Eleven movies, one season
A Place in the Sun and others.
Six movies, six seasons
Network and others.
Only Murders
I called it. I didn’t have the details, only a now-validated hunch.
The Rehearsal
The Rehearsal doesn’t blur the line between what’s fictional and what’s real: it removes the line with an industrial sander and then draws a new line (or lines?) elsewhere. But where?
Ten movies, two seasons
Where the Sidewalk Ends, Nathan for You, and more.
The sound of the Senate
As voting remains open on whether to begin debate on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the sound of the Senate is extremely odd. It suggests to me a cross between a laundromat and a gathering of chanting ghosts, led perhaps by Diane Feinstein and Charles Grassley.
A genuine misunderstanding
Watching Adventures of Superman on WPIX (“channel 11”), I thought that the bad guys and crooks were real bad guys and crooks playing versions of themselves.
Tony Dow (1945–2022)
He played Wally Cleaver on Leave It to Beaver.
Mystery actor
His name was in the credits. But I still didn’t recognize him.
Mystery actors
Apparently a difficult mystery to solve.
“Mike, hi!”
“Mike, hi! I’ve only ever seen you in black and white!”
Only Murders slight, slight spoiler
What a treat to see Shirley MacLaine in Only Murders in the Building.
Foley
From The New Yorker: tricks of the Foley artist.
Eleven movies, one season
Terence Davies and others.
Vanishing pencils
From Lou Grant: “How’s this for an arresting opening line: ‘Where have all the pencils gone?’”
“Solid!”
Some clever writing from a Lou Grant episode.
Ten movies, two seasons
Lou Grant, Billy Wilder, and others.
HB, or no. 2
From Lou Grant. “He was wigged out. He kept threatening me with a pencil.”
Ten movies, two seasons
Ids Lupino, Lou Grant, and others.
Domestic comedy
“Yes, Michael, you’re brilliant. You’re a genius at watching television. You can quote me.”
Mary’s and Rhoda’s apartments
Computer-modeled tours of Mary Richards’s and Rhoda Morgenstern’s apartments.
Mystery actors
Who are they?
Lou’s who
A security guard corrects Lou Grant.
Mystery actor
Who?
Seven channels
In today’s Zippy, Zippy and Zerbina are watching television, warming themselves with old reruns. They have seven channels, which anyone from the New York metropolitan area will be able to figure out.
Visitors to the newsroom
Watching Lou Grant, I have sometimes imagined what it might be like if the old gang from WJM-TV were to show up.
Eleven movies, one season
Mona Lisa and others.
Mystery actor
I think he’s instantly recognizable, even through a wet windshield.
Our tube
Seen while flipping channels: Tom Fitzsimmons and George Petrie, as doctors, young and old, in the One Day at a Time episode “Julie’s Operation” (February 8, 1977). Familiar faces in new arrangements: one of the pleasures of television.
Lassie and Ted
“Remember the time Murray told you, just before the news, that Lassie was three different dogs?”