Retrogram #1921: Rules Of The Retrogram

1 min read

The week of May 19th, 2019: What is a Retrogram? How does it come together? And how can I, as a listener, you may be asking, actually change the direction of the show? We’re so glad you asked. Show host Earl Green answers these questions and others…and invites you to take the controls and guide future Retrograms to TV destinations either phenomenal or painful! (10:00)

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Retrogram #7342: Saturday Morning Cartoons, Saturday Night Massacre

1 min read

The week of October 14th, 1973: Nixon fires the special counsel investigating him, the Earth gets yanked out of its orbit, there’s a giant Spock running around, the Six Million Dollar Man is running from nukes on foot, a bunch of children are running everything, aaaaaand…I think we just blew up the Earth. Sorry about that. Welcome to Retrogram, a retro genre TV podcast that travels back in prime time…one week at a time. (70:08)

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Retrogram #8311: Nothin’ But Time Travel

1 min read

The week of March 13th, 1983: A quiet week of a busy year…so why all the time travelers? The Doctor drops in on King John, the Voyagers(!) drop in on “Wild Frank” Roosevelt, and Prince Erik Greystone drops into a whole haunted castle of trouble in the wrong month. Who’s the best time traveler? And who wound up in the best medieval castle? Do lutes really work well with analog synthesizers? And what’s the unlikely Simpsons connection in one of these shows? (71:20)

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Retrogram Special: Life Lessons From Kerr Avon

1 min read

A Great Big Fan Love Letter To Paul Darrow: Breaking the normal “one week” format of the show already seemed like a thing that had to be done to bid a fond farewell to one of the stars of Blake’s 7, and a memorable presence in so many other genre shows. Whether you’re a longtime fan or have never heard of the man, raise a glass to the man (and his utterly unmistakable voice) who was Kerr Avon on our screens. (93:11)

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Retrogram #8728: The Summer Of ’87

1 min read

The week of July 5th, 1987: A week picked by followers of theLogBook.com’s Facebook page! A week of orbital law enforcement, lycanthropy, astro-archaeology, and maybe even the devil himself. Travel back in prime time with us to the summer of ’87. (75:43) This episode has dropped early so it’s available for your holiday weekend road trip!

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Retrogram #7129: Apollo 15

1 min read

The week of July 18th, 1971: As the crew of Apollo 15 prepared to go to the moon, it was a dead week for American genre TV…but still a lively one across the pond. Meet a magician named Tarot, and an alien-fighter named Colonel Ed Straker. One will face a new foe whose magic may be even stronger than his…and the other will face “you-foes” who have already made a backup copy of him. Oh, and one of these shows can’t be seen anymore, anywhere – it might as well be on the moon. (48:13)

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Retrogram 7409: Houston, We Have Quite A Large Number Of Problems

1 min read

The week of February 24th, 1974: Daleks, telekinesis, nukes, O. Henry, and overwrought mission controllers, oh my! There wasn’t a mission to the moon in progress during this week in 1974…but there were a lot of shows…and a few of them were good. There was also the first-ever attempt to dramatize the Apollo 13 mission for television…which was less good. Warning: listeners will be subjected to double doses of Gary Collins and Harve Bennett in this Retrogram. (83:02)

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Retrogram 7250: Would The Last Man On The Moon Please Turn Out The Lights?

1 min read

The week of December 10th, 1974: As the moon hangs over the horizon, and the crew of Apollo 17 hangs out at the moon – the last time humans would go there in the 20th century – gather around the TV campfire for three terrifying tales of levitating furniture, vicious dogs, and petrifying premonitions of things yet to come. As the final Apollo crew walked on the surface of the moon…this is what our imaginations fixated on. (53:10)

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Retrogram #8001: Welcome To The 1980s

1 min read

The week of December 30th, 1979: For a podcast that covers genre TV from 1970-1990, this is the exact midpoint: the first week of 1980. A week of classic space heroes, mistaken identities, and people in tights wearing bull heads…and maybe a tip-of-the-iceberg sighting of Hollywood’s propensity for recycling. (71:16)

Right-click here and “save as”; store a backup copy on your robot and maybe Twiki can recover it later. Before it melts down.

Retrogram #7436: Canyon Jumping

1 min read

The week of September 1st, 1974: A man prepares to fire himself across a quarter-mile-wide canyon in a rocket-powered motorcycle. A man and his children dodge dinosaurs. A man lies dying in sick bay, his only chance for survival hijacked by space pirates. A young man out joy-riding with friends in a stolen car could be driven to his death. One of these stories is true. The rest…are the stuff of Saturday morning TV legends. (46:00)

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Retrogram #7130/7131: Apollo 15, Part 2

1 min read

The weeks of July 25th and August 1st, 1971: As Apollo 15’s crew unfurls the first lunar rover on the surface of the moon, the opening story of the UK telefantasy series Ace Of Wands is being broadcast for the first – and maybe last – time. This Retrogram recaps and reviews these two “orphaned” episodes – the only genre shows that aired in their respective weeks – and completes the story whose first part was examined in Retrogram #7129. (25:08) This Retrogram first appeared in July 2019 as a patron exclusive. I had planned to keep it on hold until early 2020, but my recording schedule has been thrown off by some real-life demands, so consider it a taster of one of the show’s Patreon perks. Retrogram will be back on schedule soon!

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Retrogram #8644: Halloween LXXXVI

1 min read

The week of October 26th, 1986: 1986 A.T. (after “Thriller”) is upon us again, with spooky foes and even spookier friends, unearthly threats and the unexplained, and so many shows no one could complain. Join us now to watch aliens on the run, a shrinking family, Ewoks not having fun, travel through time, though time’s standing still, it might be Halloween forever, so feel the chill! (65:18)

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Retrogram #7001: Welcome To The 1970s

1 min read

The week of December 28th, 1969: The last days of the 1960s. The first days of the 1970s. It’s been fifty years since these shows premiered. Did our sci-fi and our spy-fi predict the future? Was any of it actually ahead of its time, or was it still just amazing that all three of these shows were being broadcast in color? Let’s rewind half a century and find out. (47:30)

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Retrogram #7516: Going Viral

1 min read

The week of April 14th, 1975: Pestilence, Cybermen, angry vegetation, and death – it was a week in 1975 that saw Doctor Who come up against a new show created by one of the writers most directly responsible for Doctor Who’s success, while a couple of genre shows for kids got pretty weird. Join us for a thoroughly British Retrogram…or avoid it like the plague. (63:14)

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Retrogram #7147: A Bunch Of Shows D.B. Cooper Missed

1 min read

The week of November 22nd, 1971: Somewhere in the world, a media tycoon is turning murderous to cover his tracks, a teacher is learning one of her students has spectral needs, a man is dying to meet the woman of his dreams, and a whole new country is happening in orbit.  But all of this might just take a back seat to a guy jumping out of an airplane in mid-flight with a lot of money and a parachute.  (56:00)

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Retrogram #8810: Writers On Strike!

1 min read

The week of March 6th, 1988: Hollywood’s writers are about to hit the picket lines, leaving America’s couch potatoes with a much longer rerun season than usual.  Just a page from the past, or a glimpse of our future?  Ponder that as we revisit Alf, Captain Power, Probe, and The Highwayman, back in the spring of ’88 when these were going to be some of the last new shows we got for a while.  (48:52)

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Retrogram #7060: The Case For Doctor Who Season 7

1 min read

1970: The Doctor’s back.  With a new face.  In color!  But his first story was being made by the last of the black & white era’s production team, and a new team would be taking over with an aim toward building social messages into their story.  What were the expectations of the new Doctor and his new behind-the-scenes crew…and how were those expectations promptly defied?  (1:19:10)

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Retrogram #7601: Beginning The Bicentennial With The Brits

1 min read

The week of December 29th, 1975: A heavy metal giant is born, a future pro golf legend is born…and airports and airplanes are becoming unusually dangerous places to be.  Sitting in front of the TV is much safer – but just because the U.S. is hurtling toward the big 2-0-0 doesn’t mean it has a lock on the fantastic.  (39:45)


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Retrogram #7636: Things To Watch While Landing On Mars

1 min read

The week of August 29th, 1976: Let’s say you’re heading for a landing on Mars, getting ready to do science stuff.  You’re probably not thinking about the fact that you’re going to miss shows about alien men escaping the yoke of female oppression, treacherous shape-shifters, and big Helix energy.  It’s a good thing Retrogram is here to help.  (54:12)

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You know, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Retrogram #8350: Automanimal!: When Glen A. Larson Ruled The World

1 min read

The week of December 11th, 1983: Every so often, a TV producer/creator comes along, so prolific that his output spans two studios, every network, and a sizeable chunk of the prime time schedule.  But are they actually the same show?  And what’s going on with this other thing with the puppets?  (1:08:30)

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Retrogram #8103: The Hawkman Cometh

1 min read

The week of January 12th, 1981: Hitchhikers, Hulk, Hawk, and Who, oh my!  Buck Rogers returns with a new feathered friend, the Doctor has a new furry friend, and the stories from behind the scenes reveal what a miracle it was that any of these shows made it to our screens.  (1:02:19)

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Retrogram #7723/7724 – The Love Child of Darth Vader and the Kool-Aid Man

1 min read

The weeks of June 6th & 13th, 1977: Star Wars is in, Elvis is on his way out, and so are the intrepid adventurers on The Fantastic Journey.  But never fear, Exo-Man is here!  This, surely, heralds the arrival of a hero for the future and for all time, a television icon whose exploits we’ll be following for years to come!  (43:32)

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Retrogram #7725 – Actually, It’s All About Disappearances

1 min read

The week of June 20th, 1977: We’ve had Watergate, we’ve the Pentagon Papers, we’ve had a whole decade of conspiratorial thinking. And here in the middle of the summer of 1977, we have a whole week full of inexplicable disappearances – at least until Mark Harris and the plucky crew from Science Report show up.  (42:04)

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Retrogram #7913: Three Shows, Three Mile Island

1 min read

The week of March 26th, 1979: Wales is finally exporting the works of one of its finest storytellers to the small screen.  Britain is exporting interconnected space operas, complete with space Vikings.  And the U.S.?  It’s exporting superheroes and a rare appearance by a genuine comics legend…but it’s keeping the nuclear fear to itself.  (50:16)


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