TV treasures who are still with us (and some now sadly saying goodbye since this thread began)

[hawing]

Oh, you guys.  I just today realized that we can (theoretically, depending on how you define TV treasure or how much you value Mr. Belvedere) add Ueck to this thread now. 🙁

More on the up side (since this thread has languished since September), Dick Van Dyke turned 99 in December.  

[GAME05]

Gene Hackman was 95. No cause released but people are suspecting carbon monoxide because his wife and his dog were found dead in the house, too. But what an amazing actor he was.

[hawing]

Richard Chamberlain, arguable king of the TV mini-series, has died at age 90.

Ahh, mini-series.  I was a little young for things like Roots and The Thorn Birds when they aired, but I remember a big deal being made of them. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxe2nv0mdv2o

[RedStickBrew]

RIP Val Kilmer

[homer]

Top Secret and Real Genius were seminal films of my childhood. He was so good in those.

[RedStickBrew]

15 minutes ago, homer said:

Top Secret and Real Genius were seminal films of my childhood. He was so good in those.

Top secret is comedy gold. So many one-liners…

[hawing]

Do you remember Wink Martindale, of various game shows (like Tic Tac Dough and Debt)?  He died on April 15, age 91: 

https://apnews.com/article/wink-martindale-dead-d2f333da86b6efb3b99b36bb7a71a7a4

(1) I hadn't realized he lived that long until I saw his obit yesterday. 

(2) I hadn't known he was a DJ for so long, nor that he was friends with Elvis.  

He also has/had a YouTube channel called Wink's Vault, that looks worth a peek to me.  YMMV. But this video has Vin Scully in it! 

 

 

[TURBO]

I think Wink was the very first official radio interview with Elvis if I remember my trivia correctly.

[CheezWizHed]

On 2/13/2025 at 10:55 AM, hawing said:

Oh, you guys.  I just today realized that we can (theoretically, depending on how you define TV treasure or how much you value Mr. Belvedere) add Ueck to this thread now. 🙁

More on the up side (since this thread has languished since September), Dick Van Dyke turned 99 in December.  

I actually knew Uecker on Mr. Belvedere before I knew anything about him in baseball.  Then when I started listening to the Brewers regularly, I couldn't figure out why this B actor was calling baseball games... 😂😢

On 3/30/2025 at 6:37 PM, hawing said:

Richard Chamberlain, arguable king of the TV mini-series, has died at age 90.

Ahh, mini-series.  I was a little young for things like Roots and The Thorn Birds when they aired, but I remember a big deal being made of them. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxe2nv0mdv2o

My wife was a huge fan of the Thorn Birds. 

On 4/2/2025 at 9:47 AM, RedStickBrew said:

Top secret is comedy gold. So many one-liners…

This was more my style.  Abrahams, Zucker, and Zucker genius (and Milwaukee natives).  My daughter recently started swing dancing so I sent her the music video of Straighten the Rug and asked her if that was what it was like.  I won't post the response here... 

 

[homer]

RIP George Wendt

 

 

[LouisEly]

"What's going on, Mr. Peterson?"

"Let's talk about what's going in Mr. Peterson."

Spent many a night in high school playing cards in my parent's basement with friends watching reruns of Cheers, Night Court, and Barney Miller.

RIP

[homer]

3 hours ago, LouisEly said:

"What's going on, Mr. Peterson?"

"Let's talk about what's going in Mr. Peterson."

Spent many a night in high school playing cards in my parent's basement with friends watching reruns of Cheers, Night Court, and Barney Miller.

RIP

Kind of crazy he was in his early to mid 30s when that show aired 

[LouisEly]

 

[hawing]

Loretta Swit, best known as Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in M*A*S*H, has died.

Washington Post story

[Jim Goulart]

Exactly what this thread was first established to celebrate - 100 years old yesterday!

 

[GAME05]

Theo from the Cosby show drowned.

Wasn't noted last month but the father from Duck Dynasty also passed,

[homer]

RIP Ozzy Osbourne

(putting in this thread since he had a popular reality TV show)

[CheezWizHed]

On 7/21/2025 at 5:58 PM, GAME05 said:

Wasn't noted last month but the father from Duck Dynasty also passed,

Phil Robertson was my favorite part of DD. 😢

[Samurai Bucky]

On 7/21/2025 at 5:58 PM, GAME05 said:

Theo from the Cosby show drowned.

I liked him in "The Resident", too.  Only 54... 😢

[GAME05]

Sad day for Hulkamaniacs everywhere, brother.

[nate82]

54 minutes ago, GAME05 said:

Sad day for Hulkamaniacs everywhere, brother.

Dang a lot of my childhood memories are dying.  First Ueck my summer babysitter and now Hogan?  Sad sad sad year so far.

[hawing]

The pop culture blows continue.  Loni Anderson has died.  Had she made it to Tuesday she'd have turned 80.  

AP story

We have WKRP in Cincinnati on DVD, and while we always get it out at Thanksgiving for the Turkeys Away classic episode, I really should revisit the whole series sometime.  That was a good show. 

[TURBO]

On 8/3/2025 at 10:29 PM, hawing said:

We have WKRP in Cincinnati on DVD, and while we always get it out at Thanksgiving for the Turkeys Away classic episode, I really should revisit the whole series sometime.  That was a good show. 

An absolute classic! (not just the turkeys episode, the whole damn series!)

 

[Jim Goulart]

Celebrating the true reason for this thread - thanks for yesterday's retweet, @hawing!

 

[GAME05]

Robert Redford, 89.