Question: Back in the late '60s there was a show that started with the following opening: "It's about time, it's about space...." Can you please tell me what show those lines came from? Thank you.
Televisionary: You're thinking of It's About Time, a sitcom produced by Sherwood Schwartz (Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch). It focused on two astronauts, Hector Canfield (Jack Mullaney) and Mac MacKenzie (Frank Aletter) whose capsule traveled through time and landed them in the Stone Age. The theme song for the show, which debuted on CBS in September 1966 and left the airwaves the following August, began with the lines "It's about time, it's about space."
It's About Time also featured a family of cave people, played by Joe E. Ross (Car 54, Where Are You?), Imogene Coca (Your Show of Shows), Mary Grace and Pat Cardi, who lived nearby. About halfway through its run, the series's two flyb
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Question: I love your column! As someone who was raised in a foreign culture, TV was my education to the American experience. Some may say that is a tragedy, but I loved watching all the cornball shows in my childhood! Anyway, after being introduced to CSI by a friend, I was struck by its similarity to another show I remembered way back in the 1980s. It was a very brooding show on ABC about a team of forensic scientists tracking down serial criminals. It made a real impression on my mind as a kid because it was so dark. I can't for the life of me remember the title, but I remember the premiere episode had that blond guy from Starsky and Hutch as a criminal with a shoe fetish! Am I crazy? Was this just a figment of the imagination of a latch-key kid? You are my only hope, Obi-Wan! — NTT
Televisionary: Whoa there, NTT. Much as I love my job, I, too, must admit I'm a little unsettled by the notion of foreign nationals gleaning details of American life from our
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Question: Answer me this: Did Perry Mason ever lose a case? If you use that and are still feeling generous, didn't the same actor star as a cop in a wheelchair? What was the name of that show? Thanks.
Televisionary: Well, yes and no. The celebrated, deeply intense defense attorney (Raymond Burr) never saw a client punished for a crime he or she didn't commit. Over the show's long 1957-66 run on CBS, Mason racked up a near-perfect record against D.A. Hamilton Burger (William Talman), but for one trial he lost for a client unwilling to give him access to the evidence that would exonerate her. Perry being Perry, of course, he went out and got it himself, clearing her name anyway (the device that made the drama more of a mystery series than a legal show).
Given his long string of losses, it's a wonder poor Burger kept getting elected. It was bad enough that he couldn't beat the imposing Mason, but he also pressed case after case against the innocent — and h
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Question: Please help settle a bet. Who played alongside Robert Young in Marcus Welby, M.D? Was it James Brolin or Chad Everett? Also, what other doctor show did Everett appear in?
Televisionary: Whatever is at stake (and you know I hate when you don't tell me), somebody's going to be happy. (You didn't even have the common courtesy to tell me which actor you were betting on, for crying out loud.)
'Twas Mr. Barbra Streisand (that's Brolin, for the confused among you) who portrayed Dr. Steven Kiley on the medical drama, which ran on ABC from September 1969 to May 1976. The character was a neurologist-in-training who signed on to work with Welby and his Santa Monica practice for a year, but ended up staying on. Not a bad choice, considering the longer stint on the show resulted in his marrying the eye-pleasing Janet (Pamela Hensley) in '75.
Everett played sawbones Dr. Joe Gannon on Medical Center, which practiced o
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Jamie Bell — the teenage star of Billy Elliot — beat out Tom Hanks, Geoffrey Rush and Russell Crowe for the best actor statue at Sunday night's British Academy Film Awards, Britain's equivalent of the Oscars. Gladiator won Best Film and Ang Lee was named best director for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Julia Roberts picked up best actress honors for Erin Brockovich, and supporting acting kudos went to Julie Walters (Billy Elliot) and Benicio Del Toro (Traffic).
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Richard Gere, 51, seems confounded about why Autumn in New York (premiering on pay-per-view March 1) crumpled like a fallen leaf in its theatrical release last year.
Well, trouble began a-brewin' when the old-fashioned tearjerker — which co-stars Winona Ryder as Gere's dying young lover — wasn't made available to critics for advance screenings. Industry wags then surmised MGM feared a frosty reception that could chill Autumn's opening weekend grosses. Gere and Ryder publicly objected to the studio's implied vote of no confidence, only to face rotten reviews after the film opened. Adding insult to injury, screenwriter Allison Burnett bashed Gere in interviews, accusing him of ruining the movie!
"I don't know [why]," Gere insists to TV Guide Online. "In fact, the last time I saw him, we embraced. He complimented me and said he loved the way I played the character. I didn't touch the character at all. I'm not the director. I'm not t
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Russell Crowe fired back at his Proof of Life director Taylor Hackford, who last week blamed the film's anemic box office on Crowe's ill-fated and highly publicized romance with leading lady Meg Ryan. "I think Taylor is being impolite, impolitic and imbecilic by saying that," Crowe said. "I think you will see that the Proof of Life box office, when it's not such a family-oriented time as Christmas, will be much higher. What we know, personally, is that we put as much effort into the process as possible and are pleased with the outcome."
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Survivor's Kimmi Kappenberg, the 28-year-old vegetarian from Ronkonkoma, N.Y., whose vocal animal rights stance led her fellow meat-eating, pig-butchering contestants to kick her out of the Australian Outback in last week's episode, may be rewarded for her endless grousing: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is interested in recruiting the bartender to be a spokesperson.
"We are going to be getting in touch with her [to discuss it]," reveals Lisa Lange, PETA's director of policy and communications. "Kimmi did the animals and PETA proud by sticking to her convictions."
On Friday's Early Show, host Jane Clayson suggested to Kappenberg that she go to work for PETA, an idea the Long Island native didn't reject. What she did shoot down, however, was the perception that she took her crusade to protect the local wildlife too far. (Just prior to getting the boot, Kappenberg got into a finger-pointin' brawl with fellow Kuchan Al
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Hollywood doesn't think much of ex-president Bill Clinton nowadays, if you go by what happened at the American Film Institute's tribute to Barbra Streisand Thursday night. Ironic laughter was heard during an old clip of Babs singing her classic love song, "Evergreen," to the then-newly elected president and First Lady Hillary Clinton. Giggles and comments grew even louder when a taped congratulatory message from Clinton was played. Streisand kept her cool throughout — but no word on whether the audience's rude reactions will hit the cutting room floor before Fox airs the show sometime this spring.
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All My Children actor Michael Nader was arrested Saturday night for allegedly selling a $20 bag of cocaine to an undercover police officer in a Manhattan nightclub. Shortly after his arrest, the 56-year-old actor — who also played Joan Collins's beau on Dynasty — was taken to the hospital for an undisclosed illness. In 1997, Nader was arrested when he got into a scuffle with police after they pulled him over for alleged drunken driving.
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