BW Manilowe

Mouse is DEFINITELY Dionne Warwick!

Regarding the bolded: Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I had forgotten that happened & I was actually probably there when it did!

From USA Today: KFC Donut Sandwich with Fried Chicken and Glazed Doughnuts Now Available Nationwide

Before the Alzheimer’s, she was kind of the African-American Martha Stewart. Plus she owned restaurants where Martha Stewart did not/has not.

20th Anniversary Commemorative TWW T-shirts, Sweatshirts, Tank Tops, Phone Cases, & Mugs available at this link. I got it through a Facebook ad. At least the shirts have the printed autographs of most of the cast, including Rob Lowe (who always talks of his support & love for the show, but never wanted to be in any original special features for the DVDs when he was in the show’s cast); they even managed, somehow, to get the late John Spencer’s autograph. The only problem: It appears today as I’m posting this, Saturday, is the last day these items will probably be available—unless somebody can find another ad from a different place that’s selling it for a longer period. So my sincerest apologies to anyone who sees this post after the items are no longer available from this source.

After seeing the Long Island Medium‘s daughter & the Cake Boss‘s wife on the show in recent repeats (at least the 1 with Mrs. Cake Boss was a repeat to me), the thought crossed my mind that if the show lasts long enough we’ll see either the Outdaughtered mother come in looking for a vow renewal dress, or her daughters (if not all 6, at least the quints) come in looking for wedding dresses (& their firstborn is almost 9, while the quints are almost 5... so we have awhile to go on those girls), or Zoey Klein from The Little Couple come in looking for her wedding dress (& I think she’s only, like, 8 right now). I don’t think Zoey’s mom, Jen, would come looking for a vow renewal dress because there was a vow renewal on their show already—I think it was, like, their 10th anniversary & Jen’s husband, Bill, planned the renewal as a surprise, including having Houston-based Project Runway winner Chloe Dao (who’d done dresses for Jen before) design a dress for Jen to wear in her favorite color of Tiffany Blue.

Regarding the bolded: Granted, this example doesn’t involve a human being, per se, & most of us are probably too old for this kind of show, but I still think it’s worth mentioning. In 2015, Sesame Street added a new Muppet character, Julia, who’s on the autism spectrum. She’s played by a woman whose real life daughter is on the autism spectrum. This is how she was introduced in the show, in a scene with Muppets Big Bird, Abby Cadabby, Elmo, & human character Alan, who runs Mr. Hooper’s Store now (or at least when this was originally filmed), as I remember. The clip is about 10 minutes long, but I think it’s worth watching (I watched it again before linking it); especially if you have family or other loved ones on the autism spectrum. I was born with Spina Bifida (Open Spine) & Hydrocephalus (Water on the Brain), which were corrected shortly after birth but did leave some lasting effects. In recent years, some of those effects have, unfortunately, been worsened thanks to the untimely & unexpected failure of the shunt in my head meant to keep the Hydrocephalus in check. It is what it is, & I’m dealing with it so don’t feel badly for me about that. I really don’t care if a disabled character is played by a disabled actor/actress or not, as long as the non-disabled actor/actress isn’t glaringly awful at depicting the disability/disabilities of their character (like being caught constantly looking at the camera if they’re supposed to be blind).

Regarding the bolded: Back in the early 1990s, Marlee Matlin starred in another show where her hearing impairment was incorporated into the character. That show was Reasonable Doubts; her co-star was Mark Harmon. She played a prosecutor & he played a detective who were assigned to work together because he was 1 of the few on the police force in the show who knew ASL.

From USA Today: Tony Fernandez, Former All-Star Blue Jays Shortstop, Dies at 57 I don’t know if this is the official cause of death or not, but the linked article mentioned him having had a stroke that was apparently somehow related to kidney disease, which he apparently had.

I follow a page about TWW on Facebook. Yesterday they posted that as of December, the show will be streaming exclusively on the new HBO Max service. So plan accordingly (do whatever you need to to retain access to the eps without having to subscribe to HBO Max to watch it).

I wish the “entourages” would stop trying to pick the dresses if they don’t like what Randy & the other consultant have picked. Most of the time they go over the bride’s budget or are just wrong. Period.

It was also 2 posts above that, along with a couple of other obits, this time linked from TMZ.

From USA Today: Charles ‘Chuckie’ O’Brien, Who Was Portrayed in ‘The Irishman’, Dead at 86

They definitely missed René Auberjonois. I follow his Twitter account & whomever is now posting on his behalf (or also posted on his behalf before he died) posted about it & was not happy about it either. I guess the Academy must think he (& Carroll Spinney) was more notable for his TV work than his film work.

From USA Today: Eminem Explains How He Pulled Off His Surprise ‘Lose Yourself’ Performance at the Oscars

Someone apparently thinks she (Billie Eilish) can sing. She’s the same artist who won the 4 major awards—Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year—plus Best Pop Vocal Album, at the Grammys this year.

In my long post (sorry again), I forgot to mention another thing which may have kept Scott from getting a Producer credit along with Alex this season. Of all the original Core Four cast members, & probably most if not all of the other lead cast members who’ve come & gone over the last 10 seasons, arguably Scott has the most experience with writing & directing—although his expertise is really in movies & plays, I’d say it’s still similar enough to episodic TV. Scott has never seemed interested in putting himself forward to write or direct an episode in the entire time the show has been on, while then-novices Daniel Dae Kim, Alex O’Loughlin, Chi McBride &, most recently, Ian Anthony Dale (Adam Noshimuri) have either directed, written/submitted an idea which was then put in script form by a writer for the show, or directed & written/submitted an idea which was then put in script form by a writer for the show.

Do you think that, because they apparently went back & added Kirk Douglas after they finished this year’s In Memoriam segment (what it sounds like they did to me), they’ll get blowback from the survivors of someone with a legitimate place on the In Memoriam in future years if they don’t edit them in before the ceremony (as in “You could edit the segment to add Kirk Douglas... why not my family member/other loved one?”)?

Way back at the beginning of the series Peter Lenkov, H50’s showrunner & creator, & oftentimes episode writer/co-writer, commented in an interview that he thought Alex & Scott would probably be Executive Producers (equal to Lenkov & anyone else having that title) by Season 5. It didn’t happen, which surprised me because that’s about the time in a series star’s contract where you start throwing in perks like that to make them happy & keep the show going longer if the ratings are stable, the network shows no signs of wanting to cancel it, etc. Although when this perk is usually given to a series’ star, all that happens is that they get a salary bump because they have the title, maybe some other perk(s), but they don’t really have any of the “power” that goes along with the title, unless maybe their production company (if they have 1) is added to the other production companies which actually have been producing, & continue to produce, the show involved. For the actor/actress involved, the Executive Producer/Producer title is usually just a “vanity” thing. Anyway... I kept checking the “behind the scenes” credits on the show every season since Season 5 & still no credit for Alex & Scott as Executive (or any other kind of) Producer... until this season, when Alex (but not Scott) finally got a credit as a Producer (but not the usual/expected Executive Producer). I was surprised Scott wasn’t given the same credit because although Alex & Scott are billed #1 & #2 in the main title cast credits, the call sheets, etc., I’ve always heard they seem to be treated as if they share the #1 billing. Plus Scott actually has producing credit from before the show, whereas I don’t think Alex does. The only reasons I can think of for Scott not getting the credit with Alex are: someone with the power to give him that credit decided he didn’t deserve it for some reason (but he might get it some other time if the show continues after this season—remember, the original ran 2 seasons longer than this version has so far); he was offered the title & declined it for whatever reason; or, & here’s the big reason, in my opinion... Scott doesn’t seem to care about the show as much as Alex does, & thereby Alex deserves the credit more. I will explain... Back in the first couple of seasons, pretty much all of what we then called “the core four”, but Alex & Scott in particular (with Alex most in particular), did probably all the promotional TV & print interviews that were asked of them. Since then, & granted there have been a number of cast changes through the seasons, most of the promotional work has been done by Alex alone. He realizes it’s part of the job & he seems to do it happily... or at least without complaint. The last promotional thing I remember Scott doing was either an appearance on The Talk (I’m pretty sure with Alex) or by himself on Ellen DeGeneres’s talk show. Then there’s the issue of, after the first season DVD’s came out, Scott has never done any of the cast episode commentaries, or been in any special features which have been created for the different seasons sets; he’s only been in the special features which are made up of scene clips or bloopers from the episodes. And when he, along with the rest of “the core four”, did the S1 DVD cast commentary for the Pilot, Scott sounded like he really didn’t wanna be there (in my opinion) &, he was talking about his dog, Dot, & mostly other stuff besides the episode. Then at 1 point Scott either really fell asleep or pretended to fall asleep & you heard him make that noise people make when they’re asleep & something startles them awake (I think it’s called a “hypnic jerk”). Ever since then, he hasn’t contributed anything that was newly-created for any season’s DVD set. Then there’s the issues of the annual, & traditional, Hawaiian blessing of the show’s set/stage & the annual Sunset on the Beach season premiere event for the fans, where they show the upcoming season premiere episode on a big screen on Queen’s Beach in Waikīkī. No, neither requires attendance by the cast members, as far as I know, but Alex has a damn sight better attendance record at both events than Scott does. Scott went to the first set blessing, as did all the lead cast; I don’t think he’s been to another since. I think Alex has been to 8 of the 10–1 season he was flying home from a trip with 1 or all of his sons & he missed the blessing because the plane was late. I can’t remember if he was at this season’s blessing or not, but for some reason I don’t think so. Scott also went to the first season’s Sunset on the Beach (but I think Grace Park was a no-show, as I remember, then it was later said she was shy around a lot of people, or something). He was supposed to have gone the next season or the season after that, but his mom died of cancer right before & he had to fly back to the Mainland because of that. He’s been announced as coming every season, but of the 10 SOTB’s held I think Scott’s maybe been to 2... or 3 at the absolute most. Alex has been to at least most (8 or 9) of the 10; I’m not sure if he was there this season or not. My point here is, Alex takes the responsibility of being #1 on the cast list very seriously &, for the most part, uncomplainingly does everything he’s asked that comes with the position—including the interviews, public appearances, & other things a series lead might try to get out of doing. So perhaps the Producer credit was a reward for that. Also, this season & last Alex has been spreading his wings with directing a couple of episodes & either writing 2 episodes or suggesting the idea for 1 ep, which another writer wrote the actual filmed script for, & actually writing another ep. Perhaps the Producer credit was because Alex is serious about getting into more behind the scenes work in TV &/or movies after H50 ends. And I think, because Peter Lenkov knows Alex is interested in doing more than just acting, Alex is a legitimate Producer on the show this season, with actual power attached to that title; it’s not just the usual “vanity title contract perk” for Alex that it would be for many other stars. Sorry for the long response.

From Sports Illustrated: Roger Kahn, The Boys of Summer Author, Dead at 92 There was no cause of death given, other than his son’s statement saying he died at a nursing home.

I didn’t mean it to sound like Orson Bean’s life had more value than someone else’s just because he was a celebrity. It didn’t & shouldn’t have. I guess I was just thinking it’s probably good the drivers’ names haven’t been released because at least they don’t have to worry about meeting random people in the future, & having them bring up this incident somehow (“So you were 1 of the 2 people who hit Orson Bean...”) even though the drivers weren’t at fault. So yeah, maybe in some ways being connected tangentially to a celebrity in a situation like this (like with all the other families besides the Bryant family being involved in the same helicopter crash as the Bryants) is, or might be, worse than just random anonymous people being involved in the same incident. I’m not sure I’m explaining how I mean this very well. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. I just had a certain thought in my head & wanted to at least try to express it.

I can’t wait to see how long it takes tonight’s SYTTD America bride to find a dress. The promo monkeys have made her out to be a Bridezilla—insofar as it appears they show her everything, at least everything in the curated collection, & she hates (appears to hate) all of it.