TV Guidance Counselor

March 28 - April 3, 1987 Today Ken welcome podcaster, writer and fellow Facts of Life superfan Alison Rosen to the show. Ken and Alison discuss the weird Hollywood Hills, Cat elope and Watermelon worries, why Ken continues to live in New England against his will, odd things found in snowbanks, growing up in Orange County, wanting to be a child actress, being an extra on Life Goes On, "F-You" Nicknames, Chad Lowe, No Means No, if Very Special Episodes hold up to 21st Century ideals, the meanest thing ever said on TV, The Night Stalker, the importance of 1987, Baby Jessica, Marilu Henner's peanut obsession, being in bands, pregnancy brain, Rags to Riches, the horrors of pre-preemption, Hull High, orphan wish fulfillment, Wildfire, Out of This World, Day by Day, 80s TV show Tributes to 60s TV shows, The Facts of Life's "Seven Little Indians", Ken's extreme jealousy of Alison having had Mindy Cohen on her show, The Adam Corolla Show, Valerie, Our House, video vs. film, Jeff Smith The Frugal Gourmet, ALF, Who's the Boss, Alyssa Milano, being depressed by Cheers, Blair's Mother's abortion talk, Growing Pains, why being offered cocaine makes you not want to go to the bathroom, auditioning for Quantum Leap, What a Dummy!, The Monster Squad, The Gate, vaguely Canadian, TV killing dogs, Highway to Heaven, reusing the hallway from Head of the Class, Boys Meets World, A Different World, Roomies, Andrea Martin, teachers on TV, and the scary reveal that Mr. Lazaroni is the dead grandfather Andrew McCarthy was pretending to be in Amazing Stories.

Today Ken welcomes actor Stuart Pankin (Dinosaurs, Not Necessarily The News, Second Sight) to the show. Ken and Stuart discuss holding your own microphone, being a quintessential sitcom guest star, growing up in Philly, Mel Torme', Night Court, not being enough of a you type to get a part calling for a you type, Scavenger Hunt, Winky Dink, Romper Room, appearing on Howdy Doody, Free to be You and Me with Marlo Thomas, Dinosaurs, Jim Henson, Barney Miller, warm up comedians, Not Necessarily The News, Conan O'Brien's first job, HBO, No Soap Radio, The San Pedro Beach Bums, Love at Stake, Dearly Departed, SCTV, Joe Flaherty, the power of no, Vaudeville to Burlesque to Radio to Television, Milton Berle, Dinah Shore, hating Roasts, hateful comedy, loving horror, the mechanics of comedy, Dawn of the Dead, John Amplas, George Romero's Martin, Tremors, 50s Monster Movie Matinees, the creative seeds planted by limitations, Stuart as the interviewer, Breaking Bad, The Wire, Mad Men, Phil Silvers, Sid Caesar, playing poker with comedy greats, a world without movie stars, Dee Wallace, Eddie Albert, having a good lead in, remote controls, Second Sight, Boston, the writer's strike, Fatal Attraction, parody songs, actors five people inside them, and the pros and cons of being a specific character actor.

In this episode recorded LIVE! at the NorthEast Comic Con Ken welcomes actress Candy Clark (American Graffiti, The Man Who Fell to Earth) to the show. Ken and Candy discuss growing up in Texas, moving to NYC, being a teen model, John Houston, Fat City, Susan Tyrrell, the high cost of living in Manhattan, Room 222, auditioning for American Graffiti, THX 1138, working with George Lucas, the amazing soundtrack of American Graffiti, revitalizing the Hot Rod World, meeting Jeff Beck, The Dating Game, The Man Who Fell to Earth, David Bowie, Nick Roeg, how being an actress can be like waiting tables, Circus of the Stars, being mauled by a tiger, Pat Morita : Magician, Barbie Benton being put in danger, Faerie Tale Theater, The 1988 remake of The Blob, the new Twin Peaks, child actors, Ron Howard, the fight over the title "American Graffiti", how Frances Ford Coppola almost personally purchased the movie, the Thighmaster, and the difficulties of working with George Peppard on Banachek.

March 16-22, 1991 Today Ken welcomes writer/comedian Caitlin Durante to the show. Ken and Caitlin discuss geographic issues, being a mature 4 year old, rural Western PA, developing poor television viewing skills, Star Wars, not liking Seinfeld, the early days of DVD players, screenwriting, stand up New York, The Wizard of Oz, Netflix discs, stupid film students, Barbara Walters as a Ninja Turtle ally, Voices that Care, The Gulf War, The Black Eyed Peas changing of history, Big Bird's Birthday, the world after The Real World, Fox's High School Documentary experiment "Yearbook", earthquakes, America's Funniest Home Videos, Indiana Jones, Wilfred Brimley and Ricky Schroeder: Cowboys, John Carpenter, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Made-for-TV movies, The Princess Bride, Return of the Jedi, Major Dad, TV edits, Repo Man, disecting fetal pigs, pulling teeth out of cow heads, the power of Alan Thicke, local haunted houses, The Danvers State Mental Hospital, John Waters, Unsolved Mysteries, After School Specials, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Babes, Babe Pig in the City, Maniac Mansion, TGIF, Dark Shadows, Perfect Strangers, sitcom porn parodies and development deals for murderers.

In this very special Very Special 200th episode Ken welcomes Billy West (Ren & Stimpy, Doug, Futurama) back to the show. Almost two years to the day from Billy's last appearance on the show (at the Riot LA Comedy Festival) Ken and Billy sat down at North East Comic Con for Round II of chats. Ken and Billy discuss the traumatic origins of Billy's talents, TV sign offs, the infamous CNN "End of the World" video, Ted Turner, The Critic, Maurice LeMarche, Pinky & The Brain, Ed Wood, Orson Welles, the debut of Star Trek, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., the horrors of internet trolls, raising a little hit man, the value of a shared experience, Beanie & Cecil, ABC Television's Children's TV Standards and Practices, a life in comic books, the Batmobile, rage society, the assassination of JFK, Mel Blanc, G. Gordon Liddy, the tutelage of Barry Crimmins at the Ding Ho, being a Chicken McNugget, The Howard Stern Show, Trump, Futurama, Ren & Stimpy, Bob Clampett, Kurt Loader, Doug, Booster Gold and Skeets on JLU, Fry, Nickelodeon, Matt Groening, classic showbiz Marblemouths, Jay Leno: Drug Kingpin, Adam Carolla: Master of the Simile, The Cincinnati Reds, Boston Racism vs. Detroit Racism, Irish vs. Italians, Richie Reardon from Revere, Boston's ability to coin phrases, wanting to do good work, how your future is unwritten, confessions of a $900 Million dollar loss, treating people right, Tom Kenny, Molasses spills, the character vs. the voice, Jack Kirby, meeting Les Paul, Jackson Beck, The Comedy Channel, Percy Rodriguez, Paul Frees, Elvis, and the influence of Captain Marvel Jr.

Today Ken welcomes songwriter, queen of kitsch, and personal hero Allee Willis to the show. Ken and Allee discuss The Color Purple on Broadway, hating theater, swearing, having a TV in every room on every wall, growing up in Detroit, TV as a babysitter, a diet of candy, the sophistication of Health Bars, CHiPs, Erik Estrada's tight beige uniform, disco scores, writing songs for Earth Wind and Fire, Wonder Woman's disco devil, American Bandstand, Soul Train, Hullabaloo, Shin Dig, the invention of the teenager, cutting edge Variety, The Smothers Brothers, Laugh In, counter culture, Columbia Records, falling in love with Los Angeles, Freaks and Geeks, falling in love with cable news, Car Chases, 30,000 hours of footage, Just Say Julie, Allee's amazing wonderful house of treasures, rooftop drums, The Breakfast Club, being a music video production designer, The Cars "You Might Think", Tom Petty's "Don't Come Around Here No More", painting, combining music with art, writing "I'll Be There For You" the theme from Friends, returning the AFI Women's Directing Award in 1991, Kevin Bright, hating the Memphis school's bastardization of mid-century modern, storage spaces filled with treasure, Storage Wars, Sid & Marty Kroft, HR Puffnstuff, Electrawoman and Dynagirl, collecting lunch boxes, Greatest American Hero, the loss of the theme song, R&B, "Friends" at sporting events, a sea lion's love of "Boogie Wonderland", the wonders of the internet, Vice TV, enjoying The Principal's Office, hating foreign real housewives, and having a brand identity.

Recorded LIVE! at NorthEast Comic Con Today Ken welcomes Gerald Casale and Josh 2.0 from the band Devo to the show. Ken, Jerry and Josh discuss forsaking being a Hippie at Kent State, the origins of the theory of Devolution, Mid-Century Low Culture, art movements, growing into a dystopian stupidity, pop sci-fi, Night Flight, The Complete Truth about De-Evolution, Duck and Cover, growing a Catholic Heretic, Fridays, Saturday Night Live, Andy Kaufman, pioneering music videos, wanting to put out a Video Disc a year, Ohio, Pioneer Laserdiscs, taking time to develop, Heavy Metal, Working in a Coal Mine, Satisfaction, becoming a pop act, Whip It, living in The Right Stuff, early days of MTV, directing videos for the Cars and Klymaxx, censorship, Jane Sibbery and her cow's udders, She-Bop, the French Fry and the Donut, Rage Against the Machine's Beautiful World, working with the Funk Investigators, modern remakes of Devo videos, why telling the truth makes you a target, what the "end game" is, the devaluation of cultural capital, appearing on Square Pegs, Neil Young's Human Highway, how Josh got into Devo, stage battle scars, the dangers of playing Uncontrollable Urge, Brian Eno, Oblique Strategies, waiting for David Bowie, Weird Al's Dare to be Stupid, and creating ideas for the universe.

Today Ken welcomes actor, podcaster Matt Gourley to the show. Ken and Matt discuss Matt's homey East Coast style West Coast home, the special nature of Fall Previews, birthday TV, personalized baseball racks, the TV Guide/Toaster vs. the TV Week/Toaster Oven split, It's a Living, The Bonaventure Hotel, Revolving Restaurants, Doin' Time on Planet Earth, Divorce tripling your TV Time, On TV, Cable Guides, deceptive movie artwork, growing up in LA, witnessing Masters of the Universe being filmed first hand, Tenspeed and Brownshoe, a world of Cannonball run bloopers, The Dom Delouise Show, High Ice, Shakespeare on TV, Henry VIII, empathy for Progeria, Family Plot, "pilot", Gilligan's Island, Bruce Vilanch's world, The Future, synesthesia, Three's Company, pretending to be your own twin, John Ritter in Real Men, Love Sydney, Tammy Faye Baker, Jim J Bollock, Too Close for Comfort, rape on TV, Very Special Episodes, Diff'rent Strokes, Danny Cooksey, stuttering M.A.S.K.s, clams, Ecdysiasts, Real People vs. That's Incredible!, Rusty Miller's Star Wars Book, TV Writer Jeremy Reems, cross dressing Mr. Drummond, actual Twins, SCTV, Best of the West, William Sanderson vs. Tracy Walters vs. William Sadler, Nova, public school sexual education, the original Pee Wee Herman Show, shipbuilders, Elizabeth Montgomery, "Someone I Touched", Benson, Saturday Morning Preview Specials, Blackstarr, Thundarr the Barbarian, The Incredible Hulk, It's a Living, First Run Syndication, Jennifer Slept Here, Mr. Merlin, and the magical wonder of Guich Koock.

For the final episode of 2016 Ken welcomes one of his personal heroes to the show, Steve Albini. Ken and Steve define and deny latch key children, and discuss growing up in the Midwest, UHF vs VHF,seeing the Lawrence Welk show as your first experience with color TV, outdated technology and entertainment, telegraphs, The Little Rascals, the bizarre variety of television pre-Millennium, why every single thing ever made now may not be the greatest thing ever, The Sopranos, The Wire, cops and robbers, punk rock tape trading, fucked up videos, R. Budd Dwyer, the Canadian Metallica Drummer, the original South Park tape, Another State of Mind, Punk Rock Scare media, Donohue, The Decline of Western Civilization, why You Wern't There may be the greatest punk rock documentary, Our Band Could be Your Life, Devo, The Complete Truth about De-evolution, Speed Racer, Kimba the White Lion, and trying to discover the secret spy tech in your parents' new car.

May 17-23, 1980 Today Ken welcomes comedian Dhaya Lakshminarayanan to the show. Ken and Dhaya discuss Dedham, MA, yards of beer, poutine, local flavor, Friendly's, the origins of Sundaes, San Francisco, MIT, schools on the Red Line, The Jeffersons, Birmingham Alabama, growing up the child of immigrants, racial slurs, why George Jefferson may be the quintessential American, Marla Gibbs, Sanford & Son, poverty, The Fresh Prince of Bel Aire, Krush Groove, latchkey syndication, Mary Tyler Moore, single women, secretly normalizing gay culture, Three's Company, Star Trek, The Love Boat, The Twilight Zone, Herve Villechaize, Mr. Belvedere, Fantasy Island, Warwick Davis, 227, spin off shows, Marilyn Monroe, Edward Gorey, Dione Warwick, Cheryl Ladd, That's Incredible, Real People, Nova, why Carl Sagan is the perfect man, Murder Can Hurt You, The McNeal Learer News Hour, Buck Rogers, Fridays!, Red Foxx, teaching Tom Willis how to speak Jive, and Gary Shandling's understanding of sitcom formats.