TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 673.5: Dawn Moore, daughter of Clayton Moore, talks to Ed about the origins of the Lone Ranger Creed; how her dad embodied the words of the Creed every day for the last fifty years of his life; and how Dawn displayed quotes from some of the tenets of the Creed on the window of the Harry Winston jewelry store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills to help calm her neighborhood on the day after of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Other topics this segment include the various connections between Clayton Moore, Roy Rogers, and Dale Evans, and how that is captured in some of the vintage photographs that are currently on display as part of the Happy Trails exhibit at TheHollywoodMuseum.com. For more about Dawn, go to MooreAbout.com.

We'll be back with a brand new edition of TV Confidential later this week. In the meantime, please enjoy this clip from January 2015 in which Tony, Donna, and Ed look back at the circumstances that led to James Garner to end The Rockford Files (NBC, 1974-1980)in the middle of the show's sixth season. The final episode of The Rockford Files aired on Jan. 10, 1980 during This Week in TV History.

TVC 672.1: Ed welcomes entertainment journalist and comedy historian Tripp Whetsell. Tripp's latest book, Norman Lear: His Life and Times, is the first comprehensive biography of the legendary, Emmy Award-winning producer of All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, The Fact of Life, and many other series that helped elevate the American network sitcom. While much has been written about Norman Lear, before and after his death on Dec. 5. 2023, Tripp's book shows that there remains much to learn about the legendary "man in the white hat"— since Lear himself was often reluctant to discuss his early life in great detail. Topics this segment include how Lear got his foothold in show business by way of Danny Thomas, and his roots in the golden era of variety television throughout the 1950s and early '60s. Norman Lear: His Life and Times is available wherever books are sold through Applause Books. For our listeners in Southern California, Tripp Whetsell will appear at Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood on Wednesday, Jan. 8 beginning at 7pm.

TVC 672.2: Tripp Whetsell, author of Norman Lear: His Life and Times, talks to Ed about how the latitude that Norman Lear often gave his actors and his writers on his television shows was often a double-edged sword; Lear's years as a motion picture producer in the 1960s; and the events that led to the premiere on All in the Family on CBS in January 1971. Norman Lear: His Life and Times is available wherever books are sold through Applause Books. Tripp Whetsell will appear at Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood on Wednesday, Jan. 8 beginning at 7pm.

TVC 672.3: Part 2 of a conversation that began just before the holidays with Steve Randisi, author of Penny Singleton: A Biography, a comprehensive look at the life and career of the actress who not only achieved worldwide fame in the 1930s and '40s as the star of the Blondie movie series from Columbia Pictures (and, later, to TV audiences as the voice of Jane Jetson on the original Jetsons TV series and, later, the Jetsons movie), but who made history in 1958 when she became the first female president of an AFL-CIO union, the American Guild of Variety Artists. Topics this segment include how Singleton was nearly fired from the first Blondie picture because of an incident over a cigarette; the values she formed while growing up in South Philadelphia; and how her longtime connection with Rod Serling resulted in her appearance opposite John McGiver in the Twilight Zone episode "Sounds and Silences." Penny Singleton: A Biography is available from Bear Manor Media.

We're taking a few days off for the holidays, but we'll be back with brand new editions of TV Confidential in the new year. In the meantime, please enjoy this Blast from the Past clip from January 2015 in which Tony, Donna, and Ed look back at the premiere of A.M. America, the precursor to Good Morning, America, on Jan. 6, 1975. An offshoot of Ralph Story's A.M., a local program produced by KABC-TV in Los Angeles, A.M. America never found an audience on a national level and was canceled ten months later.

We're taking a few days off for the holidays, but we'll be back with brand new editions of TV Confidential in the new year. In the meantime, please enjoy this Blast from the Past clip from January 2015 in which Tony, Donna, and Ed celebrate the life and legacy of Alan Hale, the actor known around the world as The Skipper on Gilligan's Island. Alan Hale passed away on Jan. 2. 1990, thirty-five years ago This Week in TV History.

We're taking a few days off for the holidays, but we'll be back with brand new editions of TV Confidential in the new year. In the meantime, please enjoy this Blast from the Past clip from January 2015 in which Tony, Donna, and Ed look back at the premiere of Hullabaloo, NBC's answer to Shindig, on Jan. 12, 1965.

We're taking a few days off for the holidays, but we'll be back with brand new editions of TV Confidential in the new year. In the meantime, please enjoy this Blast from the Past clip from January 2012 in which Tony, Donna, and Ed look back at the tragic death of Alias Smith and Jones star Pete Duel on Dec. 30, 1971.

We're taking a few days off this week, but we'll be back with a brand new edition of TV Confidential next week. In the meantime, please enjoy this Blast from the Past, featuring an excerpt from our October 2010 conversation with Emmy and Grammy Award-winning composer Charles Fox. Charles' book, Killing Me Softly: My Life in Music, not only walks readers through his journey in music and television, but also pays tribute to the teacher who continues to influence him, the great French composer and conductor Nadia Boulanger