TVSquad

Like you, I wanted to take a shower and pour bleach into my ears after hearing what Mackenzie Phillips had to say on Oprah yesterday (thanks Oprah). But one of the interesting revelations that has come out of all of this is that Phillips had done heroin and was high during a One Day at a Time reunion on Today last year. Here's the clip from that episode.

Bonus: I didn't realize that One Day at a Time was based on the life of Meredith Baxter's family.

Actually, it's not every season of every show that Norman Lear produced and/or created. That would probably take two UPS trucks to deliver and a spare bedroom to store. But this sounds like an interesting collection nonetheless.

On June 9, Sony will release The Norman Lear Collection, a 19-disc set that will include the first seasons of the shows that Norman Lear did over the years, including All in the Family, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, Maude, One Day At A Time, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and Good Times. The set will include lots of bonus material, including new interviews with people like Rob Reiner and Jimmie Walker, along with the two unseen pilots for All in the Family, Those Were The Days and And Justice For All (in the original pilot, the Bunkers' last name was actually Justice).

Personally, I don't think it's fair that some of these Hollywood folks get to just keep on making television shows. Especially the ones who don't age like the rest of us. I mean, what if I was waiting for Valerie Bertinelli to get too old for television? Or John Stamos, or Michael J. Fox? These people never look any older. I think they've found the Tuck's secret spring and have been sipping it for decades. In the end, there can be only one and my money's on Dick Clark. I think he is one of the Tucks.

Bertinelli has just been signed to star in a TBS sitcom as a mother of two. Good lord, One Day at a Time was more than thirty years ago! By my estimations that would make her ... let's see, she was a teenager then ... yes I know you can find her birthday easy enough online ... cross-reference how much hotter she was than Mackenzie Phillips ... then carry Schneider's creepy factor of 9.5 and you get ... one hundred and thirty two years old! Amazing! She doesn't look a day over forty-eight. I've gotta find that spring.

We seem to be in the middle of a Valerie Bertinelli renaissance.

First Bertinelli signed up with Jenny Craig and is the new spokesperson (bye-bye Kirstie Alley), then she became a correspondent for Rachael Ray, then she released a memoir, and then she made the inevitable appearance on Oprah. She was also on Larry King Live earlier this week and when he asked her if she would like to do a talk show, she didn't say "hey, I already have one!" but that must have been the case, because she has one. Bertinelli has signed with CBS to develop a new talk show for the 2009-10 season.

Reunions are hot, you know? On February 12, for example, Oprah reunited (most of) the kids from The Cosby Show, with Bill appearing via satellite. Well, never one to let a good idea go to waste, NBC jumped on the theme. They recently had a Family Ties reunion on Today, so now the morning show is commencing tomorrow with a series of more "Together Again" features. Tune into 8:00 a.m. hour each day so you don't miss a thing!

First she lost all that weight on Jenny Craig, and now she might gain it all back.

Actress Valerie Bertinelli is joining Rachael Ray. She'll be a celebrity content buddy, doing stories about food and family and being a working mom. Her first show will be tomorrow, October 23. Bertinelli will report from New Orleans, where she'll give women a guide to Monday Night Football and cook gumbo.

I've always liked Bertinelli. It's about time she's back on television in some way. I hope she gets her own series. Something tells me that she'll be more likable than Ray on her appearances on the show, though "celebrity content buddy" has to be one of the most annoying titles I've ever heard.

Valerie Bertinelli, who many remember as Barbara Cooper on One Day at a Time, is publishing her first book, a memoir titled Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time. The book will focus on Bertinelli's life as a young TV star, and her battles with weight gain and depression.

Bertinelli also appeared on Touched by an Angel and is currently a spokesperson for Jenny Craig.

Honestly, I think she looks a lot better with a little extra weight. Not that my five year old self didn't pine for the younger, skinnier Bertinelli when she was on One Day at a Time, but I don't likes m' ladies to be all skin and bones, you know? Of course you do.