Around the dial

N orman Lear died this week , aged 101, with a resume that includes All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude, Sanford and Son, Mary Hartman, One Day at a Time, and others. That's more than enough to ensure his place in television history, and at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence looks back on his career.
At Cult TV Blog, John takes on another Brit series that I've actually seen: Sapphire and Steel, starring Joanna Lumley and David McCallum as, what? Supernatural investigators, I suppose, although it's a little to explain without having seen it. Anyway, this week it's Assignment 6 Part 1, and for once even the investigators seem puzzled about why they're there.
Sticking with British TV, Cult TV Lounge (not to be confused with the above) continues to explore the color (colour?) episodes of The Saint . Did you find yourself having a preference for the series in black-and-white, or are you just fine with it moving into the color era? Check out some of these episodes.
Maddy celebrates the first anniversary of Classic Film and TV Corner with an update on her health and her latest projects; be sure to keep this blog on your reading list.
At Reelweegiemidget, it's a summary of a blogathon I'd have enjoyed being part of, but I just didn't have the time: a tribute to the films of Hammer and Amicus, featuring  some fun horror flicks, with stars like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Judy Matheson, Charles Gray, Joan Collins and Britt Ekland. I've linked to the first installment, but be sure to check out the links running through the week.
Paul returns to NBC's 1970s Best Seller series at Drunk TV, with the third of the miniseries to be shown under the umbrella title: Seventh Avenue , starring Steven Keats and a cast of dozens. It's a hard-to-find series; find out from Paul whether or not the effort to track it down was worth it.
One of Roger's complaints in his Avengers reviews at The View from the Junkyard is that the writers often prioritize silliness over the plot itself. Such is not the case in this week's episode, " Something Nasty in the Nursery ," with Steed and Peel and killer nannies and hypnosis; who could ask for more?
The subject of Les Crane came up in my most recent podcast, and so it's appropriate to look at this post from Travalenche on the man whose star shone brightly momentarily with his eponymous late-night talk show, and should be better-remembered today than he is.
And speaking of which, my latest video conversation with Dan Schneider is now available; we're talking about the television of my favorite decade, the fabulous and terrible Sixties ; let me know what you think! TV