TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 709.1: From October 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the premiere of Captain Kangaroo (CBS, 1955-1984) and its impact on other children's television programs, including Romper Room and Bozo the Clown.

TVC 532.6: Academy Award winner George Chakiris talks to Ed about some of his early screen appearances as a dancer in such films as Gentleman Prefer Blondes, White Christmas, and There's No Business Like Show Business; assisting Robert Alton with the choreography of Judy Garland's first stage show in Las Vegas; and how George came to develop his interest in designing jewelry. George's memoir, My West Side Story, is available in hardcover and as an eBook and includes a wonderful back cover quote from George's co-star, dear friend, and fellow Oscar winner from West Side Story, Rita Moreno. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? TV Confidential has partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle advertising/sponsorship requests for the podcast edition of our program. They're great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email sales@advertisecast.com or click the link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 520.2: Actor, comedian, and voice artist Hank Garrett talks to Ed, Tony, and Donna about how an intervention from Sammy Davis Jr. when Hank was thirteen years old saved him from a life on the streets and opened the doors for what would become a sixty-five-year career as an entertainer. Hank's memoir, From Harlem Hoodlum to Hollywood Heavyweight, is available through Briton Publishing, Amazon.com, and other online retailers. Proceeds from sales of Hank's book will support Wounded Warriors and Disabled Veterans of America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 516.6: From November 2010: Ken Corday, executive producer of Days of Our Lives, talks to Ed and Tony about some of the notable storylines of the first twenty years of Days of Our Lives, as well as the show's occasional struggles with network Standards and Practices over certain subject matters (and, in more recent years, product placement). Ken's book, The Days of Our Lives: The True Story of One Family's Dream and The Untold History of Days of Our Lives, not only chronicles the history of Days of Our Lives on television, but pays tribute to his parents, Ted and Betty Corday, the creators and original executive producers of the series. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? TV Confidential has partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle advertising/sponsorship requests for the podcast edition of our program. They're great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email sales@advertisecast.com or click the link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 513.2: Game show historian Steve Beverly talks to Ed about Tom Kennedy's versatility as a game show host; how he and his real-life brother, Jack Narz, came to be related to fellow game show legend Bill Cullen; why many, including Kennedy himself, considered Cullen to be the best in the business; some insight on Kennedy's experience hosting The Price is Right; and why You Don't Say, Split Second and Name That Tune were all "Tom Kennedy shows." Steve knew Tom Kennedy for more than twenty years. Tom Kennedy passed away on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at age 93. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? TV Confidential has partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle advertising/sponsorship requests for the podcast edition of our program. They're great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email sales@advertisecast.com or click the link below to get started: https://www.advertisecast.com/TVConfidentialAradiotalkshowabout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TVC 730.4: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with two-time Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Robert Illes (The Carol Burnett Show, Sanford and Son, Fernwood Tonight, Lily, Silver Spoons, Sister, Sister). Bob's memoir, Funny is Money, is a humorous, irreverent, deeply personal, and often moving look at his forty-two-year career writing and producing comedy for network television. Topics this segment include "Lamont, Is That You?", the episode of Sanford and Son that marked Bob's first sale to a network sitcom; Joe and Sons (CBS, 1975), the first network series that Bob created (along with his longtime writing partner, James Stein); and Bob and Jim's experience writing for Fernwood Tonight (Synd., 1977) and America Tonight (Synd., 1978). Funny is Money is available in hardcover, paperback, and as a eBook through Bear Manor Media and Amazon.com.

TVC 730.5: Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Robert Illes talks to Ed about working with producer Alan Thicke behind the scenes of Fernwood Tonight; writing for Toni Tennille, Daryl Dragon, and John Byner on the Captain and Tennille variety series; and writing for Dick Van Dyke on what turned out to be the final season of The Carol Burnett Show. Bob's memoir, Funny is Money, is available in hardcover, paperback, and as a eBook through Bear Manor Media and Amazon.com.

TVC 730.6: Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Robert Illes talks to Ed about meeting and sometimes writing for many of the iconic performers that he grew up watching on TV as a kid; working on his own for the first time after a twenty-five year partnership with James Stein; and how Bob's solo career began with Sister, Sister and continued for another seventeen years. Bob's memoir, Funny is Money, is available in hardcover, paperback, and as a eBook through Bear Manor Media and Amazon.com.

TVC 729.1: Ed welcomes two-time Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Robert Illes (The Carol Burnett Show, Sanford and Son, Fernwood Tonight, Lily, Silver Spoons, Sister, Sister). Bob's memoir, Funny is Money, is a humorous, irreverent, deeply personal, and often moving look at his forty-two-year career writing and producing comedy for network television—a career that not only included such meteoric highs as winning those two Emmys in a span of four years, but which often had moments that left Bob wondering how to find his piece of ground in an industry that always seemed to be shifting. Funny is Money is available in hardcover, paperback, and as a eBook through Bear Manor Media and Amazon.com. Topics this segment include how Bob broke into TV writing (along with his longtime writing partner, James Stein) by working with George Schlatter and Digby Wolfe on Sing America Beautiful, a star-studded variety special headlined by Tennessee Ernie Ford; how Bob and Stein began their comedy career in radio, hosting a popular weekly show on KUSC-FM, the campus radio station for the University of Southern California; and why writing comedy for television is often a two-person job.

TVC 729.2: Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Robert Illes talks to Ed about how he and James Stein got their first big break in television when they wrote the weekly monologue for comedian Bill Cosby on The New Bill Cosby Show (CBS, 1972-1973); working with Tom and Dick Smothers on The Smothers Brothers Show (NBC, 1975) and with legendary comedy writer Pat McCormick on several TV shows; and how a funny moment with writer Stanley Ralph Ross when he and Bob worked together on The New Bill Cosby Show later became the inspiration for one of the Grandfather Stratton episodes of Silver Spoons (NBC, 1982-1987). Bob's memoir, Funny is Money, is available in hardcover, paperback, and as a eBook through Bear Manor Media and Amazon.com.

TVC 729.3: From March 2016: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss the influence of comedian George Burns on two generations of TV comedy writers. George Burns died on Mar. 9, 1996 as part of This Week in TV History.

TVC 729.4: Ed welcomes back renowned actress, author, and conservationist Stefanie Powers (Hart to Hart, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., One from the Hart). The United Nations recently honored Stefanie as an Agent of Change in recognition for her work with the William Holden Wildlife Foundation, the nonprofit organization that Stefanie established in 1982 in memory of her longtime life partner that continues and furthers the conservation work of William Holden in East Africa. Topics this segment include how Stefanie's passion for protecting animals and preserving wildlife stems from her early childhood; how Holden was never afraid to back from a challenge, when he was a young man; how Holden came to form the first-ever game ranch for the preservation of species in East Africa in 1950, long before the general public ever knew about conservationism; and the circumstances that led Stefanie to be cast as April Dancer in The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. Calendar year 2026 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the premiere of The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. March is Women's History Month, while Wednesday, Apr. 22 is Earth Day. Stefanie Powers is also profiled in Vision for the Future: Capturing Inspiring Stories from Leaders and Changemakers, a new anthology eBook that profiles twenty-five visionaries who not only are making a significant impact in their respective fields, but are dedicated to making the world a better place through hope, action, and lasting change. Vision for the Future is available for free at visionforthefuture.ai.

TVC 726.5: From March 2016: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the premiere of the Emmy Award-winning drama Family (ABC, 1976-1980) as part of This Week in TV History.

TVC 726.6: From February 2014: Ed and guest co-host Phil Gries welcome Joe Franklin, the legendary TV talk show host whose popular weekday talk show, Joe Franklin's Memory Lane, not only aired every day on New York television for more than forty years (1950-1993), but was also broadcast nationally for many years on superstation WOR and syndicated in many other markets. This past Thursday, Mar. 12, 2026 would have been Franklin's 100th birthday.

TVC 726.7: Ed and guest co-host Phil Gries play more of their conversation with legendary TV talk show host Joe Franklin. Our conversation with Joe originally aired in February 2014, eleven months before his passing in January 2015. Thursday, Mar. 12, 2026 would have been Joe Franklin's 100th birthday.

TVC 728.1: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with authors, playwrights, and producers Anthony Wynn and Robert Wood. Tony and Bob's latest book, Two for the Road, chronicles the lifelong love story of Barry Morse and his wife of sixty years, actress Sydney Sturgess, as told through the many cards, letters, and audio recordings that Barry and Sydney sent to each other in the course of their marriage. Topics in this segment include Morse's lifelong friendship with playwright George Bernard Shaw; how he always took his work seriously, but never himself seriously; and his genuine affection and compassion for people. Two for the Road: The Lives and Love of Actors Barry Morse and Sydney Sturgess is available for purchase at Amazon.com in the U.S., Amazon.ca in Canada, and Amazon.co.uk in the UK, as well as many other online retailers. Anthony Wynn and Robert Wood also produced the short film The Return of Victor Bergman, which was recently released on Blu-ray by Anderson Entertainment as part of their Space 1999: Super Space Theatre Collectors Edition Blu-ray package. Barry Morse filmed this piece just before his death in 2008.

TVC 728.2: TV Confidential remembers Neil Sedaka, the Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and pianist who sold millions of records worldwide and who wrote or co-wrote more than five hundred songs for himself and other artists in a career that spanned nearly seven decades. Neil Sedaka passed away Friday, Feb. 27 at the age of eighty-six. Because of the often symbiotic relationship between music and television, Neil Sedaka has been the subject of many conversations on TV Confidential, including this segment from June 2012 with Rich Podolksy about Aldon Music, the song publishing firm formed by Don Kirshner in 1958 that published more than two hundred hit records in a five year span, while also launching the careers of such artists as Bobby Darin, Connie Francis, Carole King, Howard Greenfield, and Neil Sedaka. Rich Podolsky's books on music history include Don Kirshner: The Man with The Golden Ear and Neil Sedaka: Rock 'n' Roll Survivor.

TVC 728.3: Our remembrance of Neil Sedaka continues with clips from our conversation from March 2024 with legendary music manager Harvey Lisberg about "Is This the Way to Amarillo," the Sedaka-penned song that became a huge hit in 1971 for British singer Tony Christie; from April 2016 with Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Toni Tennille about "Love Will Keep Us Together," the Sedaka tune that made superstars out of Captain and Tennille while also winning the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1975; and from September 2025 with Ruta Lee about one of Sedaka's final public appearances, a surprise performance at Ruta's ninetieth birthday celebration in May 2025. Neil Sedaka passed away Friday, Feb. 27 at the age of eighty-six. Photo of Neil Sedaka courtesy Facebook.

TVC 728.4: Ed welcomes back actor, author, and documentary filmmaker James Rosin. Jim wrote, produced, and directed Philly Hoops, a deep dive into the early years of one of the NBA's most storied franchises, The Philadelphia Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors), that also traces the rise of professional basketball in the City of Brotherly Love, including the history of the Philadelphia SPHAs, the first professional basketball team in Philadelphia, and a look at the life and legacy of Eddie Gottlieb, the man who not only owned and operated the SPHAs, but was the original owner and coach of the Philadelphia Warriors franchise, not to mention one of the founders of the NBA. Philly Hoops is available on DVD through Amazon.com as well as MovieZyng.com.  

TVC 728.5: Actor, author, and documentary filmmaker James Rosin talks to Ed about Wilt Chamberlain's historic 100-point game for the Philadelphia Warriors, which occurred on Mar. 2, 1962 in Hershey, Pennsylvania (the Warriors beat the New York Knicks that night, 169-147); how many of the Warriors players during the first sixteen years of the franchise, including Chamberlain, had direct ties to the city of Philadelphia; and the sale of the Warriors to San Francisco in 1962. Jim's documentary Philly Hoops is available on DVD through Amazon.com as well as MovieZyng.com. Photo of Wilt Chamberlain by Paul Vathis and courtesy Wirephoto Archives.