TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

Please enjoy this special preview of our upcoming conversation with Jane Seymour, the actress known around the world as Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and, more recently, as the star and executive producer of Acorn TV's hit Irish mystery series Harry Wild. Season Five of Harry Wild recently premiered on Acorn TV and is marked by the highly anticipated on-screen reunion between Jane and her longtime co-...

TVC 741.4: Ed welcomes Perry Hibner, author of Centennial Revisited, a deep dive into the epic length, twelve-part, twenty-six hour miniseries that originally aired on NBC at various times throughout the 1978-1979 season. Centennial was ambitious in scope, majestic to watch, and almost universally praised by television critics for its quality production values and stellar acting performances. And...

TVC 741.5: Perry Hibner, author of Centennial Revisited, discusses some of the differences between Centennial the miniseries and the original James Michener novel; howthe tragic death of actor Richard Kelton affected production of the miniseries; how Andy Griffith saved the life of Sharon Gless during filming of the final episode; and how executive producer John Wilder originally wanted James Garn...

TVC 741.5a: Perry Hibner, author of Centennial Revisited, discusses some of his favorite characters in Centennial and shares a few final thoughts about both the miniseries and the legacy of James Michener. Centennial Revisited: An Oral History of the Epic TV Miniseries is available in hard cover, paperback, and as an eBook from DorrancePublishing.com, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and wherever b...

TVC 741.1: Phil Gries joins Ed for Part 2 of our special Independence Day-themed edition of The Sounds of Lost Television that looks back at how network television covered the Bicentennial celebration of July 4, 1976, including a few clips from In Celebration of US, the sixteen-hour CBS special, hosted by Walter Cronkite, that aired on July 4, 1976. Highlights this segment include coverage from th...

TVC 741.2: Phil Gries of Archival Television Audio plays a few more audio highlights of In Celebration of US, the day-long CBS special that aired on July 4, 1976, including Johnny Cash performing at the Pageant of Freedom festival in Washington, D.C.; coverage of the air show in St. Louis commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic in 1927; Charles Kura...

TVC 741.3: Phil Gries of Archival Television Audio and Ed discuss some of the other television offerings on the days and weeks leading up to July 4, 1976, including audio highlights of The Today Show's weeklong series of programs from Philadelphia. Audio courtesy Archival Television Audio.

TVC 741.6: Phil Gries of Archival Television Audio and Ed discuss Sing, America, Sing, the PBS special from March 1976 written by Oscar Brand (pictured above) that originated from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and a rarely heard Bicentennial Minute featuring Burgess Meredith. Audio courtesy Archival Television Audio. Also in this segment: Phil discusses the upcoming Blu-ray release of Ha...

TVC 740.1: Phil Gries joins Ed for a special Independence Day-themed edition of The Sounds of Lost Television that looks back at how network television covered the Bicentennial celebration of July 4, 1976. Audio, as always, is courtesy Archival Television Audio. Highlights this segment include the first few minutes of In Celebration of US, a sixteen-hour, day-long special produced by CBS News and...

TVC 740.2: Phil Gries, founder and owner of Archival Television Audio, and Ed discuss how In Celebration of US, the sixteen-hour CBS special hosted by Walter Cronkite that aired on July 4, 1976, not only was inclusive in tone and presentation, but marked the first time that a network had devoted day-long coverage to a single event since the moon landing of July 20, 1969.

TVC 740.3: Phil Gries of Archival Television Audio plays a few more audio highlights of In Celebration of US, the day-long CBS special, hosted by Walter Cronkite, that aired on July 4, 1976, including coverage of the largest naturalization ceremony in U.S. history and of the massive parade in Philadelphia that included representatives from the forty-eight continental states plus several other coun...

TVC 740.4: Phil Gries of Archival Television Audio plays more audio highlights of In Celebration of US, including coverage of the jazz festival held on July 4, 1976 that also commemorated the 100th birthday of jazz great Louis Armstrong, plus a few minutes of the Major League Baseball game that day between the Houston Astros and the Cincinnati Reds.  Audio courtesy Archival Television Audio. Image...

TVC 740.5: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Barry Weitz, co-creator and co-executive producer of Movin' On (NBC, 1974-1976), and Kathy Bird, author of Sundance Turns Fifty: The Amazing Legacy of Movin' On, a fun new book that not only takes you behind the scenes of the production of Movin' On, but introduces you to many of the people who are responsible for keeping the show alive...

TVC 740.6: Barry Weitz, co-creator and co-executive producer of Movin' On, and Kathy Bird, author of Sundance Turns Fifty: The Amazing Legacy of Movin' On, discuss the circumstances that resulted in NBC canceling Movin' On at the end of its second season, and how the NBC programming executive who made that decision, Marvin Antonowsky, got his comeuppance in a very public way. Sundance Turns Fifty...

Please enjoy this special preview of our upcoming conversation with Martha Reeves, the legendary Motown powerhouse who is also one of the most influential voices in American music. June is Black Music Month, and to celebrate the occasion Martha is releasing "To Know You is to Love You," the leadoff single for Searching, Martha's first new album in twenty-two years. Both the single and the video fo...

TVC 739.4: Ed welcomes Barry Weitz, co-creator and co-executive producer of Movin' On (NBC, 1974-1976), the classic TV series starring Claude Akins and Frank Converse as independent truck drivers that, in many ways, was a modern-day Western, and Kathy Bird, author of Sundance Turns Fifty: The Amazing Legacy of Movin' On, a fun new book that not only takes you behind the scenes of the production of...

TVC 739.5: Barry Weitz, co-creator and co-executive producer of Movin' On, and Kathy Bird, author of Sundance Turns Fifty: The Amazing Legacy of Movin' On, talk to Ed about how Movin' On was an unusual series not only because it was filmed entirely on location in different states throughout the continental U.S., but also insofar as Barry's production team scouted the locations first, then wrote ea...

TVC 739.6: Barry Weitz, co-creator and co-executive producer of Movin' On, and Kathy Bird, author of Sundance Turns Fifty: The Amazing Legacy of Movin' On, talk to Ed about how it would be impossible to make Movin' On today in the same way that Barry and his production partner, Phil D'Antoni, made the series when they produced it together in the mid 1970s. Also in this segment: Barry shares an ane...

TVC 738.2: Via remote from the Hollywood Museum: TV Confidential brings you coverage of the recent opening night ceremonies for From Norma Jean to Marilyn Monroe: A Centennial Celebration, a new exhibit at the Hollywood Museum that features, among other items, an exclusive look at never-before-published photographs from George Barris' last photo sessions with Marilyn Monroe, which occurred in mid...

TVC 738.3: Via remote from the Hollywood Museum: TV Confidential brings you more highlights of the opening night ceremonies for From Norma Jean to Marilyn Monroe: A Centennial Celebration, a new exhibit at the Hollywood Museum that commemorates the 100th birthday of the beloved screen legend. For tickets and more information, go to TheHollywoodMuseum.com. This segment includes remarks from guest s...

TVC 738.3: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Hall of Fame radio broadcaster Don Sainte-Johnn, author of San Francisco's Last Top 40 Disc Jockey, a memoir of Don's life and career behind the microphone. Topics this segment include how KFRC transitioned from Top 40 radio to big band in 1986—a successful format change that continued for seven years; why Don chose to stay at KFRC as p...

TVC 738.4: Ed welcomes back actor, comedian, voice artist, and impressionist Jim Meskimen (Landman, Gaslit, Welcome to Chippendales, The Big Door Prize). Topics this segment include how Jim's early background acting in commercials provided a training ground for delivering a full performance, even when doing a one-line, one-scene, five-second bit (such as his recent appearance as the "cranky diver"...

TVC 738.5: Actor, comedian, voice artist, and impressionist Jim Meskimen talks to Ed about when he first discovered his gift for mimicry; how his repertoire includes voices that most people probably wouldn't think of as impressionist material (such as actor Paul Giamatti); and how he determines when to add a new voice to his arsenal. Jim's latest movie, Hungry, becomes available for viewing on dem...

TVC 737.1: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with David Spencer, award-winning musical dramatist, author, critic, musical theatre teacher, and the author of The Novelizers, a deep dive into the world of media tie-in writing that not only introduces readers to many of the people who have adapted film and TV screenplays into original tie-in novels, while also making the case that tie-in...

TVC 737.2: David Spencer, author of The Novelizers, talks to Ed about how he came to write Passing Fancy: Alien Nation, Book 6 (Pocket Books, 1994), the tie-in novel based on the Alien Nation television series (FOX, 1989-1990). Also in this segment: the Three Most Common Misconceptions About Tie-In Novels, plus three examples of tie-in novels that were unauthorized. The Novelizers: An Affectionate...