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...

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,...

A Mad Man from the Reagan Era

Advertising has provided great fodder for prime television, including the characters Larry Tate of Bewitched, Kip Wilson and Henry Desmond of Bosom Buddies, Jack McLaren of The Closer, Mason McGuire and Conner of Trust Me, Ann Romano of One Day at a Time, and Don...

You’ve Gotta Be A Football Hero

In 1964, Brian Piccolo was the top college football rusher in the country.  His success capped a terrific college football career at Wake Forest.  Surprisingly, his credentials did not impress any NFL team during the draft.  Fourteen teams.  Twenty rounds.  No draft...

“thirtysomething”

Yuppies existed on prime time television before we had a word to describe them.  Yuppie, of course, is a slang word for young, upwardly mobile professional. Dr. Bob Hartley was a Chicago yuppie on The Bob Newhart Show. Rob Petrie was a television comedy writer yuppie...