Softball, Nostalgia, and “Happy Days”

When Happy Days premiered on January 15, 1974 as a mid-season replacement for ABC, it began a 10-year journey as a refuge from the barrage of daily headlines indicating malaise, frustration, and tension—particularly in the second half of the 1970s with inflation, gas...

Rob Reiner and Baseball

Baseball is a never-ending source for popular culture storytellers whose tales tap a range of emotional veins in fans of the National Pastime. We cry when Gary Cooper reenacts Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” speech in The Pride of the Yankees. We cheer...

Jim Rockford, Meet Richie Brockelman

Some television spinoffs do very well. Frasier. Laverne & Shirley. The Jeffersons. Others, not so much. Joey. Models Inc. Richie Brockelman, Private Eye. A spinoff of NBC’s The Rockford Files starring James Garner, Richie Brockelman, Private Eye starred...

A Cartoon Bible

Who was the voice of Harry Boyle, the father in Wait Til Your Father Gets Home? When did The Jetsons initially air? What was the name of the prime time cartoon series that Steven Bochco produced? The answers to these and just about any other cartoon questions can be...

Television by the Numbers

Numbers play an integral role in the titles of television programs. One Tree Hill.   Murder One.  One on One.  Stargate SG-1. Two and a Half Men. Three’s Company. Foursome. Party of Five. Six Feet Under. Seven Days. Eight Is Enough. The Nine. Just the Ten of Us....