We've been pushing the Time-Life videos of The Dick Van Dyke Show on this site.  Five volumes are presently available on DVD or VHS, each containing four of the best episodes of the show, plus a number of special features.  The DVDs have great picture quality and the shows are well-chosen, and the only negative, as I noted earlier, was that some of us would really like the complete run of the show in chronological order.  That, alas, is not currently available.  But it may be in the not-too-distant future, to those of us who have $800 to spend.  The place to visit, if you're interested, is www.dickvandykeshow.com, an enterprise run by Doug Denoff, son of Sam Denoff.

Sam, of course, was one of the show's key writer-producers.  As detailed over there, they are prepping but have been delayed in offering "The Ottoman Edition," which will be the complete run of The Dick Van Dyke Show, in sequence, and with some different special features included.  There's no release date yet, and Denoff doesn't expect us to wait for it.  So I bought (and will continue to purchase) the Time-Life releases until his comes along.  This is one of the things on video I don't mind buying twice.

At long last, Amazon has Mad Art available with 24 hour shipping.  Availability seems to be helping its sales, which is a relief.  I was expecting a massive drop in orders once people found out they could actually get it.

Interview with comic book legend Joe Kubert.  Right here.

The ratings for Jimmy Kimmel Live! got screwed-up last night somehow.  Once they're all straightened out, ABC should have something they can spin as demonstrating night-to-night growth, though he seems to have gotten a pretty consistent 6-7 share every night.  If that doesn't drop when he's up against new Letterman episodes — as opposed to reruns the past week — Jimmy might stick around long enough to develop into a first-rate host, and find something to do on his show that every talk show in history hasn't run into the ground.  I thought the last few nights were much, much better, at least in terms of him looking like he wasn't embarrassed by his own program.  They are, however, resorting to the stock talk show staples — a cooking demo, an audience quiz where the audience member can't possibly know any of the answers, pre-tapes that send someone to an inappropriate place (Snoop Dogg to a garage sale, Jimmy's uncle to a Def Jam party), etc.  And I love "Super" Dave Osborne but his appearance the other night, doing the exact same bit that Leno and Letterman long since stopped wanting from him, confirmed reports that the Kimmel show is pretty desperate for guests.

Not much to say about this morn's Space Shuttle explosion that isn't being said more eloquently by others.  I especially identified with the simple sentiments expressed here by Joshua Micah Marshall.

About all I can add is that around 10:00 AM, when I sat down at my computer and saw the awful news, I made a quick tour of major news sites, and then of some of the political message boards and weblogs.  I was pleased to see that the latter were not filled with attempts to spin the tragedy as a failing of George W. Bush or William J. Clinton, or of either of their parties, or of a particular political philosophy.  Everyone I saw had risen above trying to exploit this tragedy to advance their personal causes.

About 90 minutes later, I surfed through all those sites again, and it was starting.

I'm a big fan of the works of Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Cy Coleman but somehow, their 1978 musical On The Twentieth Century had slipped under my radar.  Fortunately, Los Angeles has the Reprise! series, which resurrects classic musicals and stages them for limited runs of scaled-down productions.  Actually, the only skimping for this show is in the sets.  The costumes are grand, and the orchestra is at full strength because some anonymous donor kicked in to pay for extra musicians.  The cast, even with minimal rehearsal, could scarcely be better.

The story takes place on the famous Chicago-to-New York train known as The Twentieth Century.  As it makes that 17-hour journey, a failed Broadway producer (played brilliantly by Bob Gunton) attempts to salvage his life and career.  Also aboard the liner is an actress (played likewise by Carolee Carmello) who was once his discovery and paramour, but who left him for stardom in Hollywood.  The producer and his two aides (Dan Butler and Robert Picardo) try to get her to sign on for their next show while her leading man (Damon Kirsche) tries to keep her in the movies and a religious fanatic (Mimi Hines) roams the train.  I'd single out more outstanding performances but this is one of those rare shows where everyone is terrific.  The dialogue is rapid-fire and very clever, and the actors handle every wisecrack with style and aplomb.

The show's there 'til Sunday so the odds are you won't get to see it.  But I came home so impressed that I had to write about it.  We theatergoers go to a lot of poor shows waiting for an evening like this.

Recently, I mentioned the DC Comics Message Board.  I should have mentioned that those of you who are interested in DC's splendid Archive series may want to check out the section of the board devoted to those books.  The crowd there discusses what's coming up and what they'd like to see come up, and every so often Bob Greenberger pops in and addresses their queries.  Bob is the Senior Editor of such publications up at DC Comics and they couldn't have a better, nicer guy in that position.  I was thoughtless in not mentioning him by name in the earlier item so I wanted to make up for it.

I always think people take "10 best" or "100 best" lists way too seriously.  Too often, instead of treating the list as just the opinions of one person or one group, it's like, "How dare someone compile a list that would differ from mine?"  When folks begin debating those lists, they not only seem to act like there's only one possible set of right answers, but that everyone is applying the same criteria.  That's not usually the case, either.  (I keep stumbling across lists that purport to itemize "the ten most influential comic artists" and it's obvious that no two people have the same definition of "influential," or even of "comic artists." )

With all that in mind, I direct your attention to this list of someone's "Hundred Favorite Moments in Television."  I'm not sure what definition of "favorite" leads to these selections but it's an interesting list.  It'll remind you of some of your favorite moments, no matter how you define "favorite."

As you can see, I have posted a picture of a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup.  This is the traditional Internet symbol indicating that the proprietor of the weblog is too busy with pressing deadlines to update his site.  Whenever you see it, you know that though he's swamped, he'll be back in a day or three — or sooner, if events warrant — and that he'll resume posting, just as soon as he gets his work schedule under control.  And come to think of it, wouldn't a hot, steaming bowl of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup just hit the spot right about now?  Mmm, good.

It's National Gorilla Suit Day and I just have a few moments before I have to start going door-to-door in my gorilla suit.  (Yeah, I know.  You've all been out in yours for hours.  Well, I overslept.)  Anyway, I felt I should mention that I thought last night's Jimmy Kimmel Live! showed a solid glimmer of progress.  He still doesn't look like a talk show host to me but at least he doesn't look like a deer caught in someone's headlights.  If they can get some decent guests, and a co-host with something to say, this crate might fly.  Ratings were up a bit last night, too.  I'll bet ABC's wishing they'd hired Kimmel while Politically Incorrect was still on, and let him get the bugs out in the time slot following Bill Maher.

The Rockies have crumbled, Gibraltar just tumbled (They're only made of clay) and Amazon.Com now lists Mad Art as more-or-less in stock.  It usually ships in "2-3 days," they say, which is a big step up from not coming out until some time in the distant past.  So rush over and order hundreds of copies.

By the way, I had a great time last night chatting and plugging said book with Garry Lee Wright on WGN radio out of Chicago.  Thanks, Garry!

An awful lot of Stan Freberg fans visit this site, and here's something they'll like.  The above photo is from November 2, 1960.  It was taken at the East Los Angeles Junior College football stadium.  The 22,000 seat arena was jammed, and another 15,000 people were turned away from the event as a bevy of Hollywood stars rallied support for Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy.  From left to right, the celebrities are actress Janet Leigh, singer Jo Stafford, musician Louis Prima, comedian Milton Berle, and Freberg.

The other day on the phone, I asked Stan what he remembered of that evening.  He recalled Berle repeatedly trying to get his cigar lit as Senator Kennedy was speaking.  After a few tries, Uncle Miltie announced — just loud enough for all to hear — "This lighter won't work.  It's just like my brother-in-law."  J.F.K. gave him a quick glance, then returned to his speech.

That's right.  Berle was trying to upstage the man who, six days later, would be elected the 35th President of the United States.

Speaking of Milton Berle: Next Monday evening, the E! Entertainment Network is rerunning the 1979 installment of Saturday Night Live hosted by that gent.  This is one of two episodes in the original five year run which Lorne Michaels thought was so dreadful that for a long time, it was absent from the rerun package.  The other was one hosted by Louise Lasser, who was reportedly going through some "personal problems" (I'm being polite) and she was rambling and occasionally incoherent.

"Mr. Television" was at least coherent but — they way they tell it — way too determined to make funny faces and interject old bits.  At one point, he insisted on singing "September Song" and interjecting a syrupy philosophical discourse, along with plugs for his autobiography.  At its close, a friend he'd planted in the audience leaped to his feet to lead a "spontaneous" standing ovation.

Long unseen, the Berle episode finally turned up in a 30-minute cutdown in one of the SNL syndication packages.  That version, as I recall, pretty much cut Mr. Television down to about half a monologue.  E! is running an hour-long version and it will be interesting to see if whoever performed the edit (from the original 90-minute airing) will preserve or trim the parts Michaels found so unbearable.  If it were me, I'd leave it in.  That's what made this one famous.

Several folks — most notably, Fred Hembeck — have written to say that the Dragnet 1966 TV-Movie/pilot was made then but that it didn't air until '69.  I've read that in the official histories, and I guess it didn't stick because that's not the way I remember it.  I'm not sure I'm right about this one, but I'm not sure I'm wrong, either.  I'm also not sure it matters much.

Fred also reminds me that Jack Webb made his final appearance in the role of Sgt. Joe Friday on Jack Benny's final TV special.  It was called Jack Benny's Second Farewell Special and it ran in early '74.  (Benny's previous special was his First Farewell Special; the premise was that he was going to do Farewell Specials, ad infinitum.  Unfortunately, he passed away during the
preparations for what would have been #3.)  Since I happen to have a photo from that special, I thought I'd run it here.

The extremely clever Hembeck, I should mention again, has a website that comic book fans will especially enjoy.  It's www.hembeck.com, and the best part is his weblog, which he calls "Fred Sez."  Here's a direct link to that page.

Spinsanity is one of the most refreshing political websites.  Its operators analyze news stories and political speeches and point out distortions of fact and bogus emotionally-weighted arguments.  And what's refreshing is that they'll do this with both liberal and conservative diatribes.  Plenty of sites will skewer the opposition and claim objectivity but few really mean it.  Spinsanity does, as evidenced by its current debunkings of Michael Moore's documentary, as well as the Bush tax cut proposal.  Check 'em out.

The editor has revealed it over on the DC Comics Message Board, so I might as well mention it here: DC will be bringing out two volumes reprinting the Jack Kirby issues of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen.  Yes, they'll be in color.  No, the Superman and Jimmy Olsen heads — redrawn by others in their original printings — will not be restored or retouched to Kirby's version.  (That's really not technically possible.)  I dunno when they'll be out but I turned in the foreword for the first volume a few months ago.  And I've just finished the intro for the first of two volumes that will reprint Jack's work on Challengers of the Unknown.  If you've never read either of these series, you're in for a real treat.  If you have, then you'll want copies all the more.

Weblogs like this are great for venting at the frustrations of dealing with companies.  As I'm writing this, I'm on the phone — on "hold," waiting for the Next Available Representative at the McAfee Customer Service Department.  I switched from McAfee's virus protection program to Norton, and the McAfee folks don't seem to want to turn loose of me.  Their subscriptions work off automatic renewals, meaning that if I do nothing, they charge my credit card each year.  They make it very difficult to stop them from doing this.  Their website is full of all sorts of wonderful Customer Service options, all designed to let you control your account online and to minimize the chance that you'll need to speak to an actual human being on their staff.  You can do just about anything over there except to cancel your account or turn off the automatic renewal option.

That, for obvious but odious reasons, they make difficult.  They tell you to "Contact Customer Service," which I have done repeatedly by e-mail to no apparent effect.  Fortunately, I have a secret weapon: The credit card I gave them when I signed up has since expired.  They keep trying to charge it to no avail.  If it hadn't expired, they would have long since charged it for a service I no longer want, and — assuming I realized that — I'd now be fighting them for a refund instead of what I'm doing, which is to get them to just cancel the account and not keep sending me e-mail that there's something wrong with my credit card and… Hold on.  Someone just came on the line.

Okay.  A nice lady just cancelled my account.  According to the timer on my phone, I was on "hold" for 19 minutes.  Remember that the next time you sign up for any service that does automatic renewals.

There.  I've vented and I feel better.

The word from inside ABC is that Jimmy Kimmel Live! should be renamed Begging For Guests.  A friend predicts they will dump the "live" aspect, partly because it makes the network nervous and partially because taping earlier may make it a bit easier to get stars to come in and sit on the couch.

Some time in the eighties, Mr. Carson announced that he would start doing The Tonight Show live every evening.  He never did.  Too many of the guests they wanted were available in the late afternoon but busy in the evening, either with premieres or local performances.  Network worries about the "live" part of Mr. Kimmel's show seem to be less about censorship than they are about the show just looking sloppy, tech screw-ups, etc.