TV Guidance Counselor

May 10-16, 1986 This week Ken welcomes writer and comedian Anthony Scibelli. Ken and Anthony discuss Ken's home, the secrets of Anthony's birth, John Lennon's Death, Cheers by Jack Davis, watching TV every night of the week, PBS, Will Eisner's Spirit, the 90s being the lowest point in comic book history, Ken's fights with children at a screening of the first Spider-Man, all night 3-D movie marathons, Gimme a Break, Charles Grodin, Miss Hollywood vs. Jules Feiffer, anthology shows, Amazing Stories, meeting Sid Caesar, Mr. Ed is eternal, how Wikipedia ruined Ken's social life, why Ken never does pop culture jokes in his stand up comedy, striking out in T-Ball leading to homophobic slur induced assault, Nick at Nite, Car 54 Where Are You?, Drinking with Donna Reed, rejecting the previous generations popular culture, Fighting Back with David Horowitz, Carl Reiner, NBC paying tribute to NBC, hating Milton Berle, female puppeteers, The Eflman clan, CBS Monday Night lineup gold, Nova, Tia Carrerre's relative age, Who's the Boss, Ken's weird Donna Dixon situation, Boi-oi-oing, Pizza is key to a 'Burbs/Neighbors Double Feature, Joe Piscapoe's little loved SNL characters, Ken's first movie review, never having seen Jaws, Growing Pains and the undead, Super Star Show and Bob Dylan, 3-D Pornography, old Jewish Comedians, cocaine, The Wall of Celebrity Biographies, Highway to Heaven, Anthony's laughter induced asthma, Blacke's Magic, Scott Valentine, Godzilla 1985, disfigured monsters, The Last Precinct, and being kind to the elderly.

June 20-26, 1992 This week Ken welcomes writer/podcaster/blogger and occasional actress Tess Lynch. Ken and Tess discuss the beauty of borrowed temporary housing on the dark side of the Hollywood sign, clam dunks from Boston, a 9-year-olds hate fueled rage towards their parents' bedtime rules, the Glory of 90210, The Flash, TV's Man of the Year Ross Perot, "Popcorn Chicken", making up parenting as you go along, Sinbad's reading classes, Rancid ruining your children's programming, Soaps, Passions, cloning TGIF, Who's the Boss, who cares?, horny old ladies, being serious when it comes to law enforcement, the anxiety of flipping, picture-in-picture, taking advantage of teenagers inherent love of eavesdropping to teach foreign languages, House of Style, Todd Oldham date night, On the Air, hateful In Living Color, Hi Honey! I'm Home, the seasonal inappropriateness of Edward Scissorhands, John Waters, Hairspray covered Pink Flamingos, John Stamos' Dreams, the inherent hilarity of mediocre actors re-enacting 9-1-1 calls, coming to Full House by following the leads pre-Full House careers, being fine with JTT but hating Home Improvement, Green Acres, maturing into Nick at Nite, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, New Englander's affinity for Stephen King, Wonder Years, not buying Doogie Howser, shows where everyone is a bad person, the terror of people just walking into your house, God Blessing your Neighbor's Underwear, Howie Mandel's long career, That's My Dog, Demi Moore's music career, Cheers, Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson's "The Michaels" years, America's Most Wanted, the end of Dinosaurs, Ken's hatred of post-Henson Muppets, seeing people who look like Gelflings, and loving Swamp Thing.

In this episode Ken talks to actor, film historian, author, play write Jim Beaver. Jim is probably best known from his roles on Supernatural, Deadwood and Justified but has appeared in many many roles over the years. Jim and Ken discuss living for the TV Guide's release every week, growing up in Texas, Gorgon vs. Icky Twerp, discovering classic cinema via television, The Lone Ranger, Superman, physically assaulting people on behalf of loving that Bob, being outvoted by your sisters, second hand movies, Get Smart, George Reeves, a love of old movies leading to making new movies, actors with lives, taking a lifetime to write about someone else's lifetime, type casting, technically advising Hollywoodland, editing a life, Superman, Television as fountain of eternal youth, calling actor's by their character name, fan conventions, being removed from Hollywood, who exactly Indiana Jones is, Roy Rogers, making the transition from fan to object of fandom, demonic colds, theater, Tim Lucas' Mario Bava Book, New York City in 1979, revival houses, when 6 month research trips last over 30 years, writing a play and how that leads to Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the anthology series revival, Vietnam, writing characters that are not your own, cramming a play's worth of story into a TV schedule, the death of the freelance market, stumbling into a career, being able to know how they made something while still enjoying the story, when your passion becomes your job, reading actor's biographies to learn lessons on what not to do, immediate feedback vs. the long game, Thunder Alley, working with Ed Asner and Haley Joel Osment, being damned by success, Broadway, falling into stand up, party records, the stand up comedy boom, the unpleasant nature of stand up comedians, second hand Carson, loving having written but not liking writing, Character actors, Deadwood, Supernatural, making it up as you go along, the art of show running, flipping the script, the lack of appeal of the new, your parents understanding your art, being in the right place at the right time, the value of even stupid stuff, having something to look forward to, Combat, poor viewing choices before joining the Marines and finding the daisies where you find them.

September 17-23, 1983 This week Ken welcomes actor/comedian Christian Finnegan. Ken and Christian discuss 80s Boston comedians, Steve Sweeney being more famous than Louie CK, The Revolutionary War area of Massachusetts, laser light shows, Ken's TV Week/Toaster Oven theory is tested yet again, dead siblings, Battlestar Galactica vs. Buck Rogers, the love of the glowing box, local Boston news casters, Mission of Burma, divorced Dad horny, the offensive nature of the spelling of Diff'rent Strokes, Orson Welles' study of upside down African trees, Love Boot, Fall Preview specials, the big reveal of the new shows, actors finding excuses to sing, Silver Spoons, Jason Bateman, Corky Pigeon, being directed by Alfonso Ribeiro, Are We There Yet?, doing the Carlton when nobody wants to see it, Cindy Williams being your mother, pretending to have sex with Jackee', incredible racists, kissing Paulina Porizkova, being threatened by Rick Ocasek, how acting is the opposite of stand up comedy, The Road Warrior, the more depressing Day After, learning about Leatherman culture, plausible gay deniability, shoved in lyrics in cinematic title songs, the golden age of Bloopers, being a good parent on paper, 80s inappropriate, Kenny Rogers, cruel childhood insults, Lionel Richie's Vanity, Poltergeist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, TV as dangerous home invader, Kevin Dillon's finest work, The Best of Everything, Hot Air Balloons over the Special Olympics. That's Incredible, Leonard Nimoy's one ear, Dirk Benedict, made for TV movies, the original three Network's deep pockets, the rise of FOX, how one shoe makes it murder, Real People, Facts of Life season premiers, Gimme a Break, Telma Hopkins, Automatically learning that a man was a woman, Mama's Family, SNL weekly sitcoms, struggling with TV Guide vocabulary, We Got it Made, literally talking people off a ledge, Cheers, being ashamed of Boston, the laziness of interchangeable writing, the two Bostons, The Duke Boys, being your own radio DJ, Ziggy Marley, Blazing Saddles, and asking TV Guide.

In this first ever New Year's Eve special Ken goes solo recapping his year and proving some suggestions for things you may want to watch this New Year's Eve. He starts with a heartfelt, and a bit silly frankly, list of thank yous to listeners and friends, guests and supporters of the show. He also gets into the secret origins and background of the show, discusses a bit of his stand up comedy career, the horrible New Years past at his grandparent's house, New Year's fights, punk rock New Year's, Millenium New Year, Man or Astroman?, Adult Swim Marathons, the Reid family New Year's tradition of Rock N Roll Nightmare, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Barney Miller, Designing Women, Kate & Allie, Kids Inc, My So-Called Life, Night Court and the Wonder Years. Happy New Year and here's to an even bigger and better 2015.