Fanacek

I love William Devane.  I was first introduced to him as Kelly Leak's dad in The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training.  I enjoy him at least once a year when I re-watch Rolling Thunder.  He's done tons of Film & Television and I'll explore most of it.  I will also inundate you with useless shit like Christopher Motisanti's knowledge of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Donna Mills being "buoyant", Hitc...

November 21 marked the 30th anniversary of Bill Bixby's passing.  I'm glad I could honor him with these episodes.  In Part 2, I will finally take the deep dive that we all want...The Incredible Hulk!  I'll also discuss his final TV lead, Goodnight, Beantown, and I'll playfully goof on some of the made for TV movies he pumped out in the 80s.  If you're a Bill Bixby fan, you'll love this.  If you're...

I love Bill Bixby.  He was doin' Marvel shit before doin' Marvel shit was cool.  He had several hit shows of his own...My Favorite Martian, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, The Magician, and of course, the one about a scientist...and gamma radiation...and being overly emotional.  Bill (Mr. Bixby if you're nasty) also did tons of film and TV guest spots and I'll discuss them all.  I'm also gonna th...

So, I've been obsessing about Paul Leder and his apparent Ed Wood approach to filmmaking ever since I stumbled on his work while researching Dick Sargent.  I thought I would do a real time IMDB exploration of his filmography.  It's rough.  Like, seriously bad.  But funny.  I'll take you through each of his films.  I'll also give commentary about the abundance of fistfights on 90210, the time I got...

We're gonna pick up where we left off and 'Ol Vic is gonna hit big with the character that he's best remembered for...Mel Sharples.  We'll also weave our way through his credits of the late 70's and 80's.  Get a pen and paper and take notes, because we're gonna list all of the SUPERSTAR actors he worked with on The Love Boat while also discussing the demise of the band Berlin, the crappy movies pu...

Vic Tayback was such a stud that he deserves TWO episodes of Fanacek.  This is the first and we're gonna discuss his early career from its beginning in 1958 until the end of 1973.  During this time, Vic did classic TV like Rawhide, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., That Girl!, and Mission Impossible.  He also did 3 McQueen movies: Love With A Proper Stranger, Bullitt, and Papillon.  And, like everyone else...

That's right.  We're going "Beyond Bewitched" in our examination of the career of Mr. Dick Sargent.  His 70s and 80s are chock full o' classic TV Shows like The Six Million Dollar Man, McMillan & Wife, Alice, Benson, Baretta, and literally tons more.  We'll explore them all.  We'll also enjoy a massive Paul Leder tangent and take a look at his "not to be confused with King Kong" film Ape.  And...

Ding Ding Ding.  Round 2 Begins.  We're gonna dive and see who had the better 1960s.  I will shine a light on each of their film & television accomplishments.  Along the way, I'm gonna wax poetic about Ida Lupino, Saturday detention, Netflix's "Love", Buying mulch with Matthew Nelson and Pauly Shore's parents.  Attaboy Luther!

They're both named Dick.  They both worked for 39 years in film & television.  They both died in their early 60s.  And...they're both famous for the same role!  Weird.  But who were they beyond playing the goofy Darren Stevens?  More importantly, who was the better Dick?  There can be only one!  This is Part 1 in a series in which I have these two gentlemen compete decade by decade to finally...

The third and final installment of my exploration of all things Culp.  We start in 1980 with The Love Boat and weave our way through The Greatest American Hero, Columbo Goes To College, I Spy Returns, and tons more.  Speaking of weaving, we'll also weave in some of my thoughts on Jack Tripper sleeping with a hot MILF, Eddie and the Cruisers, Julie McCullough's saga with both Kirk Cameron and Scott...

Fanacek is back and so is Bob Culp.  More trivia, more credits, and more tangents.  We'll start with Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and we'll work our way through Columbo and other films and TV shows.  And the tangents, you ask?  Well, try these on for size: Emo Rap, The Doodletown Pipers, Raquel Welch movie posters, casting couches, The ACTUAL Apollo 13 "Houston" quote, nostalgic TV Guide...

Damn I love Robert Culp.  I've just always dug his vibe.  He is the king of guest stars and maybe the best Columbo killer of all time.  Sadly, I never knew much else about him.....until now.  I'm inviting you to join me on a wondrous journey where we'll yap incessantly about all 174 of Robert Culp's screen credit.  Maybe not ALL 174, but pretty damn close.  I'm also going to veer off the road a bi...

That's right.  This episode is about Conrad Bain.  Don't judge.  I was curious about the guy, so I took a deep dive into his career and credits.  Along the way I also waxed poetic about Woody Allen, Inger Stevens, Tim Burton, the theme song from Maude, and the amazing mind of Marilu Henner.  Pour a nice glass of pinot and enjoy.

More Fanacek...and more Telly!  What's better than that?  Today we'll discuss Telly's film and TV career from 1970 and beyond, while also going into his music and commercial pitchman endeavors.  I go on a lot of tangents in this episode.  They include, but are not limited to, the following: Kojak propositioning the bottlers of Coca Cola, my lost interview with producer George Schlatter, the theme...

That's right...this is part 1 of a 2 part series on Telly Savalas.  His head is too shiny, and his medallions are too large for just one episode.  We'll discuss his background, his early acting career and some of his TV and film highlights of the 60s.  I'll also discuss my infatuation with Dianna Rigg, Telly's connection to Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, and for some weird reason, we're gonna ment...

Who was Jan Michael Vincent?  Sadly, most people would answer with things like "Airwolf", "drugs", "amputee", and other non-flattering, yet true, descriptions.  However, before all of that he was a talented, handsome actor who could command the screen and hold his own with Hollywood legends.  He was Brad Pitt before Brad Pitt, but then devolved into a "never was".  I am on a quest to remind the wo...

Woo Hoo!  Season 4 is on the way.

Yes, folks.  Season 3 has come to an end, but we're ending on a high note with my fourth installment on the works of Mr. Norman Lear.  This week we take a look at 12 shows that did not make it.  Some seem interesting and edgy, others seem pretty lame, but they all have been forgotten and I feel inspired to raise them from the depths of TV's forgotten, lost cemetery and...I'm rambling.  We dive int...

That's right.  I'm still not done yappin' about Norman Lear.  Why should I be?  At 101 years old, he's not done workin'.  In this episode, I dive into One Day At A Time, Mary Hartman Mary Hartman, Square Pegs, 227, and more.  We'll chat about incest and SJP maybe being a drug trafficker...all while grooving to the theme song to 227.  It's a whole scene.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July and didn't miss me too much.  I know how restless everyone can get when they don't get their dose of Fanacek.  Anyhoo, this is Part 2 of my deep dive into the career of Norman Lear.  In this episode we'll finish talking about the All in the Family lineage of shows by discussing The Jeffersons, Checking In, Archie Bunker's Place, Gloria, and 704 Hauser.  Then...

Norman Lear is a legendary writer & producer who is responsible for writing, creating, producing, or developing over 100 TV shows.  He changed the landscape of TV comedy by creating All In The Family, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons and tons others. He made us laugh uncontrollably while also being confronted with the most important social issues of the day...racism, sexism, abortion, gay rights,...

The man is an actor, author, producer, chef, and now he's also a Fanacek guest!  That's right, one of the stars of one of the greatest sitcoms ever engaged 'ol Fanacek in some pleasant conversation.  We discussed his career and what he's up to now.  We also touched upon some fun topics like working with Brad Pitt, being part of the Peanuts family, dating Danica McKellar, and working with Robin Wil...

Growing Pains is one of the juggernaut sitcoms of the 80s, making Jeremy Miller sitcom royalty.  (I have the power to annoint).  I grew up watching Jeremy but had never done a deep dive on his credits until now.  He's worked with some heavy hitters...Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Stefanie Powers, Barry Bostwick, and David Spade amongst others.  I also identified 3 awesome connections to Once Upon...

I grew up watching Jeremy Licht every week on Valerie/Valerie's Family/The Hogan Family.  Sometimes it's not so great to meet folks like this because they can be...disappointing.  This was not the case with Jeremy Licht.  He's awesome and very generous with his time!  We spend an hour discussing his career while he indulged me with all my nerdy questions.  We discussed the impact Twilight Zone and...

Jeremy Licht has had a hell of a career.  He's worked with legends like James Woods, John Ritter, Hal Linden, Timothy Hutton, Sally Field, and Ned Beatty.  You probably know him best from projects like Twilight Zone The Movie where he took over the part originally made famous by Bill Mumy in "It's a good life".  He was also in a little TV show called Valerie, briefly called Valerie's Family, and l...