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Arlene Golonka, a veteran character actor best known for playing Millie Swanson on “Mayberry R.F.D.,” died Monday in West Hollywood, Calif. She was 85.

Her niece Stephanie Morton, said she had been suffering from Alzheimer’s.

“She lived and breathed being an artist, being an actress was who she was born to be,” said her niece, “She was a very wise woman who I was lucky to call my aunt.”

“She loved to teach,” said Morton, who said her acting students over the years included Halle Berry.

With a career spanning over 45 years, Golonka played recurring roles on “The Doctors,” “Joe & Valerie” and “1st & 10” and appeared in episodes of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “M*A*S*H” and “The King of Queens.” On “The Andy Griffith Show,” Golonka played Millie Hutchins, the girlfriend of Sam Jones (Ken Berry) on two episodes, and she reprised the role as Millie Swanson on “Mayberry R.F.D.” across 34 episodes.

Along with some exclusive and really bloody new stills, we have a special guest blog on tap for you guys from director Spencer Parsons about his new film, Saturday Morning Mystery; old cartoons; and much, much more! Dig it!

Truth be known, I’m more of a Buford Files guy than a Scooby-Doo guy, probably because that one ripped off Smokey and the Bandit, and every episode took place in a swamp, with way more opportunity for moss monsters. But man alive, ‘70s TV barfed up a ton of these Scooby wanna bes about ghost-chasers-with-dogs. And all of them got repeated endlessly through the ‘80s in syndication, even the ones that didn’t last a whole season. Shows like Clue Club, Butch Cassidy and Goober and the Ghost Chasers, plus less dog-centric mystery team cartoons like Fangface, Speed Buggy, or The New Shmoo. There were more, and I could go on,...

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated

Scooby-Doo Created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears

Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated series produced and written by Mitch Watson

Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated series Showrunners (Supervising Producers) Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone

imdb, Cartoon Network, Various Times

One of the best procedurals currently on television is a half-hour cartoon that has been on television in one form or another since 1969 and was a major inspiration for what many (myself included) believe was the greatest serial drama in the history of television. The irony is that Scooby-Doo was solidly mediocre until the debut of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated last summer.

The reason that Scooby-Doo was mediocre for decades was that it was designed to protect children from violence on children’s television. When it debuted in 1969, it was intended to be a safer replacement for its more violent predecessors like Jonny Quest and Space Ghost. The series was formulaic to a...

Ever forget to turn off your Monday-Friday alarm on the weekend’s eve? Beep beep…Beep Beep…Beep Beep…“Oh man. Work.” You exhale a long sigh and as you start to sit up, a suspicious feeling comes over you. Your brow furrows as your sleepy fog cloaks clear thinking—ahh yes. It’s Saturday. Two choices: either go back to sleep or get your day started off any way you want. When you’re a kid, the choice here is easy: flip on the morning’s cartoons. As an adult, the decision becomes tougher. Unless of course you were a child of the 1970s and have recently acquired the new box set, Saturday Morning Cartoons:1970s Volume 1. If so, the nostalgia will beckon you from catching a few more Z's and you’ll probably end up in the kitchen pouring a bowl of cereal to eat in front of the television.