LeaveItToBeaver
Who Are Your Favorite TV Parents?

Greatest TV Dads
Real-life dads are sometimes preoccupied with their careers and distracted by life's many complications. Happily, on TV, all dads have plenty of quality time to share with their kids, while dispensing encouraging words and occasional tough love. Maybe that's because TV dads never spend much time at work. (We're pretty sure everyone's fathers would sign up for that!) Step into the wonderful make-believe world where every day is Father's Day, and join us as we count down our 20 favorite TV dads.
The Wayans brothers take on The Munsters
You can't stop those Wayans brothers when it comes to doing anything for a laugh. Apparently, one of their long time dreams has been a big screen remake of a 1960's sitcom. They've been working on a script since 2004, but they are saying now that The Munsters movie is nearly ready to roll. I know, I know, how many times have we seen beloved TV series turned into horrible features? For every good one -- The Brady Bunch -- there's a lemon like Leave It to Beaver. The Wayans Brothers clearly believe that they have the goods to make The Munsters like the former rather than the latter.
However, I have to worry about how well they know the material when Shawn Wayans says, "Their characters are still who they were in the '50s. It's just in modern day." Umm, excuse me -- the '50s? The Munsters premiered in 1964 and ran till 1966; it was set in present day. Didn't the Wayanses notice that?
TV Moms Quiz
What's the name of the bowling instructor who almost wooed Marge Simpson away from her family?Let's face it ... everybody can acknowledge that it's mother who knows best.
Beloved TV moms from Carol Brady to Claire Huxtable to Lorelai Gilmore have given sage advice, fixed boo-boos and given tongue-lashings for decades.
How well do you know these magnificent mamas? Take our TV moms quiz now and find out.
Five things I've learned from television
I've been thinking. Yeah, I know you might find that hard to believe, but it's true. I swear it is! What I've been thinking about is television. Ah, now you believe my thought processes are truly in motion. A lifetime of television watching is behind me and what do I have to show for my hours of dedication?Well, other than the cool TV Squad gig, that is. That goes without saying.
What I have are life lessons learned from television, as well as some obscure bits of knowledge I may have overlooked had I led the scholarly life without television in my life.
The five worst names in the history of television
My wife gave birth to our first son three months ago, so names have been on my mind recently. A name says a lot about a person: strong names help kids to grow up to be television news personalities or American Ninjas (Wolf Blitzer and Joe Armstrong, respectively). Weak names, on the other hand, lead to name calling in grade school and sad lives of quiet desperation in adulthood.Television has given us a large catalog of super-cool names to choose from. Since TV is all about wish fulfillment, it's rare for a character to be given a truly terrible name. Sometimes, though, a terrible name slips through the network sieve and luckily for all of us, TV Squad is there to catch it. The five worst names in the history of television after the jump...
What's On Tonight: Cops, Leave It To Beaver, Spike Feresten
At 8, FOX has a new Cops. - CBS has college football at 8, Florida State vs. LSU.
- ABC has college football too, Ohio State vs. Purdue
- TV Land has a Leave It To Beaver marathon starting at 8, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary, starting with the rarely seen pilot with Harry Shearer.
- Nick has a new TV movie at 8, The Naked Brothers Band: Battle of the Bands.
- Also at 8: TCM has the original version of The Producers.
- At 9, FOX has a new America's Most Wanted.
- Cartoon Network has a new Naruto at 9, then new episodes of Bobobo-bo Bo-Bobo and One Piece.
- At 10, TLC has a new Trading Spaces.
- At 11:30, NBC has a new Saturday Night Live, with guests Seth Rogan and Spoon.
- At midnight, FOX has a new Talk Show with Spike Feresten, with guest Louis C.K.
Check your local TV listings for more.
Happy 50th anniversary, Beaver!
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the classic sitcom Leave it to Beaver, and while many of the show's original stars have left us (Hugh Beaumont, Stanley Fafara, Sue Randall, Richard Deacon), much of the main cast is still going strong, and five of them - Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow, Barbara Billingsley, Ken Osmond, and Frank Bank - appeared on Good Morning, America this morning to celebrate the day.
They've all kept busy over the years. Mathers appeared on stage in Hairspray this year and has appeared in several TV shows and wrote a book. Dow has directed many TV shows and movies over the years and is also an artist. Billingsley is an incredibly active 92 and even recreated her famous Airplane jive talk on GMA. Osmond became a cop - and was shot three times in the line of duty - and is now retired, and Bank (Lumpy Rutherford) is a financial expert who handles Mathers and Dow.
Former President Clinton to make a speech about...TV Land?
Barney Fife, Herman Munster, James T. Kirk...and President Bill Clinton?
Yup, the former President is going to be the keynote speaker at TV Land's March 23 event to announce their lineup and programming future. It's the ultimate Baby Boomer talking about the ultimate Baby Boomer network. To quote TV Land spokesman Paul Ward, about the speech: "You better believe it's going to be about the economic and cultural and social influence of Baby Boomers (I don't know why I keep capitalizing "Baby Boomers" but it just looks right).
The event is being held to announce new shows that TV Land is going to air this year. It will be held at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan.
[via TV Tattle]
Stephen Talbot talks about the TV news biz
I know, you might be thinking, who is Stephen Talbot and why should I care what he thinks of the TV news biz? Well, Talbot is a producer and writer for PBS' Frontline (his new episode, News War, debuted earlier this week), but that's not why I'm posting this. I'll explain that after the jump. In the meantime, go read the chat he has at The Washington Post's site and look at his picture closely. Where have you seen him before?
Talbot has a lot of interesting things to say about the news industry. He likes local news, but doesn't like it when they focus on just local stories, fears that people will just wake up one day and wonder why the only news they get is stuff about Anna Nicole and Britney, and he explains why Connie Chung gave up her great reporting career to do...well, whatever the hell she's doing now.
Oh, where have you seen him before?
TV Squad Hot Topics
Most Popular Articles
From Our Partners
- 'Mad Men' Recap: Sex, Drugs and Advertising
- 'All-Star Celebrity Apprentice' Finale Recap: Vegas vs. Nashville
- 'Game of Thrones' Recap: The Wedding of Tyrion Lannister
- 'True Blood' Beginnings: Everything You Need to Know About Alcide Herveaux
- 'Doctor Who' Season 7 Finale Recap: The Tomb of the Doctor
- More From BuddyTV
- Miguel slams woman's head into stage during Billboard Music Awards performance
- Billboard Music Awards 2013: Taylor Swift wins Artist of the Year
- 'All-Star Celebrity Apprentice' winner: Trace Adkins or Penn Jillette, who took home the prize?
- Billboard Music Awards 2013: Full winners list
- Billboard Music Awards 2013: Prince was an Icon before he got the award
- More From Zap2it
