TV Guidance Counselor Podcast

March 6-12, 2004 This week Ken welcomes podcaster, film critic and author of the new book "Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend", Jason Bailey.  Ken and Jason discuss living in The Bronx, moving from Kansas to NYC, wanting to leave your home town, the Sopranos phenomenon, HBO original programming, 1st and Ten, prestige TV, unlikeable protagonists, America Undercover, Tales from the Crypt, Mario Van Peebles, werewolves, Daybreak, failed pilots, Cast a Deadly Spell, working at video stores, dropping out of playing Sammy the Bull, being replaced by William Foresythe, the complicated history of James Gandolfini, standing out in the sea of books about the Sopranos, True Romance, IDing future stars, how Karen "Duff" Duffy is the greatest human being ever, Duff and Gandolfini's high school days together, New Jersey, Steve Buscemi, stealing behind the scenes people from Trees Lounge, Season 5 of the Sopranos, Larraine Braco, Goodfellas, avoiding the press, taking years long breaks between seasons, TV on DVD, the post 9-11 TV landscape, why it was a benefit to have a higher retail price, American Idol, William Hung, Jeffery Donovan, Touching Evil, Burn Notice, Ressurecting Judas, Easter programming, "Invasion of the Dumb Blondes", how reality TV killed Anna Nicole Smith, how the US remake of The Office will never work, TrimSpa, David Mamet plays, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, basic cable network identity, Six Feet Under, Paige Davis and Trading Spaces, writing a book about Die Hard, Die Hard rip offs, E! True Hollywood stories, sleaze, Gilmore Girls, Michael Chiklis, being told you'll never work in Hollywod again, The Shield, Nip/Tuck, bad investments, The Danbury Mint, Brian DePalma, Femme Fatale, TiVo, lost media, how awful The Apprentice was and how it ruined the world forever, mean spirited prank shows, Jaime Kennedy Show, why big budget movies are all now geared towards 12 year olds, seeing R rated movies with your parents, Playing it Straight, Wonderfalls, and Jason's fantastic podcasts.   

May 9-16, 1998 This week Ken welcomes comedian behind the new comedy LP "Beach Brain", Andy Woodhull. Ken and Andy discuss being live via sattellite, coast to coast, refusing to partake in daylight savings time, having never read a TV Guide, having a stand up bit that never works but you refuse to dump it, when fonts are too small, growing up in Indiana, refusing reality, supper, even uglier Jerry Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld dating a teenage girl, your dad buying a Playboy for your teenage friend (when your dad isn't Jerry Seinfeld), Jenny McCarthy, when Seinfeld ended, how Michael Jordan was so famous that even cardboard cutouts of him got ad deals, graduation speeches, how milk chocolate is for children, Jerry Seinfeld picking up teenagers in Central Park, Regis, claiming change is bad, Beetlejuice, Dunkaroos, Saturday Morning Cartoons, how the Babe movies fit into the Mad Max universe, David Ducovney 's music career, not buttoning shirts, America's Funniest Home Videos, being a part of the Vin De Bona family, hosting Totally Funny Animals, Daisey Fuentes, ska remake of theme songs, Matlock, JAG, Jag offs, The Good Wife being watched by your wife, unexpected character deaths, Tony Clifton, seeing your friend prosecute a terribly disturbing case in court, avoiding Miss Universe, Home Improvement, sitcoms based on stand up acts, Geriatric indecent proposals, shows we pitched that never went, divorces, TeenBeat, Mad About You, having the juice to make your TV show commercial free, learning the word "epiphanic", Paul Reiser, the death of Chris Farley, Just Shoot Me, the original voice of Shrek, auditioning for the part of Robin in Batman, T2, people hating the Seinfeld finale, Police Squad, loving The Naked Gun, why Ken should avoid the Lord of the Rings movies, how Andy rewatches the LOTR series every year, Airplane, 30 Rock, and not asking for a short history of bullsh*t.   

May 9-16, 1992 This week Ken welcomes co-founder of Mental Floss, co-founder of Kaleidoscope and host of the Part-Time Genius and Skyline Drive podcasts, Mangesh Hattikudur. Ken and Mangesh discuss downtown Brooklyn, going to college in North Carolina, spending your Summers in Idia, spending a year abroad in Atlanta, Brooklyn Manners, not being able to watch R rated movies, the book adaptation life hack, VHS terror, bootleg tapes, the hunt for nudity, The Carolinas, brown outs, shows the US exports, saying goodbye to Johnny Carson, Ken's day with John Cleese, Bob and Ray, the launch of Comedy Central as CTV/Comedy Channel/HA!, hunting down comedy lps, learning joke structure, Stephen Wright, Conan, talk shows, the death of John Candy, Jim Henson's death, Ed McMahon, what local news casters are paid, Vanna White's music career, the greatest picture of Richard Simmons ever, Jake Steinfeld, why Saturdays were tough, turning your house into a mini-golf course, the sries finale of Golden Girls, why Caddyshack II is better than Caddyshack, talk shows hosted by people playing a character, swear replacements, Parker Lewis Can't Lose, ripped from the headlines made for TV murder, how 70s vigilante revenge movies became 90s made for TV movies for women, Risky Business, the nostalgia lens, why you should always go back and revisit your childhood favorites, Police Academy, Revenge of the Nerds, movies that don't fly now, the evolution of R rated movie to children's cartoon, The Boston Celtics, Rescue 9-1-1, the theme song from Rescue 9-1-1, the 3.2.1 Contact Sex Special, Mental Floss, Davis Rules, the TV road not taken, network executives ruining shows, Night Court's final season before the reboot, when Harry Anderson would guest start on Cheers, how Park St Under was absolutely NOT ripped off to make Cheers, how one script became Beverly Hills Cop AND Cobra, Roald Dahl, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, loving Tom Arnold, 20/20, live exorcisms, and getting to the bottom of if the bush really burned. 

November 14-20th, 1992 This week Ken welcomes long time Ken Reid superfan, NASCAR expert and the co-host of the Meet Me at Applebees Podcast Brien Kielb. Ken and Brien discuss NASCAR video games in Chuck E Cheese, growing up in upstate NY, The Showcase Showdown, punk rock teens, Boston Punk, Motorsports, Albany, moving to Cleveland, Pittsburgh PA, local cuisine, watching old NASCAR races, meeting friends due to mutual interests, the politics of driving, racist redneck hicks, Formula One, 24 hour races, endurance, soiling yourself, bicycle repair, fake wakes, smoking slims, cigarettes for women, Monster Trucks, the real truck that turns into a fire breathing car eating monster, the TWO Big Foot Cartoons, searching for Stivy Posnanski, Video Power, the Power Team, satellite dishes, above ground pools, divorced Dads, how Baby Boomers have hoarded all the money, before the discovery of tweens, original works of art by internationally acclaimed artist Paul Kale, collector's plates, weird NASCAR merchandise, The Georgia Dome, NASCARman, YouTube, Alabama Salutes Richard Petty, Joe Diffie, 900 numbers based auctions, wondering what Tom Arnold donated, The Kids Choice Awards, Red & Stimpy, Primus, coming from a weigh lifting background, yelling at Emo bands, WWE, the drug addict to weight lifting to right wing grifter highway, USA Up All Night, Saturday Nightmares, Days of Thunder, the Days of Thunder Soundtrack, what the best NASCAR movie is, Ravishing Rick Rude lookalikes in prison riots, The Real World, GI Joe, Sgt. Slaughter, Refrigerator Perry, Married...with Children, stunt episodes, musical episodes, very sad made for TV movies, collecting and framing t-shirts, Ken's Just the Ten of Us autographed cast shirt, screen worn t shirts from The Adventures of Pete and Pete and Revenge of the Nerds, Rescue 9-1-1 in Ohio, Roseanne, the Lanford Loose Meat Lunchbox, TBS, WCW, Disney Studios, Street Stories, Sightings, Stephen Wright guest starring on Bob as a guy in charge of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Balloons, Frozen Assets sperm count contest, the Whoops! Christmas episode and fundamentally misrepresenting Ray Walston's career. 

October 18-25, 2018 This week Ken welcomes comedian behind the new comedy album Hobble D. Hoy, Ahmed Khalaf. Ken and Ahmed discuss moving to Minnesota, parental death, obvious Prince, So-Cal, reasons for the mid-west, hating the heat, just how big America is, world travel, having nothing else to do but watch 15 seasons of Supernatural, Supernatural cast members Ken has had on the show, superior Monster of the Week episodes, Supergirl, CW, how things Ken should love he doesn't, Dean, The Mark of Cain, Roseanne into The Connors, Scrubs, recasting shows, hating horror films, being scared by loud noises, polarizing issues, Marvel Super heroes, lazy nicknames, Jeff Dunham, freak pointing, Jared from Subway, Dinklidge, playing Tattoo, ska bands, H. John Benjamin, Bob's Burgers, Francis Ford Coppola, reality shows, loving Forged in Fire, Joker and Red Skull, how we should all hate racists and fascists, Ken's failed war crime forgiveness based on love of ethnic cuisines, X-Files, Halloween, lazy movie descriptions, winning a bet, Easy A, The Usual Suspects, not being a movie guy, MMA, boxing, WWF, the first Suicide Squad, buying  a ton of meat for a little bit of money, and loving video games. 

This week Ken welcomes writer, producer and all around superstart Chris Cluess to the show. Chris and Ken discuss being alive, New Jersey, SCTV, winning an Emmy, Sweeps Week, Moral Majority, the amazing wonderful world of John Candy, Toronto, being polite, forgetting names, stripping on bear rugs, supporting the arts, being beloved by the public, the guy with a snake on his face, the greatness of Juul Haalmeyer, Alan King, Alan King's Second Final Warning, working at National Lampoon, Cleveland, Blackstone, The Pretenders, Boomtown Rats, plugging 5,000 year old shows you get not royalties from, "...from Cleveland", Bob and Ray, Kurt Vonneget, how sometimes you can't completely your mission, writing a terrible Barney Miller spec script, the massive sketch book, trying to get hired to write for SNL, scaring John Belushi, chasing Garret Morris, the kindness of Dan Ackroyd, sketch comedy, Al Franken, Tom Davis, Michael O'Donoghue, getting a master class in sketch writing pro bono, John Candy, moving to LA in 1978, haunted houses, attending the Emmys in 1982, being Catherine O'Hara's date, working on Night Court and the running the final seasons of Night Court, tall people, winning over Marsha Warfield, Nothing but Trouble, Madman of the People, the mysterious ways of Bill Murray, getting offers you can't refuse, being uncanceled, Selma Dimond's funeral, writing for the Happiest Place on Earth, I Married Dora, breaking the 4th wall, and begging Chris to write a memoir. 

December 9-16, 2000 This week Ken welcomes pun loving comedian behind the comedy special "Hyperbolic", Matthew Broussard. Ken and Matthew discuss Pokemon, the repressed feelings from the turn of the century, giving up video games, enjoying arts and crafts, not being into sports, swimming, genius ads, homoerotic break in fantasies used to sell breath mints, Madden, sculpting, the genius of gang signs, economy of words, living in a sponsored society, SNL, the one t-shirt that offended Ken, being polite, miss opportunities with Tony Hawk, having your own rope, naked babies on Al Roker, Braveheart, the Discover E-Book, Cartoon Cartoon, Cow and Chicken, I am Weasel, how Adventure Time might just be the greatest show of the 21st Century, Emergency Vets handle vomiting monkeys, South Park, financial struggles, Sopranos, Malcolm in the Middle, Kirk Cameron hosting Santa's Funniest Moments, Brad Pitt's early days on Growing Pains, over the top acting, the heavy drama of Hey! Arnold!, Becker, Becker's 9/11 episode, silly accents, Uma Thurman for president, The Riddler, how Tom Waits influenced the Joker, the moneyball-ificiation of America, the mixed world of childhood play, limitless imagination, Looney Tunes, being shot in front of a live audience, puns, Tom Kenny, the Ice King, old school voice over talent, Sex and the City, Will and Grave, Tom and Jerry, writing for Sean Hayes, The Real World, how Puck is an a-hole, how Carrie is the Villain, how Ferris Buheler is the villain, and the man who is married to Claire Danes. 

This week Ken welcomes author, music fan, semi-pro plus one and cousin of the famous, David Klein (www.davidkleinauthor.org) to the show. Ken and David discuss his new book "The Plus-One: Getting by on Good Connections in the Analog Age", being Winona Ryder's cousin, growing up in suburban NJ, moving to North Carolina, mix tapes, personal memories tied to pop culture, David's brother's work with MTV, getting kicked out of a youth program resulting in riding in an airplane with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, going to the Night on Earth premiere, meeting Bono, having an ex-roomate who dated Marisa Tomei, MTV Europe, record shopping in London, cool older brother effect, Willie Alexander, a song for every number, the two 50s chord progressions, the highlight of a funeral, those people who not only light up a room but light up everyone in the room, trying to get your kids to like cool stuff, The Ramones, being ahead of your time, finding your thing, The Replacements, My Boyfriend's Back, finding your voice, becoming the author you always should have been, being fueled by rejection, how being bored by your work is the most offensive thing, suburban kids getting in trouble on a Friday night, Led Zepplin, Tenafly NJ, Tenafly Viper in Street Trash, the Pixies, how love is a jigsaw puzzle, Mermaids, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, how you only need to see the movie Hapiness once, reading underground Comix, Timothy Leary, the beauty of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Ken's advocacy for Adrian Borland's The Sound, still discovering new music as you get older, having your uncle ask Jerry Lee Lewis how he drove here tonight, Glen Miller, and how the Adventures of Pete and Pete is the greatest television show of all time. 

 July 12-18, 1997 This week Ken welcomes the drummer in the Ohio punk band Bandages, Andrew Chenault. Ken and Andrew discuss Ken's confusion about Ohio's position in the United States, Central Time, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, how Ken has had many of Andrew's favorite show stars on TVGC, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Used Cars, Garrett Graham, The Phantom of the Paradise, Horror flicks, watching Showgirls with your mom, Demi Moore, the US Cable TV premiere of Striptease, Duckman, Dr. Katz, Spicy City, King of the Hill, Daria, WWF vs WWE, the golden age of awful graphic design, bad favorite bands, Lord of Illusions, sexy Sheryl Crow videos, how a teenage boy cannot pass up watching Barb Wire, Canadian Bacon, Christmas in July except its Halloween, loving SNL, Molly Shannon's pre SNL career, Robert England's Phantom of the Opera, Mad TV, Kids in the Hall, Dolemite, Mr. Show, and Mandy Pantinkin's constantly questioning of what you put in the toilet. 

March 25-31, 1995 This week Ken welcomes old friend, favorite person, and TV Writer (Only Murders in the Building, Silicon Valley), Rob Turbovsky. Ken and Rob discuss Rob's time in Boston, moving to LA, Thai food, Ken catching Rob on his failing into retirement journey, getting to write for your heroes, Martin Short doing a Clifford impression JUST for you, The Oscars, David Letterman, Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction, cigarettes to Rx drugs, Ask TV Guide, how you used to have to ask questions about pop culture before the internet, placing Greg Barnes, Geraldo's legal background, Martin Landeau, Ed Wood, shows set in Boston, people stalking TV members, Tracy Gold in Ladykiller, Made for TV movies, weird horny Tylnol ads, male fragility, Chicago Hunk: Peter Berg, the odd 90s trend of barefoot celebrity photos, Aspen Extreme, celebrith recipies, using a sword to chop lettuce, Dave Couler's Swordfish with tomato sauce, Alex Trebek's dangerous frying style, Charles Grodin's talk show, Rob's oral history of Clifford for Vulture, SCTV, how Ken insists the Martin Short role in Captain Ron was written for Steve Martin, The Bob Hope Young Comedian's Special vs. The HBO Young Comedians Special, the memory hole of Backdraft, the lost era of movies, Taxi reruns, MST3k, Lawmower Man, Oscar counter programming, Cabin Boy, Raising Caine, the lost full musical cut of "I'll Do Anything", Phantom of the Paradise, Dead Pilots Society, the greatness of Mark McKinney, Exit 57, The Vacant Lot, Twilight Zone: The Movie, American Inventors Corp, a Tribute to Andy Kaufman, Unsolved Mysteries, Stormy Justice, Crime Story, being pranked by Tony Clifton, how turning to stand up is the worst thing ever, Major League, Midnight Run, how Beverly Hills Cop II is the better movie than Beverly Hills Cop, and loving John Waters.

September 10-16, 1966  This week Ken welcomes singer/songwriter/Dramarama frontman and fellow TV addict John Easdale to the show. Ken and John discuss how weird it is to chat about normal and fun things in 2025, the introduction of color TV, the 1966 television season, being the envy of the block when your family has the first and only color TV, The Dramaram lp Color TV, being beneath the Zenith, how old TVs were massive pieces of furniture, how people always take convinience over quality, the new embrace of hi-fi audiophile culture, the all you can eat aspect of streaming, The Monkees, living with your band, when long haired rock groups were on every TV show, educating yourself on film, the inspiration of punk rock DIY spirit, dropping off paying attention to new media at a certain point, focusing on making things instead of consuming them, Nightmare on Elm St 4: The Dreamaster, "Anything, Anything", KROQ, Rodney on the ROQ's connection to The Monkees, WFNX, how Freddy Kruger unbroke up Dramarama, growing up in Wayne New Jersey, how Dramarama all went to high school together, relocating to L.A., Made-For-TV bands, the 80s Monkees reunion shows, Rhino Records, Lancelot Link Secret Chimp, knowing the horrors of animals on TV now, Canadian TV guide, Frankenstein Jr, The Impossibles, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, NY Metro TV, Davey Jones on Ed Sullivan, Ken forgetting that Lidsville was Butch Patrick, Jack Wild on HR Puffnstuff, Ken's theory of rock n roll popularity tied to visual media innovation, The Monkees Head, Mike Nesmith, Repoman, lost media, tape wiping, loving digital comics, living in the future, Batman '66, burning out quickly, Bruce Lee, The Green Hornet, wanting to be Mickey Dolenz, Lost in Space, how Adam West was a beautifully strange guy, Milton Berle, how cartoons went into space when they lost all inspiration, and how Ken and John's pop culture filled minds may save history in the appocalypse. 

This week Ken welcomes author of the absolutely life changing "Cult Movies" series of books, among lots of other great things, Danny Peary. Ken and Danny discuss the massive volume of guests Ken has had on the show, wanting to expose people to art they never would have known about otherwise, growing up in the 1950s, loving Westerns, Danny's brother Gerald and his film criticism, loving television, Abbot and Costello and Jack and the Bean Stalk, Lone Ranger, foreign cinema, college campus cinema clubs, Hopalong Cassidy, Red Rider, Baseball, Igmar Bergman, seeing subtitled movies as a small child, The Harder They Come, Midnight Movies, NYC, seeing movies alone in the theater, Rocky Horror, word of mouth, why The Wizard of Oz is a cult movie, the niche cults, John Waters, the classics, the weird, and the wonderful, why horror isn't always cult, not just writing about plots, real film criticism, analysis, how you can't have a wrong insight into a movie, giving people something to think about. Eraserhead, doing research in the pre-internet days, Freaks, loving Val Lewton, how the flow of cult movies has damartically slowed in the 21st Century despite more movies than ever and more movies than ever trying to be cult movies, giving things time to build, how you can't make a cult movie on purpose, film festivals, The Substance, Basket Case, The Wasp Woman, The Alternative Oscars, Ken being baffled at how Speed Racer never developed a cult, Howard the Duck, Heaven's Gate, George Cukor, retiring, the lost Val Lewton movie, The Ghost Ship, making movies with zero heroic characters, I Walked with a Zombie, going to USC Film School, writing for Thundercats and Silverhawks, having a love of comedy, James Gray, the film Deep End, Phatom of the Paradise, and the early days of Brian DePalma. 

April 10-17, 1999 This week Ken wades through a dog related false alarm emergency as he welcomes returning guest Erin Judge and first time guest Jenny Chalikian who have a brand new live record out called "Romantic Comedy: Live! at the Ripped Boddice" Ken, Erin and Jenny discuss Star Trek, Discovery, Xena, the greatness of Jeri Ryan, Star Trek Voyager, hating a Doug Henning future, being gay, gay icons, Hercules, watching TV with your very conservative family, shows shot in New Zealand, Hong Kong action, representation on TV, Dawson's Creek, growing up in Texas, Ken's history with Richard Roundtree, the is Xena butch or not debate, how Jeri Ryan's ex-husband's bad behavior gave us Obama, femme'd out TV stars, Evil Dead The Series, Cynthia Rothrock's greatness, kids who's sketch show was All That, SNL, SNICK, the power of 90s Comedy Central, Are You Being Served?, Alias, why Jennifer Garner always deserves better, Tom Green, Futurama, Family Guy, the post-Simpsons prime time animated world, how Heaven is America, Millenium, X-Files, Walker Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris' syndicated editorial newspaper column, The Awful Truth, Ally McBeal, how television teaches women you either have powerful careers OR a love life but not both, Highlander: The Series, Becker, whatever the hell JAG was, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, loving monsters and loving weeks but not always monsters of the week, how insane people generally are, Laura Kightlinger, Pulp Comics, Kathy Griffith, The Nanny, the Massachusetts factual inacuracies of Dawson's Creek, the double standard of teacher/student relationships dynamics, Delacatessan, Norm, Dr. Quinn, the bizarre-ness of the streaming business model, Irish Wish, Strangers with Candy, Spin City, Just Shoot Me, The Drew Carey Show, nostalgia for Scared Straight, Sabrina the Teenager Witch, Ben Savage working out his family issues via Boy Meets World, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pini's Pizza Place and wishing you could google who somebody is right in front of you because they are clearly famous but you have no idea who they are. 

This week Ken welcomes singer-songwriter behind the must buy brand new album "Erotica Veronica", Miya Folick.   Ken and Miya discuss the troubles of LA, the stress of 2025, trying to be creative and make a living as an artist in 2025, life without respite, no longer being the main character, the dark timeline, allowing yourself to work through your own experience, promoting your stuff, not having kids, growing up as a huge nerd, being social, not getting into music until you were in college, loving doing homework, not having the "cool older brother" effect growing up, college radio, mix tapes, KERTH 101, good peer pressure, Live Journal, being a musician without being able to make every specific tone reference possible, collaboration, songwriting, being an idea generator, planning to learn about music history upon retirement, wanting to shred, Tidal, trusting the algorithym, finding new music, going through music droughts, mood and music, auditory sensitivity tied to your menstral cycle, listening to podcasts, The Ezra Klein Show, The Daily, Democracy Now, Heavyweight, Jonathan Goldman, unresolved issues of the heart, developing parasocial relationships with podcast hosts you listen to, being into super dorky opera competitions, Downtown LA, growing up in Orange County, jumping on the turtleneck bandwagon, master classes at the classical music society, trying and hating acting, the audition process, thinking about a return to acting, Paris, Texas, being inspired by Cinema, Portishead, The Three Colors Trilogy, the magic of cinema, pop music, wanting producers across the country, Steve Albini, the belief that the only good album a band makes is their first album, thinking about going back to or even starting a day job, going to sleep with white noise, not watching TV at night, Marvel Comics in the 1970s, and the nature of storytelling. 

January 3-9, 1998 After 10 years Ken welcomes return guest, and certified Hunk, author of the book "Have I Seen You in Anything?", Matt Knudesen.   Ken and Matt discuss living the dream, how great we still look, Sears Craftsman Tool Chests, art supplies, growing up in Iowa, RIP K-Mart, North Dakota, finishing high school in So-Cal, cheap motels, the wonder of cable TV while traveling, Nickelodeon, You Can't Do That on Television, Stacey Keach, taking out a loan to get your first apartment, acting, Kevin Costner's post-appocalytpic obession, TV Guide in the movies, confusing Star Trek and Star Wars, Joe's Apartment, getting the Jerry O'Connell upgrade, Richard Belzer's WWF lawsuit, seeing Stevie Wonder live, The Family Channel JAMS, Bosom Buddies, debates about nerdy minutia, how sometimes stories just should end, the Animal that is Cosby, experiencing a lion in person, Y2K, Man or Astroman?, go bags, House II: The Second Story, old character actors, Royal Dano, Fast Times, Paul Dooley, Breaking Away the TV Series, US remakes of UK shows, streaming, how even huge stars can't get movies into theaters, Starting Over, Burt Reynolds, location shooting, being in commercials, stunt driving, Kurt Fuller, the actor to real estate agent track, how Ken feels Seinfeld doesn't hold up, massive executive mistakes, Woman of the People, watching yourself in something and realizing the project is awful, Mike Hammer, Mickey Spillane, Cloris Leachman, not knowing if you can do something but claiming you can anyway, cheating at Celebrity Jeopardy, laughing Gary Owens bobbleheads, and how Santa Claus as a music critic is a total jerk. 

February 12-18, 1994 This week Ken travels back to Valentine's week 1994 with the great human and very funny comedian behind the new album "Mixed and Confused" (available everywhere great digital albums are sold/streamed), Christine Little. Ken and Christine discuss if we really want to know how people are doing in 2025, stomach issues, cutting your own hair, funeral barbers, Boyz II Men, weird perverted graphic layout cover artists, Nancy Kerrigan, ice skating, getting "Pullout" on the cover, Ask TV Guide, where the college from Beverly Hills 90210 is located, what pony tailed guys on TV are ok to punch, Luke Perry, 8 Seconds, riding mechanical bulls, posters on your walls, dying doing what you love to do, posthumiously being embarrassed, drunken actors, Lenox Crystal cats, Boomerang, The Mommies, getting a development deal, Sisters, Bone Thungs n Harmony, Schitt's Creek, Charles Bronson Pinchot, Living Single, 900 numbers, Pee Wee Hockey Dads fighting in Boston area parking lots after games, writing your own theme song, graduating in the future, live on television executions, being into psycho-sexual thrillers, Sliver, mail fraud, Fresh Prince of Bel Aire, Point Break, Blankman, Fabio playing Cupid, birds flying into Fabio's face, bird blood, teen idol Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson's house chores, Police Acadamy, Melrose Place, Andrew Shue and how he's persuing a propect doing very well and his kids are very happy, The Truman Show, Jim Carrey, In Living Color, people you know into erotic asphyxiation, Wonder Years, Family Matters, Married...with Children, Hanging with Mr. Cooper, Kids in the Hall, The State, waiting on Fred Savage, waiting on Stephen King, and the gross brilliant nature of The Substance. 

Travel back a decade ago, to 2015 as we go week by week through the high highs (and the shocking low lows, some Trigger Warning here re: trauma, suicide, abuse etc, about half way through) of 2015. Is it the year the show peaked? You be the judge. 

April 18-24, 1998 This week Ken welcomes actor, producer, director, writer Gregory Lay. Ken and Gregory discuss growing up as a TV Guide guy, calling out sick to school for game shows, cultural markers, pop culture reflections, making the case for what you like, Press Your Luck, Classic Concentration, Savage Steve Holland, One Crazy Summer, why Late Night talk shows are totally useless now, access to stars, actors who started on TV, George Clooney, Elizabeth Shue, Michelle Pfeiffer in Delta House, Meritt Ultra Lights, pay TV channels, Break Down with Kurt Russell, being forever disturbed by Pet Semetary, The Omen, Backdraft, being terrrified of The Incredible Hulk, how people can't stop talking like Hunter S. Thompson or Jeff Goldblum when they hang out with either, failed pilot "My Dad with the President's Daughter", how we'd vote for Dabney Coleman for president, E! True Hollywood Story: Bob Crane, how the X-Files CLEARLY didn't have a plan, the fake Dukes, The Moonlighting problem,  realism vs. escapism, shows with all bad people, Shelly Long and Robert Hayes returning to sitcoms, The Brady Bunch films, how irony can be done well, The Prophecy, all the weird religious films around the turn of the Century, Presumed Innocent, when Leslie Neilson stopped being funny (hint: It's when he started to think he was funny), The Omega Man, Frankenstein, Top Gun, the 30th Anniversary of Friends, movies that don't hold up, movies that DO hold up, Steven Segal, Jurrasic Park, CGI, when stories are thrown by the wayside, how Dark City is The Matrix if it was good, being trapped in an elevator, Beyond Belief, memes, Scott Baio's complete lack of selfawareness and reality, Pumpkinhead, Stan Winston, hating crossovers, and why P. Diddy was a sack of garbage even BEFORE we learned about him being a sexual deviant assaulting waste of humanity. 

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. 

Radio Times UK May 29 - June 4, 1993

It's an annual tradition as Ken goes week by week through the last year and tells you all the dirt. PLUS Listener questions and a preview of 2025!

This week to celebrate the Holidays Ken welcomes Taffeta Darling back to the show. Ken and Taffeta fullfill their greatest Christmas wishes as they browese three, count em THREE Sears Wishbooks, from 1983, 1989 and 1994 and each pick 12 gifts they would like from that year. Follow along by snagging the PDFs of these catalogs for FREE if you are a Patron over at patreon.com/tvguidancecounselor Happy Holidays!

July 21-27, 1990 This week Ken welcomes film producer and host of the Hollywood Gold podcast, Daniela Taplin Lundberg. Ken and Daniela discuss growing up in show business with an actress mother and producer father, producing Mean Streets, La Bamba, hating Coach, Murphy Brown, Action Jackson, the teen TV stars of the 80s and 90s, Hollywood poor, going to events for the food, Doogie Howser PI, the movie guide in the back of TV Guide, Premiere Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Tom Hanks, Bosom Buddies, telling stories you think make you look good that don't actually make you look good, Different World, Wonder Years, Square Pegs, Northern Exposure, Beauty and the Beast, The Facts of Life, backdoor pilots, Ken's trivia weak points, TV Horror Hosts, NBC Pictures, target audiences, SNL's best cast, Life Goes On, Our House, Newhart, The Elliot comedy legacy (Bob, Chris, Abbey, Bridey), loving thirtysomething and Sisters, Battle of the Network Stars, Who's the Boss, Living Dolls, Mona, Charmed, Head of the Class, Hollywood it couples, Brad Pit, not connecting with Neil Patrick Harris, Silver Spoons, Jason Bateman, Ricky Schroeder being mean to you, Cosby, Grand, mid-season replacements, loving Bonnie Hunt, disliking Full House, being social on Friday Nights, Miami Vice, the beauty of Crime Story, before they were stars, the greatness of not binging shows, and My So-Called Life. 

December 8-14, 1979 This week Ken welcomes former Farside singer/guitarist, voice actor, and all around good dude Popeye Vogelsang to the show. Ken and Popeye discuss disrespecting the Fonz, leaving a legacy, where Potsy and Ralph Malph ended up, knocking out Paulie Shore, nicknames, ADR, voicing for video games, smoking, putting allen wrenches in cigarette filters, low tar, lower tar, even lower tar, growing up in Orange County, 80s SoCal punk rock, Watt, being innocent, Dick Cavett, SCTV, the greatness of Dave Thomas, Christmas with Cigarettes, how all women love Robert Redford, The Jane Fonda Workout, piledriving, non-sequitur movie ads, "coming this Christmas", Norman Fell, putting two names in alphabetical order incorrectly, Hanna Barbera characters singing We Are Family, Farrah Fawcett and Jeff Bridges in the beloved Christmas classic "Somebody Killed Her Husband", candlepin bowling, The Return of the Pink Panther, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, being confused by Heart playing with Smokey Robinson and Olivia Newton John, A Charlie Brown Christmas, 8-Tracks, menthol, getting interviewed by Ali G, Surgeon General C. Everett Coop, Happy Days, The Wild Wild World of Animals, Fight or Flight, Lorenzo Lamas, Chuck Berry's weirdness, Real People vs That's Incredible, whistling through your navel, washing coins, Donahue after dark, Doug Henning, how you can't top Martin Short, boxing head injuries, Laverne and Shirley, the god like powers of Michael McKeon, Lenny and the Squigtones, Dom DeLuise, renting VHS tapes to Donny Osmond, Rockford Files, Jaws 2, Summer Without Boys, 30 Minutes: the kids version of 60 minutes, the Christmas miracle of Adam Rich, subversion on television, how massive Hart to Hart was in the UK, being a Presto household, never having to do laundry thanks to promotional t-shirts, and the value of just screwing around. 

This week Ken welcomes the fantastic author (The Keeper, The Reformatory, The Wishing Pool), Screenwriter (The Twilight Zone), educator and producer Tananarive Due to the show. Ken and Tananarive discuss how they are doing these days, how allegory serves marginalized people, genre pieces, growing up in Florida, reading your first Stephen King novel at 16 (The Shining), Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, the golden age of sitcoms, Columbo, Emergency!, recognizing an indigenous person on TV, when Emergency 1 was replaced by CHiPs, when a show that isn't a show for kids becomes a kid's show, Randolph Mantooth, writing fan fiction, out of control foley on Dragnet, hyper real fire fighting, loving it when the lead character gets injured, using your journalism credentials to interview Randolph Mantooth, no answering fan mail, Satanists, Starksy and Hutch, learning story structure, sad sitcoms, playing TV themes on keyboards, Good Times, being raised by civil rights activists, ripped from the headlines plots, representation on TV, how 1970s TV may have been more progressive than today's TV, Made for-TV Movies, Roots, Holocaust, V, pitching a fascist takeover of the united states, Donald Mantooth, The Seekers, Kliph Nesteroff's books, The Night Stalker, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, how human evil is the scariest, not understanding the motivation of hate, Jordan Peele, laughting through the end of the world, Get Out!, the comedy and horror connection, how hard it is to break into show running, the difficulty of getting ANYTHING on television, Horror Noir, how to pitch, Fugue State, Tony Todd (RIP), the greatness and intent behind Stephen King's work, Japanese Animated Horror, Pokerface, Elsbeth, needing to watch stand up to unwind and Ken's Candyman/Good Times mashup.

April 11 -16 , 2004 This week Ken welcomes Bridge 9 Records and Sully Brands impresario Chris Wrenn to the show. Ken and Chris discuss their shared Boston punk rock history, the 2004 Red Sox World Series victory, regional variations, Ken's complete lack of sports knowledge, very specific niches, T-shirts that are hard to explain, building a community space, the sports punk rock overlap in Boston, vending outside of Fenway park, how weirdly horny 2004 was, JJ Jackson's death, being stuck in traffic outside a game, John Sayles, indecency on television, the Janet Jackson Justin Timberlake Superbowl incident, the Red Sox vs Yankees rivalry, the long history of novelty sporting sayings in New England, Stephen King's book about the 2004 Red Sox season, Fever Pitch, The Celtics, Mel Gibson, Quantum Leap, Outlander, the TV on DVD phenomenon, offensive cigarette discount stores, Ms Pac Man, Running your own dorm room video store, Gilmore Girls, working at Tower Records, making art projects, Yao Ming, when terrible things make money, The Town, DIY ethos, when TV Guide switched formats, and Romeo Must Die. 

May 2-2, 1982 This week Ken welcomes the amazingly talented artist, painter, and kindred spirit Eric White to the show. Ken and Eric discuss mutual friend Moon Zappa, BYOTVG, Eric's last solo show in NYC, worshiping garbage, saving things meant to be thrown away, Made for TV movies, Someone I Touched, Real People, That's Incredible!, Jefferson's flashbacks, prog rock, a mythical 1970s, TV things that terrified us as children, 1973, Chaka, The Kroft Bros, SCTV, magazine design, SNL, making deals with your parents to watch TV, Jim Henson, the mystery of Central time, Solid Gold, not having a subscription to TV Guide, CHiPs, Ripley's Believe it or Not, Jacque Cousteau, nature shows, streaming, the bizarre first year of SNL, Mr. Bill, WFMU's Best Show, things that only aired once, Archie Bunker in the electric chair, Sharpling and Wurster, the infamous episode of Too Close for Comfort, the infamous episode of Little House, Dick Cavet, Iggy Pop and Bowie on Dinah Shore, the trauma of the final episode of M*A*S*H, Charles Nelson Riley, Lady Elaine Fairchild, not knowing who bought your paintings, Star Trek, Happy Days, Night Gallery, the paintings from Night Gallery, the complicated TV watching politics involved in navigating divorced parents, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Sha Na Na, the creepy real life end of Bob Crane, how sad The Architects of Fear episode of The Outer Limits is, the opening credits to Mystery, Edward Gorey, Mork and Mindy, Waltons, renting a VCR, Blade Runner, being obsessed with miniatures, Barney Miller, Sneak Previews, and the glory days of PBS. 

FALL PREVIEW ALERT FALL PREVIEW September 13-19, 1997 This week Ken welcomes certified TV Genius, Saint behind the Strategic Sitcom Reserve, the man behind the Sitcom People Twitter and co-host of the Random Access Television Podcast, Zach Wilson.  Ken and Zach discuss Plex, the Jackie Thomas Show, the mystery of how Zach found TVGC, how sometimes things just make sense, Zach's early love of comedy and sitcoms, capsule reviews, jumping from show to show, the "no more than 10 episodes" rule, Suddenly Susan, NBC's late 90s Monday Night Lineup, The Naked Truth, Ken's love of Tea Leoni, the bizarre second season opening of Working, George and Leo, Sleepwalker, 90s Marvel Comics, Kurt Fuller, The Good Wife, The Good Fight, the end of Saturday Night action shows, The Profiler, The Pretender, chasing that Law & Order Money, Total Security, Ed O'Neal, all the James Browns, the weird horniness of 90s Rolling Stone, The Mystery Science Theater Hour, Ally McBeal the half hour sitcom, not getting Ken started on Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr, the tv to movies transition, Eugene Levy, people overlooking people being awful people if they like their show, the trend of sitcoms about people trying to make it in Hollywood, when everyone wanted to be the Gen X Dick Van Dyke show, when drama drags down sitcoms, Tony Danza, Taxi, John Larroquette Show, The Walking Dead, Between Brothers, US remakes of UK shows, Coupling, when a Scott Baio show was so bad it was canceled before it even aired, having never watched the US Office, Meego, Step by Step, Gregory Hines, the late days of TGIF, You Wish, Larry King falling asleep on the air, Crimes of Passion: One Hot Summer Night, real made for TV movies or fake made for TV Movies, Dean Cain, confusing Gary Busey and Nick Nolte, Jack Elam, The Emmys, True Lies, hitting the bottle, bringing your own TV Guide, Michael Palin's travel specials, how Al and Wilson are great sitcom characters that redeem Home Improvement, how Zach doesn't love 80s punk, Wings, how Bonnie Hunt never clicked with Zach, SCTV, Clifford, Space Ghost Coast to Coast and how it changed the world, only playing characters that have the same name as you do, The Pits, the weird decline of multi cam sitcoms, the laziness of cutaways, Superior Donuts, and Zach's fantastic podcast Random Access Television. 

August 15-21, 1987 In a shocking move, this week Ken welcomes a guest BACK to Reid Manor for a LIVE recording not via satellite, it's old friend, author, bass player of Pete Holmes' favorite Boston punk band and fellow punk rock kid, Tripp Underwood. Ken and Tripp discuss what it means to be "from Boston", suburban posers, being only the second person to record an episode at the house since COVID hit, Building 19, Tripp's "Have a Cheap Day" book, local discount stores, the RI Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, Ann & Hope, duckpin bowling, algorithms, having a computer guy in your corner, COVID pandemic driven nostalgia, newspaper ads, parodies, 80 year old nana's, artists, Mad Magazine, the original Building 19 flier artist, being yelled at on Facebook by old men, the importance of going through the Sunday Boston Globe as a kid, when Ken gave everyone in the audience a wrapped copy of Kate & Allie Season 1 on DVD at a show, buying a gross of items, TV Preachers, Isaac Asimov reviewing ALF, being on tour in a band, TV merch, discarded merchandise from canceled shows, the marketing, Ken's sick burn against Social Distortion fans, 227, Hunter, Spencer for Hire, Barry Crimmins, Elvis' set list creation, The New Adventures of Beans Baxter, Mr. President, Married...with Children, FOX Weekend Television, Duet, Open House, pogs, friendships fueled by references, the Valerie saga, Newhart, Get a Life, Rockford Files, when TV dads are creeps, Growing Pains, anti-heroes, One Crazy Summer, Christie Elise, MacGyver, Cosby, Cheers, being a "Diane and Woody", cast replacements, trying to guess which Boston area towns, within Rt 128 that various Cheers characters come from/live in, how short TV shows without commercials are now, Family Ties, Garfield, Garfield's 9 Lives, Mr. Belvedere, Barney Miller, progressive 70s shows, Danny Arnold, and the strange Boston protective positive insulting intolerance.    AND buy Tripp's Building 19 Book, "Have a Cheap Day" here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/145948273839?

2024 Halloween Special! October 17-23, 1998 Happy Halloween! This week Ken welcomes Allison Pregler BACK to the show, and Phelan Porteous to the show for the first time. Ken, Allison and Phelan discuss Allison's return to the show, the illusion of time, Ken's household's love of Phelan and Allison's videos, The Baywatch Hulu documentary, E! True Hollywood Stories, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horrors without the Simpsons Treehouse of Horrors, Nova Scotia, Canadian TV Guide, Canada's love of staples, what US channels they get in Canada, SNL's black face shame, re-watching all of SNL from the start, the lost years of SNL, Billy Crystal, Fear on SNL with Donald Pleasence, why Hersheys thinks change is bad, lazy "homemade" recipes, is Blue Velvet a horror movie?, ex's names tattooed on you, Dracula Knives, a very special Baywatch, TV's depiction of autism, dolphins, animal husbandry, Santa themed wrestlers, Zanta, Halloween Wars, challenge cooking, the disappointing nature of KISS, the shock at Gene Simmons not being on Baywatch ever, Jeremy Piven's balls, Balls Mahoney, people named Bumper, Getting Personal, Jon Cryer's sitcom trenches, the world's greatest Tim Burton interview, Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place, Spooky Specials, Alien Voices, when Fred Savage was Groucho Marx once, best ever costumes, homemade little mermaid costumes, MTV, Much Music, naked babies on TV, My Little Pony rip offs, Adonis' and his tiny Jeep, Walmart Associates, Wind on the Water, The Working Girl sitcom, The Net Sitcom, Xena, the evil Xena, when Ken told Jerry Bruckheimer he didn't like his movie, WWF Wrestling, Kate Mulgrew surprising AOC, 7 Days, Quantum Leap, Beetlejuice, Otherworld, Sliders, House II, Charmed, Werewolves, Buffy, whodoneits, Robin Hood Men in Tights, Michael Jackson's strange questions, John Landis, Sabrina, Ken's crying at the death of Flealig in Babe II, and the strangeness of Red Green. 

June 23-29th, 2008 This week Ken welcomes the very funny comedian behind the new album ,"Country Queer," and the podcast, "Y'all Gay," Ali Clayton. Ken and Ali discuss growing up with exotic pets, unique regional accents in cartoons, Bugs Bunny's Brooklyn twang, the North Carolina drawl of "The Andy Griffith Show," Andy Griffith's surprising acting range, "A Face in the Crowd,"  Dr. Oz's bizarre Senate campaign, the age-old debate between New York and Chicago pizza, Denise Richards' unexpected shift from the silver screen to reality TV and OnlyFans, experiences with eccentric pets ,bizarre reality TV shows, the absurd premise of "Paralyzed and Pregnant", "20/20," and pet grooming competitions.

February 15-21, 1992 This week Ken welcomes the NY based writer, comedian and actor Laura Merli to the show. Ken and Laura discuss being a rare person who didn't grow up in Boston or go to school in Boston yet lived in Boston, taking the first job you get offered, growing up in New Jersey, commuting to NYC, panes of glass falling from the Hancock Tower, growing up with the TV Guide channel instead of the physical TV Guide, Jury Duty, the underappreciated chemistry and skill of Regis and Kathy Lee, The Crash Test Dummies, the best chemistry on TV, Chicken Soup, Jackie Mason, how TV Guide thinks most stand up sucks, diversity in comedy, Def Jam, how the major female comedians in 1992 were mostly the same ones in 2022, Paula Poundstone, Communism, shirtless Jacksons, Julia Sweeney as Pat, when sketches don't hold up, lazy comedy, SCTV, how sometimes on a very rare occasion garbage you buy in a TV Guide does actually go up in value, buying everlasting love, Golden Girls, The Winter Olympics, when Hockey is billed last, peaking at 19, Mary Lou Retton, America's Funniest People, never agreeing that the winning video on American's Funniest Home Videos should have won, the serious episodes of Fresh Prince of Bel Air, how you are either Rope or Summer Rental, The Astronomers, inspired by true stories made for TV Movies, convicting Charles Manson, The Women's Super G, Muppets Night at the Museum, Roseanne, Robin Williams as Mork from Ork, Jason Priestly as Teen Priest, Baptism by Lips, Drexel's Class, Digital Underground, The Boy Who Could Fly, handing out condoms at shopping malls, country music variety shows, The Civil War, complaining about PBS, the KGB's view of the Cuban Missile Crisis, University by Television and hating to see good looking people on TV.

November 2-8, 1996 This week Ken welcomes Denver Comedian Geoff Tice to the show. Ken and Geoff discuss how Denver become a comedy hub reminiscent of Boston's golden era,being both a comic and graphic designer, Colorado's vibrant comedy scenne, Comedy Works,expert insights on the evolution of comedy flyers and the quirky charm of '90s TV Guide advertisements, legendarily bad TV shows like "It's About Time" . underrated gems like "Spin City.", the unique charm of Australian TV and shows like "Beyond 2000". John Cleese's timeless classic "Fawlty Towers," . the controversial airing of an officer-involved shooting on "Cops" . election night of Bill Clinton's second term, sports highlights, peculiar TV movies, the impact of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 on today's media landscape. and "Cheers and Jeers" 

March 24- April 1, 1984  This week Ken welcomes Philly comic Chip Chantry BACK to the show.   Ken and Chip discuss uninspired TV landscape of 1984, significant TV weddings, his last visit and the evolution of virtual podcasting since then, the fascinating world of VR and hologram technology, take a historical detour into the "Pepper's Ghost" illusion—a magician's trick from the 18th century now revived in modern performances, pranks, writing for a local radio station, psychic mediums like John Edwards, Hill Street Blues, a poignant reading of Lana Wood's poem "Sleep," the Mr. T action figure, Voltron, Dennis the Menace, the bizarre ABC weekend special "The Amazing Bungie Venture," a unique documentary-style episode of "Kate & Allie," and the CBS Schoolbreak Special "Welcome Home, Jellybean."   AND don't miss Chip's comedy special "Move Closer" streaming now for free on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_QKarKuuTdU?si=keNN0nQqM1dq0tLY

June 19-26, 1976 This week Ken welcomes Professor of Russian & Slavic Studies and Senior Academic Convenor for the Global Network at New York University and author of Marvel Comics in the 1970s: The World Inside Your Head (Cornell, 2022), Meanwhile, in Russia…: Russian Internet Memes and Viral Video (Bloomsbury, 2022),  Soviet-Self-Hatred: The Secret Identities of Postsocialism (Cornell, 2023), Elliot Borenstein. Ken and Elliot discuss Russian Pop Culture and Propaganda as a day job, The Cold War, anti-Soviet TV, Pussy Riot, Marvel Comics, the innovation of narrative present in 70s Marvel Comics, Howard the Duck, Mary Hartman Mary Hartman, getting paid to watch TV, redeemable trash, terrible awful garbage TV, Barney Miller, the weird state of mid-70s American TV, believing in your audience, Jimmy Carter's American Malaise, post-Watergate, the productive exploration of cynicism, CB Radio, when Columbus OH was the test market of the world, market research, mutli tasking, MTM, Rhoda, Phyllis, The Defenders, Planet of the Apes, spin offs, the horror of Eight is Enough, Maude, Love American Style, variable bed times, Martin Mull, Disco, Fernwood2Nite, Good Times, Jimmy Walker, the famous Heidi Dress, swingers, Barney Miller, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, premise creep, Phil Silvers, One Day at a Time, Goodnight Beantown, The Incredible Hulk, Misfits of Science, Blue Knight, Monty Python, Grease, being offended by Nostalgia, Hawaii Five-O, tumors, and Russian genre cinema. 

January 3-9, 1998 This week Ken welcomes comedian, filmmaker and all around good dude Jeff Cerulli to the show. Ken and Jeff discuss documentary films, hot dog eating contests, TV Eating Contests, The Simpsons, Senior Year of High School, The Spin Doctors, mail order CDs, TV Guide appearing in movies, The Ice Storm, The Postman, Equal, smoking bans, beepers, the top 12 Simpsons episodes (circa 1998), winning the REAL Simpsons house, Ice-T, Marky Mark, having no concept of modern country and Christian music, The Wiz, Comics Come Home, Road Rules, The Real World, Star Wars Special Edition, Jackie Mason, Caddyshack II, how Vaudeville could be alt com, Pacific Blue, Baywatch, the extended Baywatch Universe, The Black Out Effect vs. The Trigger Effect, Demi Moore in Striptease, horny viewing, Mannequin being a three star movie, Beavis and Butthead, VH1 Pop Up Video, The Brothers McMullan, Poison Ivy series, Boy Meets World, voice over, Richard Lewis, bOkU, Drew Carey Show, the horrors of White Grape, Buffy the Vampire Slayer the movie, The Cronenberg Dynasty, Scanners II, MTV as a home channel, when we all hand to witness Anthony Michael Hall break out of being a nerd, Johnny B Goode, Bill Paxton, Weird Science, Seinfeld's final season, the return of Larry David, Bulls, Michael Jordan, Oliver Stone vs. Oliver North, Celebrity Jeopardy, and a particularly angry Cheers and Jeers.

May 18, 2018 This week Ken welcomes comedian Caitlin Peluffo. Ken and Caitlin discuss chipper hellos, being pumped, Caitlin's partner's love of Alice Cooper, Chubby Checker, Alice Cooper's Elvis story, growing up in the Bay Area, moving to NYC, depicting cities for the wealthy, Golden Retrievers, The Property Brothers, twins, the not twin sibling, home renovations, Jonathan Knight's farm house fix ups, black and mild cigars, the Royal family, pancakes for the table, Ken's food love, Grandma's TV Guide, having a "home" channel, Forever Home, HGTV, Canadian home buying, Love it or List It, Flip it, hate watching renovations, Paige Davis,  loving the Napiers, Rock the Block, This Old House, The Sassy Cat Wine Glass Collection, respectful murder mysteries, Elementary, Ken's famous coat, crazy Victoria's Chicago make overs, freezing your d off, getting made to cry, Reality TV, Storage Wars, Guy's Grocery Games, American Ninja Warrior, Flip or Flop, divorce, Family Feud, Bob the Drag Queen, my Super Sized Life, Skin Tight, touring with Madonna, My 600 lb Life, when pals get hunted by a blind man, Frasier, and why Niles Crane is the best character ever on TV. 

February 26 - March 3, 1972 RETURNING guests to the show comedians Irene Bremis (watch her special Sweetie) and TV's Frank Conniff join Ken this week. Ken, Irene and Frank discuss growing up in New York, the horrors of Staten Island, good pizza, racism, Mary Tyler Moore, Sherlock Holmes cigarettes, Doral Cigarettes, True Cigarettes, killing women, Rain Barrell, questionable protein stains, fabric softener, The Old Man Who Cried Wolf, movies vs tv series, where Irene and Frank met, Brian Denehy, the map of Ireland on Frank's face, Maureen O'Hara, psychic detectives, Saturday night death slots, MTM productions, strong women, Maude, how awful Bill Cosby is, dying on stage, Bob Hope, Dana Gould, Bing Crosby and Friends, women's lib, Ear Stoppies, wigs, Rowan & Martin, Gene Hackman, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, comic comradery, Sid & Marty Kroft, Hart to Hart, the show with the woman, James Garner, Left Behind, Kirk, Christians, losing your mind, cycle cell anemia, Greeks, Cannon, William Conrad, MeTV, It Takes a Thief, Carson, Serling, meeting Dick Cavet, Adam 12, Dick Clark, Hellzapoppin the TV series, Dom DeLuise, George Wallace, working on Sabrina, That Girl, Cannonball Run, Eddie Murphy, Red Foxx, Sandford and Son, Soap, Room 222, and watching MeTV at 2am. 

  March 31 - April 6, 1990 This week Ken welcomes SF based comic behind the new special "They are Gonna Know", Richard Sarvate. Ken and Richard discuss nostalgia, doing your research, experiencing emotions, Bob Saget, America's Funniest Home Videos, how kids today wouldn't know what a VHS Camcorder is, growing up in Freemont CA, the great comedy scene in SF, the most disturbing heckle Jerry Seinfeld ever got, Boston heckles, The Cosby Show, unimaginable fame, being oblivious to current long running shows, all the new cable networks launched in 1990, The Comedy Channel and HA! becoming Comedy Central, The Comedy Boom, how easy it was to get a TV spot in the 80s, Ken's defense of The Unknown Comic, Maron's hacky hacky sack bit, Albert Brooks, maturing, A Family for Joe, Ken's love of Robert Mitchum, 70s crime films, confusing Ben and Fred Savage and Wonder Years and Boy Meets World, Second City, the Carol Burnett 1990 show, high profile experiments, Carol and Company, Amy Sedaris, Exit 57, horrible racist people thinking you're ok with it, heavy metal, Bill Burr, being in a band, not missing unloading gear, Friday the 13th The Series, Married...with Children, evil pens, Twin Peaks, good ads, King of Comedy, The Clash, The Wonder Years, crying, Lakers Cheerleaders, Paula Abdul, George Forman and his children, athletes who are showy, 1985 SNL, Randy Quaid, Robert Downey Jr, Normal Life, the Zappas, not being smart enough to get the joke, Van Halen, Equal Justice, Duck Soup, loving old comedy, renting old comedy, mid-season replacements, Full House, body switching, Chances Are, positive pranks, being really really old, helping plays become TV shows. 

August 1-7, 2004 This week Ken welcomes Maine's own Ricky from the Old Sorts of Words YouTube Channel. Ken and Ricky discuss hey girl hey, Judge Dredd, Millie the Model, how impressed Ken is by Patsy Walker, Tank Girl, UK Comics, pre MCU Comic Book Movies, Addams Family, the Addams Family movies, Krypto, being terrified of wrestling promos, Edward Gorey, going by nicknames of our given name, Charles vs Chaz, comics trying to appeal to people who didn't read comics, Cousin It, Spider-Woman, copyright wars, Helen Slater as Supergirl, horny George Jetson and how big he is a fan of Seven of Nine, Con photos, Coneheads, It's Pat, 90s movie soundtracks, RHCP, Gomez, The Michael Jordan of Gameshows, Press Your Luck, Michael Jordan of Michael Jordans, Anna Nicole Smith, how sad it is when the entertainment industry destroys somebody, Highlander, X-Files, The Invaders, The Prisoner, Ultraman, the horrors of anime, Bubblegum Crisis, Vampire Hunter D, Legend of the Overfiend, Star Trek the Next Generation, what you'd cosplay as at a comic con, leather jump suits, Deep Space Nine, Comic Cons After Dark, Munsters sculptures, Halloweentown, Stallone, Demolition Man, Cliffhanger, Batman the Animated Series, why Kevin Conroy is the best Batman, Ben Affleck, Adventure Comics, loving dogs, Superman, Superman the Animated Series, the last digest issue of TV Guide, Maury, Corn Pops, Lucky Charms, spending a lot of time on the toilet, Reese's Puffs, lose and blue, Fresh Prince, Law and Order, surf culture, Step Into the Liquid, Endless Summer, Falling Down, the death of Raoul Julia, having never seen a single minute of a Fast and the Furious film, Vin Diesel's resurrection, The Simpsons, the "I Love The..." shows, ultimate top 20 Party Blondes, "After Dark", cigarettes in NH, Big Joe's Smokeshop by mail, Lord of Rings Too, all the Wayneses, Tiger Cruise, Man in the Mirror, confusing Michael Jackson for The Crow, how the Saudis own The Apprentice, gross Billy Bush, gross Fox News personalities, bloviating, Spy vs Spy and Cheering Mountain Dew. 

May 3-9, 1997 This week Ken welcomes comedian and man behind the comedy special "Harangue" (watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9qlvlgkiJs), Kevin Casey White. Ken and Kevin discuss being live in Mexico City, international waters, loving John Carpenter, Big Trouble in Little China, smokers coughs, homaging the Thing title car, growing up in St. Louis, Xena, loving Lucy Lawless, The Evil Dead, growing up without cable, The Nanny, twist endings, why TV Guide writers should avoid writing comedy, Rob Schneider, Men Behaving Badly, terrible US remakes of UK shows, Jack Parr, Conan O'Brien, Johnny Carson being a dick, YouTube Rabbit Holes, Ernie Kovacs, The Simpsons, the wonder of Saturday Morning cartoons, the rarity of demographic TV Blocks, comic books, X-Men '97, Batman, wanting video games that look like actual cartoons, The Mask, how cartoons can feel timeless, Waynehead, Freakazoid, Ricardo Montalban, what your favorite Ninja Turtle says about you, Tales from the Crypt, the Cryptkeeper hosting a kid's game show, revealing the existence of the "dirty" edits of TFTC, the history of HBO's original programming, Rosie O'Donnell's stand up, people coming out of the closet, SNICK, staying at your grandma's because she has cable, the turning point in Simpsons' history that IS "Homer's Enemy" the Frank Grimes episode, downbeat endings, smart writing, COPS, America's Most Wanted, the novelty of consumers having VHS Cameras, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, iconic child actors and confusing the world of Cuba Gooding Jr. 

March, 11 - 1995 This week Ken welcomes comedian, and man behind the new special "Jew Verses the Volcano", Adam Newman. Ken and Adam discuss their mutual obsession with guitars, Sam Kinison, getting into magic, being awkward, learning card tricks out of spite, Dealt, Penn & Teller Fool Us, The X-Files, Dorfin', If I Did It, the OJ Simpson Trial, final meals, commemorative plates, American Gladiators rip offs, final meals, Roller Blades, figure skating, Blue Chips, sports movies, Shaq, Nick Nolte, Slapshot, Valerie Harper's version of "The Office", The Higgins Boys and Gruber, Joan Rivers Live in London, Comics Unleashed, taping an episode that airs TEN YEARS later, Dolph Lundgren's Punisher, Masters of the Universe, The Cosmic Key, John Tesh live at Red Rocks, Tim Robinson, Tim Busfield, Dabney Coleman, how we watch TV in hotel rooms, Death on the Job, Newbury Comics, Fanuel Hall, Mottley's, Erin Judge's Dress Up Show,J Jeff Foxworthy, The Beavis and Butthead Do America Soundtrack, Cartoons and real people getting together, Fox New Spring Season, Medicine Ball, Donal Logue, comics in cover bands, Primus, Black Hole Sun, Guitar Center riffs, Richard Grieco spending the night with a centerfold, religious cults, Peter Jennings, Sov Citizens, "First Amendment Auditors", YouTube recommendations, Rescue 9-11, Boy Meets World, Jonathan Gries, non-Gillian Anderson episodes of The X-Files, wanting to sit in your hotel room and play guitar, Dwayne Barry, loving Bonnie Hunt, compilations of depressing things, loving to see bad guys get theirs and Ken HIGHLY recommending the Equalizer films. 

June 30 - July 1, 2001 This week Ken welcomes comedian behind the album "America's Uncle Dad", Sean Keane to the show. Ken and Sean discuss the Bay Area, Oakland, Jawbreaker, doing stand up at video stores, how stand up comedy is the hobo of the performing arts world, Nash Bridges, Midnight Caller, everybody's one acting credit, the world right before 9/11, launching a comedy show on 9/11, Everybody Loves Raymond, confusing Brad Garret and Ray Romano, Hulk Hogan's Rock N Wrestling, Jay Leno's never happening dramatic turn third act, sexy M&Ms, Big Brother, soft vinyl Vanna White Dolls for $150, loving Lucy too much, The Franklin Mint, backyard wrestling, MaxX, The Real World, America's Most Wanted, BET Music Awards, The Chris Isaak Show, playing emulators, the weird lost to time TV show era of the early 00s, The Family Channel, Night of the Twisters, E! True Hollywood Story, Baywatch, Hotel Iguana, Pentathlon, Dolph Lundgren, West Coast unauthorized car shows, fireworks, Fear Factor, eating worms, when THE BAG is an unwed father, how THE BAG is really JTT, Snoop Dog, Loose and Control, David from Real World Seattle, PAX TV, never having heard of the show "Doc" even though it went on forever, Billy Ray Cyrus, Resurrection Blvd, when Carlos lands a boot, You Don't Know Jack, E!'s Top Ten Wild Party Spots, the mind blowing world of 4th of July spectaculars, dramatic readings, stealing space valor, forgetting you just played somebody in the military in a movie and weren't actually in the military, breaking your own rules, Sub Fest 94, Avery Brooks, athletes who have bands, ESPN, 5 for 5 vs 30 for 30, The Sleepwalker Killing, The San Diego Chicken, Making the Band, Runaway Train, and tasteful coverage of being being given the death penalty. 

August 20 - 26, 1988 This week Ken welcomes comedian and she of the stand up album "Soft Bones", the great Ellie Hino. Ken and Elli discuss Minneapolis, not knowing Canadian geography, growing up in Madison WI, Prince, Chris Farley, MTV, Target stores, corporate lingo, 21 Jump St, Fox TV's early days, Richard Grieco, Peter DeLouise, getting stoned and buying DVDs at Walmart, Johnny Depp, John Waters, Holly Robinson, amazing outfits, MORE Cigarettes, The Pleasure Principal, Benson and Hedges, the casual discussion of r*pe, refreshing discussions of race, the 20th Anniversary of MLK Jr's assassination, awful bathroom clocks, "Subtle bone", correspondence courses, "Do you want to make more money? sure, we all do", gun repair, Facts of Life, David Spade's dramatic turn, hour long dramedies on at 8pm on a Saturday, Frank's Place, Babe: Pig in the City, what Morton Downey Jr wrot, Wally George's Hot Seat, Teen actors, Rags to Riches, Baby Jessica, the end of Family Ties, The Misfits of Science, theme songs, The A-Team, Punky Brewster, The Young and the Restless, Michael Damien as Danny Romaladi, when actors sing, The Coreys, Dream a Little Dream, Newhart, gross scams, pageant kids, Hogan Family, Howard the Duck, grandmas and duck nipples, weird takes on Alice in Wonderland, I Dream of Jeanie: 15 Years Later, Telly Savalis as the Cheshire Cat, Back to School, Boston's strange compliments, sorting your hair out, Tan N Secrets, creepy fashion tan contests in Marlboro MA, Wade Bogs, Blacke's Magic, ghosts, Jenna Von Oy, 20/20, and hours of anxious pillow talk. 

July 22-28, 1995 This week Ken welcomes comedian (his new special "Above Ground Comedian" is out now), Chris Martin to the show. Ken and Chris discuss being from the UK, Ken living in London, doing stand up, moving to LA, The New Adventures of Superman vs Lois and Clark, Cain-iacs, Dog Boys, softcore, Channel 5, Mario Lopez, snooker, Sunday UK TV, both you and your wife having their own remote control, Jack Lemon, walking on water, being good looking, Teri Hatcher, Brain Smasher: A Love Story, Lethal Weapon, Action police comedy, Baywatch, Beverly Hills Cop, the cost of living, bad residual checks, Misery, having half a lemon in warm water every morning, The George Carlin Show, Isaac Asimov, I Robot, Leonard Nimoy, The Outer Limits, how adult shows in the US are kids shows in the UK, Tim Allen, The Laugh Factory, Home Improvement, Fraiser, Niles, Party of Five, Dawson's Creek, Burke's Law, Carl Reiner, Spin City,  how massive Friends was, Fresh Prince, Matt Perry's death, Boy Meets World, California Dreams, Terminator, Demolition Man, and great character names. 

In this very special extra episode of the show Ken welcomes writer, director, film scholar and personal hero of Ken's, Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid&Nancy) to the show.   Ken and Alex discuss growing up watching Westerns, moving to LA, his final film, Dead Souls by Golgos, punk, The Clash, Joe Strummer, Repo Man, the sequel to Repo Man, comic books, the unmade Dr. Strange movie starring Nick Cage, Italian cinema, Walker, Universal hatred and the TRUTH behind the Melon Farmer edition of Repo Man.   Be sure to support Alex's final film via Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexcoxfilms/my-last-movie

March 16-22, 1991 This week Ken welcomes the comedian behind the album "Rocky Mountain Bi", Andie Main. Ken and Andie discuss moving away from Denver, growing up in Portland, doing a "reverse Oregon Trail", thin air, the wonder of dogs, fancy dress, Barbara Walters overdressed with the Ninja Turtles, Salem Menthol Cigarettes, smoking, global warming, being sober, moving to NYC, The Simpsons, other networks trying to have their own Simpsons, Fish Police, Family Dog, ugly looking cartoons, Carlton Cigarettes, Paul Simon, Carrie Fisher, Benson & Hedges, She Loves Me She Loves me Not, Robert Mitchum, Pump Up the Volume, Christian Slater, The Decendents, Live Fast Diarrhea, spell check, AIDS, homophobia, conservation of oceans, unhealthy props, NKOTB vs TMNT, sugar cereals, making up birthday rules, Kid and Play, Coplay, Pigs of Pigsburg, Harding vs Kerrigan, always being let down by people you believe in, being a child of divorce, Dick Van Dyke, Willfred Brimley, Ricky Schroeder, Blood River written by John Carptenter, deadly partnerships, Highway to Heaven, Who's the Boss, stargazing, Greek Myths, Frog Girl, Gummie Bears, Ducktails, when you knew you were gay, Arsenio, Phil Donohue and Sexual Addiction, Unsolved Mysteries, Quantum Leap, Wings vs Wings, unusually small planes, ALF. Natalie Wood in The Cracker Factory, The Language of Goldfish, Easter Content, why nobody enjoys Easter Specials, Neil Armstrong's peak, taping frog organs to paper, and sending for loved ones from the Old Country. 

September 7-13, 1991 This week Ken welcomes Hilo creator Judd Winick BACK to the show. Ken and Judd discuss how long they speak to each other, Gary Busey living in your attic, Bad Ronald, the dark times of 1991, Stephen Dorf, Janine Turner, Walter Cronkite interviewing dinosaurs, Summer's end, season finales, Northern Exposure, SCTV, Twin Peaks, story engines, a Joel Fleischman type, The Real World, Rob Morrow, Hollis, great characters, Young Riders, Treat Williams, Dead Heat, nude Meatloaf, a stage adaptation of Phantom of the Paradise, Sing Street, Ken's gift of a John Travolta workout book from his elderly neighbors, shopping around for what to watch, ballroom dancing, Police Academy V, Cast a Deadly Spell, Dennis Hopper replacing Fred Ward, acknowledging how crazy things are, a pre-irony world, COPS, bookies, Big Top Pee Wee, Batman '89, Hardware, comic book movies, Yo! Yogi!, Pro Stars, the premiere of Herman's Head, moving The Simpsons, The Adventures of Mark and Brian, Stern, Marilyn from Northern Exposure, Rob Morrow and Johnny Depp's roomie days, Graham Green, never thinking about Paul Bunyan, Full House, San Francisco, Big Brother Jake with Jake Steinfeld, The Lightning Field, ripping off Quantum Peak for Marvel's EX-iles, Sliders, 90210, Amityville the Evil Escapes, and the era of not caring TV. 

Please enjoy this BONUS! episode of TV Guidance Counselor recorded live at North East Comic Con back in March 2024 with my guests Gina Shock of the Go-Gos and Greg Hawkes of the Cars. If you were a Patron you would have gotten this months ago, if you have a buck or two to spare, sign up! It's appreciated https://www.patreon.com/tvguidancecounselor