Super Friends figure extravaganza -- Part 1, the heroes!

Will Rodgers, author of "The Ultimate Super Friends Companion" books in the BRBTV reference guide series, has accumulated an eye-popping collection of action figures of the heroes and villains of the "Super Friends" series. He's been sharing those on the Terrific TV Toys Facebook page, and now we're going to share some here. These are a mix of Mego, Figures Toy Company and others, vintage and new, and they're posed in front of Will's Hall of Justice backdrop. It's such a big collection, it's going to take us two days! Can you name them all? We'll start with the easiest and work to the tad more obscure ...

Check out the Terrific TV Toys Facebook page for more action figure fun like this!

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Photos courtesy of Will Rodgers

Please do not copy without permission

Six Feet Under Blog: Boss Hogg aka Sorrell Booke

Crazy like a fox? Forget the Boss Hogg demeanor, actor Sorrell Booke was actually a very intelligent and accomplished man. The latest post on the Six Feet Under Hollywood blog talks about that and other interesting aspects of the life of this amazing "Dukes of Hazzard" star. (And thanks for the mention of the BRBTV "Dukes" book, Brian!) ...

Six Feet Under: Boss Hogg: Sorrell Booke was born on January 4, 1930 in Buffalo, New York - a far cry from fictitious Hazzard County. He was extraordinarily bright ...

BRBTV interview of Brian Tochi pops up on "TMNT" retrospective

Thanks so much to BRBTV's roving reporter Jason for passing this along. This newly released video taking a look at where "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" stars are now includes a glimpse at an interview this author did with Brian Tochi, former child star of the likes of original "Star Trek" who went on to "Turtles" movies and more. I talked to Brian at the Motor City Comic Con a few years back. Check it at around 4:20 ...

Star spottin': "CHiPs"

Glory, glory, hallelujah -- this author finally got the chance to watch those "CHiPs" DVDs that her good pal Tracy got her several years ago. They had been squirreled away in my DVD cabinet in the Batcave downstairs for so long, but I kept thinking about 'em ... waiting for that rainy day when I could get 'em out and finally rewatch that beloved series of childhood I actually had not seen since it originally aired in the 1970s. Well, what better time than a pandemic quarantine, when the TV season was cut short for the new shows I currently watch. What a great idea for summertime viewing -- good ole Erik Estrada, such a a huge crush of this former little girl (and whom I met in real life: see it in the May 21 and May 23, 2008 posts), and Larry Wilcox as the duty-bound but fun-loving California Highway Patrol officers.

And I was soooooo looking forward to the star-spottin' aspect of this rewatching. I am only in the second season right now, but I just had to blog about who I've seen so far:

• Jed Allan, who I know as C.C. Capwell on "Santa Barbara," in a younger role (with darker hair) as a dad whose infant child gets lost (misplaced, perhaps) after a mixup.
• A young, thin Edward James Olmos, who I have been loving on the modern "Mayans," and who I honestly didn't recognize and later had one of those "Doh!!!" moments over, since he had looked so heckin' familiar to me.
• And speaking of familiar features that I can't quite place ... Joe Penny! So suave and fresh-faced,  playing a cocky, privileged young guy fresh out of motor school who joins the CHPs. I sat there and looked at him and looked at him, thinking, I know that guy! I really do! But this is the 1970s, and everybody looks so, so young.
• Regis Philbin as a news anchor on a TV broadcast.
• Linda Dano of various soaps, totally unrecognizable to this chick, again. Come to find out, she did the rounds back in the day -- "Charlie's Angels," "Starsky and Hutch" and many others.
• Jenilee Harrison of “Three’s Company” and “Dallas” as an L.A. Rams cheerleader in a brief scene.
• And in a mini-tribute to kid stars, Christopher Knight of "The Brady Bunch" and Danny Bonaduce of "The Partridge Family" as bratty teens who hot-wire cars for joy rides. I just knew that beautiful young blonde riding along was Shell Kepler of "General Hospital," and this time I was right on the money,

If you think BRBTV likes Scooby, wait 'til you see Wendy's collection

This author's online pal Wendy loves Scooby-Doo and has evidently been collecting our favorite cartoon canine for a very long time. Wendy has her own blog, and her recent blog post talks about an interview she did on YouTube showcasing her sort of collection-in-a-closet. It looks like a big closet, though!!! And frankly, that Scooby phone is amazing.

Six Feet Under blog: Natalie Wood

Well, thanks to fellow author Brian for sharing a fun photo he shot of me and Robert Wagner at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Con in his Six Feet Under blog. Read his post on Wagner's wife-who-died-under-mysterious-circumstances, Natalie Wood, here:
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Six Feet Under: Natalie Wood: Six Feet Under: Natalie Wood was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko on July 20, 1938.  As you might have guessed, she was the daughter of Russian immigra...

An original "00" Mustang from the "Dukes of Hazzard" TV movie comes up for sale on eBay

Wow, a chance to own real "Dukes of Hazzard" history. One of the two screen-used "00" Mustangs from the 1997 "Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!" TV movie can now be yours. It just hit the auction listings of eBay, and it has a "buy it now" option, actually, so you don't even have to wait to own this beauty, provided you want to slap down that $42K. Worth every penny? We think so. This author is even thinking about it.

Image from eBay listing.

Fernando Ruiz talks about "Archie's Weird Mysteries"

Special thanks to my friend Paul Castiglia for the heads-up on this one. Writer of the Archie's Weird Mysteries comics series, Paul was interviewed for the Archie's Weird Mysteries BRBTV Report and also featured on this very blog. His teammate on the AWM comics, artist Fernando Ruiz, has a cool little video out right now that gives more insight into the beloved characters of Riverdale as portrayed in this animated TV series of 1999 as well as the accompanying comic book. How tall was Mr. Weatherbee? What did Archie's ink pen look like for the series? All kinds of crazy questions are answered in this video ...

TGIF! How about a look at a great superhero fan collection?

We like to celebrate Fridays around this place, and we love to do something fun on a Friday, like behold the photos of collectibles belonging to a fellow longtime collector. These pics are from Don M., who is an avid fan of Mego figures and Kenner Super Powers figures, as you can see. Don has been collecting for more than 30 years.

 

Below is what Don was told was a bootleg Super Powers Batcycle set from Mexico, as well as a rare radio control Batmobile, only released in Italy in 1979 for 8-inch Mego figures.

Below, it's a custom Super Powers Robin, Golden Age style.
 

And this is a custom Mego Robin:

Thanks again, Don, and happy Friday, everyone! Stay strong!

Happy Friday: J'onn J'onzz says, stand strong!

There he is, standing strong at the BRBTV headquarters, and he asks you to do the same. Mr. J'onn J'onzz, aka Martian Manhunter, who's been featured in a few different TV shows over the years, both live-action and animated. This 9-incher by Hasbro from the late 1990s is part of a larger set of Justice League America figures released at the time. You'll see him and a lot of other fun collectibles and toys over at the Terrific TV Toys page on Facebook, just launched in January. Come join the fun!

 

Remember to stay safe and stay home, and wash those hands after handling groceries, mail and money! We'll get through this!

 

The latest episode of "The Rapture Chronicles" is up!

Weeellll, this author gets to stick to her journalism roots in the latest episode of "The Rapture Chronicles" web series, and that was fun, but more than that, I'm just thankful for the opportunity once again to be a part of something special.

Episode 4 of the web series is called "The Party Animal," and it's about a college student who is sowing his wild oats, so to speak, and not paying a whole lot of attention to the way his Godly mother raised him, figuring, well, what the hey, the Lord will keep forgiving me, right? It's folks like this who may get a surprise when the Rapture spoken of in the Bible comes at last. And that's what this web series is all about -- slices of modern life, real life, and what impact the Rapture may have on individuals in various situations. Daniel Jeffries does a bang-up job as the lead character in this episode. It's great stuff, and you can catch up with the whole series on the Facebook page, YouTube channel, or you can catch it on Truli.




Also check out this interview I did with the series creator, Dray Hill, and two lovely ladies, co-director Carmen Greer, and Tamika Willis, another member of this episode's cast:



Learn more about Churchouse Productions.

Six Feet Under: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

She was a University of Michigan grad? We had no idea. Learn more about the life and death of Ann Davis, known best as Alice the maid on "The Brady Bunch," on the Six Feet Under blog: 

Ann Bradford Davis was born on May 3, 1926 in Schenectady, New York.  Growing up, she had always planned on a career in medicine.  However ... [Read on]

Six Feet Under: Stow it, Dingy!

It's a celebration of actor Vic Tayback of TV's "Alice" and quite a lot more, on the Six Feet Under blog: 

Victor Tayback was born in Brooklyn on January 6, 1930.  He was the son of Syrian immigrants who came to America in the 1920s.  By the ...  [Read on]

Announcing the second edition of the "Shazam!" BRBTV Report

With one mighty word he transforms from the teenage Billy Batson into the powerful hero ... Shazam! Or Captain Marvel, as he was originally called, and as he was called in the 1970s Saturday-morning TV series for kids. This was a live-action half-hour show based on the popular hero of the comic books. And now, as a little TGIF treat this week, BRBTV announces an updated version of its report on the TV show.

The BRBTV Reports are feature-length magazine stories, essentially, not so much "books," though they are sold in a sort of "book" format on Amazon's Kindle platform. But they also include extras like an episode guide, or a cast list, a look maybe at the show's merchandise. And for this "Shazam!" BRBTV Report, you'll see some great content additions from the recent panel discussion of two of the show's stars at the Great Lakes Comic Con in Michigan, as well as updated info on the release of the big-screen movie last year. You'll get the perspectives of the cast members, Jackson Bostwick, Michael Gray and John Davey, on this wonderful kids' show on comics' own "Big Red Cheese."

Happy reading!

Get the Report on Kindle.

Spotted at the mall: the Super Friends, Curious George and more

This author wandered into a unique mall store recently and spotted these TV-show-related goodies. And by unique, I mean "Uneek," as in the name of the store was Uneek Gifts. This was in Metro Detroit, and I have no idea if this is a chain or an independent, but mixed among the various diverse wares were these delights, two of which I purchased. Can you guess which ones?

Photos by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

Copying with credit is OK; a link would be grand

Toyalicious -- that's the only way to describe today's show in Royal Oak

Wow, we're really getting diverse with this crop of TV-related collectibles. Just about any kind of classic TV show you could name was represented there in some way, at the toy show today at the Royal Oak Farmer's Market in Royal Oak, Michigan. Amazing. Not only the regulars like Scooby-Doo, Batman, "The Flintstones," "Happy Days" and "Starsky and Hutch," but we've even got some "Simon and Simon" going on, some "Hong Kong Phooey," "The Cat in the Hat," even "Electra Woman and Dyna Girl." We are going to post even more photos in an album on the Terrific TV Toys Facebook page on Monday, but this will tide you over for now ...

Photos by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

Copying with credit is OK; a link would be grand

Thanks to Dylan for sharing this photo of his Megos!

We see some TV-related goodies in there .... "Charlie's Angels," "Happy Days," "Charmed," "Married With Children" ... any others??? These are figures from Mego Corp.'s reboot of the past couple years, and they're so fun. You've seen a few of them on the Terrific TV Toys series, which premiered on YouTube but is now reairing on Facebook. Come join the fun! And thanks, Dylan! Nice collection!

Coming up in the fall for Tom Wopat: Cooter's Place in Pigeon Forge

Thanks once again to Kimberly for keeping us updated on the comings and goings of our beloved Broadway star and Luke Duke of "The Dukes of Hazzard," Mr. Tom Wopat. Here's what's coming up for him later this year:

Cooter's Pigeon Forge for Meet and Greet

Saturday, October 10, 2020, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday, October 11, 2020, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Cooter's Place
177 East Wears Valley Rd Ste 23
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee 37863

Diahann Carroll’s belongings to be auctioned off next week

This author and longtime “Dynasty” fan will be bidding on a few of these items; I think there are some jewelry pieces that have my name on them. And you, too, can have an opportunity to own a little slice of the life of revered actress Diahann Carroll, whom we fans of “Dynasty” know as the lovely songstress and half-sister of Blake Carrington, Dominique Deveraux.

Bonhams auction house has listed 150 items from the collection of the award-winning actress and is now accepting bids, with the auction culminating on March 10. Go to Bonhams.com at the link below to see the listings, which don’t include a whole lot of “Dynasty” (a gown she wore to promote the series, for instance), but nevertheless provide some neat insight into the more private side of this longtime star, who died just a few months ago.

Catalog:

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26327/