TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 698.1: Ed welcomes Taylor Blackwell, the writer, director, and star of It Happened, the award-winning short biopic about legendary comedienne Judy Tenuta. It Happened was made with the cooperation and financial support of the Judy Tenuta Legacy, which also allowed Taylor to use Judy's actual accordion in the film, as well as wear Judy's jewelry, accessories, flowers, feather boas, and wardrobe. Topics this segment include how Taylor came to make the film, how she channeled Judy's voice in the course of her performance, and how she was mentored by Burt Reynolds early in her acting career. If you run a film festival, or know someone who does, and may be interested in including It Happened: The Judy Tenuta Story, contact Taylor Blackwell at [email protected].

TVC 698.5: Ed welcomes Kiki Ebsen, youngest daughter of Buddy Ebsen, and an accomplished singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist in her own right. Kiki will perform her Joni Mitchell Tribute show at the Festival of Arts/Pagent of the Masters in Laguna Beach, CA on Saturday, July 26. She'll also be part of the Al Jarreau Band Reunion Show at Southcoast Winery in Temecula, CA on Sunday, Sept. 14 beginning at 7pm. For more details on these and other events on Kiki's calendar, go to the Calendar page at KikiEbsen.com. Topics this segment include how Kiki's independent spirit stems from her father; Kiki's approach to songwriting; why being an artist is a lifelong experience. Photo of Kiki Ebsen by Cliff Lipson. Photo courtesy KikiEbsen.com

TVC 698.6: Singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist Kiki Ebsen talks to Ed about the tapestry of stories available in The Great American Songbook; how Kiki's lifelong passion for horses led her to start The Healing Equine Ranch, a nonprofit organization whose equine-assisted services integrates yoga philosophy, natural horsemanship principles, and trauma-informed science to create a profound connection between humans and horses; and how Kiki was once nearly strangled to death by the reins of a horse while taking Lee Meriwether's daughters out for a ride. Kiki will perform at the Festival of Arts/Pagent of the Masters in Laguna Beach, CA on Saturday, July 26 and at Southcoast Winery in Temecula, CA on Sunday, Sept. 14. For details on these and other events on Kiki's calendar, go to the Calendar page at KikiEbsen.com. Photo of Kiki Ebsen by Cliff Lipson. Photo courtesy KikiEbsen.com

A special preview of our upcoming conversation with actress, supermodel, author, and speaker Kathleen Bradley (The Price is Right, Friday, Backstage at The Price is Right). Our complete interview with Kathleen will air coast to coast on our AM/FM stations during the weekend of July 25, then will become available for listening on demand as a podcast beginning Monday, July 28.

Via remote from Las Vegas: A special preview of our upcoming conversation with Morgan White Jr., longtime late night radio personality for WBZ AM-FM/Boston, author of many books, and the Undisputed King of Trivia. Besides his deep roots in radio, Morgan has hosted live trivia shows, both in Boston and in other parts of the country, for more forty-five years---and, as you're able to hear, no one else approaches trivia like he does. Our complete conversation with Morgan will air coast to coast during the weekend of July 25, then will become available for listening on demand as a podcast beginning Monday, July 28. 

A special preview of our upcoming conversation with Taylor Blackwell, the writer, director, and star of It Happened, the award-winning short biopic about legendary comedienne Judy Tenuta. Our complete conversation with Taylor will air during the weekend of July 18, then becomes available as a podcast on Monday, July 21. If you run a film festival, or know someone who does, and may be interested in including It Happened: The Judy Tenuta Story, contact Taylor Blackwell at [email protected].  

TVC 697.1: Ed welcomes back Rich Manley, world-renowned "adventure illusionist" and the writer, producer, director, and host of Culture Shock: Bridging Cultures Through Magic, the popular series on Tubi that communicates the energy, humility, and compassion of people coming together through the shared experience of magic. The first season of Culture Shock is available for viewing on demand on Tubi, while the series was also recently renewed for a second season. Rich's live stage show, Journal of Mystery, comes to The Wiggle Room at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood, California on Saturday, July 12, with performances at other venues to follow. Keep up with Rich at ExpeditionRich.com.

From June 2023: Ed and Greg Ehrbar look back at the music and television career of Bobby Sherman as part of a conversation about the home entertainment release of Here Come the Brides (ABC, 1968-1970). Though Sherman first came into prominence as the house singer on Shindig (ABC, 1964-1966), the success of Here Come the Brides made him a teen idol, not to mention a gold-selling recording artist. Bobby Sherman passed away on Tuesday, June 24 at the age of eighty-one.

We'll be back with a brand new edition of TV Confidential later in July. In the meantime, please enjoy this clip from June 2011 in which Tony, Donna, and Ed remember The Bicentennial Minutes (CBS, 1974-1976), a series of one-minute educational television segments, produced by CBS News, that every night aired in prime time (usually at the end of the 8pm hour) to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution. The series premiered on July 4, 1974 and was originally scheduled to end on July 4, 1976, but continued to run until the end of the bicentennial year, 1976.

TVC 696.4: Via remote from Davenport's Restaurant in Encino, California: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Robert Crane, co-author, along with Christopher Fryer, of Three-Cornered Circle, is a screen play released in book form that is also an adaptation of one of the most poignant stories of Bob and Chris' book Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father's Unsolved Murder: the period in Bob's life when he had to juggle the biggest break of his career at the time—being hired as right-hand man for movie superstar John Candy—with the tragic news that Bob's wife at the time, artist and landscape designer Kari Hildegrand, has been diagnosed with cancer. Joining Bob and Ed at Davenport's are commercial artist John Cerney, who did the cover art and other illustrations that appear in Three-Cornered Circle, and Meagan Bejar, the managing editor of the book. Topics this segment include how Bob first met John Candy while interviewing him and the other cast members of SCTV for Playboy magazine, how Candy embodied the Second City philosophy of "Yes, and…," and how Candy was a sweet man with a huge heart who always did his best to take care of his family and the people who were closest to him. Three-Cornered Circle is available through Kill Fee Publishing.