TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 638.2: From February 2018: Phil Gries and Ed continue their discussion about Harlem School 1970 , Phil's acclaimed "direct cinema" documentary that is also the only known feature-length documentary that was filmed inside an actual inner city public elementary school in the U.S. during the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s. For our listeners on the East Coast, Harlem School 1970 will be shown at the Maysl...

TVC 638.3: Greg Ehrbar and Ed discuss the recent Kino Lorber Blu-ray releases of The Edge of the World (1937) and Scarlet Street (1945). Want to advertise/sponsor our show? TV Confidential has partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle advertising/sponsorship requests for the podcast edition of our program. They're great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email sales@advertis...

TVC 638.4: Ed welcomes Pat Boone , the trailblazing singer, entertainer, humanitarian, and philanthropist who recently marked his seventieth year in show business and who will celebrate his ninetieth birthday this coming June 1. One of the first white artists to record rhythm and blues songs to mainstream audiences, Pat discusses his longstanding activism in support of African-American singers and...

TVC 638.5: Legendary entertainer Pat Boone shares a few memories from his career, including early encounters with Elvis Presley; the stance that Pat took against the government of South Africa in 1960 that resulted in South Africa suspending apartheid during the ten days that Pat performed in that country that year; and Pat's efforts to book Harry Belafonte as a guest on The Pat Boone Chevy Showro...

TVC 638.6: Greg Ehrbar and Ed discuss the recent MPI Home Video release of Master of Dark Shadows (2019), a comprehensive documentary about the life and career of Emmy Award-winning producer and director Dan Curtis ( Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker, Winds of War, War and Remembrance, Trilogy of Terror ). Master of Dark Shadows is available on DVD and Blu-ray through MPI Home Video . It is also ava...

From November 2018: A return appearance from author, journalist, screenwriter, raconteur, and novelist Marvin J. Wolf ( For Whom the Shofar Blows , A Scribe Dies in Brooklyn ). Marv's latest effort, A Tale of Two Rabbis , is the third in a series of mystery novels featuring Rabbi Ben, a crime-solving rabbi who was inspired, in part, by Paladin, the "traveling angel" who was the protagonist of the...

From November 2018: Screenwriter Marvin J. Wolf , creator of the Rabbi Ben mystery novel series, talks some more with Ed about the development of the Rabbi Ben character, including how Ben shares attributes of such television characters as Dr. Richard Kimble ( The Fugitive ), Buz Murdock and Tod Stiles ( Route 66 ), and, in one important respect, Jim Rockford ( The Rockford Files ). Marv's latest...

From November 2018: Our final segment with Marvin J. Wolf , screenwriter, journalist, and the creator of a series of mystery novels featuring Rabbi Ben, a master of the Torah, Talmud and Tae Kwon Do that one reader once described as a "Jewish 007." In the latest Rabbi Ben novel, A Tale of Two Rabbis , Ben reluctantly probes the disappearance of a rabbi in the Temple Hill area of Pittsburgh, Pennsy...

TVC 637.1: From February 2014: Phil Gries of Archival Television Audio brings us a special edition of The Sounds of Television that looks back at The Beatles' historic first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964, and the evolution of "Beatlemania" in the months that followed. This segment includes clips from Beatlemania , an ABC News special hosted by Bill Beutel and legendary New Yor...

TVC 637.2: Legendary record producer, music manager, author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker Simon Napier-Bell joins Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter for Part 2 of a conversation that began last week about the music scene in London during the Swinging Sixties. Simon's books on the music industry include Black Vinyl, White Powder , Sour Mouth, Sweet Bottom , I'm Coming to Take You to Lunch ,...

TVC 637.3: Legendary record producer, music manager, author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker Simon Napier-Bell talks to Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter about how Tom Jones came to record the title song for What's New Pussycat (1965) and how Simon convinced Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni to cast The Yardbirds in Blow-Up (1966). You can read Simon's Substack column for free at Subst...

TVC 637.4: Legendary record producer, music manager, author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker Simon Napier-Bell talks to Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter about The Scotch at St. James, one of the most elite clubs in London in the Swinging Sixties. Simon's books on the music industry include Black Vinyl, White Powder , Sour Mouth, Sweet Bottom , I'm Coming to Take You to Lunch , and You Don't...

TVC 637.5: Ed welcomes back New York Times bestselling author and Edgar Award-nominated writer and producer Lee Goldberg ( Spenser: For Hire, Monk, Sliders, Diagnosis Murder ). Lee's latest crime novels include Dream Town , the latest edition of the Eve Ronin mystery series, and Malibu Burning , a "dual track" novel about a con artist who uses a massive fire to masquerade an audacious heist and th...

TVC 637.6: New York Times bestselling author and Edgar Award-nominated writer and producer Lee Goldberg ( Spenser: For Hire, Monk, Sliders, Diagnosis Murder ) shares the back story of "Hard Boiled Murder," the famous episode of Diagnosis Murder that brought legendary TV detective Joe Mannix into the Mark Sloan universe (and vice versa). Lee's three new crime novels, Dream Town, Malibu Burning , an...

TVC 636.1: From January 2014: Phil Gries of Archival Television Audio brings us a special edition of The Sounds of Lost Television that looks back at the build-up to The Beatles' historic first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964, including rarely heard audio highlights of network TV news coverage from November1963 on The Fab Four's impact on music both in England and in America. Th...

TVC 636.2: From January 2014: Phil Gries of Archival Television Audio plays rarely heard audio highlights of how network TV news covered the arrival of The Beatles in the music scene, both in London and in America, in the months prior to The Fab Four's historic first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964. This segment includes a clip from Mike Wallace's report on the Feb. 7, 1964 edit...

TVC 636.3: Legendary record producer, music manager, author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker Simon Napier-Bell joins Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter for a look back at the music scene in London during the Swinging Sixties. Simon's books on the music industry include Black Vinyl, White Powder , Sour Mouth, Sweet Bottom , I'm Coming to Take You to Lunch , and You Don't Have to Say You Love M...

TVC 636.4: Legendary record producer, music manager, author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker Simon Napier-Bell talks to Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter about his years managing Diane & Nicky (the first interracial pop duo in music history) and John's Children and the events that led to Wham!'s historic 10-day visit to China in 1985. You can read Simon's Substack column for free at Substack...

TVC 636.5: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Barbara Feldon , the actress known around the world as Agent 99 on Get Smart . Barbara's new book, Getting Smarter: A Memoir , is an intimate look at her life and her romance with Lucien Feldon Verdeaux, the charming European to whom she was married at the time she began filming Get Smart , but who turned out to be not quite the man he...

TVC 636.6: Actress and author Barbara Feldon ( Get Smart , Getting Smarter: A Memoir , Living Alone and Loving It ) shares a few memories of her years co-starring with Don Adams on Get Smart . Also in this segment: A clip from our January 2013 conversation with Barbara in which she discusses her many appearances on the various Pyramid game shows and her friendship with Pyramid creator and producer...

TVC 635.1: From January 2014: A special edition of This Week in TV History that was originally recorded on Jan. 16, 2014, a day that marked the passing of two television icons: Dave Madden (Reuben Kinkaid on The Partridge Family ) and Russell Johnson (The Professor on Gilligan's Island ). In this segment, Tony, Donna, and Ed remember Russell Johnson, including a look at some of his other notable T...

TVC 635.2: From January 2014: Tony and Donna join Ed for a fond remembrance of actor Dave Madden (Reuben Kinkaid on The Partridge Family ), including a look at his voiceover career and his other contributions to television, such as his appearances on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and The Hollywood Palace . Want to advertise/sponsor our show? TV Confidential has partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle...

TVC 635.3: Greg Ehrbar joins Ed for a look at Get Smart (NBC/CBS, 1965-1970), the long-running spy satire starring Don Adams and Barbara Feldon and co-created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, including the excellent complete series DVD box set , produced by Paul Brownstein and Susan Kesler for Time-Life , that was designed specifically with Get Smart fans in mind. Greg describes the box set as "Barba...

TVC 635.4: Greg and Ed continue their look at the various home entertainment releases of Get Smart (NBC/CBS, 1965-1970), including the made-for-TV reunion movie Get Smart, Again! (ABC, 1989, available on Amazon Prime ), the 2008 reimagining starring Steve Carell, and the ill-fated 1979 feature motion picture The Nude Bomb . Other topics this segment include a look at some of Don Adams' television...

TVC 635.5: Ed welcomes back Barbara Feldon , the actress known around the world as Agent 99 on Get Smart . Barbara's new book, Getting Smarter: A Memoir , is an intimate look at her life and her romance with Lucien Feldon Verdeaux, the charming European to whom she was married at the time she began filming Get Smart , but who turned out to be not quite the man he had claimed to be. Topics this seg...