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They May Have Been Gone, But They’re Still Classic

By Isa Barnett

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Katrina Bowden – Taking on Public Morals

PopEntertainment

Aug 13, 2015
4 min

Katrina Bowden – Taking on Public Morals

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 – From Child Star to Man Amongst Jersey Boys

PopEntertainment

Jul 24, 2014
7 min

Barry Livingston – From Child Star to Man Amongst Jersey Boys

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

Dan Epstein – The Hairs and the Squares! Baseball in the 1970s

PopEntertainment

May 18, 2014
14 min

Dan Epstein – The Hairs and the Squares! Baseball in the 1970s

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

Valerie Harper – Kicking Cancer New York Style

PopEntertainment

May 18, 2014
3 min

Valerie Harper – Kicking Cancer New York Style

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

Morgan Spurlock – On the Inside

PopEntertainment

Apr 23, 2014
5 min

Morgan Spurlock – On the Inside

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 – Sitcom Staple

PopEntertainment

Feb 23, 2014
4 min

Fred Stoller – Sitcom Staple

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 – Which Witch is Which?

PopEntertainment

Dec 31, 2013
6 min

Erin Murphy – Which Witch is Which?

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 – Rescued!

PopEntertainment

Dec 22, 2013
8 min

Dawn Wells – Rescued!

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

PopEntertainment

Oct 29, 2013
5 min

Melanie’s Brand New Key

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 – Exploring A Most Contrary Life

PopEntertainment

Jul 23, 2013
4 min

Al Capp – Exploring A Most Contrary Life

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

After School Specials 1974-1976 (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Review)

PopEntertainment

Dec 1, 2004
8 min

After School Specials 1974-1976 (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Review)

Afterschool Specials 1974-1976 After School Specials 1974-1976 (BCI Eclipse-2004) In the early 1960s, FCC chairman Newton Minnow called television “a vast wasteland,” accusing the entertainment industry of producing mind-numbing and mediocre offerings, as gray and dull as dishwater. Even President Kennedy agreed that the medium was not reaching its full potential, and in effort to balance things out he passed legislation for the expansion of public television. In this brave n

Everybody Loves Raymond – The Complete First Season (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Review)

PopEntertainment

Nov 21, 2004
6 min

Everybody Loves Raymond – The Complete First Season (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Review)

Everybody Loves Raymond Everybody Loves Raymond The Complete First Season (HBO-2004) The terrific Everybody Loves Raymond is the situation comedy structure stripped down to its barest elements. Because the sitcom genre peaked with Seinfeld and had nowhere else to go, the Raymond creators instead traveled back to the ‘50s, to the very inception of this odd but immortal art form, and hit the refresh button. Its plotlines seem to be reincarnated from those involving Lucy or the

Mad About You – The Complete First Season (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Review)

PopEntertainment

Nov 13, 2004
8 min

Mad About You – The Complete First Season (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Review)

Mad About You: The Complete First Season Mad About You The Complete First Season (Columbia Tri-Star-2002) The best way to describe Mad About You comes not from the show itself but from a better one: Seinfeld. In it, a newly engaged George Constanza (Jason Alexander) finds himself, so obviously against his will, watching an episode of Mad About You with his fiancée. The look on George’s face is indescribable, but at best it can be depicted as a what-have-I-just-done epiphany o

Here’s Lucy – Best Loved Episodes from the TV Series (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD R

PopEntertainment

Sep 17, 2004
5 min

Here’s Lucy – Best Loved Episodes from the TV Series (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD R

Here’s Lucy – Best Loved Episodes from the TV Series Here’s Lucy Best Loved Episodes from the TV Series (Shout! Factory-2004) Apparently, there were enough gay men and grandmas to keep Here’s Lucy firmly planted on CBS’ prime-time schedule during the most unlikely years of 1968-1974. For those of you who can’t keep your Lucy series straight, this one opened each episode with a winking, dancing, kiss-blowing animated doll with great gams. Also, this is the show in which Lucy’

Robert T. Littell – Watching Kennedy Grow

PopEntertainment

Jul 21, 2004
11 min

Robert T. Littell – Watching Kennedy Grow

Robert T. Littell and John F. Kennedy Jr. ROBERT T. LITTELL WATCHING KENNEDY GROW BY RONALD SKLAR It’s hard to believe that John F. Kennedy, Jr. has been dead for over five years. For a young man so full of life and promise (his father called it “vigor”), he was able to form an uneasy existence with the label that was foisted upon him: “American prince.” He handled über-fame and impossible expectations with such dignity, grace and humor that we almost took for granted the amo

Three Dog Night in Black and White

PopEntertainment

Jun 18, 2004
8 min

Three Dog Night in Black and White

Three Dog Night Three Dog Night In Black and White by Ronald Sklar The feat would be impossible to achieve in today’s market-fragmented world, but back in ’71, the bell-bottomed-and-walrus-mustachioed anthem “Joy To The World,” by Three Dog Night, shone through the polluted air and permeated the culture. In a world already torn every which way but loose, Jeremiah the bullfrog and the wine we helped him drink were on the lips of all the boys and girls now. The tune, written by

Richard Price – Better Than Fiction

PopEntertainment

May 4, 2004
9 min

Richard Price – Better Than Fiction

Richard Price RICHARD PRICE BETTER THAN FICTION BY RONALD SKLAR If Richard Price’s life story were made into a movie, you would accuse the joint of being too far-fetched. But, as the old cliché goes, truth is stranger than fiction. Price came up in a Bronx housing project, but his gift for writing gained him entrance into the some of the nation’s top colleges. He thrived at Cornell, Columbia and Stanford, despite his feeling like a fish out of water. His first novel, The W

Barney Miller – The First Season (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Review)

PopEntertainment

Jan 20, 2004
5 min

Barney Miller – The First Season (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Review)

Barney Miller – The First Season Barney Miller The First Season – 1975 (Columbia Tri-Star-2004) In 1975, New York City was on the verge of financial and moral ruin. Criminals ran rampant in the streets and terrorized the weary riders of the graffiti-drenched subways. Times Square was bursting with X-rated peep shows and drug-addicted hustlers. The city’s plea for Federal help resulted in one of the most famous headlines of all time (“Ford to City: Drop Dead!”). This, of cours

The Ed Sullivan Show – Rock ‘n’ Roll Classics (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Re

PopEntertainment

Dec 16, 2003
9 min

The Ed Sullivan Show – Rock ‘n’ Roll Classics (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Re

Ed Sullivan – Rock ‘n’ Roll Classics (Volume 1) The Ed Sullivan Show Rock ‘n’ Roll Classics (Rhino-2002) Your tolerance of the variety show format is equally proportional to the amount of hours you’ve viewed MTV since 1981. More than two decades have passed since the rest of television adapted to the now-taken-for-granted style of the quick-edited, odd-camera-angled, sound-bit, irony-heavy entertainment presentation. You are no longer dazzled by it. In fact, you expect it. Th

Tom Verica – American Dad

PopEntertainment

Jun 14, 2003
7 min

Tom Verica – American Dad

Tom Verica stars in “American Dreams.” Tom Verica American Dad by Ronald Sklar Tom Verica stars as family patriarch Jack Pryor on the NBC sleeper hit American Dreams. The role calls for the strong silent type: a challenge which is not always as appreciated as it should be in a medium that often displays the dad as the house fool. Here, Verica plays the solid rock. He typifies the very greatest of the Greatest Generation, but now trying his darnedest to provide gravity to a v