Unsung

[amybrickwallace]

At first, I read your post too fast. I thought it said Betty WHITE. I was like, "HUH???" LOL!!!!

[SFK]

He's hardly "unsung", he's the King of Gospel with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but a James Cleveland episode would be scandalicious.

[SFK]

Her book will suffice, and it's admittedly a niche interest, but an Ellen Holly episode would be electric, particularly if they got Erika Slezak to play devil's advocate.

[ChitHappens]

No way they are going to touch a James Cleveland eppy and that's too bad.

[amybrickwallace]

Now THAT would be awesome.

[VirginiaHamilton]

I'm not sure if Unsung Hollywood will be back for season 2, but if so, I'd love for them to do eppys on Diana Sands, Tim Reid, and the TV show, Roc.

[amybrickwallace]

Yes, Roc would be great. What was the name of that show, also on Fox, about a mixed marriage? The husband was black and the wife was white? Nancy Walker (aka Ida Morgenstern and Rosie of the Bounty Paper Towel ads) played the mother-in-law? That would be a good pick as well, I think.

[SFK]

It was called True Colors! Wow, haven't thought about that show in years. Like Roc, it was also set in Baltimore. Roc was a great show, remember those live episodes? CSD's then wife, Debbi Morgan was also great. Back to True Colors, I remember that Frankie Faison either quit or was fired and replaced with Cleavon Little. IIRC, Walker and Little both passed away shortly after the second season and the show folded.

[DramatistDreamer]

I had only associated Diana Sands with the film version of A Raisin in the Sun (which is a pretty big deal to begin with for a theater person like me) but when I saw her in that Hal Ashby film The Landlord on Netflix last year I was so taken with what a wonderful talent she was that I'm convinced had she lived, she would have had leading lady roles for years. That film really inspired me that if I attempt to write another screenplay, it will be on an intimate scale and capture a mood the way Hal Ashby films capture a certain essence.

[amybrickwallace]

That's it!! Thank you so much. I still remember the promos that promised, "This ain't The Brady Bunch!!"

[All My Shadows]

Roc brings back lovely 90s memories! I think I mainly remember watching the reruns on BET with my dad. For a hot minute, TV Land was high on airing reruns of it, which I thought was very random.

[amybrickwallace]

Yes, I remember the live season of Roc (I think it was the second season). Also, Charles S. Dutton went on to play Dr. Eric Foreman's (Omar Epps) father on House.

I think comedian Mark Curry would be a good candidate for UH. He came up through the ranks of standup to get his own sitcom in the early 90s (though obviously, nowhere near as big as the ones helmed at this time by Jerry Seinfeld and Tim Allen would be), was badly injured in a near-tragic freak accident that nearly drove him to suicide, and would return to his roots both in standup and in a sitcom (he plays the best friend of Scott Baio's character in that NICK show I can't remember the title of).

On second thought, though, wasn't he profiled in Life After? That might cancel out a UH episode, but who knows.

[ChitHappens]

I never liked Mark Curry, but I remember that accident and felt so bad for him.

[VirginiaHamilton]

I believe that was called True Colors (the father was played by Frankie Faison and Cleavon Little, though I can't remember who replaced who - it's been almost 25 years since that show aired).

Looks like SFK answered amybrickwallace's question and jogged my memory while at it...

I'm trying to remember Debbi being on the show, but am drawing a blank - who did she play on Roc?

[VirginiaHamilton]

The Landlord is exactly what I had in mind when I typed her name (on a side note, that flick is one of my favorite 'unsung' movies ever, though I don't think that it'd qualify to be on this show since it wasn't technically a Black movie). Like you, I wish that she'd have lived to make more movies like that because her character stayed with me well after the end.