Stop Trying to Make ... Happen!

[Khan]

 

You don't want to say this-or-that actor should think about getting out of the business.  But, really, Mark should, at the very least, think about getting out of television.

 

Frankly, I don't think so.  "Vega$" might not have been as big as "Charlie's Angels," but it was a hit show.

 

Agree.  AP was probably one of the last sitcoms I've watched that made me genuinely laugh until I was left gasping for air.  Writing off Kevin Kilner was just wrong.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Khan

[Vee]

I mean in fairness, aren't we all wrong? Feuerstein may drive us nuts but he's never stopped getting work.

[Cat]

Jenna Elfman, whose Wikipedia entry begins "an actress best known for Dharma and Greg..." I know she was cast in other things both on TV and in film, but they never really seemed to stick. I never got the hype around her tbh.

 

Would Tracy Middendorf be considered as someone tv tried to make happen? I remember her popping up as a Carrie Brady recast on Days for a brief time in the 90s, and a guest spot on 90210 and other shows, but for some reason she never clicked with the audience. I always found her a little mealey-mouthed in the roles I did see her in.

 

Re: Nancy Travis, I don't think I've ever seen her tv work. But in the very early 90s she was up-and-coming in a few big movies, like Three Men and a Baby, and my personal favourite Internal Affairs where she played Andy Garcia's wife as he pursues crooked cop Richard Gere. A really good film actually,. Mike Figgis directed it, but it reminded me of some of Michael Mann's movies.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Cat

[Taoboi]

Perhaps in hindsight...but I remember LAS VEGAS getting waay too much print at the time. Except for maybe its last season.

 

Now...maybe it will the show that Fergie met her man...;) 

[Khan]

 

True.

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[Soaplovers]

 

I don't know if Jenna Elfman would fit because she was fairly popular due to Dharma and Greg... she would be in a category, like Robert Urich, of stars trying to get lightening to strike twice and failing.  The problem with a Jenna Elfman type is that she's a specific type of actress that fits into a specific type of role/sitcom (though she did do a tv movie once where she was a crazy stalker.. and most of the movie you didn't know if she was crazy or being painted as crazy until the end of the movie.. she was pretty serious and quite good.).

 

Tracy Middendorf.. I'd forgotten that name... she was around in the 90s.. and never really made it.

 

 

[Franko]

We might have to make a thread for "When Lighting Doesn't Strike Again". Lot of entries there for primetime and daytime.

[SoapDope]

Barbi Benton might qualify. She was Hugh Hefner's playmate and guest appeared in lot's of 70's and early 80's TV before falling off the radar. 

 

Mason Reese. The awkward precocious child actor of the 70's that they tried to make happen. He was a regular in commercials and on the talk show circuit. 

[soapfan770]

 

Very true, which is why I was hesitant to throw her name in the mix. It's similar to names like Jack Scalia, Madchen Amick, Noelle Beck, Leigh McCloskey, J. Eddie Peck(before he did daytime), Leigh Taylor-Young and I'd say even Mariette Hartley for actors who have been steady working and have done a lot of TV shows yet have never sustained success as a major character. 

 

 

 Téa Leoni? Didn't she only become famous for being David Duchovny's wife? Duchovny also dictated that his one-time girlfriend Perrey Reeves appear in an episode of The X-Files(Gillian Anderson was on maternity leave) with him as a villainess and the episode was a complete abomination as it was just basically a supernatural Red Shoe Diaries episode disguised as an X-File. It was immediately neglected by TPTB, and it was so bad most X-Files fans have even forgotten the episode even exists.

Edited February 20, 2018 by soapfan770

[DRW50]

 

She first started in that movie where Mary Tyler Moore played her mother and was in her bra, which was hyped at the time but was a real flash in the pan (Flirting WIth Disaster?). Then she got Flying Blind (I think that was around the same time as FWD) on Fox, which was a flop. Then The Naked Truth, which never seemed all that popular but ran for years anyway, as that was NBC of that era. 

 

I can barely remember my phone number sometimes but I remember this...

 

Her best work was on Santa Barbara...

[Soaplovers]

 

I remember the Naked Truth coming up before she married David Duchovny... and that's where I remember her from.  But I think being married to him helped her get several chances before hitting paydirt with Madam S.  Oddly.. she was one of the finalists to be Rachel on Friends and the lead in Ace Ventura.  

 

And I do think Morgan Fairchild is more like a steady worker in the industry as opposed to world famous.

[Faulkner]

Male TV critics LOVED Téa Leoni in the ‘90s. 

[soapfan770]

 

I believe it was the movie Deep Impact I remember Leoni from. I remember The Naked Truth was one of the NBC sitcoms of the era that got all hyped up and was in the press a lot along with Caroline in the City, Veronica's Closet, Boston Common and Union Square etc but just like all of those I never watched it more than once if at all. I just remember Leoni being given the lead in a bunch of blockbuster films for a few years until disappearing until she divorced Duchovny and suddenly reappeared with her own show in Madame Secretary. 

Edited February 20, 2018 by soapfan770

[Vee]

Oh lord. Deep Impact. I remember her being killed by the tidal wave. That was a bit of a shock in an otherwise deeply mediocre movie.

 

I thought we were all finally past Tea Leoni when her movie career flamed out fast. As it turns out, Tea Leoni wasn't done with us - the CBS factory can resurrect anyone. I'm still annoyed she's back tbh.

 

I was sure that the hick guy from Boston Common did a fill-in bit on GH a few years ago as Kevin Collins when Frank Valentini played petty with Jon Lindstrom for daring to be busy doing True Detective. But I think that might not have been him.

Edited February 20, 2018 by Vee

[soapfan770]

She also did that Spanglish movie with Adam Sandler; I appreciate the story James L. Brooks was trying to tell but casting Sandler and Leoni as the Americans in the movie was disastrous. I think that was the movie that pretty much derailed both their careers if I recall right, 

 

CBS procedurals, often overwhelmingly watched by older demos have always seemed to have given new to life to other dead end career actors. Just look at David Caruso, Robert Patrick, Thomas Gibson etc.