Top Ten Anniversary: Favorite TV Series

Yes, you're probably beginning to tire of these Top Ten lists, but it must be done! Ha ha! The following programs are the ones that really stuck to me over the years and are my own personal favorites. I don't claim that they are the best, but they speak to me the most. Again, it was hard to whittle the list down, but this is how it panned out.

BARNABY JONES -- First of all, the opening theme song and the introduction of the stars and guest stars. Watching this on grandpa's knee (an appropriate place!) instilled in me a deep affection for most all "Quinn Martin productions," whose shows nearly always began that way (and were divided into "Acts" on screen.) The 1970s were a time for gimmicky detectives: the bald one, the fat one, the one with a cockatoo... This was the old one and even though Mr. Buddy Ebsen lived thirty more years after the show's premiere (!), he was a milk-drinking, supposedly non-threatening geezer. (He was sixty-five at the time of the show's debut!) But he was usually a dead shot with his pistol when the time came. The show, regardless of its real or imagined merits, is so soothing to me to watch. Familiar faces in compelling plot lines with inevitable lines like, "Call Lt. Biddle..." It's comfort food for the brain to me. I adored Lee Meriwether as Ebsen's daughter-in-law receptionist. Less so Mark Shera as a cousin who came on in the fourth season, but he's okay. The real pleasure is seeing people underestimate the old codger until they are tripped up by his forensics and keen intellect. It definitely jumped the shark, though, when Ebsen was shown disco dancing in a late episode!

CHARLIE'S ANGELS -- As a tyke, my bedtime was strictly 9:00pm. Knowing how obsessed I was with Charlie's Angels (the whole world was, it seemed, in 1976!), my mother relented and allowed me to watch it every other Wednesday. However, when previews showed that on my "off" week, the gals were going to be shackled together in a women's prison, my protestations to see the episode were so great that my mom relented and let me watch it (and thereafter I watched it every week... give 'em an inch and they take a mile! Ha ha!) I worshiped Farrah Fawcett, but liked all the Angels, including Shelley Hack, until the last season when the final cast change to Tanya Roberts (and a location shift to Hawaii) turned me off. Watching it now, as I still do on the treadmill, the gals aren't all that hold my attention. The clingy polyester slacks on the men in that era can be real eye-openers!

DYNASTY -- Somewhere out there is bound to be someone who claims to have been a bigger fan of this show than I was, though I can't imagine how. I was utterly, completely OBSESSED with it from almost the moment it started. The fact that it was going to star Linda Evans, who I hadn't seen at all in the interim since The Big Valley and Pamela Sue Martin, who'd figured heavily in The Poseidon Adventure (as well as The Nancy Drew Mysteries) guaranteed that I would be watching the three-hour premiere. The whole notion of a regular gay character was rather mind-blowing to me at age fourteen. Once Joan Collins showed up, it was must-see TV for me and most of the world. I bought every magazine that previewed or profiled the show, called Hollywood long distance to speak to Esther Shapiro directly (!) about a plot line (didn't get through to her... I wonder why not. Ha ha!) and even made certain that my senior prom tuxedo was as close a copy to the morning suits worn to Amanda Carrington's wedding that was possible on my family's budget! The show over the long haul was uneven to say the least and plagued by cast changes, but practically any episode remains fun if only for the clothes and the often chippy dialogue and campy situations.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE -- I never saw a single episode of this series in its initial airing or even in reruns (somehow it seemed to disappear in my area for a long while) until one time - late at night - a few episodes began appearing. Eventually, I got the whole series on DVD and became fascinated by the austere performances, the labyrinthine schemes of the missions and just the general team atmosphere, which had always appealed to me from my comic book days. The show was formulaic, but it was a formula that worked. And that theme song!  The show, like more than one Desilu production was racially progressive in that little or no mention was every made about Greg Morris' skin color in the story lines. Cast changes occurred with certain regularity, but generally the concept held up thanks to stalwarts Peter Graves (there after season one for original leader Steven Hill) and Morris hanging in for the long haul. The cool, sleek style of the show (including those wonderful "black & white" apartment sequences) appeals to me greatly.

STAR TREK -- It goes without saying that Gene Roddenberry's short-lived sci-fi series inspired legions of fans into forming a cult of Trekkies Trekkers who've gone on to support a long train of subsequent series and movies.  For me, it all starts and virtually ends with the first show and its vivid colors, passionate performances and glamorous guest stars, often with hair stacked to the stars and diaphanous costumes (by William Ware Theiss) with unusual pieces missing. William Shatner has his detractors, but I happen to love his enthusiastic and heroic line readings. DeForest Kelley's cantankerous doctor is my favorite (apart from the elegant Nichelle Nichols), but I also appreciate the iconic performance of Leonard Nimoy as the emotionless Mr. Spock. Grace Lee Whitney's towering basket-weave hairstyle as Yeoman Rand helped solidify my obsession with such things. I was so captivated by the uniforms of the Starship Enterprise that, as a bored teen working at Wendy's, I used to picture all the customers in the dining room wearing them, after deciding which of the three colors would look best on them, of course!

THE BIG VALLEY -- As a kid with abandonment issues, nothing hit home quite like the extremely strong familial bond of The Barkleys, especially the way they took in a bastard son of the deceased father and made him one of their own. (This development alone was a bit prickly for TV in 1965.) The show went off the air when I was two, so I never saw it until mid-day reruns years later when I became enthralled with the sweeping musical intro, the highly telegenic cast and its wealth of dramatic story material. I thought no one on earth was more beautiful than the Barbie-like Linda Evans or more handsome than blue-eyed Lee Majors. Iron-clad Barbara Stanwyck, fiery Peter Breck and even handed Richard Long completed the quintet (and complimented one another grandly.) Toss in extraordinarily good guest stars and some wondrous music within each episode and it was a total winner in my eyes. To this day, disliking my own last name incredibly, I give "Barkley" to hostesses in restaurants. And I'm still looking to kiss a Jarrod and a Nick, having already tackled the seemingly tougher ones: Victoria, Audra and Heath! LOL

THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW -- Part of my childhood viewing that stayed in my head and heart, I don't think there was anyone as multi-talented as Carol Burnett. Not only that, she was careful to surround herself with stellar supporting cast members such as Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence and Tim Conway, who all complimented her - and each other - terrifically. And early costar Lyle Waggoner was easy on the eyes to be sure. So many incredible characterizations were created on the show whether it be from the many spot-on movie parodies, Mr. Tudball & Mrs. Wiggins, the dotty Stella Toddler, Nora Desmond, the ham actors Funt and Mundane, Conway's old (old!) man and, of course, Eunice Higgins and her crazy family.  Naturally, over time, some of the topical and pop culture humor is diffused, but most of these sketches remain hilarious. Long missing from rerun broadcasts are the huge musical productions that usually closed the weekly show and those are often quite a spectacle to behold (in no small part thanks to the show's incredible costumer Bob Mackie.) Like most of the shows that comprise this list, it was the cast chemistry that truly put this in a class of its own.

THE COLBYS -- With people like Charlton Heston, Katharine Ross, Ricardo Montalban and Barbara Stanwyck among the cast as promised, there was no way I was going to miss the premiere of (what was then called) Dynasty II: The Colbys. (That theme song!!) Whatever glamour Dynasty had, and it had tons, this show outdid, especially at a time when the parent show had managed to saddle Joan Collins with a story line that had her dressed down to the point of being in a nun's habit! This was the year that Dynasty slipped from #1 and never fully recovered. The Colbys was a grand, old-fashioned, meaty family drama and power struggle with (sometimes lunatic) secrets and rivalries. Unfortunately, though I grew to appreciate her own charms, Emma Samms as the long-lost Fallon was positively 180 degrees different in nearly every conceivable area than her predecessor Pamela Sue Martin, which turned a lot of people off. A visibly frail Stanwyck's premature departure was another big hit to the show's life. But there will never be anyone like Stephanie Beacham's Sable Colby, a standout amid the gargantuan cast, as noted elsewhere. For that I will always be devoted to the show.

THE GOLDEN GIRLS -- When I speak of chemistry among a cast, this is the pinnacle of it. It makes no difference if Bea Arthur and Betty White bristled a bit behind the scenes. On screen they, along with Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, worked extraordinarily well together and generated a hit that, on paper, seemed impossible to the network chiefs: four older ladies living together in a house in Miami, Florida. An expert pilot paved the way for a terrific run in which each gal won an Emmy and created comic hijinks that one can safely say are broadcast almost every hour of every day, time and again, worldwide. Golden Girls fans know all the lines by heart and quote them all the time. We know each other. If we say the cue, another fan knows the punchline. Among my own favorite installments are the ones in which: Dorothy's friend is a lesbian, Dorothy's son is marrying an older black woman, Blanche's brother is gay, the ladies are posing for a sculptor, Blanche and Sophia are dating the same man, Rose dates a dwarf and the ladies are set to meet Burt Reynolds at a film premiere. But it's like choosing a favorite child. There's something great in practically all the episodes (though I am devoted to seasons 1 through 4, before expert director Terry Hughes left, versus the remaining ones.)

THE LOVE BOAT -- Again, the blend/chemistry of the cast made a huge impact on the success of a show, but as able as they are, the crew of the boat are not the reason why I love this show... it's the PARADE OF GUEST STARS! Several series did it, from the more dramatic Fantasy Island to the more elegant Hotel and even the delightful Murder, She Wrote, but The Love Boat was key in unearthing great stars that young Hollywood generally had no interest in, but which nostalgic TV viewers enjoyed giving the once-over to after their time in the sun had passed. While its true that a few old-timers held out and didn't take a cruise, more often than not, any old star who could still draw breath popped up on at least one episode of this show during the course of its long run. Sometimes, if the performer was musically inclined, he or she even got to perform (as in the case of Carol Channing, Ethel Merman and Ann Miller - all at once!) They even excavated long-absent, two-time Oscar-winning Best Actress Luise Rainer, fer cryin' out loud! Much of this was surely due to producer Aaron Spelling, who was a busy 1950s character actor and party host before he turned mega-producer, calling upon old friends to appear on his series.

BONUS PICS!

The initial threesome who made up Charlie's Angels were photographed endlessly as they promoted the TV-movie pilot and eventual series. I thought this one was fun. (The pilot, by the way, was expected to tank, but brought in HUGE numbers. Even then the execs could hardly believe it so they re-ran it two weeks later, thinking it was a fluke, but the ratings were even higher still! So the series moved forward.)

This looks more like something out of Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) than an Angels promo. Clearly the exact style and concept of the show had not been completely honed, even taking into consideration that this was inspired by Helmut Newton (who himslef photographed Fawcett and, later, Smith for publication.)

Raise your hand if you remember "Angels '88" (which was later retitled "Angels '89" due to production delays before being abandoned completely!) Among the carefully-selected, but doomed to being unseen, Angels were Téa Leoni and Claire Yarlett. Dig the fun brooch on the gal with the ginormous shoulder pads!

It's just tough to beat that initial combination of gals...

I liked this shot of Linda Evans and John Forsythe because it's a rare one with Linda's hair much softer (and smaller!) and her eyes look terrific in it.

Just one shot of the four albums I have that are crammed full of Dynasty and The Colbys clippings/photos.

I saved every single picture of any star who was on the show and every picture from the show. If a magazine had photos on back-to-back pages, I bought two copies...! (Now I know where my youth went!)

I give you a campy portrait of spy supreme Cinnamon Carter, as portrayed by Barbara Bain.

Here's a second, even more random - though glamorous - portrait from the shoot. You can read more about Bain right here.

Strange elements in the posing for this The Big Valley portrait. Note the monochromatic blouse and pants (courtesy of Nolan Miller) on Linda Evans' Audra Barkley which would later become a staple of her Krystle Carrington wardrobe as well, often in tones of burgundy and blue.

The transformation of Audra Barkley from golden-haired colt to Brushfire Barbie (under the direction of new husband John Derek, who enjoyed crafting all his women into the same basic ideal...!)

A later version of the cast of The Love Boat. Pat Klous had replaced a substance-addicted Lauren Tewes for two seasons, Jill Whelan as Gavin McLeod's daughter had grown up to be an assistant and humpy Ted McGinley was brought on as ship's photographer.

Were you one of the seven people who watched The Love Boat: The Next Wave?  Doomed from the start thanks to a telegenic, but uninspired, cast, it also suffered the blow of star Robert Urich developing cancer during its run (which he bravely fought through, eventually appearing without hair in the wake of treatments.) Few guest stars of note came aboard, though one episode did reunite members of the first show's cast. The Love Boat ran for 250 episodes. The Next Wave ran for 25...

No matter how humiliating, did you really think I was going to refrain from sharing my senior prom photo with it's "design on a dime" approximation of the Moldavian massacre wedding suits?! Ha ha! Remember... I did say OBSESSED. But that's what TV has the power to do to us sometimes, then and now. I hope you enjoyed this post.

Top Ten Anniversary: Female TV Leads

Top Ten Leading Female TV Characters

Continuing our celebration of one decade of Poseidon's Underworld, we now turn to our all-time favorite leading female characters on television. Again, there aren't likely to be many surprises since these ladies have most all been featured here one way or another over the course of this blog's history, but we're using the occasion of our ten year anniversary to create some Halls of Fame, if you will. Interestingly, my tastes seem to run to the polar opposites, very good gals or very bad! The ladies are listed alphabetically according to their characters' first names.

ABBY EWING of Knots Landing -- Donna Mills was brought in after the show had already been airing for one season in order to shake up the famous cul-de-sac. One can safely say she did so! That Mills was known for playing put-upon victims and soft romantic heroines helped make the whole thing that much more dynamic. Abby arrived as a middle class single mother that the other women felt they could trust, but she was soon unveiled as a man-eating, money-hungry vixen who let almost nothing prevent her from reaching her high-flung goals. Yet, there was also a vulnerable motherly side that kept the character balanced. Mills, and her stunning eyes, made an indelible impression.

ALEXIS CARRINGTON COLBY of Dynasty -- Much like Ms. Mills above, Joan Collins was brought onto Dynasty after its brief initial season in order to add conflict to the show. From the very start, Collins strove to have input into the character's presentation from the style of clothing she wore to the insertion of sarcastic humor amid all the turmoil. The result was an international sensation. In the process, real life businessmen wondered whether they ought to have discarded their first wives so cavalierly lest they return to the fray, scorned and ready to wield their own power. Collins also, along with costar Linda Evans, made cat-fights into a much-adored spectator sport among prime-time soap opera buffs. For my own part, Collins work on the show crystallized an already fervent adoration of her that began when I was a tyke and continues to this day!

BLANCHE DEVEREAUX of The Golden Girls -- When this sitcom was put together, the producers gathered a positively perfect cast of ladies. Ironically, Rue McClanahan was initially hired to play ditzy Rose while Betty White had been tagged for the outrageously sexual Blanche. The two wisely opted to swap roles, playing against their established types, and the rest is history. To me, Blanche was always funniest in the first four years or so of the series, when McClanahan was actually less overtly attractive and shapely and the character wasn't written as severely bitchy as she later emerged. Somehow that made her antics more amusing. All of her saucy remarks were delivered in a hooty accent that the director of the pilot wouldn't allow the actress to use, but thankfully she was able to utilize it thereafter.

JAIME SOMMERS of The Bionic Woman -- Lindsay Wagner guest-starred on The Six Million Dollar Man as an old girlfriend of Lee Majors who is severely injured and repaired with bionic parts, but then dies when her body rejects them. Wagner, however, was so popular in the two-part episode that a series all her own was built for her, revealing that she hadn't truly died. Wagner's innate charm and down-to-earth style made the superheroine relatable and believable (and, like any idealistic heroine, Jaime was humane and just.) Legions of little girls (and not a few boys!) duplicated her hand-to-the-ear gesture on the playground, pretending to be able to hear faraway events. I know I also, even at sixteen, hardly put my foot out of a car without thinking of the time she stopped one from rolling away with her bionic leg!

JENNIFER HART of Hart to Hart -- "This is Mrs. H. She's gorgeous!," said Max, the Hart's chauffeur and Man Friday as Stefanie Powers' face appeared in the opening credits of this stylish mystery series. Sometimes chemistry just soars off the charts between people and such was the case when Powers was paired with Robert Wagner as two wealthy socialites whose lifestyle somehow always places them in the proximity of a crime, usually a murder. Having toiled in an endless string of movies and TV shows, Powers really found her wheelhouse with Jennifer, who had the most distinctive way of calling out, "Jonathan!" to her husband. Actually, everything she said and did, each expression, was distinctive and also intoxicatingly captivating. Ten years after its five-season run, the duo returned for a series of eight popular TV-movies.

KELLY GARRETT of Charlie's Angels -- Jaclyn Smith (one of only two ladies here who hasn't received a tribute of her own, though it's often been considered) came to the trendsetting and wildly popular detective series with the least experience (and third-billing.) Her good girl private eye, ever earnest yet firm when necessary, won audiences over and led to her becoming a household name. Smith is the only Angel to have stayed for all five seasons of the show, which means that she is the only one who appears in all cast photos no matter the line-up. She stayed the course and achieved top-billing, then parlayed her fame into a plethora of successful TV-movies and miniseries. We always know that Kelly will do the right thing, whatever the cost.

MAUDE FINDLAY of Maude -- We adore Dorothy Zbornak of The Golden Girls, but practically every off-the-cuff insult or slow-burning grimace was taken for a test drive first on Maude. With All in the Family's staggering success featuring a far-right character like Archie Bunker, Norman Lear took the other tack and looked for comic gold in a far-left character with Maude. It's safe to say that TV viewers never saw anyone quite as outspoken or as aggressively opinionated as Maude, but even during the most controversial and touchy subjects, Bea Arthur delivered comedy with gusto. Her habits of saying people's names twice ("Oh, Walter, Walter...") or exclaiming "God'll get you for that..." were trademarks of the show. And though TV certainly became ever more topical and permissive, I just don't think anyone could ever top Ms. Arthur when it comes to an aggravated insult or even a startled gaze.

SABLE COLBY of The Colbys -- No dramatic TV character ever caught my attention more than Stephanie Beacham as Sable. Among the least known of a star-filled cast, she came out punching and swiftly became a standout, be it tangling with her craggy sister-in-law Barbara Stanwyck or with her actual sister Katharine Ross. Critics claimed that Beacham was merely playing an Alexis wannabe, but the characters were actually distinctly different. Alexis hadn't been able to cope with her husband's emotional and physical absences and turned to other men. Sable lived completely for her husband and family and was steadfastly faithful to him even though he inexplicably carried a torch for her dreary sister Ross. (Sable's history was unduly tampered with later on Dynasty.) Beacham imbued every line of dialogue with supreme weight and always looked eye-popping. The day she finally granted husband Charlton Heston his divorce ought to have garnered an award nomination, but by then the show was close to cancellation. To this day, youtube is filled with all of Sable's scenes strung together and they remain the principle merit of the show.

VICTORIA BARKLEY of The Big Valley -- The very definition of upstanding, Victoria (as portrayed by Miss Barbara Stanwyck) was the moral compass of the whole region near Stockton, California and the guiding force of its most prominent family, The Barkleys. Stanwyck made it clear from the start that she wasn't going to fret around the house in crinoline while the boys went out to fight. She played with a longer wig and plenty of dresses for one season before shifting to an anachronistic shorter 'do with more trousers and gauchos (not to mention false eyelashes!) She performed with gusto, hurling herself into all sorts of rigorous stunts while always somehow retaining a ladylike image (and behind the scenes running herd on her gaggle of young costars, making sure they behaved professionally!) I probably learned more about discerning right from wrong through Victoria Barkley than from anyone else in my own real life.

WONDER WOMAN of Wonder Woman -- If I approached the new Wonder Woman (2017) movie with apprehension, it's because I already had "my" Wonder Woman, the glorious Lynda Carter. (For the record, I did enjoy Gal Gadot and, for the most part, the movie.) No one will ever, in my opinion, match Carter for that combination of luminous beauty, altruistic innocence and iconic inhabiting of the famous character. It was just a perfect marriage of actress and role, though it must be said that the series itself was never up to snuff, writing-wise, with the performance Carter was providing. Oh, and if you think kids on the playground imitated Jaime Sommers, think about how many slinked towards a secluded spot and then reenacted Carter's legendary twirling transformation from Diana Prince into the red, white and blue heroine!

Bonus Pic

I just had to share this clipping I found while searching for the right photos of these ladies. I couldn't agree more with the text on it. I've watched a lot of TV over the last half-century and no one ever knocked me out the way Ms. Beacham did!

Pop Quiz: Soaping Up the Celebrity Name Chain

Oh no... Another infamous Pop Quiz! This time all of the questions include at least one performer who had a featured role on a prime-time network soap opera during that genre's glorious 1980s hey-day. First, though, I must apologize for my extended absence from posting. This may be the longest I've ever gone since Poseidon's Underworld's inception! It's just been a perfect storm lately: a birthday trip out of town, a work convention out of town, a medical scenario (don't fret - I'm fine now!) and heaps of work (at the office and at home) that were waiting for for me upon each return. And I'm about to leave for Labor Day weekend again! I'm sorry if the radio silence led anyone to think I'd disappeared (perhaps like Fallon, into a spaceship on the last episode of The Colbys!) There have been treasured blogs that just up and ended without word or warning. But I'm still here. And the kicker?  I'd been preparing a gala post to commemorate this blog's "tenth" birthday, but when my blond head actually looked more closely and did the math, we ENTERED our tenth year on August 24th, 2018... we aren't yet ten years of AGE!  :::sigh:::  I'll blame the public school system. LOL Anyway, to play this game, you take the name of the person in the first photo and their last name is the first name of the person in the second photo. Hence, our cover boys today are John James (of Dynasty) and James Franciscus (in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, 1970) or John James Franciscus! Got it? Even if you hate the quiz, maybe you'll get a snicker out of some of the pics. Now on we go... and if you're good girls and boys, there may be a few bonus pics.

#1 - This one begins with a popular and omnipresent disc jockey turned television personality, whose professional moniker took its lead from one of Universal Studios' famous monsters. Next to him is the man who took over the role of Steven Carrington on Dynasty after Al Corley departed early on. 

#2 - The first gal is from the prime-time hit Falcon Crest, on which she played Melissa Agretti, locking horns with the matriarchal figure played by the show's star Jane Wyman. Next to her is an actress for whom I really should leave you "clueless."

#3 - The lady on the left is probably a toughie, even if her face may be familiar. She appeared on many, many 1970s and '80s television shows (including the prime-time soap Paper Dolls, which is why she's here) and in movies (like Slap Shot, 1978, and Ice Castles, 1978) as well.  The gent ought to be well known to most movie fans unless you've been living under a rock for quite a few decades, though he's better known to today's youth for screwing up the finale of an awards ceremony not too long ago.

#4 - The curvaceous blonde on the left was a musical comedy movie actress, notorious as being the longtime mistress of Bob Hope. Hint: Her first name is the same as another wildly famous blonde bombshell. On the right is the English hunk who slid into the role of California-bred Miles Colby on The Colbys.

#5 - The man on the left had a busy, lengthy career as a character actor in movies and on two hit TV series (Dragnet and M*A*S*H.) The gal on the left made several attempts at prime-time soaps from Flamingo Road to Paper Dolls to Falcon Crest, but never gained the long-term foothold that other stalwarts found in the genre.

#6 - The lady on the left (a cast member of our beloved The Poseidon Adventure, 1972) was an integral part of Dynasty before leaving to pursue other, mostly less successful, ventures. Her counterpart is a character performer who spent years in movies and TV (with series like Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999 on his resume) before becoming a late-in-life Oscar-winner.

#7 - The first pink pussycat played accused "Pollyanna" Karen Fairgate for all of Knots Landing's lengthy run. The second was an accomplished and versatile actress who scored a big hit as Damian's mom in The Omen (1976), but was later taken far too early by illness.

#8 - The gal on the left made a far bigger impression in the daytime soap world as part of a super (and I mean SUPER) couple than she did during her brief stab at prime-time success on Bare Essence. The gentleman next to her is a hard one, though he is known. The Czech-born actor's career stemmed from Louise Brooks' silent classic Pandora's Box (1929) to a successful stage and film career in the U.S. Much to his dismay, his 1958 turkey The Return of Dracula was one of the movie's he's most remembered for. He likely would have preferred Midnight (1939) or The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944) as an epitaph.

#9 - I'd say this one is likely the hardest of all, but not impossible if you're an all-around movie and TV buff. The lady was a highly promising young actress in movies like Pride and Prejudice (1940), Blossoms in the Dust (1945) and The Valley of Decision (1945), all of which also starred Greer Garson. Then it all came crashing down when she was blacklisted by the House UnAmerican Activities Commission. To her right is one of Knots Landing's more deplorable bad guys. As Peter Hollister, he was bedding both a mother and her daughter and wound up with a pointy desk accessory driven through his chest!

#10 - The hirsute hunk on the left was Mark Jennings of Dynasty, a tennis pro who also bedded a mother and daughter (Alexis and Fallon) and was also murdered, but not for that transgression. The equally hairy - at least on top!) guy on the right was a flavor of the month (perhaps February?) who eked out a fairly lengthy career, but is still most likely known for playing Justine Bateman's boyfriend for several seasons of Family Ties.

#11 - We all should know the pretty blonde songbird on the left, who occasionally made a movie or worked on television. Her counterpart was the leading man of Dynasty, taking over at the eleventh hour for a fired George Peppard.

#12 - How much more of a clue can I give you about the man on the left other than that he was self-proclaimed "The Greatest?" And, though the pronunciation may be ever so slightly different, the spelling is the same for the first name of his ladyfriend next door. She too took a bit of a pummeling from fans, critics and the producers of Dynasty during her stay there, culminating in a christening of fake blood all over her as a means of telling her she was fired...

And now, on to the answers!

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#1 - "Wolfman Jack Coleman" - The raspy-voiced DJ Wolfman Jack died of a heart attack at fifty-seven. Jack Coleman went on to success with the TV series Heroes, looking quite a bit different than he did as Steven.

Here is Coleman about to shuck his track pants at a Battle of the Network Stars installment and also as his character on Heroes. At the bottom are two of Steven Carrington's key love interests (which, on the 1980s show, were limited to an occasional embrace.) William Campbell played the ill-fated Luke Fuller while Kevin Conroy portrayed Bart Fallmont who, by the time of the 1991 reunion movie, was Steven's life partner (sadly played by someone else...)

#2 - "Ana Alicia Silverstone" - Ana Alicia left acting in the mid-1990s to raise her family. Alicia Silverstone - of Clueless (1995) fame - is now starring on American Woman, the series devised by Kyle Richards, loosely based on her upbringing.

#3 - "Jennifer Warren Beatty" - Jennifer Warren exited the realm of acting for the most part in the 1990s and turned to the field of directing. Warren Beatty, the star of many, many films from Bonnie and Clyde (1967) to Shampoo (1975) was part of Oscar-gate a while back when he helped to announce the wrong Best Picture winner.

Mr. Beatty in pajamas for a costume test during Splendor in the Grass (1961) and in Italian makeup for The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone that same year. The bathing suit shot is from an early TV appearance of his.

#4 - "Marilyn Maxwell Caulfield" - Marilyn Maxwell also had a lengthy affair with Frank Sinatra and was a close pal of Rock Hudson's. She died of a heart attack at only age fifty, but seemed to have had quite a time. Maxwell Caulfield "slid" - get it?! - from Grease 2 (1982) into his TV role. He still works at age fifty-eight and has been wed since 1980 to Juliet Mills.

In 1985, between Grease 2 and The Colbys, Caulifield appeared nude on stage opposite Elizabeth Wilson and Jessica Tandy in the play Salonika. You can read more about that here.

In 2012, in his early-fifties, he was still delivering the goods in the stage play Euripedes as Menelaos the King of Sparta, wearing only some torn fabric.

#5 - "Harry Morgan Fairchild" - Harry Morgan was in over 100 movies and did scads of TV. He died in his sleep at age ninety-six and was still working even then. Morgan Fairchild was seemingly everywhere in the 1980s. In recent years she has focused on work for AIDS research and on Screen Actors Guild business, as she is a board member currently.

#6 - "Pamela Sue Martin Landau" - Pamela Sue Martin went from nice girl roles in The Poseidon Adventure and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries before turning 180 degrees to play Fallon Carrington. (She's now sixty-five!) Landau took home an Oscar f0r Ed Wood (1994) and kept working to acclaim (after a dismal period in the 1980s) up to his death at eighty-nine.

#7 - "Michele Lee Remick" - Broadway musical performer Michele Lee made the non-singing role of Karen a role model for many female fans. After the series' demise, she returned to the Broadway stage, among other things. Lee Remick was a busy, sought-after actress in many 1960s and '70s films and TV projects until kidney cancer took her life when she was only fifty-five.

#8 - "Genie Francis Lederer" - As one half of General Hospital's legendary couple Luke & Laura, Genie Francis became a national sensation. Despite attempting other roles, she is best known as Laura and is back doing it again even now. Francis Lederer was a proud stage actor who turned his film earnings into a real estate bonanza. His later years were spent in many civic and charitable tasks and when he passed away (at age one-hundred!) he was one of the last Austro-Hungarian veterans of World War I left.

#9 - "Marsha Hunt Block" - Marsha Hunt was one of the more notable victims of the Hollywood Blacklist, at least as far as actors go. She did make a tenuous return after the dust had settled and proved to be quite a survivor. Miss Hunt is still alive today at age one-hundred! Stage-trained Hunt Block had a promising start with a featured role in the miniseries The First Olympics: Athens 1896 (1984), but floundered a bit after his turn on Knots Landing. In 2000, he successfully reinterpreted the role of Craig Montgomery on As the World Turns, but was unceremoniously let go as part of a budget cut after five years.

This is the way Block looked when he assayed the role of Craig on ATWT. His dynamic, creative acting led me to return to the show after having abandoned it for a while.

During this period, the aforementioned John James turned up on the show as well, this time playing a doctor with a murderous side.

#10 - "Geoffrey Scott Valentine" - Geoffrey Scott (who'd previously worked for a bit on Dark Shadows and the short-lived Concrete Cowboys - in for Tom Selleck who'd done the pilot movie) worked up until the mid-1990s before moving to Colorado. Scott Valentine had an on-screen career spanning three decades, but few projects lent him the sort of public fame that his role on Family Ties offered. (Three attempts at getting him a spin-off were developed, but none succeeded in the end.)

Mr. Scott's towel scenes during his stint on Dynasty are legend. Unfortunately, his character was systematically destroyed by the writers until he was no longer useful to the show. And with Tom Selleck and Lee Horsley around, he had trouble establishing a notable TV identity. Also shown is a pic of him during his time on Dark Shadows.

#11 - "Olivia Newton-John Forsythe" - Ms. Newton-John, one of our favorite vocalists, has had us worried of late with the recurrence of her cancer which had been in remission since 1992. John Forsythe passed away at ninety-two. Recently, I've been re-watching a fair amount of Charlie's Angels and appreciating the vocal skills he brought to the unseen role of Charles Townsend. It's not as easy as it looks, kids.

#12 - "Muhammad Ali MacGraw" - Muhammad Ali wrote a book called, "The Greatest: My Own Story" in 1975 and starred in his own story in 1977's The Greatest. (Trivia: This is the project that gave the world the song "The Greatest Love of All," later covered to a fare thee well by Whitney Houston.) Ali MacGraw's career took a serious downward turn when she was lambasted for her performance in The Winds of War and then followed that up with the role of a predatory photographer on Dynasty which left the show's fans cold. In her defense, she was supposed to win Blake Carrington for a bit, but John Forsythe put a stop to that, leaving her role irrelevant and more bothersome than anything. She found out she wouldn't be back for the following year when a crew member liberally sprinkled her with stage blood during the notorious Moldavian massacre that ended the 1984-85 season.

Ali passed away at age seventy-four after a bout with Parkinson's disease. (By the way, I didn't blur the above-left shot of him back when he was known as Cassius Clay and I couldn't find another version of it, though I tried.) 

Till next time, friends!