From Soupy to Nuts A History of Detroit Television Review

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(More customer reviews)(Full disclosure: I worked with Tim in the Arts and Entertainment section of the Detroit News while he was researching this book. I'm proud to comment on his labor of love.)
Authors who have an affinity for their subjects usually do a better job at presenting their stories. As the former TV critic for the Detroit News, author Tim Kiska is a subject-matter expert on the nuts and bolts of the Metro Detroit television market.
But Kiska's real gift is that of combining his insider knowledge of the medium with a deep love and respect for Detroit's diverse group of local personalities. The hundreds of vignettes - ranging from characters like the gravely serious Bill Kennedy to the follicle and sobriety-challenged news anchor Bill Bonds - are warm and thoughtful looks at local television before it was packaged and managed into generic dullness.
Kiska covers the prim, the profane, the pundits and the professional personalities with equal measures of flavor and detail. It's a love letter to another time while addressing the journalistic questions of "who, what, where, when and why." In short, it's a complete work with lots of heart.
Publisher Momentum Books has enhanced Kiska's work with a beautifully crafted book loaded with period pictures, a clean layout on bright, glossy paper and an eye-catching cover. A whimsical introduction by wacky weatherman Sonny Eliot as well as a sweet foreward by the author completes this book. This is a quality piece of literature and history that deserves a spot on your bookshelf.


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Back in the 1940s – before coaxial cable from the East Coast reached Detroit – television was as local as Vernors, Sanders Hot Fudge and Hudson's. There was room for clowns, bowlers, philosophers, journalists, adventurers, movie mavens, wrestlers and magicians. The people who put these shows on were drunks, geniuses, thugs, heroes, artists, craftsmen, hustlers and poets. Some were all of these things at times. A few were all these things before lunch. As the medium grew, thousands of Detroiters visited Channel 4 to see Milky the Clown, danced on Channel 62's The Scene or tuned in to watch bombastic anchorman Bill Bonds. With the evaporation of distinct local television, a piece of Detroit's character disappeared. From Soupy to Nuts! is a snapshot of Detroit TV history – from Sonny Eliot, Bozo the Clown, Bill Kennedy, Lou Gordon and Gil Maddox to Al Ackerman, Sir Graves Ghastly, Dick the Bruiser and Mr. Belvedere.

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