Free Republic

Katherine Helmond, the seven-time Emmy-nominated Texas actress who played the feisty, man-crazy mother Mona Robinson on the long-running ABC sitcom Who’s the Boss?, has died. She was 89. Helmond, who earlier starred as the wide-eyed socialite sister Jessica Tate on another popular ABC comedy, Susan Harris’ daytime-serial spoof Soap, died Feb. 23 of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at her home in Los Angeles, her talent agency, APA, announced.

A career change probably would’ve been in store for Ray Romano’s “Everybody Loves Raymond” character if the show was set today, the actor said. Romano — who played Ray Barone, a sportswriter in New York, on the popular sitcom — doesn’t think it’s likely his character would have remained a writer in the current media climate. “I think I would've quit already,” Romano told the Daily News while promoting his new movie “Paddleton.” “I think Ray Barone would've started a podcast or something.” He continued, “I don't know. He was kind of not hard-hitting enough.” “Everybody Loves Raymond” aired for...

Here's one that wasn't hard to see coming. General Motors has announced that it is ending production of the Cadillac ELR , which was essentially a gussied upChevy Volt at twice the price. You can call this one a mercy killing as the overpriced, pseudo-green, government-subsidized vehicle was doomed for failure as low sales figures reflected the lack of value offered by the vehicle. That failure was predicted here back in December of 2013 when the ELR was rolled out. As with the sales-challenged Chevy Volt, most of the media bought into the Cadillac ELR hype, calling it a...

Cadillac sales continue to sputter at General Motors. In fact, the brand is the only make at GM that has seen a year over year sales decline for the period ending in September at a time when the auto industry was booming. Specifically, Cadillac has logged in 127,837 sales for the first nine months of 2014 compared to 133,414 in 2013 for a sales decline of 4.2 percent. GM will now offer frequent flyer miles to help spur sales at the division. The marketing move at GM follows a decision to relocate Cadillac's sales team to New York City....

General Motors continues to double down on plug-in electric vehicles, now offering the Cadillac ELR, which is a gussied up version of the Chevy Volt at twice the price. The latest Cadillac ELR ad has stirred up a lot of debate regarding its pro-American capitalism message as General Motors spent roughly $100,000 for each of the commercials that it ran during the Sochi Olympics. Although the commercial garnered much attention, the heavy ad spending resulted in just 58 of the tax-subsidized (each affluent buyer gets a $7,500 federal tax credit) Cadillac ELRs being sold in February, three months into the...

The final tallies for 2013 sales are in for the Chevy Volt and its little sister, the Chevy Spark EV. The results are ugly. While the Volt relies on both a gas engine and electric power, the Spark is actually an electric-only vehicle, assumedly designed to compete with the all-electric Nissan Leaf which had sales of 22,610 for the year. The Spark EV did not compete well, with sales for 2013 coming in at only 589 for the seven months in which it was offered. Chevy Volt sales for the year also disappointed, coming in at 23,094 and down from...

The Cadillac ELR extended range electric luxury coupe will go on sale in January for $75,995, including destination charges. Derived from the 2009 Converj concept car, the ELR will have a driving range of more 300 miles between the dual fuel powertrain of an electric motor and a gas generator. The electric-only range is 35 miles, General Motors says, but once the battery loses power the 1.4-liter gas generator takes over to power the electric motor. If this sounds like the Chevy Volt, the other plug-in hybrid (PHEV) or extended range electric (EREV) produced by GM, it’s because the ELR...