Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Where have all the “Friends” fans gone? Sure, millions of fans tune in each week to watch the comely sextet sort out their problems in their impossibly spacious Manhattan apartments. But when it comes to the stars’ films, fans seem to prefer staying home sipping cappuccinos.
The neighborhood is changing for “Melrose Place.” Currently flailing in its sixth season, the frothy series about a group of attractive but none-too-bright tenants who live, sleep and quarrel with each other is in danger of being evicted from the Fox lineup.
The best reason to subscribe to cable television is “La Femme Nikita.” Well-written, suspenseful and sexy, the superb drama kicks off its second season Sunday on the USA Network with an engrossing episode that reveals a turning point in the title character’s life. Based on the 1991 Luc Besson film of the same name, “La Femme Nikita” focuses on a beautiful, young woman sentenced to prison for a crime she didn’t commit.
If the tenants at “Melrose Place” decided to become entertainers, their lives would pretty much resemble the ones on “Fame L.A.” Loosely based on the 1980 film “Fame,” this syndicated series revolves around a group of young actors, singers, dancers and comics – all hoping to make names for themselves in Hollywood. The repeat airing Saturday is the second show of the series’ three-part opener, first seen in September.
There isn’t much that hasn’t happened to the orphaned siblings on “Party of Five.” Death, infidelity, drug abuse, teen pregnancy, mental illness and alcoholism all have been dealt with responsibly on the Fox drama. On tonight’s episode, from 8 to 9 on Channel 32, the family faces another blow when eldest brother Charlie Salinger reveals that he has Hodgkin’s disease.
There is a moment in tonight’s episode of “Party of Five” when Bailey Salinger (Scott Wolf) stares vacantly at his brother and sisters as they confront him about a drinking problem he doesn’t believe he has. Sallow and dazed, he looks like a hollow shell of the ruddy teen who took it upon himself to keep the orphaned family together three seasons ago.
Julia, Jean-Claude, Chris and Brooke joined Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Ross and Joey in a special “Friends” Sunday night, and the high-profile guest stars proved a hilarious addition to the cast. The one-hour episode, titled “The One After the Super Bowl,” compared to the best of “Friends” – and that includes last season’s hourlong sweeps special where Monica (Courteney Cox) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) tried to one-up each other on a double date with guest stars George Clooney and Noah Wyle from “E.R.,” and the episode where all the pals made and broke a pact to spend New Year’s Eve dateless.
The stars of “Friends” were happy to welcome all the guests on Sunday’s celebrity-studded special episode — except one. Julia Roberts, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chris Isaak and Brooke Shields all reportedly received adoring, excited welcomes on the set of NBC’s hit sitcom. But not so for Marcel, the temperamental monkey who hurled feces at the cast last season.
Tonight’s wedding episode of “Party of Five” is a must-see for fans of this struggling Fox series. While TV nuptials generally are ploys to boost sagging ratings, this episode stands out for the way it handles the complex relationship between Charlie Salinger (Matthew Fox) and Kirsten Bennett (Paula Devicq).
It’s not coincidental that actor Stephen Caffrey is sporting a George Clooney-ish look these days. The star of Paul Rudnick’s play “I Hate Hamlet” portrays a character who used to be an actor on a popular series set in a hospital. “I don’t want to make it sound like I’m basing it on him, but the character in the play is an actor who was on a television series called `L.A. Medical,’ ” Caffrey said. “And he leaves the series after five years and goes back to New York. So it was sort of like what would be the contemporary version of `L.A. Medical,’ and it was `ER,’ right? And George Clooney seemed like a good prototype?”
People who question whether the Man of Steel is invincible have to check out “Off Camera With Dean Cain” at 7 tonight; on WLS-Channel 7. It’s not kryptonite that foils Cain – the man in tights on ABC’s “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” which airs at 7 p.m. Sundays on WLS-Channel 7 – but rather a quick soccer shootout with Andrew Shue. That’s right – the milquetoast Billy on “Melrose Place.” “Soccer is not my forte,” said Cain, laughing. “Even if it was, Andrew still probably would’ve kicked my butt.”
In 1958, comedian Carl Reiner wrote his first novel, Enter Laughing. Now, thirty-seven years later, the sequel Continue Laughing (Birch Lane Press, $19.95) arrives. That’s quite a gap, but Reiner hasn’t exactly been lying low in the intervening years.
By Jae-Ha Kim Chicago Sun-Times April 30, 1995 Crobar, Excalibur, Big Nasty . . . These Chicago clubs are as different as can be from one another. Similarly, the clubs that our favorite TV characters […]
Russell Wong has been recognized. Best known for his role as the cruel, playboy husband in “The Joy Luck Club,” the 6-foot actor seems oblivious to the gawking female guests at the Four Seasons Hotel. He’s more interested in finishing his fruit salad and peppermint tea. Wong, who stars as Jian-Wa Chang in the syndicated series “Vanishing Son,” took a breather to chat with us during his first trip to Chicago.
The fans came early to the Near West Side with some of the most difficult-to-score tickets in town. Most had called in their orders weeks ago, never imagining they’d be watching history take place. After quitting prematurely, a Chicago legend was coming back to form.
Sarah Jessica Parker has gone from being a four-eyed Square Peg to one of Hollywood’s sexiest stars. Thanks to genetics, she can shun the Stairmaster and still balance on that unfair line of being reed-thin but shapely.
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! What would Alice say if she heard you were going around the country talking about safe sex and birth control? “She’d probably say, `Good for you,’ ” said Maureen McCormick, the actress who portrayed Marcia Brady on “The Brady Bunch.” “Marcia may have been a virgin, but obviously I’m not.”
“All Kinds of Love” isn’t the “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” that’s for sure. When Carl Reiner created the classic ’60s TV series, his married couple – Rob and Laura Petrie – weren’t allowed to sleep together in the same bed, much less dally with next-door neighbor Milly.
In Hollywood, where every other person claims to be an actor, singer, model or screenwriter, actor Woody Harrelson doesn’t raise too many eyebrows when he jams with his group Manly Moondog and the Three Kool Kats. But when the “Cheers” star takes his 10-piece band out on the road, he attracts a crowd that’s made up of music lovers as well as a strong contingent of curiosity seekers who want to know if “the boy can really sing.”
A high school sophomore, Mayim Bialik more than holds her own in the title role opposite a cast of older, more experienced actors. Her co-stars include Ted Wass (of “Soap” fame) as her befuddled father and Eileen Brennan as their cantankerous neighbor. Bialik portrays 14-year-old Blossom Russo, the lone female in a household that includes two very immature older brothers. In tonight’s episode, Blossom’s coming-of-age is dealt with in a way that could make viewers uncomfortable. What could have been a touching and humorous look at how she views her first menstrual cycle with both amazement and fear is instead turned into a tacky lesson on what not to do in comedy.