TheFactsOfLife-related stories
Posted Oct 27th 2009 1:06PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
George Clooney learned a lot about television toiling away on
The Facts of Life and
E/R. The latter wasn't NBC medical drama that made him a star. I'm talking about the
1984 Elliott Gould sitcom on CBS that lasted a year, just 22 episodes.
But the point is this: he may be a major movie star today, but George knows and appreciates television. That could be why
George Clooney's behind Delta Blues, a cop drama that TNT has just picked up.
I use the term drama loosely, because it's something goofier than a straight drama. The lead character is an Elvis Presley impersonator when he's not working for the Memphis Police Department. One more thing: Like Elvis, he honors his mother... and lives with her. Does that make him a mama's boy? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Continue reading George Clooney, Elvis, the cops and TNT
Posted Feb 19th 2009 9:03AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
If you're a fan of '70s and '80s TV, you've probably been having a bunch of a "wha the?" moments over the last year or so. When this particular little white-haired older lady shows up on a show, she doesn't look familiar, but then you hear the matronly but deep voice, and you realize who you've just seen on your screen.
It's Mrs. Garrett! Only by the time you realize it, she's gone, leaving you to wonder if you were imagining things.
Don't worry; you're not going insane. We've been seeing a lot of Charlotte Rae, who played Edna Garrett on
Diff'rent Strokes and
The Facts of Life, on TV lately, mostly playing tiny roles that involve maybe a few lines at the most. In fact, just last night, she played a suspect's mother on an episode of
Life.
Continue reading Mrs. Garrett is all over TV again ... and you probably don't know it
Posted Dec 9th 2008 5:04PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, Web, Festivus, Reality-Free
This is a really clever idea.
Betamaxmas takes a bunch of Christmas specials and episodes of TV shows that you can find on YouTube and puts them on one site, inside an old-fashioned television. You can even change the channels and adjust the volume on an old remote control.
Continue reading And now, a very Betamaxmas
Posted Jun 24th 2008 2:00PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
To some people, George Clooney's affable good nature and sincerity comes off as smug over-confidence. I fall into the former rather than the latter category.
I think George is ambitious and grateful to be working in the business. I think he remembers
the years of struggling to become a star -- those years on
The Facts of Life and
Riptide and
E/R (the Elliott Gould sitcom, not the Emmy award-winning NBC medical drama).
Failures like
Leatherheads have to keep him humble. Anyway, his efforts to expand as an actor and director and producer strike me as someone who is wisely not resting on his laurels. That said, today it was reported that
Clooney's production company, Smoke House, is behind a new pilot for Showtime called The Fall of Bob. Continue reading Clooney gets The Fall of Bob on Showtime
Posted Apr 28th 2008 2:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Celebrities, Children, Reality-Free
Miley Cyrus is doing mea culpas all over the news about the racy photo shoot in
Vanity Fair, basically saying she's embarrassed, but blaming Annie Leibovitz for the pictures. Umm, Miley, you were there. You could have said, "Oh, no, I won't do photos like that cause I'm a Disney girl and
Hannah Montana can't do that, get it?" Whatever. Her story is getting press, but it's another
Disney Channel star, Brenda Song, who's filed a lawsuit. She really has a reason to gripe.
Brenda Song, who co-stars on
The Suite Life of Zack & Cody as London Tipton -- sort of a Blair Warner for today's teens (and if you don't know Blair Warner, you never watched
The Facts of Life), has filed a lawsuit with a company that used her image in an escort service print ad that appeared in
L.A. Weekly.
Continue reading Another Disney star in the news
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