I was a kid when Ozzie and Harriet was a hit TV show. Although they played a middle-aged couple-next-door, in real life Ozzie Nelson was a popular band leader and Harriet Nelson, formerly Harriet Hilliard, was a well-known actress.

The Nelsons pushed their son Ricky’s singing career relentlessly on that show. It got to the point where they would race through the story line, so that Ricky had five minutes at the end to sing his latest song. As a kid, that was my least favorite part of the show, frankly.

Ricky’s death in an airplane crash was a public relations nightmare. The crash, which was caused by a fire started by a faulty in-cabin heater, was initially and erroneously reported to have resulted from Ricky and the other passengers freebasing cocaine on the plane - an unfounded rumor so widely reported in the national media that some people probably still believe it. Also, Ricky’s ex-wife filed an ugly lawsuit for a piece of Ricky’s estate, which Ricky had bequeathed entirely to his children.