TV Guidance Counselor

July 4 -10, 1974 This week Ken welcomes Buffalo Tom frontman Bill Janovitz to the show. Ken and Bill discuss TV Theme Songs, Bill's writing of the Mike O'Malley theme, Yes Dear, This Old House, growing up in New York, 80s NYC vs 90s NYC, how the gay part of town is always where the interesting stuff is going on, Beverly Hills and it's Welcome Sign, why LA is great, Fabio, Tim Reid (no relation), All in the Family, staying up late in the Summer, three camera sitcoms, how the faux-documentary style is played out, Blackish, the shared experience of television as a kid, Seinfeld, the generation gap, Maureen Stapleton vs. Jean Stapleton, Those Were the Days, Melancholy TV music, TV with multi-generational appeal, Norman Lear, the occasional brutality of 70s family television, VCR culture, quoting movies, gold fish memories, The Jeffersons, the mystery of the Good Times theme song, The Midnight Special, the seeds of wanting to be a rock star, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, SNL, Fear's Halloween Saturday Night Live set, Rock Fantasy Camp with Graham parker, Kate Pierson, Soul Train, My So-Called Life, Why Catwalk, Devo on Square Pegs, why MTV is not the maffia, No Alternative, The Monkees, The Jackson 5, music cartoons, KISS, Tony Orlando and Dawn, 8 Tracks, The Golden age of variety shows, Pink Lady and Jeff, The Brady Kids Variety Hour, Telma Hopkins, The Osmonds, the creepy nature of Little Jimmy Osmond, Linda Carter, Ann Margaret, Wild Kingdom, The Wonderful World of Disney, Adventures in Satan's Canyon, 70s obsession with canyons, Battle of the Network Stars, Suzanne Somers running around, Dan Hagerty's pecs, ESPN's World's Strongest Man competitions, Kojak, 70s TV noir, adding homicide to arson, Alex Rocco, why Facts of Life is Ken's Kevin Bacon, Candid Camera, Bloopers, watching football bloopers on 8mm at the library, Maude, Rhoda, Norman Lear, Bill's textbook deadpan, the sexless-ness of Maude, Happy Days vs. Good Times, bongos, Dynamite Magazine, Barnaby Jones, Hawaii Five-O, Welcome Back Kotter, Taxi, James at 15, TVT Recrods TV Theme Song LPs, the right age for nostalgia, covering money with the Rembrandts, hanging out with Rick James watching the Cheers finale, David Lynch, The Robb Brothers, Hank Shocklee, The loss of shared family experience, The Waltons, the mechanics of a joke, SNL's 40th, being part of the comedy generation, SCTV, Harry Shearer, Jon Stewart, Streets of San Francisco, The Simpsons, being surprised by embarrassing commercials watching television with your kids, Sanford and Son, Truck Stop Comedy Tapes in the tour bus, Quincy Jones, The Saint, The Rockford Files, Police Woman, Dads loving Angie Dickinson, Get Christine Love, and watching The Honeymooners after 10pm.

June 25 - July 1, 1988 This week Ken welcomes comedian, rapper, old friend and man about town Zach Sherwin to the show. Ken and Zach discuss exactly when they first met, how the world grew into hip hop, Ken's lack of Dubstep knowledge, when Ken checked out of music, early Hip Hop as evolution of punk rock, W. Kamau Bell, The Ghetto Boys, the Bad Brains inspired origins of the Beastie Boys name, sound collage, Boston's An*l C*nt (*AC*), Snakes, getting high and watching nature documentaries, Ayahuasca, Ken's anti-drug mythology stance, the veil of reality, a life of suppression and control, "In Search Of...", Leonard Nimoy, the Hip Hop/Sci-Fi Connection, personal context of pop culture references, MF Doom, JJ Fadd Supersonic, Nicki Minaj, sometimes things are all about big butts, getting diagnosed with a "you've got six months to live", Ken's inherent skeptical wiring, Flatliners, Movie Novelizations, the novelization of "Bram Stoker's Dracula", Robocop, The Facts of Life, Ken's love of Sherrie Krenn/Austin aka Pippa on The Facts of Life, Booch, Ken's tea based microwave burns, Eye of the Tiger, Police Squad!, James at 15, Skateboarding, Swimsuit 87, George Foreman, It's Gary Shandling, The 40th Anniversary of Atlantic Records, Hunk, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Taylor Negron, Tales of the Gold Monkey, growing up without a TV in the house, never owning a TV, Naughy By Nature's OPP, MTV, the Rosetta Stone nature of album liner notes, AIDS and Designing Women, Annie Potts, Morton Downey Jr, The Color of Money, why Eric Clapton's soulless nature has kept him from being sampled, the Maurice Sendak hour, Who's the Boss, Living Dolls, Perfect Strangers, TV Guide's anti-Cuba Stance, Moonlighting, Richard Lewis, Degrassi, Young Drake, Growing Pains, Rodeo Finals, Head of the Class, Madonna in "Who's That Girl?", Batman, Hooperman, the mystery of TV Guide writers, dumb answers to dumb questions, birthdays, Top Secret!, Not Necessarily the News, Val Kilmer, Sledge Hammer, The Charmings, Lingering at the Synagogue, TVs Bloopers and Practical Jokes, "in the butt", Stephen King, Pro Karate, Ken and Zach's respective black belts in martial arts, and ending up on the Cobra the Snake God channel for your birthday.

November 26 - December 2, 1994 This week Ken welcomes artist and comedian Val Kappa to the show. Ken and Val discuss Ellen's inexplicable success, living in a cableless society, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson impersonators, Country music, Ken's encounter with Cyndi Lauper, Paula Abdul, My Girl, bee fears, Ken's Star Wars vomit, killer Yogurt in The Stuff, Before they were Stars, Father of the Bride, Hombre Mayor, seeing Basic Instinct with your parents, Splatter: The Architects of Fear, Fresh Prince, Susan Powter, Ken's encounters with Tony Little, Scott Baio and Tom Oldham at malls, Blossom, My Two Dads, having your own TV in your room, teenagers talking on the phone for hours talking about nothing, The Simpsons, calling radio stations, the myth of the radio request line, KISS 108, 101.7 WFNX (RIP), Ted Turner, Emerson College, the fate of the second Kenneth W. Reid, Ken's alter ego "Dave", Phyllis Diller, being stuck in an elevator with a pregnant woman, placenta buckets, holding a baby, kitten birth ruining a perfectly good Pee Wee Herman sleeping bag, Murphy Brown, loving the Silly character, London Underground, Make Me Laugh on Comedy Central, Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Madonna's lost innocence, Wendy Malik, The Bionic Woman, Frosty, Christmas traditions, the tears induced by "Up", genocide in the Transformers movie, Models Inc, My So-Called Life, exotic red heads, the pain of having your favorite show canceled, hating ABC, Juliana Hatfield, The Higgins Boys and Gruber, Family Matters, The X-Files and the short lived acting career of Geraldo Rivera.

This week Ken welcomes Tom Rhodes to the show. Ken and Tom discuss Ken's TV Guide archives, the family dynamic of the Archie Bunker Chair, neighborhood talk of cable, butter knife soft core pornography, Emmanuel, modern kids lack of mechanical skills, MTV, General Hospital, Rick Springfield, moot points, the social justice power of soap operas, Steve McQueen in French, Jerry Lewis' foreign tongue, Barney Miller, family dance parties, highlighting the TV Guide for late night stand up, Carson, Letterman, Rich Hall, Mike Wilmot's murderous ways, Viva Vietnam, being the face of Comedy Central, being the subject of an NBC/HBO/Fox bidding war, Must See TV, taking the crown from the Fresh Prince, how to go from public defender to private school English Teacher in one easy step, Mark Brazil, learning to act on National TV, Ron Glass, Hal Linden, how the kids take over, the funny teacher sub-genre, being one in a four pack, Dabney Coleman's Buffalo Bill, Alan Partridge, the UK influence over likable US characters, being slammed by Entertainment Weekly, being fed up with Hair Jokes, Native Americans, Mr. Rhodes, why being the side character is better than being the lead, Minnesota, the charm of giant trucks, the death knell of Holiday Episodes, loving Lucy, live audiences, the arsenal of supporting cast, Jensen Ackles, Lindsay Sloane, Sean Weiss, Alexandra Holden, Jessica Stone, Stephen Tobolowsky, watching the news as a kid, genetic love of stand up comedy, Holland, The NBC Artist's Grant, London Comedy, Greg Proops, The Kevin Masters Show, travel shows, MTV's Half Hour Comedy Hour and the memorable moments live gifts us with gold carts and the Back to the Future town square.

In this very special after school special edition of the show Ken welcomes Sean Sullivan back to the show. Sean and Ken discuss the popularity of Sean as a guest, school with siblings, 1990, Jr High vs. Middle School, the darkest thing Ken has ever said on the show, Sex Ed, the death of After school Specials, the Wave, cartoons, walking to school, horrific childhood games, Hard Copy, Canadian Co-Productions, Don't Just Sit There, dinner plans, Boy Scouts, Orange Soda, cancer popcorn, 1993, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, secretly enjoying baby shows, 3.2.1 Contact, Beyond 2000, Tailspin, Disney Afternoon, Fifteen, Barney and Friends, Tiny Toon Adventures, Carmen Sandieago, Rockapella into Mmmbop, Dinosaucers, Plucky Duck, Goofy hatred, Shop Til You Drop, Sunday Mornings, Denver the Last Dinosaur, 1995, talk shows, Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters, Ghost Writer, Beetlejuice, Quack Attack, Exosquad, Extreme Toxic Waste, Tazmania, Ricki Lake, I'm Telling, buying your childhood heart's desire game show prizes as an adult, Animaniacs, Billy Nye the Science Guy vs. Beakman's World, 1998, Wishbone, The New Adventures of Batman and Superman, VR Troopers, The Mystics Knights of Trunanog, Big Bad Beetleborgs, and the long strange history of Power Rangers.

September 24-30, 1994 This week Ken welcomes fellow Boston Comedian Sam Jay to the show. Ken and Sam discuss the difficulty in finding Ken's home, Catholic School, cloak rooms, embarrassing incidents, demonic possession, Beverly Hills 90210, being a gay teen, being on a watch list from the Boston Archdiocese and having that lead to moving to a suburban public school, strip clubs, Atlanta, Black Williamsburg, going to college in a shopping mall, family tragedies, stand up comedy, knowing what you want to be, having cable in your room, SNICK, classic Nickelodeon, COPS, They Live, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, escapism vs. identification, Fox as the "black thing", Hating "Hey Dude", when things aren't a race thing but a taste thing, America's Most Wanted as family viewing, Stark Trek, Sisters, Lusty Sela Ward, The Simpsons, Black Bart, Flea Market bootleg clothing, Downtown Boston's Corner Mall, The Real World, Puck, AIDS, letting kids drink wine, Hardball, Married...with Children, classic MTV, how Melrose Place makes Monday night the best night in Sam's week, made for TV movies, Murphy Brown, when a monkey guest stars, Wrestling and the Ultimate Warrior, ComicView, stand up on TV, Full House, The House Party series, Baby Faced White Boys, Home Improvement, Kids in the Hall, Grace Under Fire, John Larroquette, Tori Spelling's virginity, Ken's love of modeling, the conundrum of Beavis and Butthead, Martin, being a "hater", how Janet Jackson is the best Jackson, how Ken is mad about Mad About You, My So-Called Life, Dawsome's Creek, James at 15, gay TV, Living Single, the horror of "Soul Plane", the golden age of BET, The Friday film series, New York Undercover, Seinfeld, Family Matters, TGIF, Boy Meets World, The X-Files, and believing you've been abducted by aliens.

Recorded LIVE! at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland Oregon, on this special Bridgetown Comedy Festival edition of the show welcomes Brendon Small to the show. Ken and Brendon discuss VooDoo Donuts, drug testing, working at a movie theater, Berklee College of Music, going to film school, Harold and Maude, Springfield, Emancipation, Garbage Plates vs. Chop Suey Sandwiches, Chez Henri, conscripting a retired chef, Paul O'Connell, guitar, Little Stevie's Pizza, being insulted by Bobby McFarren, acapella TV theme songs, It's Gary Shandling Show and its theme song, NBC's comedy revolution, the early days of Fox TV, writers' constant state of strike, Shout! Factory, how nothing new is actually new, Burns and Allen, Ernie Kovaks, Jack Benny, when things are Shakespeare, stealing from dead people, cable making you who you are, Night Flight, loving horror films, wanted to have nightmares, Salem's Lot, the Poltergeist remake, JoBeth Williams, great scores, puking up a worm, why amputees make the world's best monsters, novelizations as the original deleted scenes, Tobe Hooper, The Funhouse, Spider Plant kids, being a special FX make up artist, Basket Case, Frankenhooker, James Lorinz, Leprechaun, movies about balls, Jake Busey, 80s TV Horror anthology revolution, Get a Life, Fox's Werewolf, The Young Ones, Chris Elliot, UPN Network, from boats to TV, Bob and Ray, Chris Elliot as FDR, One Man Shows, Ben Franklin's White Shadow, Captain Moustache, 80s Boston comics, retarded JD Salingers, shitting on what you love, Metalocalypse, Desmind Pfeifer, Homeboys in Outerspace, Shasta McNasty, Home Movies, "the cartoon boom of 99", Dr. Katz, Jonathan Katz, Bob Newhart, Albert Brooks, smart subtle word comedy, Mr. Show, being roommates with Eugene Mirman, The Bob Newhart Show, The Marx Bros, Groucho, ignorance bred innovation, Sid Caesar, Your Show of Shows, onions, Jealousy as the greatest form of comedic admiration, Seinfeld, Mike Bent, hearing results based on practice, DJ Hazzard's red headed shadow, Metallica vs. Anthrax, developing your life long identity, when your job is to be inspired, Headbanger's Ball, losing MTV, Lost in America, Gary Marshall, Mr. Bill, Christopher Guest, Martin Short, Martin Short, SCTV vs. SNL, Billy Crystal as Sammy Davis Jr, Martin Short as Jackie Rogers' Jr, Jiminy Glick, Jerry Lewis, and Cheers + Jeers.

April 10-16, 1976 This week Ken welcomes actor James Urbaniak. James and Ken discuss Lloyd Bridges: Policeman, 70s illustrations, Rhoda, cigarette ads, 70s High Fives, tar, just watching things because they are there, April Vacation, the evil nature of "Big Ski", free subscription gifts, the sheer class of a leather TV Guide Cover, having the option of Black and White, TV pliers, 8 Track Clubs, The New York Report, the Fall Preview excitement, Saturday Morning Premires, Jabberjaw, Holmes and Yoyo, cops and robots, the mythology of short lived shows, Pat Buchanan, Easter Specials, The Peanuts, the hierarchy of Charlie Brown specials, passive aggressive anger over the pre-preemption of Rhoda, waking up early for Saturday Morning cartoons, Scooby Doo, Animated series based on live action series, The Ghost of Frankenstein, King Kong Thanksgiving, the importance of buying brand name batteries, The Bowrey Boys, comedic spin offs from dramas, dramatic spin offs from comedies, Lawrence Welk, The Easter Resurrection, Easter as the worst Holiday, Easter: Mid-Season replacement, The Happy Days/Laverne and Shirley Hour, Christy MacNichol, Vic Tayback, Little House of the Prairie, Big Luscious Tomatoes, Bionic people, 70s vague Indians, The Honeymooners, lazy TV Guide descriptions, Burns and Allen, Joe Franklin, Uncle Floyd, The Waltons vs. Hawaii Five-O, Ken's hatred of Welcome Back Kotter, Barney Miller, Max Gayle, Godstuff, TV Guide owners personal notes, Topper, PONG, and TV Guide's status as an ahead of the curve journalistic futurist.

February 15-21, 1969 (sort of) This week Ken welcomes comedian, actor, author and smartest man in the world Greg Proops to the show. Ken and Greg discuss Fantasy on Television, The Avengers, The Adams Family, The Wild Wild West, Kids television, exactly when England got black people, The Black and White Minstrel Show, Star Trek, The psychedelic 60s, San Francisco, Star Trek, Dad movies, War, Zulu, speaking German, learning that sometimes there are no good guys, Chuck Connors, Branded, breaking a sword over your knee, The Prisoner: the original mindfuck, James Bond, questioning your government, Who's Line is it Anyway?, Punk, The Double Deckers, dystopia, the song that goes with every neighborhood in London, The 60s dream of peace love and nonviolence, Night Flight, the golden age of FM radio, KSAN, The UK vs US Top 40, The Intruder, Charles Beaumont, The Twilight Zone, realizing the rest of the United States is terrifying and different, buying into the media lie, hatred of memes, having the sum total of human knowledge in your pocket, the DIY ethos of punk reflected in podcasts, The Outer Limits, learning a moral compass from television, Davey and Goliath, The Banana Splits, Rankin Bass, bad people as main characters, the best of times the worst of times, local television, when cameramen all became robots, Vietnam: the first TV war, the horrors of combat footage, real reporters, why Dick Chaney is the world's most evil heartless cyborg, never believing what you hear, why there is no news anymore, conspiracy theories, when Hidden Camera Prank shows became reporting, throwing your hat at the white flag, Hilary Clinton, why there is no truth or final word anymore, conservatives re-branding as the Party party, Laugh In, The Smothers Brothers, the legacy of Nixon, Pepsi vs. Coke, when everyone smokes, the sleaze of Maxim magazine, Family Ties, Full House as history's greatest representation of San Francisco, Occupy vs. real criminals, Good Day LA, Romney's evil bowels, why celebrities are not allowed to have opinions, Iran Contra, Ronald Reagan's journey from joke to Jesus, The Dead Kennedys, Midnight Caller, Greg's essaying the role of Cab Drive, Gary Cole, Nash Bridges, Vigilante Talk Radio DJs, American Gothic, Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me, Sam Fuller, The Model Cafe, The Brady Bunch Movie, "I don't if you remember me...", Charlton Heston, The Omega Man, Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, I Am Legend, Richard Matheson, Zombie movies, why the current love of zombies gets it totally wrong, Return of the Living Dead, millennials' obsession with magic and monsters, the rules driven horror trend, Forbidden Planet, The Tempest, Star Wars turning sci-fi into a genre for everyone, Minority Report, Phillip K. Dick, Hollywood's abandonment of character studies, comic book movies, Pacific Rim, Ultraman, Ken's dislike of Quentin Tarantino, The Skin Game, Jackie Brown, living in a Sci-Fi story, advertising ruining everything, 1984, Orwell, Greg's book, navel officers writing sci-fi, Robert Heinlein, "Room 101", Paul Merton, CCTV Cameras in London, Big Brother's journey from terrifying idea to hot tub sex, the evils of technology, the dehumanization of Uber, the cost of convenience, mini cabs, "The Knowledge", Africa, never having been to the center of London, Billy Ocean, navigating without technology, pop culture advocates, Record Store clerks, teenage girls loving AM pop, Greg's wife's impeccable music taste, The Underground, Russ Meyer, Faster Pussycat Kill Kill, The Strand in San Francisco, The Stuff, communal experience, Mike Meyer's Tarantino-ing Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Our Man Flint, money men financing the creative while being the enemy of art, Big Talent Agencies missing the point, The Army Show, The Jamie Foxx Show, fruit bags, schlub comedians, Louis CK, getting out of the way of good art, the fraternity of comedians, pulp fiction vs Pulp Fiction, learning your craft, and panning for the Golden Age.

August 3-9, 1991 In this episode recorded LIVE! at ImprovBoston as part of the 2015 Women in Comedy Festival, Ken welcomes writer, musician, comedian and midwesterner Mary Mack to the show. Ken and Mary discuss Mid-western attendance, central time, copious notes, realizing what you missed as a kid, roof mounted antennas, Punky Brewster, two beers as the cure for sadness, why Ken could never have been a Doctor, the physical nature of magazines, Choose Your Own Adventure books, cigarette ads, the original owner of the issues TV choices, Mary's cultural anthropological understanding of TV Guide, "Gerald", Janita, Madonna, 10 Years of MTV, horrorscopes, Gerald's crossword failure, Group Homes, working the night shift, Entertainment Tonight, Ken's invention of the Hold Button App, Uber for Jazz, traveling into town to see New Kids on the Block, Public TV, Benny Hill, Peoria, Morning Agriculture, John Candy, "Only The Lonely", The Twins, Sunday Football, Pickled Herring, Fresh Prince, Murphy Brown, Mark L. Walberg, Antiques Roadshow, Supermarket Sweep, Shop til You Drop, bowling tutorials, Northern Exposure, Twin Peaks, Ed vs. Chris in the Morning, the corner of happy and healthy, the inherent humor of the word "barf", celebrities who have tattoos, "If I Could Turn Back Time", school assemblies, tricking kids into being in show choir, jazzy Amish, terrible high school marching bands, catching up on things you missed via YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu, chasing sleep, Wild America, dealing with bears, playing dead, UK shows, Roseanne, 10pm Crime, Kenny Rogers, selling out to Dole, Mary's husband's obsession with the Mob and Mummies, Dawn of the Mummy, Mummies vs. Fashion Models, dish washing models, braces, Newhart, the importance of Thursdays, Joanna Kerns, Mutual of Omaha, Silver Spoons, Rickey Schroeder, Fischer Cats, knowing too much about swords, the hot market of China, Wheel of Fortune, familiar arguments igniting by TV Game Shows, Stotes, Winter Weasels, walking Mary's friend's sister, The treat of Pop on Friday Night, renting a VCR, Strange Brew, Coming to America, Willy Nelson and Kris Kristopherson, the Highwaymen Tapes, Follow that Bird, The best Muppet Movie, questioning if anything got better after someone died, why New Order is a better band than Joy Division, Ken's experiences camping, the horrors of deep sea fishing, how being beaten to death is a peaceful death, Arsenio Hall is horrible, Pat Sajak's talk show, Golden Girls, theme songs that were songs before they became theme songs, Molly B and polka, polka, polka.