RETROALITY.TV EXCLUSIVE: An Angel recalls Farrah, A Brady remembers Michael Jackson and a "Match Game" icon celebrates late, great friend Brett Somers

For more interviews see our You Tube channel at http://www.youtube.com/retroalitytv

RETROALITY.TV EXCLUSIVE Brady Bunch scoop: Susan Olsen on her new tell-all, the Jan & Marcia "feud" & why we won't see a 40th year reunion on "Oprah"

Retroality.TV's Chris Mann reports exclusively from the retrocentric celeb convention The Hollywood Show, held July 18-19 at the Marriott Convention Center in Burbank, Calif.

Susan "Cindy Brady" Olsen spills about her new tell-all book and recent reports that TV sisters Maureen "Marcia" McCormick and Eve "Jan" Plumb are feuding over Mo's lesbian joke(s). Also, Susan shares why we shouldn't expect to see the entire "Bunch" reunite on TV for a 40th anniversary blow-out this fall.





For more of Susan's four-part interview, visit our You Tube channel at http://www.youtube.com/retroalitytv

The King and Miss Munroe: Fractured Beings, Unbreakable Icons

As a starstruck Oklahoma kid whose life went from black and white to Technicolor during my summer pilgrimages to L.A. in the late '70s and '80s, I all-too-frequently frowned at the sepia images of Elvis and Marilyn that swallowed every square inch of Hollywood Boulevard and the nostalgic nation's collective consciousness.

Who are these two-dimensional lookers, I wondered, and why do their likenesses merit U.S. postage stamps, commemorative plates, posters, life-size cut-outs, napkin holders and, well, any other shred of merchandise big enough to display a famous face, plunging neckline and gyrating pelvis?

I recall watching my parents sob during Elvis' televised funeral in August '77. And I totally got that both "The King" and Miss Monroe met tragic, untimely deaths at the hands of drugs, celebrity and other soul-poisoning excess. But try as I could, I never fully grasped the timeless, universal connections they left behind.

Sadly, nearly 32 years later, I now absolutely get it.

My generation lost its King and Miss Munroe—pop music's majestic moonwalker and Charlie's Angels' celestial jiggle queen Jill —on the same fateful day. In a matter of mere hours on June 25, 2009, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson—the pop icon of the Seventies and the pop icon of the Eighties—were sadly, suddenly, irretrievably lost in the same ether that transmitted their radiant, electric images and creative magic for four decades.

Nearly three weeks later, the tributes continue to pour in on newsstands, online, (coming soon) in bookstores and, of course, in the non-static, visual medium that crystallized Michael and Farrah's reigns as charismatic, era-defining icons: TV.

And like the troubled musical genius and fragile sex symbol-actress who set the bar of immortal greatness so impossibly high a half-century earlier, Michael and Farrah in their final days became vulnerable, tragic figures whose robust, picture-perfect exteriors collapsed under the weight of their very human hardships.

Long famous for their physical fluidity, cascading locks and well-chiseled (if, to varying degrees, cosmetically altered) faces, Michael and Farrah both left their physical bodies bald, brittle and broken, a sobering reminder of their very ordinary mortality blind to fame and fortune. Their lifelong struggles with superstardom, family heartache, tabloid cruelty and abuse—physical, emotional and psychological—struck a cord in our individual and universal hearts. We knew that behind their flawless facades, beneath their unbreakable iconic brilliance, and beyond their heavenly charms dwelled fractured souls that, whether we wanted the lesson or not, taught the world about our own human journeys.

In their far-from-perfect final years, The King and Miss Munroe faced crippling trials and tribulations. Farrah, felled by terminal illness, in the end completely grasped her spiritual significance as a celebrity. Farrah's Story, the intended documentary that exposed her courageous, harrowing battle with anal cancer, will forever bear testament that she mastered her cosmic lesson. Michael, felled by the equally ravaging disease of addiction, left a musical legacy that will forever tell his story as an artist who, afflicted with lupus, vitiligo, body dysmorphia disorder, bulimia and substance abuse, sensed, surveyed and sung his heart out about our uniquely human frailties.

Both of our beloved icons illustrated, in sickness and health, that humankind's vulnerabilities forever tie we mere mortals to the now-heavenly stars who, despite their heavy earthly burdens, continue to lighten and enlighten our lives.

BOOK REVIEW: Monica Seles' "Getting a Grip"—by contributor Rose Sacco, Retroality.TV's "Girl on the Side"

I just was given Monica Seles’ new book Getting a Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self, and—excuse the pun—it WAS gripping. Monica, if you remember, was a star of tennis in the Nineties, when out of nowhere a crazed fan stabbed her in the back at one of her matches. And although that incident is addressed in her autobiography, she includes it as a chapter in her life, NOT the defining moment of who she is. This could be another Hollywood story of rags to riches to rags again, but it’s the opposite. It’s a story of a woman working hard to achieve her goals and dealing with obstacles in her life. It’s the story of Monica stumbling in life, then finding her footing to go on.

It seems as though Monica was born with a racket in her hands. Her dedicated father improvised their own “court” and taught her the fundamentals of the game when she 5 years old. She was born a hard worker, and her natural talent led her to win enough matches to be a junior champion. At 12 she was scouted to train in America with the world’s top tennis coaches. She was turning into a tennis star, and yet the stress of that ridged environment soon began to eat at her self-confidence. Plagued by anxiety, she started eating to deal with stress. At 12 and 13 years old, Monica began a lifelong struggle with weight. She was stuffing her face to stuff down feelings.

Her family supported her in the decision to become a pro player at 15. Monica was lucky enough to be surrounded by family who kept her grounded. When she was earning thousands winning tournaments, her parents still expected normalcy from her. She addresses that fact over and over again—family support helped her reach the success she had in life.

Her stabbing in 1993 took her off the court for the first time since she was a young child. Depression set in, compounded the sad, distressing news that her beloved father was diagnosed with cancer. Her stress binges soon spiraled out of control. And though she fought hard to hit the court again as a contender, her weight battles consumed her.

As I was reading her story, I found Monica so charming and relatable. Most every woman deals with feeling inadequate and insecure. As Monica tells the stories of her professional life, she lets you into her personal struggles in such an honest and graceful way. I felt myself cheering her on, on every page.

—Rose Sacco

RETROALITY.TV EXCLUSIVE: Barker's Beauty Holly Hallstrom Tells All, Parts 2 and 3

Links to parts 2 and 3 of Hallstrom's Retroality.TV interview:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/dzzxnl40y1z/HollyHallstromRetroalityPt2.mp3

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ztwfmyez0mv/HollyHallstromRetroalityPt3.mp3

From its oh-so-Seventies set to its retro-funky font, CBS's iconic game show The Price is Right looks essentially the same today as it did during its 1970s and '80s hey days. Since legendary emcee Bob Barker's departure in 2007, however, the show has experienced major creative and executive upheaval behind the scenes.

Producer Roger Dobkowitz was suddenly let go last year after 36 years of service. Last January, director Bart Eskander—another longtime show vet—also exited the show under a cloud of controversy. A rep for Eskander recently told Buzzerblog.com that the director voluntarily retired, but loyal online fans remain skeptical, especially following reports last May that FremantleMedia's Syd Vinnedge was also abruptly out as Price's executive producer. In late June, new host Drew Carey began blogging and Twittering about upcoming cosmetic and creative changes on Price. The famously low-key comic and often happy-go-lucky humanitarian quickly took aim at a specific Price fan site whose impassioned members have by and large consistently slammed Carey and various aspects of the show's creative direction, particularly following Dobkowitz's firing. Though the emcee did not name Golden-Road.net, his reference to the site's most vociferous posters (whom Carey called "telephone pole screamers") did not fall on deaf ears in the game show community.

But this drama pales next to the storied succession of brutal—and many say retaliatory—firings during Barker's reign as Price's executive producer. Though the animal rights activist officially received his exec producer title in 1988, some former Price employees say he wielded this power at least as early as 1986. That year, the CBS's series' original, Emmy-winning director, Marc Breslow—whom insiders call a longtime Barker foe—was booted from the show.

In 1989, Barker began a sexual affair with Price model Dian Parkinson, who sued him for sexual harassment a year after exiting the show in 1993. (She eventually dropped the suit, citing health and financial reasons.) In 1995, Barker fired and sued popular, outspoken prize model Holly Hallstrom, who in 2005 received a multi-million dollar settlement in her wrongful termination countersuit against Barker and the show. By 2000, Price's remaining longtime Barker's Beauties, along with numerous other veteran employees, were fired after giving deposition testimony that contradicted Barker's version of events in the Hallstrom case. (Barker has said that Hallstrom was "downsized" in 1995 while asserting that the 2000 staff casualties were due to production cutbacks.)

In parts two and three of Hallstrom's exclusive audio interview with Retroality.TV, the vocal Barker's Beauty recalls her late-'70s and early-'80s hey days under Price producers Jay Wolpert and Barbara Hunter. The redheaded model recalls Wolpert's brilliant, anything-for-a-laugh showcase skits on Stage 33 at CBS Television City. Hallstrom also fondly remembers watching John Ritter, Joyce DeWitt and Suzanne Somers crack each other up on Television City's Stage 31 during Three's Company rehearsals, which were shown on TV feeds on the Price set.

Hallstrom says she first became "disenchanted" at Price when original exec producer Frank Wayne brought in his son, Phil Rossi, to replace Wolpert alongside a newly-promoted Hunter in 1978. (Rossi originally received producer billing over Hunter, until she protested to Wayne.) Hunter left in 1984 to take an executive position in CBS Daytime—thus giving Dobkowitz a chance to join Rossi as a Price producer. These changes, along with Breslow's ouster in 1986, were "the beginning of the end of the good times on Price," Hallstrom says. (Rossi was fired in 2005 after show model Claudia Jordan and staffer Sylvia Clement-Henry sued him and the show for sexual harassment and racial discrimination.)

In these interview segments, the audience-beloved Beauty also addresses Barker's apparent feud with animal lover and "sworn enemy" Betty White. The silver-haired emcee reportedly demanded that producers of GSN's recent Game Show Awards ban the iconic Golden Girl and game show staple from award show festivities. Finally, Hallstrom responds to Barker's remark—made during an award show skit outtake broadcast by Access Hollywood—suggesting that Price's models got their jobs by sleeping with him.