Blog : TV Worth Watching

Early, Easy Quality-TV Shopping: The TV WORTH WATCHING Holiday Gift Guide Rises Again!

Give Diane Werts all the credit for this puppy. She's been toiling long and hard, and has compiled a terrific sampler of new holiday TV-on-DVD treats to give as gifts. Wait till you see her lineup - but you don't HAVE to wait. It's ready now, by clicking the banner just above BEST BETS...

We'll have more on this later, but I wanted to give all Diane's hard work an early boost, and give all you internet holiday shoppers a head start. And remember, because we want to be totally upfront about this, a small percentage of everything you buy from Amazon, once linking there from our site, goes to support TV WORTH WATCHING.

In this economy, your support is sorely needed. So ordering from our list is like giving two, two, two gifts in one. One for your targeted gift recipients, and one for us.

If you don't want to hop back to the main page, here's another handy link to the holiday gift page. And remember -- that new Smothers Brothers book makes a good gift, too...

2 Comments

Eileen said:

Amazing collection. I'll be ordering soon.

For those old enough to remember "real/live" television, The Golden Age of Television is a must have. To think these shows were live is just amazing. Add to that the stars, many of whom were just starting out, and it's something anyone who cherishes television should have in their home. It's a real learning tool for the younger generation as well.

I used to belong to a "vintage" video store in NYC where you could rent the original Playhouse 90 and GE Theater tv presentations, so I've seen Marty, Days of Wine & Roses, etc. But they are so wonderful they can be watched over & over. And, is there anything better than black & white? In this day of DVD, HDTV, et al, just watch Jack Lemmon & Lee Remick in b&w and tell me the new technology adds to the drama.

Thanks for all the work that went into this compilation. It's great...

Comment posted on November 18, 2009 8:48 AM

Diane Werts said:

Wow. I've now had the chance to dive deeper into Golden Age of Television, and it's even better than I thought at first glance!

Not only is The Comedian astounding to see, for instance -- Mickey Rooney in a titanic performance as a nightmare live-TV comedy star -- but watching it again with director John Frankenheimer's revealing running commentary makes you feel like you're right there in the studio with them. (How did they do this live??)

And then there are the introductions from these kinescopes' 1980s TV run -- further evoking the era with insightful reflections from stars and crew who have mostly passed on since.

In other words, it's brain-pleasing, jaw-dropping viewing. Only problem is, you start to feel that TV has gone no place but backwards since . . .

Comment posted on November 19, 2009 3:07 PM

Behind David in the picture is the first TV owned by his father, Virgil Bianculli, a 1946 Raytheon. (The TV, not his father. His father was a 1923 Italian.)

David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air, occasional substitute host for that show's Terry Gross, and teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University. His most recent book is 2009's Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,' and he's at work on another.

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