Blog Post Chuck Jones' "Merrie Melodies" and More Our three-hour interview with Chuck Jones is now online! The legendary animator spoke in great detail about the animation process and the creation of many of his memorable characters, including the lovable "Bugs Bunny," "Daffy Duck," and "Wile E. Coyote." He shared tales of his boyhood - of growing...
Blog Post You're Still a Mean One, Mr. Grinch: "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" Turns 50! He's a curmudgeon, he steals presents, he squelches Christmas cheer ... and then his heart grows three sizes and we all hold him dear! "The Grinch" has become an integral part of the holiday season, for How the Grinch Stole Christmas is now the lead-off holiday special on network television,...
Blog Post Catching up with "Half-Pint:" Melissa Gilbert Talks "Little House," "The Miracle Worker," and Michael Landon In her newly released Archive Interview, Melissa Gilbert describes her experiences as a child actress, playing "Laura Ingalls" on the much beloved series Little House on the Prairie . She details the show's production schedule, discusses her co-stars (including the bond she shared with her on-...
Blog Post "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" To Hit the Big Screen George Clooney and Smokehouse Pictures are set to produce a movie about Smothers Brothers Tom and Dick, in an adaptation of David Bianculli's book, Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour . The film will follow the controversy surrounding the Smothers Brothers'...
Blog Post 20 Years Later - Is Seinfeld Still Stuck in that Parking Garage? "The problem with the mall garage is that everything looks the same. They try to differentiate between levels. They put up different colors, different numbers, different letters. What they need to do is name the levels, like, 'Your mother's a whore.' You would remember that." So proclaimed Jerry...
Blog Post TV Builds Character: "America in Primetime" Premieres Sunday on PBS Since its inception, television has served as a lens on American society, and in the expansive world of modern TV, today’s heroes and villains have come a long way from their predecessors. America in Primetime showcases this iconic American art form, which has both reflected and shaped our national...
Blog Post "The Electric Company" Turns F-O-R-T-Y You gotta love a show with a character named "Easy Reader." Morgan Freeman portrayed him, a laid back Easy Rider -esque guy who loved reading on PBS' The Electric Company . Bill Cosby and Rita Moreno joined Freeman on the program - the first show from The Children's Television Workshop (CTW) after...
Blog Post If at First You Don’t Succeed ... Recast: "The Dick Van Dyke Show" Celebrates 50 Years Back in the summer of 1958, Carl Reiner , already an established writer and supporting actor on Sid Caesar ’s Your Show of Shows , sought to create a sitcom in which he would star. He followed the adage of “write what you know” and created thirteen scripts of Head of the Family , a largely...
Blog Post Prohibition? The Civil War? The Brooklyn Bridge? Filmmaker Ken Burns on How He Chooses his Projects Prohibition , a new three-part, five-and-a-half-hour documentary series by Ken Burns ( The Civil War , Jazz, Baseball, Huey Long, National Parks: America's Best Idea; Brooklyn Bridge, and many more) and Lynn Novick, airs October 2, 3 and 4, 2011, 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET on PBS . Set in the era of...
Blog Post "The password is...FIFTY!" -- It's "Password's" Golden Anniversary On October 2, 1961, the popular game show Password , hosted by Allen Ludden, premiered in daytime (a nighttime version was launched in January of 1962). Two teams (consisting of a celebrity and a contestant) competed. The "password" was given to one player on each team. The player who was given the...
