Author Archives: dcaligari

September 18, 1965 – Mel Brooks and Buck Henry started their fight to keep the world safe from KAOS when Get Smart premiered on NBC-TV on this date. When Don Adams was negotiating his salary, he had his choice between more money per week and no ownership stake in the show, or less money perContinue reading “The first time we missed it by this much”

September 18, 1964 –The most normal family’s ever presented on US television, The Addams Family premiered on ABC-TV on this date. Carolyn Jones and John Astin decided to give Gomez and Morticia “a grand romance” as an antidote to the virtually asexual parents then common in television shows.

September 17, 1966 –Wilson Pickett’s cover of Chris Kenner’s song, Land of 1000 Dances, went to No. 1 on the US Billboard Charts on this date. Dances mentioned in Kenner’s version are: The Pony, Mashed Potato, Alligator, Twist, Watusi, The Yo-Yo, Sweet Pea, Fly, Hand Jive, Slop, Chicken, Bop, Fish, Slow Twist, Tango, and theContinue reading “Children, go where I send you”

September 17, 1955 –The Merrie Melodies short, Speedy Gonzales , directed by Friz Freleng, and Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester the Cat, was released on this date. Although this is the second appearance of Speedy Gonzales (His first outing was in Cat-Tails for Two), he was redesigned after his debut, and this is the first appearanceContinue reading “Speedy Gonzales premiered”

September 17, 1932 –The Looney Tunes short, Ride Him, Bosko!, directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising starring Bosko, was released on this date. Although the short ends with a cliffhanger, it is continued in Bosko’s Parlor Pranks“, a Happy Harmonies short produced after Harman and Ising had taken Bosko to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where Bosko eventually getsContinue reading “Ride Him, Bosko! premiered”

September 17, 1964 –Dick York started out as Durwood, I mean, Darrin as Bewitched premiered on ABC-TV on this date. (Sorry – the B & W original version has been taken down.) The show had an unusual amount of roles played by more than one person: two Darrins, two Gladys Kravitzes, two Louise Tates, twoContinue reading “… you’ve got me in your spell.”

September 17, 1961 –William Faulkner’s favorite TV show, Car 54 Where are You?, premiered on NBC-TV, on this date. For the black-and-white location shots, the green parts of the normally black, white, and green patrol cars were painted red so as not to confuse the neighborhood people.

There are 44 days until Halloween, 71 days until Thanksgiving – There are 27 days until Canadian Thanksgiving, but we’ll talk about that next month – 99 days until Christmas – And 47 days until the General Election. Make sure that you have registered: Voting is one of your only obligations as a citizen –Continue reading “An update from ACME”

On July 4, 1776, the American colonies told Britain to kiss their hairy American asses. This occurred during the Revolutionary War, during which the Redcoats were coming, a shot was heard ‘round the world’, and Paul Revere could see the whites of their eyes and knew that their taxes were too high. The complexities ofContinue reading “Please remember to celebrate while we still have one.”

September 16, 1933 – The Looney Tunes short, Bosko the Musketeer , directed by Ben Harman and Rudolf Ising starring Bosko, was released on this date. The animation of Honey dancing is reused from Bosko in Person.