Origins: “The Dick Van Dyke Show”

Carl Reiner created The Dick Van Dyke Show as a parallel to his own life as a television comedy writer.  Indeed, Reiner initially played the main character, Robert Petrie, in a failed television pilot. CBS rejected the pilot, Head of the Family, but aired it as part...

Origins: “Happy Days”

A logical nexus can be drawn between the 1973 film American Graffiti and the television show Happy Days, ABC’s prime time juggernaut that debuted in 1974.  Drive-In hamburger stand.  Rock and Roll.  Teenagers.  Ron Howard. Actually, the conception of Happy Days...

1960s Sex Symbols: Catwoman Is Purrrfect

Julie Newmar’s sex appeal as Catwoman on the 1960s television show Batman stemmed not only from a statuesque figure, a skin-tight outfit, and a beautiful visage.  Newmar’s self-assuredness was a powerful force, too. In The Twilight Zone episode Of Late I...

1960s Sex Symbols: Ginger or Mary Ann?

Ginger or Mary Ann?  It’s a question that’s puzzled baby boomers and Generation Xers that watched Gilligan’s Island, a show that lasted three years on CBS (1964-67) and enjoyed a thriving life in reruns in the 1970s and 1980s. Ginger Grant was a...

1960s Sex Symbols: Spy Girls

The success of the James Bond franchise during the Cold War inspired several imitators.  Like any trend, the spy genre invited parody.  In the 1960s, especially. Get Smart partnered Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, with a woman possessing the combination of brains and beauty....