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Power Rankings: Married…with Children, Part 2

10 Jan

Part 2 of the Married..with Children Power Rankings, where we get to the real meat of the rankings, the top 3.  Part 1 can be located here.

3.  Christina Applegate (as Kelly Bundy) – There’s a huge gap between the bottom four and the first three.  All of the top three have had incredibly impressive careers and I’m not really confident in how I ranked them; the continuing level of success of their current shows could change their ranking at any time.  Applegate gets points as the main star of her current show, but it’s only been on for one season and hasn’t reached the level of success of the current shows of the top two.  Applegate was the initial breakout star of the show and has had the most film work.  She appeared in The Big Hit and quickly got her own series, Jesse, which was given the prized but cursed 9:30 Thursday slot on NBC and lasted two seasons.  Over the first half of the 2000s, she appeared in films Just Visiting, The Sweetest Thing, and View from the Top, and appeared in two episodes of Friends as Rachel’s sister.  She was in Employee of the Month, Surviving Christmas and Will Ferrell smash Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy as Veronica Corningstone.  She got another series called Samantha Who? which aired on ABC and lasted two seasons.  She lent her voice to the last two Alvin and the Chipmunks movies as one of the Chippettes, and appeared in Going the Distance and Hall Pass.  She’s now starring in the first season of NBC’s Up All Night with Will Arnett.

2. Ed O’Neill – In the year Married…with Children ended, he appeared in small David Mamet movie The Spanish Prisoner.  He was in 1999’s The Bone Collector and appeared in 2000 NBC fantasy miniseries The 10th Kingdom as Relish, the Troll King.  In the early ‘00s, he starred in a couple of failed TV series.  First, on CBS, he starred as a police officer in Big Apple, which lasted just eight episodes.  Next, he starred in a Dragnet remake on ABC, which lasted a whole season, changing dramatically halfway through, and failed either way.  He appeared again in David Mamet films Spartan and Redbelt.  He shows up in four episodes of The West Wing as Pennsylvania Governor Eric Baker, who campaigns on and off for the Democratic presidential nomination, and eventually is offered the Vice Presidency in Matt Santos’ administration. He was in episodes of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, Twenty Good Years and The Unit, and co-starred in failed one season David Milch show John fromCincinnati.  In 2009, he was cast as family patriarch Jay Pritchett in Modern Family, and seems likely to play that role for many years to come as the show has become a bona fide hit.

1. Katey Sagal (as Peggy Bundy) –  She appeared in three episodes of That ‘70s Show as Hyde’s mother.  She was in TV movies Mr. Headmistress, Chance of a Lifetime, God’s New Plan, and Smart House.  She voiced a character in several episodes of kids’ cartoon Recess. She co-starred in the short-lived 13 episode series Tucker on NBC in 2000 and in Hank Azaria-led Imagine That in 2002.  She was a regular cast member in 8 Simple Rules, playing the wife of John Ritter, who died soon after the first few episodes of the second season were filmed.  The series lasted three seasons.  Starting in 1999, and continuing on and off to the present day, she has voiced the character of Leela, a one-eyed mutant space captain, in Futurama.  She was in a handful of episodes of Disney Channel kids show Higglytown Heroes.  She was in TV movies Three Wise Guys and Campus Confidential.  She was in episodes of Ghost Whisperer, The Winner, and two of The Shield.  She was in a five episode arc of Boston Legal and a four episode arc of Eli Stone, and was in three episodes of Lost as John Locke’s girlfriend.  Currently, she stars as Ron Perlman’s wife on FX’s Sons of Anarchy, now in its fourth season.  She beat out Ed O’Neill by appearing in another series other than her current one that aired multiple seasons, along with her continuing apperances in now 114 episodes of Futurama.

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Power Rankings: Married…with Children, Part 1

9 Jan

(Power Rankings sum up:  Each week, we’ll pick a television show and rank the actors/actresses/contestants/correspondents/etc. based on what they’ve done after the series ended (unless we’re ranking a current series, in which case we’ll have to bend the rules).  Preference will be given to more recent work, but if the work was a long time ago, but much more important/relevant, that will be factored in as well.

Married… with Children lasted a crazy 11 seasons and 262 episodes, which is kind of mindblowing.  For some reason David Faustino always makes me think that this cast has gone nowhere, but the rest of the Bundy family’s careers argue strongly otherwise.  Without thinking too hard about it, I’m tempted to say this is the most popular show ever with an ellipsis (scripted show at least, talk shows are much more likely to use one – Later…with Jools Holland, a British music show is for some reason the other that comes to mind).  Included here are the four main family members, neighbor Marcy D’arcy, and her two husbands (not at the same time).  Let’s begin.

7.  Amanda Bearse (as Marcy D’arcy) – She’s the loser David Faustino wishes he could be.  She was in one episode of Nikki and has been in two of Drop Dead Diva.

6.  David Faustino (as Bud Bundy) – I automatically assumed that Faustino’s career would warrant just a short sentence and a joke, but while it’s not going to land him high in the rankings, it could have been a lot worse.  He was in single episodes of plenty of series, including Jesse (which starred Married…with Children co-star Christina Applegate), The New Adams Family, Unhappily Ever After, The X-Files, Batman Beyond, The Bernie Mac Show and two of Nash Bridges.  He was in a McDonalds commercial and two episodes of Entourage as himself.  He was in some low-budget National Lampoon drek as well, such as National Lampoon’s Pucked and his own web series called Star-ving.


5.  David Garrison (as Steve Rhoads) – He was in individual episodes of series Welcome to New York, Family Law, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Judging Amy, Nikki, Ed, That’s Life, and Arli$$.  He was in three episodes of The Practice as a U.S. Attorney, four episodes of The West Wing as an MSNBC talking head, and five of Law & Order as a judge.  He was also in single episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, Without a Trace, and NYPD Blue.

4.  Ted McGinley (as Jefferson D’arcy) – He appeared in sequel Major League: Back to the Minors and in eight episodes of Aaron Sorkin dramedy Sports Night.  He was in three episodes of The West Wing and one of The Practice and appeared in TV movies Family Curse and Frozen Impact.  He co-starred in the short-lived Nathan Lane series Charlie Lawrence.  He starred in three seasons as Faith Ford’s husband in sitcom Hope & Faith.  He’s been in single episodes of ‘Til Death, Psych, Wizards of Waverly Place, and Breaking In, and provided his voice to two episodes of Family Guy.

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Power Rankings: Law & Order, Law edition, Part 2

20 Dec

Law & Order Power Rankings, Law edition has been chopped into two parts for convenience – you can find the first part here.

6.  Annie Parisse (as Alexandra Borgia, seasons 15-16) – She was in Definitely, Maybe.  She appeared in two episodes of revered World War II miniseries The Pacific, as well as episodes of Fringe, The Big C and Person of Interest.  She was in seven episodes of Rubicon as a love interest for the main character played by James Badge Dale.  She appeared in two episodes of Unforgettable.  This past year she participated in Shakespeare in the Park plays All’s Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure.  Also, strangely enough, her brother is married to Sam Waterston’s daughter.

5.  Elisabeth Rohm (as Serena Southerlyn, seasons 11-14) – She was in Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous and TV movies FBI: Negotiator and Amber’s Story.  She was in three episodes of Big Shots and single episodes of 90210 and The Mentalist.  She was in eight episodes of the fourth and final seasons of Heroes, as Lauren Gilmore, who works with Noah Bennett and has a romantic relationship with him.  Recently, she was in Taylor Lautner movie Abduction.

4.  Richard Brooks (as Paul Robinette, seasons 1-3) – Brooks was in episodes of Chicago Hope, ER, Diagnosis Murder, Renegade, Nash Bridges, and Brimstone.  He was in The Substitute and The Crow: City of Angels.  He was a regular in the two season USA show G vs. E in 1999 as an agent in the afterlife who works for Heaven against a group of villains called “Morlocks” from Hell.  Afterwards, he was on episodes of NYPD Blue, Dead Last, Firefly, Skin, NCIS and Close to Home.  He played a detective in the short-lived 2007 Fox show Drive.  Afterwards, he’s been in episodes of Lie to Me, Childrens Hospital and Charlie’s Angels.

3.  Dianne Wiest (as Nora Levin, seasons 11-12) – She was a voice in Robots and in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Dan in Real Life, Synecdoche, New York, Rabbit Hole and The Big Year.  She appeared in two seasons of In Treatment as main character Paul Weston’s therapist, who he visited on Friday episodes.  Weist won an Emmy award for her work on the show.

2.  Jill Hennessy (as Claire Kincaid, seasons 4-6) –  Between the end of her Law & Order run, she appeared in Most Wanted and smaller films The Florentine and Row Your Boat.  In 2001 she got her next big role, starring as Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh in NBC drama Crossing Jordan.  She portrayed a forensic pathologist in Massachusetts who helped solve murders.  The show lasted six seasons and almost 120 episodes.  She portrayed her character on three episodes of Las Vegas.  She was in the movie Wild Hogs and will be in the new HBO horse racing David Milch series Luck.

1.  Angie Harmon (as Abby Carmichael, seasons 9-11) – After leaving Law & Order, she was in the direct-to-video Charlie Sheen-Denise Richards starrer Good Advice.  She voiced Barbara Gordon in an episode of Batman Beyond.  She appeared in Agent Cody Banks and was a main cast member in NBC series Inconceivable, about a group of people who work in fertility clinic (a groan about the title would be appropriate now), which only lasted two episodes.  She was in Fun with Dick and Jane and then co-starred in ABC series Women’s Murder Club, which lasted 13 episodes and was based on a series of James Patterson novels.  She was in single episodes of Samantha Who? And Chuck.  She currently stars as part of the cop and medical examiner partnership Rizzoli and Isles on TNT (one of the worst TV show titles in recent memory).  She’s detective Jane Rizzoli to Sasha Alexander’s Maura Isles.  The highly rated cable show finished its second season this summer and has been renewed for a third.  She gets the slight nod over Hennessey for more variety of career, and the current hit show, though if Hennessey is actually a significant part of Luck, and Luck is successful, the pendulum could swing in her direction.

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Power Rankings: Law & Order, Law edition, Part 1

19 Dec

(Power Rankings sum up:  Each week, we’ll pick a television show and rank the actors/actresses/contestants/correspondents/etc. based on what they’ve done after the series ended (unless we’re ranking a current series, in which case we’ll have to bend the rules).  Preference will be given to more recent work, but if the work was a long time ago, but much more important/relevant, that will be factored in as well)

Last week, it was Order, this week it’s Law, and the actors and actresses who played the lawyers on the 20 year show get their chance to shine.  I think overall the cops have done more, but the lawyers have had their share of productive work as well.  Since people have been on the show drastically different lengths of time, I’ll give a slight credit to people who have had less post-L&O time to appear in TV and movies.  Let’s rank ’em.

13.  Steven Hill (as Adam Schiff, seasons 1-10) –  Hill’s 89 now, and was 78 when his time on Law & Order wrapped up.  Besides his age, his orthodox Judaism makes it difficult to work.  Suffice it to say, Law & Order was his last role.  Sometimes I like to make a comment about what a loser the last person on a rankings is, but Hill was old and had a long and distinguished acting career.

12.  Sam Waterston (as Jack McCoy, seasons 5-20) – He’s done nothing yet but he’s slated to be in an upcoming Aaron Sorkin series for HBO based around TV news and starring Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer.  I hate having to put the man  behind the legendary McCoy, with the second most episodes of Law & Order of any actor, this low, but I have no alternative until his new show airs.

11.  Carey Lowell (as Jaime Ross, seasons 7-8) – She was in a couple of episodes of short-lived Ed O’Neill series Big Apple.  She was in two episodes of the short-lived Law & Order spin-off Trial by Jury as her Law & Order character, now a judge.  She had a small role in the TV miniseries Empire Falls based on the novel of the same name.  She had a recurring role in one season J.J. Abrams series Six Degrees.

10.  Fred Thompson (as Arthur Branch, seasons 13-17) – Thompson played President Ulysses S. Grant in TV movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and then attempted to play the real president with a relatively quickly aborted run at the 2008 Republican nomination.  Afterwards, he was in movie Secretariat and episodes of Life on Mars and The Good Wife.

9.  Linus Roache (as Michael Cutter, seasons 18-20) – The British Mr. Roache appeared in five episodes of British soap Coronation Street, which has starred Roache’s father for many years (Would a twitter “Occupy Coronation Street” trend be funny in the UK?).  He appeared in four episodes as his Law & Order character in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, in which he’s been promoted to bureau chief.  He will soon be starring in British series Titanic.

8.  Alana De La Garza (as Connie Rubirosa, seasons 17-20) – She spun off from Law & Order into the one season Law & Order: LA, playing the same character.  De La Garza reprised her role in CSI:Miami from Season 4 appearing a apparition to Horatio (her character had died earlier in the series).

7.  Michael Moriarty (as Ben Stone, seasons 1-4) – Moriarty has become a certified kind of crazy person, with such wonderful statements as, “ The Supreme Court took a once individually free nation and corrupted it by the lie of Science that fetuses are, in their first two trimesters, no more than egg yolk.”  He’s done some acting too though.  In the ‘90s, he was in movies Courage Under Fire and Shiloh and TV movies Children of the Dust, Cagney and Lacey: True Convictions, Crime of the Century, The Arrow, Galileo: On the Shoulders of Giants, and Earthquake in New York.  Later he was in episodes of Touched by an Angel, The Outer Limits, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, The 4400 and Masters of Horror.  He was in Along Came a Spider and won an Emmy for his role in a James Dean TV movie in 2001, where he played Dean’s father.

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Power Rankings: Law & Order, Order edition, Part 2

13 Dec

Law & Order Power Rankings, Order edition has been chopped into two parts for convenience – you can find the first part here.

4.  George Dzundza (as Max Greevey, season 1) – Dzundza has had the most time to work, participating in a mere 1/20th of the series. After he left, he appeared in Basic Instinct, Dangerous Minds, That Darn Cat, Species II and several episodes of the Batman animated series as Scarface and several of the Superman animated series as Perry White.  He was a regular in Christina Applegate’s one season Jesse and appeared on episodes of Matlock, Touched by an Angel, Third Watch and The Agency.  He was in films Instinct and City by the Sea in the early ‘00s and was a main cast member in one season Hack.  He was in seven episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and episodes of October Road and Stargate SG-1.

3.  Dann Florek (as Donald Cragen, season 1-3) – After his role on classic L&O ended, Florek bounced around, appearing in episodes of Wings, Ellen, The John Laroquette Show, Roseanne, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, NYPD Blue, The Pretender and The Practice.  He was in two episodes of astronaut miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.  In the short-lived The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, Florek played Abraham Lincoln.  In TV movie Exiled, he reprised his role as Captain Kragen, and he was in six episodes of Smart Guy as a gym teacher and basketball coach.  In 1999, he got what he’s now best known for, a role as his old Law & Order character Captain Kragen, this time working with the Special Victims Unit.  He’s been doing it for 13 years so far.  He’s been a main character on a 13 season show but I’m deducting a little bit because he’s playing the same character as on regular Law & Order and it’s kind of cheating.

2.  Benjamin Bratt (as Rey Curtis, season 6-9) – He’s appeared in many movies since his term on Law & Order ended, such as Red Planet, Miss Congeniality, Traffic, Abandon, The Woodsman, Catwoman, Thumbsucker and as a voice in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  He starred in the one season E-Ring on NBC in 2005 about the Pentagon and in the two season A&E show The Cleaner about a recovering drug addict who helps other drug addicts recover (there are a thousand better shows that could be made based on the title “The Cleaner”).  He starred in a miniseries based on The Andromeda Strain and he has become a regular as of current season five of Private Practice as Dr. Jake Reilly.  He’s also appeared in two episodes of Modern Family as Manny’s dad and Gloria’s ex-husband.

1A.  Jerry Orbach (as Lenny Briscoe, season 3-14) – he deserved a spot on the list.  This is merely an honorary spot and conveys no true ranking except to specifically note that Jerry Orbach is awesome.

1.  Chris Noth (as Mike Logan, season 1-6) – His first couple of years post Law & Order were filled with TV movies, including Nothing Lasts Forever, Abducted: A Father’s Love, Born Free: A New Adventure, Rough Riders, Medusa’s Child, and Exiled, in which he starred as his Law & Order character.  In Castaway, he plays the man who marries Tom Hanks’ wife, while Hanks is, well, castaway.  In 1998, he got his biggest post-Law & Order role as Mr. Big in Sex and the City.  Mr. Big is Carrie’s most important love interest over the course of the series, and they get together several times before finally getting married at the end of the first movie and they remain married through the second movie through some difficulties.  He was in a couple of episodes of Crossing Jordan with former Law & Order co-star Jill Hennessy and TV movies The Judge, This is Your Country, and Bad Apple.  He returned to the Law & Order franchise in Criminal Intent for a couple of seasons as his old character Mike Logan.  Since 2009, he has been a recurring cast member, as the bad husband of the titular The Good Wife, now in its third season, appearing in the majority of the episodes of the series.

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Power Rankings: Law & Order, Order edition, Part 1

12 Dec

(Power Rankings sum up:  Each week, we’ll pick a television show and rank the actors/actresses/contestants/correspondents/etc. based on what they’ve done after the series ended (unless we’re ranking a current series, in which case we’ll have to bend the rules).  Preference will be given to more recent work, but if the work was a long time ago, but much more important/relevant, that will be factored in as well)

We’re going to take on a major challenge this week in Power Rankings.  We’re raking just the actors (and actresses) who who have played detectives on the “order” section of Law & Order.  Because the show lasted 20 years, some cast members have had more time to build up their resumes since their tenure ended, so we’ll do our best to take that into consideration but it will still be admittedly unfair (ie. Jeremy Sisto is not expected to have done as much as Paul Sorvino to get the same rankings).  I’ll make note of what seasons every character was on.  Eventually, we’ll return with the attorneys.  Sadly, Jerry Orbach died shortly after he left the show, after he had just filmed a couple of episodes of short-lived spin off Law & Order: Trial By Jury.  He won’t be included formally, but will get a special shout out.  We begin.

11.  S. Epatha Merkerson (as Anita Van Buren, season 4-20) – She was in 391 episodes, more than any other cast member.  Unfortunately, since she was on until the end, she hasn’t done anything since the show’s finale.  It’s rough and kind of unfair, but hey, I don’t make the rules.  She’ll be in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln next year.

10.  Jessie L. Martin (as Ed Green, season 10-18) – He cameoed in A Muppet Christmas: Letters to Santa and he co-starred in NBC’s one season The Philanthropist, about a billionaire playboy who decides to devote his fortune to helping others.  He was in the Shakespeare in the Park Central Park productions of The Winter’s Tale and The Merchant of Venice in 2010.

9.  Anthony Anderson (as Kevin Bernard, season 18-20) – Just out of L&O, he was in Scream 4 and The Big Year and an episode of Shameless.  He’s lined up to be in Scary Movie 5.

8.  Milena Govich (as Nina Cassady, season 17) –  Govich portrayed the only female detective, and by far the most irritating detective in Law & Order’s 20 year run, and not because of her gender.  Cassady was in four episodes of K-Ville with fellow Law & Order detective Anthony Anderson and was in 16 episodes of Rescue Me as a con-woman and prostitute.  She was in one episode of Psych and Body of Proof and two of The Defenders.

7.  Paul Sorvino (as Phil Cerreta, season 2) – He spent the ‘90s with steady TV movie work, with the titles including A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Wicked Wives, Parallel Lives, The Art of the Cigar, Escape Clause, Houdini, The Championship Season, and best remembered by me, Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way, in which he played Joe Torre.  He was in movies Nixon, Romeo + Juliet, Money Talks, Most Wanted, and Bulworth.  For two seasons starting in 2000, he starred in CBS drama That’s Life alongside Ellen Burstyn.  He was in four episodes of Still Standing.  He’s been in The Cooler, Hey Arnold: The Movie, Mr. 3000, Repo! The Genetic Opera and a host of smaller projects including a TV movie with the fantastic name Mafia Doctor.

6. Jeremy Sisto (as Cyrus Lupo, season 18-20) – He’s basically only been done a year and in that time he’s hooked up with ABC surprise hit Suburgatory which has been picked up for a full season.  Sisto plays dad George Altman who moved his daughter from the city to the suburbs after finding condoms in her drawer.

5.  Dennis Farina (as Joe Fontana, season 15-16) – He was in What Happens in Vegas and in lesser known films The Grand, You Kill Me, Bottle Shock, and The Last Rites of Joe May.  He’s currently the host of Unsolved Mysteries on Lifetime and will be co-starring in Luck on HBO with Dustin Hoffman where he’ll play Hoffman’s character’s driver.

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Power Rankings: Happy Days, Part 2

6 Dec

We’ve broken the Happy Days Power Rankings into two parts because they’re damn long.  You can find part 1 here.

4.  Pat Morita (as Matsuo “Arnold” Takahashi) – Morita’s most well known role came right after Happy Days, with 1984’s The Karate Kid, in which he played martial arts mentor Mr. Miyagi.  He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and revived the role in three sequels and a short-lived TV show.  He was in TV movies Blind Alleys, The Vegas Strip War, Amos, Alice in Wonderland and What Has Four Wheels and Flies.  He starred for two seasons in Ohara as a police lieutenant.  He provided narration in TV special Big Bird in Japan, marking the second Happy Days actor to have an association with Sesame Street.  He was in Honeymoon in Vegas and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and in episodes of Dave’s World, The French Prince of Bel-Air, Burke’s Law, Murder, She Wrote, Married with Children, Boy Meets World, The Outer Limits, Diagnosis: Murder, and Caroline in the City.  He starred in four season Nickelodeon show The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo as Shelby’s grandfather.  He was in three episodes of The Hughleys and five of Baywatch and voiced the emperor of China in Mulan and its sequel as well as in Kingdom Hearts.  In the 2000s he also appeared in episodes of Yes, Dear and Spongebob Squarepants before dying in 2005.  He’s ahead of Bosley for working longer even though he’s only a couple years younger and for getting an Academy Award nomination.

3.  Scott Baio (as Chachi Arcola) – After Happy Days, Baio moved right into starring in Charles in Charge, a sitcom which lasted five seasons, half on CBS, and half in first run syndication until 1990.  While that show was airing, he was in an episode of Full House, an episode of My Two Dads, a couple of episodes of Out of This World, and TV movies The Truth About Alex and Alice in Wonderland,  Baio was in the second season of two season show Baby Talk and starred for two seasons in Dick Van Dyke drama Diagnosis: Murder.  He has been in episodes of The Nanny, Veronica’s Closet, Touched by An Angel, and four episodes of Arrested Development as lawyer Bob Loblaw.  He also appeared in MTV reality programs Scott Baio is 45…and Single and Scott Baio is 46…and Pregnant.  Baio also directed several episodes of The Wayans Bros. and Out of this World as well as 36 episodes of Charles in Charge.  He’s ahead of Morita for having the most successful post-Happy Days show.

2.  Henry Winkler (as Arthur Fonzanelli) – while to this day Winkler is best known as Fonzie, he’s been busy, particularly in the last decade.  He barely acted at all in the second half of the 1980s, apparently only as a voice in TV movies Happily Ever After and Two Daddies? and in an episode of Pryor’s Place.  After dipping his toe back in the television water in the early ‘90s with TV movies The Only Way Out and Absolute Strangers and an episode of MacGyver, he starred in short-lived 13 episode series Monty, in which he played a conservative Rush Limbaugh-esque commentator.  He finished out the rest of the ‘90s with more TV movies One Christmas (with Katherine Hepburn), A Child is Missing, Dad’s Week Off, and Detention: The Siege at Johnson High, appearances in The Larry Sanders Show, South Park and The Simpsons and roles in films The Waterboy and Scream.  He was busier in the first half of the next decade, most notably as incompetent attorney Barry Zuckerkorn in Arrested Development, but also appearing in episodes of King of the Hill, Blue’s Clues, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and The Drew Carey Show.  He was in three of Third Watch and three of The Practice and in films Down to You, Little Nicky, and Holes.  He was a main cast member as one of a family of doctors in the one season Out of Practice and lent his voice to the extremely short-lived and terrible Mitch Hurwitz cartoon Sit Down Shut Up.  He was in two episodes of Crossing Jordan, three of Numb3rs, and appeared in Click.  Most recently he’s had a recurring role on USA’s Royal Pains as the father of the main two characters and has appeared in Adult Swim’s Childrens Hospital as hospital administrator Sy Mittleman.  He’s ahead of Baio for appearing many times more often in the last decade.

1.  Ron Howard (as Richie Cunningham) – Well, he got largely out of the acting game after Happy Days, only acting again as his The Andy Griffith Show character in TV special Return to Mayberry and as the narrator for Arrested Development.  Ron Howard has been best known for his film directing work, with his big break being 1982’s Nightshift.  Afterward, he’s directed Splash, Coccoon, Willow, Parenthood, Backdraft, Far and Away, The Paper, Apollo 13, Ransom, EdTV, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Beautiful Mind, The Missing, Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code, Frost/Nixon and Angels and Demons (this is a long list I know, and I was going to take out totally unheard of titles, but there really aren’t any).  He was nominated for the Best Director Academy Award for Frost/Nixon and won for A Beautiful Mind.  He’s also a prominent producer with partner Brian Grazer.  He’s executively produced such TV shows as Arrested Development, Sports Night, The PJs, and Felicity as well as his own movies.  It’s hard to compare directing to acting, but Howard’s films have been of the commercial and critical level that I think he’s a pretty clear #1.

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Power Rankings: Happy Days, Part 1

5 Dec

(Power Rankings sum up:  Each week, we’ll pick a television show and rank the actors/actresses/contestants/correspondents/etc. based on what they’ve done after the series ended (unless we’re ranking a current series, in which case we’ll have to bend the rules).  Preference will be given to more recent work, but if the work was a long time ago, but much more important/relevant, that will be factored in as well)

Happy Days this week.  This is a very long one, so it’s getting split into two parts.  I went with a slightly more expanded cast then I felt I needed to because why not and I kind of wanted to cover Pat Morita.  A surprising amount of the cast found a surprising amount of success after the show.  Let’s go.

12.  Lynda Goodfriend (as Lori Beth Allen Cunningham) – She had small roles in Beaches and Pretty Woman.  I’m always glad when there’s one person with almost nothing.  It’s easier to write and it lets the rankings build.

11.  Al Molinaro (as Al Delvecchio) – After Happy Days, Molinaro was in an episode of Punky Brewster.  He was in the main cast of one season series The Family Man in 1991 and in a Step by Step episode in 1992.  He appeared in Weezer’s Buddy Holly video introducing the band.

10.  Cathy Silvers (as Jenny Piccalo) – She was in a The Love Boat, a Punky Brewster and a Wings, and co-starred in one season series Foley Square.  More interesting to me, she’s the son of Phil Silvers, best known as Sgt. Bilko.  Most interesting to me, she voiced Marie Dodo in fantastic Sesame Street movie Follow That Bird.  She gets ahead of Molinaro for that last credit.

9.  Erin Moran (as Joannie Cunningham) – She was in six episodes of The Love Boat (was anybody acting on ‘70s TV not in The Love Boat?) and episodes of Glitter, Murder, She Wrote and Diagnosis: Murder.  She took a decade before her next roles in TV movie Mother Goose Parade and an episode of The Bold and the Beautiful in 2009.  She was a contestant on Celebrity Fit Club in 2008 and appeared in Not Another B Movie in 2011.

8.  Don Most (as Ralph Malph) – After Happy Days, he appeared in three seasons of Dungeons & Dragons on CBS and as a voice on both seasons of the animated Teen Wolf show.  Afterwards, he was in episodes of The Munsters Today, Charles in Charge, Murder, She Wrote, Baywatch, Sliders, Dark Skies and Diagnosis Murder.  In the 2000s, he appeared in episodes of Yes, Dear, Star Trek: Voyager, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Century City, Men of a Certain Age and Glee.

7.  Anson Williams (as Potsie Weber) – I want to take a moment and note that the character shares his actual name with my dad – Warren Weber.  Okay, now that that’s acknowledged, I will get to describing Williams’ work, and note the gap between Most and Williams, even with Most clearly ahead of Moran.  I didn’t exactly know how to evaluate TV direction, so Williams is stuck here but the remaining seven people have all had exemplary careers.  Williams was in TV movie I Married a Centerfold in 1984, didn’t work for a decade, was in an episode of Fudge in 1995, didn’t work for a half decade, and was in two episodes of Baywatch.  Since then he’s been in episodes of Son of the Beach, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and TV movie Take 2.  I was about to chalk Williams up as a loser here, until I realized that his real forte since the early ‘80s has been in TV directing.  He’s directed dozens of episodes of well-known shows.  He started with an ABC Afterschool Special and an L.A. Law in the 1980s, and afterwards added four Diagnosis Murders, seven Fudges, seven Seaquest 2032s and individual episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess, The Pretender and Clueless.  He directed multiple episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Melrose Place, Beverly Hills 90210, The Profiler, Charmed, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Lizzie McGuire and The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

6.  Marion Ross (as Marion Cunningham) – Ross spent the post-Happy Days ‘80s appearing in single episodes of TV shows Hotel, Glitter, You Are the Jury, You Again?, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Night Court, Sister Kate, and MacGyver along with a recurring role in Love Boat as Emily Haywood, who marries Captain Merrill Stubing.  She starred as the mother in the critical acclaimed two season Brooklyn Bridge, which started in 1991 and like Happy Days was also set in the 1950s.  Afterwards, she was in episodes of Dream On, Sweet Justice, The John Laroquette Show, Burke’s Law, Promised Land, Early Edition and Family Law as well as TV movies Hidden in Silence, A Perfect Stranger, Hart to Hart: Secrets of the Hart, The Third Twin and About Sarah.  She was in four episodes of That ‘70s Show as Eric Forman’s grandmother and four episodes of Touched by An Angel.  She played Drew Carey’s mom in 14 episodes of The Drew Carey Show.  She showed up in six episodes of Gilmore Girls and in three episodes of Brothers & Sisters and The Boondocks.  She was in episodes of Out of Practice, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Nurse Jackie and Grey’s Anatomy.  She also lent her voice to episodes of King of the Hill, Spongebob Squarepants and two TV Scooby-Doo movies.

5.  Tom Bosley (as Howard Cunningham) – He was in TV movies Private Sessions and Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun and five episodes of The Love Boat.  He was a recurring character in 19 episodes of Murder She Wrote as Cabot Cove’s local sheriff, Amos Tupping, and picked up possibly his second most famous role starring in four seasons of Father Downling Mysteries as the titular priest during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.  Afterwards, he primarily guested in individual episodes of television series, including Rugrats, Burke’s Law, Johnny Bravo, Early Edition, Port Charles, Jack & Jill,Walker, Texas Ranger, ER, Family Law, Touched by an Angel, One Tree Hill, Still Standing and Family Guy.  He was in Jennifer Lopez movie The Backup Plan before he sadly passed away in 2010.

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Power Rankings: Wings

28 Nov

(Power Rankings sum up:  Each week, we’ll pick a television show and rank the actors/actresses/contestants/correspondents/etc. based on what they’ve done after the series ended (unless we’re ranking a current series, in which case we’ll have to bend the rules).  Preference will be given to more recent work, but if the work was a long time ago, but much more important/relevant, that will be factored in as well)

Wings lasted for eight seasons and 172 episodes and I have never seen a single episode nor even knew it existed while it was airing, from 1990 to 1997.  Since then I’ve been made aware of the show and have picked up a couple of facts about it, like the name of the airline (Sandpiper) and the name of the airport (Tom Nevers Field), but still best know the show for a couple of actors who made their bones there before showing up elsewhere.

9.  David Schramm (as Roy Biggins) – After last week’s all around success story, it’s nice to get to a good old fashioned power rankings loser. Schramm has a mere one credit after the end of Wings, a voice role in an episode of Hercules in 1998.

8.  Crystal Bernard (as Helen Chapel-Hackett) – While Schramm’s work makes Bernard seem prolific, Bernard’s post Wings work pretty much consists of a series of TV movies – Grave Misconduct, The Secret Path, A Face to Kill For, To Love, Honor & Betray, Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus and its sequel Meet the Santas.  She appeared in an episode of According to Jim.  Yikes.  She also had a #25 single on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1999 with “Don’t Touch Me There.”

7.  Rebecca Schull (as Fay Cochran) – Almost 80 now, I’m giving her the tiebreaker against Bernard if for no other reason than for her age.  She has been in episodes of Frasier, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Damages, and three of Suits.  She’s also appeared in The Odd Couple II, Analyze This, Analyze That, United 93 and Little Children.

6.  Farrah Forke (as Alex Lambert) – Forke had the smallest role on Wings for anyone I included, as she was a main cast member for just one season and was off the show by 1995.  Afterwards, she had a recurring role as district attorney Mayson Drake on Lois and Clarke: The New Adventures of Superman.  She was a main cast member in two subsequent one season sitcoms, 1995’s Dweebs, as an office manager of a software company and as a guidance counselor on 1996’s Mr. Rhodes.  She was in an episode of Ned & Stacey, one of Jenny, one of the Fantasy Island remake and in three of Party of Five.  Since the turn of the century the only role she’s had is voicing heroine Big Barda in one episode of Batman Beyond and two of Justice League.

5.  Amy Yasbeck (as Casey Chapel Davenport) – Immediately after Wings, Yasbeck co-starred in the one season Alright Already which doesn’t even warrant a wikipedia page.  In 2005, she co-starred in the equally short-lived Life on a Stick.  She’s also been in episodes of It’s Like, You Know, Just Shoot Me!, That’s so Raven, Hot in Cleveland and Worst Week.  Yasbeck gets the nod over Forke for having appeared in person in a role after 2000.

4.  Steven Weber (as Brian Hackett) – There’s a huge jump between Yasbeck and Weber.  The top four on Wings have all had exemplary post-Wings careers and the rankings would be almost more accurate listed simply in two tiers than in numbering further.  That said, we must rank on.  Weber was a voice in the All Dogs Go to Heaven TV series and acted in a number of TV movies including Thanks of a Grateful Nation, Love Letters, Late Last Night, and Common Ground.  He was in episodes of The Outer Limits, The Simpsons, Extreme Ghostbusters and Stark Raving Mad.  Weber starred in a failed sitcom fittingly called The Weber Show in 2000.  He had a recurring role in nine episodes of Once and Again as Billy Campbell’s friend. He was then in episodes of Monk, The Lyon’s Den, American Dad and Will & Grace.  He co-starred in high-priced flop Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip as network head Jack Rudolph.  He appeared in one episode of Psych, three of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and four of Without a Trace.  He was in eight episodes of Brothers and Sisters, three of In Plain Sight and Falling Skies, and one of Desperate Housewives, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Party Down as a gangster of indeterminate eastern European origin who was just acquitted of murder.  He was in the main cast of unsuccessful 2010 midseason replacement Happy Town.  He’ll be voicing Norman Osborn in the upcoming Ultimate Spider-man cartoon series.

3.  Thomas Hayden Church (as Lowell Mather) – Church left Wings after the fifth season, after which he starred in sitcom Ned and Stacey alongside Debra Messing for two seasons.  He appeared in movies George of the Jungle, 3000 Miles to Graceland, The Specials, Spanglish and Idiocracy.  His most notable film roles may be that of Jack in Sideways and of Sandman in Spider-man 3.  He had voice roles in Over the Hedge, Charlotte’s Web and Aliens in the Attic.  He appeared in episodes of Lucky and Miss Match and in miniseries Broken Trail.  Most recently, he’s been in films Smart People, All About Steve, Easy A and will be in We Bought A Zoo.

2.  Tim Daly (as Joe Hackett) – After the end of Wings, Daly appeared in The Object of My Affection and in four episodes of astronaut mini-series From The Earth to the Moon as Jim Lovell, who Tom Hanks portrayed in Apollo 13.  He starred in Stephen King mini-series Storm of the Century which I watched while on vacation as it aired.  He voiced Superman in the popular ‘90s animated series, most of which aired after Wings ended.  He starred in several failed series including 2000’s remake of The Fugitive, where Daly played Richard Kimble, 2005 ABC private investigation series Eyes, and 2006’s bank heist drama The Nine.  He had a memorable recurring role in The Sopranos as J.T. Dolan, a drug-addicted screenwriter, who Chris bonds with in rehab and then has beaten up when Dolan doesn’t pay back money on time.  He was in episodes of Monk, Chasing Amy, and Commander in Chief.  He currently co-stars in Grey’s Anatomy spin-off Private Practice as Pete Wilder who has lots of crazy affairs and events over the course of the five year run of the show if his character’s wikipedia page is to be believed.

1.  Tony Shalhoub (as Antonio Scarpacci) – You might say Shalhoub’s done okay since Wings ended.  Before the ‘90s were out, Shalhoub appeared in films Men in Black, Gattica, A Life Less Ordinary, Primary Colours, The Siege, A Civil Action and Galaxy Quest.  He also appeared in an episode of Ally McBeal and starred in the short-lived sitcom Stark Raving Mad with Neil Patrick Harris.  In the 2000s, he appeared in Men in Black 2, the Sky Kids series of films, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Thir13en Ghosts, Life or Something Like It, 1408, and as a voice in Cars.  In 2002, he landed his biggest role as the star of USA’s Monk, which lasted eight seasons and starred Shalhoub as Adrian Monk, a retired but brilliant detective with obsessive compulsive disorder who helps the police solve murder cases in San Francisco.  He won three Emmy awards for the role.  Post-Monk he has so far appeared in film How Do You Know and HBO movie Too Big To Fail.

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Power Rankings: Just Shoot Me!

21 Nov

(Power Rankings sum up:  Each week, we’ll pick a television show and rank the actors/actresses/contestants/correspondents/etc. based on what they’ve done after the series ended (unless we’re ranking a current series, in which case we’ll have to bend the rules).  Preference will be given to more recent work, but if the work was a long time ago, but much more important/relevant, that will be factored in as well)

Terrible show which somehow lasted seven seasons and wrapped up in 2004.  I didn’t realize there were absolutely no other regular cast members after the main five (Brian Posehn has the sixth most appearances, but it’s in just under thirty episodes, over 100 less than the other cast members – if the other cast members provided nothing to write about, I would have considered using Posehn, but it was unnecessary), but luckily for us, they’ve all been relatively successful after the show’s end, so we have something to work with.

5.  George Segal (as Jack Gallo) – He was in a couple of TV movies, The Amazing Westermans and Fielder’s Choice.  He appeared in episodes of The War At Home, Private Practice, Boston Legal and Pushing Daisies as well as three of Entourage as Murray Berenson, Sloan’s godfather and talent management company head who hires E.  Eventually E finds out Murray has been giving Sloan’s father reports on him and quits Murray’s company to start his own.  He was in 2012 and Love and Other Drugs and co-stars in TV Land sitcom Retired at 35 with Jessica Walter as the father of a 35 year old who moves from New York to live with his parents at a retirement community.

4.  Laura San Giacomo (as Maya Gallo) –  she appeared in films Checking Out and Havoc and then reunited with Just Shoot Me! co-star Enrico Colantoni in three episodes of Veronica Mars, where she played both a client and love interest for Keith Mars.  Her biggest post-Just Shoot Me! Role began in 2007 with a regular role on TNT’s Saving Grace.  She is Holly Hunter’s (the titular Grace) best friend Rhetta Rodriguez, a police forensics expert.  She appeared in all 46 episodes of the show, which lasted for three seasons and ended in 2010.  Since, she’s appeared in episodes of The Defenders, Medium, In Plain Sight, and Hot in Cleveland.

3.  Enrico Colantoni (as Elliot DiMauro) –   He appeared in episodes of Stargate SG-1,Century City, Monk, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and two as a voice in Kim Possible.  He then starred in all three seasons of Veronica Mars as former sheriff, current private investigator and all around awesome dad Keith Mars.  He was in episodes of Numb3rs, Brothers & Sisters, Party Down, Bones and Person of Interest.  He co-starred in Canadian mini-series ZOS: Zone of Separation.  He currently stars in Canadian police series Flashpoint, which has recently received an order for a fifth season.  He also was in Contagion and in The Kennedys mini-series as J. Edgar Hoover.

2.  David Spade (as Dennis Finch) – he lent his voice to Racing Stripes and an episode of Father of the Pride.  He co-starred in the second and third seasons of 8 Simple Rules, appearing after John Ritter died, playing C.J. Barnes, Ritter’s TV widow, Katey Segal’s nephew.  He starred in the films Grandma’s Boy, The Benchwarmers, Grown Ups and appears in this fall’s Jack and Jill.  He played a voice role in The Emperor’s New Groove 2: Krunk’s New Groove and appeared in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.  He’s currently starring in the sixth season (I don’t believe it has six seasons either) of CBS’s Rules of Attraction.  He plays Russell Dunbar, an incompetent manager who is the womanizing single friend to the other main characters.

1.  Wendie Malick (as Nina Van Horn) I want to again note just how impressive it is that there is no loser amongst this cast.  I know there’s only five, but everyone on the list has been at a mininum in the main cast of another show which will last at least more than one season.  That’s really impressive.  I wish I had a lousy 6, 7, and 8 for this list just to highlight how well these five have done.  The order is far from obvious also.  I debated giving Spade the top spot for starring in the longest running show after Just Shoot Me! and one that’s on network TV, but it’s still Rules of Attraction.  Immediately after the end of Just Shoot Me!, Malick started appearing in ten episodes of Frasier as Ronee Lawnrence, Niles and Frasier’s old babysitter who has a romantic interest in Martin.  They get married in the final episode.  She voiced Principal Folson on 16 episodes of Disney cartoon Fillmore!  She was in episodes of Wild Card and Rita and in five episodes of the short-lived animated Father of The Pride series asVictoria, a white tiger with a drinking problem.  She also had voice roles in The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, The Emperor’s New Groove 2: Kronk’s New Groove, The X’s, Brother Bear 2 and The Life and Times of Tim.  She appeared in Waiting… and Racing Stripes as well as an episode of Out of Practice before co-starring in one season ABC sitcom Jake in Progress alongside John Stamos.  Malick plays Stamos’ boss at the PR agency where he works.  She co-starred in the short-lived Big Day, a sitcom in which the whole series takes place on the main character’s wedding day (starring Marla Sokoloff, which came up in last week’s Power Rankings).  She was in episodes of ‘Til Death and Pushing Daisies and movies Adventureland, Confessions of a Shopaholic, The Goods:  Live Hard, Sell Hard, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.  Malick is currently starring in TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland which has aired for two seasons and been renewed for a 24-episode third season.

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