Retro TV

So today Watching Retro TV begins yet again with a new writer. Personally, I have not read a lot of the before the option of taking it over was presented to me, so I am not sure why this little site seems to be so prone to writerlessness (yes, I know that is not a word).

A brief introduction of time watching television

Growing up, I had a love hate relationship with television — still do. Television can be a wonderful destructive thing. It really does matter what you watch. I happen to watch a lot of television, but I don’t really watch TV like the normal person. I study TV, and I dissect it. But I find great joy in doing so, so much so that I majored in film and television studies in college. Sure, that degree does me very little good, but it sure was fun taking such classes as Television History. The show that got the biggest laughs — Dynasty.

During my course of study, I developed a great appreciation for “old” TV. I don’t see this site as a way to promote dvd releases or even review them. I would rather spend my time studying the history of retro TV, how it relates to today’s televisional morass, and of course, enjoying some retro television and sharing my opinions and takeaways with you, my captive internet reader.

This week’s viewing schedule (courtesy of netflix) is going to be The Bob Newhart Show Season One (Disk two) which is coming in the mail today. I started watching Bob Newhart after rediscovering my love for Newhart (1982 to 1990) which has been running on WGN on the weekends. As I was extolling its virtues, my boyfriend asked me if I had even seen the first Bob Newhart show, appropriately named The Bob Newhart Show (1972-1978). I immediately put it on my netflix queue.

The first disk was quite good, and as most shows start off a little shaky, I assume that the BNS will only get better. I was pleased to finally figure out who is Marcia Wallace, the voice of the Simpson’s Edna Krabappel (Bart’s teacher for my non-Simpsons-obsessed readers). Wallace plays Bob’s receptionist and she is a chronic scene-stealer. I adore her. I also found out that the Bob Newhart Show and the Simpson’s have more in common than just Mrs. “Crabapple.” Bob Newhart appeared in the episode of the Simpsons in which Krusty the Klown stages his own death to avoid paying income taxes.

television history, Dynasty, Bob Newhart, The Bob Newhart Show, Simpsons, Marcia Wallace, Krusty the Klown, WGn

Jeff Conaway, famous for his roles in the classic sitcom “Taxi” and in the Broadway and motion picture productions of “Grease” has joined the cast of VH1’s latest reality show, “Celebrity Rehab”. The show, hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky of “Loveline” fame. He joins eight other celebs, including Bridget Nielson, Andy Dick (“NewsRadio), Chyna Doll, Tom Sizemore, and Daniel Baldwin. Conaway’s struggles with drug and alcohol abuse are well known. Fans of “Celebrity Fit Club” will remember that his appearance on that show resulted in a very ugly on camera breakdown and his removal from the show. One can only hope that this “rehab” will help him. Conaway is far from the only retro television star to struggle with addiction. Lauren Tewes(“Love Boat”) had a well documented cocaine addiction that eventually got her kicked off the show, and we all know the sad stories behind the kid stars of “Different Strokes”.

I’m not sure what I think about this latest show. Is VH1 taking “Celebreality” too far? True, alcohol and drug abuse are seemingly commonplace in Hollywood, but is this something that we should find entertaining? One thing is for sure, it is a stark reminder that our favorite stars are every bit as human and flawed as the rest of us. I do some freelance work for MTV/VH1 so I’ll be watching this show, and I hope it serves to help the celebrities involved and educate the rest of us rather than simply entertain, because addiction is anything but good entertainment.

vh-1 classic, celebreality, celebrity rehab, taxi, grease, jeff conaway

With the 2007 TV season being brought to a standstill by the writers strike, I thought we’d take a look back at the top rated shows of the 1987 season. What a difference 20 years has made! When was the last time you saw a made for TV movie, let alone several a week? Back then, “The CBS Sunday Night Movie”, “The NBC Monday Night Movie”, and the “NBC Sunday Night Movie” were top rated. Nowadays “The NBC Sunday Night Movie” has been replaced with Sunday Night Football. Primetime soaps were big back then too. Remember the shoulder pads and big hair? How about Joan Collins and Linda Evans bitch slapping each other in the pool? 1987 also marked a time when the older generation was a hot demographic-and had the hit shows (“Golden Girls”, “Murder She Wrote” and “Matlock”) to prove it. Sitcoms were also big back then, as was NBC’s “Must Watch TV” Thursdays-“The Cosby Show, “Family Ties”, “Cheers” “Night Court” and “L.A. Law.” Admit it, you never missed it!

1.The Cosby Show NBC
2.Family Ties NBC
3.Cheers NBC
4.Murder, She Wrote CBS
5.The Golden Girls NBC
6.60 Minutes CBS
7.Night Court NBC
8.Growing Pains ABC
9.Moonlighting ABC
10.Who’s the Boss? ABC
11.Dallas CBS
12.Newhart CBS
13.Amen NBC
14.227 NBC
15.Matlock NBC
16.CBS Sunday Night Movie CBS
17.NBC Monday Night Movie NBC
18.Monday Night Football ABC
19.Kate & Allie CBS
20.NBC Sunday Night Movie NBC
21.L.A. Law NBC
22.My Sister Sam CBS
23.Falcon Crest CBS
24.Highway to Heaven NBC
25.Dynasty ABC
26.Knots Landing CBS
27.Miami Vice NBC
28.Alf NBC
29.Hunter NBC
30.Head of the Class ABC

classic television, television, ratings, neilson, 1987, retro

I recently upgraded my cell phone and got a Palm Centro smartphone from Sprint. Along with my new phone came the ability to use Sprints “Sprint TV” service, and to my surprise I found some retro holiday classics tucked among the offerings! So far I’ve watched “The Little Drummer Boy” “Frosty the Snowman” and “The Fat Albert Christmas Special”. Pretty cool! I hadn’t seen “Fat Albert” in years so that was a real treat. Brought back some great memories of childhood Saturday mornings-and reminded me of the talents of Bill Cosby. He did the voices of Fat Albert and all of his friends too.
If you have a Sprint phone that is capable of getting SprintTV, check it out! If you have a Power Vision plan it’s included.

If you have a Blackberry, check out Blackberry Video’s “Classic Television Commercials” offering. For a one time fee of $4.99 you get a collection of truly classic commercials to enjoy whenever you like!

Finally, for Verizon customers, if you have a V CAST enabled phone, you can access Sony’s Minisode Network. This network, if you recall from a previous post, offers episodes of tons of classic television shows edited down to 4 to 6 minute run times. Perfect for getting a quick retro fix while you’re on the go!

If you don’t have a cell phone with such perks, don’t fret! At the speed technology is changing and growing these days, you will soon! In the meantime you can always surf over to AOL’s In2TV site and enjoy their huge library of classic television, download some eps on to your Ipod or related digital device, or curl up with your DVD player. These are good times for classic television lovers!

retro television, classic television, palm centro, sprint, blackberry, verizon, v cast, AOL, in2tv

Tomorrow night TVLand will air a special called “50 Greatest TV Icons”. Compiled in cooperation with Entertainment Weekly, this 2 hour long special will celebrate the folks that made a real impact on television. Among the classic tv greats scheduled to be honored are Florence Henderson, Ed Asner, Tony Danza, Barbara Eden, William Shatner, Alan Alda, Lucille Ball, Mary Tyler Moore, Carol O’Connor, and more. Check out the full list here.

Fans can get a sneak peek of some classic clips that will air on the specialand play the “Icon Challenge” game to create their own list of the 50 greatest, share it with friends, and see how other fans have ranked the top 50:

I’ll be watching and will post my thoughts after the show. This is sure to be a trip down memory lane for fans of classic television and it’s not to be missed! Take a look at the list and let me know what you think. Personally, I disagree with some of the rankings. Homer Simpson has no business being ranked hire than greats like Art Carney, Don Knotts, Bob Hope and Bob Newhart. There are also some folks I feel are missing (Hal Linden, Ted Knight, Ron Howard) and some whose inclusion I am scratching my head over. (Marcia Cross? Simon Cowell? Shannen Doherty??) On the other hand I am glad to see so many wonderful actors and actresses being honored. Too often the great shows and actors of the past are forgotten. I for one yearn for the days when actors and actresses were mostly known for well…acting! Maybe it’s me but I don’t think the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s had nearly as many scandals and tabloid fodder!

“50 Greatest TV Icons” airs tonight, November 16th at 8pm ET/PT. Don’t miss it!

tvland, greatest television icons, classic television

Comcast’s Fancast service is now offering full length episodes of these classic television shows:

Adam-12
The A-Team
Hill Street Blues
Kojak
Battlestar Galactica
Lost in Space
WKRP in Cincinnati
Doogie Howser, M.D.
Picket Fences

The service is free and the quality is good. The only catch is that the eps are interrupted by a very brief “commercial” near the beginning. They aren’t very long, maybe 15 seconds or so, and it’s only one. After that the episode runs commercial free.

I think these types of services are great. You get to watch episodes of some terrific classic tv shows for free. I hope this trend continues and more and more shows are offered online. This is great for travelers and people on the go. With wireless hotspots popping up everywhere, it’s easy to just whip out your laptop or PDA, connect, and watch! No having to lug around a portable DVD player and or/ a wallet full of DVDs. I particularly like that these services don’t even require you to register. That means less hassle and a lot less spam. The only hitch with watching episodes online is that you need a high speed connection. Dial up won’t cut it. It works, but instead of a smooth, high quality presentation you’ll get choppy, pixilated displays and a lot of “buffering…” interruptions. While most people these days do have a high speed connection, there are still some who live in areas where such connections are too expensive or just not available, so they won’t be able to take advantage of these great services. For everyone else, enjoy!

classic television, adam-12, kojack, buffy the vampire slayer, a-team, battlestar galactica, hill street blues, lost in space, wkrp

The Writer’s Guild of America has officially gone on strike, and while that will have obvious and immediate implications for currently running shows (for instance all the late night talk shows have already been forced into reruns), it may affect the releases of classic tv show DVDs in the future. One of the original issues the Guild had was the revenues from TV DVDs. They felt they deserved more than what they were getting. The issue has since been taken off the table but it is sure to be revisited in the future as the release of TV DVDs becomes more and more popular and profitable.

While some studios spare no expense when releasing their shows on DVD, adding all kinds of extras to the set (Paramount is one that immediately comes to mind. Their “Star Trek” series’ DVDs are packed with extras), many prefer to maximize profit and release barebones sets. Still more, and this is a very touchy subject with many classic television stars, expect the actors to provide extras (such as episode commentary, interviews, etc) for free. This has angered many. “Adam-12” star and current Screen Actors Guild National First Vice President Kent McCord has spoken out sharply about this issue and about Universal Studios, who own the rights to “Adam-12”. CHiPs stars Larry Wilcox and Robert Pine have also spoken out about the issue of actors not being paid for contributing to the DVD releases of their shows.

What do you think? Do you think the actors and writers deserve more compensation? Leave a comment and tell me your thoughts!

classic television, writers strike, WGA, tv dvds, universal, paramount

Last month, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences held a star-studded event in Hollywood to salute television theme music. The 2 and a half hour show presented clips from over 120 shows and live performances of classic TV themes. John Schneider, of “Dukes of Hazzard” and “Smallville” fame, sang several theme songs, including “The Ballad of Jed Clampett” from “The Beverly Hillbillies”, “I Love Lucy”, “Davy Crockett” and of course, “Good Ol Boys” from “The Dukes of Hazzard”. Actress/Singer Jean Louisa Kelly sang the themes from “Petticoat Junction”, “Welcome Back Kotter” and “The Micky Mouse Club”. The pair dueted on “This is It!” the theme from “The Bugs Bunny Show”, and on the themes from “Three’s Company” and “The Roy Rogers Show”.

“St Elsewhere” stars William Daniels(who also did the voice of KITT on “Knight Rider”) and Bonnie Bartlett hosted a segment on great themes from medical and legal dramas, and Robert Vaughn (“The Man from U.N.C.L.E) paid tribute to composer Jerry Goldsmith, who wrote the theme for TMFU as well as the themes for “Dr. Kildare” “The Waltons” and most recently, “Star Trek” Voyager”.

Lindsay Wagner, the original “Bionic Woman” introduced a montage of clips from science fiction and fantasy shows and joked that the lyrics to the “Wonder Woman”theme (“in your satin tights, fighting for your rights”) were “the greatest in television music”

You can check out the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences here. What are some of your favorite TV themes? Post a comment and let me know. Some of my personal favorites include the themes to “Greatest American Hero” “Barney Miller” , “Welcome Back Kotter” and “Laverne and Shirley.”!

classic television, television theme songs, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, John Schneider

Sony and Pepsi are teaming up to offer condensed versions of classic television shows on Sony’s website Crackle.com. The episodes will air on what Sony is calling “The Minisode Network”. The episodes are condensed down to 4 to 6 minute air times. Right now classic TV fans can watch “minisodes of “The Facts of Life”,“TJ Hooker”,“Different Strokes”, “Bewitched”, Starskey & Hutch”, “Fantasy Island” and “Charlie’s Angels”. The service is free but there is one catch, you’ll have to watch a 15 second ad for Pepsi.

I’m not sure what I think of this new service. Sure it’s great to see classics television being showcased online and for free, but why severely condense them? The great success of television DVDs lies not only in the fact that one can easily purchase and store entire seasons of their favorite shows, but also in the fact that those episodes are uncut. True fans hate editing! Drop by any fan forum or board and ask what they think about their favorite show being on TVLand. Odds are you’ll get an earful about the network’s nasty habit of chopping up episodes in order to cram in as many commercials as possible.

I watched an episode of “The Facts of Life” and one of “TJ Hooker”. “Facts” wasn’t really that bad. You got the gist of the episode and it was still entertaining. “Hooker” on the other hand was just strange. You just can’t take an hour-long drama, cram it into 6 minutes and expect it to make sense, let alone be entertaining. Yet I give Sony and Pepsi credit for pulling these great old shows out of mothballs and breathing new life into them-even if it is a very shortened one!

Sony, Pepsi, Classic tv shows, classic sitcoms, Starskey & Hutch, Bewitched, minisodes

Everyone remembers the original “Family Feud” game show with Richard Dawson(of “Hogan’s Heroes” fame). The show was so popular that in 1978 ABC produced a series of specials that featured the casts of the hit TV shows of the time going against one another for charity. The show also featured special celebrity theme weeks during its daytime run. TVShowsonDVD has announced that these great slices of nostalgia will be released as a DVD set on January 8th. Heres what classic TV fans can expect to see:

Brady Bunch, Your Hit Parade, Petticoat Junction, Leave It to Beaver
Love Boat vs. WKRP,Soap vs. Real People
Love Boat vs. Eight is Enough & Family vs.What’s Happening
Dallas vs. Eight is Enough & One Day at A Time vs. Benson
Soap, All My Children, Eight is Enough, General Hospital
Dallas, It’s A Living, The Jefferson’s, Dukes of Hazzard
The Ropers, Angie, Dukes of Hazzard, The Waltons
Love Boat vs. Eight is Enough & Soap vs. Three’s Company
Barney Miller vs. Eight is Enough & Welcome Back Kotter vs. Soap
Eight is Enough vs.Family & Welcome Back Kotter vs. Love Boat
Gilligan’s Island vs. Hawaiian Eye

If you’re a classic tv or game show fan you won’t want to miss this. I remember watching these when I was a kid and they are a lot of fun. You get to see a different side of your favorite classic tv stars! Check out TVShowsonDVD.com or our own TV on DVD blog for more info in the coming weeks. This will defintely be a late Christmas present for many!

classic television, classic gameshows, family feud, ABC, tv on dvd

NORTHRIDGE, CA–(Marketwire - October 4, 2007) - SmartSound Software, Inc., the leading provider of music and scoring technology for film and video professionals, today announced the launch of four new customizable music libraries featuring all original music from the film and television catalog of EMI Music Publishing, one of the world’s largest music publishers. Each track is licensed for unlimited use in home movies and is encoded to work with SmartSound-enabled applications, including many leading video editing software products. This nostalgic music combined with SmartSound’s patented technology allows users to set the music into any length scene and listen to all possible arrangements that have a musical beginning and ending fit exactly to the scene.

Each library includes ten tracks. They can be purchased directly from SmartSound at http://www.smartsound.com/moviemusic for $39.95 each or just $99 for all four discs as a set. New EMI Music Publishing libraries announced by SmartSound are:

EMI TV Classics — Memorable music from favorite TV shows of the 1960s and 1970s. Includes music from such popular shows as “Batman,” “Bewitched,” “The Avengers” and “Lost in Space.”

EMI Wars & Westerns — Stirring music from some of the most intense and action-packed Hollywood movies, including “Glory,” “How the West Was Won” and “For a Few Dollars More.”

EMI Epics & Thrillers — Spine-tingling, spellbinding music from some of the biggest movies in film history, including “North by Northwest,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” and “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”

EMI Movie Classics — A diverse collection of music from major Hollywood productions, including “Ben-Hur,” “Ghostbusters,” and “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.”

“These timeless classics are part of the history and memories of practically every family across America,” said Jovanka Ciares, EMI Music Publishing Director of Music Services. “We’re always pleased to be able to link up with services such as that offered by SmartSound to allow consumers to use these songs to soundtrack their lives in an easy and fun way.”

SmartSound technology powers the music creation component of video editing suites used by millions of consumers, including the recent inclusion of SmartSound in Roxio Easy Media Creator 10. SmartSound has also been bundled or integrated into video editing software from companies including Avid, Adobe, CyberLink, Pinnacle and Ulead.

“Partnering with EMI Music Publishing strengthens our existing library of world-class music for consumer video,” said Kevin Klingler, president and CEO of SmartSound Software, Inc. “As a former Hollywood composer, I know that this is some of the greatest music ever created for film and television. Consumers are going to have a great time adding custom-fit versions of these classics into their home movies.”

Check out these other TV blogs on 451:

TVBender
TVBloggin
TVonDVD Buzz

classic television, classic tv music, Smart Sound, EMI Music

If you were a child of the 50’s and 60’s, your Saturday mornings probably weren’t complete without Gumby. The little green clay man and his pony, Pokey, were the stars of “The Gumby Show,” which premiered in 1957. They returned in a syndicated series in the 80’s, and the original show ran on Nickelodeon in the 90’s. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the show, and to celebrate, a new DVD collection, called “Gumby Essentials” was released last month. The set includes 15 episodes, all remastered and restored to their original 11 minute length, a 1953 film called “Gumbasia” (based on the Disney hit, “Fantasia”), the remastered pilot episode “Gumby on the Moon”, in which Gumby outsmarts the moon men and uses a toy firetruck to climb to the moon, the remastered theme and intro, and more. The 15 episodes chosen, all from the 1950’s, are all favorites of Gumby’s creator, Art Clokey. Now 86, he created Gumby in 1953. He named him after the “Gumbo” clay found on his grandfather’s farm and used a gingerbread man as a model, as suggested by his wife. The green color came from his love of plants, and the peak on his head was inspired by his father’s hair style at the time.

The DVD is available in stores now. Clokey hopes it will bring Gumby, Pokey, and their adventures to a whole new generation of fans. If Gumby was a big part of your childhood Saturday mornings, or if you’re a fan of animation and want to see an old but still amazing form of it, you’ll want to pick up a copy!

For news on other tv shows coming to or available on DVD, check out TV on DVD Buzz

classic television, cartoons, Gumby, animation, 50th Anniversary of The Gumby Show” Gumby Essentials, tv on dvd