Benjamonster's TV

THE FACULTY Programming Details: March 13, 1996 - June 26, 1996 13 episodes ABC Starring: Meredith Baxter, Jenica Bergere, Kurt Fuller, Peter Michael Goetz, Nancy Lenehan, Peter MacKenzie, Constance Shulman Created by: Neil Thompson and Gary Murphy Plot: Flynn Sullivan (Baxter) is the stressed out vice principal at Hamilton Middle School. Rather than focusing on classrooms, this series focused primarily on the faculty lounge as other school employees made up the main cast: Principal Herb Adams (Goetz), history teacher Clark Edwards (MacKenzie), new math teacher Amanda Duvall (Bergere), industrial arts teacher Edward Sloan (Fuller), English teacher Shelly Ray (Shulman) and Herb's secretary Daisy Skelnick (Lenehan).

My Top 10 today is Top 10 Neighbors ! My caveat for this one is they couldn't also be the lead characters. For example, Joey and Chandler are neighbors to Monica and Rachel on Friends , but they all share equal billing as leads of the show. These are neighbors who are secondary characters. Close Calls: Eddie Haskell - Leave it to Beaver Larry, Darryl & Darryl - Newhart Winnie Cooper - The Wonder Years 10. Wilson (Earl Hindman) - Home Improvement  One of the classic characters who we never fully see, Wilson provided Tim Taylor lots of sage advice from the other side of the fence and made "Howdy Ho, Neighbor" a common saying.  9. Lenny & Squiggy (Michael McKean & David L. Lander) - Laverne & Shirley They were so bizarre and sometimes annoying but Lenny and Squiggy were funny neighbors. They provided some really great comedic moments on the show and made Laverne and Shirley look less crazy by comparsion.

Here's a look at Thursdays in the 1985-86 season! ABC 8:00 9:00 10:00 Sep The Fall Guy Lady Blue 20/20 Oct Nov Shadow Chasers Various Programs Dec The Colbys Jan Feb Ripley’s Believe It  or Not Mar Apr May With NBC dominating the night with its sitcom lineup, ABC went with two hours of drama to start off the night. At 8pm was  The Fall Guy . The action drama had been a decent-sized hit, but was fading away in its fifth season. It was followed by the new  Lady Blue , a Chicago-set police drama that was notable for being extremely violent for a network show. It was targeted by some watchdog groups and unlike a later police drama,  NYPD Blue , it didn't translate to ratings. Both dramas were yanked off the night in mid-October and sent to Saturdays. Net...

Here's a look at this week's Top 5 TV news stories! #1 - "SCHITT'S" SWEEPS THE EMMYS For the first time in Emmy history, a series swept every major award in drama or comedy series categories (series, all four acting awards, writing & directing) and that series was Schitt's Creek . The little show that could from Pop TV was a leading contender going into the Emmy Awards but no one expected an across the board sweep. After never being an Emmys player before this season, the show's popularity exploded after it arrived on Netflix last year. It won awards for legends Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy as well as three awards for co-creator and star Dan Levy and his on screen sister, Annie Murphy (who was probably the longest shot before the ceremony). The Emmys received low ratings as expected but largely pulled off the super weird, socially distanced version they had to present. The other big winners, to no surprise, were Succession and Watchmen while 24...

Welcome to the next week of Episode Guides! This week looks at the third season of Bewitched . A reminder of what the scores mean: 9-10: Exceptional 7-8: Strong 5-6: OK 3-4: Mediocre 1-2: Terrible BEWITCHED: SEASON THREE 1966-1967 33 episodes Bewitched  moves to color in season three and it's pretty smooth sailing early on. While the show takes a small step away from being the romantic comedy it was in seasons one and two and a step closer to being a silly 60s fantasy comedy, it straddles that line pretty well here. I think an argument could be made that this season is funnier than the first two, just not quite as well-crafted. The loss of Alice Pearce (replaced by Sandra Gould) and addition of Bernard Fox late in the season is a sign of bad things to come for the show, but this season still feels like the show is in its creative sweet spot. It's just not as magical to me as the black and white run. Starring Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens  (33 episodes) Dick York as...

MARY Programming Details: December 11, 1985 - April 8, 1986 13 episodes CBS Starring: Mary Tyler Moore, James Farentino, John Astin, David Byrd, Katey Sagal, James Tolkan, Carlene Watkins Created by: Ken Levine and David Isaacs Plot: Mary Brenner (Moore) is a Chicago divorcee working for a high profile women's magazine but then forced to work for a tabloid after her magazine goes out of business. She tries to deal with her sense of journalism with a boss (Farentino) who values sensationalism. At her new job she also has to deal with columnist Jo (Sagal), theater critic Ed (Astin) and copy editor Tully (Byrd). Rounding out the main cast Mary's neighbor Susan (Watkins) and Susan's fiance, Lester (Tolkan).

We are Back to School, in one form or another, so today's Top 10 is Top 10 TV Teachers/Coaches ! Close Calls: Mr. Garvey - Key and Peele CB Brown - Schooled Helen Crump - The Andy Griffith Show 10. Cameron Tucker (played by Eric Stonestreet) - Modern Family We didn't get to see a ton of Cam as a gym teacher and football coach on Modern Family , but I love that the show turned a stereotype on his head by making someone who often appeared flamboyantly gay a competent and effective football coach. And they were never preachy or heavy-handed about it. 9. Charlie Moore (played by Howard Hesseman) - Head of the Class An anti-Mr. Kotter teaching the anti-Sweathogs, Charlie Moore was the perfect teacher for a group of pretentious straight A students because he was a little bit pretentious himself. As a musical director myself, I love that he was also the musical director at the school.

Here's a look at Wednesdays in the 1985-86 season! ABC 8:00 9:00 10:00 Sep The Insiders Dynasty Hotel Oct Nov Dec Jan MacGyver Feb Mar Apr May ABC was in good shape on Wednesdays heading into 1985-86 because they had the reigning #1 show on TV at 9pm -  Dynasty . In the time of Reagan-era opulent 1980s soaps,  Dynasty  stood on top of the mountain. It also ended the previous season on a massive cliffhanger - "The Moldavian Massacre" that was seen by over 25 million viewers. However, that was the peak of Dynasty 's popularity. The 1985-86 season started on an ominous note with star Joan Collins missing the first episode back due to tense contract negotiations. The follow-up to the cliffhanger, while even more highly viewed, was seen as a creative disappointment that left a bad t...

Here's a look at this week's Top 5 TV news stories! #1 - THE EMMYS ARE THIS SUNDAY! The Emmys, in a very different form, will air this Sunday. Here's my official predictions & commentary on the major awards in drama, comedy and limited series: Outstanding Drama Series Will Win: Succession Should Win: Succession Should Have Been Nominated: The Morning Show Outstanding Comedy Series Will Win: Schitt's Creek Should Win: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Should Have Been Nominated: Never Have I Ever

Welcome to the next week of Episode Guides! This week looks at Bewitched Season Two. A reminder of what the scores mean:  9-10: Exceptional 7-8: Strong 5-6: OK 3-4: Mediocre 1-2: Terrible BEWITCHED: SEASON TWO 1965-1966 38 episodes Season two of  Bewitched  is the last of its years in glorious black and white. I have a special place in my heart for the 74 black and white episodes as they were the ones I watched religiously on Nick at Nite back in the 90s when they only had the rights to those episodes. Season 2 is an unbelievable 38 episodes long. It's amazing that the show spends what seems like an entire season on Samantha's pregnancy and the birth of Tabitha only to have a whole second half of the season left to go. It's also the best season of the series overall with some absolute gems and crisp performances all around. With both Marion Lorne and Alice Pearce still with us and the cast settling into their roles, it is the show at its absolute peak. Starring Elizabeth ...

THE NEW ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW Programming Details: January 8, 1971 - March 12, 1971 10 episodes CBS Starring: Andy Griffith, Lee Meriwether, Ann Morgan Guilbert, and Lori Rutherford & Marty McCall Created by: Aaron Ruben Plot: Andy Sawyer (Griffith) returns to his hometown of Greenwood, North Carolina as the new mayor pro tem. Joing him are his wife, Lee (Meriwether), children Lori & TJ (Rutherford & McCall) and sister, Nora (Guilbert).

Welcome to another Top 10 Tuesday! Last week, I looked at the first episodes of comedy series. Today is the Top 10 First Episodes of Dramas! Close Calls: American Dreams "Pilot" House of Cards "Chapter 1" Party of Five "Pilot" 10 . Revenge "Pilot"  (September 21, 2011) The first episode of Revenge started with an interesting flash forward and then did a tremendous job of world building. The lavish Hamptons setting and the very intriguing revenge plot in the pilot probably would have ranked higher if it had been able to stick the landing. 9. Damages "Get Me a Lawyer" (July 24, 2007) This was also a pilot with a flash forward that actually managed to stick the landing. So often flash forwards can end up disappointing but Damages kept things interesting and introduced us to a marvelous Glenn Close performance.

Here's a look at Tuesdays in the 1985-86 season! If you're on a mobile device and the formatting looks weird for a grid, try it on a desktop or laptop! ABC 8:00 8:30 9:00 10:00 Sep Who’s the Boss? Growing Pains Moonlighting Our Family Honor Oct Nov Spenser: For Hire Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr Perfect Strangers May Growing Pains ABC was the dominant network on Tuesday nights with a solid lineup, especially from 8-10pm.  Who's the Boss?  was a modest success in its first year but it took over the 8pm lead-off slot for its second season and became a breakout hit, vaulting into the Top 10. The Tony Danza-Judith Light sitcom settled into a very long run in this slot as one of ABC's most successful sitcoms of the 1980s. It was followed by a new sitcom, the ...

Welcome to the Friday Five! Every Friday will take a look at current TV news with the five biggest TV news stories of the week! I should mention that this is based mostly on shows airing, not necessarily corporate moves. So while the departure of Netflix's Cindy Holland is huge news for TV but not the kind of news stories I will cover here. So here is the Friday Five for this week! #1 -ANNA FARIS IS LEAVING "MOM" The news is a week old now but there was a bombshell last Friday afternoon that Anna Faris would be leaving  Mom  after seven seasons. The CBS series has evolved quite a bit from its original premise with Faris as a recovering alcoholic and dealing with both her recovering alcoholic mom (Allison Janney) and children (Sadie Calvano & Blake Garrett Rosenthal). Calvano and Rosenthal eventually left the cast and the show has morphed pretty significantly from a family sitcom to a friendship sitcom about a group of women who are all recovering alcoholics. While Far...

Today is the first day of my Episode Guides on Thursdays! I will regularly put this caveat that each episode is scored and then an average for each season given at the end of the season. It is exceedingly hard to get an average in the 8-10 range (for a 10 average, every single episode of the season would have to get a perfect score, which is never going to happen).  So I look at it this way for overall scores: 9-10: Exceptional 7-8: Strong 5-6: OK 3-4: Mediocre 1-2: Terrible Here we go! BEWITCHED: SEASON ONE 1964-1965 36 episodes The first season of  Bewitched  is delightful. The show in its early years was a sentimental, romantic comedy with sophisticated writing and sharp performances. The show isn't afraid to shy away from some major themes, most specifically prejudice.  Bewitched  so often gets lumped in with the silly sitcoms of the 1960s and it lives up to that generalization in its later years. But in these early years, it is closer to the sophistication ...

MY MOTHER THE CAR Programming Details: September 14, 1965 - April 5, 1966 30 episodes NBC Starring: Jerry Van Dyke, Maggie Pierce, Also Starring Ann Sothern, Featuring Avery Schreiber, Cindy Eilbacher, Randy Whipple Created by: Allan Burns & Chris Heyward Plot:  David Crabtree (Van Dyke) sees a 1928 Porter in a used car lot and when he gets in it, he finds out that it's his mother (Sothern) who has come back from the dead as a car. David has to deal with his incredulous wife, Barbara (Pierce) and Captain Manzini (Schreiber) who is determined to get the car. Rounding out the main cast are David's two children, Cindy and Randy (Eilbacher and Whipple).

Tuesday is Top 10 day! Every list is based on personal opinion and shows I have watched. Fittingly, the Top 10 to kick things off is Top 10 First Episodes of Comedies! Close Calls:  Brooklyn Nine-Nine "Pilot" The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel "Pilot" Rhoda "Joe" 10. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt "Kimmy Goes Outside!" (March 6, 2015) A pilot that was completely unique and different, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt made great use of its very unusual plot with a pilot that was hilarious and a perfect showcase for the title character. 9. Bewitched "I, Darrin, Take This Witch, Samantha" (September 17, 1964) An enchanting start to an enchanting sitcom that really captures the romanticism of the early seasons of the show. Check back Thursday for more on this episode and the whole first season of Bewitched !

Welcome to Day 1 of the Blog Relaunch! On Mondays, I will take a look at schedules of the past starting with the 1985-86 season. If you're on a mobile device and the formatting looks weird for the grid, try it on a desktop or laptop! Here's a look at Mondays in the 1985-86 season! ABC 8:00 9:00 10:00 Sep Hardcastle & McCormick Monday Night Football Oct Nov Dec Jan Monday Night Movie Feb Mar Apr May ABC went all-in on the male audience on Monday nights in the Fall of 1985 with the third season of action drama  Hardcastle and McCormick continuing at 8pm leading into  Monday Night Football .  Hardcastle  centered on the unlikely pairing of a judge (Brian Keith) and ex-con race car driver (Daniel Hugh Kelly). They, along with a totally awesome car, go after criminals. Playing like a bu...