Tag Archive: TV


Stooge Day Afternoon

Filed Under: Stories by Wendy Hughes — Leave a comment
September 9, 2011

I have a Three Stooges collectors’ plate that I see every day; the boys are preparing a Thanksgiving Turkey. You either love’em or hate’em — I think they were hilarious, but I think it’s comparatively rare to see their images or references to them.

Yesterday was a 3 Stooges 3-bagger. First, in the morning — I noticed in the Puzzler crossword puzzle I was working from the LA Times, the clue for the three letter word down is: Slapper in shorts, MOE.

Then, later in the day, my partner and I have been slowly Spring cleaning a spare room, and I noticed in a stack of posters a black & white poster of Larry, Moe and Curly in football uniforms, Larry holding a football on Curly’s head, and Moe about to kick the ball.

Finally, last night on MythBusters, during an episode about pain endurance, when the experiment was having redheaded people put their right hand in a fishbowl full of icewater, I could barely believe my eyes when a very brief clip of the Three Stooges slapping each other around was included in the “pain.” Nya ah ah!

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Wedding plans by the Numb3rs

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August 4, 2011

(Submitted by reader Karen K)

My husband and I were watching a taped version of the TV show  “Numb3rs” last night.  A sub-plot had to do with two of the main characters setting a date for their wedding.  This went on for most of the show.  In the end, another character suggested October 9th, his wedding anniversary, and they decided that this would be the perfect date for them also.

October 9th, coincidentally, happens to be our wedding anniversary.

It sounds like that this would be only a chance of 1 out of 365, but of course, most  Americans are married on Saturday, so that leaves about 1 in 52 for years where Oct. 9 is a Saturday like 2010.

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The Third Time…

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July 29, 2011

(Submitted by friend of the blog, Spencer Marks)

Around 1987, I was a young man of about 25 or 26, and went to a party on a Saturday night. This party was in the hills above Beverly Hills, and while there, I met (for the first time), Barry Williams, who played Greg Brady on “The Brady Bunch.” We ended up having a conversation for about 20 minutes, and then I moved on with mingling with other guests.

About three days later, I was in a supermarket, turned the corner, and there was Barry once again, shopping! I said, hello, and had to remind him that we had just met 3 days before, and where. We ended up talking for another 10-15 minutes, and I joked about, “well, see you soon!” even though we did not exchange any information or make plans to do so.

About two days later, I went into a place that I had once worked, an indoor shooting range, and there was Barry once again! This time, he actually remembered my name, and said, “Oh, hi Spencer!”

So, in one week’s time, I ran into the same person three different places, unconnected to each other, and separated by some distance.

I did not see him prior to that, or after that, until I was at a July 4th party in 2009, and had to remind him of that one odd week, 22 years before.

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1000 Ways to Coincide

Filed Under: Stories by Wendy Hughes — Leave a comment
July 26, 2011

A coincidence of truly amazing proportions happened on a private mailing list. Two members of our group (Jim Underdown and Jeff Nuttall) posted requests to record Spike TV‘s 1000 Ways to Lie on a Wednesday night. I checked the listing, and there were several episodes that evening; it was an interesting coincidence that their performances were on the same series on the same night. 

There were not enough details in their messages, so I randomly chose to watch the one about Natural Born Liars. Jim had said the show was starting at ten p.m., but I have DirectTV, and satellite TV has a different schedule than cable, and at ten p.m., there was a different show on. Jeff had called me and told me that he played the husband of a woman who told him she was giving birth to baby bunnies… so that sounded about right.

I saw Jeff, and a few minutes into the episode, I saw Jim Underdown explain how people will do anything to achieve fame. 

Neither Jim nor Jeff had seemed to know that they were in the same segment of the same TV show.

As coincidences go, it was pretty amazing that two members of our group would be performing in the same brand new TV show, and not know about one another’s participation, and even have posted about it on our mailing list. As if that was not enough, a friend of another member of the group was the Supervising Producer of the show, and also unaware of the connection between the two performers.

 

Related:
Where everybody knows your name… 

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Where everybody knows your name…

Filed Under: Stories by Jarrett Kaufman — Leave a comment
July 15, 2011

I spent most of my life as a professional actor, but in order to help ensure ends met I moonlighted on the weekend as a sales rep for a major electronics manufacturer. Every year in August they would hold a national sales training event in Texas, flying in a few hundred reps from across the country to learn about that year’s new products, the underlying technology, and some sales technique (although they eventually dropped the latter, as they realized their criteria for who to send to the training was based on the highest ranking making sales training superfluous).

One way they saved costs was to double up all sales reps in rooms, typically pairing people from very different parts of the country unless they requested a specific roommate. In this particular instance I was placed with someone from a different state who I had no prior contact with, but on our first night we stayed up late chatting, sharing “war stories,” and talking about our past. The TV was left on during all of this as noise and potential conversation topic. And then an episode of Cheers started.

The topic of acting background had come up previously, and I pointed out that I had done three episodes of Cheers. As I was saying this, I started to notice that the opening teaser on this episode seemed especially familiar. That said, I had always been a fan, so I didn’t think much of it until the opening credits finished and the plot became clear: it was my very first (and best-known) episode of the show, and I got to prove to my new roommate that I wasn’t merely blowing smoke about my past.

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Got Smart!

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July 14, 2011

(Submitted by friend of the blog, Spencer Marks)

When I was just a wee lad, around 11 or 12 or so, I would go to my father’s office over the summer and work for him, doing little things, here and there. His office was on Wilshire Blvd., and our house wasn’t too far off of Wilshire, so I would jump on a bus to get to his office, and to get back home. One day, while I was sitting on the bus bench waiting to go home, there was this little old lady sitting on the bench next to me, and we started up a conversation. I asked her what she had done for a living (before she retired) and she said she had been an actress. I asked her if she would have been in anything I would have seen, and she said she had been in an episode of “Get Smart,” which to this day remains one of my all time favorite TV shows.

I asked her which part she had played, as the series was on every day (and by then in reruns), I had most likely watched every episode 3-5 times, and would know if she was lying! She described the scene, which I remembered, and I was excited to meet her! The bus came, and we continued to talk on the bus until I got off at my stop. I walked home the four blocks, and noticed from the TV guide that “Get Smart” was about to start in 5 minutes! I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t that be a GREAT coincidence if it was THAT episode?” AND GUESS WHAT?!?

It was a whole DIFFERENT episode! But it WOULD have been cool!

No, I’m kidding  … it WAS the episode, and there was my new friend! I was watching her just 15 minutes after leaving her on the bus (very much ALIVE, if any of you were wondering!) That remains one of the coolest coincidences EVER to happen in my life! Hope you all enjoyed it too!

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