Harry Shearer on the origins of Spinal Tap
TV Confidential with Ed Robertson
We're taking a few days off for the holidays, but we'll be back with brand new editions of TV Confidential in the new year. In the meantime, please enjoy this Blast from the Past clip from November 2021 in which Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter ask comedian and voice artist extraordinaire Harry Shearer about the back story of This is Spinal Tap, including the pivotal role that Norman Lear played in helping the movie get made.
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The Playful Side of Pete Duel
TV Confidential with Ed Robertson
We're taking a few days off for the holidays, but we'll be back with brand new editions of TV Confidential in the new year. In the meantime, please enjoy this Blast from the Past clip from December 2015 in which author Paul Green helps Ed revisit the life and career of Pete Duel, the star of Alias Smith and Jones who took his life on Dec. 30, 1971, at the height of his television celebrity. The second edition of Paul's book Pete Duel: A Biography includes new information from not only Duel’s family and friends, but the many fans who have kept the memory of Duel alive, more than four decades...
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Why The Brotherhood of The Bell still packs a wallop
TV Confidential with Ed Robertson
TVC 719.2: Part 2 of a conversation that began a few weeks ago with author, essayist, novelist, and TV historian (, ). Mitchell’s latest book, , is a series of essays that shows how certain episodes of such classic series as The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Star Trek, and The Prisoner—all of which were originally written and broadcast in either the 1950s or 1960s—not only envisioned a society of 24/7 surveillance, thought control, disinformation, persecution, and loss of freedom, but portrayed those realities in ways that are disturbingly similar to the world that we currently...
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Why not every TV series needs a final episode
TV Confidential with Ed Robertson
TVC 719.3: talks to Ed about an essay that Mitchell recently wrote for that makes the case for why it’s not necessary for every television series to have a final episode that resolves the premise and ties up any other loose ends. Ed agrees with Mitchell, but adds that the influence of social media on today’s TV landscape makes it impossible for show runners to avoid producing a series finale without upsetting the fan base. Mitchell’s latest book, , is available wherever books are sold through Throckmorton Press and Amazon.com.
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David Janssen, Pamela Tiffin, and "The Girl from Little Egypt"
TV Confidential with Ed Robertson
We're taking a few days off for the holidays, but we'll be back with brand new editions of TV Confidential in the new year. In the meantime, please enjoy this Blast from the Past clip from March 2016 featuring sixties film historian Tom Lisanti. Tom's books include Pamela Tiffin: Hollywood to Rome, 1961-1974, a comprehensive look at Tiffin’s work in film and television that includes insight from Tiffin herself (as well as such co-stars as Franco Nero), while also exploring the reasons why she remains a cult film icon. In this particular clip, Tom and Ed discuss "The Girl from Little Egypt,"...
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Tom Sturges on why the music industry is a great big playground
TV Confidential with Ed Robertson
TVC 719.4: Ed welcomes , son of Academy Award-winning writer/director Preston Sturges, one of the top executives in the music industry, and the author of such books as , , and . Tom's latest book, , is a humorous, totally unscientific, and yet often very wise look at the male species that reveals such universal Man Truths as Why All Men are Really Fourteen Year-Old-Boys, Why Men Are Like Whales, Why All Men Have Three Basic Needs, and Why Every Problem in the World Can Be Solved with Duct Tape. Topics this segment how Tom's thirty-five years in the music business has helped him develop...
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Tom Sturges, Preston Sturges, and Shaquille O'Neal
TV Confidential with Ed Robertson
TVC 719.5: talks to Ed about how his father, , embodied some of the “man truths” that Tom writes about in his new book, ; how Tom came to work with NBA star Shaquille O’Neal when O’Neal became a rap artist; and what Tom looks for when determining whether a new song has what it takes to become a hit record. is available wherever books are sold through Centimilla Press.
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55 Years of The Mary Tyler Moore Show
TV Confidential with Ed Robertson
TVC 718.1: From November 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss the legacy of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS, 1970-1977), including a look at its spinoff series Rhoda (CBS, 1974-1978), Phyllis (CBS, 1975-1977), and Lou Grant (CBS, 1977-1982).
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Why “Rhoda’s Wedding” is still a great episode
TV Confidential with Ed Robertson
TVC 718.2: From November 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss “Rhoda’s Wedding” (CBS, Oct. 28, 1974), the famous first-season episode of Rhoda in which Rhoda Morgenstein (Valerie Harper) marries Joe Gerard (David Groh), and why the episode remains a television classic more than fifty years later, even though the decision to marry the two characters ultimately hurt the series.
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Dorothy Kilgallen biographer Mark Shaw on the importance of primary sources
TV Confidential with Ed Robertson
TVC 718.3: Part 2 of a with , author of and . Topics this segment include new findings that suggest that the autopsy performed on Kilgallen after her death in November 1965 may have been compromised. As was the case with Mark’s previous book, , Abuse of Power emphasizes the importance of relying on primary sources whenever possible. , , and are all available through Post Hill Press and Amazon.com.
info_outlineTVC 687.2: Dore Page, author of Leslie Stevens Goes to Hollywood: Daystar Productions, Kate Manx and the Making of Private Property, talks to Ed and guest co-host Chuck Harter about the fragile mix of ambition, frustration, and insecurity that comprised the psyche of actress Kate Manx, and the extent to which depression may have factored into the circumstances leading up to Manx’s death in November 1964. Leslie Stevens Goes to Hollywood is available through McFarland Books.