The World’s Most Famous Zip Code

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the premiere of Beverly Hills, 90210.  During its freshman season, 90210 added value to the nascent FOX network, which targeted a younger demographic with its programming, much like ABC did in the late 1960s and early 1970s with The...

1986

In the 1986 song Modern Woman, Billy Joel asks, “And after 1986, what else could be new?” Nothing, considering the return of two television legends whose personas were extraordinarily familiar. Andy Griffith debuted as Ben Matlock, a defense attorney...

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,...

Of Money and Love

Money can’t buy love. The Beverly Hillbillies clearly illustrates this point in the episode The Richest Woman. When billionairess Tracy Richards wants to buy the mansion belonging to Jed Clampett and his kin, she does not succeed; Jed Clampett refuses to sell,...