TV Guidance Counselor

September 5-11, 1987 Today Ken welcomes writer (Atomic Bebop Hulabaloo) and friend Adam Marsh to the show. Ken and Adam discuss Adam's dream come true of appearing on the show, Adam's complicated sibling history, pool hustlers, Tower Records, New Kids on the Block, arcades, the homeless, slug people, pools, Mountain time, Pool Trucks, Rumpus Rooms, Werewolf, Chuck Connors, Thicke of the Night, Chris Elliot, Jay Leno on Letterman, What's Your Beef?, Marlon Brando, The New Adventures of Beans Baxter, Empire Records, Second Chance, Married...with Children, NOW Comics, Ralph Snart, Matthew Perry, the collarless shirt future, SCTV, The Kids in the Hall, Win Lose or Draw, My Sister Sam, the sad loss of Rebecca Schaffer, P.I., going to TV tapings, being a featured extra in 90s teen shows, Who's the Boss, Larry Jr. vs. Larry Jr., bothering Diane Lane, Streets of Fire, AIDS, elderly street puppeteers, Highway to Heaven, Head of the Class, directing Orson Welles, Chris Elliot on the Equalizer, people named "Rags", Gilbert Godfrey as a card salesman, The Charmings, Shelley Long, four part Night Courts, Saturday Morning Preview specials, 227, Gummy Bears, hating Foofer, Disney missing a trick by not embracing Gargoyles, Miami Vice with Bob Balaban, G. Gordon Liddy, D.C. Follies, when the U.S. was into the Taliban, and the greatest episode of all time.

March 23-29, 1996 Today Ken welcomes actor Ayden Mayeri to the show. Ken and Ayden discuss the Bette Davis estate, seltzer, Polar, famous noses, the 90s and the 60s, Nick at Nite, SNL, separate beds, references in comedy, the 1996 Telecommunications Act, syndication, reality TV, the horrors of deregulation, local weird late night TV, preachers on TV, prank calling Church TV, growing up in wine country, Pastor Scott, calling people's parents by accident, growing up an only child, learning how families are supposed to be through television, Parenthood, Growing Pains, reusing the High School set from Head of the Class on Boy Meets World, Saved by the Bell, Saved by the Max, Ferguson on Clarissa Explains it All, child actors, famous people from your town, being a mermaid in a shampoo commercial, insomnia, enjoying the quiet late night hours, Insomniac, Undressed, being confounded by Furries, foot fetishes, the weird through nature of your fetishized body parts appearing on very specific web sites, going totally offline, all of the weird drugs that came out in 1996, Hisminol, The Real World, renting the Real World L.A. house, Andy Warhol's curse, the Olympics, Summer Sanders, Kids Game Shows, frozen pipes, growing up in a house full of pets, skunks, Sister Sister, hating shock humor and roasts, hating being hateful, awards shows, The Golden Globes, LOVING the VMAs and the MTV Movie Awards, loving coming of age High School movies, Scream, Alex Strangelove, All That!, Speechless, Freaks & Geeks, The Wonder Years, My So-Called Life, knowing things are shot in L.A. can ruin it, being an extra, things filmed in Boston, having never been to Canada, trying to remember what won the Oscars in 1996, Party of Five, the wonder and the pain of snow days, Dead at 21, Jack Noseworthy, Whip Hubley, TV class war fare, Friends, Daisy Fuentes and Richard Marx taking down a guy on an airplane, I Love Lucy, Sandy Duncan, Second Noah, Roseanne's winking two Beckys acknowledgement, Howard Stern, and funeral tributes on ice.

Today Ken welcomes writer/producer/podcaster/sports announcer Ken Levine to the show. Ken and Ken discuss Ken's Hollywood home, Hirshfelds, Emmys, the golden age of television of the early 70s, the horrors of working as a radio DJ, getting laid off before Christmas, forgetting a person's real name and calling them by their actor name, David White of Bewitched, Erin Murphy, being in the army reserves, moving into writing for TV, reverse engineering scripts via bookstore remainders and reel to reel audio recorders, writing for The Jeffersons, M*A*S*H, being in the audience for Mary Tyler Moore's "Chuckles Bites the Dust", how getting laid in 1973 would have ruined Ken's career, Rhoda, writing a spec Mary Tyler Moore, having your Rhoda spec rejected twice, Charlotte Brown being your neighbor, shows going more than four seasons getting weird, Newhart, cliche Holiday episodes, The Odd Couple, showrunning M*A*S*H, keeping 95% of your actual writers' draft, the lazy writing of current sitcom comedy, Cheers, Fraiser, Almost Perfect, reworking the concept of your show, when Norm didn't hit until Cheers started airing, Grant Tinker, Cheers almost getting canceled, NBC, the Sam vs. Diane dynamic, your show getting canceled despite it doing well, the loss of Big Wave Dave's, dating a Neilson family, and Ken's podcast.

September 3-9 , 1988 Today Ken welcomes comedian and host of TruTV's "Hack My Life" Brooke Van Poppelen to the show. Ken and Brooke discuss Ken's L.A. Air Bnb, being stuck in Brooklyn, PTSD, being terrified of open spaces, panic attacks, Bablo Island, Belle Isle, Detroit, Michigan, field trips, The Topsfield Fair, Stony Creek, board games, butter allergies, bulletproof coffee, the Olympics, a childhood as a gymnast, Miss America, The Peanuts, shared experiences, Freaks & Geeks, being a Lindsay Weir, The Wonder Years, the after school slot, Nickelodeon's Turkey TV, Canadian Television, the "before and after school room", Degrassi High, Los Angeles' infestation of mutant mosquitoes, being raised by weird Mid-Western couples who are not your parents, Roseanne, hillbillies, private school, bags old shoes, double fisting popcorn, free Potato Salad, Bag O'Burgers, Leave it to Beaver, working for the school newspaper, meeting Jerry Mathers, magical beings in your house shows, being a free range kid, childhood deaths by misadventure, the buddy system, growing up with a D.A.R.E. officer, S.A.R.G.E. the drug education robot, This American Life, peanut butter oil as a drug, Roscoe's School Program, TGIF, Full House, 8pm bedtimes, ALF, having two TV's, seeing films that are fall too challenging for your age with your father, Twin Peaks: The Return, Unsolved Mysteries, and the horrors of New Hampshire Pepsi Machines.

December 16 -22, 1989 Today Ken welcome returning guest and TV Guidance Counselor All-Star Lamont Price back to the show. Ken and Lamont discuss the questionable racism of old media, skywriters, screwballs, Looney Toons cloud fights, animated sketch shows, black people's cultural Stockholm syndrome, cultural norms, Blackula, Bernie Casey, John Hughes fear of black people, White White Christmases, Motown Christmas, Bernie Mac Show, Christmas Lights, Good Times, getting thrown a bone, The Jeffersons, LeVar Burton, Mr. Rogers, seeing Eddie Vedder at a bar, Run DMC's Christmas in Hollis, Cape Codder, Amen, Booker, Richard Grieco, the birth of The Simpsons, Married...with Children, MacGuyver, magical Christmas statues, Lucy, Scrooge, Wee Willy Winky Pajamas, defending A Christmas Story, generational hatred of It's a Wonderful Life, Rescue 911, Scotty Pippin vs. HIV, Ken's weak grasp of Basketball, Chuck Connors, The Rifleman, corporal punishment as a kid, Wrestling moves, terrifying home decor, Unsolved Mysteries Christmas Special, Hatbox Children and the Telephone Santas, Australian Christmas, Night Court, A Claymation Christmas Celebration, The California Raisins, A Different World, Facts of Life, loving Cree Summer, Garfield, Charlie Brown Christmas, Lamont's unapologetic championing of Lucy Van Pelt, how Violet is the real villain, and why Just the Ten of Us is the greatest show of all time.

FALL PREVIEW ALERT September 18-24, 1994 Today Ken welcomes writer Jilly Gagnon. Ken and Jilly discuss eldercare, annual news reports, not realizing how much TV you consumed as a kid, growing up sans cable, The Legend of Zelda, side quests, Goonies 2, NES, Tri-Force tattoos, Gannons, Friday the 13th, news paper TV week, breaking the toaster oven style, Minneapolis, the Dr. Quinn and Walker Texas Ranger Date Night, Central Time, French Fries and Frosties, Toby McGuire, Eddie Furlong, banning the Simpsons, forbidden Married...with Children, shielding your children from shows about poor people, Superman, open fridge policies, Fluffernutters, Lois & Clark, 5th of Five, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, a 50/50 Heathers to Martha Dumptruck quotient, America's Love affair with truckers, Beyond Belief, The Nanny, non-perms, half siblings, Somerville, Bio-dome, ER, Chicago, Rescue 911, Home Improvement, puppeteering Wilson, Touching Touched by an Angel, not being famous enough for The Grove, Hate Farters, My So-Called Life, why Step by Step had the best theme song on TGIF, Man From Atlantis, overlooking mental health issues to make good reality TV, and Thanking Satan because it sucks.

November 7-13, 1981 Today Ken welcomes actor, writer, director, artist, musician and all around dynamo Cady McClain to the show. Ken and Cady discuss how a Guinness Book Record for dancing can lead to a showbiz career, growing up in L.A., commercials, meeting the Kool-Aid man, Ann-Margaret, My Favorite Year, Pennies from Heaven, MGM's Musicals, having a grounding in reality, the business of make believe, being an object, not getting a job based on your looks, sacrificing for your art, the Boston Trinity plus, Spenser for Hire, St. Elsewhere, Cheers, Robert Kennedy Mini-Series, the family atmosphere of an isolated set, the gritty made-for-TV movies of the 80s and 90s, moving to New York to do plays, a second life in Soap Operas, Michael McKean, when pilots turn into TV movies, Simple Justice, Caesar Romero, PBS, loving English Shows, Nicholas Nickleby, confusing "The Two of Us" for the Avengers, Who Will Love My Children, giving away ten children one at a time, loving the Twilight Zone, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury, fruit Salad and the Love Boat/Fantasy Island block, white girl quesadillas, Florence Henderson, re-run royalties, actors turned directors, soap fans, Women who direct, working "real" jobs, making movies on a low budget out of sincerity, Joanna Kerns, Betty Thomas, Bethany Rooney, "Seeing Is Beliving: Women Direct", mentors, shared experience, trying to live a life of giving, Happy Days, Three's Company, Too Close for Comfort, "10", an American Obsession with Bo Derek, comedies that seem creepy in retrospect, Dolly Parton, variety shows, after school specials, tacking AIDS on TV, WKRP, Loni Anderson, All Creatures Great and Small, being the Maybellene girl one Summer, having an interest in something, and trying to show people the up side of hard work.

October 31 - November 6, 1992 Today Ken welcomes rapper and comedian Rob Tanchum to the show. Ken and Rob discuss satellites, Fax Ma'zines, TTY Prank phone calls, Westchester New York, teenage Improv teams, TV as coping mechanism, Sabrina, Fleabag, Crashing, The Young Ones, Toast of London, Saturday Night Halloween, hating teenagers, pranks, stealing Bubble Tape, Home Movies, animation, Yo! MTV Raps, babysitter hip hop, SNICK, SNL, Nick at Nite, Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, glorifying stand-up, Cheers, Fraiser, re-watching Chuck, insulting your significant other's favorite show, Coach vs. Woody, Larry King, Garlique, My Two-Cents, Twin Peaks, Eerie Indiana, Northern Exposure, It's Gary Shandling Show!, Larry Sanders, Soapdish, flattering angles, Seinfeld, Mad About You, Newsradio, Oprah, being on Oprah, Wings, hating Gary's Old Time Tavern, Dinosaurs, Star Trek, and pulling sounds from pop culture's past to sample for Rob's hip hop album.

September 26 - October 2, 1992 Today Ken welcomes comedian Selena Coppock. Ken and Selena discuss the weird numbering system of Ken's street, lawless New Hampshire, Weston MA, Polar Seltzer, Jan from Toyota, being related to Batman, a family history of performance, 80s Times Square, Sting on Broadway, Guns and Roses, Vince Neil, country music, Garth Brooks, 38 Special, Revenge of the Nerds, Wayne's World, teen gross out comedy, transgender "Sisters", In Living Color, The L.A. Riots, why everyone hates Chevy Chase, late night middle of the road TV, stand up philosophy, Blossom, Joey, skiing, being super old in your 30s, Full House, Mr. Cooper, Roseanne, Coach, 9/11 trauma, Mr. Rogers, the Hail Bop Comet people, The Wonder Years, disliking Neil Patrick Harris, Brooks & Dunn, country dances, loving Ellen Cleghorne, Delta Burke, The Heights, how you talk to an angel, shoplifting, Letterman's hatred of cats.

Today Ken welcomes the director of the new documentary "United We Fan" Michael Sparaga, as well as the star of the doc, Dorothy Swanson. Ken Michael and Dorothy talk about grass roots movements, the importance of television, saving "Crime Story", Cagney and Lacey, hunting down TV contacts, watching things together alone, Niagara Falls Canada, The Story of Viewers For Quality Television, being a professional fan activist, Frank's Place, the importance of representation, DVRing Law and Order and Blue Bloods, Designing Women, The Q Awards, Person of Interest, Chuck fans, Star Trek, The Famous Teddy Z, Hugh Wilson, forgetting about your monthly subscriptions, TV Guide, educating yourself on ratings, learning the business of the business, having too much access, Rob Thomas, turning yourself off from access, fans not knowing what is best for them, Linda Ellerbee, saving shows that don't get saved, the changing world of niche audience, Netflix, losing the cast and crew if you wait too long, the lack of a true "TV Season", never revisiting shows, re-watching Fraiser, how binging kills fandom in some days, wishing you didn't save Beauty and the Beast, Ken's disappointment with the never made season 2s of My So-Called Life and Freaks and Geeks, the wonders of SuperChannel, SCTV, interviewing Scott Bakula and how big stars are incredibly grateful for Dorothy's work.