Latest News from The Interviews

"Tonight Show" Walk Out

 Thu, 02/11/2010 Long before the Conan O'Brien-Jay Leno hubbub of the last several weeks, there was a much more famous and dramatic exit of a Tonight Show host: Jack Paar. Fifty years ago today, following his monologue, Jack Paar walked out on The Tonight Show (with his tearful utterance: "...there must be a better way of making a living than this"). Paar had been angered over a joke that had been "bleeped" by the network and on February 11, 1960 announcer Hugh Downs was left to contend with the hosting duties...

"Days of Our Lives" Matriarch Frances Reid Has Died

 Thu, 02/04/2010 Frances Reid, who played "Alice Horton" on Days of Our Lives from its inception in 1965, has died at the age of 95. She also starred in the soap opera Portia Faces Life in 1954 and was an early cast member of the long-running soap As the World Turns . Reid was awarded a Daytime Emmy for Lifetime Achievement in 2004. Frances Reid was interviewed by the Archive of American Television on August 13, 2003. Her one-and-a-half hour Archive interview is currently available online.

"Andy Griffith Show" Producer Aaron Ruben Has Died

 Tue, 02/02/2010 Aaron Ruben, who produced The Andy Griffith Show and was Emmy-nominated for Sanford and Son , has died at the age of 95. Ruben began his career as a writer in radio, transitioning to television with series and specials that included Caesar's Hour ; in his early career he also directed for television, notably for The Phil Silvers Show . One of his last producing credits was the sitcom Too Close for Comfort . In his later years, Ruben was a court appointed children's advocate. Aaron Ruben was...

The Best Sitcom Episode of All-Time

 Tue, 02/02/2010 The credo of a clown— 'A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants' — Chuckles the Clown Voted at one time the #1 best TV episode by TV Guide * and also the #1 ranked sitcom episode in TV Land To Go: The Big Book of TV Lists, TV Lore, and TV Bests , the classic Mary Tyler Moore Show episode "Chuckles Bites the Dust" makes its DVD debut today (with The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete Sixth Season ). The October 25, 1975 episode was in the black comedy vein, as the WJM...

"Robert Montgomery Presents" Debuted 60 Years Ago

 Fri, 01/29/2010 One of the top big-budget "live" anthology series of "The Golden Age of Television," Robert Montgomery Presents debuted on January 30, 1950 with an adaptation of "The Letter" starring screen star Madeleine Carroll. Although the kinescope copies of Robert Montgomery Presents are very little seen today (and seem relatively scarce), the series featured top established actors, such as James Cagney and Helen Hayes, and up-and-comers such as Elizabeth Montgomery (Robert's daughter, of later Bewitched...

Tyne Daly Guest Stars on "Burn Notice" Tonight

 Thu, 01/21/2010 Burn Notice returns for the second half of season three with Sharon Gless' Cagney & Lacey co-star Tyne Daly in a guest role. After a few years off the small screen following Judging Amy , Tyne Daly has recently returned to TV in such projects as last year's television movie Georgia O'Keefe (playing Mabel Dodge Sterne). Sharon Gless talked about Tyne Daly visiting her on the set of Burn Notice in her Archive of American Television interview . "When we walked on the set together, the crew [...

Pioneering Female TV Director Frances Buss Buch Has Died

 Thu, 01/21/2010 Frances Buss Buch, the first woman director at CBS, died at the age of 92 on January 19. She was an on-camera assistant on the very first TV game show— CBS Television Quiz — and also assisted with Richard Hubbell's CBS newscast, which included the announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Among Frances Buss Buch's TV credits as a director were: game show The Missus' Goes-A-Shopping , interview show Vanity Fair (also producer), cooking show To the Queen's Taste with Dione...

TV Academy Hall of Fame: 2010

 Wed, 01/20/2010 Tonight, seven new inductees will be added to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Hall of Fame at a special ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel— actress Candice Bergen, art director Charles Lisanby, announcer Don Pardo, show creator-producer Gene Roddenberry (posthumously), performers Tom and Dick Smothers, and game show creator-producer Bob Stewart. Television Academy Chairman-CEO John Shaffner notes: "Each year, the Television Academy has the privilege of honoring television greats...