Tod Mourns:

Mike Stokey died.

To people of a certain age, especially if we grew up in L.A., he was a TV pioneer. Game show host and producer, who devised “Pantomime Quiz”/”Stump the Stars” and kept it on TV for over 20 years, with biggish Hollywood stars in evening dress playing charades. He was an early president of the TV Academy and won one of the first Emmy awards, on which they misspelled the name of his show.

And to those of us — again of a certain age — he is the father of Blake Palmer.

Also, Jack Smight, who directed “Harper,” died. He also directed “The Illustrated Man” and a lot of TV.

Y’know, now that I don’t have a column I have to tell people about these one at a time…

Hope all is well in Florida.

Bob Does Have a point:

Hey, Mike:

First Warren Zevon and now Johnny Cash, not to mention George Harrison last year. My heros are dying one by one.

I’ve been listening all day to The Wind, Warren Zevon’s last CD, and the four “American Song” CDs that Johnny Cash did over the last few years with Rick Rubin. They are achingly simple and beautiful.

And hey, give Justin T his due: his music doesn’t do much for me, but he showed class when he honored Johnny Cash and his own grandfather while picking up his MTV award. The boy minds his manners and respects his elders.