2 minutes ago, All My Shadows said:

Pamela Hensley [...] then did "Kingston: Confidential," which was Raymond Burr's short-lived follow-up to "Ironside," before having a three-season hit with "Matt Houston." When it ended in 1985, she retired from acting.

A real shame, too, because, once you've gone as low as "Matt Houston," whose popularity still perplexes me, there's nowhere else to go but up!

25 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

@Khan @kalbir I still cling to my idea that Lucille Ball and Gale Gordon would’ve been better doing a short arc as villains (Angela’s goofy but wicked sister in law Lucinda Channing) under Jeff Feilich’s era ons Falcon Crest in 1986 than doing Life with Lucy 🤣🤣🤣

Hahaha, that's funny.

Shirley Jones who had a Broadway and film career in the 50's and 60's starred in The Partridge Family (1970-1974). She then attempted another series in 1979 with Shirley that was cancelled after 13 episodes. After that she mainly done guest appearances and TV movies with a big feature thrown in here and there.

2 minutes ago, Khan said:

A real shame, too, because, once you've gone as low as "Matt Houston," whose popularity still perplexes me, there's nowhere else to go but up!

She did meet her rich husband producer E. Duke Vincent by doing Matt Houston so I guess it worked out for the best. Lee Horsley attempted several series before falling into obscurity. A lot of people saw him as a poor man's Tom Selleck.

Tom Selleck started acting in the late 60's and was a contract player at Universal in the 70's. He was on Y&R 1974-1975 and Bill Bell would never sign him to a contract because he felt he wasn't leading man material with his high voice. With a series of commercials, guest appearances, recurring roles, and many failed pilots, He hit it big in 1980 with Magnum P.I. He then became a superstar. The public couldn't get enough of him. Women saw him as their ideal fantasy man and men wanted to look like him growing mustaches, wearing Hawaiian shirts and short shorts. He continues to work.

Ric hard Crenna seems pretty much forgotten today but he got off to a good start with 2 hit series

Our Miss Brooks 52-55

The Real McCoys 57-63

He then tried drama with

Slattery's People 64-66 which only lasted a season

He then moved into movies and later Tv movies before returning to a series

All's Fair 76-77 with Bernadette Peters

Then TV movies until another sitcom attempt

It Takes Two with Patty Duke 82-83

Back to movies Rambo most notably, Tv movies/mini series before his final series

Pros & Cons 91-92 a revamped version of Gabriel's Fire with James Earl Jones

He also recurred in Judging Amy in 2003.

27 minutes ago, kalbir said:

Hahaha, that's funny.

Dependent on how Jane thought about Gale and Lucy of course!

I found myself rewatching the infamous "Empty Nests" episode of The Golden Girls*, and it suddenly clicked. Susan Harris must have looked at it as a chance to at least partially avenge It Takes Two.

*Dorothy voice: "It was on YouTube, on a channel I subscribe to, and I hadn't seen it in a while, and WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE ME?!"

3 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

@Khan @kalbir I still cling to my idea that Lucille Ball and Gale Gordon would’ve been better doing a short arc as villains (Angela’s goofy but wicked sister in law Lucinda Channing) under Jeff Feilich’s era ons Falcon Crest in 1986 than doing Life with Lucy 🤣🤣🤣

That would have worked great. Lucy had a sarcasm about her that would have worked very well going up against any of the 80s soap villains. Falcon Crest would have been the best fit.

Sharon Gless also was in a series that got canceled before it aired a single episode called Thick and Thin in 2006 about a formerly overweight/fat woman that embarks on life after dropping the weight.

I miss the days where we could fat shame people.

Of course many of these primetime stars had instant misses when their pilots weren't picked up

eg Shirley Jones had at least 2 attempts at a series before landing Partridge Family

Out of the Blue. CBS 8/12/68. 30 minutes. CBS Entertainment. Director: Sherman Marks. Producer/Writer: Sol Saks. Shirley Jones, Barry Dennen, Carl Ballantine, and Marvin Kaplan are aliens from an overpopulated planet who come to Earth to see whether or not they should move some of their people here. They befriend a physics professor (John McMartin) living in Hollywood, who helps them under- stand our often confusing world.

Dream Wife 1965

Actress Shirley Jones stars as Lisa Michaels -- a wife with a husband, a boy, and the ability to hear other people's thoughts. Whether she's trying to use it to have a better marriage, make her kid happy, and even trying to save other people's lives, she just can't quite seem to get things right. Her TV hubby was Donald May who went on to daytime as Adam on EON.