Category: TV

“Rawhide” Trivia

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The staff at MeTV posted 9 Tough as Leather Facts about Rawhide.  Wow!  This brought back great memories.  I loved Rawhide as a kid.  Here are three of my favorite facts and my comments on each…

Eastwood wore his ‘Rawhide’ boots in ‘Unforgiven.’ No need for a wardrobe department when it comes to Clint. To bookend his career as a cowboy, Eastwood wore his same Rowdy Yates boots in his Oscar-winning 1992 masterpiece Unforgiven.

(I absolutely love this fact!  How cool is it that Eastwood could bookend his cowboy career like this?  I guess you could say Eastwood’s cowboy career died with his boots on.  – Craig)

Loads of soon-to-be-famous faces appeared on the show.  That’s Bewitched star Elizabeth Montgomery taking aim in “Incident at El Crucero,” in a guest role that would foreshadow her gig as Mrs. Sundance. Star Trek crew members Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley appeared on the Western, too. Sitcom legends Buddy Ebsen, Barbara Eden, Alan Hale, Jr., June Lockhart, Gavin MacLeod, Marion Ross and William Schallert also pop up — just to name a few. Then there’s Martin Landau, Frankie Avalon, Anne Francis, Peter Lorre…

(I love watching old shows and seeing stars in an early role.  Rawhide had more than its share.  – Craig)

Eric Fleming died filming a canoe scene shortly after the series ended.  Eastwood’s stature as an American icon overshadows the work of Fleming, the top-billed star of Rawhide. Fleming left the series in 1965 and began work on the big screen. He appeared in the Doris Day comedy The Glass Bottom Boat and then began work on location in Peru for the adventure High Jungle. When filming a scene on the Huallaga River, Fleming’s canoe overturned and the actor perished in the rapids. Urban legends about piranha developed, but those are untrue.

(Although I was about 7, I can remember adults talking about Fleming’s death and being shocked that he drowned.  Never heard the piranha rumor though. – Craig)

If you’ve enjoyed these facts, check out 9 Tough as Leather Facts about Rawhide.

The Monkees Trivia!

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MeTV posted 10 Things You Might Not Know About The Monkees.  Here are three of my favorite facts and my comments on each…

Only Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz appear in every episode of the TV show.

(Interesting.  Don’t you think these days, shows would just shoot scenes earlier to avoid having a star miss appearing in an episode? – Craig)

Micky and Michael both auditioned to play the Fonz on ‘Happy Days.’

(Mickey as the Fonz would have been more slapstick and silliness. Michael had the height to be intimidating and it would have been a different kind of cool.  Ayyyy! – Craig)

‘Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.’ is one of the first albums to feature a Moog synthesizer.

(I used to own that album! – Craig)

Svengoolie, Horror Movies and Bernie Gonzalez!

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When I was a kid growing up in Indiana, I looked forward to staying up late each weekend and watching a horror movie.  They were hosted by Sammy Terry.  It was something most of my friends did and it was always cool either watching with them or knowing they were watching too.

These days you don’t have to stay up late (unless you call 8 – 10pm late) and you can still catch a weekly horror movie.  These monster films are hosted by Svengoolie.   A lot of folks watching post comments on Twitter and it’s almost like watching with friends when I was a kid.  You might want to give it a try if this sounds like fun.

Each week, Bernie Gonzalez, the creator, artist and writer of Midnight Mystery (highly recommended) posts foreign movie posters for the film Svengoolie runs.  This week he posted the cool French poster for The Horror of Dracula.  Gonzalez’s posts are just another good reason to join in the fun!

The “Ozark” Recap Trailer is Here!

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If you haven’t watched Ozark, you might want to give it a try.  Season 3 is coming, but below is a trailer to give you a taste.

Official Recap for Ozark Season 2. The Byrde family drama ramps up as their money laundering operation in the Ozarks region grows more powerful and complex, drawing them further into the criminal world. Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, and Julia Garner return to their roles for Ozark Season 3, arriving on Netflix March 27, 2020.

The “Ozark: Season 3” Trailer is Here!

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What a great day for trailers!  Here’s the Official Trailer for Ozark Season 3.

Official Trailer for Ozark Season 3. All new episodes arrive on Netflix March 27, 2020. They are all in. The Byrdes are back in business and the stakes have never been higher. As tensions mount surrounding their new casino, The Missouri Belle, Marty and Wendy struggle to balance their family’s safety with the growing success of their money laundering empire.

New “Day of the Dead” Series Based on Romero’s Classic Movie is Coming!

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Deadline broke the story that Syfy has given the green light given to a 10-episode series based on George A. Romero’s classic Day of the Dead that should air in 2021.  Here’s the synopsis…

Day of the Dead is the intense story of six strangers trying to survive the first 24 hours of an undead invasion.

I like the sound of this quite a bit.  The  most exciting parts of zombie movies are at the very start when people don’t know what is happening or how to deal with it.  The idea of strangers having to come together to survive is a winning concept.  I just hope that the zombies aren’t able to “learn” as in Romero’s Day of the Dead.

Real vs TV Western Heroes by John Severin!

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It’s no secret portrayals of real people are often glamorized in movies and TV.  Well, way back in 1960, when westerns were king of television air waves, Cracked magazine had John Severin create drawings showing the differences between Real and TV western heroes. 

Above we can see the differences between the real and TV versions of Billy the Kid and a Bounty Hunter.  If you click over to BookSteve’s Library you can check out Real vs TV… Lawmen, Cochise, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hicock and Jim Hardie.

The “Kingdom” Season 2 Trailer is Here!

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Kingdom was a surprise hit.  Here’s the Season 2 Trailer.  I’m looking forward to this!

As winter approaches, the battle between the living and the undead in Joseon is just beginning. The royal court is teeming with snakes, the zombies are coming, and the crown prince has a nation to save. The worst is yet to come, and everyone will need to choose a side without knowing who they can really trust.

“The Most Dangerous Game” – The Story, the Movie and Tony Stella’s Poster

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Tony Stella created another great poster with his take on The Most Dangerous Game.  You can see a bigger version at Stella’s Twitter.

First published in 1924, The Most Dangerous Game began life as an award-winning short story by Richard Connell.  Over the years The Most Dangerous Game became required reading in schools across the nation.  I was in 9th grade when I first read it.  The Most Dangerous Game was the most popular of all our assigned reading assignments.

Over the years The Most Dangerous Game has been adapted for movies, television and even radio.  Tony Stella’s poster is for the first movie adaption. Made in 1932,  the adaptation starred Joel McCrea, Leslie Banks, Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong with the team of Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper behind the camera (Schoedsack and Cooper would go on to make King Kong the following year).

I highly recommend The Most Dangerous Game (both the short story, now in public domain, and the 1932 movie).

RIP: Robert Conrad

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Robert Conrad died today at age 84.  Conrad best known for acting was also a singer, writer and director.  Although he starred in feature films, it was Conrad’s television roles that made him a star.  First with Hawaiian Eye, then his biggest hit, The Wild, Wild West and later The D.A., Black Sheep Squadron, A Man Called Sloane and High Mountain Rangers.

But it was The Wild, Wild West that Conrad’s fans loved the most.  Perfectly cast as James West who partnered with Artemus Gordon (played by Ross Martin, also perfectly cast) as spies in the old west.  The show ran for four seasons and was still doing well in the ratings when it was cancelled by CBS in an effort to reduce network violence.  The Wild, Wild West was so popular in re-runs that two tv movies were made over a decade later.

Conrad was a member of the Stuntman’s Hall of Fame and winner of the Distinguished Service Award in Broadcasting.

On a personal note, the death of Robert Conrad is heartbreaking.   I can’t tell you how many times I pretended to be James West as a kid or how many times I’ve watched each episode of The Wild, Wild West.  It’s still set to be recorded daily on my dvr (and I own the complete series on dvd).  A huge piece of my childhood died with him.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Robert Conrad’s family, friends and fans.

RIP: Kevin Conway

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Kevin Conway, the multi-talented actor who appeared in movies, on television and the stage died Wednesday, February 5th of a heart attack.

I first became aware of Mr. Conway when I saw him in back-to-back Sylvester Stallone films.  First up was FIST where Conway played Vince Doyle, a local mobster who provides Johnny Kovak (Stallone) with some “muscle” against the trucking company’s strike breakers.  A few months later Conway and Stallone appeared together again, this time in Paradise Alley.  Conway was a small town gangster but this time he and Stallone were adversaries.

What I didn’t know at the time was that Conway had already made appearances on Broadway, television and films!  Conway was still acting in movies and television as well as doing voice work for commercials, trailers and documentaries up until his death at age 77.   Some of Conway’s best known roles include his work in Mystic River, The Quick and the Dead, 13 Days and Gettysburg.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Kevin Conway’s family, friends and fans.