TV Guidance Counselor

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TV Guidance Counselor Episode 73: Danielle Soto Apr 20, 2015

Show notes

May 28-June 3, 1988

Boston Marathon Monday!

Ken welcomes comedian Danielle Soto to the show. Ken and Danielle discuss being drawn to a time before you were born, 1988 births, Family Ties, repressed memories of ever having used a TV Guide, Ken's TV Week/Toaster Oven TV Guide/Toaster Theory (again), Facts of Life, Back-door pilots, Empty Nest, Tumpy's marijuana addiction leading to bad gift giving, The Cosby Show binge drinking episode, 227, Golden Girls, living the Stan Episodes, Mama's Family, Doctor Who, the role of ledges in sitcoms, Throb, Dream On, Wendy Malik, Hot in Cleveland, Say Anything, being held hostage, why you never want to ride an elevator with a pregnant lady, Spenser for Hire, Family Ties, TV Land's First and Last Marathon, Nick's forgotton spin-off, My Demon Lover, hair metal, Mother Goose's Rock N Rhyme, Fairy Tale Theater, Married...with Children, Day by Day, The Terrible Revenge of the Nerds Pilot, Ted McGinnley, It's Your Move, David Garrison, not censoring children, the banned Married...with Children episode, The Christina Applegate fashion test, MTV The Week in Rock, Kate & Allie, having never seen ALF, Valerie, Ken's most embarrassing moment, seeing Spiceworld alone in the theater, Designing Women, celebrity autobiographies, Newhart, celebrity weight struggles, AIDS, Eisenhauer and Lutz, Who's the Boss, Crushing Alyssa Milano, The Dark Crystal, first run syndication, Charles in Charge, Mr. Ed, Perfect Strangers, Bibby Babkas, Vanilla Ice, Supergroup, The Surreal Life, Sebastion Bach, Moonlighting, Growing Pains, tonsillectomies, Over R-ing the pudding, Mr. Kotter, Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, Hooperman, Gena Davis, Summer Rental, loving the Reiners, Jamin' on the One, Summer School, why all arrangements are edible, Night Court, Beauty and the Beast, Full House, the trend of Dead Moms on television, and the end of Saturday Morning.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 72: Will Smalley Apr 20, 2015

Show notes

December 19-25, 1992

The Boston Marathon Monday Marathon Begins!

Ken welcomes comedian Will Smalley to the show. Ken and Will discuss Ken's credentials, military recruitment, the best kinds of glue, Christmas week, MTV's Rock N Jock Softball, Cops, Roundhouse: World's Worst Show, Ren And Stimpy, SNICK, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Edge, Julie Brown vs. Downtown Julie Brown, The Young Comedians Special, A&E, In Living Color, America's Funniest Home Videos, Roc, Married...with Children, Herman's Head, Walking with Jesus, Fresh Prince, Evening Shade, Blossom, Joey Lawrence, quantifying the number of girls and gay men Will Smalley knows, Clarissa vs. Blossom, Bob, Wrestling Roundtable, Will's TV Debut on a WWF taping, Doink Dink, Monday Night Football vs WWF Primetime, Full House, Rescue 911, Petticoat Junction, Comicview, Roseanne, A Smokey Mountain Christmas, Dolly Parton, America's love/hate relationship with the shopping mall. Forever Knight, Beverly Hills 90210, The Wonder Years, Unsolved Mysteries, Home Improvement vs. Seinfeld, Mad About You not pumping Will's Nads, Buckaroo Banzai, Christmas Eve, sharing a room, where to hide Christmas gifts, the best bed to sleep on in bunk beds, finding out the truth about Santa, The Simpsons, Learning the Ropes, Lyle Alzado was not on "Big Brother Jake", Martin Lawrence, Armenians, Cheers, the death of Just the Ten of US, TGIF, gay characters on TV, Dinosaurs, Camp Wilder, and Ken's lack of crossword love.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 71: Angela Sawyer Apr 18, 2015

Show notes

September 10-16, 1978

Record Store Day Special!

This week Ken welcomes comedian and Weirdo Records impresario Angela Sawyer to the show. Ken and Angela discuss dogs having accident, virtual reality, unexpected pets, having never seen Black people, racist names for animals, regional racism, Colorado, UMass Lowell, Odyssey of the Mind, Colorado: The Nexus of Pop Culture in the Beige Age, Aspen poor camps, central time, Us Against The World II, Cloris Leacheman's athletic prowess, Love Boat, Uncle tom Foolery, Scatman Crothers, Ghost Riders in the Sky, Gorgo, Roots, Event Television, Lavar Burton, Sword of Justice, Dack Rambo, Office Batman, Tennis Pros, Scott Walker (the singer not the evil governor), Igmar Bergman, Welcome Back Kotter, watching movies on laserdisc in the library, The Jeffersons, old war buddies hitting on your wife, the 70s locker famine, Ken's literal prison of a high school, Monday Night Football, fighting over custody of the Broncos, M.A.S.H., the made for TV 70s Live Action Spider-Man, Three's Company, a lie in two dates, Taxi, Starksy and Hutch, disco fever, Demon Firestar, Eight is Enough, For You...Black Woman, Popeye's disco infection, Charlie's Angels meet Dean Martin, Mork & Mindy, The Shining, Happy Days spin offs, The Clonemaster, Barney Miller, character studies, The Incredible Hulk, children's inherent fear of things busting through walls, King Tut, Brendan Cruz, alien induced mass suicide, Ron Howard's directorial debut Grand Theft Auto, and the Love Boat being the highlight of your week.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 70: Wes Hazard Apr 15, 2015

Show notes

June 28-July 4, 1997

This week Ken welcomes comedian and poet Wes Hazard. Ken and Wes discuss Ken's hoodie collection, shared celebrity birthdays, Ken's 17th birthday, Agent Orange, the you now and the you at 17 having different tastes, Cops, America's Most Wanted, the scariest Unsolved Mysteries Ken ever saw, learning gay pick up spots from Farley Bros movies, Fashion Bug, Dress Barn, Snick, Robin Williams, Ernest's career, Krull, Beastmasters of the Universe, Early Edition, being introduced to 70s Green Arrow by your doctor, The DC Animated Universe, Isabella Rosellini, Kablam!, Charles Burns' Black Hole, Oddville, Ken's punk rock teenage band days, banning the Simpsons, Ken's arguments with the dude from Dashboard Confessional, Real World vs. Road Rules, King of the Hill, Seinfeld, Paul Reiser, Big Top vs. Big Adventure, Fargo, Unhappily Ever After, The Wayans Bros, rare diseases, the over lap of Kids Inc and Children of the Corn, UPN shows, L.L. Cool J's unplugged comeback, Broken Arrow, John Woo's US career, Pump Up the Volume vs. The Superbowl, working in the media section of a library vs living in the media section of your own home, Bad Brains, Henry Rollins' movie career, roommates with Flea (s), Ruby Wax, Strongest man in the world competitions, ER, snuff tapes, real life death scenes, TV Week, TV Guide Channel, Bewitches, Nick At Nite, Get a Life, Newhart, Secret World of Alex Mac, Roseanne, Dictionary dicks, Tanya Roberts, The Naked Truth, the greatness of Tea Leoni, Home Improvement, Neneh Cherry, Can't Hardly Wait, Point Break, meeting Kelsey Grammer, Hazard Mail, HP Lovecraft's Curse, The Experts: World's greatest cold war movie, Parker Lewis, Beach MTV, Step by Step, Cutting Class, adult cartoons, One Crazy Summer, and the glory of Independence Day.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 69: Allan Havey Apr 08, 2015

Show notes

This week Ken welcomes actor/comedian Allan Havey to the show.

Ken and Allan discuss the beauty of Santa Monica, growing up in Miami, working blue, Catholic Families, watching the Tonight Show with Dad, playing a priest at 5 years old, the magic of hearing your own voice for the first time, kids being seen and not heard, The Three Stooges, the early silent comedies, The Twilight Zone, watching anything and everything on TV, 57 Channels and nothing on, the cornucopia of choice in the 21st Century, Louie, marathoning shows, Sunday Night Family viewing, watching football at double speed, Mad Men, not rewatching your own stuff, starting stand up in New York City, Lorne Michaels' "The New Show", SNL replacements, Letterman, having the same joke as several other people, the validation of being on TV in the eyes of the public, other people defining your success, buying into the 60s counter culture, meeting JFK and the shock of the Kennedy Assassination, the power of prayer, the generation gap, National Lampoon Magazine, Alan King, Carlin, Pryor, Steve Martin's stadium career, setting goals with a time line, training, West 57th St, the early days of the Comedy Channel, Rich Hall's Onion World, Rachel Sweet, Tommy Sledge, "Night After Night", Ha!, being in the moment, not taking things for granted, Punk'd, diversifying your creative endeavors, never giving up on Stand Up, having an immediate outlet, the "audience of one", differentiating yourself from the glut of other talk shows, Warren Zevon, Free Ride on Fox, always having stand up, The Comedy Cellar, Catch a Rising Star in Cambridge, MA, the gold mine in Burgers, how things sometimes just work out, the fleeting nature of live performance, fixating on bad gigs, how comedians are like chefs, how someone else's success has nothing to do with you, Chelsea Lately, Seinfeld, the exciting world of web TV, UK TV, not living in the past too much by re-visiting your youth, and the wonder of Mad Men.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 68: Max Silvestri Apr 01, 2015

Show notes

May 15-21, 1993

This week Ken welcomes comedian, TV host and author Max Silvestri to the show.

Ken and Max discuss Cheers, having your own wing of the house, sneaking wrestling, waiting to get the good cable channels, Sci Fi Channel, living in the 'boro, being an early adopter of the internet fandom age, TiVo, being a Nielsen Family, saving genre shows single handedly, being an only child, Prodigy vs. Compuserve vs. AOL, Ken's major award of a custom Mr. Show Bowling Shirt, Ken's collector mentality, cast and crew jackets, being burdened by your interests, Bloopers, practical jokes vs. flubs, Cops, Max's visceral aversion to the underclasses, Empty Nest, being wise beyond your years, Jerk offs, Code 3, Mad About You, Newsradio, Murder She Wrote, Wild Palms, Max's love of British child murder, Virtual Reality taking over the world in 2007, Epic Made for TV Events, Humanity as a bummer, Championship Skating, Evening Shade's series finale, Murphy Brown, why there are no great young movie stars anymore, 1-900 numbers, Sierra's inventory based puzzle games, Full House. Disney's shameless cross promotion, Rescue 911, Robocop 2, Bob, the 90s Chromium age comics boom, why Bob Newhart should never have kids, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Comics Only, Ken Ober, the multi-talented Fred Wolf, Home Improvement, Tim Allen as the new Bible, Mark Russell's political parodies, Unsolved Mysteries, The Bradys, peas, Munsters, Ann Magneson, Kung Fu, like the update better than the original, Cheers, watching TV at school, Tom Selleck's Runaway, If anybody has seen Richie, abstaining from masturbation, Jeering non Regis and Kathy Lee co-hosts, and the MTV Movie Awards.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 67: Mary Lynn Rajskub Mar 27, 2015

Show notes

This week Ken welcomes comedian and actress Mary Lynn Rajskub to the show.

Ken and Mary Lynn discuss technical spring, Detroit, odd parental choices, punk rock, being shaken to your core, Ken's unusual positivity and not Jesus complex, Gone Baby Gone's accuracy, stand up comedy road work and it's relation to your family, early bed times, central time privilege, Lou Grant, Cagney and Lacy, art school brains, being moved to tears by the Rockford Files, The Love Boat, Gold Rush, HGTV, Spider-Man, Cupcake Wars, Donut Pride, ignoring the death of a parent, 24, The Walking Dead, childhood fears of adult good times that happen after you fall asleep, the excitement of the early days of MTV, HBO's monthly catalog, Mr. Show. The Larry Sanders Show, Veronica's Closet, being outed as famous, Simon & Garfunkel live in Central Park, renting out room in your brain, hypnotism, moving to San Francisco, Tic Tac Dough, how Netflix spoils children, weird daytime PBS, Slim Goodbody, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, the odd pursuit of stand up comedy, performance art, Gallagher, Whoopie Goldberg's One Woman Show, Monty Python as concept album, romancing the notes in class, Freaks and Geeks, Mork & Mindy, Pac-Man, Atari, Moonlighting, why Ken stopped paying attention after the turn of the century, Xanadu, Gene Kelly, Ken's experiences with Lady Gaga, realizing your time was the 80s, SiriusXM Radio, First Wave, Kadjagoogoo, "Survivor" reality shows, killing chickens, Flip or Flop, Flipping Boston, UK TV, The Kardashians as palette cleanser, Damages, TV Sign Offs, The British production model, more Mr. Show, quirky auditions, Marc Maron's worries about Mary Lynn, being pitied by Meredith Baxter, Mary Lynn loving her Bob, Family Ties, Mardi Gras/Spring Break/Cruise Ships as punishment, Three's Company, Soul Train and the blight of Candlepin Bowling.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 66: Paula Poundstone Mar 25, 2015

Show notes

In this week's episode Ken welcomes comedian Paula Poundstone to the show.

Ken and Paula discuss the 60s Batman and it's death traps, Liberace, TMZ, Jennifer Aniston's possible pregnancies, America's desire to see celebrities fail, idolizing the wrong people, how actors are able to continue to work with bad material, awards shows, Roasts, Alex Trebek's hidden humor, Betty White's unauthorized backstory, Lost in Space, The Twilight Zone, Billy Mumy, banning television for children, going through life without an immunity to advertising, programming your children's tastes, The Three Stooges, experiencing comedy as a collective experience, technical failures increasing comedy, cartoon adaptations of live action sitcoms, Wacky Races, Boston's WSBK TV38 and it's phenomenal afternoon line up, the sanctity of a girl's underwear drawer, Gilligan's Island, taking credit for Sherwood Schwartz's work, re-enacting the story of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for the stage, OCD leading to marathoning shows, M.A.S.H., forsaking food for bus station TV watching, The Harvard Square Movie Theater's Double Feature education, Animal House, running into Donald Sutherland, being babysat by television, Romper Room, Captain Kangaroo, Child World: the World's Greatest Toy Store, I Love Lucy, Mr. Rogers, Mary Tyler Moore, Lily Tomlin, The Dick Van Dyke Show, the cold harsh truth about taking care of 16 cats, Laugh In, The Smothers Brothers, getting away with the nipple, Love American Style, Carol Burnett, doing stand up on SNL, waiting for one or two good laughs on a sketch show, the loss of the 90 minute format TV show, Gene Barry in The Name of the Game, the world shattering depression that you get when your favorite series ends, forsaking prime time television, being hooked by The Mentalist, Boardwalk Empire, checking out of pop culture, being a contestant on Jeopardy, Angie Dickinson's unrealistic expectations of Alex Trebek, Cybill Shepherd, taking classes at the Groundlings, Paula's ABC Variety Show, The Malibu Fires, Joel Hodgson's Oreo cookie based ratings calculator, the Saturday Night death slot, letting shows have time to figure it out, CNN, the enraging ridiculousness of the 24-Hour News Cycle, and how technology is making us dumber.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 65: Maeve Higgins Mar 20, 2015

Show notes

In this episode Ken welcomes Irish comedian and television personality Maeve Higgins to the show.

Ken and Maeve discuss theater basements, Tuba based misunderstandings, RTE 1 and 2: Ireland's only television, TV in Zimbabwe, The Tracy Ullman Show, seeing the Simpsons for the first time, 7 Brides for 7 Blues Brothers, books as dick fuel, Home & Away, Australian soaps, parental hypocrisy, hidden camera shows, why the Irish are uniquely positions to be willing victims on hidden camera shows, Airplane, slapstick humor, Only Fools and Horses, not being able to identify with all male comedy shows, Irish Babysitters, living in the suburbs as a nanny, Kathy Griffin, Margaret Cho, Two Fat Ladies, Fancy Vittles, My So-Called Life, capturing teenagers spirit, American feelings, awful first kisses, not revisiting your childhood favorites, NYC on TV, Friends, Seinfeld, The Late Late Show: The Longest Running Chat Show in the world, Terry Wogan, leaving Ireland for fame and fortune in the UK, Graham Norton, Father Ted, heavy conversations as party killer, The Kroll Show, Peter Davidson, never seeing Doctor Who, The Cosby Show, The Most Irish Show of all time, Ear to the Ground, Nation Wide, TV as home sickness cure, Pride and Prejudice, Colin Firth's sexy swimming, Robert Mugabe's terrifying totalitarian television, Moone Boy, the luxurious experience of hair and makeup, Love/Hate, overcover undercover cops, and Ken's first time recommendation of someone not needing to watch more TV.

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 64: Laura Crawford Mar 18, 2015

Show notes

June 3-9, 1989

This week ken welcomes former Boston, current LA Comedian Laura Crawford.

Ken and Laura talk about Ken's technology paranoia, Oprah, Richard Bey and the other trashy talk shows, Rickie Lake's Urban fanbase, Living Single, how Ken might have been a young black woman, MTV Dating shows, picking the mom over the daughter, remaking geeks into chic, mean high school nicknames, the "boy with A.I.D.S", Donut burns, lobbying congress for better sexual education, the Robot Revolution, Real Genius, Night of the Creeps on USA's Saturday Nightmares, the Horny Hot Dog the Movie, edited teen movies, Arye Gross is not Ari Meyers, COPS, being falsely accused of being a child prostitute, living Beyond Tomorrow, why It's Gary Shandling's Show is better than Larry Sanders, how great hair is the single deciding factor in how attractive a woman finds a man,being a fashion innovator.Star Search, Whitey Herzog, Ed McMahon filled donut shops, Ken's sweet on booze, insulting drag queens, Night Court, Big Trouble in Little China, Billy Graham's AIDS, Sex in the 90s, ALF, childhood speech impediments, Ken's college thesis film "Alien Love Form", The Frugal Gourmet and his "Troubles", late '86, after school programming, Comedy Central, Laura's unnatural love of the Simpsons, comfort shows, A Current Affair, the sleaze infection, sex, more sex, phone sex, VCR sex, pornography as technical innovator, Ken's Phil Donohue impression, TV's love of Frats, MacGuyver is not Matlock, the lovable drunk Arthur, involuntary singing, Russian signs of the world going to hell, people never guessing Ken's age right, Mind Control, Laura's belief in psychic phenomenon, James Randi's professional debunker status, jerking off dudes for money, Head of the Class goes to Russia, Degrassi Jr. High, wild Wallabies in the woods of New England, why animals won't eat tattoos, Cheers and Ken's two universal rules, sibling TV fights, The Real World, why Dad's love Fox Sunday night programming, Ken's Real World reasoning for moving to London, NBA and love of sports culture, Teen Pregnancy, Perfect Strangers, The Quaid Bros vs. the Howard Bros, Highway to Heaven's Watergate, Dack Rambo: Horny School Bus Driver, Just the Ten of Us, Dean Cain's TV racism, Laura's hatred of Wiseguys, Patty Duke's head double, and nailing CBS. Sex.

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