|
|
| |
|
| This is a
collection of old news and obituaries from the Ask Morty TV
News page. Dates, where shown, represent the date the
story was originally posted on the web site. Because
these are old stories, links within the stories may no
longer be active. For current news and schedules, click
here. |
You Can Browse Old
News By Month...
|
Morty's
Mistake |
[December 23, 2001]
I said I thought the Christmas episode of "Hazel"
included the theme song with the lyrics, but it didn't. So
to all of you that felt cheated, here's few bars of it.  Click
Here. Of course if you missed the whole thing, you can
order both "Hazel" episodes by clicking
here. |
|
Foster
Brooks, TV's Lovable Lush Dies |
 [December
21, 2001] 89 year old Foster Brooks who made a
name for himself playing a lovable drunk on sit-coms and
variety shows in the 60's, 70's and 80's, died today in his
Encino home. His first job in the entertainment industry
was as a radio announcer reading commercial spots at WHAS
radio in his hometown of Louisville Kentucky. When Gene Autry
quit the radio station to try his hand at touring the country
with his band, Foster asked for a job. Brooks received
his initial break in show business from Boyd Bennett, a 50s
teenage rock and roll, singer and song writer and TV
personality. When Bennett created a TV show, "Boyd
Bennett and His Space Buddies" at
WAVE-TV, Brooks was enlisted to play one of the
outrageous characters. His love of golf got him a major
entry into show business. Brooks was invited to
play golf in a Pro-Celebrity Golf Tournament in 1971. Perry
Como, Foster's golfing partner for the event was so impressed
with his impersonation of a drunk, he immediately recognized
Brooks' great talent for situational comedy. His
routines and jokes on the "Dean Martin Comedy TV
Roasts" were legendary.
Brooks, who had been in failing health the last two years,
died Thursday of natural causes. Brooks is survived by Teri
Brooks, his wife of 51 years; daughters, Teri Elmendorf,
Scotti Brooks of Encino; and three grandchildren. |
|
Some
Changes to the MerryThon |
| [December 20,
2001] There were four episode changes to the
MerryThon schedule. Not-to-worry, the shows are the
same, they just switched episodes. |
|
No
Mail for Morty |
| [December 20,
2001] The Write to Morty, and submit Viewing
Guide Suggestions functions of the site are
off-line. I won't bore you with the technical reasons,
our engineers are off for the Holidays, so I regret that
you'll just have to hold your questions until after New
Years. If you've sent Morty a question in the last few
days, you'll want to re-submit it when everything is
back on-line. |
|
Beaver
Fandemonium |
| [December 20,
2001] The final Fandemonium was scheduled
to be "Three's Company," but it's been
changed to "Leave it Beaver." It
appears that TV Land has a limit to the number of times it can
air a show that they don't own, and the Fandemonium would push
them over the limit. This comes as quite a blow to our
schedule watcher, Pavan, he runs Jack's
Bistro, the web site for "Three's Company"
Fans. So here's
the Beaver Schedule for December 29 & 30 |
|
New
Additions to Viewing Guide |
 [December
16, 2001] The December
viewing guide is so big that as new things are added you
might not notice them, so here they are: On Saturday,
December 29th WPIX 11 (carried by some cable companies) will
show Forty-six episodes of "Taxi"
starring Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito, Tony Danza and Andy
Kaufman, from 7:00PM to Sunday December 30th 7:00PM. (On Dec
29, 10-11PM will be news).
 Two
new attractions were added on New Years Eve. A&E
will air a twelve episode marathon of "Magnum P.
I." 8:00AM to 8:00PM, and The folks at
Nickelodeon are letting the "Rugrats" stay up
late to ring in the new year. Join Chuckie, Angelica,
Tommy and the rest of the Rugrats for eight episodes of the
animated series. ("Cheers" follows at
midnight).
|
|
Don't
Miss "Hazel" on TV Land |
| Hazel's
Family Ties: |
|
Whitney
Blake, is the mother of Meredith Baxter
who plays Elyse Keaton on "Family
Ties." Whitney Blake's real name is Nancy
Baxter, and on "Hazel" she plays
Dorothy Baxter.
|
|
[December 15, 2001] Hidden
in TV Land's Merry-Thon is a classic episode of "Hazel."
On Sunday, December 23 at 3:00PM TV Land will air the
twelfth episode of the series: "Hazel's
Christmas Shopping." This rarely seen episode
was first shown on December 14th 1961 on NBC. Hazel
(Shirley Booth) takes an extra job in a department store
in order to buy Missy (Whitney Blake) a nice Christmas present
but inadvertently uncovers a chronic shoplifter. If I'm not
mistaken, this is one of the rare episodes that features the
theme song lyrics by Sammy Cahn ("Who's the gal that's
everybody's pal? It's Hazel").
At 3:30PM a second episode airs, #114 "Just 86
Shopping Minutes 'til Christmas" where Dorothy
finds a mink coat that George (Don DeFore) is holding for a
friend and thinks it's for her. If you miss these
two classics, you can buy
the tape, (both episodes) for $13.49.
| Studio
Ties: |
|
"Dennis
the Menace," "Hazel," and
"Donna Reed" where all shot at the same
studio. Jay North (Dennis) and Bobby
Buntrock (Harold on "Hazel") were
close friends. Jay once guest starred
as Dennis on "Donna Reed."
|
|
Two other classics will air Sunday afternoon, "Dennis
the Menace" at 1:00PM and "Donna Reed"
at 1:30PM. On "Dennis," Mr. Wilson
(Joseph Kearns) thinks the Mitchell's Christmas tree is too
small and replaces it with a fifteen-footer. This episode
originally aired on CBS, on Christmas Eve
1961.
On "The Donna Reed Show,"
Donna looks for a way to show her family that Christmas
doesn't come from a store. Buster Keaton appears as a
Santa Claus to the hospital's children's ward. This episode
aired on Christmas Eve 1958.
|
|
'Upstairs,
Downstairs' Actress Gurney Dies |
[December
11, 2001] LOS
ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - British
actress Rachel Gurney, one of the stars of the 1970s series
"Upstairs, Downstairs," has died. She was 81.
Full Details |
|
Cosby
Show on Nick at Nite, Batman on TV Land, and other specials |
| [December 11,
2001] "The Cosby Show"
will start on Nick at Nite with a week-long marathon starting
Sunday March 3rd, 2002 through Thursday March 7th, 2002.
More info later.
"Batman" will POW his way to TV Land with
a week-long event starting Monday March 25th, 2002 through
Friday March 29th, 2002. Each night 8-10PM. More
info later.
In February, TV Land will have a special on Valentines Day,
the specifics will be released at a later date. In March, TV
Land will have a special honoring the Academy Awards, called
"Big Star, Little Screen." The date and
specifics of the special yet to be determined. |
|
Inside
TV Land: Black History Month Marathon |
[December 11,
2001] The newest edition of "Inside TV
Land" is a three part black history month special. "Inside
TV Land: African Americans Part 1: COMEDY" premieres
Friday February 1st, 2002 at 8:00PM. and repeats on: Friday
February 8 at 8pm, Sunday February 10 at 11am, Monday February
11 at 12am, Tuesday February 12 at 9am, Wednesday February 13
at 10pm, Friday February 15 at 5pm.
"Inside TV Land: African Americans Part 2:
VARIETY" premieres Friday February 15th, 2002
at 8:00PM REPEATS: Sunday February 17 at 11am, Monday February
18 at 12am, Tuesday February 19th at 9am, Wednesday February
20 at 10pm, Thursday February 22nd at 5pm.
"Inside TV Land: African Americans Part 3: DRAMA"
premieres Friday February 22nd, 2002 at 8:00PM
REPEATS: Sunday February 24 at 11am, Monday February 25 at
12am, Tuesday February 26th at 9am, Wednesday February 27 at
10pm
Finally on Friday March 1st (well, almost Black History
Month), 2002 from 9:00PM-12:00AM all 3 parts will air in a
marathon! |
|
First
Season of Bewitched in Color |
| [December 11,
2001] The Hallmark channel is airing the
colorized version of the first two seasons of "Bewitched"
daily at 4:00PM and 4:30PM. Although I'm a purist, and
prefer everything as it was made, I have to admit, they've
done a great job colorizing, but a horrible job editing for
extra commercial time. |
|
The
Brady Bunch Invade The White House! |
[December 11,
2001] {From ETonline} Television's favorite
family has also become the First Family, at least according to
FOX's newest TV movie!
Yes, the Brady Bunch -- the funkily-dressed Mike, Carol,
Marcia, Jan, Cindy, Greg, Peter, Bobby and, of course, Alice
-- are reuniting for an upcoming D.C.-themed FOX TV movie, "The
Brady Bunch in the White House," which is currently
in production.
Full Details |
|
Creator
of "Mary Kay and Johnny," Dies at 85 |
| [December 10,
2001] Johnny Stearns, who starred in and wrote
for TV's first domestic comedy, "Mary Kay and
Johnny," died Wednesday (December 5th) in Newport
Beach, Calif., of complications from a fall. He was 85.
I'm sure most of you have never heard of Johnny Stearns or "Mary
Kay and Johnny," however these names are the answer
to the most asked question on the "Ask Morty" web
site: "Who was the first sit-com couple to share the same
bed?" The answer: Mary Kay and Johnny, on the show
of the same name.
"Mary Kay and Johnny" premiered on the
DuMont Network in 1947, four years before "I Love
Lucy." The 15-minute show, in which Stearns and his
wife, Mary Kay, played versions of themselves, was an instant
hit. The show expanded to a half-hour when it moved to NBC in
1948 and ran until 1950. Stearns went on to become a
successful producer, working on a precursor to "The
Tonight Show" at WNBC-TV in New York and "The
Arthur Murray Dance Party" on NBC. Stearns
continued to work in TV until last week when he recorded a
voice over for the show "Agriculture USA," which
he produced since 1961, and also hosted through the 90's. |
|
Hey,
Hey, Hey is Christmas, Fat Albert |
 [December
9, 2001] The true meaning of Christmas is shown
in this rarely seen 1977 CBS special. In "The Fat
Albert Christmas Special," the gang helps out a
homeless family while at the same time being threatened by the
junkyard owner, Tyrone. Wind up your VCR, this title hasn't
been available on tape for years. The show will air
Christmas Eve at 8:00PM on UPN. Starring: Bill Cosby, Jan
Crawford and Eric Suter Look for this and
other December viewing highlights in our viewing
guide. |
|
Becoming
"TV Land to Go" Smart |
| [December 9,
2001] After watching a few dozen hours of the
"TV Land to Go" Fandemonium, I noticed something
about Tom Hill's commentary: This guy's been reading the
credits for a long time. If TV Land didn't squish the
end credits you could read them and become TV literate without
buying the book! If you're sick of voice-overs and
credits you can't read, sign this petition started two
years ago by Christopher
Michael. CLICK
HERE |
|
More
than just a Fandemonium |
 [December
5, 2001] This weekend's Fandemonium, TV Land
to Go, is more than just a marathon of the best
episodes, it's a TV history/trivia lesson by Tom Hill,
the creative director and head writer at TV Land. Hill
will appear throughout the weekend giving behind the scenes
information and trivia for the episodes being shown. The
information comes from Hill's book, "TV Land to
Go" which you can order. List
Price: $15.00
Our Price: $12.00 You Save: $3.00
(20%).
CLICK
HERE The whole weekend
schedule is here. |
|
John
Mitchum, Veteran Character Actor Has Died |
| [December 4,
2001] John Mitchum, who followed his movie-star
brother, Robert, to Hollywood and became a character actor in
scores of movies and hundreds of television shows, has died.
He was 82. TV viewers may remember him as Tropper
Hoffenmueller on "F-Troop", while movie
fans know him as as Frank DiGiorgio, Dirty Harry's
friend, in the first three Dirty Harry films ("Dirty
Harry," "Magnum Force," and "The
Enforcer").
Mitchum was also a singer, songwriter and poet. He wrote
and co-wrote the pieces on the only album John Wayne ever
made: "America, Why I Love Her," a 1973 RCA
recording of patriotic poetry recitations that was re-released
after Wayne's death in 1979. The album, which earned
Mitchum a Grammy nomination in the best spoken word category,
was released again last summer through Mitchum's Big John
Records.
Mitchum, who suffered the first of three strokes last
spring, died Thursday of internal complications at a Los
Angeles hospital. Mitchum is survived by his wife,
Bonnie; daughters, Victoria Mitchum of Granada Hills and Cindy
Azbill of Santa Barbara; eight grandchildren; and 15
great-grandchildren. |
|
'Jeannie'
Returns to TV on 'Sabrina' |
 [December
4, 2001] Barbara Eden, who played Jeannie in "I
Dream of Jeannie," will make her first sitcom
appearance in 20-plus years on the WB's "Sabrina, the
Teenage Witch" scheduled for Friday, Jan. 11. She
plays Sabrina's (Melissa Joan Hart) Great Aunt Irma, the
eldest -- and meanest -- of Sabrina's aunts who wreaks havoc
in the Other Realm.
Eden played LeeAnn De La Vega on "Dallas"
in 1990-91 and has made numerous TV movies over the years, but
her last sitcom role was in the TV version of "Harper
Valley P.T.A" in 1981-82. |
|
M*A*S*H:
The Whole First Season on DVD |
 [December
3, 2001] Fox Home Entertainment will release the
first season of the landmark comedy/drama, following a unit of
surgeons and nurses in a mobile hospital during the Korean
War, as a three-disk DVD set on Tuesday, Jan. 8. The set will
also be available on VHS. Each disk will contain eight
episodes, with the option of turning off the show's laugh
track.
The theatrical version of "M*A*S*H," released in
1970, will also be available on DVD Jan. 8, featuring a
commentary track by director Robert Altman.
 The
three-DVD set of "M*A*S*H's" first season is
available from Morty's Mall -- List
Price: $39.98 Our Price: $29.98 You
Save: $10.00 (25%) |
|
|
|
|
|
Home
