TopBilled
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Posts posted by TopBilled
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THE GREAT NORTHFIELD MINNESOTA RAID (1972)
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19 minutes ago, Hibi said:
First they moved Cybil into the time slot, but that did not work out. I think Angel ran maybe 5 seasons and it was a cheaper show to produce. So what was accomplished really? Nothing. Angel skewed older too, though I guess more religious younger people may have watched. CBS offered to renew Murder if they slashed the budget, but by that time Angela had had it and said no. She was very bitter how it was all handled.
Yes, Cybill got a short-term tryout in that time slot, but her sitcom worked better on Mondays next to Murphy Brown.
One reason it behooved CBS to use Touched by an Angel as the permanent replacement, is because it was a CBS Entertainment Production...meaning the network did not have to pay Universal a steep licensing fee. Angel may have started out cheap, but Downey & Reese were making big bucks in the later seasons plus there were expensive guest stars all the way through. But, CBS didn't have to share profits with Universal, so it was more financially successful for the network.
This past spring CBS execs shocked everyone when they cancelled the Magnum P.I. reboot after just four seasons, and it's a hit series that always places in the top 15 or top 20 each week. The main reason it got axed? That hefty Universal licensing fee. So Universal is moving it over to NBC, since Universal owns a chunk of NBC, which actually makes more financial sense.
If there is ever a Murder She Wrote reboot with a younger actress playing Jessica (probably a minority actress to be politically correct) we can expect it will air on NBC, not CBS.
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MA AND PA KETTLE AT THE FAIR (1952)
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THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER (1968)
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THE BRIDE GOES WILD (1948)
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THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER (1968)
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THE GREEN YEARS (1946)
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Harry James
Next: L.F.
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JOHNNY ALLEGRO (1949)
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Hargitay, Mariska
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Just now, Hibi said:
I think they dropped that after a season or two (the teaching part). But they still had her living in NY and commuting back and forth to Cabot Cove. She still traveled around the country (either visiting or book related). I think the Cabot Cove episodes averaged around 6 episodes per season.
I agree the Cabot Cove based episodes tended to be better, mostly because there was an established group of recurring cast who played the locals and that give the show a bit of continuity. I also liked the episodes where her nephew turned up.
The episodes where she was more of a globe trotter, trying to fit into all kinds of far-fetched scenarios, it just didn't seem to work as well. (Plus most of those exotic settings were filmed on the Universal backlot and it was obvious.) There was no way she would have been able to involve herself in all those foreign police matters. It was better when she didn't stray so far from her own community.
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5 minutes ago, Hibi said:
Yes. It was Sunday nights with CBS with me. First 60 Minutes, then Murder, She Wrote, then the CBS movie. It was a ratings winner for the first 11 years until CBS stupidly moved the show to Thursday against Friends.
When CBS moved it up against Friends that was to justify its cancellation later in the year, since they wanted it off the air...it was decided the show skewed too old and advertisers covet younger demographics. The last episode of the regular series has the tongue-in-cheek title 'Death by Demographics.'
Touched by an Angel was given Murder's comfortable Sunday night time slot and it ran for many years. It was CBS' idea of a replacement. And though Angel featured Della Reese in a main role, who was no spring chicken, she was flanked by three younger costars (Roma Downey, John Dye and later Valerie Bertinelli) who drew in younger viewers.
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Just now, Hibi said:
Well, she was 0 for 6 in that category too (tv movies/performances).
Yes, she did not fare well with voters of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
When you compare her to someone like Doris Roberts, you can see the discrepancy in terms of accolades. Roberts had 10 Emmy nominations and won 5 times.
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4 minutes ago, Hibi said:
I didn't care for any of the 2 hour shows. They seemed padded and overlong. I agree about the guest stars, but there were still good episodes in later years without the older stars, especially the Cabot Cove ones. The new sheriff (Ron Masak) was a welcome addition to the show. Also Jessica looked better (a few n-i-p-s and tucks) and the scripts reflected a more modern viewpoint (as much as you could get with this kind of show).
In one of the later seasons, they tried to make her more relevant by having her become a professor of criminology at a university in a large city. They were hoping to infuse the show with less expensive younger guest stars who played the college kids she was mentoring. Viewers who preferred the Cabot Cove episodes cried foul. But there were only so many times a murder could occur in a sleepy New England hamlet. They had to take her outside her hometown for the show to remain plausible.
There were 264 episodes and 4 TV movies. One of the TV movies, The Last Free Man, features Gloria Stuart.
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8 hours ago, EricJ said:
I remember seeing Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) with a (cheap public-domain) library film screening audience, and there was that "Wait, that's...!" moment when an unrecognizably young Angela Lansbury sings "How'd You Like to Spoon With Me?" in the scene at a London music hall.
It was a bigger surprise to see Jessica Fletcher sing it on an episode of Murder She Wrote:
Later, on the set of Disney's Bedknobs & Broomsticks (1971), Lansbury almost had another music-hall number, as David Tomlinson tries to swindle the animated lion out of his medallion by distracting him with an amateur music hall show:
In the 60's-70's, your grandparents always wanted to watch Lawrence Welk--
In the 80's, your grandparents always wanted to watch Murder, She Wrote, and the more popular of its two spinoffs....Matlock. The latter became a cliche'd punchline synonymous with its most loyal audience. 👵
Matlock was not a spinoff of Murder She Wrote. But The Law & Harry McGraw was, which starred Jerry Orbach. Matlock was a separate creation on a rival network (NBC) and had its own spinoff, Diagnosis Murder.
As was mentioned earlier in the thread, there was a crossover with Lansbury playing the Jessica Fletcher character on an episode of Magnum P.I. since that show was on the same network (CBS) and was also produced by the folks at Universal television.
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5 hours ago, Roy Cronin said:
She was terrific as Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in Little Gloria... Happy at Last and was Emmy nominated.
She lost Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series/Special to Barbara Stanwyck (The Thornbirds.)
Well, If you have to lose to somebody.....
Rest of the competition was impressive too: Mariette Hartley, Rosanna Arquette, Ann-Margret.
Yes, about a year ago I found a copy of the LITTLE GLORIA miniseries on YouTube and watched it. She was very good in it, though as was often the case, she played a character older than her actual age.
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Anita Page
Next: L.N.
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Robert Young
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PEKING EXPRESS (1951)
Next: Moon
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Thursday October 13, 2022
Showdown on TCM
high noon
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MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944)...THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946)...SUMMER STOCK (1950)
Next: Gene Autry & Fay McKenzie
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Zeus -- played by Laurence Olivier in CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981)
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Fay McKenzie
Next: M.W.
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DOWN IN SAN DIEGO (1941)
Next: Kid
Double Feature
in Games and Trivia
Posted
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
Next: THE ETERNAL SEA (1955)