What do you think about when autumn rolls along? Falling leaves, perhaps? Apple picking? If you’re anything like me, it’s new TV shows. When I was growing up in the ‘00s and early ‘10s, I would pore over the fall schedules of each of the networks and get excited by the new series premiering and my favorites returning. This was before the streaming wars ruined television. Before Hollywood was overrun by tech. It wasn’t actually all that long ago, but it feels distant and irretrievable. I was so much younger then. Fueled by that feeling of nostalgia that returns every September, I felt it’d be worth my time to revisit TV’s past, back through the years to before my era. I decided to recreate the programming on NBC on September 16, 1993 - the first Thursday night of the 1993-94 season, which was the one that introduced the famous “Must See TV” branding. I hope using the lens of one specific night of programming will be a useful and unique way to think about these shows, which have bee...
My journey into the musical world of Kander & Ebb continues on YouTube! Watch the video, or, if you’d prefer, read my script below. Intro After last week’s discussion of an iconic musical, today we’re traveling back to the realm of obscure flops. I’ve been ranking every Kander and Ebb musical based on listening to the original Broadway cast album. I have videos on my channel discussing Flora the Red Menace and Cabaret already, so be sure to check those out as we turn our attention to the third show by John Kander and Fred Ebb to hit Broadway, 1968’s The Happy Time . I had heard of this show but I never before listened to this album, and I didn’t even know any of the songs. Everything I did know about this show came from reading William Goldman’s classic book The Season . If you haven’t read this, I highly recommend it. Written by the screenwriter of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Princess Bride, The Season is a non-fiction book about all the ...