Television Egos and Then Some

I have been thinking a lot about pop culture, more specifically, television.  I have always been irritated by "stars" that choose to leave their series.  It's gone on forever, but really, who's been successful? Michael J. Fox left Spin City.  He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and wanted to spend time with his family and concentrate on finding a cure. The only other actor that had a medical reason...do you know?  You have to go way back to the 60's.  Dick York, the first Darren, from Bewitched.  He suffered crippling back pain from a previous car accident.  After those two, let's go down the list of a handful of departed series regulars.  Suzanne Somers famously left 3's Company over a contract dispute.  At the time, the spin was all against her greedy ass and her husband/manager bungling the negotiations.  In retrospect, I think she was right.  She wanted equal pay for equal work.  Shelley Long left Cheers and killed her career for the most part.  It seemed at the time and still seems like career suicide. David Caruso, who was nothing before NYPD Blue made him a huge star, became so arrogant, pompous and hated that it took the 3rd spinoff of CSI to bring him back to the forefront two decades later.  I can't watch him at all. He is doing the same mannered acting on CSI Miami that he did on NYPD Blue.  Katherine Heigl believed her own press.  At the height of her career on Grey's Anatomy and one hit movie under her belt, she decided she was no longer a television star but a movie star.  When she accepted her SAG Award and told the peons that she does it all for "us," I almost threw up.  That did it for me and maybe everyone else.  She never reached the same heights and has been in mediocre to bad movies and now wants to come back to Grey's Anatomy.  I hope she doesn't, but maybe she will come back with her tail between her legs.  And the latest defector?  Kate Walsh from Grey's Anatomy's spinoff, Private Practice.  I never got her on Grey's or on Private Practice.  She doesn't come off empathetic and more like an ice princess.  Can't believe she is leaving.  It will be moderately interesting to see if she killed her career. 

Today on the Today Show they announced that Jack Osbourne, the 26 year old son of Ozzy and Sharon, has been diagnosed with MS.  They had a pop culture writer on and Dr. Nancy Snyderman. (For those of you out there that don't know, I have lived with MS for 25 years or more). The writer was discussing how Jack had tingling in his extremities for awhile and the kicker was that he woke up with 60% less vision in one eye.  I was very surprised that Dr. Snyderman didn't name that.  It's optic neuritis, it is a very common sign of MS.  I had it.  It's what nailed down the unofficial diagnosis.  What neither women made clear is that his sight will return in time.  Very surprising to me how murky the reporting was.  I hope that they find the right medicine for Jack and that he reaches out to Richard Cohen (Meredith Vieira's husband) who was diagnosed at 25 and now is 64.  

Sidebars:  Is there hope that movie going audiences are getting some discerning tastes?  That movie studios can't just throw any s**t at us and make zillions?  Rock of Ages and That's My Boy bombed at the box office.  The headline in the Times was Cruise and Sandler flopped.  That is an eye catching headline.  The Heat beat the Thunder in Game 3 (I mis-wrote in Saturday's rant and Game 3 was Sunday night not Saturday).  I still think the Thunder can win the whole thing.  The NY Yankees are on a winning streak. The US Open golf was interminable and should never be played on the west coast again.  It didn't end until way after 10pm Saturday and Sunday nights.  Oy! Tonight is The Bachelorette.  Also, Bunheads on ABC Family airs episode 2.  I hope it can keep going.  Happy Monday everyone!

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