Katrina Bowden stars in TNT’s new series “Public Morals.” Katrina Bowden Taking on Public Morals by Ronald Sklar Hey, don’t make her career talk to the hand, just because she’s beautiful. At one time, Katrina Bowden may have been voted Esquire‘s Sexiest Woman Alive, and she is (so far) best known as Cerie, the vapid model/intern/Liz-Lemon foil on 30 Rock, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously and win some roles with a little meat on the bone. This is

Barry Livingston Barry Livingston From Child Star to Man Amongst Jersey Boys by Ronald Sklar Character actor Barry Livington has a surprisingly fresh and impressive resume. Yep, he was Ernie Douglas, the prototype nerd on My Three Sons, back in the day. But it’s a new day, baby: you’ve been seeing him a lot lately, and not just in dusty reruns. The in-demand character actor has appeared most recently in Jersey Boys, but has also been featured in The Social Network, Argo, and

Big Hair and Fake Grass – A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s. Dan Epstein The Hairs and the Squares! Baseball in the 1970s by Ronald Sklar It wasn’t a dream. It really happened. People looked that way, dressed that way and played that way. Yes, the uniforms were that tight… and, oy, those colors. Dan Epstein tells us so in his awesome book, Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ‘70s. A ride indeed, in

NEW YORK, NY – MAY 13: Valerie Harper attends the American Lung Association’s LUNG FORCE national media kickoff event at Houston Hall on May 13, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for American Lung Association) Valerie Harper Kicking Cancer New York Style by Ronald Sklar The beloved Rhoda star helps launch The American Lung Association’s Lung Force initiative. On May 13, 2014 in Manhattan, actress and lung cancer survivor Valerie Harper, along with count

Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock presents the second season of his CNN series “Inside Man.” Morgan Spurlock On the Inside by Ronald Sklar The legendary documentary filmmaker allows us inside his head and inside his hit CNN series, Inside Man. The CNN series Inside Man showcases Morgan Spurlock doing what he loves best: the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. In spades. Spurlock doesn’t dabble; he immerses. He sticks with one passion, honing it and evolving it into a be

Fred Stoller Fred Stoller Sitcom Staple by Ronald Sklar The in-demand character actor describes the unique dilemma of typecast success. Fred Stoller goes though life watching people slowly recognize him. Point at him, snap your fingers, scratch your head, search your memory. You don’t know his name, but you’ve seen him on TV, most notably in a classic Seinfeld episode in which his character does not remember meeting Elaine, causing Elaine to become obsessed with him. Is the l

Erin Murphy Erin Murphy Which Witch is Which? by Ronald Sklar On the eve of the series’ 50th anniversary, the beloved Bewitched baby conjures up many magical memories. Here are some not-too-shabby resume bullet points for this former child actor: Worked closely and regularly with such theater and screen legends as Elizabeth Montgomery, Agnes Moorehead, Maurice Evans, and Alice Ghostley. Her character’s birth was among the most anticipated events in the history of television.

Dawn Wells Dawn Wells Rescued! by Ronald Sklar Here's Exhibit A of making lemonade out of lemons. Dawn Wells is most widely known for a role she played almost 50 years ago. As Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island, she won audiences' hearts and minds, but the critics were less than kind to the series. They thought it was as low as television could possibly sink. Little did they know. The series ran on CBS for three years, and then forever in reruns, cable, DVD, Me TV and Hulu. Three

Melanie in 2012. Photo by Maddy Miller. Melanie’s Brand New Key by Ronald Sklar Look what they’ve done to her song, ma: they’ve made her a pop icon. During the early 1970s, the underground press misunderstood Melanie, but above ground, her fans and future generations did not. Brought up in New Jersey with the full, non-mainstream name of Melanie Safka, she wrote and performed her own songs. This in itself was a new phenomenon in pop music, but that she was a woman wowed the m

Al Capp – A Life to the Contrary by Michael Schumacher and Denis Kitchen Michael Schumacher and Denis Kitchen Al Capp - Exploring A Most Contrary Life by Ronald Sklar Comic strip legend and deeply complicated man, Al Capp channeled his talents but lost to his demons. At the height of cartoonist Al Capp’s success, his satiric, adult-themed comic strip Li’l Abner was featured in 900 newspapers with 90 million dedicated readers. From 1934-1977, hillbilly Abner and his family fac

Dermot Mulroney at the Philadelphia Film Festival in the Prince Music Theater. Indie film icon Dermot Mulroney is honored at Philadelphia Film Festival for career accomplishments by Ronald Sklar Actor Dermot Mulroney was honored with an American Independent Award at this year’s Philadelphia Film Festival. Immediately after the ceremony was the premiere screening of the independent film Dante’s Inferno, with Mulroney in the lead role. Mulroney, 43, has enjoyed a long-running s

Seamus McDonagh Seamus McDonagh The Fighter Still Remains by Ronald Sklar Photography by Eugene Gallegos “I did feel like I was Rocky,” Seamus (pronounced Shay-mus) McDonagh was admitting to me, but only after I insisted. “It was my nickname in school, after Rocky Mariano.” The other Rocky – the guy picked out of obscurity to touch gloves with the heavyweight champion of the world – was re-made into a real-life story on June 1, 1990 at the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. That’s

The Dick Cavett Show – Hollywood Legends The Dick Cavett Show Hollywood Greats (Shout! Factory-2006) Marlon Brando flies all the way from Tahiti to warn us about the plight of the American Indian, whether we want to hear about it or not. Bette Davis calls the film Myra Breckenridge “a disgrace.” Fred Astaire treats us to his singing and dancing until we want to beg him to stop. Alfred Hitchcock unintentionally shows us his Alfred Hitchcock impression. Groucho tells tiresome s

The Brady Bunch – The Complete Final Season The Brady Bunch The Complete Final Season 1973-1974 (Paramount Home Video-2006) In this, its final season, the kids of The Brady Bunch are trying their darndest to keep it perky, but are as weary as the tired plots that sputter out as the series crawls to a close. However, don’t stick a fork in it yet – the show never even charted in the Top 10 during its five years in prime time, but once it became an afternoon rerun staple…well, y

Dharma & Greg – Season One Dharma & Greg Season One (1997-1998) (Twentieth Century Fox-2006) Watching the terrific Dharma and Greg reminds us of the time in which it was first broadcast, the late nineties; an era not so far away, yet compared to what was to come, now seems like a million years ago, a tranquil oasis of nice and peaceful. If we miss the Clinton years now, watch this DVD and miss him a lot more. Little did we know what horror lie ahead, both in real life and on

“Weird Al” Yankovic “Weird Al” Yankovic Straight Outta the Box By Ronald Sklar Some artists – Nirvana, for instance – didn’t feel that they had truly made it until Weird Al Yankovic had parodied them. Right on – the man who got his start with his silly but rockin’ accordion, mailing homemade audio tapes to The Dr. Demento Show on radio is now His Absolute Royal Dementia. He’s the non-negotiable go-to guy for pop music song parody, and it’s not always good being king. He makes

The Naked Cowboy The Naked Cowboy On Broadway by Ronald Sklar Robert Burck, aka The Naked Cowboy, stands at the crossroads of the world, a prism strumming a guitar. Through the millions of people who curiously walk by him, marvel at him, laugh at him, laugh with him, narrow their eyebrows at him, pose with him (he claims to hold about twenty babies a day) and/or call him a fag, he finds his personal inner peace. He’s the worst dream in your dream journal: hey, I dreamt that I

Bewitched – Season One – In Color Bewitched The Complete First Season – In Color (1964-1965) (Sony-2006) When Bewitched premiered in the fall of 1964, it was so high-concept that during its first few episodes, it needed a narrator to tell us that Samantha was a witch. This introduction was written ironically, being that she was supernatural and yet just like us, using favorite sixties comfort-food buzzwords such as “typical suburban housewife” and “All-American girl.” However

The Best of The Electric Company, Vol. 1 The Electric Company The Best of the Electric Company (Shout! Factory-2006) HEY, YOU GUYS! Just when you thought you couldn’t recapture any more of your TV-watching childhood, The Electric Company has surprisingly and blessedly come to DVD. Nowhere near as good as you remember it – with crude graphics, cheesy synthesizers and overlong segments (it’s stuffed to the gills at 29 minutes per) – you’ll be amazed that you’re still entertaine

I Love Lucy: The Complete Fourth Season I Love Lucy The Complete Fourth Season (1954-1955) (Paramount-2005) Do we really love Lucy, or have we been brainwashed to think we do, like in The Manchurian Candidate? When the laughter subsides, is Lucy truly deserving of our love? Is she as overwhelmingly funny as we are led to believe? Does the Empress have no clown clothes? Perhaps a re-examination is in order. The best way to do this, and to be fair, is to screen Season Four of I