Amazing Discoveries: The E! True Hollywood Story

[bengay]

One of my all-time favorite TV shows growing up is "Amazing Discoveries," which I recently downloaded a few days ago 20 episodes--and man, does that bring back great memories for me.

For those of you unfamiliar with the show, "Amazing Discoveries" was a TV talk show (often airing late at night on local broadcast and cable stations such as Nickelodeon, TNN, & The Family Channel among other stations) hosted and created by Mike Levey.

Michael Stephen Levey was born in Los Angeles, California on May 28, 1948 and graduated from college with a degree in Electrical Engineering; after beginning a career as an Electrical Engineer, Mike turned to Broadcasting, first forming a Dial-a-Joke service based in California called The Mainline before being employed by Twin Star Productions, Inc. in 1987 as a producer.

After leaving Twin Star in late 1988, Mike formed his own production company called Positive Response Television, and soon afterwards created "Amazing Discoveries," casting himself as the host.

One memorable episode featured Jack LaLanne, the famed Fitness Guru (who died in 2011 at age 96 of natural causes) demonstrate the "Juice Doctor" (later re-named "Juice Tiger"); each episode would be named after the episode sponsors e.g. "Sudden Youth" (a beauty-care product aimed to fight the visible signs of aging naturally without Plastic Surgery) & "Target Training," a fitness program featuring special guest Tony Little.

A spin-off series, "Ask Mike," aired from 1993-1998, after which Mike retired from Broadcasting to help wife Lisa raise their toddler son, Jake; it certainly was an "Amazing Discovery" to me when I discovered in March 2004 that 7 months earlier, on August 2, 2003, Mike Levey died at age 55 of Natural Causes at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a brief illness.

In addition to wife Lisa and 7-year-old Jake, Mike Levey left behind 2 adult children, Steven Levey & Jennifer Levey Churchill, from his 1st marriage, as well as 2 grandsons, Ryan and Ethan Levey.

Besides "Amazing Discoveries," Mike also appeared in uncredited cameos as himself on episodes of "Sliders," "Friends" & "The Weird Al Show."

Here's a clip of Mike on an episode of "Friends" where Matt LeBlanc's character of Joey (an aspiring actor) appeared on a fictional episode of "Amazing Discoveries."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwROPN3Fir8

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Originally Posted by bengay

One of my all-time favorite TV shows growing up is "Amazing Discoveries," which I recently downloaded a few days ago 20 episodes--and man, does that bring back great memories for me.

For those of you unfamiliar with the show, "Amazing Discoveries" was a TV talk show (often airing late at night on local broadcast and cable stations such as Nickelodeon, TNN, & The Family Channel among other stations) hosted and created by Mike Levey.

Michael Stephen Levey was born in Los Angeles, California on May 28, 1948 and graduated from college with a degree in Electrical Engineering; after beginning a career as an Electrical Engineer, Mike turned to Broadcasting, first forming a Dial-a-Joke service based in California called The Mainline before being employed by Twin Star Productions, Inc. in 1987 as a producer.

After leaving Twin Star in late 1988, Mike formed his own production company called Positive Response Television, and soon afterwards created "Amazing Discoveries," casting himself as the host.

One memorable episode featured Jack LaLanne, the famed Fitness Guru (who died in 2011 at age 96 of natural causes) demonstrate the "Juice Doctor" (later re-named "Juice Tiger"); each episode would be named after the episode sponsors e.g. "Sudden Youth" (a beauty-care product aimed to fight the visible signs of aging naturally without Plastic Surgery) & "Target Training," a fitness program featuring special guest Tony Little.

A spin-off series, "Ask Mike," aired from 1993-1998, after which Mike retired from Broadcasting to help wife Lisa raise their toddler son, Jake; it certainly was an "Amazing Discovery" to me when I discovered in March 2004 that 7 months earlier, on August 2, 2003, Mike Levey died at age 55 of Natural Causes at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a brief illness.

In addition to wife Lisa and 7-year-old Jake, Mike Levey left behind 2 adult children, Steven Levey & Jennifer Levey Churchill, from his 1st marriage, as well as 2 grandsons, Ryan and Ethan Levey.

Besides "Amazing Discoveries," Mike also appeared in uncredited cameos as himself on episodes of "Sliders," "Friends" & "The Weird Al Show."

Here's a clip of Mike on an episode of "Friends" where Matt LeBlanc's character of Joey (an aspiring actor) appeared on a fictional episode of "Amazing Discoveries."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwROPN3Fir8

Love the Friends bit. "Now I can drink milk... every day!"