Shelley Longs and David Carusos

[terentii]

@Dale_Sams

Ahem.

Shatner appeared in ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’, A brilliant version of ‘The Andersonville Trial’ directed by George C. Scott. Two Twilight Zone episodes, one of which is iconic. Did Boston Legal…and of course one of the top five most iconic roles in frigging TV history. AND he cut a brilliant album with Ben Folds.

Hamlet of his generation? I’d say if you put a pic of him next to Laurence Olivier, a good 35% more people would recognize Shatner.

I know, I tease Mr Shatner a little too much, but it’s out of affection, not distaste. Captain Kirk is for me an iconic hero, and I’m well known among certain people for doing Bill’s voice at the drop of a hat.

Andersonville came out in the '70s, true. (So did Barbary Coast. :rolleyes: ) But both Nuremburg and ***Twilight Zone ***were early '60s, long before Star Trek. (The Brothers Karamazov was even earlier.)

As for Shatner’s career as a singer … well, watch some of the other clips on YouTube and tell me what you think. Is his rendition of “Taxi” awesome, or what?

Wasn’t it in ***Supersize Me! ***that the filmmaker showed little kids pictures of famous people and Ronald McDonald beat out Jesus Christ in terms of recognition?

[terentii]

@cochrane

Shatner’s costar in Alexander the Great was Adam West, who will be known for all time as Batman.

Yes … and now Mayor Adam West of Quahog, RI.

Amazing! I’ve finally found someone else who’s seen Alexander the Great! (The TV pilot, not the movies with Richard Burton and Brad Pitt.)

Everybody and his brother was in that one: Adam West, John Cassavettes, Joseph Cotton, and a lot of B- and C-list actors from the previous quarter century. It was still hilariously (some might say “cringingly”) bad!

[terentii]

@terentii

Wasn’t it in ***Supersize Me! ***that the filmmaker showed little kids pictures of famous people and Ronald McDonald beat out Jesus Christ in terms of recognition?

Just sayin’ …! :rolleyes:

[kobayashimaru]

Rob Lowe left The West Wing in the third season because he wasn’t getting the attention he wanted and didn’t do much after that

Lisa Edelstein left House because she thought she deserved more money. She hasn’t been in much since

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@DooWahDiddy

Well a lot of times that’s not an option; if you’re starring in a feature film, you’re pretty much booked for a year. We’ve all heard horror stories about how Michael J. Fox was filming Back to the Future and Family Ties at the same time and getting four hours of sleep every night

In fairness, Back to the Future being #1 at the box office for week after week after week after week is the reason why Teen Wolf stalled out at #2. :eek:

[jonesj2205]

@kobayashimaru

Lisa Edelstein left House because she thought she deserved more money. She hasn’t been in much since

I’m not sure she’s a great example. She was on the show for seven years, her entire initial contract and then chose not to sign a new contract. Even if money was the primary factor in the decision I think you can’t really call that leaving in a huff the way Long and Caruso did.

[Hermione]

@Sherrerd

Right, but he never became The Hamlet Of His Generation, as he’d earlier hoped and expected (which I think was terentii’s point).

You’ve reminded me of a joke in Mad Magazine’s parody of Star Trek III. (I can’t tell you how many times I read one of those parodies before I even saw the movie.)

Scotty: It’s a shame we don’t seem to get many roles outside of Star Trek.
Uhura: Well, Admiral Kirk’s done pretty well for himself…he’s got that popular “T.J. Hooker” series.
Scotty: Popular?! The world is full of Trekkies. How many “Hookies” do you see these days?

[DrDeth]

@terentii

Bill Shatner kind of fits into this category. His dream was to become as fine an actor as Laurence Olivier and do high drama.* It was more for financial reasons that he started doing TV, and Star Trek in particular (just prior to Trek, he had done a laughably bad pilot called Alexander the Great, produced by the same people who did Combat!). Alas, his hopes went largely unfulfilled after TOS ran its course, and he’s now Captain Kirk, more or less, for life.

Well, except for 90 episodes of TJ Hooker and over 100 of Boston Legal. And a couple of hit films.
Once you star on ANy hit SF TV show or Film, you will always be “that guy” to fanboys.

Despite only 14 epis of Firefly and 133 epis of Castle, Nathan will be “Mal” forever.

[terentii]

@DrDeth

Well, except for 90 episodes of TJ Hooker and over 100 of Boston Legal. And a couple of hit films.

The first two, I’ve already covered. And while they may be great entertainment, I really don’t think Miss Congeniality and Airplane II! are on the same level as Hamlet and Henry V.

[gigi]

@Lightray

TriPolar has probably mixed up Sherry Stringfield, who (unlike Julianna Margulies) actually did leave the show and then came crawling back, and so would fit the thread’s theme. Although I’m not sure she quit trying to go on to better things; it was more for personal reasons.

I remember hearing she left to be with her boyfriend – and thinking that was a bad reason to leave a hit show.

[cochrane]

@jonesj2205

I’m not sure she’s a great example. She was on the show for seven years, her entire initial contract and then chose not to sign a new contract. Even if money was the primary factor in the decision I think you can’t really call that leaving in a huff the way Long and Caruso did.

Agreed. IIRC, all of the actors on House except Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard were told they had to take a pay cut for the final season, so I can’t say I blame her. Edelstein has nothing but fond memories of working on House and even walked on the picket line during the writers’ strike.

[Labrador_Deceiver]

@Leaper

One advantage modern actors have is that acting for TV seems to be losing its stigma, especially with actors known more for movie roles making the jump TO television.

I agree that TV is gradually losing its stigma, but most people who hop from feature films to television do so only after their movie careers have stalled somewhat.

[hajario]

@Labrador_Deceiver

I agree that TV is gradually losing its stigma, but most people who hop from feature films to television do so only after their movie careers have stalled somewhat.

For network TV maybe. The same isn’t true for, say, an HBO series.

[silenus]

“It’s not television - it’s HBO.”

[Dale_Sams]

@terentii

The first two, I’ve already covered. And while they may be great entertainment, I really don’t think Miss Congeniality and Airplane II! are on the same level as Hamlet and Henry V.

Heh.

“Free Enterprise” is a damn funny film too.

[TV_time]

@astorian

HEY! Are you suggesting that ***The Incredible Mr. Limpet ***wasn’t a masterpiece???

I shall have to ask you to step outside…

Well…it was no The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.

[Dale_Sams]

@TV_time

Well…it was no The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.

Wither “The Apple Dumpling Gang”?

[Labrador_Deceiver]

@hajario

For network TV maybe. The same isn’t true for, say, an HBO series.

1. Many of those have production values that are similar to Hollywood movies, so I don’t think it’s a very good example.

2. I can’t think of many actors who have left an HBO series to pursue a movie career, though I’m sure there might be one or two.

3. I can’t think of many A-list actors who have taken leading roles in an multi-year HBO series. True Detective is the only show I can think of that stars actors at height idea big-screen career, and it was basically a very long movie. Again, not what the OP had in mind.

[Just_Asking_Questions]

@Prof.Pepperwinkle

IIRC, George Peppard left the “fairly intellectual for its time and genre” *Banacek *because he felt it wasn’t good enough for him. Time passes, and we see him playing Space Cowboy in Battle Beyond The Stars.

That’s incorrect.

He left because he thought his soon-to-be ex-wife Elizabeth Ashley wasn’t good enough for the money he would have made in the third season. He quit because it made a more favorable (for him) divorce settlement.

So whatever you think of him as a husband, it wasn’t delusions of grandeur that caused him to quit Banacek.

[That_Don_Guy]

Lacey Chabert left Family Guy, and other than Lost in Space and Mean Girls, I don’t know what she’s been in since then (she was in Party of Five at the time). Meanwhile, Mila Kunis took over as Meg, and has pocketed quite a bit of money for it since then.

Here’s one in reverse, sort of; Loretta Swit wanted to leave MAS*H to be Christine Cagney in Cagney & Lacey (she was Cagney in the pilot TV-movie), but the producers wouldn’t let her out of her contract.