SoapDope78

Charlotte Stewart admitted that she and Victor French were friends with benefits during the run of the show.......🤣

Michael Landon was a jerk behind the scenes. He was insanely jealous of actors he thought was competition. He had Guy Williams canned as a possible replacement for Pernell as the Cartwright cousin. He also had a jealous hatred of Bill Bixby. Bixby was known as one of the nicest men in the business and Landon couldn't stand it. Landon who was still doing Bonanza in the early 70's was pissed that Bixby was starring as a loving Dad in " The Courtship of Eddie's Father" and getting accolades for the role. He felt he should be playing Dad roles. Bixby tried to engage him at and event and Landon snubbed him. When Bonanza was cancelled, he quickly moved into "Little House on the Prairie" as all American Dad Pa Ingles. Years later Landon never got over his hatred of Bixby. On Highway to Heaven, he wrote an episode about an ego monster actor (Played by Ned Beatty) who was the father on a sitcom to a little boy who treated the child actor like crap. It was clearly a dig at Bixby and Courtship. In reality Bixby and Brandon Cruz who played his son Eddie remained close till his death. Cruz even named his son after Bixby. When Michael Landon was diagnosed with cancer Bixby was diagnosed at the same time. Bixby stated that he wept when he learned Landon had it and when he later died.

I remember reading somewhere years ago that Pernell Roberts supposedly threw away fan mail. He thought it was silly that someone would waste time writing a celebrity that they only knew by watching them on TV. I don't know if that was fact or fiction. LOL @ Kim Zimmer doing the FBI schlock in need of quick paycheck. Lyle Waggoner was on The Carol Burnett Show 1967-1974. He then did Wonder Woman 1976-1979. After those two series he mainly did cheesy guest appearances. His big fortune came from creating a high-end ritzy trailer rental business Star Waggons. His main clients were TV & Film companies for their actors to use as dressing rooms. His sons later took over the business, and they build them in their factory.

Pernell Robets always came across as TV was beneath him. He left Bonanza on a sour note. He bashed the series the entire time he was on it. When he did Trapper John M.D. I think he admitted he was needing the money to sign onto another series. He also did commercials during the run of TJ for various products. He hosted "FBI Untold Stories" in the 90's that ran a couple of seasons. Randolph Mantooth was one of the stars of Emergency in the 70's but wound up doing daytime after years of spotty guest appearances. Kristy McNichol did the short-lived series "Apples Way" (1974-75). She then did Family (1976-1980) that made her a teen idol. She was expected to be a big film star, but after personal issues with mental health, she returned to series TV in 1988 on Empty Nest. She left EN in 1992 after 4 seasons. She did return for the series finale in 1995. She has since retired from acting.

Anderson Co-starred with Lynda Carter in the series "Partners in Crime" (1984). Carter is another example of having a hit show in the 1970's, but failed to duplicate that in another series. She did the short lived 'Hawkeye" (1994-95) with Lee Horsley (who also failed to duplicate a successful series). Lynda was and is still gorgeous. Why Aaron Spelling did latch onto her for one of his shows is a mystery.

Susan Dey was in the hit the Partridge Family (1970-1974). She then did mostly TV films/guest appearances till she tried another sitcom series in 1977 " Loves Me, Love Me Not with Kip Gilman. She then did the short-lived Emerald Point in 1983-84 before hitting pay dirt with L.A. Law 1986-1992. She then returned to sitcoms in 1992-93 in " Love & War" with Jay Thomas (who I never found amusing) She was fired from that series for supposedly not being funny enough and was replaced with Annie Potts. Lindsay Wagner was huge during the 1970's as The Bionic Woman but during the 80's and 90's she flopped in several short-lived series Lee Major's (Wagner's Bionic love interest) was in in The Big Valley (1965-1969). The Men from Shiloh (1970-1971). Owen Marshall Counsellor at Law (1971-1973) The Six Million Dollar Man (1973-1978) The Fall Guy (1981-1986). He did a short-lived series Raven (1992-93) Greg Evigan did B.J. & The Bear (1978-1981). Masquerade (1983-84) My Two Dads (1987-1990). P.S. I Love You (1991-92). TekWar (1994-1996) Big Sound (2000-2001).

Some comments on youtube said that Scott continued to harass Everett and his family till she died in the 2010's. Supposedly the son in question has since passed as well.

Here is the wiki entry about the messy paternity suit. Beginning in 1973, actress Sheila Scott initiated court proceedings against Everett three times, claiming her son Dale (born 1973) was fathered by him. The lengthy and complicated paternity suit ended in 1984 when a California Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Everett. The court stated: Everett refused to take any more tests regarding paternity. He entered into a private financial settlement with Scott in 1973 but steadfastly maintained he was not Dale's father.[22][23][21][24] In 1991, Scott was sentenced to three months' probation following a guilty verdict of "harassing" Everett for 18 years, including death threats against him and his wife. She was ordered to undergo psychological testing and never to publicly declare that Everett was Dale's father.

According to Wikipedia 9 episodes were produced of Hagen but only 7 aired. Too bad he did not have someone pushing him hard like Robert Urich. Urich would do a series it would last 1 season or so get cancelled and he would back next season in an all new series. Urich had starred in about a dozen or more TV shows by the time he passed. Networks were trying hard to make him happen and it wasn't really working. Vegas and Spencer For Hire were 2 that lasted more than 1 season.

They could have thrown a complete curve ball and had Sue Ellen and Kristin's mother be the culprit.

His career seemed to slide into the toilet after MC ended. Everett continued to work sparingly till his death. I'm surprised he didn't wind up doing a long-term soap gig (daytime or primetime). You would think Aaron Spelling would have latched onto him for Dynasty, The Colby's or built a series around him. He did do one episode of Hotel with his old TV rival James Brolin (they were friends in real life). I saw on youtube he did an interview on Dick Cavett in 1972 where he appeared to have been drinking. The other guest was Lily Tomlin. Chad was discussing an upcoming TV special he had done about animals. He joked/commented that his wife being the most beautiful animal he owned. Lily Tomlin was disgusted and walked off the set. It was awkward and cringy. When he first came out, he handed Lily a paper bag that supposedly had panties in it. He also tried singing during his MC years and cut a couple of albums that were super cheesy.

David Hamilton looks like a poor man's Robert Reed with that 70's blow dry perm. Did David and Laura have love scenes? Ick !!! if they did. I like this original (Michael Gregory) version of Rick better than Chris Robinson's version. I recently read Gregory quit the show after the 1hour expansion. I always assumed Monty replaced him. Robinson always comes across as skeevy and having read a bit about him offscreen it fits. I seem to remember comments that Charleson and Alexander didn't like working with. I could picture someone like Chad Everett playing a recast Rick at that time.

Steve Carlson (Gary) was married to Gail Ramsey (Susan) and they had 1 child. Carlson had previously played Mark Henderson on Y&R.

Houghton like many actors had the looks, but sometimes that reads bland and boring with viewers. Ted McGinley is another example. Beck may have worked as a character on Knots if it was well written.

David James Carroll (David Crane: Season 1) as a singer guest star on the 1975 game show Musical Chairs.

Some of those actresses do look familiar but they are not ringing a bell at the moment.

John Rubinstein would have been an excellent choice or maybe Gary Frank. Bruce Fairbairn who played Ray Geary on KL and was Ontkean's replacement on The Rookies could have also worked as Earl. I have been watching The Rookies on Roku streaming and it's still a fun show to watch. Kate Jackson and Sam Melville were so believable as couple. She is so totally different there than Sabrina Duncan on Charlie's Angels. When she did Scarecrow and Mrs. King in the 80's she cast Melville as her ex-husband.

I think Michael Ontkean would have been a good choice for Earl. The character would have been charismatic, and Val would be tempted to have an affair to retaliate for Gary/Judy's fling. I could also see Ontkean's Earl going psycho and about beat Gary to death and having a hot fling with Abby.

I think that is Rita Lloyd in the Minute Rice ad at the 10:48 mark. Gil Rogers appears as her husband. I also recognized actress Liz Moses in the Kotex ad from the first season (1979-1980) of the PBS series 3-2-1- contact.

The unknown son could have worked. If Ben hadn't been in a previous relationship with Hope, maybe he could have been revealed as Mike's long-lost son.

I ran across this old 1977 ad for Pentel Rolling Writer Pens. The model looks like it could be Dianne Kay. Does anyone else think so?

Yes, it seemed like he didn't want to accept the fact he was aging into patriarch territory and made waves behind the scenes when he didn't get his way about whatever.

I'm surprised he didn't have a clause in his contract like Eileen Fulton did on ATWT. I found a few clippings and pics online but full access to old soap magazines would be a better source to dig deep. He comes across as a bit conceited in what little I find.