Quantum Peeps
Friday, December 7th, 2012
I always enjoy a good time travel caper and thusly often enjoyed the TV series Quantum Leap, which ran for five seasons from 1989-1993. I had previously met Dean Stockwell who played the role of Rear Admiral Al Calavicci (as seen here). At the time, I didn’t think that there was ever any realistic hope of meeting his co-star Scott Bakula, so I opted to just have him sign a head shot as opposed to a photo from Quantum Leap. I was incorrect, and it cost me. Apparently I was not done with encounters from this TV show. Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes it boggles the mind that so many mediocre celebrities command such high prices and long lines, while other legendary performers like Laraine Newman could be charging so little, be so nice, and be so accessible. I was going to call this posting Connie Conehead, but I didn’t even want to hint at a title that sounded demeaning – because Laraine Newman was not only one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live, she was truly one of the nicest and most down-to-earth of any celebrity that I’ve ever met. 
Sometimes film and TV reunions are easy to come by. The various celebrity shows I attend always seem to highlight a few reunions at each and every show. But in the case of trying to meet up with the performers who portrayed Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers in The Six Million Dollar Man, and its eventual spin-off The Bionic Woman, it wasn’t exaclty handed to me on a silver platter. Although I infrequently tuned into either show as a kid, both characters were iconic forces for life in the seventies. At some point I know I at least picked up a Steve Austin doll at a garage sale. That eye thing was pretty weird. 
Empty Nest was a sitcom that did a magnificent job of eluding me all through its seven-year run. And the fact that it has never been released on DVD doesn’t help either. But as the consummate sitcom fan, I am well aware of the series, which was a spin-off from The Golden Girls. And thus, when I had the opportunity to meet a pair of members from the cast, I opted to go with a photo of the show to get jointly signed. The star of the show, Richard Mulligan, passed away in 2000, five years after the show ended, so sadly I will never get him to sign my photo. I had actually met 
OK, it was either those lead-in lyrics or “Watchoo talkin’ ’bout?” as the title of this posting – and that one’s been done to death. But still it never fails to make me smile a bit, because Diff’rent Strokes was one of the earliest prime time sitcoms that really captured me. I won’t even bother to wax philosophical about what it taught the Gen X’ers about race relations, drugs, pedophilia, smoking, kids in wheelchairs, kidnapping, and epilepsy during some of its ‘very special episodes’ that it was famous for – because somehow through all the seriousness it never failed to make me laugh and feel right at home in the Drummond residence.