This is a place where great moments in television
and pop culture are celebrated and remembered. So pull up a beanbag chair, turn on your lava lamp and take a trip back to a groovier time!
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April 2013
April 12:
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| Cast of Davis Rules |
Most of the comedy in Davis Rules, particularly after Hunt's arrival in the second season, was derived from the exceptional comedic and improvising talents of Quaid, Hunt and Winters. Reportedly most scenes that did not involve the children actors were unscripted and unrehearsed.
Davis Rules centered around widowed elementary school teacher Dwight Davis (played by Randy Quaid), who balances his home life with his sons Robbie, Charlie and Ben (played by Trevor Bullock, Luke Edwards and Nathan Watt, respectively) with help from his wacky, eccentric father (played by Winters), with his work life at school with fellow teachers Cosmo Yeargin (played by Patricia Clarkson), Elaine Yamagami (played by Tamayo Otsuki) and Mrs. Rush (played by Debra Mooney). When the second season premiered a number of cast changes took place on the show; Clarkson's character was written out having Cosmo join a convent and the characters of Dwight's sister Gwen Davis (played by Bonnie Hunt) and the son of Dwight's college friends, Skinner Buckley (played by Giovanni Ribisi) join the cast.
Davis Rules originally aired on the ABC network and despite debuting after Super Bowl XXV on January 27, 1991 as a mid-season replacement, the show was cancelled at the end of the abbreviated first season of 13 episodes. Following this the CBS network bought the rights to the series, retooled it, but also cancelled it after an abbreviated season of only 16 episodes in May of 1992.
Fun Facts:
- Jonathan Winters is also remembered to television audiences for his role as Mearth, son of Mork (played by Robin Williams) and Mindy (played by Pam Dawber), during the fourth and final season of the the ABC sitcom Mork & Mindy (1978 - 1982). Winters was one of Williams' idols.
- Randy Quaid is best remembered for his portrayal of Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies
- Patricia Clarkson had a recurring role in the HBO series Six Feet Under (2001 - 2005) as Ruth's sister, Sarah O'Connor
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| Cast of Gilligan's Island |
Created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz, Gilligan's Island chronicled the misadventures of seven stranded castaways on an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean following the shipwreck of their tour boat, the S.S. Minnow. As famously explained in the show's opening sequence theme song, The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle, five passengers that included the exceptionally affluent Thurston Howell III (played by Jim Backus), his wife Eunice (played by Schafer), movie star Ginger Grant (played by Tina Louise), high school science teacher Roy Hinkley (played by Russell Johnson) and farm girl Mary Ann Summers (played by Dawn Wells) joined skipper Jonas Grumby (played by Alan Hale, Jr) and first mate Gilligan (played by Bob Denver in the titular role) for a three-hour tour off of Honolulu and met with a tropical storm that shipwrecked on a presumably deserted island.
During the initial run of the series, Gilligan's Island maintained the same core, ensemble cast and the show derived most of its comedy from the dissimilar castaways' conflicts and their failed attempts to get off the island.
Gilligan's Island produced three seasons comprising of 98 episodes before being cancelled due to low ratings in 1967. Following the show's cancellation there were three subsequent movies produced that reunited the entire original cast save for Tina Louise. Louise did join her fellow costars in 1988 on a reunion segment on The Late Show with Ross Shafer. This would mark the last time that the original cast were together as Backus passed away in 1989, Hale passed away in 1990 and Schafer passed away in 1991.
Fun Facts:
- Reportedly Natalie Schafer never revealed her true age and she refused to divulge it if asked. Her actual year of birth was discerned until after her death. Schafer had it written into her Gilligan's Island contract that there to be no close-up shots of her.
- Schafer accepted her role on Gilligan's Island because the pilot was filmed on location in Hawaii and she looked at the job as nothing more than a free vacation. After reading the pilot script, she was convinced that the series would not be picked up.
- Schafer was a breast cancer survivor; which is something she has withheld from her friends and fans
- The late Jim Backus was also known for providing the voice of the near-sighted animated character Mr Magoo
- Actress Tina Louise had a brief role as Ewing Oil secretary Julie Grey in the first season of the CBS drama series, Dallas
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| Cast of The Waltons |
Created by Earl Hamner, Jr. and adapted from his book Spencer's Mountain as well as a 1963 film of the same name, The Waltons was a drama series that chronicled the lives of a family living in the fictional town of Walton's Mountain in Virginia during the Great Depression, a severe worldwide economic depression lasting most of the 1930s, and World War II, as told through the perspective of the family's oldest son, writer John-Boy Walton (played by Richard Thomas for seasons 1- 5 and Robert Wightman for seasons 8 and 9). The show's story is told from a middle-aged John-Boy's reminiscent perspective with narration at the introduction and closing of each episode by Earl Hamner, Jr..
In addition to John-Boy, the Walton family consisted of patriarch John (played by Ralph Waite), his wife Olivia (played by Learned), John's elderly parents Zeb and Esther (played by Will Geer and Ellen Corby, respectively) as well as the six other Walton children: Jason (played by Jon Walmsley), Mary Ellen (played by Judy Norton Taylor), Erin (played by Mary Elizabeth McDonough), Ben (played by Eric Scott), Jim-Bob (played by David W. Harper) and Elizabeth (played by Kami Cotler).
The small community named after the Walton's property is also home to other folk ranging from the well-to-do Baldwin sisters, Mamie and Emily (played by Helen Kleeb and Mary Jackson, respectively), two elderly spinsters who unknowingly distill moonshine that they call "Papa's recipe"; Ike Godsey (played by Joe Conley), postmaster and owner of the general store; Godsey's somewhat snobbish wife Corabeth (played by Ronnie Claire Edwards), who is actually a Walton cousin; and Sheriff Ep Bridges (played by John Crawford), keeper of the peace in Walton's Mountain.
At the end of the of the seventh season Learned decided not to renew her contract and thus, her character's abrupt disappearance was explained by Olivia developing tuberculosis and entering a sanatorium in Arizona. Learned did continue to make occasional guest appearances until the show's cancellation and later appeared in the four of the six The Waltons reunion movies. By the end of the eighth season, Waite's appearances were less frequent with his character depicted as visiting Olivia in Arizona and so Olivia's cousin Rose (played by Peggy Rae) arrives as a somewhat surrogate matriarch for the Walton children.
The Waltons enjoyed a nine-season run comprising of 210 episodes before ending production in 1981. After the series run, six feature-length made-for-television movies were made airing between 1982 and 1997.
Fun Facts:
- Initially Learned was billed as "Miss Michael Learned" on The Waltons because she was relatively unknown at the time, and producers did not want confusion among viewers about her gender
- During the show's fifth season, actress Ellen Corby suffered a stroke; her stroke was written into the show, with Grandma Walton also suffering a stroke. Corby recovered and returned to her role on The Waltons for the final episode of sixth season which marked her final appearance with her co-star Will Geer. Geer passed away on April 22, 1978 only month after this episode aired. The death of Geer's character was written into the show at the beginning of the seventh season. Corby continued her role as Grandma Walton following her return to the series.
- The 1971 made-for-television pilot, The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, saw only Corby and the actors playing the Walton children carried over to the television series. Andrew Duggan, Patricia Neal and Edgar Bergen played the roles of John, Olivia and Zeb Walton, respectively, in the pilot film
- Actor John Ritter had a recurring role as Reverend Matthew Fordwick before being cast as Jack Tripper in Three's Company
April 8: Today's "Retro TV History" is dedicated to Irish actor Edward Mulhare (1923 - 1997), who is remembered by television audiences as Foundation for Law and Government leader Devon Miles on the NBC series Knight Rider (1982 - 1986), who was born on this day in 1923.
The original series Knight Rider concluded in 1986 after four seasons comprising of 90 episodes.
Mulhare passed away on May 24, 1997 at the age of 74 after losing his battle to lung cancer.
April 7:
April 6:
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| Cast of Married...with Children |
Married...with Children is a situational comedy, notable for being the first prime-time television series to air on the fledgling Fox network, that chronicles the lives of the Bundy family; the Bundy's are the epidemy of an American "white trash" family who live in Chicago, IL. The Bundy family includes patriarch Al (played by Ed O'Neill), a once-glorious high school football player who has found himself with an unrewarding career selling women's shoes and a life with a family that mocks and disrespects him; matriarch Peggy (played by Katey Sagal), an obnoxious, inattentive mother and nagging wife who uses every opportunity to humiliate her husband about his job, his meager salary and even sexual abilities; their eldest daughter Kelly (played by Christina Applegate), a promiscuous, stereotypical dumb blonde teenager often dating men of questionable ethics; and their younger son Bud (played by David Faustino) who, although seemingly is the most intelligent member of the Bundy family, has a preoccupation with sex however his awkwardness ultimately results in failures with women.
Often seen in the Bundy home is next door neighbour and Peggy's best friend Marcy Rhoades D'Arcy (played by Amanda Bearse). Marcy, who is portrayed as Al's nemesis as she is an advocate for feminism and environmentalism, had two husbands during the run of the series; her first husband Steve Rhoades (played by David Garrison) is a nerdy and seemingly successful banker who is often dragged into Al's schemes where as her second husband Jefferson D'Arcy (played by Ted McGinley) is an unemployed, lazy dimwit who takes advantage of Marcy. Garrison left the series after the fourth season however he made guest appearances for the remainder of the show's run.
Despite Married...with Children's enduring popularity and loyal fan base, it was never a true ratings winner. One of the reasons was due to the fact that many of the newly developed series on the Fox network were unsuccessful in its early years and thus it kept the network from building a popular lineup to draw in a larger audience. Another reason was the simple fact that Fox, being a new start-up network, did not have the affiliate base of NBC, ABC or CBS. Despite these challenges, as well as controversy caused from the 1989 boycott initiated by Terry Rakolta, a housewife from Bloomfield Hills, MI, the ratings for Married...with Children were good enough for Fox to keep renewing the show for eleven seasons.
Fun Facts:
- Married...with Children's theme song is entitled "Love and Marriage" composed by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen and performed by Frank Sinatra
- The opening footage of the expressway entrance shot in show's opening sequence was taken from the 1983 movie National Lampoon's Vacation
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| Cast of Flipper |
The television series Flipper was adaptation of the 1963 movie also entitled Flipper, which chronicled the story of 12-year old Sandy Ricks (played by Halpin in the movie as well as the television series) who befriends an injured wild, bottlenose dolphin despite the initial the misgivings of his fisherman father, Porter (played by Chuck Connors in the movie). The television series differed from the film in that the character of Porter (played by Brian Kelly in the television series) is portrayed as a single father with two boys; Halpin carried on the role of eldest son Sandy and Tommy Norden was cast as younger son, Bud. Another difference from the original film was that Flipper was portrayed in the television series as having an unnatural degree of intelligence and an extraordinary understanding of human motives, behavior and vocabulary.
Flipper was set in the Florida Keys and filmed in Miami in cooperation with The Miami Seaquarium, an aquarium located on Key Biscayne in Biscayne Bay in Miami, FL. Flipper was played at first by a female dolphin named Susie, though primarily Flipper was played by another female named Kathy; female dolphins were chosen because they are less aggressive than males and their skins, unlike the skins of male dolphins, are more apt to be free from scars and other disfigurations acquired in altercations with other dolphins. Interestingly enough, the famous voice of Flipper was actually the doctored song of a kookaburra, a type of bird from the kingfisher group native to Australia and New Guinea and best known for their unmistakable call, which sounds like loud, echoing human laughter.
The plot of Flipper basically saw the dolphin, as the wild pet of the Ricks family, helping to protect Coral Key Park and Marine Preserve and its wild inhabitants. Flipper has often been considered an aquatic version of Lassie (1954 - 1973), a show that follows the adventures of a female Rough Collie dog named Lassie.
The television series Flipper enjoyed a three season run, comprising of 88 episodes.
Fun Facts:
- The Miami Seaquarium set where Flipper was filmed also served as the set of the television show Gentle Ben (1967 - 1969), a show similar in fashion where 10-year old Mark Wedloe (played by Clint Howard) befriends a lovable 650-pound American black bear named Ben (played by Bruno the Bear). The house used for the Ricks family was the same house used for the Wedloe family.
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| Original of Cast of Facts of Life |
The Facts of Life, a spinoff series from the already successful sitcom Diff'rent Strokes that initially revolved around the character of Edna Garrett (played by Charlotte Rae) leaving the Drummond family as their housekeeper on the parent series and becoming the housemother at the fictional Eastland School, an all-female boarding school in Peekskill, NY. The Facts of Life was known not only for having a number of cast changes during its run but also for multiple shifting of the setting of the series.
In The Facts of Life's first season, episodes focused on the troubles of the seven girls in Mrs Garrett's care, with the action usually set in a large common room of the girls' dormitory with focus typically revolving around a central morality-based or lesson-teaching theme. These girls included Blair Warner (played by Lisa Welchel), Nancy Olsen (played by Felice Schacter), Cindy Webster (played by Haddock), Sue Ann Weaver (played by Julie Piekarski), Natalie Green (played by Mindy Cohn), Molly Parker (played by Molly Ringwald) and Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey (played by Kim Fields). Also appearing in the first season was the school's headmaster, Mr. Stephen Bradley (played by John Lawlor) and Emily Mahoney (played by Jenny O'Hara).
Because producers felt that there were too many characters given the limitations of the half-hour sitcom format and that plotlines should be more focused to a core group of characters, the show was extensively re-tooled for the second season and only Rae, Welchel, Cohn and Fields remained with the series. As well, the setting changed from the girls' dormitory to that of the school's cafeteria and Mrs. Garrett became the school dietitian in addition to being the girls' housemother. The last of the changes going into the second season saw the addition of a new character being introduced; Nancy McKeon joined the last as the street-wise Jo Polniaczek. Although being written out of the show as main cast members Haddock, Schacter, Piekarski and Ringwald continued to make periodic appearances in the second and third seasons.
The Facts of Life produced nine seasons with 202 episodes.
Haddock, Schacter and Piekarski reprised their roles in the eighth season having their characters return for a reunion. Ringwald did not appear in this episode.
Fun Facts:- Actress Geri Reischl, who replaced Eve Plumb in the role of Jan Brady for the short-lived The Brady Bunch Hour (1976 - 1977) was originally given the role of Blair Warner but was forced to give it up due to her contract with General Mills.
- Actress Nancy McKeon is the real life younger sister of Philip McKeon, known to television audiences as Tommy Hyatt on the CBS sitcom Alice (1976 - 1985)
- The Facts of Life's theme was composed by Al Burton, Gloria Loring, and her then-husband, Alan Thicke, who is known to television audiences as the patriarch of the Seaver family on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains (1985 - 1992). They also penned the theme for the parent series, Diff'rent Strokes.
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| Cast of Welcome Back, Kotter |
Welcome Back, Kotter revolved around wisecracking high school teacher, Gabe Kotter (played by standup commedian Gabe Kaplan), who returns to his Brooklyn, NY alma mater, the fictional James Buchanan High School to teach an often unruly group of remedial students known as the Sweathogs who included Arnold Horshack (played by Palillo), Freddy "Boom Boom" Washington (played by Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), Juan Epstein (played by Robert Hegyes) and Vinnie Barbarino (played by the then unknown John Travolta). Most of the show's action is split between Kotter's home life with his wife and best friend Julie (played by Marcia Strassman) and his interactions with his students as well as the uptight, curmudgeonly vice-principal Michael Woodman (played by John Sylvester White), who dismissed the Sweathogs as worthless hoodlums.
The back story of Welcome Back, Kotter saw Kaplan's central character having attended the same remedial classes when he was a student at Buchanan, and was a founding member of the Sweathogs, and thus Kotter befriended his students as they grew to recognize and appreciate his trust and devotion in their potential. In essence, the premise as well as most of the characters of Welcome Back, Kotter were based on Kaplan's own experience as a remedial high school student in Brooklyn, as well as his standup comedy routine.
Welcome Back, Kotter enjoyed ratings success during its first two seasons, despite some controversy following its debut as there were concerns that the show would glorify juvenile delinquency. These sentiments faded after the Sweathogs' antics proved to be silly rather than criminal. By the fourth season rating were slipping; the actors playing the Sweathogs were in reality much older than there characters and were becoming less believable as high school students, as well as John Travolta, who was focusing on his film career, only appeared in eight episodes in the final season and Gabe Kaplan's appearances were becoming limited due to behind-the-scenes disputes. Welcome Back, Kotter produced four seasons comprising of 95 episodes when it ended in June, 1979.
Ron Palillo passed away on August 14, 2012 at the age of 63 after suffering a heart attack. Palillo's death followed after less than eight months after the death of fellow Welcome Back, Kotter cast mate Robert Hegyes (1951 - 2012) who passed away at the age of 60 also having suffered a heart attack. John Sylvester White (1919 - 1988) has previously passed away at the age of 68 after losing his battle with pancreatic cancer.
Fun Facts:
- The show's theme song was written and performed by John Sebastian, who was known to music audiences as the lead singer for the 1960s group, The Lovin' Spoonful. Sebastian's song became a Number 1 hit in the spring of 1976. Interestingly enough, Sebastian performed the theme on NBC's Saturday Night Live on April 24, 1976 and actually flubbed the opening lyrics
- While performing on Welcome Back, Kotter John Travolta was dating actress Diana Hyland, who was cast as matriarch Joan Bradford on the ABC series Eight Is Enough (1977 - 1981). Sadly Hyland, who was 18 years senior to Travolta, passed away in Travolta's arms on March 27, 1977 at the age of 41 from breast cancer after appearing on only four episodes of Eight Is Enough.
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| Cast of The Bob Newhart Show |
The Bob Newhart Show is a situation comedy that revolves around Robert Hartley, Ph.D. (played by Newhart), a Chicago psychologist, which divides most of its action between Hartley's home life with his supportive, albeit occasionally sarcastic, wife Emily (played by Suzanne Pleshette) and their friendly but inept neighbor, airline navigator Howard Borden (played by Bill Daily), and his work life at the medical office where Hartley has his psychology practice with an orthodontist who shared the office suite, Jerry Robinson, D.D.S. (played by Peter Bonerz) and their joke-loving receptionist, Carol Kester (played by Marcia Wallace).
Much of the show's comedy is derived from Hartley's interactions, with Newhart ultimately playing an extension to his standup comedy routines as the "straight man", with his wife, his friends, his colleagues and his patients, that included in recurring roles, the mean-spirited and neurotic Elliot Carlin (played by Jack Riley), the milquetoast Marine veteran Emil Peterson (played by John Fiedler), and shy knitter Lillian Bakerman (played by Florida Friebus).
By the end of the fifth season, the show was suffering lackluster ratings and Newhart wanted to end it, but was under contract to do one more season. Typical of the sitcom genre, the show's writers tried to rework the series by adding a pregnancy, much to Newhart's chagrin; he was not interested in doing a family show. Newhart finally pulled the plug on The Bob Newhart Show in 1978 following the end of the sixth season.
Fun Facts:
- Fans of The Simpsons might recognize Marcia Wallace's voice from her recurring role as the voice for Edna Krabappel, Bart Simpson's jaded school teacher
- Actor Bill Daily is also recognized for his role as astronaut Roger Healey on the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie
- In the last moments of the final episode of Newhart (Bob Newhart's later series that ran from 1982 - 1990), the character of Dick Loudon is hit in the head by a golf ball and the screen goes blank. When the lights come back up, viewers see Bob Newhart in the role of Dr. Bob Hartley clad in pajamas and sitting up in bed. The master bedroom is a duplicate of the room set seen on The Bob Newhart Show and Hartley says, "Honey, you won't believe the dream I just had." Following this his wife turns on the light and rolls over to speak with him it and becomes clear that she is not Joanna (played by Mary Frann), Loudon's wife from Newhart, but the dark-haired Emily (played by Pleshette). It is that this moment that the audience is left to believe that the entire show of Newhart, in particular the existence of Dick Loudon, was just Bob Hartley's dream.
