessed (1990) and Spy Hard (1996).

The Wicked Witch on Sesame Street

Oscar the Grouch and Margaret Hamilton

It was fifty years ago today, on February 10, 1976, that Margaret Hamilton guest starred in character as the Wicked Witch of the West form The Wizard of Oz on episode 847 of Sesame Street. The episode caused such an uproar among parents of young children that it was removed form rebroadcast and not seen again for decades. For that reason, episode 847 remains one of the most famous episodes of Sesame Street.

Episode 847 begins with David (Northern Calloway) catching a broom that falls out of the sky as he is walking out of Hooper's Store. The owner of the broom, the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton in full regalia, right down to the green make-up), soon shows up and want her broom back. The Wicked Witch then makes repeated attempts to get her broom back, creating all sorts of problems on Sesame Street.

Episode 847 was written by Joseph A. Bailey, Judy Freudberg, and Emily Kingsley, all staff writers on Sesame Street. According to a February 8, 1976 article in the Chronicle-Telegraph, the episode was meant to teach children how to deal with fear, as well as "...the value of planning, by creating and implementing methods..." of retrieving the Witch's broom. 

At the time, Margaret Hamilton still had a very active career, appearing in movies such as Angel in My Pocket (1969) and Brewster McCloud (1970) and on TV shows such as Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and The Partridge Family. She also appeared in Maxwell House commercials at the time, which led to a bit of an in-joke in her appearance on Sesame Street. David offers the Witch coffee and she turns it down, saying, "I cant' stand the stuff." When episode 847 aired, Margaret Hamilton had recently appeared on another children's show as the Witch. She appeared on an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in 1975 as both herself and the Witch. In the episode she explained how children should not be scared of an imaginary character. She would return to Mister Rogers Neighborhood later in February 1976 and in October 1976 appeared as the Witch on The Paul Lynde Halloween Special. In one of these appearances did she wear the classic green makeup, which is the one thing that sets Sesame Street episode 847 apart from her other appearances as the Witch in the mid-Seventies. 

Despite the fact that The Wizard of Oz (1939) was a yearly event on broadcast television and the fact that Margaret Hamilton had appeared elsewhere as the Wicked Witch (although without the green makeup), Sesame Street episode 847 resulted in a large amount of negative mail from angry parents who claimed that their children were so frightened by the episode that they now refused to watch the show. The Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop), the company that produced Sesame Street, conducted test screenings of Episode 847 in March 1976 to determine if it was truly frightening to young children. It was noted that children were more attentive while the Wicked Witch of the West was on screen, the Children's Television Workshop were unable to determine if they were actually scared of her. It was then decided to pull the episode out of rotation. 

Sesame Street episode 847 would remain unseen for literally decades. In 2019 portions of the episode were shown at the event Sesame Street Lost and Found at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York. The episode has also been archived with the Library of Congress and is available for viewing there. It was in 2022 that a Muppet archivist leaked the complete episode to Reddit and later YouTube. Copies of the complete episode can currently be seen on YouTube, Reddit, and the Internet Archive.

Beauty, Brains..., and a Badge: Get Christie Love!

Teresa Graves as Christie Love

Get Christie Love! only ran for one season, from September 11, 1974, to April 4, 1975, but it is remembered to this day. Much of this is because Get Christie Love! was a pioneering television show. Starring Teresa Graves as the police detective of the title,  Teresa Graves was only the third Black woman to play the lead in a non-stereotypical role on an American television show, after Diahann Carroll on Julia and Esther Rolle on Good Times, and the first Black woman to play the lead in a drama series. Get Christie Love! was also as close to the Blaxpolitation genre as television would get. 

Get Christie Love! starred Teresa Graves as Los Angeles police detective Christie Love. Christie specialized in undercover work, was skilled in karate, and even had a catchphrase, "You're under arrest, Sugar!" Her original boss on the show was Lieutenant Matt Reardon, played by Charles Cioffi. 

The origins of Get Christie Love! go back to a TV movie of the same name that aired on January 22, 1974. The TV movie was in turn based on the novel The Ledger by Dorothy Uhnak. Dorothy Uhnak had served on the New York City Transit Police for 14 years before becoming a writer. She wrote the non-fiction book Policewoman (1964), based on her law enforcement career, before writing her first novel, The Bait (1968). The Bait centered on a female NYPD police detective named Christie Opara and was later made into a 1973 TV movie of the same name starring Donna Mills as LAPD police detective Tracy Fleming. Her second novel, The Ledger, was published in 1970. 

Just as the 1973 TV movie The Bait diverged from the novel upon which it was based, so too did the TV movie Get Christie Love! diverge from the novel The Ledger. Namely, white NYPD police detective Christie Opara became Black LAPD police detective Christie Love. There can be no doubt that this was due to the popularity of such Blaxploitation movies of the time as Coffy (1973) starring Pam Grier and Cleopatra Jones (1973) starring Tamara Dobson. The TV movie Get Christie Love! resembled those movies insofar as it had a self-confident, hip Black female lead, although it lacked the violence, nudity, and sex of the Blaxploitation movies. It also had more of a sense of humour. 

The TV movie Get Christie Love! would receive good enough ratings that it lead to the weekly series, although there would be changes from the telefilm to the show. In fact, except for Teresa Graves, the cast of the TV show was almost entirely different from the movie. Christie's boss in the TV movie was Captain Casey Reardon, played by Harry Guardino, while her original boss on the TV show was Lieutenant Matt Reardon, played by Charles Cioffi. Only one other actor from the TV movie would return for the show, although he would play a completely different character. In the TV movie, Andy Romano played Sergeant Seymour Greenberg. On the TV show, he played Lieutenant Joe Caruso.

The TV movie Get Christie Love! was written by George Kirgo, whose credits at the time ranged from two episodes of My Mother the Car to Cannon. Credit for the TV show went to both George Kirgo and Peter Nelson. Peter Nelson had been a producer on the aforementioned TV movie The Bait and the TV movie Get Christie Love!. He later wrote several TV movies, including Two Kinds of Love in 1983 and Jonathan: The Boy No One Wanted in 1992. Get Christie Love! had an actual female, Black NTPD detective as its technical advisor in the form of Olga Ford. Olga Ford had joined the New York City Police Department in 1958. 

Get Christie Love! debuted on ABC on September 11, 1974. The show received mixed to negative reviews, although critics did praise Teresa Graves for her performance. The show also did not perform particularly well in the ratings, scheduled on Wednesday night at 10:00 Eastern/9:00 Central against Petrocelli on NBC. While Get Christie Love! did not perform well in the overall Nielsen ratings, according to a survey conducted by A.C. Nielsen in October and November 1974, it was the fourth most popular show among non-whites, after Good Times, Sanford and Son, and That's My Mama.

Production on Get Christie Love! would be complicated to a degree by Teresa Graves's religious beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness. Two days a week, shooting on the show had to promptly end at 5;00 PM so Miss Graves could attend Jehovah's Witness meetings. She also had an agreement with producers that Christie Love would never kill anyone, would never tell a direct lie, and there would never be any profanity in the scripts. Curiously, while Teresa Graves dictated that Christie Love would not lie, she still did undercover work.

There would be one major change made to Get Christie Love! during its run. After twelve episodes, Get Christie Love! went from December 11, 1974, to January 8, 1975. When it returned, Charles Cioffi as Lieutenant Reardon had been replaced by Jack Kelly as Captain Arthur Ryan. Regardless, overall ratings for Get Christie Love! did not improve, the show was ultimately cancelled after twenty-two episodes.

Having run one season, the TV series Get Christie Love! would not be released on home media, although the TV movie was released on VHS in 1991 and on DVD in 2001. Get Christie Love! aired on TV Land in 1997 and  on Centric in 2014. Similarly, while the TV movie is available on Tubi and other streaming services, the TV series does not appear to be.

There was a reboot produced by Courtney Kemp, who produced the series Power, and actor Vin Diesel in 2017. Titled Get Christie Love (no exclamation point), the pilot changed Christie Love from a police detective to a CIA agent (played by Kylie Bunbury). ABC did not pick it up as a series.

While Get Christie Love! did not get the best reviews upon its debut in 1974, the show remains well-remembered. And regardless of whether or not it was a good show, Get Christie Love! was a pioneering show. Before Get Christie Love!, there had only been a few American action shows with females leads, including Decoy starring Beverly Garland, Honey West starring Ann Francis, and The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., starring Stefanie Powers. And it was only the third American TV show to star a Black Woman in a non-stereotypical role and the first in a drama. Get Christie Love! may not have gotten Blaxploitation right, but it left a lasting impact. 

Happy 95th Birthday to Mamie Van Doren!

It is a sad fact that many of the classic blonde bombshells of the 1950s died young. Marilyn Monroe died at age 36. Jayne Mansfield was 34 when she was killed in an automobile accident. Joi Lansing was only 43 when she died from breast cancer. We are then very lucky that we have the great Mamie Van Doren with us. Indeed, she turned 95 today,. In tribute to Miss Van Doren, then, here are some of my favourite photos of her.

A promotional photo for Untamed Youth (1957) with Lori Nelson (who's on the left).

A photo of Mamie Van Doren from 1955. She's called the Girl Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll for a reason!

Another classic publicity photo of Mamie Van Doren, this one for The Second Greatest Sex (1955).

A publicity photo of Mamie Van Doren from approximately the mid-Fifties.

 A promotional photo for Sex Kittens Go to College (1960)

A picture of Mamie Van Doren with a lamb. 

A promotional photo for High School Confidential (1958)

A promotional photo for Teacher's Pet (1958). Yes, Mamie got to wear costumes designed by Edith Head!

Instagram Has Really Gone Downhill

There was a time when I truly enjoyed Instagram. I posted to it nearly every single day, sometimes multiple tines a day. Unfortunately, over time Instagram has made changes to the app that has made it less enjoyable, from changes to the algorithm to an overemphasis on Reels. Honestly, the only reason I continue to use Instagram is that I am connected to several friends there. With that in mind, here are several changes that Instagram could make that would once more make it enjoyable.

Increase the Number of Hashtags One Can Use:There was a time when one could use up to 30 hashtags on Instagram. Unfortunately, Instagram reduced this to a mere 5 hashtags in December. Part of the reason for this is Instagram's claim that hashtags do not meaningfully increase reach, something I seriously doubt myself.  And while I agree with  Instagram head Adam Mosseri's claim that more targeted hashtags can improve the performance of a post, I firmly disagree that they should be limited to only five. For instance, if I am making a post on a classic actor with an extensive career in film and television, my post will be helped if I can hashtag their better known movies or TV shows, which might number more than five. Quite simply, the possible reach of my post has just been torpedoed by limiting the number of hashtags I can use. If Instagram does not want to go back to 30 hasthtags, then I suggest a limit of 10 would be much, much better.

Restore Grid Profile Previews to Squares: It was in July 2025 that Instagram changed the profile grid previews from the classic 1:1 square to an 4:5 oblong rectangle. The end result is that the previews of my posts are now aggressively cropped and my profile grid looks awful. Now I can adjust the preview so that my post previews are not aggressively cropped into an oblong rectangle, but my gird still does not look as good as it once did. Instagram apparently made this change under the mistaken assumption that most of what is uploaded to Instagram, whether photo or video, is vertical. This is blatantly false in my experience. While most videos are indeed vertical, most all of the photos in my feed are square. Since that is the case, I think Instagram should either restore profile grid previews to squares or give people the choice of square profile grid previews or oblong profile grid previews, I would certainly return to squares if I could! 

Restore the "Most Recent" Option to Searches: There was a time one could filter Instagram searches by "Most Recent." That ended sometime in 2023 when they did away with the option. This has pretty much made Instagram search pretty much useless. What is more, while I know the reasons, wrong-headed though they may be, that Instagram reduced the number of hashtags one can use and changed the profile grid previews to oblong rectangles instead of squares, I have no idea why they did away with the "Most Recent" option in search. It makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Indeed, there are times when one really would like to see recent posts on a given day (say, a birthday).

Instagram Should Save Posts to One's Phone Gallery As It Once Did: There was a time that Instagram would save one's post to an Instagram folder in their phone's gallery. This was nice because it allowed one to save their posts for posterity on their own devices instead of simply on Instagram. Sadly, this came to an end in August 2024. I have no idea why this change was made. Indeed, it seems bizarre given Instagram does save Stories to one's phone, even when it is a Story one has shared from someone else! Now I don't want to save Stories (I always delete them from my phone), but I really want to save my posts. Right now I have to copy the post's link and then go to one of the sites online that allows one to download Instagram posts. I shouldn't have to do that.

Improve the Algorithm or Do Away with It Entirely: It was around 2016 that Instagram stopped sorting posts in reverse chronological order and started sorting them using an algorithm, a decision that has been controversial ever since. As much as all of us have complained about the algorithm, I have to admit that for a long time it did not hurt the performance of my posts. Unfortunately, over the years Instagram has mucked around with the algorithm to the point that I have to wonder if most of my friends see my posts. There was a time when I would get anywhere from 30 to 50 to 60 likes on my posts, sometimes more. It was late in 2023 that that this changed, to where I feel lucky if I get 30 likes on a post. By the same token, I have noticed in my feed that I might have to scroll for some time before seeing a close friend's post. I suspect Instagram's algorithm is putting too much emphasis on Reels (which I don't watch for the most part) and other less important matters. If this is the case, then they should restore the Instagram algorithm back to the way it was around 2022 or give people the choice of using a reverse chronological feed. 

Entirely Hide Threads: I do not use Threads. I have no intention of using Threads. I will never use Threads. Unfortunately, every time I go to Instagram I feel as if Threads is being shoved down my throat. Scrolling down my feed there are sometimes "Suggested Threads," despite the fact that I always hide them. On my profile, beside my handle, there's even the little Threads symbol. If  I click on it, a little "Install Threads" thing comes up. Instagram should just accept that some of us will never Threads and just stop shoving it in our faces. 

As far as I am concerned, Instagram has gone far, far downhill from what it used to be. At one time I posted to it every day. Now I might only make as few as five posts a month. I would be much more inclined to post if Instagram was as enjoyable as it once was, and it would take at least some of these changes for it to be even close to being as enjoyable for me as it was years ago. As it is right now, if a large number of my friends left Instagram, I would probably follow them.

Godspeed Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night

Chuck Negron, co-founder of Three Dog Night, died yesterday, February 2, 2026, at age 83 of complications from heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Chuck Negron was born on June 8, 1942 in New York City. He grew up in the Bronx. He sang with doo-wop groups from when he was very young. He also played basketball. He played at William Howard Taft High School, and then at at Allan Hancock College, a junior college in Santa Maria, California. This put him in proximity to the music industry in Souther California. 

It was in 1967 that Chuck Negron joined Danny Hutton and Cory Wells to form a a group initially called "Redwood." It was under that name that they did some work with Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. It was in 1968 that they stopped using the name "Redwood" and adopted the name 'Three Dog Night." They also hired a group of backing musicians. 

Three Dog Night signed with ABC Dunhill Records. Their self-titled debut album was released on October 16, 1968. Their first single, "Nobody," failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100, but their second single, a cover of "Try a Little Tenderness," reached no. 29 on the chart. Their third single, a cover of Harry Nilsson's "One," proved to be their first major hit. It peaked at no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would be followed by their version of "Easy to Be Hard," which peaked at no. 5 on the chart. This would be the beginning of a string of hits from Three Dog Night which lasted into the Seventies. It was with their cover of  Randy Newman's "Mama Told Me Not to Come" that they reached no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Over the next several years, Three Dog Night would have such hits as "Eli's Coming," "Joy to the World," "An Old Fashioned Love Song," "Black and White," "Shambala," and "The Show Must Go On" among others. As time passed, Three Dog Night's album sales declined. Their 1975 album Coming Down Your Way peaked at no. 70 on the Billboard album chart. Their following album, American Pastime, did even worse. It only reached no. 123 on the chart. Three Dog Night then disbanded in 1976. 

Three Dog Night reunited in 1981 and recorded the album It's a Jungle. Chuck Negron remained with the group through 1985. He would record several solo albums, including Am I Still in Your Heart? (1995), Joy to the World (1996), The Chuck Negron Story (2005), and Negron Generations (2017). He continued to tour regularly until the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Chuck Negron sang lead vocals on several of Three Dog Night's major hits, including "One," "Easy to Be Hard," "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)," "Joy to the World," and "The Show Must Go On." He had a powerful, tenor voice, that could be both emotive and filled with energy. It was versatile enough that Mr. Negron could sing lead on the heartbreaking "One" and later sing lead on the humorous "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)." His voice also covered several octaves, so that Chuck Negron could reach some very high notes. If Three Dog Night has multiple hits, it is in part due to Chuck Negron's powerful and soulful voice.

Bugs Bunny, TCM's Star of the Month for February 2026

Bugs Bunny may be more closely associated with Warner Bros. than any other star in the studio's history, more so even than such heavyweights as Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, and James Cagney. According to Guinness World Records, Bugs Bunny has appeared in more films than any other animated character and is the ninth most portrayed character in film. From 1940 to 1967, Bug Bunny appeared in 167 theatrical animated shorts, and has appeared in even more since then. It should come as no surprise that he has often served as Warner Bros.' mascot.

This month Bugs Bunny will be Turner Classic Movies' star of the month, a first for any animated character. From February 2 to February 9, TCM will show 45 different Bugs Bunny animated shorts. What is considered the first Bugs Bunny cartoon "A Wild Hare" (1940), will kick things off tomorrow, February 2. Over the next several days, TCM will air such classic shorts s "The Rabbit of Seville" (1950), "What's Opera, Doc?" (1957), "Hair-Raising Hare" (1947), "Bugsy and Mugsy" (1957), "Broom-Stick Bunny" (1957), "Rabbit Fire" (1951), and yet others. The shorts will air alongside curated classic feature films. 

As to why Bugs Bunny is TCM's Star of the Month (beyond the fact that he obviously deserves it), it is tomorrow, February 2, 2026, that Turner Classic Movies becomes the ongoing home of the Warner Bros. Cartoon library. This is part of a new six-year licensing deal. Here I must point out that this is not the first time Warner Bros. Cartoons have aired on TCM. Long time TCM fans might remember the channel's anthology series Cartoon Alley, which ran from 2004 to 2007. Cartoon Alley aired the classic Warner Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, as well as cartoons from Fleischer Studios, Famous Studios (Paramount), and MGM. More recently, during TCM's celebration of Warner Bros.' 100th anniversary, they showed classic Warner Bros. Cartoons.

As a long-time fan of Warner Bros. Cartoons, I am elated that Bugs Bunny is this month's Star of the Month. My only complaint is that Bugs isn't getting a whole month. TCM 31 Days of Oscar begins on February 13 (a Friday, fittingly enough) and runs into March, so my favourite theatrical cartoon star is being shorted by my least favourite programming block on TCM. I can only hope that they devote a day during Summer Under Stars to Bugs to make up for that....