Bay City Blues

Five years before Ron Shelton turned his script for Bull Durham into his directorial dbut, NBC aired Bay City Blues, which introduced millions of people to the pleasures, idiosyncrasies, and slightly desperate aura surrounding the minor leagues.  NBC’s prime...

The Shows That Changed Television

Television’s progress as a creative medium began, arguably, with I Love Lucy, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.  When the television series about a ditzy redhead married to a Cuban bandleader premiered on CBS in 1951, it introduced the three-camera format...

Furillo, Esterhaus, et al.

Hill Street Blues began NBC’s tradition of quality drama in the 1o:00 p.m. time slot on Thursday nights.  This tradition lasted nearly three decades, ending in 2009 when The Jay Leno Show occupied the hour. Premiering in 1981 to 1987, Hill Street Blues changed...

Ad Men

Prime time television offers a plethora of advertising agencies.  Bewitched boasts McMahon & Tate with Darrin Stephens, a good-natured, smart, creative advertising executive with a wife who’s a bit bewitching.  Some sources use McMann as the spelling of the...

Television, Philadelphia Style

Philadelphia is a rich setting for prime time television shows. Angie aired on ABC in the late 1970s.  Donna Pescow starred in the title role, a working class waitress who falls in love with a doctor, played by Robert Hays of Airplane fame.  Doris Roberts, perhaps...