CW Greenlights The Flash, Rob Thomas' iZombie

The CW has unveiled their lineup for the 2014-15 season and it includes "The Flash" and Rob Thomas' "iZombie". DC Comics' venerable superhero (created in the 1940s) "The Flash" is from "Arrow" producers Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Geoff Johns, the star is Grant Gustin (Glee, 90210).

From Warner Bros. Television "iZombie" is based on the DC Comics title of the same name from the producer of "Veronica Mars".

To make room for new upfronts "The Carrie Diaries," "Star-Crossed" and "The Tomorrow People" were cancelled. The CW passed on pilots "Identity" and its "Supernatural" spinoff.

Classic TV at TVparty!

Jet Magazine Ending Print Publication

Add Jet magazine to the list of former publications like McCalls, Newsweek and Saturday Evening Post that have moved online exclusively. Jet was a critical lifeline in the African-American community for 6 decades, especially so in the 60s and 70s.

“The print version is going away, but the franchise is not going away,” said Desiree Rogers, CEO of Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Company.

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Sky King : Saturday Mornings

One of the very first TV shows I remember watching as a kid was Sky King, Saturday mornings at noon. I recently watched a few episodes on DVD and enjoyed them very much - simple but effective early TV dramas with a western feel mostly shot on location in Southern California.

Based on a popular radio series, Sky King remains one of the most watchable of the 1950's kid shows with relatively realistic dramatic storylines that work thanks in large part to stoic star Kirby Grant who really gives it his all. Sadly, the show's rarely been seen since the 1960s.

Here's what Wiki says: The television show began airing on Sunday afternoons on NBC between September 16, 1951, and October 26, 1952. These episodes were rebroadcast on ABC's Saturday morning lineup the following year November 8, 1952, until September 21, 1953, when it made its prime-time debut on ABC's Monday night lineup. It then aired twice-a-week in August and September 1954, before ABC canceled it. New episodes were produced when the show went into syndication in 1955. The last new episode, "Mickey's Birthday", aired March 8, 1959. After that, the show turned up on the Saturday schedule, in reruns that played for several years.

Here's an entire episode of Sky King from season 2:


More on Sky King!

Johnny Otis talks Screaming Jay Hawkins, Dinah Washington

This is from 1984. I called in to Johnny ('Hand Jive') Otis' radio program, a phenomenal weekly show where he played Blues, gospel, R&B recordings and the like. I can't believe how meeeeellloooow I sounded then.

I asked Johnny about the legendary Dinah Washington, one of my fave performers. At the time I had no access to any info on her. Imagine my surprise at his answer.

Johnny told me later about Dinah Washington taking Little Eva out for an afternoon. Otis was horrified when they returned and Eva, a sweet innocent young girl, was all painted up like a whore and dressed like a tramp with Dinah laughing hysterically at the whole scene.

The SJH concert Johnny Otis talked about was at Madame Wong's not Club Lingerie, I was wrong.