News

I need my fellow Gen-Xers to chime in: 

"When criminals in this world appear / And break the laws that they should fear / And frighten all who see or hear / The cry goes up both far and near / for Underdog!"

Those are the lyrics to the theme song for the 1964 animated series "Underdog," a series about a canine named Shoeshine Boy (Wally Cox) who would occasionally transform into the eponymous flying, super-strong superhero to protect his girlfriend, Polly Purebred (Norma McMillan), from the evils of the mad scientist Simon Bar Sinister (Allen Swift). "Underdog" was in heavy syndication for years, so those of a certain age likely saw multiple episodes without trying. Underdog was an appealing character because he seemed mild-mannered even while in hero mode, and because he always spoke in rhyming couplets. Curiously, Underdog seemed to get his superpowers by popping "super energy pills," which sounds narcotics-adjacent to the modern ear.

Peter Marshall, the multiple Emmy Award-winning host of classic game show “Hollywood Squares,” died Thursday of kidney failure, his publicist Harlan Boll told TheWrap.

Best known for hosting more than 5,000 episodes of the original version of the game show for more than 15 years, he enjoyed an eight-decade career as a singer, actor and emcee. Marshall even quipped that he wanted his official cause of death to be reported as “boredom.”

According to his wife of 35 years, Laurie, he died at his home in Encino, surrounded by loved ones.

Marshall was tapped to host “Hollywood Squares” in 1966: The game show featured celebrities such as Paul Lynde, Joan Rivers, Rich Little, George Gobel and Wally Cox in “squares” that could be won like tic-tac-toe by contestants.

He began his showbiz career while still in his teens after seeing his sister, “Red River” star Joanne Dru, get into modeling. He landed a...

Peter Marshall, who hosted the popular game show The Hollywood Squares for more than 15 years and had a long career as an actor, singer and comic, died today of kidney failure at his Encino home. He was 98. His publicist Harlan Boll confirmed to news to Deadline.

Marshall won four Daytime Emmys for hosting the syndicated Hollywood Squares from 1966-81. The tic-tac-toe game featured two contestants agreeing or disagreeing with celebrities who provided answers to Marshall’s questions — which ranged from silly to ribald. The format has been revived a few times over the years, with a new edition hosted by Nate Burleson with Drew Barrymore in the famed center square is to premiere in midseason.

Among the scores of stars who appeared on Hollywood Squares were Walter Matthau, Gloria Swanson, Glenn Ford, and Milton Berle, as well as regulars Paul Lynde — who often killed as the center square — Rose Marie,...

Peter Marshall, the velvety-voiced host who presided over NBC’s celebrity-filled game show The Hollywood Squares for 16 years, died Thursday. He was 98.

Marshall, an accomplished singer who also was a leading man on Broadway and one-half of a popular comedy team before embarking on his game-show gig, died of kidney failure at his Encino home, his family announced.

The pride of West Virginia hosted some 6,000 episodes of The Hollywood Squares from 1966 through 1981, winning four Daytime Emmy Awards. Marshall often worked just one day a week, when he taped five shows. “It was the easiest job I ever had, and I never rehearsed,” he said.

Soon after starring in the Tony-nominated Broadway musical comedy Skyscraper opposite Julie Harris, Marshall was offered the job as host of The Hollywood Squares, created by Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley. An earlier version of the show, hosted by Bert Parks, had been turned down.

Marshall...

Philip K. Dick wanted Grace Slick, a vibrant and hard girl, to play the character of Rachael in Blade Runner, believing her presence would benefit the film. Dick suggested Gregory Peck or Ben Gazzara for the role of Rick Deckard, describing Peck as powerful and sensitive and Gazzara as bold and a man of action. Dean Stockwell and Wally Cox were considered for the character of Jack Isidore, with Stockwell envisioned as sensitive and introverted and Cox adding his own personality to the role.

Though 1982's Blade Runner has an iconic cast led by the legendary Harrison Ford, when the story was first optioned to become a film in 1968, the potential cast looked much different, and in particular, Philip K. Dick wanted this rock star to play this pivotal role. Blade Runner is a sci-fi film based on a novel by Philip K. Dick entitled "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?...

Though streaming and cable comedies such as “Ted Lasso,” “Hacks,” “Barry” and “Only Murder in the Building” are poised to receive multiple Emmy nominations, ABC’s perceptive and smartly funny mockumentary “Abbott Elementary” may just teach them a lesson. The freshman series, a valentine to educators who overcome trials and tribulations to teach, is a leading Emmy nomination contender.

Set in a predominately Black, grossly underfunded grade school in Philadelphia, the series stars Quinta Brunson as an eager second-grade teacher who is one of the few educators who have made it to a second year at the school. Brunson also created the series which was inspired by her mother who was a teacher in Philly for 40 years. Reviews were glowing for the series. The L.A. Times critic Robert Lloyd wrote: “The series feels fresh even as it mines the familiar. As much as characters represent an agglomeration of types,...

The always delightful Doctor Z hangs with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante while discussing a few of his favorite monkey movies.

Dr. Z – Tmtmm Pod Mentions

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Planet of the Apes (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Beneath The Planet of the Apes (1970) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Escape From The Planet of the Apes (1971)

Battle For The Planet of the Apes (1973) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Every Which Way But Loose (1978)

Any Which Way You Can (1980)

The Godfather Part II (1974) – Katt Shea’s trailer commentary

Schindler’s List (1993)

Godzilla Vs. Kong (2021)

King Kong Vs. Godzilla (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

King Kong (1933)

Conan The Barbarian (1982)

Godzilla (1954) – Don Coscarelli’s trailer commentary

Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

Stalag 17 (1953)

In The Heat Of The Night (1967) – Michael Schlesinger’s trailer commentary

King Kong Escapes (1967)

Murders In The Rue Morgue (1932)

The Sorrow And The Pity (1972)

My Octopus Teacher (2020)

It Came From Beneath The Sea...

Abby Dalton, the soap opera star known for her roles on the primetime shows “Falcon Crest” and “The Joey Bishop Show,” died at her home in Los Angeles. She was 88 years old.

The specific cause of Dalton’s death is not confirmed.

“Emmy-nominated actress Abby Dalton passed away this past week,” representatives said in a statement. “Described as beautiful, generous and glamorous, Abby was terrific at off-the-cuff humor. She leaves behind her husband of 60 years, Jack D. Smith and their three children, Matthew, Kathleen and John. She is also survived by her grandchildren Mac, Jack, Ayden Grace and the newest member of the family, her great grandson, Mathias.”

Born Gladys Marlene Wasden in Las Vegas, Dalton’s career in television began in 1957 and spanned over 50 years. She was best known for her role as winery heiress Julia Cumson in the ’80s drama “Falcon Crest.” In that role, Dalton played opposite actress Jane Wyman,...

Character actor Peggy Pope, who played the alcoholic office secretary in the hit comedy movie “9 to 5,” died on May 27 in Fort Collins, Colo. She was 91.

Pope’s family announced her passing and plans for a June 27 celebration of life.

Pope was born as Florence Margaret Pope in Montclair, N.J., and graduated from Smith College with a major in theater in 1951. She first appeared on Broadway with Wally Cox in “Moonbirds” in 1959 and starred with Jimmy Stewart in a 1970 revival of “Harvey” on Broadway.

Pope won an Obie in 1968 for her portrayal of a sex worker in John Guare’s “Muzeeka.” She also starred in a revival of “The Rose Tattoo” with Maureen Stapleton, “The School of Wives” with Brian Bedford and “Doctor Jazz” with Lola Falana.

Pope was best known for her portrayal of Margaret in “9 to 5,” using the catchphrase “Atta girl” to encourage her co-workers played by Dolly Parton,...

Marlon Brando had few if any hits in the 1960s, but this wartime spy picture is a not-bad thriller with some tense moments. Both Brando and Yul Brynner have been blackmailed into a risky mission as spy and sea captain; they’re more than a little disillusioned to find themselves transporting a boatload of Nazis and political prisoners headed back to Germany. Persecuted victim Janet Margolin is beyond caring — she’s a victim on a voyage of the damned.

Morituri

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1965 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 123 min. / The Saboteur, Code Name Morituri / Street Date May 21, 2019 / Available from Twilight Time Movies / 29.95

Starring: Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Janet Margolin, Trevor Howard, Martin Benrath, Hans Christian Blech, Wally Cox, William Redfield.

Cinematography: Conrad Hall

Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith

Written by Daniel Taradash from a novel by Werner Jörg Lüddecke

Produced by Aaron Rosenberg

Directed by Bernhard Wicki

The dark, dank, morally murky...

James B. Harris is still with us, still wants to make films I believe, but has slipped below radar. His odd, discontinuous and peripatetic directing career, which has resulted in some remarkable works, has been consigned to footnote status below his early period as Stanley Kubrick's producer on The Killing, Lolita and Dr. Strangelove.I met Mr. Harris briefly at a party on a boat during the Lumière Film Festival in Lyons, but didn't get a chance to talk much as he was soon up on his feet dancing to Blondie. He was around 85 at the time. If "Heart of Glass" still gets you on your feet, there should be a rule that says you're still allowed to make movies.The Bedford Incident (1965) was Harris's directorial debut, and also the first film where Sidney Poitier plays a role in which his race is not mentioned or relevant to the plot.

Now that October is officially underway, that means we have a big week of Blu-ray and DVD releases to get excited for, and there are some great genre-related titles coming out on Tuesday. Universal Studios Home Entertainment is unleashing both Tales from the Hood 2 and The First Purge on multiple formats, and for fans of action cinema, Death Race: Beyond Anarchy races home this week, too. Kino Lorber is giving both The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler the limited edition treatment, and for those who enjoy indie horror, Feral, Housewife,and Blood Fest are certainly all worth your time.

Other notable releases for October 2nd include Extremity, Molly, The Legend of Halloween Jack, The Evil Dead in 4K, Sleep No More, and West of Hell, with Rob Zombie’s Halloween getting a Steelbook release as well.

The First Purge

Blumhouse Productions welcomes you to the movement that began as...

Actress Patricia Benoit died on August 6 at her home in Port Chester, New York. She was 91.

Benoit is best known for playing Nancy Remington, the sweetheart and eventual wife of Wally Cox's character on the 1950s NBC sitcom Mister Peepers. The show, broadcast live from a New York theater for three seasons from July 1952 to June 1955, starred Cox (later the voice of the superhero Underdog) as the mild-mannered Robinson Peepers, a science teacher at Jefferson City Junior High. Benoit's Nancy was a nurse and the object of Peepers' awkward affection.

In a highly anticipated television moment, the two were married near the end of the second season, with the new husband and wife on the cover of TV Guide in May 1954.

Born on February 21, 1927, in Fort Worth, Texas, Benoit attended Texas State College before moving to New York City when she was 19.

She studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts,...

Patricia Benoit, who played Nancy Remington, the sweetheart and eventual wife of Wally Cox's character on the 1950s NBC sitcom Mister Peepers, has died. She was 91.

Benoit died Monday at her home in Port Chester, New York, her family announced.

NBC's Mister Peepers, broadcast live from a New York theater for three seasons from July 1952 to June 1955, starred Cox (later the voice of the superhero Underdog and a Hollywood Squares regular) as the mild-mannered Robinson Peepers, a science teacher at Jefferson City Junior High. Benoit's Nancy was a nurse and the object of Peepers' awkward affection.

In a ...

Before the influential Kolchak: The Night Stalker series aired on ABC in the mid-’70s, Darren McGavin brought the titular investigative reporter to life for the first time in the 1972 TV movie The Night Stalker, which is getting a 4K restoration Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber this October, along with its 1973 sequel, The Night Strangler.

Announced on Facebook and Twitter, The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler Blu-rays will be released on October 2nd in the Us. Each release will come with a new 4K restoration, a new audio commentary with film historian Tim Lucas, and other new special features.

Below, we have the announcements from Kino Lorber, as well as a look at the new cover art by Sean Phillips. Let us know if you'll be adding these releases to your home media collection, and in case you missed it, read Scott Drebit's It Came From the Tube column...

Broadway’s delightful — but wickedly accurate — satire of big business was brought to movie screens almost intact, with the story, the stars, the styles and dances kept as they were in the long-running show that won a Pulitzer Prize. This is the place to see Robert Morse and Michele Lee at their best — it’s one of the best, and least appreciated movie musicals of the 1960s.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date March 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Robert Morse, Michele Lee, Rudy Vallee, Anthony Teague, Maureen Arthur, Sammy Smith, Robert Q. Lewis, Carol Worthington, Kathryn Reynolds, Ruth Kobart, George Fennemann, Tucker Smith, David Swift.

Cinematography: Burnett Guffey

Film Editor: Allan Jacobs, Ralph E. Winters

Original Music: Nelson Riddle

Art Direction: Robert Boyle

Visual Gags: Virgil Partch

From the play written by Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows,...

Battleground

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1949 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 118 min. / Street Date January 10, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Marshall Thompson, Don Taylor, James Whitmore, Douglas Fowley, Leon Ames, Guy Anderson, Denise Darcel, Richard Jaeckel, James Arness

Cinematography: Paul Vogel

Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters

Film Editor: John D. Dunning

Original Music: Lennie Hayton

Written by: Robert Pirosh

Produced by: Dore Schary

Directed by William A. Wellman

“The Guts, Gags and Glory of a Lot of Wonderful Guys!”

— say, what kind of movie is this, anyway?

Action movies about combat are now mostly about soldiers that fight like killing machines, or stories of battle with a strong political axe to grind. WW2 changed perceptions completely, when a mostly civilian army did the fighting. With the cessation of hostilities combat pictures tapered off quickly, and Hollywood gave the subject a break for several years.

The Warner Archive Collection is really starting to put out some great DVDs that feature titles you aren’t going to find anywhere else, and the latest to be made available is Search. A massively fun show from the early 70s, Search starred Hugh O’Brian, Doug McClure, and Tony Franciosa, and was (although I’m testing my memory) a show that pulled great tech ideas into the espionage drama realm, at a point when some of the ideas were practically sci-fi.

The complete series is available now, and it’s a lost classic that deserves a look. Unfortunately, it’s hard to get a taste of it to know if you’re interested in buying, but for those who remember the series, this is a real treat.

Catch the full info below, and don’t let this one escape your notice.

Look no further: You can now find Search...

W. Watts “Buck” Biggers—co-creator of Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo, Klondike Kat, the Go Go Gophers, and other classic cartoons—has died at the age of 85. Biggers, a former advertising executive, launched his Total TeleVision production company in 1960, with the express purpose of creating animated TV series that could be used to promote General Mills cereals. The most enduring of these was Underdog, the superhero spoof voiced by Wally Cox, about a humble Shoeshine Boy who could transform into a rhyming canine caped crusader. General Mills dropped its sponsorship in 1969, after which Biggers shut down Total TeleVision and ...

The gray rolling seas thundered through the forest of pilings under the piers, sometimes cresting enough to send a geyser of wind-whipped froth up onto the decking. Other places, it poured through the gaps the wind and tide had eaten through the dunes and poured into the beach town streets. It pulled boats large and small from their moorings in the lagoon marinas and piled them like a child’s toys up on the land. Some in apartment buildings would tell of the cars in the ground level garage floating against each other bathtub playthings. But there was nothing childlike in the way it took entire houses, made seaside villages look like an extension of the ocean and not the land.

For the day and a half I watched Hurricane Sandy pound my home state of New Jersey – which was all the time I had before I lost my cable...

Taylor Mead, the love child of Bette Davis and Peter Lorre, is one of the truly great comic geniuses of underground films, theater, poetry, cabaret, and cable TV of the Sixties and beyond. He was and is still quite hilarious, even if just stumbling down an East Village Street by himself, his traipse being a sort of Danse Macabre as envisioned by Pee Wee Herman.

An Andy Warhol Superstar, possibly best known for his hysterical “gunslinger” in Lonesome Cowboys, Mead’s brilliance never shined brighter than when he took on the title role in Michael McClure’s outrageous off-off-Broadway play, Spider Rabbit, in which he essayed a bunny who adored eating human brains.

But Taylor didn’t need a lead role to be unforgettable. In Rosa von Praunheim’s documentary Tally Brown New York, the constantly morphing star stole his scenes from Ms. Brown, who was no slouch herself when it came to commanding attention.

With the world of children’s entertainment being what it is today, revisiting some of the amazing classics can be a real treat, and for a variety of reasons. Just when you might have put some of these things out of your mind, there’s a new wave of titles being brought back, and Underdog: The Complete Collection is one that stands out in the crowd.

Not only a cultural treasure and classic of the “Saturday morning” era, it’s a fun-filled adventure that delivers to children today as well as it ever did.

The (fairly) zany adventures of Shoeshine Boy delighted audiences, and the non-superhero superhero approach became its own cultural force as the show continued to run in syndication for nearly a decade. More than just an animated adventure as we might think of one today, it was truly The Underdog Show, running almost as a kind of cartoon variety show,...

With the entire original run of The Twilight Zone available to watch instantly, we’re partnering with Twitch Film to cover all of the show’s 156 episodes. Are you brave enough to watch them all with us? The Twilight Zone (Episode #140): “From Agnes – With Love” (airdate 2/14/64) The Plot: A scientist runs into trouble when his supercomputer falls in love with him. The Goods: James Ellwood (Wally Cox) is a high level brain working with the State Department on a very important and top secret project. The primary tool at their disposal is the world’s smartest computer, nicknamed Agnes, but after her last handler is relieved of duty for apparent job stress Ellwood becomes the primary scientist on the project. Agnes takes up an entire wall of a room, and her various display screens and communication window resemble a face to some degree. That personification takes on even more weight when she begins communicating with Ellwood...

Upon the death of a parent a son or daughter will often spend hours and hours sifting through the deceased’s artifacts. Such is the case with Carl Colby, but with a couple of notable exceptions. His father William Colby was for many years the director of the CIA. And Carl has put together a documentary about him called The Man Nobody Knew : In Search Of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby. The film serves as a look at a post WWII family and an overview of American foreign relations. As the film opens the camera pans over the contents of senior Colby’s top dresser drawer as the soundtrack plays various news reports about his mysterious disappearance while in a canoe. We’re then taken back to his entry into WWII as a paratrooper prior to volunteering for the Oss. This is illustrated with newsreel footage and personal family photos.

Fate is the Hunter, the tense 1964 drama about the investigation into a mysterious and disastrous crash of an airliner, will be shown on Turner Classic Movies on Sunday, January 2 at 10:00 Pm (Est). The movie, directed by Ralph Nelson, boasts a superb cast: Glenn Ford, Rod Taylor, Nancy Kwan, Jane Russell, Suzanne Pleshette, Nehemiah Persoff and Wally Cox. The movie has never been released on DVD.

The plot thickens: we're now told that Jerry Goldsmith's score for The Last Hard Men also incorporated some of his work from the 1965 spy movie Morituri! Graham Rye's letter regarding Jerry Goldsmith's score for 100 Rifles which was recycled for The Last Hard Men, has drawn a number of comments from readers, some of whom have shed some light on the mystery of why such a revered composer might want to use a previous score in a new movie:

Hi Lee

Well Graham is both correct and incorrect about the soundtrack for the above. The story of The Last Hard Men score is that a score by Leonard Rosenman was rejected and, whether due to time constraints or cost, Fox simply chose to track the movie with cues from three Jerry Goldsmith Fox westerns (100 Rifles, Rio Conchos and the remake of Stagecoach) and also his score for the thriller Morituri.

I grew up reading Charlotte's Web and watching Mister Ed and the Francis (the Talking Mule, with Donald O'Connor) movies on TV, so I have a very warm spot in my heart for talking animals. They can inspire wondrous flights of fantasy, lift the spirits with good-natured humor, and lead to a deep and abiding respect for nature and the environment.

Of course, watching the Yogi Bear cartoons once made me think I could take on a black bear foraging for food at our family's camping site in Yellowstone National Park -- I was six years old and had to be physically restrained -- so I can see the down side as well. Still, dozens of animated films have made it abundantly clear that it's possible to lend human voices to the animal kingdom without dumbing the material down to idiocy and, when done right (Babe, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey,...