2011! Jack's on TV Sunday nights at 7:00 on RTV in WA!

[Jack Benny]

Here in the Seattle area, we get the RETRO Television station on Comcast channel 117! They are running Jack's show at 7:00 and 7:30 on Sunday nights, how completely appropriate! This weeks episode were a lot of fun, what a great late Christmas present for me, and the rest of the Seattle/Tacoma area!

I have an audio commentry about this weeks TV shows on my podcast at http://jack_benny.podomatic.com/entry/2011-01-03T00_39_41-08_00

7:00 1-02-2011

Season 14, Episode 9 – Aired: 11/26/1963
Jack Takes a Boat to Hawaii

Jack is waiting to take a ship back home after vacationing in Hawaii. Schlepperman, a character from Jack's radio days, appears to present Jack with a lei made of chicken livers. Rochester arrives late, having been crowned King Kameamea VI by the islanders.
On the ship board, Dennis tells Jack he swam all the way to Hawaii, then jumps overboard to swim home. Falling asleep in a deck chair, Jack dreams the heavyset woman sitting beside him is Jayne Mansfield and that she finds him irresistible. He proposes but she's concerned about their age difference. She coos the song "You're Just Too Marvelous For Words" to Jack and agrees to meet him for dinner. He chases after her, being awakened by a huge kiss from the chubby woman.

Next weeks 7:00 episode should be: Season 14, Episode 10 – Aired: 12/3/1963
Dennis Drives Jack to the Hospital

7:30 1-02-2011

Season 12, Episode 8 – Aired: 12/10/1961
Jack Goes To The Cafeteria

Taking the bus to the studio, Jack asks the man beside him to help him rehearse a scene from the show. The two attract unwanted attention playing an arguing husband and wife. While waiting for Jack to arrive, Jane Morgan sings "The Second Time Around." When he finally gets to work, Jack flirts with Jane, and invites her to lunch at a cafeteria. After arguing with every employee working the food line, he and Jane rehearse the "arguing couple" sketch. The others in the cafeteria think they're actually fighting and begin to take sides. Soon, a full-fledged brawl breaks out.

Next weeks 7:30 episode should be: Season 12, Episode 9 – Aired: 12/17/1961
Jack Writes a Song



Here is a link to RTV's stations and schedules across the country so you can check to see if Jack is on in your area!

http://www.myretrotv.com/programming.html

[Jack Benny]

This weeks episodes!

Season 14, Episode 24 – Aired: 3/24/1964
Jack Renews His Drive's License

Jack rehearses some Dixieland music with members of his band at the studio. He does a public service announcement for safe driving and finds out his driver's license has expired. On the way to the golf course, Jack and Don drop by the Department of Motor Vehicles to have it renewed.
Renewing should be simple, but Jack's has trouble with everyone. A man who doesn't work there accepts his $3 fee and runs, a grumpy guard accuses him of cheating, and the man giving the eye exam can't see. Getting his photo taken is an ordeal as the photographer thinks he's Erich von Stroheim directing a film.

Season 12, Episode 20 – Aired: 3/11/1962
Alexander Hamilton Show

The cast has gathered at Jack's house to read through the show's script. While their waiting for it to arrive, Dennis sings "April Showers". When it arrives, the memograph office has mistakenly sent an episode of The Lone Ranger. After sending the cast home, Jack reads from a history book about Alexander Hamilton and dreams he's the famous man. Hamilton has happy feet; everytime he hears a minuet from Dolly Madison's party across the street, he breaks into dance with whomever's around. Ben Franklin drops by because his kite's stuck on the roof, as does Aaron Burr, who challenges him to a duel. Burr's first shot sends Hamilton's powdered wig flying into the air.

[Jack Benny]

This week we jumped into the 15th and 13th season, at 7:00 and 7:30 respecitvely.

Season 15, Episode 4 – Aired: 10/16/1964
Income Tax Show

IRS agents can't believe that Jack Benny could have earned $375,000, yet only spent $19 on entertainment. On his taxes he claims $3.90 for taking Jimmy and Gloria Stewart to dinner. The agents question the Stewarts and discover that Jack saw them at their favorite restaurant and forced them sit at his table with him and his girlfriend. Benny told them he would pay, but at the end of the meal, he let the Stewarts pick up the tab so they could enjoy the meal as a tax deduction. The $3.90 is what it cost Jack to have his suit cleaned after Gloria dumped a salad on his head.

Season 13, Episode 5 – Aired: 10/23/1962
Lawrence Welk Show

The show opens with Lawrence Welk and his orchestra performing "Row, Row, Row". In their chat, Jack says that conducting is just a "racket" and that anyone can do it. To prove his point, Benny tries out the baton and the music is a cacophony of noise. Jack confesses his real reason for having Lawrence on is to get his band to play the sappy song he composed: "When You Say I Beg Your Pardon, Then I'll Come Back To You". Jack throws out a violinist and joins the orchestra for their rendition of his tune. Welk thinks it's lousy, so to save the song, he turns it into a polka. Couples come onstage to dance, including the President and Secretary of Jack's Pasadena Fan Club.

[Tate]

I live near Raleigh, NC where the local RTV station runs only one episode of Jack Benny on Saturday morning at 9:30. The thing that surprises me is that the episode I watch is not one of the ones that you are seeing. I understand that RTV can customize the broadcast for individual stations, but still.

The episode I saw on 01/16/11 had Andy Williams as a guest.

[altfactor]

Hopefully, the RTV station here in Boston, WMFP Channel 62, will start showing Jack.

[Jack Benny]

This weeks episodes. I had never seen either of them, and the second one was the very last episode of the very last season of the Benny Show!

7:00

Season 13, Episode 15 – Aired: 1/8/1963
Jack Meets Max Bygraves

Jack introduces his guest, British comedian/singer Max Bygraves. The pair chat and Bygraves performs a monologue.
In the sketch, Jack recalls his first contact with the comic eight years earlier. Jack was watching a British TV show Bygraves was performing and was stunned by what he saw: Max had stolen his entire act. The comic lied about his age and claimed to be a cheapskate. He had a fat announcer named Don Wilton, a singer named Dennis Knight, and a valet named Manchester.

7:30

Season 15, Episode 28 – Aired: 4/16/1965
Smothers Brothers Show

The Smothers Brothers introduce the show trying to sing "Love in Bloom." Later, they perform "Boil That Cabbage Down," "I Don't Care," and "I Never Will Marry." The sketch is set after a 1944 air raid in London when Jack was entertaining troops at the Palladium. He's trapped under an unexploded bomb, and discovered by the Brothers, a demolition team. Rather than defusing the bomb, they make him listen to their audition.

[Jack Benny]

This week's episodes were:

7:00
Season 11, Episode 17 – Aired: 2/12/1961
Death Row Sketch

Guest Mamie Van Doren charms Jack into letting her sing on the show; she and Dennis do "You Make Me Feel So Young."
Don Wilson and Howard McNear do the State Farm commercial.
Jack starts reading a book titled Life in the Death House, or My Last Meal Had No Appeal, leading to a dream where he's a condemned man telling his story to the warden. It seems he had a gorgeous wife (Mamie) who made him do all the housework and care for their idiot son (Dennis) while she lavished her attention on their boarder.

and 7:30
Season 13, Episode 24 – Aired: 3/19/1963
Jack Fires Don

After Jack and Don argue over who said "Don't give up the ship," Jack fires Don and holds auditions for a new announcer. Dennis does the JELL-O commercial as a series of imitations, including James Cagney and John F. Kennedy. Dennis rehearses a sentimental song for Jack, while Don walks back and forth across the set clearing out his office.

[Jack Benny]

This weeks shows were a lot of fun:

7:00

Season 6, Episode 13 – Aired: 3/11/1956
Jack Drives To Palm Springs

Jack, Rochester and Polly the parrot are driving to Palm Springs in Benny's prehistoric Maxwell, planning to meet Mary and Don there. Stopping at a gas station, attendant Mel Blanc ridicules their ancient vehicle.
Upon arrival, Jack is so eager for a dip in the pool that he leaps from the diving board without noticing that it's drained for cleaning. Jack is stuck bed with injuries for the duration of his vacation. The hotel's doctor, Frank Nelson, tells Mary to keep Jack's blood pressure up by showing him the bill every hour. The rest of Benny's trip is made more miserable by snide comments from Mary, Rochester, and Don.

7:30

Season 14, Episode 6 – Aired: 10/29/1963
Jack Directs a Film

Jack hears Jimmy and Gloria Stewart say some nice things about him on a TV talk show and decides to thank them in person. Visiting the couple on the set of the movie they're making, Jack can't help but offer advice on how the couple should play the scene and how the director should film it. Soon, the production is in shambles.