TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 728.5: Actor, author, and documentary filmmaker James Rosin talks to Ed about Wilt Chamberlain's historic 100-point game for the Philadelphia Warriors, which occurred on Mar. 2, 1962 in Hershey, Pennsylvania (the Warriors beat the New York Knicks that night, 169-147); how many of the Warriors players during the first sixteen years of the franchise, including Chamberlain, had direct ties to the city of Philadelphia; and the sale of the Warriors to San Francisco in 1962. Jim's documentary Philly Hoops is available on DVD through Amazon.com as well as MovieZyng.com. Photo of Wilt Chamberlain by Paul Vathis and courtesy Wirephoto Archives.

TVC 728.6: Actor, author, and documentary filmmaker James Rosin talks to Ed about how the Philadelphia SPHAs, the first professional basketball team in Philadelphia, were also one of the best teams on the East Coast during the first part of the twentieth century, competing against—and often beating—some of the best teams in the country, including the Harlem Globetrotters; and how the SPHAs eventually morphed into the Washington Generals, the traveling exhibition team that became the Globetrotters' permanent perennial opponent. Jim's documentary Philly Hoops is available on DVD through Amazon.com as well as MovieZyng.com. Photo of the SPHAs courtesy Encylopedia of Greater Philadelphia.

TVC 727.1: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen join Ed for an expanded edition of This Week in TV History that remembers Rob Reiner, the Emmy Award-winning actor and writer and Academy Award-nominated director and producer who died tragically on Dec. 14, 2025. Reiner was born on Mar. 6, 1947. The segment begins with Tony sharing a story about the circumstances that led him to spend an afternoon with Reiner about thirty years ago. Photo courtesy Newsday

TVC 727.2: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss Rob Reiner's experience as a staff writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (CBS, 1967-1969), as well as some of Reiner's notable "non-Meathead" roles on television, including his guest appearances as Myrna's boyfriend Sheldn on The Odd Couple in September 1974 (in the episode that also marked Penny Marshall's final appearance as Myrna) and as second-rate pro football quarterback King Sturtevant in "The No-Cut Contract," an episode of The Rockford Files that originally aired in January 1976. Rob Reiner was born Mar. 6, 1947 as part of This Week in TV History.

TVC 727.3: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss Rob Reiner's production company, Castle Rock Entertainment, which produced, among other things, the long-running sitcom Seinfeld; the role that Reiner played in bringing Michael McKean and David L. Lander to the attention of Garry Marshall, which led to Marshall casting McKean and Lander as Lenny and Squiggy on Laverne & Shirley; and Reiner's marriages to Penny Marshall and Michele Singer. Rob Reiner was born Mar. 6, 1947 as part of This Week in TV History. Photo courtesy Embassy Pictures

TVC 727.3a: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss some of the lighter moments between Mike and Archie on All in the Family; why it was notable that many episodes of All in the Family took place on a Sunday; and how Rob Reiner created Norman Lear with recognizing that he could be funny on camera, even before his dad, Carl Reiner, did. Rob Reiner was born Mar. 6, 1947 as part of This Week in TV History.

TVC 727.4: Ed welcomes back authors, playwrights, and producers Anthony Wynn and Robert Wood. Tony and Bob worked closely with actor Barry Morse on numerous projects during the last thirteen years of Barry's life, including the publication of his memoir, Remember with Advantages, as well as two stage productions of A.R. Gurney's Love Letters featuring Barry Morse. Tony and Bob's latest book, Two for the Road, chronicles the lifelong love story of Barry Morse and his wife of sixty years, actress Sydney Sturgess, as told through the many cards, letters, and audio recordings that Barry and Sydney sent to each other in the course of their marriage. Two for the Road also includes the publication of the play that Tony and Robert wrote about Barry and Sydney (also called Two for the Road), which was first presented as a staged reading in 2017. Topics this segment include how Two for the Road, both the play and the book, is essentially the play Love Letters, tailored for Morse and Sturgess. Two for the Road: The Lives and Love of Actors Barry Morse and Sydney Sturgess is available for purchase at Amazon.com in the U.S., Amazon.ca in Canada, and Amazon.co.uk in the UK, as well as many other online retailers.

TVC 727.5: Barry Morse biographers Anthony Wynn and Robert Wood talk to Ed about how Morse helped start PAL, the Performing Arts Lodges of Toronto (the Canadian equivalent of the Motion Pictures Actors Home in Woodland Hill, CA), shortly after his wife, Sydney Sturgess, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, as well as Morse's many efforts to raise funding for PAL throughout the last two decades of his life. Tony and Bob's latest book, Two for the Road: The Lives and Love of Actors Barry Morse and Sydney Sturgess, is available for purchase at Amazon.com in the U.S., Amazon.ca in Canada, and Amazon.co.uk in the UK, as well as many other online retailers.

TVC 727.6: Barry Morse biographers Anthony Wynn and Robert Wood share some behind-the-scenes stories about the benefit productions of Love Letters from 1995 (featuring Barry Morse and June Lockhart) and from 1999 (with Morse and Barbara Bain). Other topics this segment include how Morse considered the fans of Space: 1999 to be his "honorary grandchildren." Tony and Bob's latest book, Two for the Road: The Lives and Love of Actors Barry Morse and Sydney Sturgess, is available for purchase at Amazon.com in the U.S., Amazon.ca in Canada, and Amazon.co.uk in the UK, as well as many other online retailers. Tony and Bob also produced the short film The Return of Victor Bergman, which was recently released on Blu-ray by Anderson Entertainment as part of their Space 1999: Super Space Theatre Collectors Edition Blu-ray package. Barry Morse filmed this piece just before his death in 2008.

TVC 726.1: From February 2016: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss the final episode of Shindig (ABC, 1964-1966) on Jan. 8, 1966, the premiere of Third Rock from the Sun (NBC, 1996-2001) on Jan. 9, 1996, and the premiere of Sam 'n' Henry on Chicago radio station WGN on Jan. 12, 1926. Created by and starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, and considered by many to be the first situation comedy, Sam 'n' Henry was reworked two years later as the long-running but controversial series Amos 'n' Andy.