TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 731.2: From November 2018: Actor and director Wayne Péré talks to Ed about his approach to playing villains in movies and on television (including a few more memories of playing Victor LaRue on Walker: Texas Ranger); his approach to playing characters movies that are based in the Marvel Comics universe; and how he became a director.

TVC 731.3: From November 2018: Actor and director Wayne Péré talks to Ed about how he sometimes creates his own back story for the characters as he prepares to play them; and the difference between playing a fictional character and a character based on a real person.

TVC 731.4: TV Confidential commemorates the recent passing of Chuck Norris by bringing you an encore of our conversation with actress and producer Sheree J. Wilson (Dallas, Walker: Texas Ranger). At the time we spoke to Sheree in September 2013, she had just produced and starred Easy Rider: The Ride Back, a sequel (and prequel) to the groundbreaking cult classic that explores the lineage of Wyatt "Captain America" Williams while also remaining true to the core values and basic themes of the original 1969 film. Easy Rider: The Ride Back is available for viewing on demand through Amazon Prime. Topics include a brief history of the various lawsuits over the previous few decades that had prevented a sequel to Easy Rider from being made; how Larry Hagman was originally set to play "Wild Bill Hickok" Williams in Easy Rider: The Ride Back, but had to pull out of the project because of litigation that delayed the start of production for three years; plus Sheree shares a few memories of working with Hagman, Patrick Duffy, and director Michael Preece on Dallas. Photo of Sheree J. Wilson courtesy ShereeJWilson.com.

TVC 731.5: From September 2013: Sheree J. Wilson shares a few memories of starring with Chuck Norris on Walker: Texas Ranger, including how the series had struggled to find its footing early on, including several changes in production staff and crew, until Sheree convinced Norris to hire Michael Preece (Dallas, The Streets of San Francisco) as Walker's regular director. Easy Rider: The Ride Back is available for viewing on demand through Amazon Prime. Photo of Chuck Norris and Sheree J. Wilson courtesy Facebook.

TVC 731.6: From September 2013: Sheree J. Wilson talks to Ed about her close friendship with Larry Hagman in the twenty years after Dallas left the air, including traveling with Hagman and his family on many occasions, and spending quality time with Hagman just a few days before he died in November 2012. Easy Rider: The Ride Back is available for viewing on demand through Amazon Prime. Photo of Sheree J. Wilson and Larry Hagman courtesy ShereeJWilson.com

TVC 731.7: TV Confidential concludes its remembrance of Chuck Norris by bringing you a clip of our 2012 conversation with longtime television director Michael Preece (Dallas, Walker: Texas Ranger, The Streets of San Francisco, MacGyver). Preece directed about eighty episodes of Walker; prior to that, he helmed more episodes of Dallas than any other director. Topics this segment include how Preece first came to helm Walker: Texas Ranger, including a few memories of "Blue Movies," an episode of Walker from 1995 that also featured Dallas stars Howard Keel and Cathy Podewell.

TVC 730.4: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with two-time Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Robert Illes (The Carol Burnett Show, Sanford and Son, Fernwood Tonight, Lily, Silver Spoons, Sister, Sister). Bob's memoir, Funny is Money, is a humorous, irreverent, deeply personal, and often moving look at his forty-two-year career writing and producing comedy for network television. Topics this segment include "Lamont, Is That You?", the episode of Sanford and Son that marked Bob's first sale to a network sitcom; Joe and Sons (CBS, 1975), the first network series that Bob created (along with his longtime writing partner, James Stein); and Bob and Jim's experience writing for Fernwood Tonight (Synd., 1977) and America Tonight (Synd., 1978). Funny is Money is available in hardcover, paperback, and as a eBook through Bear Manor Media and Amazon.com.

TVC 730.5: Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Robert Illes talks to Ed about working with producer Alan Thicke behind the scenes of Fernwood Tonight; writing for Toni Tennille, Daryl Dragon, and John Byner on the Captain and Tennille variety series; and writing for Dick Van Dyke on what turned out to be the final season of The Carol Burnett Show. Bob's memoir, Funny is Money, is available in hardcover, paperback, and as a eBook through Bear Manor Media and Amazon.com.

TVC 730.6: Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Robert Illes talks to Ed about meeting and sometimes writing for many of the iconic performers that he grew up watching on TV as a kid; working on his own for the first time after a twenty-five year partnership with James Stein; and how Bob's solo career began with Sister, Sister and continued for another seventeen years. Bob's memoir, Funny is Money, is available in hardcover, paperback, and as a eBook through Bear Manor Media and Amazon.com.

TVC 729.1: Ed welcomes two-time Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Robert Illes (The Carol Burnett Show, Sanford and Son, Fernwood Tonight, Lily, Silver Spoons, Sister, Sister). Bob's memoir, Funny is Money, is a humorous, irreverent, deeply personal, and often moving look at his forty-two-year career writing and producing comedy for network television—a career that not only included such meteoric highs as winning those two Emmys in a span of four years, but which often had moments that left Bob wondering how to find his piece of ground in an industry that always seemed to be shifting. Funny is Money is available in hardcover, paperback, and as a eBook through Bear Manor Media and Amazon.com. Topics this segment include how Bob broke into TV writing (along with his longtime writing partner, James Stein) by working with George Schlatter and Digby Wolfe on Sing America Beautiful, a star-studded variety special headlined by Tennessee Ernie Ford; how Bob and Stein began their comedy career in radio, hosting a popular weekly show on KUSC-FM, the campus radio station for the University of Southern California; and why writing comedy for television is often a two-person job.