TV Guidance Counselor

This week Ken welcomes author (Wool), showrunner (Silo on Apple Plus) and all around interesting guy Hugh Howey to the show. Ken and Hugh discuss post apocalyptic fiction, the oldest stories in the world, how America loves and Apocalypses, 70s dystopia, Ken's wish fulfillment theory, society's collapse, the evolution of the stories of the unknown, sailing, human stories, fear of God, authoritarianism, fascism, Russ vs Hobbs, rebirth is painful, Dawn of the Dead, blogs, digital journals, how people are the same, how politics actually isn't as violent as it has been in the past, the theory that sci-fi isn't a pure genre, the Alien movies, character vs plot, the 80s pre-pocalypse, Nuclear War, the Cold War, Lucifer's Hammer, Watchmen, how the HBO series adaptation of Watchmen is a better version of the story than the actual movie, Alan Moore, comic books, outliving your creators, McFarlane's Spider-Man, how Batman is DC's most Marvelish character, Daredevil, not being overpowered, gods, Hawkeye, allowing creators to be in charge, Suicide Squad, James Gunn, telling a complete story, planning the right story and right number of episodes, Chuck, Doctor Who, mourning TV shows, working with a writing partner, brainstorming, fan fiction, self publishing, Amazon, Drops of God, Evil, streaming vs networks, Cartoons and Kung Fu Theater, GI Joe, Adventure Time and how a good story is a good story.

May 14-20, 1994 This week Ken welcomes comedian, podcaster and author of the upcoming new book about 90s US Sketch Comedy (which you can and SHOULD purchase at sketchcomedybook.com), Jason Klamm. Ken and Jason discuss podcasting, not making money with your art, The Vacant Lot, Exit 57, Amy Sedaris, getting turned down by a person's "people", Almost Live, The Bert Fershners, the nicest millionaire you know, Adam McKay, 9 Lives, UCB, Phil Hartman, Newsradio, history being written by the victors, sending flowers, FTD, Mrs. Doubtfire, weird places you got VHS tapes from, Star Trek The Next Generation, Laugh-In, Ruth Buzzi, Nixon, Nick at Nite, shows canceled after one episode, character vs plot, Ken's mean prank phone calls to Joe Piscapoe as a kid, MTV and Nickelodeon interstitials, Jimmy the Cab Driver, Toby Huss' Sinatra covers of 90s alt rock, Baby Jessica, Bob Hope, MacGuyver's Lost Treasure of Atlantis, COPS and the LA riots, terrible people on good shows, SNL, Heather Locklear and Janet Jackson, musical guests, Hee Haw, realizing T2 is the greatest movie ever way too late in life, not being allowed to watch violence as a kid, My Breast, Made for TV Movies, Lexi Alexander, growing up in Germany as a military kid, German kids toys, the final episode ever of In Living Color, Evening Shade, Burt Reynolds, hypernesia, Marylou Henner, Lori Laughlin in a brutal made for TV movie "One of Her Own", Reginald Veljohnson, Bob Newhart, loving Phil Silvers, being a young old man, Rescue 9-11, Clinton's favorite SNL sketches, Billy West, Searching for Grace, Sesame St's 25th Anniversary, Dr. Seus and Jim Henson, thinking you'd be an animator and a puppeteer, Don Blueth, Robert Townsend, Ann-Marie Johnson, Hollywood Shuffle, Rod Serling, the carousel in Bimington NY, TGIF, Sasha Mitchell, Hangin with Mr. Cooper, Todd Oldham, Ken's love of TV pagent shows growing up, the Adventures of Briscoe Country Jr., USA World Premier movies, Ken insulting Judd Nelson, Where on Earth is Carmen San Diego?, complaining about Charles Barkley and Nixon's death.

February 23 - March 1, 1985 This week Ken welcomes UK writer ('Sort Your Head Out - Mental Health Without All The Bollocks'), podcaster (Top Flight Time Machine, The Reset), broadcaster and all around fascinating guy Sam Delaney to the show. Ken and Sam discuss living in London, the suburbs, New Cross, violent cities, how 1985 is EVERYTHING, being the editor of Heat Magazine, the editorial decisions behind what goes on the cover, watercolors, Live Aid, pop music, toys, Glen A. Larson, the history of TV Guide, TV/Radio Times, smoking, Christmas Cigarettes for children, the golden age of "Kids Gone Wild" media, Terrorism on TV, Posh Families, the TV Guide Empire, Kirstie Allie as Gloria Steinem as a Playboy Bunny, being completely confused and perplexed by the TV Guide listings, The Young Ones, US vs UK news, visiting NYC with your Dad, how low it took for the UK to get movies from the US, Christmas movie premiers, James Bond, teenage mini bar raids of beer, how everyone in America seemed rich, ET, the mind blowing concept of pizza delivery, The Damned, boredom, recovering from addiction, The A-Team, how prime time action shows in the US were for children in the UK. 70s UK sci-fi shows, Day of the Triffids, Tripods, The Day After vs. Threads, reassessing Reagan, the horrors of Thatcher, TJ Hooker, Starsky and Hutch, Kojak, sleazy cops, grim 70s cinema, the delusional positivity of 1980s pop culture, time investment, how amazing Sesame St is and was, how TV can help kids, Jim Henson, The Atomic Testing Museum, having a near death experience, Rockford Files, Dukes of Hazard, war games, being judged by your parents, low culture vs high culture, 60s movies in the 80s, how class effects how you view commercials, loving Harold Lloyd, and how TV was the center of the family.

This week Ken welcomes fellow TV obsessive and the man behind the It's About TV site Mitchell Hadley to the show. Ken and Mitchell discuss Indiana, Ken's awful short term memory, growing up in Minnesota, Canadian TV, the Twin Cities, TV Guide's amazing writing, time capsules, futurism, the original source documents, why a period piece will never get it quite right, the golden age of television, sci fi, the benefits of television, how sugar is bad, making us further apart as a society, Howdy Doody, rethinking TV for kids, how crime shows can be instructional, politics on television, doom saying, Nixon getting TV right before he got it wrong, JFK, the 1968 Democratic Convention, Ronald Regan's origin story, the night James Brown saved Boston, The Year of the Sex Olympics, Bread and Circuses, the power of the Beverly Hillbillies, TV moving west from NY to LA, Edith Efron, the fake version of LA, essays, Gomer Pyle, a war show that never discusses a war, dragging TV into a more socially conscious world, allegory, Twilight Zone, how rules can be good sometimes, cringe, shades of grey, Barney Miller, true Broadcasting, Ed Sullivan, Stiller and Mira, Lawrence Welk, Vanilla Fudge, letting your guard down, Dick Cavet, reaction, the best way to interview people , worshiping the creed while forgetting the message, being superficial, things that are important to you, people who grew up watching TV making TV, MST3k, deconstruction, watching sports, '77 Sunset Strip, cookie cutter shows, commercials, TV regulating itself, The Family Hour, Donna Reed, legal dramas, spy shows, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., exposing new generations to shows, It's About TV, TV Guide as a serious historical document, revisiting shows from your youth that end up even BETTER, The Rifleman vs Branded, Rockford Files, Chuck Connors, The Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan, actors with drinking problems, Mitchell's book The Electronic Mirror and Atomic Bombs.

August 9-15, 1980 This week Ken welcomes Australian writer, TV personality, journalist and author John Safran to the show. Ken and John discuss John Safran vs God, John's range of work, talking listeners out of liking John, documentaries, Gonzo journalism, Always Wear Sunscreen, Not the Sunscreen Song, having a hit single, novelty songs, Raspberry Cordial, High School accomplishments, Music Jamboree, backmaked Ozzy Osbourne, how helpful dressing up is, Yeshiva College, Brooklyn, loving hip hop, Public Enemy, Professor Griff, Judaism, antisemitism, youthful confusion, Vanilla Ice, the pre-internet days, compartmentalization, Steve Vizard, stealing from Letterman, ABC, multi-cultural programming, offensive stuff, Jocko, Eric Bana, VFL/AFL, I'm An Individual, the mystery of the Croc Hunter, Steve Irwan's relationship with Australia, Round the Twist, Ross Noble, Home and Away, New South Wales, Queensland, finding pornography in the wild, Number 96, Ken's mysterious age, Prisoner in Cell Block H, The Castle, David vs Goliath stories, Mad Max, stunts, CGI, the Australian 70s remake of The Wizard of Oz simply called Oz, The Blizzard of '78, Looney Toons, loving Warner Bros, Fat Albert, racial identity, very special episodes, perverts, American Culture, hyphenated Americans, missing subtext, the post Civil Rights 1960s progress that dissolved in the 1980s, Reagan, American Identity, Pakistani American heavy metal bands, Mulan, cigarettes, Israel and it's place in American apocalyptical evangelical Christianity, menthol cigarettes, true crime, and the strangeness of prescription drugs in the US.

This week Ken welcomes actor, writer, producer, Battle of the Network Stars Champion, Chicken Mom and all around good human being Heather Thomas to the show. Ken and Heather discuss social media, the difference in celebrity between now and the 1980s, Mercury in Retrograde, being outraged, fat penguins, always learning, not engaging, not getting purged (go to https://dontgetpurged.org/), voting, growing up in Santa Monica, Gidget, Malibu, getting yelled at by Leonard Nimoy, James Coburn, Ford, shooting in Canada, Three Men and a Baby parties, interviewing celebrities as a teenager on the NBC show Talking with a Giant, censorship, Patty Duke, almost drowning at the beach because your mom is talking to Tab Hunter, Rock Hudson, going to film school, wanting to be a director, acting in commercials to buy film stock, Co-Ed Fever, Francis Ford Copolla, Peckenpah, how strange things happen when you are young and cute, doing your own stunts, Roy Rogers, The Fall Guy, the rough and tumble world of yodeling competitions, going to dinner with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, the poor treatment of women directors, Chicken Tik Tok, inspiration, having more eyes, shared experience, conservative television, pure Fascism, Sesame Street, people being conned, a need for Love Boat, free trips to Japan, Tony Danza, Ford: The Man and the Machine, being goofy, loving action movies, the work that goes into directing action, minor action films, Peeky Blinders, Taika Watiti, What We Do In the Shadows, not revisiting comfort shows, and Green Acres.

April 20-26, 1985 This week Ken welcomes host of Arne Pod (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/arne-pod/id1454163890) and purveyor of the fun TikTok account @arnepod, Chris Arneson. Ken and Chris discuss what we did at the start of the pandemic, Chris' birthday, being born in 1993, why 1985 is one of Ken and Chris' favorite years, Back to the Future, podcasting, Manhunter, Evil Dead, horror flicks, horror comedy, John Hughes, celebrity vibes, Rob Lowe, background acting, John Candy's death, The Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck, Deborah Shelton, tobacco pouches, "dippin", cigarettes, mouth cancer, mixing facts with fiction, docudrama, the truth vs the legend, baseball, why Stone Cold may be the greatest action movie of all time, The Seattle Seahawks, Charles in Charge, Mr. Mom, E/R vs ER, on set deaths, Cover Up, Faces of Death, monkey brains, Cheap Seats, baseball mustaches, BASEKetball, ESPN2, TVs Bloopers and Practical Jokes, Skabba the Hut, After School Specials, Whale Watches, Mid-Season Replacements, Hail to the Chief, a woman president!?, Double Dare with Billy Dee Williams, when Dennis Eckersley called Ken a "little dick", Product Unbecoming, Sunset Limousine, John Ritter, the lotto, Roller Derby, Rollerball, Rock n Roller Games, seeing a bear in your back yard, NH Pet stores, selling gators, parrots, the time Ken got slapped because he was blamed for a parrot's wolf whistle, Strawberry Shortcake ripoff Rose Petal Place, world's best coaches, Pat Riley, Tommy Lasorta, ice bucket motivation, Lifetime's Hot Properties, Merv, NBA Playoffs, warnings of right wing media takeovers, Stinky Pete and nicknames.

July 30 - August 5, 1994 This week Ken welcomes actor (Succession, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Rubicon) and all around fascinating human Natalie Gold to the show for her first ever podcast. Ken and Natalie discuss YouTuber Natalie Gold, having the same name as somebody else, social media, how Miami isn't Florida, growing up in Florida, Emerson College, Burn Notice, being a local child actor, Sheena Easton, rave theater, running lines with Jeff Goldblum, Ernest Saves Christmas, showing your children media, Christmas Vacation, shared interest friends, getting obsessed with Soaps, how OJ Simpson ruined so many things, Days of our Lives, turning into a panther, demonic possession, manning the complaint line, moving to NYC, sharing an apartment with more than five boys, getting mail, Short Circuit II, The Fame Movie, scary NYC, smoking, tobacco cigarettes, pregnancy cravings, Tom and Roseanne, the greatness of Denny Dillon, Friends, being so wealthy you can get a University to open a west coast location JUST for you, Kevin Bright, Kristen Linklater, voice teachers, oversharing in acting classes, Shakespeare in the Park, covering your face, the magic of Dennis Farina, Rubicon, watching things you're in, Law & Order, buying anti-reels, Tommy Lee Jones comedy, The Fugitive, Chicago, apocalypses movies, avoiding The Road, making a book's ending darker, Mad Max, The Walking Dead, Love Boat, Hotel Malibu, J-Lo's TV career, Teen Witch, Branson, your kid having zero interest in your job, avoiding quality TV, Mad Men, Ken's contrarian nature, binging, having no patience, watching Eraserhead in Physics class, Ken getting good grades despite failing, Cookie Puss and topping that.

March 25-31, 1989 This week Ken welcomes old friend, new fan, writer (film blog www.film5000.com) and host/producer of The Brattle Film Podcast Ian Brownell. Ken and Ian discuss Siskel and Ebert, podcast heroes, movie freaks, the religion of cinema, growing up outside of New Bedford, Providence RI stations, growing up on a farm, not having cable, Evening Magazine, The Big Dan's Rape Trial, Big Pinball, The Accused, going to boarding school, Jim Henson, The Storyteller, The Jim Henson Hour, being obsessive, not being able to watch things out of order, how the magic is gone after the creator leaves, voice actors aging, A Muppet Family Christmas, only being moved to tears by television, having two VCRs, anthology shows, film directors moving to television, The Oscars, the first gay Oscars, the infamous Snow White opening, a hatred of LA, Drew Barrymore's substance abuse struggles, After School Specials, CBS Playhouse, 15 and Getting Straight, campaigning for yourself, Bob Hope's Easter Vacation in the Bahamas, Red Skies, Satan's Children, Easter, Star Trek Original Series, Ken Burns, The Golden Girls, Beyond Tomorrow, being a life long Saturday Night Life nerd, The Smithereens, Quantum Leap, It's Gary Shandling's Show, The Tracy Ulman Show, LGBQT representations on television, The Wire, Fringe, Rex Reed, Barbara Eden in Your Mother Wears Army Boots, Private Benjamin, Bonnie Hunt, how crazy it is that Ken gets to talk to and befriend his heroes, Barney Miller, Kate & Allie, Larraine Newman, Who's the Boss, Soap, Matlock, Roseanne, taping comedy specials off HBO, tornados, Anything But Love, Ann Magunson, My So-Called Life, Bess Armstrong, Barbara Walters, bad drawings of Nick Nolte, Cheers, Taxi, Friends, bad comedy, Family Ties, dumb characters, Scott Valentine, Unsolved Mysteries, how good spirited pranks make bad TV, and the legend of Dana Hersey's TV38 Movie Loft.

January 29 - February 4, 2000 This week Ken welcomes fantastic fellow New England Comedian Connor McGrath (GET HIS NEW ALBUM! "KIND, BEARDED, WEIRD" OUT NOW!) to the show. Ken and Connor discuss Vacationland, Maine, growing up in Portland, The Fine Arts "Adult Theater"/Rock Club, Chyna, Pro Wrestling, human garbage Triple H, the awful sack of pus that is Vince McMahon, Wrestlemania, The Dark Ages of American Culture (Nu Metal, Monster Energy Drinks, etc), Mankind, Mick Foley, The Rock, The Decade of Jeers, why Lemmy from Motorhead was a bad guy, celebrities being injured on film, the age of Divorce, Jerry Seinfeld creepily dating a high schooler, Pat Buchanan, Pets dot com, the dot com boom, Super Bowl Ads, Blast from the Past, Marshall Law, Arsenio Hall, Sammo Hung, pandemics, racism, ABC's TV Movie Runaway Virus, cursed objects, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake's cocaine, "Hurricane" Peter McNeeley", sports taunts, Jerry Springer, Baywatch Hawaii, Dave Holmes, Say What! Karaoke, Freaks & Geeks, James Fraco a creep, WCV vs WWF, Highlander: The Series, Homicide Life on the Street, Queen soundtracks, Tom Green Show, feeling sad for Jennifer Love Hewitt, hating Jamie Kennedy, Backbeat, Hey Arnold!, Catdog, pre-Spongebob, Talk Soup, Norm McDonald being fired from SNL, The Odd Couple starring Sherman Helmsley and Pat Morita, Billy Joel's fired band, Who's Line is it Anyway?, short form wrestling improv, Chicago Hope vs ER, AAA Luchadore Marvel tie-in wrestlers, ECW, the strange evolution of The Nashville Network, Behind the Music, E! True Hollywood Story, hanging out in Belfast Maine on PBS for an entire night and DownEast Dickering.