Clooney’s Career

ER debuted in 1994 on NBC, trouncing every thing in its path.  Like Mickey Mantle on a baseball diamond, Michael Jordan on a basketball court, or Wayne Gretzky on the ice, ER dominated the competition.  And a familiar, if not famous, actor found his breakout role....

Beyond Gil Grissom

CSI, after 15 years, has been canceled.  William Petersen starred in the show about Crime Scene Investigators in Las Vegas from its debut in 2000 until 2008 as Gil Grissom, the lead investigator of the night shift.  Grissom was fascinated by the different aspects of...

Brooklyn Baseball

In the summer of 2007, HBO aired The Ghosts of Flatbush, a documentary about one baseball’s most beloved teams.  The Brooklyn Dodgers.  This two-part documentary drilled into the passion, celebrity, and heartbreak surrounding the team that gave the borough an...

Parenting, Mayberry Style

In The Andy Griffith Show episode Opie the Birdman, a lesson in creative parenting is exhibited to great effect.  Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry, North Carolina foresees trouble if Opie, his son, uses a slingshot.  Hence, he orders Opie not to use it. Opie, in turn,...

Welcome to the St. Gregory

Aaron Spelling, the television producer who injected fantasy into ABC’s prime time lineup in the 1970s and the 1980s, created Hotel, based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Arthur Hailey.  Where Hailey’s novel took place in New Orleans,...