TV Confidential with Ed Robertson

TVC 737.5: Hall of Fame radio broadcaster Don Sainte-Johnn, author of San Francisco's Last Top 40 Disc Jockey, shares a few of the crazier moments that went on behind the scenes and on the air at KFRC-AM, The Big 610. San Francisco's Last Top 40 Disc Jockey is available through Amazon.com.

Please enjoy this special preview of our upcoming conversation with Cindy Mitchum, youngest daughter of legendary character actor John Mitchum and the niece of screen legend Robert Mitchum. Cindy has just rereleased Them Ornery Mitchum Boys: The Adventures of Robert and John Mitchum, a rollicking look at the lives and careers of her famous dad and famous uncle as they move through decades of adventure, war, celebrity, vice, loyalty, and loss, while also crossing paths with such legends as John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, John Carradine, Joi Lansing, and many, many others. Them Ornery Mitchum Boys is available in hardcover and in paperback through Henry Gray Publishing, Amazon.com, and JohnMitchum.com. Our complete conversation with Cindy will air in a few weeks on TV Confidential.

Cindy Mitchum is scheduled to appear at the annual National Day of the Cowboy weekend celebration in Tombstone, Arizona from July 23 through July 26.

Please enjoy this special preview of our upcoming conversation with Perry Hibner, author of Centennial Revisited: An Oral History of the Epic TV Miniseries that includes exclusive interviews with more than thirty members of the original cast of Centennial (NBC, 1978-1979), including Gregory Harrison, Barbara Carrera, Cristina Raines, Cliff DeYoung, Mark Harmon, William Atherton, Glynn Turman, Les Lannom, executive producer John Wilder, and many, many others. Centennial Revisited is available in hard cover, paperback, and as an eBook from DorrancePublishing.com, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and wherever books are sold online. In this clip, Perry and Ed talk about how Centennial remains a point of pride for just about every actor who appeared in it, both at the time they filmed the miniseries in 1978 and when they look back on the experience today. Our complete conversation with Perry will air in a few weeks on TV Confidential.

Please enjoy this special preview of our coverage of last night's opening night ceremonies for From Norma Jean to Marilyn Monroe: A Centennial Celebration, the new exhibit at The Hollywood Museum that is now open to the public and which features, among other items, an exclusive look at never-before-published photographs of the screen legend. Monday, June 1 marks the 100th birthday of Marilyn Monroe. We will bring you more highlights of the festivities in a few weeks on TV Confidential.

From December 2021, via remote from the Hollywood Museum: Five-time Emmy Award-winning writer and producer John Barbour, creator of NBC's Real People, tells Ed the story of how he acquired the moniker "The Godfather of Reality TV." John Barbour passed away Sunday, May 10, 2026 at the age of ninety-three. Please join us the weekend of May 29 for a special program length tribute to John Barbour that will include highlights from several of our conversations with John over the past five years.

TVC 736.1: Ed welcomes David Spencer, award-winning musical dramatist, author, critic, musical theatre teacher, and the author of The Novelizers: An Affectionate History of Media Adaptations and Originals, Their Astonishing Authors, and the Art of the Craft, a deep dive into the world of media tie-in writing—novels that are not only based on existing movies, TV series, made for TV movies, and TV miniseries, but which, in many instances (such as the Diagnosis Murder novels and the Monk novels written by Lee Goldberg), tell original stories based on the characters of those movies and TV series. David's book introduces readers to many of the people who have adapted film and TV screenplays into original tie-in novels, while also making the case that tie-in writing is an honorable tradition with artistry of its own. The Novelizers is available through Bear Manor Media as well as Amazon.com. Topics this segment include why the subject of TV tie-in writing is deeply personal to David, and why tie-in writing, in many respects, is itself a form of literature.

TVC 736.2: David Spencer, author of The Novelizers, uses Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962), the 1984 made-for-TV adaptation of A Christmas Carol starring George C. Scott, and Harry Sinclair Drago's novelization of The Champ (1932) as examples of the kind of choices that an adapting writer will make when presenting characters from the source material in a way that is unique to prose. The Novelizers: An Affectionate History of Media Adaptations and Originals, Their Astonishing Authors, and the Art of the Craft is available through Bear Manor Media as well as Amazon.com.

TVC 736.3: David Spencer, author of The Novelizers, talks to Ed about how writing, in some respects, is another form of acting, insofar as novelists or screenwriters will often inhabit the lives of the characters they create. The Novelizers: An Affectionate History of Media Adaptations and Originals, Their Astonishing Authors, and the Art of the Craft is available through Bear Manor Media as well as Amazon.com.

TVC 736.4: While we're on the subject of TV tie-in novels, we thought we'd bring you an encore presentation of our August 2011 conversation with New York Times bestselling novelist and Edgar Award-nominated television writer and producer Lee Goldberg (Spenser: For Hire, Diagnosis Murder, Monk). Lee's latest novel, Murder by Design, becomes available in bookstores everywhere on Monday, June 1 and has been described as "James Bond meets Adrian Monk." At the time we spoke to Lee in 2011, he had just released the latest in his series of original tie-in novels based on the Monk television series. Tony Figueroa co-hosts.

TVC 736.5: From August 2011: New York Times bestselling novelist Lee Goldberg talks to Ed and Tony about the popularity of his Monk novel series; why he ended the Diagnosis Murder novel series after eight books; and how he and William Rabkin came to write Successful Television Writing. Lee's latest novel, Murder by Design, becomes available in bookstores everywhere on Monday, June 1 and has been described as "James Bond meets Adrian Monk."