TV Guidance Counselor

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TV Guidance Counselor 2020 Holiday Episode with Sean Sullivan Dec 01, 2020

Show notes

In this BONUS! Black Friday Edition of the show Ken welcomes back his muse and the wind beneath his podcast wings Mr. Sean Sullivan to the show.

Ken and Sean discuss the fine line between A Christmas Carol and It's A Wonderful Life by way of Sean's NEW Limited Edition Holiday Podcast Series The 25 Days of A Christmas Carol and via Season 1 and 2 Christmas Episodes of Bonnie Hunt's Life with Bonnie

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 440: Michael Cook Nov 30, 2020

Show notes

October 27-November 2, 1990 (Ken's all time favorite issue of TV Guide)

This week Ken welcomes fellow podcaster and longtime friend Michael Cook to the show.

Ken and Michael discuss how their paths never cross in person, how remote can be normal, and when it's not, not being famous, Oregon, the Entertainment Industry, Lex Luthor, Bizarro Ken, buying puppets, New Year's Eve Sign offs, The New Mutants, loving Los Angeles, living that 24 hour life, the horror resurgence on television, anthology shows, Wes Craven, Indiana isn't the mid-west, Ken Ober, MTV's Remote Control, being on local TV shows as a kid, being in TV Guide and not knowing, Family Ties, the FIRST Parenthood TV series, Trick or treating, David Lynch, Lady in White, 21 Jump Street, John Waters guest starring, Comic Strip Live, John Pinnette, Parker Lewis, Baywatch Nights (season 2), Cat's Eye, Stephen King, Dawn of the Dead, Alan King, The Hitchhiker, not remembering lines, acting scholarships, Murphy Brown, Ames, Hex, Rescue 911, Bernard Goetz, guns, Cheers, Thirtysomething, Yuppies, hating kids, Mutant, Wings Hauser, Return of the Living Dead, Married People, Halloween III, Fox, Doctor Doctor, Facts of Life, how great Joanna Cassidy is, Midnight Caller, radio, and having investigative journalist compassion.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 439: Nore Davis Nov 23, 2020

Show notes

FALL PREVIEW ALERT

September 23-17, 1994

This week Ken welcomes fellow stand up comedian and creator of the first Quarantine Stand Up Comedy Album (that I know of) the great Nore Davis to the show.

Ken and Nore discuss the changing nature of time, the Apocalypse, New York, Manhattan, not getting TV Guide, Streets of Rage, Skates, roads not traveled, the pilot vortex, Fall Previews, Family Matters, Steve Harvey, Me and the Boys, why ABC was not ready for black people, Cosby, a pre-CW/pre-UPN world, the horror of Miracle Whip, Due South, My So-Called Life, shopping for other people, Homicide Life on the Street, how Fox was the Rent to Own network, Ghostbusters II, working actors, M.A.N.T.I.S., ER vs Chicago Hope, Prime Time PBS, the last days of In Living Color, Sega Channel, rich kids, Ralph Macchio, selling your soul, Bo Jackson, the Ivana Trump TV movie, Nutty Professor, Eddie Murphy, Susan Powter, Fabio's Healthy Bodies Magazine, talk shows, VR Troopers, Gargoyles, stand up, Full House, America's Funniest Home Videos, Bob Saget, Lois and Clark, Spice Girls, In the House, Thunder Alley, T.G.I.F., Urkel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, watching the X-Files so you can get to The Simpsons, and horoscopes.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 438: David Almeida Nov 16, 2020

Show notes

June 20-26, 1981

This week (for the second time)Ken welcomes host of the Let's Face the Facts: Facts of Life Podcast, Mr. David Almeida to the show.

Ken and David discuss what they talked about last time, All Media, Mr. Lazaroni, The Facts of Life, Bearded undergrounds, Real People, South Shore Bar Pizza, MTV premiere of Thriller, recreating awful times despite living in the future, Brockton MA, Al from Happy Days' itches, Satellite Dishes, saddle stitching, watch along pageants, Soul Train, Hee Haw, hating Southern Shows, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Murderer's Sanctuaries, Sid Haig, Walter Cronkite's Universe, Dummies, Richard Simmons in Katrina, adoption, Building 19, last names, Flambirds, Paul Lynde, spin-offs, American Dad, Regis Philbin gone wild in Mexico, That's Incredible, Diff'rent Strokes, Cher, Jack Harrell, being forced to impersonate Bette Davis WITH Bette Davis, ABC, The Way They Were, Hanna Barbera costumes, costumed characters, wearing bags over your head, Hal Williams, Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, and the wonders of Lynda Cater.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 437: Gary Gulman Nov 09, 2020

Show notes

September 7-11, 1987

Today Ken welcomes long time friend, fellow depression sufferer, fellow Bostonian, and comedic hero Gary Gulman to the show.

Ken and Gary discuss Rhoda, bedtimes, writing books, not having children, Jewish women, Valerie Harper, Mary Tyler Moore, being replaced with Sandy Duncan, AIDS, Dungeons and Dragons, Frank Welker, renting a movie, Charles Kuralt, the soothing nature of TV News Anchors, 60 Minutes, Married...with Children, This Old House, driving around, parent jokes, nice parts of town, It's Your Move, Kate & Allie, Newhart, how great Julia Duffy is, The Great Depresh, revolting Swiss Colony, The A-Bomb, Max Headroom, Moonlighting, being not cool, hating things that are popular, always knowing you'll be a writer, After School Specials, being too empathetic, crying, Chris Elliot as Rags Maloney on the Equalizer, how laughter is our only weapon, Bill Boyers, how great Adam Resnick is, YO! MTV Raps, Highway to Heaven, Saturday Morning Preview specials, sports, and the wonder of The Boondocks.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 436: Merrill Markoe Nov 04, 2020

Show notes

June 22-28, 1963

It's a TWOFER week as Ken welcomes genius level funny, author of the new memoir "We Saw Scenery" Merrill Markoe to the show.

Ken and Merrill discuss needing to get back to dark and gloomy weather, being shocked at how much TV you watched as a kid, We Saw Scenery, being in love with sitcom sons, being boy crazy, being on the wrong side of variety TV, The Mary Tyler Moore Hour, Newhart, Burns and Allen, breaking the 4th wall, surrealism on TV, being the first generation of people making TV who grew up on TV, Saturday Night Live, The New Laugh In, The Late Show with David Letterman, Vaudeville, cigarette ads, the war between TV and movies, The Donna Reed Show, unlikable male characters, the inherent sexism of Hollywood green lights, pitching shows, watching the networks fall, coverage of JFK's travel, the dissolution of Equal Time, Crazy Guggenheim, Jackie Gleason, how big is small and small is big on TV, cute casting, the Rifleman, loving beans being eaten in a tin, Ed Sullivan, Kliph Nesteroff's The Comedians, child stars, Car 54 Where Are You?, Not Necessarily The News, The Smothers Brothers, seeing everything live, reviewing the Beatles, diaries, Doctor Shows, Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, writers getting credit, James Baldwin, Perspectives, what the hell happened to Myna Birds?, Mel Blanc, hypochondria, The Beverly Hillbillies, learning from TV, Mad Magazine, space and a band, My Three Sons, roasts, the Rat Pack, the existential depression of the same scenery in The Flintstones, Route 66, Dobie Gillis, the horrors of Bob Hope in a Beatle Wig, Chris Elliot, being scared of Alfred Hitchcock, Pen15, how 8th grade is always 8th grade, Nazi flirting, and graphic novels

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 435: Cait O'Riordan Nov 01, 2020

Show notes

April 30 - May 6, 1977

This week welcomes musician, DJ, Pogue and all around excellent human Cait O'Riordan to the show.

Ken and Cait discuss lockdown, visas, being an immigrant, loving New York City, the dangers of '80s Alphabet City, loving all the bad things about the U.S.A., allowing the locals to be your tour guides, Cheers, Boston, tribalism, The Sex Pistols on Grundy, kids wearing bin bags, 1977 The Year Punk Broke, The Dystopian Nightmare of 1970s England, class systems, addiction, feeling bad for Sid Vicious, getting spit on, enablers, Mental Illness, Frost v. Nixon, Reagan and Thatcher, the strange case of Chevy Chase, Charlie's Angels, stitching up punks, being a sensible nerd, Dukes of Hazard, Hee Haw, Dolly, building a cocoon, the wonders of old movies, the biggest pre-CGI Smash up, Horror movies as family entertainment, The Damned, Spanish Dracula, parental bedtime rules, supper clubs, The Flesheaters, being put in charge of everyone's lives, record collections, Phantom of the Opera, Claude Raines, 1977 The Coolest Year in Hell, A Dolly Family Christmas, Dolly Parton variety shows, extortion rings in Hollywood dance studios, Journey to Adventure touring Ireland, Starsky and Hutch, Ernest Borgnine FUTURE MAN, Airport 75, Upstairs Downstairs, The Possessed, Happy Days spin offs, why Gary Marshall shows were for kids in the UK, In Search of..., Straight to Hell, loving Westerns, how much the Six Million Dollar Man is worth today, the superior Bionic Woman, Race with the Devil, meeting Joe Lucky who is actually Joseph Losey, Satanists, The Wicker Man, Terence Stamp as a giant baby in The Mind of Mr. Soames, Hawaii Five-O, Richard Pryor, Jack Lord: Kind of the Teddy Boys, John Hurt, Donny and Marie, being terrified of Little Jimmy Osmond, "The Mystery Artist", Paul Lynde, An American in Paris, The Fight Against Slavery, Roots, how human adaptation and survival scares Ken, and living in scary unprecedented regressive times.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 434: Amanda Reyes Oct 26, 2020

Show notes

October 21-27, 1978

This week Ken welcomes author, TV movie genius and all around cool chick Amanda Reyes to the show.

Ken and Amanda discuss living in Texas, movie around as a kid, being via satellite, glamour, Las Vegas, LA, Vegas with Robert Urich, The Nightstalker, being a BYOTVG guest, WKRP in Cincinnati, being a horror fan, being an expert, Made for TV movies, how Amanda became an expert, Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee, Are You In The House Alone? a TV Movie compendium 1964-1999 , Bad Ronald, soaps, how TV movies are often just "movies" in the UK and Europe, Kate's Secret, Meredith Baxter-Bernie, representation for women's stories, older women's stories and classic Hollywood actors, Black Christmas, slasher flicks, exploitation directors, Special Bulletin, the amount of TV movies and specials in the 1978-1979 season, Peyton Place, The Bradys, Escape from Gilligan's Island, Rhoda, Carter Country, reunion movies, Westerns, The Hardy Boys, Battlestar Gallactica, Gallactica 80, cult deprogramming, Max Gayle, hunks, Tab Hunter, Dorothy Stratton, Star 80, Judith Crist, Kim Basinger, Blind Date, Killjoy, Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold, lost TV movies, blaming the adult industry, cannibals, Happy Days, Laverene and Shirley, Donner Pass, House II, Shauna Grant, The Waltons, The Grass is Always Greener over The Septic Tank, Alex Rocco, Charles Grodin, Leg Men, Leg Work, Parterns in Crime, loving Burt Convy, being distant from your family, watching TV families to learn how familes work, Can't Stop the Music, Steve Guttenberg, Bruce Jenner, how Eat My Dust! led to Ron Howard's directing career, Cotton Candy, Halloween is Grinch Night, the punk rock episode of Quincy, CHiPs, Shatner being a jerk directing TJ Hooker, Witches Night Out, things being very 70s, the Odd Couple starring Sherman Helmsly and Pat Morita, Jim Belushi, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Kindertrauma, TV Casualties, It's Your Move, CBS Storybreak, PSAs and being absolutely terrified of The Incredible Hulk.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 433: Jello Biafra Oct 18, 2020

Show notes

October 1-7, 1966

This week Ken welcomes legendary punk rock icon, record collector and raconteur Jello Biafra to the show.

Ken and Jell discuss becoming part of the Zoom generation, cigarette ads, the wonders of muck raking journalism, out scooping your competitors, watching the news as a kid, The Vietnam War, being a newshound, seeing Oswald get shot on live TV, having parents who don't shield you from stuff, Chef Boyardee, Kars for Kids, the 2012 vote, how cameras change everything, Route 66, Dragnet, Lee Marvin, good acting and good writing, Hulabaloo, Batman '66, the incredible music in the original Spider-Man cartoon, surf music, Star Trek, country music, Martin Luther King Jr, Bobby Kennedy, The Night James Brown Saved Boston, growing up wanting to be the Penguin, Eric Burdon and the Animals, River of Blood, The Midnight Special, Suicide on TV, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, Man from U.N.C.L.E., Elliot Ness's drinking problem, The Untouchables, being paid in exposure, How Ariana Huffington may be a lost Gabor, Free Speech TV, Green Acres, documentaries on Al Jazera, Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax Records, Al Jorgenson, James Bond themes, Beat Girl, These Are The Damned, Julie Newmar, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Bill Maher, the horrors of Crosscheck and kicking people off voter rolls, why you NEED to vote, Colorado, Lon Chaney, the wonders of TV soundtrack LPs, and Mrs. Miller's psychedelic lp.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 432: Lois Bromfield Oct 11, 2020

Show notes

April 24-30, 1971

This week Ken welcomes writer/comedian and author of the excellent new memoir "My Dirty Life in Comedy", Lois Bromfield.

Ken and Lois discuss German, how in Europe "American" is the Children's menu, growing up in Toronto, getting the crap kicked out of you (emotionally) in NYC, the greatest of L.A., appearing on the Dick Clark show with Oingo Boingo and Joan Jett, free therapy, British Sitcoms, the oxymoron that IS German Sitcoms, Bonanza, Lorne Greene, writing checks in the 19th Century, SCTV, Westerns, Masterpiece Theater, The Muppets, the mystery of all your siblings going into comedy, The Honeymooners, working with drunks, Grace Under Fire, working with Brett Butler, Roseanne, the great insanity of working on Roseanne, asking "Who's Jackie?", The Jackie Thomas Show, getting good breaks, pitching stories, cigarette ads, celebrity bowling, 1971 women's hair care products, wanting to be or be with, black characters on Westerns, Mary Tyler Moore, the studio where it was all shot, being a part of television history, doing stand up in London, The Comedy Store, Michael Nesmith's Television Parts, becoming a gay icon, Ed Sullivan, not knowing how much things cost, layaway and expense accounts secretly being introduced on sitcoms, Things you Must Do Before You Die, worrying/not worrying about it, the threat of watching The News, The Mod Squad, how Bell Bottoms might save the environment, Fox TV, Patty Duke, hating Southern Shows, Green Acres, The Beverly Hilbillies, Golden Girls, broadcasting, narrowcasting, Norman Lear, The Mike Douglas Show, and being the wind beneath Pierce Brosnan's Wings.

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