Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Con: Ponch and Jon, Gilligan and more

Lots of great stars of classic television came out once again for the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Con, just ending its three-day spin in Hunt Valley, Maryland, yesterday. Where else can you meet the two stars of "CHiPS," Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox, as well as Bobby Ewing of "Dallas," Patrick Duffy, Shirley of "Laverne and Shirley," Cindy Williams, Mary Ann of "Gilligan's Island," Ms. Dawn Wells, plus even a Gilligan cosplayer! That's quite a cross-section!

You may know Larry Storch from "F-Troop," but I know him from a little live-action Saturday-morning show called "The Ghost Busters," created years before the more-famous 1980s movie and having absolutely nothing to do with it. I faithfully watched that little show every week, and I had to ask Mr. Storch about it. Seems he does have other folks who remember it -- and had a couple photos from it to sign on his table! The series has never been released on DVD, but you can find a few episodes on YouTube.

Brian Lombard, my buddy from Virginia, showed up in this Gilligan outfit, which really thrilled Dawn Wells, whose line he was waiting in here! Brian is the author of the "Bradypalooza" book on "The Brady Bunch" and has contributed photos to BRBTV projects over the years. We were thinking he might be the first cosplayer at this event, which tends to skew to a slightly older crowd than the standard con, but then we came across this "Blues Brothers" bro among the vendors upstairs -- whom I also encountered last year, who did have his regular hat on but then channeled a bit of the Skipper ...

All in all, a great show once again. For three years in a row, I've been showing up on the last day of the show, Saturday, and it's still been hoppin,' and you always see great TV-related merchandise among the shopping, too, which is super-cool.

Photos by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

Copying with credit is OK; a link would be grand

Terrific TV Toys: "Batman: The Animated Series" talking alarm clock

We're big on anniversaries, here at BRBTV, particular on the Terrific TV Toys series. We've been celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Barbara Gordon Batgirl all year long this year, and last year we marked the 50th anniversary of the debut of both "Star Trek" and "The Green Hornet," and really, the "Batman" series, as well, with a look at the Figures Toy Co. action figures from that series.

Well, it occurred to this author earlier this month, while shooting the Batgirl anniversary episode for September, that it's actually been 25 years since "Batman: The Animated Series" debuted on television! Wow, has that much time really passed? I remember watching that very first episode in September 1992. It was airing in primetime on the weekend, a special sneak peek before it settled into its regular weekday afternoon spot that coming week. And it was the Manbat episode, "On Leather Wings." I was out of town on vacation, but I remember huddling around the TV with a couple friends that Sunday night to catch this new vision of the Caped Crusader. And what a long-lasting (and still continuing!) vision it was.

This week on T3, let's take a look at a unique item from that series, produced while it was still originally airing ...

Christopher Hensel, aka Jeb Stuart Duke, tells us what he's been up to

Christopher Hensel is an actor who has done some varied roles over the years, but he has the fortunate distinction of being a Duke boy, of being part of that family tree of Uncle Jesse Duke on "The Dukes of Hazzard." He played Jeb Stuart Duke -- that long-lost Duke on a motorbike -- in the second season of the show. As such, he's been out and about recently, meetin' and greetin' "Dukes" fans in various places. He is the signature hardly anybody has yet on their General, after all, and it's clear he's enjoying the natural hospitality that is our beloved "Dukes."

Hensel appeared last weekend at the Morrow County Fair in Ohio with the Northeast Ohio Dukes stunt group, and he's got another appearance coming up with NEOD, too. Hear more about it in this interview with Billie Rae Bates of BRBTV and (Cousin) Don Covell Jr. ...

The Northeast Ohio Dukes dazzle 'em with "Double Dukes" stunt show

It was a great time and well-worth the drive this past Sunday, to Mt. Gilead, Ohio, for a stunt show straight outta Hazzard County. The Northeast Ohio Dukes, the same group that made history jumpin' a General Lee car in downtown Detroit earlier this year, put on the thrills and chills with a full "Dukes of Hazzard"-themed show at the Morrow County Fair.

The stands were beyond packed for this show, held Sunday evening, which paid tribute to the fourth-season episode of the show, "Double Dukes," with not one but two General Lees, one driven by our boys Bo and Luke (Raymond Kohn and Rob Roushey), and the other driven by a couple baddies. (You know you've always gotta have the baddies thrown in!) And of course, ole Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane (Rodney Kohn and Tony Florie) were wheelin' and dealin' with those baddies to bring down our fair Dukes, and lovely Daisy (Tina Kohn) and the upright Uncle Jesse (Dean Jaech) were there to help the boys out.

And there were jumps -- boy, were there some great jumps! The Chickasaw County sheriff's car, Uncle Jesse's truck, Enos' little Ford Focus sheriff's car (didya know he had one of those???) and more ... culminating in a very long General Lee jump helmed by Raymond Kohn himself -- his 21st jump -- that brought the show to a conclusion with a nice, loud "Dukes"-style bang! Here's the first of the two BRBTV videos from the event, capturing each one of those jumps!



This was a big production, with pyrotechnics and lots of moving parts and fast-movin' cars. Very good family fun!

Look for another video on Friday -- an interview with Christopher Hensel, who played Jeb Stuart Duke in the show's second season, and who was a special guest of the Northeast Ohio Dukes at the event!

Photos by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

Copying with credit is OK; a link would be grand

Terrific TV Toys: Batgirl figure from "B:TAS" by DC Collectibles

We had the whole year marked out, for our once-a-month 50th anniversary for the Barbara Gordon Batgirl on the Terrific TV Toys series. But then the nicest friend in the world, Mike, had to muck it up in the nicest way ... He snagged a brand-new Batgirl figure, hot off the presses, as you'll hear in this video, then he snagged another brand-new Batgirl figure that you'll see next month. It pushes a couple other things off the schedule, but oh, well! There's always next year! What a wonderful problem to have ...



Happy Labor Day!

Stay tuned, 'cuz this week we have video coverage of yesterday's Northeast Ohio Dukes stunt show at the Morrow County Fair in Ohio ...

TGIF! And here's that list of TV shows and movies from Monday's video!

Congratulations to Maddie of South Carolina, who was the first one to correctly list out for us all of the TV shows and movies represented by the star cars at the Cruisin' Hines event this past weekend, as documented in our walk-through:



Here they are, if you're wondering:

1. "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!"
2. "Dumb and Dumber"
3. "The A-Team"
4. "Batman" (1966)
5. "The Blues Brothers"
6. "Talladega Nights"
7. "Christine"
8. "Knight Rider"
9. "The Monkees"
10. "The Dukes of Hazzard"
11. "The Munsters"
12. "Smokey and the Bandit"
13. "Panic in the Year Zero"
14. "Speed Racer"
15. "Wayne's World"
16. "Planes, Trains and Automobiles"
17. "Bullit"
18. "Starsky and Hutch"

It's a Yooper Batmobile!

If you're not from Michigan, then you may not know that folks who live in the state's Upper Peninsula are called Yoopers. Have you ever seen a Yooper Batmobile? Well, our roving reporter Jason has, and he snapped a photo to share with us. This was along M-38 in a place called Baraga. So fun!

Photo by Jason G.; please don't copy without permission.

Let's play guess the star car! Or, more accurately, the TV show or movie each star car represents!!!

Ooooohhhh, we had so much fun with the "Three's Company" contest a couple months back that we've got to do it again. We'll make it slightly harder this time. Yesterday was Metro Detroit's Cruisin' Hines car show event, and the classic cars showed up in style. Hines Park in Livonia was just full of 'em. But there was a very special display of star cars, most of them replicas, representing various TV shows and movies over the years. This is a diverse bunch, for sure. Can you guess each and every one of the TV shows and movies represented with these cars? There are 18 of them altogether. Keep in mind that not absolutely every car shown in this video represents a TV show or movie (that's a big clue -- there's an imposter or two in here!).



If you are the first person to send the full list of TV shows or movies, in order of the cars' appearance in this video shot yesterday at the event, to brb@brbtv.com, you'll win a prize!!! The name of the car itself is not necessary -- we're looking for the TV show or movie it was from. Once a winner is determined, we'll publish the full list on this blog.

Since we've been celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Barbara Gordon Batgirl character all year long here at BRBTV, your prize is going to be this Batgirl figure from 1993, celebrating the character in "Batman: The Animated Series" and included in McDonald's Happy Meals during a special campaign at the time. (Yea, yea, it's not a million bucks, but hey -- the notoriety you'll win is much more valuable!!!) You'll see this figure (or a duplicate just like it, actually) in this Terrific TV Toys episode from two years ago.

Terrific TV Toys: More goodies from "The Lion King"

On a previous episode of Terrific TV Toys, Andrea Melchiori of Michigan showed you her collection of memorabilia from "The Lion King." (Because ya know, even though it was a very popular movie once upon a time, it also has been animated TV series over the years.) This week, Andrea adds on a few more items to that collection. Enjoy!

Terrific TV Toys: "Dukes of Hazzard" cup by Deka

You remember those fun little plastic dish sets with your favorite characters on them? Cup, bowl, matching plate? Great for cereal on a Saturday morning, or soup or what-have-you???? (Well, actually, they still make them to this day!) That sort of plastic dishware was part of the vast and varied volume of merchandise for "The Dukes of Hazzard" when it originally aired in the '80s. Lots of stuff like this hit the store shelves 'round about 1981 when the "Dukes" were in their heyday.

You've even seen this very dishware on past episodes of BRBTV, like the Terrific TV Toys episode highlighting the "Dukes" collection of T.J. in Michigan a few weeks ago, and even the walk through the "Dukes" museum at Cooter's Place from the week before last. This week's episode of T3 gets you up-close and personal with one of these "Dukes" dish items ...