TV Confidential

From March 2014: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the 40th anniversary of The Rockford Files, the pilot of which originally aired on Mar. 27, 1974 during This Week in TV History. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TVC 485.1: Emmy Award-winning and Grammy Award-nominated writer, producer, singer, and showbiz raconteur Geoffrey Mark shares a few memories of his friend Jack Sheldon, the virtuoso jazz trumpeter and comedian whom some of you may remember as Merv Griffin’s sidekick throughout the 1970s. Also one of the many contributors to Schoolhouse Rock, including the songs “Conjunction Junction” and “I’m Just a Bill,” Jack Sheldon passed away Monday, Dec. 30 at age 88. Learn more about your ad choices....

TVC 485.2: A return appearance by James DuMont, one of the busiest character actors in film and TV today. Currently seen as Danny McBride’s right-hand man on The Righteous Gemstones (which HBO recently renewed for a second season), James has prominent roles as Senator McClellan in The Banker, the first feature film produced by Apple TV (now available for streaming on demand on Apple TV+), and as “Tracksuit Charlie” in Spenser: Confidential, available now for on-demand viewing on Netflix....

TVC 485.3: James DuMont (Spenser: Confidential, The Righteous Gemstones) talks to Ed about how he often looks for the Achilles heel of a character whenever he takes on a part, and how he approaches playing historical characters such as Senator McClellan in The Banker. Both The Banker and Spenser: Confidential are available now for streaming on demand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TVC 485.4: Ed welcomes Emmy Award-winning actor Rob Paulsen, the voice of Pinky from Pinky and the Brain, Yakko Warner from Animaniacs, and both Raphael and Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Rob’s voice was nearly silenced in 2016 when he learned that he had throat cancer. Rob’s memoir, Voice Lessons: How a Couple of Ninja Turtles, Pinky, and an Animaniac Saved My Life, is the story of how his two-year fight with cancer gave him a new lease on life and an even greater appreciation...

TVC 485.5: Rob Paulsen (Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Talkin’ Toons), talks to Ed about working with such voice actors as Jack Riley; his approach to directing voice actors; and the degree to which he and his cast mates on Animaniacs are allowed to ad-lib. Rob’s memoir, Voice Lessons: How a Couple of Ninja Turtles, Pinky, and an Animaniac Saved My Life, is the story of how his two-year fight with cancer gave him a new lease on life and an even greater...

TVC 485.6: Rob Paulsen (Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs, Talkin’ Toons) talks to Ed about the importance of getting things checked out once you reach a certain age. Rob’s memoir, Voice Lessons: How a Couple of Ninja Turtles, Pinky, and an Animaniac Saved My Life, is the story of how his two-year fight with cancer gave him a new lease on life and an even greater appreciation for his gift for creating voices. Rob Paulsen is also this year’s spokesperson for The Head and Neck Cancer Alliance...

TVC 485.7: Film and TV actor James DuMont (Spenser: Confidential, The Banker) talks to Ed about the importance of auditioning for your career, not for any one job. Both The Banker and Spenser: Confidential are available now for streaming on demand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From March 2014: Ed and guest co-host Susan Kesler welcome actress and television executive Stacey Adams, the daughter of Don Adams. Stacey has enjoyed a long and successful career in television in her own right, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes, while Sue was one of the producers of the award-winning Get Smart Complete Series Gift Set DVD collection. Also one of the top film editors in television, Sue is the co-author of The Wild, Wild West: The Series. Learn more about...

With Playboy announcing earlier today that it is suspending production of the print edition of its flagship magazine for the rest of 2020---a move that many believe also signals the end of the publication---we thought we'd post this bonus edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL in which Phil Gries played audio highlights from some of the early television ventures of Playboy founder and publisher Hugh Hefner, including a 1960 edition of Playboy’s Penthouse (a precursor to Playboy After Dark) featuring...

TVC 484.1: From March 2015: A special edition of This Week in TV History in which Tony, Donna, and Ed pay tribute to the life and career of Leonard Nimoy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TVC 484.2: From May 2019: Marc Cushman, author of These Are The Voyages, a three-volume biography of Star Trek: The Original Series, on the loyalty Leonard Nimoy showed to his fellow cast mates on Star Trek, and the actor’s mindset when he wrote his two memoirs, I Am Not Spock (1975) and I Am Spock (1995). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TVC 484.3: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with eight-time Emmy Award winner Ed Asner (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant, Elf, Disney Pixar’s UP, Briarpatch), including why his experience providing the voice of Carl Fredericksen in UP gave him a feeling of rebirth. Ed’s new memoir, SON OF A JUNKMAN: My Life from the West Bottoms of Kansas City to the Bright Lights of Hollywood, not only includes many stories about his spectacular acting career, but pays tribute to his cast...

TVC 484.4: Ed welcomes back two-time Emmy nominee Lee Purcell (Adam at 6 A.M., Valley Girl, Big Wednesday, Long Road Home, Secret Sins of the Fathers). Lee can currently be seen, along with Donna Mills, Donna Pescow, Geri Jewell, and RJ Mitte, in Carol of the Bells, a heartwarming feature film directed by Joey Travolta and his company, Inclusion Films, that is now available on DVD and streaming on demand on many platforms. Inclusion Films teaches and employs people in the film industry who...

TVC 484.5: Lee Purcell talks to Ed about the wonderful letter she received earlier this year from Kirk Douglas (her co-star on Eddie Macon’s Run), just a few weeks before he passed; her experience playing Olivia de Havilland in the CBS miniseries My Wicked, Wicked Ways; and why it’s apparently difficult to teach people who are ambidextrous how to play tennis. Lee’s latest film, Carol of the Bells, is now available on DVD and for on-demand viewing on many streaming platforms. Learn more about...

TVC 484.6: Greg Ehrbar reviews some of the many editions of Sesame Street that are on available on DVD, including Sesame Street: 50th Anniversary Celebration, Sesame Street: 50 Years and Counting, 40 Years of Sunny Days, and the Barnes and Noble picture disc record featuring music from the first five decades of Sesame Street. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From March 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed say Happy Birthday to Judd Hirsch, who was born March 15, 1935 during This Week in TV History. Topics include the legacy of Taxi as well as some of Hirsch's other television work, including The Law, Delvecchio, and Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From January 2013: Barbara Feldon became a role model for women around the world when she played Agent 99 on the long-running, groundbreaking comedy series Get Smart. But while 99 continues to live happily ever after in reruns, Barbara found herself at a crossroads many years ago when her 12-year live-in relationship came to an end, and she found herself faced with the prospect of actually living by herself for the first time in her life. After struggling with the notion at first, Barbara...

TVC 483.1: Tony and Ed commemorate the fortieth anniversary of Pink Lady and Jeff (NBC, 1980), the short-lived and, in many respects, infamous variety series produced by Sid & Marty Krofft, which premiered forty years ago This Week in TV History. Tony’s coverage includes first-hand knowledge: He was in the studio audience at NBC/Burbank on the night that the first episode of Pink Lady was taped in December 1979. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TVC 483.2: Part 1 of a three-part interview with Carol Ford and Linda Groundwater, two of the co-authors (along with Dee Young) of Bob Crane: The Definitive Biography, a comprehensive, cradle-to-grave look at the life and career of the beloved Hogan’s Heroes star, including the impact he had on radio. The book includes first-hand insight from more than two hundred people who knew Bob Crane personally and better than most: family members; his friends from Connecticut, including many who knew...