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 11! ............................................................ Chris Mann's special guest, Greg Lott, sounds off on his secret 11-year love affair with Farrah Fawcett and disputes Ryan O'Neal's new book "Both of Us" ALSO: Chris's "Groundhog Day"-esque dream

Greg Lott, Pt. 1 ... Farrah Fawcett's secret longtime lover, Greg Lott, opens up in this Retroality.TV exclusive about Ryan O'Neal's contentious new tell-all book, "Both of Us." Here, in the first segment of his explosive three-part interview, Lott -- who famously confronted O'Neal in public on camera after the "Love Story" star reportedly barred Lott from contacting Farrah in her final months in spring 2009 -- strongly refutes O'Neal's less-than-flattering written portrayal of Fawcett, the celebrated Tinseltown couple's tumultuous relationship and her role in raising their troubled son, Redmond, now 27.

Fawcett's college sweetheart before the ethereal beauty left The University of Texas for Hollywood stardom in 1968, Lott lost touch with the iconic TV angel-turned-Emmy-nominated "Burning Bed" and Golden Globe-nominated "Extremities" star during his two incarcerations on drug trafficking charges in the early 1970s and early 1980s. Lott resumed contact with Farrah during her separation from Lee Majors in the late 1970s and again following her split with O'Neal in the late 1990s. As documented by Farrah's love letters to Lott, the longtime friends maintained a private love affair during the final 11 years of her life.

In this installment of Lott's in-depth interview, the onetime UT Longhorn football star also sounds off on controversy surrounding Ryan O'Neal's 2008 felony drug-possession arrest and subsequent guilty plea, Fawcett's living trust and Ryan's related legal troubles with The University of Texas, and Farrah's stormy relationship with producer-director James Orr, who was convicted in 1998 on a misdemeanor charge of beating Fawcett in 1997.

Also ... on a much lighter note, Chris spotlights two new Tinseltown tomes, Suzanne Sumner-Ferry's "The Day the Stars Stood Still: A Memoir about Logan Fleming, the Former Top Wax Artist of Movieland Wax Museum" and Patty Farmer's "The Persian Room Presents: An Oral History of New York's Most Magical Night Spot."

Finally ... resident "Reimagine That!" dream interpreter Yvonne Ryba analyzes host Chris Mann's recurring, "Groundhog Day"-esque dream harking back to his own college days as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper at The University of Tulsa in the early 1990s.

Host: Chris Mann

Announcer: Linda Kay

Created by: Chris Mann

Producers: Linda Kay, Chris Mann

Copyright 2012 by Chris Mann/Retroality.TV (http://Retroality.TV)

Top Ten Bob Barker-esque Things David Letterman Shouldn't Do During and After a TV Sex Scandal

Forget legions of lawyers, publicists, focus groups, gossipmongers, news pundits, crisis management teams and Miss Cleo. CBS's King of Late Night need only look to CBS's former (and nine-times-sued) King of Daytime to see how NOT to navigate his first TV sex scandal.

Fifteen years ago, Mr. Come-on-Down himself, former Price is Right host and (since 1988) executive producer Bob Barker—then a mere 71 years old—shocked actual-retail-price-obsessed America when he copped to copping feels with one of his longtime and decades-younger prize models-cum-employees.



Days before fridge- and emcee-fondling Barker's Beauty Dian Parkinson—she of the itty bitty bikini who wound her hips so provocatively during "The Bump Game"—sued the game show deity for sexual harassment, Barker took control of his image (and public opinion) and broke the salacious news of afternoon delights-gone-wrong in a preemptive press conference. The longtime widower admitted to giving in to Parkinson's siren-like calls for "hanky panky," but vehemently denied that it was anything but her idea. "As God is my witness," he said all Scarlet O'Hara-like while raising his hand, "I have never forced her to do one thing that she did not want to do, ever, sexually or any other way, ever."

Never. Ever. Not even once during the Grocery Game. No way. Huh-uh.







Of course, then-49-year-old Parkinson disagreed, as was apparent in her jaw-dropping lawsuit claiming sexual harassment/employment discrimination, deprivation of rights under California constitution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, conspiracy and wrongful discharge in violation of public policy.

All because her boss agreed to play, um, Plinko and Pick-a-Pair in his dressing room. (Thank God that pricing games Flip Flop, It's in the Bag and Gas Money weren't created yet.) That was essentially Barker's way of seeing what he and other staffers called a consensual sexual relationship. Parkinson claimed he forced her to be a sex slave in order to keep her job between 1989 and 1993, when she finally departed ostensibly on her own terms. So, in June 1994, she sued him for $8 million.

(Letterman should appreciate these game show references. He's been a celeb guest on Password Plus, $20,000 Pyramid, The Gong Show and The Liar's Club, and he hosted the 1977 game show pilot The Riddlers. He also had a pre-litigious Parkinson on his talk show—as a mute but vivacious prize model—four times.)





But Barker refused to play Lucky $even (Figures). And after he publicly discredited the two-time Playboy cover girl over the next 11 months, she dropped her suit (her legal one this time), blaming health problems and financial depletion. Curiously, she never directly responded during Barker's media tour to clear his name while trashing hers. Parkinson testified that she'd taken "hush money" in exchange for "model consulting" payments when she "quit" the show. Evidently, she could speak out only in court filings and appearances, or through her attorneys. Score 1, Bob Barker.

The legendary host emerged, in the public's and media's eyes, as a victorious victim of a big-money shakedown. He also portrayed himself as the champion of legitimate sexual harassment claims—i.e., not those filed by allegedly scorned, come-hither game show models allegedly hoping to become the next Mrs. Bob Barker and/or very, very rich.

Barker seemed to have perfectly handled this potentially-devastating public scandal. In front of the camera, anyway. Behind the scenes, not so much.



Just when all seemed rosy in the silver-foxy world of TV's avuncular (?) emcee, another Barker's Beauty, Holly Hallstrom, was fired. Like Parkinson, this fan favorite had worked for Price for nearly two decades. Unlike "the lovely Dian," though, Hallstrom did not sign a hush clause but instead publicly spoke out, claiming she was forced out for being "too fat" and not defending Barker in the media—as her two fellow prize models had done—during Parkinson's suit. Viewers were aghast. Many angry Price fans wrote CBS and Barker. This time, Mr. Come-on-Down wasn't clearly in the victim seat, though he told Entertainment Tonight at the time, "I'm the victim here! I'm the victim!" It had become increasingly clear that Barker presided over a very hostile work environment.

Barker sued Hallstrom in 1995. She then held her own press conference and eventually countersued. Ten years later, after her dismissed case was successfully appealed, she won a settlement reportedly of at least $3 million. In 2000, shortly after his deposed and under-oath female staffers contradicted Barker's version of events surrounding Hallstrom's exit, Barker fired (or, according to him, didn't "rehire") five more female longtime employees. Two of the five—both of whom were very visible and articulate Barker's Beauties—received hefty settlements. The three behind-the-scenes female staffers sued for wrongful termination, discrimination and, in one case, sexual harassment. Two of these three women eventually received settlements; the other woman lost on appeal in 2007.

But wait. There's more.

In 2004, two African-American female employees sued Barker, his producer Phil Rossi, and the show for sexual harassment and racial discrimination. These two women—including future Deal or No Deal model and Celebrity Apprentice contestant Claudia Jordan—settled prior to trial. In 2007, a third African-American woman—this time a CBS employee—sued the host, the show and the network, alleging sexual harassment, racial discrimination and wrongful termination. Her case was recently thrown out but will, reportedly, be appealed.

Long story short, all of this very costly trouble likely could've been averted had Barker kept it in his pants. Certainly, lawsuits #2-#9 could've been avoided had Barker not—to borrow another CBS game show term—pressed his luck with his more outspoken and increasingly sympathetic female employees, the growingly suspicious public and the scandal-obsessed media, which circa 2000 included (non-CBS/Paramount-owned) shows such as E! True Hollywood Story.



Without further adieu (phew!), here are Retroality.TV's Top Ten Bob Barker-esque Things David Letterman Shouldn't Do During and After a TV Sex Scandal:

10. Don't defy CBS and (allegedly) give the female staffer you're secretly doing permission to pose nude for Playboy.
9. Stop letting women reach into your seemingly bottomless "$500 pocket."
8. Don't sleep with the chick despised by nearly ever other woman in the building.
7. Quit making women scream, "THAT'S TOO MUCH!"
6. Don't harass the gal who won't defend you publicly, then try to get her to "voluntarily retire" when she gains 14 lb. while taking hormone medication.
5. Don't call said gal—known for her klutzy bloopers—a "Big-Ass Ham®."
4. Stop hitting on women at "Barker's Bargain Bar."
3. Don't fire the lady who so publicly defended you during your first sex scandal if her testimony differs from yours during the lawsuit(s) spiraling out of said sex scandal
2. Don't tell ladies, "I'll show you what's behind 'Door No. 2' in exchange for what's in the box."
1. As God is your witness, never, ever utter the phrase "Come on down!"

Ever.