TV Guidance Counselor

February 2-8, 2002 This week Ken welcomes longtime friends and co-hosts of the "For Colored Nerds" podcast, Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings. Ken, Brittany and Eric discuss living in L.A. and NYC but still doing a podcast together, being a vibes person, getting married, Bernie Mac, Mac & Cheese, growing up in Memphis and the Detroit area, living in NYC, The Original Kings of Comedy, Larry Wilmore, driving around and looking at Christmas lights, why middle of the road is popular, Ken's Jimmy Fallon hate, Ken's James Corden Hate, sitcoms based on stand up acts, how 9/11 lead to a rise in reality TV and violent shows, Sex in the City, seeing Cynthia Nixon on the subway, 227, African American Actors' Roundtable, Marla Gibbs, Touched by an Angel, My Girl 1 and 2, forgetting Billy Blanks, Everclear vs Everlast, the 2002 New England Patriots Super Bowl, Sabrina, Inside the Actors Studio, Greg Kinear, the Golden Age of Celebrity Sex Tapes, Unsolved Mysteries, Sightings, The Real World New Orleans, SVU, the Steven Segal trilogy, Witchblade, Black female stand up comics in the 80s, Whoopie Goldberg, Tami Roman, Will & Grace, Gilmore Girls, how creepy "My Father the Hero" is, Shelby Woo, which Dawson's Creek cast member we think we are, That 80s Show, Charmed, Just Shoot Me, David Spade, taking the blame, Ernest Dickerson, how Tales from the Crypt Demon Knight is Jada Pinkett's best role, Porn on PBS, loving Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Mortal Kombat, Double Dragon, Space Jam, loving the (Summer) Olympics, knowing nothing about basketball, World Cup, Survivor, never taking credit for Cheers and Jeers, Brenda Strong on The Weakest Link, and Kevin Nealon's Conspiracy Zone on TNN.

This week Ken welcomes actor, producer, director and form VP of the Screen Actors Guild, Anne-Marie Johnson to the show. Ken and Anne-Marie discuss L.A. rain, droughts, growing up in L.A., being a second generation Angelino, landlines, covenants, helping others, how things are better now, Boston's weird racism and unfriendlyness, Spenser for Hire, Roots, teamster shake downs, A Man Called Hawk, In the Heat of the Night, having supportive parents, Carol Burnett, I Love Lucy, musical theater, sitcoms, Diff'rent Strokes, Double Trouble, first encounters with Scientology, High School USA, movie actors vs TV actors, social media, Robert Townsend, Hollywood Shuffle, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, What's Happening Now?, The Decline of the American Empire, representation, NBC, the era of true broadcasting, cross over stars, The Fresh Prince of Bell Air, the horror of "paint down", diversity, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Room 222, the magic of multi-cam sitcoms in front of live audiences, dating a comic, seeing yourself on TCM, watching them film Knight Rider, lying so you can interview Carol Burnett in high school, going to John Marshall High School the high school from EVERYTHING, the difficulty of being a background actor, stand ins, Dream Date, the other side of the Potsie/Paul Shore incident, being called by your character name, enjoying the anonymity of wearing masks, The Comedy Act Theater, Shriley Hemphill's advice, standing up for yourself, being a Sparkle Girl, getting fired as a tour guide at Universal Studios, Tommy Davidson, In Living Color, loving working with Jim Carrey, the brutality of the SNL model, not supporting meanness, how the problems of America are not new, access to information, being particularly proud of T.E.A.R.S: The Event Against Racism and Stereotyping, exploring the relationship between the African American Community and the LAPD as the daughter of an LAPD officer, the quality of network TV and the pathetic amounts on residual checks.

January 15-21, 1994 This week Ken welcomes Try Channel All-Star and all around fine Irish humor machine Damon Blake to the show. Ken and Damon discuss Ken and Damon's terrorization by Ed Sheeran, moving around a lot, whatever the Hell the deal is with Boston, living in Texas, how nobody in Ireland actually wears crosses, how social media is like homework, not watching your friends Social Media, how Ken is a fraud, being the Mind Hunter of Heterosexuality, FTD playing Dr with a Cock mug, Avery Brooks, Star Trek, being sponsored by Vaseline, Ken's punk rock days, getting in fights with neo-Nazis, Japanese shows, Documental, the kung fu of comedy, Bruce Campbell, Briscoe County Jr, Jack of All Trades, having a stack of things to watch, TekWar, the nature of fame today, sex cults, misdirection, Patrick Stewart's Days of Future Past PRE-X-MEN, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Tom Arnold, the Tom vs Roseanne public battles, The "Who's Jackie?" story, Joss Whedon, Comic Relief (USA), the aversion to violence young people have, how right wingers are not funny, awful audiences, Baywatch, The George Carlin Show, being in debt to mobsters, VR Ken Reid, Sam Raimi, staying up all night, Late Night talk shows, Spock, Irish TV, The John Laroquette Show, Dan Harmon, State Run TV, Irish people doing impressions of other Irish people, Bonecrushers, Voyager, Ken's New England Patriots connection to Putin, how all shows should end either in a time loop or a snow globe, Dellamorte Dellamore (aka Cemetery Man), Rescue 911, severe burns, the Fraiser 9-11 conspiracy, Rolling Thunder, Tommy Lee Jones, Grace Under Fire, Sex Killers using Sex as a Weapon, The X-Files, Irish guilt, Rawhead Rex, use of the word "suck" on TV, Ken's mother's favorite swear, sending the podcast into space, Shatz PA, and getting a dick cut off.

April 13-19, 2009 This week Ken welcomes actor (The Fairly Odd Parents: Fairly Odder on Paramount+, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries), Shipwrecked Comedy member, producer, writer and natural blonde Mary Kate Wiles to the show. Ken and Mary Kate discuss growing up in Arkansas, being in the closet, living in Los Angeles, second choices, being engaged to somebody from Marblehead, how 2009 feels like yesterday, Amy Poehler, Parks and Rec, living in the sticks, when cool stuff comes to your hometown after you leave, culture shock, how small the world is now, watching stuff with your Mom growing up, being a PBS only kid by edict, missing Nicktoons, Sex and the City, Bones, faking it with novelizations, from blonde to redhead to blonde, all the weddings on TV, Scrubs, things Ken has never seen, The Office, American Idol, TV Guide's Sexiest Stars Party, celebrity weight loss, Surviving Suburbia with Bob Saget, Model Behavior, cooking shows, America's Next Top Model, weird reality show challenges, Hell's Kitchen, Gordon Ramsey, Will and Grace, Lost, Ken's constant and annoying recommendations of Fringe, The Middle, how Lord of the Rings inspired Mary Kate to act, having your body scanned to be in Grand Theft Auto V, Halloweentown, super weird creepy Prayer Crosses, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Just the Ten of Us, Ken's thoughts on Wandavision, the MCU, Toy Biz, Forgotten Silver, not recommending Meet the Feebles to a LOTR Peter Jackson Fan, pageants, and how bizarre TV Land's "The Cougar" was.

August 28 - September 3, 1993 This week Ken welcomes film critic, screen writer and all around movie oracle Drew McWeeny to the show. Ken and Drew discuss Ken's shock that people listen to the show, 1993, the Late Night Wars, moving to LA, going to an Arsenio taping, loving Letterman, the beauty of late night TV, Tom Snyder, being terrified by the Son of Sam, watching TV late at night, SVHS, getting a snapshot of a time and place, being heavily into laserdiscs, Ken Crane, what The Grimace's Second Wife watches, 227, spin offs, the beauty of YouTube, Dick Cavett, Ken's dislike of Leno, Mike Nesmith's Television Parts, It's Gary Shandling's Show, the shock of Letterman not getting The Tonight Show, Leno screwing over Conan, the magic of panels, closed captioning, how bad they still are, the writer's strike, The "New" Mission Impossible, developing an MST3k Habit, rent-a-friend, Dream On, Tales from the Crypt, Body Bags, John Carpenter, Mick Garris, Ken's love of The Real World, SNL, loving late night pay cable in the 80s and 90s, USA Up All Night, The Creature Feature Movie Guide, TV Guide 2 star movies, the debut of Nickelodeon's SNICK, why animators were the best kinds of nerds, Ren & Stimpy, Bruce Campbell, Briscoe County Jr., 120 Minutes, The MTV Music Video Awards, The MTV Movie Awards, getting fired from being a tour guide at Universal Studios, MTV Week in Rock, Roseanne, the sad decline of Tobe Hooper, Invaders from Mars, Stephen King's Sleepwalkers, The Larry Sanders Show, Tall Hopes, The John Larroquette Show, loving The X-Files even though it's not on yet, Bonnie Hunt's The Building, Bob, Eye Witness Video, how important music videos were, knowing the directors, and how much the world has changed.

May 15-21, 1982 This week Ken welcomes old friend, and man behind the new comedy album "Midnight Oil", Jono Zalay. Ken and Jono discuss when Jono lives in Boston, his PhD, surfboards, how Jono is a California guy, Marco Polo, hair, An American Family, TV the week Jono was born, Divorced Dad technology circa 1982, how much video recorders were, projection TVs, the fourth branch of government, how politics becoming entertainment is bad for us all, The Diceman, Gerri Jewell, our first stand up shows as an audience member, self deprecating roast jokes, Jono's heavy drinking, Marsha Warfield, Starship Trooper, Rollerball, Harold and Maude, Love Boat, mini-series, television events, Alice, Spaghetti Westerns, TV budgets, getting hooked on soaps, Puff the Magic Dragon, Australian Rules Football, the horror of submarines, depressing TV movies, Country Emotions, immediate gratification, Nick Nolte, the plague of hypnosis, the Red Chinese, Hawaii, getting Japanese history wrong, Aliens, Ken recommending Fringe again, Barney Miller, sitcom books, James Garner, Lilly Tomlin specials, punk rock scare media, Jodie Foster, teen pimps, Captain Kirk the other one, the world's most incredible Maxipad ad, and the magic that is David Horowitz's FIGHT BACK!

After more than 8 years of doing the show Ken finally speaks to a beloved member of the SCTV cast as he welcomes, writer, producer, actor, and director, Dave Thomas to the show. Ken and Dave discuss growing up in Durham, NC in the 1950s despite being Canadian, Tex and Edna Boyle's Organ Emporium, giving away free pets with purchases, buying cowboy guns and becoming an arms dealer in the eyes of the Canadian government, working in Radio, Rick Moranis, Westerns, TV theme songs, the explosion of advertising jingles, working for the college newspaper, the Godspell production that changed comedy forever, running the Coca-Cola account, King of Kensington, Second City, SCTV, going to college with Doug Henning, CBC Radio, Tim Conway, writing jingles, leaving a high paying job for a career in the arts, working in ads, selling TV shows, Harvey K-Tel, SCTV Network 90, being the head writer, careers from match books, Brandon Tartikof, the birth of Bob and Doug McKenzie, three minute segments, anonymous writers, John Candy, producing your own wrap arounds, realizing what people can do and encouraging it, the secret of SCTV's parodies, impressions of Spielberg, getting a letter from Spielberg, getting pushed by Richard Harris, directing "The Experts", B-Men, unkillable bikers, stunts, his new book The Many Lives of Jimmy Leighton and how everything is bullshit in the best way.

March 31- April 6, 1979 This week Ken welcomes the man behind the Pop Arena YouTube Channel and the force behind Nick Knacks, Greg Stevens to the show. Ken and Greg discuss Idaho, the I states, growing up in CA but moving to the midwest, the birth of Nickelodeon, MTV, the cutthroat nature of the cable business in the 1970s, cigarettes, shared experience, the 80s and 90s boom of VCR driven television preservation, the lost media of the 21st Century, prescient and haunting articles about Robin Williams on Mork and Mindy, the news, After School Specials, The Baby with Four Fathers, Filmation Live Action, Roller Derby, Saturday Mornings, Hollywood Teen, how the Bad News Bears TV series is the best Bad News Bears, LA's Channel 18 KSCI owned by The transcendental Medication Movement, positive programming, Dynaman, Night Flight, hatred of 80s teen comedies, Delta House, love boat, Easter programming, Kraft Food Hints, demon fruit plates, Space Junk Yard Men looking for scrap, Andy Griffith, Conversations with Charlie Lutes, WKRP, the mystery of "Slim Skins", Cliffhangers, Dracula, offensive pulp images, Taxi, Disney Cartoons, Lucha Libre, Police Woman, Night Gallery, Dear Detective and how Mr. Wizard shows you how to make giant turtles attack people.

June 13-19, 1992 This week Ken welcomes the "Mike" of the Adventures of Danny and Mike and the "Big" of The Adventures of Pete and Pete himself, Michael C. Maronna. Ken and Mike discuss Italian foods, mutual love of seltzer, Galco's Soda Pop Stop, Yelp Reviews, adult businesses, assimilation, movies with popular soundtracks and eh movies, Judgement Night, The Bodyguard, The Bill Chill, SFW, SLC Punk, Frankenguitars, a love of solder, Nebraska, Los Punks: The Documentary, the music on Pete and Pete, Boston, MTV, Nickelodeon, Katherine Dieckmann, Kate Peirson, LL Cool J, Iggy Pop, King Kongs made of Legos, Hawaiian Punch, toilet paper commercials, being IN the TV Guide you picked, Bob Saget, single Dads, divorced Dads, Wayne's World, Repo Man, our punk rock awakening, What Reba watches, the name "Narvel", creepy LA Gear commercials, British Knights, Space Camp, Double Dare, how John Madden would be the pitch man for just about anything, Dream On, Lorenzo Lamas hosting Evening at the Improv, Quantum Leap, reality TV, Morton Downey Jr, The A-Team, the Gilmore Girls spin off that never happened, the Pete and Pete finale, Mickey Rooney, The Hollywood Museum, correcting people on the name of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Ed O'Neil, The French Connection, To Live and Die in LA, The Choice Hotels International Special Presentation of Batman Returns: The Bat, The Cat and the Penguin hosted by Robert Urich, Jason Priestly, "Teen Priest", the weirdest episode ever of Drexel's Class, The Driver, how weird Bruce Dern can be, The Home Alone reunion, the secret origins of Snow Day, Chris Koch, the Sony Watchman, Swamp Thing, roller skating parties, not ever roller blading despite your character being fingered for a murder due to roller blading, the helmet panic, what to show your kids, moving from in front of the camera to behind it and vice versa, and paying Thundercats forward.

This week Ken welcomes writer, director and former Mr. Belvedere actor Rob Stone to the show. Ken and Rob discuss how Ken has now had all THREE actors who played the kids on Mr. Belvedere on the show, Rob growing up in Dallas Texas, loving movies growing up, feeling a million miles away from the Entertainment industry, working in theater, not growing up in the business, wanting to be a stunt man, directing part I of the Mr. Belvedere finale, the family atmosphere on set, Bob Uker, the strange origins of Mr. Belvedere, Noam Pitlik, writing and directing short films, being fascinated with the behind the scenes. documentary films, The Blue Angels, going to USC, Very Special Episodes, doing a play every week, Facts of Life, 21 Jump Street, meeting guest stars, mid-season replacements, Jason Priestly, realizing later how important very special episodes were to the culture, having communal experiences, how the internet allows your kids to watch your most embarrassing moments, The Revenge of the Nerds pilot, Robbie Rist, Kay Lenz, The Infinity War of Sitcoms- Crash Course, BD Wong, one of the few things Rob didn't have to audition for, loving Family Ties, IMAX, the improving technology of filmmaking, how documentaries have become very mainstream, Filmmakers Journey, George Stevens, The Who in concert, being a drummer, Midnight Movies, The Sidewalk Motel, Max Weinberg, getting Bruce Springsteen to donate a song to you, filming in the same studio as It's Gary Shandling's Show!, Dolly Parton's variety show, loving Henry Winkler, THE urban legend or not Mr. Belvedere question, having Doug Benson as a roommate and beating Lorenzo Lamas during the Battle of the Network Stars.