Conan O'Brien
Show minus stars equals different show: It's one of the mantras of Jump the Shark, and it's true — unless, maybe, the show is The Tonight Show.
The Tonight Show is an institution that has had only four full-time hosts in more than half a century. Jack Paar, Steve Allen, Johnny Carson and Jay Leno all made their own imprints on the show, but in the way a minister does a church. Whether or not congregants like his or her personality or jokes, the basic religion stays the same.
Leno is...
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Andy Griffith, The Andy Griffith Show
Question: I could swear Andy Taylor was a jack-of-all-trades and had several jobs on The Andy Griffith Show, but a coworker says I'm nuts and that he was always just the sheriff. Who's right? There's no bet riding on this, just pride. Thanks.
Answer: You've got a respectable memory there, Jim. (Don't get any ideas, though — there's only room for one Televisionary in this town.) Feel free to claim a good chunk of your office mate's pride because you're right on this one.
When The Andy Griffith Show first launched as a spin-off of The Danny Thomas Show and began its eight-year run on CBS in October 1960, Sheriff Andy Taylor (Matlock's Andy Griffith) not only enforced the law in Mayberry while raising you
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(Clockwise, from right): John Daly, Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf and Arlene Francis, What's My Line?
Question: Here's something I'd like to settle. Where did the phrase "bigger than a bread box" come from? My mom says it's from an old show, but since she can't remember which one, I'm not sure if she's right or not. I figured you would know since you know everything. Thanks.
Answer: Always listen to your mother, Carrie. Well, except for when she's wrong, but this ain't one of those times. "Is it bigger than a bread box?" was made famous by the late Steve Allen during his appearances on the classic game show What's My Line?, which debuted on CBS in February 1950 and, at its zenith, was wildly popular among the privileged class and hoi polloi alike.
In case your mom can't give you a refresher, the show's premise was simple. A person with an interesting occupation was brought on and a panel of regulars tried to guess what the job was while asking only yes-or-n
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Come on, tell me who are you: Andy Williams and friends
Question: I've been a fan of Andy Williams for years and years, but I can't remember: Was The Andy Williams Show his first TV series? Thank you for your help; I'm a fan of yours, too.
Answer: Technically speaking, no, Nancy, though what constitutes a regular series in this case isn't an easy call. Williams' first regular TV gig was The Andy Williams and June Valli Show, which ran twice a week in 15-minute segments in the summer of 1957. The following year Williams again landed a summer show, The Chevy Showroom Starring Andy Williams, when he was asked to fill in while Pat Boone took a break. He then met with success the year after doing the same thing for Garry Moore. You could argue, however, that until Williams landed NBC's The Andy Williams Show in 1962, he wasn't really given a true series that was all his own. Certainl
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It's only one day into the summer Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills, and already we've seen one of the best shows (albeit not on TV) that we're likely to get in the next three weeks of hype and schmooze.
The occasion: a panel late Tuesday afternoon promoting Pioneers of Primetime, a PBS special (airing Nov. 9) about the legendary vaudevillian clowns who first made TV popular. Several gave their final TV interviews for this documentary, including the late Milton Berle, Steve Allen and Red Skelton — who turned down producer Steve Boettcher's interview requests at least half a dozen times before relenting and rewarding him with three and a half hours shortly before he died.
At TCA, this all-star panel of 80-something golden-age talent, which at first glance promised to be an exercise in fawning nostalgia, quickly turned into a rollicking display of classic shtick, as Red Buttons and Carl Reiner me
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