Late To The Party: Obvious Things About Shows You Realized Embarrasingly Late

[MissAlmond]

Bonanza could have written Adam off as married and moved away when Pernell Roberts left. That Jamie character could have been introduced as Adam's son, curious about the Ponderosa from hearing tales from his father. But nooooo. 

Edited September 8, 2022 by MissAlmond

[Blergh]

15 hours ago, MissAlmond said:

Bonanza could have written Adam off as married and moved away when Pernell Roberts left. That Jamie character could have been introduced as Adam's son, curious about the Ponderosa from hearing tales from his father. But nooooo. 

Agree but Jamie (and Mitch Vogel) looked NOTHING like Adam (and Pernell Roberts). BTW, all they did with Adam was say he went to San Francisco and somehow never was able to recross the Sierra Nevada to visit the Tahoe area again (evidently not even to attend Hoss's funeral or Little Joe's [doomed] wedding).

[Katy M]

7 hours ago, Blergh said:

Agree but Jamie (and Mitch Vogel) looked NOTHING like Adam (and Pernell Roberts). BTW, all they did with Adam was say he went to San Francisco and somehow never was able to recross the Sierra Nevada to visit the Tahoe area again (evidently not even to attend Hoss's funeral or Little Joe's [doomed] wedding).

I thought he went to Boston.  

[ginger90]

18 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I thought he went to Boston.  

He did.

[MissAlmond]

9 hours ago, Blergh said:

Agree but Jamie (and Mitch Vogel) looked NOTHING like Adam (and Pernell Roberts).

Since Jamie as Adam's son wasn't in play Mitch Vogel looking nothing like Pernell Roberts/Adam doesn't matter. I'm sure if the show had gone in that direction, the casting director would have known what to look for.

[MaryMitch]

Adam Cartwright went wherever the writers needed him to go for the episode. He was in St. Louis, later Paris, later he got on a ship in San Francisco to sail to the Hawaii and the South Seas. After season 7 he was rarely mentioned.

As for Jamie, I think it would have been cool to have Hoss adopt him. Hoss needed his own family.

[Raja]

Who was Jamie? I remember seeing Candy in the last seasons credits of Bonanza. Because of 6 Million Dollar Man, Fall Guy and Dynasty, The Big Valley was always in syndication when I grew up.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Raja

[magicdog]

5 hours ago, Raja said:

Who was Jamie?

Around Season 12 the Cartwrights adopted a teen boy who had lost his parents (a grandfather would come by later to take him but he agreed to leave him on the Ponderosa).  I never saw those episodes either in syndication either.  They seemed to stop at 1968 with Candy then roll back to the beginning.  

From Wiki:

Quote

After Canary's departure in mid-1970, and aware of the show's aging demographic, the writers sought a fresh outlet for Ben's fatherly advice. Fourteen-year-old Mitch Vogel was introduced as Jamie Hunter in "A Matter of Faith" (season 12, episode 363). Vogel played the red-haired orphan of a roving rainmaker, whom Ben takes in and adopts later in a 1971 episode, called "A Home for Jamie."

The show would end I think in 1973.  Should have ended way sooner.

On 9/8/2022 at 5:02 AM, MissAlmond said:

Bonanza could have written Adam off as married and moved away when Pernell Roberts left

Believe it or not that WAS the plan!  Remember Adam was courting the widow with a daughter?  He was supposed to marry her and they were supposed to ride out of town as a new family.  Don't know why that was changed, as it would have been the best way for Adam to go out.

When Roberts wanted to leave earlier, they brought in Guy Williams as Cartwright cousin Will Cartwright.  From what I had heard, the cast talked Roberts into staying a bit longer while treating Williams horribly!  Eventually he left for Lost In Space. 

[Fool to cry]

Crasher from Challenge of the Gobots was a female robot. I thought it was a male robot who was effete and had lips.

[Fool to cry]

On 9/9/2022 at 1:30 PM, magicdog said:

Around Season 12 the Cartwrights adopted a teen boy who had lost his parents (a grandfather would come by later to take him but he agreed to leave him on the Ponderosa).  I never saw those episodes either in syndication either.  They seemed to stop at 1968 with Candy then roll back to the beginning.  

From Wiki:

The show would end I think in 1973.  Should have ended way sooner.

Believe it or not that WAS the plan!  Remember Adam was courting the widow with a daughter?  He was supposed to marry her and they were supposed to ride out of town as a new family.  Don't know why that was changed, as it would have been the best way for Adam to go out.

When Roberts wanted to leave earlier, they brought in Guy Williams as Cartwright cousin Will Cartwright.  From what I had heard, the cast talked Roberts into staying a bit longer while treating Williams horribly!  Eventually he left for Lost In Space. 

In the Next Generation movie they said he moved to Australia. Although his Aussie son looked like him with the dark hair and square jaw, they were as he himself put it is "different as night and day" personality wise. I can see Adam being a strict dad and his son being a wild rebel.

Edited October 2, 2022 by Fool to cry

[Egg McMuffin]

Bonanza had so many episodes (over 400), the production company had to pare down the syndication package because local stations didn’t want to pay for over 400 episodes. You’d think they just would have syndicated the first X number of seasons, but they didn’t. The original syndication package included the first six season, nothing of season 7 and select episodes from seasons 8-11. So Jamie’s tenure wasn’t seen in reruns for a long time. In the 80s, the production company packaged the un-syndicated episodes as “The Lost Episodes” and sold them to cable. MeTV now has the whole series and airs it chronologically, and I believe is the first station to do so since the original airing.

There was nothing wrong with the idea of the Cartwrights adopting a new kid, but no offense to Mitch Vogel but he did not have that candy-coated TV look to him, and he wasn’t particularly appealing as a teenager. He was an odd choice for the show.

Guy Williams was proposed to be Pernell Roberts’ successor, and he would have been good. But the other three actors did not want to share the spotlight or have another equal. When the producers finally brought in David Canary, he was not billed equally with the other three and was positioned as supporting instead of as one of the leads.

[skipnjump]

On 1/5/2022 at 8:58 PM, Crs97 said:

More sports related, but I discovered it on 30 for 30 so figure it belongs here:  I was today years old (54) when I realized the Indiana Pacers are named for the pace cars in the Indianapolis 500. 🤦‍♀️

Being from Indianapolis, you are partially correct.  Yes, the Pacers are named for the pace cars at the Indy 500, but also partially to commemorate the history of harness racing in Indiana.  The horses in harness racing are sometimes called pacers.  There was a minor league hockey team in Indy at the time called the Racers, so they couldn't use that name.

[Kel Varnsen]

I watched The Sopranos back when it was originally on, then I rewatched the series about a year ago. And I realized that on the first rewatch I never noticed how crappy Tony's house was considering the size. I mean the decorating is terrible (all that wallpaper and the stupid painting covered by the headboard of the bed) and the design seems really bad too. The kitchen is tiny, the basement is small and unfinished, and the master bedroom is really small. Plus maybe it is just me, but having the home theatre in a separate building (the pool house) in a region where you get snow seems like a dumb idea. Since you have to go outside in winter if you want to watch movie.

 

[BlueSkies]

Perhaps its not/still isn't obvious but there was an episode Doggie Howser was sent back to high school to teach a sex education class.  In it he angers the star football player who fights him in the playgrounds.

 

Later on the big guy respects Doggie and sees him a the hospital.  There was a line in it he told Doggie he had an issue he gets off before the race begins.  I recall watching that as a kid and didnt know what the hell that meant and thought maybe as I grown up it'd make more sense.

 

Kinda did, I think the big guy was trying to say he struggles with premature ejaculation.  but that's still something my naive younger self would not have any idea 

Edited January 15, 2023 by BlueSkies

[magicdog]

On 11/6/2022 at 3:49 PM, Egg McMuffin said:

There was nothing wrong with the idea of the Cartwrights adopting a new kid, but no offense to Mitch Vogel but he did not have that candy-coated TV look to him, and he wasn’t particularly appealing as a teenager. He was an odd choice for the show.

Guy Williams was proposed to be Pernell Roberts’ successor, and he would have been good. But the other three actors did not want to share the spotlight or have another equal. When the producers finally brought in David Canary, he was not billed equally with the other three and was positioned as supporting instead of as one of the leads.

I suppose Mitch Vogel was added to generate younger viewers.  Adam/Pernell Roberts was gone, Hoss (Dan Blocker) died in 1972 so all that was left was an aging Little Joe and even he was ready to move onto his next project (LHOTP).

Guy Williams definitely would have made a great replacement for Pernell Roberts (at least he had Lost In Space as a consolation prize afterward).  The problem was Roberts wanted out, but the rest of the cast talked him into doing one more season.  Guy Williams seemed like an afterthought.  The main cast shut him out and did treat him rather shabbily. When Adam was courting the young widow with a daughter, the idea was to have Adam leave the series by marrying her and leaving the Ponderosa.  To kill two birds with one stone, William's character falls in love with her out of the blue, they eloped, left town and  left the show!!   

[DrSpaceman73]

On 1/6/2023 at 10:10 AM, Kel Varnsen said:

I watched The Sopranos back when it was originally on, then I rewatched the series about a year ago. And I realized that on the first rewatch I never noticed how crappy Tony's house was considering the size. I mean the decorating is terrible (all that wallpaper and the stupid painting covered by the headboard of the bed) and the design seems really bad too. The kitchen is tiny, the basement is small and unfinished, and the master bedroom is really small. Plus maybe it is just me, but having the home theatre in a separate building (the pool house) in a region where you get snow seems like a dumb idea. Since you have to go outside in winter if you want to watch movie.

 

Oh yeah the sopranos house was horribly decorated and not that impressive really.  Its very jersey suburban 90s. Kind of gaudy and tacky. 

Never thought about that with the home theater. 

[Bastet]

Not something about a show, but about an actor:  I've enjoyed Melanie Lynksey in a quite a few things, in which she's always had some form of American accent.  So color me surprised when I left the TV on Bravo tonight after Top Chef and I heard her on a talk show speaking with her natural New Zealand accent.  I had no idea!

[Zella]

11 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Not something about a show, but about an actor:  I've enjoyed Melanie Lynksey in a quite a few things, in which she's always had some form of American accent.  So color me surprised when I left the TV on Bravo tonight after Top Chef and I heard her on a talk show speaking with her natural New Zealand accent.  I had no idea!

I had a similar experience when I finally saw her in Heavenly Creatures. I love her natural accent, but I'd never heard her speak in anything but an American accent before then. 

[proserpina65]

13 hours ago, Bastet said:

Not something about a show, but about an actor:  I've enjoyed Melanie Lynksey in a quite a few things, in which she's always had some form of American accent.  So color me surprised when I left the TV on Bravo tonight after Top Chef and I heard her on a talk show speaking with her natural New Zealand accent.  I had no idea!

I knew she was in Heavenly Creatures, although I've never seen it, and that she was from New Zealand, so I was surprised as hell when she showed up on Two & A Half Men (which I didn't deliberately watch, btw) and sounded American.  She does a really convincing American accent.

[Zella]

5 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

She does a really convincing American accent.

Yes I feel like a lot of overseas actors who are praised for their American accents actually do shitty American accents. Not sounding British/Australian, etc., is not the same as actually sounding American. But hers completely fools me every time. 

[proserpina65]

1 minute ago, Zella said:

Yes I feel like a lot of overseas actors who are praised for their American accents actually do shitty American accents. Not sounding British/Australian, etc., is not the same as actually sounding American. But hers completely fools me every time. 

I think a lot of them manage good American accents most of the time but tend to slip up here and there.  Hers is flawless.

[Zella]

2 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

I think a lot of them manage good American accents most of the time but tend to slip up here and there.  Hers is flawless.

To me, a lot of them have an intonation that is very weird and doesn't actually sound American. Like I said, it ceases to be recognizably British or Australian, but it doesn't sound American. Even when it's consistent and they don't slip, it just doesn't natural to me at all. 

[DrSpaceman73]

I had no idea she's not American. I've seen her on two and a half men and one episode of always sunny. 

[Mabinogia]

4 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I knew she was in Heavenly Creatures, although I've never seen it, and that she was from New Zealand, so I was surprised as hell when she showed up on Two & A Half Men (which I didn't deliberately watch, btw) and sounded American.  She does a really convincing American accent.

Heavenly Creatures is the first place I ever saw, and fell in love with, Melanie Linskey, so I watched Two & A Half Men for her, and was incredibly impressed by her accent. I got so used to it that when she showed up on Psych and she had a hint of her real accent, though it wasn't very strong, and Shawn called her a Kiwi (slang for New Zealander) I was all "oh, right, she's not American!" lol

Also, I would recommend Heavenly Creatures. It was a great movie. Intense, due to the subject matter but Melanie and Kate Winslet were amazing in it. And so young. They were just babies then. 

[Zella]

4 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

Also, I would recommend Heavenly Creatures. It was a great movie. Intense, due to the subject matter but Melanie and Kate Winslet were amazing in it. And so young. They were just babies then. 

Yes they're both amazing in it! I think it was the first movie for both of them, which is just astonishing. I've also read a lot about the true story, and as far as film adaptations of true events go, it's pretty faithful to what actually happened too. 

 

[AstridM]

44 minutes ago, Zella said:

Yes they're both amazing in it! I think it was the first movie for both of them, which is just astonishing. I've also read a lot about the true story, and as far as film adaptations of true events go, it's pretty faithful to what actually happened too. 

 

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find the film streaming for some reason.

[Bethany]

Well now I feel dumb!  With the recent death of Judy Farrell it was mentioned that she played Nurse Able on MASH.  Finally, after how many years??, the penny dropped and I figured if they had a Nurse Able and a Nurse Baker  did they have a Nurse Charlie?  Why yes they did (google confirmed that one).   This was done quite deliberately to give generic names to minor nurse characters.  I honestly never picked up on that before!

[SoMuchTV]

1 hour ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

Well now I feel dumb!  With the recent death of Judy Farrell it was mentioned that she played Nurse Able on MASH.  Finally, after how many years??, the penny dropped and I figured if they had a Nurse Able and a Nurse Baker  did they have a Nurse Charlie?  Why yes they did (google confirmed that one).   This was done quite deliberately to give generic names to minor nurse characters.  I honestly never picked up on that before!

And… she was previously married to costar Mike Farrell (while they were on the show).

Edited April 5, 2023 by SoMuchTV
Fixing spelling

[Crs97]

1 hour ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

Well now I feel dumb!  With the recent death of Judy Farrell it was mentioned that she played Nurse Able on MASH.  Finally, after how many years??, the penny dropped and I figured if they had a Nurse Able and a Nurse Baker  did they have a Nurse Charlie?  Why yes they did (google confirmed that one).   This was done quite deliberately to give generic names to minor nurse characters.  I honestly never picked up on that before!

I never noticed that either!!

[Egg McMuffin]

I remember they had a bunch of Nurse Bakers before they settled on this one (who I always though bore a great resemblance to Laura Dern). The actress, Jan Jordan, was also married to the show’s producer.

[MissAlmond]

Never watched or bothered reading about the series The Mandalorian but have run across the title. If recent clips of Lizzo and Jack Black's appearance hadn't made the rounds, I would still be under the impression the show was about a mandolin player.  

[Anduin]

22 minutes ago, MissAlmond said:

Never watched or bothered reading about the series The Mandalorian but have run across the title. If recent clips of Lizzo and Jack Black's appearance hadn't made the rounds, I would still be under the impression the show was about a mandolin player.  

Given that they're both musicians, I wouldn't rule it out. Actually, considering that two prominent Mandos were played by New Zealanders, there was an air of Maoris about them back in the day, including performing hakas. Hmm. Does the haka need accompaniment?

[meep.meep]

There's a thread in here called "Half Man Half Delorean" where you can see what someone else imagined the title meant.

[Bethany]

It took me far too long to figure out that the episode titles for Big Bang Theory weren't random "sciency" things but were directly related to the content of each show.  I am hanging my head in embarrassment....

[DoubleUTeeEff]

In My So-Called Life, Jordan Catalano was perpetually stoned. He was always totally spaced out. They even showed him putting eye drops in more than once. And when Patty gave him a snack, he drank like 6 glasses of milk. He had the munchies! I can't believe I was so naive that I totally missed it when the show first came out.

[DoctorAtomic]

Two words - Tino. 

[Blergh]

On 4/21/2023 at 12:09 PM, DoubleUTeeEff said:

In My So-Called Life, Jordan Catalano was perpetually stoned. He was always totally spaced out. They even showed him putting eye drops in more than once. And when Patty gave him a snack, he drank like 6 glasses of milk. He had the munchies! I can't believe I was so naive that I totally missed it when the show first came out.

Gee, and here I was willing to give  Jordan  the benefit just had dry eyes and was thirsty-even if he wasn't a desert dweller emerging from a sandstorm to take refuge in a milk bar!

On another note: on the 1970's version of Match Game (1973-1979), they always had two 'civilian' contestants (including the then-unknown recently deceased Kirstie Alley) trying to match as many of the six celeb panelists. Anyway, one oddity I didn't think of think of at the time but I've come to realize since is this: while they often one male and one female contestant or two female contestants playing the individual games, I can't recall a single time in which they had two male contestants playing at once! I know that since the contestant pool was mainly folks who worked in the home and/or were between permanent jobs that it's likely that the pool of qualified contestants would have been had a larger female demographic than male one. However, considering the number of returning champions, would-be contestants' offstage emergency cancellations, etc., it's hard to believe that  via  demographics, etc. the  there NEVER would have been an individual game in which would have had two males playing at the same very time.  I suppose, for whatever reasons, the producers seem to have manipulated the proceedings to prevent such a happenstance from occurring but I'm a bit puzzled as to why that might have been the case. Did they think the largely female viewer afternoon viewer demographic would be put off seeing two males playing the same game?

[EtheltoTillie]

On 5/13/2021 at 4:37 PM, DrSpaceman73 said:

 

Also I mentioned before a few years ago but worth mentioning again.....mr roper was a closeted gay guy on three's company.  That I didn't get as a kid. 

 

Wow I have never thought of that, and I was an adult when Three’s Company premiered. Is this really a commonly held take on the program?  Rather than just a husband who is annoyed with his noodge of a wife?  If so, call me the dunce. 

[Mabinogia]

I never thought Roper was gay but I did think Mr Furley was. I thought Roper was just the standard dufus/annoyed husband archetype that was common at the time. While I did watch Three's Company as a kid, and enjoyed it, I never liked the Ropers. If I'm being honest, I don't think I really liked any of them, it was just that there were less options back then and it could be funny. It is not a show I would want to revisit though. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Speaking of Brits or others doing American accents, I have been watching the Diplomat on Netflix, and Rufus Sewell’s American accent is great!  Curious what others think.

[DrSpaceman73]

2 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Wow I have never thought of that, and I was an adult when Three’s Company premiered. Is this really a commonly held take on the program?  Rather than just a husband who is annoyed with his noodge of a wife?  If so, call me the dunce. 

It's actually just my theory but it makes perfect sense. 

[DoctorAtomic]

On 4/22/2023 at 3:03 PM, Blergh said:

On another note: on the 1970's version of Match Game (1973-1979), they always had two 'civilian' contestants (including the then-unknown recently deceased Kirstie Alley) trying to match as many of the six celeb panelists.

The 'big money' Match Game 1978 (thank you Rod Roddy!) is on Amazon Prime. *Everyone* kisses Richard Dawson. I also know all about Safe Boating Week. 

[AheadofStraight]

On 4/23/2023 at 9:35 AM, EtheltoTillie said:

Speaking of Brits or others doing American accents, I have been watching the Diplomat on Netflix, and Rufus Sewell’s American accent is great!  Curious what others think.

Oh yes - it was also excellent in The Man in the High Castle.

[proserpina65]

On 4/22/2023 at 5:03 PM, Blergh said:

I can't recall a single time in which they had two male contestants playing at once! I

They did.  I've seen it happen a couple of times since I realized the Game Show Network was running it, one time featuring a black guy with a truly impressive fro and a somewhat nerdy looking white guy, but they had two male contestants far less often than any other combination.

On 4/23/2023 at 6:26 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

*Everyone* kisses Richard Dawson.

Well, d'uh. 😉

 

[Mabinogia]

3 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

On 4/23/2023 at 6:26 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

*Everyone* kisses Richard Dawson.

Well, d'uh. 😉

I think about 90% of the time, on that last bit where they pick one celeb to match, the contestant would pick Dawson just in the hopes of getting it right so they could get their kiss. Not saying I would (but I totally would). 😚

I grew up watching Match Game. When I started watching it again as an adult I started to question some of my mum's parenting choices lol (kidding. I love that my mum let me watch a lot of funny adult shows. It is what has given me the wicked sense of humour I have today).

[DoctorAtomic]

To be fair, Richard usually matched from what I'm watching. 

I've seen a few times in normal play, a close match by Richard got a buzz and he objected and they gave it to him. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Now that original recipe Dynasty is available on Amazon Prime, I sat myself down and zipped through the first season yesterday. Holy Charlie’s Angels, BATMAN! I never realized and/or totally missed what an UTTER AND MANIPULATIVE ASSHOLE Blake was! Trying to make him like JR EWING? HELL, I don’t even remember that episode where Blake got drunk and jealous over Matthew, that he RAPED Krystle!!! And that all it took was for him to give her some raggedy flowers to forgive him.

ABSOLUTEY EVERYONE was unlikeable and/or hateful. Fallon, Joseph, Lindsay, with a few exceptions. Matthew, played by Bo Hopkins, normally played villains in Aaron Spelling shows, was one of the good ones. As was original Steven. I LOVE Al Corley. 

Of course Matthew was a hypocrite; had an affair with Krystal, but took Lindsay and left after Claudia testified she had an affair with Steven.

But, it was the early 80s, so all that homophobia was to be expected.

Jeff was such a milquetoast.

Gimme original recipe Dallas over this show any day. It got more interesting after Joan Collins showed up as Alexis. But of course they dropped Matthew and Lindsay with the stupidest of plots.

As for Ted Dinard, Steven’s on again-off again lover, he just struck me as some needy clingy ex who refused to accept the affair was over.

Next: Enter Sammy Jo!

Edited June 17, 2023 by GHScorpiosRule

[Mabinogia]

18 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

It got more interesting after Joan Collins showed up as Alexis.

Alexis is the only thing I liked about Dynasty. I always hated Blake and Crystal. Blake because, like you said, asshole, and Crystal because she married the asshole (and was Alexis' enemy and I was team Alexis all the way).

Charlene Tilton's hair was the only thing I liked about Dallas. I was more of a daytime soaps gal. 

[Fool to cry]

Until somebody pointed it out on one of those VH1 decade shows I didn't realize how funny it was all those times when the Bionic Woman used her bionic hearing she needed to pull her hair back from her ear! 

[Blergh]

1 hour ago, Fool to cry said:

Until somebody pointed it out on one of those VH1 decade shows I didn't realize how funny it was all those times when the Bionic Woman used her bionic hearing she needed to pull her hair back from her ear! 

True! However  I'm  sure Jaime thought pulling her hair back was far less annoying than Steve's having a permanent grid over his bionic eye!