Khan

D'oh! I forgot about "Judging Amy"! Thanks, Carl! It might well have been Kramer or Gless, but there's so much vague and conflicting information that we might never know. (Either way: Angie, baby, I'm-a need you to come ouchere and set this record straight that it wasn't you, lol.)

You know what's also sad about this? We read the excerpts and several of our minds said "Sharon Gless" and NOT "Tyne Daly." Now what does THAT say about us, boys and girls, lol? LMAO! I'm fine, thank you! That was part of it (officially, anyway). I also recall hearing at the time that Kramer wanted to focus more on music. In retrospect, however, all that might have been just smokescreen.

Here's why I'm not sure it's Sharon Gless: 1) As I've mentioned before, "Cagney & Lacey" was done (save for the four TV movies) by the end of the 1987-88 season, long before Moonves took over the network; and the way LBT words it -- "coming off the cancellation of her iconic detective show" -- it sounds as if the series in question was cancelled either during Moonves' regime, or immediately before. 2) Gless starred in one other series that I know of -- "The Trials of Rosie O'Neill" -- that ran on CBS after C&L. However, Rosie was an attorney, not a detective (or a cop); and it, too, was already dead-and-gone by the time Moonves arrived at CBS, in '95. However, it'd make sense to assume it was Gless, since C&L was and is an iconic show; and it and DW once shared the same night (Monday) at the network. No, it wasn't. Moonves wasn't at CBS when Barney Rosenzweig replaced Meg Foster with Sharon Gless -- who, by the way, had been his original choice for the role from the start, going all the way back to the original, two-hour TV movie -- nor was he at Orion/MGM, which owned the show. AFAIK, Moonves was still at 20th Century Television. Remember, though, that "Hunter" was on a different network (NBC); and in fact, it wasn't cancelled until the year AFTER Kramer had left the series (remember when GL's Robert Newman played her new husband, who spirited her out of town and away from the force?) and had been replaced as Fred Dryer's sidekick with Darlanne Fluegel (and later, "The Nanny"'s Lauren Lane). And to this day, I've no idea WHY Moonves would allow that to happen -- unless, not doing so would have resulted in enormous penalties for the network -- when he was so eager to kill the series by moving it from Sundays, where it was still a top 10 series, to Thursdays, where it was killed in the ratings by "Friends."

I think that's how I would feel as well. There must come a point for some people (who aren't "MAGAts") when you just get sick of the drama -- and from the start, it seems like that's all we've gotten from him and his administration, too. You know it's bad when people like Bannon, McMaster, Scaramucci, Spicer and Tillerson all seem like relics of a previous administration.

Maybe, but C&L went off the air in '88. Remember when the media would tout all the women Les Moonves promoted within the network? Now I wonder what those poor ladies had to do to GET promoted.

"Did Les Moonves assault Angela Lansbury?" Angela Lansbury is a treasure on BOTH sides of the Atlantic. If he did, indeed, assault her, then he just might be the sickest bastard alive. He deserves nothing less than to be left broke and on the side of the road.

IKR? Reading the article just made me love (and miss) "Designing Women" and Julia Sugarbaker all the more. At first, I wasn't up for rebooting that particular show. However, now that I've read her piece, I've almost changed my mind. LBT deserved better treatment, as did everyone affected by Moonves; and we deserve to have her unique voice back on the air. Agree. Jeffrey Lane was SO not the person to develop or produce a show for the likes of Bette. Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (or even Diane English) would have been a far better match.

From Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's article: Soon, I would hear how he had invited a famous actress to lunch in the CBS dining room. Coming off the cancellation of her iconic detective show, the star began pitching a new one. He informed her that she was too old to be on his network. She began to cry and stood up to go. He stood up too, taking her by the shoulders and telling her, “I can’t let you leave like this.” She reacted, suddenly touched. Then he shoved his tongue down her throat. I know this happened because the star is the person who told me. Please tell me that was not Angela Lansbury.

You know, I'm-a have to go with Carl: as much as I would LOVE to see the GOP lose control of the Senate (and the House), I just don't see it happening. What's more, I think the media is gonna keep up with stories like this because (again, as Carl would say) they want the narrative to be that the GOP pulls a surprising upset in the midterms, crushing the Democrats hard, and giving them (meaning, of course, the media) more "oooooooh, look at what the big, bad bullies in the GOP are up to NOW" stories over which to salivate.

At one time, AMC was reportedly the most videotaped series on TV.

I think if she leaves one show, she'll leave the other as well. BB's ratings might be slipping, but I think the show is still a moneymaker for CBS; and I think THEY would think that her presence could jeopardize BB's future success just as much as it jeopardizes "The Talk"'s. Prolly not. Let's be honest: she was a journeyman journalist, who got as far as she did in the business, because she was "banging the boss," to quote Violet Newstead ("9 to 5"). Without Les' muscle and influence, she might have been relegated to some cable outfit a long time ago. And that's probably where she'll end up, too.

It feels like AGES since I've heard the name "Rex Tillerson."

And THAT is unfortunate when you remember that it's black women who usually keep the rest of us from falling off the cliff, in more ways than one.

From what I've read, though, "The Talk" is actually performing very well for the network, doing even better than "The View" over on ABC. So, no, I can't see them dumping it. But, if/when Julie Chen leaves, I could see them drawing a "name" like (and these are just examples, not saying they will make the list, or I want them on the list) Katie Couric or Meredith Vieira to fill that slot. Because, as much money as Julie's making from this show and BB, I really doubt people tune in JUST to see her. Nope. He would have been vilified the same way Kanye was vilified for interrupting Taylor Swift's speech at the VMA's (although, in Taylor's defense, he really should have kept his seat and closed his mouth). And, frankly, I would have been PISSED to see yet another black man apologize to a white girl. I've had enough of that [!@#$%^&*] to last me a lifetime. "Same" to ALL of this. And let me just add (and I apologize for veering REALLY off-track): if you are someone (especially a woman) who supported Trump in the last election, even though you knew he was a philanderer and "p***ygrabber," but are now feeling outraged about this situation and think Julie Chen is a fool to stay with him one minute longer, well, you can just have a seat. Thank you.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the longer she stays at CBS, the more toxic her presence will become. Viewers (well, ENLIGHTENED viewers, anyway) will not tolerate on their screens a woman who chose to stand by her pig of a husband -- especially when it's no secret she only GOT the jobs because of him. Either she cuts him loose and keeps her gigs at the network, or she gets the hell outta Dodge. It's that simple.

Too bad Meredith Vieira's on the East Coast. She'd make a good replacement for Julie Chen. (You know, should they ever NEED a replacement for Julie. Because, they will.)

No doubt, she'll work in yet another "Big Brother" tease.

Leave it to Omarosa to snag a piece of the spotlight for herself. You give me a tape of anyone lip-syncing to "Beauty and the Beast," and I'll see to it that you get the chair. IJS.

Nevermind.

Me neither. I had to Google it, and he looks almost nothing like he did when he was on DAYS. I believe Olivia Munn did the right thing, too. +1. Sho nuff! (Too bad Julie won't be there, though.) Same.

Cher: "I was [shaking] with Katharine Hepburn." Harry Smith: "Well, she was shaking, too." That's because she had Parkinson's, you douchenozzle. If I had been Cher, I'd have kicked him in the nuts (presuming, of course, he had any), declared the interview over, and then walked away.

The worst, of course, was Beth making her feel like she was too old and dried-up for Matt.

I'm of both minds. There would have been advantages to EH and LH joining the cast of LOVING -- as Vee said, joining would have kept Carla and Sadie "alive" in the ABCD universe; and because Agnes Nixon still owned the show through Creative Horizons, Inc., they might have enjoyed more "protection" from the network as well -- and there would have been advantages to their coming aboard AMC, too. (As BF says, AMC was higher-rated and higher-profiled; and although their own history w/ African-American characters and cast members wasn't altogether sterling, they seemed to treat their AA cast members far better than OL treated theirs.) But one thing's for certain: either soap -- or any other soap, for that matter -- would have been BLESSED to have EH and/or LH join their cast after leaving OL. Yep. Then, to add further insult, she wasn't allowed to reclaim her belongings from her dressing room until two security guards arranged for her to come on a Saturday, when the show would not be in production, and clear out her things. Okay, maybe you wanted her gone like yesterday, that's your business. But the LEAST you could do is let the woman come back and clear out her dressing room. It shouldn't be left up to sympathetic security guards (who basically have to sneak her in) to give her that right. That's the scuttlebutt. It's been so long since I read EH's autobiography, but didn't she describe an incident where one of the actresses came up to her and told her, "Don't think the ratings are up because of you!," or words to that effect? IIRC, too, we pretty much guessed that the actress in question was Katherine Glass (ex-Jenny). Which could explain how, years later, long after she had left the business, she wound up teaching prison inmates how to read, or something.

Amen. That's what I always remind myself whenever I get down about our current state -- which I feel more than a little bit responsible for, since I foolishly did not vote. As bad as things are right now, I tell myself, they can't BEGIN to compare with what my ancestors had to go through. I appreciate your sharing the circumstances of your childhood, DD. I just wish America had been a better place for you and your mother. We let you down.

I understood the reasons why Agnes Nixon had sold AMC and OLTL to the network, but I wonder where these shows might be now if she hadn't.