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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 23, 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 17, 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 22, 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

Hiya, Kids!! A ’50s Saturday Morning (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Review)

PopEntertainment

Jul 10, 2008
9 min

Hiya, Kids!! A ’50s Saturday Morning (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Review)

Hiya, Kids!! A ’50s Saturday Morning Hiya, Kids!! A ’50s Saturday Morning (Shout! Factory-2008) A little song. A little dance. A little seltzer down your pants. This DVD takes you to those wonderful bygone days when marketers first got wet for the impressionable 1.3 bazillion baby boomers under age ten. You can just hear the “ka-ching” in every candy bar and cheap toy shoved at the tiny, flickering screen. They stop just short of saying, “do you know where mommy’s pocketbook

Father Knows Best – Season One (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Review)

PopEntertainment

May 15, 2008
5 min

Father Knows Best – Season One (A PopEntertainment.com TV on DVD Review)

Father Knows Best – Season One Father Knows Best Season One (1954) (Shout! Factory-2008) A fresh look at Father Knows Best does nothing to answer that chicken-or-the-egg dilemma which has haunted us for over a half century: was family life in the 1950s really this stable, or did television devise a set of standards for happy living so impossible to attain that it could only cause disappointment and dysfunction? Like all fifties family comedies, Best looks innocuous on the sur

Leslie Jordan – Pink Carpet Story

PopEntertainment

Apr 28, 2008
4 min

Leslie Jordan – Pink Carpet Story

Leslie Jordan Leslie Jordan Pink Carpet Story by Ronald Sklar Emmy-award-winning actor Leslie Jordan is perhaps best known as Karen’s arch nemesis, Beverley Leslie, on Will and Grace. However, his association with that groundbreaking series only fortified his own true Hollywood story. He had been “in” as an out actor since he got off the bus in Hollywood from the Tennessee hills in 1982. These days, it’s difficult to imagine how brave a career move that was, but Jordan always

Rebecca Schull – On the Naked Stage

PopEntertainment

Apr 21, 2008
5 min

Rebecca Schull – On the Naked Stage

Rebecca Schull plays Anna Akhmatova in “On Naked Soil – Imagining Anna Akhmatova,” her own three-character play about the famed Russian poet. Susan Einhorn directs the world premiere run April 12 to May 4, 2008, presented by Theater for the New City, NYC in its Cino Theater. Photo by Jonathan Slaff. Rebecca Schull On the Naked Stage by Ronald Sklar It never fails to shock us when a beloved TV character takes a sharp left turn and makes daring choices. Rebecca Schull, for inst

A Very Brady Musical – Lloyd Schwartz and Hope Juber Reimagine the Family Business

PopEntertainment

Apr 18, 2008
6 min

A Very Brady Musical – Lloyd Schwartz and Hope Juber Reimagine the Family Business

A Very Brady Musical A Very Brady Musical Lloyd Schwartz and Hope Juber Reimagine the Family Business by Ronald Sklar For the producers of The Brady Bunch, it was more like Family Affair. Creator Sherwood Schwartz (who also gave the world Gilligan’s Island) worked closely with his son, Lloyd, and still does. However, for those five sunshine-day seasons on ABC, the Schwartz team lived, loved and laughed along with TV’s last truly happy family, both on camera and off. “I’m prou

Maureen McCormick – Brady Country

PopEntertainment

Apr 18, 2008
5 min

Maureen McCormick – Brady Country

Maureen McCormick Maureen McCormick Brady Country by Ronald Sklar Each and every one of us has early memories of Maureen McCormick, but one of her earliest memories was entering the Miss San Fernando Valley beauty contest at age seven. She remembers the delighted look on her parents’ faces as she took center stage in her bathing suit and sang “Getting to Know You.” A more prophetic song could not have been selected for her. We got to know her all right. Oh, brother, did we as

Curtis Stone – Home Is Where the Chef Is

PopEntertainment

Mar 8, 2008
5 min

Curtis Stone – Home Is Where the Chef Is

Curtis Stone Curtis Stone Home Is Where the Chef Is by Ronald Sklar In America, Curtis Stone is popularly known as The Take Home Chef (on The Learning Channel); yet this Aussie and his cooking talents are internationally known. Before even setting foot in the New World, he was top dog at some of the top Australian restaurants, making his cuisine career debut at age eighteen. “We’re a country full of convicts,” he says of his native land. “That’s how our country started off. W

The Last Great Fight – Author Joe Layden Ponders the Demise of Boxing

PopEntertainment

Mar 1, 2008
11 min

The Last Great Fight – Author Joe Layden Ponders the Demise of Boxing

The Last Great Fight The Last Great Fight Author Joe Layden Ponders the Demise of Boxing by Ronald Sklar With the increasing fragmentation of American entertainment, there is bound to be a few old traditions that will go the way of vaudeville. One of the more unfortunate examples as of late is the sport of boxing. Once the king of early television and live venue (and the escape route for many impoverished tough guys), boxing has become less than an afterthought as a modern en

Richard Price – Living a Lush Life in Some Small Dive

PopEntertainment

Mar 1, 2008
14 min

Richard Price – Living a Lush Life in Some Small Dive

Richard Price Richard Price Living a Lush Life in Some Small Dive by Ronald Sklar Since he was a mere twenty-four, writer Richard Price has been greatly admired for his amazing ear for dialogue, his seemingly seamless writing style and his compelling urban plots. His new novel, Lush Life (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux), about worlds colliding on New York’s contemporary Lower East Side, is just the right Price: a living and breathing thing in your hands. It’s not often that a new

Christopher Knight – My Fair Knight

PopEntertainment

Feb 25, 2008
9 min

Christopher Knight – My Fair Knight

Christopher Knight Christopher Knight My Fair Knight by Ronald Sklar Christopher Knight may have once starred on VH1’s The Surreal Life, but his own real life was as real as reality gets, at least as real as any ex-Brady could hope to have. “My dad was an actor and a struggling one at that,” he says from his home in Southern California. “I never really wanted to have the downside of that life. I wanted a white picket fence and some kind of known avenue. Something accountable.