TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 521.2: Paul Robert Coyle talks to Ed about the importance of adapting to changes in the TV industry; the events that led to the first sale of one of his scripts (the Streets of San Francisco episode “The Honorable Profession”); how writing for television is a step process, and how the Quinn Martin operation embodied that. Paul’s memoir, Swords, Starships and Superheroes, includes many useful tips on how to pursue a career as a professional writer—whether you want to write for television or any other form. Available in paperback and as an eBook through Jacobs Brown Media Group, Amazon.com, and other online retailers. 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 521.3: TV Confidential commemorates the recent 40th anniversary of the death of John Lennon by playing highlights from our December 2010 conversation with television producer and New York Times bestselling author Keith Elliot Greenberg. Keith's book December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died not only provides a minute-by-minute, almost documentary-like look at the last day of John Lennon’s life, but is a moving account of Lennon’s life as a whole, his career with The Beatles, his relationship with Yoko Ono, and his impact on the world in general. Topics this segment include how Lennon’s infamous remark about the Beatles being bigger than Jesus has often been misconstrued, and the effect that remark eventually had on Mark David Chapman.  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 521.4: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with actor, comedian, and voice artist Hank Garrett (Car 54, Where Are You?, Three Days of the Condor). Topics this segment include the events that brought Hank to the West Coast, including co-starring with James Earl Jones in the police drama Paris (CBS, 1979), and how that role stemmed from the time when Hank and Jones worked together on stage in New York. Hank’s memoir, From Harlem Hoodlum to Hollywood Heavyweight, is available through Briton Publishing, Amazon.com, and other online retailers. Proceeds from sales of Hank’s book will support Wounded Warriors and Disabled Veterans of America. 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 521.4: TVC 521.5: Actor and comedian Hank Garrett talks to Ed, Tony, and Donna about the famous fight sequence between Robert Redford and him in Three Days of the Condor; his background in the martial arts; and the time when Elvis Presley asked Hank to spar with him. Hank’s memoir, From Harlem Hoodlum to Hollywood Heavyweight, is available through Briton Publishing, Amazon.com, and other online retailers. Proceeds from sales of Hank’s book will support Wounded Warriors and Disabled Veterans of America. 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 521.6: From December 2010: More highlights from our conversation with New York Times bestselling author Keith Elliot Greenberg (December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died). Topics this segment include Lennon’s accessibility with the public, including some of his notable encounters with fans; how pop culture would have changed, had Lennon lived; and how Lennon used his celebrity to affect change. 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

A special sneak preview of our upcoming interview with Emmy Award-winning actress Carolyn Hennesy (General Hospital). Carolyn's landmark 500th episode playing Diane Miller on General Hospital airs Tuesday, Dec. 22 on ABC. Our complete interview with Carolyn Hennesy will premiere on TV Confidential during the weekend of Jan. 8-10. 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 December 2013: "The Big Little Jesus," the second of two Christmas episodes that Jack Webb produced for Dragnet, aired on Dec. 24, 1953, both on television as well as for the radio version of Dragnet. "The Big Little Jesus" was reimagined for Dragnet 1967 as "The Christmas Story," airing on Dec. 21, 1967, and featuring many of the cast members from the 1953 episode. Also in this segment: Tony notes that, on Dec. 22, 1953, Dragnet became the first network TV series with a regular sponsor, Fatima cigarettes. 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 December 2013: "The Big .22 Rifle for Christmas," an episode of Dragnet in which Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Frank Smith search for a missing boy three days before Christmas, airs on Dec. 18, 1952. An adaptation of an episode of the Dragnet radio series that originally aired in December 1949, this was the first of two Christmas episodes that Jack Webb produced for the original Dragnet TV series. 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 November 2011: Greg Ehrbar and Ed discuss the career of Thurl Ravenscroft, the longtime voice of Tony the Tiger, and an accomplished recording artist whose bass vocals are heard on "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," "This Ole House" (with Rosemary Clooney), and many projects for Walt Disney Records and the Walt Disney Company.  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 520.1: Ed, Tony, and Donna welcome back Hank Garrett, the actor, comedian, and voice artist that Baby Boomers around the world know as Officer Nicholson on Car 54, Where Are You? and that film buffs know as the homicidal postal worker in Three Days of the Condor. Topics this segment include working with the often cantankerous Al Lewis; how Hank learned to develop his talent for creating voices by watching Sid Caesar; and the year he spent in England working with David Frost on That Was the Week That Was. Hank’s memoir, From Harlem Hoodlum to Hollywood Heavyweight, is available through Briton Publishing, Amazon.com, and other online retailers. Proceeds from sales of Hank’s book will support Wounded Warriors and Disabled Veterans of America. 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 520.2: Actor, comedian, and voice artist Hank Garrett talks to Ed, Tony, and Donna about how an intervention from Sammy Davis Jr. when Hank was thirteen years old saved him from a life on the streets and opened the doors for what would become a sixty-five-year career as an entertainer. Hank’s memoir, From Harlem Hoodlum to Hollywood Heavyweight, is available through Briton Publishing, Amazon.com, and other online retailers. Proceeds from sales of Hank’s book will support Wounded Warriors and Disabled Veterans of America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 520.3: Actor James DuMont (The Righteous Gemstones, Spenser: Confidential) talks to Ed about Safety, a new drama that is now available for streaming on demand on Disney+, and The Underground Railroad, the highly anticipated miniseries from Amazon Prime Video, which is scheduled for release sometime in 2021. 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 520.4: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Burt Ward, the actor known around the world as Robin the Boy Wonder on Batman (ABC, 1966-1968). With January 2021 marking the fifty-fifth anniversary of the premiere of Batman, Burt talks to Ed about working with Adam West, Julie Newmar, and Stanley Ralph Ross on the original Batman, and with William Shatner in the full-length animated feature Batman vs. Two-Face. Burt Ward—along with his wife Tracy—have been real-life super heroes to dogs and cats of all sizes and breeds for more than twenty-six years, advocating for the care and nutrition of our four-legged friends through their nonprofit organization, Gentle Giants Rescue. Gentle Giants has a line of all-natural pet products for dogs and cats that will help maximize both the life span and quality of life of your animal. Dogs who eat Gentle Giants Dog Food, and who follow the special Gentle Giants feeding and care program, have enjoyed healthy, active life spans of up to twenty-seven years with a wonderful quality of life. Gentle Giants pet products are available in more than 1,100 Target stories throughout the U.S., as well as more than 2,400 Walmart stores throughout the U.S. and more than 400 Walmart stores throughout Canada. You can also order them directly at GentleGiantsDogFood.com or GentleGiantsPetProducts.com. Gentle Giants Rescue is a nonprofit organization; all sales of Gentle Giants products go directly to the rescue. Burt and Tracy take no salary, nor make any money, from the sales of their pet products or from the rescue. 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 December 2010: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the death of Walt Disney on Dec. 15, 1966; the important role that the Disney theme parks have played in cementing Disney's legacy; and the mutually beneficial partnership between ABC and Disney in the 1950s that directly led to the construction of Disneyland. 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 520.5: Ed welcomes Academy Award-winning, Emmy Award-winning and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. (An Officer and a Gentleman, Roots, Enemy Mine, Watchmen). Lou plays Pastor Jim, a blind man who befriends a drifter who appears to have miraculous powers, in The Reason, a faith-based film that becomes available on DVD and as a digital release on Tuesday, Dec. 15. Lou plays the title character in The Cuban, an award-winning independent film about a renowned musician with dementia who rekindles his spirit after befriending a nurse at his care home, plus he stars opposite Matthew Modine in Foster Boy, an award-winning legal drama, executive produced by Shaquille O’Neal, that brings to light many of the inequities of our foster care system. Both Foster Boy and The Cuban are available for viewing on demand right now on all major streaming platforms. 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