New season starts tonight

Just a few thoughts as another season of Lawrence Welk on public television starts tonight...

Even though they're all repeats from last year, the weekly anticipation still stays stronger than ever!

Having Mary Lou Metzger and Bobby Burgess as co-hosts is working well, but in the future would like to see the return of the wraparounds by the Musical Family.

For once, maybe my station will finally show the Musical Tour of the USA from 1969, it ALWAYS gets pre-empted by those pesky pledge drives.

And speaking of pledge drives, will my station EVER show Marvin Hamlisch Presents: The Way We Were - The 70s? I say that because Guy & Ralna are in the show with some musical numbers.

And finally, for OETA when they are choosing new episodes for the 2011-12 season, I know that plenty of fans would like more classic black & white episodes but would guys also consider a few episodes from seasons 14 through 16 on ABC?

On that note, commence with the new season and happy viewing!

New season starts tonight

Gail and Ron's Excellent Adventure

Last weekend, the Hawkeye State's PBS station held it's Festival 2010 pledge drive, and during the showing of Welk Stars Through The Years....music makers Gail Farrell and Ron Anderson helped out during the pledge breaks.

The following pictures come to you courtesy from the fine folks of Iowa Public Broadcasting, whom are credited with taking these nice shots.

First, here's two thirds of our mixed trio (minus Michael Redman).....

The action is hot and heavy at the phone bank....

Our husband and wife team by the piano, singing....

Ron lends a helping hand by the pledge board.....

...and here's a lovely parting shot of Gail!

To view more photos from Festival 2010 like these, visit their album at IOWA PUBLIC TELEVISION'S PHOTOSTREAM AT FLICKR

Gail and Ron's Excellent Adventure

What did you do in the Great Pledge drive, Daddy?

Oh basically, without my weekly dose of Welk....I worked at my day job, watched the Oscars and other pledge drive specials and did some hard core blogging, Facebooking and Tweeting.

And speaking of Tweeting and pledge specials, I posted on my Twitter the following bit of original humor I like to call....

It's the made for public television specials that did not succeed in bringing in those dollars to PBS stations from coast to coast.

Such as.....

CELTIC WOMAN SINGS SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE

Nothing beats our favorite five Irish lassies singing "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)", "Dance To The Music" and "I Want To Take You Higher"

WAYNE DYER'S POWER TO PISS PEOPLE OFF

I think he does that already

RICK STEVES' NORTH DAKOTA

After visiting Europe, Rick shows you the exotic locales of Devils Lake, Fargo and Strasburg

MY MUSIC: GANGSTA RAP MEMORIES

The latest in the My Music series brings you musical memories straight outta Compton, I can just picture Nick Clooney and Suge Knight together during pledge breaks

DANIEL O' DONNELL'S DISCO PARTY

A charistmatic Irish crooner, white polyester and covers of Bee Gees, Village People and Donna Summer, who can ask for anything more?

GREAT PERFORMANCES: THE SPICE GIRLS

Forget Pavarotti, Bocelli or even Reba doing South Pacific....this Fab Five blows all others out of the water

THIS OLD HOUSE vs EXTREME MAKEOVER HOME EDITION

I just wanna see Norm Abram kick Ty Pennington's ass in this Battle Royale of these home improvement titans.


I wonder if Mary Lou would ask for your financial support for these programs?

What did you do in the Great Pledge drive, Daddy?

What the Music Makers are doing this pledge weekend

So far, very exciting and then some!

There's Mary Lou Metzger and her friends from Sacramento's PBS affiliate hosting a birthday celebration of what would've been the Maestro's 107th birthday.

LAWRENCE WELK BIRTHDAY WITH MARY LOU METZGER AT KVIE

Oh, if you're thinking about attending....they've reached full capacity.

Sorry!

And there's our friends from Iowa Public Television with their Festival, tonight it's Welk Stars Through The Years with Gail Farrell in the studio.

That's just the tip of the iceberg over in the Hawkeye State.

Next week it's Bobby Burgess and Mary Lou Metzger the week after.

What the Music Makers are doing this pledge weekend

Adventures in Public Broadcasting

After about two weeks of pledge drives in my area, I wonder if PBS ever thought about their shows doing crossovers to boost ratings....and pledges?

I can just picture it now.....

The cast of Sesame Street appearing on the new version of Electric Company

Poirot from Mystery! making a guest appearance on Austin City Limits....

....and the best one of them all

 

The cast of This Old House with their latest project, home renovation of any select Music Maker from the Welk Show....

Could be Anacani's house, with new additions to her kitchen....

 

....or maybe Sally and Clay Hart's home, looking to add more rooms

 

Who knows, maybe the roof on Ralna's house could use some new shingles?

 

The possibilites are endless!

Adventures in Public Broadcasting

Poll results and then some

The polls have closed here on Welk Musical Family, and here are the results....

Out of 45 total votes, your most favorite talent demonstrated by Jo Ann Castle on the Welk Show is......

.....those ragtime piano solos at a whopping 73% (33 total votes).

Followed by her accordion duets with Myron Floren at 13% (six votes)

Rounding out the rest is her novelty numbers at 11% (5 votes) and dancing with the fellas at 2% (1 vote).

Tonight is when my PBS affliate airs the new Welk pledge special titled "Welk Stars - Through The Years". Thank goodness I'll be taping it because I won't be able to watch it until at least Sunday evening (work, work, work!)

I'm looking forward to seeing it myself, and adding my two cents.

After you watch it, don't forget to vote in my latest new poll!

Poll results and then some

Pledge Naseum

Alas, it's pledge time again for the public televison networks.....which means no regular Welk shows for two weeks.

This week, we got "Say It With Music" for the second time this season and in condensed, edited-for-pledge breaks form. That is a first for me in all the years I have watched Lawrence Welk on my local PBS.

According to OETA, they scheduled "Songs of Johnny Mercer" from 1976....did anyone get to see that?

Back to the show I got (and the rest of Northwest Ohio as well)....several numbers were cut....such as Clay Hart's "Gentle On My Mind", Buddy Merrill's "It May Be Silly But Ain't It Fun" and the Calcutta number just to name a few.

Remember the good ol' days when they didn't edit and cut any numbers during pledge drives? That seems like ages ago....

....and now, a pledge haiku.

What's on PBS?

They're asking for your support

Empty your wallet

Hey, at least they didn't cut Gail Farrell's number.

....and that's always nice.

Pledge Naseum

I make a pledge....to do a Rocky haiku

If you're one of the fortunate few that got a regular Welk show this week, you've enjoyed "Big Band Memories" from January 5, 1980 which was a real treat.

However, my station was in pledge mode....so we in the Toledo area got "Precious Memories" on WGTE......for the 98th zillionth time.

I don't mind, I have already seen and taped "Big Band Memories" so I'm not missing anything.

Today, however, is a reason for us Welk fans to celebrate....it's Rocky Rockwell's birthday and here's a haiku in honor of him.

His name is Rocky

Comic, singer and trumpist

and he loves girls too.

I make a pledge....to do a Rocky haiku

Another week....another round of pledge specials....

On this Saturday.....we in the Toledo area were treated to "Lawrence Welk: God Bless America"

It's two hours full of patriotic American standards, such as "You're a Grand Old Flag", "Coming to America" and "From A Distance" just to name a few!

Here's Jo Ann Castle ticking the ivories from the show....

Afterwards, WGTE (my public broadcaster) aired My Music: 50s Pop Parade....

....and here's the real reason us Welk fans watched.....

I'm glad to say that Mary Lou got more camera time this go around....

Next week, everything should be back to normal, we're supposed to get "Winter" from 1967.....gotta get my VCR ready to go!

Another week....another round of pledge specials....

Here's a showstopper for you!

Just as I thought.....when I turned on the tube at seven last night, WGTE showed "Showstoppers", a repeat Welk episode from 1979 and not the new "Johnny Mercer" episode.

Fun topic to celebrate my 500th post on this high-quality blog....

Next week, the pledge fun continues when my station airs the "God Bless America" special from Branson in 2002.....that should be a trip down memory lane.

Did find out in addition to KBYU, the folks at Milwaukee Public Television are also showing the full slate of episodes this month.

And I must add that the good folks in Sudsville will be excited to say the least!

Here's a nice picture of the Aldridge Sisters and Otwell Twins singing "Cotton Fields" from last night's show.

Wanna see it again, thanks to YouTube....you can!

Here's a showstopper for you!

Utah never sounded so good.....

Been doing a Google search of Lawrence Welk show PBS affiliates.....I did discover that KBYU public television out of Provo, Utah has scheduled the full slate of Welk shows this December.

Makes me wish I was living in the Beehive State at this time....

Another station that comes closest is Iowa Public Television, which is carrying four of the five shows (with the Johnny Mercer episode being the lone exception).

Does your local PBS station come close to these two? Let's talk turkey!

Utah never sounded so good.....

It's pledge time again.....

That time of year has arrived again, public television stations are doing their pledge drives......nuts.

Which means alot of upcoming new Welk episodes will be pre-empted for special fund-raising programs and repeats.....double nuts.

And I just checked my local PBS station's schedule, they just did an about-face and will not air "Salute To Johnny Mercer" this Saturday.....triple nuts!

I know that funds from such drives like these are the lifeblood for any PBS station in America (I know because I've pledged my fair share every month, considering I do not make a ton of money), but that does not mean the station should give upcoming new Welk episodes the heave-ho.

I mean, is there really any incentive to give more $$$ if they continue this policy?

Just air the new shows as scheduled....and then you can air the Welk-related pledge specials afterwards, that's what I would do!

And Mary Lou Metzger would agree with that logic!

It's pledge time again.....

Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio....

.....and it is still pledge time for my local PBS stations, WGTE and WBGU.

WGTE aired "Precious Memories" again this evening, and while it's a very good show....that's two straight weeks! Could they have at least shown "Milestones and Memories" or even "God Bless America" for crying out loud?

They also aired My Music: The Best of Fifties (and Sixties) Pop: Part Two, and I felt that Mary Lou Metzger's co-hosting appearances second time around was very very short...she only appeared in ONE co-host segment (introducing the DeCastro Sisters...whom I never heard of) and two seperate pledge pitches when it came time for everyone to call in.

Still, even though her on-camera time was limited, Mary Lou is lookin' fine....hello nurse.

Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio....

When you go mail your Christmas cards....

Just don't forget to get some stamps! Also, be sure they are the right ones....LOL

Yesterday, we got "Precious Memories" in my viewing area....so no regular Welk which was scheduled to be "Hooray For Hollywood".

It's Pledge Time again....when public television needs cool cabbage to keep our champagne on the tube, and I'm doing my part.

I also took the time to create a new webpage, it's Welk Girls.com and right now it's still being put together but I do have some great stuff up already....click on the picture below to enter the webpage!

When you go mail your Christmas cards....

No Welk This Week....It's Pledge Time Again

Found out tonight that there was no Welk in my area tonight....it was time again for my local PBS station WGTE to run a mini-pledge a-thon, one of the programs was My Music, The Best Of Fifties Pop. The good news was that's the show that had our Mary Lou Metzger co-hosting...

Nice picture eh? I did hear that the featured Welk episode this week was Summer Sounds from 1966...I'll have a review up shortly.

Sad news here in Champagne Land, I found out online that Maxine Grey, who was Lawrence Welk's original Champagne Lady from the mid 1930s passed on less than a month ago, she was 92.

You can read more about it from an article courtesy of the Honolulu Star Bulletin, just CLICK HERE FOR THE OBITUARY

No Welk This Week....It's Pledge Time Again