TV Guidance Counselor

This week Ken welcomes author of the indispensable book If You Haven't Seen It, It's New to You (as J. John Aquino) Jim Aquino. Ken and Jim discuss blogs, accidental Star Trek cosplay, The Bay Area, Voyager, Deep Space Nine, Ken's brief meeting with Kate Mulgrew, having three Spocks, crying on panels, back stage drama, creepy lighter mascots, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Small Wonder, Batman the Animated Series, not having Cartoon Network or Sci-Fi Channel, the annoying phenomenon of streaming services splitting seasons of a series, Benson, Quinn Martin, The Fugitive formula, reboots starring dogs, Revenge of the Nerds, Big John Little John, failed TV pilots based on movies, Aaron Slick from Punkin Chick, ReBoot, The Tick, lame catch phrases, Public Enemy, Soul Train, Stevie B, Brownstone, BET, Video Soul, My Best Friend's a Vampire, Baywatch Nights, Vanishing Son, martial arts, depictions of Asian Americans on TV, choreography, Leonard Nimoy, Donnie Yen, The Comish, Devon Odessa, My So-Called Life, In Living Color, and only getting through Saturday.

This week Ken welcome author of the new book on Nickelodeon in the '90s (and the old book The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Twelve Classic Episodes and the Movies They Lampoon) Chris Morgan. Ken and Chris discuss growing up in Detroit, being very unsuccessful, failing in L.A., Kid Rock, Comedy Channel, early cable networks, Canadian content, Fifteen, Welcome Freshman, Cousin Skeeter, My Brother and Me, Alex Mack, Shelby Woo, how bad My Brother and Me was, Third Rock from the Sun, 10 Things I Hate About You, Alanis Morrisette, Moesha books, Rugrats, Halloween, All That!, teenage HIV suicide pact Summer camps on Touched by an Angel, Thora Birch, Munsters, Chevy Chase, Pop up Video, VH1, WCW, WWF, Hulk Hogan in Assault on Devil's Island, Beavis and Butthead, Drew Carey, The Flintstones, Ken's love of Caddyshack II, Seinfeld, Rock n Jock, Bob Ballaban Baseball, Bike Blades and Boards, Saved by the Bell, Tori, the last year of Trick or Treating, Family Matters, Stevil, Rocky Horror Picture Show, the history of Frankenstein, screams from your closet, Karate Fighters toys and how Slappy from Goosebumps is a great interview.

This week Ken welcomes co-creator of Sleepy Hollow and co-host of Podcast like it's 1999 Phil Iscove to the show. Ken and Phil discuss escaping the North East, growing up in Toronto, CTV, ER, The George Clooney narrative, people the Networks Love, Felicity, Owen Wilson, The Minus Man, Janeane Garofalo, Clay Pigeons, the 90s low point of SNL, bad 90s suits, Swingers, film festivals, indie movies, horror films, Eric Lasalle, Anthony Edwards, gore on TV, Michael Crichton, pulp, being the Stephen King of medical fiction, West World, Spielberg, Disclosure, evergreen genres, why latex gloves are the hardest park of medical acting, USA Network, 1999, grids, Awards Season, Blue Collar Shows, Werewolf, the early days of Fox, Married...with Children, why simple premises are best, The Simpsons, Fish Police, Melrose Place, why apartments are every writer's dream, The WB, high school years, UPN having no identity, Beavis and Butthead, wish fulfillment, Ren & Stimpy, Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, Chicago Hope, Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story starring Patsy Kensit, tactical werewolves in Full Eclipse, Tim Daly, Beverly Hills 90210 and the Flaming Lips, having your favorite band on your show, Ken's weird phone, Bjork, John Noble, hierarchy of fandom, one Great White Shark, Antonio Sabato Jr hosting The Hunt for Amazing Treasures, The X-Files, Sightings, the difficulty of juggling serialization and episodic stories, having no plan, and Chuck Connors as a werewolf sea captain with a pipe.

This week Ken welcomes Kliph Nesteroff back to the show to discuss his new book "We Had a Little Real Estate Problem", in addition Ken welcomes one of the subjects of the book, Native American comedian Jon Roberts. Ken, Kliph and Jon discuss Dave Evans, Will Rogers, Native American representation in media, Musso Frank, Red Lake Nation, scaring your own kids, never meeting a man you didn't like, Wrestling, having very limited channels, Eddie Murphy, Dukes of Hazard, I Love Lucy, Seinfeld, stereotypes, Canada's Residential Schools, Rutherford Falls, journalism, Roseanne, Dennis Wolfberg, stand up on TV, age appropriate comedy, how hard life is on a reservation, being isolated, the wide variety of native comedy, Buddy Bigmountain, Westerns, casinos, new cliches, how eye opening seeing somebody get laughs can be, racist Boston, dehumanizing, colonialism, coping with tragedy through humor, Thanksgiving, Elizabeth Warren, Charlie Hill, Pow wows, weird old man shows, Mad About You, GI Joe, Refrigerator Perry, being inspired by Hulk Hogan, and the importance of representation.

This week Ken welcomes actor (The New Gidget, The Bradys) Caryn Richman to the show. Ken and Caryn discuss their failed attempts to do the show in person over the years, Gidget, The Bradys, 1966, growing up in Long Island, going to High School with Joey Buttafuoco, being in Grease in Broadway, the age you're stuck at, embracing your age, playing sweet and wholesome, how hard sitcom acting is, breaking the fourth wall on Gidget, the wave of "New" shows in the 80s, The Bradys, dramatic reboots of comedies, Gilligan's Island, I Dream of Jeanie, Donna Reed, Wandavision, Lawrence Welk, Ed Sullivan, The Wonderful World of Disney, the Saturday Night Movie, seeing Broadway shows, being in a singing group, Tuxedo Junction, Dance Fever, Hollywood Squares, what impressed your parents, Win, Lose or Draw, Soaps, the weirdness of having understudies on television, The Young and the Restless, Batman '66, wiping tapes, lost shows, Encyclopedias, the public library, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, having Patty Duke's father, the greatness of The Hollywood Museum, Dawn Wells, music rights, Kathy Zuckerman, The Hollywood Christmas Parade, meeting Jimmy Stewart, why you really shouldn't meet your heroes sometimes, Bewitched, The Smothers Brothers and the "scary and spies" craze of the 1960s.

Today Ken welcomes RTE broadcaster, Dublin resident and Try Channel Allstar Callyann Brennan to the show. Ken and Callyann discuss being exciting, being in the future, middle child syndrome, how twins count as one person, the beauty of VHS tapes, Saved by the Bell, visiting NYC, J-Lo's booty bench from Maid in Manhattan, taking a solo horse carriage ride in Central Park, cannolis, Los Angeles, Ice Cream Trucks, Seth McFarlane's albums, The Big Big Movie, Jaws, Orcas, Whale Watches, Free Willy, RTE, darts, Snooker, Sunday TV, growing up with a father who tests ice cream flavors, immunity from brain freeze, keeping the ocean for yourself, Father Ted, The Nanny, Made for-TV Movies, Fair City, being on the soaps, things looking bigger on TV, Home and Away, covering everything in gravy, Neighbors, Dads getting into soaps, understanding Friends, how Seinfeld didn't do anything in Ireland, Baywatch, OJ's "If I Did It", the greatness of Judge Judy and how Friday in Ireland is all about The Late Late Show.

In this BONUS! episode Ken welcomes artist, writer and creator of Hellboy, the one and only Mike Mignola to the show. Ken and Mike discuss doing homework for interviews, television moments that burn into your brain, the early 1970s, talking about TV in the schoolyard, TV movies, Sole Survivor, when VCRs were sci-fi, remembering everything, never seeing things again, setting your alarm to watch a movie in the middle of the night, Frankenstein vs the Wolfman, Bride of Frankenstein, being starved for monsters, The Munsters, The Adams Family, not getting UHF stations, 1970s Monster Movie Books, being a big reader, Dracula, Creature Features, The Evil of Frankenstein, adapting Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula for comics, hoarding images, having a New England/England aesthetic and being a California guy, Lovecraft, the sadness of horror, Ghosts in a Toys R Us, The Fog, Dead and Buried, Chariots of the Gods, emotional impact of Batman '66, Channel 2, Dark Shadows, heads in boxes, Werewolves, curses, The Vulture (1966), being a physical media die hard, asking Stephen King and Guillermo Del Toro to solve the mystery of The Attack of the Puppet People, being a KISS and The Partridge Family Fan, Jenny Agutter, Jack Kirby, being a Marvel fan, The Thing, the lack of imagination of Hollywood, why money shouldn't drive creative endeavors, character moments, how Terminator 2 meant movies could do anything, the lack of superhero stuff in the 1970s, the 1960s Marvel Superheroes cartoon, Captain Satellite, feeling soothed by Boris Karloff's voice, film noir, Vera, loving British Murder Mystery shows, Jim Thompson, hating cross-over large universe wide events, the constant reboot of comics, forcing people to buy comics they don't want, Dark Night of the Scarecrow, Gargoyles, Trilogy of Terror, running into Harlan Ellison, and the Dark Shadows/Partridge Family shared universe.

This week Ken welcomes comedian, haver on impeccable musical taste, travel writer, and UK Television personality Dom Joly. Ken and Dom discuss The Cotswolds, 1990, 70s TV, growing up in Lebanon, French and Arabic subtitles, Benny Hill, Eight is Enough, visa schemes, Dom' Joly's Excellent Adventure, Happy Hour, The Hezbollah Hiking Club, scripted reality shows, 90 Day Fiance, Below Deck, ad libbing, showcasing beautiful places, being arrested in Syria, Mr. Bean, going to school with Osama Bin Laden, sweeps week, assassinations, JFK, Elvis, Racquet Ball, getting never told no, Alice Cooper fighting Elvis with a gun, the greatness of The Sound and Adrian Borland, how The Sound is Ken and Dom's band, Twitch channels, stumbling upon things, The Young Ones, Mad Men is a show about assholes, COPS, Imperialism, Empire building, WWII, The World at War, Hiroshima, chaos, the random nature of living, conspiracy theories, America's Most Wanted, bad recreations, The Death of the Incredible Hulk, Alien Nation, The Wonder Years, Vietnam, "Better Red than Dead Week", The Woman in Red, Moonlighting, Trigger Happy TV, living next door to Miss Moneypenny, Night Life, and why Heathers is the greatest film of the 1980s.

This week Ken welcomes actor and all around great human Catherine Mary Stewart (Night of the Comet, Weekend at Bernies, The Apple) to the show. Ken and Catherine discuss snow, generational genital snow art, TV in the UK, sheep hearing championships on television, ITV, studying dance, growing up in Canada, The Apple, traveling to East Berlin, having older brothers, growing up in academia, dangerous winter sports, traveling the world, TV Guide ads, mis-identifying Roger Ebert, Judy LaMarche, sneaking the soaps, being on soaps, Days of our Lives, Knight Rider, how hard it is to memorize things, The Last Starfighter, being the girl next door, Hollywood Wives, CGI, moving from TV acting to movie acting, watching your work alone, being self conscious, Robert Beltran, Eating Raoul, Mary Woronov, Night of the Comet, star quality, The Beachcombers, indie studios, Canadian Government Film subsidies, Telefilm, Mr. Dressup, The Friendly Giant, The Hardy Boys, going on a date with Parker Stevenson, All in the Family, naivete, singing, foreign films, The Man from Atlantis, wanting to go offline, Larry Holmes boxing, SCTV, Reach for the Top, living in Las Vegas, parental support and pride, dance troupes, the importance of chemistry, the changes in fame, having to have social media, the isolation of remote auditions, reality TV, horses, writing scripts, streaming, silent films, having access to the history of film, women directors, what we miss during COVID, and the benefits of being a loner.

February 22-28, 1997 Today Ken welcomes writer, actor, director and chef Tom DeTrinis to the show. Ken and Tom discuss Tom's delight, butts, Chuck Norris, prescription drugs, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, playing evil when you're a former child star, Candance Cameron, Poison Ivy, reruns, The Grammys, No Doubt, adults, LeeAnn Rhymes, Schindler's List, Ellen, very special episodes, Dirty Dancing, not being allowed to watch Married...with Children, You Can't Do That on Television and the Simpsons, Hollywood jerks, hazing, having no nostalgia, being forced out of the closet, Cybill, lunatics, SAG debates, ska, the death of syndication, Howard Stern on E!, Troop Beverly Hills, The Bodyguard, Savannah, Jamie Luner, bloopers, OOPS! World's funniest outtakes, tickle me Elmo, Night Sins, Ink, Steven Webber, Stephen King, the Shining, Elizabeth Taylor's brain tumor, She Said No, Hilary Swank, Suddenly Suan, regaining your sanity, murder made for tv, ER, Life Goes On, old footage, Disney, Millennium, and living in a four Cheer week world.