Allan Melvin, a popular character actor best recognized for his roles on The Phil Silvers Show (as Cpl. Henshaw), All in the Family (Archie's bud Barney) and The Brady Bunch (Sam the butcher), on Thursday died of cancer, reports the Los Angeles Times. He was 84.Melvin's 50-plus year career also included guest appearances on such TV shows as The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show and Gomer Pyle: U.S.M.C.; voicing Magilla Gorilla and Popeye's Bluto; and playing "Al the Plumber" in 15 years' worth of Liquid-Plumr commercials.Melvin is survived by his wife of 64 years, Amalia; a daughter, Jennifer Hanson; and a grandson.
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Question: I love how much you appreciate TV from a variety of cultures. Thanks to the Internet, viewers are finally figuring out just how often the U.K. and the U.S. "borrow" show ideas from each other. But outside of reality and sketch shows, how often does this actually work? There is usually a great deal of buzz surrounding Americanized British shows, especially from the fans of the original. Yet when the show finally debuts, there is a sigh of disappointment from critics and fans alike. The Office is the only show I am aware of that has avoided this curse. Should the networks take a chance and try showing the original British versions? Financially, this would be a goldmine for them and for the original British companies as well. The U.K. broadcasts American shows like Heroes, Dexter, House, CSI, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives, so why don't we return the favor? Most Americans don't seem to know that BBC America exists (unless they read your column) and have no other way to ...
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Norman Lear by Jaime McCarthy/WireImage.com
Is there a run on porkpie hats in Hollywood? It seems Norman Lear is making quite a comeback at this summer's press tour. Earlier at the TCAs, NBC announced that he will oversee the production of a new hourlong comedy. At a CBS session, Chuck Lorre told reporters how he recently turned to the legendary producer of All in the Family and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman for some wisdom on how to simultaneously run two sitcoms. (Lorre has the new Big Bang Theory joining Two and a Half Men on Monday nights for CBS.) But the advice was pretty short and simple. "He said ‘I basically worked like a dog,'" said Lorre. "I said, 'Thank you for your time.'" — Reporting by Stephen Battaglio
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Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, NBC
It was fair to wonder why NBC put Kevin Reilly in the executive ejector seat just after signing him to a new multi-year contract. After seeing the debut performance of his replacement, Ben Silverman, at the Television Critics Association press tour, we're not wondering anymore.Instead of doing a rope-a-dope with reporters because he's only been in the job a month, Silverman came out with guns blazing, firing off one programming announcement after another. He even made a deal with legendary sitcom producer Norman Lear. That's red meat for the TCA, since many of its members love TV the way it used to be.He's even ignored the mandate NBC chief
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Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, NBC Press Tour by Chris Haston/NBC
It was fair to wonder why NBC put Kevin Reilly in the executive ejector seat just after signing him to a new multiyear contract. But after seeing his replacement Ben Silverman's debut performance at the Television Critics Association press tour, we're not wondering anymore.Instead of the doing a rope-a-dope with reporters because he's only been in the job a month, Silverman came out with guns blazing, firing off one programming announcement after another. He even made a deal with legendary sitcom producer Norman Lear. That's red meat for the TCA, since many of its members love TV the way it used to be.He's even ignored the mandate that NBC chief Jeff Zucker publicly issued last year that the network was out of the business of programming 8 o'clock with new, expensive scripted sitcoms and dramas. The first scheduling move under Silverman's watch was moving the new, expensive scripted hi-tech thriller Chuck to Monday at 8, leading into Heroes and Journeyman and turning the night into ...
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The Singing Bee's Joey Fatone with The Honey Bees by Trae Patton/NBC Photo
He dropped names as diverse as Norman Lear, Uri Geller, Isaiah Washington and Jerry Seinfeld. He teased an all-celebrity version of The Apprentice (with a half-joking promise to extend an invitation to Rosie O’Donnell). In describing his vision for NBC's immediate and long-term future, the network’s boyish new co-chair Ben Silverman showed his affinity for both packaging and programming TV in an enthusiastic debut performance in front of the nation’s TV critics on Monday morning.Though he took the stage alongside the relatively subdued co-chair Marc Graboff, whose expertise is on the business side, this was Silverman’s show all the way, and he wasted no time in announcing some surprising programming deals and a few aggressive scheduling changes, including turning Monday into an all-fantasy night and shifting Friday Night Lights an hour earlier on Fridays, so it’s now cozily hammocked between the strong franchises of a relocated Deal or No Deal and Las Vegas,...
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Well, they said the final scene would be a shocker, and they were right. I am speechless. You know how much I love my Edie. Would it be too much to ask to have Carlos heroically and miraculously walk in during the very first scene this fall and save her? I do not want this show to go on without Nicollette Sheridan. Yes, Edie is not one of the four main housewives, but the show would not be the same without her. Soap operas have had people hang themselves and be saved at the last minute. Until I get a confirmation, I'm going to spend this entire summer believing Edie is not dead. Just call me DID — "Dave In Denial."Except for that ending, I was very happy with this season's finale episode. I thought it had the perfect Desperate Housewives blend of drama and comedy. I expected to be satisfied after seeing that departing coexecutive producer Joe Keenan was one of the writers (along with talented fellow coexec producer Kevin Murphy). Besides having the same job title for all those ...
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Question: In your recent comments about the Parents Television Council, you made reference to people who wish that all TV looked like Nick at Nite. I understood your point. But it is interesting to note that Nick at Nite does show episodes of All in the Family and Good Times, two series that caused an uproar with groups like the PTC in the '70s, and has in the past run episodes of Maude, another controversial show. In fact, I was watching All in the Family the other night and thought that there was no way a show like that could make it to network TV today. As far as the PTC goes, it's pretty simple: If you don't like it, don't watch it. There is plenty of technology available to parents for blocking channels. For that matter, there is no law saying that one must own a TV. If it offends thee, pluck it out, as someone once said. Don't subject the rest of us to a worldview that sees Petticoat Junction as the zenith of American television.
Answer: Not that there's anything wrong with
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Carlos Alazraqui, Reno 911!
From Barney Fife to Barney Miller, cops and comedy have made hysterical bedfellows. Comedy Central's cult hit Reno 911! is proof that the bumbling-police shtick remains in fine hands. The mostly improvised series plays its Cops-like parody for plenty of white-trash gags and silly sexual innuendos. Comic Carlos Alazraqui, who plays dim-witted deputy James Garcia, took a few moments away from World Cup action to lay down the law with TVGuide.com about his screwy series arriving on DVD this week, what the new season promises, and what's up with these modern Keystone Kops hitting movie screens. TVGuide.com: So, Reno 911! — The Complete Third Season is here on DVD.Carlos Alazraqui: Yeah, and fans will love the
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Question: Where do you think Everwood ranks as far as TV's greatest dramas ever? I am an older viewer and I can honestly say that it is No. 1 for me. Compared with most "great" shows, it had a relatively short run, but it never lost its magic. Every episode gave the viewers something to think about, something to cherish, a quote to remember. I can't think of any other drama that has touched me and gotten inside of my head and heart the way Everwood has these last four years.
Answer: I'm glad you feel that way, and I hope you won't take it as a sign of disrespect when I do a little reality check here. I enjoyed Everwood as much, probably more, than the next person, but it's a show limited by its genre (young-adult soap), even if Everwood often transcended that genre. Much as I loved the characters, enjoyed the writing and acting, and was satisfied by the happy ending, it's still a show that was built around the contrivances and reversals of soap opera, where even characters I liked, such
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