Long before chat shows, judges and “tabloid infotainment” cluttered up American television airwaves, game shows dominated daytime programming. Several popular game shows of the 1950s and ’60s featured celebrity panelists—To Tell the Truth, Password, What’s My Line, You Bet Your Life, I’ve Got a Secret and Hollywood Squares. Each show had a rhythm and structure to it while still allowing for a cheeky faux pas from celebs and contestants. But none bordered on the madcap mania that erupted from The Match Game.
The Match Game is best remembered for its recurring celebrity panelists (Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Betty White, and Jack Klugman to name a few) and risqué-sounding questions that encouraged saucy double entendre answers. Take a look at a few clips and you’ll find material that would make today’s censors blush and Marx Brothers-level antics. It ain’t your modern day game show, for sure. And when the series began in 1962, it was quite a different program.
September 27th, 2011
With Mad Men out of the game this year and not expected to make a return until spring 2012, television networks are going head to head to see who can fill its gap. ABC is joining the mile high club with their upcoming Pan Am series, while NBC are heading to Chicago and the opening of the first Playboy Club.
I am intrigued by both shows and I am curious to see if any of them can possibly rival Mad Men’s great writing, style and attention to detail. The Playboy Club premiers September 19, 2011 on NBC.
By Chris
August 29th, 2011
Ultra Swank – Your one stop blog for retro living, style and design
Ultra Swank takes you back in time into the kitsch, chic and swank living of the 50s, 60s and the 70s. We mainly focus on the design, architecture and the lifestyle of the happy-go-lucky and space-age-living mentality of that era – but also on the music and movies that takes you back to happier times. Ultra Swank is run by Chris, a Swede born in the wrong decade that currently resides in Barcelona. Read more
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From age 7 to 30, I was Darrin two all the way. This kid was a macho, red-blooded Dick Sargent devotee. I couldn’t stand Darrin one, Dick York, with his big ears, greasy hair, and constant whining. No sir, Dick Sargent was my man – so much smoother and more willing to roll with the punches. But then I got married and something strange happened. There was a change within me. My life had a new beginning. I could still hear the birds sing, but it was a different song. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but my love of Darrin 2 started going sour and like Timothy Leary two generations ago, I turned on to Darrin 1, tuned in, and dropped out. I saw the light and I had been reborn.
What the “h” is he talking about, you say? Bewitched ran for eight seasons from 1964 to 1972 and featured married couple Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) and Darrin Stephens (Dick York/Dick Sargent). Samantha was a witch who fell in love with mortal Darrin and decided to stop using her powers to please her husband and live a normal life. They got married and had a daughter, Tabatha, and a son, Adam. This all sounds like a happy story until Samantha’s mother Endora (Agnes Moorehead), also a witch, is thrown into the mix and never leaves, creating mix-ups and mayhem aplenty.
July 12th, 2011
A few weeks ago we took the skies with news about a new ABC series centered around the iconic airline Pan American World Airways during the 1960s. Recently a promo was released, giving us a taste of what we’ll see this fall. At a first glance it looks a bit like Mad Men in the air. It is a treat seeing historic locations such as the Pan Am building, complete with helicopters and the Googie designed jet port at JFK airport in New York being brought to life with computer magic. I am excited about this, what about you guys?
By Chris
June 8th, 2011
Here are some news that will surely bring a smile to any fan of aviation and travelling in style. The iconic airline Pan American is going to take to the skies again soon in the upcoming ABC tv-series “Pan Am“. A pilot (no pun intended) has been ordered and the plot is said to center around the lives of the pilots and stewardesses of the legendary airline in the 1960s.
Riding on the success of the award winning period drama “Mad Men”, the show will draw on the experiences of executive producer Nancy Hult Ganis, who was herself a stewardess in her youth. The first episode is slated to premiere later this year and we will be seeing Christina Ricci in the lead role who will apparently play a undercover agent. Good or bad decision? Time will tell.
By Chris
May 5th, 2011
Would you believe that Mel Brooks and Buck Henry teamed up to create one of the funniest spy shows of the 1960s?
Capitalizing on the success of the James Bond franchise, television networks ordered a slew of espionage-themed programs. The Man From U.N.C.L.E, I Spy, Mission Impossible, and The Avengers brought a new level of sophistication to catching bad guys. These series used intelligence, ingenuity, and gadgetry to capture villains and save the world. Get Smart was created by Brooks and Henry to spoof the genre. The series drew inspiration from its serious counterparts and took scenarios and gadgets farther into the absurd.
The complexities of espionage were simplified for the half-hour comedy format of Get Smart. Agent 86 Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) works for CONTROL, a U.S. spy agency focused on shutting down the evil organization KAOS. With the help of Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon), the Chief (Edward Platt), and a host of other CONTROL agents, the bumbling Agent Smart defeats KAOS villains at every turn. Also assisting Max is the latest in 1960s spyware.
February 2nd, 2011
Tonight at 10 PM/9C, anyone who lives in the US and have access to AMC can catch the season premiere for the award winning series Mad Men. What will happen with the newly founded agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce and Don Drapers domestic life? Find out tonight. I can’t wait!
By Chris
July 25th, 2010
