Episodes

  • Henry Mancini and The Music of Peter Gunn

    Henry Mancini and The Music of Peter Gunn
    Jul 15 2024
    TVC 654.1: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with music journalist and music historian Jon Burlingame (Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television Themes and Scoring). Jon’s latest book, Dreamsville: Henry Mancini, Peter Gunn, and Music for TV Noir, is a combination history of Peter Gunn (NBC/ABC, 1958-1961) on television; biography of Grammy Award-winning and Academy Award-winning composer Henry Mancini; and discography of all of the original music that Henry Mancini composed for both Peter Gunn and Mr. Lucky (CBS, 1959-1960) and the soundtrack albums that accompanied both series. Topics this segment include the pivotal role that Alan Livingston, then head of programming for NBC, played in releasing Mancini’s music for Peter Gunn as a soundtrack album, how Mancini handpicked many of the musicians who recorded with him on both Peter Gunn and Mr. Lucky, including John Williams and Bob Bain. Dreamsville: Henry Mancini, Peter Gunn, and Music for TV Noir is available from BearManor Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    24 mins
  • Blake Edwards, Henry Mancini, and Mr. Lucky

    Blake Edwards, Henry Mancini, and Mr. Lucky
    Jul 15 2024
    TVC 653.2: Music journalist Jon Burlingame (Music for Prime Time, Dreamsville: Henry Mancini, Peter Gunn, and Music for TV Noir) talks to Ed about how Blake Edwards came to develop Mr. Lucky (CBS, 1959-1960) for television, including how Edwards originally wanted Ricardo Montalban to play the title character and how Ross Martin wasn’t signed to play Andamo just before production began. Dreamsville: Henry Mancini, Peter Gunn, and Music for TV Noir is available from BearManor Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    21 mins
  • Blake Edwards, Mr. Lucky, and The Smiling Cobra

    Blake Edwards, Mr. Lucky, and The Smiling Cobra
    Jul 15 2024
    TVC 654.3: Music journalist Jon Burlingame (Music for Prime Time, Dreamsville: Henry Mancini, Peter Gunn, and Music for TV Noir) talks to Ed about the strange, but true broadcast history of Mr. Lucky (CBS, 1959-1960), including how the ill-conceived mandate from the show’s sponsor, Lever Brothers, to change the concept of Mr. Lucky midseason ultimately drove producer Blake Edwards to remove his name from the series. Dreamsville: Henry Mancini, Peter Gunn, and Music for TV Noir is available from BearManor Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    13 mins
  • The Music of Henry Mancini

    The Music of Henry Mancini
    Jul 15 2024
    TVC 654.4: Music journalist Jon Burlingame (Music for Prime Time, Dreamsville: Henry Mancini, Peter Gunn, and Music for TV Noir) talks about Henry Mancini’s work in motion pictures, including how Mancini proved that a great composer could also be a great songwriter (which he did, with “Moon River”). Dreamsville: Henry Mancini, Peter Gunn, and Music for TV Noir is available from BearManor Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    16 mins
  • Ann-Margret, Andy Williams, and Henry Mancini

    Ann-Margret, Andy Williams, and Henry Mancini
    Jul 15 2024
    TVC 654.4: Music journalist Jon Burlingame (Music for Prime Time, Dreamsville: Henry Mancini, Peter Gunn, and Music for TV Noir) talks about Henry Mancini’s work in motion pictures, including how Mancini proved that a great composer could also be a great songwriter (which he did, with “Moon River”). Dreamsville: Henry Mancini, Peter Gunn, and Music for TV Noir is available from BearManor Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    16 mins
  • Bruce Dern, John Wayne, and The Cowboys

    Bruce Dern, John Wayne, and The Cowboys
    Jul 8 2024
    TVC 653.1: Bruce Dern biographers Robert Crane and Christopher Fryer talk to Ed about Dern’s famous appearance in The Cowboys (in which he played the man who kills Wayne’s character halfway through the picture) and the actor had to navigate a schedule conflict over production of another movie, Silent Running, so that he could film that pivotal scene. Other topics this segment include Beyond Where the Buses Run, the anthology of short story anthologies to which Bob and Chris both contributed; how Bob came to collaborate with Dave Thomas on SCTV: Behind the Scenes; and how actors have a furnace of emotions that they can bring to their faces whenever they need it. Jack Nicholson: The Early Years and Bruce Dern: Things I’ve Said, But Probably Shouldn’t Have: An Unrepentant Memoir are available from University Press of Kentucky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    24 mins
  • Bruce Dern’s Early Television Career

    Bruce Dern’s Early Television Career
    Jul 8 2024
    TVC 653.2: Bruce Dern biographers Robert Crane and Christopher Fryer talk to Ed about why Dern worked frequently in television in the 1960s—even when he was making movies like The War Wagon with John Wayne—because casting directors from both industries always knew to keep an eye on him. Other topics this segment include the nearly fatal lung injury Dern suffered in 1967 while filming an episode of Run For Your Life; the secret behind Bob and Chris’ longtime writing partnership; and the backstory of how they came to write Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father’s Unsolved Murder. Jack Nicholson: The Early Years, Bruce Dern: Things I’ve Said, But Probably Shouldn’t Have: An Unrepentant Memoir, and Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father’s Unsolved Murder are all available from University Press of Kentucky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    22 mins
  • Paul Schrader, Bruce Dern, and James Garner

    Paul Schrader, Bruce Dern, and James Garner
    Jul 8 2024
    TVC 653.3: Robert Crane and Christopher Fryer tell Ed how Bob’s experience working with director Paul Schrader on Auto Focus (Schrader’s depiction of the Bob Crane murder case) spurred Bob to work with Chris in telling his own account of what happened in their book Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father’s Unsolved Murder. Other topics this segment include a poignant memory that Bruce Dern shared about working with James Garner on Support Your Local Sheriff that captures the essence of both Garner and Dern. Jack Nicholson: The Early Years, Bruce Dern: Things I’ve Said, But Probably Shouldn’t Have: An Unrepentant Memoir, and Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father’s Unsolved Murder are all available from University Press of Kentucky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    16 mins