TV Guidance Counselor

Happy Halloween! This week Ken welcomes writer, producer, director and author of the new autobiography "Day of the Living Me" Jeff Lieberman! jeffliebermandirector.com Ken and Jeff discuss floods, the end of the world, car boats, tapping into the Zeitgeist, Squirm, Remote Control, labels, 70s horror, race in horror, talent, being an advocate for the dead, having a unique body of work (but hating that term), Keith Richards, having a voice, Phil Silvers, New York, overacting, being an editor, Janus Films, Westerns, Gayle Storm, being funny, Jeff's short film The Ringer, Who Killed Mary Westling, Red Buttons, advertising, loving 50s sci-fi, being a talented artist, drawing, cartoons, being efficient at dating girls, living in Mad Men, Streets of San Francisco, Have Gun Will Travel, Don Knotts, Steve Allen, noticing everything, being a TV kid, Popular Mechanics, meeting Pinky Lee, Jane Mansfield and her friends, Pall Mall, cigarettes, chocolate trainer cigarettes, The Danny Thomas Show, Wells Fargo, Route 66, Bus Stop, the cold reality of life, the amazing work and influence of Jean Shepard, Donald Fagan, John Lennon, Bob Newhart, loving stand up, But...Seriously, King Kong, George Burns, the incredible footage of Richard Pryor singing, Zorro, and wearing Antonio Banderas' clothes with Tippi Hedren's permission.

After a one year Apocalypses induced hiatus, TV Guidance Counselor's annual Halloween special is back! This year we welcome back, because YOU demanded it, TVGC All-Star Lamont Price (of the Lamont Price XPerience) and Walter Sickert (of the daily Bunker Buds streaming show)! Ken, Lamont and Walter discuss their favorite Halloween episodes and some underseen or under loved specials and viewing choices for Halloween 2021. These include Martin, Father Ted, Starsky and Hutch, Hunter, Clueless, Dawson's Creek, Ewoks & Droids, Benson, Growing Pains, The Simpsons and an over all love of Freddy Krueger. To hear the conversation continue check out Part 2 on Bunker Buds: and Part 3 on The Lamont Price Xperience

Today Ken welcomes shadow Ken, for Red Sox Fenway park DJ, and current all other sports DJ TJ Connelly to the show. Ken and TJ discuss neighbors trying to break in and steal your home, Miss America, Brooke Shields, Wolf Blitzer, TV news and Israel, the anti-Playboy, Virginia Slims, tar, how Nirvana killed Miami Vice, Brian Dennehy: Cult Leader, TJ's understanding of Ken's TV Guide obsession, the "& Son" craze of Cartoon reboots, CBS Saturday Morning, Muppet Babies, Pee Wee's Playhouse, Once a Hero, Pee Wee Herman on 227, The Last Starfighter, Jake and the Fatman, Mamma's Boy, the studio system, TV networks all star specials, shooting She's the Sherriff, The New Monkees, The New Gidget, Our House, George Michael's songs about Wilfred Brimley, earthquakes, Duck Tales, the almost death of Disney animation, The Emmys, removing the ridged time limit on acceptance speeches, playing the Hogan's Heroes theme, the difficultly of obtaining starting line up information, kids watching TV filmed live, Spenser for Hire, The Highwaymen, Jocko, TVT Records TV theme song compilations, ending the night with The Golden Girls theme, ALF wish fulfillment, how Sandy Duncan made ALF sexy, If It's Tuesday It STILL Must be Belgium (no relation to If It's Tuesday it Must Be Belgium), party lines, Knight Rider, water rights, the premiere of Full House, Out of Control, I Married Dora, Crime Story, Las Vegas, Cinemax, Back to School, ripping out your heart with Foster Dogs, Gary Shandling, Head of the Class, Tom Atkins in The Equalizer, the premier of A Different World, Tour of Duty, Night Court, Max Headroom, Ken being forbidden to watch 20/20, stealing talent from the playwrite world, and the mystery of how Ken and TJ never have physically crossed paths.

This week Ken welcomes, writer, director, producer, comedian and actor Pete Holmes to the show. Ken and Pete get RIGHT into it and discuss The Want Ads, the nature of AV Nerds, wanting to be the go to expert to fight monsters among your peer group, managing bands, wanting to be in the limelight but being shy, playing the bass, being a punk rock kid, how creepy dudes like comedy, Weird Al, letting Ken host his own show, loving activities that give you time away from your family, Townies, Boston trash, Cha Cha, the joke that got Pete on Conan, how pride shifts from your work to your children, the pay bump you get with a Golden Globe, being funny for free, making your talent a career, The Devil, the pain you have to go through to gain skills, how Prince was a nerd, practice, radioactive spiders, obsessiveness, hating Boston, the horror of a Red Sox hat, the Hard F Word, suffering, feeling out of place, The Unseen, needing to cleanse your brain with angry punk rock after seeing your parents, not liking The Showcase Showdown, Doc Hopper, writing letters, energy not derived from cocaine, Rancid at Avalon, remembering Waterdog, fights, being the tall guy, enjoying the scary parts of life, Harvard Square, Green Day Riot, Bad Brains, fights, front men, how jocks ruin everything, white hats, Ken stealing crowd surfers shoes, playing a song you wrote with Tim Armstrong, Pete's band Nude, the way we made friends, self help, knowing you are in control of your life, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Newbury Comics, Tower Records, making game show based prank phone calls, trick questions based on The Wizard of Oz, being ridiculed by hooligans and riff raff at the Burlington movie theater and having your brother betray you. THEN Ken gets Tripp Underwood of The Unseen on the phone to discuss Pete's love of the band, his letter writing, and to make an offer to answer all of Pete's unanswered Unseen questions.

This week Ken welcomes writer, and author of the new book Poe for your Problems: Uncommon Advice from History's Least Likely Self-Help Guru, Catherine Baab-Muguira. Ken and Cat discuss Richmond, VA, Avail, the psychic prison of High School, Edgar Allan Poe, laying claim to Poe, the Mid-Atlantic, HP Lovecraft, how Poe set the structure for horror, mystery and detective stories, why it's always an orangutan, Halloween 1996, not seeing Flashdance until you were 32, growing up in a conservative Catholic household, very strict parents, RL Stein, Christopher Pike, the loophole of novelizations, the best kids shows for 1996, Superman The Animated Series, your older sister having cool taste, going to rock shows with your Catholic priest brother, Firefighting vampires, Backdraft, MTV's Baywatch Beach House, My Bloody Valentine, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror, the weirdness of Rhode Island, pizza strips, how the songs of Sting can turn the tide on an uncomfortable made for TV movie, living in LA, Melrose Place, not visiting DC, Ken's "environmental camp" experience, skunk cabbage, the adult acting choices of The B.A.G., sleeping with teachers, ripped from the headlines, the bad season of Roseanne, AbFab, evil nannies, sexy women who are actually a tree, how children are terrifying, A Return to Salem's Lot, Sam Fuller, Townies, Molly Ringwald, explaining Gumby, taking railway journeys, full sized bars on Halloween, riding the rails with Buck Henry, Dracula Prince of Darkness, Hammer films, the Halloween ER, how "Maniac" inspired the song Maniac from Flashdance, offensive Halloween costumes due to lack of funds, GI Joes and Barbies in cars, disjointed high camp vanity productions, Johnny Carson's quiet acts of kindness, how Star Wars is over, re-watching the Office, and singing the praises of Zootopia.

This week Ken welcomes writer, director, actor, and one of Ken's most looked up to Renascence Men, John Sayles. Ken and John discuss outer space, TV as babysitter, how 1960 was far before Ken was born, late night TV, inappropriate commercials, human remote controls, the lack of choice, 30 Westerns on TV, Have Gun Will Travel, signature guns, TV theme songs, how you set the tone and mood for a story, Wanted Dead or Alive, Steve McQueen, how some actors are just cool, Ernie Kovacs, sight gags, surreal TV, The Rebel, Nick Adams wannabe status, Johnny Cash singing the theme to The Rebel, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, how The British actually really love Murder, Elmer Bernstein's theme to Johnny Staccato, John Cassavetes, west coast white jazz musicians, the Ed Sullivan Show, variety shows, Johnny Puleo and the Harmonica Gang, SCTV, The Beatles, Jackie Mason flipping off America on live TV, Peter Gunn, lack of ambiguity in television, first seeing color on TV in a baseball game, learning story structure via watching TV, Sergio Leone, being and undercover western detective for Wells Fargo, Adventures in Paradise, Ricardo Montauban, Dobie Gillis, Bob Denver as Maynard J. Krebbs, Tuesday Weld acting on TV with Warren Beatty, Archie, making your own On the Road as Route 66 with very minor changes, The Riflemen, Chuck Connors, doing your chores, TV and movies being banned from shooting in Chicago for years, The Untouchables, Crime Story, M Squad, Lee Marvin, Police Squad being influenced by M Squad's theme song, Joe Dante directing Police Squad, the best sight gags on the show, John Ford, Andy Devine's Hollywood status after Ward Bond's death, The Millionaire, dueling Bat Mastersons, being a super fan of mafia succession, how Ring Lardner in 8 Men Out was Robert Stack's voice, Robert Stack's jokes, Walter Winchell, Neville Brand, Al Capone, Friday Night Fights, The Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, how boxing was the perfect subject to air on television, Emile Griffith killing Benny Paret in the ring live on TV, The Twilight Zone, Lee Marvin in the Twilight Zone Episode Steel, Hemingway's story "50 Grand", and the oddness of TV sign offs.

This week Ken welcomes former Higsons' frontman, novelist, actor, comedian and all around UK comedy royalty Charlie Higson to the show. Ken and Charlie discuss being built for lockdown, writing books for adults again after a 25 year hiatus, the BREAKING NEWS of Charlie's new huge fantasy series for the Middle East on MBC, Randall and Hopkirk Decease, Saturday Night Live (UK), Stand up on TV, Harry Enfield, The Fast Show, catch phrases, Paul Whitehouse, the difficulty of exporting comedy, never seeing Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch, the biggest and best American sitcoms, the US tradition of late night talk shows, Craig Ferguson, Vic Reeve's Big Night Out, Vic and Bob, The Prisoner, The Avengers, the UK tradition of fantasy series, how fantasy series aren't all for kids, Doctor Who, needing to use humor for characters, translating humor to a foreign language, the beauty of working with restrictions, liking stupid comedy, classic American sitcoms, Swiss Tony, how the US likes to see people good at their job and the UK likes to see people bad at their job, Cheers, Early Doors, Peter Richardson, remaking UK shows in the US, how The Royle Family became The Kennedys, how cool characters aren't funny, all the US remakes of Fawlty Towers, how difficult it is for UK comedians to make it in the US, Ricky Gervais, English acts bombing at the Montreal Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, Vic and Bob confusing a Canadian audience, The Larry Sanders' Show, how The Muppets is the anti-Larry Sanders, The Higsons, opening for The Ramones in Chicago, touring America, and how modern tv and movie scores have abandoned "themes" and why that is a shame, Batman Theme and Robison Crusoe from Germany.

This week Ken welcomes host of the Natch Beaut podcast, and fellow Alison Rosen is Your New Best Friend pre-Apocalypse guest, Jackie Michele Johnson to the show. Ken and Jackie discuss good closets, personal space in a marriage, Sex and the City, converting to Judaism, Ken's blank spot that is 2004, the Reality TV Boom, how full hair and make up is a Texas thing, how who shot JR was technically a dream, Grey's Anatomy, multiple helicopter crashes, the tragic life and death of Anna Nicole Smith, Trim Spa Baby, being ok with spoilers if they are sad, do people in NYC dress cooler?, Dean Cain, Scott Peterson, Dean Cain's terrible facial hair disguise, central time, The Ring, horror flicks and pizza, Ernest Goes to School, MTV Cribs, finding Pimp My Ride Cars in 2021, everyone's Jaime Kennedy story, how Jennifer Love Hewett is too good for him, watching basketball, Average Joe Hawaii, LA's hot chick + mediocre guy phenomenon, Fear Factor, twins, Scare Tactics, Las Vegas, being a background actor, method background actors, Punk'd, The Terminator, Tracy Morgan: Crazy Person, 30 Rock, Ed, Gary Oldman, Sid & Nancy, How The Prisoner is the only show Alex Cox likes, The Hills, Laguna Beach, The O.C., how Blondie isn't The GoGos, debating if watching more or less of The Apprentice may have saved America, Friends, Extreme Makeover, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, visiting the set of Dawson's Creek, Joshua Jackson's hot wife and how he's a good dude, the secrets of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, The 100 Hottest Hotties of 2004, Jack Osbourne replacing Sharon, the big deal of reality show marriages, and Barry Bostwick on Scrubs.

This week Ken welcomes VCR Party Live's resident gal Friday, and the lord of Overlord, George Pasles to the show. Ken and George discuss armpit hair, Philly, on set romances, Phantasm, cigarettes, storm chasers, original art, dirt bikes, pearls and oysters, Simon & Simon, Tales from the Darkside, Monsters, commandeering televisions after being dumped by your parents in a store, knowing things from Simpsons parodies, Joanna Kerns' Olympiad sister, Janet Jackson's Lethal Enforcers arcade cab, It's Your Move, blackface on Gimme a Break, Hardcore, Murder She Wrote and sports, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, John Carpenter, getting cable post high school, Bloopers vs Boners, sexual movies, Chip on Kate & Allie, bad paste ups, Jane Badler, Covenant of Evil, Dueling Danzas, Telma Hopkins world, Hiroshima Remembered, The Wall on network TV, Riptide, writing letters to Tom Bray, having a Commodore 64, Steel Collar Man, Charles Rocket, Rock N Roll Summer Action, NBC's Thursday Night Powerhouse Lineup, Skippy and Malorie trapped in a basement, Coach's learning songs on Cheers, the connection between Webster and The Golden Child, the beauty of Buckaroo Banzai, Dukes of Hazard, Knight Rider, The A-Team, shows re-using clips, Arsenio Hall, racist former game show hosts blocking Ken on Twitter, and the WONDER of Still the Beaver.

This week Ken welcomes bassist and singer from Mission of Burma, long time Chronicle producer and personal hero Clint Conley to the show. Ken and Clint discuss the nexus of punk rock and television, finding interesting things in New England, growing up just outside NYC, having a father "in the business", grad school at BU, the interaction of the high brow and lowbrow, the arty and the boneheaded, weirdo bands, Cousin Brucie, Ed Sullivan, rock bands on TV, the importance of 1966 for Youth Culture, Batman, Gallant Men, copycat shows, Combat!, Secret Agent, The Rifleman, Man from U.N.C.L.E., plat spinning, vaudeville acts, Hollywood Palace, Boris Karlof, seeking out all the horror movies, Channel 9 and 11, Alan King, Ed Sullivan giving extra time to Sly Stone, The Rascals, Raymond Burr, fearing iron lungs and quicksand, the worthless nature of Tucker Carlson, Candid Camera, Prank Shows, Hulabaloo, Richard Pryor and George Carlin on young rock n roller John Davidson's show, My Mother the Car, Vic Morrow, the Twilight Zone disaster and E! Network's re-enactments, Eric Burden and the Animals, Gidget, band names, Night of Whirling Death, Wild Wild West, Car 54, Where Are You?, having a VCR in the 1970s, hating Lost in Space, being scared of Billy Mumy, taping Iggy Pop on Dinah Shore, the greatness of Green Acres, meeting Mary Tyler Moore, W.C. Fields tribute by his own son, The Smothers Brothers, The Amazing Randi, Johnny Carson: GOTCHA!, The 100 Foot Wave, and the greatness of Barry Jenkin's The Underground Railroad.