Ask 411 Movies for 09.06.10: You’ll Never Walk Alone!

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 09.06.2010

Bruce Willis vs. Samuel L. Jackson, same character-different actor, shows that change lead characters, banned SNL hosts, Anatomy of a Murder, Branded, Assume the Position, Stephen King’s It and Bernie Mac’s never done roast of Michael Richards.

Happy Labor Day! Viva La Jerry Lewis!

Next week is my seventh anniversary writing this weekly column for 411Mania. In that time I've only missed one Ask 411 column. I think that makes me the longest continuous writer here on the site too. I'm a glutton for punishment I guess.

This coming weekend I'll be at the Riverside Drive-In in Vandergriff, Pa., for their annual Drive-In Super Monster-Rama. My friends from Creepy Classics will be selling DVDs and other cool swag in between the classic grindhouse flicks. This year they're showing The Comedy of Terrors, The Oblong Box, The Witch Maker and The Incredible Melting Man on Friday night. Saturday night has Frankenstein Created Woman, Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell, The Blood on Satan's Claw and Dr. Terror's House of Horrors.

As a takeoff from last month's YouTube theme, we will now take a look at music videos, which feature famous actors. I've shown it before, but it's worth another gander. "Sweep the Leg" from No More Kings is an ode to Johnny from The Karate Kid featuring Dennis Haskins, Ralph Macchio, Martin Kove and Billy Zabka, who directed the video.



Q: Hey Mr. H,
Great read as always. Two questions for you: Who is more prolific in Hollywood these days, Bruce Willis or Samuel L. Jackson? Its almost like every movie that comes out has one them in it. Also, do you ever envision a scenario where COPS, America's Most Wanted or WWE RAW are ever cancelled or ended by their creators hand? I could almost see AMW (which if I recall correctly was cancelled at one point) end if John Walsh ever stepped down as it doesn't seem to run a show w/ him as the host. Thanks again.
-Paul

A: According to imdb, Bruce Willis has six films either in the can, filming or in pre-production. Red is slated for release later this year with Willis as part of a retired gang of CIA agents also including Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich. He's currently filming Catch .44 where he convinces three women to enter into a life of crime with him. In pre-production is Looper, The Cold Light of Day, Kane & Lynch and Violet and Daisy. He's also rumored for five other movies, including a new M. Night Shyamalan flick and Die Hard 5.

Samuel L. Jackson has six films in filming, pre or post-production. This includes the upcoming Avengers and Avengers related films including a possible Nick Fury movie and a new xXx returning Vin Diesel to the franchise. He's also rumored for nine other movies, including playing Sho-Nuff in a remake of The Last Dragon.

So, Jackson is winning 15 to 11 movies total for possible release coming up.



As for your other question, nothing lasts forever. Eventually even television itself will cease to exist in the form we know it as and all programming. I agree with you that "America's Most Wanted" would probably end without John Walsh's involvement. "Cops" seems almost tame today. Both are little more than timeslot fillers anymore. "RAW" will probably last as long as WWE does or if they have a complete over haul of their company and go a different way with things, such as all pay-per-view shows or just doing programming for their own exclusive network. I don't see them going anywhere in the short term, but long term you can never say.

Q: Some friends of mine have argued about this, but is Branded mentioned in The Big Lebowski a real TV show or not.
-Dave

A: "Branded" was a real show, but it didn't run as long as suggested in The Big Lebowski. I believe Walter has a line like "he wrote 156 episodes of ‘Branded.' Bulk of the series, dude. He's not exactly a light weight" when referring to the fictional writer Arthur Digby Sellers. "Branded" ran two seasons of 48 episodes, 13 in black and white and the rest in color. A few episodes were cobbled together into a movie called Broken Sabre.

Chuck Connors starred as Jason McCord, a former Calvary captain who was drummed out on a false charge of cowardice. McCord then traveled throughout the west, having to prove himself week after week to people who knew of his reputation.



Q: What's your favorite courtroom drama?
-Nick

A: Anatomy of a Murder (1959): Paul Biegler (Jimmy Stewart) is an ex-district attorney who spends most of his days fishing and listening to jazz records. A high profile case drops in his lap of a soldier (Ben Gazzara) who killed a bar owner for raping his wife (Lee Remick). Biegler must build a case with the rape and his client's sanity in question. It doesn't get any easier when a hotshot assistant state attorney general (George C. Scott) comes in to help the prosecution.

Joseph Welch plays Judge Weaver, a real life lawyer who represented the army during the McCarthy hearings. He was cast after Burl Ives and Spencer Tracy turned the role down. The wife was originally Lana Turner, but she wanted her wardrobe to be entirely gowns from her own personal designer. Director Otto Preminger didn't think such gowns were appropriate for the part and he bumped Remick up from the smaller part of Mary. The movie featured many controversial words for the time period such as bitch, slut, sperm, contraceptive, penetration, rape and panties. Jimmy Stewart's father was so offended by the movie he took out an ad in his local paper encouraging people not to see it.

Yes, it might be tame by today's standards, but it was very risqué for the time and it deals with the controversial words and subject matter in a very frank and matter of fact way. This is one of the first movies to really get into the nuts and bolts of how lawyers operate and work not only within, but outside the law. Watch as Biegler tries everything he can do to introduce the rape as a viable part of the case. The movie was based on a book written by a former judge. The movie also has a great score by Duke Ellington, who has a cameo.

Other honorable mentions for me would be A Few Good Men, A Time to Kill, Inherit the Wind, Young Mr. Lincoln, The Verdict, To Kill a Mockingbird and 12 Angry Men, even though I guess that's a jury room drama.




Q: The Boston Legal question reminded me of Boston Public and something I've always wondered about that show. it seemed like all the promos for the first season were centered around a female character (don't remember who). I started watching it later in it's run and I'm pretty sure she was nowhere to be seen. How often do TV shows change lead characters like that?
-Squiggy

A: On Boston Public, the woman you're thinking of is Jessalyn Gilsig who played social studies teacher Lauren Davis. She left the series after the second season and shortly after wound up on "Nip/Tuck." Another primary lead was Nicky Katt as teacher Harry Senate. He left during the third season. More focus was placed on Chi McBride's principal and Jeri Ryan's character, who had several positions at the school, who came in on the second season. Andrew Crow in the comments last week goes over some of the mood and style changes and how that hurt the series.



The two main reasons a lead character change would happen is when a star leaves a series toward the end of its run and producers want to keep a once successful show going or the basic concept of the show changes early on. Heebies in the column last week mentioned "West Wing" and "A Different World."

"West Wing" was initially seen as more of a workplace drama than a political drama with Rob Lowe's Sam Seaborn as the primary character and the president rarely scene. However, Martin Sheen's President Jed Bartlett became very popular and the other characters began to grow and develop more. Lowe left over arguments on the direction of his character in season four.

"A Different World" was a spin-off from "The Cosby Show" detailing the college years of Lisa Bonet's Denise Huxtable. During the summer after the first season aired, Bonet became pregnant by her husband Lenny Kravitz. Having a pregnant Denise was a no-no, so her character dropped out of college and spent a year traveling abroad before returning to "The Cosby Show." Main secondary characters played by Kadeem Hardison and Jasmine Guy were then bumped to the leads.

The initial concept of "St. Elsewhere" was to detail veteran doctors teaching new doctors the ropes with the veterans in the lead. David Birney was one of the primary characters in the first season, but rumors have it he thought he was the main star and he demanded more money for season two. Producers cut him and his character was dropped without a word. Dr. Aushlander's role was beefed up and Mark Harmon was brought in to take on the hunky leading man romantic type storylines.

Ron Howard was interested in pursuing a career as a director and his character of Richie Cunningham on "Happy Days" was sent off to the army in 1980. Breakout character Fonzie, played by Henry Winkler, was then made the primary character as the series followed him becoming a teacher and dating a woman with a young daughter.

Zach Braff decided to stay on "Scrubs" when the switch was made to ABC, but always said that would be his last season. When the series looked to go on, Braff and a few other primary characters only made guest appearances in the final season. New doctors were introduced with Turk and Cox running the hospital.

John Travolta was already a big movie star in 1979 when the final season of "Welcome Back, Kotter" was being worked on. Technical star Gabe Kaplan was having creative differences backstage. Travolta and Kaplan both appeared rarely in the last season. Kotter's wife Julie became a secretary at the school to help keep her in the show and cover for Kaplan being out and Stephen Shortridge joined the cast as Beau, a new student from New Orleans, to replace Travolta.

An interesting one to mention is Tom Wopat and John Schneider leaving "Dukes of Hazzard" due to a contract dispute and being replaced by near clones Byron Cherry and Christopher Mayer. Ratings sank and Wopat and Schneider were hired back. In a similar situation, James Best as Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane missed several episodes to a contract dispute and they replaced him with a revolving Sheriff of the Week kind of thing.

Q: Watching that 70's show blooper real got my mind a-thinking.

Sometime during the Show's run, the actress who played Laurie, Eric's sister, was replaced. The same happened on Fresh Prince with the actress who played Vivian.

Do you know why they had to recast on those two shows, and are there any other cases of major/significant character being recast in other shows?
-Louis

A: Lisa Robin Kelly, who decided to leave the show after the third season, originally portrayed Laurie Foreman on "That 70's Show". She made a couple appearances in season five and was then replaced after that by Christina Moore. Moore came from "Mad TV" as did Josh Meyers, who came onto the series in the last season to help shore up the show after Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher cut back their appearances.

Aunt Vivian on the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire" was first played by Janet Hubert-Whitten and later by Daphne Maxwell Reid, at least they kept that three name thing going. Whitten became pregnant during the show's run, which was a violation of her contract, but it was worked into the series. After her child was born she decided to leave the series. Rumors have there was some animosity between her and star Will Smith.

Same character, different actor isn't that uncommon. Two major ones mentioned in the comments last week were Darren on "Bewitched" and Becky on "Roseanne."

Dick York was replaced by Dick Sergent as Samantha's husband on "Bewitched" in 1969. York suffered a back injury, which laid him up for several years and caused an addiction to painkillers. In some of York's final episodes he's seen primarily lying down, because he was in so much pain.

Becky on "Roseanne" was originally played by Lecy Goranson. During the show's fifth season, she went to college at Vassar and was only available sparingly. Becky and Mark eloped and Becky was usually seen only talking to her mother on the phone. The writers decided they wanted to use Becky more in the sixth season and recast her with Sarah Chalke. Goranson was able to come back in the eighth season, but more scheduling conflicts resulted in her missing two key shows Becky was needed for; when the family went to Disney World and when Darlene got married. Chalke was brought back for these episodes. For the remainder of the series Goranson played the part when available and Chalke did when Goranson was busy.

Barbara Bel Geddes had quadruple bypass surgery and missed about a third of the third season of "Dallas." She stepped down to tend to her health the following season. Not wanting to kill off Miss Ellie after killing off Ewing patriarch Jock due to the real life death of Jim Davis, the part was recast with Donna Reed. Reed never fit in with the rest of the cast. Patrick Duffy decided to leave after that season and "Dynasty" had snipped "Dallas" in the ratings, so producers thought it was important to bring Bel Geddes back as the rock of the cast. In almost switch from "Dallas," Larry Hagman tried to hold out for more money after the infamous "Who Shot JR?" cliffhanger. Producers called his bluff by saying they would have had JR shot in the face and needing reconstructive surgery. When the bandages came off, the new JR would be Robert Culp.

Marilyn Munster on "The Munsters" was played by Beverly Owen in the first season and Pat Priest after that. Owen left the series for marriage, but never liked the part anyway and only took the role due to contractual obligations.

Geri Reischel replaced Eve Plumb as Jan Brady for "The Brady Bunch Variety Hour," but Plumb didn't want to do the show. For the later "The Bradys" Leah Ayers took over Marcia from Maureen McCormick, because she didn't want to do that show.

Jo Marie Payton played Harriett Winslow on "Family Matters" for most of the show's run. In fact, the series was a spin-off of her character on "Perfect Strangers. Judyann Elder played Harriett for the final nine episodes of the series, because Payton just got fed up and left.

Loretta Switt played Christine Cagney in the TV movie pilot for "Cagney and Lacey," but "MASH" producers wouldn't let her out of her contract to take the part. When the series was picked up for six episodes as a mid-season replacement, Meg Foster played Cagney. Producers didn't like her, thinking she was too aggressive and could be pegged a lesbian. Sharon Gless took the part when the show was picked up in full for the following season.





Q: I remember reading somewhere that before Bernie Mac's death, he and Paul Mooney were planning to do a roast of Michael Richards. Is there any truth to that? It would've been hilarious if true.
-Richard Stamos

A: The April 2, 2007, issue of "The National Enquirer" had a story on Bernie Mac getting other black comedians together to roast Michael Richards." That previous November, Richards was caught on tape at a comedy club berating some hecklers by using the N-word and a lynching reference. Mac was friends with Richards and hoped such a roast would help to smooth matters over. The roast never came about, couldn't find a reason why. However, coming from the "Enquirer" the story itself is questionable.

Q: Here's an odd question I can't seem to find an answer to: Any reason why the DVD of Stephen King's It is edited? I seem to remember a scene where Bill's wife has dinner with the director of the film she's in who tries to convince her not to go to Derry but it's not on the DVD. Is it because it was produced when DVDs were new and they couldn't fit it all on one disc (even a dual-sided one) and weren't in the practice of producing two-disc sets yet? Also, any idea if they'll ever release an uncut version?

And, seeing how you mentioned liking Westerns, what are your thoughts on Deadwood?
-neverAcquiesce

A: Stephen King's It was released on a dual sided disc in 2002. Part one was on side A and part two on side B. The closing credits and "to be continued" at the end of part one was cut and the opening credits to part two were omitted. Along with that, the scene where Bill talks to the librarian is cut and side two starts with Bill arriving at the graveyard. That's the only changes I could find according to imdb and Amazon.

As mentioned before, I don't have the super-cable, so I've never seen "Deadwood." It does seem like a show I would like though.

Q: Have you ever watched Assume the Position with Robert Wuhl? I really recommend it if you haven't seen it. I believe you can find it on youtube.
-Spaghett

A: "Assume the Position" are two documentaries by Robert Wuhl where he teaches a college class about U.S. history. In part one, he ‘assumes the position' that history is pop culture and many things we know as fact are really falsities from literature among other things. In part two he ‘assumes the position' that history is based on a true story. He looks at the lack of diversity among the presidents and has his students guess what food icons are real and what ones are made up, among other things. HBO is looking to have Wuhl do a third one.

I watched the episodes on YouTube. I don't think Wuhl is completely correct in all he says either, but the episodes were very entertaining and very eye opening. Wuhl I think is a very underrated funny and smart guy.



Q: Bill Murray vs. Chevy Chase in a grudge rematch. Book it.

That said, I know there are quite a few other past hosts/cast members/guest stars who've been banned for some reason or another from Saturday Night Live...Lorne Michaels being known for running a tight shift (or is it ship?). Off the top of my head, Damon Wayans and George Carlin come to mind. Any others, and why? (Apologies if this has been asked before.)
-BJC

A: We have, but I'm never against reprints.

Martin Lawrence was banned in 1994 for a monologue that featured heavy talk about ‘female genitalia.' In rebroadcasts of the episode the monologue has been omitted and text goes over what Lawrence generally said.

Louise Lasser was undergoing "personal problems" and was incoherent through most of her show. Lorne Michaels never wanted the episode repeated, but it did go into syndication after he left as producer in 1981.

Charles Grodin hosted one time in 1977. He never showed for rehearsals and due to that ad-libbed many of his lines and threw everyone off.

Milton Berle hosted in 1979 and was banned because Michaels felt that Berle mugged to the camera too much, was too reliant on cue cards, overacted, slipped in his old bits and tried deliberately to upstage other performers. This episode was banned from rebroadcast until 2003.

Robert Blake was banned from hosting in 1982 when he crumpled up a script and threw it at writer Gary Kroeger.

Infamously in 1982 fans were allowed to call a 900 number to vote on whether Andy Kaufman should ever be allowed back on the show. The fans voted him off forever. This was actually Kaufman's idea to do.

Steven Seagal was banned from hosting after a 1991 appearance for being difficult to work with. Allegedly, a year later Nicholas Cage apologized to Lorne Michaels for the way he was acting and said he must be the biggest jerk they have ever had. Michaels told he was being hard on himself and the biggest jerk ever was Seagal.

Adrien Brody was banned in 2003 after improvising an introduction for musical act Sean Paul. Brody wore fake dreadlocks and used a fake Jamaican accent. Brody also called Sean Paul "Sean John." Lorne Michaels insists that any and all ideas be run by him first.

Several musical acts have also been banned from the show including Sinead O'Connor, Fear, The Replacements, Frank Zappa and Cypress Hill. Zappa was also host in a 1978 episode where he alienated everyone in the cast, save for John Belushi, with his odd humor. Elvis Costello and the Attractions were banned at one point for switching songs, but that was lifted.

Q: Great forgotten mini-series from I think the eighties was Chiefs. It is about several generations of police chiefs in a small southern town who discover a serial killer in the town has been killing for generations. Hope it finally will be on DVD one day.
-Tom Pack

A: "Chiefs" ran for three nights in Nov. 1983 on CBS. Stars included Charlton Heston, Keith Carradine, Brad Davis, Stephen Collins, Danny Glover, Wayne Rogers and Billy Dee Williams. The series is set in Delano, Ga., and starts in 1924. Heston plays the big shot in town and he appoints Rogers as the first police chief. He's followed by Davis and Williams. Each has trouble with the same serial killer. It was released on DVD for region 2. Embedding was disabled, so follow the link for the show's opening credits.

Don't die.

"I knew there was something wrong with that guy. I never met a gin drinker yet that you could trust."