Archive for the ‘TV’ Category

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Obit watch: July 26, 2020.

Sunday, July 26th, 2020

Yesterday and today were big news days.

Olivia de Havilland. THR. Variety.

She was known for her sincerity, fragile beauty and beautiful diction, and for bringing dimension to sympathetic characters. When she made a rare foray into villainous roles, she was expert. But the public preferred her as a heroine, which suited her well, since she said it was harder to play “a good girl” rather than a bad one.

I did not know she was in “Airport ’77”. Not that that was a highlight of her career. Or Joseph Cotton’s. Or anybody else’s. But the “Airport” movies are on our list.

Regis Philbin, for the record. THR. Variety.

I’m probably giving him short shrift, but everyone has covered his death. And I never watched a single episode of “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?” or “Regis and (x)”.

Peter Green, founder of Fleetwood Mac.

John Saxon, working actor. THR. No obit from the Times yet. 198 credits in IMDB. I guess he might be most famous for his roles in “Enter the Dragon” and “Nightmare on Elm Street”, and possibly “Mitchell”. I also remember him from “The New Doctors” segment of “The Bold Ones” wheel.

And he had guest shots in every damn thing in the 1970s: the good “Hawaii 5-0”, “Quincy, M.E.”, “The Rockford Files” (we watched “A Portrait of Elizabeth” last night: it’s a fun episode), “Banacek”, “Banyon”, “The Streets of San Francisco”, “The Six Million Dollar Man”…

…oddly, though, he’s another one of those guys who seem to have done everything except “Mannix”.

The paper of record did finally get around to publishing an obit for Ronald Graham. (Previously.)

Posted in 1970s, Movies, Music, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: July 16, 2020.

Thursday, July 16th, 2020

Over the past few days, the paper of record has run two obits that fall into the “obscure outside of a specific niche, but interesting” category.

Jay Riffe. He took up spearfishing when he was 10 years old (“to get food for the table”). He became the Pacific Coast spearfishing champion at 22.

When he died on May 11 at 82, at his home in Dana Point, Calif. — a death not widely reported beyond spearfishing circles — Mr. Riffe left behind a trail of accomplishments in his undersea world, including breaking three world records for deepwater sport fishing; founding Riffe International, a premier American spearfishing and freediving equipment maker; and advancing a campaign for sustainable-fishing regulations. His family said the cause was heart failure.

…

For nearly 50 years, beginning in the late 1960s, Mr. Riffe built and developed spearguns and other devices that revolutionized the sport in the United States. His company used supple woods, like teak, which could be grooved to fit a spear shaft snugly; corrosion-resistant magnets, which kept spear tips from wobbling; and textured nylon grips, which kept guns from slipping from the spearfisher’s hand.

Louis Colavecchio. He used to make jewelry, but turned his skills to a more lucrative occupation: counterfeiting.

…there was nothing more thrilling than creating counterfeit slot machine coins. The coins he made were so detailed that even federal officials and casino workers found it challenging to distinguish his fakes from legitimate ones under a microscope.

…

All of Mr. Colavecchio’s work was meticulous. He could toil alone under microscopes for days, filled by a desire to trick the federal government and the casinos. He would not brook the possibility of an error; each die had to be perfect.
“Making counterfeit items must have appealed to me in some way that I didn’t understand,” Mr. Colavecchio wrote in his book.

…

Mr. Colavecchio perfected his illicit craft over about four years, Mr. Longo said, making thousands of chips and slot tokens for 36 casinos. At one point, the Treasury Department even sought his expertise. According to court records, the department paid him $18,000 after he was released from federal prison in 2000 because his manufacturing dies had outlasted those of the U.S. Mint.

…

His tokens were masterly because he crushed the originals and got the exact breakdown of their composition, Mr. Longo said. Mr. Colavecchio purchased the material, bought a press and, using a laser-cutting die, made molds and copies.
“It’s like having access to the U.S. Mint on the weekend, printing your money and leaving,” Mr. Longo said.

In case you were wondering, his book is You Thought It Was More: Adventures of the World’s Greatest Counterfeiter, Louis the Coin (affiliate link). I may have to order a copy of that for myself.

Great and good FotB Borepatch sent over a nice obit from ArsTechnica for Grant Imahara, which I very much appreciated. There’s also a very good Hacker News thread.

Posted in Books, Fish, Food, Law, Obits, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: July 14, 2020.

Tuesday, July 14th, 2020

Judy Dyble. I was unfamiliar with her, but she had an interesting career. She appeared on the first Fairport Convention album, but was let go from the group before it came out. She went on to do a lot of prog rock and electronic stuff:

After leaving Fairport Convention, Ms. Dyble met the saxophonist Ian McDonald. They advertised their services to work with other musicians and were answered by the brothers Peter and Michael Giles and the guitarist Robert Fripp; the three had already made an album as Giles, Giles and Fripp. All five recorded demo songs together, later released as “The Brondesbury Tapes,” before Ms. Dyble moved on. Mr. Fripp, Mr. McDonald and Michael Giles formed the now-eminent progressive rock band King Crimson.

Grant Imahara, for the record.

Posted in Music, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 103

Saturday, July 11th, 2020

This popped up randomly in my recommendations, but I would have posted it no matter what once I knew it existed.

From the “World Of Warships” channel: “Naval Legends: USS Batfish”.

As you may recall, Mike the Musicologist and I visited the Batfish…cheez louise, it has been almost six years?

And as I think I’ve mentioned before, the USS Batfish was damaged in the flooding of 2019, and the Friends of the Muskogee War Memorial Park are trying to raise money to put it back into shape. If you have a few dollars to spare, why not float them over to the Batfish?

Bonus video: an episode of “The Silent Service” TV series about the USS Batfish.

The Silent Service is an American syndicated anthology television series based on actual events in the submarine section of the United States Navy. The Silent Service was narrated by Rear Admiral Thomas M. Dykers, who retired from the Navy in 1949 after twenty-two years of service. He began each episode with this refrain: “Tonight, we bring you another thrilling episode of Silent Service stories, of warfare under the sea.”

Fun fact: “DeForest Kelley appeared in three episodes as Lieutenant Commander James C. Dempsey and Leonard Nimoy appeared in two episodes as Sonarman.” Also appearing at various points: Edward Platt (who played a lieutenant commander, not a chief), Jack Lord, Bob Denver, and Dennis Weaver. And that’s not an exhaustive list.

Posted in Endorsements, History, TV | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 100

Wednesday, July 8th, 2020

I think it is time for some more virtual travel, back to the past, on a defunct airline.

Where to go this time? How about…Bermuda?

From 1961, “Wings to Bermuda” (in color!), brought to you by Pan Am (and the Periscope Film channel on the ‘Tube).

Bonus video: I’m having trouble deciding: did I post the Paul Shaffer video as a segue into “Wings to Bermuda”, or did I post “Wings to Bermuda” to give myself an excuse for the Paul Shaffer video? Decisions, decisions…

Here: enjoy Paul Shaffer in “Behind The Music”.

And just for grins, !Paul Shaffer:

Posted in History, Planes, TV | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 98

Monday, July 6th, 2020

This is a little longer than I’d like, but it popped up in my recommendations, and pushes several buttons at once:

  • The Bell System
  • Lee Marvin
  • The 1970s!

    • From 1970, “It Couldn’t Be Done”, a Bell System film about “impossible structures”, featuring Mr. Marvin and the 5th Dimension.

    Bonus video: since we’re talking about what we can accomplish when we want to, “They Came To An Island”. From 1946, a documentary about the Navy Civil Engineer Corps (aka the Seebees).

Posted in 1970s, Bridges, History | Comments Closed

Obit watch: July 3, 2020.

Friday, July 3rd, 2020

Hugh Downs, long time TV guy and good Akron boy. (“20/20”, “Today”, “The Tonight Show” with Jack Parr.)

In February 1960, Mr. Paar, no stranger to volatility, became furious after NBC removed a joke from the show for reasons of taste. (The joke, tame by today’s standards, involved the use of the term “water closet,” meaning bathroom.) He decided that the best way to teach NBC a lesson was to walk off the next night’s show as it was being taped, leaving Mr. Downs in charge. Mr. Downs assumed the host’s chair immediately, if not confidently: at one point he looked into the camera and plaintively said, “Jack, come back.” The show aired as scheduled, walk-off and all.
Mr. Paar did come back, to the surprise of nobody, but not until 25 days later. In his absence Mr. Downs — who years later would diplomatically remember his former boss as “quite a bundle” — ably assumed his duties as “Tonight Show” host. The Times critic Jack Gould saluted Mr. Downs for having “in most trying circumstances carried off the situation with dignity.”

…

In addition to his television work, Mr. Downs was a composer (he wrote a prelude that was performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra); an amateur guitarist (he played for Andrés Segovia and said he was pleased that Segovia did not leave the room) and painter (when he had the time); the author of numerous books; an advocate for the elderly (he wrote books and articles about the aging process and was the host of a PBS series on aging called “Over Easy”) and for family planning (including abortion rights); a science buff (he was once NBC’s resident expert on science programming); an audiophile (he built his own stereo equipment from scratch); an environmentalist; and an unabashed adventurer who piloted a 65-foot ketch across the Pacific, went to the South Pole and rode a killer whale at Sea World.

Andrew “Jack” Whittaker Jr. The name may not ring a bell right off: he hit the Powerball for $315 million in 2002, took a lump sum payout of $113.4 million post tax…and it didn’t work out quite like wanted.

…he quickly fell victim to scandals, lawsuits and personal setbacks as he endured constant requests for money, leaving him unable to trust others. He was often quoted as saying he wished he had torn up the ticket.
His wife left him. A friend of his drug-addicted granddaughter was found dead at his home in 2004. Three months later, his 17-year-old granddaughter was gone, too.
His daughter, Ginger Whittaker Bragg, died of cancer in 2009 at 42.
And in 2016, he lost a Virginia home to a fire.

Byron Bernstein. I’d never heard of him, but he was a popular Twitch streamer under the name of “Reckful” and noted World of Warcraft player. He was 31.

In a YouTube video posted in January, Byron revealed that he lost his brother to suicide when he was 6 years old. He also admitted to struggling with his mental health but was improving as he worked on a new game.

The number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-TALK (8255). If you live outside of the United States or are looking for other help, TVTropes has a good page of additional resources.

Posted in 1970s, Obits, TV | 1 Comment »

Just for giggles.

Wednesday, July 1st, 2020

The Saturday Night Live channel on YouTube has posted “Midday with Jennifer Hicks”. This is the “interviews with Bond villains” sketch that contains the frequently quoted (in my circles) line, “I question the wisdom of having a self-destruct button at all.”

(See also, especially number 9, number 9, number 9…)

This surfaced on Twitter, and I have not seen it before. I wouldn’t say I can’t stop laughing, but it does make me giggle.

I wasn’t a regular “Magnum” watcher when it was on the air, but I sometimes think I should go back and watch from the beginning. (In addition to doing the same with “Blue Bloods”.)

Oddly, though, I have a weird allergic reaction to “Quigley Down Under”, and I don’t know why: that movie should push my buttons, and I’d kind of like to have an (accurate) reproduction of the movie gun.

Posted in Guns, Movies, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: June 30, 2020.

Tuesday, June 30th, 2020

The great Carl Reiner.

His contributions were recognized by his peers, by comedy aficionados and, in 2000, by the Kennedy Center, which awarded him the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was the third recipient, after Richard Pryor and Jonathan Winters.

…

“I always knew if I threw a question to Mel he could come up with something,” Mr. Reiner said. “I learned a long time ago that if you can corner a genius comedy brain in panic, you’re going to get something extraordinary.”
As Mr. Brooks put it, “I would dig myself into a hole, and Carl would not let me climb out.”

…

Mr. Reiner returned to Broadway twice after moving west, but neither visit was triumphant. In 1972 he directed “Tough to Get Help,” a comedy by Steve Gordon about a black couple working in an ostensibly liberal white household, which was savaged by the critics and closed after one performance. In 1980 he staged “The Roast,” by Jerry Belson and Garry Marshall, two writers he had worked with on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” That play, about a group of comedians who expose their darker instincts when they gather to roast a colleague, ran for less than a week.

THR. Variety.

Also among the dead: Johnny Mandel, film and television composer.

Mandel was considered one of the finest arrangers of the second half of the 20th century, providing elegant orchestral charts for a wide range of vocalists including Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole and Hoagy Carmichael.
Mandel scored more than 30 films during his Hollywood career, including the 1960s films “The Americanization of Emily” (from which the hit song “Emily” emerged), “The Sandpiper” (which contained “The Shadow of Your Smile,” earning an Oscar and a Grammy for Song of the Year along with lyricist Paul Francis Webster), “Harper,” “An American Dream” (which included the Oscar-nominated song “A Time for Love”), “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” and “Point Blank.”

He was perhaps most famous for writing “Suicide Is Painless” aka “The Theme from M*A*S*H”.

Posted in 1970s, Books, Movies, Music, Obits, Theatre, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: June 29, 2020.

Monday, June 29th, 2020

Charles Webb. He wrote The Graduate.

“He had a very odd relationship with money,” said Caroline Dawnay, who was briefly Mr. Webb’s agent in the early 2000s when his novel “New Cardiff” was made into the 2003 movie “Hope Springs,” starring Colin Firth. “He never wanted any. He had an anarchist view of the relationship between humanity and money.”
He gave away homes, paintings, his inheritance, even his royalties from “The Graduate,” which became a million-seller after the movie’s success, to the benefit of the Anti-Defamation League. He awarded his 10,000-pound payout from “Hope Springs” as a prize to a performance artist named Dan Shelton, who had mailed himself to the Tate Modern in a cardboard box.
At his second wedding to Ms. Rudd — they married in 1962, then divorced in 1981 to protest the institution of marriage, then remarried around 2001 for immigration purposes — he did not give his bride a ring, because he disapproved of jewelry. Ms. Dawnay, the only witness save two strangers pulled in off the street, recalled that the couple walked nine miles to the registry office for the ceremony, wearing the only clothes they owned.

…

Fred, Mr. Webb’s wife, died in 2019, Mr. Malvern said, leaving him quite alone, although he is survived by his sons — David, a performance artist who once cooked a copy of “The Graduate” and ate it with cranberry sauce, and John, a director at the consulting and research firm IHS Markit — and his brother. Mr. Malvern said he did not know whether Mr. Webb had still been writing.

This one is for FotB of the blog Dave: Linda Cristal. She most famously played “Victoria Cannon” on “The High Chaparral”, and did a lot of bit parts on other series during the 1960s through to the 1980s. (Including “T.H.E. Cat“, “Search“, and “General Hospital”.)

Thomas Blanton. He was the last survivor of the three men convicted in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing.

The bombing occurred on Sept. 15, 1963, a Sunday, at the 16th Street Baptist Church, which had been a center of civil rights activity in Birmingham. Three 14-year-olds — Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley — and an 11-year-old, Denise McNair, were killed in the blast, and many others were injured. The attack heightened national outrage over segregationist policies and racial oppression in the South.
“The Birmingham bombing holds a special place in civil rights history because of the randomness of its violence, the sacredness of its target and the innocence of its victims,” Kevin Sack wrote in The New York Times in 2000, when Mr. Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry were finally indicted in the case.
Mr. Cherry, tried separately, was convicted in 2002 and died in prison at 74 in 2004. A third man, Robert Chambliss, was convicted in 1977 and died in prison eight years later at 81. The last suspect, Herman Cash, died in 1994 at 75 without being tried.
All four were Klan members in the early 1960s.

Posted in Art, Books, Law, Obits, TV | 2 Comments »

More things I didn’t know.

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020

Shari “Lamb Chop” Lewis and her husband co-wrote an episode of a minor 1960s SF TV series.

Posted in TV | 1 Comment »

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 73

Thursday, June 11th, 2020

Today’s videos are a little longer than I usually like to post, but:

“The Hippie Temptation”, from 1967. According to the YouTube notes, this is an episode of a short-lived CBS News series, and features Harry Reasoner (who was 44 at the time).

Bonus video: Not at all related. This is just a palate cleanser. Like liver flavored sherbet.

The pilot episode of “Space: 1999”.

Posted in History, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: June 11, 2020.

Thursday, June 11th, 2020

Following up to yesterday’s obit watch, “Live PD” is now cancelled.

According to the Deadline article thoughtfully sent to us by Mike the Musicologist, there were discussions about bringing the show back in some form:

But A&E and the show’s production company pulled the plug yesterday.

Airing Friday and Saturday nights from 9 PM-12 AM, Live P.D. was ad-supported cable’s #1 show on Fridays and Saturdays in 2019 and has helped A&E become a leading cable network. The series had risen to the top spots in all cable during the pandemic when live sports were suspended, drawing a total of about 3 million viewers per weekend.

Bonnie Pointer, co-founder of the Pointer Sisters.

She left the group in the late 1970s and signed with Motown; she also married Jeffrey Bowen, a producer there. Her two albums for that label were heavy with disco remakes of 1960s Motown singles, like the Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),” with Ms. Pointer recording most of the vocal parts herself. The most successful in this formula was “Heaven Must Have Sent You,” which went to No. 11 in 1979.

Mary Pat Gleason, working actress. 174 credits on IMDB.

Pierre Nkurunziza, president of Burundi. He was 55, and apparently died of a heart attack.

Posted in Cops, Law, Music, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: June 10, 2020.

Wednesday, June 10th, 2020

Not one, not two, but three different people all sent me the news that “COPS” has apparently been cancelled. (It was on infinite hyenas “indefinite hiatus”.)

They know me rather well, don’t they?

Edited to add: Heh. From Twitter:

In the meantime, “Live PD” is also on infinite hyenas. And there’s an interesting development that I missed until the “COPS” story broke.

Back in March of 2019, a man named Javier Ambler was involved in a chase with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department.

Williamson County sheriff’s deputies attempted to pull Ambler over March 28, 2019, after he failed to dim the headlights of his SUV to oncoming traffic. Twenty-eight minutes later, the 40-year-old black father of two sons lay dying on a North Austin street after deputies held him down and used Tasers on him four times while a crew from A&E’s show “Live PD” filmed.
The former postal worker repeatedly pleaded for mercy, telling deputies he had congestive heart failure and couldn’t breathe. He cried, “Save me,” before deputies deployed a final shock.

Mr. Ambler died in custody. There is body cam video from an Austin PD officer that has been released to the Statesman and to one of the local TV stations. There’s also bodycam video from the WillCo officers, but that hasn’t been released.

A Williamson County internal affairs investigation found deputies did nothing wrong. But Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore, whose office is tasked with investigating Ambler’s death with Austin police detectives, told the Statesman that she plans to take the case to a grand jury.
Moore accused [WillCo Sheriff Robert] Chody of stonewalling and refusing to provide evidence.

There’s also video from the “Live PD” cameras. At least, there was:

A&E confirmed Tuesday that “video of the tragic death of Javier Ambler was captured by body cams worn on the officers involved as well by the producers of Live PD who were riding with certain officers involved.”
It said that the incident did not occur while the show was airing live and that the video was not broadcast later.
A&E’s statement said that Austin investigators had not asked for the video or to interview show producers. “As is the case with all footage taken by Live PD producers, we no longer retained the unaired footage after learning that the investigation had concluded,” the network said in a statement.

As you may recall, Bob, the WillCo county commissioners were already in a micturition contest with the sheriff over whether “Live PD” should even be there in the first place, as well as who could have access to the raw “Live PD” footage. Now the whole thing’s blown up even more, to the point where three out of four county commissioners want the sheriff to resign:

Chody on Tuesday called the allegations of stonewalling “misleading” and said commissioners’ calls for his resignation were misinformed and politically motivated.
“The Williamson County Sheriff’s Department remains ready and willing to participate in the investigation being conducted by the Travis County DA’s office,” Chody said in a statement. “However the Travis County DA’s office has not contacted us for any reason related to this investigation. Any attempt to say we have slowed or impeded the investigation is absolutely false.”
In a response, Moore said the investigation was conducted by the Austin police special investigations unit “with our oversight.”
“I stand by my representations regarding the lack of cooperation,” she said.
As more than a dozen protesters gathered outside the Commissioners Court’s regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, Williamson County commissioners had strong words for Chody.
“I, like you, am outraged over the circumstance of his death, shocked at Sheriff Chody’s failure to cooperate with the investigation into Mr. Ambler’s death and heartbroken for his family and loved ones who almost 15 months later still have no answers,” said Williamson County Commissioner Cynthia Long. “Sheriff Chody must resign immediately.”
Commissioner Terri Cook also said Chody should resign.
“I have no confidence that he has the temperament, operational intelligence, administrative ability nor the people skills to handle the job,” Cook said.

Posted in Obits, Politics, TV, WillCo | 3 Comments »

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 65

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2020

I haven’t thrown FotB RoadRich a bone in a while, so this one is dedicated to him. It combines two! two! two! things in one: planes and Japan!

“So Small My Island”, a 1960s Pan Am promo film for travel to Japan.

Bonus: More Pan Am! From 1959, “Jet Terminal”, about the opening of Terminal 3 (aka “Worldport”) at Idlewild.

Bonus #2: Heh, heh. He said “Idlewild”.

Posted in History, Planes, TV | Comments Closed

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