TVSquad

TV fans are probably already aware that veteran journalist Mike Wallace had a television career long before 60 Minutes. Twilight Zone fans have probably seen the famous one-on-one interview with Rod Serling he did before the classic sci-fi show premiered (available on one of the Twilight Zone DVDs) on his Mike Wallace Interview show. Now several other interviews from that series have been archived online for everyone to see.

I got a great letter this week...

"I remember watching a documentary, I believe it was about Rod Serling, & on it was mentioned a Western series the producer had developed, starring Lloyd Bridges & Brock Peters. Any idea what this show was called? Or, was it maybe Gene Roddenberry's show? Thanks for the help! Steve Atwell"

I've been looking for a copy of this Playhouse 90 episode for years. VHS, DVD, some guy doing a puppet show version of it in his living room, whatever, I've really wanted to see it since seeing snippets of it on the excellent PBS American Masters episode "Submitted For Your Approval" (it's on one of the Twilight Zone DVDs). And now, thanks to YouTube, we can all watch it.

Well, most of it anyway. After the jump, I posted the opening of the show (complete with intros and commercials!), and then if you follow this link you can find other segments of the show (on the right), but I have no idea what order they go in because they aren't labeled. It's well worth watching though. I mean, look at the cast: Art Carney, Jack Klugman, Leslie Nielsen, Burt Reynolds, and the kid is Mickey Dolenz from The Monkees! They don't do TV like this anymore.

I took my kids to see The Simpsons Movie this weekend. While it was their first time seeing the film, it was my second and I still enjoyed it quite a bit simply because it's a funny movie.

Because I have kids, I often go see a lot of crappy animated films based on cartoons. I've seen, Rugrats Go Wild, The Wild Thornberrys Movie and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie among others. For the most part, I enjoyed these films but they were little more than a longer version of the TV show. The Simpsons Movie, however, is much more

Welcome to TV Squad Lists (formerly 'The Five'), a feature where each blogger has a chance to list his or her own rundown of things in television that stand out from the rest, both good and bad.

No matter how much TV I watch, I can't seem to get over the first rule of television programming; if it doesn't get the numbers, it doesn't get renewed. I have watched many a beloved show get yanked from the schedule due to low ratings, even though critics and fans alike all raved about it.

Here are some examples of shows that were too good for the small screen.

Pasadena
The potential for greatness was here, sadly Fox didn't promote the show and nobody watched. I was lucky enough to watch the entire season on and finally get answers to some really nagging questions.I also got see favorites like Mark Valley & Dana Delaney really chew the scenery.

The Bob Newhart Show (the variety show on NBC)
This show won a Peabody award, but was clearly ahead of its time. It's pretty hard to find these days, but Tv icons like Ken Berry and Joe Flynn were regulars and the comedy was superb.

I loves myself some Twilight Zone, but when I watch repeats of the classic series I can't help but notice that the dialogue in Rod Serling's scripts was somewhat overwrought. I sometimes have trouble watching certain episodes and not imagining Serling hunched over his typewriter, giggling to himself at how clever he's being. That's not necessarily a criticism -- if anything, it's that mix of segments that made you roll your eyes and ones that truly gripped you that kept the series interesting and still makes it stand out even today.

The SciFi Channel is airing a Twilight Zone marathon that will run from 9am on December 31 through 5am on January 2. As much as I'd love to record every episode, that's a bit much for ye olde Tivo to handle, so I had to cherry pick my favorite episodes and just record those. Someday I'll do what Bob did and buy the complete set on DVD, but for now I'll have to make due with what SciFi offers me. At least it's the original Rod Serling version and not any of those god-awful remakes that popped up later, though I think even fans like myself have to remember that not every episode of the original Twilight Zone was perfect. Some of them were rather heavy-handed and cornball, but memory sometimes has a way of only recalling the best of some things.

Speaking of the complete DVD set, you can watch some of the DVD extras on the SciFi site, including actor commentaries.

• David Thomas over at FireJeffZucker.com wonders why the Sci-Fi Channel isn't in HD.
• For election day today, TV Newser is going to update his blog every hour, with the latest TV News news and analysis. Check out the real Wolf Blitzer and the cardboard Wolf Blitzer.
• Great article over at TV Party about the original pilot for The Twilight Zone.
• TV Guide's Matt Roush has a rundown on all of the midseason comings and goings.
• Over at PopWatch, George Lucas says he's done with big screen movies and will be focusing on TV now. As a moviegoer, I applaud this. As a TV lover, it makes me cringe.
• Great episode of Heroes last night, eh? TV Addict has an interview with stars Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventimiglia.
• I don't believe this story at all. It just seems like some bs someone made up because Mario Lopez is doing so well on Dancing with the Stars.