Television: March 2008 Archives

Does father know best? When Father Knows Best debuted as an NBC radio series on August 25, 1949, the question mark was part of the title; only after the series moved to CBS television on October 3, 1954 was the question mark removed. The concept of actor Robert Young and his friend and Eugene Rodney, Father Knows Best was based on experiences the two men had with their own wives and children.

Robert Young, the only member of the cast to make the transition from radio to television played Jim Anderson a mild mannered agent for the General Insurance Company in Springfield. Anderson lived there with his wife Margaret (Jane Wyatt), fifteen-year-old Betty (Elinor Donahue), fourteen-year-old son, James Jr. (Billy Gray) and Lauren Chapin as the baby of the family, nine year old Kathy. Father Knows Best was a typical 1950's sitcom. Margaret was a doting housewife always clad on the perfect dress and two or three strands of pearls. A majority of Ms. Wyatt's scenes as Margaret Anderson are filmed in the kitchen where she is cooking breakfast, lunch or dinner for the family with nary a hair out of place.

All Presidents of the United States are subject to a certain amount of ridicule. Actually, in this media driven world we live in, no politician is immune from possible scorn. Leave it to Comedy Central to figure out a way to razz current President Bush, his administration, former President Bush, his family and any other politicians of interest in one fell swoop. Created by Donick Cary, who has previously written for such shows as Just Shoot Me, The Simpsons and The Late Show With David Letterman. Lil' Bush: Resident Of The United States centers around grade school versions of the current administration raising Cain together during the administration of Bush Sr.

Paramount has recently released a three DVD set containing the remaining twelve episodes of the first season of Love American Style. The anthology series which usually consisted of three vignettes really broke the mold as far as what had been seen on television up to that point. Couples, married or unmarried were shown kissing in (or on a) bed, unmistakable double-entendres where used freely in the dialogue and some of the clothing worn by the young female guest stars on Love American Style didn't leave much to the imagination.

As almost everyone who knows me will tell you, I am a bona fide television junkie. I watch old shows, new shows and everything in between. Oddly enough, in my more than thirty years on this earth I had never watched a single episode of Walker, Texas Ranger until June of 2007 when Walker, Texas Ranger: The Complete Third Season was released on DVD and I had a chance to watch a number of episodes. After that, I went back to some of the earlier episodes of the show to find out what I had missed; as it turns out, not much.

During the 1970's and 80's Aaron Spelling produced shows dominated the television landscape. At one point during the 1984 season, Spelling had seven series running on the ABC network, which generated more than one-third of the networks revenues. Some critics dubbed ABC "Aaron's Broadcasting Company." One of those series, The Love Boat, became a solid top 15 hit in the Nielsen ratings when it debuted on September 24, 1977.