And I thought it was very interesting that he pointed out that he's about the only actor who was a "star" 20 years ago -- and still is! I hadn't thought of that, but he's right. Who else from 1980s TV shows are still on the top of their game and making movies? Kurt Russell is about the only one I can think of who started out on TV (The Travels of Jamie McPheeters) and is still making good movies. Okay, Alan Alda did a lot of movies, but he was a movie star before and after M*A*SH* so he's the exception. But the one thing pointed out in the Biography show is that there are very few actors or actresses who are able to switch from the small screen to the big screen -- and Tom Selleck goes back and forth with great success. He may be the only one doing that, come to think of it.
I don't mean this as a criticism of him at all -- it was very admirable to do the season for them and give them gifts -- but to be practical, he could afford to do so. He had "jobs" lined up, they didn't and he probably knew it.
Also, I read, again it might have been in Manetti's book, that Roger Moseley had a really bad attitude the first year, the sole black person there, and he almost got fired because he thought he was being mistreated and blamed it on that reason. It got straightened out, obviously, as he stayed, but in the Biography show, he STILL seemed to have a bit of resentment about that -- 20 years later! I think he should be grateful he was gainfully employed in a hit show, for crying out loud. Sort of like how so many people who tend to have gotten famous because of one character or show (e.g., David Cassidy in The Partridge Family) feel they shouldn't forever be identified with that role. But eventually they come around to realizing that they wouldn't be famous at all if it weren't for that role that put them in the spotlight. David Cassidy says he now "appreciates" his fans from that time and how the role helped him (some of these people make so much money and then resent it! That seems so tacky to me). Oddly enough, it's the people who never do anything else that seem to develop this attitude. You don't see Alan Alda complaining about being typecast as Hawkeye Pierce or Ted Danson complaining about Sam Malone.
I think there was a time when TS was a little resentful of being always thought of as Magnum, but then he realized he possibly wouldn't have had the opportunities that he later had without the Magnum stint. Of course, this adjustment might have come after he had done enough other things so he had a full "body of work" to feel good about.
I haven't seen any of the Las Vegas shows so I don't know what it will be like. I very much enjoyed his guest shots on Friends and Boston Legal. But if the Las Vegas people offered him enough money, THAT's why he's doing it, I'll bet. He even endorsed that silly Magnum costume because he thought it would make money (view the Conan interview again) and jokingly complained that he'd never gotten a dime out of it.
Just joking, but is this a matter of "we know what you are, now we're just quibbling over the price."
JUST KIDDING!On another note, what are your favorite TS roles? Quigley Down Under is in my Top Ten Movies of All Time, and I think An Innocent Man was WAY under-rated. I liked High Road to China and saw it only because he was in it (and at the end, I thought, "I sat through two hours of this movie and get to see one lousy kiss!"), I thought Her Alibi was lame, Lassiter was okay, but the female characters spoiled the movie, I thought. Three Men and a Little Lady, though commercially successful, WASN'T Three Men and a Baby. In and Out was sort of dumb. All of his made-for-TV Westerns were excellent. Still . . . QDU is the best of his movies, in my opinion. I've probably watched that one at LEAST two dozen times (it's on TV a lot, and whenever I happen upon it, I'll watch it again). I even have the full soundtrack, which is wonderful -- and a short mp3 clip from the theme song is the ringtone on my cell phone. Talk about getting strange looks when that cell phone rings!! I love it!
Well, maybe I've opened up a BUNCH of things to discuss about TS. There's a lot to talk about in a 20-year career, isn't there?
golf
