TV Guidance Counselor

April 23-28, 1988 This week Ken welcomes magician Michael Carbonaro to the show. Ken and Michael discuss time travel, growing up in Long Island, 

This week Ken welcomes actor, musican Michael Des Barres to the show. In addition to discussing Michael's new record Kiss or Kill (available via Rum Bar Records over at Bandcamp https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/kiss-or-kill-me) Ken and Michael discuss how you tell people you're doing in 2026, Elvis, interpretting art, being a child actor, Lonnie Donnegan, Warhol, Iggy Pop, working hard, Silverhead, Z Cars, Alf, being a juvenille deliquint on screen, To Sir with Love, going to UK Private School, I Monster, Christopher Lee, Ghoulies, how acting is just a job, the power of stripped down guitar bass and drums, when Elvis joined the Army, The '68 Comeback Special,  theories on why there are no stars anymore, Duran Duran, The Power Station, Live Aid, replacing Robert Palmer, Obsession, the mystery of WWF's Saturday Night's Main Event, performing for a billion and a half people at once with only two days of rehersal, where Michael's live long friendship with Don Johnson started, punk, delivering, being the villain, McGuyver, dressing in all black, getting recognized in public, Pamela Des Barres, knowing your lines, enjoying yourself, telling the truth, being yourself, Sidney Poitier, Sean Connery, Monty Python, and why you always keep the clothes. 

June 1-7, 1974 Returning to the show for a THIRD time this week is author of the new book "King Kong vs. Godzilla", Thom Shubilla.    

June 27 - July 3, 1992

Ken flies solo this week as he goes week by week through 2016, and this year he absolutey, no argument peaked in comedy, and maybe in life. It's astounding. Join us for the journey. 

September 21 -27, 1991

February 7-13, 1970

July 30 - August 5, 1983

September 24-30, 1994 This week Ken welcomes the deep diver from the Treehouse Detectives and the Deep Cuts podcast Andrew Price to the show.   Ken and Andrew discuss the secret origin of Blast from the Past's TV Guide collection, Andrew WK.. Deep Dives podcast, how one can buy celebrity touched TV Guides, how wives keep us in check, Andy Kaufman, becoming part of your mythology, AI is awful, not having respect for craft anymore, Fraiser, skullets, 1994, Murder She Wrote, the Murder She Wrote contest, Renegade, step dad shows, how young people took "adult swim" too seriously, Growing Pains, how Ken made a poor decision moderating a reunion panel once, the best Growing Pains theme song version, depressing TV Guides, Ricardo Montalban, Luthor Vandross chilling on the couch with Price is Right, Charles Nelson Reiley, the golden age of awkward late night talk show appearances, the second season of the John Larroquette Show, hating My So-Called Life, Wizard Magazine, Ken's comic book past, They Live, James Bond Jr, fathers and sons, Sisters, Golden Girls vs Desinging Women, how Duckman is one of the greatest things ever, Tim Curry, Total Recall, made for TV movies, Baywatch, Newhart, Nick at Nite, Captain Janeway, Kate Mulgrew, AOC's love of Star Trek, the romantic ideal of discovering things on TV in a pre-internet world, Beyond 2000, mis-IDing Anthony Kiedis, forgetting Ed Asner's name, Margaret Cho in All American Girl, Dream On, Paul Reiser, TGIF, Family Matters, X-files, Ashlyn Gere and her mainstream acting career, Picket Fences, Ren and Stimpy and the outrageous lack of research people do when they post "this was a real ad/tv show in the 70s/80/90s" on social media. 

This week Ken welcomes fellow podcaster (Inside Late Night) and author of the new book "Love Johnny Carson", Mark Malkoff. 

We made it through another year somehow. Ken flies solo to get through the ups and downs, and more downs, and a few more downs of 2025 week by week.   Happy New Year and here's to a better 2026 for us all.

November 27 - December 3, 1999 Boston Edition + Feb 16 - March 1, 2009

August 27th - September 2, 1994 This week Ken welcomes wholesome, midwest superstar and host of the Catered Quiz Podcast Rick Katschke to the show. Ken and Rick discuss the Catered Quiz, The Monroeville Mall's imminent demise, working at Walmart, getting jacked in a warehouse, department stores, new shows airing after a Fall Preview, the weird TV landscape of the end of August, physically writing letters, channel flipping, Harvey Firestein, pre-out of the closet Ellen's bad fashion sense, Billy Bob Thornton, asking Tom Petty that, Letterman, making Letterman laugh, Staying at the Fister, what the hell is the Wisconsin Dells, water slides, what the Step by Step roller coaster is, arcades, Water Country's Geronimo, the bizarre HBO travel prize, exactly how much a lifetime of free HBO is worth, how creepy it was that a 14  year old Claire Danes was starring opposite a 22 year old Jared Leto, My So-Called Life, Jeanie vs. Samantha, TNN's Club Dance, being in the audience for The Chew, refusing to be an audience plants, TV tapings, Rick's parents' murder mystery theater business, when WWE wrestlers steal your props, SNICK, TGIF, riding your bike to the gas station to buy junk food, generic Dr. Pepper, Super America Gas, missing WWF Superstar ice cream bars, how Ken is going to track down that stolen prop and get it back, Bob Hope, Dana Gould on Bob Hope's special, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, made for TV movies, terrifying all porcelain dolls, The Dolls Award of Excellence, Coach, when Rick attended Super Slam 94 and go on television (again), Leslie Neilson, being name checked on Breaking Bad, how Ken made with with She-Hulk in Official MCU canon, unexplained encounters with angels, SCUBA diving disappearances, one star sequels, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, Phantasm II, Freaks and Geeks, the early days of TV on DVD, Warlock II The Armageddon getting two stars, Summer School, Chainsaw and Dave, looking like Dean Cameron, the short lived European football league, celebrity voice overs, retooled shows, and how watching Baywatch can help you give mouth to mouth to bunnies.

  March 7-13, 1992 This week Ken welcomes comedian behind the must watch/must listen to comedy special "Supple Harlot", Ben Katzner. Ken and Ben discuss their mutual love of seltzer, local drinks, Galco's soda pop stop, pinpoint carbonation, hating Tim Allen, Detroit, hating Kid Rock, Prince, small towns, Minneapolis, moving from New York, how beer is Dad soda, co-headlining a seltzer brewery tour, sweeps week, the TV Guide secret decoder, Marlboro miles, Pepsi money contests, Pepsi Points, being shocked that Mark DeCarlo is 29, Studs, Tiny Toons, NBC cartoons, Smurfs, Fantasy Factory, how TMNT is too violent, how math and sex are difficult, Macaulay Culkin, when Ringo Star was replaced by George Carlin, Captain Planet, the Where's Waldo? cartoon, 3.2.1 Contact, the sleaze of Step by Step, NOT!, True Colors, MTV, Roc, Mr. Rogers, rich kids, Scorch, all the work in TV Guide, how long it takes Ken to scan a TV Guide, Comic Strip Live, basketball, What a Dummy?, The Gate, Rick Patino, Pat Reiley, America's Funniest Home Videos, Eerie Indiana, Designing Women, Northern Exposure, how TV gave us personality at school, candlepin bowling, Soul Train, the ghost of Frederick Douglas' knowledge of the natural, Rescue 911, Wonder Years, Night Court, Quantum Leap, Seinfeld, field trips, Ken's love of Winona Ryder, The Crucible, Big Brother Jake, Morton Downey Jr., hormonal viewing of Beverly Hills 90210, Family Matters, after school specials, THE BAG, how to save the Earth's natural resources, beardless Kris Kristopherson, and the "hit her" episode of Married...with Children.  

March 11-16, 2013

July 3, 1953

February 15th - 21st, 1997

TV Guide October 31 - November 6, 1987 This week Ken welcomes writer, comedian and artist Mary Houlihan to the show. Ken and Mary discuss new ways to greet people, how awful the world is, growing up in New Jersey, how New Jersey is actually nice, checking out the woods, Paramis, going into Manhattan, not getting the issue you wanted, Dolly Parton, the tattoos, variety shows, Mary, product placement, growing up without country music in the Northeast, how famous rich people should try to be good people, work life balance, wanting to be left alone, Family Ties, Courtney Cox, At This Moment, Billy Vera, Kool Milds, when political campaigns became reality TV, Grand Ole Opry, Halloween, Women in Prison, Joe Piscapo, the most famous person from your state, how it's incomprehensible that anyone in the 21st Century ever puts on black face, Nickelodeon, Nick News, Cartoon Network, Dexter's Lab, The Flying Karamatzoff Brothers, non-comedic Rhea Pearlman roles, murder, The Simpsons, the awful early days of the Fox network, Get a Life, kicking Seinfeld's ass, Jason Mamoa, Giants vs Cowboys, ambiance, Harry and the Hendersons, Scorch, What a Dummy!, the TV Guide movie section, Bad New Bears go to Japan, Fluppy Dogs, The Huga-Bunch, Discover, World of Science, Bigfoot, Crime Story, Miami Vice, David Chase, Dads, Romania, Ukraine Youtubers, Billy Joel Back in the USSR, how Joel Hodgson could have been Woody on Cheers, Freaks and Geeks, Wise Guy, I Married Dora finale, Ken's Rags to Riches beef with Baby Jessica, Billy Madison being interrupted by Clinton Lewinski coverage, and the art of saying it without saying it. 

December 27, 1980 - January 2, 1981   This week Ken welcomes author, screenwriter, movie maker Eric Miller (ericmillerwrites.com) to the show. Ken and Eric discuss satellites, the creepy paying with your palm technology at Whole Foods, when Sci-Fi actually predicts the future, Dawn of the Dead, The Running Man, Hell House, The Haunting of Hell House vs The Haunting, story prompts, Shirly Jackson, Richard Matheson, Magnum PI, how prevalent Vietnam vets were in 80s pop culture, PTSDT, the importance of character, dark sense of humor, dealing with serious topics, how you need rules to kick against, why having no problems to solve actually makes worse art, how amazing it is that anything produced in Hollywood is ever good, Full Moon Pictures, Crash and Burn, Bill Mosley, life long friends, directing Orson Wells, working with legends, Phantasm, being an intern, cigarettes, Umph in Triumph, being from Indiana, David Letterman, Breaking Away, learning there is a TV series based on your favorite movie, how everything is more or less streaming for free if you know where to look, Schlitz vs Bud in the Great American Beer Switch, Mark Twain, Hal Holbrook, Grace Kelly, variety shows, the M*A*S*H finale, gallows humor, how sometimes an awful toxic workplace can still produce a good end product, Real People, That's Incredible!, The White Shadow, Mud Wrestling, New Year's Eve, Bonanza, cop shows, setting the tone, The Muppet Movie, the NBA, basketball, Meet the Feebles, Peter Jackson, how nobody can really attain the levels of fame people had in the second half of the 20th century, Bob Cousy, Secret Agent Man, Branded, Larry Cohen, Dexter and how being a fan of television often leads us to reverse engineer story telling and interact with people (not kill them).  ALSO Ken is giving away a pair of tickets to the 945 Arts at the Armory show on November 13th where Ken will be opening for Janeane Garofalo. If you can tell Ken the reason Loren Michaels gave Janeane for why she couldn't quit SNL, email it to tvguidancecounselor@gmail.com and you will get a pair of tickets for the show.  

October 24-30, 1981 Happy Halloween! This week Ken welcomes producer/director behind the excellent documentaries "In Search of Darkness", David Weiner. Ken and David discuss playing Star Trek, TV watching with siblings, the three ages of horror, the video store age, making friends just to watch cable, not getting a VCR until much later in life, being the person in the household who brings in technology, missing four years of television due to attending boarding school, the power of the TV Guide movie section, seeing The Omen, the Exorcist, and Amnityville Horror for the first time on television, Fall Preview love, being able to see photos and images from television, the TV version of a movie, TV series based on movies, Logan's Run, Planet of the Apes, Land of the Lost, Valley of the Dinosaurs, being a 70s kid, Famous Monsters, where you have to grow up to associate King Kong with Thanksgiving, The Crawling Eye, Monster movies, WPIX, Chiller Theater, television images burned into your brain forever, having no identity of your own, being made of exclusievely tv memories, CED Selectadisc, having a Seagram's hook up, having a Kraft food hook up, Ken's sleeping bag collection,  Love Boat, Fantasy Island, The Wonderful World of Disney, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Disney's Haunted Treat, Ken's theory of Knight Rider taking place in the Halloween III universe, going to film school, all the familar locations you drive by in LA, Moby Dick, Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes, pre-empting shows, the baseball world series, variety shows, The Muppets, Star Wars, Private Benjamin, local variations, mail fraud, record clubs, getting to interview John Carpenter, Star Trek II Wrath of Kahn, Looney Tunes Halloween specials, Fat Albert Halloween, It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, The Brady Brides, Tom Baker Doctor Who, The Fall Guy, the first time ever network airing of Halloween on NBC, factual inaccuracies, Jaws, seeing things you are not allowed to see, watching Halloween home alone as a teen and being terrified, how you couldn't easily prove people wrong growing up, Close Encounters of the first and second kind, and making an In Search of Darkness 70s documentary.  Be sure to buy the latest In Search of Darkness doc, covering the second half of the 90s, 90shorrordoc.com