Retroality's "Reimagine That!" podcast, episode 22! ............................................................ Chris Mann's special guest, Beth Maitland (pt 2 of 2), on loving Jeanne Cooper, enjoying horses with Jess Walton, not embracing Brenda Dickson's new "hurtful" memoir; and: "stairway to heaven" dreams

Listen to episode 22 of "Reimagine That!" here

Beth Maitland (pt 2 of 2) ... "Rethinking the Drama, Part 2" ... In this candid and revealing conclusion of her exclusive interview, Emmy-winning actress-turned-author and Drama Queen Bee creative-living expert Beth Maitland opens up in depth to "Reimagine That!" host and Retroality.TV founder Chris Mann about her dramatic and comedic experiences on and off set during her three-decade-plus tenure as Traci Abbott Connelly on CBS's "The Young and the Restless."



Here, the fan favorite shares amusing, heartwarming and never-before-told memories of working for more than 30 years with the late, great Jeanne Cooper (see 16:42); discusses her 15-year "day job" working behind the scenes on several sitcoms (see 9:12); and spills on her recent spirited Central-Coast animal adventures with fellow horse lover (and ostrich feeder!) Jess Walton (see 28:02).

Maitland also expresses disappointment at not being invited to Katherine Chancellor's funeral (airing Sept. 3 and 4) or yet receiving a related storyline with fellow Emmy winner Walton's illustrious, long-running character, Jill Foster Abbott Fenmore (see 33:13).

And finally, for the first time ever, Maitland breaks her silence about former co-star Brenda Dickson's explosive and "hurtful" new memoir and difficult on-set behavior during her 1983-87 return as the then-villainous Jill Foster Abbott (a role, sans "Abbott," that Dickson originated in 1973-80). (see 22:15)

A sampling of Beth's comments:

On Jeanne Cooper: (Listen at 16:43) "She had this magical way of making everyone feel like they were her favorite. And also she took new actors under her wing. She loved to give advice and help you if you needed to work through something. She was a great sounding board. The door to her dressing room was always open. She always had people in there, sitting and talking ... She was remarkable. I thought there was just a few of us, but as we all shared our stories we found out almost everybody felt the same way. Almost everybody was her special, favorite one. But there were various phases of Jeanne's life that I got to, for three decades, enjoy." 

Listen at 20:11: "She was a big presence. She was a broad. She'd cuss like a sailor. She hadn't in the later years, but she used to smoke like a fiend. And she drank. And she was a broad. My first agent used to play poker with her. (Laughs.) And the stories they had about her early ingenue starlet days in Hollywood -- just cussing and drinking and smoking and playing poker all night -- it was a Hollywood story. She was bigger than life.

And everyone she touched -- even fans have told me, and she was terrific with fans and loved (them) and considered most of them friends. And she would stop to talk to you, and those blue eyes would drill right into you, and you honestly believed that for that moment you were the most important thing to her. She had that gift." 

On the funeral of Katherine Chancellor (listen at 33:13): "I can tell you that Jill and Traci did not have a story in (these episodes) together -- and I was very disappointed. They did bring back many historical characters to be a part of this, but it was pretty modest. And it was my hope that they would take this opportunity, because they had to wait to figure out how they were doing to handle the loss of such a significant character to that story platform. I thought they would find something really amazing to do with having it impact so many different characters in Genoa City. And they have not hit that momentum; that has not been very revealed. So I was not invited to the funeral.

"I also want to leave the door open for (future unrevealed story developments). Likely these farther-reaching things have just not been revealed yet. But I thought it was just gonna be a gobsmacking episode where some bomb was going to be dropped. And I don't think that happened."

Hear Beth talk about Jeanne's giant flying fingernail during the show's Dynasty-esque '80s hey days at 17:28. And, at 18:35, listen to Beth's touching tale of Jeanne -- after waiting 35 years to win her own long-overdue best-actress Emmy -- generously re-introducing her in recent years to "Y&R" cast and crew as "Ms. Beth Maitland, the first actress to win an Emmy for 'The Young and the Restless.'"

On Jess Walton (listen at 28:02): "We hadn't seen each other for a little while ... We shared a dressing room on the day of the Jeanne memorial taping (broadcast in May). She said, 'I want to talk to you ... I see on Facebook that you know Jill Willis and Jaime Jackson, these pioneers (in the humane care and domestic management of horses)." I said, 'Yes, I'm longtime friends of them. They saved the life of a horse that we adopted and rescued. And they're old friends.' And she said, 'Are you kidding?' -- and they are sort of world-famous. And said said, 'Is there any way I could ever meet them?' I said, "Yeah! Come up any time.' She came up to my place, and the two of us and my daughter headed up to their place. They have a beautiful sample paddock paradise on the mountains overlooking the ocean in Lompoc. So we met for lunch and we had like a girls' road trip, a 'Thelma and Louise' road trip."

On what she's learned working behind-the-scenes on sitcoms (listen at 9:21): "I've continued to add to my bag of tricks. Every now and then what we've seen recently are some really cute, funny scenes with Traci and her brothers that have been almost like a sitcom. They talk fast, they tease each other, we make jokes and we poke fun ... and that really helps me lighten up, coming from a dramatic, emotional character."

On Brenda Dickson (listen at 22:15): "Brenda was, in my opinion, always very complicated ... She was always bigger than life. And honestly, we were never close, although she was always very nice to me ... And I am really conflicted about what to say about her because, again, she was always nice to me. But she ... there were antics. Honestly, she was not easy on people. And she was not easy to work with. And she was not a giving, generous actress. And she was very, very ego-driven in terms of how she was treated there, and it made it hard on everyone else. I saw her at the Emmys just a few years ago -- and it was nice to see her and she was very pleasant -- but she seems to be a person who's always had an agenda."

On Brenda Dickson's book (listen at 24:09): "I honestly have not read her book. Although I have read Jeanne's, I haven't read Brenda's -- and I'm sort of not going to. And this is pretty candid, and I hope that it doesn't hurt anyone's feelings, but I really feel like she waited until no one could defend themselves to come out with several issues that were in her book that I think are hurtful to others. And just as a person, I feel like that's cheap. And I'm not saying that Brenda is cheap, but I feel like the gesture is cowardly. And if she had those stories to tell and she had those axes to grind, it seems like the appropriate, mature and brave thing to do is to talk about those things when others can either comment, defend themselves or rectify it. And it seems to me (it's) a little too little to late.

"And I'm so sad to see the wake of pain and hurt feelings that some of the stories in her book have caused. The people who aren't the direct stories in her book -- the family left over, the people left behind that don't have any answers but that this brings a great deal of hurt to them and sort of taints memories for them. I really feel like it's not very brave, and it was kind of a cheap shot. So I just choose not to put that on my radar ... If you wanted to have these things to say, and if it's about getting publicity and getting attention, then do it when people can answer it. You're gonna generate twice the comments. But doing it now just hurts people.

"As an actor you, to play a different character that's not you, you have to kind of think about how they think. Character analysis is a big part of my daily life. To see something that, like you said, is sort of striking out ... you get to the point where, as young adults, you can't blame your past on your parents. You have to start taking responsibility for yourself at some point. You hope sooner than later. And in order to be a productive person -- to be a good mother or wife ... a good other person on the planet -- you kind of have to take responsibility for yourself. And I just worry when people don't seem to be doing that. I feel bad, but again, I have just chosen not to put that on my radar. Because I'm so loyal to other people involved, I don't want those feelings to be even present in my awareness."

Also ... in Chris's monologue opening the show (listen at 1:36), he shares news about the three talented children of the late John Ritter and his first wife and best friend, Nancy Ritter. Their eldest child, son Jason, is adding to his impressive acting repertoire with his starring role in "Us and Them," a new comedy for FOX (slated for early 2014). The youngest of their brood, son Tyler (see him in this funny Old Navy commericial), opens Friday, Sept. 6, at the Malibu Playhouse in his first play, "The Dream of the Burning Boy." And their daughter, Carly, is an emerging artist, too. A folksy, soulful singer-songwriter, she rolled out her premiere CD, titled "Carly Ritter," in late August. On Sept. 3 you can see her perform live at 10 p.m. during her record release show at The Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles. For more info, she her official web site, http://CarlyRitter.virb.com.





Finally, in her "Reawakenings" segment (click file above or listen at 48:48), our resident dream weaver, Yvonne Ryba, discusses dreams about loved ones crossing over or otherwise (a la Jeanne Cooper's poignant final scene as Katherine Chancellor) ascending the "stairway to heaven."



For more info on Yvonne, check out http://YvonneRyba.com

For more info on Beth and links to her Drama Queen Bee products and online community, visit http://BethMaitland.com

Check out a free preview of Beth's new book here!

Host: Chris Mann

Announcer: Linda Kay

Created by: Chris Mann

Producers: Linda Kay, Chris Mann

Copyright 2013 by Chris Mann/Retroality.TV/ReimagineThat.TV/ChrisMann.TV

Retroality's "Reimagine That!" podcast, episode 19! ............................................................ Chris Mann's special guest, Jaime Lyn Bauer (part 1 of 2), on loving the late Jeanne Cooper, developing Lorie Brooks, experiencing "Y&R" fame, returning to "DOOL"; also: "Women's Eye" host Stacey Gualandi

Hear episode 19 of "Reimagine That!" here

Jaime Lyn Bauer (pt 1 of 2) ... In this exclusive, in-depth and at times emotional interview, iconic soap starJaime Lyn Bauer opens up to "Reimagine That!" host and Retroality.TV editor Chris Mann about her love for the late Jeanne Cooper, her experiences with TV's Katherine Chancellor behind-the-scenes at "The Young & the Restless" and in the play "Plaza Suite," and her "life lesson" in not having reached out to the ailing actress when receiving her phone number just weeks prior to her death earlier this month.

As Cooper's current co-stars gather to celebrate her life in a one-hour "Y&R" tribute airing on May 28, Jaime reveals that the TV legend was an intimate comrade, a mentor and a mother figure -- in spite of the well-documented personal travails, including alcoholism, that plagued Cooper's life off-camera during her first decade on the CBS daytime drama. (Listen at 20:44.)

"I loved Jeanne," Jaime Lyn says, choking back tears. "She was a very important person in my life. She saved me through some of my worst years. She befriended me, she mothered me. She was an incredible woman. And she was very troubled at that time as well, in her personal life. And we were good for each other. We hung out a lot. I even dated Corbin, her son, for a while, and she was graciously alright with it."

Joining "Y&R" in December 1973 -- a month after Jeanne premiered as the soap's grande dame -- Jaime Lyn quickly shot to fame as the show's original bad girl-turned-heroine, Lauralee "Lorie" Brooks." This character, named after series creator William Bell's daughter, soon became the half-hour soap's centerpiece. Jaime Lyn reveals how she developed the sexual, sophisticated and "bad-seed" character in part by observing men and women "play all these silly games" at the Playboy Mansion.

The actress's and her alter ego's popularity skyrocketed when she became part of daytime TV supercouple Lorie and Lance. But Lance's original portrayer -- "Bold and the Beautiful" star John McCook, who also shares his remembrances of Jeanne in the May 28 "Y&R" tribute -- was but one of Lorie's loves. In the first part of Jaime's "Reimagine That!" interview, she fondly recalls her friendship with actor Tom Selleck, who played Lorie's publisher-turned-paramour Jed Andrews before hitting it big in primetime.

Jaime Lyn also explains the toll the ever-increasing "Y&R" workload took on her -- the show expanded to an hour in 1980 -- leading her to exit the show 1982. In addition, she shares what her then-boyfriend Henry Winkler taught her in dealing with fame and aggressive fans in the 1970s. And she reveals how Leslie Neilsen came to the rescue when one fan became threateningly physical in a Century City high-rise apartment lobby while she took a break from filming the 1975 pilot of the primetime series "S.W.A.T." "This woman came down from having just watched me on ("Y&R")," she recalls. "I'm sitting in this wingback chair, and she came and she grabbed my face in her hand -- so I couldn't move. Because of the wingback, I can't even get up. And she's screaming at me at how horrible I am as Lorie."

Finally, in this first half of her two-part interview, the now-Facebook-savvy Jaime Lyn talks about her brief return last month (see also here and here) as ex-psychiatric patient Dr. Laura Horton in "Days of Our Lives," and discloses just how much the process of filming soaps has changed since she left that series after six seasons in 1999. (She also reprised the role briefly in 2003 and 2010.)

... In our "Reality Reimagined" segment (listen at 50:10), former "Inside Edition" correspondent Stacey Gualandi talks about her true Hollywood stories -- as a hard news reporter, celebrity interviewer and "Match Game 1990" contestant" -- and shares how she reinvented herself as a Vegas-based online media anchor and writer, behind-the-scenes TV producer and now host of the successful Women's Eye radio show. This busy, enterprising woman's star continues to rise.

... And finally, in her "Reawakenings" segment (listen at 1:14:30) our resident dream weaver, Yvonne Ryba, interprets a shopping-mall-centered dream rich with symbols, metaphors and "clues" that led her to expand her horizons and manifest her living dreams in the 1990s.

Host: Chris Mann

Announcer: Linda Kay

Created by: Chris Mann

Producers: Linda Kay, Chris Mann

Copyright 2013 by Chris Mann/Retroality.TV (http://Retroality.TV)

Retroality's "Reimagine That!" podcast, episode 17! ............................................................ Chris Mann's special guest, Morgan Brittany, opens up on a possible return to "Dallas," remembering Larry Hagman. Also: TV Guide editor William Keck on J.R.'s funeral, Victoria Principal's decision not to revive Pam Ewing; & a Texas-size dream dissected

Click here to listen to the podcast!

Episode 17, "Reviving TV Villainy" ... In the first of her two-part exclusive Retroality.TV interview, child star-turned-Dallas diva Morgan Brittany tells "Reimagine That!" host Chris Mann about the possibility of returning to Southfork -- in TNT's hot revival of the legendary soap -- as primetime's original queen of mean, Katherine Wentworth.

The blue-eyed enchantress and fan favorite also fondly remembers the late Larry Hagman, whose recent death as J.R. Ewing leaves a historically-rich villainous void on the TNT drama. "I have this fantasy," Morgan spills with an infectious laugh, "that they ask me to come back and my entrance into the show is literally (me) sitting in a chair. And you don't see anything except the back of the chair. The chair turns around and there's a big hat, and all of a sudden I look up, and it's Katherine."

And she responds publicly for the first time to her former TV half-sister Victoria Principal's recent press revelation that she will never return as Pam Ewing. "I think Victoria closed the door on Pam when she left the show," Morgan says. "And I think she moved on and does not want to revisit it for whatever reason ... I respect her for that. Maybe she does feel that she wants people to remember her as she was and as Pam was, and keep that image -- which I think is great. Now for me, I don't care if people see me as a 60-year-old Katherine. Doesn't bother me a bit!"



Morgan discusses various ways she could re-enter the Dallas scene, and reveals how she developed the wicked Wentworth during her original stint on the CBS hit. After a successful run as a child actor in the 1950s and 60s -- she worked with the likes of Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Natalie Wood, a young Ron Howard and Alfred Hitchcock -- the former Suzanne Cupito shares what drove her to abandon that name and identity in favor of reinventing herself in the 1970s as Morgan Brittany.

Also, TV Guide senior editor and TV scoop-savvy columnist William Keck offers insights into J.R. Ewing's funeral in the TNT episode airing on March 11. Having extensively covered this revival for multiple TV Guide cover stories -- and via multiple trips to Southfork -- Keck is the ultimate Dallas insider. He fondly recalls Larry Hagman and "the gift" he gave viewers during the final year and a half of his life, salutes Brenda Strong's portrayal as Patrick Duffy's new TV wife, and discloses that Linda Gray has struggled with a storyline suggesting that long-recovering alcoholic Sue Ellen falls off the wagon following the death of the love of her life.

Also for the first time, he responds to Principal's press statement shooting down speculation -- and the hopes of fans -- that she would make a triumphant return as Pam Ewing. Principal labeled a rumored return to this iconic role "a desperate reappearance." Says Keck, "Unfortunately, Victoria set the record straight that fans who'd been dying for a Bobby-Pam reunion are gonna be eternally disappointed. And that's Victoria's decision. That's her gift to fans."

Keck will likely pose and/or field all of these questions -- and many more -- while moderating a panel discussion of the current Dallas cast and executive producers at the PaleyFest television festival in Beverly Hills this Sunday at 1 p.m. PT. Check out a live stream of this event here.

Finally, our dream weaver Yvonne Ryba analyzes a Texas-sized dream she had in 1980 -- the year J.R. was shot (for the first time) -- revealing the stinging and smooth sides that reside in all of us.

For more great info about Dallas, check out UltimateDallas.com, DallasFanzine.com and DallasDivasDerby.com and Dallasfan.net


Host: Chris Mann

Announcer: Linda Kay

Created by: Chris Mann

Producers: Linda Kay, Chris Mann

Copyright 2013 by Chris Mann/Retroality.TV (http://Retroality.TV)

Defamation? Delusion? Damaging despicableness? ............................................................ From Ryan O'Neal's $30M Warhol docu-drama to CBS Corp.'s retro sitcom jackpot, celebrity image is everything in David-vs.-Goliath legal battles

Montage illustration by Chris Mann/Retroality.TV

Part one in a two-part story

TV angel Farrah Fawcett sadly left us in June 2009, and Happy Days went to rerun heaven more than a quarter-century ago. But that's not stopping costly and increasingly nasty legal wars over the use—or alleged misuse—of the multimillion-dollar likenesses these cultural icons left behind.

Fawcett's posthumous drama involves an estimated $30M Warhol portrait of the late actress, the Texas alma mater she named in her will, the embattled longtime lover she did not and the outspoken TV producer who for years has fought him and his business manager’s handling of her reportedly $50M estate.

The Happy Days dispute centers on circa-2008 Vegas casino slot machines and displays plastered with cast member likenesses, a media conglomerate hitting a decades-in-the-making merchandising jackpot and a beloved family of retro sitcom actors claiming they're owed a $10 million-plus cut of the "winnings."



The sitcom actors claim they had not been paid in over a decade—or, in most cases, ever—for CBS Studios Inc. licensing their likenesses on everything from Vegas slots, DVDs, dolls, bed sheets, drinking glasses, trading cards and lunch boxes.

Today, their lawyer, Jon Pfeiffer, told the AP that CBS recently issued his clients checks for $6,000-$6,500 each, claiming “that is the full payment for all that is owed.” In other words, CBS just told Mrs. Cunningham, Joanie, Potsie and Ralph Malph to sit on it.

As the Fonz would say in a thoroughly disapproving tone, Aaaaaaaay.

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(Fonz’s portrayer, actor-producer-director Henry Winkler, is not a part of the suit, nor is co-star-turned-producer-director Ron Howard. Winkler said he’s received his royalty checks, sums undisclosed, as part of a separate contract but supports his castmates in their fight.)

Both the Fawcett and friends-of-Fonzie fiascoes pit powerful and wealthy institutions—academic and showbiz—against individuals with comparatively limited resources, all battling over the value, real or perceived, of celebrity images designed for and dependent on public consumption.

In the case(s) of Warholgate, acclaimed film actor-turned-controversial “docu-reality” TV star Ryan O'Neal has come out swinging on both sides of the coin. But more on that shortly.

In the Happy Days money war, co-stars and co-plaintiffs Marion Ross, Erin Moran, Anson Williams and Don Most remain the very picture of wholesomeness personified in their hit 1974-84 series set in 1950s and ’60s Milwaukee. Their images have been used since the mid-Seventies to market a relentless array of products that in turn have continuously sold the series to new audiences, making the show’s corporate owners a very pretty penny.

Now, especially in the case of the cash-strapped Moran—who last year lost her home to foreclosure—these not-so-Happy folks are clearly the collective David taking on the corporate Goliath of CBS Television Studios, Inc. (which now owns co-defendant Paramount Television, which produced the series for ABC).

“Happy Days epitomizes what is best in America, with the Cunningham family exemplifying the best of what a family can be,” states the complaint filed in April against CBS on behalf of the four actors and the widow of co-star Tom Bosley. “As will be proven at trial, defendants’ actions epitomize what is worst in Corporate America, exemplifying its worst business practices.”

The Cunningham family versus big, bad business exploiting their likenesses in the name of Sin City jackpots? Can CBS really afford this narrative influencing a jury—or, worse yet, the court of pubic opinion?


Which brings us back to the thorny O’Neal saga.

Earlier this month, the University of Texas System's Board of Regents sued O'Neal in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles for possessing a mixed-media portrait of Fawcett that pop artist Andy Warhol created in the early 1980s. The UT System, a richly endowed group of 15 academic and health institutions in the Lone Star state, claims the highly valuable portrait was bequeathed to the University of Texas at Austin—Fawcett's alma mater—in her living trust.

One of two nearly identical Warhols of the actress known to exist is on display through Sept. 4 at the UT Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art. (In fact, the famous image is the face of the museum’s “About Face” exhibit, gracing promotional material and signage hanging near the Blanton’s front entrance.) The other was seen hanging above O’Neal’s bed in recent episodes of his OWN reality series.

O’Neal’s name was notably excluded in his on-again, off-again girlfriend’s living trust, which stipulates that “all of (her) artwork and any objects of art” be given to the university when she died. The UT System claims O’Neal has “wrongfully converted” the portrait—and possibly other artwork from his late lover’s estate. Essentially, the university alleges he stole what a UT rep calls a “big-ticket” Warhol and wants a jury to force him to hand it over.

O’Neal’s publicist, Arnold Robinson, offered two conflicting responses to this dilemma. “The portrait that Mr. O’Neal has is the Warhol that was given to him by Farrah,” Robinson told The New York Post in an e-mail prior to UT’s suit.

After the university sued, Robinson told Star magazine, “This is a completely ridiculous lawsuit. Ryan’s friendship with Andy Warhol began 10 years prior to his meeting Farrah Fawcett. When Ryan introduced Farrah to Andy Warhol, he chose to complete two portraits of her, one for Miss Fawcett and one for Mr. O’Neal. Mr. O’Neal looks forward to being completely vindicated in the courts.”

Then, last week, the 70-year-old actor retaliated—but not at the university. Instead, O’Neal filed suit against Craig Nevius, Fawcett’s producing partner whom she called her “loyal friend and protector” in her final years. O’Neal claims Nevius, who assisted UT in what media reports called an investigation of the “missing” Warhol, is “a delusional fan” who’s maliciously defamed him in part by making allegedly false statements prompting UT’s suit against him.

The actor is seeking at least $1 million in punitive damages on his claims of defamation and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

According to O’Neal’s blistering complaint, “Nevius is obsessed with Ms. Fawcett, and his is deeply jealous of her relationship with her longtime romantic partner, the Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated actor Ryan O’Neal. Two years after Ms. Fawcett tragically succumbed to cancer, Nevius continues to harass O’Neal by making false, malicious and defamatory accusations and characterizations about O’Neal and his purported theft, possession and concealment” of the Warhol portrait to UT and the media.



In a detailed response posted on The Morton Report, Nevius—who last month was quoted in Good Morning, America and Star magazine reports breaking news of the Warhol drama—denied he ever claimed O’Neal stole the portrait.

“I have simply recounted the request by Farrah’s alma mater to help them identify and locate numerous pieces of artwork that appeared to be mysteriously missing from the original inventory provided by her estate, which, by the way, is overseen by Richard B. Francis, Ryan O’Neal’s loyal friend and business manager of over 40 years,” said Nevius, who executive produced Fawcett's hit 2005 TV Land series, Chasing Farrah.

Nevius sued both men and Fawcett’s friend Alana Stewart in May 2009 on the eve of NBC’s premiere of its Emmy-nominated “news special” Farrah’s Story. That two-hour “video diary” chronicled Fawcett’s three-year fight against the anal cancer that would take her life on June 25, 2009. It premiered to more than nine million viewers and mixed reviews, many calling it exploitative. "After Mr. O'Neal and NBC gained full control of the documentary," wrote New York Times reporter Jim Rutenberg, "the film took on the feel of network celebrity fodder--at once more glossy and more morbid."

Nevius served as the project’s executive producer but claimed O’Neal, Francis and Stewart conspired to cut him out of the project (and Fawcett’s life)—while allegedly violating Fawcett’s business partnership with him and her expressed wishes for the documentary—during its final weeks of production. An article last May in The New York Times detailed O’Neal’s contentious takeover of the documentary originally titled A Wing & A Prayer.

Filing on behalf of Fawcett’s estate, Francis—the estate’s trustee and O’Neal’s longtime associate—sued Nevius in January 2010. Francis’s allegations are more or less repeated in O’Neal’s new action against Nevius.

“Sadly, Nevius’ malicious behavior is nothing new,” O’Neal’s new suit alleges, “and it is consistent with his prior despicable conduct. In 2009, Nevius intentionally sold private, personal medical information about Ms. Fawcett’s battle with cancer to tabloid journalists, distributed film footage of her battle with cancer and other materials proprietary to Ms. Fawcett and third parties, and embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the company that Ms. Fawcett established” with Nevius to produce A Wing & A Prayer.

Both Nevius’ suit against O’Neal, Francis and Stewart and the Francis-filed estate suit against Nevius were dropped last spring. Nevius told The New York Times that he entered into settlement talks when his attorney advised him last December that the legal fight could continue for two more years to the price of at least another quarter of a million dollars.

“In spite of their best efforts,” Nevius told The Morton Report last week, “Ryan’s former attorneys were unable to obtain a confidentiality agreement from me when they dropped the last equally frivolous action against me (which was purported to be in the name of Farrah Fawcett). So this new charge of ‘defamation’ would seem to be nothing more than another intimidation tactic: a second bite at the legal apple. I understand the truth can be a very frightening thing for some people. By the way, it is also my understanding that truth is a complete defense to defamation.”

“I’m fighting at least two multi-millionaires,” Nevius told The New York Times last spring. “And at this point I don’t know that it’s honoring Farrah. I just don’t think she’d want us all destroying each other, which is pretty much how it’s going.”

And, much like the Happy Days merchandising melee, it sadly doesn’t show any signs of stopping.

Next week: Dueling accusations, the Farrah poster and media branding.

TV's top-rated tabloid twosome--CBS Corp.'s "The Insider" and "ET"--all but ignore CBS star Charlie Sheen's domestic violence arrest, guilty plea after "The Insider" attacks tragic Gary Coleman about same in his final TV interview

 The Globe magazine will soon publish Gary Coleman’s “death photos,” but it isn’t the first tabloid to exploit the late actor’s dying images.

Coleman’s ex-wife, Shannon Price—called “cold, cunning and creepy” for her questionable conduct during and after the actor’s dying days—this week defends herself “only,” as its promo proudly blares, “on The Insider!” (as well as its sister show, Entertainment Tonight).

Here’s hoping Price holds a mirror up to The Insider's producers and panelists, who, after hosting Coleman’s disturbing TV swan song in February, should know by now that tabloid TV exposure is a two-way street.

If anything good can come from the diminutive Diff’rent Strokes star’s tragic death from a brain hemorrhage at 42, it will be the beyond-timely demise of the attack-style television “interview” and throw-’em-under-a-bus “coverage” that helped write his troubled life’s final act.

Namely: the well-deserved mercy killing of a brand-defining chunk of the CBS Corp.’s once-benign (read: pre-Anna Nicole) ET and its more transparent, gossipy, mob-scene offspring—the show whose aggressive badgering and exploitation could have sent the infamously quick-to-anger Coleman to an even earlier grave in February—The Insider.

via The Insider  

Varying levels of tabloid toxicity sadly unite TV’s most influential block of half-bloodthirsty, half-obsequious entertainment news shows. The target of these schizophrenic series’ dark sides? Rarely, if ever, a CBS headliner, film giant or a celebrity who otherwise has current bankability, high-placed PR and legal teams and the collective power to shut down these infotainment series.

To wit: CBS’s Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen planned to plead guilty this week in an Aspen, Colo., courtroom to a misdemeanor third-degree assault charge stemming from his felony menacing arrest on charges he threatened his wife at knifepoint on Christmas day. But, aside from brief, vague reports (mostly on their web sites), both ET and The Insider have all but ignored this story for months—though they chirpily trumpeted his recent press release revelation that he’d signed for two more seasons of his series “after two-and-one-half months of a whirlwind of speculation” (and for upwards of $2 million per episode).


via The Insider--the show's web site (and not the series itself) last "covered" Sheen's troubles via this interesting analysis

No, today’s prey are yesteryear’s luminaries clearly on their way down, out and potentially six feet under—or at least those former stars struggling to re-spark or resuscitate their image and livelihoods by coming to the (A-list-)celeb-friendly series that often unapologetically deliver the final blow.

In his last TV interview, the often-agitated and visibly weakened Coleman—fresh from his own domestic violence arrest and plea deal, a seizure and head injury in January and pneumonia and heart surgery last fall—suffered one of his problem-plagued life’s final indignities during his visit as an in-studio "guest" at The Insider on Feb. 17.

The show's celebrity attorney panelist flesh-chewing interrogator, “CBS legal correspondent Lisa Bloom,” relentlessly pounded the actor with the same aggressive question—Did you abuse your wife?!—despite the fact that he'd already answered her. Her button-pushing "cross examination" of the embattled, embittered and explosive former sitcom star was a rude and ruthless spectacle that The Insider was all too happy to spin and exploit ad nauseum across the next several days of February sweeps.


via The Insider

(Coleman, long strapped for cash and ever-desirous to set the record straight—like any public figure—on his terms, would return to the studio he fled to confront Bloom’s co-panelists on Feb. 26. That appearance was apparently so taxing that the actor suffered a seizure while on set. Fortunately, an infinitely more empathetic Dr. Drew Pinsky was sitting in Bloom’s chair and administered life-saving procedures on Coleman during his still-unseen swan song. Tellingly, Pinsky has interviewed for the syndicated TV newsmagazine Extra—not ET or The Insider—about Coleman in the days following the actor’s death on May 28.)


Bloom—who now represents Michael Lohan (!)—soon chimed in on Joy Behar's Headline News show. "I'm an attorney," Bloom stressed after Behar played an abbreviated clip of the on-air debacle. "I've represented a lot of women and children in abuse cases. I know how to talk to batterers. I know how they respond. They generally only go after their own family members. And Gary Coleman has pleaded guilty to a domestic violence incident against his wife, but it was pleaded down to a misdemeanor and he only had to pay a $500 fine—no jail time."

She was referencing Coleman's arrest on Jan. 24 for failing to appear in court on previously-unpublicized charges of domestic violence against his wife, 24-year-old Shannon Price, during an incident at their home in Santaquin, Utah on April 18, 2009. An Associated Press report said details of that incident were not outlined in court documents but qualified Coleman's defense attorney, Randy Kester, as characterizing the event as an "argument that got out of hand." "No one was injured and no ambulances were called," Kester said. "It was just a disagreement."

It wasn't the couple's first quarrel—or their last. Price was arrested in July 2009 and charged with domestic violence after a furniture-toppling row with Coleman. Bloom failed to mention Price's arrest. To be fair, the celebrattorney also didn’t bring up Coleman’s arrest and conviction for punching a female autograph-seeker who the 4’8” actor said taunted and intimidated him in 1998. Nor did Bloom remind us he also was accused in 2008 of trying to run down a male fan who snapped his photo at a Utah bowling alley. That fracas resulted in no arrests and was settled this January for an undisclosed sum.

A week prior to his Insider outburst, Coleman pleaded guilty to a class B misdemeanor charge of domestic violence/criminal mischief stemming from the still-murky April 2009 incident. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped a domestic violence/assault charge and the judge ordered the actor to pay a $595 fine and attend classes on avoiding domestic violence.


via The Insider

The judge also should've sentenced Coleman to stay away from ravenously provocative infotainment shows. Especially on the days that Gloria Allred's legal eagle daughter sweeps in for the kill.

"I think in this country," Bloom continued to Behar at the height of the TV’s Tiger Woods hate-a-thon, "we're really tired of seeing celebrities get away with bad acts against their own family, drug use, whatever it is. They're never held accountable. Nobody ever asks them the hard questions. They get a pass on all of the shows. So I was there to see if he was going to answer the questions." (Coleman's initial response to Bloom—“There is no abuse that goes on at my house”—apparently was not precise enough for the attorney.)


 Bloom's argument sounds pretty reasonable. Until you remember that Entertainment Tonight and The Insider are anything but journalistic enterprises with reputations for calling out Hollywood BS.

In fact, ET has had its lips suctioned to so much corporate-synergized celebrity butt for so long that Mary Hart can't smile without giving Tom Cruise or an NCIS star a wedgie. So, yeah, Ms. Bloom, we'd all love to see one of your entertainment news co-horts ask your network’s cash cow Charlie Sheen a hard-hitting question about, say, his drug use or alleged domestic violence, instead of parroting his attorneys’ and publicists’ carefully-crafted media statements.  But guess what? It ain’t gonna happen.

Because Sheen, like NCIS star Mark Harmon and former Paramount Pictures golden child Cruise, is a current celebcommodity (let alone one on the company payroll) whose access, success and/or influence both shows need to survive. Likewise, we’ll never see these shows even gently press the sometimes-controversial Cruise about Scientology in favor of asking him insipid, sycophantic questions about why his daughter is or isn’t wearing shoes in a paparazzi photo.

But God forbid Cruise or anyone else now in ET/The Insider’s favor falls on hard times and no longer proves lucrative and/or legally threatening to the industry. To see that terrible fate, we need look no further than Gary Coleman, Dana Plato, Lindsay Lohan, Anna Nicole Smith, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson and any retro star "caught" looking fat, old, disoriented, intoxicated, tired or frail. Or, as in the case of Farrah Fawcett in a wheelchair—her long-dreaded "final photo"—trying to live their final days in dignity with an ET-paid pap invading what little privacy they have left by shoving a camera lens in their face.

America already knew Gary Coleman was a troubled and angry and sick “former child star.” We didn’t need The Insider to put him--and now, postmortem, his ex-wife--on camera and incessantly poke him with a stick to remind us how cruel Hollywood can be.

"Blossom" star Mayim Bialik on tonight's "Big Bang Theory," a "MacGruber"-ized Blossom and her "personal issues" with SNL's not-so-nice '90s "Blossom" spoof

She's on tonight's The Big Bang Theory season finale ... but first check out my exclusive interview with Blossom star Mayim Bialik, who spills on playing a nerd, struggling as a teen in the spotlight and watching SNL spoof her with facial prosthetics (whoa!) in a not-so-nice Blossom parody featuring fellow Big Bang co-star Sara Gilbert.

A sampling of her comments:

The ultimate nerd show, The Big Bang Theory. What can you tell us about your arc that begins with the May 24 season finale?

I don’t know much more than you do. I’m sort of the tease—I’m the last episode of this season—as a possible, maybe love interest for Sheldon. And Sheldon is going to be exactly the same Sheldon that he was before, just with this sort of possibility of what might it look like for him to possibly, conditionally, maybe be enticed.

Blossom was known for sort of breaking new ground in so-called “very special episodes.”

Right. (Laughs.)
What did they mean to you personally as a teenager? And what did you think of the backlash to that—for instance, the Saturday Night Live spoof?
First of all I think the fact that we had a show about a divorced father raising three kids when their mom split just because she wanted to live her own life—in 1990, that wasn’t part of our culture’s vernacular. Fathers were with children because the wife, God forbid, died. Not because she wanted to be a musician in Paris. So our whole show was sort of a “very special concept.” (Laughs.) That’s where some of the jumping off for that was.

Television in the nineties was sort of goofy all around. We were on after Fresh Prince. And the clothing was crazy, and the tone of the sitcom was very interesting.

In terms of the SNL skit, that’s one of the highest compliments that one can be paid. We were also featured in MAD magazine, and I grew up reading MAD magazine. They did a parody of Blossom … and as long as MAD magazine knew who I was, it was great.

Did SNL need to use prosthetics on the actress (Melanie Hutsell) who played me? I don’t think so. And that (decision) was just sort of a personal comment. And also Sara Gilbert was the guest that week. And I also think SNL has a lot of talented women come on the show who basically ridicule other actresses. And I think we can move above a catty level with actresses these days. But it is a tremendously high compliment to be enough part of (popular) culture that SNL does a spoof of you. Personal issues aside, it was incredible. You’ve arrived in the industry when SNL, or for me MAD magazine, are spoofing you.

Getting your doctoral in neuroscience, how has that helped you better understand the neuroses of Hollywood?

It’s a great question. And people (wonder) when they hear especially that I chose not to stay in academia but wanted to be home with my kids and nurse exclusively and home school—acting has really only been in the last year since our little guy is older. What I say is I use my degree all the time. I believe strongly in the field of neuroscience and neuropsychiatry in which I was trained. I’m not saying I understand people perfectly but to go through that kind of study, there’s not way in cannot affect your life on all fronts.

For me as a person of faith, I draw tremendous joy from my understanding of quantum physics. I draw tremendous joy from my understanding of how sometimes people hurt you when they want to love you. These are all big, complicated things that occur in the human experience that I’m grateful to my training for providing me with. I love being able to play with numbers. I love being able to explain things to my son when he starts asking, “Well, why is the moon here at night and the sun here at day?” I love being able to say more than, “Oh, the moon’s going night-night.” You know? (Laughs.) I love being a science person. That’s why I studied it in the first place.

Does this give you a better understanding of some of the quirks of Hollywood and celebrity in general? You’ve always been pretty grounded, but do you have more respect for those neuroses?
I do. I’m often asked about public figures who’ve displayed interesting behavior. Not just the tragic stories … but things like Britney Spears shaving her head in public. It’s nice to be able to not come from a gossip perspective. Kind of a pet peeve of mine is gossip, and I don’t like to gossip and I don’t like to be involved in gossip, but it’s nice to be asked things like, “What do you think of Britney Spears?” I’m not that popular at cocktail parties when I say things like this, but it really is my understanding that she’s a person who’s exhibiting some signs of distress or possibly postpartum (depression) … That’s how I view the world and that’s how I view people, whether they’re in Hollywood or not.

I think it’s also given me a lot more patience when people annoy me or reject me or don’t act the way I want when a producer is so caught up in his own whatever or her own narcissism—it gives me more compassion for them. I try not to be an angry person, and the industry can make you very, very angry. (Laughs.)

One of your earliest guest roles was on MacGyver—which, of course, is now an SNL sketch-turned-feature film spoof that precedes an actual MacGyver motion picture now in the works. If MacGyver can save the world with a paper clip and a rubber band, what would a holistic Blossom do to rescue the planet?

(Laughs.) Whatever it is, it would involve pesticide-free flowers and a hemp pack.

Which TV reboots will be picked up, renewed, retooled or killed?

Vulture Exclusive: Details on What Went Wrong with NBC's Rockford Files Reboot -- Vulture

It looks like NBC's re-imagined Rockford Files pilot will be put on hold and revamped—or killed altogether. I'm betting the former, given NBC's nearly year-long investment in the project and the fact that CBS's Hawaii Five-0 and CW's Nikita appear to be a go for fall. (Does the Peacock want to be the only network that failed to produce a potentially winning retro remake—especially with its legacy of Bionic Woman and Knight Rider-style reboot crash-and-burns?)

Perhaps we'll see Rockford and ABC's Charlie's Angels redo midseason. I'm also betting ABC holds on to V for another batch of "pod" episodes this fall—at least till it sees how Five-O and (to a lesser extent) Nikita perform. Hot "private eye/spy" remakes and the continuing decline of highly serialized network dramas could spell the end of V and the return of T&A, er, Charlie's Angels.

I'd love to see a re-envisioned Rockford move forward. Dermot Mulroney, as I wrote in my recent LA Times piece, has big gumshoes to fill in replacing Jim Garner. But the 40ish film actor is a crooked-grinned charmer and—with the proper script and direction—seems up to the challenge of reinventing the quirky-cool Rockford.

If all else fails, NBC could give Mulroney's Rockford a crazy-hot love interest. Betty White in da house!