LornaHansonForbes
-
Posts
16,879 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
44
Posts posted by LornaHansonForbes
-
-
also, all these years later, one of the real oddities of LA LAW was the character of BENNY, a mentally disabled office boy played by LARRY DRAKE, an actor who was not mentally disabled and later on became DR GIGGLES and played the killer AVE WIELDING SANTA on TALES FROM THE CRYPT.
Did he maybe even win an Emmy?
-
20 hours ago, CinemaInternational said:
Muldaur's big plunge on LA Law ended up becoming a metaphor for the series itself, as the series which had been a critical and audience favorite and mostly a calm and cohesive working environment fell entirely to pieces shortly after she left the show. The episode where she was killed off aired in March of 1991 as part of the show's fifth season, which would become the series' fourth to win Best Drama series at the Emmys. To make it even more shocking, they killed Roz off at the end of the episode's first main act.
It was later revealed she was killed off the show because the writer/producer who created the character, David E. Kelley was leaving the show to create his own show Picket Fences (and later another trio of law shows: The Practice, Ally McBeal, Boston Legal), and he didn't want to see the character get softened or maladjusted by the new troop of writers coming in because Roz was his favorite character and one he had created himself.
In addition to Kelley leaving at the end of the fifth season, so too left original cast members Harry Hamlin, Jimmy Smits, and Michelle Greene, which left a gap on the show. Some new producer came in, didn't even last the whole sixth season, as show quality sagged and ratings dipped. Kelley , Smits, and show creator Stephen Bochco (doing groundwork at the time on NYPD Blue) came back in for just a handful of episodes to try to shore things up, which was enough to keep the show up for Emmys that year. Richard Dysert won the show's final award that year. But by season's end, Susan Dey, another original cast member left, as did would-be cast replacements Amanda Donohue, Cecil Hoffman, Tom Verica, Michael Cumpsty and Conchata Farrell.
Season 7 brought in the showrunners from St. Elsewhere and Northern Exposure. They were a bad fit for LA Law, as fans of the show started turning it off in droves as the show sank in quality. The season opener, inspired by the riots after the verdict in the Rodney King case, was regarded as the only decent episode of the season. And yet another original cast member left, this time Susan Ruttan. And the Emmys dropped the show entirely.
NBC still decided to go in with a final year with new producers, bizarrely even folding in two characters played by Debi Mazar and Alan Rosenberg from a cancelled Bochco show, Civil Wars, that had aired on a rival network, ABC. The final year was regarded as a big step up from the previous year, but the show had lost its momentum and the ratings were on par with the previous year. Jill Eikenberry got one last farewell nomination at the Emmys (much like Angela Lansbury, they loved to nominate her, but always stiffed her over in the end); she lost to Leigh Taylor-Young on Picket Fences. And NBC decided to give LA Law's timeslot to a certain new medical show called ER.....and the rest they say is history
17 hours ago, King Rat said:Thanks for the background information. My lawyer friends used to hoot at the opening scene in many of the [LA LAW] shows where all the lawyers would sit around the conference table and talk about the one case they were working on. As if!
March you say?
I suppose if ROZ hadn't fallen down that elevator shaft, she might have run into BEVERLY SUTPHEN of SERIAL MOM fame and been murdered for wearing white after Labor day.
I personally think it's WINTER WHITE and I love it, I also think the RULES OF FASHION HAVE CHANGED, but I know there are those who would VIOLENTLY DISAGREE.
I loved LA LAW when I was about 8-12 years old, but I drifted after ROZ died for the reasons you mentioned.
ALSO.....
My Father, bless his heart, is an ATTORNEY IN PRIVATE PRACTICE [in North Carolina] and he would go absolutelyeffinNUCLEAR over the NUMEROUS THINGS LA LAW GOT SERIOUSLY WRONG IN RE: THE LAW as we would try to watch an episode...
I can still here him now...
"Lemme tell you somethin Son, I dunno what the laws are in California, if any attorney pulled that **** in open court here, the Judge wouldn't even call him to the bench to let him know what an idiot he was, he'd just tell him in Open Court!!!!"
-
1
-
1
-
-
the AMISTAD tragedy is referenced in my favorite WHITNEY HOUSTON song ever, MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE ("And the chains of Amistad couldn't hold us..."
-
-
3 hours ago, txfilmfan said:
I didn't watch it, but I listened to the radio adaptation of Meet Me in St. Louis, which aired on CBS back in December 1946 on the Lux Radio Theatre program. There were several similar anthology programs on radio at the time that adapted plays and films of the era. This anthology show ran for 21 years from 1934 to 1955. Originally, when based in New York, it adapted recent plays for the radio. It moved to Hollywood in 1936, and switched to film adaptations for the most part. Broadcast from the KNX/CBS Radio Playhouse on Vine Street in Hollywood, this theater is now the Ricardo Montalban Theatre. Robert Osborne's Hollywood Walk of Fame Star is outside of this theatre.
This one starred Margaret O'Brien, Tom Drake and Judy Garland. Veteran radio performer (and later, TV star) Gale Gordon played the head of the family. It included (surprisingly, to me) several songs from the film, including "The Boy Next Door", "The Trolley Song" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" Most of the plot points are there: the various holidays/seasons, the complications of teen romance, etc., though greatly condensed to fit into a hour timeslot.
There are actually two copies available: a rehearsal copy and the final version that aired. I heard the latter on Sirius XM this morning. It's part of their tribute to Margaret O'Brien, who turns 85 later this week. The rehearsal copy apparently was included on the film's Blu-Ray and is inferior in audio quality. The rehearsal version has no audience.
Two interesting tidbits: the ad for Lux dish flakes asked for patience from consumers. Apparently there were still post-war shortages in late 1946. At the end of the program, there was a short interview segment (hokily written, IMO) that was essentially an advertisement for the three stars' upcoming MGM projects. There was a blurb about Judy's new baby too (Liza).
I love the SIRIUS CLASSIC RADIO CHANNEL (148), the host GREG BELL (who is very interesting) did a great interview with OSBORNE before he passed.
-
38 minutes ago, txfilmfan said:
Even more esoteric: That was taped from British TV (ITV, specifically). You can tell because ITV in that era put the little horizontal barber pole icon (called a cue dot/marker, just like in the movies) in the upper right when a commercial break was impending. It let the various ITV regions know that an ad break was due so that they could insert local ads.
How do you know that living in Texas? Or are you an ex Texan living in Britain?
-
25 minutes ago, King Rat said:
Though I was not a big fan of L.A. Law, I thought it was foolish to kill off such a good character played by such a fine actress.
DIANA MULDAUR then (immediately?) ended up on STAR TREK TNG As the ships doctor on the USS enterprise for one season, (apparently because the Director of the show absolutely hated the actress who originated the role (and would return in season three.) -
(i know it was an esoteric reference)
-
5 hours ago, CinemaInternational said:
and Diana Muldaur as the other woman.
I think I was the only person in America who was devastated when ROZ SHAYS fell down that elevator shaft and into Prime Time History.
-
11 hours ago, sewhite2000 said:
If this is of any interest to anybody:
https://www.avclub.com/so-howd-those-golden-globes-go-1848331509
THANKS FOR POSTING THAT, on another sad note, THE AV Club is part of the former GAWKER FAMILY of websites that were bought by a venture capitalist when they went bankrupt from being sued into oblivion over posting a sex tape of HULK HOGAN and have, in recent years, been enduring a slow death brought on deliberately by the owners.
I'm not sure it's gonna be around for much longer, which is a shame, because they have some pretty honest and direct reviews and there is still some user commentary.
-
1
-
-
16 hours ago, King Rat said:
This weekend I was chatting on Zoom with some friends who had seen Being the Ricardos. They all seemed to have similar views:
--They thought Nicole Kidman's face looked weird. (Lorna, you are not the only one!)
I GOTTA ADMIT: in my life, i have had many strange thoughts, interests and opinions on which I have wondered "am I the only one here?"
The current state of NICOLE KIDMAN'S FACE is not one of those topics, in fact, I have only recently arrived at the "Girl, what the **** is up with that mug?" camp after years of thinking she mostly looked allrightish [but admittedly not paying a lot of attention]....
but the recent batch of fillers have NICOLE looking like AMANDA LEPORE, in fact- if you do a google or bing image search for pics of KIDMAN as LUCILLE BALL- it is VERY HARD TO FIND THEM!
-
1
-
-
-
NICOLE KIDMAN has just plain MESSED UP HER FACE to where I just CAN'T WITH HER.
(and this is coming from someone with a photo of late-stage JOAN CRAWFORD as their avatar}
-
2
-
-
1 hour ago, CinemaInternational said:
The Golden Globes were handed out last night as a private affair. I am only bringing up the winners on the film sideThe only "surprise" winner was Nicole Kidman. But the more I think about the actress race, she seems like the logical winner for the Oscars. She's playing a famous person, she is in the middle of a comeback swing, she has, by now at age 55, outlasted most of her young female contemporaries from the 90s in still getting plum roles, she will likely win the SAG award,
BEING THE RICARDOS stares back at me from the first slot in my line-up of recommendations every time I open AMAZON PRIME...and I immediately go right past it to watch the recorded 1982 performance of SWEENEY TODD I bought back in December again.
-
16 minutes ago, EricJ said:
a beached-whale Brando who didn't care about acting anymore,
I'm loving the image this conjures.
"ROLL HIM ON HIS SIDE AND MAKE SURE HE STAYS MOIST!!!!!!"
-
6 minutes ago, LawrenceA said:
I'm not a fan of Titanic...at all.
BUT...it was the biggest movie of all time, and made DiCaprio into arguably the biggest movie star of his generation. So "sense" to say no...?
I know, I know.
I questioned it as I wrote it too...
but, I think an actor as good as RIVER PHEONIX was would not have wanted to be THAT DEEPLY ASSOCIATED WITH A SUCH A DEFINING ROLE AND HUGE MOVIE and especially a role that was in a film that was, honestly, SO BAD.
I mean, a huge hit, yes, but a terrible terrible, terrrible movie in spite of it...so much so in fact that I think it's safe to say concensus has since changed and it's listed alongside GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH and FORREST GUMP as FILMS THE PUBLIC DRUNKENLY HOOKED UP WITH AND NOW CAN;T ENTIRELY EXPLAIN WHY....
Sorry, I'm not doing the greatest job explaining...
-
1
-
-
SINCE we are all kind of dumping on LEO, DJANGO UNCHAINED was one of the few films made post 2008 that I have both seen and enjoyed [very much so, in fact], but he is positively dreadful in it.
[and it's a shame, because there is so much excellent acting from everyone else in that movie]
-
34 minutes ago, CinemaInternational said:
Well, like Leo, I am not exactly "blessed" in that department .....I guess I will always approach him as an enigma. And frankly, I think he got the career River Phoenix was going to have, if he hadn't died.
RIVER PHOENIX would've had the sense to say "no" to TITANIC.
-
1
-
-
ps- i don't know the name, but there is a recently made, full-length documentary on TUBI about the CURSED PRODUCTION of THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU and its aftermath, I think they even talk to some of the cast...?
-
3 hours ago, CinemaInternational said:
(Full disclosure, before I remembered hearing about Mini-Brando, I thought you were referring to something far filthier about DiCaprio, namely the size of his appendage. Maybe I should not be dishy, but DiCaprio went full frontal in 1 or 2 frames of the 1995 self-destructive gay relationship film Total Eclipse with David Thewlis, directed by Agnieszka Holland, aka the johnson queen of Poland (she loves to put nude men in her films). Let's just say regarding DiCaprio's member, I have heard those who saw the film compare it to a cocktail weenie or a canned Vienna sausage.)
Be careful size-shaming, it's a sensitive subject with more people than you may know (read into that how you will)
However, I will say I feel a certain odd kinship with Leo in that we are both the same age and neither one of us can grow facial hair for **** (I swear that's gotta be a fake beard he wears in DON'T LOOK UP.)
it was upon seeing a younger LEO in GANGS OF NEW YORK ca. 2001 that drove me to the epiphany at age 24: God does not hand out facial hair growing ability fair either!
-
1
-
-
19 hours ago, Technicolor27 said:
My underground wish list :Santo and blue demon movies
I am also a fan.
(En Espanol et Francais)
-
11 hours ago, CinemaInternational said:
DiCaprio sounds like he is entering Brando in the 70s territory. Brando got much of the script of The Missouri Breaks changed.
I THOUGHT THE EXACT SAME THING!
(Can’t wait until Leo gets to LATE STAGE BRANDO, puts on 300 pounds and gets a tiny döppelganger)
PS- And the ice bucket on the head, can’t forget that.
-
1
-
1
-
-
ps- apologies to any of you fans of HAPPINESS, which is a much better film than DON'T LOOK UP.
-
I am surely not the first person to mention that DON'T LOOK UP bears something of a resemblance in story element and leading man (and even time of release) to TITANIC...
Which I also disliked....a lot. Maybe more than DON'T LOOK UP, but I didn't have the option of skipping through any of TITANIC.
I Just Watched...
in General Discussions
Posted
I think Wyclef Jean wrote YOUR LOVE IS MY LOVE.
I also thought MINORITY REPORT was not great...
Yes, I forgot LARRY DRAKE in DARKMAN...even before he did LA LAW he was in some off-beat stuff, he has a small role in TRUCKER'S WOMAN, an extremely amateurish 1970's trucker film shot in South Carolina