TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

From May 2011: TV Confidential celebrates what would have been Johnny Carson's 95th birthday with this clip from a special edition of The Sounds of Lost Television featuring rarely heard audio from The King of Late Night's first ten years as host of The Tonight Show . This segment includes a clip from the Oct. 1, 1963 edition of The Tonight Show , Carson's first anniversary show. Guests that night...

TVC 512.1: Ed, Tony, and Donna welcome back Stan Goldman , tenured professor of criminal law and evidence law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, and a longtime legal analyst for such national TV, radio and print venues as CNBC, CBS, King World, Fox News Channel, and the New York Daily News . Given the recent confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, many questions remain as to how the r...

TVC 512.2: Stan Goldman , tenured professor of criminal law and evidence law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, provides analysis of some of the various issues following the death of Supreme Court Justice Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg, including the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill Ginsburg's seat, and the implications that could have on both the 2020 presidential election and t...

TVC 512.3: From May 2013: Ed welcomes Jennifer Armstrong , television historian and author of such books as Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted and All The Brilliant Minds Who Helped Make The Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic .  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 gr...

TVC 512.4: Ed, Tony, and Donna welcome back Ed Asner , the eight-time Emmy Award-winning actor known around the world as Lou Grant both on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and his own hour-long spinoff series, Lou Grant . The 2020-2021 television marks the fiftieth anniversary of the premiere of the Moore show and, by extension, the Lou Grant character. Ed Asner's memoir, Son of a Junkman: My Life from t...

TVC 512.5: Actor and author Ed Asner ( The Mary Tyler Moore Show , Lou Grant , Son of a Junkman ) talks to Ed, Tony, and Donna about "Chuckles Bites the Dust," arguably the most famous episode of the Moore show; how Lou Grant brought many viewers into the world of print journalism; and who Ed would like to see cast as himself, if a movie were made about his life. Son of a Junkman includes many sto...

Part 3 of our discussion with Stan Goldman , tenured professor of criminal law and evidence law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, and the founding director of the Loyola Center for the Study of Law and Genocide .  The son of a Holocaust survivor, Stan Goldman is also the author of Left to the Mercy of a Rude Stream: The Bargain That Broke Adolf Hitler and Saved My Mother , the remarkable but tr...

From February 2013: Actor and author James McEachin ( Tenafly, First Monday, Tell Me a Tale ) talks to Ed about some of his many TV guest appearances in the 1970s, including working with Jack Webb, James Garner, and David Janssen.

From October 2010: Actor and author Frank Bank ( Leave It to Beaver, Call Me Lumpy ) shares a few thoughts on the eternal appeal of Leave It to Beaver . This conversation was recorded on Oct. 16, 2010, a few hours after Barbara Billingsley passed away that day at age 94. Stu Shostak of Stu's Show co-hosts this segment.  Want to advertise/sponsor our show? TV Confidential  has partnered with Advert...

From October 2010: Frank Bank, the actor known around the world as Lumpy Rutherford on Leave It to Beaver , shares a few memories of actress Barbara Billingsley, including why he considered her to be his "second mother," plus he shares a poignant story about the last time he saw Billingsley, at an event honoring Leave It to Beaver earlier in 2010. This conversation was recorded on Oct. 16, 2010, a...

TVC 511.1: Part 2 of a conversation that began earlier this year with Suzy Friendly about her thirty-five-year career in network television production. Suzy worked behind the scenes in many capacities, both above the line and below the line, in many genres, including variety specials; live telecasts such as the Emmy Awards, the NAACP Image Awards, and the Democratic National Telethon; such made-fo...

TVC 511.3: Greg Ehrbar reviews the Wonder Woman complete series Blu-ray release from Warner Archive. Topics this segment include how the 2017 Wonder Woman feature motion picture starring Gal Gadot compares with the classic Lynda Carter series. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? TV Confidential has partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle advertising/sponsorship requests for the podcast edition of o...

TVC 511.4: Greg and Ed talk about the differences between the CBS version of The New, Original Wonder Woman (1977-1979) and the thirteen ABC episodes (1976-1977), and how a fourth season of Wonder Woman would have looked like had it materialized. Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection is now available on Blu-ray from Warner Archive. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? TV Confidential has partnered...

TVC 511.4: Ed welcomes back Alison Arngrim, the actress known around the world as Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie . Alison Arngrim is getting ready to direct Rich Little in his very first virtual concert performance , Rich Little... Virtually Speaking . While the Little concert marks mark Alison's debut as a director, she has helped organize and produce many live comedy vehicles, plus...

TVC 511.5: Alison Arngrim talks to Ed about Twice Upon a Song , an upcoming movie that completed production last month in Utah (following all safety precautions recently instituted by the film and TV industry) and which also marks her first on-screen acting role, post-COVID. Other topics include Alison's involvement with Coach the World , where you can book a live interactive chat with your favori...

TVC 511.6: Greg Ehrbar looks back at The Peter Potamus Show (ABC, 1964-1966) as part of this bonus DVD report. 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@advertisecast.com  or click the...

TVC 511.7: Suzy Friendly talks some more with Ed about her career in TV production, including such projects as Laugh Trax , Presenting Susan Anton , the Democratic National Telethon, and the Emmy Awards telecast. 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 w...

From June 2013: Tony, Donna and Ed remember the five-year anniversary of the death of comedian George Carlin. Topics include Carlin's eternal fascination with language, his parodies of TV newscasts (often done with Flip Wilson), and, of course, hosting the premiere broadcast of Saturday Night Live on Oct. 11, 1975. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? TV Confidential  has partnered with AdvertiseCa...

From February 2014: Tony, Donna and Ed welcome Emmy Award-winning writer/producer Alan Zweibel, one of the original writers of Saturday Night Live and the author of Bunny, Bunny , the story of Alan's relationship with comedienne Gilda Radner. Topics this segment include how The Dick Van Dyke Show first inspired Alan to become a comedy writer; how the only barometer for SNL 's writers in the early...

From October 2014: Ed welcomes Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad, co-authors of Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, a behind-the-scenes look at the first ten years of the groundbreaking NBC late night series. Topics this segment include how the frankness and honesty of the early episodes of Saturday Night shocked many NBC executives (including those in Standards and Practices), a...

From April 2012: George Maharis talks to Ed about some of the many now-famous guest stars who appeared every week on Route 66 ; the long hours that he and Martin Milner spent on the road every week, filming the series in different locations across the country; and the unusual offer George once received from an admirer in Dallas, Texas. TV Confidential  has partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle ad...

From February 2016: Author and actor James Rosin talks to Ed about working with Martin Milner on two occasions on Adam-12 ; how the chemistry between Milner and George Maharis on Route 66 stemmed from their contrasting styles as actors; and how Milner's performance as Sgt. Pete Malloy on Adam-12 inspired many viewers to become police officers. Jim's books on television include Route 66: The Televi...

TVC 510.1: Ed welcomes three-time Emmy nominated costume designer Diana Eden . Diana's memoir, Stars in Their Underwear: My Unpredictable Journey from Broadway Dancer to Costume Designer for Some of Hollywood's Biggest Stars , is the remarkable story of a how young girl from England, after finding her promising career as a ballerina snatched away at age sixteen, reinvents herself, with pluck and d...

TVC 510.2: Emmy nominated costume designer Diana Eden talks to Ed about surviving the tragic fire at the MGM Grand Hotel in 1980; working with Cloris Leachman on The Facts of Life , Larry Hagman on Staying Afloat , and Debra Messing on Ned and Stacey ; and traveling with Diana Ross as her costume designer for her European tour and iconic Central Park concert. Diana's memoir, Diana's memoir, Stars...

TVC 510.3: From February 2014: Phil Gries joins Ed in the studio for a special edition of The Sounds of Lost Television featuring audio highlights of how the network TV evening broadcasts covered the Beatles phenomenon in November 1963, three months before the band's iconic appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? TV Confidential  has partnered with...