Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Today's Blind Items - Sex And Greed - The Tale Of The Last Season On A Hit Show

In the past I have written about some television shows that were high profile and the incidents that happened on set. Most of those shows did not have the run this show did. Most shows did not have the stars this show did. Most of those other shows did not have stars who are still huge stars.

This show was on the air a long time. The blind takes place as the show was in its final season of production. Everyone was making lots of money and everyone had their own little place on the show. There was the male lead. He was a nobody before the show started and was a nobody after the show ended until he struck gold again. Two hit shows in a lifetime is pretty good for this actor. He was married while he was on the show, but that did not stop him from having sex with whatever guests were willing to have sex with him. He and one of the other male stars of the show made a deal. The younger star would get to have sex with everyone under the age of 25, and the older star took the women that were over 25. It worked out great for them. They never fought about anyone. They simply asked women how old they were at the beginning of the week, and acted accordingly. The younger actor also had a girlfriend at the time, but she only counted when the actor was away from work. He has not really done anything since the end of the show and is the only main cast member to not do well since the show ended.

One of the female regulars on the show clashed a lot with the male lead I mentioned earlier. It was awful. They hated each other. There was a time during the final season where the cast was debating whether to come back for another season. It would involve pay cuts. Our male lead was with the female lead who has also been blessed with two huge television shows in her career and they came up with a plan to rid themselves of the female regular they both hated and eliminate her salary and then they would not have to take a pay cut. The regular had heard every word because the actors had forgotten they were wearing live microphones.

Another female lead on the show has had a stellar career and probably is the most well known of all the cast. At the time she was still in her teens who was followed around by her boyfriend everyday. One day, the actress showed up for her 20 hour workweek at 1030 in the morning after her regular three day weekend. She was met at her car by a production assistant who was on hour 5 of his day and about hour 80 of his workweek and the actress sat down in the golf cart and sighed. The assistant asked what was wrong and the actress said work sucked and that she was just so tired of working and the long hours, but the production assistant would just not understand. Uh huh.

Oh, as a final crew gift to everyone who worked on the show, the cast, who was making a combined $2M a week, gave out a gift that cost them $50 each. Nice. This will be revealed.


86 comments:

  1. Ok, "cast...making a combined $2m a week" knocks "Friends" out of the running.
    Final season, they each pulled a million a week, that would have them at $6m just for the primaries.

    That's all I got.

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  2. I keep thinking LOST with Matthew Fox & Party of 5 but I cant make it work.

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  3. Definitely a sitcom (short work weeks), with a teenage 'daughter' or friend.
    @Share may be right, though we've had other blinds about that particular show...

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  4. Friends. Recurring guess was Janice. Lead that hasn't done much is ross. Younge actor matt le blanc.

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    1. Never mind ross wasn't the lead.

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  5. Got it! Married with Children

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    1. The Breakdown:
      Male Lead - Ed O'Neill, struck gold again with Modern Family
      David Faustino - Hasn't really done anything since
      Female regular that clashed - Amanda Bearse
      Female Lead - Katey Sagal, second huge TV Show is Sons of Anarchy
      Female Lead that is the most well-known - Christina Applegate
      Boo yah!

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    2. Betch!! Smart, smart betch!

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  6. The gift thing - Desperate Housewives?

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  7. @VIP - that fits PERFECTLY!

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  8. Cheers & Fraiser ?

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  9. I'm with VIP my first thought was Married w/ Children. Marcie actress the one they wanted to get rid of?

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  10. But Marcie ended up drecting a bunch of episodes.

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  11. But who's the younger dude that had all the sex? Ted?

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  12. Wait, I think it's Ted McGinly as the actor he made a deal with. Wouldn't David be too young most of the years?

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  13. Other than Anchorman, what would be considered stellar for Christina Applegate? All of her shows have been cancelled.

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    1. She quit 'Up all night' than the show was canceled

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  14. VIP, I think you're right that this is supposed to be about Married with Children, but Amanda Bearse directed 31 episodes of the show. This sounds a little off to me.

    Also, I don't want to believe it of Ed O'Neill. I love him. :(

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  15. I'm not sure Married With Children works though cause Katy Sagal has had 3 shows, including 8 Simple Rules.

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  16. VIP beat me to it, but I guessed it before I read her answer so that counts! Although I'm sorry to hear that Christina Applegate was being a brat.

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  17. Katy Sagal also had Futurama, though not sure if voice acting counts here or not.

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  18. I wanna say that 70's show but i don't know how it fits

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  19. The microphone comment alone makes me call BS on this one.

    No one on TV wears Microphones...there would be a boom operator or the soundstage would have microphones implanted (if this is a sitcom).

    Regardless, for some reason my first instinct was Ally McBeal.

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    1. @Grey. The microphone comment made me think it was something live.

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  20. I heard Ted McGinley was an awesomely nice guy. But it could have been him or the Steve before he left the show.

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  22. @Grey, ha, yes.

    Most of those shows did not have the run this show did. Most shows did not have the stars this show did. Most of those other shows did not have stars who are still huge stars. -- This does NOT scream "Married with Children" to me, to be honest.

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  24. I think party of five........

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  25. Ok, new guess:

    Male lead (older one); David B. - Buffy, Bones, Angel as shows

    Younger male lead (younger one) - Seth Green (on the fence about this one)

    Female regular: Michelle Trachtenberg, hated by Sarah Michelle Gellar (Shows: all my children, she got an award for, and Buffy) and David B.

    Other female lead: young and most well known: Allyson Hannigan, good career because of American Pie and Buffy, now How I met your mother.

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  26. Oh crap, Allyson Hannigan is older than Sarah Michelle.

    Blejhhh I give up.

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    1. And SMG was the one being annoying by the end of Buffy - anted out asap, didn't go to the wrap party :(

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  27. Could this somehow be "Happy Days?"

    Just trying to think of a wildly successful show with huge stars that had a teen girl on it.

    That and I like the idea of Fonzie and Chachi having the understanding about women.

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  28. Yeah my guess was Married With Children!!

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  29. Hannigan was a reveal about the mom who yelled at her kids when paps were around. Something like "SMILE DAMMIT. LOOK HAPPY!"

    ..that is, if you believe the reveals.

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  30. Party of Five works well

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  31. @Bacon Ranch, she didn't yell at her kid. She just told her, "We don't cry in front of the paps," or something similar. I think that it was an exaggeration from "behave in public."

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  32. @Bacon: Haha I remember that one, but try to block it because I don't want to believe it xD
    But hey, she also dated the drummer of Marilyn Manson and did threeways and stuff, so officially I shouldn't be surprised she has a bitchy wild side xD

    *still pretending Alyson is innocent*

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  33. Trying to make Cheers work with Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, Shelly Long and Kirstie Alley (wasn't Veronica's Closet big?)

    No teens though...

    Everyone hating Shelly Long. Danson making it again on CSI.

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    1. @Vera. Didn't Ted have three? That one where he was the grumpy doctor? Becker?

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    2. Don't forget Kelsey Grammar as a cast member...was thinking same show...but doesn't quite fit

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  34. I like my version better Karen ;) Evil Willow.

    VIP's guess is, as always..perfect.

    I actually knew a guy who was an extra on MWC. He said Christina was pretty bright and very nice. Bud was a prick.

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  35. I like the Party of Five guess a lot except that neither Neve Campbell nor Paula Deviq ever had another successful show.

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  36. Totally Married with Children. There was the season where Peggy was real life pregnant and not there, so they probably got used to not having to deal with her.

    There were also a ton of straight up whore guests.

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  37. Appropos of nothing, there's a great Russian version of Married With Children. Exact same characters played by Russian actors, exact same scripts, exact same sets. If you know the show, you can follow the plot even if you don't speak Russian.

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  38. I'm going 90210 Jason Priestly or Luke Perry, BAG for the kid and Shannen and Jennie Garth.

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  39. @VIP: Couln't you find a jiggly Kelly Bundy gif for us? I don't care what her age is in the gif, I'm grandfathered in on the wacking.

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    1. @Count None exist. Might I suggest Ludivine Sagnier instead?

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  40. for the Party of Five guesses, Scott Wolf is actually older than Matthew Fox, though Fox played the oldest brother on the show.

    I'd go with Cheers

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  41. MWC was famously filmed in front of a live audience---remember that was the first big-whooping-audience show? FOX had a lot of those in the early years (Arsenio Hall's audience was a meme, for their whooping).
    That would seem to require being miked. Also, if Marcie were DIRECTING, the stars may have forgotten that they were also in her ear, even though she wasn't on set.

    For Katey 'other big series', I automatically assumed Futurama, but it's probably "8 Simple Rules."

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  42. @alabrava - you sure about that? Says here Fox is 47 (born in '66) and Wolf is 45 (born in 68)

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  43. Anonymous12:11 PM

    Some of these descriptions dont work well with the cast of MWC.Christina Applegate was well into her 20s when the show ended, not a teen. the Younger star could decribe Bud, Steve or Jefferson, but none of these 3 have done much since, and the description says this cast member is the ONLY one to not do well after.

    I first thought MWC too, btu not sure it works out.

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  44. @NuttyFlavor: is there any chance you could point me into the direction of a pic of the Russian version of Kelly? Thank you.

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  45. That's a great point Libby. I wonder if she cut some folks out of scenes after overhearing what they had to say about her.

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  46. Show: House
    Male lead (older one); Hugh Laurie

    Younger male lead (younger one) - Any one of the doctors.

    Female regular: Lady that played Dr. Cuddy. She got cut from the last season of House and she was on some show earlier in the 90's where she played a lesbian.


    Other female lead: Olivia Wilde...but dang she's older and wasn't in her teens then.

    Sorry got nothing.

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  47. Married With Children: what 25 year old and under would want to do Squiggy equivalent? We are are talking about the runt Bundy, right?

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  48. David Faustino was on MWC from 1987-97. He started as a 13-year old kid, but finished as a 23-year old man. Those last 5 or so seasons after Faustino turned 18, MWC was at the height of its 'power' (I think), and would have plenty o' groupies those last few years.
    Ed & David having such an arrangement. I'm sure Ed did just fine with the 'old' fans OVER 25!

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  49. Should say: *I can WELL IMAGINE* Ed & David F having such an arrangement.

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  50. I had Married w/ Children in my head too.

    Lead Actor: Ed O'Neal. Struck gold again with Modern Family

    David Faustino: Under 25 and has not done well since the show ended.

    Female Regular: Amanda Bearse (Marcy) clashed with Ed Oneil.

    Female Lead that conspired with Male Lead to get rid of Amanda Bearse. Katey Segal & Ed Oneil.

    Female Lead most well know, big career: Xtina Applegate.

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  51. Nice tits on that one VIP, but the muff could easily be mistaken for a scab.

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  52. I worked on Married with Children and I guarantee that this is not the right answer to this blind...

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  53. Daily News article. 1996:

    "It's abnormally quiet around the set of "Married ... With Children" - because of a 20-megaton blowup between Ed O'Neill and co-star Amanda Bearse.

    It seems the friction their characters - Al Bundy and neighbor Marcy D'Arcy - display toward one another on the ribald Fox show has been spilling over into real life for quite some time. It finally erupted a few days ago in the makeup area - with O'Neill and Bearse hurling insults at one another. Before they marched out of each other's hearing range, we're told, she accused him - among other things - of being lazy, and he told her he had the power to have her removed from the cast.

    Since then, the two haven't been speaking, and it appears the longest-running sitcom on the tube could wind up its ninth season with the feud still in force. "

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  54. I remember Married With Child did not get to make a finale, it ended so abruptly.

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  55. Michelle Trachtenberg, hated by Sarah Michelle Gellar...

    According to IMDB, Tractenberg and Gellar were friends ever since All My Children and Gellar was instrumental in getting Tractenberg cast in Buffy.

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  56. I too thought Married with Children.

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  57. I have to reject the Married With Children answer. While most of the core cast has worked regularly since it went off the air, I really don't think any of them would be described as "huge stars".

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  58. I think VIP's right, but I think she has Katey Sagal and Christina Applegate reversed.

    Katey had the female lead in Married with Children, 8 Simple Rules, Futurama and SoA, all of which were modest to major hits. She seems like she'd be the best known of them.

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  59. Please don't be CHEERS!! Danza, Harrelson, Grammar, Bebe Neuwirth ..

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  60. Applegate was not in her teens at the end of the series.

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  61. Anonymous6:03 PM

    @sbear I was just coming on here to say almost the same thing...I didn't work on the show but knew someone who did and this is DEFINITELY not MWC.

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  62. NOT MWC, ED would more likely go after the guys instead of the girls!

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  63. Happy Days - Laverne and Shirley - so on and so forth. Lots of names.

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  64. Going with Party of Five here.

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  65. I still think the answer is That 70’s Show.

    Ashton: Older Actor, married in 2005, nothing before and stinkers directly after the show, struck gold again w/ 2.5 Men.

    Wilmer: Younger Actor, wants them under 25 and hasn’t done much since.**I can see these poon hounds cock-blocking each other if an agreement wasn’t reached beforehand.**

    Prepon: Female Lead that hated Ashton (ever since they banged). Had a 2nd short lived TV show.

    That Tweaker Girl that’s always getting arrested: The regular they wanted gone.

    Mila: Has done the best since the show ended and had a boyfriend that followed her around (Mac). But she wasn’t a TEEN when the show ended! Gaaaah! I can make everyone fit except for that last part.

    There are only a few shows that have “such a large amount of stars that are still famous” and those didn’t have a teen at the series finale. The Dawson’s guys were unmarried/too young for such shenanigans and Michelle Williams wasn’t a teen. Party of 5 is contender but JLove was 20 when it ended. After about 30 minutes of researching I got annoyed and bailed on IMDB-ing. Short attention span you say?

    Maybe we need to switch our focus to long-running dramas with famous casts instead of sitcoms? Who is a former teen TV star that has had a stellar career?

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  66. I definitely think "That 70s Show" fits. Why do we think the teen (Mila) had to still be in her teens when the show ended? I don't read it that way.

    I don't think the sister is the "female lead" they conspired to get rid of ... I'm wondering if it could have been the mom. The parents were kind of afterthoughts toward the end of the run, anyway.

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    1. I read "at the time she was still in her teens" to mean at the time of the blind we're discussing, which would mean at the time of the final season of production.

      But I rarely get these right so who knows?! :)

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  67. Mila Kunis did take that part young, lied about her age to get on the show IIRC.

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  68. Mila is also the voice for Meg on Family Guy.

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  69. This can't be "Friends" because as has been pointed out, the cast was pulling $1M apiece so the $2M combined doesn't fit. Also, there was no regular cast member who was a teenager when it started. The youngest was Jen Aniston at around 25yo at that time.

    "Married with Children" seems right, although "Buffy" might also fit.

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  70. I thought it was "Friends" until it said teenager. "Married with Children" fits or "That 70'a Show"

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  71. Longtime lurker here. I want to say That 70's Show because I am 95% certain I remember hearing about the cast cheaping out on the crew gift at the time. And also that some were greedy with taking furniture and props and other things from the set.

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  72. I like the idea of Lost.

    Matthew Fox (married) - PO5, then Lost. Could also be Josh Holloway;

    Ian Somerhalder would fit as the younger guy, since Dominic was in a relationship with Evangeline Lilly some of that time;

    Oh, forget it. I can't figure out the "teen" angle.

    What about 8 Simple Rules? But that wasn't on for long.

    Charmed?



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