I'm not saying it was cool of Andrew Hansen to steal books from the public library and then sell them to East Village bookstores. But the way things are going now, it may be the only action either place sees. Read HERE.
Being a fan of Louis C.K. isn't always easy -- it's dark and uncomfortable and requires you to think. But believe me, it's so worth it. (Via Slog)
Real Kenneth meets Fake Jan
Geri Reischl had the look, but no one could replace Eve Plumb, whose recalcitrant ways have been mimicked for the last 40 years. ("Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway" -- best. movie. ever!)
Jennifer Runyon was way prettier than Susan Olsen, and didn't even have a lisp. Easy to see why Charles was in Charge of her Gwendolyn character a few years before her Brady experien(th)ce.
Leah Ayres filled in (rather poorly) for Maureen McCormick on the downbeat series "The Bradys" (1990). Bobby was a paraplegic (married to Martha Quinn!), Peter's engagement fell apart, Jan and Phillip couldn't have a child (big shock, Jan's frigid!) and Cindy was fucking her boss at the radio station, a widower with two kids. But it was Fake Marcia who stole the show as a messy alcoholic! Eternally nontraditional hubby Wally couldn't hold down a job either, so they were forced to move in with Mike and Carol. Given what we know about the real Marcia now, it seems the role was a bit of typecasting. Might that have been why she sat this one out?
No doubt Dick Sargeant replacing Dick York and Sarah Chalke taking over for Lecy Goranson were the highest-profile television replacements of all time, filling two high-profile roles on highly rated shows.
Sarah Chalke lacked Lecy Goranson's blue-collar Midwest charm, and you could totally believe was Dan and Roseanne's daughter. It got particularly wacky toward the end of the show when Goranson came back à la Mike Evans (Roseanne said at the time that she hated firing Chalke but that she "wasn't Becky"), only to go AWOL periodically, with Chalke filling in again. It's pretty crazy when you think of all the shows that pulled this replacement routine, though.
Mary Frann had just the right look and temperament to play Abby in the "Eight Is Enough: A Family Reunion" TV movie (1987), yet I remember being quite sad when I saw a reference to this -- plus her more famous role as Bob Newhart's wife, Joanna Loudon, on "Newhart" -- in her obituary. Not only did she die prematurely (of an undiagnosed heart condition at age 55), the poor woman was always playing second fiddle to some other wife. (Let's face it, there's no substitute for Suzanne Pleshette.) Adding insult to injury, Frann was replaced as Fake Abby in "An Eight Is Enough Wedding" two years later by Sandy Faison!
Judith Baldwin spared Tina Louise a trip to the plastic surgeon, but she got around to it later, anyway
To Julie Newmar: Thanks for everything, Kenneth in the (212)
Lastly, along with "Bewitched," the whole Marilyn Munster shakeup was my first experience with recasting. Every so often one of the 13 episodes with Beverley Owen would come on and rock my little world. She may have been first, but Pat Priest will always be Marilyn in my eyes. The Daily News says Owen was unhappy with her life in Hollywood so quit the business. Priest then took on the role for the remainder of the series' two seasons, yet neither returned for the numerous "Munsters" movies and remakes since, including "Munsters' Revenge" (1981), which featured Jo McDonnell as everyone's favorite homely blonde.
I never watched "Dynasty," but I know there were two Steven Carringtons and two Fallons (Emma Samms was Holly on "General Hospital" when I watched). Would love to hear about your recasting memories in the comments section.
I've always had a thing for pandas ever since going to the National Zoo in Washington as a child to see Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, the two giant pandas given to the United States as gifts by China after President Nixon visited in 1972. My parents even decorated my newborn sister's bedroom in pandas when she came along in 1974. So multiple my delight by 12 -- when a dozen giant pandas were born this week in Chengdu, China, at a center that started with just six in 1987 and now has more than 100. There's a video HERE -- they almost don't look real, like Peeps or something. So cute!
Well, I see Keith Ablow has some relatives living north of the border: The National Post, a newspaper in Canada founded by convicted felon and current jail bird Conrad Black, actually allowed this vile ad from the Institute for Canadian Values to run today -- like people are "taught" to be transgender, let alone intersex. Just disgusting. Could someone please explain to me how you TEACH someone to have ambiguous genitalia? (Via Gawker)
A smiley-face emoticon was used on the "front" page of the New York Times today (in a story about when "tweets" tend to be happiest). My mom has been complaining about the dumbing down of the U.S. language for years, but today may just be the official beginning of the end.
This pic of the Williams sisters is awfully cute. Wonder what the circumstances were behind the meeting with the Old Gipper.
Click to revisit the heyday of Chelsea's 8th Avenue
My blog is featured in Susan Olsen's tell-all about the ill-fated "Brady Bunch Variety Hour"!
Growing up in Madison Heights, Mich.
The Web leads to an unexpected return to a house I grew up in.
Carlsbad, Calif. (2008)
Go Behind the Music of my high-school band, A La Plage
Little Larry left us too soon.
With Debbie Harry
With Robert Buckley
With Roger Federer
With Ed Burns
With Thomas Roberts
You've read the blog -- now read the book!
My memoir is available at Three Lives & Co. in the West Village
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