[via Adfreak]

A lot of people don't realize that the first James Bond wasn't Sean Connery on the big screen, it was Barry Nelson on television, on a 1954 episode of the CBS series Climax. Nelson played 007 in an adaptation of Casino Royale.

Nelson died in Buck's County, PA on April 7 while traveling. He was 89.

Besides the classic role of Bond, Nelson was a regular on the 50s series My Favorite Husband, and guest starred on several other shows, including The Twilight Zone, Murder, She Wrote, Fantasy Island, Magnum, P.I., Dallas, The Love Boat, Thriller, Cannon, Longstreet, The F.B.I., The Philco Playhouse, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and many others. On the big screen he was in several films, including The Shining, Airport, and Pete N' Tillie, and starred on stage in several productions.

Hmmm...a mystery over at TV Land.com.

In the video section, there is a listing for "Remington Steel clips." Now, besides the fact that they didn't spell Remington Steele correctly, I don't remember the show being on TV Land (or Nick at Nite for that matter). The show is not even listed on their show list. So I clicked on the link to see what clips of the show the site had and I found out that there are also clips for Lost in Space and The Time Tunnel! Is this a promotion for the DVDs you can buy (there are links to buy them) and nothing more, or is it a little preview of shows TV Land has added to the lineup.

But this would be a good show for the network to pick up (I'm talking about Remington Steele, not Lost in Space or The Time Tunnel). I remember a cable network (I think it was A&E) ran the show every afternoon a few years back, and I really got into the show again.

They're having a contest to find the best Anderson Cooper videos. If that sentence doesn't make sense to you, let me explain. The web site All Things Anderson is searching for the best Anderson Cooper-centric fan video. (What, you wanted to see Nancy Grace videos?)

Robin does a montage of photos set to Johnny Rivers' "Secret Agent Man," while Book Asylum's entry is "Inside The Tornado" (though shouldn't it be a song with "hurricane" in the title?). My favorite is probably Robin's "Comfortably Numb," because it seems to fit the montage the best, though Rachel's "The Boy From New York City" hits the mark too.

And now I think I've seen all of the Anderson Cooper music videos I ever need to see. Voting is still open, so head on over there.

[via TV Newser]

If you haven't seen the new James Bond film Casino Royale, go now. Seriously, don't even finish reading this story. Shut off your computer, grab your coat, and rush out to your local cineplex. It's that good.

But it's not the first version of Casino Royale. And I'm not talking about the lame comedy version in the 60s starring Peter Sellers, which pretty much everyone agrees is an atrocity and not an official 007 film. I'm talking about the 1954 TV version, starring My Favorite Husband lead Barry Nelson as James Bond. Or, more precisely, "Jimmy" Bond, in an attempt to Americanize the character from the Ian Fleming novel. It was an episode of the CBS anthology series Climax and aired live on October 21, 1954. Peter Lorre played Le Chiffre. The show was pretty much forgotten and not seen that much until the 80s, and in the late 90s a nice collector's edition video was released, with the entire show intact.

Oh, and the urban legend that a dead Lorre got up at the end of the show and walked offstage on live television isn't true. That didn't happen. Though it did happen on another episode of Climax.

• ABC has the results show of Dancing With The Stars at 8pm, followed by a new In Justice and a new 20/20.
• CBS has repeats of Ghost Whisperer, Close To Home, and Numb3rs.
• NBC has more Olympics.
• FOX has a two hour repeat of Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy at 8.
• UPN has a new Smackdown at 8, while the WB has new eps of What I Like About You, Living With Fran, Reba, and Twins. 
• ABC Family has Diane Lane in Under The Tuscan Sun at 8. 
• AMC has two good Bond flicks, starting at 8: Connery in You Only Live Twice, then Moore in one of his best, For Your Eyes Only.
• The Sci-Fi Channel has new eps of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica, also at 8.
• At 9, Spike has The Shawshank Redemption, while HBO2 has Clooney and Kidman in The Peacemaker. 
• Also at 9: GSN has a new ep of High Stakes Poker.
• On A&E at 10, a Biography of William Shatner.
• Miller's Crossing airs on Fox Movie Channel at 10, while FLIX has Blue Steel, with Jamie Lee Curtis. 
• At 11, VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever, followed by a new Web Junk 20. 
• Also at 11: a new Real Time With Bill Maher, with guests Eddie Griffin, Helen Thomas, Dan Senor, and Senator Russ Feingold. 
• At midnight, you can catch an episode of the classic 80s series Crime Story on American Life, while HBO has Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

• FOX is all new tonight, with Bernie Mac at 8pm, Malcolm at 8:30, and then Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy.
• ABC has the results show for Dancing With The Stars, followed by new eps of In Justice and 20/20.
• CBS has new eps of Ghost Whisperer at 8, Close To Home at 9, and Numb3rs at 10.
• NBC has a new ep of one of my guilty pleasures at 8, Most Outrageous Moments, followed by a repeat ep, and then new eps of Dateline and The Book of Daniel. 
• The WB has a repeat of What I Like About You at 8, followed by new eps of Living With Fran, Reba, and Twins, while UPN has a new ep of WWE Friday Night Smackdown at 8.
• Remember the "Ross and Rachel take a break" eps of Friends? Two of them are on TBS at 8, followed by Jennifer Lopez in The Wedding Planner.
• AMC has Thunderball at 8, which is a good Bond flick but not the best.
• Also at 8: HGTV has a new episode of Get Color, followed by new eps of Design Remix, Double Take, and Freestyle. 
• HBO has Denzel Washington in Man On Fire. It's on at 8 too.
• At 9, Nickelodeon has a new episode of Danny Phantom.
• Bill Maher visits Larry King on CNN at 9.
• Also at 9, MTV2 has new eps of Wildboyz and Team Sanchez.  
• Sundance has the movie Slam. It's on at 9 too.
• USA has a new episode of Monk at 10. 
• Also at 10: the Travel Channel has a new ep of Weird Travels titled "Creepy Creatures."
• Last night I stayed up late to watch the 1984 comedy Top Secret! Which reminds me that TCM has Elvis in Jailhouse Rock tonight at 10. 
• At 10:30, there's a repeat ep of Dinner For Five, with Bruce Campbell, Rob Zombie, and Roger Corman. Hey, is this show still in production? 
• At 11, A&E has a new episode of Random 1.
• More Bond flicks: A&E has Tomorrow Never Dies at midnight, and AMC has For Your Eyes Only at 1:15.