Ted, Linda and Junior

For The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed Ted Danson for my House Call column in the Mansion section (go here). Ted, of course, starred in Cheers, The Happy Place and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Now he's in a new series, A Man on the Inside, a drama-comedy about a retired professor who answers an ad for work and becomes an amateur private investigator. It's funny and touching. [Photo of Ted Danson in A Man in the Inside by Colleen E. Hayes/Netflix]

Here's Ted in Curb Your Enthusiasm...

And here's Ted in the new Netflix series...

Also in the WSJ this week, my monthly Album@50 essay was on Linda Ronstadt's Heart Like a Wheel (go here). Released 50 years ago this month, the album transformed Linda's career and set her on a path to superstardom. The record still resonates.

Here's Clint Ballard Jr.'s You're No Good. The instrumental arrangement and Linda's shift between soul on the verse and gospel on the chorus are brilliant...

WHAT I'VE WATCHED

My favorite streaming TV series, ranked...

Babylon Berlin
My Brilliant Friend
Killing Eve
The Crown
The Americans
Band of Brothers
Landman
Friday Night Lights
Feud: Bette and Joan
Downton Abbey
The Blacklist
Goliath
The Gentlemen
Turn: Washington's Spies
Unbelievable
Justified
Voiceless (Bella da morire (2020/MHz)

Just viewed and highly recommended...

Best Christmas Pageant Ever (2024)—A surprisingly precious and funny film, from a woman's perspective, about a small town that stages a Nativity play about the birth of Jesus Christ. All is well until the rottenest kids in town, the Herdmans, show up and want in. At theaters now.

Here's the trailer...

Friday Night Lights (2006-2011)—Still watching this one. A fantastic series I missed when it came out focusing on a Texas football town and the drama that goes on with the gridiron at the center of it all. Great performances by Connie Britton, Taylor Kitsch and Minka Kelly. (Netflix)

Here's the trailer...

The Blacklist (2013-2023)—I'm stalled on Season 6 out of 10 but plan to return to this spy-thriller series. James Spader is fantastic as the man who knows where the bad guys are and, in action-packed scenes, does away with them with an FBI task force. Lots of other subplots going on throughout. An attention-holder. (Netflix)

Have watched and recommended, plus start dates...

Landman S1 (Nov. 17/Paramount+)
Interior Chinatown S1 (Now/Hulu)
A Man on the Inside S1 (Now/Netflix)
No Good Deed S1 (Dec. 12/Netflix)
American Primeval S1 (Jan. 9/Netflix)
Back in Action (Jan. 17/Netflix)

Recommended...

TV series

The Affair—(2014-2019/Hulu)
Alaska Daily—(2022/Prime)
The Americans—(2013-2018)/Prime)
Anatomy of a Scandal—(2022/Netflix)
Apples Never Fall—2024/Peacock)
Babylon Berlin (2017-2024/MHz via Prime Video)
Band of Brothers—(2001/Netflix)
The Bay (2019-current/BritBox)
The Blacklist (2013-2023/Netflix)
Belgravia—(2020/Prime Video)
Blue Lights—(2023/BritBox)
Bosch—(2014-2021/Prime)
Bosch: Legacy—(2022-current/Prime)
The Crown—(2016-2023/Netflix)
Cherif—(2013-2019/Prime)
Dark Winds—(2022/AMC)
The Diplomat—(2023/Netflix)
Downton Abbey—(2020-2015/Prime)
Emily in Paris—(2020-present/Netflix)
Feud (S1): Bette and Joan—(2017/Hulu)
Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans—(2024/FX, with streaming on Hulu)
Fisk—(2021/Netflix)
Friday Night Lights (2006-2011/Netflix)
The Gentlemen—(2024/Netflix)
Godless—(2017/Netflix)
Goliath—(2016-2021/Prime)
The Gilded Age—(current/Max)
High Water—(2022/Netflix)
Homeland—(2011-2020/Showtime)
Jane Eyre—(2006/Britbox)
Justified—(2010-2015/Hulu)
Killing Eve—(2018-2022/Netflix)
Life & Beth—(Seasons 1& 2, 2022-present/Hulu)
Lincoln Lawyer—(2022-present/Netflix)
Loudermilk—(2017-2020/Netflix)
MI-5, the Series—(2002-2011/BritBox)
Monsieur Spade—(2024/AMC)
Murdaugh Murders: The Movie, Parts 1 and 2—(2023/Lifetime)
My Brilliant Friend—(2018-current)
1923—(2022-present/Paramount+)
1883—(2021-2022/Prime)
Outlander—(2014-present/Netflix)
Pieces of Her—(2022/Netflix)
Poldark—(2015-2019/Prime)
Reacher—(2016-present/Netflix)
Ripley—(2024/Netflix)
Scott & Bailey (2011-2016/Prime)
Turn: Washington's Spies—(2014-2017/Prime)
Unbelievable—(2019/Netflix)
Under the Banner of Heave—(2022/Hulu)
Veronica Mars—(2004 to 2019/Hulu)
Voiceless (Bella da morire—(2020/MHz)
The Watcher—(2022/Netflix)
The Way Home—(2023-current/Peacock)
Who Is Erin Carter—(2023/Netflix)
The Woman in the Wall—(2024/Showtime)
The Veil—(2024/Hulu-FX)
Wilder—(2017-current)
WPC 56—(2013-2015/Britbox)
Yellowstone—(2018-present/Paramount Network)

Films

The Accountant—(2016/Hulu)
American Gangster—(2007/Max)
Armageddon Time—(2022/Prime)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs—(2018/Netflix)
The Ballad of Lefty Brown—(2017/Netflix)
Blackout (2022/Netflix)
The Bricklayer—(2024/Netflix)
The Commuter (2018/Netflix)
The Dig—(2021/Netflix)
Eiffel—(2021/Prime)
Enola Holmes 1 and 2—(2022/Netflix)
The Equalizer 1, 2 and 3—(2014-2024/Prime)
The Great Lillian Hall—(2024/Max)
Fury—(2014/Netflix)
God's Country—(2022/Hulu
Guy Ritchie's The Covenant—(2023/Prime)
I Used to Be Funny (2023/Netflix)
Jack Reacher (the movie)—(2012/Paramount+)
Kill Chain—(2019/Max)
Knight and Day—(2010/Roku)
Last Night in Soho—(2021/Prime)
Last Seen Alive—(2020/Netflix)
The Little Things—(2021/Netflix)
Lonely Planet—(2024)/Netflix)
Man on Fire—(2004/Max)
Manchester by the Sea—(2016/Prime Video)
MI-5—(2015/Max)
The Mule—(2018/Netflix)
The Night Agent—(2023/Netflix)
Nobody—(2021/Prime)
Nobody Wants This—(2024/Netflix)
Ordinary Angels—(2024)
Purple Hearts—(2022/Netflix)
The Queen's Gambit—(2020/Netflix)
Queenpins—(2021/Pluto TV)
Reptile—(2023/Netflix)
Ruthless—(2023/Hulu)
The Secret: Dare to Dream—(2020/Netflix)
Self Reliance—(2023/Hulu)
Seraphim Falls—(2006/Netflix)
Some Girl(s)—(2013/Amazon Prime)
Somewhere in Queens—(2022/Hulu)
The Spy—(2019/Netflix)
Spy(ies)—(2009/Prime)
The Stranger—(2022/Netflix)
Toscana—(2022/Netflix)
The Two Popes—(2019/Netflix)
Up in the Air—(2009/Max)
Wonder Wheel—(2017/Prime)

Documentaries

Aftershock: Everest and the Nepal Earthquake—(2022/Netflix)
The Beach Boys—(2024/Disney)
Carole King: Live in Central Park—(2023/PBS)
The Comeback—(2005 and 2014/Max)
Cunk on Earth—(2022/Netflix)
Cyndi Lauper: Let the Canary Sing—(2023/Paramount+)
Facing Nolan—(2022/Netflix)
Five Came Back—(2017/Netflix)
Jane Fonda in Five Acts—(2024/Max)
Kate Hepburn: Call Me Kate—(2023/Netflix)
Suzi Q: Suzi Quatro—(2019/Prime)
The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari—(2022/Netflix)
'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris—(2007/go here

B.B. King. Last week, following my post on B.B. King, I heard from photographer Norm Snyder

Hello Marc. I hope you are looking forward to some good holidays. I enjoyed your post on B.B. King. I first heard him back in the 1960s, in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he closed the local blues festival. My photo above of B.B. is from 2013, taken in Eureka Springs, Ark., sadly near the end of his career. At this point, he had trouble standing to play a set but could still get the most out of Lucille. I hope you and your readers enjoy the image. [Photo above of B.B. King by Norm Snyder, courtesy of Norm Snyder]

James Bond. Only one person could play Monty Norman's James Bond Theme like this—the guitarist who originated it, the late Vic Flick. Vic was a wonderful storyteller when I interviewed him and as humble as can be. Go here and dig Vic playing the same Clifford Essex Paragon Deluxe he used when recording the theme for Dr. No (1962)...

Junior Cook. Last week I heard from Courtney Nero, who recently launched a tribute page and blog dedicated to the hard bop tenor saxophonist Junior Cook (go here). Courtney has written a biography of Cook that's coming soon from the University of North Texas Press.

For an article Courtney wrote on Cook in 2023 for Britain's Jazz Journal, go here.

Here's Junior Cook with the Horace Silver Quintet on the title track, Horacescope, in 1960...

Terry Gibbs Dream Band. I last posted on Terry and his new album Terry Gibbs: Dream Band: Lost Tapes, Vol. 7 (1959). Many readers who wanted the album had difficulty finding copies. Peter Coppock reports that the album's label, Whaling City Sound, has about 100 copies in stock. To order, go here.

Bret Primack, formerly known as the Jazz Video Guy, moved to Mexico several years ago with his wife, Sherrie. It was a life-changing relocation, for the better. Arizona was sweltering and almost inhospitable in the summer for both of them. Now, Bret and Sherrie are as happy as a pair of enchiladas. For more on the move, why they chose where they live and how life has been treating them, go here.