The Chronic Rift Network

We start off the Christmas season with two comedies.  First, on “The Bob Hope Show,” Bob visits Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead from the comic strip “Blondie” on Christmas Eve and then stumbles upon a haunted house. “The Bing Crosby Show” features Bing premiering “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and kidding around with his good friend Louis Armstrong.

Episodes

The Bob Hope Show

December 20, 1938

“Christmas”

2:59

 

The Bing Crosby Show

November 28, 1951

"Guests:  Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald"

34:48

In celebration of Thanksgiving, we start off with the Pilgrims leaving England on “You Are There.”  Various economic and religious refugees are about to set sail for New England aboard the “Mayflower.”  Then on “Fibber McGee and Molly,” the couple are hard at work preparing all the fixings for the big day.

EPISODES

 

You Are There

December 21, 1947

“The Sailing of the Mayflower”

2:43

 

Fibber McGee and Molly

November 25, 1935

“Buying Vegetables At A Roadside Stand”

32:26

 

Science fiction writer Scott Pearson welcomes fellow sci-fi writer and Twin Cities resident William Leisner to the show to review the Neil Armstrong biopic First Man and see how it stacks up against The Right Stuff and Apollo 13. Plus, Ella Skypes in from London to talk about the season premiere of Doctor Who.

 

 

Segments

Intro :28

First Thoughts on First Man 1:08

The Introverted Astronaut 2:05

The Pain He Carried 3:55

But He’s Neil Freaking Armstrong 7:00

The Right Stuff: Some Thoughts 9:15

What’s with Chuck Yeager? 14:25

The Wrong Attempts at Humor 17:15

The Right Iconic Scenes 19:15

Space Program Movie Overlaps 20:35

Apollo 1 in the Movies 22:10

Apollo 13: Some Thoughts 25:44 

Classic Space Hardware 28:00

First Man: No Rah-Rah 30:10

Flag on the Moon 34:00

Bracelet on the Moon? 35:50

A Quiet Return to Earth 42:42

Grading the Movies 45:20

Doctor Who Premiere with Ella 56:50

 We start off with Groucho Marx hosting the funniest game show of all time, “You Bet Your Life.” A movie location scout talks about how parts of Los Angeles are more like Italy than Italy itself, and a married man with the last name of Bachelor stirs up laughs.  Then on “The Great Gildersleeve,” it’s the middle of World War II, and Gildy is worried about saboteurs on the Home Front.

 

Episodes

 

You Bet Your Life

April 18, 1951

“The Secret Word is ‘Light’”

1:38

 

The Great Gildersleeve

January 24, 1943

"Sabotage"

31:21

We celebrate All Hallows Eve with a couple of Halloween-related episodes.  First, on “The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe,” the rotund P.I., famous for almost never leaving the comfort of his house, does so to obtain some orchids and ends up in a spooky old house high on a hill.  Then on “The Jack Benny Show,” Jack throws a Halloween party.  His silk tights fail to remind anyone of Romeo.  Meanwhile, Rochester’s efforts to spike the punch are continually thwarted.

 

Episodes

 

The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe

January 26, 1951

“The Phantom Fingers”

1:46

 

 

The Jack Benny Show

October 29, 1939

“Masquerade Party”

31:54

Orson Welles revived the character of Harry Lime (who dies at the end of the film “The Third Man”) in the radio series “The Lives of Harry Lime.”  In the radio show, Harry is a ne’er do well con man, as opposed to a cold-blooded killer.  In tonight’s episode, he’s conning some young lovelies with a fake painting.  Then, Lucille Ball stars as Liz Cooper, the proto-Lucy Ricardo, on “My Favorite Husband.”  In classic Liz / Lucy style, a simple request to some neighbors balloons into a classic fiasco.

 

The Lives of Harry Lime

October 29 1952

“Art is Long and Lime is Fleeting”

2:52

 

 

My Favorite Husband

June 27, 1949

“The Television Suit”

34:14

“Candy Matson” was one of the few solo female private eyes of radio’s Golden Age. Based in San Francisco, she may look like a pinup and have the most sultry voice on the airwaves, but she’s smart, tough, and fast-talking.  Then it’s time to visit “Duffy’s Tavern.”  It may not be the place where everybody knows your name, but close enough. Archie falls for a get-rich-quick scheme to patent electricity.

Episode 49—Old World, New Vampires

 

Science fiction writer Scott Pearson continues his chat with urban fantasy author Melissa F. Olson, discussing her various novel series in part two of a two-part interview. Then his daughter Ella pops in to chat about her summer con adventures.

 

Segments

Intro :28

Geek Beginnings 1:22

Discovering Urban Fantasy 2:25

Novel Beginnings 5:50

Scarlett Bernard’s First Trilogy 6:39

Allison “Lex” Luther’s Trilogy 9:20

Scarlett and Lex and the Old World Series 11:00

Nightshades: The TV Pilot? 12:15

Vampires: Supernatural vs. Scientific 14:05

Nightshades: The Novella 18:28

The World of the Nightshades Trilogy 20:35

The Unusual Birth of Nightshades 27:45

Bram Stoker’s Dracula 33:33

Ella at CONvergence with Melinda Snodgrass 39:44

Shout Out to “Enterprising Individuals” 43:50

Sitting in the Back at Panels 44:35

Ella at Minnesota Fan Fusion 45:15

Being on Panels 46:28

John Rhys-Davies 49:08

Shout Out to “Keep on Tolkien” 51:15

Bon Voyage to Ella 53:48

On “X Minus One,” a man continually wakes up from dreams of an explosion to find that every day is June 15th.  But this is no wacky “Groundhog Day”; it’s a tense drama in which he slowly learns that the things around him are copies and he’s being watched.  Based on the classic short story by Frederik Pohl, get ready to explore “The Tunnel Under the World.”  Then on “The Bob Hope Show,” Bob broadcasts from a Marine base in Barstow, California.  Along with joking about military habits, Bob tries to get glamorous movie star Claudette Colbert to hire him as the leading man in her next picture.

 

Episodes 

 

X Minus One

March 14, 1956

“The Tunnel Under the World”

2:03

 

 

The Bob Hope Show

April 1, 1952

Guests: Claudette Colbert and Jo Ann Greer

31:04

“The Romance of the Ranchos” was one of the more unusual series to be broadcast during the Golden Age of Radio.  Each episode traced the history of a certain district of Southern California, from the Days of the Ranchos – when everything was still owned by Spain and Mexico in the 1700s – up to then-contemporary times, the 1940s. Tonight, the vignettes center on Newhall, Saugus, and Santa Clarita.  Then, on “The Jack Benny Show,” the gang tells their own version of Old California, complete with rancho, Jack as a wealthy Mexican land-owner, and Don Wilson as 500 head of cattle.

 

Episodes

 

 The Romance of the Ranchos

November 26, 1941 

“The Newhall Region and the Rancho del Valle”

4:16

 

The Jack Benny Show

May 16, 1943 

“Rancho Benny”

34:13