TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 679.4: Ed welcomes Harrison Page , the actor known around the world as Joshua in Lionheart , Captain Trunk on Sledge Hammer! , CPO Robinson on CPO Sharkey , and Niles in Russ Meyer's Vixen! Topics this segment include how Meyer first cast Harrison in Vixen! ; working with Erica Gavin in Vixen! (and, particularly, how she and Harrison approached playing the controversial scene in the film in wh...

We'll be back with a brand new edition of TV Confidential later this week. In the meantime, please enjoy this clip from February 2015 in which Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the Miracle on Ice, the U.S. men's hockey team's win over the Soviet Union's men's hockey team in the medal-round game on Feb. 22, 1980 during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.

TVC 678.1a: From February 2015: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen remember the origins of The Andy Griffith Show (CBS, 1960-1968), the pilot of which originally aired during This Week in TV History as "Danny Meets Andy Griffith," an episode of Make Room for Daddy . Topics this segment include how the Andy Taylor we see in "Danny Meets Andy Griffith" is much closer in spirit to the character that Griff...

TVC 678.1: Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter welcome back actress, author, songwriter, composer, filmmaker, and reverend Alison Mills Newman ( Julia , The Leslie Uggams Show , The Tree Widow ). Alison's novel, Francisco , is a genre-bending, autobiographical story about a young black actress in the early 1970s who falls in love with an intensely driven filmmaker, makes her way through the Black Ar...

TVC 678.2: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Laurence Luckinbill ( The Boys in the Band , The Delphi Bureau , Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , Lyndon, Hemingway, Teddy Tonight!, Clarence Darrow Tonight! ). Topics this segment include how Larry's guest appearance on Harry O in the summer of 1974 resulted in Larry adopting an Alaskan Malumute, whom Larry named Mush (and who remaine...

TVC 678.3: Actor and author Laurence Luckinbill talks to Ed about working with William Shatner, both as an actor and as a director, in Star Trek V , as well as the approach he took toward playing Sybok, Spock's half-brother, in that film. Larry's autobiography, Affective Memories: How Chance and The Theater Saved My Life , is available wherever books are sold through Sunbury Press.

TVC 677.1: An encore presentation of an edition of The Sounds of Lost Television that originally aired in February 2012 in which Phil Gries plays audio highlights from the Feb. 11, 1960 broadcast of The Tonight Show , the night when host Jack Paar walked off the air after NBC had edited out a joke that Paar had told the night before without his consent. Topics this segment include how Paar was the...

 TVC 677.2: From February 2012: Phil Gries shares more audio highlights from the Feb. 11, 1960 edition of The Tonight Show , including on-air reaction from co-host Hugh Downs and guests Orson Bean and Shelley Berman in the moments after host Jack Paar had walked off the air to protest NBC's decision to edit out a joke that Paar had told on the previous night's show. Also in this segment: Phil disc...

TVC 677.3: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Erica Gavin , the actress known around the world as the star of Vixen! (1968), the satiric sexploitation movie produced, directed, and co-written by Russ Meyer that none other than Roger Ebert once described as "the quintessential Russ Meyer film." Topics this segment how Erica initially clashed with Meyer over how to approach the famou...

TVC 677.4: Actress Erica Gavin talks to Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter about the time when she and Russ Meyer both met film critic and future Meyer collaborator Roger Ebert for the first time while doing promotion for Vixen! (1968), how Erica had earned Meyer's trust by convincing him to let her break the fourth wall while filming the final shot of Vixen , and how Meyer paid homage to Alfred Hi...

TVC 677.5: Ed welcomes actor, author, playwright, and Emmy Award-winning producer Laurence Luckinbill ( The Boys in the Band , The Delphi Bureau , Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , Lyndon, Hemingway, Teddy Tonight!, Clarence Darrow Tonight! ). Larry's autobiography, Affective Memories: How Chance and The Theater Saved My Life , is a page-turning, brutally honest story of how Larry overcame a meage...

TVC 677.6: Actor and author Laurence Luckinbill ( The Boys in the Band , The Delphi Bureau , Star Trek V , Affective Memories: How Chance and The Theater Saved My Life ) shares a few memories of his years in Oakland, California, where he moved to be with his family in the 1950s; the many mentors in his life, including the Catholic nun who taught him to appreciate the power of words; and how he fir...

We'll be back with a brand new edition of TV Confidential later this week. In the meantime, please enjoy this clip from February 2015 in which Tony, Donna, and Ed  remember Khan! (CBS, 1975), the short-lived yet controversial series starring Khigh Dheigh as a contemporary private eye who is reminiscent of Charlie Chan. Khan! premiered Feb. 7, 1975 as part of This Week in TV History.

TVC 676.1: An encore presentation of an edition from The Sounds of Lost Television that originally aired in September 2011 in which Phil Gries plays audio highlights from Jackie Gleason , the short-lived CBS prime talk show that The Great One hosted for two months in early 1961, and a show that was borne out of necessity following the demise of You're in The Picture , the infamous game show hosted...

TVC 676.2: From September 2011: Phil Gries plays a clip from Jackie Gleason's interview with Bobby Darin on the Mar. 17, 1961 edition of Jackie Gleason , the short-lived prime talk show (CBS, 1961) that was borne out of necessity following the demise of You're in The Picture , the infamous game show hosted by The Great One that CBS canceled after its premiere broadcast on Jan. 20, 1961. This segme...

TVC 676.3: Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter welcome Erica Gavin , the actress known around the world as the star of Vixen! (1968), the satiric sexploitation movie produced, directed, and co-written by Russ Meyer that esteemed critic Roger Ebert once described as "the quintessential Russ Meyer film." Despite numerous attempts at censorship (including one of the first-ever X ratings and twenty-thre...

TVC 676.4: A return appearance by Jeffrey Sitcov , founder and president of Doors of Change , the non profit organization that uses arts and music to help keep teenage homeless youths off the streets (and, in many cases, find safe forever homes), and Lucie Arnaz , one of the celebrity spokespeople for Doors of Change. Topics this segment include the many partnerships that Jeffrey has forged with s...

TVC 676.5: Jeffrey Sitcov , founder and president of Doors of Change , and Lucie Arnaz , one of the celebrity spokespeople for Doors of Change, talk to Ed about the annual Concert of Hope that will benefit Doors of Change, and which is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 6 in San Diego. Also in this segment: Lucie shares a few memories of working with Neil Simon, Marlin Hamlisch, Carole Bayer Sager, and...

TVC 675.1: Ed welcomes back Julie Rogers Pomilia , granddaughter of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and the author of Your Heroes, My Grandparents: A Granddaughter's Love , the storybook tale of a little girl who just happened to have two famous relatives and who cherished every moment that she spent with them . Julie also worked very closely with Steve Nycklemoe, director of operations for The Hollywoo...

TVC 675.2: Julie Rogers Pomilia , granddaughter of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and the author of Your Heroes, My Grandparents: A Granddaughter's Love , talks to Ed about how why Roy Rogers and Dale Evans came to adorn their costumes with rhinestones; Dale's prolific writing career, which included thirty songs and many songs (including "Happy Trails" and "The Bible Tells Me So"); and why Roy and Dale...

TVC 675.3: Ed's guests are Emmy Award-winning actress, screenwriter, and novelist Louise Shaffer ( Ryan's Hope, Search for Tomorrow, The Edge of Night, All My Suspects, Talked to Death ) and film and television historian Tom Lisanti ( Talking Sixties Drive-In Movies, Carol Lynley: Her Film & TV Career in Thrillers, Fantasy and Suspense, Trippin' with Terry Southern: What I Think I Remember, Duelin...

TVC 675.4: Emmy Award-winning actress Louise Shaffer ( Ryan's Hope ) talks to Ed and guest co-host Tom Lisanti about the instrumental role that Ryan's Hope co-creator Claire Labine played in helping Louise transition from acting to writing, and why Maeve Ryan, Helen Gallagher's character on Ryan's Hope , was the hardest character on the series for Louise or any other writer to write for. Other top...

TVC 675.5: From June 2016: Actress and author Charlotte Stewart ( Little House on the Prairie, Twin Peaks, Little House in the Hollywood Hills ) shares a few memories about working with David Lynch on both Twin Peaks and Eraserhead , plus she talks to Ed about the "David Lynch-like" approaching to directing that Neil Young took when Charlotte worked with Young on the film Human Highway . David Lyn...

TVC 674.1: TV Confidential remembers Michael Schlesinger , the film executive and champion of classic movie restoration who was also the writer, producer, and director of The Misadventures of Biffle and Shooster , a collection of 1930s-style comedies—all starring Will Ryan and Nick Santa Maria —that pay homage to The Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, and other vintage comedy te...

TVC 674.2: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with singer, actor, producer, and entertainment legend Pat Boone . Pat stars, along with Michael Learned, Kevin Sorbo, Tom Wopat, and Dean Cain, in the biopic Our Crossroads , a true story of family and faith that is scheduled for release in July 2025. Pat and Kevin Sorbo also both play Thomas Jefferson in The American Miracle , another film...