TVC 715.1: Ed welcomes back author, essayist, novelist, and TV historian Mitchell Hadley (The Electronic Mirror, ItsAboutTV.com). Mitchell's latest book, Darkness in Primetime: How Classic-Era TV Foresaw Modern Society's Descent into Hell, is a series of essays that shows how certain episodes of such classic series as The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Star Trek, and The Prisoner, as well as some of the live dramas that originally aired on Studio One, Playhouse 90, and Kraft Television Theatre—all of which were originally written and broadcast in either the 1950s or 1960s—not only envisioned a society of 24/7 surveillance, thought control, disinformation, persecution, and loss of freedom, but portrayed those realities in ways that are disturbingly similar to the world that we currently occupy. Darkness in Primetime is available wherever books are sold through Throckmorton Press and Amazon.com.

TVC 715.2: Mitchell Hadley, author of The Electronic Mirror and Darkness in Primetime, talks to Ed about how "The General," Episode 6 of The Prisoner (ITC, 1967-1968), the classic allegorical series created by Patrick McGoohan, discusses the dangers of rapidly accumulating a vast amount of knowledge—without any understanding of what that knowledge really means. Also in this segment: Mitchell discusses One, the dystopian novel by David Karp from 1953 that Karp subsequently adapted for television in 1955 as an episode of Kraft Television Theatre. Darkness in Primetime is available wherever books are sold through Throckmorton Press and Amazon.com.

TVC 715.3: Ed welcomes Arnie Holland, president and CEO of Lightyear Entertainment, and executive producer of Heaven, the acclaimed feature-length documentary from 1987 that also marked the directorial debut of Academy Award-winning actress Diane Keaton. Recently re-released and digitally remastered, Heaven is a free-wheeling, offbeat pastiche of original interviews by Keaton that, combined with clips from such films as Metropolis, Green Pastures, and Stairway to Heaven and songs like "Endless Love," all explore different ideas of what paradise may have to offer. Heaven is now playing in select theaters across the United States; click here to see if it's coming to a theater near you. Heaven is also available for streaming on demand through Wednesday, Dec. 31; click here for information on how to rent it.