May 19-25, 1979

This week Ken welcomes comedian and old buddy Allen Strickland Williams to the show.

Ken and Allen discuss Nick at Nite, Laverse and Shirley, Barney Miller, what kids watch now, Perfect Strangers, Doral II, no tar = small junk, Pall Mall decisions, disco and pyschotic breaks, Fresh sexy t-shirts, AYDS, PBS funding, Mr. Rogers, Jimmy Carter's press secretary's thoughts on Reagan, Dick Cavett, Ed McMahon, Carson, The Amazing Randi, Rubes, miracle secrets for your less attractive wife, El Producto Cigars, CHiPs, Evil Evel Kinevel, Ghost Rider, Ralph Bakshi's The Hobbit sponsored by Xerox, Cool World, faking it til you makin it, Glenn Supper, prog rock, The New Riders of the Purple Sage, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, The Brothers Johnson, Ruth Buzzy on Wayne Newston's having a good time, Guiness Book of World Records, the most women kissed in an 8 hour period, the debut of This Old House, Scared Straight, Oscar Winners, The Golden Age of Variety Shows, Quiz Show, Joker's Wild, A Vacation In Hell, Maureen McCormick, After the Bomb, documentaries on Human Sexuality, Benny Hill Street Blues, In Search of..., Gary Marshall, Lenny and the Squigtones, Ralph Nader, when Tongues Start Wagging, Friends of Eddie Coyle, Dinah Shore, the Beegees parents, That's Incredible!, Real People, Vega$, "Dan Tanna", Barney Miller's terrible font, failed pilots, being terrified of Alan King, loving Robert Mitchum, Gallagher, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, The Rockford Files, drag races with James Garner, Candlepins for Cash, Candlepin Bowling, Eric Estrada: Aztec God, creepy K-Mart ads, not getting the joke "This Beats Flying", and creepy sexy ads.

March 19th, 1994

This week Ken welcomes TV producer, writer, and author of the new novel "The End of All Things", Sandra Chwialkowska to the show.

Ken and Sandra discuss moving from Canada to the US to work in television, growing up in Toronto, the US Canadian co-productions of the 90s, the beauty of telling stories on television vs in films, the complexity of character, the move to serialized storytelling in North America, how 1994 changed the way we see television and film, fan petitions, the monumental cultural shifts of 1994, the weird wild west of 90s TV, body positivity, My So-Called Life, toxic advertising, smoking to lose weight, Home Improvement, watching television with your parents, The Oscars, The Barbara Walters specials, the golden age of the high stakes action comedy, tentpole pressure, Jurassic Park, The Fugitive, Spielberg, how difficult it is to adapt a serialized television show into a three act film, The War Room, Philadelphia, The Remains of the Day, John Hughes, the sad death of John Candy, when your child brain evolves to liking complex narratives, The Bride in Black made for-TV movie, Susan Lucci, the strange job of trying to buy life writes of people to make television movies, LifeTime Movies, The USA Network's original comedy line up on Saturdays, Rain Man, Weird Science The Series, Duckman, The Jon Stewart Show, George Carlin's sitcom, ridiculous character names, Snake Pliskin, writing for Hilary Swank, Alaska Daily, The Lost Girl, Letterman's Top 10 Lists, Robin Williams, tonal bizarreness, In the Line of Fire, never seeing cultural touchstone shows, having never seen Mork & Mindy, missing Norman Lear's body of work, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, the ratings game, My So-Called Life Goes On, realizing somebody wrote what you love, blank slate idiots, Stepenwolf, Laury Metcalf, suburbia, visiting filming locations, South Pasadena, re-editing movies in your head while you watch them, re-booting Magnum, Hart to Hart, The Hardy Boys, NOVA, loving procedurals, Bono and Martin Lawrence's live tv potty mouths, and how innocent people are never in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This week Ken welcomes actor, writer, and all around great human Amy Stoch to the show.

Ken and Amy discuss fabled central time, growing up in Ohio, Love Boat, having a 9pm bedtime, the Clevland Browns, the artistic nature of Clevland, Clevland Playhouse, PhD studies, Mary Martin in Peter Pan, Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, coming into the acting business as a model, Star Search, catalog work, having a sense of humor, how to stand out from the pack, A&P, Rosie O'Donnel, Sinbad, Rebecca Bush, the acting competition on Star Search, the power of a live audience, being discovered, moving to LA for the first time, going out on audictions, the good old days of Hollywood, seeing behind the scenes, walking Hollywood Blvd, The Hollywood Hills, Chicago, how the pros always fly into Burbank, how commercial work has changed, the power of unions, being paid for your work, Chicago productions, taking the time to look back and recognize all the cool things you've gotten to do, working with Andy Griffith, Gunsmoke, how amazing James Arness is, being able to give back to your parents through your work, having a comedic apetitude, Summer School, working with Carl Reiner, the Bill &Ted series, Soul Man, Steve Miner, seeing Barbara Streisand, when they film in Boston, being killed off on Days of Our Lives, being allowed to improv, the new smart dumb genre ushered in in the late 80s, doing or not doing nudity on film, being credited as "girl in bed", keeping momentos from your work, getting your script signed by everyone you worked with, the difference between movie and TV acting, having women behind the scenes on your side as advocates, and how different the entertainment world is today.