TV Guidance Counselor

May 19-25, 1979   This week Ken welcomes comedian and old buddy Allen Strickland Williams to the show.   Ken and Allen discuss Nick at Nite, Laverse and Shirley, Barney Miller, what kids watch now, Perfect Strangers, Doral II, no tar = small junk, Pall Mall decisions, disco and pyschotic breaks, Fresh sexy t-shirts, AYDS, PBS funding, Mr. Rogers, Jimmy Carter's press secretary's thoughts on Reagan...

March 19th, 1994   This week Ken welcomes TV producer, writer, and author of the new novel "The End of All Things", Sandra Chwialkowska to the show. Ken and Sandra discuss moving from Canada to the US to work in television, growing up in Toronto, the US Canadian co-productions of the 90s, the beauty of telling stories on television vs in films, the complexity of character, the move to serialized s...

This week Ken welcomes actor, writer, and all around great human Amy Stoch to the show.   Ken and Amy discuss fabled central time, growing up in Ohio, Love Boat, having a 9pm bedtime, the Clevland Browns, the artistic nature of Clevland, Clevland Playhouse, PhD studies, Mary Martin in Peter Pan, Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, coming into the acting business as a model, Star Search, catalog work, having...

Radio Times UK May 29 - June 4, 1993   This week Ken welcomes YouTuber, maker, do-er and fellow horror fan Dan Does to the show. Be sure to follow Dan on YT https://www.youtube.com/@Dan_Does/ Ken and Dan discuss road tripin' in America, The Hitcher, driving, Roger Ebert's review of The Hitcher, royalty, The Queen, TV Times, Wales editions of the Radio Times, Jubilees, growing up in Essex in South...

It's an annual tradition as Ken goes week by week through the last year and tells you all the dirt. PLUS Listener questions and a preview of 2025!

This week to celebrate the Holidays Ken welcomes Taffeta Darling back to the show. Ken and Taffeta fullfill their greatest Christmas wishes as they browese three, count em THREE Sears Wishbooks, from 1983, 1989 and 1994 and each pick 12 gifts they would like from that year. Follow along by snagging the PDFs of these catalogs for FREE if you are a Patron over at patreon.com/tvguidancecounselor Happ...

July 21-27, 1990 This week Ken welcomes film producer and host of the Hollywood Gold podcast, Daniela Taplin Lundberg. Ken and Daniela discuss growing up in show business with an actress mother and producer father, producing Mean Streets, La Bamba, hating Coach, Murphy Brown, Action Jackson, the teen TV stars of the 80s and 90s, Hollywood poor, going to events for the food, Doogie Howser PI, the m...

December 8-14, 1979 This week Ken welcomes former Farside singer/guitarist, voice actor, and all around good dude Popeye Vogelsang to the show. Ken and Popeye discuss disrespecting the Fonz, leaving a legacy, where Potsy and Ralph Malph ended up, knocking out Paulie Shore, nicknames, ADR, voicing for video games, smoking, putting allen wrenches in cigarette filters, low tar, lower tar, even lower...

This week Ken welcomes the fantastic author (The Keeper, The Reformatory, The Wishing Pool), Screenwriter (The Twilight Zone), educator and producer Tananarive Due to the show. Ken and Tananarive discuss how they are doing these days, how allegory serves marginalized people, genre pieces, growing up in Florida, reading your first Stephen King novel at 16 (The Shining), Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Bro...

April 11 -16 , 2004 This week Ken welcomes Bridge 9 Records and Sully Brands impresario Chris Wrenn to the show. Ken and Chris discuss their shared Boston punk rock history, the 2004 Red Sox World Series victory, regional variations, Ken's complete lack of sports knowledge, very specific niches, T-shirts that are hard to explain, building a community space, the sports punk rock overlap in Boston,...

May 2-8, 1981 This week Ken welcomes the amazingly talented artist, painter, and kindred spirit Eric White to the show. Ken and Eric discuss mutual friend Moon Zappa, BYOTVG, Eric's last solo show in NYC, worshiping garbage, saving things meant to be thrown away, Made for TV movies, Someone I Touched, Real People, That's Incredible!, Jefferson's flashbacks, prog rock, a mythical 1970s, TV things t...

FALL PREVIEW ALERT FALL PREVIEW September 13-19, 1997 This week Ken welcomes certified TV Genius, Saint behind the Strategic Sitcom Reserve, the man behind the Sitcom People Twitter and co-host of the Random Access Television Podcast, Zach Wilson.  Ken and Zach discuss Plex, the Jackie Thomas Show, the mystery of how Zach found TVGC, how sometimes things just make sense, Zach's early love of comed...

August 15-21, 1987 In a shocking move, this week Ken welcomes a guest BACK to Reid Manor for a LIVE recording not via satellite, it's old friend, author, bass player of Pete Holmes' favorite Boston punk band and fellow punk rock kid, Tripp Underwood. Ken and Tripp discuss what it means to be "from Boston", suburban posers, being only the second person to record an episode at the house since COVID...

2024 Halloween Special! October 17-23, 1998 Happy Halloween! This week Ken welcomes Allison Pregler BACK to the show, and Phelan Porteous to the show for the first time. Ken, Allison and Phelan discuss Allison's return to the show, the illusion of time, Ken's household's love of Phelan and Allison's videos, The Baywatch Hulu documentary, E! True Hollywood Stories, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horrors...

June 23-29th, 2008 This week Ken welcomes the very funny comedian behind the new album ,"Country Queer," and the podcast, "Y'all Gay," Ali Clayton. Ken and Ali discuss growing up with exotic pets, unique regional accents in cartoons, Bugs Bunny's Brooklyn twang, the North Carolina drawl of "The Andy Griffith Show," Andy Griffith's surprising acting range, "A Face in the Crowd,"  Dr. Oz's bizarre S...

February 15-21, 1992 This week Ken welcomes the NY based writer, comedian and actor Laura Merli to the show. Ken and Laura discuss being a rare person who didn't grow up in Boston or go to school in Boston yet lived in Boston, taking the first job you get offered, growing up in New Jersey, commuting to NYC, panes of glass falling from the Hancock Tower, growing up with the TV Guide channel instead...

November 2-8, 1996 This week Ken welcomes Denver Comedian Geoff Tice to the show. Ken and Geoff discuss how Denver become a comedy hub reminiscent of Boston's golden era,being both a comic and graphic designer, Colorado's vibrant comedy scenne, Comedy Works,expert insights on the evolution of comedy flyers and the quirky charm of '90s TV Guide advertisements, legendarily bad TV shows like "It's Ab...

March 24- April 1, 1984  This week Ken welcomes Philly comic Chip Chantry BACK to the show.   Ken and Chip discuss uninspired TV landscape of 1984, significant TV weddings, his last visit and the evolution of virtual podcasting since then, the fascinating world of VR and hologram technology, take a historical detour into the "Pepper's Ghost" illusion—a magician's trick from the 18th century now re...

June 19-26, 1976 This week Ken welcomes Professor of Russian & Slavic Studies and Senior Academic Convenor for the Global Network at New York University and author of Marvel Comics in the 1970s: The World Inside Your Head (Cornell, 2022), Meanwhile, in Russia…: Russian Internet Memes and Viral Video (Bloomsbury, 2022),  Soviet-Self-Hatred: The Secret Identities of Postsocialism (Cornell, 2023), El...

January 3-9, 1998 This week Ken welcomes comedian, filmmaker and all around good dude Jeff Cerulli to the show. Ken and Jeff discuss documentary films, hot dog eating contests, TV Eating Contests, The Simpsons, Senior Year of High School, The Spin Doctors, mail order CDs, TV Guide appearing in movies, The Ice Storm, The Postman, Equal, smoking bans, beepers, the top 12 Simpsons episodes (circa 199...

May 18, 2018 This week Ken welcomes comedian Caitlin Peluffo. Ken and Caitlin discuss chipper hellos, being pumped, Caitlin's partner's love of Alice Cooper, Chubby Checker, Alice Cooper's Elvis story, growing up in the Bay Area, moving to NYC, depicting cities for the wealthy, Golden Retrievers, The Property Brothers, twins, the not twin sibling, home renovations, Jonathan Knight's farm house fix...

February 26 - March 3, 1972 RETURNING guests to the show comedians Irene Bremis (watch her special Sweetie) and TV's Frank Conniff join Ken this week. Ken, Irene and Frank discuss growing up in New York, the horrors of Staten Island, good pizza, racism, Mary Tyler Moore, Sherlock Holmes cigarettes, Doral Cigarettes, True Cigarettes, killing women, Rain Barrell, questionable protein stains, fabric...

  March 31 - April 6, 1990 This week Ken welcomes SF based comic behind the new special "They are Gonna Know", Richard Sarvate. Ken and Richard discuss nostalgia, doing your research, experiencing emotions, Bob Saget, America's Funniest Home Videos, how kids today wouldn't know what a VHS Camcorder is, growing up in Freemont CA, the great comedy scene in SF, the most disturbing heckle Jerry Seinfe...

August 1-7, 2004 This week Ken welcomes Maine's own Ricky from the Old Sorts of Words YouTube Channel. Ken and Ricky discuss hey girl hey, Judge Dredd, Millie the Model, how impressed Ken is by Patsy Walker, Tank Girl, UK Comics, pre MCU Comic Book Movies, Addams Family, the Addams Family movies, Krypto, being terrified of wrestling promos, Edward Gorey, going by nicknames of our given name, Charl...

May 3-9, 1997 This week Ken welcomes comedian and man behind the comedy special "Harangue" (watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9qlvlgkiJs), Kevin Casey White. Ken and Kevin discuss being live in Mexico City, international waters, loving John Carpenter, Big Trouble in Little China, smokers coughs, homaging the Thing title car, growing up in St. Louis, Xena, loving Lucy Lawless, The Evil D...