An Archive for TV news from October 2001

Two TV /Movie Composers Greats Die

[October 17, 2001] Oscar-winning composer and lyricist Jay Livingston died Wednesday. He was 86. His partnership with Ray Evans gave us such hits as: "Silver Bells," "Que Sera, Sera" "Mona Lisa," and TV themes like "Bonanza" and "Mr. Ed," as well as movies themes: "Tammy" from the 1957 movie "Tammy and the Bachelor," "Almost in Your Arms" from the 1958 film "Houseboat" and the title song of the 1964 film "Dear Heart."

Livingston was born on March 28, 1915, in the Pittsburgh suburb of McDonald. He met Evans in 1937 at the University of Pennsylvania, where they were both students. The team's final project was the recording, "Michael Feinstein Sings the Livingston and Evans Song Book," due for 2002 release.

On Tuesday Composer Raoul Kraushaar who wrote the theme music to such classic TV shows as "Lassie," "The Fugitive" and "The Untouchables," died at the age of 93 on Tuesday. During a 55-year career, he wrote the music for numerous television shows, including "The Abbott and Costello Series" and "Father Knows Best." Among his most famous film work was "Cabaret" starring Liza Minnelli. He also provided music for cartoons such as "Yogi Bear" and "Huckleberry Hound." Born in France in 1908, the son of an orchestra musician, Kraushaar lived with his aunt after his mother died and as a teenager he stowed away on a ship headed to New York. In 1926, Kraushaar studied musical arranging at Columbia University and in the 1930s moved to Los Angeles to launch his career. The first film he was credited for was "Round-up Time in Texas" with Gene Autry in 1937.

ABC Airs Two Halloween Classics

[October 18, 2001] The classic half-hour animated Halloween-themed Peanuts special, "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown," created by late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, will air on the ABC on Tuesday, October 30 at 8:00pm. This program was originally scheduled to air October 25. In the 1966 half-hour animated special, "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown," The PEANUTS gang celebrates Halloween, with Linus hoping that, finally, he will be visited by The Great Pumpkin, while Charlie Brown is invited to a Halloween party.

Also scheduled on the 30th is the Emmy Award-winning "Boo! To You, Too, Winnie The Pooh" 8:30pm. This program was also originally scheduled to air October 25. "Boo! To You, Too, Winnie The Pooh" received its Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Achievement in Storyboarding (Phil Weinstein) in 1997, as well as an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music and Lyrics (Michael & Patty) BTW, October 14th was Winnie the Pooh's 75th birthday.

Where's the Honeymooners on Hallmark?

[October 7, 2001] Were you excited to see "The Honeymooners" in color? I was. The Hallmark Channel announced they would be airing the rarely seen color episodes of "The Honeymooners," starting today. But they didn't. I didn't even know they scrapped the plans until a reader e-mailed me asking "what happened?" I don't know. Aaron Barnhart's TV Barn (www.tvbarn.com) is reporting today that a Hallmark spokeswoman told him yesterday that plans to air these episodes, which were going to start this weekend have been "shelved indefinitely". Why? They're not saying. One of my readers suspect a royalty problem, one suspects a conflict with TV Land's "exclusive" cable rights to "The Honeymooners" and I suspect I quality problem with the prints. Many of us looked forward to seeing the black and white episodes of "Petticoat Junction" on TV Land, only to have the network back out due to the high cost of restoring the prints to the quality standards the channel is known for. The mystery of TV Land's "pushed back fall debut" could simply be that editing and preparing the original material is taking longer than expected.

~~Columbus~~ Columbo Day Marathon on A&E

[October 7, 2001] The A&E Channel is celebrating Columbus Day with a "Columbo" marathon of 6 two hour TV movies featuring Peter Falk as the rumpled detective. The marathon begins with Columbo traveling to England to visit Scotland Yard, where he ends up helping in a murder investigation, in "Dagger of the Mind." Here's the schedule:

8:00AM : Dagger of the Mind
10:00AM: Columbo: Undercover
12:00PM: A Friend in Deed
2:00PM: Columbo Cries Wolf
4:00PM: Candidate for Crime
6:00PM: Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo

Peter Falk fans use the monthly schedule at TV Now

Halloween Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Marathon

[October 5, 2001] Cartoon Network's canine supersleuth Scooby-Doo will encounter 24 hours of spooky ghosts, scary curses and menacing villains during the "Halloween Scooby-Doo Where Are You! Marathon." Click here for more Scooby-Doo. Also on the Cartoon Network, Cartoon Theatre has twice the frights in October with a weekly double feature of Cartoon Network's scariest movies. Each 7 p.m. airing repeats the next day (Sunday) at 10 a.m. For the complete spooky schedule, click here.

Rose Marie Gets Her Star on Walk of Fame

[October 3, 2001] A ceremony was held this morning at 7083 Hollywood Blvd to unveil Rose Marie's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. "I'm usually not speechless, but I am now, I am so honored and thrilled. I

respect this business so much and everyone who has supported me - including all my fans.'' Rose told the crowd. 78 year old Rose Marie, who was born Rose Marie Mazetta, started her career as a child star in the 1920s. To all of us at Ask Morty, she's Sally Rogers of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" Dick Van Dyke and series creator Carl Reiner were also on hand to honor Rose. Her trademark is the bow in her hair, that she still wears today, has some personal significance on which Rose Marie has so far refused to elaborate. Rose joins cast members: Morey Amsterdam, Mary Tyler Moore, and Dick Van Dyke, who also have stars on the Walk of Fame.

Nick News Turns Ten

[October 3, 2001] In 1991, Nickelodeon felt it should provide news coverage and an explanation of the Gulf War that kids could understand. They hired veteran journalist and former NBC News anchorwoman Linda Ellerbee to do a special "Nick News." Ten years later, Linda's still explaining the news to kids. A recipient of Emmy and Peabody awards for "Nick News," 57 year old Linda Ellerbee has just finished editing "Turning Ten: A Nick News Celebration," which airs 8PM on October 4.

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Johnny Carson's Tonight Show: A New DVD Set

[October 3, 2001] Did you know that 650 feet underground in a Hutchinson, Kansas, salt mine, 4,000 tapes of "The Tonight Show, Starring Johnny Carson" are stored in a fire- and earthquake-proof room? From these tapes, a new DVD collection has been made. The new set offers seven hours of highlights of "The Tonight Show" from 1962 to 1992 , adding new footage to the previous release of a videotape set.

Carson fans will be able to revisit comic routines by his Fern character along with faux psychic Carnac the Magnificent and superpatriot Floyd R. Turbo (complete with earflaps). The DVDs also include script notes -- which provide a rundown of guest appearances, commercials and performances. The DVDs also present the show's history, beginning with Allen, biographies of Carson (who will turn 76 on October 23rd), sidekick Ed McMahon, bandleader Doc Severinson, and producer Fred de Cordova, who died last month.

The collection is priced at $79.99 How can I buy it you ask? Well first you drive to the Santa Monica Freeway, to the Slausen Cutoff, or just click here. Did you know that you can special order any episode of "The Tonight Show" for $99? You supply them with the date and details of the show, and the folks in the Hutchinson, Kansas salt mine will see if it exists. Many episodes from the '60s do not.

In the late 70's, the tapes were stored in a warehouse in Camden, New Jersey. When shelf space started to run out, they decided to destroy "old stuff". Included in this "old stuff" were early Carson shows, all of "The Hollywood Squares" with Peter Marshall, and hundreds of hours of other classic moments we'll never see again. It's because of this, that I never trust people from Camden.

AMC Monsterfest October 26-31

[October 3, 2001] More of a movie thing than at TV thing, but it's being shown on TV. . . American Movie Classics salutes the monsters and the leading men who gave birth to the horror genre. Includes: "Frankenstein," "The Mummy," and "The Wolfman." On Halloween, celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Bela Lugosi classic "Dracula."

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Barnabas Comes to Collinwood in October!

[October 2, 2001] The Sci-Fi Channel started running the rarely seen pre-Barnabas episodes of the classic Gothic soap "Dark Shadows" in the Spring. Now we're getting close to seeing the star of the show, Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins. Here's what's coming up: Jason McGuire makes his first appearance on Thursday of this week, John Karlen as Willie shows up on Tuesday, October 16th and Barnabas follows shortly after. Also, on the subject of "Dark Shadows," "House of Dark Shadows" will be shown on Turner Classic Movies on October 31 at 1:00am, that's 1:00 a.m. on Halloween morning, not Halloween evening.

The Honeymooners Many People have Never Seen!

[October,1 2001] IN COLOR!! Not colorized, filmed in color. From 1966-1970 "The Jackie Gleason Show" presented the "Honeymooners" most are musicals, no really, I'm not making this up. See Jackie Gleason and Art Carney sing and dance their way through 43 hour long "Honeymooners" on the Hallmark Channel beginning Saturday, October 6 at 7:00 PM. New episodes will be broadcast each Sunday evening beginning Sunday, October 7 at 11:00 PM.

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TV Land Pushes Back New Schedule

[October,1 2001] The folks at TV Land are trying to see if we're on our toes. The last Fandemonium was to be on October 13-14, now it looks like there'll be at least two more. A yet to be named Fandemonium will air on October 20 & 21, and "Diff'rent Strokes" on October 27 & 28. The new schedule, that was expected to begin after the "Lucy" Anniversary week, is now expected to start on November 1. There's also a rumor that the paid programming will also end in November (see story below). It's my belief that this is a test, let them know, the test failed.