Author: Herbie J Pilato

Writer, Author, Producer, Actor, Singer/Songwriter, Lover of Life

L.A. Area Classic TV Fans – Herbie J Pilato is Signing Books in Valencia Saturday

by munchman

Speaking of classic TV – What? We weren’t? Well we should’ve been because TVWriter™’s very own Herbie J Pilato, the dood of doods of whom yer friendly neighborhood munchausen now speaketh, is the absolute King of Classic TV – way, way, way back in the day, a star you’ve probably never heard of by the name of Bob Cummings, starred in a popular and, for that era, long running sitcom called Love That Bob.

Why is the munching man bringing this up at this place and time? For two resounding reasons:

1) To impress Herbie J with my very own super knowledge of his specialty, most of which was obtained from, oh yeah, him. read article

Herbie J Pilato Remembers Martin Landau

Martin Landau & his missus, Barbara Bain, with some other guys you may recall

by Herbie J Pilato

The consummate actor and the consummate professional, terms seemingly created for actor Martin Landau, who passed away on July 15, 2017 at age 89 after a brief hospitalization at the UCLA Medical Center.

With a refined manner and eloquent style and speech, the multi-award-winning and nominated Landau brought significant realism to each of his roles for television, film and the stage.  Landau ignited his acting career in the 1950s, after he worked as a cartoonist for the New York Daily News.

Accepted into the prestigious Lee Strasberg Actors Studio from among two thousand applicants (with classmates such as Steve McQueen and James Dean), Landau premiered on Broadway in Middle of the Night in 1957. He was best known to TV viewers for three years as the lead master-of-disguise spy Rollin Hand on the original Mission:Impossible weekly espionage show (CBS, 1966-1973), in which he teamed with his then wife Barbara Bain (wed from 1957 to 1993). read article

TVWriter™’s Herbie J Pilato Makes News

So tell us, Herbster, which is more fun? Conducting the interview? Or being the interviewee?

“The Founder of Classic TV Preservation Society Herbie J Pilato joins Tim and Mary on CCN Sunrise to discuss the power of classic TV and self esteem seminars.”

That’s our boy!

Ground-Breaking TV Writer Rita Lakin was “The Only Woman in the Room”

by Herbie J Pilato

With her new book, THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM: EPISODES IN MY LIFE AND CAREER AS A TELEVISION WRITER, Rita Lakin writes so well what she knows so well about.

A ground-breaking talent, Lakin was one of the first female writers who graced the behind-the-scenes of the small screen.  Her first TV script, “A Candle in the Window,” an episode of Dr. Kildare, executive produced by David Victor (Marcus Welby, M.D.), was a fine precursor of what was to come: read article

Herbie J Pilato: Out of the Shadows

Yesterday, Herbie J returned to the metaphorical pages of TVWriter™ with an article on the origins of the great Golden Age TV series, Dark Shadows. Today he’s back with this new insight into what made the show work so well.

by Herbie J Pilato

Prolific and charismatic, charming and disarming, actor Jim Storm is probably best known as the mysterious Gerard Stiles from classic TV’s legendary gothic soap opera Dark Shadows.

read article