Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The Andy Griffith Show


Season 3 (1963)
episode 24 
 "Aunt Bee and the Medicine Man"

this is  a classic episode of TAGS with a Gunsmoke connection, the "medicine man" in this episode is played by radio legend and Gunsmoke regular John Dehner.

Dehner's credits include Paladin in the radio version of  "Have Gun Will Travel" and several small roles in the tv version of Gunsmoke.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Random Stuff

Here is a great opening monologue from Craig Ferguson on his show from September 22nd 2011

Top 5

This week's Top 5 is music oriented but its the Top 5 grossing concerts from Billboard magazine dated September 16th 1978

Top 5 Concerts (6,000 to 20,000 size arenas)


1 - REO Speedwagon/Climax Blues Band -  205,194.00 gross receipts
(Alpine Valley Music Theatre, Aug 28-29)

2 - Grateful Dead - 149,369 gross receipts
(Red Rocks Ampitheater Aug 30-31)

3 - Ted Nugent/Cheap Trick/AC/DC - 119,952 gross receipts
(Seattle, WA Aug 29th)


4 - Sha Na Na/Dr. Hook - 97,734 gross receipts
(Providence RI  Aug 31st)

5 - Outlaws/ Bill Chinook - 93,500 gross receipts
(Music Inn, Lenox MA  Sept 2nd)

Monday, September 19, 2011

Have Gun Will Travel

On Saturday at 930pm, September 14th 1957 CBS television debuted a western that was to become just as legendary as Gunsmoke in the annals of TV westerns,  Have Gun Will Travel.
Starring Richard Boone this was the story of a man called Paladin, a gun for hire in San Francisco.
The show ran on tv until the end of the 1962-63 season, a total of 225 episodes and became almost more famous for its tremendous closing theme song "Ballad of Paladin" written and performed by Johnny Western.

The premiere episode was titled "Three Bells to Perdido" 



November 23rd of 1958 "Have Gun Will Travel" debuted on the CBS Radio network as one of its last radio dramas to feature continuing characters. This version featured radio veteran and Gunsmoke regular John Dehner as Paladin.
The radio version ran until November 22nd 1960 and initially each episode was a radio version of the episode that aired on television earlier in the week.  Eventually original stories were written and produced for the radio show including the finale when Paladin left San Francisco to collect an inheritance back east.

Thanks again to the great Buck Benny podcast for the posting of the debut radio episode and the second episode of Have Gun Will

New York Times Bestseller List 09/18/2011 Part 2

 Here are the Top 5 books on the NY Times Bestseller list for Fiction:

1 - Kill Me If You Can - James Patterson
(Debut)
When a young man finds a bag of diamonds, he gets the attention of the major assassin the Ghost, and a rival assassin who wants the Ghost gone forever.


2 - The Sookie Stackhouse Companion - Charlaine Harris
(Debut) A closer look at the telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse, her family and, of course, her lovers

3 - A Dance With Dragons - George R.R. Martin
(8 weeks on List)  After a colossal battle, the Seven Kingdoms face new threats; Book 5 of "A Song of Ice and Fire."

4 - A Trick of the Light - Louis Penny
(Debut)  Called to a case, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of homicide encounters a world where nothing is as it seems.

 5 - Flash and Bones - Kathy Reichs 
 (2nd weeks on list)                                                     A turbocharged case unfolds for the forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan in the series behind the show "Bones."

New York Times Bestseller List 09/18/2011

Here are the Top 5 bestselling Books on the NY Times Bestseller list for Non Fiction:

1 - In My Time - Dick Cheney with Liz Cheney
(Debut)
2 - A Stolen Life - Jaycee Dugard
(8 weeks on list)

3 - Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand
(42 weeks on list)

4 - In The Garden of Beasts - Erik Larson
(17 weeks on list)

5 - The Greater Journey - David McCullough
(15 weeks on list)

Monday, September 12, 2011

Gunsmoke on Radio - Billy the Kid (1st episode)



Billy The Kid was the first regularly scheduled episode of Gunsmoke.  After 2 audition episodes that were recorded but never aired, the show would debut April 26th 1952 with William Conrad as US Marshall Matt Dillon.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Biography : Andy Griffith

Last time I had the legendary comedian/TV star Dick Van Dyke, today its his contemporary and also a legend in comedy and television, Andy Griffith.
Andy is one of my all time favorites and The Andy Griffith Show is preferred viewing at my house (well except the color episodes, just B&W for this family).

Enjoy


Saturday, September 3, 2011

The Top 5 (1985 Edition)

According to Billboard Magazine these are the top 5 rented VHS cassettes in the US for the week ending September 7th 1985

1 - The Karate Kid



2 - A Soldier's Story



3 - The Falcon and The Snowman



4 - Starman



5 - A Nightmare on Elmstreet




Thursday, September 1, 2011

Golden Age of Radio - The Great Gildersleeve

Our journey into the world of Old Time Radio takes us to 1941 and the audition show for The Great Gildersleeve.   Played by Harold Peary on "Fibber McGee and Molly", this was one of the first spinoffs in radio and featured Throckmorton P Gildersleeve who was a kind but bombast sort who enjoyed a good laugh and a good argument.
The Buck Benny Podcast brings us this show to kick off his weekly podcast of The Great Gildersleeve.

Surrounded by a great cast this was a one of the funniest and best written comedies of its day.