TV Guidance Counselor Podcast

March 25-31, 1989 This week Ken welcomes old friend, new fan, writer (film blog www.film5000.com) and host/producer of The Brattle Film Podcast Ian Brownell. Ken and Ian discuss Siskel and Ebert, podcast heroes, movie freaks, the religion of cinema, growing up outside of New Bedford, Providence RI stations, growing up on a farm, not having cable, Evening Magazine, The Big Dan's Rape Trial, Big Pinball, The Accused, going to boarding school, Jim Henson, The Storyteller, The Jim Henson Hour, being obsessive, not being able to watch things out of order, how the magic is gone after the creator leaves, voice actors aging, A Muppet Family Christmas, only being moved to tears by television, having two VCRs, anthology shows, film directors moving to television, The Oscars, the first gay Oscars, the infamous Snow White opening, a hatred of LA, Drew Barrymore's substance abuse struggles, After School Specials, CBS Playhouse, 15 and Getting Straight, campaigning for yourself, Bob Hope's Easter Vacation in the Bahamas, Red Skies, Satan's Children, Easter, Star Trek Original Series,  Ken Burns, The Golden Girls, Beyond Tomorrow, being a life long Saturday Night Life nerd, The Smithereens, Quantum Leap, It's Gary Shandling's Show, The Tracy Ulman Show, LGBQT representations on television, The Wire, Fringe, Rex Reed, Barbara Eden in Your Mother Wears Army Boots, Private Benjamin, Bonnie Hunt, how crazy it is that Ken gets to talk to and befriend his heroes, Barney Miller, Kate & Allie, Larraine Newman, Who's the Boss, Soap, Matlock, Roseanne, taping comedy specials off HBO, tornados, Anything But Love, Ann Magunson, My So-Called Life, Bess Armstrong, Barbara Walters, bad drawings of Nick Nolte, Cheers, Taxi, Friends, bad comedy, Family Ties, dumb characters, Scott Valentine, Unsolved Mysteries, how good spirited pranks make bad TV, and the legend of Dana Hersey's TV38 Movie Loft. 

January 29 - February 4, 2000 This week Ken welcomes fantastic fellow New England Comedian Connor McGrath (GET HIS NEW ALBUM! "KIND, BEARDED, WEIRD" OUT NOW!) to the show. Ken and Connor discuss Vacationland, Maine, growing up in Portland, The Fine Arts "Adult Theater"/Rock Club, Chyna, Pro Wrestling, human garbage Triple H, the awful sack of pus that is Vince McMahon,  Wrestlemania, The Dark Ages of American Culture (Nu Metal, Monster Energy Drinks, etc), Mankind, Mick Foley, The Rock, The Decade of Jeers, why Lemmy from Motorhead was a bad guy, celebrities being injured on film, the age of Divorce, Jerry Seinfeld creepily dating a high schooler, Pat Buchanan, Pets dot com, the dot com boom, Super Bowl Ads, Blast from the Past, Marshall Law, Arsenio Hall, Sammo Hung, pandemics, racism, ABC's TV Movie Runaway Virus, cursed objects, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake's cocaine, "Hurricane" Peter McNeeley", sports taunts, Jerry Springer, Baywatch Hawaii, Dave Holmes, Say What! Karaoke, Freaks & Geeks, James Fraco a creep, WCV vs WWF, Highlander: The Series, Homicide Life on the Street, Queen soundtracks, Tom Green Show, feeling sad for Jennifer Love Hewitt, hating Jamie Kennedy, Backbeat, Hey Arnold!, Catdog, pre-Spongebob, Talk Soup, Norm McDonald being fired from SNL, The Odd Couple starring Sherman Helmsley and Pat Morita, Billy Joel's fired band, Who's Line is it Anyway?, short form wrestling improv, Chicago Hope vs ER, AAA Luchadore Marvel tie-in wrestlers, ECW, the strange evolution of The Nashville Network, Behind the Music, E! True Hollywood Story, hanging out in Belfast Maine on PBS for an entire night and DownEast Dickering. 

February 15-21, 2003 This week Ken welcomes comedian and man behind the solo show "Solo: A Show about Friendship", Gabe Mollica. Ken and Gabe discuss what they would be talking about anyway, not being comedians talking about comedy, how Edinburgh ruined Gabe's life but he has to go back, long form stand up, growing up on Long Island, ridding yourself of your regional accent, Ken's all time favorite stand up special Johnny Vegas; Who's Ready for Ice Cream, John Cleese, performing for nobody, celebrating a 100th/200th/300th episode, The Simpsons, syndication, home town people never leaving, Long Beach NY, bad UK pizza, missing cannolis, corner Sicilians, what you'd watch as a kid vs what you'd watch now, Nickelodeon All That, The World's Strongest Man, Baseketball, Touched by an Angel, Seinfeld, The Music Man, when everyone is in Bye Bye Birdie, The Sopranos, reality TV marriages, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ken starting working at the Cartoon Network UK, Johnny Bravo, Italian dubbing, fascist horror, no longer going to movies when they premier on Thursday night at midnight, seeing shows before bed, when MAD TV replaced SNL, Tough Crowd, the craze of panel shows on TV, The Best Damn Sports Show Ever, Off Broadway show, The West Wing, Birds of Pray TV series, the Ben Affleck Daredevil movie, Friends, Scrubs, South Park, how comedians need to pivot to movies and some drama, The Surreal Life, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, the Box office game,  The Klumps, and the insanity of all things Superbowl. 

November 14-20, 1992 This week Ken welcomes Left Handed Radio's Adam Bozarth and Anna Rubanova BACK to the show to finally (a year and a half later) do Part II of what they started. Ken, Anna and Adam discuss how tired Adam and Anna are, mosquitos, tubes in ears, having your tonsils removed, having bad gas send you to the hospital, Ken's kidney stone, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, placentas as extra credit, The Phillip LeBlanc Show, early morning WNYC, Marketplace, Halloween III, moving from Hard News, Fresh Scare, UPDATES on things Ken said to watch last time, including The Monster Club, That Guy Dick Miller, Charles Bronson, going on a Vincent Price kick, the modern Vincent Price, art collections, Voyager, playing poker, Steve Albini, carnival games, natural gas explosions, green room, Columbo, murder, Blade Runner, Hollywood not absolving real life people of crimes so they can exploit serial killers, Jean Smart, Aileen Wuornos, how lack of eyebrows makes you evil, Richard Bey, cleaning school buses, finding sunflower seed shells with a long stick, how gross the UCB Theater was, wearing gloves, Chuck Norris, Forced Vengeance, Titanic, George Washington, hating Tartikoff, TV Guide Letters to the Editor, The Jacksons,  how a divorce lead to President Obama, Warp Drive, Seinfeld's The Contest, Night Court, reboots, Flowers for Algernon, Mr. Plow, The Simpsons, Homer's brain damage,  Hard Times, Matilda the kangaroo movie, sexy kangaroos, jacked animals, Speed Weed, Jason Robards, 2001, Dr. Strangelove, Tuvok plus Nelix, copywriting characters, the twin loophole, Janeway's hatred, transporter accidents, Sightings, dead stunt people, Drag Queen Drag Races, barns, Belzer on Broadway, James Bond Jr, Fantastic Max, Darkwing Duck, Hollywood Squares, Fraggle Rock, Living in Iowa, adding muscles to things, how the 90s didn't allow open horniness, having a boner for abuse, why it is ok to kink shame, airport furries, Kennedy flipping out, sexy Superman and his marriage of convenience, Net Guide, and cocks with fat asses. 

March 22-28, 1986 This week Ken welcomes legendary songwriter (she's in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame), author (her memoir I Am the Warrior: My Crazy Life Writing the Hits and Rocking the MTV Eighties, is a MUST read/listen), and all around incredibly cool human being Holly Knight to the show. Ken and Holly discuss her book, growing up a big TV watcher, streaming services, the reliability of TV, having things to look forward to, Dark Shadows, The Adams Family, a love of horror, Chiller Theater, Elvira, how great Cassandra Peterson is, The Munsters, Vic Mizzy, weird instruments, Green Acres, Tina Turner, Heart, Pat Benetar, Patty Smythe the Warrior, moving to LA in the early 80s from New York, forever being a New Yorker, running away to Boston, squatting, working at the Boston Phoenix taking personal ads, The Ritz, The Filmore East, Bowie, being at the tail end of punk, the origins of Pop music, Billy Idol, music producers, Love Boat, KISS, Eva Gabor, the sexless days of television, Lucy, how your children rebel, Family Ties, The Outer Limits, Ennio Morricone, Peter Gun, James Bond, Have Gun will Travel, The Twilight Zone, trading cards, Bonanza, The Monkees, Vincent Price, Elvis, Jackie Gleason, belief in Aliens, working for an awful boss, walking on eggshells, teenagers, Miami Vice, Suspiria, Ultra HD, MTV, "MTV Cops", the style of the 1980s, pastels, Rob Zombie's Munsters, licensing music, cover songs, Cocaine Bear, using songs in Commercials, WWF Saturday Night's Main Event, using The Best in the Biden Campaign, Schitt's Creek, the influence on art on life and life on art,  Obession, Nip/Tuck, Superbowl ads, Burt Bacharach, Hal David, wanting to work with Trent Reznor, and how a great song  is a great song.

December 26 1992 - January 1, 1993 This week Ken welcomes creator of Lenora's Midnight Rental and his new best friend forever Laura Wimbels to the show. Ken and Laura discuss how Laura is a Ken Reid fan, Ken's story on the podcast Risk!, Fred Willard Super Dad, loving horror, the wonderful terrible movie Rollerblade, opening sealed VHS tapes, Splatter The Architects of Fear, The Exchange, how contrary to his Mother's insistence Ken's favorite movie as a kid was NOT Mother's Day, Revenge of the Nerds, telling on yourself for seeing an R Rated movie, divorces, what the fuck a frush is, Cleveland and douche bags, 1992-1993, the formative time of being 10, growing up without cable, organized hoarders exposing you to TV Guides, Murder She Wrote, Angela Lansbury, being trapped despite being at the height of your power, just admitting you haven't seen something, Troll/Scholastic Book Clubs, The Good Son, reading the novelization of R Rated movies, Dick Clark watching TV in the bathroom, iPads as TVs, watching TV at work, being too old for Barney, USA Up! All Night, Silk Stalkings, sexy slow-mo, USA Made for TV Movies, John Ritter, The Colony, surrogate TV Dads, Michael Gross, Cheers, Dan Conner, Ken's emotional breakdown with Valerie Harper, Hearts Afire, Ghostwriter, wearing a pen around your neck, Suncoast Video, not being able to speak Spanish despite being Puerto Rican, not being French, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Royal Discount Books, The Stephen King Encyclopedia, The Plant, printing out web sites, TV Land, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Wonder Years, Ken getting Garden State emo, My So-Called Life, marriage as the opposite of Titanic, boats leading to break ups, The Simpons arguments, The Twilight Zone, the poor man's TV Guide, commissioned artwork of shirtless Dana Carvey,  realizing you love two star movies, curation, the future of streaming, Tubi, Roku, the insanity of all the rival Amy Fischer movies, Tales from the Crypt, In The Heat of the Night, Urban Pain, Baby Snatchers, Nancy McKeon, in the wake of Hand that Rocks the Cradle, the insanity of Mikey, how sad it is that Warlock has been glossed over, when CBS gets all PBS, New Years Eve viewing, Three Stooges Marathons, Slaughter, Bick Dick Toilet Fraud, crybaby Matt Whittaker, why you should never default to Google Image Search searches, kid friendly, the Drew Carey Show, Price is Right, Scooperbowl, hating football, animated opening titles, Columbia House, VHS tapes, Laserdiscs, and the glory of Shopping Malls in Pittsburgh PA. 

April 12-18, 2003 This week Ken welcomes director-writer, podcaster and Air Force veteran Xanthe Pajarillo. Ken and Xanthe discuss Ken's TV Guide collection, living in Germany on a military base, AFN (Armed Forces Network), catching US shows on German channels, TV via word of mouth in school, Comedy Central, being obsessed with SNL, getting shows a week late, Blade, Scooby Doo, being an only child, watching horror movies with your parents, Xanthe's podcast Kindergeist, It!, how strange brains are, the nonstop 9/11 support the troops barrage of 2001, being obsessed with the micro, hoping SNL doesn't get preempted, how Millennials really like rules, Reality TV, the terror of chaos, pranks, Xanthe's Scream influenced prank phone calls, the wisdom of Mr. Rogers, the great anti-war horror stories, Deathdream, PTSD, Dog Soldiers, Ken living in London in 2003, the Iraq War, Zoolander, cult films, Billy Madison, Adam Sandler movies, not seeing Dirty Work on a date, Virginia, taking Stephen King for granted in New England, Filipino horror, Legally Blond, Hopping Vampires, Manananggal, twist endings, movies on TV, being obsessed with South Park, Ken's inability to remember the name of the 2001 movie The Forsaken, early 2000s horror and CGI, Making the Video, pop punk, Green Day, being in punk rock bands, playing guitar, the post slasher pre-Scream era of horror, Bruce Campbell, Evil Dead screenings, naps, American Idol, William Hung, The US vs. UK, Doctor Who, College Radio Industrial music shows, Great Women on Comedy, I Love the 80s, Julia Louie Dreyfuss' shows between Seindfeld and Veep, "women aren't funny", Jamie Kennedy, Ken's love of Jennifer Love Hewitt, how Cadet Kelly isn't what basic training was really like, basing your life choices on Hilary Duff movies, Jeering war, hating Matt Lauer, March Madness, human selfishness, not lionizing serial killers, poor Jeff Fahey's Body Parts, the best worst video game movies, Double Dragon, House of the Dead, Splatter Royale mode in Evil Dead the game, being insulted by tweens when playing video games, Interview with the Vampire, Tagalog, The Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, directing the awards show remotely, and making long lists of horror movies we  need to see. 

October 22-28, 1994 This week Ken welcomes esteemed writer on all things TV, Emma Fraser to the show. Ken and Emma discuss Fraser vs. "Fraiser", the glory of UK insults, being English, people not believing where you are from, how London is now the UK, Norwich being Alan Partridge central, 1994 being the youth sweet spot, ER, The X-Files, My So-Called Life, ghosts at Christmas time, Supernatural episodes of otherwise non-supernatural TV series, how Ken often accidentally dresses like Nicky Driscoll, the filthy cover of this issue, the UK having more magazines for fewer channels, The Christmas Radio Times, Ken's love of Time Out London, loving Halloween, The Far Side animated series, Ken's dislike of Friends, TV Guide's bad review of Friends, Ant & Dec, Noah Wiley, Ghostwatch, Sightings, how quickly trends blew up in the 90s,  Fox Encounters The Hidden Truth, Without Warning, The Americans, Ken's 90s substitute Teacher becoming an actor and being murdered on The Americans, middle of the road talk shows, Dick Cavett, Mark Lamarr, The Word, drunken people on TV,  Ken's love of Shooting Stars, Ken being constantly called Mark Lamarr when he lived in the UK, Oliver Reed, the UK's strange subversive children's style shows that weren't for children, Car 54, Where Are You?, MTV's Rock n Jock, Red Shoe Diaries, things not being even good bad, SNL, how Witches werewolves and vampires being real, how Marilyn Monroe was killed due to her knowledge of UFOs, when Jackie Gleason saw dead aliens for real, gentle murder, Murder She Wrote, animal shelters Halloween Specials, The Hidden, The George Carlin Show, Fresh Prince, Murphy Brown, Evening Shade, Carol Burnett, Cynthia Gibb, Fact based TV movies, how marrying somebody is the worst thing you can do to them, John Stamos, the business genius of Jason Priestly, The Sandwich Police, visiting the My So-Called Life shooting locations, Ken not thinking Seinfeld holds up, crying and being shocked over and over again due to watching ER, a spoilers free world, Family Matters, the repetition of Dwayne Barry, Step by Step, women at war, Saturday Night Dead, and extending M.A.N.T.I.S noted drama. 

June 26 - July 2, 1993 This week Ken welcomes writer/comedian Lisa Curry. Ken and Lisa discuss canceling in person plans, afternoon gigs, being heckled by 6 year olds, Supermodels, loving Cindy Crawford, Malibu, Amy Klobechar's comb utensil, working in DC, Veep, growing up in central time, not watching TV in the Summer being and outdoor kid, Carol Burnett's love of soaps, never saying "funny lady" or "skit", loving fashion photography, MTV's House of Style, Anna Nicole Smith's film career, a very depressing Bill Bixby story, National Enquirer, "anti-coughing machines", stupid conspiracy theorists, thinking people with actual brain damage know what's "really going on", leaps in logic, Ren & Stimpy, rubber nipples, watching TV that feels like you are getting away with something, being suspicious of people who have no problem performing, loving the 90s, creepy dolls, haunted dolls, "Mommy I'm Sorry", having no toys, working in a factory at 17, making fun of family sitcoms, Married...with Children, bothering Bud Bundy, pissing off Judd Nelson, MTV Unplugged, LL Cool J's deodorant cakes, hating football, father's making viewing choices for you, Zorro, hating Westerns, shows built around women not just trying to catch a man, Mary Tyler Moore, loving basketball, Ken's clearance bin Michael Jordan sleeping bag, gifting that sleeping bag to Lisa, Tales from the Crypt, Don Rickles, Ken being a total jerk as a teen, Wonder Years, music replacements, weight loss ads, Ace Ventura, Once Bitten, In Living Color, the glory of Cheers, Ted Danson playing Sam Malone as Sam Alone, prank calling adults to tell them their baseball team sucks, Dennis Eckersley telling Ken he was a "little dick", Tonys, the saturation of ads, news crawls, breaking news, TV Bugs, Jay Leno's stand up early days, loving Reading Rainbow, loving Axl Rose, crushes on naked Eric Andre and Righteous Gemstones. 

June 19-25, 1982 This week Ken welcomes author (buy his new Hilo book!), Real Worlder, and kindred spirit Judd Winick to the show.  Ken and Judd discuss Judd's fantastically cluttered office, their children's world, St. Elsewhere, death on TV, Brendon Tartikoff, how the A-Team could spin off from Hill Street Blues, Misfits of Science, comic books, the dessert of comic book properties in TV and movies when we were growing up, growing up as a New Yorker, Long Island, getting mugged, weird red eyes, shirtless TV, kids who smoke, big Tabacco, Judd's wife Pam, mobsters, The Mile High collection, Filmmation, Isis, Space Academy, Kids Super Power Hour, Mission Magic, One of the Boys, Mickey Rooney, Bill, Fantasy Island, Red Buttons: Super Hero, living in Boston, Robert Urich, Archie Bunker's Place, Stacey Keach in Wait Until Dark, odd Cruisin' inspired acting choices, Long Dry Season, George Peppard's directing career, Trapper John MD, Hilo, Encyclopedia sets, Continental Divide, Blair Brown, Altered States, Bob Balaban, WKRP, forgetting Gordon Jump's character's name, M*A*S*H, being team BJ, loving Alan Alda, anti-war media, Twin Peaks, Quincy ME, the magic of visiting Henson Productions, Bad Robot's Typewriter store, Happy Days, Three's Company, Welcome Back Kotter, Andy Griffith, John Ritter's Balls, Real People, That's Incredible!, haunted Toys R Us, asian characters on TV, how modern procedurals are sci-fi, how MASSIVE Fame was in Israel, Gimme a Break, how amazing Lara Jill Miller is, the incredible talent of voice over actors, the failure of Giant Salmon pictures, Beverly Hills Buntz, screwing on TV, Sweeney Todd's coffee shop, haunted security systems, rock star architects, Blade Runner, Benson, Pokerface, Saturday the 14th, performing Blow Out as a one man show, old ice, Phil Lamar's Mr. T stories and Pinky in Body Double.

November 24-30, 1990 This week Ken welcomes the hilarious, smart and fantastic writer, comedian and host of "TV, I Say with Ashley Ray", Ashley Ray. Ken and Ashley discuss being in Columbia, lack of Spanish language skills, watching foreign TV vs keeping up with American shows, Good Day LA, CTV, Canadians getting shows before the US, Ashley's birthday, growing up in Central Time, being born in Dallas, Rockford IL,  revisiting stuff from the 1990s, TVLand, Nick at Nite, Designing Women, Golden Girls, Network family sitcoms, The Goldbergs, Abbot Elementary, single cam vs multi cam sitcoms, Wonder Years, Growing Pains, non-people who have had TV credits before Ken, Malibu cigarettes, Linda Evans, Dynasty, made for TV movies, Tricks of the Trade, Your Mother Wears Army Boots, the legacy of The Cosby Show, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Lisa Bonet's eternal ultra fame, A Different World,  Kindergarten Cop, Chic Jeans, K-Mart ads, back to school shopping, the debut of Law and Order, Carol and Company, comedy anthologies, Kroll Show, The Wonder Years neighborhood in Burbank, In Living Color, seeing only the highs and now the lows of a sketch comedy show, the greatness of Nora Dunn, The Motown 30 What's Going On special, when Damon Wayans got himself fired from SNL, Ken's excited tangents, Ashley's favorite sketch show of all time, The Tracy Ullman Show, Rags to Riches, Big Brother Jake, Descending Angel, Jean Smart, George Carlin, The Ben Stiller Show, Charles and Diana, 52 Pick-Up, the teen suicide episode of Growing Pains, A My Name is Alex, the sad evolution of Ricky Schroeder, stand up specials, Def Comedy Jam, Pulp Comics, Shop Til You Drop, Premium Blend, Six Ladies Laughing, Andrea Martin, Lifetime Television for Women, TV trivia hosted by Alan Thicke, Arsenio Hall replacing Mud Wrestling, The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, watching TV shows with your friends in them, Babes, making fun of your stars in the title of your show, thirtysomething, not revisiting shows you hated, Quantum Leap, Jack Kerouac, historical figures from your own lifetime being depicted by actors on fictional TV shows, "Obama" on Legends of Tomorrow, how beatniks are just hippies, Family Matters, watching all of Sex in the City for the first time during the pandemic, making sure you do the reading so you know all the cultural references and having heavy reality TV as your comfort shows. 

February 15-21, 1986 This week Ken travels across the Atlantic as he welcomes author and YouTube ninja, the man behind The Bad Movie Bible, Rob Hill. Ken and Rob discuss Ken's fandom, Rob's YouTube channel, lockdown driven creativity, Murder She Wrote, Rob's thinking around his issue, embracing nostalgia, context and intent, South Park, Michael McIntyre, loving American Culture, traveling to America once as a kid, Punky Brewster, how adult US action shows were children's show in the UK, The TV Times, BBC, M*A*S*H, Dallas, UK soaps vs US Nighttime soaps, how the TV Times had no cigarette ads, TV News revealing too many government secrets, taking digs at your star, Cheers, shows about alcoholics, Mr. T vs George Peppard, 2 Live Crew's Me So Horny, being the king of the UK, Ken always looking on the bright side, Benson, Soap's popularity in the UK, David Rappaport's week, Dave DeCoteau's filmography, TV guest stars, sexing up Buck Rogers, Battlestar Gallactica, US TV movies being theatrical movies in the UK and Europe, really trying to mine the concept of a dead porn star ghost despite it failing again and again, Amazing Stories, Joe Dante, The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James, Robert Guillaume in Phantom of the Opera, Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels, your wife playing your mother, Operation Kid Brother, Robin Hood, George C. Scott talking about abortion on ABC, Kirk Cameron, Listen to Me, Knight Rider, shows where people are reincarnated as machines or animals, Metal Micky, Airwolf, M.A.N.T.I.S., satellite TV, watching six hours of Dallas a day, After the Fall of New York, Italian B movies, Ceefax, Highway to Heaven, Benny Hill, Blacke's Magic, The Captain American musical, Danger Mouse, All Creatures Great and Small, Chuck Norris, Matt Helm, Way of the Dragon, The Misfits of Science, Baywatch and the incredible, unbelievable nature of David Hassellhoff's autobiography. 

TV Guide CANADA June 3-9, 1978 Edmonton-N.Alberta Edition This week Ken welcomes actor and proud Canadian Samantha Ferris (Supernatural, The 4400). Ken and Samantha discuss who Ken has never been Canada, Vancouver's production community, Hollywood North, CBC, The Beachcombers, 21 Jump St., Wiseguy, X-Files, why Sci-Fi films in Canada, starting as a weather girl, Rainy Janey, being a talk radio host, rock jocks, Danny Bonaduce, how everyone thinks Sam is a guy, becoming an actor later in life, getting "tits in a suit" jobs, reporter roles, Along Came a Spider, Monica Potter, not getting the mom roles, embracing getting the strong women roles, laugh track sitcoms, loving Happy Days, Fish, Barney Miller, Three's Company, Good Times, The Jeffersons, The Partridge Family, M*A*S*H being your comfort food, MeTV, meeting Jaime Farr and Loretta Swit, meeting your heroes, not meeting your heroes, working Conventions, embarrassing moments, how great Cassandra Peterson is, not having access to celebrities, talk shows, seeing your heroes age, how bad it was when people didn't get royalties, Jimmy "JJ" Walker, Don Most, doing video game voices, Borderlands, motion cap, PONG, Supernatural superfans, looking voluptious on camera, not being able to watch yourself in things, Beggers and Choosers, sex scenes with Jim Belushi, Cindy Williams, Gabe Kaplan, Corbin Bernsen being very into himself, actors badly behaved, crapping on a dress literally, child actors, Curtis Armstrong being the greatest, Jim Beaver as the nicest man alive, showing up and knowing your lines, never piss off the people who are supposed to make you look good, directing advice, actors who are odd but might be assholes, only remembering the bad, and the absolute greatness of Chris Isaak. 

January 23-29, 1999 This week Ken welcomes comedian and actor India Pearl. Ken and India discuss India's mom, Worcester Mass, The Paris of the 80s, Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Central Park, selling things in the room, where the most ice cream in the world is consumed, being excluded from post Prom parties, being in the band, being a theater kid, The Spice Girls, Scary Spice, Ken playing six degrees, Velveeta, The 50 Funniest Moments on Television, Jack Johannsn, stand up specials, Jim Carey, Buffalo Bill, Phil Silvers, monkeys, a woman's potato chip collection on Johnny Carson being the funniest thing ever, The Count of Monte Cristo, Wishbone, $100 for a Biker Baby Doll, The Franklin Mint, refurbishing Barbie Dolls, Hocus Pocus, celebrity parties, busting Michael Rosenbaum's balls, Napoleon Dynamite, That 70s Show, going over your head, Selma Blair, Zoey Duncan Jack and Jane, being forbidden from watching Sliders, banning Buffy, cocaine fueled Mummies, Hyperion Bay, becoming a defacto only child, Angel, Beverly Hills 90210, Cop Rock, High School Musical, Glee, a double dose of Hyperion Bay, complicated family ties, Dirty Dancing, Kablam!, Brimstone, Millennium, The X-Files, Zoom, and lying as a kid, a lot. 

October 3-9, 1992 This week welcomes Boston comedian and fellow former punk rock teen Tiny to the show. Ken and Tiny discuss Tiny's disbelief at being part of the TVGC guest list, The Newtons, Bob Newhart, The Bob Newhart Show vs Newhart vs Bob, Image Comics, the 90s Chromium age of comics, Jack Kirby, moving around the country, going to Berklee School of music, being taught how to be happy by Bobby McFarren, Alf Claussen, being raised in Church, being a drummer, My So-Called Life, being The Prince of Nebraska, Tiny's old band The Thickness, headlining O'Briens, the horrors of pay to play, Going to Extremes, Baby Boomer Brawl: Home Improvement vs Seinfeld, TV Guide's investigative journalism, Ghost Writer, Joan Rivers, In Living Color, COPS, Cop Rock, how the time wasn't right for musicals, Swamp Thing the series, Elizabeth Berkley's adult work, Gillian Anderson, the short lived Angel Street, Sorority Babes in the Slime Bowl-o-Rama, The Dead Milkmen, mail order record companies, Guys dressed as "ugly women" being a joke, Who's Line Is It Anyway?, deep dives on YouTube, failed pilots, Made for TV Movies, Giulani's hatred of ferrets, A Different World, dressing like Dwayne Wayne as a white kid in Arkansans, silk shirts, Desperate Choices to Save My Child, Joanna Kerns in a TV movie with Reese Whitherspoon, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, Tom Waits album covers, Murphy Brown, Ken on PornHub, Quantum Leap, Body Double, The Wonder Years, Doogie Howser M.D., Ron Canada, sitcoms dealing with gun violence, The Kids in the Hall, Comedy Punks, Brain Candy, Cheers, character replacements, Wings, how Roy Biggins is the greatest awful character in the history of television, Flying Blind, the comedic talents of Tea Leoni, people's hatred of Golden Palace, 20/20's scare tactics, being murdered in a hotel room, Crossfire, Larry Sander, Tiny's overuse of "Hey now", and the greatness of Alan Havey. 

TV Guidance Counselor celebrates its 9th Birthday Today, and in celebration and to start year ten off right please enjoy this BONUS! episode with the one and only Marc Summers! (Double Dare, Unwrapped) Marc has a great new podcast of his own called Marc Summers Unwraps (https://www.marcsummersunwraps.com/episodes/anthonyramos) that you can listen to anywhere fine podcasts are found, and you should! It's great. Ken and Marc discuss Graham Jr College in Boston, going to college with Paul Fusco (ALF) and Andy Kauffman, Fridays, being a warm up comic, Alice, Star Search, What's Happening Now?, Hour Magazine, Webster, starting as a professional magician, auditioning for Double Dare at age 33, how Gallagher encouraged Marc to abandon magic and go for stand up, how magic puts you out of pocket, realizing you are more of an MC, being at The Comedy Store in the Golden Age of the 70s, just getting on stage and being seen, Norm Crosby's Comedy Shop, when the Tonight Show won't even look at you, going from small parts on SOAP to warm up, getting gigs through reputation, the sneaky world of comedians stealing jobs, how great Ed McMahon was, Amazing Randy, how magicians and musicians spend a lot of time alone in a bedroom, Marc's infamous incident with Burt Reynolds on the Tonight Show in 1994, working on the AFI dinner for James Cagney, meeting the Beatles, Groucho Marx, Don Rickles and more, being a page on Sonny & Cher, Mary Tyler Moore and The Bob Newhart Show, becoming the face of Nickelodeon, touring 20k seat arenas with Double Dare, the long lasting appeal of Double Dare, reliving childhood, What Would You Do?, getting recognized by James Gandolfini on a plane, raising Bruno Mars, Lynn Manuel Miranda being a fan, being the eye of the storm in the chaos of many children's childhoods, never talking down to kids, setting the tone for Nick, Executive Producing Dinner Impossible and Restaurant Impossible, treating people with respect, getting input from people at all levels, Gerry Laybourne, hiring people smarter than you and letting them do their jobs, Unwrapped, tumblers, Pat Sajak, extruders, Food Network, shooting multiple shows in a day, taking 30 Double Dare Shows a week six months a year, watching your friends on Food Network, Marc's son's shows, House Hunters International, The Dick Van Dyke show being the best TV show ever, Fraiser, loving sitcoms, The Fugitive, SVU, Blue Bloods, how there are network shows now you've never heard of, Lorenzo Music telling you you wrote one of the worst things he ever read in his entire life, failing at writing a Webster, being tired of being told you suck, "A Martian Wouldn't Say That", practicing Double Dare physical challenges before they get to air, Marc's podcast Unwraps, what makes people keep moving forward, Mike O'Malley, Guy Fieri, Anthony Ramos, Nick Takes Over Your School, surly Mr. Wizard, Hulk Hogan trying to blend in, and looking forward to 90sCon. 

October 31 - November 6, 1987 This week Ken welcomes new old friend, award-winning and critically acclaimed author of the young adult novels Here to Stay, Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel, and the Lambda Literary award winning If You Could Be Mine, which was named one of TIME magazine's 100 Best YA Books of All Time, Dead Flip and My Buddy Killer Croc Sara Farizan. Ken and Sara discuss matchmaker Meredith Goldstein, how Ken and Sara are essentially the same person, growing up in the Boston suburbs, Christine Else, Karen Duffy, Janeane Garofalo, Christine Lakin, Ken's weird skillset, breaking down barriers, mentioning something that taps into a deep emotional memory bank, 1987, 1992, the love of sci-fi/horror comedy, Gremlins, Monster Squad, Eerie Indiana, the fun of doing research to make historical fiction, writing and making art for your younger self, all the fears and issues young people today have that we didn't, how easy it is to watch listen to or read anything ever made, non heroic characters doing heroic things, a dislike of dark anti-heroes, representation, navigating adults as a kid, child stars sacrificing their childhood so we can have happy ones, Box Brown's book, Halloween, television and the 1992 elections, appreciating Courtney Cox, Misfits of Science, Cagney and Lacey, not being a cop show person, being bad at being a lesbian (media wise), liking character over procedure, Loving Care for Kittens and Cats, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Saturday Morning cartoons, advertising to kids, the wonders of Winterbeast, The Outer Limits in Waltham, The Midnight Hour, Dance Til Dawn, My Sister Sam, Women in Prison, Echoes in Darkness, Family Ties, having a crush on Stacey Keenan, Our House, Patrick Duffy's week, Mercedes McCambridge, family epics, Giant from 1956, Growing Pains, when Sandy died, very special episodes, generating dialog among families, After School Specials, ABC Tuesdays, Crime Story, The Iron Sheik, Perfect Strangers, Iranian immigrants loving WWF Wrestling, the early days of TGIF, Head of the Class, Donna Reed, working at Newbury Comics, Ken being fired from Newbury Comics because nobody liked him, being terrified of a Chucky Doll, Twilight, the wonder of being able to thank people face to face, Killer Croc, complicated fond memories of The Cosby Show, nice comedy and how difficult it is to do, Sledge Hammer, Hulk Hogan's Rock n Wrestling, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Lipstick and Dynamite, Carrie, Rags to Riches, I Married Dora, Jackie Gleason's lack of Emmys, and being fine with butts, even if you're not specifically looking for them. 

March 17-23, 1990 This week Ken welcomes co-host, co-creator, editor, and producer of the podcasts Book Vs. Movie, Dorking Out, Not Fade Away, and What a Creep, the Brooklyn Fit Chick and author of the new book "Filmed in Brooklyn" Margo Donohue. Ken and Margo discuss doing it the best you can, how 1990 is Ken's favorite year, going to college in the Bay Area, banning Captain Underpants, two Margos, parents being very upset about Bart Simpson's sass, life in a Pre-Simpsons world, being conscripted into working at the Mall in Cali, NY vs CA pizza, Margo's book on Brooklyn, moving to Park Slope, shows shot in NYC, Brooklyn Bridge, heist movies, The Hot Rock, Criterion Channel, making sure you have your favorite movies on Physical media, the Providence/Boston/NY Maffia, buying Jesus Statues, thirtysomething, replacing cigarette ads with prescription rx ads, Midnight Caller, the greatness of Greg Proops, MTV's Remote Control, The Real World, how Kevin Powell was right all along, Mere Winningham, Martin Short Goes Hollywood, Miracle Mile, Anthony Edwards, Valerie Harper vs. The Hogan Family, Frankenhooker, Who's the Boss?, Murphy Brown, doing the homework, Unsolved Mysteries, Night Court, the greatness of China Beach, Ken's love of Grand, LA Law, Craig Bierko, Valerie Bertonelli, missing John Candy, after school specials with an REM soundtrack, developing actual film, John Waters on 21 Jump St., Julia Duffy, Seein' Double, being inappropriately angry at Robert Mitchum, The Wizard of Oz, and how much people hate starring in a movie with Judy Garland as the star.

This week Ken welcomes to incredible actor, singer, author and all around impressive human Traci Lords to the show. Ken and Traci discuss the long road to making this episode happen, Ken's Twitter banter, how Ken amuses Traci, if social media is bad or good, the toxic nature of society, love/hate relationships, how sometimes things are stupid and suck, insults, knowing how to take a selfie, how filters change the world, how life is a show, being a good person, being an introverted extrovert, how the access to celebrity has changed Hollywood, reality TV, how having a name can give you opportunities but also can hinder your growth as an artist, being a musician, having the freedom to fail, Radioactive Records,  Perry Farrell, Moby, After Hours at Lollapalooza, the wisdom of age, self promotion, public pressure, stand up, Bob Saget, swimming as fast as you can, the importance of a hair toss, how Traci has been in TV Guide at least 21 times, The Tommyknockers, Crybaby, Married...with Children, the freedom of the 90s, inappropriate sitcoms, Roseanne, ensemble casts, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sandra Bernhardt, being shocked how high your voice was in your 20s, getting thrown in the deep end of being in front of a live audience, layers of panic, being so happy when you first book gigs, being more calm about it now, how acting is a blue collar profession, never Googling yourself, Hollywood poor, how amazing John Waters is, playing Tim Blake Nelson's wife, getting to play a Karen, finding that comedy works for you, trying to take the best roles offered to you, playing a fortune teller on MacGyver, Wiseguy, having your lines from gigs 30 years ago burned into your brain, the secret to learning lines, studying at The Actor's Studio, Joanna Cassidy, being on an airplane with Farrah Fawcett, Charlie's Angels, the paparazzi, all the contraptions you have to have when you have a newborn, why you should always say yes to working with John Waters, Patty Hearst, how John Waters' sets are like a family, First Wave, Francis Ford Coppola, working on Black Mask II in Thailand for Tsui Hark, being in a movie and having no idea what is going on, Excision, Nicole, Her Ex & the Killer, Providence, how weird working during and semi-post pandemic has been, loving actors who disappear in parts, figuring out what you want to do and what you want to spend your time doing, realizing life is short, Scooby Doo, doing voice over, cartoon characters, having a home studio, watching Game of Thrones twice while eating hot wings and pizza every  night, how Scooby Doo goes so well with ice cream, Love Boat, being on a cruise with Charro and Tony Danza, and never wanting to go on a cruise again even though it's just eating and sex. 

Just 23-29, 2008 This week Ken welcomes television producer, author and speaker whose credits include stints on popular shows like The Surreal Life, Dancing With the Stars, Basketball Wives, and Hollywood Game Night and author of the books Reality TV: An Insider's Guide to TV's Hottest Market (MWP) and And Another Thing: A Beginner's Guide to the TV Notes Process, Troy DeVolld. Ken and Troy discuss 2008, modern TV, Ken's Birthday, Troy's regretful choice,  having your own show get savaged in Cheers and Jeers, spending 20+ years in reality TV, growing up in Florida, having an accidental career, loving sitcoms,  MTV's Fear, being afraid of orangutan, why you should always read the credits on reality TV, how stories come together in editing, Mr. Smith, being in the Lancelot Link black hole, Tampa, Flipper, Miami Vice, Seventh Heaven, why it's not hard to be sexier than Tampa, Hollywood East, Donna Reed, Get Smart, home sick TV, fighting for respect, the mean spirited reality TV boom,  The Surreal Life, Top Gear, Larry Tate, The Dana Carvey Show, Wizards of Waverly Place, awards shows, The Grammys, Saturday Morning Shoot Out with Peter Gruber, Larry King, Charlie Rose, hotel chain moguls, the story of Vamp, Dancing with the Stars, creating packages, the greatness of Tom Bergeron, getting to see your work with an audience, So You Think You Can Dance?, Lizard Lick Towing, when Bobby Dies, Starsky and Hutch, Roots, The State, Thomas Lennon, How to Make Movies for Profit, Weeds, Eddie Peppitone, Emerson, Kevin Bright, American Dad, Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs, The Bachelor, owning Marlon Brando's vest, collecting remote controls, The Philco Mystery Box, Richard Pryor's Moving, recognizing Jimmy Kimmel, Denise Richards Kaju,  Larry Storch, asking your mom to stop sending you clippings, begrudgingly being the go to interview to discuss reality TV horror stories, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Sledge Hammer, the magic of Chuck McCann, paying it forward, running into the cast of Barney Miller throughout your life and identifying the Zenith Space Commander Six Hundred as being the remote control on Cheers. 

April 29 - May 5, 1967 This week Ken welcomes director, producer and writer (Evil, Farscape, The New Twilight Zone, V, Seaquest DSV) Rockne S. O'Bannon to the show.  Ken and Rockne discuss Ken's long time love of Rockne's work and how often it comes up on the show, 1967, the amazing nature of not aging since 1967, the boom of sci-fi TV in 1966, Film reboots of classic TV shows, quantum entanglement, growing up in LA, Rockne's mother being a Busby Barkley dancer, Rockne's father being a gaffer at Warner Brothers, writing your first pilot script at age 10 for The Boy from U.N.C.L.E., realizing people make television at an early age, Isaac Asimov's essay on how sexy Mr. Spock is, Lawrence Welk swimsuit issue, innovation in animal training, Raven with a Gun, writing for streaming shows and dealing with not needing the convention ad break structure, Sci-Fi Channel movie templates, Laugh-In, Hollywood Teletype, commissioned art, the rise of hippy culture in the mainstream, TV Guide's incredibly detailed listings for everything including reruns and sports, Frankenstein Jr, Space Angel, Clutch Cargo, The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke shows status as the greatest TV sitcom ever, Pistols & Petticoats, Gunsmoke, Tom Skerrit's week, The Avengers, Johnny Carson reruns, Saturday Night Live, TV shows about television, It's About Time, Ed Sullivan, the pre-muppet Muppets, Roger Miller's variety show, FBI, Rockne's Dad taking home TV scripts for him to study, the horror of pay tv, white guys as Native Americans, westerns, Steve Allen's invention of everything, Mr. Terrific, Captain Nice, Buck Henry, Get Smart!, The New Twilight Zone, "Wordplay", "The Shadow Man", Darkroom with James Coburn, Joey Bishop, Don Herbert is Mr. Wizard, TV Close Ups, The National Science Test, The Saint, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Red Skelton, The Invaders, pinkies, playing it cool around celebrities, Albert Brooks, Night of the Meek, The Afterhours, Fame is the Name of the Game, Lost in Space, Batman '66, Fringe, Evil, time travel, Time Tunnel, being the new Irwin Allen by mistake, gadgets, I Spy, Wild Wild West, Honey West, Green Hornet, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, F Troop, Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker's chemistry, not wanting to talk to Milton Berle, short lived shows that had an outsized impact on pop culture, the power of villains, vigilantes, Bob & Ray, Tim Conway, "you're very pleased to meet me", Patrick McNee's secrets to life, nudists, Mod Tampons, TV Teletype, and Chuck Connors, as a Cowboy in Africa. 

FALL PREVIEW ALERT! September 10-16, 1966 This week Ken welcomes author of the new book, Primetime 1966-1967: The Full Spectrum of Television's First All-Color Season, Thom Shubilla. Ken and Thom discuss Ken's slaughter of Thom's last name, Batman '66, knowing the Fall Preview well, the year TV was born, shaking off radio, Westerns, the first TV season everything was in color, classy Miller High Life ads making Ken and Thom want to drink, commissioned art, murals, Joe E. Ross, It's About Time, how The Moon Landing both ruined and improved sci-fi, Sherwood Schwartz, The Monkees, The Jackie Gleason Show, "The Lost" Honeymooners, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Get Smart!, Mission Impossible, Secret Agent Man, Patrick McGoohan, Hollywood Palace, Ed Sullivan, Ken's love of Robert Loggia, T.H.E. Cat, a show of all wacky neighbors, Lost in Space, being a Ginger or a Maryann, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie, the long terrifying decline of Lucy, that one episode of Route 66, Big Eye paintings, The Green Hornet, Occasional Wife, That Girl, poorly translated JFK triangles, Green Acres, the truth about nerve deafness, F Troop, loving Larry Storch, heists, Irwin Alan, Time Tunnel, hating Milton Berle, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Burt Reynolds as Hawk and not as Marlon Brando, Larry Cohen's Coronet Blue, needing satisfaction on a show, The Fugitive, and how absolutely awful the Tammy Grimes show was.

This week Ken welcomes writer, director John D. Hancock to the show. Ken and John discuss the end of the world, extreme weather, John's Dad being in the NBC Radio Orchestra in Chicago, the transition from radio to TV and how it effected musicians, going to Harvard in the 1950s, Dr. Timothy Leary, Gus Van Zandt, pretending to know what actors are talking about, The Berliner Ensemble, running the Actor's Theater in San Francisco in the 1960s, directing Off Broadway plays, being in East Berlin, Bertolt Brecht, getting a grant from the AFI to do a short, businessmen who play touch football in central park, Let's Scare Jessica to Death, Bang the Drum Slowly, Robert DeNiro, William Wyler, Michael Moriarty, how only names sell tickets these days, platforming movies, optioning Regiment of Women, Warren Beatty, California Dreaming, having an awful experience on Jaws 2, Jan Michael Vincent, never having directed multi cam television, learning new skillsets directing on television, Hillstreet Blues, Cover Up, theater vs film, being sold a bill of goods by AIP, editing, running previews, why it's not always best to go with your gut, Weeds, trying to get Weeds re-released, Dino DeLaurentis losing the negative, Wolfen, Prancer, what films you show students, teaching at Second City, Wild Tales, and how young people will not do love scenes these days.