Friday, April 15, 2016

Four For Friday - The 70's Monster

There was a show back in the day that was number one forever. It was must see tv. Of course with only a couple of channels and shows to choose from, it didn't take much to stand out and be number one. I remember back in the day when a President would speak, every single channel would be the President. Your only hope was that some UHF channel was showing something you could watch. Oh, or you could go out and play. Yeah, back in the day kids went outside and played. I know, I know. Shocking.

Anyway, it was back in the day that this show excelled. It was also a time when sexual assault was even reported less than it is today. Certainly on a television set it was next to none. The show had the same cast week after week, but it was unique in that there were female extras or one line actresses that rotated through every week. And make no mistake, they were rotated. One particular actor especially wanted them rotated. There was not an attractive female who ever came on that set that he did not try and have sex with. Whether they cooperated or not determined if they would get a second week on the show. Oh, or a line. He would pass out those little favors like candy. One line now on a show is no big deal. Back then, when there were a limited number of prime time shows, getting a line was a bigger deal. Getting a line one the number one show could make a career.

This actor terrorized the women that came on the show. He also terrorized the casting people to make sure the women they were sending were attractive. He would storm through their offices if they ever hired someone he thought was not attractive. One season, the actor finally went too far and caused some severe physical damage to a woman who had been trying to fight him off. The actor got booted from the show and rarely worked afterwards. He quickly went from A list to please lose his name from a list. It was all hushed up back in the day. The actress was given some money and a recurring role on another network show and she wouldn't think of reporting it or saying anything about it. Even today, she is reluctant to discuss it.

There was one actress who was a favorite of the actor. She went from extra to recurring simply because of her willingness to put up with his advances. She was so distraught after a few seasons of it that she quit the show and disappeared from acting a year or two later.

 

114 comments:

Derek Harvey said...

Happy Days?

MontanaMarriott said...

The Love Boat or Happy Days?

Kno Won Uno said...

Sounds like Love Boat....

Elle B said...

sanford and son

Derek Harvey said...

Don Most as the perv
Erin Moran as actress removed to another series (Joani loves Chachi)
Cathy Silvers (Jenny Picalo) as the actress that came mid-through series

Just a total wild guess FTR

Kno Won Uno said...

Bernie Kopell

Stephe96 said...

I was thinking Happy Days until I got to the end; not sure if it fits at all.

Elle B said...

Marlene Clark

Kno Won Uno said...

Bernie Kopell went to almost strictly guest shots after that long run on a high-rated prime time series. Re re-appeared semi-steadily on Arrested Development in 2013, but Love Boat went off the air in 1987, which is a loooonnnggg stretch between regular parts.

sandybrook said...

The Love Boat--Bernie Kopell, Lauren Tewes (quit the biz) Jill Whelan, Pat Klous

Elle B said...

& Demond Wilson

sandybrook said...

maybe Fred Grandy instead of Bernie Kopell

Simon said...

Doesn't sound like love boat because they didn't rotate bit players. They had a guest cast every week of different established entertainers.

hothotheat said...

The Partidge family, David Cassidy as the actor.

Stephe96 said...

Would anyone ever consider Bernie Kopell A-list? Even during The Love Boat heyday? I was thinking it has to be Henry Winkler or someone along those lines.

syvyn11 said...

But right after The Love Boat went off the air, Grandy started his career in politics. I'll say Capt. Stubbing.

Simon said...

I like the David Cassidy guess

Kno Won Uno said...

I can remember the same actors & actresses returning season after season as different characters.

Stephe96 said...

I can see David Cassidy having a hell of lot more pull with producers than Bernie Kopell...but was he "booted from" The Partridge Family?

Kno Won Uno said...

The entire cast would have been considered A list at the time - it was an ensemble show. Friends on a boat.

Kno Won Uno said...

Of course not - this isn't him.

Stephie said...

Gary Burghoff from Mash. I heard the rest of the cast hated him.

DoctorMaybe said...

Happy Days doesn't fit either - the thing about the regular rotation of non-speaking female guests doesn't work. That might have happened occasionally in the early years with Fonz's dates, but not past about season three or so.

DoctorMaybe said...

Burghoff didn't have the pull to offer favors like what they're talking about.

Kno Won Uno said...

Clarification: IN CONTEXT, all cast members of The Love Boat would have been A list (not A+ or A++). In order to understand how the entertainment industry worked in the 1970s, you might have had to be there because it probably makes no sense to anyone born after that time.
There was a much smaller pool of entertainers - three networks, basically (plus PBS). Love Boat cast members were all over what chat shows there were, stuff like that. They were everywhere.
40 years later it sounds pretty far fetched, but I believe that at the time Kopell was solid A list. His IMDb after that is kinda dismal, when he should have been cast in everything, including film.
It's probably Gary Burghoff from MASH. Ha!

lemon swizzle said...

And the guest cast all had more than a line or two a piece. They were the ones that the story rotated around. It was actually an interesting concept.

Kno Won Uno said...

Ha! I just said that myself.

Stephie said...

Oops, that wasn't showing up before.

david said...

I am going to guess on this one.

I think it is Wayne Rogers of MASH!
Lots of wanna be actresses trying out for Nurse parts.

Then, Wayne is gone from the series! Why? Because, he says his real estate business was taking off! Sure. That might have been what was happening. But, I think all the clues fit.

He didn't do any acting for a long, long time after that.

Then, he shows up as a talking head on FoxNews.

Lots of pretty women on set there.

Rhodabear said...

Airwolf? Jan Michael Vincent sure fell off the map quick.

Kno Won Uno said...

Oh, you said it first - I'm always amused when people scroll through a mental list of probable creeps and land on the same person ;-)

Stephie said...

Ha, I so agree.

Stephie said...

Actually, Wayne Rogers made millions in the real estate business and I saw him frequently interviewed on CNBC. I know nothing about his personal life but the man was a genius when it came to investing.

Snookiemonster said...

The Hulk

Simon said...

Ah, that's a good guess!

PoniTayl said...

Does "Love American Style" fit?

Zilla1 said...

William Shatner/Star Trek?

CindyC said...

Someone from MASH was my guess too. There were always lots of nurses around for the guys to play with.

Studio54 said...

The "must see TV" clue could only refer to a few shows, one of them being M*A*S*H*. I'm guessing either McLain Stevenson or Wayne Rogers.

Surly said...

Cheers? Or Taxi?

rerun said...

Also, was Love Boat #1 forever? I don't think so? But I could be wrong. Happy Days would seem more like it? Maybe MASH.

kpist said...

I agree with you Stephie. I have never heard anything bad or unlikable about the guy. According to his IMDB, he did plenty of acting after MASH

Tara17 said...

I didn't view the show but I think it's MASH as well. Most watched finale ever, I think. From tv.com:

"M*A*S*H was a true ensemble series. ... This is also true of many of the nurses, corpsmen, orderlies and drivers listed as guest stars. ... The protagonists were Dr. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce(Alan Alda) and Dr. "Trapper" John McIntyre (Wayne Rogers). Pierce and McIntyre were excellent surgeons who preferred to chase female nurses and drink homemade gin to operating http://www.tv.com/shows/decade/1970s/page2/

Dutch said...

What about that show, Head of the Class?

Sleepy said...

This goes WAY back, but "Laugh In"???

AMartel said...

Nooo, not Wayne Rogers! I loved Trapper, hated sneaky passive-aggressive pink-shirt weepy Beej. Feh. Thankfully by the time he came on the awesome Chaz Emerson Winchester THE THIRD was there to pick up the slack. Plus, I don't think the producers of MASH would have put up with such absurd shenanigans. I also don't think this can be Love Boat (poor Bernie) as walk-on one-line ladies didn't hold over from show to show. Could be Happy Days. Potsie and Ralph were (amazing, but true) quite popular while the show was on.

Krab said...

I was thinking The Shat too, on Star Trek.

ryan said...

I am liking the MASH theories-- and think WR is a very good guess.

ryan said...

Another one is Larry Linville aka Frank Burns.

nobodybutme said...

Fantasy Island/Ricardo Montalbon/Carol Lynley?

OKay said...

Not amazing at all! Anson Williams was adorable.

nobodybutme said...

Change Carol Lynley to Lisa Hartman (Knots Landing)

TheCousinEddy said...

My first thought was Love Boat, but then (like @nobodybutme) I thought Fantasy Island. Different guests every week and usually some attractive women. Me being me, I thought of Hervé Villechaize who played the diminutive "Tattoo" as the actor trying to get freaky with the weekly female guest stars. He died 10 years after Fantasy Island went off the air, but only had 5 additional acting credits in that 10 year span. No clue for the female part of this blind...

epiphany said...

Wow, it's obvious from the guesses that some of you are very young! Shatner wasn't booted off Star Trek; the show was cancelled. He certainly didn't fade into obscurity either. he had most of his show business success after Star Trek.
Bernie Kopell and Fred Grandy, and Donnie Most were on A-list shows, but they were never A-list actors. My guess is Lee Majors, and the show is "The Fall Guy." He was notorious for having producers fire female extras if he didn't think they were sexy enough, and the female co-star would be Heather Thomas, who, for a time anyway, was as big as Farrah Fawcett or Cheryl Tiegs. After "The Fall Guy", she did a number of straight to video movies, but that's about it. Majors essentially never worked much again, but he had starred in 3 successful shows in a row, and was probably loaded.

Amouse said...

I think the clue here is "must see TV" which was an NBC slogan. So, what were the most popular shows NBC during the 70's??

Little House on the Prairie
CHiPS
Bonanza
Different Strokes
Adam 12

longtime lurker - first time posting - please be kind!

H2O said...

We had a blind a long time ago about a perv on a TV show that had sex with all the little girls in the show. All the guessers narrowed it down to Michael Landon.

H2O said...

He probably needed body guards to keep the woman off him.

LaBomba said...

The Mary Tyler Moore show.

epiphany said...

No, I'm wrong - "The Fall Guy" went off the air in 1986 - too late.

texasrose said...

Radar didn't have that kind of power on MASH.

texasrose said...

I'm thinking back in the day and must see could be a show like Gunsmoke or Bonanza.

texasrose said...

Not a lot of actors with this kind of pull got kicked off a hit show. Made me think of the oldest brother on Bonanza. He left the show in it's hayday and you didn't see him much after - Pernell Roberts was his name.

ettacettera said...

That Baretta guy (sp)?..he was always nuts...

Stephie said...

Gary was the first actor cast on MASH and was a very popular character. Maybe he had more power than we know.

runamok said...

what about Miami Vice? I don't think it was NBC but....

ryan said...

I've been thinking about this and I forgot about McLean Stevenson from MASH fame too. Don't forget him. VERY A list at the time. if you look at his career after that, compared to the fame he had at the time of MASH (which was huge), his career was a washout. At the time he was starring in MASH, he would have definitely had the ability to stage some serious power plays with the powers that be. He went on to become a regular on Match Game with all it's innuendo skeezyness, and had a failed TV show and a string of 'guest star' appearances on things like the Love Boat. For someone of his caliber to end up on Love Boat and a Game Show, was quite the come-down. From his wiki page: "Stevenson's dramatic career decline resulted in him becoming a target for industry jokes. One television critic wrote that he had "worn out his television welcome," while another created 'The Annual McLean Stevenson Memorial, 'I'm Gonna Quit This Show and Become a Big Star' Award' ."

ryan said...

I also looked thru a bunch of MASH fan sites for cast lists. There were a lot of actresses who appeared on the show who went on to become more famous later: Blythe Danner, Susan St, James and several others. There is one who appeared in MANY episodes who seems to have disappeared from the business.

http://mash.wikia.com/wiki/Sheila_Lauritsen

runamok said...

OH 70's, nevermind...

Zilla1 said...

It isn't Wayne Rogers. He famously left MASH after season three because he didn't like that his character had become a sidekick instead of a stand alone character. He later said that had he known the show would have gone on for so long, he would have stayed. And don't forget, after he left MASH he starred in House Calls for 7 seasons. It was a fairly popular show. He acted in other things as well.

I doubt that McLean Stevenson was fired either, seeing as he was not only open about wanting to leave, but he got his own show ("Hello Larry," infamously short as it was.) And he acted in a few other things as well.

Zilla1 said...

Pernell Roberts went on to star in "Trapper John, MD," which was a pretty well received show that went for a few years.

Zilla1 said...

Shelley Long and Rita Wilson were two other guest stars on MASH, btw, and Marcia Strassman had a recurring role early on.

Zilla1 said...

Taxi? Barney Miller? Mary Tyler Moore? Soap?

DALLAS?

ryan said...

I thought so too but the BI says the firing was covered up. If you look at McS's credits after MASH they are nowhere near the fame he had during the time of he was on the show. That's why he makes sense to me. Also the Wiki entry seems to allude he was not well liked by his peers. Perhaps that's because they knew things the general public didn't?

ryan said...

So many, I agree!

ryan said...

Yes, so many names who became well known later on.

HeatherChandler said...

Laugh In
Arte Johnson (demanded top billing on Laugh In. Went from winning an Emmy to voice work on Scooby Doo)
Goldie Hawn
Not sure who dropped out of acting

Just Saying said...

Jeff Conaway (Taxi).

Newsyoucantuse said...

Philip Michael Thomas?

back again said...

Except that when I hear the name Lee Majors i immediately think "The Six Million Dollar Man"(1973-1978)...& "The Fall Guy" was in the 80's...

back again said...

"Mannix" with Mike Connors & the beautiful Gail Fisher was the must see tv show at our house.

back again said...

& "Wild Wild West" with Robert Conrad & Ross Martin..it ended in 1969 but Ross Martin left early b/c of a heart issue & a broken leg?1?

Beemer said...

That show ran mid-80's to about 1991 though. Can't be it.

david said...

Wayne was smart to actually have been lucky enough to have lived in CA when real estate went down -- he bought -- and he would hold the property until it went back up in value -- he sold.
And, his TV money helped pave the way. He then branched out to other states and did the same.
Also, he owned a clothing store chain (I forget the name of it.)

MDH said...

I agree and think Judy Carne was the one who (pretty much) dropped out of acting.

david said...

Does Erik Estrada of "Chips" fit?
He ended up on a Mexican Soap in the years after the series ended.

Post Name said...

Read the late Jackie Cooper's autobiography. He directed many episodes in the first two seasons of MASH and said there were only two cast members who weren't an enormous pain in the ass: Larry Linville and Wayne Rogers.

Marybel Lamb said...

McLean Stevenson from M*A*S*H

baskingshark said...

Could this be something like Hee-Haw or is that going too far back?

c17 said...

Yeah, but that was because of his problems with alcohol. His story is a very sad one:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2824218/The-tragic-downfall-80-s-heartthrob-Jan-Michael-Vincent-Recovering-alcoholic-admits-s-lucky-alive-right-leg-amputated.html

c17 said...

LOL! I used to *love* that show! But there weren't any regulars at all, were there? It's been so long I don't remember.

c17 said...

Yeah, but the phrase "Must See TV" was particular to NBC. M*A*S*H was on CBS so if that is a clue, I don't think it works here.

c17 said...

Mr. Landon had a rep for being a very nasty piece of work to his fans & people he worked with. But I don't think L.H.O.T.P. had very many 'guest' people on the show.

sierrarose said...

Google actresses with recurring roles-MASH and there are whole group of actresses that were on this show and a few of them have few or no credits after appearing on the show. One caught my attention- Linda Meiklejohn. according to the article her nurse was henry blakes' favorite on the show. The article said she was featured in several episodes of season one and then one in season two and then her character disappeared from the show never to be mentioned again.

Zilla1 said...

John Lawlor, Eastland's headmaster for one season on The Facts Of Life?

Just FSAG...

Zilla1 said...

I looked at a list of #1 shows for the 70's, if that is the decade being referenced.

I think it's either Marcus Welby, All In The Family, Happy Days or Laverne and Shirley. (There's always Chip Cunningham from Happy Days.

Les said...

I think you mean Chuck Cunningham from Happy Days.

Jess Sayin' said...

But, as noted, Stevenson wasn't "booted off" of MASH, he quit over money/the chance to be a lead. He only became a joke when his new series ("Hello, Larry") crashed and burned so precipitously.

I'd say this could be Larry Wilcox, the blond pair of the CHiPs partnership, who didn't return for the final season, and has never had a regular role since. (Show ran 1977-1983.) Lots of opportunities for recurring CHiPettes around the station, many of them non-speaking. IMDb might indicate that victim was Katherine Cannon, whose recurring episodes ended in 1981 and was promptly cast in a support role on Father Murphy (NBC's LHotP spin-off).

The girl who saw her career rise by going along to get along would be Randi Oakes, who became a regular in the second season (1978) and was similarly gone before the final year, when Wilcox left. She did a few guest roles on Love Boat/Fantasy Island, and was out of the business since 1985. (MEtv is running CHiPs reruns these days, with the support actors [Robert "Chris Pine's dad" Pine, etc] doing promos; Oakes looks IMO a bit uncomfortable in hers.)

Oakes had been a recurring player on the failed lawyer series "Rosetti & Ryan" (starring Tony Roberts) in '77, but her resume was pretty bare in '78. Perhaps the former Miss Iowa had been reduced to extra work, waiting for her big break? Just a theory, though.

ps-Allegedly Wilcox tested well for the Sonny Crockett role on Miami Vice but lost out to Don Johnson anyhow. But that could be anything (remember, Johnson had been a teenage movie star…and he's no angel, either.)

Zilla1 said...

Yes, thanks. Shows how much of an impression he left me with, lol.

Sharon Berry said...

I am thinking that this is farther back than anyone is guessing. Like 1950's or 1960's.

Sharon Berry said...

"must see tv" means NBC

Zilla1 said...

Then why would it be titled The 70's Monster?

Zilla1 said...

Wow, you may just have cracked this tough nut! Good going! :)

The only thing I think might make it a different show was how the blind kept referring to the show being #1 forever. Unless that's a red herring.

Zilla1 said...

This could also be a soap opera.


As The World Turns was #1 in the ratings for 17 years until All My Children knocked it off around 1979. And a soap gives plenty of opportunities for revolving one-line actresses. .

Kristabel said...

Liking Jess' CHiPs guess, seems to make the most sense so far.

Prunella said...

Randi Oakes is doing promos for CHiPs on ME TV. They do that for a lot of the older shows that are in reruns on that network - the present-day actors say "Watch ME, on ME-TV."

Was CHiPs the number one show? And was it on forever?

Prunella said...

There's a web page devoted to people who had recurring roles as nurses on MASH:

http://www.mash4077tv.com/features/nurses_recurring/

Sheepie said...

Cosby show??

Snarknado said...

Robert Blake. Could be...

Snarknado said...

Lol, they really did give him the boot if it broke his leg!

Bellatrixie said...

I was thinking M.A.S.H. all the way through this, but I don't want to believe it was Trapper.

Camal19 said...

Larry Hagman...Dallas and spin off was Knots Landing.

Lee Majors...the bionic man. spin off the bionic woman.

Someone from Dynasty, spin off The Colby's

It has to be a popular show with a spin off, in order for the producers to have another show to send the girls to, in order to shut them up.

radiogrl said...

I'm thinking "Cheers"

Zilla1 said...

As surprising as it is, I don't think MASH was ever a number one show, according to historical Nielsen ratings. And it looks like "number one" was key in this blind.

Scallywag said...

"Perhaps the former Miss Iowa had been reduced to extra work, waiting for her big break?"

Randi Oakes was a successful model before becoming an actress, and dated Joe Namath for several years before marrying Gregory Harrison in 1980.

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