TV Guidance Counselor

September 15-21 1984 This week Ken welcomes friend, comedian, and good dude Matt Braunger to the show. Ken and Matt discuss Winter in New England, having a new baby, not being a TV Guide Household, being an entertainment planner, Delightful flashbacks, Saturday Morning Cartoons, The Snorks, loving Richard Pryor, planning a heist to steal the lost Richard Pryor movie from Bill Cosby's vault, The Love Boat Preview Special, Commissioned art, the death knell of Variety TV, Airwolf, Diff'rent Strokes, loving Sneak Previews, trailers, Dad commentary from 80s action flicks, Mrs. Garrett Super Spy, drugs, PSAs, stealing horses, hating Mama's Family, Vanessa Williams, Star Search, Miami Vice, Heartbeat, Newhart, Hunter, dying immediately from Jungle Diseases, Mason Storm, The Fall Guy, stunt driving, smug Burt Reynolds, Hollywood PR, Cheers, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Lethal Weapon, Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of Mr. T and filthy Ricky Schroeder.

RTE Guide December 17-30, 1983 This week Ken kicks off 2021 right as he welcomes Irish stand up comedian, television hose and space enthusiast Dara Ó Briain to the show. Ken and Dara discuss the horrors of doing stand up via Zoom, remote work, Mock the Week, Battleship, hosting children's TV, traumatizing a generation of children, telescopes, learning one Presidential secret, having your donations rejected, Ireland getting stuff before England, who shot JR, missing all references to US TV, not getting late night shows, Smothers Brothers, The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Richard Nixon on Laugh In, Cracked vs. Mad, WKRP in Cincinnati, laugh track sitcoms, the 80s via the 50s, the Ultimate Destination that is America, Florida, Vietnam Vets, War on TV vs actually living in a Warzone, being Irish Irish vs American Irish, having a lot of time for JFK but less than in Boston, The Late Late Toy Show, how amazing the Late Late Toy Show is, The RTE Guide, Christmas Day, Irish songs, doing an "Irish" Comedy Night at the Improv in LA, Flash Gordon, Billy Connolly, Christmas with the Boston Pops, how America is inherently Cinematic, Sprawl, London, how weird America is, having no "local", not being a walking country, having seen everything in America without ever visiting, Dating Amber, Love/Hate, Spaced, The Young Ones, flat shares, Shaun of the Dead, changing your name to the name of the street you live on, Dark, Fringe, sci-fi, The Last Exit, buying t shirts and caps of logos of companies in Sci-Fi, The Thing, and the glory of putting Easter Eggs in your own life.

This week Ken goes solo for our second annual Year In Review episode. Who would want to review 2020? Well we do anyway. Revisit all the highlights, lowlights, behind the scenes and in front of the scenes stuff you may have missed as we all happily say goodbye to 2020.

November 9-15, 2002 This week Ken welcomes fellow New Englander, Mortified alum and author Tony Pacitti. Ken and Tony discuss cheating, Spanish, Rhode Island cuisine, Italy, diners, the 2000s, smoking Marlboros, James Bond, boobs, Christ in New York, Rocket Scientists, JFK, According to Jim, the Big of her Front, kids feeling up women, Bruce Lee knives, Battlebots, Dom Joly's Trigger Happy TV, Good Eats, Rocket Man, peeing into boots, Charmed, Angel, cutting Invasion of the Body Snatcher twice, Alias, Home Movies, TNN, Spike, Star Trek the Next Generation, WWE RAW, Russian versions of US Sitcoms, Behind the Music, E! True Hollywood Stories, Hocus Pocus, Anna Nicole Smith, the five night chronological version of The Godfather, The Sopranos, The Tick, Birds of Prey, Scrubs, Spin City, Crossing Jordan, Providence, History's DVR driven memory hole, Who's Line Is It Anyway?, John Doe, guessing late night talk show hosts jokes and hanging out with the Son of Sam to understand the DC Sniper.

October 18-24, 1997 This week Ken welcomes comedian, writer, actor, podcaster and all around entertainer Sofiya Alexandra. Ken and Sofiya discuss the horrors of 2020, happy sad birthdays, growing up in Ukraine, moving to Hollywood, America's ego, being amazed by Santa Monica, Supermarkets, fine Russian Chocolates, Odessa, old dirty Hollywood Blvd, Halloween, the sick joke of candy corn, Wonder bread, a love of horror, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, how horror is female, Frankenstein, understanding fear, mindfucking, teenage girls, The Net, The Lawnmower Man, Baby's Day Out, Bad to the Bone, murder and adultery, Dangerous Minds, teenage hormones, forgettable movies that were HUGE, Ally McBeal, Beverly Hills 90210, private schools, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Birdcage, representation, Over the Top with Annie Potts and Tim Curry, problematic pasts, drag, how quickly we become an outdated model, Party of Five as a show full of snacks, the sad cruel trick played on Jennifer Love Hewitt's music career, Living Single: The greatest show of the 90s, Martin, Goldeneye, Wonder Years, Teen Angel, TGIF, The National Treasure Movies, and visual comfort food.

September 21-27, 1996 This week the TV Guide meets The TV Guidance Counselor as Must Have Seen TV's Brett White joins Ken to discuss Returning Favorites circa 1996. Ken and Brett discuss Long Island, lockdown depression, action figures, The X-Men, New Mutants, Marvel Continuity, Mad Men, Bewitched, Decider, Full House, Fuller House, visiting sets, Home Improvement, childhood lists, making your own Top 40, being barred from watching MTV, smoking, the blown out 90s, returning favorites, Married...with Children, Second Noah, Jeff Foxworthy, Dr. Phil, shot on video vs shot on film, Newhart, Drew Carey Show, Baywatch Nights, Kevin Sorbo, Renegade, USA Network, live action Saturday Mornings, hacking the X-Men Cartoon, Walker Texas Ranger, Night Stand with Dick Dietrick, MST3k, Sci-Fi Channel, Talk Soup, good Streaming Services, SNL edits, Dean Cain, taking whatever comic book stuff you could get, tape trading, arguing with kids online, classic commercial compilations, Road Rules, The Real World, Mad About You, Third Rock from the Sun, Something So Right, the enormous amount of women writers on Home Improvement, Ellen's Coming Out episode, Space Above and Beyond, farces, Friends, was Joey Gladstone a good stand up comedian?, E.R., Stevil, Ken's war with Kane Hodder, TGIF, Martin Mull sexy man, and the origins of the Ninja Turtles on Oprah tape.

In this BONUS! Black Friday Edition of the show Ken welcomes back his muse and the wind beneath his podcast wings Mr. Sean Sullivan to the show. Ken and Sean discuss the fine line between A Christmas Carol and It's A Wonderful Life by way of Sean's NEW Limited Edition Holiday Podcast Series The 25 Days of A Christmas Carol and via Season 1 and 2 Christmas Episodes of Bonnie Hunt's Life with Bonnie

October 27-November 2, 1990 (Ken's all time favorite issue of TV Guide) This week Ken welcomes fellow podcaster and longtime friend Michael Cook to the show. Ken and Michael discuss how their paths never cross in person, how remote can be normal, and when it's not, not being famous, Oregon, the Entertainment Industry, Lex Luthor, Bizarro Ken, buying puppets, New Year's Eve Sign offs, The New Mutants, loving Los Angeles, living that 24 hour life, the horror resurgence on television, anthology shows, Wes Craven, Indiana isn't the mid-west, Ken Ober, MTV's Remote Control, being on local TV shows as a kid, being in TV Guide and not knowing, Family Ties, the FIRST Parenthood TV series, Trick or treating, David Lynch, Lady in White, 21 Jump Street, John Waters guest starring, Comic Strip Live, John Pinnette, Parker Lewis, Baywatch Nights (season 2), Cat's Eye, Stephen King, Dawn of the Dead, Alan King, The Hitchhiker, not remembering lines, acting scholarships, Murphy Brown, Ames, Hex, Rescue 911, Bernard Goetz, guns, Cheers, Thirtysomething, Yuppies, hating kids, Mutant, Wings Hauser, Return of the Living Dead, Married People, Halloween III, Fox, Doctor Doctor, Facts of Life, how great Joanna Cassidy is, Midnight Caller, radio, and having investigative journalist compassion.

FALL PREVIEW ALERT September 23-17, 1994 This week Ken welcomes fellow stand up comedian and creator of the first Quarantine Stand Up Comedy Album (that I know of) the great Nore Davis to the show. Ken and Nore discuss the changing nature of time, the Apocalypse, New York, Manhattan, not getting TV Guide, Streets of Rage, Skates, roads not traveled, the pilot vortex, Fall Previews, Family Matters, Steve Harvey, Me and the Boys, why ABC was not ready for black people, Cosby, a pre-CW/pre-UPN world, the horror of Miracle Whip, Due South, My So-Called Life, shopping for other people, Homicide Life on the Street, how Fox was the Rent to Own network, Ghostbusters II, working actors, M.A.N.T.I.S., ER vs Chicago Hope, Prime Time PBS, the last days of In Living Color, Sega Channel, rich kids, Ralph Macchio, selling your soul, Bo Jackson, the Ivana Trump TV movie, Nutty Professor, Eddie Murphy, Susan Powter, Fabio's Healthy Bodies Magazine, talk shows, VR Troopers, Gargoyles, stand up, Full House, America's Funniest Home Videos, Bob Saget, Lois and Clark, Spice Girls, In the House, Thunder Alley, T.G.I.F., Urkel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, watching the X-Files so you can get to The Simpsons, and horoscopes.

June 20-26, 1981 This week (for the second time)Ken welcomes host of the Let's Face the Facts: Facts of Life Podcast, Mr. David Almeida to the show. Ken and David discuss what they talked about last time, All Media, Mr. Lazaroni, The Facts of Life, Bearded undergrounds, Real People, South Shore Bar Pizza, MTV premiere of Thriller, recreating awful times despite living in the future, Brockton MA, Al from Happy Days' itches, Satellite Dishes, saddle stitching, watch along pageants, Soul Train, Hee Haw, hating Southern Shows, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Murderer's Sanctuaries, Sid Haig, Walter Cronkite's Universe, Dummies, Richard Simmons in Katrina, adoption, Building 19, last names, Flambirds, Paul Lynde, spin-offs, American Dad, Regis Philbin gone wild in Mexico, That's Incredible, Diff'rent Strokes, Cher, Jack Harrell, being forced to impersonate Bette Davis WITH Bette Davis, ABC, The Way They Were, Hanna Barbera costumes, costumed characters, wearing bags over your head, Hal Williams, Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, and the wonders of Lynda Cater.