I hadn’t realized that this past April was the 35th anniversary of the passing of Lucille Ball, television’s greatest comedienne. Probably because that former standby of media information—the old “TV listings”—hadn’t reminded me. Since traditional linear network TV is now essentially a niche joke—the last form of mass communication that actually helped unify our popular culture, as opposed to the internet and streaming, which have completely Balkanized it—I seriously doubt there was any kind of effort on the part of her old network, CBS, to commemorate her death while celebrating her legacy (maybe they did something on MeTV…do people still have cable?).
Continue reading ‘Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie’ (1993): A familial look back at the fascinating, complicated coupleTag Archives: MPI
‘The Donna Reed Show’ (Season 1): A charming, misunderstood gem
You think the Stone family would make you wear a mask? Please.
Continue reading ‘The Donna Reed Show’ (Season 1): A charming, misunderstood gem‘Dark Shadows’ (The Beginning, Vol. 1): What was it like before vampires & werewolves?
Spinning the dial the other day (which is a neat trick with a remote…), I noticed not for the first time that the daily soap opera pickins is mighty slim, shall we say: just four left on the Not So Big Anymore Three (five if you count reruns of the sublime The Doctors on Retro TV, which I never miss). Why, back in my day…(cue nursie: Gramps is at it again). Anyway, if you grew up when your Grammy’s “stories” were still the queens of daytime, you may have heard of—or been lucky enough to catch it yourself—TV’s strangest daily serial: ABC’s supernatural gothic horror romance, Dark Shadows.
Continue reading ‘Dark Shadows’ (The Beginning, Vol. 1): What was it like before vampires & werewolves?