Retro Fan # 43 March 2026 (magazine review)
I think we British were spared ‘The Partridge Family’ and ‘The Brady Bunch’ when they were released in their day. Reading writer Mark Voger’s interviews with the former kids, Barry Williams (Greg Brady), Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady) and Eve Plumb (Jan Brady), all past retirement age now gives a consensus that their actor Robert Reed fought for better scripts.
Of course, some things walk past me as I’ve never heard of comedian/writer Don Novello and his history playing Father Guido Sarducci so writer L. Wayne Hicks fills me in with the details of his life.
Writer David Krell’s history of Mary Tyler Moore on TV from ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ onwards becomes a checklist of shows I’ve seen. I have vague memories of her own show but remember ‘Rhoda’ (if only for Carlton the doorman) and missed out on ‘Lou Reed’. The number of spin-offs and actors who went onto film, like Michael Keaton, must surely be a record.
Now here’s something that should test you. The fathers, both blue and white collar, in American sit-coms and their jobs. Writer Robert Jeschonek is quite comprehensive and I had think about any he missed. What about the two fathers, Tate and Campbell, in ‘Soap’?
Writer Lee Weinstein looks at the 14 story anthology from 1961, ‘Way Out’, hosted by Roald Dahl. Never heard of it until now but found it fascinating especially as it has a great cast list and early make-up work by Dick Smith. The entire series is preserved at the Paley Center for Media in Manhattan who really needs to consider doing an official release.
I thought when I first read ‘Hot Hero Sandwich’ that ‘Retro-Fan’ was back into food again. Nope. It was a ten-part 1978-1980 Saturday morning show for teens. Writer C. Jack Urso gives the rundown on how radical it was at the time.
Writer Andy Mangels keeps with the Saturday morning theme looking at the comicbook adverts for the shows shown on TV to keep kids occupied with plenty of examples.
For a change, writer Scott Saavedra looks at card games for mostly kids and specifically ‘Old Maid’. I suspect it got its name accidentally and stuck. The variety of card sets, including cartoon and comicbook characters could become a collecting habit all of its own.
Writer Will Murray has a look at the two Amos Burke series and a lot of history. I hadn’t realised that it started off as a potential Dick Powell series but he didn’t want to do a weekly show and died of cancer a little later. Arron Spelling took it on later and revamped it as ‘Burke’s Law’ for Gene Barry. I only have vague memories of the show in the 1960s and remembered mostly for its comic strip in ‘TV21’ with the emphasis on the saying at the end than Burke travelling everywhere in a Rolls Royce. I tended to treat such shows more seriously than whimsical. I doubt if that would work in the UK where arriving in an expensive car at a crime scene would look more like rubbing your nose in the victims by how rich you were. Even so, the show and ‘Amos Burke, Secret Agent’ is getting repeat showings in the UK.
Has there been enough enticement? There’s always some surprises here.
GF Willmetts
April 2026
(pub: TwoMorrows Publishing. 82 page magazine. Price: $10.95. (US). ISSN: 2576-7224. Direct from them, you can get it for $10.95 (US))
check out website: www.TwoMorrows.com and https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_152&products_id=1844&zenid=jbrmj881hl0ig88iosqb7rvq73
