TVC 691.1: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Harry Castleman and Walter J. Podrazik, co-authors of Watching TV: American Television Season by Season, a sweeping look at the history of television, from its early inception in 1944 through the present day, that not only takes you behind the scenes of every prime time season and prime time schedule over the past nine decades, but tells you what was actually on TV each year; what was happening behind the scenes in television at the times those shows were made; and how the shows we saw from year to year often reflected various events that were happening in the world at large. Watching TV: Revised Fourth Edition is available wherever books are sold through Syracuse University Press. Topics this segment include how the final episode of The Fugitive (originally broadcast on ABC on Aug. 29, 1967) ushered in the era of series finales that attempt to wrap up all the loose ends of a show’s characters and storylines; how even an unsatisfactory finale shows how much we care about the characters of our favorite shows (and why that’s an integral part of the story of American television); and whether physical media such as Blu-rays and DVDs still have a place in television today.

TVC 691.2: Harry Castleman and Walter J. Podrazik, co-authors of Watching TV: American Television Season by Season, talk to Ed about the 1965-1966 television season, a landmark year that not only saw the premiere of many series that are still considered classics (including Get Smart, I Dream of Jeannie, Green Acres, and The FBI), but the start of the now-common network practice of midseason replacements—a phenomenon that came about by accident. Other topics this segment include why network TV schedules used to always begin in September; and the evolution of single sponsor shows during the first decade of network to the now-standard practice of participating sponsors. Watching TV: Revised Fourth Edition is available wherever books are sold through Syracuse University Press.

TVC 691.3: Ed welcomes Tim Gray, award-winning documentary filmmaker, founder of The World War II Foundation, and the producer and director of Miles, Morale and Memories: Bob Hope and World War II, a new documentary about Bob Hope and his dedication to entertaining the troops of World War II. Narrated by Gary Sinise, the documentary features insight and commentary from Linda Hope, Bob Hope’s daughter; Joe Colonna, grandson of Jerry Colonna, Hope’s aide de camp during the World War II years; many World War II historians and World War II veterans; plus some of the many letters written to Hope by our service men and women and/or their families. Miles, Morale and Memories: Bob Hope and World War II is scheduled to air on more than three hundred PBS stations over the next few weeks. Check your local listings for time and channel. You can also enjoy it on demand at PBS.org or by downloading the PBS app. For more on the World War II Foundation, go to wwiifoundation.org. For more on the Bob and Dolores Hope Foundation and the Bob Hope Legacy, go to BobHope.org.