I was watching a rerun of the Odd Couple, and on this episode, Felix’s daughter Edna, runs away to become a Paul Williams groupie.
I mean who in the heck is a Paul Williams groupie
OK obviously it’s an excuse to get Paul Williams on the show. But to make the girl want to follow Paul Williams around c’mon. OK the guy was a good songwriter, but still.
On the other hand when they turned Archie Bunker into a part time cab driver, this made sense. The purpose of that was to get Sammy Davis Jr in the cab and thus meet Archie. Sammy Davis Jr, said he was a big fan of the show.
So what, in your view, were REALLY STUPID plot lines, for the sole purpose of getting a celebrity on the show?
This kind of thing was pretty common. One of the worst Dick van Dyke shows involved him hiding the British band Paul Revere and the Raiders, who were appearing on the Alan Brady show, from a mob of adoring fans. Maybe I was running with the wrong crowd at the time, but any mob would have consisted of two girls, tops.
Not a plot line, but the best case I know of a celeb who didn’t get it was William F. Buckley on Laugh In. He would only appear if one of the cast members asked him a serious question and got a serious answer. Tricky Dick was a with-it happening guy compared to WFB.
One that comes to mind was from Alice: Mel was trying to sell more chili, and found out that Vera was related in some bizarre oblique way to Art Carney. So, they set out to meet him and get him to agree to promote the stuff as “Chili Con Carney.”
The Brady Bunch did this a bunch of times. Without ever mentioning his name before in the show (or since), it turned out in one episode that Marcia was president of the Davy Jones fanclub! Local chapter, I’m sure, but still.
They also found ways to get Desi Arnaz Jr. and Don Drysdale as well (in different episodes) – but I’ve long since forgotten the reasons.
Cindy accidentally put Marcia’s diary, which had declarations of her love for Desi, in the box of stuff that was going to the thrift store. Desi got hold of it an returned it to her. Desi was far out.
I think Don Drysdale was the boyfriend of one of Greg’s teachers, whom he had a crush on (the teacher, not Don Drysdale).
You’re welcome!
I generally regard the guest appearances on Will & Grace to be among the best but the one with Barry Manilow, where all the fans are camped on the sidewalk was kind of weak. Not the episode itself, but the premise that he has fans.
Actually, the teacher’s boyfriend was a different Dodger – Wes Parker. Don Drysdale came about because Mr. Brady was designing his new home. Both somewhat plausible appearance, I suppose, given living in LA.
But there was also the episode where Bobby claims to know Joe Namath and writes to him pretending to be terminally ill – and good ole Joe shows up!!!
The Cosby Show had a lot of celebrities appear, but most of them didn’t play themselves – the most egregious example that fits the thread, though, was when Denise and Theo crash into Stevie Wonder’s limo and so naturally, Stevie invites the whole family to sit in on a recording session – happens every day!!!
In the Brady Bunch Alice was friends with Lucille Ball’s housekeeper. So Alice asked, her friend to ask Desi Jr to come over and cheer up Marcia.
The Dick Van Dyke Show, Well they were writers of a variety show, so I can see how it’s plausable for any celebrity to show up.
I could see others on the Odd Couple because they had a lot of sports people as guests and Oscar was a sportswriter.
I also have to admit I was surprised at the number of famous people that happened into Mel’s Diner though. The reason was of course, Mel won lots of local awards for his Chili.
The gold standard has to be First Lady Nancy Reagan on Diff’Rent Strokes. She read Arnold’s story in the local paper.
BTW this was perfectly savaged in the show Extras, when Coldplay makes an appearance on When The Whistle Blows
I always thought that Tootie on Facts of Life being a hardcore Jermaine Jackson fan and begging Mrs. Garrett in tears to let her see him in concert was a bit hard to swallow. I get the feeling they would rather have had Michael on but couldn’t get him, so Jermaine was the next logical step.
Not quite - the group was “The Redcoats,” and they were played by Chad and Jeremy. The show was spoofing Beatlemania. Granted, Chad and Jeremy didn’t have the following the Beatles did - but according to the show, “The Redcoats” did! Too bad the show’s budget didn’t allow for using the Dave Clark Five, or some other band that would have been a little more credible!
The classic Doobie Brothers episode of What’s Happening!?. The Doobie Brothers are in town performing, and everyone is all a-buzz. (Were inner-city black youths big fans of the Doobie Brothers in the 70s? I was too young to be aware of pop culture at the time, but that seems kind of strange today).
Somehow, Rerun (or was it Dwayne, hey-HEY-hey) gets mixed up with scalpers illegally selling tickets to the show. The Doobie’s somehow found out and convinced them to help them catch the scalpers. I don’t remember much else about the episode, except the ending, where the scalpers realized the jig was up and tried to escape from the diner, but there were Doobies blocking every exit.
I remember that one. The bad guys were using Rerun to illegally record the concert. And apparently, the Doobie Brothers typically take it upon themselves track down and stop this kind of activity themselves.
Caroline Appleby’s son Stevie is having a birthday party the same day as Little Ricky and Lucy tries to get George Reeves (Superman) to come so the kids will come to the Ricardo’s party.
Since Fred and Ethel were retired vaudeville actors, wouldn’t it make sense to have some old vaudeville actors make appearances?
Many of the actors appearing in the California episodes were the top actors of the day: William Holden, John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Rock Hudson
