TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 717.1: Ed welcomes back Mark Shaw, investigative journalist, former criminal defense attorney, onetime legal analyst for CNN, ESPN, and USA Today, and the author of nearly thirty books, including The Reporter Who Knew Too Much: The Mysterious Death of What's My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen. Mark's latest book, Abuse of Power, includes new information about the mysterious nature of Kilgallen's demise in November 1965 that, Mark believes, links the death of Kilgallen to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. Abuse of Power, The Reporter Who Knew Too Much, and all of Mark's books are available through Post Hill Press and Amazon.com.

TVC 717.2: Mark Shaw, author of Abuse of Power: Connecting Robert Kennedy's Assassinaton with the Murders of JFK and Dorothy Kilgallen, talks to Ed about a recently released YouTube video about John Shear (pictured above, left), a longtime paddock captain at Santa Anita Racetrack in Southern California who hired Sirhan Sirhan (pictured above, center) as a "hot walker" several months before Sirhan was arrested for the assassination of RFK in June 1968. According to Mark, Shear's comments in that video not only lend credence to the possibility that Sirhan may have been used as a fall guy by the mob for the assassination of RFK, but make the case that Sirhan should receive a new trial in light of these new revelations. (Though John Shear died in December 2023, Mark interviewed Shear's son, Michael, in December 2024; Michael Shear provided confirmation of his father's account.) Both Abuse of Power and The Reporter Who Knew Too Much are available through Post Hill Press and Amazon.com.

TVC 717.3: From December 2011: Tony, Donna, and Ed send birthday wishes to film and television legend Dick Van Dyke (The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Poppins, Diagnosis Murder) as part of This Week in TV History. Dick Van Dyke turns 100 on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025.

TVC 717.4: Ed welcomes back Ellen Geer, daughter of Will Geer and the artistic director of Theatricum Botanicum, the outdoor amphitheatre in Topanga Canyon, California that Will Geer founded in 1973. Theatricum's fifth annual Holiday Family Faire will take place on Saturday, Dec. 13 from 11am to 5pm, followed by a special live production of It's a Wonderful Life featuring Beau Bridges, Wendie Malick, Joe Mantegna beginning at 5pm. Tickets for the live production of It's a Wonderful Life are available as an "add-on" to Faire admission. Please visit Theatricum.com/holiday-family-faire for more information. Theatricum Botanicum is located at 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga CA 90290, midway between Pacific Coast Highway and the Ventura Freeway.

TVC 717.5: Ed welcomes back actress and author Alison Arngrim (Little House on the Prairie, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch). Alison has news about several events coming up over the next few weeks that will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the premiere of Little House on the Prairie (NBC, 1974-1983), including the recent Live Before a Studio Audience edition of The Little House 50th Anniversary Podcast featuring Alison, Dean Butler, and Pamela Bob that took place on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 1pm; the world virtual premiere of Little House Homecoming, the new documentary by Jonathan Parker that, to quote Alison, "really gets what Little House means to so many people around the world" (now streaming at LittleHouseHomecoming.com); the huge three-day Little House cast reunion at Strathearn Historical Park in Simi Valley, CA beginning Friday, Dec. 12 thru Sunday, Dec. 14 (click here for tickets and more information); and a joint book signing featuring Alison and Dean Butler that will take place Saturday, Jan. 17 at Chili John's Restaurant in Burbank, CA (for more details, call 818 846-3611 or go to ChiliJohnsofCA.com).

TVC 716.5: From February 2014: Prolific television director Ralph Senensky takes listeners behind the scenes of "Grandma Comes Home," the episode of The Waltons from March 1978 that marked Ellen Geer's return to the series after she had suffered a stroke the year before. Other topics this segment include how Corby and Will Geer were "the salt and pepper of The Waltons," plus Ralph shares a few memories of working with John Ritter, Richard Thomas, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Quinn. Ralph Senensky passed away on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 at the age of 102.

TVC 716.6: From February 2014: Prolific television director Ralph Senensky talks to Ed about directing Shirley Jones, Ray Bolger, and Rosemary DeCamp in the "Forty-Year Itch" episode of The Partridge Family (ABC, 1970-1974), as well as how he first worked with actress Jennifer Raine at the Pasadena Playhouse. Raine is the mother of Brian Forster, the second actor who played Chris Partridge on The Partridge Family.

Please enjoy this special preview of our upcoming conversation with Mark Shaw, investigative journalist, former criminal defense attorney, onetime legal analyst for CNN, ESPN, and USA Today, and the author of more than thirty books, including The Reporter Who Knew Too Much: The Mysterious Death of What's My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen. Mark's latest book, Abuse of Power, not only links the death of Dorothy Kilgallen in November 1965 to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, but includes new information about the mysterious nature of Kilgallen's demise. Our complete conversation with Mark Shaw airs the weekend of Dec. 5-8.

Please enjoy this special preview of our upcoming conversation with Ellen Geer, daughter of Will Geer and the artistic director of Theatricum Botanicum, the outdoor amphitheatre in Topanga Canyon, California that Will Geer founded in 1973. Theatricum's fifth annual Holiday Family Faire will take place on Saturday, Dec. 13 from 11am to 5pm, followed by a special live production of It's a Wonderful Life featuring Beau Bridges, Wendie Malick, Joe Mantegna beginning at 5pm. Tickets for the live production of It's a Wonderful Life are available as an "add-on" to Faire admission. Please visit Theatricum.com/holiday-family-faire for more information. Our complete conversation with Ellen Geer will air during the weekend of Dec. 5-8. Theatricum Botanicum is located at 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga CA 90290, midway between Pacific Coast Highway and the Ventura Freeway.

TVC 715.1: Ed welcomes back author, essayist, novelist, and TV historian Mitchell Hadley (The Electronic Mirror, ItsAboutTV.com). Mitchell's latest book, Darkness in Primetime: How Classic-Era TV Foresaw Modern Society's Descent into Hell, is a series of essays that shows how certain episodes of such classic series as The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Star Trek, and The Prisoner, as well as some of the live dramas that originally aired on Studio One, Playhouse 90, and Kraft Television Theatre—all of which were originally written and broadcast in either the 1950s or 1960s—not only envisioned a society of 24/7 surveillance, thought control, disinformation, persecution, and loss of freedom, but portrayed those realities in ways that are disturbingly similar to the world that we currently occupy. Darkness in Primetime is available wherever books are sold through Throckmorton Press and Amazon.com.