Khan

What Loni really needed, IMO, was a talk show: something that would have allowed her to rebuild her career, while also keeping herself and her family afloat financially. And before anyone scoffs at the idea of Loni Anderson hosting a talk show...

I understand why Michael Learned prefers theatre to television; but, on the other hand, visual-based storytelling can be just as impactful as theatrical storytelling if done right.

I'm not trying to rewrite history. I'm only offering my perception of what I saw as the unfair treatment that Loni Anderson and Delta Burke suffered at the hands of the media during the '90s. Is my perception wrong? Maybe. But I don't believe my views warranted that kind of response. If you took offense to anything that I posted, though, I apologize, because it's clear to me anyway that I've touched a nerve with you. LOL! TBF, though, when Pernell Roberts still was on "Bonanza," he spoke out about the lack of non-stereotypical roles for minority actors on TV shows including his own, at a time when doing so amounted to career suicide.

"FBI: The Untold Stories," featuring daytime's own Kim Zimmer in one episode (as a U.S. Army staff sergeant, who hijacks a helicopter in order to get her boyfriend released from prison), was produced by Arthur Annecharico, who was the KING of low-budget, low-quality TV. ("The Munsters Today" and "What a Dummy!". Need I say more, lol?). The fact that Mr. Artistic Integrity himself, Pernell Roberts, would agree to host what was essentially a discount "Unsolved Mysteries" never stops cracking my [!@#$%^&*] up.

LOL!!

See above post, lol.

I'll be blunt: Cynthia Cidre might be a terrific writer, but she had no business being part of "Dallas." She knew nothing or next to nothing about the original series, or even how a serialized drama like "Dallas" operates, and she didn't care. They're literally giving it away now when order on Doordash. "Three months for free! Just tap yes! For God's sake!" "Spin City" still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, because of how proud Gary David Goldberg was of himself as he told the press he deliberately chose not to add any older writers to the staff (never mind that it was an older writer who'd helped Goldberg break into the biz back in the '70's, or that he, himself, was now the oldest guy in the room). It's the same reason I'll never watch anything that that ageist, aging frat boy Bill Lawrence attaches his name to.

ICAM. I'm not aware of everything that's available now on streaming, but what I am aware of, I'm in no rush to watch. I'd say Burt and his own struggles had a lot to do with Loni's career momentum stalling in the '80's, beginning with "Stroker Ace," which was a DISASTER at the box office, setting them both back professionally. In a way, I can't fault Burt wanting to do the picture in the first place (and turning down Jack Nicholson's Oscar-winning part in "Terms of Endearment") as a gesture of loyalty to director Hal Needham, who had directed him in several other pictures, including "Smokey and the Bandit," but everyone involved should've known better. IMO, Loni was another actor who, like Delta Burke, was wrongly vilified by the tabloids in the '90's. The press enjoyed portraying her as Burt's clawing ex, and a washed-up bimbo who was clinging desperately to the shreds of a once-promising career. As I see it now, though, Loni was really an abused wife, married to a narcissistic pillhead, who couldn't cope with the fact that he had trashed his own career through bad decisions and ego. That's why I felt so bad for Loni when people snickered at her joining NBC's "Nurses" just as the whole "Burt vs. Loni" saga was still playing out publicly. I'm sure Loni knew "Nurses" was a crap show, but I also believe she took the job for two reasons: 1) to rebuild her career and prove herself again as a comedienne after taking a back seat to Burt and his career for so long; and 2) to keep their adopted son, Quinton, in the lifestyle to which he was accustomed. Poor Farrah. IMO, she was a much better actress than people ever gave her credit for. Her performances in "The Burning Bed," "Extremities," "Small Sacrifices" and even the short-lived sitcom she did with Ryan O'Neal (and which was supposed to be Ryan's big comeback vehicle) bear this out. Yet, all anyone ever talked about were the damn hairstyle and the pinup poster. (I call it "Rita Hayworth Syndrome," lol). Living with Lee must've been paradise, though, compared to living with O'Neal, an s.o.b. who knocked out his son's teeth and hit on his own daughter at a funeral. As Sophia Petrillo would say, "he makes Wallace Beery look like Adolphe Menjou."

I still laugh my ass off at the sight of her just hanging out of that car window as she fires her gun at god-knows-what:

Say, what about the actors on the four major '80's primetime soaps (DALLAS, DYNASTY, FC and KL)? How many were able to land gigs on other successful shows? Because, the only ones I can think of are Patrick Duffy ("Step by Step"), Heather Locklear (MP and "Spin City"), Nicollette Sheridan ("Desperate Housewives") and Susan Sullivan ("Dharma & Greg" and "Castle").

Progress? #shrug

Or sleeper CELL, depending on how you look at it. ;) I don't know if that's where Kelsey Grammer WANTS to go so much as it's where he HAS to go and still be a proud Republican/Trump supporter. IMO, doing a faith-based film isn't like doing a low-budget "indie" that won't get seen by many, but could become critical and/or awards favorites. I think actors who choose those projects do so with the understanding that it will do next to nothing for their careers. They won't appeal to anyone outside of the Fox NewsMax crowd, nor will they land any nominations or spots on any critics' "Best of" lists (Christian movie critics notwithstanding). If you're doing it, therefore, it's because 1) you need the bread and 2) you need to get in good with The Man Upstairs. (See Miss Faye Dunaway). The thing is, there was a time when a show on HBO called "The Head" would've been about something entirely different. (Oh, well. Like I always say, there's still Cinemax!)

I'd forgotten about "Julia," but with so much out there on streaming these days, can you blame me, lol? Meanwhile, Kelsey Grammer still can't catch a break, even AFTER trying and failing to revive "Frasier." He has tried so many other sitcoms, and even a drama series or two, but nothing has stuck. Now, I see he's doing faith-based films, which is usually a sign that an actor's career has reached the end of the line. It's really the first time I paid any attention at all to Oldman, since I don't like most films made after 1989 or so.

To me, "The Night of the Ropers" felt like a consolation prize: "Yeah, we know we said we'd bring you back full-time if the spinoff flopped, but we're not gonna, so here's a guest shot on your old show to make up for it!" And if you want to know what the producers really thought of Jenilee Harrison, just watch how Jack keeps attempting to explain to Mr. Roper who Cindy is and what she's doing there, and how Mr. Roper keeps brushing him off with, "Who cares!?".

Me, too!!

Reading all the posts in this thread, I realize once again how very, very smart David Hyde Pierce has been in avoiding another series after "Frasier," concentrating instead of theatre and films. He's made some limited appearances on shows like "The Good Wife," but nothing in the way of a regular gig (...yet, lol).

I would set Frank Valentini's hair on fire if Sonny and Laura hooked up. (I'm kidding. I wouldn't set his hair on fire. I'm not going to jail over that bastard).

IKR, lol? I shouldn't laugh, because Cam McCulloch was a legendary sound mixer/recordist who had worked on so many classic shows, including "I Love Lucy," "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and pretty much all the MTM sitcoms. But there's something so "Remember WENN" (points to anyone who remembers THAT show!) about a sound guy who's elderly and hard of hearing. I think it was either Tommy Krasker or Jackson Upperco who said (in their blog post about "Life with Lucy") that Gale Gordon actually looked more vibrant on camera in "Life with Lucy" - despite being near eighty at the time and not having worked regularly since "Here's Lucy" ended in '74 - than Lucy, who looked so frail to the point where audience members would actually gasp whenever she engaged in another pratfall. I also think I read somewhere that he still had a terrific memory, never once flubbing a line during tapings. So, you know, it doesn't surprise me a bit that he would ask to be paid for 22 episodes, regardless of the actual order; because, IMO, he had more than earned it. IIRC, Marla Gibbs, who had been hesitant to do "Checking In," would not sign off unless the producers promised (in writing) that she could return to "The Jeffersons," should "Checking In" not get renewed. As much as she likely wanted her own series, she also knew what she and everyone else involved were jeopardizing by spinning off Florence...and she was right, lol. Similarly, Norman Fell made ABC and the producers of "Three's Company" promise that he and Audra Lindley could return if "The Ropers" wasn't picked up for another season. In his case, however, it didn't work out that way. Fell theorized that ABC deliberately waited to cancel "The Ropers" until they were no longer obliged contractually to honor their part of the deal. Otherwise, he maintained, they would've had to write back the Ropers into "Three's Company" - which would've been tough to do, I think, since Don Knotts had proven to be a big hit as Mr. Furley. Maybe. Of course, we'll never know, since only one (Jaclyn Smith) made it all the way to the end. (I guess she wasn't as dumb as we all thought, lol). On the other hand, I think "Charlie's Angels" would've run about five seasons, regardless of whether all three had stuck with it. Personally, as much as I still love the show, I think there were only so many ways you could have gotten Jaclyn and Farrah (or Cheryl) to go undercover as bikini models before you started repeating yourself, lol. To this day, I feel sorry for Delta Burke, whom the press, and especially the tabloids, vilified and turned the public against, even though she clearly was the victim. That's why, as badly as I felt for Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and how Les Moonves had basically black-balled her at CBS, I also think she had it coming, because there's no doubt in my mind over how she and her husband had hurt Delta on the DW set.

I think so, too. Numbers-wise, Saturdays weren't great for any network by that point, but CBS still performed decently there, even if their shows tended to lean toward conservative.

I think I read or heard somewhere that Gibbs was actually developing "227" while still working on "The Jeffersons," with the understanding that it would launch after "The Jeffersons" had wrapped for good. But that was because everyone was expecting "Jeffersons" to get another season followed by a proper series finale. So, when CBS actually cancelled "The Jeffersons" WITHOUT allowing them their finale, it was a shock, of course, but luckily, Gibbs had "227" ready to go for NBC, so it just launched a year or so ahead of schedule. Of course, I might have that wrong, lol.

I wonder, too, whether "Us" would've been another hit for Landon (and his first on a network other than NBC) had his cancer diagnosis not curtailed everything. Say what you will about the mawkishness of "Little House on the Prairie" and "Highway to Heaven," but Landon seemed to know better than a lot of others what people wanted to see every week on TV. In a way, however, I think Lucy herself (and maybe Aaron Spelling, who produced "Life with Lucy" for her) might have been to blame. It's one thing to be loyal toward those who helped you in the past, but the TV landscape had changed so much from the time "Here's Lucy" went off the air to when "Life with Lucy" would premiere. IIRC, her head-writers, Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis, had just finished working on "Alice," and their writing and producing style on that show felt old-hat even back then! Lucy really needed more modern writer/producers who could update her form of slapstick comedy for the '80's.

It's funny how Suzanne herself skips over "She's the Sheriff" in her Television Academy interview, as if the only things she did between "Three's Company" and "Step by Step" were her tacky Vegas shows, lol.

VC was one of those "hammock shows" that did fine as long as it stayed on Thursday nights between "Friends" and "Seinfeld." Once NBC switched their time slot, however, they were as good as finished. Lord, when I think of all the times that various people, including Carsey/Werner and David Letterman, tried and tried and tried again to make Bonnie Hunt happen.... I, myself, am not crazy about her for the same reason I'm not crazy about a lot of Second City and Groundlings alumni who came in the wake of SNL's original cast. To me, they always give off this vibe that says, "We're the smartest, funniest people here; and if you don't laugh at our jokes, it's not because they're too bizarre or mean-spirited, it's because you're a !@#$%^&*]in' plebeian who wouldn't comedy if it bit you!"

Remember when William Hurt made that out-of-nowhere guest appearance as a shrink on "The King of Queens"? William Hurt on a sitcom was weird enough, but I'm still trying to figure out why "King of Queens" and not, say, "Frasier" or even "Seinfeld". (This might've happened around the same time that Gary Oldman popped up on "Friends," suggesting to me that many, high-profile dramatic actors were dipping their toes in the sitcom waters to see whether they could have any longevity in the genre). IIRC, "Sling Blade" was the moment when the industry, at least, sat up and took notice of John Ritter as more than just the dude from "Three's Company" who "fell funny." It's just a shame that that film didn't translate into more "serious" gigs for him. I feel like he was primed and ready for a lead on a really good, really dark drama series, like how Bryan Cranston went from "Malcolm in the Middle" to "Breaking Bad." You didn't miss much, lol!