Billboard Top 10 Singles March 3rd 2012

Here are the Top Ten Singles on The Billboard Hot 100 for the Week ending March 3rd 2012.


for a list of the Top 20 singles and Albums check out my music blog Stax of Wax.

New York Times Bestseller List (Non Fiction) 02/26/2012

Here are the Top Ten books on the New York Times Non Fiction Bestseller List for the Week ending February 26th 2012

10 - Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand  (65 weeks on list)
9  -  Behind the Beautiful Flowers - Katherine Boo  (Debut)
8  -  Bringing Up Bebe - Pamela Druckerman  (Debut)
7  -  Once Upon a Secret - Mimi Alford  (Debut)
6  -  Quiet - Susan Cain   (3 weeks)
5  -  Killing Lincoln - Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard  (20 weeks)
4  -  Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson  (16 weeks)
3  -  American Sniper - Chris Kyle  (6 weeks)
2  -  Hilarity Ensues - Tucker Max (Debut)
1  -  Ameritopia - Mark Levin   (4 weeks)
(3rd non consecutive week at #1)

New York Times Bestseller List 02/26/2012

Here are the Top Ten novels on the New York Times Bestseller List for Fiction for the week ending February 26th 2012

10 - Left For Dead - J.A. Jance  (Debut)
9  -  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson  (78 weeks on list)
8  -  Taken - Robert Crais   (3 weeks)
7  -  Home Front - Kristin Hannah   (2 weeks & last week #1)
6  -  Death Comes To Pemberley - P.D. James  (10 weeks)
5  -  11/22/1963 - Stephen King   (14 weeks)
4  -  Private: #1 Suspect - James Patterson  (6 weeks)
3  -  Defending Jacob - William Landay  (2 weeks)
2  -  Catch Me - Lisa Gardner  (Debut)
1  -  Kill Shot - Vince Flynn
(Debut)

The Story of Gunsmoke Followup

In yesterday's posting of the 6 part series "The Story of Gunsmoke" (courtesy of Buck Benny's Podcast) they had the episode of "Marshall Proudfoot" which aired July 20th 1958 on CBS radio season 6.

The TV version of the episode also called "Marshall Proudfoot", but instead of Chester's father coming to visit it was his uncle but otherwise the script stay pretty close to the radio version.  This aired January 10th 1959, season 4.

The Story of Gunsmoke

Thanks to Buck Benny and in celebration of its 60th anniversary, here in 6 parts is a retrospective of Gunsmoke the radio version. This was done in the early 70s and contains interviews with William Conrad (Matt Dillon), Parley Baer (Chester), John Meston and Norman McDonnell (the creators,writers and producers) and Georgia Ellis (Miss Kitty).

This is a great show with a lot of behind the scenes stories and even discusses the beginning of the television version.

Official UK Singles Chart Top 50 - Week ending 25th February 2012

America's Top 10 February 26, 1984 Casey Kasem

New York Times Bestseller List 02/19/2012 Fiction

Here are the Top Ten novels on the NY Times Bestseller List for Fiction.  
This is for the week ending February 19th 2012

10 - The Litigators - John Grisham (15 weeks on list)
9  -  Raylan - Elmore Leonard  (3 weeks)
8  -  Believing the Lie - Elizabeth George  (4 weeks)
7  -  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson  (77 weeks)
6  -  11/22/63 - Stephen King  (13 weeks)
5  -  Death Comes to Pemberley - P.D. James  (9 weeks)
4  -  Defending Jacob - William Landay  (Debut)
3  -  Taken - Robert Crais  (2 weeks) (last week's #1)
2  -  Private: #1 Suspect - James Patterson  (5 weeks)
1  -  Home Front - Kristin Hannah
(DEBUT)

Happy Birthday Jack Benny

Today would have been the 39th birthday of Jack Benny (wink wink).  To celebrate we have The Lucky Strike Program starring Jack Benny from 02/16/1947.


Jack celebrates his birthday with Ronald and Benita Coleman, who are fantastic as always and special guest Isaac Stern.

2/11/2012 Billboard Top 10 Singles - Adele's 2nd week atop Hot 100 !

Gunsmoke - Chester's Hanging

Time for another Gunsmoke on Radio and Gunsmoke on TV comparison.   Tonight's episode is Chester's Hanging which originally aired on radio Feb 12 1955 (Season 3) and then was made into a tv episode which aired May 17th 1958 (Season 3) on CBS television.


Here is the radio episode




The TV version

1987 Billboard Top 10 Singles - 2/7/1987 ~ 25 years ago today ~

New York Times Bestseller List NonFiction 02/05/2012

Here are the Top 10 books on the NY Times Bestseller list for the week ending Feb 5th 2012

10 - Catherine the Great - Robert K Massie  (10 weeks on list)
9  -  Elizabeth the Queen - Sally Bedell Smith  (2 weeks)
8  -  Obamas - Jodi Kantor (2 weeks)
7  -  Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman (13 weeks)
6  -  Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand (62 weeks)
5  -  Through My Eyes - Tim Tebow (20 weeks)
4  -  Killing Lincoln - Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard  (17 weeks)
3  -  Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson (13 weeks)
2  -  American Sniper - Chris Kyle (3 weeks)
1  -  Ameritopia - Mark R Levin 
(DEBUT)

Bonanza - Walter and the Outlaws

From Season 5, the season's final episode "Walter and The Outlaws".  Aired on NBC May 24th 1964
Bonanza aired on Sunday nights 9-10pm and was the #2 show for the 1963-64 season.  It was sandwiched in the ratings by CBS' Wednesday 9-10pm power house combo of the Beverly Hillbillies at #1 and the Dick Van Dyke Show at #3.

In this episode the dog Walter is the same dog from the first episode of the 1964-65 season of the Andy Griffith Show "Barney's Bloodhound".  He was named "Blue" in that episode.

This episode is probably the best example of just how fun and funny Bonanza could be and how everyone on the show interacted so good to make it a hilarious episode.