CLASSIC TV STARS WHO EMBARRASSED THEMSELVES AND THEIR SHOW WITH SCANDAL

[firepoint525]

Suzanne Somers (or more precisely, her husband) brought bad publicity to Three's Company with her (their?) outrageous salary demands. I thought I had already mentioned this, but maybe it was on another thread.

Whether that rises to the level of "scandal" is up to you.

 

[MHB]

Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet, his show was taken off PBS after child molestation accusations surfaced

Forgot about him! He was THE hot TV chef in the years just before Emeril, Rachael Ray, etc. Was he ever convicted on those charges?

No, never even charged. He settled out of court.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet, his show was taken off PBS after child molestation accusations surfaced

Forgot about him! He was THE hot TV chef in the years just before Emeril, Rachael Ray, etc. Was he ever convicted on those charges?

No, never even charged. He settled out of court.

probably why no channel even shows Frugal Gourmet reruns

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet, his show was taken off PBS after child molestation accusations surfaced

Forgot about him! He was THE hot TV chef in the years just before Emeril, Rachael Ray, etc. Was he ever convicted on those charges?

No, never even charged. He settled out of court.

and these were accusations from the 70s, before he became a big star

 

[nomadcowatbk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLTJ_CsWI3o

 

[Ultimajock]

Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet, his show was taken off PBS after child molestation accusations surfaced

Forgot about him! He was THE hot TV chef in the years just before Emeril, Rachael Ray, etc. Was he ever convicted on those charges?

No, never even charged. He settled out of court.

probably why no channel even shows Frugal Gourmet reruns

...well, the fact that Smith died a few years after the allegations were made (he was never actually charged with any of them criminally) has a lot to do with it, too...

 

[mleach]

Suzanne Somers (or more precisely, her husband) brought bad publicity to Three's Company with her (their?) outrageous salary demands. I thought I had already mentioned this, but maybe it was on another thread.

Whether that rises to the level of "scandal" is up to you.

I can see this ( Somers ) as being a scandal for the time but today it wouldn't be a big deal. The idea of someone being on TV making a ton of money was crazy ( didn't Barbara Walters get some heat for her million dollar salary when she had joined ABC News in 1976? ). Today OTOH regardless if we are talking about Madonna, Lada Gaga to some sports star or even Seth MacFarlane ( The Family Guy & Cleveland Show ), the idea of them making 7 or 8 figures a year they believe its not only a "..no big deal"..but many believe they actually deserve it too.

 

[LKellerIII]

Suzanne Somers (or more precisely, her husband) brought bad publicity to Three's Company with her (their?) outrageous salary demands. I thought I had already mentioned this, but maybe it was on another thread.

Whether that rises to the level of "scandal" is up to you.

I can see this ( Somers ) as being a scandal for the time but today it wouldn't be a big deal. The idea of someone being on TV making a ton of money was crazy ( didn't Barbara Walters get some heat for her million dollar salary when she had joined ABC News in 1976? ). Today OTOH regardless if we are talking about Madonna, Lada Gaga to some sports star or even Seth MacFarlane ( The Family Guy & Cleveland Show ), the idea of them making 7 or 8 figures a year they believe its not only a "..no big deal"..but many believe they actually deserve it too.

With 3 hit shows on Fox, and The Family Guy in reruns on about a half-dozen stations in every market (including cable and local) - there would be something wrong if Seth McFarlane wasn't making 7 or 8 figures a year. Whether Seth thinks he "deserves" it or not - I think he does. He's a talented and clever guy who came up with some brilliant material (with the exception of The Cleveland Show, IMO).

Rock and pop stars have been getting super-rich on concerts and record sales since before World War II. Stones, Beatles, Sinatra - you can take it as far back as Bing Crosby in the 30s.

Super-wealthy TV actors are a more recent phenomenon. Suzanne Somers 70s era salary demands probably look laughable compared to the salaries received by the Seinfeld or Friends stars, not to mention Charlie Sheen before he blew it.

Part of what made the Somers episode a bit sleazy was the blatant attempts at string-pulling by her husband, a semi-talented and not very successful TV and commercial actor. I believe Alan Hamel was his name. In those days, he was all over the airwaves in Southern California as the commercial spokesman for Alpha-Beta supermarkets, a long-bankrupt chain.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Part of what made the Somers episode a bit sleazy was the blatant attempts at string-pulling by her husband, a semi-talented and not very successful TV and commercial actor. I believe Alan Hamel was his name. In those days, he was all over the airwaves in Southern California as the commercial spokesman for Alpha-Beta supermarkets, a long-bankrupt chain.

Somers came across as being greedy, which turned off a number of viewers. Before Three's Company she was basically an unknown actress.

I do remember that her role diminished and eventually she was replaced by, I think, two other blonds. Somers and Joyce DeWitt reportedly did not speak for a long time, and I also believe Somer's relationship with John Ritter was a bit strained for a while but the two eventually made up shortly before his death.

 

[landtuna]

I do remember that her role diminished and eventually she was replaced by, I think, two other blonds.

Only one blonde - Jenilee Harrison.

 

[Ultimajock]

I do remember that her role diminished and eventually she was replaced by, I think, two other blonds.

Only one blonde - Jenilee Harrison.

...wasn't Priscilla Barnes also a blonde during her time on Three's Company?...

 

[landtuna]

I do remember that her role diminished and eventually she was replaced by, I think, two other blonds.

Only one blonde - Jenilee Harrison.

...wasn't Priscilla Barnes also a blonde during her time on Three's Company?...

Ah....you're absolutely correct. I had given up on the show by then and don't remember her but she was indeed part of the cast for "the worst three years of her life".

 

[firepoint525]

I do remember that her role diminished and eventually she was replaced by, I think, two other blonds.

Only one blonde - Jenilee Harrison.

...wasn't Priscilla Barnes also a blonde during her time on Three's Company?...

I seem to recall that Somers was originally replaced by Harrison, who was in turn replaced by Barnes. I don't remember many details, but it seems that Harrison was not considered a good actress. But I remember her going on to play Jamie Ewing on Dallas.
Ah....you're absolutely correct. I had given up on the show by then and don't remember her but she was indeed part of the cast for "the worst three years of her life".

 

[mleach]

Rock and pop stars have been getting super-rich on concerts and record sales since before World War II. Stones, Beatles, Sinatra - you can take it as far back as Bing Crosby in the 30s.

Super-wealthy TV actors are a more recent phenomenon. Suzanne Somers 70s era salary demands probably look laughable compared to the salaries received by the Seinfeld or Friends stars, not to mention Charlie Sheen before he blew it.

Part of what made the Somers episode a bit sleazy was the blatant attempts at string-pulling by her husband, a semi-talented and not very successful TV and commercial actor. I believe Alan Hamel was his name. In those days, he was all over the airwaves in Southern California as the commercial spokesman for Alpha-Beta supermarkets, a long-bankrupt chain.

For some reason I had actually thought about this today. While you are right but the difference between now and then is well back in those days while everyone knew that the stars were rich they just didn't know exactly how rich they really were. In short back then, one's salary was considered a "private matter", much like what happend behind closed doors when it came to other matters even abuse.

Remember back in the 70's and 80's when both Christina Crawford and Gary Crosby were slammed hard by many for coming out about their lives with Joan Crawford and Bing Crosby. Actually even the great talk show host Mike Douglas had admitted in his own bio which was published not long before his death that Christina really had no business telling the world such as in her book "Mommie Dearest" about her and her brother Chris both being abused by Joan Crawford.

Today with the internet and even the press being the way that it is the average Joe can find out exactly what Katie Couric had made from doing the CBS Evening News..well many fomer secrets are no longer well..secrets.

Alan Hamel for the record was also the spokesman for Acme Supermarkets, back when they were a major chain in the mid-Atlantic.

 

[firepoint525]

Reposted from earlier today, so as to make it a little easier to read. :-[

I do remember that her role diminished and eventually she was replaced by, I think, two other blonds.

Only one blonde - Jenilee Harrison.

...wasn't Priscilla Barnes also a blonde during her time on Three's Company?...

Ah....you're absolutely correct. I had given up on the show by then and don't remember her but she was indeed part of the cast for "the worst three years of her life".

I seem to recall that Somers was originally replaced by Harrison, who was in turn replaced by Barnes. I don't remember many details, but it seems that Harrison was not considered a good actress. But I remember her going on to play Jamie Ewing on Dallas.

 

[Ultimajock]

Reposted from earlier today, so as to make it a little easier to read. :-[

I do remember that her role diminished and eventually she was replaced by, I think, two other blonds.

Only one blonde - Jenilee Harrison.

...wasn't Priscilla Barnes also a blonde during her time on Three's Company?...

Ah....you're absolutely correct. I had given up on the show by then and don't remember her but she was indeed part of the cast for "the worst three years of her life".

I seem to recall that Somers was originally replaced by Harrison, who was in turn replaced by Barnes. I don't remember many details, but it seems that Harrison was not considered a good actress. But I remember her going on to play Jamie Ewing on Dallas.

...Harrison was simply brought on to be a Somers analogue, a stereotypical dumb blonde, which had sharply annoyed Harrison; in the British original, Man About the House, Sally Thomsett didn't play the blonde female character nearly as ditzily. Barnes' character was much closer to Thomsett's portrayal...

 

[Ultimajock]

Super-wealthy TV actors are a more recent phenomenon. Suzanne Somers 70s era salary demands probably look laughable compared to the salaries received by the Seinfeld or Friends stars, not to mention Charlie Sheen before he blew it.

Part of what made the Somers episode a bit sleazy was the blatant attempts at string-pulling by her husband, a semi-talented and not very successful TV and commercial actor. I believe Alan Hamel was his name. In those days, he was all over the airwaves in Southern California as the commercial spokesman for Alpha-Beta supermarkets, a long-bankrupt chain.

Alan Hamel for the record was also the spokesman for Acme Supermarkets, back when they were a major chain in the mid-Atlantic.

...Hamel was also host, producer and co-creator of the 1971-72 "battle of the sexes" talk show wherein a male guest was quizzed by a panel of three female inquisitors, usually comprised of Nina Foch, Margot Kidder, Meredith MacRae and/or Ms. Somers (Carol Wayne, Selma Diamond and Pamela Mason each popped up on the panel a couple of times as well). The fantasy writer and sometime columnist Harlan Ellison, while as a TV critic for the Los Angeles Free Press, wrote an interesting essay about his experience of traveling to Vancouver's CHAN/8 to guest on the program. As republished in his 1975 book The Other Glass Teat, Ellison has nothing but praises for Kidder, is extremely friendly toward MacRae and seems somewhat lukewarm towards Somers and Hamel. In fact, about Hamel and co-producer Dick Clark, Ellison wrote that they "seem to be relatively decent human beings (I say 'relatively' because in a species that can produce Aquinas and Lieutenant [William] Calley, everything is relative)"...

 

[Ultimajock]

Super-wealthy TV actors are a more recent phenomenon. Suzanne Somers 70s era salary demands probably look laughable compared to the salaries received by the Seinfeld or Friends stars, not to mention Charlie Sheen before he blew it.

Part of what made the Somers episode a bit sleazy was the blatant attempts at string-pulling by her husband, a semi-talented and not very successful TV and commercial actor. I believe Alan Hamel was his name. In those days, he was all over the airwaves in Southern California as the commercial spokesman for Alpha-Beta supermarkets, a long-bankrupt chain.

Alan Hamel for the record was also the spokesman for Acme Supermarkets, back when they were a major chain in the mid-Atlantic.

...Hamel was also host, producer and co-creator of the 1971-72 "battle of the sexes" talk show wherein a male guest was quizzed by a panel of three female inquisitors, usually comprised of Nina Foch, Margot Kidder, Meredith MacRae and/or Ms. Somers (Carol Wayne, Selma Diamond and Pamela Mason each popped up on the panel a couple of times as well). The fantasy writer and sometime columnist Harlan Ellison, while as a TV critic for the Los Angeles Free Press, wrote an interesting essay about his experience of traveling to Vancouver's CHAN/8 to guest on the program. As republished in his 1975 book The Other Glass Teat, Ellison has nothing but praises for Kidder, is extremely friendly toward MacRae and seems somewhat lukewarm towards Somers and Hamel. In fact, about Hamel and co-producer Dick Clark, Ellison wrote that they "seem to be relatively decent human beings (I say 'relatively' because in a species that can produce Aquinas and Lieutenant [William] Calley, everything is relative)"...

...sorry I left out the name of the talk show discussed above, Mantrap. There was also something titled The Alan Hamel Show that CTV ran in the mid-to-late '70s, a daytime talk show that made Mike Douglas look manic ;D ...

 

[Tom Wells]

Didn't several of the "Love Boat" regulars get caught up in a Cocaine-related disgrace?

No doubt in nthe 80s there was plenty of that in the business, but I think they somehow distinguished
themselves as the most indulgent.

 

[Kurt Toy]

I recall Lauren Tewes did, don't know about the others.