“And son you say…you still wanna be…a winner…?” — Shel Silverstein

Apologies for having this up later than usual—just can’t seem to get my motor going this morning for one reason or another.  I’ve chosen a winner in the blog’s “King of the Cowboys” giveaway, and that lucky person—longtime member of the Thrilling Days of Yesteryear faithful Roger Scales of Billerica, MA—will soon be receiving a copy of…

“It’s round-up time/On the Double-R Bar…”

I’ll warn you right off the bat that this sentence contains a bit of hyperbole...but it seems to me that the secular content of the programming on most of the public domain and religious-themed stations boils down to two classic TV programs of the past: The Lone Ranger and The Roy Rogers Show.  (Though I…

Adventures in Blu-Ray: FM (1978)

Under the leadership of program director Jeff Dugan (Michael Brandon), L.A.’s QSKY soon becomes the #1 radio station in the market, with a dedicated staff of jocks that believe it’s the music that defines QSKY.  When Dugan accepted the job, his intention was to make his bosses at Billings Radio Corporation pleased with QSKY’s progress...but…

“A winner never stops trying.” — Tom Landry

I had intended to have this announcement up earlier but this is the second time this week that we’ve experienced a brownout around Rancho Yesteryear, same hour of the day and for the same duration.  (I guess the electrical co-op in Pixley has had some difficulty of late, what with the abominable temperatures and all.)  Without further ado,…

Adventures in Blu-Ray: Hold Back the Dawn (1941)

“History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes” is a well-known aphorism often attributed to Mark Twain...even though there’s scant evidence to show that Twain actually said it.  But it’s such a witty little maxim that it seems like the sort of remark the humorist would make, and I couldn’t help but think of it the other…

“Around Dodge City and into territory on west…”

Although I was very much familiar with Gunsmoke the TV series throughout my childhood—the program ran on WCHS-TV like tap water, and during my second year at Marshall University, WVAH-TV made it “Must See TV” for my fellow dormmates on weeknights—I never heard a broadcast of the radio Gunsmoke until that same sophomore Marshall year. …

Adventures in Blu-Ray: Noir Archive Volume 2: 1954-1956

It seems like it was just last April—come to think of it...it was last April—when I borrowed some bandwidth on the blog to talk about a collaborative Blu-ray effort between Mill Creek Entertainment and Kit Parker Films/The Sprocket Vault featuring nine movies previously released to MOD DVD as part of Sony’s Choice Collection.  That compendium…