TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

From March 2020: Legendary actor, author, and activist Ed Asner (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant, Elf, Disney Pixar’s UP, Briarpatch) talks about the roles that actor Richard Crenna and The House on Greenapple Road—a made-for-TV movie produced by Quinn Martin—both played in helping him land his signature role of Lou Grant. Ed Asner passed away on Sunday, Aug. 29 at age ninety-one. 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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From October 2020: 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 the West Bottoms of Kansas City to the Bright Lights of Hollywood, not only pays tribute to each of his cast members on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, but reveals the persons on whom he based his portrayal of Lou Grant. Ed Asner passed away on Sunday, Aug. 29 at age ninety-one. 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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From October 2020: Actor and author Ed Asner (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant, Son of a Junkman, The Grouchy Historian) 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. Ed Asner passed away on Sunday, Aug. 29 at age ninety-one. 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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From October 2020: Ed, Tony, and Donna continue their conversation with 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. Topics this segment include Ed’s experiences playing two other iconic characters: Santa Claus, which he famously did in Elf, and God Almighty, whom Ed has played on at least two occasions (including the critically acclaimed political comedy God Help Us). Ed Asner passed away on Sunday, Aug. 29 at age ninety-one.  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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 552.1: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Steve Beverly, recently retired professor of broadcast journalism at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. Besides his extensive background as a TV news professional, Steve has twenty-five years experience doing play-by-play for men’s and women’s college basketball on television, including thirteen years on a national level. Topics this segment include what it takes to make a big call on television, as well as some of the announcers who have inspired Steve, which include Dick Enberg and Ray Scott.  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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 552.2: Steve Beverly shares a few more memories from his twenty-five-year career calling men’s and women’s basketball games at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee (including thirteen years on a national level), including the importance of keeping the broadcast entertaining, even if that day’s game becomes one-sided. Also in this segment: Steve lets our listeners know what’s on tap in September on Steve Beverly’s TV Classics, the weekly TCM-like festival of classic TV shows that streams every week at EPlusTV6.com. 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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 552.3: Ed welcomes Susan Silver, one of the original writers for The Mary Tyler Moore Show and one of the very first female writers to break the glass ceiling in the world of TV comedy. Topics this segment include the integral role that Garry Marshall played in helping Susan make that breakthrough, and the many ways in which her personal story arc resembles that of Mary Richards. Susan’s memoir, Hot Pants in Hollywood: Sex, Secrets and Sitcoms, is available as a print edition through Amazon.com and as an audiobook through Audible.com. Susan’s radio commentary, Susan Says with Susan Silver, is heard on RobinHoodRadio.com and on Apple Podcasts. 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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 552.4: Author, speaker, and television pioneer Susan Silver talks to Ed about some of her early TV writing credits, which include what would have been a pivotal episode of That Girl; some of her other mentors in television, which include producer George Eckstein; and the unlikely circumstances that resulted in her dating comedian Lenny Bruce one New Year’s Eve night. Susan’s memoir, Hot Pants in Hollywood: Sex, Secrets and Sitcoms, is available as a print edition through Amazon.com and as an audiobook through Audible.com. Susan’s radio commentary, Susan Says with Susan Silver, is heard on RobinHoodRadio.com and on Apple Podcasts. 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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 552.5: Ed welcomes three-time Emmy Award winner Beau Bridges and his daughter, actress/director Emily Bridges. Beau and Emily are the co-playwrights of Acting: The First Six Lessons, an adaptation of a book by Richard Boleslawski about a dedicated acting teacher who not only teaches an aspiring young actress the craft of acting, but dispels invaluable life lessons to her as well. Originally published in 1933, Acting: The First Six Lessons has held a special place in the Bridges family for three generations. Topics this segment include how Beau and Emily approached adapting the source material into a play (and, later, into a film). For our listeners in Southern California, Beau Bridges and Emily Bridges will perform a staged reading of Acting: The First Six Lessons at Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga Canyon, California on Friday, Sept. 17 beginning at 8pm. Seating will be socially distanced; masks will be required as recommended by the CDC and L.A. County on the day of the performance. See Theatricum.com for tickets and more information. Emily Bridges also directed the film version of Acting: The First Six Lessons, which features Beau, her, and other members of the Bridges family discussing the importance of Boleslawski’s book. A screening of Acting: The First Six Lessons will take place on Sunday, Sept. 12 as part of the Burbank Film Festival. Beau and Emily will take part in a Q & A session after the screening. See BurbankFilmFest.org for more information on that event. 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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 552.6: Beau Bridges and his daughter, actress/director Emily Bridges, talk to Ed about the important role that Theatricum Botanicum has played in both of their performing lives. Beau also answers a few questions about some of his other film, TV, and stage roles, including working with David Janssen on The Fugitive early in his career and his approach to playing such historical figures as Benjamin Franklin and legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. Beau Bridges and Emily Bridges will perform a staged reading of their play, Acting: The First Six Lessons, at Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga Canyon, California on Friday, Sept. 17 beginning at 8pm. Seating will be socially distanced; masks will be required as recommended by the CDC and L.A. County on the day of the performance. See Theatricum.com for tickets and more information. Emily Bridges also directed the film version of Acting: The First Six Lessons, which features Beau, her, and other members of the Bridges family. A screening of Acting: The First Six Lessons will take place on Sunday, Sept. 12 as part of the Burbank Film Festival. Beau and Emily will take part in a Q & A session after the screening. See BurbankFilmFest.org for more information on that event. 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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 551.1: Steve Beverly, game show historian and professor emeritus of broadcast journalism at Union University (Jackson, TN), joins Ed to discuss the various issues surrounding Sony Pictures Television’s controversial selection of Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards as the new permanent host of the popular game show, officially succeeding Alex Trebek (pictured, with Steve). NOTE: Our conversation with Steve was recorded on Friday, Aug. 13. One week later, on Friday, Aug. 20, Richards announced that he would step down as host of Jeopardy! in light of revelations, published Wednesday, Aug. 18, that he had made numerous remarks that demeaned women, Jews, and little people on a podcast he once hosted. Sony Pictures then announced that it would resume the practice of guest hosts on Jeopardy! for the time being. 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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 551.2: A return appearance by Emmy Award winner Ron Bacon, a true pioneer of network TV production who wore many hats throughout his thirty-five-year career, which spanned more than 12,500 broadcasts, covering just about every type of programming imaginable. Topics this segment include how Ron’s background in filming documentaries for Dick Clark Productions served him well when he made The Kite Song, a thirty-minute dramatic short that Ron wrote, produced, filmed, and directed in 1967. Though made on a shoestring budget, the film was considered avant-garde at the time Ron originally made it, and still holds up today. You can enjoy The Kite Song for free at RonBacon.net. 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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 551.3: Emmy Award winner Ron Bacon takes Ed behind the scenes of ABC's coverage of the 1984 Summer Olympics, including the many ways in which the production of those Games set the standard for Olympic broadcasts since. Ron won his Emmy for his work on the 1984 Games.  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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 551.4: Television pioneer Ron Bacon talks to Ed about how ABC came to acquire the rights to the Academy Awards in 1960 (and why that was such a coup for the network at the time); his various responsibilities on a typical Oscarcast (which included editing the three-hour broadcast down to fifty-five minutes, for telecast the next day overseas); and how Vanessa Redgrave’s controversial acceptance speech during the 1978 Oscars caused trouble for Ron after he had completed editing the overseas telecast. You can enjoy Ron’s thirty-minute dramatic short, The Kite Song, for free at RonBacon.net. 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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 551.5: Ed welcomes actress and director Ellen Geer, daughter of legendary actor Will Geer, and the artistic director of Theatricum Botanicum, the outdoor amphitheatre that Buzz magazine named one of the coolest places in Los Angeles. Founded by Will Geer in 1973, and located in the rustic woods of Topanga Canyon, Theatricum recently resumed outdoor performances after being shuttered last year because of COVID-19, offering a full schedule of theatre, music, and family entertainment every weekend through Sunday, Nov. 7 (including productions of two Shakespeare plays, Julius Caesar and A Midsummer’s Night Dream, and a new play, The Last, Best Small Town by John Guerra), plus a special Friday night salon series, Under the Oaks, every week in September. Seating for all performances will remain socially distanced; masks will be required as recommended by the CDC and L.A. County on the day of each performance. See Theatricum.com for tickets and more information. 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 link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices