King of the Gameshows

Gameshow host Monty Hall passed away at 96 years of age, and with him go memories of a supremely talented host who ruled his timeslot with Let's Make a Deal during the heyday of gameshows in the 1960s and beyond. With his assistant, the "Lovely Carol Merrill", he would offer a choice of potential prizes to his wildly and imaginatively dressed contestants. Often it would be to select from three sources, whether it be door #1, #2, or #3 or the box on the stage or a small box in his hand. One would be a fantastic prize, and one would be a bust. Even in the last seconds of the show, he would grab anyone in the studio audience and make a quick offer -for example he offered $100 to anyone with a hard boiled egg, and once in awhile someone would have such an item! It was a thrilling, exciting show buoyed by Hall's acumen and showmanship. Somewhere, he is wheeling and dealing with co-hosts Bill Cullen (Price Is Right), Gene Rayburn (Match Game), Allen Ludden (Password), and several other beloved personalities.

2017 Fall TV Season of Plenty

Well the fall tv season is now back in full force for better or worse. A blessing and a curse-so many shows to stay on top of.
Star Trek Discovery on CBS was a teaser for its all access pay service. It opened a bit slowly but picked up steam to a solid cliffhanger. Sonequa Martin-Green is quite good as the first officer and Michelle Yeoh brings it strong as a starship captain. It's a promising start.
Meanwhile, Big Bang Theory is an immensely popular sitcom of nerds learning to grow up, and this season opener answered Sheldon's surprise marriage proposal to Amy and delivered a surprise for Howard and Bernadette. In fact, this was a very good episode with a couple of laugh out loud moments.
Now on to Brooklyn 99, The Blacklist, and more....my poor dvr.

2017 MidAtlantic Nostalgia Convention

2017’s MidAtlantic Nostalgia Convention was a bit if déjà vu as stars of yesteryear, vendors, and fans descended on Hunt Valley, Maryland. It was a chance to mingle with other TV/movie fans of yesteryear and reconnecting with friends.

The lineup was  impressive (despite Maude Adams and Belinda Montgomery having to cancel and Martin Landau passed away) with return visits by Oscar winner Shirley Jones and Gilligan’s Island castaway Dawn Wells.  Highlights included TV icons Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox of CHIPS fame, and Cindy Williams of Laverne and Shirley. There was Bond girl Maryam d’Abo from The Living Daylights and Gary Conway from TV’s Land of the Giants. There were several other stars like veteran comic actor Larry Storch, TV star Patrick Duffy of Dallas, and Aileen Quinn of Annie in films.

I asked Cindy Williams about the sequel to the film classic American Graffiti called More American Graffiti and she described how producer George Lucas only gave a limited budget to work with for the directors so the shooting was schedule was tight.

As the convention was winding down on Saturday, it was fun to see Estrada visiting Cindy Williams for a kiss and hug. He was amorous with all his female fans. Maryam’s sister Olivia conversed with Quinn and even belted out impromptu a brief but powerful version of Annie’s “Tomorrow”!

Daughter Laura was a vendor who spent quality time with Estrada, Williams, and Wells. Dozens of other vendors of memorabilia displayed dvds, posters, comic books, and much more. It was another great year for a convention that keeps outdoing the previous year, as Martin Grams and his team helped to put on an entertaining weekend.

Character Actor Peaked at Middle Age

Veteran character actor Harry Dean Stanton passed away at 91, and for someone who became famous in his late 50s, his was an extraordinary career as primarily a bit or supporting player. Just look at a partial list of films he has appeared in:Cool Hand Luke, The Godfather Part 2, Escape from New York, Twin Peaks, Pretty in Pink, Repo Man, The Rose, The Green Mile, The Avengers, and many, many more not to mention countless TV roles. For me, he made his mark in a series of films in the 1970s and 80s in Alien as an ill fated crew member, Dillinger as a gangster, and Red Dawn as a defiant father in war. Throughout film history, movies were abetted by great supporting actors like Thomas Mitchell, Walter Brennan, and now Mr. Stanton.