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."
Everything I’ve ever heard or read suggests that Long’s castmates on Cheers couldn’t stand her (very snotty attitude) and were happy to see her go. (In comparison, they absolutely loved Kirstie Alley.)
Mary Wells leaving Motown at the height of her success.
He had a good run as Tennessee Tuxedo, or maybe that was before Get Smart
There's two way of looking at that. He became a huge, wealthy star from "Get Smart." His tv experience previous to "Get Smart" was as a house dick on a quickly canceled sitcom "The Bill Dana Show." Would he rather have labored in obscurity or become one of tv's most famous comedians?
I don't know if Adams bemoaned his fate, but any actor who actually becomes famous through the efforts of just one show should be happy. There's tons more unemployed or underemployed actors. You can make money strumming a guitar on a streetcorner, but nobody wants to hear some actor do scenes from Hamlet while they're walking around the shopping district.
As I got older I began to wonder how many bad guys Marshall Dillon and the rest of the tv six-gun heroes dispatched in their years on the tube. Certainly Dillon must lead the pack. The show ran 20 years, and it seemed he sent at least one or more desperadoes to Boot Hill every episode.
Arnold Schwarznegger. From Terminator to Governor of a terminally ill state
Burt Reynolds, turning down the Star Wars part of Han Solo offered by George Lucas comes to mind.
I spotted Chase as being a gigantic anal orifice after I first saw him on SNL. I was mighty glad when he was replaced by Bill Murray who actually has comedic talent.
Wasn’t it Jonathan Taylor Thomas from Tool Time that also took bad advice from his agent/handlers and promptly disappeared into obscurity?
I believe James Arness got the Gunsmoke job on the recommendation of John Wayne, who turned the job down. Good move for both.
I thought there was a made for TV movie that had him searching for a kidnapped illegitimate daughter. Or am I remembering wrong?
Just checked Wiki: Movie number two, Gunsmoke: The Last Apache (1990), had Learned reprising the role of "Mike Yardner" to divulge that Matt sired her daughter, who is now a young woman named Beth.
Yeah, and that’s why Arness could do whatever he wanted (in terms of acting) after “Gunsmoke” left the air. If you watch the early, 30-minute, black-and-white episodes of Gunsmoke, you’ll note that the last three or four years of shows in that format were produced by the “Arness Production Company.”
To keep their star happy, CBS set him up as the producer, then when the show expanded to a one-hour format, the network bought him out and made him a multi-millionaire in the process. And Gunsmoke ran for another 14 seasons after Arness folded his production company, and he took home a rather healthy paycheck each week.
There is potential gold in being typecast.
I think that can be true, if you manage your money right.
I remember reading an interview with Flip Wilson, years after his one sucessful show went off the air, decades after, actually.
He stated that he never did have to earn money again, because he hired smart people, listened to them and was very conservative. He said: I never touched one penny of the principal.
But of course most people, in all walks of life and myself included aren’t like that.
I never watched that show but isn't she now doing commercials for some on-line college? Now scraping the bottom of the barrel to make ends meet.
Yeah I saw that one, never did figure where the daughter came from.
One note about the Long Branch: if you watch the early black-and-white episodes, there is no doubt that Miss Kitty’s place is a brothel first, and a watering hole second. In numerous shots, you’ll see cowboys and bar girls go up the stairs, while others are descending the staircase, after a little “paid” entertainment. The producers prided themselves on the realism of Gunsmoke and decided to keep the obvious references to prostitution in the scenes at the Long Branch, certain the network censors would demand their deletion.
The censors never said a word. And this was in an era when “married” couples on TV couldn’t share the same bed.
“Seemed to have a prtetty good run in “Numb3rs”
Yes, that was a great show, and Freepers should like it. FBI guy Morrow chasing bad guys, with his math genius brother’s help and Judd Hirsch as the dad, plus various supporting actors throughout, what’s not to like.
Folks should look for it in re-runs, it’s an interesting show with good values I would say.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T646gNcRiMs
Here is that introduction/
Arness was in the movie Hondo with Wayne.
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