Pat Corley, whom TV fans may best remember as Phil the bartender on Murphy Brown, died of congestive heart failure on Sept. 11. He was 76. The actor's five-decade career also included roles in the films Coming Home and Against All Odds, and TV's Hill Street Blues.... An estimated 6.9 million viewers tuned in for Meredith Vieira's Today debut on Wednesday, maintaining the NBC morning program's lead over Good Morning America (which had 4.4 mil).... Fox News Channel has axed its long-running DaySide ? is that what those studio-audience recruitment signs outside our building have been about? ? and replacing it with The Live Desk with Martha MacCallum, starting Sept. 25.
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Question: Who cares about the Lost snub and Ellen Burstyn? The Emmys got a big one right this year: Leslie Jordan has made me howl in everything he's done, from Murphy Brown to Dharma & Greg. Kudos to the Academy for awarding him for his guest role on Will & Grace. To me, this makes up for nominating Kevin James.
Answer: To me, Kevin James' clowning falls under the same heading as Leslie Jordan's broad and often very funny shtick. Be that as it may, I have no gripe with Jordan winning the guest-performer Emmy. The only one of those guest-actor wins that made my jaw drop was Christian Clemenson (a fine actor in an over-the-top role) beating Michael J. Fox for Boston Legal ...
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Question: When The West Wing closes down for good on May 14, Bartlet & Co. will leave and a new president will be sworn in. What a simply perfect way for a show to end — when it's supposed to! It's no secret that the series lost a lot of fans and critical appreciation after Aaron Sorkin left three years ago. So here's my question: Years from now, when you think back to The West Wing, how will you remember it? Will you remember a top-notch Emmy-winning drama that influenced the face of dramatic TV, or will you remember a disappointing show that went downhill and never recovered?
Answer: What an interesting legacy question to welcome me back from some time off (so much to catch up with). This got me thinking about other shows that went off the air long after they peaked, and I think it's fair to say that most of us will remember The West Wing kindly, without even putting an asterisk after it. The show's impact, and its overall quality up to the reelection season (after which the show
...
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Question: Can you tell me who played Mr. Hall (the flying man) on Ally McBeal and what show he used to be on?
Answer: You mean the Mr. Hall who winged it across the river and collapsed of a heart attack so that narcissist Ally (Calista Flockhart) could once again make someone else's tragedy all about her? (No doubt it was only the belief that a better script lay across the river that kept the poor man aloft, and the disappointment at finding it wasn't there laid him low.) And did I mention that whole flying plot was ripped off from William Wharton's far superior book Birdy (though since no one in Hollywood reads, Kelley and Co. probably cribbed it from Alan Parker's movie version, which definitely had its moments, too)?
Oh, yeah — your question. Well,
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Question: I'm a Reba watcher and would like to know if Christopher Rich is the same person who played a reporter on Murphy Brown. Thanks.
Answer: That he is, Patricia. The Dallas, Texas, native — who portrays estranged husband Brock to Reba McEntire's Reba Hart on the WB sitcom — played anchorman Miller Redfield on the hit CBS show from 1995 to 1997. Fans will recall that on the series, the newsman's job depended on style rather than substance. You also might remember him as Dr. Neil, a plastic surgeon who hung out at the bar with George Carlin's George O'Grady on Fox's short-lived The George Carlin Show, as Sandy on Another World or from his work in a variety of TV movies.
Or you may have caught him on
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