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 719.4: Ed welcomes Tom Sturges, son of Academy Award-winning writer/director Preston Sturges, one of the top executives in the music industry, and the author of such books as Every Idea is a Good Idea, A Good Divorce Begins Here, and Preston Sturges: The Last Years of Hollywood's First Writer-Director. Tom's latest book, Men Explained... Finally, is a humorous, totally unscientific, and yet often very wise look at the male species that reveals such universal Man Truths as Why All Men are Really Fourteen Year-Old-Boys, Why Men Are Like Whales, Why All Men Have Three Basic Needs, and Why Every Problem in the World Can Be Solved with Duct Tape. Topics this segment how Tom's thirty-five years in the music business has helped him develop many of the observations about men that appear in Men Explained... Finally; how the key to survival for most men comes from their ability to compartmentalize; and why the goal of Tom's book is to help men have better relationships with the women in their lives. Men Explained... Finally is available wherever books are sold through Centimilla Press.

TVC 719.5: Tom Sturges talks to Ed about how his father, Preston Sturges, embodied some of the "man truths" that Tom writes about in his new book, Men Explained… Finally; how Tom came to work with NBA star Shaquille O'Neal when O'Neal became a rap artist; and what Tom looks for when determining whether a new song has what it takes to become a hit record. Men Explained… Finally is available wherever books are sold through Centimilla Press.

TVC 718.1: From November 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss the legacy of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS, 1970-1977), including a look at its spinoff series Rhoda (CBS, 1974-1978), Phyllis (CBS, 1975-1977), and Lou Grant (CBS, 1977-1982).

TVC 718.2: From November 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss "Rhoda's Wedding" (CBS, Oct. 28, 1974), the famous first-season episode of Rhoda in which Rhoda Morgenstein (Valerie Harper) marries Joe Gerard (David Groh), and why the episode remains a television classic more than fifty years later, even though the decision to marry the two characters ultimately hurt the series.

TVC 718.3: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Mark Shaw, author of Abuse of Power: Connecting Robert Kennedy's Assassinaton with the Murders of JFK and Dorothy Kilgallen and The Reporter Who Knew Too Much. Topics this segment include new findings that suggest that the autopsy performed on Kilgallen after her death in November 1965 may have been compromised. As was the case with Mark's previous book, Collateral Damage, Abuse of Power emphasizes the importance of relying on primary sources whenever possible. Abuse of Power, Collateral Damage, and The Reporter Who Knew Too Much are all available through Post Hill Press and Amazon.com.

TVC 718.4: Ed welcomes back Stefanie Powers, the actress known around the world as Jennifer Hart on Hart to Hart (ABC, 1979-1984), and the founder and president of 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. Stefanie will reunite with McLintock! co-star Patrick Wayne for the first time in sixty years for a one-performance-only benefit production of A.R. Gurney's Love Letters that will take place on Sunday, Jan. 11 on the Debbie Reynolds Main Stage at the historic El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, CA beginning at 1pm. Tickets start at $55. If you purchase a VIP ticket for $150, you'll have a chance to meet Stefanie and Patrick on stage. Proceeds for this production will support the efforts of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation. For tickets and more information, call (818) 508-4200 or go to ElPortalTheatre.com. Topics this segment include why Love Letters continues to appeal to actors and audiences alike; Stefanie's experience working with John Wayne, Patrick Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, and (briefly) director John Ford while filming McLintock!; a trick that Stefanie learned during the production of McLintock! that enables her to drive through dusty terrain without eating dust (a trick that she has used many times during her travels to Africa); and why you can't visit Ireland without seeing The Quiet Man first.

TVC 718.5: Stefanie Powers talks to Ed about why her experience as a contract player at Columbia Pictures at the start of her career was like "a finishing school for actors"; working with Ava Gardner on Maggie (CBS, 1986), a pilot for a series that marked Gardner's final screen appearance (the pilot, however, never aired); and why James Garner ranks alongside Robert Wagner as among Stefanie's favorite co-stars. (Stefanie starred opposite Garner in "The Red Easy Red Dog," a second-season episode of The Rockford Files.) Stefanie Powers will reunite with McLintock! co-star Patrick Wayne for the first time in sixty years for a one-performance-only benefit production of A.R. Gurney's Love Letters that will take place on Sunday, Jan. 11 on the Debbie Reynolds Main Stage at the historic El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, CA beginning at 1pm. Proceeds will support the efforts of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation. For tickets and more information, call (818) 508-4200 or go to ElPortalTheatre.com. Stefanie Powers is also featured in Vision for the Future: Capturing Inspiring Stories from Leaders and Changemakers, a recently released 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 recognizes Stefanie for her work with The William Holden Wildlife Foundation. Vision for the Future is available for free at visionforthefuture.ai.

TVC 718.6: Mark Shaw, author of Abuse of Power: Connecting Robert Kennedy's Assassinaton with the Murders of JFK and Dorothy Kilgallen and The Reporter Who Knew Too Much, talks to Ed about how the City of New York honored Dorothy Kilgallen on Saturday, Nov. 8 by naming a street after her on the sixtieth anniversary of her death. Other topics this segment include why so many of us are enamored with real-life murder mysteries. Abuse of Power and The Reporter Who Knew Too Much are both available through Post Hill Press and Amazon.com.

TVC 717.1: Ed welcomes back Mark Shaw, investigative journalist, former criminal defense attorney, onetime legal analyst for CNN, ESPN, and USA Today, and the author of nearly thirty books, including The Reporter Who Knew Too Much: The Mysterious Death of What's My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen. Mark's latest book, Abuse of Power, includes new information about the mysterious nature of Kilgallen's demise in November 1965 that, Mark believes, links the death of Kilgallen to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. Abuse of Power, The Reporter Who Knew Too Much, and all of Mark's books are available through Post Hill Press and Amazon.com.

TVC 717.2: Mark Shaw, author of Abuse of Power: Connecting Robert Kennedy's Assassinaton with the Murders of JFK and Dorothy Kilgallen, talks to Ed about a recently released YouTube video about John Shear (pictured above, left), a longtime paddock captain at Santa Anita Racetrack in Southern California who hired Sirhan Sirhan (pictured above, center) as a "hot walker" several months before Sirhan was arrested for the assassination of RFK in June 1968. According to Mark, Shear's comments in that video not only lend credence to the possibility that Sirhan may have been used as a fall guy by the mob for the assassination of RFK, but make the case that Sirhan should receive a new trial in light of these new revelations. (Though John Shear died in December 2023, Mark interviewed Shear's son, Michael, in December 2024; Michael Shear provided confirmation of his father's account.) Both Abuse of Power and The Reporter Who Knew Too Much are available through Post Hill Press and Amazon.com.

TVC 717.3: From December 2011: Tony, Donna, and Ed send birthday wishes to film and television legend Dick Van Dyke (The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Poppins, Diagnosis Murder) as part of This Week in TV History. Dick Van Dyke turns 100 on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025.

TVC 717.4: Ed welcomes back Ellen Geer, daughter of Will Geer and the artistic director of Theatricum Botanicum, the outdoor amphitheatre in Topanga Canyon, California that Will Geer founded in 1973. Theatricum's fifth annual Holiday Family Faire will take place on Saturday, Dec. 13 from 11am to 5pm, followed by a special live production of It's a Wonderful Life featuring Beau Bridges, Wendie Malick, Joe Mantegna beginning at 5pm. Tickets for the live production of It's a Wonderful Life are available as an "add-on" to Faire admission. Please visit Theatricum.com/holiday-family-faire for more information. Theatricum Botanicum is located at 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga CA 90290, midway between Pacific Coast Highway and the Ventura Freeway.

TVC 717.5: Ed welcomes back actress and author Alison Arngrim (Little House on the Prairie, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch). Alison has news about several events coming up over the next few weeks that will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the premiere of Little House on the Prairie (NBC, 1974-1983), including the recent Live Before a Studio Audience edition of The Little House 50th Anniversary Podcast featuring Alison, Dean Butler, and Pamela Bob that took place on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 1pm; the world virtual premiere of Little House Homecoming, the new documentary by Jonathan Parker that, to quote Alison, "really gets what Little House means to so many people around the world" (now streaming at LittleHouseHomecoming.com); the huge three-day Little House cast reunion at Strathearn Historical Park in Simi Valley, CA beginning Friday, Dec. 12 thru Sunday, Dec. 14 (click here for tickets and more information); and a joint book signing featuring Alison and Dean Butler that will take place Saturday, Jan. 17 at Chili John's Restaurant in Burbank, CA (for more details, call 818 846-3611 or go to ChiliJohnsofCA.com).

TVC 716.5: From February 2014: Prolific television director Ralph Senensky takes listeners behind the scenes of "Grandma Comes Home," the episode of The Waltons from March 1978 that marked Ellen Geer's return to the series after she had suffered a stroke the year before. Other topics this segment include how Corby and Will Geer were "the salt and pepper of The Waltons," plus Ralph shares a few memories of working with John Ritter, Richard Thomas, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Quinn. Ralph Senensky passed away on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 at the age of 102.

TVC 716.6: From February 2014: Prolific television director Ralph Senensky talks to Ed about directing Shirley Jones, Ray Bolger, and Rosemary DeCamp in the "Forty-Year Itch" episode of The Partridge Family (ABC, 1970-1974), as well as how he first worked with actress Jennifer Raine at the Pasadena Playhouse. Raine is the mother of Brian Forster, the second actor who played Chris Partridge on The Partridge Family.