Retro Fan #43 March 2026 (magazine review).
I think we British were spared The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch when they first aired. Reading writer Mark Voger’s interviews with the former child stars — Barry Williams (Greg Brady), Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady) and Eve Plumb (Jan Brady) — now all past retirement age, suggests a consensus that actor Robert Reed fought hard for better scripts.
Of course, some things pass me by. I’d never heard of comedian and writer Don Novello or his work as Father Guido Sarducci, so writer L. Wayne Hicks fills in the details of his life.
Writer David Krell’s history of Mary Tyler Moore on television, from The Dick Van Dyke Show onwards, becomes something of a checklist of shows I’ve seen. I have vague memories of her own show, but I remember Rhoda (if only for Carlton the doorman), and I missed out on Lou Grant. The number of spin-offs, and actors who went on to film, like Michael Keaton, must surely be a record.
Now here’s something to test you: the fathers, both blue- and white-collar, in American sitcoms and their jobs. Writer Robert Jeschonek is quite comprehensive, and I had to think about any he might have missed. What about the two fathers, Tate and Campbell, in Soap?
Writer Lee Weinstein looks at the 1961 anthology series Way Out, hosted by Roald Dahl. I’d never heard of it before, but found it fascinating, especially with its strong cast list and early make-up work by Dick Smith. The entire series is preserved at the Paley Center for Media in Manhattan, which really ought to consider an official release.
When I first read “Hot Hero Sandwich”, I thought RetroFan had veered back into food. Not so. It was a ten-part Saturday morning show for teens, running from 1978 to 1980. Writer C. Jack Urso explains just how radical it was for its time.
Writer Andy Mangels keeps with the Saturday morning theme, looking at comic book adverts for TV shows designed to keep kids occupied, with plenty of examples.
For a change, writer Scott Saavedra looks at card games aimed mostly at children, specifically Old Maid. I suspect it got its name accidentally and it stuck. The variety of card sets, including cartoon and comic book characters, could easily become a collecting habit all of its own.
Writer Will Murray examines the two Amos Burke series and their history. I hadn’t realised it began as a potential vehicle for Dick Powell, who declined a weekly commitment and died of cancer not long after. Aaron Spelling later took it on and revamped it as Burke’s Law for Gene Barry. I only have vague memories of the show in the 1960s, and mostly recall its comic strip in TV21 — more for the punchline tagline than Burke travelling everywhere in a Rolls-Royce. I tended to treat such shows more seriously than they probably intended. I doubt that approach would work in the UK, where arriving at a crime scene in an expensive car might look more like rubbing the victims’ noses in your wealth. Even so, both that show and Amos Burke Secret Agent are getting repeat showings in the UK.
Has there been enough enticement? There are 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: http://www.TwoMorrows.com and https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_152&products_id=1844
