‘The Jeffersons’: Norman Lear sitcom disrespected, but gets the love

The strangest thing: my younger kids think television coming over our old aerial—complete with commercials and limited choice of channels—is the coolest thing now (high tech burnout was inevitable). And one of their favorite digital channels is our local MeTV outlet, with its old timey sched of classic television fare (yes, they have taste, but of course, I’m shilling for a potential job offer, too…). So the upcoming “Summer of Me” programming change this Monday should be a lot of fun for them—and for you, too, particularly since The Jeffersons will be movin’ on up into the primo 6:30pm (Eastern) timeslot (now you don’t have to watch the fake news!).

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‘The Yellow Rose’: 80s primetime soap could have been a contender

All the talk this week about the 40th anniversary of Dallas’s debut got me thinking about one of the many pretenders to its prime time network soap opera throne—NBC’s The Yellow Rose—right before I saw word this morning that actress Susan Anspach had just passed. She was quite good in this expensive, all-star outing from NBC, so in memory of Miss Anspach, let’s look back at The Yellow Rose.

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‘Dallas’ (Season 1): 5 episodes & a BBQ – a taste of what’s to come

2018 marked the 40th anniversary of the premiere of Dallas, the CBS prime time soap opera that ran for 14 seasons, including the second-most watched series episode in U.S. broadcast history (the cliffhanger-solving Who Done It?, with at least 90 million viewers), and gave television its hands-down greatest villain: actor Larry Hagman’s J.R. Ewing, the evil, scheming, downright degenerate Texas oilman who captivated the imaginations of America’s last unified TV viewing audience.

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‘S.W.A.T.’ (Season 1): ’70s adult action still fun today

Hey, bro—you tired of your girlfriend making you wear matching pink pussy hats, snuggling on the couch watching Grey’s Anatomy while she whines that the President’s mean?

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‘100 Years of Horror’: Vintage horror, sci-fi docuseries comes to disc

100 years of movie horror in 11 hours…sorta. Mill Creek Entertainment (with MultiCom Entertainment) has released 100 Years of Horror, the 26-episode syndicated TV series from 1996, hosted by horror icon, Christopher Lee.

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‘Wiseguy’ (Season 1): Stephen J. Cannell gets edgy, serious, & serialized

Classic TV fans will no doubt want to cut a slice of birthday cake today for Stephen J. Cannell, the prolific creator of such muscular, iconic tube fare as The Rockford Files, Baretta, Baa Baa Black Sheep, The A-Team, Riptide, and 21 Jump Street. For a birthday treat, let’s look at the first season of Cannell’s critically acclaimed cop/mob series, Wiseguy.

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‘Payback’ (1997): Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Asner reunite

Good ‘ol Mare. I had to poke around all the way up into the 1990s to find a TV movie where Mary Tyler Moore is menaced (apparently she was too good to do cheap actioners during her series’ heyday…): ABC’s Payback, from 1997, with Fredric Lehne, Adam Scott, and guess who? ‘Ol Lou Grant!

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‘Night Terror’ (1977): Valerie Harper shifts gears in tense suspenser

Next up on our hit list is Rhoda! Now, you can find Valerie Harper’s 1977 NBC made-for-TV movie, Night Terror, for sale on various public domain discs, but make sure you type in Night Drive, because somehow, somewhere, this spiffy, creepy little actioner was re-titled. Or, snag a copy of the 2021 Blu-ray release from Scorpion Releasing and Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

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A rambling pop culture conversation.