I know, I know, you're thinking, those are the only two choices I get, Happy Days and Gilligan's Island? Yes, according to this poll over at AOL Television. For the past several weeks they've pit various TV show theme songs against each other in a tournament, and the two finalists, for some reason, are Happy Days theme and the Gilligan's Island theme.
Now, it seems like these aren't the "best" theme songs, just the ones that readers and TV fans thought were the most iconic, or maybe it's the fact that they both have lyrics and that's what readers were looking for?
David Lloyd was one of those TV writers whose work spread across the history of television. He worked on shows ranging from The Tonight Show in the 60s to Frasier in the 90s and early 2000s.
Lloyd died last night after a long illness.
Lloyd had a part in many memorable TV shows over the years, as a writer and/or a producer, including Cheers, Wings, Taxi, Lou Grant, Rhoda, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Phyllis, The Tony Randall Show, Dear John, The DickCavett Show, The Associates, The Best of the West, and many other shows.
Ken Levine has a great tribute to Lloyd on his site, including a discussion of how Lloyd was as a writer. It includes an example of Lloyd's script for the classic Mary Tyler Moore Show episode "Chuckles Bites The Dust."
Not only is The Lola Falana Show on DVD now, I didn't even know there was a Lola Falana Show. I knew that there was a Lola Falana (that's a fun name to say: Lola Falana Lola Falana Lola Falana). She was a dancer and actress who was pretty well known back in the 70s, but her TV show escaped my radar. This set includes guest stars Dick Van Dyke, Bill Cosby, Sonny and Cher, and Muhammad Ali.
There's also a Heeere's Johnny: The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson "Holiday Set." It looks like the same set that I've owned for a couple of years (several DVDs split up into different categories: Timeless Moments, Standup Comedians, Carson Country, and the original Ultimate Collection disc), but with a special Christmas disc thrown in, with three classic episodes.
This isn't some random thought I suddenly had this morning, it's actually in response to AOL Television's list of the 40 best TV shows of the 1970s. The Odd Couple, one of the great, laugh-out-loud comedies of all-time, comes in at number 21, while The Brady Bunch comes in at number 15. Sometimes shows can't be judged the same (for example, comedy vs. drama or drama vs. animated), but come on, The Brady Bunch so far ahead of The Odd Couple?
I don't think I'm giving anything away by revealing that shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H, and All in the Family are at the top, but there are a few entries that you and your friends can argue about.
Pepsi has teamed up with Hulu to place ads for their new Pepsi Throwback (Pepsi made with real sugar) into several old shows, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Battlestar Galactica. Each short spot features the Pepsi can talking to something from the 70s: a disco ball, roller skates, a fondue pot, a Polaroid camera. There are no spots with the can talking to Nixon or Dorothy Hamill's hairdo, however.
What the ads can't answer is why the heck I can't find any of this stuff in any of the stores in my area.
Robbie Rist is one of the most well-known child stars there is. Oddly enough it's not because he got arrested or starred in a reality show about his crazy marriage. He is well-known for his body of work.
Robbie has worked on some of the most popular shows on television including The Brady Bunch, Mary Tyler Moore, Galactica 1980, The Bionic Woman and, of course, the immortal Kidd Video, just to name a few.
The daytime talk show host will host a reunion of the show. Not only will she get all of the surviving cast members together (Moore, Valerie Harper, Ed Asner, Betty White, Gavin MacLeod, Cloris Leachman, and Georgia Engel), they will also have duplicates of the WJM set and the set for Mary's apartment on the stage (the link above includes a preview of the show - no idea why Oprah is crying).
Actor David Groh is probably best known for his role as Rhoda's husband Joe Gerard on Rhoda. He was also a regular on General Hospital and guest starred on several shows, including Police Story, Law and Order, Girlfriends, The X-Files, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, JAG, Baywatch, Melrose Place, Sisters, Murder, She Wrote, Spenser: For Hire, L.A. Law, Kate & Allie, Hunter, Simon & Simon, and many other shows. He was also a veteran stage actor, appearing in Chapter Two, as well as movies like Two Minute Warning, Crazylove, and Get Shorty.
His wedding to Rhoda was a major TV event back in the 70s. Of course, with ratings slipping, they had to go ahead and divorce the couple in the third season of the show. That left a bad taste with viewers, I think.
At 8, TLC has two new episodes of Little People, Big World.
Soccer players join Emeril on a new Emeril Live on Food Network at 8.
At 9, ABC has a new Extreme Makeover.
FOX has a new Hell's Kitchen at 9.
There's a new Age of Love on NBC at 9, followed by a new Dateline, a salute to Stone Phillips.
PBS has a new History Detectives at 9.
TNT has a new episode of The Closer at 9, then a new Heartland.
USA has a new Monday Night RAW at 9.
I didn't know that American Life had started showing The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The first episode is on at 9, followed by the first episodes of Newhart, WKRP In Cincinnati, and The Bob Newhart Show.
That's the Television Critics Association, the organization that represents over 200 TV critics nationwide and in Canada. They've revealed their nominees for their annual awards, and while a lot of the usual shows make the list, there are a few surprises as well. Some of that has to do with their choices, and some of it has to do with the categories they have and the way they nominate (for example, there aren't separate categories for "Best Performance in a Drama - Male" and "Best Performance in a Drama - Female," it's all under "Individual Achievement in Drama."
A new weekly feature here at TV Squad, as we list some recent deaths of those involved with TV, on screen and behind the scenes.
Roscoe Lee Browne: The veteran actor appeared in a number of TV shows, including All in the Family, Benson, Columbo, Mannix, The Invaders, Will and Grace, and a voice actor in cartoons. He was a classically trained film and theater actor as well. He died April 11 in L.A. of cancer at age 81.
Stan Daniels: He co-created Taxi and won several Emmys for that show and his writing on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He died of heart failure on April 6 at age 72.
Veteran writer, producer, and director Stan Daniels worked on several shows over the years. He won three Emmy Awards as a writer on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and another three as a creator and producer on Taxi.
Daniels wrote for several other shows as well, including Phyllis (a spinoff of The Mary Tyler Moore Show), The Associates, and The Bill Cosby Show. As a director he worked on many sitcoms, including Dear John, Flying Blind, Best of the West, Almost Perfect, High Society, Sparks, and The Good News. His last credit was as the writer and producer of the 1991 animated TV movie The Kid.
You don't know the name, but you know his work. He was the voice Ernie the Elf in the Keebler commercials and guest starred on...well, just about every single TV show produced since the early 1950s, it seems.
A partial list: The Waltons, Quincy, M.E., Stingray, Flamingo Road, Little House on the Prairie, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Riptide, Falcon Crest, Knot's Landing, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Dallas, Barnaby Jones, Gunsmoke, Columbo, Bonanza, Mannix, Mission: Impossible, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, The Name of the Game, The Wild, Wild West, H.R. Pufnstuf, The Big Valley, Star Trek, Batman, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Maverick, The Bob Newhart Show, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
He was known for his voice work, and you could hear him in such shows as The Flintstones, Jem, The Smurfs, Spider-Man, and The Transformers. He also kept me up nights as a kid when he did the voice of that damn devil doll in the Trilogy of Terror movie in the 70s.
Ken Levine has a really funny list at his
site: how most TV shows are, to put it mildy, unreal. Some examples: CSI having a huge lab that can figure out
anything; the great cell phone reception that Jack always gets on 24; and the fact that Michael hasn't even
been violated yet on Prison Break.
David Lloyd was one of those TV writers whose work spread across the history of television. He worked on shows ranging from The Tonight Show in the 60s to Frasier in the 90s and early 2000s. 
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.
This isn't some random thought I suddenly had this morning, it's actually in response to 
Robbie Rist is one of the most well-known child stars there is. Oddly enough it's not because he got arrested or starred in a reality show about his crazy marriage. He is well-known for his body of work.
Have you ever wondered if Mary Tyler Moore can still turn the world on with her smile? 
What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.
Actor David Groh is probably best known for his role as Rhoda's husband Joe Gerard on Rhoda. He was also a regular on General Hospital and guest starred on several shows, including Police Story, Law and Order, Girlfriends, The X-Files, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, JAG, Baywatch, Melrose Place, Sisters, Murder, She Wrote, Spenser: For Hire, L.A. Law, Kate & Allie, Hunter, Simon & Simon, and many other shows. He was also a veteran stage actor, appearing in Chapter Two, as well as movies like Two Minute Warning, Crazylove, and Get Shorty. 
At 8, TLC has two new episodes of Little People, Big World. 
That's the Television Critics Association, the organization that represents over 200 TV critics nationwide and in Canada. They've revealed their 
A new weekly feature here at TV Squad, as we list some recent deaths of those involved with TV, on screen and behind the scenes.
Veteran writer, producer, and director Stan Daniels worked on several shows over the years. He won three Emmy Awards as a writer on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and another three as a creator and producer on Taxi.
You don't know the name, but you know his work. He was the voice Ernie the Elf in the Keebler commercials and guest starred on...well, just about every single TV show produced since the early 1950s, it seems.
Ken Levine has a 
The TV Squad Podcast: Vik Sahay of Chuck, Oprah talk, brutal timeslots, and more!
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Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
