TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 748.2: From September 2016: An expanded edition of This Week in TV History that discusses the sixtieth anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek (NBC, 1966-1969). Topics this segment include Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which opened in theaters in 1986.

TVC 748.3: From September 2016: An expanded edition of This Week in TV History that discusses the sixtieth anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek (NBC, 1966-1969) and the legacy of the Star Trek franchise. Topics this segment include a look at our favorite Star Trek movie and favorite Star Trek characters.

TVC 748.4: From September 2016: Part 4 of an expanded edition of This Week in TV History in which Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss the sixtieth anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek (NBC, 1966-1969) and the legacy of the Star Trek franchise.

TVC 748.4: Ed welcomes Linda Kaplan Thaler, Advertising Hall of Fame executive and the creative genius behind the Aflac Duck, the Toys R Us Kids jingle, Clairol's "Yes! Yes! Yes!" campaign, and many other popular ads that have become permanently engrained in American culture. Linda's memoir, My Life in 30 Seconds, is a very funny, yet often very moving, book that not only looks at creativity, resilience, leadership, failure, reinvention, and the moments that change us forever, but includes many stories about some of the people behind those famous ads, including heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and Tony Hassini (the actor who played Magic Burger King), plus encounters with James Patterson, Cynthia Nixon, President Bill Clinton, and many others. My Life in 30 Seconds is available at Amazon.com. Topics this segment include how Linda first found her path in advertising; how Mariette Hartley's wry delivery in her famous Polaroid commercials with James Garner had a tremendous impact on Linda as she wrote copy for her own ad campaigns; and how Linda's career in advertising "was not about networking, but 'nice-working.'"

TVC 748.5: Advertising legend Linda Kaplan Thaler talks to Ed about the important role that goose bumps play in the creative genius; working with then-Governor Bill Clinton on his 1992 presidential campaign and with comedian Gilbert Gottfried on the "Aflac Duck" campaign; and why "What keeps you up at night" is an important question to ask. Linda's memoir, My Life in 30 Seconds, is available at Amazon.com.

TVC 747.1: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember the life and career of Tom Dreesen, the pioneering comedian, actor, and motivational speaker who was also the opening act for Frank Sinatra for many years. Tom Dreesen passed away on June 17, 2026 at the age of eighty-six. Topics this segment include the night when Dreesen visited Story Salon in 2009 (shortly after the publication of his first book, Tim & Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White), and how he incorporated the stories of every performer who preceded him that night before taking the stage himself at the end of the show; how Dreesen's formative years in Harvey, Illinois left an imprint on him; his partnership with Tim Reid as the first interracial stand-up comedy duo; and how Frank Sinatra once affectionately referred to Dreesen as "a saloon comic."

TVC 746.2: Tony, Donna, and Ed discuss the career of actress and comedienne Catherine O'Hara, from her early work at Second City Toronto to SCTV, Home Alone, Schitt's Creek, The Studio, her appearances in the mockumentaries of Christopher Guest, and more. Catherine O'Hara passed away on Jan. 30, 2026 at age seventy-one.

TVC 747.3: Ed welcomes back Charlotte Stewart, the actress known around the world as Miss Beadle on Little House on the Prairie and as Betty Briggs on Twin Peaks. Charlotte will join Alison Arngrim, Dean Butler, and many other members of the Little House cast at the huge Little House on the Prairie 50th anniversary cast reunion that will take place Sept. 11-12-13 at the historic Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. The weekend will include a special Friday night cast appearance plus, if you sign up for a VIP package, you'll have access to a special backstage tour of Studio A at the Grand Ole Opry (where Hee Haw and other TV series were filmed), plus other exclusive perks. For tickets and more information, go to LittleHouseonthePrairieCastReunions.com. Topics this segment include Charlotte learned her craft as an actress while studying at the Pasadena Playhouse; how her memoir, Little House in the Hollywood Hills, was the first book written by an adult cast member of Little House; why she retired from acting a few years ago; plus a few memories of hanging out with musicians Neil Young and David Crosby, both in the 1960s and beyond.

TVC 747.4: Actress and author Charlotte Stewart (Little House on the Prairie, Twin Peaks, Little House in the Hollywood Hills) talks to Ed about why the composition of a film was always important to director David Lynch, and how her long association with Lynch began when he was a student filmmaker and continued with Eraserhead and Twin Peaks. You can meet Charlotte Stewart, along with many other cast members of Little House on the Prairie, at the Little House on the Prairie 50th anniversary cast reunion that will take place Sept. 11-12-13 at the historic Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. For tickets and more information, go to LittleHouseonthePrairieCastReunions.com.

TVC 746.1: Ed welcomes Richard Lefkowitz, author of Welcome to Fabulous Angeles: The Rock 'n' Roll Adventures of a Wayward Westside Teen, a coming of age memoir about Richard's years growing up as a teenager in 1970s Los Angeles along with his best friend—a character known in the book as "Moxie"—while also searching for validation and fulfillment. Throughout the pages of Fabulous Angeles, Richard and Moxie bluster and bluff their way into exclusive parties, once-in-a-lifetime concerts, and many tapings at CBS Television City, while also crossing paths with such celebrities as The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, The Doobie Brothers, and Stevie Wonder. Welcome to Fabulous Angeles is available wherever books are sold online, as well as at FabulousAngeles.com. Topics this segment include why L.A. is a lot more like a small town than most people would realize; how Richard's adolescence coincided with a number of seismic cultural changes that occurred in L.A.; and why FM radio was an integral part of the soundtrack of his life.