TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 659.1: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss the television legacy of Phil Donahue, creator and host of Donahue (Syndicated, 1967-1996), the long-running daytime talk show that not only was the first popular talk show to integrate audience participation into its format, but ushered in the modern era of syndicated daytime talk shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show (Syndicated, 1988-2011). Phil Donahue passed away Sunday, Aug. 18 at age eighty-eight. Topics this segment include a discussion of some of Donahue’s most memorable or controversial segments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 659.2: Tony, Donna, and Ed continue their discussion of the television legacy of Phil Donahue, as seen from the eyes of a viewer. Phil Donahue passed away Sunday, Aug. 18 at age eighty-eight. Topics this segment include favorite episodes of Donahue, including the time when Donahue fell in love with Marlo Thomas during her first appearance on his show; Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and Billy Crystal’s appearance to discuss Comic Relief; and David Letterman’s running gag about Donahue’s move to New York in 1984. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 659.3: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss some of the memorable segments that Phil Donahue did after moving production of Donahue to New York in 1984; Posner/Donahue (CNBC/Syndicated, 1991-1994), the issues-oriented talk show that Donahue co-hosted with Soviet journalist Vladmir Posner; and the controversy that led to the cancellation of Donahue’s CNBC talk show (2002-2003) after just six months. Phil Donahue passed away Sunday, Aug. 18 at age eighty-eight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 659.4: Ed welcomes back Rich Little, America’s Master Mimic, and the dean of impressionists. Rich will bring his record-breaking one-man Las Vegas show to the Laugh Factory Covina, 104 North Citrus Avenue in Covina, California, on Sunday, Sept. 8 for one night only beginning at 7pm. Go to tixr.com/groups/laughfactorycovina for tickets and more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 659.5: Rich Little, America’s Master Mimic and the dean of impressionists, talks to Ed about some of the many U.S. presidents whose voices he’s impersonated over the years, including Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Rich will bring his record-breaking one-man Las Vegas show to the Laugh Factory Covina on Sunday, Sept. 8 for one night only beginning at 7pm. Go to tixr.com/groups/laughfactorycovina for tickets and more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 658.1: From July 2016: Ed welcomes Peter Marshall, master of The Hollywood Squares, and a man whose eight-decade-long career in entertainment spans the worlds of big band music, Broadway musicals, comedy, movies, live performances, and radio. Peter Marshall passed Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 at the age of ninety-eight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 658.2: From July 2016: Peter Marshall shares a few memories of working nightclubs with comedian Tommy Noonan (and, later, Tommy Farrell); his friendship with Wally Cox, which dated back long before they worked together on The Hollywood Squares; and sharing an onscreen kiss with Julie Newmar in The Rookie (1950). Peter Marshall passed Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 at the age of ninety-eight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 658.3: From December 2017: Ed welcomes back Peter Marshall, the master of The Hollywood Squares and the narrator of Wait For Your Laugh, the excellent documentary on the life and career of Rose Marie. Peter Marshall passed Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 at the age of ninety-eight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 658.4: From June 2018: Peter Marshall (The Hollywood Squares, Wait for Your Laugh, Perry Como Classics: 'Til the End of Time) joins Ed for a conversation about the music career of Perry Como. Topics this segment include why Como was such a perfect fit for television, why Peter believes there's not much difference between a "singer" and a "crooner," and why part of Como's versatility stems from his ability to perform novelty songs. Peter Marshall passed Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 at the age of ninety-eight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 658.5: From June 2018: Peter Marshall (The Hollywood Squares, Wait for Your Laugh, Perry Como Classics: 'Til the End of Time) shares a few more thoughts on the music legacy of Perry Como. Also in this segment: A clip from the Hollywood Museum's tribute to Barbara Eden in August 2019 in which Peter Marshall shares a few memories of working with Larry Hagman and Bill Daily. Peter co-starred with Barbara Eden in the 1961 comedy Swingin' Along. Peter Marshall passed Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 at the age of ninety-eight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 657.1: Ed welcomes Bill Taylor, author of Mike Connors: A Life of Integrity in Film and Television, an in-depth biography of actor Mike Connors, from his humble upbringing in Fresno, California to the circumstances that led him to be discovered by film director William Wellman while playing basketball at UCLA, to the drive and intensity that Connors brought to his acting career, to his passion and genuine interest in people that was part of Connors’ makeup, on and off camera, to the pivotal role that Lucille Ball played in getting Mannix on the air and changing the course of Connors' life. Topics this segment include the story of how a chance meeting with an optometrist set into motion the events that brought Bill into Connors’ life and eventually becoming his biographer; the various hardships that Connors overcame in his formative years; and how Connors learned from his father the importance of living by The Golden Rule. Mike Connors: A Life of Integrity in Film and Television is available right now from our friends at BearManor Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 657.2: Bill Taylor, author of Mike Connors: A Life of Integrity in Film and Television, talks to Ed about how closely Connors worked with stunt coordinators Charles Picerni and Dick Ziker on planning and performing the various stunts every week on Mannix, and how Connors performed as much as his own stunts as safety would allow so that it appeared as authentic as possible. Also in this segment: The back story of the famous opening title sequence of Mannix. Mike Connors: A Life of Integrity in Film and Television is available right now from our friends at BearManor Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 675.3: Bill Taylor, author of Mike Connors: A Life of Integrity in Film and Television, talks to Ed about how both Mannix and Tightrope were canceled not because of ratings, but because of other factors decided by network executives; how Connors always made himself available to his fans; and the grace with which he always treated his fellow actors. Mike Connors: A Life of Integrity in Film and Television is available right now from our friends at BearManor Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 657.4. From May 2014: Ed welcomes Mike Connors, the actor known to three generations of television viewers as private eye Joe Mannix. Co-hosting this segment is David Breckman, writer, director, and co-executive producer of Monk, and a huge fan of Mannix. Mike Connors passed away in January 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 657.5: From May 2014: Ed and guest co-host David Breckman talk to Mike Connors about some of his early film roles, including working with John Wayne, William Wellman, and Roger Corman, John Wayne, as well as his short-lived but fondly remembered series Tightrope (CBS, 1959-1960). Mike Connors passed away in January 2017. Also in this segment: A clip from January 2017 in which Arthur Marks, producer and director of the original Perry Mason television series (and a director on Mannix), shares a few memories of his friend Mike Connors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ed welcomes multi-award-winning actress, writer and producer Charlotte Kirk (The Reckoning, The Lair, The Possession of Gladstone Manor). Charlotte plays the title role in Duchess, a new action thriller directed by Neil Marshall that Charlotte also co-wrote and co-produced. A rare gangster movie with a female crime boss, Duchess also stars Colm Meaney, Stephanie Beacham, Philip Winchester, and Sean Pertwee and becomes available as a digital release and for viewing on demand beginning Friday, Aug. 9. Charlotte will also soon be seen as Nicole Brown Simpson in The Juice, a true crime drama about the O.J. Simpson murder case that is scheduled for release in 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 656.2: Ed welcomes Jim Hardy, longtime archivist for Bob Hope Enterprises, where he handles the licensing of the various film clips, TV clips, radio clips, photographs, and other archival materials the encompass the career of the legendary entertainer. Jim is also the curator of the Official Bob Hope YouTube Channel, a joint venture by The Bob Hope Legacy and the Bob & Dolores Hope Foundation that features highlights from Hope’s fifty-seven USO tours, monologues, Christmas specials, the PGA tournaments that bore Hope’s name, plus Hope performing alongside such stars as Brooke Shields, Jayne Mansfield, Lucille Ball, Norman Lear, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr, Jackie Gleason, Jack Benny, Johnny Carson, Barbara Eden, Florence Henderson, Joan Van Ark, Donna Mills, Big Bird, Lassie, and more. Topics this segment include how hands-on Hope was with both the editing of his shows and the preparation of his monologue; how Hope kept his brain sharp well into his eighties; and Hope kept performing on the road, despite his advanced age. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 656.3: Jim Hardy, longtime archivist for Bob Hope Enterprises and the curator of the Official Bob Hope YouTube Channel, talks to Ed about how the legendary comedian endeared himself to audiences worldwide because he was the same off-camera as he was on-camera, and why Hope’s special connection with U.S. soldiers spanned from World War II to Desert Storm. The Official Bob Hope YouTube Channel features highlights from Hope’s fifty-seven USO tours, monologues, Christmas specials, the PGA tournaments that bore Hope’s name, plus a whole lot more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 655.1: A special program-length tribute to Bob Newhart, the Emmy Award-winning star of two long-running, iconic sitcoms, The Bob Newhart Show (CBS, 1972-1978) and Newhart (CBS, 1982-1990), but made a name for himself a stand-up comedian in the 1960s, particularly with his Grammy Award-winning album, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart. Bob Newhart passed away on Thursday, July 18 at age ninety-four. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 655.2: From June 2014: Tony, Donna, and Ed continue their look at Bob Newhart’s career in stand-up comedy and television, with a particular focus on The Bob Newhart Show (CBS, 1972-1978). Bob Newhart passed away on Thursday, July 18 at age ninety-four. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices