Blog Post Tears, Dreams, and Blank Screens: A Brief History of the Series Finale Lucy accidently destroys a newly sculpted Revolutionary War statue in the town square. A grenade temporarily blinds Eliot Ness. Perry Mason successfully defends an eccentric actress in a murder case. These describe three episodes of the most successful shows of the ‘50s and ‘60s. What do they all...
Blog Post Producer's Pointers: Why I Became An Oral Historian And How You Can Be One, Too One night when I was ten years old, my parents brought their then-new video camera over to my grandparents’ house. My dad set up the briefcase-sized Panasonic on a tripod and aimed it at the dining room table. Around that table sat my three living grandparents. (My maternal grandfather passed away...
Blog Post Nina Tassler’s Interview Is A Master Class In The TV Business We were excited, and yes, maybe even a little bit nervous, for the chance to sit with network executive Nina Tassler for a few hours for the Archive of American Television. After all, this was one of the most powerful people in television. But what unfolded felt less like an interview and more like...
Blog Post The Late Garry Shandling June Gloom hung in the sky as I frantically paced back and forth at the foot of a driveway of a beautiful home in Brentwood. I was supposed to be interviewing Garry Shandling for the Archive of American Television, and he was late. Very late. And I was starting to get nervous. Yes, I’d been a fan...
Blog Post A Darren Starry Night Brenda: I like your butt. I mean bike. Dylan: Thanks. Hop on. My bike, that is. It doesn't get any better than that. When I was in junior high, a Brenda Walsh and Dylan McKay exchange like that made my night, my week, my year. As a young girl dreaming of the day when I would have my first boyfriend...
