Favorite TV Shows

Films, TV shows, and books of the 'modern' era
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mrsl
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Post by mrsl »

Regarding this threads' topic, I forgot to mention in my listing of favorites, Murder She Wrote. Yes, I was a big fan. I love Angela in that show, and I loved looking for the old stars to show up.

Anne
Anne


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klondike

Post by klondike »

mrsl wrote:Glad to see someone else on these boards except me and cmvgor all weekend.

Moira: I'm beginning to worry about our Klondike, poor thing must be suffering from some sort of snow fever or something. First he's put out because we don't think of him as the Hunk of Nome, and now he's dreaming up a stalker! Klondike, please come in from the cold!!!

BTW, I'm assuming those photos are your dogs. If so, if you can, would you post a few of the Huskies here on board? My little granddaughter loves Huskies, and she makes me scroll all the time to find your posts so she can see the pictures. I can't find the one with the puppies, she loved that one. When her other grandma took her to Build-a-Bear, she picked out a Huskie with a Huskie puppy, and a doghouse for both.

Thanks,

Anne

Anne, all I can say to you about my bizarre romantic fantasies is that my wife of 30 years sympathizes; she likes to nod non-commitally, wait for the Guinness suds to drip out of my beard, and then "shoot me down".
As for the dogs in those photos, I do (or did) belong to most of them, and to accomodate your granddaughter's commendable good taste (I can deny my own granddaughter nothing), I will do my best to swap up my avatar on a daily basis (starting tonight) with different dog photos, until I run out of new ones that can be reduced to adequate pixel size.
But -
Only if you allow me to correct you on a small but critical point:
None of those dogs are "huskies"!
They are all Alaskan Malamutes . . an entirely separate, equally ancient breed of sled dogs, which, although at first glance might look similar, actually resemble Siberian Huskies no more closely than a Rotweiller does, say, a Bernese Mountain Dog, or a Boxer would a Doberman Pinscher.
Your granddaughter might even enjoy comparing the Standards for the two breeds on the official AKC website!
The canine stars of such movies as "Lost Boys", "Journey of Natty Gann", "Lara Croft, Tomb Raider", "White Fang", "White Fang II", "Nikki, Wild Dog of the North", and of TV series like "Sgt. Preston", and "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" were all Malamutes. 8)
I have owned, bred, whelped, raised, trained, shown & mushed Mals for the past 36 years, and owe much of my life's happiness to them. :D
Give your granddaughter my best!

Klondike
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mrsl
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Post by mrsl »

Klondike:

If Lynzi saw this, she would shoot me. I knew that. I don't know what I was thinking when I kept saying 'huskie', she would definitely have corrected me with one of her exasperated "Grandma", and one of the looks my daughter swears she inherited from me.


Anne
Anne


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* * * * * * * * What is past is prologue. * * * * * * * *

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MissGoddess
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Re: Favorite TV Shows

Post by MissGoddess »

I wasn't sure I should start a new thread to post a new Movie Morlocks article on the subject, so with permission, I will just dust this one off. *cough* cough*

I love classic TV shows and think the performers who acted in them, many of them veterans of countless movies, others just finding their niche in the "vast wasteland", were as talented as any of their colleagues. It seems morlock Greg Ferrara agrees, saying in part:

"....Nevertheless, before the seventies, being in a sitcom set you in stone as an actor not to be taken seriously. And yet, when I watch these very sitcoms now, I see talent so immense I wish there was something more important than an Emmy we could hand out to let them know how much we appreciated their talents. "

Here! Here!

You can read Greg's article in its entirety here at TCM:

http://moviemorlocks.com/2012/06/13/gro ... t=My+Yahoo


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"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
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JackFavell
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Re: Favorite TV Shows

Post by JackFavell »

MissG,

I was trying to find a thread devoted to TV Shows You've Watched Lately, or maybe more to the point, CLASSIC TV Shows You've Watched Lately. But now I run across your post here, so I think I will join in with your praise of the actors and actresses of TV in the past.

In the last week, I've watched so much great stuff, and all of it was classic TV.

First, I saw my very favorite episode of Bewitched, on MeTV. I didn't remember it at all until I accidentally flipped to it because there was nothing on TCM that I wanted to watch. I occasionally watch Bewitched on MeTV, but they had been showing all the later ones, and I'm kind of a Dick York fan, so they weren't doing much for me. Anyway, when I changed the station, it was an episode I always loved, but barely remembered.

Sam and Darrin get into a tiff when she asks him whether he would have married her had he known she was a witch. Endora tells Sam that Darrin (or Darwood) would not have married her if he had known and the bet is on! Endora sends Sam back in time, letting her change the scenario of his proposal to her, instead telling him that she's a witch BEFORE he makes the decision to get married. Darrin pulls through, but things spiral out of control a bit after that, with neither Sam nor Endora being satisfied to stop at the point where the other one is proven right. Finally Darrin gets a chance to prove he loves Sam. It's a wonderfully twisty episode, called What Every Young Man Should Know, and you can see it here:

[youtube][/youtube]

Then I discovered another classic TV station this week called Antenna TV. It's another of those in between stations on Smart TV's. I was amazed at the shows on this channel... lots of great classics and a whole different lineup than MeTV has. I ran into It Takes a Thief, gosh, I forgot how much I liked this show when I was a kid. Holy smokes, the one I watched ended up having Bette Davis on it, as an old con artist named Bessie who was friends with Al's dad. Great stuff! SO entertaining. I was in love with Robert Wagner when I was about 10, now I see why. Love the theme song too.

After that episode, we watched some Hogan's Heroes, nothing special, but some fun with Schulz pretending to be Col. Klink. John Banner was just so good. And there's that theme song....

Then this morning I sat down and watched Jack Benny. WOW. He's my very favorite. Then Burns and Allen, which I didn't get to watch. Later this afternoon, when I got home, there was a show on that looked sort of familiar - at first I thought the opening was from The Fugitive, or maybe Man in a Suitcase, but it turned out to be a GEM of a show called Crisis. This must have been an anthology series, and you know I like those kinds of shows.... this one starred Herschel Bernardi as a lawyer with leukemia, and his client Dean Stockwell, who refuses to save himself from a murder rap. It was quite simply great, with Bernardi giving a bravura performance trying to help another man live when he knows he's going to die. I will definitely watch this show again!

I haven't seen the whole lineup on Antenna yet, but I think Barney Miller is on tonight... :D :D :D
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: Favorite TV Shows

Post by Rita Hayworth »

Antenna TV is fantastic ... I watched about 3-4 hours of programming a week - and I just dig it altogether. I find it a breath of fresh air ... and the shows are a classic introduction of a show that is meant to be.
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MissGoddess
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Re: Favorite TV Shows

Post by MissGoddess »

Hi, Wendy! Welcome to my world. :D

I saw that "It Takes a Thief" with Bette a while back and thought she was having a grand time playing a crook trying to get her game back. :) I had never seen this show until I got Antenna TV on my lineup. Every Sunday morning I enjoy Jack Benny and George and Gracie with my breakfast. A great way to start any day! I'm only sorry I missed "Crisis", though most of the Suspense Theater episodes are also available on YouTube at this channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/GR160289

I haven't seen that particular episode of "Bewitched" in a while so I'll check it out, thanks! I definitely prefer the York "Derwood" to Sergeant's. too!

Frankly, I don't know what I would have done with Me-TV and Antenna these past few months. :D
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
-- Will Rogers
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JackFavell
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Re: Favorite TV Shows

Post by JackFavell »

I hear you, Miss G! When my brain just can't deal with anything, it's a pleasure to watch something that gets to the point in an hour or half hour. I forgot to mention I watched an episode of I Dream of Jeannie somewhere along the way too. It's silly, but isn't laughter good for you?

Thanks for the Suspense Theater youtube link! I didn't realize that Crisis was the name of the episode, not the show. I may just have a little Suspense Theater festival this week. Any recommendations?
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: Favorite TV Shows

Post by Rita Hayworth »

MissGoddess wrote:

Frankly, I don't know what I would have done with Me-TV and Antenna these past few months. :D
Me either! :D
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movieman1957
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Re: Favorite TV Shows

Post by movieman1957 »

I heard a man on TV talking about Jean Stapleton upon her death and the role "All In The Family" played in TV history. He said basically that it was a dividing point in TV history.

He mentioned that comedy shows from the 60s seemed too tame for all the social and political upheaval in the country. He seemed to have a particular point against "The Flying Nun." With racial problems, the war and other stuff it was all too tame. Along comes "All In The Family" and the game changes.

He's probably right. Though "Family" was not particularly a favorite I can see his point.

BTW, love Benny and Burns and Allen.
Chris

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MissGoddess
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Re: Favorite TV Shows

Post by MissGoddess »

JackFavell wrote:I hear you, Miss G! When my brain just can't deal with anything, it's a pleasure to watch something that gets to the point in an hour or half hour. I forgot to mention I watched an episode of I Dream of Jeannie somewhere along the way too. It's silly, but isn't laughter good for you?


some cat said it was the "best medicine"...i agree!

Thanks for the Suspense Theater youtube link! I didn't realize that Crisis was the name of the episode, not the show. I may just have a little Suspense Theater festival this week. Any recommendations?


Plenty! :D

One with Robert Ryan as a father facing the generation gap with a vengeance (how else would Ryan face it?):
"Are there any more like you out there?"


A favorite starring Clint Walker as a mysterious stranger come to a tiny mountain community:
"The Mysterious Stranger"


A very moody and noirish entry directed by Robert Altman (one of the few to be filmed in black-and-white):
"Dark & Savage Night"


Another favorite starring Anne Francis:
"The Machine That Played God"


Lee Marvin did an interesting two parter which reunited him with Vera Miles:
The Case Against Paul Ryker
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
-- Will Rogers
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JackFavell
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Re: Favorite TV Shows

Post by JackFavell »

I wasn't really into All in the Family either, Chris, I was too young for it. But I could appreciate that it was a game changer, and the acting on it was pretty great.

MissG - thanks for the recommendations! I saw Robert Ryan's head stop motioned on one of the episodes at that youtube channel, and figured I'd start with that one, but I didn't get to it today. I watched an episode of One Step Beyond instead, with Marcel Dalio as a ghost, trying to murder Cloris Leachman! I didn't think it was very good, they gave it away right at the beginning, but it passed a half and hour nicely.
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Re: Favorite TV Shows

Post by Lzcutter »

All in the Family was definitely a game changer. I was watching Mad Men last night and the episode centered around the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. As the characters reacted to the convention, the politics and the history that took place, it came back to me like a huge wave of what a tumultuous time it was. There were definite lines drawn back then, based in large part to the Vietnam War and how you felt about that war. I remember the dinner time arguments, the hope that was almost impossible to sustain, the history.

In the modern world we live in, television often reflects the world we live in the post-9/11 era. In fact, it wasn't long after that seminal event that tv shows started doing allegorical takes on the changes we were living through and the we as a country and as individuals reacted to the tragedy.

That barely happened in the 1960s and while there may have been some ground breaking movies of the week, there wasn't much in terms of ground breaking weekly series. All in the Family helped change all of that and television as we have experienced it ever since, has been better for it.
Lynn in Lake Balboa

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MissGoddess
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Re: Favorite TV Shows

Post by MissGoddess »

JackFavell wrote: I watched an episode of One Step Beyond instead, with Marcel Dalio as a ghost, trying to murder Cloris Leachman! I didn't think it was very good, they gave it away right at the beginning, but it passed a half and hour nicely.

I think I saw that one, too---was it set in France? I actually enjoyed it! It didn't end great but in certain moments there was a kind of moodiness to it I thought was cool. And a different setting made it interesting.
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
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JackFavell
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Re: Favorite TV Shows

Post by JackFavell »

Yes, that's the one. I liked the moodiness of it, and Dalio was great, loved the setting. Just wish there was more to it than just a murderous ghost.
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