 This is the SF Productions podcast network TV signals in Kansas seven four-year-old 2d shows before President Turner put that of false colorization law through in the 20s Don't be so sure about that. There were some great shows back then See back before all the video was put directly into computer memory in the com net people used to tape shows Let me see Take party any let me let me hook this up here. Let me see what we got Come back with us to the 60s and 70s dwelling place of the lost generation an era Who's heroes role models and very lives were molded and formed by weekly installments of favorite television programs? Welcome to the place your parents didn't understand welcome to the vast wasteland. Welcome home Hello, and welcome to another exciting episode of vast wasteland I'm your host Mark Schmidbar along with Wilbert Neal and Marty Wiley and we're here to talk about 60s and 70s television and tonight It's yet another of our fine tribute shows where tonight we we Give thanks to one one great actor who's been in television since who knows when and will be there for a long time to come since there was television and tonight we talked about a a Cleveland native believe it or not. Yes tonight. It's Burgess Meredith here on vast wasteland and we couldn't be more pleased and proud But before we jump into the show just want to tell you we're on remember Tuesdays at 6 Wednesdays at 10 and Thursdays at 3 p.m. Here on a ctv cable is what he was Also, if you want to write into us our dresses box 15 15 26 Columbus, Ohio 4 3 2 1 5 and now on to Burgess Meredith Go Wilbert. Okay. Well by golly Burgess Meredith was born November 16th 18 1908 dyslexia dyslexia 1908 1909 1908. Okay. Well by golly. They have him down here is being in Several shows. Well, let's start with some the big story. He was the narrator. This was back in the 50s What was that was like some like newspaper drama or probably from it was drama by golly Here's mr. Novak where he played a character named Martin Woodridge. This was from 64 to 65 and then one show that I remember him from but I saw I won't mention that one Then there's another one here and okay, then I'm Well, I won't talk about it yet because I'll be mentioning that when we actually talk about him here Okay, but on me by golly They say he began his career as a stage actor in the 30s playing roles including the doormouse in naval Production of Alice in Wonderland. Oh and his first triumph on Broadway was in a winter set in 1935 well, that's all interesting, but we're talking about the 60s and So we'll just jump all this and they don't mention anything else. Whoo. Hey, well, I can mention that later, too Okay, well pretty soon have a whole show of stuff later Twilight zone. Oh, there we go. Burgess Meredith did a lot of twilight A lot a lot of twilight. He did he did who's the one that just scared Mark to begin. Oh, yeah Time enough last where he played mr. Henry Bemis who was a Bank worker and he always liked to spend his lunch hour reading and he went down to the cellar to read Into the vault and when he went down there one time well the world blew up because there was a big atomic war. Oh my but um, he got out of there and he just Just um all the he's that everybody's gone But he's got all these books and he never had time enough to read now He's got time enough to read and he went around he stacked up all these books And he was so darn happy and then he's walking around looking up all the books And oops, he drops his glasses and they break and this is only pair The only parent he had been to turn it he not reading the only thing he really wanted No, my glasses and there's mr. Dingle the strong Where he was this little guy that was in a bar drinking and these Venetians know these Martians came in first and they made him very strong And so he went around being very strong for a long time until about the end of the show where he lost his strength And then these venetians come in and made him very smart And so he started being very smart at the end of the show the smart and it was just an interesting one Then there's one called the obsolete man, then he was in And I don't really remember this one at all What's that one of the thoughts in a future society where all books have been banned along with all religion and Wadsworth to Wordsworth rather which is Burgess Meredith was a Godfreying librarian. Well by golly He's a library person again. Well and he's granted three requests On here, okay, and then there's another one the printer's devil Where Burgess Meredith played all people mr. Smith well Very original yes by golly This was his fourth and final twilight zone appearance and he's playing a character far removed from the good and gentlemen he played in the other ones and Well, this one was probably it's probably was this started to being evil Evil so we move on from the evil role that he played here in twilight zone to probably his best known role on the 60s television that of the penguin Batman Because he I mean that's that's like that role is he made that role it became his role and it's like any time I look at him now. I can't help going Don't remember exactly when that was done. Well, actually that was in 80 and 81, but that's okay But his mascot there was penny the penguin and they would come waddling out together at the beginning of the show And he you can still hear him. You can still hear him narrating commercials and things and they don't hear I just I just expect him to go Interesting how it started didn't it start because he was allergic to the cigarettes the penguin smoked and Instead of coughing he made this sound wasn't it something like that that got him that trademark little yes It was something along that line, which was most interesting like a happy accident. Yes, and it just stuck That's right. I mean you had you had three cat women. Yeah two riddlers Yeah, but only one thing one penguin who else could fill those shoes and then in the in the in the Batman movie He just does something. I think it's just one way. He he plays an actor. Oh The penguin as an actor. Yeah, who's pretending to be come on or And and my I this one just cracks me up easy He's pretending to be this Commodore and it's like I don't know where the Batman or Robin really can't tell that it's him Yeah, if they're just pretending that tell her what the boy They just had him bamboozled a he just had them bamboozled for a while there because he's gonna I'm coming Or Smith life. I'm not the penguin You have to be very careful because you don't want to pull something like this folks on America's most one and arrest the actor That's right. Yeah, I just happen to have the pinch men here and yeah hidden in my coat And I'll bring them back to life in the Batcave using the the heavy water heavy water So that they just Fincently disappear when you hit them, but when I got any matter and it was it was just funny Okay, then I showed it. I really remember it from was search the search had a at a TV movie pilot called probe I believe it was where they had one one operative and what it was was basically have the search headquarters, which is an underground kind of a White college surveillance kind of thing where they had Well, they had these three operatives But in this one They just had the one I have thing and they have a thing in his tooth Which he can kind of tap out Morse code on and then they have rings Well, they have necklaces which have little built-in cameras in them And so they can walk around and they could just pretty much spy on just about anything And then they can also radio back into the into the search headquarters and he can talk to them through the plan Thing in their ear so that they could talk and he was like the head operative His name was Cameron and he I mean not the head operative But he was a head worker back in the underground right thing so it's like you didn't have Burgess going out No, no, so he couldn't do that. So like when they had the show search They had three operatives, but it's like Burgess and the crew were always there in every show But they would have one of each of the operatives in like one a week and so um But it's like Burgess was really the major star there and he would always be coming Well, I know you don't want to go this way you want to go this way Make sure you pay attention to that man behind the curtain or something He was the rock the show was built exactly exactly. It was it was a very very good I'd like to see somebody bring this show back because it was just interesting. It really was I mean probably the technology now is Who did this just one of these I'm betting this was Let's see That's the only got a hundred books there guys. I think we could find out even Let's let's let's look If you could like have that thing in your tooth because then you wouldn't need a car phone Yeah, we'll see it's like you had it in your tooth And you also had an implant in your ear so that they could they could talk to him and he could answer them by you know either Doing one for yes to for no, you know or something like that or oh it was so cool. You could cheat on exams I didn't say that The probe division of world securities has reached the ultimate in sophistication and technological development and equipping its agents as they travel Around the world on missions each agent had a transmitter and an earphone implanted on one ear enabling him to keep in contact and Contact with the mission control also carried a miniaturized scanner device in a ring or a tie clip that provided visual contact as well And the staff admission control could maintain complete surveillance. I wonder what was happening for any of the agents so It was just an adventure It's just a production Well, anyways going I want to call it a Quinn Martin, but I don't think it was really necessarily It started off as being part of a movie of the week kind of thing. It's kind of branched off from there But well anyway, then let's move on here. There was another show that was ah here. We go, okay Leslie Stevens. Oh produced Albert limits. Ah, well, so there we go So it says the 72 plot pilot was originally called probe. Yeah, there you go Oh, there we are. You got your name probe. Well, see it was it was probing the pilot. I knew that So silly you think anyway. Oh, what else we have here? We've got And the other great brains weighing me down The other thing is the show the idea of the of the agents one agent a week and kind of a rotating format it's exactly like the The other show that Leslie Stevens produced which was the name of the game. Uh-huh. No, so both the same concept They just kind of took it to a spy for well I'll see you know the game was first and then they decided we take the same format But we'll make it we get a little bit and then it's back out again. Well, yeah Right right Burgess, okay And then he did another thing where he played another bad guy and I can't remember the exact name But it was like either the return of Captain Nemo or the amazing Captain Nemo or something like that But it was done as a it was like a three There were three hour Long shows and they were on a Wednesday. I remember specifically because The third one we were all ready to watch it and we went to get a pizza. We were on the way back and Ran into a traffic sign or something amazing missed it the return of Captain Nemo. Okay Here it is During routine war games Tom Franklin and Jim Porter US Naval underwater intelligence agents Find trapped in a coral reef beneath the sea the troubled submarine Nautilus Captain Nemo and blah blah blah you got stuck under the reef blah blah blah and they went on adventures basically Freedom from the reef first Allen okay, it was an Irwin Allen by golly. Who else could have done it? That's right. What Burgess Meredith name was in there. He was Nemo. He was no He was dr. Waldo Cunningham the evil modern-day scientist Nemo's nemesis It was it was really great, too, because he had the professor Waldo. How could Well, I mean you got the name Waldo pretty ticked off You got to get back at the world for making fun of you with that Waldo name You got to become an evil scientist and he had these these robots on his ship on his submarine because they were well They're underwater, so he had this one robot. It was this was after You know, so it's like everybody had to have robots now that were pretty well Relatively humanoid and and had these funny voices which were actually like people in rubber suits pretending to be robots But hey, that's okay And so he's like a tall one they had a tall one and he's um He would always go around and he would give the orders and things and then there was another one who would sit up in the In the little bubble kind of thing on top of the submarine who would fire the Delta beam Up there and every time he'd fire that Delta beam he'd be like Oh, and he'd look like he's gonna fall out of the thing, but this is Burgess's show, so let's get on with that We keep we keep strength. Oh, I digress. Anyway He wasn't in the man from Atlantis anywhere I don't think so. Okay. I don't think so, but I do have a pilot here Kate Bliss and the ticker tape kid. Oh This was a pilot that never went anywhere comedy Western Lighthearted misadventures of Kate Bliss a beautiful turn-of-the-sensory private detective. Hey, that's original So you got a comedy Western detective kind of deal Whoa Well, we just fit every single format in there the pilot depicts Kate's attempts to solve the problems of Lord Deverey. I Billion Baron who's being terrorized by a gang of outlaws led by Clint Allison an ex Wall Street business man turn Robin Hood Who Kate calls the ticker tape kid? Why the heck this didn't go anywhere? I'm amazed William Blackstone is Burgess Meredith. Okay, William Blackstone not the magician. No Okay, well, let's see here Burgess he um Well one thing he he won an Emmy in 1977 for his portrayal of lawyer Joseph Welch in the documed drama tale Gunner Joe About the life and times of senator Joseph McCarthy We all stay home and watch that he also provided the narration for various specials and he still does by God Yes, well, you can't turn on a cheese commercial without hearing Burgess cheese It just makes everything Wonderful and then there's a I have a let's see we got another one here if I can find oh, yeah a second pilot another Western comedy drama called lock stock and barrel The misadventures of newlyweds Rochelle and Claire Rozel Rochelle and Claire Bridge I know why this one didn't go on yet No, Claire with Tim Matheson. So okay, okay as they seek to begin a new life in Colorado during the 19th century also called hitch the sequel pilot film and Burgess paid played Purcell or Purcell. I don't know P. U. R. S. L. E. Purcell That's right, so there we are And we had one more here. Oh, I think I got it here. Yeah, the new healers When was this? 1772 okay the story of three people Calvin Briggs and Jimmy Martin ex-Vietnam medics, of course and Michelle Johnson an ex-nurse We joined forces to help to help dr. Simmons played by Bergen Meredith An aging physician care for the people of hope a rural community in California The pilot depicts their efforts to gain the confidence of the people who are distrustful of the young medics And that was Robert Foxworth Kate Jackson and Jonathan Lipp Where is Jonathan Lipp now we don't know Just don't hear enough from Jonathan Lipp. You just don't How many times have we said that anyway So what else we got? Gee, no, we can do a what if What if he did a series today? Who should who should he start with Burgess Meredith today? Well, let's see. Hasn't he worked with who's still around? There's a lot of folks out there. I'll be playing the old fill in the blank Oh Maybe he could play like if they do the the my favorite Martian thing he could play like old uncle somebody who comes to live with Tim Why not just put him on track? I mean everyone's done track except Burgess. Well, this is true Maybe Burgess is afraid to fly on one of them starships All the zone and everything you would think Things were down to earth though. Yeah, that's never seen Burgess in anything. Well the underwater thing Well, we're seeing him up in the air. I mean Ever seen Burgess in it in an up in the air vehicle. I don't think he ever did any of the airports or Any of those why that's that's stunning considering the number of people I don't think he's done any of the other or when Alan kind of things either, you know the earthquakes Oh, we got earthquakes. We got a Got every night Volcanoes, I don't think Burgess was in any of those and I don't know I don't know why Yeah, yeah, that's true. We mention I mean that is a movie, but we could mention him as Rocky's first trainer That's right. Yeah, that's probably and then he did of course Went full circle doing the narration for the zone movie. Yeah. Yes. He did. Yeah, we did that And now he just narrates everything But you know, he's never been out of work. That's right. I'm sure someone's out there developing a new series for them They're just developing. There's more commercials of another. Yeah We put Burgess in I mean, gee, let's think up a vehicle for bird bird just married. I mean you can write in and Write in and give us a vehicle a new vehicle for Burgess Meredith Meredith vehicles Everybody's been involved with but I don't think he's ever been a private eye. I mean he could easily do that Um, it could be the grumpy detective Crumpy detective Grumpy detective and his dog Studio Big grumpy detective Sheen broken Well, he's truly someone who's started out at the beginning of TV and it's still going much like our other Tribute person. Yeah, Bill Vicks. Bill Vicks. He's done anything together We should let's let's we should create a vehicle for both of them. That's what I was saying He could if they do the in my favorite Martian Fresh oh something fresh new. Okay, well let no Bert Bill's already done quite a few things, but um, maybe they could do a Western together. Why is that? He could be the grumpy detective Grumpy detective and his horse Looks like cannon or Ironside or those grumpy Batman and Jake and the Yeah, they're real bright, but they squint. Yeah Like he's been Well, let's see where I just wanted to go over some stuff But this course the end of our second season here on a CTV and do a big Season and we'll be moving into our third big season here on a CTV Give up or something like that. Well, let's see coming up next season. We've already got some exciting shows coming up Yeah We've got Coming up a big Norman Lear show we're gonna go through the entire Norman Lear universe as it were and We got a show on what says band shows. What is that? I don't know you People the groups I mean that we're about Bands like well, that's what I figured not not band shows like shows we couldn't never show BND not B. A. N. N. E. D. Well, then we got a big variety shows show coming up Forward to that. Oh, yeah, the big animal shows which we can talk about those amazing animals And then we're excited to be coming We've a lot of people have been asking for when are you gonna do one do another one of those big versus shows like I get a very versus every day and Someone asking me that So we're gonna do another one. Okay, we're doing Samantha versus Jeannie who would win in a fight So be looking forward to that and then we're gonna be it's another big another big tribute show Yeah, maybe we'll actually So we don't have to pad like this like we're doing right now Well That's the fun of TV that's the fun of TV in general being able to do that Because we don't know that we could learn something from Burgess though If that's right here Be crabbing at it What This is Krabby bit because like I always think of it as the kindly guy that But now he's the Krabby guy Like the Wilfred Bremelina Too much oatmeal Not enough Well, anyway, I never looked at the penguin is being the nicest guy in the world Well, anyways, I think we've beaten this subject in the ground, so Let's let's say goodnight for all of us here at Bass Wasteland We'll see you next time and remember we're on Tuesdays at 6 Wednesdays at 10 and Thursdays at 3 on ACTV if you feel like tuning into the show again, but that again if you don't I guess you won't watch it in this one either Good night everybody, we're done good night Wherever you are