Posted on 09/29/2019 7:59:35 PM PDT by DCBryan1
Reg Barclay/Murdock is one of ours? I had no idea.
Oh, yeah. You didn’t know that about Dwight Schultz ? I know his career was hampered/damaged because of his political beliefs. Apparently, so was that of Dirk Benedict. As they both said, had “The A-Team” not been badmouthed/diminished by NBC/Hollyweird and dismissed as “right wing trash”, those guys careers would’ve continued on, and they both had to struggle to get work (Benedict was a leading man coming off of “Battlestar: Galactica” and was a red-hot property by “The A-Team”, so that made it all the more baffling, unless something else was going on — and it was: blacklisting).
Even Mr. T, I sincerely believe, was harmed by association. He was invited to the White House by the Reagans, even got to play Santa Claus and Nancy sat on his lap (nobody made a fuss over that), but his career evaporated by the time the Reagans were gone. I remember when he was all over the tv, had the wrestling gig, A-Team, SNL, movies (”Rocky II” and “D.C. Cab”), albums, videos, and a Saturday morning cartoon, and all of a sudden, it just went “poof.”
I was a fan of Mr. T and thought he was a good (moral) role model, Army veteran, and devout Christian (his father was a minister). He even shed his signature gold chains after Hurricane Katrina, saying that was disrespectful to the victims he went to help out. It was sad that as his career was going out, the leftist pop culture was replacing self-made non-criminal individuals like him with the rapcrap thugs and lowlifes that deliberately helped to diminish the Black culture and drive a wedge between the races going into the ‘90s and beyond. :-(
What happened to Dwight, Dirk & T. (Peppard’s long dead) further proves to me that when IQ of 4 douches like Swillyssa, Tommi Lee and now Julianne “Jeff” Hough see the well drying up/drug habit going thru the roof, they go overboard to show that they’re “with the cause” and stay employed. I have more respect for a common porno whore than most of these “legitimate performers”.
Mr. T >WAS< everywhere. He really did disappear like a fart in the wind.
Interesting how the “Cancel Culture” went unmasked during the 80s; I only remember conservative groups protesting “Married With Children” getting pointed out back then.
I believe Peppard was a Republican. I forgot he was actually initially cast as Blake Carrington on “Dynasty” and started filming, but clashed with the producers and they replaced him with John Forsythe (Peppard conceded the latter was the better choice for the part). Had he not been fired, there likely would’ve been no “A-Team” (although imagine Forsythe in that role instead ! James Coburn was the initial choice, curiously, but turned it down. Coburn was a HUGE left-winger).
Peppard I don’t think gave much of a hang by the end of the show whether they were out to screw him. He already had decades of work under his belt and didn’t have to justify himself to anyone. He was, however, set to start work on another series when he was dying of lung cancer in 1994.
As for “Married w/Children”, I remember the protests. I don’t think my mother wanted me watching the show when it premiered (I was about 13, same age as “Bud” at the time). I thought it was crass (although with funny scenes), I think it did contribute to a decline in tv standards (and led to more “soulless” programs, whereas before it was usual to portray the humanity of individuals and how they cared for one another, it went a far darker route. “Roseanne” was also another of those, albeit slightly less caustic and vicious).
BTW, had to post this before heading off to bed. My father had this mimeographed copy of this photograph I found in the basement. I located the pic online, it was from 1944, taken in Pittsburgh. A productive and booming Black neighborhood (and either still voting Republican or only a decade removed from it) called the “Hill District.” I can’t post the pic here because it is from the NY Slimes, but here is the link:
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2002/08/08/national/09hill.slide2.jpg
I was utterly horrified to discover the same location after decades of uninterrupted Democrat rule in Pittsburgh and its left-wing policies and corruption... take a gander...
A completely eradicated neighborhood. I can even locate the electric pole next to the coke sign in the photograph, still there today, still on the left side of the street. These are the folks after our President. This is what they do to places when they’re finished with them. If they can do that to neighborhoods and cities in order to maintain power, think they won’t run over us ?
David Ross.
RE George Peppard:
“The Blue Max” and “Operation Crossbow”, and of course “Tobruk”... three of my all time favorite movies.
RE Married with Children:
Crass, yes. Funny as Hell, absolutely. Loved it.
Swimmingly.
I read on IMDB that George Peppard was a “passionate Democrat” who was big on their socialized medicine plans, but I have no idea how true that is absent some more authoritative source.
Benedict’s career derailment is pretty vexing as he arguably was one of the very few actors from Battlestar Galactica to go on to greater successes. So many of them, from Richard Hatch to Herb Jefferson Jr to Anne Lockhart were rarely known for anything else (not counting established stars like Lorne Greene and Lloyd Bridges).
I suppose Mr. T vanishing from the public eye was much like other red hot popular fads seemed to cool off and disappear very quickly in those days. (I’m still amazed that ALF flamed out after only four seasons) Though apparently Mr. T did move off into a new series following the A-Team called “T and T” that ran in first-run syndication and then scooted off to the Family Channel, running for 3 seasons:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._and_T.
The show lasted until 1990. He also made a few return wrestling appearances in 1994 in WCW, not long after Hulk Hogan made his famous jump to WCW after years of being WWF’s top superstar. But in 1995 he was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma and apparently his health took such a dive that he only did commercials for years afterward.
I had suspected for a long time that the co-creator of the A-Team, Stephen J. Cannell, was conservative/right-leaning. He had denounced the media’s treatment of Mr. T as a stereotype, even derisively calling it the “liberal media.” He also appeared on the 700 Club at one point to talk about his dyslexia (most Hollywood stars would rather chew glass than show up there). But it was hard to find any official confirmation of where he stood until I found an old webpage IDing him as a “conservative Republican.” The fact that his political leanings ran under the radar for so long is quite remarkable, but I suppose it’s easier if you are a writer and producer than if you’re an actor.
I do sort of remember how controversial Married w/Children was, but I much more recall the fuss The Simpsons raised when it first came on, especially Bart Simpson. Parents absolutely HATED him and thought he was a horrible influence on kids. Naturally, Bart was everywhere in the early 90s until the focus of the show turned more toward Homer and his antics, and now Homer is arguably the most famous character of the lot. Beverly Hills 90210 also spent some time early on as a controversial show because parents didn’t like that two of its principal teen characters (Brenda and Dylan) had sex.
Of possible interest: https://youtu.be/8p8OapOR-is
Married with Children was golden, apostate!
WTF is Adam Kinzinger and why does his opinion matter ?
Exactly
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