Special guest Ian Rosen joins the podcast for a review of the 70s cult classic film Cisco Pike (1971). Starring: Kris Kristofferson, Gene Hackman, Karen Black.

Remembering John Denver on His 75th Birthday

Jan 8th, 2019 18m 13s

The early 1970s were angry times. From Kent State to Watergate, from Vietnam to Patty Hearst, society was polarized, and arguably no figure was more polarizing than mild-mannered, bespectacled singer-songwriter John Denver. By the late '70s Den

Goliath Starring Billy Bob Thornton: An Impressionistic Review

Oct 4th, 2018 58m 26s

Venice beatniks, gambling ships off the Santa Monica Pier, Raymond Chandler stories, the Gidget phenomenon, Jim Rockford's trailer, Jack, Janet, Chrissy, the Ropers, and Fletch too, have all shaped the cultural geography that defines the charac

May 2018 Monthly Update

Jun 4th, 2018 13m 57s

A quick update on the upcoming TV Room season (it's about Patty Hearst and the SLA!). Remembering Tom Wolfe and Philip Roth, by comparing them to Hunter S. Thompson and John Updike, and revisiting the New Journalism of the 1960s.

TV Room Status Update

May 1st, 2018 4m 24s

Tania: The Story of Patty Hearst and the S.L.A. (pt 1)

Mar 7th, 2018 1h 16m

Could there be a stranger time and place than the Bay Area in the 1970s? The saga of Patty Hearst and the SLA would seem to say no. In this two-part episode of the TV Room, we revisit those events and review some of the tapes Patty and the SL

Stranger Things (….That ’80s Show??)

Dec 19th, 2017 59m 11s

A spoiler-free review of Stranger Things Season One. Topics discussed on this episode include: Digital Natives vs. Digital Neanderthals..How a little startup called Netflix killed off the 20th Century...1983: Whose year was it anyway? 1983 was

Remembering Tom Petty (and Video Concert Hall)

Oct 16th, 2017 17m 47s

In 1980, album oriented rock was high art, radio was king, and music videos were mere novelty items featured on an obscure cable program called Video Concert Hall. There was no better embodiment of these ideals at the time than Tom Petty & the

11. The Yellow Kid Arrives on the Scene

Sep 15th, 2017 48m 49s

A century before Bart Simpson, another cleverly drawn little boy burst upon the scene. He caused such a sensation in his day that Yellow Journalism was named after HIM, not the other way around. He was the Yellow Kid.

10. The Era of Yellow Journalism: Prologue

Jul 12th, 2017 36m 32s

Hearst, Pulitzer, Jacksonian Democracy, the Fourth Estate. New York City in the 1890s. Tabloid media concentrates its power, and becomes unchecked and unbalanced.

9. Hearst v. Pulitzer: Rise of the Daily Newspaper

May 19th, 2017 44m 31s

Media wars are nothing new. In the 1880s modern journalism began under the auspices of Joseph Pulitzer. By the 1890s, "ratings wars" between Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst pushed newspaper publishers into increasingly reckless territory.

A Quick Note About Upcoming TV Room Episodes

Apr 11th, 2017 5m 32s

A Quick Note About Upcoming TV Room Episodes

8. The 19th Century: Our Modern World Begins

Mar 3rd, 2017 41m 27s

In 1800, nothing went faster than a sailing ship or a team of horses, not even communiques. Electronics did not exist and machines were unknown. By 1900, you could talk by phone to different cities, take a subway to go see a movie, and drive a

7. The First Information Age: From Telegraph to Television.

Feb 7th, 2017 33m 19s

Did the upset election of 2016 mark the death knell of journalism? From telegraph to television, newspapers to newscasters, telegraph cables to cable news, how Morse Code was the binary code that started the first Information Age, and why cable

6. The Electoral College & You

Jan 10th, 2017 27m 24s

In this episode of the TV Room podcast, with the shadow of the 2016 Presidential election looming large, we ask and attempt to answer:What's up with the Electoral College System anyway, and why do we still use it?When did "these United States

5. Trump. A TV Antihero is President

Nov 24th, 2016 36m 47s

On this episode of the TV ROOM PODCAST: Donald Trump takes the White House...What started with JFK looking more presidential during a televised debate with Richard Nixon in 1960 has led 56 years later to a TV personality shattering the glass sc

4. The Summer of Love (Part I)

Oct 25th, 2016 50m 35s

In this episode of the TV Room:The Jefferson Airplane visit American Bandstand…..The Beatles turn on…..San Francisco talent + L.A. marketing = Monterey Pop…..Rolling Stone turns pro…..Bewitched goes hippie…..And the Smothers Brothers Comedy Ho

3. The Turbulence of 1968: RFK, MLK, Vietnam, LBJ

Sep 30th, 2016 1h 1m

Lyndon Johnson won the 1964 Election in a landslide, and managed to get landmark legislation passed early in his term. Yet, by early 1968, the Vietnam War had become so unpopular that Johnson decided not to run for a second term as President. F

2. Did TV Invent the Rock Star?

Sep 30th, 2016 41m 5s

On the second episode of the TV ROOM PODCAST, we notice that the phenomenon of the rock star came about just when the television was arriving en masse in American living rooms, and we wonder if this was mere coincidence or something more?

1. The Age of Television (1948-??)

Sep 30th, 2016 24m 18s

On the very first episode of the TV ROOM podcast, we discuss: What exactly is the Age of Television? What are its origins? How did it change us? When will we know it's over?

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