# Fred Smith (Television, Blondie) has died

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-smith-television-blondie-has-died/1027459>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 7, 2026, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-smith-television-blondie-has-died/1027459 "2026-02-07T02:01:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2026, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-smith-television-blondie-has-died/1027459/1 "2026-02-07T02:01:30Z")

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Another member of Television bites the dust. Seemingly one of the saner, more grounded ones - he always seemed a cool dude from afar. One of the cause of the bad blood between sometimes rivals Blondie and Television, as apparently Harry/Stein were none too pleased with Verlaine poaching him. But his account he was much happier playing with the latter band, even if he missed out on most of the fame and fortune of the former.

Not flashy, but he anchored the band pretty well IMHO. RIP.

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/F8nfrlVp464/maxresdefault.jpg "The Dream's Dream (Live in San Francisco 1978)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8nfrlVp464)

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**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2026, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-smith-television-blondie-has-died/1027459/2 "2026-02-07T04:57:14Z")

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His bass playing was bone-crunching. I know because I had a front row seat at the Paradise in Boston for their reunion tour in the 90s.

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**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2026, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-smith-television-blondie-has-died/1027459/3 "2026-02-07T13:08:25Z")

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Maybe the most grounded of all the Television members, and his great playing is all over Marquee Moon. RIP.

(I was surprised to see in Jimmy Rip’s obituary that Smith had played in Holly and the Italians for a couple of years… A terrible fit, I’m not surprised it didn’t last)

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**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2026, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-smith-television-blondie-has-died/1027459/4 "2026-02-07T13:13:39Z")

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When I saw the title of this thread, the first thing I thought of was this:

[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QBm7Acn_rTI/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH4BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGGUgVChGMA8=&rs=AOn4CLAVa1_RlnaUu6uiork7GsCP7_iqRg "Blondie CBS Episode 'Sayonara Dagwood' September 1968 Pilot") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBm7Acn_rTI)

Goes to show how old I am… 😔