Cool New Classic TV Podcast

Comedian Ken Reid has a cool new Podcast, check it out! "It's called 'TV Guidance Counselor'. The premise is this, I own every TV Guide from 1980-1995 or so. Someone comes over my house, picks a random TV Guide, writes down everything in it that they want to watch in prime time (8-10pm) and then the podcast is us discussing their choices."

Bette Midler's 1970's Albums

After an initial rush of success in 1972-73, Bette Midler lost her footing as a recording artist, her LPs for the rest of the decade were hit and miss.

Midler's first two albums, produced (mostly) by Barry Manilow, were both top ten hits that yielded a smash #1 single 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy' and another top 40 hit 'Friends.' By 1974, Barry Manilow was beginning his phenomenal rocket to stardom leaving Bette Midler to languish on vinyl, a great talent stifled by poor musical choices, erratic management and heavy handed producers.

Released in 1976 (after a 3 year sabbatical her advisors warned could be - and was - career crippling) Bette's third album 'Songs for the New Depression' failed to reach a large audience despite some nice moments like a duet with Bob Dylan and a cover of Tom Waits' 'Shiver Me Timbers.'

The single, a disco version of 'Strangers in the Night', went to #7 on the dance charts but failed to sell many copies.



Next a live version of 'Love Says It's Waiting' from The Promise Suite.



'Songs for the New Depression' was originally slated to be a double album but Atlantic Records stepped in and re-worked what they saw as a troubled project. Two superbly nostalgic songs that were cut from the previous albums - 'Old Cape Cod' and 'Marahuana' - were by far the best material on this slab of vinyl. A disjointed musical journey.

The LP peaked at #27 on the Billboard Album charts but came and went quickly. Bette's luscious version of 'Old Cape Cod' was released as a single backed by 'Tragedy' but it went nowhere. "I was spooked by the difficulties I had making my first two albums," Midler told a reporter at the time, "and Rolling Stone's extremely negative review of my second album scared the daylights out of me."

In 1977 her best album of the decade was released, Live At Last, a soaring concert LP that captured the star in her element, at her peak, in front of a live audience. One of the best live albums of all time, it only made it to #49 on the charts but attracted a legion of fans and has never been out of print.

Here's the show stopping 'In The Mood' - the studio version of that song from the second album was released as a single but didn't chart.



The single from the live album, 'You're Moving Out Today,' was a studio track stuck on to the LP as an intermission. It limped to #42 which meant little to no radio airplay.

1977's Broken Blossom continued the trend of throwing every musical style against the needle to see what grooved. Little did. The LP was, for the most part, poorly received. Talk about running the gamut, Harry Nilsson's 'Paradise' was covered on Broken Blossom as was Sammy Hagar's 'Red' - here are both tunes, but I'm going to give you the vastly superior live versions, the first from the motion picture Divine Madness, the second from Rolling Stone magazine's spectacular 10th anniversary TV special.





There were wonderful moments on this album - 'Make Yourself Comfortable' is a pitch perfect lush life refrain as is her cover of Edith Piaf's 'La Vie En Rose.' Midler also dueted with Tom Waits on a honky tonk jam called 'I Never Talk To Strangers' that soared. Tom and Bette were good buddies during this period.

Other songs covered on Broken Blossom (with mixed results) include 'Empty Bed Blues,' Disney's 'A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes' and Billy Joel's 'Say Goodbye to Hollywood.' The LP only hit #51 on the Billboard Album Charts; 'Storybook Children' and 'Paradise' were released as a single but didn't make a ripple.

The diva told Circus magazine, "All right, I made some funny little records, but I liked them. They are certainly not like a recording anyone else would make."

PART TWO of BETTE MIDLER in the 1970s!

What I Watched During Snownado 1969

Years ago A.J. McWhorter from Television Archives asked what Holy Grail I might have, something I hadn't run across in my research. If he had it, he'd burn me a copy. What I really wanted, I thought impossible to get, was a hour long daytime show called 'Life With Linkletter' hosted by Art Linkletter and his son Jack, it only ran for the first eight months of 1970. Why that one?

In January 1970 we had a snownado in North Carolina. I was 13, school was out, everyone in the neighborhood spent days sledding Northwood Street or down the hill and across the pond at the Greensboro Country Club. (Boy, were they pissed at the muddy ruts we left behind on the golf course. Now it's a thing, they serve hot chocolate.) It was one of my fondest memories. Before they started brining and plowing the streets, the city surrendered to the frost.

On a break from sledding (to put our gloves and boots near the radiator to dry out) I caught an episode of a new daytime concept on NBC that mixed current events and entertainment fluff. It was high tech (for the time), fast paced (for the time), I was fascinated by it. TV was evolving but with dinosaurs at the helm, the push/pull was obvious even to me.

Just months before its debut Art Linkletter's daughter, who was featured prominently in his earlier series, plunged to her death as a result of an acid trip. That was the official story, more about that here (read to the end).

NBC was notorious for destroying all their daytime shows, including the entire run of 'Hollywood Squares', so when I asked if A.J. had an episode 'Life With Linkletter' I never expected him to actually dig one up, from January of 1970 no less!

The opening to 'Life With Linkletter':



Segment on Sugar Ray Robinson:



A look inside the Nixon administration, you'll see familiar faces from the GW Bush era:



Commercials - including one with Rocky Graziano for Wishbone Italian Rose:

One of the Greatest Dramatic Scenes in Movie History

Any time I'm doing a close, dramatic scene, I watch this perfect piece of acting / cinematic magic. No cuts.

This scenario was all too true, Garland ended up in the hospital under these same circumstances. She and Dirk Bogarde re-wrote this scene themselves.

The entire role was most certainly based on Judy's downwardly spirally life, an okay film overall with a number of remarkable scenes - but then the star did walk away before it was finished. It was her last motion picture.