What was the last TV show you watched?

[Stearmen]

NAZI Mega Weapons: Hitler's Island Megafortress. Another place where Hitler helped the Allies by squandering millions of Reichsmarks on a useless bunch of islands! On August 12, 1944, HMS Rodney crept in, undetected and lobbed 75 16" shells at Batterie Bluecher, Alderney, then sailed off unscathed.

 

[MisterCairo]

Two more episodes (the last available so far) of The Last Kingdom on Netflix. It's amazing how they compress hundreds of pages of book text into a single episode, but it's working!

 

[Doctor Strange]

"Marvel's Agents of HYDRA!" - An excellent side jaunt into an alternative reality. Of course we KNOW nuthin' like dat would ever happen in REAL life don't we? Not quite "Man in The High Castle" but it fills me with the same sense of dread.

Worf

Agents of SHIELD has had a very strong season this year... after years of being so uneven I nearly gave up a couple of times. Breaking the season into three distinct arcs - Ghost Rider, LMD, Agents of Hydra - was a good approach, and they've really run with it. Good stuff!

 

[Doctor Strange]

Finished up the three-part The Great War on PBS American Experience. Somehow, this documentary just missed for me. It's more about America moving into its role as a major power than the war itself. It focused on some odd aspects of the war/society, and (following the Ken Burns template) it was mostly chopped into little two-minute segments that were supposed to leave you satisfied or moved at their fade-out... and mostly didn't. It just kept stopping with little/no impact.

I will say, the effort they put into making the old film footage look great in HD (i.e., cleaned up, and blown up and cropped for widescreen) was worth it. This is the best looking WWI doc ever. Too bad it left me feeling that I'd learned hardly anything new or had a better understanding of the history after six hours.

 

[LizzieMaine]

An April 1948 kinescope of "Howdy Doody Time," the earliest known recording of this kiddie TV favorite. But it's nothing like the show Boomers remember. For one thing, Howdy himself is a different puppet -- the original marionette made by puppetteer Frank Paris in late 1947, and used on the show for only about five months until he stormed off the show in a dispute with NBC and Bob Smith over licensed merchandising revenues. A new puppet was quickly manufactured to replace this orignal Howdy, this new puppet being the definitive Doody that would last until 1960, and for the rest of his days Bob Smith would disparage the original Paris puppet as "Ugly Doody."

Paris sued NBC and Smith claiming a conspiracy to defraud him out of his rightful share of merchandising money, and the suit dragged thru the courts until 1955, when an out of court settlement was reached. NBC paid the puppetteer $250,000, and Paris agreed not just not to perform with the original Howdy, but to destroy him by dismemberment and incineration, which was done and duly witnessed by NBC lawyers.

This kinescope is the only known moving-image footage of the original Howdy, and suggests that he wasn't quite the nightmarish monstrosity that Bob remembered him as being. He isn't cute, but his appearance fits the original Mortimer Snerd-like voice Smith provided for the puppet. Bob is also not yet "Buffalo Bob," appearing in a sport shirt and high-waisted pleated slacks, but about fifteen minutes into the show a generic clown makes a brief appearance -- to Bob's apparent surprise, but the host quickly recovers and thanks the clown by name as "Robbie." This is Bob Keeshan, Smith's gofer, who made his very first clown-suit appearance in this program -- and would eventually evolve into Clarabell, and later, after being fired by Smith in a wage dispute, would become Captain Kangaroo.

The show also includes, not a rip-roaring western film short or cartoon -- but a silent newsreel compiled from "NBC Teletopics" clips, narrated by Smith over recorded marching-band music. One story features a disturbing extended sequence of a boxing match between toddlers -- equipped with giant gloves, the tykes beat the snot out of each other as adults keep picking them up and shoving them back into the ring when they clearly want to leave. Good clean wholesome fun.

The kinescope is only about 20 minutes long, out of an hour show, but it gives you a brief taste of 1940s television at its crudest.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1185826961454851

 

[Touchofevil]

The Andy Griffith Show, Seinfeld, and Becker.

 

[AmateisGal]

Season 2, Episode 2 of Home Fires and last week's episode of Supernatural. Both were excellent. Supernatural seems to be hit and miss with me this season, but this episode was quite good. I wonder how much longer they'll keep this show going.

 

[Stearmen]

An April 1948 kinescope of "Howdy Doody Time," the earliest known recording of this kiddie TV favorite. But it's nothing like the show Boomers remember. For one thing, Howdy himself is a different puppet -- the original marionette made by puppetteer Frank Paris in late 1947, and used on the show for only about five months until he stormed off the show in a dispute with NBC and Bob Smith over licensed merchandising revenues. A new puppet was quickly manufactured to replace this orignal Howdy, this new puppet being the definitive Doody that would last until 1960, and for the rest of his days Bob Smith would disparage the original Paris puppet as "Ugly Doody."

Paris sued NBC and Smith claiming a conspiracy to defraud him out of his rightful share of merchandising money, and the suit dragged thru the courts until 1955, when an out of court settlement was reached. NBC paid the puppetteer $250,000, and Paris agreed not just not to perform with the original Howdy, but to destroy him by dismemberment and incineration, which was done and duly witnessed by NBC lawyers.

This kinescope is the only known moving-image footage of the original Howdy, and suggests that he wasn't quite the nightmarish monstrosity that Bob remembered him as being. He isn't cute, but his appearance fits the original Mortimer Snerd-like voice Smith provided for the puppet. Bob is also not yet "Buffalo Bob," appearing in a sport shirt and high-waisted pleated slacks, but about fifteen minutes into the show a generic clown makes a brief appearance -- to Bob's apparent surprise, but the host quickly recovers and thanks the clown by name as "Robbie." This is Bob Keeshan, Smith's gofer, who made his very first clown-suit appearance in this program -- and would eventually evolve into Clarabell, and later, after being fired by Smith in a wage dispute, would become Captain Kangaroo.

The show also includes, not a rip-roaring western film short or cartoon -- but a silent newsreel compiled from "NBC Teletopics" clips, narrated by Smith over recorded marching-band music. One story features a disturbing extended sequence of a boxing match between toddlers -- equipped with giant gloves, the tykes beat the snot out of each other as adults keep picking them up and shoving them back into the ring when they clearly want to leave. Good clean wholesome fun.

The kinescope is only about 20 minutes long, out of an hour show, but it gives you a brief taste of 1940s television at its crudest.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1185826961454851

I wan't around for this, but even the latter show, and Captain Kangaroo, makes me wince at how easily we were amused!

 

[Stearmen]

Lizzie would have liked this one! YANKS FIGHT THE KAISER: A NATIONAL GUARD DIVISION IN WWI. About the first American division to fight in WWI, the New England National Guard units. The reason they were first was, they disobeyed orders to go down south for training. Instead, the well connected Officers arranged for ships to go to France. Since there was a large number of French Canadians, and many of the Officers had spent time in France during their collage years, they had little trouble convincing the French to equip them, and let them fight. Dry, but good documentary!

 

[Touchofevil]

Law & Order, some Andy Griffith, and a couple of episodes of Becker.

 

[Fading Fast]

Season 2, Episode 2 of Home Fires and last week's episode of Supernatural. Both were excellent. Supernatural seems to be hit and miss with me this season, but this episode was quite good. I wonder how much longer they'll keep this show going.

We have been saving this episode for tonight - Friday pizza, wine and "Home Fires" night (always try to keep something good on the DVR for Friday night).

 

[ChiTownScion]

The show also includes, not a rip-roaring western film short or cartoon -- but a silent newsreel compiled from "NBC Teletopics" clips, narrated by Smith over recorded marching-band music. One story features a disturbing extended sequence of a boxing match between toddlers -- equipped with giant gloves, the tykes beat the snot out of each other as adults keep picking them up and shoving them back into the ring when they clearly want to leave. Good clean wholesome fun.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1185826961454851

The Lionel train footage was a lot of fun.


I can't remember if Captain Kangaroo shilled for Lionel as shamelessly as he did for Schwinn bikes, but I do remember that it was always a treat for me when he had the trains set up and operating. For some reason a Lionel Santa Fe Super Chief train (with a four A-B-B-A F units on the point and a round ended obs car bringing up the rear) seemed like the Ultimate Toy when I was 4 and 5. Not sure if the Captain planted that in my head.. but I tend to think that he did.

 

[Frunobulax]

The Lionel train footage was a lot of fun.


I can't remember if Captain Kangaroo shilled for Lionel as shamelessly as he did for Schwinn bikes, but I do remember that it was always a treat for me when he had the trains set up and operating. For some reason a Lionel Santa Fe Super Chief train (with a four A-B-B-A F units on the point and a round ended obs car bringing up the rear) seemed like the Ultimate Toy when I was 4 and 5. Not sure if the Captain planted that in my head.. but I tend to think that he did.

I just developed knock-knock joke and ping pong ball fetishes.


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Captain did feature "Kellogg City," which had a train set arrangement that delivered the little Variety Pack size boxes of cereal. I think that log-dumping model seen in the newsreel was part of that system.

Keeshan's autobiography makes for fascinating reading. Buffalo Bob could be a real SOB to work for, but he taught the Captain everything he knew about kiddie TV.

 

[Zombie_61]

I just developed knock-knock joke and ping pong ball fetishes.

At least you didn't develop his sense of "style".

 

[Frunobulax]

At least you didn't develop his sense of "style".

The proto leisure suit!


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[EngProf]

Finished up the three-part The Great War on PBS American Experience. Somehow, this documentary just missed for me. It's more about America moving into its role as a major power than the war itself. It focused on some odd aspects of the war/society, and (following the Ken Burns template) it was mostly chopped into little two-minute segments that were supposed to leave you satisfied or moved at their fade-out... and mostly didn't. It just kept stopping with little/no impact.

I will say, the effort they put into making the old film footage look great in HD (i.e., cleaned up, and blown up and cropped for widescreen) was worth it. This is the best looking WWI doc ever. Too bad it left me feeling that I'd learned hardly anything new or had a better understanding of the history after six hours.

I second your opinion about "The Great War". Since it was by Ken Burns, it was more about contemporary sociology and related issues than a real military documentary. I would prefer the latter if I had a choice.
I think Burns' political beliefs are creeping more and more into his films. He is doing the Vietnam War later this year and I don't look forward to that.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Blue Bloods, from last Friday. And an NCIS, the one where the team's cell phones get taken over by a virus, and they have to use (ugh!) flip phones.

 

[Stearmen]

Sun Records. It is really sad that Dewey Phillips didn't get his dues! He was every bit as impotent as Alan Freed, plus, he was never implicated in the whole payola scandal. Sad that he died so young from drugs and alcohol, little question that he was suffering from PTSD!

 

[MisterCairo]

This past week's Supernatural.