From left, Martin Landau, Nichelle Nichols, Mike Connors, Robert Conrad, and Linda Evans are featured in the “Pioneers of Television” show.

Here’s a look ahead at a great program called Pioneers of Television. It’s the second installment of the wonderful Pioneers of Television series coming to PBS from January 18 through February 8. It will put the spotlight on some of the best series and stars in television history. And it was a pleasure to chat with some of the most interesting performers from classic TV shows, including Mission Impossible’s Martin Landau, Star Trek’s Nichelle Nichols, Mannix’ Mike Connors, Wild Wild West’s Robert Conrad, and The Big Valley and Dynasty’s Linda Evans. They all have great stories that will be revealed on the show.

The producers, Steven J. Boettcher (who also directed) and Michael J. Trinklein (who wrote the show) have lovingly put together new interviews with legendary stars, such as Landau, Nichols, Connors, Conrad, and Evans. Plus James Garner, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Angie Dickinson, Bill Cosby, Robert Culp, Stefanie Powers, Lee Meriwether, Adam West, Peter Graves, Ernest Borgnine, Fess Parker, and writer Stephen J. Cannell are among them. Some did their last interviews for this show. They were true pioneers on television and helped create iconic images in the genres that still impact the medium today.

Narrated by Kelsey Grammer, the new four-part Pioneers of Television takes viewers behind the scenes for an in depth look at four of the most popular genres in television: science fiction, Westerns, crime dramas and local kids’ TV shows. The series will feature never-before-seen images and timeless footage that is entertaining decades later.

During the tribute to sci-fi shows, Nichols talks about how she was planning to leave Star Trek because she didn’t feel she had enough to do.

“But Dr. Martin Luther King personally asked me to stay on, telling me that my role as an African-American woman in the future, portraying an officer on the Starship Enterprise, was an important role model and a positive influence for millions,” Nichols said. “So I stayed at Dr. King’s request.”

It was interesting to here Landau mention that he turned down the role of Spock in the original Star Trek.

“I thought it would have been torturous,” he said.

Connors, who played the daring detective Mannix for eight years, recalls he played down the toughness of his character “to make him more human.” Whereas Conrad, as James West in the Wild Wild West, says he took every opportunity to flex his muscles in a scene.

“I had 118 fights, and kissed 143, or vice versa. I loved going to work,” he said.

Evans, often listed among the world’s most beautiful women (and I agree), admits the only reason she got into acting was because her parents thought it would help her overcome her shyness. Her first major role was in The Big Valley as the daughter of Barbara Stanwyck, who took the young Evans under her wing.

“Barbara taught me everything about show business and being a good person,” she said. “She was the most gracious person I’ve ever known.”

“Pioneers of Television takes viewers back in time to a different era of entertainment, both humorous and poignant,” says John Wilson, PBS chief programming executive. “Executive producers Steve Boettcher and Michael Trinklein have once again delivered a remarkable series that captures the innovation, genius and vision behind the early years of television.”

An icon of television in his own right, Kelsey Grammer, who is currently starring in Broadway’s La Cage Aux Folles, played the celebrated Dr. Frasier Crane over a span of 20 years on two sitcoms, Cheers and Frasier.

“We are thrilled to have Kelsey Grammer as our narrator, a TV legend that has tied the record for the longest-running television character in TV history,” Boettcher said. “We appreciate his resonant voice, but we are even more heartened by his enthusiasm for Pioneers of Television.”

Audiences will also be delighted.

Dr. Mindy Dai.

These days, everyone is feeling more pressure. The economy has taken a dive. People are worried about losing their jobs. The housing market is way down. Just when we thought we’d heard enough bad news, the swine flu dropped by for a visit. Unfortunately, emotional strain is often soon accompanied by illness. No one wants to be sick on top of being worried. We all need a way to relieve the stress that surrounds us, but where, exactly, do we go to do it? That’s the easy part. Valley Acupuncture & Herb Center is where Dr. Mindy Dai will efficiently decrease your tension, help to ease your symptoms and work with you to make sure you get to a better place.
“Stress can make the body’s immunity lower,” explains Dr. Dai. “Then people get infections easily. They might feel a tight muscle here, pain there; it can all affect the body.” But illness isn’t the only concern we should have. The tension can also affect our behavior.
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In addition, when we find ourselves overeating because of anxiety, we’re usually not eating the healthiest of foods. That can lead to a very unfortunate outcome.
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Acupuncture can have other benefits, as well, which also helps us to remain healthier.
“Acupuncture can help to suppress the appetite,” Dr. Dai says. “It’s not that with acupuncture they’ll stop thinking about eating, but it can reduce it some.”
You’ll still have to exercise and eat right, but Dr. Dai can help lessen your strain in order to get your body back to a state of balance.
If you’re truly ready to quit smoking but haven’t been able to do it on your own, she can help with that, too.
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I can help you go through it smoothly. Acupuncture helps you feel comfortable. But you have to really want to quit. We have to work together.”

Dr. Mindy Dai is located at 2031 W. Alameda Ave., Suite 206 in Burbank. For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call (818) 843-1558 or visit www.drmindydai.com.

Frances O’Brien is a contributing writer for “The Tolucan Times.”

(BURBANK) — Do you enjoy a good guffaw or two or three? Would you like to see Broadway-quality theatre without having to pay Broadway-level prices? Are you interested in an evening of entertainment that will make for a great date you’ll both remember and talk about for a long time afterward? Well, if you can answer affirmatively to any of these questions, then “Surviving Sex,” currently running at the Falcon Theatre, is definitely for you!
“Surviving Sex” presents the story of Stan Cooper, your average accountant with a not so average sex life. He takes the audience right along with him on his adventures out into the unpredictable — but always hilarious — jungle of love. Why does the audience relate so well to him?
“I thought of the guy going to work every day,” explains playwright David Landsberg. “Most people work, most people get up in the morning, they do what they have to do, and no one applauds them. What of that guy? He still needs sex. He still needs all the things that everybody else does.”
“I think a play like this helps us laugh at ourselves a little bit,” says Susan Morgenstern, who directed. “Because I think we’ve all done something goofy at some time in our lives when it comes to sex. I think all of us share Stan’s journey.”
What goes into creating such an entertaining piece of theater? “Someone asked me, ‘Who are you in this play?’” Landsberg says. “I’m everybody. I have to be, otherwise I’d just write it from one point of view, not giving everybody their due. As silly as you make a character, they can have another side: ‘I have passion, I have hopes and dreams, I believe there’s a magic to being alive.’ I try to give them a little humanity.”
“There are always technical challenges even in a living room comedy,” says Morgenstern. “The play is about sex in every scene. I don’t believe there’s a moment of discomfort that anyone who’s an adult would respond to with anything but laughter. That’s a challenge when you’re doing a play about sex.”
Why should people see “Surviving Sex?” “They will laugh out loud and often,” Landsberg says. “They will see a little of their own humanity in this and their own foibles, and they will tell everybody they see, you’ve gotta go see this play. And there’s free parking. And it’s a beautiful theater. It’s not expensive. It’s a wonderful time for you and your family.”
“I think a comedy is always a good thing when times are tough,” says Morgenstern. “To be in a theater audience and have the common experience of laughing with other people, even people you don’t know at all, is a great thing to do at any time and certainly in times when life is harsh.”
“Surviving Sex” runs through Sunday, March 1. The Falcon Theatre is located at 4252 Riverside Drive in Burbank. For tickets or more information, please call the box office at (818) 955-8101. 

Frances O’Brien is a contributing writer for The Tolucan Times.