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Ted McGinley

firepoint525

firepoint525

Okay, we all know Ted McGinley is the patron saint of "jumping the shark," but my question about him is not was he ever on a show that didn't eventually jump the shark, but rather, was he ever on a TV show from its very beginning? I looked him up on imdb, and it gave dates that he was on certain shows, but without knowing the dates those shows ran, I have no way of knowing if he was on any show from its very beginning. (Obviously, movies don't count.)

Looking forward to seeing Happy Days (the musical) tomorrow evening here in Nashville. I'm not expecting any appearances from Roger (Ted's character), but I'll let you know! ;D
 
Looking at the list McGinley had done over the years on IMDB...I dont think he ever did started with a show from the beginning. But I did notice something...Ted should had stuck doing more movies and less TV since some of those films he did were hits like Wayne's World 2, Revenge of the Nerds and Young Doctors In Love. Plus he did that Ben Affleck flick "Pearl Harbor" some years back but his role in the movie was not a "big" role
 
We all like to make fun of poor Ted, but if you check his credits - he has gotten a lot of work over the years. There are hundreds of yeoman actors who make a very good living (better than most of the rest of us) with a career consisting of guest shots, the occasional regular series part, small parts in movies, the occasional commercial and voice-over job, etc.

McGinley's doing just fine.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0569337/
 
mleach said:
Looking at the list McGinley had done over the years on IMDB...I dont think he ever did started with a show from the beginning.
Click to expand...

McGinley did star in at least one TV series from start to finish -- ABC's "Hope and Faith" (2003-2006), where he played the husband to Faith Ford's character (who was named "Hope", with Kelly Ripa playing "Faith"). Alas, like McGiney's other series, it was frequently at the bottom of the ratings.
 
Lkeller said:
We all like to make fun of poor Ted, but if you check his credits - he has gotten a lot of work over the years. There are hundreds of yeoman actors who make a very good living (better than most of the rest of us) with a career consisting of guest shots, the occasional regular series part, small parts in movies, the occasional commercial and voice-over job, etc.

McGinley's doing just fine.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0569337/
Click to expand...

He's never had any trouble getting jobs and making a good living. I'm not exactly sure why, but he must have a certain appeal.
 
Lkeller said:
There are hundreds of yeoman actors who make a very good living (better than most of the rest of us) with a career consisting of guest shots, the occasional regular series part, small parts in movies, the occasional commercial and voice-over job, etc.
Click to expand...

The irony of this statement is... Ted has never done a cameo on the one show that virtually any celebrity above the C-list has done a voice for at some point... "The Simpsons"! (He did lend his voice to "Family Guy," though...)
 
I've wondered if Ted-who I think is one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood-was ever offered any plum TV roles before turning them down?
 
Ted is a good actor but, for some reason, he's become the Terminator of television series'! As soon as he shows up on set, everyone present should know that it's over. Not sure if it was a run of bad luck or what, but by the time Ted shows up - whatever series it was has usually been tanking for some time. He just finishes them off. He's been pretty effective at this over the years.

It is funny that neither the Simpsons nor Family Guy have ever brought Ted on set to have some fun with his little claim to fame. Perhaps Matt Groening and Seth McFarlane are superstitious!!!
 
BRNout said:
Ted is a good actor but, for some reason, he's become the Terminator of television series'! As soon as he shows up on set, everyone present should know that it's over. Not sure if it was a run of bad luck or what, but by the time Ted shows up - whatever series it was has usually been tanking for some time. He just finishes them off. He's been pretty effective at this over the years.

It is funny that neither the Simpsons nor Family Guy have ever brought Ted on set to have some fun with his little claim to fame. Perhaps Matt Groening and Seth McFarlane are superstitious!!!
Click to expand...

It's cute to think of Ted as some kind of jinx, but there are notable exceptions, if you read his credits. Married with Children ran ten years from 87 to 97. Ted showed up in 89 and was in 166 of the 261 episodes. I don't think you can say his presence jinxed the show unless you think it took him 8 years to finish the job.

He's guest starred in a lot of other series that survived long after he showed up on set.

I think what happened to Ted is that a lot of producers brought him in as a regular late in their show's run, when they were on a downhill slide toward cancellation anyway. Probably just a coincidence...uh...multiple coincidences... ???
 
Every tv series comes to an end. Some gracefully, most not.
So if you've been in 30 tv series as a main character or a brief character, then you're bound to hit some series that end after you get there.
I'm pretty sure we logical people can agree that, at least usually, Ted McGinley wasn't responsible. ;)

[Is that his brother on "Scrubs?"]
 
quadraphonic said:
Every tv series comes to an end. Some gracefully, most not.
So if you've been in 30 tv series as a main character or a brief character, then you're bound to hit some series that end after you get there.
I'm pretty sure we logical people can agree that, at least usually, Ted McGinley wasn't responsible. ;)

[Is that his brother on "Scrubs?"]
Click to expand...

We can agree on that, but it's kind of fun to 'blame' Ted for the demise of many a show because his characters seemed to coincide with the demise of a couple of formerly popular shows. More logically, he is a versatile actor who is brought in to prop up an already failing franchise. But, with our love of coincidences, it's fun to point fingers - especially since the old Jump the Shark website dedicated an entire section to him. ;D

However, you are right to point out that he did not "kill" Married with Children. Still, it is amusing to think of him as some sort of a TV series hitman!
 
BRNout said:
quadraphonic said:
Every tv series comes to an end. Some gracefully, most not.
So if you've been in 30 tv series as a main character or a brief character, then you're bound to hit some series that end after you get there.
I'm pretty sure we logical people can agree that, at least usually, Ted McGinley wasn't responsible. ;)

[Is that his brother on "Scrubs?"]
Click to expand...

We can agree on that, but it's kind of fun to 'blame' Ted for the demise of many a show because his characters seemed to coincide with the demise of a couple of formerly popular shows. More logically, he is a versatile actor who is brought in to prop up an already failing franchise. But, with our love of coincidences, it's fun to point fingers - especially since the old Jump the Shark website dedicated an entire section to him. ;D

However, you are right to point out that he did not "kill" Married with Children. Still, it is amusing to think of him as some sort of a TV series hitman!
Click to expand...

I know how ya feel. I just don't like seeing a man get a bum rap. Respect Ted McGinley for his acting chops and versatility! He deserves it.
What might all this ridicule do to Ted's psyche? He may wreck his Ferrari on one of his daily trips to the bank or something. I imagine the ridicule he gets from bellboys and shoe shine boys and washerwomen must get to him?

Heads up. The other week I saw some site called bonethefish . com that was trying to take up where jumptheshark left off. ;)
 
"Happy Days" was already dead in the water. Ted was just along for the slow, painful ride. "Married With Children" was actually a better show after Ted joined the cast. His "Jefferson" character gave Al Bundy a partner-in-crime that he had not had up to that point.

BTW, has anyone seen the jumptheshark.com website? That thing jumped over, landed on, drowned, and shot the shark in the head for good measure!
 
I'm probably one of the few that like the later episodes of Married...with Children; Smittian was right about the Jefferson D'Arcy character, he was a much better foil (especially in the later years) to Al Bundy than David Garrison's Steve Rhoades character could ever be. Al and Steve were more like just friendly neighbors than best friends.

Also to clarify, McGinley officially joined the cast in 1991 (middle of season five); His appearance in 1989 was in guest-starring role that year's Christmas-themed "It's a Wonderful Life"-like episode.
 
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