Posted on 11/25/2012 7:06:22 AM PST by PJ-Comix
People in the entertainment business sometimes make horrible career decisions. This is what is known as the "McLean Stevenson Effect." Named after actor McLean Stevenson who played the part of Henry Blake in the hit TV series "M*A*S*H." Stevenson was unhappy with being part of an ensemble so after about 3 seasons left the show to become the lead in the "McLean Stevenson Show" which promptly flopped. His career never recovered.
Another victim of the McLean Stevenson effect was Shelly Long who was in the hit series "Cheers." She left after 5 seasons to become a movie actress but pretty much flopped in that endeavor.
Finally there was Jeff Conaway who starred in my own favorite TV series "Taxi." After 3 seasons he left the show with a one-way ticket to obscurity.
Who else made poor showbiz career decisions to become victims of the "McLean Stevenson Effect."
He was probably tired of Sci-Fi after doing the epic Zardoz - LOL
That’s Clay Morrow, former President of SAMCRO, on the right.
Bruce Willis (Moonlighting)
Yep.
Jerry Seinfeld’s dentist, Tim Whatley comes to mind. From a sitcom dentist, to a sitcom dad to... Walter White, meth cook extraordinaire?
Wow, you are right!! Amazing! He is definitely the winner. Especially since he won best actor Emmys for most of the seasons! I’m no anti-dentite. Huge fan.
He lived next door. His widow may still live next to my parents if she is still Irving.
David Hyde pierce is an amazing actor. The two of them were brilliant in their “brother” idiosyncrasies. All casting on that show was great.
And Niles, Martin, and Bulldog were all played by gay actors. It would be funny if the guy who played Gil, the restaurant critic, were straight. (Nope.)
I think you are right.
***** “Ken Wahl of “Wiseguy.” ******
He was said to be the sexiest guy on the Planet... that was then... and now I’m 220lbs, Bald approaching 60 and currently I am twice as Sexy (and half his current weight)...
just thought I’d tweak the EX Wife.
But I really liked Wiseguy it was a good show
TT
After doing a lot of regional theater he managed to sneak back onto television years later with Trapper John, MD, so I guess it worked out for him after all.
Yup. She would’ve been absolutely killing it if she had been remotely decent to work with. She’s insanely jealous of anybody that has a bigger role than her and goes psycho at the idea of anybody telling her what to do. The A-list was hers to lose, she did, and she deserved it in spades.
Yup. She would’ve been absolutely killing it if she had been remotely decent to work with. She’s insanely jealous of anybody that has a bigger role than her and goes psycho at the idea of anybody telling her what to do. The A-list was hers to lose, she did, and she deserved it in spades.
I did, but I was like 10. I liked the Rockford Files a lot more.
It sure did. I went from being a fun comedy to a full-of-crap socially-conscious sermon on pacifism every week.
The funny thing about M*A*S*H is how the leading actors inserted their egos into the show. When Alan Alda was the big dog, it was always about him being super-doctor, the guy who gets more women than Errol Flynn, and drinking everybody under the table. When Mike Farrel took control, it became a boatload of liberal anti-war tripe. The last 4 seasons were unwatchable. Liberals think they’re so hip and interesting. The last 4 seasons of M*A*S*H sure shows what a buzzkill they are.
if by obscurity you mean 'dead by massive drug use' then, yes, he lives in obscurity
The Frank Burns character was manufactured to be the conservative caricature to be knocked down constantly. They made him a horrid character that nobody could like (except Margaret Houlihan, and she dumped him eventually), then stuck every conservative label on him they could as a way to constantly trash conservatism. Examples:
1. He was religious but was constantly lying, cheating, and stealing to portray religious people as liars, thieves, and hypocrites that screw around on their spouses.
2. He was always condescending to foreigners’ faces, cursed them behind their backs, and advocated the US getting out of the UN, thereby propagating the stereotype that you’re racist and horrible if you don’t want the United Nations running the world.
3. Frank would often talk bitterly about how other governments would run their countries into the ground while America built the best standard of living in the world. What he said was absolutely true but having it come out of a terrible person like Frank Burns was a way to denigrate conservative America.
4. Burns married into money, had two cars, and a big house. Because we “know” that anybody with money is a sniveling little weasel that didn’t earn it, they screwed somebody for it. (But somehow rich liberals are as good as gold and are magically exempt from this stereotype.)
There’s gotta be a ton more examples.
Very well said!!!
Didn’t he quit because he didn’t need the grief from all the leftists on the show?
I liked David Caruso on CSI Miami. Still do.
Those cheesy sideways poses and all.
Rob Morrow was great as the older bro in Numbers.
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