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The Hell With Generic Soda I'm pouring on the Diet Pepsi now! Welcome to the ice cold war, AFA. RIP.

And Yet America Watched.... From "Media Life" Magazine: "NBC nabbed the first interview with Nadya Suleman, the mother who recently gave birth to octuplets, and the network scored strong ratings for the special. "A 10 p.m. “Dateline NBC” averaged a 4.0 adults 18-49 rating (Tuesday)night...

WSLS Ownership According to Wikipedia, WSLS is owned by a company called Media General: "Its major properties include newspapers such as The Tampa Tribune, the Winston-Salem Journal, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, as well as numerous television stations, such as flagship station WFLA-TV."...

Good Dryer Indeed The "All American" was a replacement for our first gas dryer (a Kenmore frog-eye); my mother bought it at a Sears close-out sale for $120 in 1972. It was an improvement over the frog-eye because of its automatic drying cycle, easy-clean lint filter, and the adjustable...

The History Of Lucy Sponsorship Philip Morris was "I Love Lucy's" sponsor from the very first episode on October 15th, 1951. (A series of announcers did the PM cigarette spots, as did Lucy and Desi themselves.) By late 1954, it was clear Philip Morris was losing ground in the cigarette race to...

Help! Now I know what reality television looks like when "Intervention" is produced by the folks at "Punk'd"! Why am I not surprised it airs on VH1, home of bad reality?

It Started With A Westy When I was growing up in Canoga Park, California, the first washer I remember was the Westinghouse front-loader in the small laundry room (early 1950's model, I believe). There was no setup for a dryer at the time, so Mom washed the clothes and hung them to dry in the...

On Air King Actually, paulg, we are both right. According to historians, CBS purchased Hytron Radio and Electronics Corporation; Air-King was the television manufacturing subsidiary of Hytron. But no matter how you spelled it, Hytron was a money-loser and eventually was abandoned by CBS. Even...

The Battle For Color Broadcasting In the late 1940's, CBS and RCA/NBC were engaged in a battle over which company's color broadcasting system would become the national standard. RCA/NBC pushed for a "dot-sequential" color system that was compatible with the black and white system of the day...

"The Lucy Show" In Color I would be remiss if I didn't point out another interesting color TV fact: "The Lucy Show" was filmed in black in white for its first season (1962-63). But Lucille Ball (who took over Desilu studios after Desi Arnaz sold her his share in the company) decided her sitcom...

Dirtybuck Is Right ABC was the slowest of the "Big Three" networks in converting to color broadcasting (largely because it had the least amount of money to invest in the changeover). But during the 1965-66 season, NBC was virtually all-color in prime time(with the exception of the first season...

Poor Rush Maybe he needs to go back to those black market prescription drugs. At the least, a distemper shot could do wonders!

The FBI? I'm betting the Mustang commercial was filmed for airing mainly on "The FBI," which was sponsored by Ford (who could miss those Custom and Custom 500 sedans driven by the agents?). There's also a minute-long version of this spot; the longer version was probably held for "FBI" and other...

When I went to college, I shaved the way my dad did--old-fashioned Gillette safety razor and blades. More often than not, I'd cut myself up, but on a good day they did the job. Then my sister gave me a cartridge blade system for Christmas one year, and it was a revelation. My shaves were just as...

On Rick Warren There's no doubt Rick Warren is the poster child for the kinder, gentler version of the fundamental Christian Right (even though he is still stuck in the intolerant, homophobic leanings of the late Jerry Falwell and his ilk). And like other members of the GLBT community, I don't...

A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector Hands down, my favorite holiday album--the lush and brash Spector "wall of sound" and his best vocalists putting their own spin on well-known Christmas favorites. In this case, I'm willing to put Mr. Spector's personal problems aside and marvel at what...

Van Johnson's Death I'm sorry to hear about Van Johnson's death; he had more range than some critics have given him credit for. As for Robert Prosky, here's my obit on this fine journeyman actor: http://tvhforum.proboards81.com/index.cgi?board=obits&action=display&thread=1064

Fine lady, fine actress. She'll be missed by her many TV and film fans. http://tvhforum.proboards81.com/index.cgi?board=obits&action=display&thread=1055