TVSquad

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Dabbs Greer: Name a TV show, and Greer made an appearance on it. He was the ultimate character actor, having appeared on several shows over the years, including The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Spy, Diagnosis: Murder, Ally McBeal, Spin City, L.A. Law, Empty Nest, The Andy Griffith Show, The Twilight Zone, The Brady Bunch, The Rifleman, Lizzie McGuire and so many others. One of those character actors who played a half dozen different roles on various shows. He was a regular on Picket Fences, Maybe It's Me, and Little House on the Prairie. He died in Pasadena at age 90.

Remember that Saturday Night Live sketch earlier this season, the one where they depicted a master acting class that prepared actors for bit roles on Law and Order? I thought of that after reading this.

The article points out that Law and Order has been quite a goldmine for actors who live and work in New York City. Most prime time shows are filmed in California, so to have a long-running show cast and filmed on the East Coast was an incredible thing for struggling actors trying to get a break into television and more established actors who prefer to live in NYC than LA. But now if it's canceled, that outlet might dry up (even if Law and Order: SVU is safe). As one actor points out, you can do several Broadway shows but if people can see you on just one TV show it's even bigger.

I guess actors can try out for soap operas and 30 Rock, but it's not the same.

The title of this post is also a pithy description of my upcoming autobiography -- thank you, you've been a lovely audience!

House band: Ba da bop ba dop bop!

Anyway, the clip after the jump is a scene from My Bare Lady, Fox Reality Channel's series about a bunch of female porn stars trying out for a role in Romeo and Juliet on the London stage. The clip features the women faking orgasms as part of their audition, I assume for the famous "fake orgasm" scene in Romeo and Juliet: "Thou art causing me to climax!"

As I said before, I find it a little condescending that this series implies porn actors aren't real actors. I say they are real actors, just different kinds of actors. It's not so easy to be in the moment and maintain that element of fantasy when a roomful of people are watching you do it. I should know, it's why I'm no longer allowed in the library.

The video is probably NSFW, so click ahead with caution.

[via Digg]

I think that The Internet Movie Database is a fantastic resource. Really, it's invaluable when you write for a television blog. But they've made some changes recently that I just hate.

They started adding a ton of info for specific episodes of TV series and for each season of a TV series, which on the surface sounds like a good idea. But in the process of doing that they've buried the main cast list for the TV shows! You used to be able to go to a TV show, say a show like Outlaws that I did a story about recently, and see the cast list right there on the front page. But no more. I spent about an hour trying to find the damn cast list, but got various dead ends, including "Full Cast and Crew" and "Episodes Cast." You'd think the main cast list would be there, but you'd be wrong. You have to click on "Season" and then the episode title. It's not like that for every show, but it is for many of them.

To quote Nancy Kerrigan, why, why, why??