Franko

The patron saint of bad recasts.

The movie musical remake of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington that Chris is filming in The Exorcist, the novel. In the film, it's Crash Course.

Oh, not a problem. I just figured I'd indulge in some shameless self-promotion and possibly revive my old thread.

Oh my god, Sue Ellen's checkered traveling suit when she and Pam went to Hong Kong ...

As it happens, I created that very thread!

D'oh! That makes sense. In that case, Jill Larson (AMC) as Opal. She had the additional advantage of the character being offscreen for a half-decade.

Oh, I've got another -- Melody Thomas Scott as Nikki.

GH: Leslie Charleson as Monica.

What an enjoyably juicy thread this has become! Speaking of the Designing Women ladies, anyone want to appraise Jean Smart?

We might have to start a thread on "Biggest Celebrity Jerks." Pernell Roberts is currently holding a commanding lead.

I'm up to "The Brothers Ewing" from Season 7. I know it won't last long, but there is something striking in there being absolutely no woman around with a shoulder (or more) for J.R. I initially thought of Sly, but she was on her sabatical from Ewing Oil. I don't suppose Kendall had any interest in a hookup?

Had Landon lived, I wonder if Us would have made it to the other side of CBS ill-fated attempt at being hip and trendy, the 1995-96 season. Michael Landon being a guy probably would have helped him with Les Moonves.

Elizabeth Montgomery: Constant supporting actress and guest star work in the '50s and early '60s. Bewitched -- She deserved the Emmy for her work in the first season. There's lots of hidden (screen) gems, like Samantha's understanding and empathy for human behavior. I'm thinking specifically of the episode where Darrin's dad has a midlife crisis. Password player extraordinare. Queen of the TV movies for the rest of her life.

Agreed. He also seemed to have been well-liked, which obviously helps keep a guy working consecutively for 30+ years. I should check out some of John's TV movies. There's Gramps, from 1995, with evil Andy Griffith. Or The Only Way Out, from 1993, with John facing off against Henry Winkler.

John Ritter: Lots of guest work in the '70s, plus a recurring role on The Waltons. Three's Company, the show that put him on the map, allowed for the occasional movie (Americathon, Hero at Large, They All Laughed), and eventually earned him an Emmy. Three's a Crowd, a too-late and unnecessary star vehicle. Hooperman, which might have been ahead of its time and really had no place on late '80s ABC. The actor for hire years, with projects as all over the place as the Problem Child movies to the original IT to The Dreamer of Oz to an arc on Anything But Love. I feel John's casting in a lot of these cases was meant for irony-kitsch. Fish Police -- was never going to work. Hearts Afire -- sandwich show; crashed and burned once it had to carry its weight. The actor for hire years, part II, with a more diverse (respectable?) batch of projects; I really liked his run as Ben's [!@#$%^&*] father on Felicity. The role I would have loved to have seen him play was one of Beverly Leslie's relatives on Will & Grace (who, naturally, falls for Karen). Clifford the Big Red Dog; never watched it, but that seems like solid casting. 8 Simple Rules; I remember John's comeback being a big deal. SNL had a parody commercial for ABC's sitcoms with John, Bonnie Hunt, and Jim Belushi ("Last Chance Tuesdays"). Who's to say how things would have wound up, but I think that had he lived, John would probably still be in actor for hire mode, with guest spots and arcs for anything and everything. The Big Bang Theory is a given.

Chad Everett might have still been too much of a name to do daytime in 1978, less than two years after Medical Center ended.

John and Marlena may have committed adultery, but they weren't going to be smug creeps about it. "Roman, how do you feel about the name Isabella Titania Brady?"

At this point, Marlena, John, and Roman all thought Roman was Belle's father. Sami had switched the initial blood tests. When it was time for another round of tests (because Belle was jaundiced), Sami panicked and kidnapped the baby. Up until January 1994, Sami was the only one who knew that John was Belle's father. Next up were Stefano and Peter, once Stefano read Sami's diary (he figured it would reveal what was going on between John & Marlena). Stefano revealed the truth of Belle's parentage to Roman AFTER Marlena revealed her tryst with John (about two weeks later, to be exact). Marlena and John were the last ones to find out (during February sweeps, naturally). The John Black name was revived in September 1991.

Belle is indeed named after Isabella. It was Roman's idea. Courtesy the Oct. 22, 1993 synopsis found on Jason's site: "Roman suggests to Marlena that they call the baby Isabella and Marlena agrees. Sami isn't too happy when she overhears it but when they ask John he loves the idea. They toast to Isabella Brady."

Something I didn't realize: Frank Ashmore, who played Monica's investigator Corrigan in 1981, was also Victor, the third guy in the cockpit, in Airplane!

Okay, if we can get this, then surely the long-elusive Alan and Monica wedding episode(s) will turn up someday.

Thanks. After I posted, I realized that this would be from GH's first week as an hour-long series.

Reposting my YouTube comment: Thanks to the Love Boat promo at the very end, we can pin this down to the week of Jan. 16-20, 1978.

Politics. The Fanelli Boys was from Touchstone Television, and was the follow-up series from four former writers-producers of The Golden Girls (Barry Fanaro & Mort Nathan and Kathy Speer & Terry Grossman). On paper, it probably seemed just much a sure thing as Wings.

I'm now catching up on the 1984-85 season and am up to "Odd Man Out." They never explicitly said Sue Ellen doting on Jamie was a chance to have the sisterhood that she never had with Kristin, did they? It would all be a lot more touching if Jenilee Harrison was a better actress.