The Terrible Catsafterme

I must say that Monday, October 6, 2008 was shaping up to be one of the best days of the year – if not my life. The first dream of my ‘dream come true tour’ had come true that morning: a visit to the Playboy Mansion. Then out of the clear blue sky, yet another fantasy had come to pass: I got to meet Brian Wilson, rock icon who ranks at the top of my all-time favorite performers. Now I was on to the second planned-and-hoped-for dream-come-true of the day, to meet up with Adam Sadowsky, actor from my all-time favorite sitcom It’s Your Move.

So for the allure of this meeting to make sense, I should explain a bit about my fondness for this TV show. Although it only lasted 18 episodes from 1984-85, it was truly a show ahead of its time. Created by Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye, it was originally planned as a spin-off to Silver Spoons, focusing on the character Derek played by Jason Bateman. Eventually, the idea was nixed and Bateman became a different character, Matthew Burton, albeit very similar to Derek in his conniving nature. Because the series portrayed a young teenager involved in conning his fellow students – not to mention a slew of adults – the show was forced to tone down after the first 13 episodes. It became no more than a conventional sitcom, which although still funny, was not able to keep up its momentum and was quickly cancelled. Leavitt and Moye then took their talents to the new Fox network and created another somewhat radical sitcom called Married…With Children.

So the quaility and originality of the show coupled nicely with my adolescent life. I aspired to be the conniving smart alec that was Bateman’s Matthew Burton. My friend Jeff and I loved the idea of these schoolboy scams – and in fact Matthew really reminded me of my best friend from sixth grade Eric Welch. The show appealed to me so quickly that I immediately began recording all of the episodes and watching them repeatedly until I had literally worn out the VHS tape. It was about five years later that I finally recovered most episodes when they were reran on the USA Network. I eventually completed the collection in 2000.

So revisiting the show in later years was not only fun, but a warm reminder to my young teenage days. It’s Your Move has since became thoroughly iconic in my life. My sister Denise, as well as my daughter Ashleigh and her sister Briana also share in my enjoyment of the show, so over the years there have been no shortage of It’s Your Move quotes, IYM trivia, and household marathons taking place.

So that brings us to Adam Sadowsky, who played the pivotal role of Eli, Matthew’s best friend during the series. As the dimwitted and chubby counterpart to Matthew, Eli was the right-hand man who was always along for the next scam – while himself trying to scam a date with Matt’s attractive sister Julie.

I had tried several years ago to contact Adam Sadowsky through his personal website and then later through Myspace – both unsuccessfully. So I was excited when I found him on Facebook and he accepted my friend request. Not wanting to frighten him off from a ‘crazed fan’, I never mentioned my interest in the show as we played a few spirited games of Scrabulous on the website. Then shortly before my California trip was scheduled to begin, I dropped him a note with the million dollar question: would he be willing to meet up with me?

No answer.

So naturally I assumed that he had no interest. But still just days before leaving, I dropped one final note asking again if answering my request had merely slipped his mind and if meeting up might still be a possibility. I was completely surprised and thoroughly ecstatic that he responded enthusiastically in the affirmative.

So on that wonderful Monday in California, another dream came true. Adam met up with Jimmy and me at Jerry’s Famous Deli in West Hollywood. Over a pastrami sandwich for me and a mere bagel for him, we all chatted for nearly three hours. And speaking for myself, I now consider Adam Sadowsky to not just be an actor from an old 1980’s TV series, but a friend of mine as well.

I had vowed to myself not to mention anything about the show, not knowing what kind of memories it held for him. So for nearly 90 minutes of our conversation, we spoke nothing of the show. Adam is a very interesting person, well-versed on many topics ranging from politics to genetics and medicine to movies. He was interested in how Jimmy and I had met through the Sons of the Desert Laurel and Hardy club. Eventually the topic turned to film, then to Alfred Hitchcock films, the Psycho house, it’s location at Universal Studios…and the fact that It’s Your Move was also filmed there.

This opened up the conversation to everything I had wanted to know about the making of the show. Even Jimmy, who had only seen a few episodes of the show, was fascinated by the perspective of a former child star and what steps he had taken to both get into and out of the business, making the wise choice to go to college instead of continuing with his career. For the record, the last role he turned down was a part in Dead Poet’s Society.

It was fascinating to me to hear and share trivia that had always intrigued me: why his braces had appeared and reappeared in the pilot episode; whether he had ever watched his co-star Caren Kaye in the raunchy comedy My Tutor; how the stagehands had put in the graphic medical magazine Spine in place of any magazine on the set; how he and Jason Bateman used to spend their down-time lobbing footballs over Universal tour trams; how he became friends with Gary Coleman, whose Diff’rent Strokes set was on the back of theirs; how co-star Garrett Morris had no idea who he was when he encountered him later on; how he handled the influx of fan mail, and why he stopped putting his return address on the envelope (!); and why he ended up with a mere walk-on role in the film Three O’Clock High – all enjoyable nuggets of info which kept me in rapt attention for 90 more minutes. Adam was even kind enough to humor me as we made phone calls to Ashleigh, Briana, and Jackie so that they could have the experience of speaking to him.

Before we left, I had him sign a photo from It’s Your Move, one I had had for a long time – just waiting to meet someone who could – and would – sign it. I hope to meet up with Adam Sadowsky again, this time not as a fan, but as a friend. He is an exceptionally cool guy who is fascinating and fun to hang out with. Although he played an iconic role in a show that means a lot to me, I recognize that he has joined the ranks of the ‘down to earth’ – a wise decision of which he has no regrets. Adam is a class act all the way. As he is fond of saying, “Right On!”

My great day will continue…

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 at 6:02 am and is filed under 2000's - Late, Autographs, Celebrity Encounters, Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.