TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 741.6: Phil Gries of Archival Television Audio and Ed discuss Sing, America, Sing, the PBS special from March 1976 written by Oscar Brand (pictured above) that originated from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and a rarely heard Bicentennial Minute featuring Burgess Meredith. Audio courtesy Archival Television Audio. Also in this segment: Phil discusses the upcoming Blu-ray release of Harlem School: 1970, the "direct cinema" documentary that he wrote, produced, directed, and filmed when he was an elementary school teacher in Harlem, New York. Harlem School: 1970 will become available on Blu-ray through Kino Lorber on Tuesday, Aug. 25.

TVC 740.1: Phil Gries joins Ed for a special Independence Day-themed edition of The Sounds of Lost Television that looks back at how network television covered the Bicentennial celebration of July 4, 1976. Audio, as always, is courtesy Archival Television Audio. Highlights this segment include the first few minutes of In Celebration of US, a sixteen-hour, day-long special produced by CBS News and hosted by Walter Cronkite, that included a cornucopia of festive events that day from venues across the country.

TVC 740.2: Phil Gries, founder and owner of Archival Television Audio, and Ed discuss how In Celebration of US, the sixteen-hour CBS special hosted by Walter Cronkite that aired on July 4, 1976, not only was inclusive in tone and presentation, but marked the first time that a network had devoted day-long coverage to a single event since the moon landing of July 20, 1969.

TVC 740.3: Phil Gries of Archival Television Audio plays a few more audio highlights of In Celebration of US, the day-long CBS special, hosted by Walter Cronkite, that aired on July 4, 1976, including coverage of the largest naturalization ceremony in U.S. history and of the massive parade in Philadelphia that included representatives from the forty-eight continental states plus several other countries. Audio courtesy Archival Television Audio.

TVC 740.4: Phil Gries of Archival Television Audio plays more audio highlights of In Celebration of US, including coverage of the jazz festival held on July 4, 1976 that also commemorated the 100th birthday of jazz great Louis Armstrong, plus a few minutes of the Major League Baseball game that day between the Houston Astros and the Cincinnati Reds. Audio courtesy Archival Television Audio. Image of Louis Armstrong courtesy Britannica.com Harlem School: 1970, the "direct cinema" documentary that Phil Gries originally filmed, produced, and directed in 1970, will become available on Blu-ray through Kino Lorber on Tuesday, Aug. 25

TVC 740.5: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Barry Weitz, co-creator and co-executive producer of Movin' On (NBC, 1974-1976), and Kathy Bird, author of Sundance Turns Fifty: The Amazing Legacy of Movin' On, a fun new book that not only takes you behind the scenes of the production of Movin' On, but introduces you to many of the people who are responsible for keeping the show alive today. Sundance Turns Fifty is available in paperback and as an eBook through Amazon.com. Proceeds from sales of the book will help support the efforts of the Duke Cancer Research Institute in Durham, North Carolina. Topics this segment include how production of Movin' On was as close to the quality of a feature motion picture as you could get on network TV at the time; how the Movin' On museum came to be; and why the series meant a lot to the childhood of many male viewers.

TVC 740.6: Barry Weitz, co-creator and co-executive producer of Movin' On, and Kathy Bird, author of Sundance Turns Fifty: The Amazing Legacy of Movin' On, discuss the circumstances that resulted in NBC canceling Movin' On at the end of its second season, and how the NBC programming executive who made that decision, Marvin Antonowsky, got his comeuppance in a very public way. Sundance Turns Fifty is available in paperback and as an eBook through Amazon.com.

Please enjoy this special preview of our upcoming conversation with Martha Reeves, the legendary Motown powerhouse who is also one of the most influential voices in American music. June is Black Music Month, and to celebrate the occasion Martha is releasing "To Know You is to Love You," the leadoff single for Searching, Martha's first new album in twenty-two years. Both the single and the video for "To Know is to Love You" become available on Spotify, Apple Music, and all digital platforms on Friday, June 26, while the entire album Searching will be released on Friday, Aug. 14. Our complete conversation with Martha Reeves will air in a few weeks on TV Confidential.

TVC 739.4: Ed welcomes Barry Weitz, co-creator and co-executive producer of Movin' On (NBC, 1974-1976), the classic TV series starring Claude Akins and Frank Converse as independent truck drivers that, in many ways, was a modern-day Western, and Kathy Bird, author of Sundance Turns Fifty: The Amazing Legacy of Movin' On, a fun new book that not only takes you behind the scenes of the production of Movin' On, but introduces you to many of the people who are responsible for keeping the show alive today. Sundance Turns Fifty is available in paperback and as an eBook through Amazon.com. Proceeds from sales of the book will help support the efforts of the Duke Cancer Research Institute in Durham, North Carolina. Topics this segment include how Barry came up with the concept for Movin' On; how the show's move to an 8pm time slot in the second season not only introduced the series to younger viewers, but paved the way for the resurgence of interest in Movin' On that continues to this day; how Barry came to cast Frank Converse and Claude Akins; and how Movin' On inspired many viewers to become truck drivers themselves.

TVC 739.5: Barry Weitz, co-creator and co-executive producer of Movin' On, and Kathy Bird, author of Sundance Turns Fifty: The Amazing Legacy of Movin' On, talk to Ed about how Movin' On was an unusual series not only because it was filmed entirely on location in different states throughout the continental U.S., but also insofar as Barry's production team scouted the locations first, then wrote each episode based on that location. This segment also includes a discussion of some of the notable guest stars on the series, including Michael J. Pollard, John Ritter, and Samuel L. Jackson. Sundance Turns Fifty is available in paperback and as an eBook through Amazon.com.