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If you were to attempt a "Seinfeld" tour of the world, where would it take you? Plenty of fans of the beloved show have made a point to visit its most well-known landmarks, from the diner to the exterior of Jerry's apartment to the original (now replaced) Yankees Stadium. Along the way, they've all made a similar discovery: "Seinfeld" may be one of the most famous shows ever set in New York City, but its East Coast filming locations have greatly changed in the decades since the show debuted, and much of the heart of the show actually lies on the opposite U.S. coast.

"Seinfeld" was created in California just as much as New York, but there are still places you can visit to retrace the chaotic, delightfully morally bankrupt steps of Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), George (Jason Alexander), and Kramer (Michael Richards). The parking lots, office buildings,...

When it comes to Westerns on the small screen, few are as iconic as Norman Macdonnell and John Meston's "Gunsmoke." Based on the radio drama of the same name, the show debuted on CBS in 1955 and went on to become one of the longest-running television scripted series in American television history, producing over 600 episodes. Sadly, though, "Gunsmoke" rode off into the sunset after 20 seasons, but like all good gunslingers who can't stay down, it came back with a bang. "Gunsmoke" produced five television films after the series ended, and thanks to reruns and streaming, new generations continue to discover the classic TV Western.

"Gunsmoke" takes place in Dodge City, Kansas, and follows U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) and his deputies as they protect the town from outlaws, outsiders, troublemakers, and other wrong sorts. The series is also notable for featuring some bona fide Hollywood legends in early career roles,...

Jan Shepard, the actress who graced both the big screen and TV during Hollywood’s Golden Age, has passed away at 96. Born Josephine Angela Sorbello on March 19, 1928, in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, Shepard wasn’t just a name in the credits—she was a dynamo of talent.

Her career spanned decades, from classic films to the era of cowboy-filled TV shows. Shepard passed away on January 17, 2025, due to pneumonia and respiratory failure.

Jan Shepard

Though she’s no longer with us, her legacy blazes bright through her iconic roles, especially her indelible collaborations with Elvis Presley. Let’s take a look at her most iconic junctures, her remarkable career on TV, and the love story that endured longer than most Hollywood stars could ever dream of.

Jan Shepard’s iconic roles alongside Elvis Presley Elvis Presley and Jan Shepard in a scene from King Creole (Credits: Paramount Pictures)

Jan Shepard had her share of unforgettable roles,...

When science-fiction and horror overlap, there is running and screaming, the towns people grab pitchforks and torches and the very idea of what it means to be human is called into question. At least, that’s what happens in some of the best movies that dip into both genres.

The age-old question of where the ethical line is in science and whether it should be crossed never ceases to generate new terrors as technology continues to develop. Killer cyborgs and androids? Out-of-control genetic mutation? Radiation-spawned monsters? All of these have have fueled some of our favorite sci-fi horror films.

If you’re new to this subgenre, here are some great movies to start with:

Boris Karloff in Frankenstein (Credit: Universal Pictures) Frankenstein (1931)

The original mad scientist’s experiment gone wrong, with a career-making — and wordless — performance from lead Boris Karloff as the monster. With this and the horror hit “Dracula,...

20th Century Studios will finance a live-action remake of director Henry King’s 1950 ‘Old West’ feature “The Gunfighter”, for producer Ethan Hawke, paving the way for a resurgence in ‘gun’ movies, including reboots of “Gunsmoke” and “The Rifleman”:

“…in ‘The Gunfighter’ (1950), starring actor Gregory Peck, a young, reckless cowboy named ‘Eddie’ deliberately provokes an argument with notorious gunfighter ‘Jimmy Ringo’, who is widely known as the fastest draw in the West, making him the perpetual target of every young gunslinger eager to become famous as ‘the man who shot Ringo’.

“When Eddie draws his pistol, Ringo has no choice but to kill him. Eddie's three brothers seek revenge and pursue Ringo as he leaves town.

“Ringo ambushes and disarms them, then drives off their horses. He tells them to walk back to town; instead, they obtain fresh horses from a nearby stable and resume their pursuit…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

The best Superman stories are the ones that nail the love story of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. On that front, the ongoing animated series "My Adventures with Superman" succeeds and soars like Kal-El himself. This Clark (Jack Quaid) and Lois (Alice Lee) are adorable apart and even more so when they're together.

In "My Adventures," Clark's bumbling nerd persona isn't just an act to divert suspicion from him being Superman, he really is that nervous around Lois. Lois is reimagined as not yet a master reporter, but merely a Daily Planet intern who wants to be one. She's less sardonic, more scrappy and ambitious, but still plenty clever. They've experienced some relationship trouble so far (between Lois's trust issues and Clark's fears of rejection), but it never feels artificial and they always come back together.

Though an American production, "My Adventures with Superman" often feels like the Man of Steel...

Dr. Dre recently worked with Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and Eminem on Snoop’s twentieth studio album, Missionary. Dr. Dre said the four of them worked seamlessly together in the studio. Though Snoop and Eminem briefly feuded in 2020, they said the latter brought his all to the song. Dr. Dre said Eminem was willing to critique what they were working on to make it better.

Dr. Dre said Eminem is critical in the studio when working with Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent

Decades after working with Snoop on Doggystyle, Dr. Dre produced Missionary. On the album, he worked with Snoop, Eminem, and 50 Cent on the song “Gun Smoke.”

“The critiques come from Eminem,” Dr. Dre told Complex. “It’s like a friendly competition among us. And it’s healthy. You’ll hear it. Like the way 50 showed up on the first verse. Then Snoop comes in and then Eminem shows up...

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The workplace can be quite the adventure. Ideally, regardless of what you do, you clock in, perform your task to the best of your ability, behave courteously, and clock out. Because no one likes to have unnecessary drama in their life, you're probably careful not to ruffle any feathers. Even if you work with an absolute crank or a total slob, you don't take it upon yourself to police their objectionable actions. If it ever gets to the point where you can no longer abide a coworker's behavior, you take the matter to a superior or human resources and let them deal with it.

Some people, however, aren't afraid of direct conflict. If someone is repeatedly doing something they consider beyond the pale, they call the person out in the hopes of curtailing their misconduct. This can get awkward if...

Jan Shepard, who acted opposite Elvis Presley in 1958’s King Creole and 1966’s Paradise, Hawaiian Style, and appeared in more than 30 TV Westerns, died Jan. 17 at a hospital in Burbank, Calif. of pneumonia brought on by respiratory failure. She was 96.

In King Creole, noted as Presley’s favorite of his films, she portrayed his on-screen sister Mimi. Eight years later, Shepard played Presley’s business partner’s wife in the ’60s buddy musical comedy. In an interview from last year, Shepard said she wasn’t a fan of Presley’s ahead of working with him, but “once I met him, I just adored him.”

Per an official obituary, Presley and Shepard got on well and went to off-set lunches (where Marlon Brando once made a chance appearance). Describing him as a “big teddy bear,” Shepard once recalled that he gave her a pair of 10-cent earrings as a joke before...

Bluey was at the forefront of pop culture discourse for several weeks in the spring, as plenty of adult critics discussed how much the animated show meant to them. Its target audience probably didn’t read much of that discourse — kids under 10 aren’t big consumers of that sort of thing — but they (and their parents) kept watching week after week.

The series never fell off Nielsen’s top 10 streaming charts in 2024 — it’s been a fixture dating back to fall 2022, in fact — and ends the year as, by far, the most streamed show in the United States in terms of total viewing time. Nielsen says viewers watched 55.62 billion minutes of Bluey on Disney+ from Jan. 1-Dec. 29 (the end of Nielsen’s reporting for 2024), coming within striking distance of the all-time yearly record of 57.7 billion minutes that Suits set in 2023.

As was the case in 2023, the top 10 titles in Nielsen...

Fallout and Nobody Wants This ended 2024 as the top new original drama and comedy in streaming, respectively, Nielsen said Monday in a recap of the year.

Nielsen said preschool mainstay Bluey, Netflix drama Bridgerton and Disney animated feature Moana were the year’s top overall streaming titles. The Big-Bang Theory was named “most-binged title,” while Little House on the Prairie and Gunsmoke took home awards for “legacy” viewership.

The measurement firm presented its year-end findings in the form of a newly christened set of prizes: the Artey Awards. The name is both a nod to company founder Arthur C. Nielsen and an acronym for Audience Rated Television Entertainment of the Year.

In handing our ARTEYs, which succeed prior years’ “Streaming Unwrapped” reports, Nielsen noted that overall streaming surged 10% in 2024 over 2023 levels. The cumulative tally surpassed 12 trillion minutes, or the equivalent of 8.4 billion days or 23 million years.

Fallout racked up 11.95 billion...

“Bluey” and “Grey’s Anatomy” were the most-streamed programs of 2024, according to a year-end Nielsen report. The Australian preschool program racked up 55.62 billion viewing minutes on Disney+, while the long-running hospital drama nabbed 47.85 billion across Hulu and Netflix.

Animated series on Hulu took the next two spots — “Family Guy” with 42.44 billion minutes viewed and “Bob’s Burgers” with 36.80 billion — followed by “NCIS” with 35.91 billion across Netflix, Hulu and Paramount+. “Young Sheldon” and “The Big Bang Theory” ranked at No. 6 and No. 7, followed by “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Criminal Minds” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

Streaming in general was up 10% from 2023, with 12 trillion minutes in total. That equates to about 8.4 billion dates, or 23 million years’ worth of watching.

No originals debuted on the overall streaming top 10 chart. Netflix’s “Bridgerton” led that list with 21.42 billion viewing minutes, followed by the streamer’s dating series “Love Is Blind” with 16.45 billion. Rounding out the originals chart are “The Boys,...

We streamed 23 million years’ worth of stuff last year, Nielsen reported on Monday.

Specifically, U.S. viewers spent over 12 trillion minutes streaming in 2024, a 10% increase compared to 2023.

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Which seems like a lot!

The tally comes by way of Nielsen’s annual “Streaming Unwrapped” report, which beginning this year is honoring the most-streamed programs with the rechristened Artey Awards,...

Streaming gets attention for buzzy originals, but viewing of classics accounts for a large chunk of the total audience.

Nielsen acknowledged as much Monday by including shoutouts to two legacy titles, Little House on the Prairie and Gunsmoke, in its recap of 2024 viewing.

Little House racked up 13.3 billion minutes of viewing time last year, while Gunsmoke collected 10.23 billion minutes. In subscription streaming, Little House is available on Peacock, while Gunsmoke is on both Peacock and Paramount+. Because of the fact that Nielsen measures streaming programming via audio signals, it can detect viewing across the wider streaming world, including free, ad-supported services like Pluto or Tubi as well as Fast channels.

The two classic series were named winners of Nielsen’s newly coined “Artey Awards,” whose name is both a nod to company founder Arthur C. Nielsen and an acronym for Audience Rated Television Entertainment of the Year. Fallout and Nobody...

Jan Shepard, who guest-starred on Rawhide, The Virginian, Gunsmoke and two dozen other TV Westerns and played opposite Elvis Presley in movies eight years apart, has died. She was 96.

Shepard died Jan. 17 at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank of pneumonia brought on by respiratory failure, her son, Hollywood prop master, Brandon Boyle, told The Hollywood Reporter. “She was a good one and will be dearly missed,” he said.

Shepard portrayed Mimi, the sister of Presley’s Danny Fisher, in the Michael Curtiz-directed King Creole (1958) and the wife of Danny Kohana (James Shigeta), who partners with Presley’s Rick Richards in a helicopter business, in Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966).

“The first time, I found him to be just the cutest kid around, a big teddy bear, a lot of fun,” she said in an interview for Boyd Magers and Michael G. Fitzgerald’s 1999 book, Westerns Women. But on their next movie,...

In 2020, Snoop Dogg shared his top ten rappers and did not include Eminem on the list. This began a feud between the two rappers. It didn’t last long, but Eminem felt quite disrespected for a time. He shared what Snoop said that upset him.

Eminem and Snoop Dogg were at odds for a time

When asked about his top ten rappers, Snoop said Eminem reached his level of success because of Dr. Dre.

“Eminem, the great White hope. White rappers had zero respect in rap. Let’s keep that one thou-wow. None,” he said on The Breakfast Club. “He [Dr. Dre] has probably put Eminem in the position to where he could be one of the top ten rappers ever. I don’t think so, but the game feels like he’s top ten lyricists and all that that comes with it. But, that’s just because he’s with Dr.

Snoop Dogg has built a reputation for his prolific marijuana consumption, something Dr. Dre became quite familiar with when the two smoked together. He said he has zero plans to smoke with Snoop again. The experience was far too overwhelming for him.

Dr. Dre said he never wants to smoke with Snoop Dogg again

When asked about his “dream blunt rotation,” Dr. Dre had a solid group of musicians lined up.

I’m going to go with [Kurt] Cobain. Ella Fitzgerald,” he told Complex in 2024. “I really like this version of her singing ‘Round Midnight.’ Thelonious Monk and George Clinton. But I smoked one time with Snoop.”

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg | Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc

While Dr. Dre is friends with Snoop, he did not include him in his dream blunt rotation. He said that the one time he did smoke with Snoop, it was an experience he hopes to never relive.

Taylor Sheridan tells stories that stick with you.

His shows take us into parts of American life that don’t usually make it to TV.

From Yellowstone to Lioness, he doesn’t just entertain — he shows us struggles and realities we might not see otherwise.

(Paramount+/Screenshot) Giving Voice to Unseen Worlds

Sheridan’s stories feel real because they’re rooted in truth. Yellowstone is a perfect example: the Dutton family fights to hold onto their Montana ranch, but it’s about more than just land.

It’s about identity, heritage, and keeping a way of life alive as the world changes around them. The prequels, 1883 and 1923, go back to show how that legacy was built through grit and sacrifice.

Then there’s Landman. Sheridan takes on the oil business, digging into the complicated lives of the people who keep the world running.

(Emerson Miller / Paramount)

It’s not a pretty picture,...

Emmett Walsh isn't the most important Yellowstone character, but his death was still one of the most tragic. Taylor Sheridan's Western show delves deep into the complex dynamics of the Dutton family, who own the largest contiguous ranch in the United States. Yellowstone masterfully intertwines themes of power, love, and loyalty against the rugged backdrop of Montana's landscapes. Its narrative is rich with the tension between preserving traditions and embracing the inevitable changes brought by modernity. The Duttons navigate threats from land developers, conflicts at the bordering national park, and internal family strife.

Within this sprawling saga, Emmett Walsh emerges as a standout in the Yellowstone cast whose journey, though sparingly showcased, encapsulates the soul of the cowboy ethos. Portrayed by the venerable Buck Taylor, Walsh is introduced in the very first episode as the chairman of the Stock Growers Association and makes a poignant exit in season 5, episode 6, "Cigarettes,...

John Wayne made a secret appearance on famed Western series Wagon Train - though his voice still gave him away. There's a persistent rumor John Wayne turned down Gunsmoke, one of the longest-running TV shows in history. While major stars regularly cross over from movies to television now, this was almost unheard of back in the 1950s, and an actor of Wayne's stature would never have even considered fronting a TV show. Still, Wayne recorded an intro to Gunsmoke as a favor to leading man James Arness.

Aside from Gunsmoke, another of the major Western shows from this period was Wagon Train. Running for eight seasons, this followed the misadventures of the titular wagon train as it made its way to California and encountered guest stars like Charles Bronson, Leonard Nimoy and Bette Davis along the trail. Wagon Train itself was partly inspired by John Wayne's first major film The Big Trail...

It's curious that "Gunsmoke" isn't talked about more in the modern pop discourse, given how persistent and ubiquitous it once was. Perhaps "Gunsmoke" is seen as something of a relic because Westerns, as many famous ones as there are, aren't dominating the present-day landscape. If "Gunsmoke" were a sci-fi or superhero show, many pundits might be pointing to it as a precedent for everything that is currently popular. The long-running Western, however, still kind of is. Its characters and settings -- having so deeply entrenched themselves into the zeitgeist over a full two decades of airtime -- can serve as a widespread template for just about everything that came after. "Gunsmoke" is one of televised medium's grandparents. It ran on the radio from 1951 until 1961, and on TV from 1955 until 1975 when it was somewhat abruptly canceled.

For those unfamiliar, "Gunsmoke" takes place in Dodge City, Kansas in the years following the U.

Thanks to the earworm that is "The Ballad of Gilligan's Island," most audiences know how Gilligan (Bob Denver) and the other castaways became stranded. Gilligan and the Skipper (Alan Hale) took five passengers on an intended three-hour tour of the Hawai'ian islands when they hit rough weather and were thrown off-course. The ship set ground on the shore of an uncharted desert isle, and the seven castaways had to learn to survive. Because "Gilligan's Island" was broad and cartoonish, however, the survival was never harrowing or even particularly difficult. There were rarely food or water shortages, and everyone brought huge amounts of clothes and supplies. Life actually seemed okay on Gilligan's Island, the utter isolation notwithstanding.

Series creator Sherwood Schwartz said that he intended "Gilligan's Island" to be an idealized microcosm of a well-functioning American democracy. Seven character, all from different classes, are forced to live together by extreme circumstances,...

Holiday episodes have long been a staple of TV sitcoms. Just about every long-running series gets around to doing at least one Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas episode, while some shows (like "The Big Bang Theory") turn it into a tradition. When done well, they can reveal more about the main characters via reflections on past holidays in their lives or simply the sight of watching them deal with the pressure of, say, finding the perfect costume or whipping up a feast to remember. With Christmas, there's often a touch of melancholy mixed in with the festive spirit. Some people feel lonely or regretful at Christmastime, so it's comforting to see one or more of our favorite characters do a little soul searching.

If you're looking for characters to contend with life's curveballs in a meaningful way, you're probably not looking to "Gilligan's Island." The Sherwood Schwartz sitcom about seven castaways...

Gunsmoke welcomed plenty of guest stars during its 20-season run from 1955 to 1975. Bette Davis, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Bruce Dern, and Angie Dickinson were among the notable actors who paid a visit to Dodge City over the years. Future Oscar-winner Jodie Foster is also on the list of actors who did time on Gunsmoke. She appeared several times on the show, including a memorable Christmas episode.

Jodie Foster appeared in the ‘Gunsmoke’ episode ‘P.S. Murry Christmas’ Jodie Foster and Amanda Blake in the 1971 ‘Gunsmoke’ episode ‘P.S. Murry Christmas’ | CBS via Getty Images

Foster started as a child model and actor in the ’60s, appearing in shows such as Mayberry R.F.D. and Julia. Later, she landed roles in Bonanza, My Three Sons, and Gunsmoke. She appeared in three episodes of the latter show, once in season 15 and twice in season 17, playing different characters each time.

Her second...

The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp is a television series that aired in the late 1950s, exploring the infamous adventures of the American lawman as he traveled through the Wild West and famously fought against the dangerous Cowboys. The show was an immense success that really helped push Westerns into mainstream media, where they had previously existed solely as huge cinematic events. In particular, this series was among the best Western shows of all time thanks to its gripping storytelling and interesting, complex characters based on real figures.

Additionally, The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp was a very educational series that taught audiences much about this real person, although much of his narrative was exaggerated for entertainment value. It became one of the defining stories about this period of history, and contributed strongly to Earp’s role as the most famous lawman remembered from the Wild West period.

Police dramas were flourishing in the 1970s (and later parodied in the 1980s) thanks to "Dragnet" when television writer Robert L. Collins hit upon what counted as a genius notion at the tail end of the Richard M. Nixon administration: what if instead of "policeman," "policewoman?" NBC said "Show us," and Collins responded with the buzzy "Police Woman" starring Angie Dickinson as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson.

"Police Woman" was about as progressive as you could expect from an hour-long network drama in the '70s when it was rare for a drama of any genre to be headed up by a woman. Once a week, Dickinson struck a quasi-feminist figure as an ultra-capable officer of the law with a penchant for dressing in tight-fitting shirts in pants. At least once she went undercover in a swimsuit. And as she complained to the press years later, the writers liked to have...

There's a long-standing rumor about John Wayne's connection to Western series Gunsmoke that needs to be put to rest. John Wayne fronted around 80 Westerns in his career, and by the 1950s was one of the most famous movie stars in the world. This was also a period when there was a total dividing line between film and television. Some actors like Steve McQueen were able to leap from TV to film stardom - but this was rare. A star going from moves to television was even rarer, but there remains a legend around Gunsmoke that Wayne passed on starring.

Pretty much any article or retrospective on the classic series opens with this factoid. Even star James Arness was under this impression, stating in a 2006 Scv interview that "When the "Gunsmoke" offer came in, [Wayne] said, "I wouldn't be able to do it, but I have a young man here under...

General Hospital alum and the last living member of The Mod Squad has died. He was 84 years old.

A Full And Vibrant Life

According to USA Today, publicist Rachel Harris announced that the actor passed at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center. Cole’s representative said he died “peacefully this morning, surrounded by loved ones, after living a full and vibrant life.”

“Beyond his career, Michael Cole will be remembered for his warm and generous spirit,” a statement provided by Harris read. “Known among friends and family for his wit, charm, and boundless compassion, he brought joy to every room he entered.

“A storyteller at heart, he had a way of making those around him feel special, often regaling them with anecdotes from his Hollywood days or sharing wisdom from his remarkable journey.”

Cole portrayed Pete Cochran on the ABC series The Mod Squad, which ran from 1968 to 1973. He starred alongside...

Michael Cole, who most famously portrayed Pete Cochran, one of the three young undercover cops on ABC’s crime drama Mod Squad died on Tuesday, December 10. He was 84 years old. Cole’s representatives shared that the actor died “peacefully this morning, surrounded by loved ones, after living a full and vibrant life.” The actor passed away at Providence Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Tarzana, California, publicist Rachel Harris announced, according to The Hollywood Reporter. No cause of death has been revealed at this time. Cole was born on July 3, 1940, in Madison, Wisconsin. He guest-starred on multiple shows in the 1960s, including Gunsmoke, before he got his big breakthrough via Mod Squad, alongside Peggy Lipton and Clarence Williams III. Cole’s character was the disgruntled son of well-to-do parents. After his character got arrested, he avoided jail time when all three agreed to become cops. The tagline for the hit series was “One white,...

Michael Cole, who gained fame as one of the three stars of ABC’s The Mod Squad, has died at the age of 84.

Cole passed away Tuesday in Los Angeles at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, his publicist Rachel Harris tells The Hollywood Reporter. No official cause of death has been released.

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Cole worked in film and theater, along with a guest appearance on Gunsmoke, before landing...

Michael Cole, who starred as Pete Cochran on the hit counterculture drama Mod Squad and later played Harlan Barrett on General Hospital during a 50-year acting career, has died. He was 84.

His reps at Bmf announced the news, but did not provide details.

Born July 3, 1940 in Madison Wi, Cole was one of the three young hippies-turned-cops alongside Julie (Peggy Lipton) and Link (Clarence Williams III) in Mod Squad, which debuted in September 1968 on ABC. “One White, One Black, One Blonde” read the promo materials for the series, which was aimed at a youthful audience during a turbulent time. The trio was given a choice: fight crime or be sent to jail themselves. They chose the former, under the tutelage of Capt. Adam Greer (Tige Andrews).

Executive produced by Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas, Mod Squad tapped into the zeitgeist of the late ’60s, portraying a positive image for the counterculture...

Michael Cole, who played Pete Cochran, one of the three hip young cops on “The Mod Squad,” died Tuesday. He was 84.

Cole’s reps said he died “peacefully this morning, surrounded by loved ones, after living a full and vibrant life.”

Born on July 3, 1940, in Madison, Wisc., Cole guested on shows like “Gunsmoke” before breaking through on “The Mod Squad.” The ABC series aired from 1968 to 1973, co-starring Peggy Lipton and Clarence Williams III. Cole’s character Pete Cochran had been a troubled son of wealthy Beverly Hills parents, who found redemption through his work as an undercover officer on the squad. The show often tackled contemporary social issues including abortion, domestic violence and police brutality.

“Mod Squad” marked one of the first reflections of a changing mid-century culture on television, with Cole as a delinquent, Lipton as a runaway from her prostitute mother’s home and Williams as a man...

Michael Cole, who portrayed Pete Cochran, one of the three young undercover cops that made up The Mod Squad on the 1968-73 ABC series, died Tuesday. He was 84.

Cole died at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, publicist Rachel Harris announced. No cause of death was revealed.

Produced by Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas, The Mod Squad also starred Peggy Lipton as flower girl Julie Barnes (a vagrant who had fled her prostitute mother) and Clarence Williams III as Lincoln Hayes (arrested during the Watts riots). Pete, meanwhile, was a rich kid who had been booted from his parents’ home after being caught stealing and racing a car.

To avoid jail time, the three agreed to become cops under the guidance of Captain Adam Greer (Tige Andrews). The tagline for the hit series was “One white, one black, one blonde.” (Cole titled his 2018 memoir I Played the White Guy.)

The Mod Squad...

Peacock has plenty of classic and Christmas films arriving in December 2024, from its extension with Hallmark+ for extended cuts of Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story and Three Wise Men and a Boy to the arrival of Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Stole Christmas and two versions of Miracle on 34th Street.

New animated adventures also await the whole family with films like Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken and Sing 2 when they arrive for streaming later on in the month.

Find the full list of what’s new on Peacock in December 2024 below:

Dec. 1

American Hangman Another Kind of Wedding Beethoven (‘92) Believe in Christmas+ Beverly Hills Wedding The Big Lebowski The Blessing Bracelet Bridal Wave Brown Sugar Catch Me If You Can The Change-Up Country At Heart Cut, Color, Murder Deep Impact Donkey’s Caroling Christmas-Tacular Dr. Seuss’ The Cat In The Hat Dream Moms Drumline East Side Sushi...

Fans of modern Western shows are enjoying something of a Golden Age for the genre, thanks, in no small part, to the storytelling genius of Taylor Sheridan. The actor turned writer and director is a pioneering force at the very point of a new frontier, with the juggernaut Yellowstone shared universe, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, and newly-launched Landman exploring the eternal appeal of Old West with a modern spin.

Sheridan's success wouldn't be possible without the shows that flattened the long grass before it: you can trace a line straight back from Yellowstone to The Lone Ranger, but even more pertinently, the likes of NBC's long-running Bonanza, which aired 431 episodes between 1959 and 1973, and the even longer-running Gunsmoke. The time settings may not be the same, but Sheridan's focus on intertwining character dynamics, high-drama, and flexible moral spectrums were the same reasons Bonanza and Gunsmoke earned their stunning longevity.

The...

Earl Holliman, the actor best known for playing Angie Dickinson’s boss on the 1970s NBC cop drama Police Woman, has died. He was 96.

Holliman died Monday in hospice care at his home in Studio City, his spouse, Craig Curtis, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Holliman won a best supporting actor Golden Globe for portraying Katharine Hepburn’s girl-crazy kid brother in The Rainmaker (1956) — he beat out Elvis Presley for the role — and then appeared in another Burt Lancaster film, as Wyatt Earp’s assistant in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).

In the George Stevens epic Giant (1956), the Louisiana native played the son-in-law of Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson’s characters, was the cook in Forbidden Planet (1956) and appeared as the brother of John Wayne, Dean Martin and Michael Anderson Jr. in Henry Hathaway’s The Sons of Katie Elder (1965).

Holliman also portrayed a man with amnesia in a deserted town...

Kurt Russell was born to play a cowboy on the screen. After all, his old man, Bing Russell, starred in classics like "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza," so one could argue that the Western genre has always been in his DNA. Unfortunately, horse operas were going out of style when Kurt landed a starring role on "The Quest" in 1976, a one-season wonder that NBC canceled after 15 episodes due to poor ratings.

Created by Tracy Keenan Wynn, "The Quest" sees Russell and Tim Matheson play Morgan and Quentin Beaudine, a pair of long-lost brothers who reunite to search for their long-lost sister in the wild frontier. The siblings couldn't be more different, as Morgan was raised by a Cheyenne tribe and only knows the Wild West, while Quentin is a doctor who grew up in San Francisco, making him quite unaccustomed to the rough-and-tumble cowboy lifestyle. However, their quest to find their sister,...

Theres something to be said about the enduring legacy of Gunsmoke, the Western that became an institution on both radio and television, and a big part of that includes the late actor, Burt Reynolds. Created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston, the radio series ran from 1952 to 1961 and the Gunsmoke show ran for 20 years on CBS, from 1955 to 1975. It was a feat unheard of for live-action prime-time television until the record was finally broken by NBCs Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which premiered in 1999 and is still active 25 years later.

The wildly successful Gunsmoke follows U.S. Marshall Matt Dillon as he fights for justice in 1870s Dodge City, Kansas. Dillon was played by actor James Arness, who was joined by an ensemble of previously established stars rounding out the Gunsmoke cast, including Milburn Stone, Amanda Blake, Dennis Weaver, Glenn Strange, Buck Taylor, and Ted Jordan. When...

Little House on the Prairie is set on a scenic farm near the lovely little town of Walnut Grove, Minnesota, but fans may be surprised to learn that the series was not actually filmed there. The life-lesson-filled Little House on the Prairie delighted viewers young and old for the nine seasons it aired. With its charming cast of characters, relatable storylines that could easily be transposed over a modern world, and its commitment to making sure the story remained engrossing, Little House on the Prairie has endured long past its final episode.

Another piece of the success of Little House on the Prairie comes from its setting. The Ingalls family lives on a picturesque farm on Plum Creek, which is only a short trip away from the larger town of Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Both locations are gorgeous, memorable settings that the audience came to know intimately. With its rolling hills,...

Plenty of notable actors appeared on Gunsmoke over its 20 years on the air, including Bette Davis, Bruce Dern, Angie Dickinson, and Sam Elliott. Also on the list is Leonard Nimoy, who appeared in the 1966 episode “The Treasure of John Walking Fox.” Though Nimoy’s time on the popular Western series was brief, it was memorable, he recalled in interviews later in his life.

Leonard Nimoy appeared on ‘Gunsmoke’ shortly before ‘Star Trek’ premiered Leonard Nimoy in 2013 | Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

In a conversation with the Television Academy Foundation about his long career in TV, Nimoy recalled his last role on Gunsmoke, a show on which he appeared multiple times.

“What was particularly interesting was that Gunsmoke was the last job I did just before I started shooting Star Trek,” he said. “I had already done the Star Trek pilot, and I was hired for this story, playing an Indian.”

In...

The 1993 Western Tombstone turned Kurt Russell into an icon of the genre, but he wouldn't have been able to play Wyatt Earp if it hadn't been for his earlier roles in Gunsmoke. Kurt Russell has had a long and successful acting career, and Westerns have played a large role in it. From 1964's Guns of Diablo all the way to 2015's The Hateful Eight, Russell has been a figure of the Western genre for over 60 years. Despite his multiple appearances in Western movies and shows, however, Russell didn't become a true legend in the genre until he appeared in Tombstone.

Before he could make a legendary name for himself in Tombstone, however, Kurt Russell needed experience acting in Westerns. Luckily, Gunsmoke gave him that experience and much more. Gunsmoke is widely considered one of the best Western shows ever made, and it's certainly the longest-running. It's a symbol of the...

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Enterprising fans of Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island" have figured out more or less where the "Island" might be in the Pacific Ocean. Using Hawai'i as a starting point, and including known information about the make and model of the S.S. Minnow, certain viewers on Reddit have tried to calculate how far such a boat could have drifted during a three-hour tour. Some have even incorporated known tropical storm wind speeds and the fastest a non-operational ship could have drifted in the Pacific to locate Gilligan's desert isle. One calculation puts the island about two-thirds of the way to Midway Island from Hawai'i. Those calculations, however, are based on a lot of unspoken assumptions.

Much easier to figure out are the locations of the "Gilligan's Island," as complete records exist on the show's high-profile production. Most of "Gilligan's Island...

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Shrinking season 2, episode 4, "Made You Look"!Harrison Ford is still a highlight of Apple TV+'s comedy-drama Shrinking, but season 2 features a joke that doubles as a reminder that the actor nearly became Batman. The 82-year-old actor plays the veteran therapist Dr. Paul Rhoades, whose old-school methods often clash with his co-worker and fellow therapist, Jimmy (Jason Segel). Though Ford is one of the most notable members of Shrinking's cast list, his involvement in the show is noteworthy for another reason.

In addition to Shrinking season 2, Ford currently stars as Jacob Dutton in the Yellowstone spinoff 1923. Before these two roles, however, Ford had never played a main character in a TV show. Sure, the actor has appeared in several shows like The F.B.I., Gunsmoke, and even The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, but the roles were limited guest appearances. The actor made a name for himself in major movie roles,...

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For a generation of TV-watching Americans (or two), "Gunsmoke" was can't-miss programming. Adapted from an already wildly popular radio show of the same name, the 1955 TV series got in on the ground level of the newly ubiquitous medium and quickly became a household staple. A Western made at a time when the genre dominated the big and small screens alike, "Gunsmoke" starred James Arness as U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon, a duty-bound public official living in Dodge City, Kansas sometime after the Civil War.

"Gunsmoke" broke plenty of records in its time, thanks in large part to its impressive 20-season run on CBS. Couple that with the radio show that started three years before the TV drama, and for decades, Marshal Dillon and Dr. Galen Adams (Milburn Stone) were the fictional characters with the longest continuous run in an American TV-based franchise.

In the realm of television, shooting a pilot is by no means a guarantee of going to series. The broadcast landscape is littered with failed one-and-done ventures like "Heat Vision and Jack," "Lookwell" and the "Beverly Hills Cop" series starring Brandon T. Jackson. If network executives don't like the way a promising concept plays once its up on its feet and before a camera, they'll nix it without a second thought. So it's important for show creators to put their best foot forward with that pilot, lest they join those aforementioned shows and hundreds of others on the scrap heap.

Amazingly, some shows can slap together a disastrous pilot and still make it to series. "Game of Thrones" famously stumbled out of the gate (forcing the producers to recast Daenerys Targaryen). Meanwhile, on the other end of the tonal spectrum, "Gilligan's Island" encountered choppy waters on its way to smooth...

Big screen Westerns might've been falling out of favor at the U.S. box office in 1965 (thus paving the way for Spaghetti Westerns to become a surprise sensation when Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy rode into movie theaters throughout the course of 1967), but television Westerns were still swaggering their way to strong ratings thanks to "Bonanza," "Gunsmoke," and the hybrid Western/spy/sci-fi series "The Wild Wild West." And with "Rawhide" finally drawing to a close that year (thereby allowing its star Clint Eastwood to become a modern Western star), there was suddenly room for a new, sudsy, ranch-bound saga about scheming landowners and warring heirs.

"The Big Valley" whooped it up for a solid four-season run, running out of steam in 1969 at around the same moment the television Westerns began going the way of classical big screen oaters. Until then, viewers were hooked on the doings at the Barkley Ranch,...

Gunsmoke fans have a chance to own a piece of TV history. Props from the iconic Western series are set to hit the auction block on Nov. 15.

Fans can bid on ‘Gunsmoke’ props used by James Arness Ken Curtis and James Arness in ‘Gunsmoke’ | Getty Images

Julien’s Auctions is handling the sale of the Gunsmoke props, costumes, and memorabilia. Items come from the estate of James Arness, who played Marshall Matt Dillon on the show, which aired from 1955 to 1975 on CBS. Other collectibles are associated with cast members Burt Reynolds and Dennis Weaver.

Collectors can bid on more than 230 one-of-a-kind items, including Matt Dillon’s Colt single action revolver, which is estimated to sell for between $20,000 and $40,000.

Matt Dillon’s saddle could sell for $60,000 Items from the ‘Gunsmoke’ auction | Julien’s Auctions Related

‘Gunsmoke’: Matt Dillon’s Hat Is in the Smithsonian

Among the other big-ticket items available...

Getting your first big break in Hollywood can be tricky; the journey to superstardom relies as much upon luck and the correct combination of circumstances as it does innate talent. Even someone like Clint Eastwood — whose impressively prolific career spans several decades and has molded him into a cultural icon — struggled to make a mark when he first set out to act. When Eastwood auditioned for the first time, he was rejected -- a likely occurrence for even the biggest stars today, as the perfect opportunities often boil down to the right connections and a performance suited to the role. After Eastwood dealt with a string of unsuccessful auditions in 1954, he scored a minor, uncredited role in Jack Arnold's "Revenge of the Creature," and went on to star in similar parts that mostly amounted to brief appearances with little to no dialogue.

In an attempt to diversify his career,...

There are some sitcoms that simply don't work if you're down so much as a single cast member. Could you imagine an episode of "Cheers" without Sam, Carla, Cliff and Norm? The series' producers and writers couldn't, which is why they never missed an episode. The same was true on a much larger scale for "The Brady Bunch," where every single member of the family (and their live-in housekeeper Alice) reported for duty on all 117 episodes.

This kind of consistency was evidently key to a successful Sherwood Schwartz sitcom. The writer/producer who created "The Brady Bunch" was also the mastermind behind "Gilligan's Island," the CBS joker about seven castaways who wash up on the shore of an uncharted island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The key to the show's success was its shamelessness: from the pilot to the series finale (which arrived a little sooner than expected thanks to...

Meet the new Matlock. CBS has reimagined the classic Andy Griffith series, with Kathy Bates stepping into the title role. In the new version of the show, she plays Madeline “Matty” Matlock, a grieving mother and lawyer who returns to work at a white-shoe law firm with ties to the pharmaceutical companies that manufactured the drugs that killed her daughter.

Bates is clearly the star of the show, but she’s just one part of the new Matlock cast. She’s joined by Beau Bridges, Jason Ritter, and Skye P. Marshall. With the show’s second episode airing Oct. 17 on CBS, let’s review who’s who in the Matlock reboot.

Kathy Bates as Matty Matlock Kathy Bates as Matty Matlock | Brooke Palmer/CBS ©2023 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Oscar-winner Bates plays Matty, who talks her way into a job at the prestigious law firm Jacobson Moore in the series premiere.