TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 666.2: From October 2014: Doug Hill and Jeffrey Weingrad, co-authors of Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, talk to Ed about the chaos behind the scenes of the premiere episode of Saturday Night Live on Oct. 11, 1975, and how it took about four episodes for the series to find its footing. Recently updated to commemorate the show's fiftieth season on NBC, Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live was hailed by the Associated Press as "maybe the best book ever written about television."

TVC 666.3: Ed welcomes actress, comedienne, and "puppet fabricator" Corinne Britti (Condor's Nest, For Sale). Corinne plays real-life 1970s comedienne Valri Bromfield in Saturday Night, the Sony biographical comedy, written and directed by Jason Reitman, that portrays the chaos behind the scenes at NBC in the ninety minutes leading up to the premiere episode of Saturday Night Live on Oct. 11, 1975. Saturday Night is now playing theaters everywhere. A rabid sewer in real life, Corinne also hand-crafted the puppets featured in Ice-T's award-winning music video for "The Hate Is Real."

TVC 666.4: Ed welcomes back Robert Crane, eldest son of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane, and an accomplished screenwriter, journalist, and author in his own right. Bob's latest book, My UnHollywood Family, provides a fresh look at his relationship with his famous dad—mostly told from the perspective of his mother's side of the family—and the lifelong impact that his dad continues to have on him, his mom, and his siblings. It is also a story that will resonate with anyone who has survived a broken marriage, grown up in a dysfunctional household, navigated relationships with step parents, or dealt with narcissistic personalities at home or at work. Topics this segment include how the death of Bob's stepfather, Charles Sloan, spurred him to write this book, and the pivotal conversation that Chuck had with Bob's dad in June 1978, less than two weeks before Bob Crane was murdered. My UnHollywood Family is available now through Oregon Greystone Press.

TVC 666.5: Robert Crane, eldest son of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane, talks to Ed about how his dad was the "Willy Loman of his own career," why the failure of his parents' marriage was the byproduct of his dad's desire for advancement, and how he learned the craft of editing by watching his dad edit segments for his KNX radio show every week in the "back room" of the Crane family home. Bob's latest book, My UnHollywood Family, is available now through Oregon Greystone Press.

TVC 665.6: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with James Sutorius, the award-winning stage actor who recently starred in My Life with Will: An Evening with Will Shakespeare and James Sutorius, a one-man show (written by Dennis Brown) in which James shares stories from his fifty-year career in stage, movies, and television, and why he always returns to the works of Shakespeare for sustenance. In this segment, James shares a few memories of working in television alongside James Garner, Peter Falk, Angela Lansbury, and Stephen Caffrey. He also talks about the responsibility he felt to the entire cast and crew when he was the lead in his own series, The Andros Targets (CBS, 1977).

TVC 665.1: Ed welcomes William Keck, longtime entertainment reporter for such publications as the National Enquirer, People, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Times, Emmy-nominated producer for the Hallmark Channel, Discovery Channel, and NBC, and the author of When You Step Upon A Star: Cringeworthy Confessions of a Tabloid Bad Boy, a collection of some of Will's most memorable celebrity encounters that, for one reason or another, all went horribly wrong. Will's book chronicles his evolution from a lonely only child obsessed with Hollywood stars, to an eager tabloid snoop who hid personal secrets of his own, to a well-respected journalist who ultimately learns from his mistakes, changes his ways, and ultimately befriends most of the celebrities that he had once wronged. When You Step Upon A Star is available wherever books are sold through Jacobs Brown Media Group. Topics this segment include Will's longtime love for TV families and the stars of nostalgia TV, and some of his early mishaps with celebrities, including how he came to be the only reporter who managed to tick off both Dick Van Dyke and Andy Griffith.

TVC 665.2: William Keck, author of When You Step Upon A Star: Cringeworthy Confessions of a Tabloid Bad Boy, tells Ed the back story of the outlandish lengths he took to land the first interview with Juditha Brown, mother of Nicole Brown Simpson, in June 1994 (a few days after Nicole's funeral), when he was a reporter with the National Enquirer; how he managed to win the trust of Mrs. Brown almost immediately, despite invading her privacy, simply by asking the right question; and how Will's exclusive access to the Brown family helped changed the public perception of the Enquirer from tabloid rag to the most reliable source of information about the murder of Nicole and the subsequent trial of O.J. Simpson. When You Step Upon A Star is available wherever books are sold through Jacobs Brown Media Group.

TVC 665.5: Ed welcomes back James Sutorius, one of the most accomplished stage actors of our time, having starred on Broadway many times throughout his career (as well as many major theatre groups and repertory companies across the country), and an actor who has appeared frequently on television over the past five decades, including such classic shows as Matlock, Kojak, Columbo, and Murder, She Wrote, the acclaimed CBS miniseries Space, and his own series, The Andros Targets. A Shakespearean actor at heart, James recently starred in My Life with Will: An Evening with Will Shakespeare and James Sutorius, a one-man show (written by Dennis Brown) in which James shares stories from his fifty-year career in stage, movies, and television, and why he always returns to the works of Shakespeare for sustenance.

TVC 665.6: Actor James Sutorius talks to Ed about seeing Richard Burton star as Hamlet on Broadway in 1964; how practicing the famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy from Hamlet helped James overcome a stutter when he was in high school; and his appearance co-starring with Judd Hirsch on stage in Conversations with My Father. James recently starred in My Life with Will: An Evening with Will Shakespeare and James Sutorius, a one-man show (written by Dennis Brown) in which James shares stories from his fifty-year career in stage, movies, and television, and why he always returns to the works of Shakespeare for sustenance.

TVC 665.1: Ed welcomes William Keck, longtime entertainment reporter for such publications as the National Enquirer, People, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Times, Emmy-nominated producer for the Hallmark Channel, Discovery Channel, and NBC, and the author of When You Step Upon A Star: Cringeworthy Confessions of a Tabloid Bad Boy, a collection of some of Will’s most memorable celebrity encounters that, for one reason or another, all went horribly wrong. Will’s book chronicles his evolution from a lonely only child obsessed with Hollywood stars, to an eager tabloid snoop who hid personal secrets of his own, to a well-respected journalist who ultimately learns from his mistakes, changes his ways, and ultimately befriends most of the celebrities that he had once wronged. When You Step Upon A Star is available wherever books are sold through Jacobs Brown Media Group. Topics this segment include Will’s longtime love for TV families and the stars of nostalgia TV, and some of his early mishaps with celebrities, including how he came to be the only reporter who managed to tick off both Dick Van Dyke and Andy Griffith.  

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