Latest News from The Interviews

40 Years Times "60 Minutes"

 Wed, 09/24/2008 The stopwatch still ticks for 60 Minutes , which first aired forty years ago today. The newsmagazine has not only been a critical success, but also a popular one. According to The Complete Directory to Primetime Network and Cable TV Shows by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, 60 Minutes was the #1 rated show for the 1979-80 season as well as 1982-83 season, and a three-year run between 1991-1994 (besting Home Improvement , Roseanne , and Seinfeld in this period). Created by legendary producer Don...

Vote for your Favorite TV moment!

 Thu, 09/11/2008 Carol Burnett channels Scarlett O'Hara, Sammy Davis Jr. plants a kiss on Archie Bunker.. as does Mulder on Scully.. Who Shot JR is finally revealed.. and it's Suzanne Pleshette at a B&B in Vermont...! Vote for your favorite TV moment! Visit emmys.abc.com to cast your ballot for the most memorable comedy or drama episode. Winners will be announced during the live Primetime Emmy telecast September 21 on ABC! We've posted excerpts from some of our interviewees discussing these memorable...

Peanuts Animator Bill Melendez Has Died

 Wed, 09/03/2008 Bill Melendez, who was the animator for the classic Peanuts television specials, including A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown , has died at the age of 91. In his early career, he worked on numerous Walt Disney animated features from the 1940s. His Archive interview will be online soon and can be seen at Academy headquarters. Interview Description: Bill Melendez spoke about his early years at Walt Disney Studios and later at Warner Bros., where he animated...

MSN Entertainment Celebrates 60 Years Of Emmy

 Tue, 09/02/2008 MSN and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences are presenting classic clips from 60 years of the Primetime Emmy Awards. Additionally, Emmy winners who have been interviewed by the Archive of American Television share their stories about their Emmy-winning work and their experiences on Emmy night. Click here to access dozens of clips posted on MSN. Below are three of the video pieces: Doris Roberts discusses her work on Everybody Loves Raymond and her Emmy acceptance speeches, Joseph...

Archive Interviewee Jerry Lewis Discusses the MDA Telethon

 Fri, 08/29/2008 The 43rd annual Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association will be broadcast live from Las Vegas on Sunday, August 31. “I’ll never wave the white flag in the fight against muscular dystrophy and other muscle-wasting diseases,” Lewis has said. “Not only is the Telethon a chance to help put an end to these debilitating diseases, but it’s also a way to inform and educate the public, while having a darn good time.” Last year's telethon ended with a record-setting $...

TV Golden Age Writer Tad Mosel has Died

 Tue, 08/26/2008 Tad Mosel, one of the group of writers who came to define the Golden Age of Television in the 1950s, has died at the age of 86. Among Mosel's most well-known teleplays were: "The Out-of-Towners" (for Studio One ), "The Five Dollar Bill" (for Studio One ), and an adaptation of "The Petrified Forest" (for Producers' Showcase ). He was Emmy-nominated in 1977 for his work on the miniseries The Adams Chronicles . He received a WGA nomination for his feature film screenplay of Up the Down Staircase...

The Many Layers of Julia Child

 Tue, 08/19/2008 The National Women's History Museum exhibit, Clandestine Women: The Untold Stories of Women in Espionage, highlights the story of an unlikely operative, Julia Child. It has recently been brought to light that decades before becoming a famous chef, Julia Child, in 1944, worked for the OSS. She helped the U.S. spy agency develop shark repellent, used to combat German U-boats during World War II. The exhibit can be seen at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington Cemetery...

50th Anniversary of the Beginning of the Quiz Show Scandals

 Fri, 08/15/2008 A year before Charles Van Doren and Herb Stempel squared off on Twenty-One , a contestant on the quiz show Dotto discovered that the program he was on was rigged. As related in Jeff Kisseloff's The Box: An Oral History of Television 1920-1961 , on August 15, 1958 Dotto contestant Edward Hilgemeier, Jr. walked into the office of Assistant New York District Attorney Joseph Stone, with his complaint about the quiz show's rigging, the first spark that ignited the quiz show scandal flame. Quiz shows...