What Do Green Acres and Xena Have in Common?

TVC 706.1: From September 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed commemorate the milestone broadcast anniversaries for Green Acres (CBS, 1965-1970) and Xena: Warrior Princess (Synd., 1995-2001), both of which originally premiered during This Week in TV History.

TVC 706.2: From September 2015: Tony, Donna, and Ed remember The Dean Martin Show (NBC, 1965-1974), which originally premiered during This Week in TV History. Topics this segment include Martin’s initial reluctance to do a weekly series, and how the format morphed in later years into The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts.

TVC 706.3: From December 2011: Ed welcomes the Alberici Sisters (Maria Lauren and Linda Eichberg), co-authors of Beyond Our Wildest Dreams, a memoir of their two decades performing with Dean Martin as members of the Dean Martin Golddiggers that particularly focuses on the years 1973 through 1978, one of the last great eras of entertainment.

TVC 706.4: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Ruta Lee (High Rollers, Witness for the Prosecution, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Consider Your Ass Kissed), entertainment legend and the chairperson emeritus of The Thalians. Ruta recently announced that The Thalians will honor Neil Sedaka with its Mr. Wonderful award at this year’s Thalians Christmas gala, which will take place at the Bel Air Country Club Saturday, Dec. 6. The evening will also include a special appearance by Ann Jillian. For tickets and more information, Thalians.org. Topics this segment include some of the previous recipients of Mr. Wonderful award, which include Lucille Ball (that year, of course, it became the “Ms. Wonderful” award) and Clint Eastwood.

TVC 706.5: Ed welcomes John McCafferty, the actor known around the world as Billy Joe Wright on Texas (NBC, 1980-1982), and Tom Lisanti, sixties movie historian and 1970s daytime TV historian. John is among the many actors, writers, directors, NBC executives, and other behind-the-scenes personnel that Tom interviewed for his latest book, Texas: An Oral History of Daytime’s Answer to Dallas—everything you wanted about the highly touted spin-off of Another World (NBC, 1964-1999) that may not have lived up to the expectations of then-NBC head Fred Silverman, but which nonetheless remains beloved by its fans today. Texas: An Oral History of Daytime’s Answer to Dallas is available wherever books are sold through our friends at Bear Manor Media.

TVC 706.6: TV Confidential marks the recent passing of renowned film and TV executive Frank Price by playing a clip from our April 2014 conversation with author Paul Green about the life and career of Roy Huggins. Price not only collaborated with Roy Huggins several times while they were both at Universal Television, but became Huggins’ son-in-law after marrying Roy’s daughter, actress Katherine Crawford. He was also among the many people that Paul Green interviewed for his book Roy Huggins: Creator of Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip, The Fugitive, and The Rockford Files. Frank Price passed away on Monday, Aug. 25 at age ninety-five.

TVC 705.1: TV Confidential celebrates the recent centennial birthday of actress June Lockhart by bringing you an encore presentation of our conversation with June from March 2015 in which we discussed the ongoing popularity of Lost in Space (particularly, on MeTV), plus a few other stories from her showbiz career. June Lockhart turned 100 on June 25, 2025. Also in this segment: A replay from a segment that originally aired in September 2015 in which Tony, Donna, and Ed discussed the premiere of Lost in Space on CBS in 1965.

TVC 705.2: From August 2018: Chuck Harter joins Ed for the last of our three-part look at the era of pop music TV shows from the mid to late 1960s. This segment focuses on Malibu U (ABC, 1967), a summer replacement series hosted by Rick Nelson and featuring the Bob Banas Dancers (along with such guests as Leonard Nimoy, James Darren, Dionne Warwick, The Turtles, The Doors, and The Fifth Dimension); Groovy (Syndicated, 1967-1970), a beach party/teen dance show hosted by Michael Blodgett; and Happening ’68 (ABC, 1968-1969), a music variety series hosted by Paul Revere and Mark Lindsday that aired both in prime time and in daytime.

TVC 705.3: From August 2018: Chuck Harter and Ed remember The Music Scene (ABC, 1969), the short-lived music comedy series from the fall of 1969 that featured such top Billboard artists as The Beatles, James Brown, Neil Diamond, Three Dog Night, Tom Jones, Janis Joplin, Sly and The Family Stone—all performing live every week. Hosted by comedian David Steinberg, and also featuring a house band led by Patrick Williams and a regular improvisational comedy group that included a pre-Laugh-In Lily Tomlin, The Music Scene is mostly remembered today for its odd length (45 minutes).

TVC 705.4: Ed welcomes back Ruta Lee (High Rollers, Witness for the Prosecution, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Consider Your Ass Kissed), legendary singer, actress, and philanthropist, and the chairperson emeritus of The Thalians, the charitable organization to which Ruta has dedicated much of her life over the past seventy years, and which to date has raised has raised more than $50 million for mental health related causes. Ruta recently announced that The Thalians will honor Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Neil Sedaka with its Mr. Wonderful award at this year’s Thalians Christmas gala, which will take place at the Bel Air Country Club Saturday, Dec. 6. The evening will also include a special appearance by the one and only Ann Jillian. For tickets and more information, Thalians.org. Topics this segment include the back story of Mr. Wonderful award (which was designed by Walt Disney), and why Ruta believes that Southern California “is the place where God lives.”