Alex Summers articles

Classic TV fans, step up. It’s time to put your small-screen smarts to the test. ‘Question’ the right ‘answers,’ and you’ll prove once and for all that you’re a true TV legend. Ready. Set. Go.

Folk music has always belonged to the people. It carries protest, heartbreak, humor, faith, and history in melodies simple enough for anyone to sing but powerful enough to move generations. Whether born from traditional roots or written during the great folk revival of the 20th century, these songs endure because they tell the truth plainly.

Ernie Kovacs was a comic hero to the likes of Monty Python, Chevy Chase, and Johnny Carson. More than that, he created some of the most memorable comedy during the classic age of television in the 1950s. Yet even those who grew up with him hardly know his name today—because underneath the laughs, Kovacs’ story is one of shock and tragedy.

The life story of Rita Hayworth is a tragedy of epic proportions. Beauty, talent, fame, intelligence: She had it all. And yet she remained unhappy and unloved until the day she passed. The men in her life often used and damaged her, and ultimately her failed relationships broke her spirit.

Great bands don’t always stay in one lane. Sometimes evolution is less about surviving trends and more about reshaping them while keeping the core of what made something special in the first place. These artists stepped beyond comfort zones, experimented with new sounds or approaches, and came out with work that still felt authentically them.

From acting to dancing—singing to activism—Shirley MacLaine has done it all and then some. With a career that spans over eight decades, her struggles and triumphs pepper her unapologetic life. Even now, her wild eccentricities and controversial comments keep making headlines.

Television is sometimes dismissed as frivolous entertainment, but there’s no doubt that it holds a profound influence over our lives. The following are television series that have made a significant impact on the medium, and pop culture at large.

If you remember being able to follow these shows as a kid, you were probably smarter than you thought!

Ingrid Bergman was Hollywood’s saintly good girl—but nothing could be further from the truth. Her explosive affair with Roberto Rossellini turned an entire nation against her, and it quickly became the Hollywood scandal. But that was only the beginning. Even after her death, sordid secrets from Bergman’s naughty past kept surfacing—and they threatened to ruin her legacy forever.