TVSquad

When I heard that David Carradine was found hanging from a closet in his hotel room yesterday, one of the first things I thought was, "Huh. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would commit suicide." He just seemed like one of those full-of-life guys that wanted to experience all he could before he checked out. I even wondered aloud to my fiancee if he died doing something... else, using the rumored cause of death of INXS' Michael Hutchence as a reference.

I guess I wasn't far off. Now Thai police are speculating that Carradine may have accidentally died during a "sex game gone wrong," according to The Washington Post. This is after his manager, who was on Larry King Live last night, his friends and family, and his colleagues all agreed that there was no way Carradine was suicidal.

Here are seven people who used their reality TV notoriety to their advantage. They have found success in other TV genres, film, or entrepreneurial pursuits. Some just found more fame in the genre that put them on thee map.

7. Colleen Haskell (Survivor): Colleen was in the first season of Survivor (Borneo) and while she didn't outwit, outplay and outlast the other cast members, she did make a good run of her fifteen minutes. She finished sixth in her season but was such a genuine and fair player that when her torch was extinguished Richard Hatch called her a "wonderful person." Using her American-apple-pie-pretty-girl-next-door appearance and attitude, she parlayed her reality TV fame into more roles in both television and film. She did a Blistex commercial and had a guest spot on That 70's Show. Most notably, however, she starred alongside Rob Schneider in The Animal (2001). Pretty good for a Catholic school girl from a small town in Maryland.

I'm talking about the American version of the show that ran for a short time on NBC several years ago. It starred Rob Schneider, Justine Bateman, and Ron Eldard. Remember it now? It actually ran for a season and a half before it was pulled.

Shout! Factory is releasing a 4 disc DVD set of the show, which will include all 22 episodes (including seven that never aired). No word yet on if there will be any extras or other features. As you can see from the cover of the box, where Rob Schneider is standing there naked but with a newspaper over his genitals (get it? naked people covered up!), the show was, um, hilarious.

It always amazes me when shows like this come out on DVD. Not a hit, but it came out recently enough and there must be some sort of cult buzz to justify a DVD release. It just makes me think of all the shows in the 60s, 70s, and 80s that lasted even longer but were too long ago and/or don't have that buzz that would make a company put the show out on DVD. Though I guess if shows like this keep getting released, the chances of those older shows coming out increases, so more power to 'em.

The set comes out on February 13.

Let me start with a confession: I was a huge fan of The Partride Family when I was a kid. I had a Partridge Family lunchbox, I had a massive crush on David Cassidy (and quite a few posters), and Shirley Jones, as the hip family matriarch, along with the ever-sunny Florence Henderson as Carol Brady, were my visions of maternal  perfection.

I can't really blame Shirley Jones alone for destroying my happy childhood memories. No, I think a good deal of the blame has to rest on the shoulders of Nicholaus Goosen, the director of the film Grandma's Boy, and the producers behind the film, including Adam Sandler, who ought to know better: first, for making a film with two of my least favorite actors - Rob Schneider and David Spade (in ONE film? Are you people insane?!?), and worse, for including in said film a scene with Shirley Jones having a sex romp with a 24-year-old. Do we really need to see that? I think not.