Touched By An Angel - General Discussion

[Was-MArsenault]

I noticed that there wasn't a board for this yet, so I just decided to create one. 

This show airs everyday on a channel called Start TV, which is a channel for women. There are two episodes shown from Mondays-Saturdays and it runs from 8:00 AM until 10:00 AM. On Sundays, there is just one episode on from 8 AM until 9 AM.

[Was-MArsenault]

Della's appearance on Roseanne's talk show in 1998:

https://archive.org/details/19981110DellaReeseLouieAndersonDennisAngelaByrdTheRoseanneShow

Della also did the voice of The Blues Fairy in Pinocchio on an episode of a show called Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child.

[Was-MArsenault]

I also found out just recently that there were several books and even a couple of music CD's as well.

[Mindthinkr]

Interesting. I worked on the pilot of this show. It was originally called Angels in the Attic. I still have my script and call sheets from it. Besides Della and Roma, the pilot also had the actor David Morse. He was the nicest of the three. 

[Was-MArsenault]

1 minute ago, Mindthinkr said:

Interesting. I worked on the pilot of this show. It was originally called Angels in the Attic. I still have my script and call sheets from it. Besides Della and Roma, the pilot also had the actor David Morse. He was the nicest of the three. 

That’s really interesting the show wasn’t originally called Touched By An Angel at first. What was it like working with Roma, David, and Della?

[Mindthinkr]

54 minutes ago, MikaelaArsenault said:

That’s really interesting the show wasn’t originally called Touched By An Angel at first. What was it like working with Roma, David, and Della?

Della was unapproachable. We were explicitly told never to say a word to her. She would be whisked on set (diva ish) and then immediately retreat. Roma was slightly better and seemed more in tune with people then. Both are religious ladies. I’d eat lunch with David. The other two ate in their trailers privately, if they ate on set at all. David was nice. Living in Pennsylvania with his wife and twin daughters. He was fond of his BMW motorcycle. I have no clue what he’s doing now, but I like to watch him when he acts for old times sake. I have another few observations, but think that he’d like me to keep these to myself, but foremost he was a genuinely nice man. He cared about his craft. Of all of the actors that I’ve worked with, I liked him the best. 

Thinking back I think there was a lot of pressure on the two leading ladies to get things right so that their series would get picked up. I might have misread them. 

[Was-MArsenault]

I noticed that Start TV is skipping episodes of the show this coming week.

Does anyone know why that is? Could it have something to do with rights/music issues?

[Mindthinkr]

37 minutes ago, MikaelaArsenault said:

I noticed that Start TV is skipping episodes of the show this coming week.

Does anyone know why that is? Could it have something to do with rights/music issues?

Who is your cable provider? Is there an app for Smart TV? 

Aha, found they have some of the episodes on Amazon Prime. 

Edited June 9, 2019 by Mindthinkr

[Was-MArsenault]

8 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

Who is your cable provider? Is there an app for Smart TV? 

Aha, found they have some of the episodes on Amazon Prime. 

I have Comcast. There is no app for Start TV, but here is their website, the show's page, and their schedule.

https://www.starttv.com/

https://www.starttv.com/schedule/

https://www.starttv.com/shows/touched-by-an-angel

Wish I could get Amazon Prime so I can see the show, but don't have an Amazon account. Not all of the episodes are even included on Amazon Prime as well.

[Was-MArsenault]

I contacted CBS All Access Support recently about missing episodes of the show, and they ended up replying back.

It should be interesting what they have to say, because maybe this could be the case with Start TV as well.

[Raja]

On 6/8/2019 at 6:41 PM, Mindthinkr said:

Della was unapproachable. We were explicitly told never to say a word to her. She would be whisked on set (diva ish) and then immediately retreat. Roma was slightly better and seemed more in tune with people then. Both are religious ladies. I’d eat lunch with David. The other two ate in their trailers privately, if they ate on set at all. David was nice. Living in Pennsylvania with his wife and twin daughters. He was fond of his BMW motorcycle. I have no clue what he’s doing now, but I like to watch him when he acts for old times sake. I have another few observations, but think that he’d like me to keep these to myself, but foremost he was a genuinely nice man. He cared about his craft. Of all of the actors that I’ve worked with, I liked him the best. 

Thinking back I think there was a lot of pressure on the two leading ladies to get things right so that their series would get picked up. I might have misread them. 

So I am guessing that the Angel of Death concept was there from the beginning before Charles Rocket and eventual John Dye got the role

[SCS]

On 6/8/2019 at 6:41 PM, Mindthinkr said:

Della was unapproachable. We were explicitly told never to say a word to her. She would be whisked on set (diva ish) and then immediately retreat. Roma was slightly better and seemed more in tune with people then. Both are religious ladies. I’d eat lunch with David. The other two ate in their trailers privately, if they ate on set at all. David was nice. Living in Pennsylvania with his wife and twin daughters. He was fond of his BMW motorcycle. I have no clue what he’s doing now, but I like to watch him when he acts for old times sake. I have another few observations, but think that he’d like me to keep these to myself, but foremost he was a genuinely nice man. He cared about his craft. Of all of the actors that I’ve worked with, I liked him the best. 

Thinking back I think there was a lot of pressure on the two leading ladies to get things right so that their series would get picked up. I might have misread them. 

This is interesting. A former colleague worked on the show but it was a few seasons post-pilot but, well...your perceptions kind of match what she'd say. One thing I recall that really made me shake my head: after a while the producers started adding cast members for variety and storylines and one of the additions was Valerie Bertinelli who played a rookie angel. For years on TV, VB almost always played the pretty girl-next-door sort --and word was this did not sit well with Roma Downey who very much liked her own dewy, luminous leading lady status. Anyway, VB ended up being dressed in an incredibly unflattering way (including some sort of horrid prop eyeglasses) to keep RD happy.

I liked TBAA for years (the Randy Travis Christmas episode still makes me cry because I am a big ol' wimp) but it did start getting stale at the end. 

Now -- are you really going to keep those observations to yourself?! 😎

[magicdog]

12 hours ago, SCS said:

For years on TV, VB almost always played the pretty girl-next-door sort --and word was this did not sit well with Roma Downey who very much liked her own dewy, luminous leading lady status. Anyway, VB ended up being dressed in an incredibly unflattering way (including some sort of horrid prop eyeglasses) to keep RD happy.

I had noticed VB was dressed in rather unfashionable clothes and those ridiculous glasses!  I had no idea whose idea that was until I read your comment!  I used to think that G-D would make angels [at least physically] perfect and it wouldn't make sense for one to have poor eyesight!

[Raja]

It just happens that the last episode which I  saw had Chris Burke as a guest star angel with  Down's Syndrome 

[SCS]

3 hours ago, magicdog said:

I had noticed VB was dressed in rather unfashionable clothes and those ridiculous glasses!  I had no idea whose idea that was until I read your comment!  

Terrible wardrobe. As I said, I got this 2nd hand but based on this 'n that, well....

@Mindthinkr, won't you come back and be our friend? 👼 (<< a suitable emoji, yes?)

[Was-MArsenault]

On 6/15/2019 at 11:13 PM, SCS said:

This is interesting. A former colleague worked on the show but it was a few seasons post-pilot but, well...your perceptions kind of match what she'd say. One thing I recall that really made me shake my head: after a while the producers started adding cast members for variety and storylines and one of the additions was Valerie Bertinelli who played a rookie angel. For years on TV, VB almost always played the pretty girl-next-door sort --and word was this did not sit well with Roma Downey who very much liked her own dewy, luminous leading lady status. Anyway, VB ended up being dressed in an incredibly unflattering way (including some sort of horrid prop eyeglasses) to keep RD happy.

I liked TBAA for years (the Randy Travis Christmas episode still makes me cry because I am a big ol' wimp) but it did start getting stale at the end. 

Now -- are you really going to keep those observations to yourself?! 😎

Where did you read about how it did not sit well with Roma Downey, and what were your former colleague's experiences with working on the show?

Edited June 20, 2019 by MikaelaArsenault

[Was-MArsenault]

On 6/16/2019 at 12:00 PM, magicdog said:

I had noticed VB was dressed in rather unfashionable clothes and those ridiculous glasses!  I had no idea whose idea that was until I read your comment!  I used to think that G-D would make angels [at least physically] perfect and it wouldn't make sense for one to have poor eyesight!

So those glasses that VB wore were just props?

[Mindthinkr]

Not that I have a right to judge, but Valerie B. seems so sweet on her cooking show and is also quite nice on her Twitter account. Shame on others trying to dowdy her up so they can keep all the attention on themselves (if the above account is actually true). 

[Was-MArsenault]

Some things about the show that I noticed on Wikipedia:

Ratings dropped significantly in the eighth season after it was moved from Sunday to Saturday.

The Season 9 finale placed first on both nights. The first part was watched by 8.6 million viewers, and the second part was watched by 12.9 million viewers, placing first in its timeslot and night.

[Was-MArsenault]

Another thing that I found out on one of the John Dye websites was that John himself directed an episode in Season 9 of the show called Jump!. 

Does he actually appear in the episode, or no?

[Raja]

1 hour ago, MikaelaArsenault said:

Another thing that I found out on one of the John Dye websites was that John himself directed an episode in Season 9 of the show called Jump!. 

Does he actually appear in the episode, or no?

Just reading the synopsis with suicide being the issue I don't think the angel of death could be missing from that episodes. When series actors do get a direction chance on their show they normally still make an appearance on the show. But then again I don't remember details of the episode

[Was-MArsenault]

27 minutes ago, Raja said:

Just reading the synopsis with suicide being the issue I don't think the angel of death could be missing from that episodes. When series actors do get a direction chance on their show they normally still make an appearance on the show. But then again I don't remember details of the episode

Okay, thank you.

[SCS]

7 hours ago, MikaelaArsenault said:

Where did you read about how it did not sit well with Roma Downey, and what were your former colleague's experiences with working on the show?

I didn't read it -- it was among the bon mots shared by my colleague (it's got to be more than 15 years ago, now.) Overall, the stuff she mentioned is in line with what was posted earlier -- DR could be a handful, RD, also but less so. From what I recall, she quite liked John Dye-- had nothing negative to say about him. 

6 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

Not that I have a right to judge, but Valerie B. seems so sweet on her cooking show and is also quite nice on her Twitter account. Shame on others trying to dowdy her up so they can keep all the attention on themselves (if the above account is actually true). 

I agree!

Edited June 20, 2019 by SCS

[Mindthinkr]

If I have time tomorrow I’ll try to figure out where I stored my script and time sheet  I’ll take a picture to show y’all. 

[opus]

On 6/16/2019 at 12:00 PM, magicdog said:

I had noticed VB was dressed in rather unfashionable clothes and those ridiculous glasses!  I had no idea whose idea that was until I read your comment!  I used to think that G-D would make angels [at least physically] perfect and it wouldn't make sense for one to have poor eyesight!

Luckily, to my VB loving eyes, she'd make one of those glasses with the rubber nose attached look good.

[opus]

8 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

Not that I have a right to judge, but Valerie B. seems so sweet on her cooking show and is also quite nice on her Twitter account. Shame on others trying to dowdy her up so they can keep all the attention on themselves (if the above account is actually true). 

As I just stated above, I still thought she looked good (and played the rookie part well 😃)

Edited June 20, 2019 by opus

[Was-MArsenault]

1 hour ago, SCS said:

I didn't read it -- it was among the bon mots shared by my colleague (it's got to be more than 15 years ago, now.) Overall, the stuff she mentioned is in line with what was posted earlier -- DR could be a handful, RD, also but less so. From what I recall, she quite liked John Dye-- had nothing negative to say about him. 

I agree!

Sorry. I thought that you read it somewhere.

Edited June 20, 2019 by MikaelaArsenault

[Was-MArsenault]

I wonder why this just says Season 5 and doesn’t have a specific episode number:

[Was-MArsenault]

I was very surprised to see Liam Neeson appear at the introduction to today’s episode of the show. He appeared at the very beginning and the cold open didn’t come until after he came on.

He was uncredited as well.

[Was-MArsenault]

I was looking up the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier today, and found these:

http://walkoffame.com/della-reese

http://walkoffame.com/roma-downey

Here is Roma Downey's induction video from Variety. 

Della Reese also attended and she also spoke as well.

[Was-MArsenault]

At the end of today's episode on Start TV, they just showed one of the cast members in a PSA talking about Alzheimer's.

The episode in question happened to be the episode where Tess had Alzheimer's Disease.

Edited August 26, 2019 by MikaelaArsenault

[Was-MArsenault]

Here's something really old.

https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.touched.com

This is the original Touched By An Angel website, before it became Martha Williamson's own site.

The very first entry was from May of 1998.

[Was-MArsenault]

Here are some really great links with a lot of information about the show.

https://marthawilliamson.com

On the front page of her site, there is a tribute video to Della Reese.

https://marthawilliamson.com/video/musical-tribute-della-reese/

The Touched By An Angel portion of her website:

https://marthawilliamson.com/touched-by-an-angel/

And this is a photo of her and Della:

Next is a site that is about John Dye. This one is in Italian, but there is an English version as well.

http://www.johntheitaliansite.com/

Lastly, here is another John related site.

http://www.payitforwardinmemoryofjohndye.net/

[bettername2come]

The episode on today has Melissa Joan Hart, James Marsden, and Jack Black. 

[Was-MArsenault]

We just got Hallmark Drama, so that means the show will now be on late at night in addition to the morning airings on Start TV.

[Was-MArsenault]

For those of you who get Start TV, there will be a new time change for the show starting on Sunday, October 6.

It will now be on at 9:00 AM instead of 8:00 AM.

[Was-MArsenault]

Today's episode of the show (which will be airing at 11:00 PM here) on Hallmark Drama has Colin Powell introducing the episode.

I wonder if there were other celebrities besides him, Carol Burnett, and Liam Neeson who did introductions to the episodes. Or is that it?

[Was-MArsenault]

It’s interesting how Hallmark Drama is showing some episodes of the show that Start TV doesn’t air.

[Raja]

42 minutes ago, MikaelaArsenault said:

It’s interesting how Hallmark Drama is showing some episodes of the show that Start TV doesn’t air.

I am curious what episodes won't START TV air? Not having the spinoff crossover episode to finish the story? Political, because of content and women's roles? Bill Cosby or other blacklisted guest? Or just prior to the addition of John Dye as Andrew and not wanting to show Charles Rocket sort of like some networks only showed the Law & Orders made after NYPD changed to dark uniform shirts.

Of course there might be no pattern to the unaired episodes and something else like music rights.

[Gramto6]

As far as I can tell, Hallmark Drama is showing all the episodes in chronological order. I don't get the other channel so I don't know which ones they skipped.

ETA I see on the schedule that Hallmark Drama is showing one with Bill Cosby tonight. So I guess they are not editing what they show.

Edited October 7, 2019 by Gramto6

[Was-MArsenault]

9 hours ago, Raja said:

I am curious what episodes won't START TV air? Not having the spinoff crossover episode to finish the story? Political, because of content and women's roles? Bill Cosby or other blacklisted guest? Or just prior to the addition of John Dye as Andrew and not wanting to show Charles Rocket sort of like some networks only showed the Law & Orders made after NYPD changed to dark uniform shirts.

Of course there might be no pattern to the unaired episodes and something else like music rights.

8 hours ago, Gramto6 said:

As far as I can tell, Hallmark Drama is showing all the episodes in chronological order. I don't get the other channel so I don't know which ones they skipped.

ETA I see on the schedule that Hallmark Drama is showing one with Bill Cosby tonight. So I guess they are not editing what they show.

The Bill Cosby episode called Family Business is one of the episodes that Start TV doesn’t show.

Edited October 7, 2019 by MikaelaArsenault

[Was-MArsenault]

I was listening to Mark McGrath's radio show called Mark McGrath's 120 on the SiriusXM '90s On 9 channel this past weekend, and they played a song that was on the show.

[Was-MArsenault]

It looks like Promised Land is now officially off the Start TV schedule, and it has been replaced with Family Law.

It's too bad, because I wanted to see it and never got the chance to because it was always on at 3:00 AM in my time zone and was sleeping when it came on.

[Was-MArsenault]

Today’s episode on Start TV had none other than this:

That's something you don’t even see on TV that often anymore.

Edited October 20, 2019 by MikaelaArsenault

[Was-MArsenault]

And again!

I just had to take this screenshot because it's so rare to even see this on TV nowadays. Ended up emailing CBS All Access about it asking them if Start TV shows the episodes of the show with the original master tapes or not and hopefully they’ll know the answer to it.

[Was-MArsenault]

And it looks like once again, Start TV is skipping Season 5, Episode 17 which is the Bill Cosby episode.

[Raja]

I wonder how many people had the highlight of their career or are potentially helped by that episode on deal with grief lost in a Cosby blacklist?

[Gramto6]

I am so ticked that Hallmark Drama stopped showing Touched by an Angel and is now showing the stupid sappy Cheristmas 24/7! It is bad enough Hallmark,Lifetime, and UP are doing the same. Couldn't they just have left Drama alone??? They have lost me until TBAA returns.

[Was-MArsenault]

On Monday, November 4, Start TV will not show the episode with Rosa Parks and John Ritter from Season 5 called Black Like Monica.

[Was-MArsenault]

9 hours ago, Gramto6 said:

I am so ticked that Hallmark Drama stopped showing Touched by an Angel and is now showing the stupid sappy Cheristmas 24/7! It is bad enough Hallmark,Lifetime, and UP are doing the same. Couldn't they just have left Drama alone??? They have lost me until TBAA returns.

There's Start TV if you want to see the show, but you may not have the channel.