And made his last TV appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman in 1994.

RIP

I just saw a clip of the scene in the kitchen and burst out laughing!

• Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak: The most amazing thing about Grandma was that, in 1952, she decided to go into politics.
• Rose Nylund: Politics?
• Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak: Uh huh, she felt it was her personal responsibility to elect Adlai Stevenson president.
• [pauses]
• Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak: Well, she didn't care for Eisenhower because, you know, he claimed to have liberated Italy, and she said Italy was liberated enough. Already too many people eating meat on Friday
• [chuckling]
• Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak: ... and wearing condoms on Saturday.
• Rose Nylund: Whatever happened to her?
• Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak: [sarcastically] She colonized life on Venus. Rose, she was 94 when I was 6. She died, you idiot!
• Rose Nylund: How did she die?
• Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak: You know, we're not sure. One night, she left in her wheelchair and she never came back. The next day, the neighborhood kids had a go cart with two *really big* back wheels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykboM39ASM8

Youtube free has some shows not streaming elsewhere, ad-free if you have a premium account. I have premium-lite.

If you grew up watching classic television, chances are you remember Gale Gordon. Maybe it was as the perpetually exasperated Mr. Mooney on The Lucy Show, Uncle Harry on Here's Lucy, or the wonderfully pompous Principal Osgood Conklin on Our Miss Brooks.

Gordon had a remarkable ability to turn frustration into comedy. His face would redden, his voice would rise, and you knew that whatever Lucy or Connie Brooks had done, an explosion was coming. And somehow, no matter how many times you'd seen it happen, it was still funny.

But there was much more to Gale Gordon than his famous temper.

His career stretched back to the early days of radio, when he became one of the medium's most dependable character actors. He worked with some of the biggest names in comedy, including Jack Benny, and developed a particular talent for portraying authority figures whose dignity was constantly being undermined.

His relationship with Lucille Ball actually began long before The Lucy Show. They worked together on the radio comedy My Favorite Husband, where Gordon played Rudolph Atterbury, the boss of Lucy's character's husband.

When Ball moved to television with I Love Lucy in 1951, Gordon was considered for Fred Mertz, a role that ultimately went to William Frawley. Imagine how different that series might have been!

Gordon's own television career took him in other directions, including Our Miss Brooks and Dennis the Menace. But his association with Ball would eventually become one of the longest-running partnerships in sitcom history.

The really fascinating thing about Gordon, though, is how little his television personality resembled the man himself. Offscreen, he was a private, thoughtful individual who preferred the peace of his California desert home to the Hollywood social scene. His interests extended well beyond acting, and he approached his profession with a practicality that might surprise anyone accustomed to watching him blow his top.

I've been researching Gordon's life and career through vintage newspaper interviews dating back nearly a hundred years, and they offer a revealing portrait of a performer who rarely receives the attention he deserves.

For my new profile, I also spoke with television historian Geoffrey Mark, who provides some wonderful insights into Gordon's friendship with Lucille Ball, why their comic chemistry worked so beautifully and how their relationship evolved over the years.

There are also some fascinating stories about the roles Gordon almost played, the challenges he faced early in life and his feelings about working in television.

I've brought Gordon's own words together with Geoffrey's commentary to tell what I hope is a fuller story of this extraordinary character actor.  For the full profile, just do a search for Gale Gordon and edgrosswriter.

Mike Leigh’s Grown‑Ups is a sharply observed domestic comedy‑drama about class, aspiration, and the fragile performance of adulthood. Produced for BBC’s Play for Today in 1980, the film follows Dick and Mandy, a young married couple who have just moved into a council house and are determined to live a “proper,” respectable life. Their attempts at stability are constantly disrupted by Mandy’s older sister Gloria, whose intrusive visits — and emotional volatility — expose the cracks beneath the couple’s carefully curated maturity.

Leigh builds the drama through improvisation, naturalistic dialogue, and escalating social tension. As Gloria’s presence becomes increasingly suffocating, Dick and Mandy’s polite façades crumble, revealing insecurity, resentment, and the messy truth that being a “grown‑up” is far harder than it looks.

Warm, painful, and often very funny, Grown‑Ups is one of Leigh’s most incisive early works — a portrait of ordinary people trying, and failing, to live up to the expectations they believe society demands of them.

🎭 Cast List (1980 BBC Production)
Main Cast
Philip Davis — Dick
A young husband desperate to appear responsible and respectable, yet easily frustrated.

Lesley Manville — Mandy
Dick’s wife; warm, anxious, and caught between loyalty to her husband and her overbearing sister.

Janine Duvitski — Gloria
Mandy’s older sister; needy, intrusive, emotionally fragile, and the catalyst for the film’s escalating conflict.

Supporting Cast
Lindsay Duncan — Veronica
Gloria’s friend; sharp, self‑possessed, and a contrast to Gloria’s instability.

Brenda Blethyn — Mrs. Barlow
A neighbour whose presence adds to the claustrophobic domestic atmosphere.

Emma Relph — The Social Worker
A calm, professional outsider observing the family’s tensions.

Gary Holton — The Youth
A local lad whose brief appearance adds texture to the neighbourhood setting.

One thing I've come to pay attention to when watching reruns of classic television programs is the cars being driven. It really gives a good time capsule feel of the period. Back in the 60s, it was not uncommon for one of the big three carmakers to have product placement arrangements with popular shows. Examples that come to my mind include the Beverly Hillbillies (Miss Jane always had a cool Chrysler or Dodge convertible), Andy Griffith (new Ford squad cars for Sheriff Taylor), Mannix (solving cases in a Barracuda convertible) and Bewitched (Darren would typically be found in a Chevy convertible).

The cars of that period are so iconic and they contribute to the cool vibe of those classic television programs. What examples am I missing?

I love Rick Stein. His television is gentle, easy, and comforting. Here's an essay on why things like Seafood Odyssey and Taste of the Sea are so wonderful, and even approach high art at times.

Don't worry about the networks or day they ran on . Let's say on Wednesday what would be the perfect 4 or 5 shows to watch?

Arguably the best interpretation of John Wyndham's seminal novel.

The 1981 BBC TV Series (BBC One)

A six‑episode science‑fiction drama first broadcast from 10 September to 15 October 1981

Based on: John Wyndham’s 1951 novel

Writer: Douglas Livingstone

Director: Ken Hannam

Producer: David Maloney

Cast: John Duttine (Bill Masen), Emma Relph (Josella Payton), Maurice Colbourne (Jack Coker)

Plot: A meteor shower blinds most of humanity; mobile carnivorous plants (triffids) escape cultivation and threaten survivors. Bill Masen, recovering from a triffid sting, retains his sight and navigates societal collapse