BW Manilowe

From Yahoo! News: Power Trip Lead Singer Riley Gale Dead at 34

From USA Today: Another Article on the HBO Max Reunion Special (Still worth reading though).

VIDEO: From Entertainment Weekly—The West Wing Cast Remembers John Spencer and Kathryn Joosten

This is the 2nd time I’ve written this. I went to get a link to add to the original post, the page refreshed & wiped out the original somehow. The upcoming 30th Anniversary Issue of Entertainment Weekly (in the linked article they call it “the September issue”, without giving a more accurate issue date, weekly vs. monthly) has cast members from the show on the cover, plus an article (linked) with those cast members mostly reminiscing about working together on the show & talking about the upcoming HBO Max special. There also is a separate photo gallery of the cast. At the top of the linked article is a pic of the participating cast in a high school gym setting, with some of the cast behind (presumably mock) voting machines & others standing in line like they’re waiting their turn to use 1 of the machines. Hung on 1 of the walls is a pair of retired basketball jerseys from the school they’re supposed to be voting at. Look VERY CAREFULLY at the names on those jerseys. I’m just saying. If you look on the other wall, under the eagle, there’s a plaque of some kind which appears to have a pic of Martin, before he went gray, on it. There also are *3* videos embedded in the article, including a Zoom call (the middle video) with Sorkin, Schlamme, & the cast participating in the HBO Max special. When you watch these videos, DO NOT stop watching at the first sight of the Entertainment Weekly logo. Most, if not all, of these big videos are really a series of little videos edited together, with the cast reminiscing on various things. So keep going until (I think) it cycles back to a clip you’ve already seen. Unlike previous cast reunions, I’m happy to say Rob Lowe is participating in this 1! But since the HBO Max Special‘s a theatrical performance of the “Hartsfield’s Landing” episode (in which Sam & Jed play chess, while China plays war games in the Taiwan Strait & Josh awaits the results of voting in a small New Hampshire town which traditionally casts its equally small number of votes first in the nation, shortly after midnight on Election Day), & Rob’s still alive, it just wouldn’t be the same with somebody else playing Sam, if it could be prevented (unlike having to recast Leo McGarry since John Spencer died almost 15 years ago... already). Anyway, in 1 of his video clips, Rob refers to this having been his first TV show. Lest he forget (& he usually doesn’t), his actual first TV show was the short-lived ABC sitcom A New Kind of Family, where he played the teenage son of a character played by Eileen Brennan.

From The Hollywood Reporter (THR): Allan Rich, Character Actor Who Overcame the Blacklist, Dies at 94 He had a form of dementia. He was known for roles in Serpico & Quiz Show, among other TV shows & movies. Prior to being blacklisted, he was a stage actor.

Siegfried didn’t put the video together, by the way; Roy did it, or had it done, at some point. Presumably between the tiger attack & contracting COVID-19. I watched it yesterday; if you are/were a Siegfried & Roy fan, be prepared for tears or near tears.

Yep. That’s the ad.

For the most part, the Liberty Mutual insurance commercials don’t bother me that much. Except for the 1 where they have an actor (hopefully just) playing a bad actor who’s trying, unsuccessfully, to film a Liberty Mutual insurance commercial within the commercial & he keeps messing up his lines in the fake commercial &, at 1 point, is so bad that they have to have the bad actor’s lines dubbed for him to lip sync to.

Richard Thomas, who played the eldest Walton child, “John-Boy“, was actually an adult when he did the show. He was born in June, 1951 according to Wikipedia, & The Waltons premiered on CBS in September, 1972; so he was 21 & an adult by the time The Waltons premiered. He’s still alive besides Ms. Hamilton & Ms. Learned (FUN FACT: Ms. Learned is related to singer Helen Reddy by virtue of the marriage of their children, according to an interview Ms. Learned did with Australian TV which I saw [on YouTube] earlier this year). Richard Thomas was most recently seen as FBI Agent Gaad in the FX seriesThe Americans; he’s now 69 years old. All the other actors who played the Walton children are (obviously) now also adults & are still alive.

They also might be from Alabama/elsewhere in the South. My maternal grandparents were from Alabama & I remember my grandma saying “warsh” instead of “wash”. I think my grandpa did it too, but I’m not quite as clear on that as I am on my grandma doing it.

I’m irritated, I guess you could say, with the Jimmy Dean brand food commercials that have been running for awhile now. The ones with him in them. He comes off nice enough in them, but they have to either be recycling the commercials from years ago or have made the ones that are running now from previously unused footage. Jimmy Dean has been DEAD since 2010! Some viewers might not even know that, which I think is perhaps deceitful on the part of the ad agency &/or the company that currently makes the Jimmy Dean food products. Another commercial that irritates is the 1 (& I think I’ve only seen it on COZI TV, 1 of those cable networks which is usually on your local stations’ digital subchannels & shows repeats of old comedies &/or dramas) for Life Alert, 1 of those medically-related devices you’re supposed to keep with you/wear of the “I’ve fallen & I can’t get up” type. The commercial starts innocuously enough, with a lady falling & someone responding from the company saying their device has indicated she fell & does she need any assistance, which she answers in the affirmative; then the lady talks about how little trouble the device is in her daily life: she can travel, go shopping, etc. with it without any problems. But there’s 1 BIG problem I think I’ve seen with the commercial: She’s supposed to wear the device/have it with her from when she gets up at least until she goes to sleep, if not including when she’s sleeping. But in most of the montage of scenes showing her going about her day, I’ve noticed she only seems to be wearing the device only 3 times!

I don’t know if it’s a favorite commercial (& I don’t know which thread it should go in), but I find the current commercial for Kohler Walk-In Baths interesting, I guess you could say. The part that gets me is the part where the (potential) customer says to his wife (who started onscreen in the commercial, then went offscreen), “We need this bath,” once he finds out how easy it is to get into (though he could probably get into a regular tub if he’d just sit on the top/side of the tub so he’s got his legs/lower half dangling on the inside of the tub & carefully drop down into it); then the Kohler rep/installer who’s in the bathroom with the guy says, sorta ruefully, “Yes. Yes, you do.”, which I realized could have a double meaning, as in “Yes, you need (to buy) this bath.” & “Yes, you need (to take) a bath (because he smells like it). The Kohler guy’s expression seems to go along with the second sentiment rather than the first, strangely enough.

Most, if not all, of the prescription drug commercials say something like “Don’t take (name of drug) if you’re allergic to it, or any ingredients in it.” Wouldn’t you have to take it at least once (most times, unless you already know you’re allergic to a component in it) to know if you’re allergic to it or not?

From Variety: Zac Efron to Star in ‘Three Men and a Baby’ Remake for Disney Plus

I’ve been having a problem, in ALL topics I read, since the last forum tweak in/around June, where it doesn’t remember the place where I left off. When I click the title I get sent to Page 1 of whatever topic it is, then I have to find the last post I read myself. It doesn’t even necessarily work if I use Mark Read/Mark All Read (if I can find that). iPhone 6s; Safari; iOS 13.6

From the New York Daily News: Legendary Columnist and Writer Pete Hamill Dies At 85 After Fall He fell and fractured his hip on Saturday, after which he was hospitalized; then he died in the intensive care unit, of heart & kidney failure, 4 days later.

In case anyone’s interested, the final season (Season 10) DVDs were released this past Friday (2 days ago). Among the usual “extras” (gag reel, deleted scenes, etc.) are the Magnum, P.I. episode which was part of the recent crossover storyline & an interview with Alex O’Loughlin.

Regarding the bolded: Deidre Hall’s family in Our House was supposed to have been from my hometown before they moved to California (I think it was) to live with Wilford Brimley’s character after the death of his son; Wilford was supposed to be Deidre Hall’s character’s father-in-law & the grandfather of the 3 kids in the show (who included Shannen Doherty, pre-90210 & the original version of Charmed). They accurately named both our city & which county of our state my hometown’s in more than once during the show’s relatively short run on NBC (I think it was only 2 seasons), so I think someone with the show must’ve had a local connection. I remember reading, during the show’s brief run, that Deidre Hall & Wilford Brimley apparently didn’t get along very well.

Yeah. The Oreo & M&M candy bars didn’t seem to last long here either. I think I can get at least some flavors through Amazon, but I’m not sure.

I think I remember the microwaveable s’mores.

Another, pretty in depth, & I think very interesting, article (exposé could also be an appropriate description), from Vanity Fair, on Peter Lenkov’s recent dismissal from his production deal at CBS & his remaining showrunner positions at Magnum, P.I. & MacGyver. Lots of comments from people who used to work with him are included. From reading the article, it appears a 5-page letter from MacGyver star Lucas Till to CBS’ Human Resources Department, about the working conditions on that set, was what sparked the investigation which ultimately took Lenkov down (among other things, separately mentioned from the letter, it’s alleged that after Meredith Eaton, who co-stars on MacGyver, suffered an injury on set that wasn’t initially treated correctly & needed hip replacement surgery to correct, Lenkov kept trying to rush her return to work after the surgery although she was in no condition yet to walk as quickly as her character is normally needed to in most scenes). https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/07/the-fall-of-a-cbs-showrunner You’ll probably need to use the Reader View function on your device to read the article. I did—it opens up, then gets blocked by magazine-related pop-ups which I couldn’t remove until I used Reader View. If you don’t know where that is, look up where you type the web address you want. It might/should be there (or look where all your computer tools are located).

From Vanity Fair: Interesting (I thought) article (exposé?) on the end of now-former showrunner Peter Lenkov’s production deal with, & employment by, CBS. It mentions a lot about the on-set atmosphere under his leadership on all 3 shows (MacGyver, Magnum P.I., & the recently ended Hawaii Five-0), including a story about Meredith Eaton needing to have hip replacement surgery for an injury incurred during filming, & Lenkov seemingly trying to rush her return to work after the procedure; it also seems to say that a 5-page letter sent by Lucas Till to CBS’ Human Resources Department, about the working conditions on the MacGyver set, was what triggered the investigation which led to Lenkov’s downfall. You probably have to use the Reader View function (which should be somewhere in the box where you type the web address for the site/page you’re looking for) to read the article, otherwise you get blocked by magazine-related pop-ups you can’t remove (I couldn’t anyway). https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/07/the-fall-of-a-cbs-showrunner

From Vanity Fair: An article (exposé?) about the end of Peter Lenkov’s production deal/employment with CBS (mentions a lot regarding all 3 of his shows, including the departures of Grace Park & Daniel Dae Kim after S7; at least some of what’s said, in general, may be kinda shocking/surprising). It was apparently a lengthy (5-page) letter to CBS’ Human Resources Department, from MacGyver star Lucas Till, about the situation on that set which ultimately took Lenkov down. I thought it was very interesting & worth reading. If the article gets blocked by non removable pop-up ads about subscribing to the magazine, use the Reader View option to read it. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/07/the-fall-of-a-cbs-showrunner

Apple iPhone 6s; Safari; iOS 13.6 (current iOS).