Billie Rae Bates's Blog

I got to wear my "Dallas" T-shirt -- hey, that alone was worth the time! I had that thing tucked away in a drawer for years after snagging it at a collectibles show in Metro Detroit ... Anyhow, wow, what a nice talk I had with Josh Eilberg of the Ewing Barbecue Podcast. He and his fellow podcasters do great things in the fan community for our beloved classic TV show "Dallas." They discuss the episodes of the original series, one at a time, and Josh covers events like the recent reunion at Southfork. Josh was also kind enough to loan some wonderful photos of "Dallas" cast members to my recent (final!) update to the print edition of "Destination: Dallas." 

Here we talk about what went into the book, where the idea for these crazy BRBTV books even came from, and different aspects of this TV series that we love ...

Awwww, we love seeing our friend Ulysses Campbell again, and we love seeing the floor at the Baltimore Comic Con again, even if it is only virtually. Here's another clip from times  past, freshly posted on the BRBTV YouTube channel ...

A Shakespearean background that served him well, self-deprecating comedy albums, salty poetry, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, and a dad convicted of bird-smuggling (there's a joke in there somewhere) ... all of that marks the life of Victor Buono, that landmark villain of 1966 "Batman" and even "The Man from Atlantis" years later. Brian explores the actor's life as he shows you were Buono's body was laid to rest:
Six Feet Under Hollywood: Victor Buono - King Tut:   "Being on Batman allowed me to do something we actors are taught never to do: overact." ...

BRBTV has had the privilege to profile on this blog multiple collectors who buy up wardrobe items from our beloved (original) "Dynasty" TV series. One of those collectors has just let us know of some updates in his amazing collection. He's at NolanMillerCollector.com, and you can see some of his collection in the July 24, 2015, September 23, 2016 and March 27, 2018 posts of this blog (so yeah, it's been a while since we've checked in with him!).
For one thing, he says, "Since we last spoke I reunited the Alexis lily pond catfight hat to the dress! I now have the full outfit." Awesome. He has also added some items from outside the "Dynasty" realm.
Here's one glimpse of a couple new additions to his collection, the "nude" beaded gown worn by Linda ("Krystle") Evans and the blue number adorning Catherine ("Amanda") Oxenberg (and Karen Cellini, actually) in the show's opening credits:
Here are a few more additions:


Just incredible. Click on over to NolanMillerCollector.com for a lot more photos of the collection itself and a detail page for each piece. And thanks so much, [name redacted for privacy], for sharing with us!!!! LOL.

Last month's installment of Terrific non-TV Toys showed you some great Bat-vehicles (not all Batmobiles) from various movie (and video) franchises. For this month's ep of Terrific TV Toys, let's return to TV land -- specifically the 1966 "Batman" series as well as the 1990s "Batman: The Animated Series." We've got the straight-up Batmobile that Adam West so happily drove, as well as a golden version of the wheels in "B:TAS."

See what else is on the Terrific TV Toys playlist.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Indulge your love of the Timmverse with "Batman: The Animated Series, A BRBTV Report," a short, snappy, exploration of the landmark TV show in e-book format for your Kindle or tablet -- and at only a buck and a half!

Visit BRBTV.com for more books celebrating the great classic TV shows you grew up with!

Last week, BRBTV dropped a recently unearthed video clip of our pal Brian wearing his Gilligan cosplay while meeting Dawn ("Mary Ann") Wells of "Gilligan's Island" at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in 2017. This week, we travel back in time a little further. This almost-forgotten clip was in the BRBTV archives from 2014, and it's a visit to the signing table of Dirk Benedict of "The A-Team." Here he autographs a copy of his book for Brian and talks a little about it.

We're not done yet! Look for more classic clips in the coming weeks.

A Japanese man in the 1960s era grabbing a Samurai sword and vowing to kill an American man? Then, the two men talk, their dialogue loaded with ethnic issues ... Do they come to understand each other? But wait, one is revealed as a traitor to his country's cause in WWII.  Plus, there's the fact that the Japanese man was portrayed by a legendary "Star Trek" actor who has spoken about a childhood in interment camps. It's an episode of classic "Twilight Zone" considered controversial, and it was actually banned from airing for decades. Brian and Bruce take on this episode as well as a couple others of Rod Serling's groundbreaking classic TV series regarded as controversial.

This author went fishing through the BRBTV archives recently -- or really, the broader archives of all videos and photos I have -- to find cool stuff for my secondary YouTube channel (subscribe and like and help a sister out, BTW!). Some interesting video clips emerged that have not seen the light of day until now. They're too precious not to post, especially the one dropping today! 

BRBTV contributor Brian, whose photos have been featured in the BRBTV fact book series over the years and whose writing has graced this very blog, enjoys cosplaying. One of his fave costumes is that of Gilligan of "Gilligan's Island," and BRBTV captured the very first time he did this cosplay at a con. This was at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Hunt Valley, Maryland, in September 2017. He wore it in honor of Dawn Wells, and she was rather enthused to meet him!

Look for a few other recently unearthed video clips in the coming weeks!

I just rewatched the 2012 TNT "Dallas" reboot series, rapid-fire, an episode a day -- sometimes two or three or more episodes in a day. I rewatched it all, and I loved it, and I missed it when it was gone. Why did I do it? Because I decided a few months ago to do something I had been wanting to do for years but just didn't really want to, in a way, because I knew it would be a bit of an ordeal. I decided to finally update the print edition of "Destination: Dallas" to include the continuity of the 2012 series. 

I had done it for the e-book (Kindle) edition a few years back. That was easy enough. That was just copying and pasting some text I wrote and re-uploading. Amazon does the rest. But the print edition ... ugh ... I  had used an older desktop publishing program to set it up (it was quite a few years ago), and the update required setting up the text in a whole different program and totally reformatting everything. Fairly laborious, though, alas, rewarding.

But hey, enough whining! It thus has been done, and I am very thankful. And it was super-wonderful to watch the reboot series again and recheck / edit  my episode synopses. I am an editor at heart, and I can edit something within an inch of its life, and believe me, that hard-copy proof from July / August is full of red. But it means a better product, and I'm glad for that. It is the final-final-final (!) of this book. I really don't like updating these books, because I never want to make a reader buy two versions. But I swear it's final! Pinky-swear or whatever!!!! Even if they were to reboot the series again, or produce some new product of it, I just cannot. I really cannot. (I am smiling as I say all of this!)

Anyway, it's here, my new bouncing baby book, and I hope you will enjoy it. I've gotten some great feedback from folks over the years, and some have even asked if I would update the print edition to include the later series. This print update added 138 pages -- from 312 to 450 -- so it's a monster. And it's still very affordable. I really don't adjust my book prices much -- I'm fond of lower prices. So many, many thanks to all who have contacted me about "Dallas" and the book over the years, and who have been so kind with their content suggestions / contributions! You out there are always welcome to contact me. :)

This author had the pleasure, a week or two back, to chat with two gentlemen who are keeping the love alive for our wonderful classic character the Green Hornet. And now that interview has dropped. We're talking "The Green Hornet Case Files," a podcast that has been rolling (as in, "Let's roll, Kato") for a year and a half now. And we're talking Greg and Kory -- actually, make that, I'm talking to Greg and Kory -- about all things Green Hornet. 

In their latest episode, we chat about the character through the decades, as well as my research, which I enjoyed greatly, for "Let’s Roll, Kato: A Guide to TV's Green Hornet." What could have helped the "Green Hornet"  1966 TV series succeed to a second season and beyond? We discuss that and more.

You can watch the podcast on YouTube and at the usual podcast locales, Apple and Spotify.

Thanks again, Greg and Kory!