quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
I have signed pictures of Robert Fuller and Martin Milner and a Kevin Tighe autograph!

I think jkt hung out with Mr Tighe recently, if I am not mistaken.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
I have signed pictures of Robert Fuller and Martin Milner and a Kevin Tighe autograph!

I think jkt hung out with Mr Tighe recently, if I am not mistaken.

I would love to hear all the details. I have not been the same since Freaks and Geeks was canceled.

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
...is a Dragnet/Adam 12/Emergency! shrine only one third as good, or three times as good?...

I'll have to pass on that. Neither Adam 12 nor Emergency! made it this side of the Atlantic - or if they did, they didn't make much of an impact. They probably didn't have as good a theme tune as Dragnet. Dum-da-dum-dum.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:
...M*A*S*H was my second-favourite American sitcom...

And your first-favourite was...?

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
I have signed pictures of Robert Fuller and Martin Milner and a Kevin Tighe autograph!

I think jkt hung out with Mr Tighe recently, if I am not mistaken.

I would love to hear all the details. I have not been the same since Freaks and Geeks was canceled.

Yes, I had the pleasure of spending three days with Kevin sorting books for the estate of the man who was Ray's set-designer and was Kevin's favorite professor at USC.

quote:

Originally posted by jkt:
Yes, I had the pleasure of spending three days with Kevin sorting books for the estate of the man who was Ray's set-designer and was Kevin's favorite professor at USC.

Awesome! email me with any stunning details!

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
And your first-favourite was...?

Brace yourself. The greatest TV programme in the history of the world is The Andy Griffith Show!

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:
...The Andy Griffith Show...

Brace YOURSELF: I don't think that show made it over here. If it did, it completely passed me by, and was not repeated. Oddly, the only US comedies of the 50s/60s that had a distinctive UK life - by which I mean EVERYONE knows them, and they were frequently/endlessly re-run - were:

The Phil Silvers Show (Bilko) [surely the bestest comedy show of all time]

Bewitched

I Love Lucy/The Lucy Show

The Dick Van Dyke Show

The Munsters


... and possibly a few others. MTM must have been on, too, but I wasn't aware of it until archive repeats in the 1980s. (Oddly, we got most of the MTM spin-offs such as Rhoda, Lou Grant, etc.)

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:
...The Andy Griffith Show...

Brace YOURSELF: I don't think that show made it over here. If it did, it completely passed me by, and was not repeated.

Once again I am rendered stunned and speechless by yet another glaring gap in your otherwise flawless and exemplary education.

Don't worry, dandelion, I know all about The Andy Griffith Show. Thanks to a lifetime of collecting obscure books about American TV (and the internet), I am fully informed. It's the REST of the British public you need to worry about.

But then again, do y'all know about OUR comedy classics? I don't mean FAWLTY TOWERS and AB FAB. I mean:

On the Buses
Porridge
Rising Damp
Open All Hours
Sykes
Please Sir
Doctor in the House

Speaking as one who attended Ron and Cheryl Howard's wedding (bragging), The Andy Griffith Show is the ulltimate sweet TV program of all time. Everybody wanted an Aunt Bea. There is a reason Floyd's Barbershops are still a going franchise.

It was so surrealistic sitting one pew behind "Andy and Barney" while "The Fonz" was the best man and making small talk with Henry Fonda.

Just hearing the opening theme song (whistle) puts a smile on anybody's face.

No, Phil, sorry. One I particularly liked was Dad's Army, and another of which I caught a few episodes, No, Honestly.

This is as good a place to ask as any, since we are discussing your education, but you talked about nodding off during audiobooks due to being read to sleep. Didn't your teachers ever read to you in school?

Dad's Army: one of the very best. I should have put it in my list.

Yes, plenty of being-read-to in school... but that's a performative thing; you watch the teachers/reader, they draw you in (if they're any good). But being-read-to-SLEEP is another matter entirely. Head back on the pillow... close your eyes...listen to that voice...ZZZZZ

I loved Tony Hancock and Morcambe & Wise. Hard to find here, though.

This Andy Griffith Show featured Bernard Fox:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E-aOSm0-80

Hey! Isn't this supposed to be the "Leavetaking" thread?

quote:

Originally posted by Braling II:
Hey! Isn't this supposed to be the "Leavetaking" thread?

Yes, but as many of these old stars are now deceased, I'll allow it!

I am pleased to hear that you are familiar with the greatest, Phil. I have the compleat DVD collection, have met Don Knotts (the funniest TV comic of ever!), and have even stalked Andy Griffith's house in Toluca Lake. I was in attendance in Mount Airy, NC (the real Mayberry) with Andy Griffith himself when Andy and Opie got the TV Land statue placed there in Andy's hometown.

And yes, as an Anglophile (I think I belong there), I am familiar with multitudinous BritComs (I also have the compleat Rising Damp on DVD, as well as Grace and Favour, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Mr Bean, and many more, I shouldn't wonder (including the aforementioned Fawlty Towers, which I consider the funniest British series).

Also love Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, Red Dwarf, and used to watch (when they were on here) Dave Allen, Benny Hill, Mrs Slocombe (and her pussy), and, of course, Hyacinth. I'm sure I have much to learn, though.