These are sally's actress picks

Julia Louis Dreyfus. You can't NOT know who she is. I'm not saying too much, because Sally and I disagree on this one. I enjoyed her on Seinfeld, but, she was mean. But, all the people on that show were mean and selfish. It was part of the show. Julia lightened it up in The New Adventures Of The Old Christine. She showed she can play a softer character with a heart. She's won a lot of awards, that's for sure. You have to give her the respect that's due, but, I think most of it comes from Seinfeld. An admitted show about nothing starring mean selfish people. I cop to watching all of it, but, I wondered really, who it was supposed to represent? Sally, you can add more for Julia. I'm done. She bugs me for some reason.

Laurie Metcalf. Oh, we so agree on this one, Sally. Laurie is beyond awesome. It was hard to find a photo to put on because she's such a chameleon. A lot of them look like someone else. I took this one because it looks like her in our favorite role, Jackie the sensitive, bragging, sometimes air head sister of Roseanne Conner. With her bumbling and bug eyed portrayal of Jackie, she sometimes reminded me of Barny Fife. 'Specially when Jackie became a cop. Remember that? Jackie was always looking for her path. Roseanne the bulldozer was there to block it. Laurie always had us rooting for poor Jackie, and cracking the fuck up while she found her way. This woman could steal a scene from both Roseanne Barr and John Goodman! Top that.

Laurie Metcalf has won a shit load of awards. Man, I googled her, it blew me away. She has those Obie awards (those are a big deal), Theatre World Awards, two Tonys, two Golden Globes and a bunch of others, I forgot. She studied theatre at Illinois State. She earned a Bachelor's. In real life she married that dude that played 'Fisher' on the Roseanne show. Remember him? He was cute. George Clooney was on that show too, wasn't he? Seemed like Jackie added him to her bed post notches. I'm getting distracted, sorry. Anyhow, Laurie has done a lot of stage, it seems. I'd like to see that side of her. She's an amazing actress. All the old Roseanne episodes are on You Tube and I watch them sometimes. I've seen them all, so now I watch Laurie. Her hand and eye movements blow me away and the way she uses the muscles in her neck and body to convey emotions. Her face is almost liquid sometimes. She'll use her neck and chin to come into a scene, if you know what I mean. And add her voice in almost a growl or whine. I don't think I've ever seen any other actress use the techniques Laurie does. They must be natural to her.


I like this scene of Jackie with Tony Curtis. Being awkward and off while delivering lines over music is difficult enough, let alone with Tony Curtis. Laurie pulls it off perfectly and I loved it when they let her be a babe instead of a truck driver.

Sally also named Valerie Harper. Who didn't love Rhoda? Oh, come on, we all loved Rhoda. My girlfriend Shirl and I used to argue because we both said, "I'm the Rhoda", no one wanted to be Mary, sorry. Rhoda was one spin off that worked, even without Mary Tyler Moore because of Valerie, of course, but, also the strong female supporting cast.

Rhoda had Ida and Brenda Morgenstern, remember? Sister Brenda was played by Julie Kavner, I remember, who went on to be in The Simpsons. Mom Ida was played by...let me google...Nancy Walker. Damn, I should have remembered that. Anyhow, Mom was crazy as a shit house rat, Dad was the calming force, the rock for Rhoda...and no one cared. Sorry, Dad, but, we wanted crazy. We wanted Brenda cheating on her latest diet and crying over her professional accordion playing boyfriend. We wanted to smack interfering Ida right in the kisser at least once an episode. That's good tv.  Then the idiots married Rhoda off to Joe, of all people, and the show died. It seemed like Rhoda had achieved her life goal and it was all about what Rhoda could do for Joe. How about leave his ass and go back to Minneappolis with Mary and Phillis? Baaaaa! But, we all loved Valerie Harper, still do. She brought us Bohemian fashion, head scarfs, pink painted wicker and lots of laughs. Thanks, Valerie.

Sally also picked Suzanne Pleshette. OMG, I loved Suzanne Pleshette. She had it all. The perfect face, great hair, the body, the legs and if that wasn't enough..OMG..that voice. It sounded like gravel through a bass drum. But, it worked. And that laugh. Looking her up was fun, except that she's dead. Rest in peace, Suzanne, but, man, did you have a life. Of course I knew her from The Newhart show. She played the sexy smart assed wife of psychiatrist, Bob. That show was pretty clever for it's time and it still holds up well. Suzanne was the best part of it though. Bob Newhart is a funny guy, but, he's also known for letting others bounce off him. He doesn't mind playing second banana IF the other guy is deserving. Suzanne was always deserving. She was hot and she knew it, she used it to her advantage, sashaying into the scene, hand on shapely hip, sassing Bob into submission. But, she never dressed slutty. Nope, she was a classy siren. A tweed wearing seductress who slayed you with one liners delivered perfectly timed.

The whole cast was great, the best buddy, the neighbor, the secretary. But, this post is about women, so I have to mention Marcia Wallace, who also has passed away. Marcia played Bob's sometimes goofy and sometimes biting secretary, Carol Kester, and parlayed a nothing part into a real co-starring part. She was awesome and it's sort of too bad they put her with Suzanne, because no one could out hot Suzanne. So, Marcia took the part down, so that her character was more comedic and almost clownish looking. It worked. But, what people don't realize is, Marcia Wallace was hot. She was. In real life. Not that we were buddies, but, I have met her more than once and one time she came to a party at my house, and she stayed and partied down. She was really nice to everyone, but, also quick and hilarious. She had us all cracking up. All the guys wanted her, and believe me, it wasn't because she was on TV. My hippie friends didn't even own tv's. The woman was hot. Tall, graceful, pretty face with strong features, huge blue eyes, quick toothy grin and she was just adorable. Most of all, I remember her being very down to earth and not stuck up at all. If she hadn't had to fly back home, we all would have hung out with Marcia. Oh, I forgot, she went on to do The Simpsons too. Right? Let me check. Yep, she played Bart's teacher, Edna Krabapple. Bart did a tribute to her when she passed.

I think that photo looks the most like her. Marcia is from here, in Southwest Iowa. She was raised in Creston, Iowa. That's a neighbor town. That's how I met her. She was back her visiting family and checking out professional theatres she'd been invited to. Our director was pretty famous and she came to meet him. She did a lot of stage work. I wish her schedule would have let her work with us. She rocked.




The MOST famous ending of any sitcom was Newhart, where him and his blond wife had an inn, remember? His second sitcom. The last episode had Bob taking a golf ball to the head and he wakes up with his wife from his first sitcom! The beautiful, Suzanne Pleshette. Turns out that whole inn life was a psychiatrist's dream and they were back in The Bob Newhart show (where they belonged). Oh, come on, top that, someone in TV.