Speaking of sad, I manage to catch a "Night Court" episode every week or so. I watched a couple extra while I was on vacation, including a hilarious Thanksgiving episode. Like WKRP, "Night Court" could be uneven, but there was nothing funnier when it was hitting on all cylinders. The recently departed Markie Post never received the recognition she deserved, which was difficult because of the number of strong characters on the show. I laugh at Post's performances. I'm sad she's gone.
Atlanta/Houston isn't the dream World Series match up FOX wanted, but it could be interesting. The key-- hope the series goes seven games.
Getting back to this week's book review, the "NFL Today" of the 70's had something few shows accomplished. If you didn't get a chance to watch it, you felt like you were missing something important. Believe me, you can do without any of the current pre game shows.
Some radio stations, here and in major markets, are playing format roulette. I'm a huge supporter of "live and local." Unfortunately, that concept is slowly disappearing. However, there is a great comfort to punching up channel 7 on the satellite or on Amazon Echo, and knowing you will hear a 70's song. Consistency is key, radio friends!
The New York Post reported this week that CBS is considering dumping Norah O'Donnell as Evening News anchor. Bad ratings. CBS still doesn't get it. Evening News sags because the local news lead-in gets hammered in several big cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, Boston... When the local stations get good news ratings, the network news follows.
I could not possibly care less about "The Squid Game."
My former co-worker, John Marshall, now works for the FOX Weather streaming service, which went live Monday. John is good people.
Val Bisoglio died last week. 95. He was in a ton of things. Bisoglio appeared in the "Barney Miller" pilot, but that character never made it in to the series.
Stu Billett died October 22. 85. He created "The People's Court." While the show was never my thing, I did respect its popularity. Let me take you back to September 1990. I was full time on the radio and part time at a television station down the street. In one of the biggest programming blunders of all time, the station dropped "The People's Court" at 5 pm and replaced it with a new game show, "Trump Card." Management reasoned that because "Trump Card" was hosted by Pittston native Jimmy Cefalo, it would be a huge hit in this area. "Mayim, may I have 'Famous Flops' for $200?" It bombed. Big time. Enormous. Colossal. I stopped the TV station by on premiere afternoon and watched the phones go nuts. People wanted Judge Wappner and they wanted no part of "Trump Card." The show limped along for one season and it was cancelled in May of 1991. There are a few "Trump Card" episodes on YouTube. It was Jeopardy-esque, but you had to answer questions to fill out a pattern on a bingo-like card. It wasn't a bad show, and it was worth the risk of putting in on at 5 pm. Cefalo did a nice job with what he was handed. "The People's Court" was hot and that meant it was expensive. Plus, it drew an old audience. Risk takes are hurt more often, but the rewards are huge if it pays off. This gamble didn't. I should add Billett produced the 70's game show "Split Second." It was a highly under-rated game show and the great Tom Kennedy hit it out of the park.
Joe Buck was a guest on Rich Eisen's radio show yesterday. Buck might be the best radio talk show guest of all time. Plus, Eisen had the good sense to ask a question and get out of the way.
