TV Guidance Counselor

April 5-11, 1997 This week Ken welcomes , Curator of Comics and Cartoon Art, and Associate Professor, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and co-host of the Found Footage Festival's Shaterday Morning Cartoons, Caitlin McGurk. Ken and Caitlin discuss being a transplanted New Yorker, calling from Ohio, living in a small town, Ken's near death experience in Vermont, growing up on Long Island, never going into "the city", the danger of the big city, Commack LI, Rosie O'Donnell and Bob Costas being famous alum of your High School, The Muppets, going to a taping of Rosie's talk show, Another Stakeout, losing your mom at a young age, the importance of representation, next door neighbors having an amusement park in their back yard, childhood injuries, Jon Stewart's ill fated talk show, SNICK, Kablam!, Nickelodeon magazine, underground cartoonists, Liquid Television, Southern Fried Fugitives, collecting comic book cards as a kid, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, The Tick, black boxes, watching alien pornography by accident, The X-Files, Killer Garage Doors, Unsolved Mysteries, Ticketmaster, Ken's hot inside tip for buying concert tickets in the 1990s, cable access teaching Ken the difference between hardcore and softcore sex, Unsolved Mysteries Haunted Bunk Bed, Cropsey, urban legends, Biodome, Pauly Shore, the hidden evil behind Biosphere II, Dana Carvey and how his comedy special was EVERYTHING, loving Mimi on Drew Carey, the tragic loss of Phil Hartman, newsradio, when John Lovitz was a jerk to Ken, learning from ER, generational obsession with Topanga, TGIF, TV Guide's vocabulary, the Hunchback lawsuit, sad kids telling Oprah sad stories about being sad, and how The Adventures of Pete and Pete is the greatest TV show of all time.

July 23 - August 5, 2007 This week Ken welcomes old friend, animation writer Marly Halpern-Graser back to the show. Ken and Marly discuss the last time he was on the show, SEVEN years ago, Marly's new MCU podcast with his brother, Thai food, Ken and Marly's tradition of getting Italian food in L.A., the influence of Sleeping Beauty on Italian Horror films, Aquaman, how much people get paid in Hollywood, pitching shows, when Marly first moved to L.A., Heroes, Lost, the 2007 Sci-Fi TV boom, I Hate My 30s, VH1's original programming, BBC America showing Star Trek, Doctor Who, getting into Tom Baker, how Ken was the "put together" stand up in the 00s, Zebro, Chocolate Cake City, making online content in the early days of the internet, Shark Week, Snakes on a Plane, Back to the Future/Brokeback Mountain mashups, San Diego Comic Con, Emerson College, Kevin Bright, Hulu, how much it costs to set somebody on fire, making Nazis the heroes, The Gifted, watch parties, the weird sad end of Stan Lee, the mystery of why Ken has never been on the Warner Bros lot, Loonatics, Legion of Superheroes, The Batman, living in an apartment building for child actors, being more open minded about TV, Ken re-writing the New Mutants movie, Siskel & Ebert, confusing Batman '89 and Batman '66, Ken never watching the Jon Stewart era of The Daily Show, Steven Segal movies, when Jeremy Piven got punched in the dick at a comedy club in Boston, why videos of bad people getting hurt are always funny, the grape stomping news blooper, when Superboy fought Spider-Man, The Greatest Open Mic in the History of the World, Right Now Kapow, feeling thrilled and then instantly embarrassed when Graham Linehan gave you a compliment, Buckaroo Banzai, how there are five new Spongebobs this week, Code Monkeys, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, The Naked Brothers Band, real life superheroes, The Simpsons, MoreMAX, HBO II, Entourage, Flight of the Conchords, how hard Joey failed, and how Ken is probably responsible for The Mighty Boosh airing on Adult Swim.

January 20-26, 1996 This week Ken welcomes former Boston, now L.A., based comic and fellow comic book lover Jeff May to the show. Ken and Jeff discuss technology, selling your soul, Wizard of Bard, long sleeve vs. short sleeve shirts, sweat shirts, weird bodies, Blast from the Past, comic book stores, buying TV Guides, Burbank, That's Entertainment, Sci-Fi Issues, sports and fantasy, Shatner as Michael Meyers mask, Arizona, the weirdness of time zones, Mountain Time, space station astronauts doing Tim Allen's grunt, Galaxy Quest, Tony Robbins, Leeza Gibbons fake infomercial, Robocop, not believing in ghosts, Celebrity Horroscope, giant soda, Diet Rite Chocolate Soda, Delta Burke, Polar Seltzer, Worcester MA, SNICK, Mary Tona-Cocaine, Table Talk Pies, Frozen Pizza, The Golden Globes, Weird Science the TV series, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, hating Dean Caine, The Adventures of Lois and Clark, bootleg grandma VHS, Renaissance Man being two stars, The Babysitter's Seduction, Collector's Plates, Dr. Crusher slapping your ass, BMG mail fraud, The Drew Carey Show, Montell Williams, Nowhere Man, It Could Happen to You, The Valley, Mario Van Peebles, hating friends, how offensive Ferengi are, Star Trek, appreciating Data, Tank Girl, pre-2000s Comic Book movies, the Punish with Dolph Lundgren bootleg, Judge Dredd, Demolition Man, Lucy Lawless vs Kevin Sorbo, terrible comics in Boston who continue to get booked, transphobia, Ken writing for Richard Roundtree, the Cheers Robots, using antennas, TBS, network TV, The Jeff Has Cool Friends Podcast, California Dreams, Thomas Dolby, cell phone ring tones, Nokia, and the mystery of Huey Lewis and The News.

January 18 - 24, 1986 This week Ken welcomes the man behind the Toy Galaxy YouTube empire and fellow pop culture obsessed New Englander Dan Larson to the show. Ken and Dan discuss how you can never leave New England, Night Court, NBC, Ken's broken Toaster Oven/TV Week theory, original artwork, Hulked out Teletubbies, How TV doesn't rot children's minds, the pitfalls and negatives of The Internet, IS IT CANON!?, Jim Henson, finding out that Piggy and Kermit are not actually married, A Muppet Family Christmas, Cigarette Ads, how Sprocket's owner is different in every country, The Temptations and sort of the Temptations, treating her like a lady, Bill Buckner, Red Sox Mascots, The San Diego Chicken, Gimme a Break, The Facts of Life, Stand Up Comedy, talent scouts, why America is too young to die, The Twilight Zone, Love Boat, Cherie being trapped in the refrigerator, not knowing CPT, teen pregnancies on Silver Spoons, pretending to be married in High School, Erin Grey, Amazing Stories, Tron with a gun, David Horowitz FIGHT BACK!, being held at gunpoint live on TV, The Prince of Bel-Air, short shorts, Mark Harmon, Club Med: The Movie, taping things, The Muppets A Celebration of 30 Years, A-Team, Moonlighting, Spenser for Hire, Amish people, MacGuyver, being a fan of old airplanes, avoiding Hot Air Balloons, Stewart Pankin, Not Necessarily The News, Rescue 911, Divorce Court, Cosby Show, why Cheers and the Cheers-verse is the greatest ever, Wesley's Friend, AIDS on TV, kidnapping Danny Cooksey on Diff'rent Strokes, Simon LeBon in the deep blue sea and why all magicians are EVIL.

October 2-8, 1999 This week Ken welcomes BACK to the show, one half of the Junkfood Cinema and Replay Per View podcasts Brian Salisbury. Ken and Brian discuss doing it backwards, going remote, selling shows, Videodrome becoming TV, The Red Sox, Pedro Martinez, growing up in Indiana and being regional free agent, growing up in Boston not a Boston Sports fan, the 1986 World Series, how Ken sometimes doesn't care, Dan Duquette, Mitt Romney's bathroom habits, sexing up Melissa Joan Hart, Melissa Ethridge's Glamor Shots, Shasta McNasty, Homeboys in Outer Space, UPN, people who secretly have more than one family, Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, Dark Horse Comics, Double Dragon, Halloween H20, Pay Per View movies, the weird era of the internet, Ken's love of Ruby Wax, Cops, Relic Hunter, 1:30 am advertising, The Outer Limits, The Simpsons, Futurama, Celebrity Death Match, H..E..Double Hockey Sticks!, how annoying it is to hear Ken drop names of former guests, WWE, the worst era of graphic design ever, Ladies Man, CBS Monday Night Comedy, Canadian shot Sci-Fi series, Cindy Margolis, Vern Troyer, Red Dwarf, Ken listening to WMFO 91.5 for the Industrial music show "Goddamn Governed by Electronics", Doctor Who, Scream, Kevin Williamson, Dirty Work, Norm, funny adult film titles, Drew Carey, Dark Skies, Roswell, WHERE'S ROSWELL?, Who's Line Is It Anyway?, Tourette's, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, MaxX (Maximum Exposure), Mission Hill, Dinner and a Movie, a full Cheers about Emmy's, Jeers within Jeers and Brian's personal Jeer to Ken for making him remember MTV's Say What Karaoke.

February 20-26, 1993 This week Ken welcomes novelist, screen writer and all around cool human being Bridget Tyler to the show. Ken and Bridget discuss being safe at home, the boring Apocalypses, going on vacation with children, parenting in the age of streaming, the later seasons of sitcoms and how weird they get, if it's better or worse to be a parent now, telling time via TV, dopamine hits, object permanence, not caring about your parents' jobs, the greatness of Jane Seymour, awful visual puns, Hollywood's continued underestimation of Women, how much the job of critics has changed, cigarettes, what is sexy in 1993, the issues with period pieces, going to school in London, bombed out buildings, NYU, how having no rules can make things uninteresting, drinking a lot in the 1930s, Dr. Quinn, All Creatures Great and Small, Mad About You, having a good reason to do a sequel series, growing up in Orchard Country, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, getting cable, Berkeley CA, banned 1980s cartoons, Jonathan Frakes, Deep Space Nine, Blossom, The Fresh Prince, writing on Burn Notice, Star Wars, being in Miami, being a novelist, writing novels vs screenplays, how an actor sometimes knows their character better than anyone else, The Jackie Thomas Show, when TV was an art form, Lost vs Battlestar Galactica, Fringe, watching a show wind down when it knows its ending, X-Files, Lore vs Monster of the Week, Seinfeld, Matt Nix, having a "NO" person, cringe comedy, In Living Color, Men on Film, Fox's early identity, hating Dinosaurs, Paul Riser as an actor, Aliens, all Cindy all the time, Dennis Leary, 1995's Fair Game, knowing your limitations, the horrors of 24/7 news cycles, and Barbara Walters' "We're in Touch and so You're in Touch" sign off.

I left the house! I talked to some people in person last weekend at North East Comic Con! Here's a great chat I had with John Wesley Shipp (Flash(s), Dawson's Creek) and Nicole Kang (Batwoman, You) Enjoy!

This week Ken welcomes Twin Peaks actor Amy Shiels to the show. Ken and Amy discuss how Ken is hanging in there the best he can, how Ken and Amy like wearing masks, how the Irish dress inappropriately for weather, living in L.A., rain gear, people who wear shorts in the Winter, how Amy is old fashioned romantically, never watching Fair City despite all your friends being in it, how so many thing shoot in Ireland now, Scandy Noir, recognizing Stately Homes on TV, loving acting for the work itself, the National Treasure that is the Late Late Toy Show, scoring tickets to the Late Late Toy Show, living the Pretty Woman life, having three American breakfasts every day, how NY is a cruel place, going to the wrong kind of premiere, Father Ted, Air Lingus pilots, Pop Culture Black Holes, Friends, Dawson's Creek, forgetting your headshots, auditions, how Ken has good luck, absolutely loving Korean television, My Mr, Amy's dog Sonny Jim, Mexican Narcos dramas, The Dark Crystal, loving the Muppets, "Kermie", Fraggle Rock, Twin Peaks, David Lynch, hating having to wait for a show every week, getting used to binging, Gone With the Wind, Yellowjackets, Yellowstone, how Highlander is the reason Amy became an actor, making your own edged weapons, Dynasty, working with your heroes, being the kind of person who always asks questions, doing voices for video games, violence on TV, people personally oversharing about a genre and the future.

March 30-April 5, 2002 This week Ken welcomes writer and host of the new Seventeen podcast Laura Leigh Abby to the show. Ken and Laura discuss The Hudson Valley, growing up just outside of a major city, Manhattan, before the CW Revolution, the weird early '00s gross out teen sexy comedy film cycle, Reality TV, growing out of the Real World, Celine Dion, how Las Vegas isn't a family place, The Got Milk ads, Hanson, posters on your wall, Andre Agassi, the grossness of the Olson Twins "countdown", how former child stars with money always become "fashion designers", low rise and beige, the awful fashion and design of the early '00s, when Ken was too cool for Varsity Blues, The Program, how horribly embarrassing being a teenager is, carrying cards with numbers, awful catch phrases, The Weakest Link, The Osbournes, Jack Osbourne, Paris HIlton, sex tapes, The World's Greatest Tortellini, Ken eating whole pies, The Bodyguard, Whitney Houston, That '70s Show, the UK version of That '70s Show, 9/11 movies, ripped from the headlines, Patriot's Day, Ken's beef with Marky Mark, Robinhood Men in Tights, Felicity, Emerson College, The Combat Zone, The W Hotel, wanting to hate somebody who is nice, The Office, Behind the Music, Family Feud, made up surveys, Kens stealing beer and selling it back to kids scam, Ken's detailed recount of Daisy Fuentes' current life, Six Feet Under, Tom Arnold, and revisiting suppressed memories.