TV Guidance Counselor

November 12-18, 1983 This week Ken welcomes writer/editor Michael Grasso (We Are the Mutants/Hold My Order podcast) to the show. Ken and Michael discuss Mr. Big's Toyland, Waltham, MA, The Outer Limits, large Italian families, Hi/Low Brow, decades starting on the 3s, The Beige Age, Candlepin Bowling, commercial jingles, syndication laws, Reagan, MTM, issue sitcoms, The 1996 Telecommunications Act, distribution, gate keepers, how easy it is to find TV Guides, We Got It Maid, first run syndication, Punky Brewster, Too Close for Comfort, Three's Company, MTV, Choose or Lose, Ed Hunt, Roswell, In Search Of..., DB Cooper, The British Ministry of Precognition, Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, Fawlty Towers, TV38, The Deer Hunter, The Movie Loft, Solid Gold, broken spines, Vietnam, Fantasy Island, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, Dancin' to the Hits, WKRP, Chiefs, movie events, Throb, TV68, V66, Rollerball, dystopian futures, when Bill O'Reily worked in Boston, Tom Bergeron, People are Talking, Haverhill is Riverdale, This Old House, Geraldo, Al Capone's Vault, Night Flight, Atomic Cafe,zombies, Ghostbusters, Threads, and how we were all damaged by The Day After.

June 12-18, 1978 This week Ken welcomes artist, podcaster, and all around cool dude Rich Wentworth to the show. Ken and Rich discuss voice over, Boston family acts, obnoxious brothers, pupcorn, hut dogs, what hugs, UFOs, Project UFO, Malden MA, The Abandoned Ruderman's Furniture Flea Market, Supah Rahre, Lament Configuration, lighters & video games, thrifting, hot plastic comic book bags, gluing on applications, old man Rob Reiner, obscure live action Disney films, Bionic Woman, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Circus of the Stars, Little Seen Canadian Teen Girlfriends, Lou Rawls on Ice, Thanksgiving episodes, Little House on the Prairie, servitude, The Brady Bunch, Leaves + Crayons + Wax Paper = Art, Cheerwine, Salem's Lot, David Soul, Return to Salem's Lot, Sam Fueller, Laserblast, Deadly Weapon, Lemora, Hunt's Photo & Video, Tobe Hooper's Fun House, Budman, parents smoking pot, Three's Company, Buck Rogers, Barney Miller, Oral Roberts, Grease Day, Drake's Cakes vs. Little Debbie vs. Hostess, Street Trash, TV Guidance Counselor Bingo, Hulk Out List, Percey Rodriguez Excel spreadsheets, and Jeering the Plague Dogs.

April 11-17, 1987 This week Ken welcomes Dr. Janet Painter to the show. Ken and Dr. Janet discuss the North Shore/South Shore rift, bad drivers, Carol Burnett meeting Alton Brown, Mr. Wizard, Science, Sci-Fi, having your brother advocate for you to watch Little House, living in the 18th Century, pre-electricity, ancient recording devices, patents, ghosts, theremins, science trial and error, old car phones, building your own Telervisor, Hiding Out, The Big Dig, 21 Jump St vs. Silver Spoons, Sesame St., getting historical fiction wrong, teen crushes, The Muppets, Ricky Shroeder, child actors, being Bewitched three times a day, Watcher in the Woods, collecting for your paper route, recording your own voice, My First Sony, Brewster's Millions, Ann of Green Gables, The Peanut Butter Solution, The Last Starfighter, Rags to Riches, Baby Jessica, Dawn French, Ab Fab, black and white, Night of the Living Dead, KidCo., Scotty Schwartz, the Summer of Courtney Thorne-Smith, Cybill Sheperd Moonlight and Seducing you at the same time, Max Headroom, and the power of Andy Williams and the NBC Kids combined abilities.

November 13-19, 1993 This week Ken welcomes author of the new short story collection "Black Light", the amazing Kimberly King Parsons. Ken and Kimberly discuss Cambridge Air BnBs, early bed times, the dick in the Fly, when your parents want to be alone, Skinemax, Real Sex, HBO, Taxi Cab Confessions, MTV's Sex in the 90s, Dream On, Llamas vs. Boobs, Playboy vs. Playgirl, psychedelics, when Hillary Clinton met Big Bird, Judy Bloom, Ecco The Dolphin, Mariah Carey, SNICK, babysitters, the wonder of watching TV in your parents' room, being a snoop, Debbie Does Dallas, breaking things, bodies, David Cronenberg, dread, shocks, horror, when plot doesn't matter, character, Columbo, Murder She Wrote, The X-Files, America's Most Wanted, Unsolved Mysteries, Punky Brewster's Very Special Episodes, Mr. Bicycle Man, Alan: World's Biggest Jerk, Glomer, Mork and Mindy, MTV's Week in Rock, Kurt Loder, 120 Minutes, Nine Inch Nails, My So-Called Life, the pressure of being an only child, Full House, Roseanne, Grace Under Fire, True Crime, how all dudes are garbage, doing the best you can, intuition, the nature of touch, Twin Peaks, good writing vs bad writing, Melrose Place, Beverly Hills 90210, hoopsters, Date Rape, David Bowie, The Hunger, Bauhaus, Halloween costumes, Near Dark, the wonders of being the chosen, Sinbad, Seinfeld, molten lava Kraft singles, Family Matters, Boys Meets World, how taboo makes things appealing, and how having tons of kids will (not) cure anxiety.

John Hodgman is back for a third time! This week on TV Guidance Counselor Ken welcomes back noted mustache creep and author of the new book "Medallion Status", Mr. John Hodgman. Ken and John discuss the insanity of Marriott Hotel naming conventions, hotel security, The Boston/TD Garden, The Leonard Zakim Bridge vs. The Bunker Hill Bridge, racism, The Doughboys Podcast, Pizzeria Regina vs. Regina Pizzeria, horny parsley, accents, adding "r" to words without them, gorging as a job, throwing tennis balls, Medallion Status, the nature of fame, televised team sports, bowling, ruining the day of people in like, just really liking rice balls, busting rice balls, trying meatballs, Downeast Dickerers, fucking blueberry pies, Ken's lack of understanding of liquor stores, Tony Bennett, reality TV, The Property Brothers, Restored, Brett Waterman, White Privilege, gripe culture, working class complaints, resentment, fleshy balloons, Frequent Flyer Miles, status, First Class, bathroom reading, pick pockets, hiding money in your shoe, death taxes, not earning things, free stuff, the right now vs the long game, how fame changes you, how fame and infamy are the same thing now, car fluids, the Acela train, Mad Dad Sudes, and famous Corgies of Instagram.

June 9-15, 1973 This week Ken welcomes professor and author of the book The Drama of Celebrity Sharon Marcus. Ken and Sharon discuss how TV Guides can summon up memories of hot New York Summers, Queens, staying up late and watching old movies, classic movie theaters in New York, seeing old movies at your local library, sparking an interest in research and academia, The Hollywood system, Bette Davis, the creation of celebrity, how not smiling is fascinating, Liz Taylor, the thrill of the hunt, stumble on culture, Sarah Bernhardt, the 19th Century in theater, being social through live performances, Ina Claire, the transition into talkies, Lillian Gish, Bela Lugosi, traveling shows, New York as the Center of the Universe, Astoria, Wonderama, the craze of theater scrapbooks, the mass press, cheap photographic reproduction, the negative connotation of celebrity, how now isn't worse, the loss of common references, fads, overalls, Maude, All in the Family, shared experience, pop culture and social class, TV Guide's editorializing in movie descriptions, Paul Newman, boxing, James Dean, Sadie Thompson, Joan Crawford, the mysterious Channel 31, Watergate, classical music, discovering pop music later in life, reverse engineering sitcom structure, One Day at a Time, dealing with commercials, serializing movies over several days, the Million Dollar movie, the value of anticipation, WPIX, WOR, and the wonders of Columbo. Buy her new book here!: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=drama+of+celebrity&ref=nb_sb_noss Powell's: https://www.powells.com/book/-9780691177595 Princeton UP: https://press.princeton.edu/titles/13535.html

October 10-16, 1987 This week Ken welcomes Boston comedian and co-host of the new podcast "Two Boys in a Balcony" Mr. Bill McMorrow to the show. Ken and Bill discuss Weymouth, MA, malls, 80s hair metal, Ken's junk, Building 19, giant underpants, the Harborlights Mall, Minor Threat, Prince, David Lee Roth's ALL Spanish album, destroying cars, drinking, Hit Parader, Circus Magazine, Carnival Mirrors, MTV, V66, Australian Toots, Judas Priest, Billy Squire, Nicole Eggert, notes on stage, Craig T. Nelson, E.T., Get a Life, Cabin Boy, Married...with Children, Fox, Martin Mull's History of White People in America, Kraft recopies, South Shore vs. North Shore, Morton Downey Jr, The Dead Zone, Crime Story, Dressed to Kill, how Parent Teacher night can ruin nudity, Soul Man, movies shot in and/or about New England, Cheers, deaths on television series, Night Court, Max Headroom, Charles Rocket, Spies Like Us, how great Vanessa Angel is, Private Eye, The Vietnam War, complaining about the cost of VHS tapes, Beatles reunions and Phil Collins' movie career.

October 24-30, 1987 This week Ken welcomes actor, comedian and all around entertainer Mike Dorval to the show. Ken and Mike discuss unnatural heat waves, Flirting with Disaster, Alan Alda, Albert Brooks vs. Woody Allen, age appropriate leading ladies, Moon Zapa's father's facial hair, defending Louie's shows, the mechanics of separating the art from the artist, ASMR, StarCase, cable, Rhode Island, a cableless existence, vacation viewing, Hardbodies, Loose Screws, 80s T&A Comedies, Revenge of the Nerds, the darkness of The Last American Virgin, Cannon Films, Lemon Popsicle, Amazon Prime, Force Five, Mr. Big's Toyland, Frankenstein Jr., Moonlighting, Laverne and Shirley's California season, Facts of Life, Over Our Heads, "Funusual", backdoor pilots, re-casting Punchline, Spenser for Hire, Celtic Pride, CHUD money, The Hollywood blacklist, how new media is basically re-building cable, 227, the lie of apartments above garages, Our House, Family Ties, cocaine, Werewolf, Ken's love of Traci Lind, Married...with Children, The World Series of Baseball, Alf, Kate & Allie, Newhart, weirdness on TV, Who's the Boss, how a little Mona goes a long way, dragging on with the will they won't they, Growing Pains, How I Got Into College, Phil Hartman, Nora Dunn, Highway to Heaven, John Ritter's undervalued movie career, Robert Mitchum on The Equalizer, St. Elsewhere, Sledgehammer, Night Court, LA Law, Disney DTV Monster Hits, Miami Vice, *batteries not included, The Hollywood Museum, Denitra Vance, Paul Provenza in The Pursuit of Happiness, and Harry Anderson as Circus Folk.

February 14-20, 1981 This week Ken welcomes comedian and find Southern Gentleman Billy Wayne Davis to the show. Ken and Billy Wayne discuss Ken's great stories, donuts, smoking pot, being born late, waterbed sex, Nashville vs. Memphis, poor people, Mystery Train, letting go on the ridiculous pop culture opinions of your youth, being a Dad, being an early reader, having the spark, being the child of teachers, learning vs memorization, putting together a late night set, bikers, patronizing liberalism, racism, trying to take it all with you, skipping the weekend, Valentine's Day with the Mandrell Sisters, black boxes, Dad porn, Real People vs. That's Incredible!, the birth of clinically extreme close ups, and early love of quality comedy, Diff'rent Strokes, Very Special Episodes, Stranger Danger, being fueled by spite, manipulating statistics, coke fueled hedonism, D.A.R.E. officers, John Candy's food repairman sketch on Lorne Michaels The New Show, Laverne and Shirley, The Truth Game, Burt Reynolds hosting SNL, OJ Simpson's "If I Did It", the strange American fascination with Princess Di, earning wealth, Teacher/Student relations, Ronald Reagan, McCarthy blacklists, Davis Rules, the darkness of Jonathan Winters, the mistake directors made with Robin Williams, Randy Quaid, the "bravest people on earth", Buck Rogers, co-eds, the CIA's secret wetworks programs, Night Court, Andy Griffith, Fridays, The Brady Brides, murder at sea, oil rigs and the mediocrity necessary for large scale success.

March 18-24, 1978 This week Ken welcomes old friend and Boston Comedy institution DJ Hazard to the show. Ken and DJ discuss making DJs bucket list obsolete, The Weekly Week, time travel, TV Guide Boys, The Boston Phoenix vs The Real Paper, Heavy Metal magazine, Gun Molls, Omni, Analog, Petticoat Junction, Hooterville, subversion, Green Acres, ASMR brainwashing, Conspiracy Theorists, Spanish, puking, how it's all one tube, Ken's awful early stand up bits, a self guided education through magazines, short stories, Jack Kirby, string theory, allegory, V, Star Trek, Fringe, confusing Lindsay Wagner with Peggy Lipton, PBS, Alex Rocco, Biograph Studios, growing up in The Bronx, Car 54, Where Are You?, Lawrence Welk, Termites, Orson Wells, descriptive tracks for the blind, God's Smuggler, the people that gave you "Head", meeting the Pope, who you are in the dark, Project UFO, Easter, celebrity suicides, dramas spun off from comedy, Lou Grant, Zacherly, Frank Hennoletter's Brain Damage, Jerry Lewis, SCTV, The Babys, John Waite, Penny Marshall, Patrick Wayne, Rustler's Rhapsody, Andy Griffith, Jim Thompson, just acting, Great Performances, Beatles clones, Elliot Gould in Who?, Barney Miller, The Love God, Inspector Luger, The Incredible Hulk, Bill Bixby's magic skills, Sam Jones, Loni Anderson, zombie cover girls, and social life delivery services.