Were you, like me, watching Survivor last night and thinking, "Where have I seen Jonathan 'the writer' before?" It took a minute to click, and then I remembered the short lived sit-com on Showtime called Rude Awakening. After a pause to think about just how dang pretty Sherilyn Fenn is, my brain re-engaged and the name Jonathan Penner popped into my head. A little imdb searching and yep, that's the guy. It's kind of silly that Survivor is billing him as a writer when he has a pretty good acting resume. Aside from the lead male role in Rude Awakening, Penner has been on Arrested Development, C.S.I., The Tick, Seinfeld, and Lateline, to name a few. And anyone that was in a Jason movie is an actor through and through...
On the other hand, maybe Burnett and company saw something in that Lone Ranger TV movie Penner wrote that I missed.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-15-2006 @ 11:55AM
Chris W said...
I just looked at the IMDB page, and saw something I'm almost ashamed to point out. He was in the first episodes of The Nanny, as the "boyfriend who threw her out in that crushing scene" and the reason "[Fran Drescher] bacame The Naaaannyyyy."
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9-15-2006 @ 11:55AM
e said...
He also starred in the Tea Leoni vehicle, "The Naked Truth" as a cute photographer/possible love interest for her character. So obviously I know him better as an actor than a "writer". Strange.
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9-15-2006 @ 1:00PM
Rebecca said...
I am SO glad you ID'd this guy. When I heard his voice last night, I just knew that I had heard/seen him before but I couldn't put him together with Rude Awakening (which I watched faithfully thank you very much) since Survivor called him a writer. Cool!
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9-15-2006 @ 1:57PM
SouthBeachCasa said...
Historically, Survivor has a habit of doing this. They have contestants who are "waiters" or "bartenders" or listed as something else meanwhile they're also actors, models or in the entertainment business in some form. I remember hearing Johnny Fairplay on Howard Stern talking about how they found him for the show as well as others plus every season you see a few articles like this. I think it's kind of disengenious of Survivor but then again if Jonathan writes and tries to make money from it then it makes him a writer...
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9-15-2006 @ 2:57PM
Brett said...
Rebecca, I know just what you mean. It drives me batty when I can't figure those things out. And SouthBeach, you're completely right. Don't forget Brian Heidik, who also had an acting past. But Penner is clearly a step beyond any of the previous actors on Survivor.
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9-16-2006 @ 3:50AM
cat said...
Maybe I'll have to check out this new survivor, I remember Rude Awakening and watched faithfully too. I like making connections like that to people/actors I've enjoyed watching perviously on other things.
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