applcin

I'm binging "Little House On The Prairie"; starting season 3 now. I haven't seen most of them in decades and it's their 50th anniversary this year so as good a time as any. A lot of the cast and guest stars keep doing interviews on youtube so the behind-the-scenes info is pretty cool, too. And they do love putting out their memoirs, lol; they think Alison Arngrim's is particularly good. Many of them have a lot of love for Michael Landon and Victor French. Not so much for Melissa Sue Anderson. Charlotte Stewart (Miss Beadle) was quite the free spirit; having been "buddies with benefits", as she called it, with guys like French and Jim Morrison. (Now I have a mental image of Miss Beadle with Mr. Edwards, lol.) Anyway, it's been nice to revisit something familiar from childhood yet where I don't remember a lot of the episodes. Also, seeing how many of the old-time film stars they brought on as guests is cool, too. Melissa Gilbert compared it to being like The Love Boat, lol.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/charles-dierkop-dead-butch-cassidy-and-the-sundance-kid-police-woman-1235836234/ Charles Dierkop, Actor in ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,’ ‘The Sting’ and ‘Police Woman,’ Dies at 87 Being a Trekkie, I recognized him like this:

https://tvline.com/news/chris-gauthier-cause-of-death-once-upon-a-time-dead-obituary-1235173792/ Truthfully, I didn't recognize him by name but I do remember him from Eureka as the diner owner.

Too young. Like Michael Zaslow, he had ALS. https://screenrant.com/kenneth-mitchell-star-trek-discovery-actor-dies/ He was also in that rather unfortunate "Ghost Whisperer" storyline that had Jim killed and his spirit jumping into another guy's body so they would show Ken's reflection in the mirror.

GL - Bradley Cole playing Prince Richard and then Jeffrey. I leave it up to others to decide if it worked since I preferred Edmund/DAM anyway. AMC borrowed from GH and created Dr. Alex Devane to be the "late" Anna's twin sister before reviving Anna. I don't think she was a total flop but I may be biased because I always liked Finola Hughes. Out of curiosity, since I stopped watching GH 2 decades ago, did they ever acknowledge there that Anna had a twin sister?

EON had "Sky Whitney", who was eventually revealed to be an imposter named Jefferson Brown who'd asumed "dead" Sky's identity; after Jeff died the real Sky was revealed to still be alive. GL had a really complicated storyline with Sonni/Solita, involving the long-ago suicide of a twin sister, guilt of the survivor, mental illness with taking on the dead twin's identity...its climax was basically about trying to figure out which twin actually survived. GH had Grant Putnam and Grant Andrews, which ended up rather ironic in that Putnam had been the victim who was replaced by Andrews (an international enemy agent) but Putnam ended up becoming a psychopath while Andrews turned into the good guy.

R.I.P. Gary Graham. This one surprised me. I think it's because I think of him young in "Alien Nation" even though I also saw him as Soval in Star Trek: Enterprise. He did a fun interview a year ago on Shuttlepod Show, which is done by Enterprise actors Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating.

There's a funny mention on the "Fiddler On The Roof" anniversary DVD which tells how they took hairs from Norman's graying beard to add to 35-year-old Topol's eyebrows to help age him. They've passed within 10 months of each other. 😔 But 97 is a great run.

OLTL - Even though I started watching the show after Joe Riley's death, from the clips I've seen it seems Clint was literally introduced as Joe's replacement, as Joe brought him in to take over for him as editor at the Banner. I believe Joe also was nudging Viki towards Clint? (The old "having the blessing of the dying spouse" thing, lol.)

R.I.P. David Soul. I literally just mentioned him yesterday because I heard "Don't Give Up On Us, Baby." I even still have the 45 from when I was a kid. Of course, I saw S & H, plus his Star Trek episode. The original Salem's Lot is one of my favorite horror films. He and his SL co-star, Lance Kerwin, passed just short of a year of each other.

https://variety.com/2024/film/obituaries-people-news/glynis-johns-dead-mary-poppins-mrs-banks-1235861986/

Comic legend Shecky Greene dies at 97 https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/comic-legend-shecky-greene-dies-at-97-2973752/

It's funny but my mention of the efforts to "replace" Laura made me think that there are several actresses right there that owe the start of their careers to the fact that Genie Francis chose to leave GH at that time. Janine Turner, Demi Moore and Emma Samms all had their first big exposure on GH as a direct result of Genie's departure. Had Genie not left, those characters/actresses would not have been brought on and who knows how their careers (and lives) would have played out.

GH: Mac filled the void when Tristan Rogers left and they "killed" Robert, not only raising Robin but eventually becoming police commissioner himself. There were multiple attempts to fill Genie Francis'/Laura's absence as the beautiful young heroine/damsel when she left the first time. Laura Templeton as the literal lookalike, Jackie Templeton as the interest for Luke. But I think the more popular and enduring one was Holly.

R.I.P. Tom Smothers. https://www.newsnationnow.com/top-headlines/ap-top-headlines/ap-comedian-tom-smothers-one-half-of-the-smothers-brothers-dies-at-86/?fbclid=IwAR0hzfYR4fUvqFEB2KvAE22tvhiW73qTWPl_z8yTO1ZYpWXyfq1cpjqCMn8

Genie Francis departed GH and did "Bare Essence" and "North and South" before she came on as Diana on DOOL. Roy Thinnes did primetime, then GH in the 60s, then a bunch more primetime, then his first stint on OLTL (Alex Crown), then primetime again, then OLTL again (Sloan Carpenter), then primetime again.

I just finished reading this. Basically, each chapter is about a particular dog that became part of her life or her kids' lives early on. She's straighforward and talks about her life but mostly as it relates to the dogs. It's like each chapter is its own short story so there's a lot of time-jumping back and forth. It's not focused on VRC or PandP; it's about those particular family dogs, their personalities, the lives and adventures with them. As a fan of the show, it was an interesting read, although I was a little disappointed that there were no pictures of the dogs (actually, no pictures at all), except a few on the covers.

Kevin and Mac on GH were my favorites in drag. The first time they did Norma & Eve was freakin' funny, especially that Kevin had to wear a sari and Mac had to fake a British accent on top of his fake Australian accent.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/03/us/ken-mattingly-death-apollo-astronaut-scn/index.html R.I.P. Ken Mattingly. (In the movie "Apollo 13" he was played by Gary Sinise.)

GH - Scotty's return catching the bouquet at Luke and Laura's wedding was not only epic (and a terrific unspoiled surprise) but it also marked the real start of Scott as a villain and opportunist, putting him in cahoots with the likes of Heather Webber and Susan Moore and, eventually, Lucy Coe. The "honorable" Scott started to come back when he fell in love with Dominique. Since I can't speak to the last 2 decades or so (not watching), that earlier period of time saw him go from the extremes of too nice/bland to lying manipulator/*hole to a more shades-of-grey character, definitely leaving his mark in (and on) Port Charles.

Has any other soap given a departing cast member a vacation in Ireland? It blows my mind that they took Levin and Mulgrew on a honeymoon to Ireland and filmed it all as part of Kate's sendoff. I always wondered how much of that was for fans to get that last grand story with those two and how much was basically a thank you gift to Kate.

I really disliked what I call uber-villains; they terrorize practically everyone to the point of absurd plots and events. In saying that... I stopped watching OLTL when they kept bringing Mitch Laurence back. First time was when he was going to marry Natalie. I didn't return to the show until years later when Jerry verDorn joined. Then when they brought Mitch back again and he killed Jared Banks, I was done. I never watched the show again. I was never a fan of the permanent Cassadine presence on GH and I took some time away from that but I ultimately stopped watching the show some 20 years or so ago, I think. Just had enough of the Sonny & Jason Show.

RIP Richard Moll. I know he's most famous for Night Court but he did a rather poignant performance in a Halloween episode of "Doctor Quinn" that I really enjoyed. https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/27/entertainment/richard-moll-night-court-dead/index.html

I don't remember seeing this mentioned here or anywhere (sorry if it was and I missed it) but I only just came across that Michael Hawkins (Frank #1) died almost a year ago. His obituary was done in his birth name and is really pretty blunt: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/thomas-slater-obituary?id=38640120 Thomas Slater Obituary December 26, 1938 - November 14, 2022 Thomas Knight Slater, 83, of Los Angeles, California, succumbed to cancer on November 14, 2022. Thomas is survived by his son Christian (Brittany), brothers Stu (Patti) and Bill, and grandchildren Jaden, Eliana, and Lena. He is predeceased by his parents and his brother Steve. Thomas worked as an actor, originating the role of Frank Ryan on Ryan's Hope and appearing in multiple Broadway productions. However, he was forced to give up the career he loved due to a severe decline in his mental health. He was estranged from his family and caused them considerable heartache; it is our hope that he finds the peace in death that cruelly eluded him in life. A special thank you to the social workers, hospice workers, nurses and caregivers who provided him with loving care and support during his final months. Per his wishes, Thomas's ashes will be scattered "between Shakespeare and O'Neill," which we understand to mean the Atlantic Ocean" Published by Los Angeles Times from Jan. 13 to Jan. 14, 2023.