TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 627.5: Entertainment legend Ruta Lee shares a few memories from her life and career, including the epic story of how she helped her grandmother emigrate from Lithuania in 1963, and how Darren McGavin put down a deposit in Ruta’s name for a home in Palm Springs, early in Ruta’s career. Ruta’s memoir, Consider Your Ass Kissed, not only is the story of how a young girl—the daughter of Lithuanian immigrants—became one of the most legendary entertainers in Hollywood history through hard work and determination, but includes a treasure trove of authentic memories about the Golden Age of Entertainment, including her work opposite such leading men as Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson, James Garner, Fred Astaire, Robin Williams, Howard Keel, Bob Crane, and Frank Sinatra. Consider Your Ass Kissed is available right now at Amazon.com. Autographed editions are available exclusively at LarryEdmunds.com. For more about The Thalians, see Thalians.org 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 627.6: From November 2013: Phil Gries of Archival Television Audio plays excerpts from his May 1998 interview with longtime NBC announcer Don Pardo in which Pardo recalls the chaos that permeated the NBC newsroom on Nov. 22, 1963, in the moments immediately following the news that President John F. Kennedy had been shot, and how he was pressed into becoming an interim news anchor, reading AP news bulletins hot off the wire, until the usual network news team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley was in place. 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 626.1: Music and television historian Chuck Harter joins Ed for an in-depth look at The Monkees television series (NBC, 1966-1968) and why it still holds up today. Chuck interviewed Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and many other key Monkees personnel for Hey, Hey, We’re The Monkees, the excellent Disney Channel documentary, written by Chuck, that explores the history of The Monkees and the ongoing impact of the Monkees phenomenon. 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 626.2: Chuck Harter, music historian and writer of the acclaimed documentary Hey, Hey, We’re The Monkees, talks to Ed about the three phases of The Monkees in 1967: television series, recording unit, and live performing ensemble. 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 626.3: Ed welcomes Michael Connelly, New York Times bestselling author; creator of the Harry Bosch, Renee Ballard, and Lincoln Lawyer novel series; and the executive producer of both Bosch and Bosch: Legacy, the two Amazon Prime series starring Titus Welliver that are based on the Harry Bosch novels, and The Lincoln Lawyer, the Netflix series starring Manual Garcia-Rulfo as Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer. Michael’s latest novel, Resurrection Walk, is a Lincoln Lawyer novel that also features Harry Bosch. Resurrection Walk becomes available in bookstores everywhere on Tuesday, Nov. 7. 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 626.4: Michael Connelly, creator of the Harry Bosch, Renee Ballard, and Lincoln Lawyer novel series, talks to Ed about collaborating with David E. Kelley on the Netflix series adaptation of The Lincoln Lawyer; how Harry Bosch, the book character, differs from the character that Titus Welliver plays on Bosch and Bosch: Legacy; and why the Musso and Frank Grill is one of his favorite restaurants in Hollywood. Michael’s latest novel, Resurrection Walk, is available in bookstores everywhere on Tuesday, Nov. 7.  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 626.5: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Jon Burlingame, nationally renowned music journalist and the author of Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television and Scoring that not tells the back story of every great TV theme music or TV theme song, but gives readers a portraits of the many great composers who made those themes so memorable, including John Williams, Benny Carter, Duane Tatro, Irving Szathmary, and Oliver Nelson. Topics this segment include why some of the most memorable and creative music for television was made in the period between the late 1960s and early 1970s. Music for Prime Time is available in bookstores everywhere through Oxford University Press and Amazon.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 626.6: Jon Burlingame, author of Music for Prime Time, talks to Ed about the three eras of music for television, and how the role of music supervisors on a television series has become particularly important today, when many shows use pre-existing songs to convey the theme and mood of a series. Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television Themes and Scoring is available in bookstores everywhere through Oxford University Press and Amazon.com. Jon Burlingame is also the producer, along with Doug Schwartz, of The Quinn Martin Collection, a three-volume CD collection released by La La Land Records. Volume 1, released in 2019, features music composed by Jerry Goldsmith, John Parker, Dave Grusin, and Lalo Schifrin for Barnaby Jones, Cannon, Dan August, and Most Wanted, respectively; Volume 2, released in 2019, features music composed for The Invaders by Dominic Frontiere, Richard Markowitz, Sidney Cutner, Duane Tatro, and others; Volume 3, released in 2020, features music composed by Patrick Williams for several episodes of The Streets of San Francisco (including the pilot movie), plus Williams’ score for “The Seduction Squad,” an episode of A Man Called Sloane. According to Jon, a fourth volume is scheduled for release in 2024. If you love the music of Quinn Martin’s shows, all of these volumes are highly worth adding to your collection. 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 625.1: Part 2 of a conversation that began on our last program with actor, author, and comedian Nick Santa Maria (The Misadventures of Biffle and Shooster). Nick's new book, The Annotated Abbott and Costello: A Complete Viewer’s Guide to the Comedy Team and Their 38 Films (a collaboration with Matthew Coniam), not only provides a film by film, scene by scene look at all thirty-eight movies starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, but makes the case for why Abbott and Costello rightfully belong among the top tier of comedy teams. Topics this segment include how the enormous popularity of Abbott and Costello in the 1940s actually worked against them for a time because of oversaturation, and how the influence of actor Charles Laughton helped turn that perception around. 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 625.2: Nick Santa Maria, co-author of The Annotated Abbott and Costello: A Complete Viewer’s Guide to the Comedy Team and Their 38 Films, talks to Greg and Ed about the many famous character actors who co-starred with Abbott and Costello in the movies and on television, including Shemp Howard, Errol Flynn, Martha Raye, Dick Powell, Charles Lane, Joey Faye, and Gale Gordon. Available from McFarland and Company, The Annotated Abbott and Costello also features new research, surprising revelations, lots of photographs, a poignant essay called “Lou and Me” by Nick Santa Maria, a foreword by John Landis, and more. 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 625.2b: Nick Santa Maria, co-author of The Annotated Abbott and Costello: A Complete Viewer’s Guide to the Comedy Team and Their 38 Films, talks to Greg and Ed about the "Ultimate Abbott and Costello Top Ten," one of the extra features of The Annotated Abbott and Costello, and a scientifically put-together Top Ten that includes input from such luminaries as Leonard Maltin, Joe Dante, John Landis, Chris Costello, and Michael Schlessinger. 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 625.3: Ed welcomes singer and dancer Shelly Clark, one of the founding members of Honey Cone, the legendary R&B and soul girl group from the late 1960s and early 1970s that was also the premier female group for Hot Wax Records, the label operated by the famed writing team Holland-Dozier-Holland. Honey Cone was also the very first act to appear on the debut episode of Soul Train in 1971, performing two of their hits, "Want Ads" and "Stick Up." Shelly talks to Ed about the significance of appearing on Soul Train. She also explains how she was working as a regular dancer on The Jim Nabors Hour (CBS, 1969-1971) at the time "Want Ads" became a big hit, and how she had to hire her own replacement on the Nabors show so that she could tour nationally with Honey Cone. 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 625.4: Shelly Clark, one of the founding members of the legendary R&B and soul girl group Honey Cone, talks to Ed about how the empowering lyrics of Honey Cone's songs help usher in a new mindset for female groups and solo female artists. She also shares a few memories of performing as an Ikette with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in the 1960s, including how she bonded with Tina Turner immediately because of astrology, and the story of the near tragic bus accident that nearly ended Shelly's career. Calendar year 2023 marks the fifty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Honey Cone. To mark the occasion, Shelly Clark is teaming up with renowned singers Wendy Smith-Brune and Kathy Merrick to perform the hits of Honey Cone as part of a nationwide fifty-fifth anniversary tour that is scheduled to launch in 2024. Check out HoneyCone.biz for more information on upcoming dates and venues. 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 625.5: Ed welcomes back Jon Burlingame, longtime music journalist and our nation’s leading writer on the subject of music for films and television. Jon’s latest book, Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television and Scoring, not only includes more than 450 interviews with composers, orchestrators, producers, editors, and musicians who are or who were active in the field of music for television, but tells the back story of every great TV theme music or TV theme song while also examining the many neglected and frequently underrated orchestral and jazz compositions for television that date back to the late 1940s. Topics this segment include why the craft of music composed for television is another form of storytelling; some of the notable names in music who also left their mark in television (including band leaders Count Basie and Duke Ellington and jazz artists Dave Grusin and Dave Brubeck); and the back story of how Earle Hagen composed the famous theme to The Andy Griffith Show. Music for Prime Time is available in bookstores everywhere through Oxford University Press and Amazon.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 625.6: Jon Burlingame, author of Music for Prime Time, talks to Ed about the television work of renowned composers Jerry Goldsmith (Barnaby Jones, Police Story, The Loner) and Patrick Williams (The Streets of San Francisco, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Lou Grant, The Magician). Topics this segment include why Goldsmith was reluctant to score the pilot for Barnaby Jones (and how his theme for Barnaby, ironically, ended up being one of his best known TV compositions) and why no one was better than Williams at composing a jazz score for television. Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television Themes and Scoring is available in bookstores everywhere through Oxford University Press and Amazon.com. Jon Burlingame is also the producer, along with Doug Schwartz, of The Quinn Martin Collection, a three-volume CD collection released by La La Land Records. Volume 1, released in 2019, features music composed by Jerry Goldsmith, John Parker, Dave Grusin, and Lalo Schifrin for Barnaby Jones, Cannon, Dan August, and Most Wanted, respectively; Volume 2, released in 2019, features music composed for The Invaders by Dominic Frontiere, Richard Markowitz, Sidney Cutner, Duane Tatro, and others; Volume 3, released in 2020, features music composed by Patrick Williams for several episodes of The Streets of San Francisco (including the pilot movie), plus Williams’ score for “The Seduction Squad,” an episode of A Man Called Sloane. According to Jon, a fourth volume is scheduled for release in 2024. If you love the music of Quinn Martin’s shows, all of these volumes are highly worth adding to your collection. 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