TVSquad

David Lloyd was one of those TV writers whose work spread across the history of television. He worked on shows ranging from The Tonight Show in the 60s to Frasier in the 90s and early 2000s.

Lloyd died last night after a long illness.

Lloyd had a part in many memorable TV shows over the years, as a writer and/or a producer, including Cheers, Wings, Taxi, Lou Grant, Rhoda, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Phyllis, The Tony Randall Show, Dear John, The Dick Cavett Show, The Associates, The Best of the West, and many other shows.

Ken Levine has a great tribute to Lloyd on his site, including a discussion of how Lloyd was as a writer. It includes an example of Lloyd's script for the classic Mary Tyler Moore Show episode "Chuckles Bites The Dust."

Dick Martin was the "Martin" in the comedy duo Rowan & Martin, who hosted the incredibly popular 1960s/early '70s comedy sketch show on NBC, Laugh-In. Dan Rowan, who died in 1987, was the straight man (that's Rowan on the left in the pic).

Martin also appeared in several other TV shows over the years, including Third Rock From The Sun, The Lucy Show, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Coach, Blossom, Dave's World, Baywatch, The Nanny, Diagnosis: Murder, George & Leo, The John Larroquette Show, and Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place. He was also in the movies The Maltese Bibby, Carbon Copy, and The Glass Bottom Boat.

Besides acting, Martin was a director as well, helming such shows as The Bob Newhart Show, Family Ties, Archie Bunker's Place, Mama's Family, In The Heat of the Night, Newhart, and Sledge Hammer.

Martin died of respiratory complications in Santa Monica last night. He was 86.

When Suzanne Pleshette passed away a couple of weeks ago of respiratory failure, it seemed to derail the plans for her to get a star on the Walk of Fame sidewalk in Hollywood. A lot of times when a celebrity has died they won't do a public ceremony. But tomorrow's ceremony is going forward, with a familiar face at the helm.

Pleshette's television hubby Bob Newhart will lead the ceremonies tomorrow, on what would have been Pleshette's 71st birthday. Newhart also gave the eulogy at her funeral last week, along with Bob Newhart Show co-star (andlongtime Simpsons voice) Marcia Wallace.

This was actually planned long ago, before her death from respiratory failure over the weekend.

Pleshette was set to get her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 31, which is also her birthday. No word yet on whether or not the ceremony will still go ahead on that day, but I'm sure that Pleshette will get her star on the sidewalk at some point.

Tom Poston, one of the classic veterans of TV comedy, died earlier today at his home in Los Angeles. He appeared on The Steve Allen Show in the 1950s and Newhart in the 1980s.

Poston played handyman George Utley on Newhart, and was also a regular on another Bob Newhart series, Bob. And to keep the connection to Newhart going, he played Cliff "The Peeper" Murdock on The Bob Newhart Show in the 70s. Poston also appeared on Grace Under Fire, Mork & Mindy, The Simpsons, Will & Grace, Home Improvement, Murphy Brown, Get Smart, Coach, The Love Boat, Studio One, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Just Shoot Me, That 70s Show, and dozens of other shows over the years.

Poston was married to actress Suzanne Pleshette, who played Newhart's wife Emily on The Bob Newhart Show.

Another fun list over at The Onion, and as usual they miss the mark as often as they hit it. It's their selections for the 17 Memorable Thanksgiving Television Moments.

I love the fact that they remembered to include the Bob Newhart episode "Over The River and Through The Woods," where the gang gets drunk on Thanksgiving night and try to order Chinese food over the phone ("More moo goo!"), and the choice of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Bewitched are good choices. But I'll take exception to their choice of the Friends episode "The One Where Ross Got High." It's certainly a good episode, with the whole "Rachel makes a dessert" plot, but Friends was famous for its Turkey Day episodes, and "The One With All The Thanksgivings" is even better. It's the flashback episode where we see Ross and Chandler go to Ross' home for Thanksgiving and we meet fat Monica and then thin Monica a year later, when she accidentally cuts off part of Chandler's toe. That's hysterical.