We got the beat: Sam Melville, Georg Stanford Brown and Michael Ontkean, The Rookies
Question: I used to have a huge crush on Michael Ontkean, when he was on The Rookies (way before he was on Twin Peaks). What was his claim to fame before that? And before you even ask: Yes, I still have a crush on him.
Answer: You and half the girls in my second-grade class, Melissa. (Me, I had a thing for Kate Jackson, but no self-respecting boy of that age would've admitted girls were anything but really gross back then.)
Ontkean, who, as you say, would go on to play Sheriff Harry S. Truman on Twin Peaks in 1990, was an actor and, of all things, a hockey player in his earlier years.
Before playing the role of Officer Willie Gillis on ABC's Rookies from 1972 to 1974 (his character was replaced by Bruce Fairbairn's Officer Chr
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Question: I'm one of those who has loved Lost from the beginning. Someone (maybe you?) likened it to reading a novel, and I felt that way, too. I loved the flashbacks and I loved learning more about the characters, especially the bombshell things, like Locke's wheelchair. My husband, however, has insisted from the beginning that he felt the writers were making it up as they went, throwing in every unbelievable and unexplainable thing possible, and would never be able to tie it all together. After reading Michael Ausiello's interview with the executive producers, I find that my husband may be right. One made the statement that it "boggles (his) mind" when people ask what the numbers mean because he doesn't think that question will ever be answered. I mean, excuse me? They put the numbers in everything imaginable and they are mystified that people wonder what they mean? Don't get me wrong: If I know there's a payoff to be had, I'm willing to wait. I'm not demanding resolutions right now, ...
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Peggy Lipton with Shannon Elizabeth
Guess who's coming to Thanksgiving dinner tonight on Cuts (9:30 pm/ET on UPN)? Why it's no less than Peggy Lipton, who is perhaps best known as The Mod Squad's Julie and Twin Peaks' Norma. Where has the actress been, and what brings her to the UPN comedy? TVGuide.com asked her those questions and more.
TVGuide.com: In prepping for this Q&A, I was reminded that three years ago, TV Guide ranked you No. 5 on its "Sexiest TV Stars of All-Time" list. Do you remember that?Peggy Lipton: Yeahhhh... can you believe that? It was a great feeling. It came as kind of a shock, but I guess people have very long memories! [Laugh
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Question: Not so much a question as a comment. You wondered why people tempered their excitement with cynicism regarding Lost and the other new shows. I'll give you two reasons: The X-Files and Twin Peaks. It became almost immediately clear that as brilliant as Peaks was, none of the writers had a clue where it was going. X-Files took five years to do the same thing, which made it even more heartbreaking and maddening. For every Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which did an excellent job of creating season-long arcs) and Babylon 5 (the only show in history to pull off a multi-year arc successfully, even if the show wasn't actually that great), there are literally hundreds of shows that start with a great premise but don't plan beyond the next two or three episodes. I truly hope the main factors in the mythology — the boy, the baby, the hatch and the Others — have been planned out and have a satisfactory conclusion, but that doesn't mean I trust it completely. After the convoluted mess that ...
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Question: As to your recent question about the multi-season potential of Reunion, I am curious why it's so wrong for a show to last only one season by creative design rather than network decision. Why can't a show just set out to tell one story and accomplish it in one year? There are numerous examples of shows that would've been best served if they'd only lasted one year, with Dawson's Creek being the best example. The show could have and should have ended with Joey/Dawson's kiss; everything after that (five seasons' worth) was just plot twist for the sake of plot twist.
Answer: True enough, but what country do you live in? This is U.S. television we're talking about, and while it would be very cool for certain sorts of shows to last a single season (think Murder One or Twin Peaks), the networks are in the long-term, not short-run, business. The economic model doesn't smile kindly on a show that lasts just one season, being neither miniseries nor actual series. The pitch for a show
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