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Showing posts with label Random Posts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Random Posts. Show all posts

Dr. Phil To Launch Primetime TV Channel In The US By Early 2024

Following the end of his long-running daytime syndicated talk show, Dr. Phil McGraw is launching Merit Street Media, a new news and entertainment cable TV network. It will be anchored by Dr. Phil Primetime, which will premiere Feb. 26, 2024 and will air nightly at 8 PM ET.

No details have been revealed yet about the new network’s distribution. It is expected to have nationwide carriage, which would be no small feat in the current challenging business environment of declining linear ratings and cord-cutting.

Merit Street will be based in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where a new state-of-the-art broadcast center, spanning over 5 acres, is completing construction. Dozens of longtime Dr. Phil staffers have relocated their families to Texas to continue working alongside McGraw.

In the coming months, Merit Street will announce its full primetime lineup; the network is expected to initially offer multiple hours of original daily programming, including live news broadcasts.

Dr. Phil Primetime will stay close to the format of McGraw’s daytime show, with him continuing to offer no-nonsense advice in addition to conducting interviews with headline makers.

“I absolutely love talking to real people about real problems. People who aren’t just complaining but are actively looking for real solutions to better their lives,” McGraw said. “It all begins and ends with real people dealing with these issues for real, using common sense, fact-based information, and action plans to create results.

In the months since Dr. Phil ended its run after 21 seasons, McGraw has continued to receive requests from viewers seeking advice.

“As always, the audience will dictate our content because they are our content, and I want my viewer’s help in building Merit Street,” McGraw said. “I continue my pledge to help individuals, couples, and families have the tough conversations, face the hard realities, and get real answers for the most positive and effective outcome.”

The new show also is expected to feature some of McGraw’s conservative views on family values, immigration and education curriculum which he shared in the final years of his daytime talker. He hinted at that in his official comments about the launch Merit Street.

In the coming months, Merit Street will announce its full primetime lineup; the network is expected to initially offer multiple hours of original daily programming, including live news broadcasts.

Dr. Phil Primetime will stay close to the format of McGraw’s daytime show, with him continuing to offer no-nonsense advice in addition to conducting interviews with headline makers.

“I absolutely love talking to real people about real problems. People who aren’t just complaining but are actively looking for real solutions to better their lives,” McGraw said. “It all begins and ends with real people dealing with these issues for real, using common sense, fact-based information, and action plans to create results.

In the months since Dr. Phil ended its run after 21 seasons, McGraw has continued to receive requests from viewers seeking advice.

“As always, the audience will dictate our content because they are our content, and I want my viewer’s help in building Merit Street,” McGraw said. “I continue my pledge to help individuals, couples, and families have the tough conversations, face the hard realities, and get real answers for the most positive and effective outcome.”

The new show also is expected to feature some of McGraw’s conservative views on family values, immigration and education curriculum which he shared in the final years of his daytime talker. He hinted at that in his official comments about the launch Merit Street.

“American families and our core values are under attack,” he said. “I love this country, and I believe family is the backbone of our society. Together we are going to stand strong and fight for the very soul and sanity of America and get things that matter back on track.”

Additionally, the name of the new network, Merit Street Media, refers to McGraw’s publicly stated respect for the meritocracy on which the U.S. was built.

Veteran news and programming executive, Joel Cheatwood, known for his work at WCBS, CNN, and Fox News, will serve as Chief Operating Officer for MSM. Other staffing announcements will be made in the next few months.

'Friends' Star Matthew Perry Dead At 54...After Apparent Drowning

More details are surfacing about the circumstances surrounding Matthew Perry's death...as sources tell us he actually died at his own house after some physical activity this morning.

We're told Matthew came home sometime in the AM after a 2-hour round of pickleball, and that he sent his assistant out on errand shortly thereafter. We're told when the assistant returned about 2 hours later, he discovered Matthew unresponsive...and called 911.

Unclear if what Matthew was doing before his passing played any role in his death at this point -- the investigation into his death is underway.

Law enforcement sources tell us the actor was found Saturday at an L.A.-area home ... where we're told he appears to have drowned. Our sources say first-responders rushed over on a call for cardiac arrest. It's unclear where exactly on the grounds this happened.

Our sources say he was found in a jacuzzi at the home ... and we're told there were no drugs found at the scene. We're also told there is no foul play involved.

Perry is most famous for his role as Chandler Bing on the hit '90s sitcom, which ran for 10 seasons ... and with him in all 234 episodes. His character was a fan fave, as was performance -- mannerisms and lines of which have gone on to be recreated and spoofed by fans all over the world. One comes to mind, in particular ... "Could (blank) BE more .."

While 'Friends' was his biggest claim to fame ... MP had starred/guest starred in countless other TV shows over the years -- such as 'Boys Will Be Boys,' 'Growing Pains,' 'Silver Spoons,' 'Charles in Charge,' 'Sydney,' 'Beverly Hills, 90210,' 'Home Free,' 'Ally McBeal,' 'The West Wing,' 'Scrubs,' 'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,' 'Go On,' 'The Odd Couple' and more.

He had also acted in a handful of memorable films (mostly comedy) ... like 'Fools Rush In,' 'The Whole Nine Yards,' 'Three to Tango,' 'The Kid,' '17 Again,' 'Getting In,' and many others. He's been off the scene more recently ... not having acted since a TV mini series in 2017.

While his onscreen persona was affable and upbeat, Matthew suffered mightily behind the scenes -- notably, from his addiction to drugs and alcohol ... pain killers, specifically. He was hooked on Vicodin for years -- even while on 'Friends' -- and had been in and out of rehab.

Matthew opened up about this painful chapter of his life in a memoir he put out last year -- where he detailed the struggles he had ... including his clear weight-loss/gain on the show.

During his press run for his book ... Matthew did a number of interviews where he got incredibly emotional -- including one with Diane Sawyer, where he detailed his story.

While Perry appeared to be clean and sober a year ago, the year prior -- when he and the other cast members were plugging the 'Friends' reunion show -- drew concern from fans ... as they felt he appeared unwell, at times slurring his words and looking a bit out of it.

On top of his substance use ... Matthew also dealt with health issues, some of which were serious and required hospitalizations. One such incident stemmed from a gastrointestinal perforation -- which forced him to undergo emergency surgery ... but he luckily recovered.

Matthew never married, but he was briefly engaged to Molly Hurwitz a couple years ago...which came to an end after only 6 months. Before that, he'd been linked to Lizzy Caplan.

The Woman In Me By Britney Spears (PDF)

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.
 
Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last. 

The Meaning Behind Fur Elise - A Verse Heard In Post Malone's Song


Something Real By Post Malone

Nothing intrigues the public like the secrets of the great and famous. Whether it is in 2017 or 1810, the mystique of secret loves and unknown origins captivate us all.

When the mystery involves Ludwig van Beethoven, a musician who stands historically at the pinnacle of greatness and fame, it ups the ante considerably! The romance of it all makes one almost swoon (as they might have said in 1810).

Okay, what does Fúr Elise mean?

Most of you are probably very aware that it is a charming piece of classical music written for solo piano, and it’s thought that it was written by Beethoven for a lady. In German, it translates to “For Elise.” The actual name of the piece is Bagatelle No. 25 in A Minor. And without a doubt it is today probably the composer’s most famous piece, played frequently, often loved but frequently overplayed and butchered by novices. It is the most famous piano music Beethoven ever composed, probably because practically anyone can play it.

A YouTube rendition of Beethoven’s Fur Elise
No matter where you go you will find Fur Elise sheet music and Fur Elise piano strains in the cafes, the theaters, the movies and the ring tones of smart phones.

The First Mystery – Who Composed Fur Elise?

The mystery began when the original handwritten draft and autographed score was found in in a Munich private home in the possession of Fräulein Babeth Bredl by a 19th Century musicologist named Ludwig Nohl. This was forty years after Beethoven’s death! The autograph read: ‘For Elise on 27 April as a remembrance of L. v. Bthvn’ Nohl transcribed it, but the autograph then disappeared. Fräulein Babeth Bredl gave Nohl permission in 1867 to publish it in his book on new Beethoven letters. A footnote in the book claimed ‘this quite charming little piano piece comes from the estate of Therese von Droßdik née Malfatti, who had given it to Miss Bredl of Munich’.

Luca Chiantore, a contemporary (b. 1966) scholar and musicologist and an Italian pianist, doubts the authorship of the piece. He proposes that no such finished manuscript existed and that Nohl himself derived the piece from perhaps a Beethoven’s sketch, leaving a question, Who wrote Fur Elise?
Beethoven’s handwriting, being very difficult to decipher, does turn up on a draft of Fur Elise with penciled notes added in 1833. It is viewable online at the Beethoven-Haus digital archive. It’s ascertained to be Beethoven’s rough draft of the existing Bagatelle. In 1984, a musicologist named Barry Cooper, pointed out in an article that there was very little needed to complete this draft. It was all but written. This pushes against the Nohl story and Chiantore’s doubts. It’s a mystery.

The Second Mystery – For Elise – Was it Meant to be Therese?

Who is Elise? No-one remembered any Elise in Beethoven’s life.

What people remembered was that Beethoven was smitten by one of his students and had asked for the hand of the lady, named Therese Malfatti, and had been refused. Yes, this is the same Therese who gave the original music sketch to Fraulein Bredl.
One story goes that in 1810, (Beethoven would have been 40 years old) he was invited to the Malfatti home for a party. Beethoven composed a short piano piece – Bagatelle Wo0 59 – for Therese, perhaps intending to play it for the family and guests and propose marriage.

The punch at this party was strong and Beethoven overly imbibed, too drunk to play his piece or propose anything.

Therese asked him for an inscription, and he wrote “Fur Therese” in almost illegible writing across the bagatelle. This is the piece passed along to her friend in Germany, probably bequeathed at her death. She did not accept Beethoven’s proposal, but instead in 1816 married a Hungarian count, Johann Wilhelm von Drosdick. Therese died in 1851.

Was There Really an Elise at all?

Nohl explained in his Beethoven letters book that even though the piece was originally in the care of Therese Malfatti, it was not composed for her but, according to the inscription in Beethoven’s hand, was written ‘for Elise’. He then added that Baroness von Gleichenstein (the sister of Therese von Droßdik) could not remember who Elise was. Since there was no known person named Elise in Beethoven’s circle of friends, scholars were mystified.

It was noted that he first met the rather elderly poetess Elise von der Recke (1754-1833) in Teplitz in 1811, the date making her an unlikely candidate. 1810 is the year of the Fur Elise creation.

Another Mysterious Theory

Contemporary Berlin musicologist Klaus Martin Kopitz (b. 1955) believes he uncovered Elise’s true identity – while he wasn’t even looking for it.

“For years, I’ve been working on a publication called ‘Beethoven in the eyes of his contemporaries,’ which includes all the reports from people who knew Beethoven personally: journals, letters, poems, memoires,” said Kopitz. “Certain women are mentioned, and one of them was Elisabeth Roeckel.”
According to Kopitz, a singer named Joseph Roeckel, sang in Beethoven’s opera “Fidelio” and had a younger sister named Elisabeth Roeckel. Beethoven and Roeckel became friends. In their circle, Elisabeth was affectionately nicknamed “Elise” and was musically inclined, a pianist, and later a singer.

In a letter, Elise wrote about an evening with the composer, the famous guitarist Mauro Giuliani, and composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel, who would later become her husband. “She wrote that Beethoven, true to his frisky Rhenish disposition, wouldn’t stop teasing her and she didn’t know what to do,”

In the spring of 1810, she went to Bamberg to work in theater, with the hope of impressing none other than ETA Hoffman, who was the theater manager there at the time.

Kopitz believes Beethoven dedicated the Bagatelle piano piece “in the memory of” Elise because they were separated when she relocated to Bamberg. Since Elisabeth Roeckel was referred to in the dedication as “Elise” and not the more formal “Fraeulein Roeckel,” she must have known Beethoven well, theorizes Kopitz

Indeed, their relationship was documented, as Elise herself had written about it.

The fact that Elise married Johann Hummel apparently did not mean the end of her friendship with Beethoven. Several days before the composer’s death in March 1827, Elise visited him. For remembrance, she cut off a lock of his hair and accepted one of his quills as a token.

Why did Elisabeth Roeckel remain anonymous to musicologists over the years? And why has the music so often been attributed to Therese Malfatti, who Beethoven proposed to in 1810? 1810 is the year Elise left Beethoven behind. Perhaps he was trying to catch Therese on the rebound? Who knows?
If, however, the Bagatelle was composed for Elise and not Therese, it is how and why the original manuscript could have made it into Therese’s hands 

Did Beethoven recycle it?

Kopitz admitted that his theory on this point is not particularly scientific:

The director of the Beethoven Archive at the Beethoven House in Bonn, Bernhard Appel, said he was skeptical of Kopitz’ hypothesis, though he emphasized that he could not make a conclusion until the report Kopitz was preparing was available for detailed review.

“Elise was a very common name in Vienna at the time,” said Appel, so the dedication could have referred to any number of women. He added that, to prove who Elise really was, one would have to clarify the path the manuscript took before it disappeared.
“Would the music change if we knew who it was dedicated to?” questioned Appel.

Here Are Some Did You Know Facts About

The professional wrestling fraternity was saddened to learn about the demise of the former WWE World Champion Bray Wyatt at the age of 36. He has long been dealing with an undisclosed illness but nobody expected his condition to have deteriorated, this much.


Earlier this month, Fightful Select reported that the illness Wyatt was dealing with was indeed life-threatening. The source also noted how Wyatt contracted COVID-19 earlier this year which exacerbated heart issues for him.


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Bray Wyatt as WWE Champion in 2017 (image courtesy YouTube)

Bray Wyatt as WWE Champion in 2017 (image courtesy YouTube)

Positive progress towards his pro-wrestling return was noted in recent months but he ultimately suffered a heart attack to pass away. As we mourn the death of one of the most entertaining WWE Superstars of the modern era, here are some lesser-known facts about him:


- Real name Windham Rotunda, Bray Wyatt comes from an enriched family with a tremendous history in pro wrestling. He is the son of former WWE wrestler Mike Rotunda who oversaw the company's non-televised house shows for years until the COVID-19 pandemic.


Two of Mike's brothers, Barry Klinton Windham and Kendall Windham were also wrestlers as they followed in the footsteps of their father, Blackjack Mulligan. Even Bray's own brother, Taylor Rotunda was an ex WWE Star best known as Bo Dallas.


- Bray Wyatt returned to WWE last year at Extreme Rules 2022 with an Uncle Howdy character tagged alongside him. This persona was supposed to be played by his brother Bo but WWE never got the opportunity to reveal the identity.


- In real life, both Bray Wyatt and his brother have been attached to either active or former WWE personalities. While Bo is dating active WWE Superstar Liv Morgan, Wyatt has been married to former WWE in-ring announcer JoJo.


Morgan and Bo reportedly run a farm together and they entered a relationship for their love of farming in the first place. As for JoJo, she took a break from the WWE to focus on her personal life with Bray.


- Following his October 2022 return, Bray Wyatt only competed once on WWE TV which was at the Royal Rumble earlier this year, where he defeated LA Knight in a first-time-ever Pitch Black Match presented by Mountain Dew.

WWE arranging a sponsored match for a particular superstar is an example of how Wyatt was over with the WWE Universe. If the WWEShop.com sale is to go by then he was the second-highest merchandise mover.


Being the franchise player of the WWE, Roman Reigns usually covers the top spot while Wyatt overtook him on quite a few occasions with the invention of The Fiend and those puppets from Firefly Funhouse.


The original Wyatt Family gimmick was so popular among the fans that The White/Black Sheep mask sold like hot cake almost a decade ago. Even during his latest return, he moved tons of merch with Uncle Howdy before illness sidelined him.


- Bray Wyatt was one of those very few top WWE Superstars who never had the chance to successfully defend the WWE Championship in a singles capacity. He won the prestigious belt back at Elimination Chamber 2017 PLE.


Just when people thought that WWE was about to give Wyatt his deserved push, Wyatt lost the momentums by dropping the belt to Randy Orton at Wrestlemania 33. Things went worse for him with the follow-up House of Horrors rematch that ended up being a debacle.


Overall, Bray Wyatt is a three-time world champion in the WWE. After 2017, he won the Universal Championship in 2019 as The Fiend only to be victimized by Goldberg. Then in 2020, he regained the title for just seven days before Roman Reigns took it.

Amazon's Bestseller I'm Glad My Mom Died By Jeanette McCurdy (PDF)

I'm Glad My Mom Died is a memoir by American writer, director and former actress Jennette McCurdy based on her one-woman show of the same name. The book is about her career as a child actress and her difficult relationship with her abusive mother who died in 2013. It is McCurdy's first book and was published on August 9, 2022, by Simon & Schuster.

Development Hell: Merger Between Sony And Zee Delayed Once Again

India’s National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is reserving its order on the controversial merger plan between Sony’s India division and Zee Enterprises.

Sony’s local business is Culver Max Entertainment and has been planning a merger with Subhash Chandra-backed Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL). NCLT is pausing so that the two parties can make further submissions to the Tribunal.

Senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas representing ZEEL stated that non-creditor objectors in the matter, who are not even the company’s creditors, are holding the merger to ransom.

“Currently, 70 per cent of the equity is held by the public institutions, who are lenders, while about 25.88 per cent is held by public non-institutions, and merely 3.99 per cent is held by promoters,” argued Dwarkadas.

Dwarkadas’ reference to ‘the promotors’ is a reference to the Chandra family.

Development Hell: Merger Between Sony And Zee Delayed Once Again

India’s National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is reserving its order on the controversial merger plan between Sony’s India division and Zee Enterprises.

Sony’s local business is Culver Max Entertainment and has been planning a merger with Subhash Chandra-backed Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL). NCLT is pausing so that the two parties can make further submissions to the Tribunal.

Senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas representing ZEEL stated that non-creditor objectors in the matter, who are not even the company’s creditors, are holding the merger to ransom.

“Currently, 70 per cent of the equity is held by the public institutions, who are lenders, while about 25.88 per cent is held by public non-institutions, and merely 3.99 per cent is held by promoters,” argued Dwarkadas.

Dwarkadas’ reference to ‘the promotors’ is a reference to the Chandra family.

Meta To Launch It's Twitter App This Week

Twitter users have been facing a lot of issues over the past few months, but things got even worse last weekend after the company decided to limit the number of tweets users can see per day. To take advantage of this, Meta now seems to have confirmed that Threads – its new app to compete with Twitter – will be released later this week.

On Monday, a page that lets iPhone users pre-order Threads was made available on the App Store. The same page confirms that the app will be released on July 6-7 (depending on which country the user lives in). Meta has also launched a new webpage with a countdown ahead of the release.

Meta has been working on Threads for some time now, and it became known after some reports in May about the “Barcelona” project. Developed under the Instagram brand, Threads aims to be a direct competitor to Twitter, allowing users to share text, photos, and videos.

“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow. Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world,” says the app description.

Although Threads is based on Instagram, it will have its own app. Expectedly, those with an Instagram account will be able to join the new platform with just a tap. However, some details are still unclear – such as whether users will be able to access Threads through a web browser. Another detail to keep in mind is that, at least for now, the app has no iPad version.

Insidus has heard from people familiar with the matter that Meta was first planning to launch Threads at the end of July. However, as many Twitter users are upset with the platform, Meta has decided to rush the launch of its new microblogging social network.

10 DStv Channels That Need To Be Revived

Since 1995, MultiChoice has provided a number of TV channels and some of these channels form part of our childhood memories. Now a look at 10 DStv channels that need to be revived. Take to account some of these brands are current while defunct are M-Net.


Presenting 10 DStv channels that need to be revived.


1. ActionX (M-Net Action/M-Net Edge/M-Net City)


Before the M-Net City and Action concept existed, there was ActionX which was viewed be as a b-grade to M-Net Action and M-Net City by 2004. Home to shows such as Battle Galactica, Supernatural, The 4400, Criminal Minds, Eureka, Brotherhood and The Lost Room.


By 2008, it was known as M-Net Action with most of the channel remaining intact until 2012 which is when it was folded under M-Net Movies. The concept was later revived in 2015 as M-Net City and year prior M-Net Edge but shuttered respectively in 2021 and 2017 with further content on M-Net and Me.


2. Animax (Sony Max)


Animax is adult animation channel distributed internationally through Sony Pictures Television as the premier anime channel home to shows such as Bleach, Black Cat, Ghost In The Shell, Chrono Crusade, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Hellsing and Samurai 7.



Due to low viewership, the channel was replaced by Sony Max which offered solely live-action dedicated to a male audience including Baywatch, Impractical Jokers, 1000 Ways To Die and NCIS. By 2019, Sony Pictures Television halted distribution of further TV channels outside India.


3. The Sci-fi Channel (now Syfy)


Syfy owned by NBCUniversal formed part of the initial offering when MultiChoice rolled out their pay-tv service DStv in 1995. The channel featured science-fiction, drama, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming.


It was ripped away from consumers by 2004 with further content folded under ActionX as it was deemed too niche and a decade after its termination MultiChoice Africa was in talks to relaunch the channel by 2015 but never happened with sources deeming costs as a feature to the halt.


4. VH1 Classic (now MTV Classic)


VH1 Classic was the TCM of music basically operating a variety of international hits from the 80s and 90s from the likes of Michael Jackson, James Brown, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Destiny's Child and The Beatles. It was basically the channel to relive nostalgic moments.


Over the years, Paramount had been moving most of VH1's offering to MTV and with the latter in Africa seeking to be more modern opted for the pop centric MTV Music24 (later on MTV Hits). The channel was later axed due to low viewership and replaced by Qwest TV.



5. tvN


tvN is a South Korean entertainment channel operated by CJ ENM that was added as a pop-up channel on MultiChoice's DStv in 2021. It offered short-form drama series such as Cheese In The Trap, Tails Of The Nine Tailed, Flowers Of Evil and Another Miss Oh.


Since it's termination, several broadcasters in the market including eMedia Investments eXposed and MultiChoice's Showmax had supplied selected content.


6. Eurochannel


Eurochannel is an award winning general entertainment channel formerly seen on the DStv app which promotes European culture and lifestyle through movies, series, documentaries and music. Some of the content included the Serbian drama The Black Sun and Dutch mystery drama Placeres Mortales.


7. ShortsTV


ShortsTV is the leading network in short forms including a number of Oscar nominated short films such as My Year Of Dicks, Flying Sailor and Ice Merchants. ShortsTV is operated by Shorts International in a joint venture with AMC International.


8. Timeless Dizi Channel


Timeless Dizi Channel is Turkish entertainment channel and also the leading brand operated by SPI International, a division of Canal+. It is home to a number of shows including Karadayi, Black Money Love, Kuzgun, The Red Scarf and Kurt And Shura and The End.


It was launched as a pop-up channel on MultiChoice's DStv by October 2020 and since is currently viewable on rival provider, StarTimes. A number of content seen on Timeless Dizi Channel can be viewed through various broadcasters in Africa.



9. ITV Choice


ITV Choice was a general entertainment channel owned by ITV and also a rival to BBC Studios' BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle and BBC Earth offering a number of films and series including Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Poldark and the much loved soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale.


In line with the strategy to continuously review international and local content line-ups and optimise the suite of channels on offer on DStv. MultiChoice opted to discontinue carriage by June 2020 with further content folded by BBC and M-Net.


10. Disney XD


Disney XD is a children's channel owned by The Walt Disney Company targeting boys 7-14 years old offers a mix of animation and live-action including Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil, Kick Buttowski, Star Wars: Rebels, Wonder Over Yonder, Pair Of Kings and Mech X4.


By October 2020, the channel was axed with further content being integrated onto Disney Channel and Disney+ with The Walt Disney Company planning to integrate most of their content to streaming in the coming future as that remains a top priority.


Tragic Details About Married...With Children

The following article contains references to suicide, addiction, and death.

Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage: such was the ironic mantra of irreverent '80s and '90s sitcom "Married...With Children," one that was pivotal in popularizing cynicism within mainstream comedy narratives. While a show like "The Simpsons" was renowned for sardonic observations in its '90s heyday, the storylines still relied heavily on sentimentality and traditional family values (both shows came out on the fledgling Fox Network). "Married... With Children," on the other hand, omitted all sentiment and pathos from the plot. The show dispelled notions of the idealized all-American nuclear family and each week gave its viewers a glaring message: the Protestant work ethic doesn't, well, work.

Proving extremely popular with the public, it remained one of Fox's highest rated shows. As a result, the series made stars out of the Bundy family's four main players: Ed O'Neill, Katey Sagal, Christina Applegate, and David Faustino. But the entertainment industry is nothing if not fickle and while a number of the aforementioned stars have enjoyed prosperous post-"Married... With Children" careers, fame and riches were not everlasting for others.

Some of the show's actors struggled with financial woes and drug misuse, while others faced harrowing loss. These beloved stars are resilient to say the least. Get the hankies ready as we delve into tragic details about the cast of "Married... With Children."

Katey Sagal's dad died in a tragic accident

Peg Bundy was arguably the ultimate challenge to the domestic goddess trope. The veritable character was always quick to dish out the barbed jibes at her chauvinistic husband as she enjoyed a life of leisure. Katey Sagal embodied Peg with panache and zeal. But behind the snazzy leopard print outfits and outrageous bouffant lay a deep sadness.

Katey is the daughter of director Boris Sagal. In 1981, he was tragically killed in a helicopter accident when filming the TV movie "World War III," per UPI. At one point, he turned towards the rear of the helicopter, where he was caught up in its blades and severely injured. He died several hours later, aged 57.

Reflecting on the loss, Katey told ABC News that she was shocked when she heard of her father's death, as she had only spoken to him the day before. She details her dad's horrific last moments in her memoir, "Grace Notes." Tragically, she did not get to see him in hospital before he died; by the time she had arrived in Oregon, where he was hospitalized, he succumbed to his injuries. "The whole thing was surreal," she wrote. "Just like that, he was gone, just as he and I were starting to get to know each other." Despite the magnitude of the loss, Sagal has been able to find comfort through the realization that her father is always with her. "I have become him in so many ways. Truly, daddy's girl," she reflected.

Christina Applegate had cancer

As Kelly Bundy, Christina Applegate personified peroxide blond '90s chic, becoming one of many it-girls of the era. Every episode, she garnered rapturous applause from the studio audience (and perhaps one too many instances of sexist hooting). Applegate played Kelly with aplomb, even when faced with some of the cruder put-downs directed at the character.

In 2008, eleven years after "Married...With Children" ended, a then 36-year-old Applegate was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. "It can be very painful," she told Oprah Winfrey. "It's also a part of you that's gone, so you go through a grieving process and a mourning process." Applegate's mom, actor Nancy Priddy, is also a breast cancer survivor and a carrier of the BRCA gene. Poignantly, Applegate decided to take some nude photos prior to having her breasts removed. "[S]o I can kind of remember them," she said.

Unfortunately, the invasive surgery did not end there for Applegate. In 2017, she revealed to Today that she'd elected to have her fallopian tubes and ovaries removed, noting that her cousin died of ovarian cancer. She told the outlet that she fears for her daughter's future; due to the BRCA gene, Applegate revealed, "The chances that my daughter is BRCA positive are very high... It breaks my heart to think that's a possibility." Applegate is now cancer-free and raising awareness of the disease via Right Action for Women, per Elle.

David Faustino's money woes

Poor Bud was always the butt of the joke on "Married...With Children." Despite his intelligence, the perennially single teen just couldn't catch a break. Since playing Bud, David Faustino's career has ebbed and flowed, appearing in bit parts on TV shows, and truly cementing his typecast status with a stint on series "Celebrity Boot Camp" in 2002. In the reality show, he was frequently referred to as "Bud Bundy" by mocking drill instructors.

One might assume Faustino would be set for life thanks to the sitcom, but that isn't exactly the case. He told Access in 2009 that he receives zero residuals from "Married...With Children." "We got really screwed over," Faustino said. "I mean, the show... was on for 11 years, and we all made really good money while we were doing it... But residuals — we all got screwed over." This was due to the fact that Fox, then being a cable channel and thus under a cable contract, was not obliged to pay residuals. "'Married... With Children' has made over a billion dollars, and we didn't really get a piece of that," Faustino conceded.

Though he hasn't landed any other megahit sitcoms since "Married...With Children," Faustino has kept working. He has a number of voice acting credits, he hosted a radio show called "Old Scratch Radio," and per The New York Times, he and fellow TV star Corin Nemec star in the "Curb Your Enthusiasm"-esque web series, "Star-ving."

Ed O'Neill's family struggled financially

There's perhaps no sitcom character who encapsulates the misery of working a job you hate better than Al Bundy. While Ed O'Neill earned big bucks for the role, and later raked in more dollars for "Modern Family," his early life was anything but prosperous. As O'Neill explained to Wealth Simple, he was raised in a working class family in Ohio. "We lived in a ramshackle apartment building... between the train tracks and public housing projects," he said. Both of his parents worked, but money was tight, and as O'Neill said in Wealth Simple, it wasn't always a given that they'd be able to afford basic necessities like utilities. 

His father worked in his hometown's steel mill, and O'Neill eventually began working there, too. The gig was tough; the conditions in the mill were hazardous at best. "You could only stay inside a furnace for five minutes at a stretch, because you'd literally catch on fire," he divulged. "You could feel the graphite in the air singeing your lungs."

Discussing his upbringing in an interview with Capital and Main, O'Neill revealed that his time on the mill highlighted to him the importance of unionization. Having faced unemployment after a brief stint as a footballer, he decided to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. "You had to assert yourself, because otherwise they weren't gonna give anything to you... So, I've always been, in my heart of hearts, a teamster, a union guy," he mused.

Katey Sagal overcame drug and alcohol addiction

In her memoir, "Grace Notes," Katey Sagal opened up about her history of alcohol and drug use. She recalled befriending Lorna Luft, daughter of Judy Garland, when she was a kid, and claimed that the two of them would take their mothers' prescription pills. It was not long before she didn't have to swipe someone else's meds. "When I was fourteen, our family doctor prescribed me diet pills, and so I had pills of my own," she wrote. "I got the message: if you feel bad, take a pill."

Of course, this lifestyle was unsustainable and Sagal soon came to terms with her struggles with addiction. As she recalled to ABC News, it was thanks to an encounter with someone in recovery on a TV set that she decided to get sober. Suddenly, she realized that sobriety, something she had long deemed an impossibility, was a reality entirely within her grasp.

Speaking with Bustle, Sagal revealed that the death of her father motivated her to try to quit drugs and alcohol. Then, just two months after getting clean, she scored the role of Peg Bundy on "Married... With Children." "I stayed sober, and watched all the people around me, and I learned how to do what I do now," she told the outlet. She has now been sober for over 30 years.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Katey Sagal's mom died young

Katey Sagal's mother lived with heart disease for many years and these health struggles would be the cause of immense pain for both herself and her daughter. In her memoir, Sagal reflected on the agony of witnessing her mother, Sara Zwilling, suffer from the disease. "Even then as a teenager, I knew there was only so much I could do; that hers was a fragile life, and that it was only a matter of time before there would be an exit," she wrote in a harrowing admission. Tragically, Zwilling's health struggles led to her attempting suicide on more than one occasion. Then, when Sagal was just 21 years old, her adolescent sisters discovered that Zwilling had died in her sleep from a heart attack. However, Sagal believes that her mom actually died by suicide, hypothesizing that the family doctor may have claimed Zwilling's heart condition was the cause of death as a way of sparing her and her sisters' feelings. 

According to Find A Grave, Zwilling was just 48 when she died. Sagal told ABC News that since her mom had been sick for a long time, her death, while devastating, wasn't that surprising. Just six years later, she would lose her father, too.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Sagal said that writing her memoir was beneficial to re-evaluating her relationship with her parents and learning to truly appreciate them. "It allowed me to miss them...To revisit them is just a way for me to acknowledge how much I love and miss them," she reflected.

Christina Applegate has a chronic illness

There once was a time when pervasive disability discrimination meant that stars had to keep their health diagnoses secret. For instance, Michael J. Fox attempted to disguise his Parkinson's disease for seven years, out of fear of losing work, per The Guardian. Due to widespread efforts to destigmatize disabilities, many celebs are opening up about living with chronic illnesses.

Having survived cancer, Christina Applegate was faced with yet another illness over a decade later. In 2021, she revealed that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which is a neurological disease usually diagnosed in young adults, according to a 2018 study. The illness causes pain and mobility problems, though severity varies. On Twitter, Applegate reflected on her diagnosis with good humor. "It's been a strange journey," she shared. "But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition. It's been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some a**hole blocks it."

She sought comfort in another actor living with MS: Selma Blair. "Loving you always. Always here," Blair wrote to Applegate. "As are our kids. Beating us up with love." During a twitter Q&A with fans, Applegate opened up about her illness and pondered the fact that both she and Blair, her co-star in 2002 comedy "The Sweetest Thing," have MS. Recalling the great time she had on set with Blair, she conceded that it was "Sad both of us have Ms."

Katey Sagal had a stillbirth during filming

In Season 6 of "Married...With Children," both Peg and her neighbor Marcy announced they were pregnant, much to everyone's surprise. The writers decided on this storyline for Peg because Katey Sagal became pregnant in 1991. However, the plotline was soon revealed to be a dream in the episode "Al Bundy, Shoe Dick," per the Los Angeles Times. This decision was due to the writers paying respect to Sagal, who ended up suffering a stillbirth during filming.

During an appearance on "The View," she opened up about the intense guilt she felt after the tragedy. "It was a very difficult thing. I lost a child at almost eight months ... I just couldn't let go of the control, of somehow I had done something wrong," she said. She revealed that the loss took a toll on her mental health and she struggled to leave the house afterwards. A year later, she was able to regain control over her life thanks to some wise words offered by a Buddhist friend. "Sometimes we have these little souls that come in and out," the friend philosophized, "and that their mission is completed."

When Sagal released her debut album, "Well..." in 1994, she paid tribute to the baby she lost on the song "Can't Hurry the Harvest," per the book "Stillborn: Celebrities Who Have Suffered Infant Loss." The song contains the tear-jerking lyrics, "You took so much of me/ Oh my darling, my little one/ Did it have to be this way?"

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

Some of the supporting actors died from cancer

Tragically, a number of "Married...With Children's" wacky ensemble players died before their time. Buck the dog was always the sagacious voice of reason amid the chaos and dysfunction of the Bundy household. Although sometimes voiced by Cheech Marin of Cheech and Chong fame, he was usually voiced by show writer Kevin Curran, per The New York Times. In addition to "Married... With Children," Curran wrote for another irreverent sitcom that poked fun at the American Dream: "The Simpsons." Sadly, Curran died of complications from cancer in 2016. He was 59.

Likewise, Diana Bellamy, who depicted frequent shoe store customer Shirley, played a pivotal role on the series. While the character was often mocked by the disgruntled shoe salesman, Shirley gave the sexist protagonist a run for his money, throwing the barbs back as quickly as he dished them out. In 2001, Bellamy died of cancer at the age of 57, per the Los Angeles Times. Prior to her death, she had been living with blindness, a complication of the cancer, though she viewed her disability with optimism. "I had tried crying and being in a snit about [blindness]," the character actor quipped, "but that was real boring."

Per USA Today, one of the show's most memorable guest stars, original "Glow" wrestler Beckie Mullen, died in 2020, again from cancer. She was just 55. Famously, Mullen appeared in Al's dream sequence wrestling a young Pamela Anderson in Season 5's "Al...with Kelly."

David Faustino was arrested on drug charges

Much of Bud Bundy's comedic escapades were based around the hapless teen's attempts to be a "bad boy," despite his high achievement at school and a clean-cut reputation (he famously rebranded himself as self-styled rap god Grandmaster B). While Bud was a (usually) law-abiding citizen, David Faustino found himself on the wrong side of the law in 2007.

Per Access, Faustino and his wife were pulled over by cops, and the officers found marijuana in his possession. He was also believed to have been driving under the influence. CBS News offered further information into the arrest. Reportedly, Faustino attempted to evade capture by the police by jumping out of his car, but was eventually caught and sent to jail. His charges included disorderly intoxication.

As reported by Fox News, the charges were dropped once Faustino completed a drug treatment program. "He received no special treatment from the State Attorney's Office," Faustino's attorney said. "He did what was asked of him, and he fulfilled all of his conditions." In an interview with The New York Times two years after his arrest, Faustino said he still smoked weed, but that's the long and short of it. "They just offered me 'Celebrity Rehab...' I don't want to go on TV and spill my guts," he told the outlet, noting that the offer made little sense since he did not struggle with addiction.

Katey Sagal was devastated by the death of her friend

After "Married...With Children," Katey Sagal enjoyed further sitcom fame on "8 Simple Rules." Soon, however, tragedy would strike. In 2003, Sagal's onscreen husband, comedy mainstay John Ritter, began feeling unwell while rehearsing on set, per Today. After vomiting profusely, he was sent to the emergency room and died soon after, at the age of 54. 

Although his death was deemed a heart attack, the actor's widow, Amy Yasbeck, believed that it could have been prevented. Yasbeck claimed that doctors had misinterpreted Ritter's medical results, leading to his untimely death. Accordingly, she filed a lawsuit. As reported by People, Sagal was devastated by Ritter's passing and testified in his wrongful death trial. "I loved John," she told the jury as she wept. Per E! News, the doctors were ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.

Thereafter, Ritter's death was poignantly written into "8 Simple Rules," showing both the cast and the Hennessy family dealing in real time with the tragic loss. Opening up about her friend's passing, Sagal told EW that she was grateful for being given the opportunity to grieve onscreen, stating that it wouldn't have felt right to continue with the show without addressing the tragedy. "What I loved about that job was John Ritter. John was an amazing person," she reflected. "I'll never forget when I had to audition for that job... John whispered to me while I was in there, 'You're my favorite. You're the one I want.' Which was so, so sweet."

Comedies Films That Never Got Sequels

1. National Lampoon’s Animal House II

After Animal House became a surprise hit in 1978, Universal started pushing for a another one. A few drafts were written, with the new project depicting the members of Delta House five years later in the Summer of Love. A draft of the script, which you can read a review of here, was even turned in after John Belushi’s death. This particular edition of the screenplay made no mention of Bluto Blutarsky until the last scene in which the Deltas toast him. Needless to say, Animal House without John Belushi makes very little sense, and that’s why the studio scrapped this project.

2. Roger Rabbit: The Toon Platoon/Who Discovered Roger Rabbit?

A direct-to-video prequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, entitled Roger Rabbit: The Toon Platoon, was written in the late ‘80s but never got off the ground. The WWII-era story involved a young Roger Rabbit rescuing Jessica Rabbit from Nazi forces and ended with a surprise reveal that Roger’s father is Bugs Bunny. For obvious reasons, the project was scrapped, only to be resurrected in the late ‘90s. Spielberg had the Nazi stuff dropped and the plot was changed to cover Roger Rabbit’s rise to fame on Broadway and in Hollywood, now called Who Discovered Roger Rabbit? This new proposed version was to feature a mix of CGI, live-action, and traditional animation, but the budget quickly ballooned out of control and this incarnation was called off, as well. News came in 2009 that Robert Zemeckis was working on another sequel idea, so Roger Rabbit still isn’t safe from franchise-dom.

3. Triplets

Right after the Ivan Reitman-directed, Arnold Schwarzenegger-Danny DeVito vehicle Twins became a big hit, Universal began eyeing a sequel. The movie would have been called Triplets and Roseanne Barr, still in the brief two-year window in the late ‘80s where she was allowed to be in movies, was the top choice for the third sibling. This one was shot down fairly quickly, as it should have been, and never even made it to the script stage.

4. Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian

A script for a Beetlejuice sequel was written in the early ‘90s that involved the Deets family building a resort in Hawaii that happens to be on top of a burial ground. Beetlejuice would return to help the Deets scare off ghosts and participate in a surfing competition. Ugh. It sounds more like an episode of the animated series than a worthy film sequel. Tim Burton was interested in returning to the director’s chair, but he soon became busy with other projects. Michael Keaton was still interested when asked as recently as 2005, but no current plans exist to bring Beetlejuice back to the screen.

5. Good Morning, Chicago

Touchstone Pictures commissioned a sequel be written to the Robin Williams vehicle Good Morning, Vietnam after that film became a hit in 1989. The original’s director, Barry Levinson was set to return, along with Williams, until the creative team decided the project wasn’t worth pursuing. This planned sequel would have involved Williams’s rambunctious DJ character doing his thing during the turbulent 1968 Democratic National Convention. This sounds like one of the better ideas on this list and an interesting place to take Robin Williams’s character, but Good Morning, Vietnam tells a complete story in its own right and doesn’t really demand a sequel.

6. Ghostbusters III: Hellbent

Dan Aykroyd wrote the script for Ghostbusters III: Hellbent in the late ‘90s, and the planned sequel involved the Ghostbusters being transported to a version of Hell that resembles Manhattan. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, and Chris Farley were widely-rumored to make up the new batch of Ghostbusters recruits, but plans fell through and this particular idea was scrapped. While Ghostbusters III is still in development, pending Bill Murray’s approval, the current incarnation is presumably different than Aykroyd’s ‘90s idea. Sending the Ghostbusters to Hell sounds like it could be interesting (at least it’s a better concept for a movie than evil slime creeping up from the Earth and stealing Dana Barrett’s baby). Many of the ideas for Hellbent were incorporated into the recent multi-platform Ghostbusters video game.

7. Blue Streak 2

It may not be saying a lot, but Blue Streak is one of Martin Lawrence’s better films and one more worthy of sequel-dom than, say, Big Momma’s House. Columbia Pictures was so satisfied with the box office returns on the first installment that they had a script written for a sequel, which involved Martin Lawrence pretending to be a spy. The original’s director Les Mayfield was set to return for Blue Streak 2, along with Lawrence, and production was set to start up in 2001. For whatever reason, plans were called off before production ever began

Sure, Blue Streak 2 seems unnecessary, but what Martin Lawrence movie doesn’t? At least it makes more sense than making a Black Knight 2.

8. Seriously Dude, Where’s My Car?

A Dude, Where’s My Car? sequel was in development for years but never came to fruition. The first movie was a breakthrough role for Ashton Kutcher, allowing him to transition from That ‘70s Show to movie stardom. The sequel was ramping up towards production eyeing a start date in 2003, but Kutcher shot the idea down before filming began. Dude, Where’s My Car? lives on in spirit, though, as Todd Phillips has gotten a lot of mileage out of the original’s “What happened last night?” formula, employing the premise to greater success in his Hangover series.

9. Mrs. Doubtfire 2

20th Century Fox started putting together a Mrs. Doubtfire sequel in 2003, ten years after the release of the original, and talk show host/comedian Bonnie Hunt was brought in to write the script. Robin Williams was on board initially, but he dropped out in 2006, expressing dissatisfaction with the screenplay. The sequel was to involve Williams’s character donning the Mrs. Doubtfire disguise to watch after his daughter while she’s away at college. While Mrs. Doubtfire is one of Robin Williams’s best movies, it really seems like he’s protecting himself as well as us here.

10. Office Space 2

While Mike Judge’s workplace comedy Office Space is now a beloved cult classic that’s achieved a great deal of success, the movie was a box office disappointment upon its initial release. When Office Space became a hit on home video and cable years later, Fox came to Mike Judge wanting to make a sequel, but Judge’s experiences with the original film’s failure were so frustrating that he’s avoided a second outing.

Mike Judge probably made the right call here, even though an Office Space sequel could have boosted his movie career. Most of Judge’s success has been in television with shows like King of the Hill and Beavis and Butt-head, while his films have had poor commercial performances - at least at first. Office Space and Idiocracy both became successes long after they were in theaters, as botched marketing jobs by the studio ruined their commercial prospects. With Office Space 2, Judge would have had a built-in audience of fans of the first movie, and this could have been the first film of his to be a commercial hit upon its initial release, guaranteeing him more creative control over his projects in the future and making it easier for him to get his stuff made. If Office Space 2 had been a hit sometime around 2001-2004 when it would have likely been produced if Judge said yes, Fox might have actually given him the budget he wanted to make Idiocracy, granted the film a wider release, and bothered to market it.

The first Office Space tells a complete and finite story, and it might have been a stretch to believe Peter Gibbons would ever return to the workplace; but if Mike Judge were writing and directing again, I’m sure he would have come up with something that wasn’t just a carbon copy of the first film.

11. Elf 2 and Old School Dos

Although he’s been trying to push Anchorman 2 into development with Adam McKay, Will Ferrell has thus far not participated in any sequel to one of his own films. Elf and Old School have been amongst those offered to Ferrell, but he’s turned them both down. He said ‘no’ to $29 million to star in the Elf sequel, and the studio hasn’t yet tried to pull a Son of the Mask and proceed with a different actor in his place. Ferrell had this to say about his anti-sequel stance:

“I remember asking myself: could I withstand the criticism when it’s bad and they say, ‘He did the sequel for the money?’ I decided I wouldn’t be able to. I didn’t want to wander into an area that could erase all the good work I’ve done — but you watch, I’ll do some sequel in the future that’s crap.”
Scot Armstrong wrote a script for the Old School sequel, titled Old School Dos, but Ferrell and co-star Vince Vaughn both shot it down. It would involve the guys reuniting for Spring Break in Daytona Beach. Ferrell spoke highly of the sequel’s script, though, saying:

“I read [the script]. Some super funny set pieces, but I don’t know. I think Vince [Vaughn] had the same reaction. We’re just kind of doing the same thing again. It was like us going to Spring Break, but we’ve got to find this guy who’s the head of a fraternity. Once again, funny things but it’s just us once again back in a fraternity setting. It just felt like it was repeating. But watch, I’m over thinking it.”
Both the Elf and Old School sequels would likely be big hits for Will Ferrell as the originals are still well-regarded today. These successes would have allowed Ferrell more leeway to get his own projects made and helped him to weather the box office failures of Land of the Lost and Semi-Pro, but Ferrell’s reluctance to produce a shoddy sequel is admirable. We’ve all strolled through the local Cineplex, wondering “Who asked for this?” when giant posters for undeserved sequels pop up (cough, cough, Deuce Bigelow). While Ferrell feels a second Old School wouldn’t be a good move for himself, Old School Dos is just about the only way Luke Wilson’s going to get to star in a major movie ever again after a recent string of flops. He seems to be the one hurt most by Ferrell’s integrity.

12. Wild Hogs 2: Bachelor Ride

When Wild Hogs became the highest grossing live-action comedy of 2007, it should have struck fear into the hearts of all comedy fans. 2007 was by all means a very good year for film comedy, seeing the release of Knocked Up, Hot Fuzz, Superbad, Walk Hard, and Juno. It’s a little distressing to think that Wild Hogs bested all of these much-more worthy comedies. Of course, there’s the box office conspiracy theory that Wild Hogs only did so well because teenagers were buying tickets to it so they could sneak into the R-rated flick 300, but it still sickens me to think about how much money Wild Hogs made and the impact it could have had on comedy.

It seems like the success of Wild Hogs would have inspired a whole slew of similar movies but only two were greenlit before studios realized the movie’s success was a fluke: the John Travolta/Robin Williams starrer Old Dogs and Wild Hogs 2: Bachelor Ride, which would have transported the action to Europe for William H. Macy’s bachelor party. When Old Dogs bombed, WH2 — as fans were calling it — was called off, and comedy nerds rejoiced.

13. The Love Guru 2 and 3

It’s not a surprise that Mike Myers was hoping for The Love Guru to be his next Wayne’s World or Austin Powers. Sure, the film lacked a lot of the appeal of those earlier characters, but it just felt like a movie that was intended to be the start of a film series. Myers began discussing sequels with the studio more than year before production on The Love Guru began. You read that right. Sequels, plural. Not just one sequel, more than one of them.

If The Love Guru had been a hit, we would likely be seeing a second and third installment pop up in theaters around this time. Fans would be repeating whatever Mike Myers’s characters catchphrases were, in an Indian accent. Love Guru backpacks, action figures, lunchboxes, Halloween costumes. Mike Myers’s smiling faux-Indian face on merchandise everywhere, Hell on Earth.

Instead, Mike Myers seems to have grown more reclusive since the film’s failure. The only movie parts he’s had in the last three years have been popping up in a bit role in Inglourious Basterds and voicing the title character in the fourth Shrek installment. A hypothetical lucrative Love Guru franchise would have forced Myers to leave his mansion to film sequels and possibly given his career the momentum to allow him to make an Austin Powers 4.

14. School of Rock 2: America Rocks

A sequel to School of Rock was in the works back in 2008, with key players Jack Black, director Richard Linklater, and writer Mike White set to return. Under the cringe-inducingly jingoistic title School of Rock 2: America Rocks, White completed a draft of the script, in which Jack Black “leads a bunch of summer school students on a cross-country field trip to explore the history of rock.” Plans never came together and Richard Linklater recently told the press, “”I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. Never say never but currently, no. It never seemed to gel.”  Linklater and Black did reunite, though, for the two’s most recent project, a dark comedy called Bernie, which will be released later that year.

15. The Naked Gun 4: The Rhythm of Evil

The script for a fourth Naked Gun installment was completed last year and was reportedly quite funny, but Paramount scrapped the project over financial issues. The studio had found the perfect writer for the job, too, in Alan Spencer, creator of Sledge Hammer! Spencer’s script was said to be very good, and this would have been the perfect career capper for Leslie Nielsen, but it never came to be. The sequel script involved Nielsen’s Frank Drebin returning to duty to oversee the new Police Squad and train a fresh rookie cop.

16. Anchorman 2

The entire original gang was ready to sequelize Anchorman back in 2010, but Paramount, the studio that holds the rights to the franchise is standing in the way. Since Steve Carell and Paul Rudd have become big stars since Anchorman, you’d think it would be hard to get the budget under control; but everyone involved has agreed to take pay cuts. Paramount still won’t budge, with Ferrell claiming the studio said, “We’ve run the numbers and it’s not a good fit.” There’s still a chance that the execs at Paramount will come to their senses, but at things stand now, they hold the rights to Anchorman and don’t have any interest in a sequel.

Disney Planning To Restart The Pirate Of The Caribbean's Franchise


Sean Bailey, the president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, recently spoke with the New York Times to talk about Disney’s live-action projects and one of those projects was Pirates of the Caribbean.

Bailey says restarting the Pirates franchise is a priority at Disney. “We think we have a really good, exciting story that honors the films that have come before but also has something new to say”

For those unaware, Disney is actually developing multiple Pirates projects and we highlight each project and share everything we know so far. So let’s set sail and get into the nitty-gritty.

Pirates Project #1
Back in 2018, it was reported that Deadpool and Zombieland 2: Double Tap writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, were brought on to write Pirates 6, but would drop out months later and were replaced by Chernobyl and The Last of Us creator Craig Mazin and Pirates alum Ted Elliot. While there have been no story details or massive updates on this project, it is still the main Pirates project Disney is actively working on. That said, in 2019, we exclusively reported that Guardians of the Galaxy star Karen Gillan was someone Disney was looking at to star. This project will exist in the previous Pirates of the Caribbean movies continuity, so a return from stars Orlando Bloom, Kiera Knightley, Brenton Thwaites, and Kaya Scodelario is definitely on the table.

Pirates Project #2
In 2020, a report surfaced that Harley Quinn herself Margot Robbie would star in a female-led reboot from Bumblebee writer Christina Hodson. This project is not intended to be a spinoff, but a new story, with new characters set in the Pirates universe. Despite rumors last year that this project was axed, franchise producer Jerry Bruckheimer dispelled that, saying “I think that that script will come forward at a certain point. We developed two different stories for Pirates and the other one’s going forward first, so that’s what we’re working on, to try to get that one made.” The story Bruckheimer is referring to would be the first project we talked about. We had heard when this project was in active development Disney was looking at some pretty big-name actors to star alongside Robbie, names we heard included Jason Momoa, Richard Madden, and Sebastian Stan.

Pirates Project #3
A fun piece of information we shared on The DisInsider Show during our “Rumor of the Week” segment, is that Disney has put a Pirates of the Caribbean Disney+ on the drawing board and are in very early development stages. At this time, I don’t have any further information on this project as it is still in the early stages.

The Elephant in the Room
It’s what everyone wants to know, is Johnny Depp returning to the franchise as Captain Jack Sparrow? A role that garned him an Oscar nomination for his work in Curse of the Black Pearl. Despite rumors last year that the actor had actually closed a deal to appear in a sixth movie and that he was also planning to help co-write the film, after his very public defamation trial against Amber Heard last year, the actor made it very clear that he would never forgive Disney for the way they publicly distanced themselves from him. Some insiders believe he will return. Bruckheimer told Deadline earlier this year that he would still reach out to Depp because Johnny was both his friend and “an amazing artist.” Acknowledging that enough time has passed between him, Disney, and Depp, he explained his reasoning by saying, “You go through things in life that you wish you hadn’t done right.” Bailey was asked about Depp once again and said “Noncommittal at this point,” which is an inkling that a return is very possible.

Now, here is what we at The DisInsider know, we have talked with some people in the industry and we have heard the goal is to bring Depp back in a passing of the torch role, whether that would be in a starring, supporting, or cameo role is currently unknown.

The franchise originated with the Pirates of the Caribbean theme ride attraction, which opened at Disneyland in 1967, the last Disney theme park attraction overseen by Walt Disney. The attraction can be found at four Disney theme parks. Since then, it has become a moneymaker, the five films have grossed over $4.5 billion at the worldwide box office. The franchise has also become a revenue booster in video games, merchandise, and more.

The Simpsons: A Tribute To Hollywood's Finest Actors, Phil Hartman


Later episodes of The Simpsons tend to unfold like Radiohead songs, starting off one way before taking an abrupt left turn. In stark contrast to this style, the plot of Season 2 gem “Bart Gets Hit By a Car” is thrust into motion within its first minute… when Bart gets hit by a car. Immediately afterward, the boy’s soul sheds its mortal shell and ascends the escalator to heaven, guided by a voice that is both pleasant and firm. It’s the kind of voice designed to convey trust during a commercial, and also the kind used during a fake commercial to mock such naked appeals for trust, perhaps on Saturday Night Live. If this hauntingly familiar voice wasn’t one that viewers recognized at the time of the original airing, it was one they would soon know very well: this was the first Simpsons appearance of Phil Hartman.

It is an honor to be invited as a guest voice on The Simpsons. Only after you’ve “made it” in some way within your chosen field will this gesture be extended. Athletes, actors, artists, and architects alike have been written in as guests over the 22-season run of the show, all contributing to its Guinness Book world record for Most Guest Stars. Only a fraction of these people, however, have been asked back a second time. In that regard, Phil Hartman is in an elite class with Albert Brooks, Jon Lovitz, Kelsey Grammer, and Joe Mantegna as frequent guests. (Coincidentally, this is also my Murderer’s Row dream-cast for a Glengarry Glen Ross stage revival.) As a frequent-frequent guest, though, Phil Hartman was in a class all his own: he was featured in 52 episodes over a period of eight years. To this day, that’s over a tenth of the total output of a show that also holds the world record for Longest-Running Sitcom of all time.

It’s no secret why The Simpsons producers and writers kept wanting to bring Phil Hartman back: the man was a comedic powerhouse. Hartman’s career in comedy began at the age of 27, when he spontaneously climbed onstage during a Groundlings show. In 1975, he would officially join the troupe as a performer. (Try jumping onstage during a show now, though, and see what happens.) As part of The Groundlings, Hartman helped Paul Reubens develop the concept of his Peewee Herman character, co-writing Peewee’s Big Adventure and performing as Captain Carl. Later, the two had a falling out, though, and Hartman went on to bigger and better things at Saturday Night Live. This is perhaps where he is best known, and rightfully so. His star turns on SNL were legendary, but so was his gracious willingness to take smaller roles and allow others to shine. Across eight seasons, Phil Hartman made an indelible mark on that show’s storied history as the ultimate utility player – although his range and talent were obvious even on his audition tape. Hartman Impressions of Bill Clinton and Frank Sinatra co-existed on Saturday Night Live with original characters like Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, and he was always up for any bit of weirdness that called for a stentorian tone. Perhaps the key to his success, in fact, was his voice.

There a certain quality to this voice that was both high-voltage and velvety, a sonic cocktail that was everything you needed it to be. The fact that Phil Hartman’s voice could sound so unctuous and slimy at times meant that he usually portrayed a villainous rival in family-friendly movies like Small Soldiers, Jingle All the Way, and Greedy. But he could also do heroic too, and in animated form, he was able to explore these types of characters on The Simpsons. There he played Moses on the mountain, Bart’s adopted father, Tom, and Charlton Heston’s likeness in the musical, Stop the Planet of the Apes, I Want to Get Off (featuring the showstopper, “Dr. Zaius, Dr. Zaius”.) He even got the chance to bring his Bill Clinton impression over from Saturday Night Live for a Halloween episode appearance. Mostly, though, Phil Hartman’s contribution to The Simpsons consisted of two characters, and these were anything but biblical, heroic, or presidential.

In the episode mentioned earlier, “Bart Gets Hit By a Car”, Homer hires bargain basement attorney Lionel Hutz to represent him. “Here’s my card,” Hutz says. “It turns into a sponge if you hold it underwater!” What started off as a barely embellished caricature of an ambulance-chasing shyster eventually devolved into a down-and-out drunken hobo who also happened to be an attorney. In that first episode, though, Lionel Hutz would have actually won his case against Mr. Burns if Homer Simpson wasn’t in fact Homer Simpson, and therefore physically incapable of allowing such an outcome to occur. Hutz was meant to be a one-time role, but the staff loved Hartman and wanted to use him again. Their next chance came just a couple episodes later, in the form of another new character in the Simpsons universe.

We are introduced to Troy McClure as he hosts the TV show, I Can’t Believe They Invented That. This show-within-a-show would frequently pop up in brief bits featuring washed up actor McClure and quack Dr. Nick Riviera hawking ridiculous products like Spiffy, a cleaning solvent strong enough to clean the grime off of Edgar Allen Poe’s tombstone. More often than infomercials, though, Troy McClure would be glimpsed starring in random educational videos filmed at various points in his career. Whenever there was an opportunity to include an instructional video of any kind, the Simpsons producers could always plug in Phil Hartman and get a laugh out of his perpetually changing catchphrase. “Hi, I’m Troy McClure,” he would always start. “You might remember me from such educational films as ‘Lead Paint: Delicious But Deadly’, and ‘Here Comes the Metric System.’” According to interviews, Troy McClure was Hartman’s favorite character, and he used to entertain the crew on the set of his post-SNL show, NewsRadio, by doing the Troy McClure voice in-between takes.

As with Saturday Night Live, Phil Hartman played the background a lot on The Simpsons, but he also had a couple of moments in the spotlight, including one of the widely agreed-upon greatest episodes of all time – the Conan O’Brien-scripted “Marge vs. The Monorail” – where he played Lyle Lanley, the colorful singing swindler based on The Music Man. Another starring performance of his came in the “Fish Called Selma” episode, which was developed to give Troy McClure more of a back story, albeit one in which his character has fallen on hard times due to an embarrassing sexual proclivity involving marine life. On the DVD commentary for this episode, the producers mention that Phil Hartman was interested in doing a live-action Troy McClure movie, an intriguing proposition which could have either been a star-making role or gone the way of MacGruber.

After Phil Hartman’s untimely death in May of 1998, the producers on The Simpsons wisely decided not to find a replacement for the characters of Troy McClure or Lionel Hutz. This move was both a display of respect to the actor, and an admission that he was impossible to replace. Although he was nicknamed The Glue for his work on Saturday Night Live, perhaps Hartman was also the secret weapon that kept The Simpsons together too. In order to maximize Hartman’s limited availability, nearly every episode that featured Lionel Hutz also featured Troy McClure and vice versa, thus guaranteeing at least a couple bankable extra laughs in every other episode. That may not seem like a lot, but it adds up. Phil Hartman was undoubtedly part of the reason why seasons 2-9 of The Simpsons are roundly thought to be the show’s best years.

Emmett Till: Woman Whose Accusation Led To Lynching Of Black Teenager Dies Aged 88


The woman at the centre of one of the most notorious episodes in US racial history, the lynching of black teenager Emmett Till, has died.

Carolyn Bryant Donham, 88, died in a hospice in Louisiana on Tuesday.

Her accusation that the 14-year-old Mr Till had whistled at her caused his death at the hands of two white men, but also became a catalyst for the civil rights movement.

In August 1955, Mr Till was visiting relatives in Mississippi. Ms Donham, then 21 and known as Carolyn Bryant, accused him of making improper advances on her at the store she worked at in the small community of Money.

One of Mr Till's cousins, Reverend Wheeler Parker, said that the boy whistled at the woman, an act that was contrary to the racist social codes of the era in the Deep South.

It is believed that Mr Till was identified to Ms Donham's then-husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother JW Milam, who abducted the teenager several nights after the incident.

They beat and mutilated Mr Till before shooting him in the head and leaving his body in the Tallahatchie river. It was discovered swollen and bloated three days later, and was returned to his mother Mamie Till Bradley in Chicago.

Mr Till's funeral captured international attention when Mrs Bradley insisted that her son be buried in an open casket, saying: "There was just no way I could describe what was in that box. No way. And I just wanted the world to see."

Pictures of the body shocked America, and pressure was brought to bear on the state of Mississippi to bring Mr Till's murderers to justice. Bryant and Milam were arrested and tried for the killing, but an all-white jury acquitted the two white men.

In an unpublished memoir titled I am More Than A Wolf Whistle, which was obtained by the Associated Press (AP) in 2022, Ms Donham said she was unaware of what would happen to the teenager.

Historian Timothy Tyson said he obtained a copy from Ms Donham while interviewing her in 2008, before passing it on to the AP.

Tyson said on Thursday that her precise role in the killing of Till remains murky, but it's clear she was involved.

"It has comforted America to see this as merely a story of monsters, her among them," Tyson said. "What this narrative keeps us from seeing is the monstrous social order that cared nothing for the life of Emmett Till nor thousands more like him.

"Neither the federal government nor the government of Mississippi did anything to prevent or punish this murder.

"Condemning what Donham did is easier than confronting what America was - and is."

The Lost Roles Of Bill Murray

Casting is one of the most important processes in movie making. Placing the right actors in the right roles can determine whether or not an entire film rings true. Thus, casting directors and filmmakers consider a wide range of possibilities before going into production. In this column, we’ll be taking a look at the missed opportunities — the roles that could have been — and exploring how some casting choices that almost happened could have changed careers, projects, and the comedy industry, at large.

Bill Murray is possibly the most respected comic actor of his generation and one who successfully made the difficult transition to drama, receiving numerous awards and nominations along the way. His career has spanned five decades and multiple genres, so it’s no wonder he has more than his fair share of parts that other actors have beat him out for or that he flat-out turned down. In recent years, this is partly due to Murray getting rid of his agent and manager. In their place, he’s set up a toll-free line through which show business folk can leave him messages. He checks the voicemail infrequently. Although this guarantees him a level of privacy and a barrier between him and the business, it’s caused him to miss out on a few choice parts, as well.

Scheduling conflicts while working on other movies, as well as changes made in the lengthy development process also contributed to Murray missing out on a number of projects, so it’s not like Bill Murray just has some incredible inability to tell when he’s offered a great part. Every actor or actress has a history of missed roles like these, as it’s not always easy to determine from reading a script whether the finished product will be any good.

While taking some of these parts would have drastically altered Bill Murray’s career trajectory, others are landmines that he wisely sidestepped. Without further ado, here is an obsessive list of roles Bill Murray was considered for, passed on, or filmed only to have the scenes left on the cutting room floor.

1. Star Wars (1977)
The role: Han Solo
Who got it: Harrison Ford
George Lucas auditioned dozens of big actors for the original
Star Wars, trying to find the right person for each part. As absurd as Murray playing Han Solo sounds, he’s not the oddest actor who auditioned. Kurt Russell, Christopher Walken, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, as well as Murray’s frequent comedy costars Steve Martin and Chevy Chase, were all considered to play the guy behind the wheel of the Milennium Falcon, too.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
It’s arguable. While the movie would have given Murray his largest exposure yet, the part wasn’t right for him. Considering the actor’s reluctance to embrace his fame, it’s probably for the best that he didn’t become part of the worldwide Star Wars phenomenon that would have catapulted him to superstardom. He would have had the same trouble Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher faced when trying to break away from their public perceptions as these prolific characters.

Was this good for the movie?
Absolutely. While Bill Murray’s propensity for ad-libbing could have improved upon George Lucas’s spotty dialogue, it’s hard to imagine he’d make a better Han Solo than Harrison Ford.

2. National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
The role: “Boone” Schoenstein
Who got it: Peter Riegert
The original plan was to cast Chevy Chase as Otter, Bill Murray as Boon, Dan Aykroyd as D-Day, and of course, John Belushi as Bluto. Chevy Chase was interested but chose to make Foul Play instead. Scheduling conflicts with SNL allowed for only Belushi to accept his part. Lorne Michaels didn’t want three of his most popular cast members spending half the week in Hollywood filming Animal House instead of prepping for the show.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. Animal House was the first blockbuster comedy, the highest grossing film in the genre up until this point, turning Belushi into a star overnight. The part would have given Murray ample opportunity to improvise and to pin down his big screen persona early.

Was this good for the movie?
No. Looking back, I can’t imagine passing this comedic dream team up. Putting Chase, Aykroyd, Murray, and Belushi together onscreen while they were all bursting with youthful energy couldn’t have failed.

3. The Jerk (1979)
Murray filmed a scene in The Jerk that was left on the cutting room floor and the footage inexplicably hasn’t surfaced yet on YouTube or as a special feature. The Jerk was released during Murray’s stint on SNL , and Murray sarcastically panned the film on Weekend Update, saying: “There’s something missing.”

Was this good for Murray’s career?
This was just a cameo, so it wasn’t make-or-break for Murray.

Was this good for the movie?
No. I’ve been aware of this scene’s existence for years but have never found an explanation for why it was cut. I can’t imagine a scene between Bill Murray and Steve Martin, at the height of their comedic powers at the time, was unfunny.

4. The Dead Zone (1983)
The role: Johnny Smith
Who got it? Christopher Walken
Bill Murray was Stephen King’s first choice, but others on the production felt differently.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. If Murray had ended up in this role, it would have established his diverse abilities early on and given him freedom to travel between genres.

Was this good for the movie?
Yes. Christopher Walken gives a frightening, memorable performance. Murray could have pulled off something similar, but it would have taken a lot of work to nail the part like Walken did.

5. Splash (1984)
The role: Allen Bauer
Who got it: Tom Hanks
Murray, along with several other actors including John Travolta and Michael Keaton, turned the part down before the producers went to Tom Hanks.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
Yes. While Splash was a hit, Murray had bigger fish to fry at the time. He was busy filming Ghostbusters , which became the highest grossing comedy of all time upon its release.

Was this good for the movie?
Hard to say. Although Tom Hanks is a more natural romantic lead, Murray could have added some much-needed edge to this warm and fuzzy film. His scenes with John Candy and Eugene Levy would definitely have been entertaining.

6. The Three Amigos (1986)
The role: Dusty Bottoms
Who got it: Chevy Chase
Three Amigos had been in development for several years before it entered production. In a 1980 interview, Steve Martin mentioned plans to star in the project with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. In 1981, Steven Spielberg became interested in directing the film. He wanted Bill Murray, Steve Martin, and Robin Williams to play the Three Amigos. After some contemplation, Spielberg chose to make E.T. instead.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
Yes and no. While this would have been a great role and a lot of talent was involved, Spielberg has never been a dependable director of comedy. Take 1941 for example, Spielberg’s first flop, which starred Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi and still managed to be unfunny. John Landis was a much better choice, but by the time he got to the project, Murray had moved on.

Was this good for the movie?
Yes. Murray’s involvement is tied in with Spielberg’s. Although Spielberg is a great director, he’s a little inept with comedy.

7. Legal Eagles (1986)
The role: N/A
Who got it? Debra Winger
Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman were originally attached to star but dropped out due to disappointment with the script. The producers changed Murray’s character to a woman and cast Robert Redford and Debra Winger instead.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
Absolutely. Skipping this one was a wise move on Murray’s part.

Was this good for the movie?
No. Murray and Hoffman showed they worked together well in Tootsie, and they would have made the movie much better, despite potentially hurting their careers.
8. Club Paradise (1986)
The role: Jack Moniker
Who got it? Robin Williams
Harold Ramis’s plan for this forgettable and muddled comedy was to cast Bill Murray as the lead, with John Cleese playing the part that later went to Peter O’Toole. Both actors were initially interested, but Murray felt the character was too similar to the one he played in Meatballs and Cleese didn’t want to spend several weeks filming in the West Indies.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
Yes. While Ramis is an incredibly talented writer and director, and he had a natural rapport with Murray, not much could save Club Paradise from itself.

Was this good for the movie?
No. Murray’s ad-libbing abilities and his habit of re-writing the scripts to his movies himself would certainly have helped, and it would have been great to see him work with John Cleese and the SCTV refugees that made up the rest of the cast. The finished film would have been better, but still lacking.

9. The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
The role: Daryl Van Horne
Who got it? Jack Nicholson
Bill Murray was originally cast in the role but dropped out before filming began.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. While I’m sure missing this one was no major regret of his, the film wound up being a well-reviewed, financial success that could only have helped Bill Murray out.

Was this good for the movie?
No. Nicholson had played similar parts to this one, so it wasn’t as shocking when he popped up as a villain in this movie. For Murray, this would have been a break from the sarcastic slacker heroes he tended to play in the ‘80s, but the character was still within his wheelhouse. Murray could have given a surprising performance that added a level of unpredictability to the film.

10. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
The role: Eddie Valiant
Who got it? Bob Hoskins
Murray was director Robert Zemeckis and producer Steven Spielberg’s first choice, but they were forced to pick a different actor after being unable to get a hold of him. Murray was very upset when he heard this years later and says he definitely would have accepted the role.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. Roger Rabbit was a big success, and it would have been good for Murray to branch out with a quality family film. It’s a very funny movie that’s edgier than most Disney fare and worthy of his talents. Sandwiched in between the massively successful Ghostbusters movies, starring in Roger Rabbit would have continued Murray’s hot streak and solidified his status as one of the most bankable actors in Hollywood.

Was this good for the movie?
No. Although Bob Hoskins handles the role ably, Murray would have been much funnier and a marked improvement.

11. Rain Man (1988)
The role: Charlie Babbitt
Who got it? Tom Cruise
Dustin Hoffman wanted Murray to play his character’s brother.
Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. Rain Man could have been the transition into respected dramatic fare that Bill Murray wouldn’t receive until he met Wes Anderson a decade later.

Was this good for the movie?
No. Cruise does fine here, but Murray has a great ability to play selfish jerks like this character without making them completely detestable. Murray and Hoffman have nice screen chemistry, and the film could have been even better with Murray as Charlie.

12. Batman (1989)
The role: Bruce Wayne/Batman
Who got it? Michael Keaton
Tim Burton considered Bill Murray, amongst others, for the role of the Dark Knight. If it sounds strange to you (and it should), remember that Michael Keaton got his start as a stand-up and was mainly known for comedies like Mr. Mom and Night Shift until Batman. Murray was just as odd a choice as Keaton at the time.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
Hard to say. The role definitely would have bolstered Murray’s fame, and he could have played the part straight, but I doubt audiences would have warmed to him as Batman. On the other hand, if Bill Murray’s Batman had succeeded, it would have been easier for him to branch out into dramatic roles in the ‘90s and kept him at the top of the A-list.

Was this good for the movie?
Yes. Bill Murray would have been fine in the role, but fans and audiences might have been more reluctant to embrace him as a tough crime fighter. Given Murray’s habit of refusing to do sequels (the only two he’s ever done are Ghostbusters II and
Garfield 2), he may have left the series even earlier than Michael Keaton did.

13. Kindergarten Cop (1990)
The role: John Kimble
Who got it? Arnold Schwarzenegger
Director Ivan Reitman offered Murray the part before he went to Schwarzenegger.
Was the decision good for Murray’s career?
Yes. This doesn’t seem like a natural fit. If the movie had still succeeded with Murray in the driver’s seat, Murray might have been typecast in family movies, and who would want that? Schwarzenegger’s success here predates his roles in tripe like Junior and Jingle All the Way.

Was this good for the movie?
Yes. This is a vehicle that feels tailor-made for Arnold Schwarzenegger, and I can’t see Bill Murray as a tough cop.

14. Philadelphia (1993)
The role: Joe Miller
Who got it? Denzel Washington
Director Jonathan Demme wanted a comedic actor as counter balance against Tom Hanks, and he considered Bill Murray and Robin Williams for the role before nixing the idea and choosing Washington.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. Murray could have exceeded in this part. Like Rain Man, it’s just another example of a dramatic role he almost got years ahead of Hollywood accepting him as a serious actor.

Was this good for the movie?
Yes. Although Murray definitely would have brought a different energy to the part, it’s hard to imagine him being better suited than Denzel Washington.

15. Forrest Gump (1994)
The role: Forrest Gump
Who got it? Tom Hanks
Forrest Gump is just as strange a potential Bill Murray role as
Batman. The actor turned the part down when it was offered to him early in the development process. Chevy Chase was also offered the part but said no, claiming years later that the script he was shown was an early draft drastically different from the finished product. It’s possible Murray saw this same version of the script, so it makes sense that he would turn it down.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
Absolutely. As strong an actor as Bill Murray is, I don’t know if he could have pulled off playing a mentally-challenged man. I can’t get the image of him as Carl Spackler from Caddyshack on a bench eating chocolates out of my head.

Was this good for the movie?
Yes. This is the role Tom Hanks was born to play. He manages to portray Gump with the right mix of humor and sentimentality, making sure the audience laughs with Forrest Gump more than they laugh at him.

16. Toy Story (1995)
The role: Buzz Lightyear
Who got it? Tim Allen
When Bill Murray turned down the role, the Pixar people went to Billy Crystal, who also said no before Tim Allen accepted.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. Fantastic Mr. Fox proved that Murray is a natural and charming voice actor, but it’s really a shame the bulk of his voice work has been on the Garfield films.

Was this good for the movie?
Yes. Tim Allen is a natural fit as Buzz Lightyear, and Murray wouldn’t have been believable as this naive, good-natured character. The writers would have had to make Buzz more hard-edged and sardonic if Murray took the part, and these tweaks could have derailed the entire film.

17. Bottle Rocket (1995)
The role: Mr. Henry
Who got it? James Caan
Murray’s professional relationship with writer/director Wes Anderson has lasted almost as long as his similar set-up with Harold Ramis. Murray has appeared in every Anderson movie since they first worked together on Rushmore in ‘98. Anderson’s first movie, Bottle Rocket, is the only one not to include Bill Murray, but the director did try to cast him. Anderson called Murray’s agent, who, at the time, wasn’t able to get a hold of him as he was traveling around in a Winnebago.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. Murray and Anderson always work well together, and although this wasn’t a huge part, it would have been great seeing them collaborate a little earlier.

Was this good for the movie?
No. Murray would have been right at home in Bottle Rocket’s loopy, offbeat universe and would have adapted to Anderson’s tone more naturally than Caan.

18. The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
The role: Larry Flynt
Who got it? Woody Harrelson
Murray and Tom Hanks were considered before Harrelson was given the role. Director Milos Forman claims Murray never returned his calls.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. Harrelson was mainly a comedic actor up until this point and this was a turning point for him, resulting in his first Oscar nomination. This would have been a great opportunity for Murray and a role he could handleably.

Was this good for the movie?
Toss up. Woody Harrelson gives an impressive performance as Flynt. Murray would have been able to do just as well.

19. There’s Something About Mary (1998)
The role: Pat Healy
Who got it? Matt Dillon
Murray was considered for the part, but the Farrelly brothers decided he was too old.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. This is a great character for Murray and his own twisted take on the sleazy P.I. character would have helped keep him in hits.

Was this good for the movie?
No. Bill Murray proved he could work well with the Farrelly brothers in Kingpin, and his is one of my favorite performances in any Farrelly movie.

20. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
The role: Sulley
Who got it? John Goodman
Murray screen tested for the role and was interested, but when director Pete Docter was unable to make contact with him, he took it as a “no.”

Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. Monsters, Inc. is a much better fit for Bill Murray than the Garfield movies, and the success of this film would have helped him with other projects. We’ve all seen how the Shrek movies have been Eddie Murphy’s biggest hits in recent years, keeping his career afloat. Murray could have pulled off something similar.

Was this good for the movie?
John Goodman gives a memorable performance as Sulley, and it’s hard to argue that Bill Murray would have been any better or worse. Like in Toy Story, the character would probably have to be tweaked a little to fit Murray’s persona, but that could have worked here.

21. Bad Santa (2003)
The role: Willie Stokes
Who got it? Billy Bob Thornton
Bill Murray was the first choice and was in final negotiations before dropping out to make Lost in Translation.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
Yes. Although Bad Santa’s a funny movie and Murray would have been great as the lead, choosing Lost in Translation over this project was a smart move. He ended up receiving his first Oscar nomination, and Lost in Translation legitimized Murray’s status as a serious actor.

Was this good for the movie?
No. Murray could have added a little more warmth and sympathy to the role than Billy Bob Thornton, while still remaining mean and rude. It would be like an entire film revolving around Murray’s Groundhog Day character Phil Connors on one of his bad days, and that’s something I’d love to see. Don’t get me wrong, Thornton was great here, but the prospect of Bill Murray in this role is too good to pass up.

22. The Ice Harvest (2005)
The role: Bill Guerrard
Who got it? Randy Quaid
Back in 2004, the New Yorker ran a lengthy profile on Harold Ramis and the effect he’s had on film comedy. In it, Ramis mentions trying to get Bill Murray to play a small part here. At the time, the two hadn’t spoken since a spat they had while filming Groundhog Day , but it’s not clear if this silence still lasts today. Ramis had Bill’s older brother Brian Doyle-Murray offer Bill the part, but Bill declined.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
Taking this part wouldn’t have made much of a difference for Murray career-wise, but it would be nice to see him reconnect with Ramis, with whom he has made many of his memorable movies.

Was this good for the movie?
No. As evidenced by his cameos in Zombieland and Little Shop of Horrors, Murray can take a small part and use it to add a manic intensity to the project at hand. While it wouldn’t have drastically changed the quality of The Ice Harvest, Murray’s scenes could have been highlights.

23. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
The role: Willy Wonka
Who got it? Johnny Depp
Tim Burton considered Bill Murray, amongst others, before selecting Johnny Depp.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. Murray would have been great as the off-kilter, fun-loving Willy Wonka, and the movie would have introduced him to a new generation of potential fans, while pleasing those who had been following him for decades. The success of the film could have kept him a bankable leading man and shown off his diversity.

Was this good for the movie?
No. Murray is a natural and worthy successor to Gene Wilder and this is a part he could get a lot out of, elevating the quality of the film as a whole.

24. The Squid and the Whale (2005)
The role: Bernard Berkman
Who got it? Jeff Daniels
Filmmaker Noah Baumbauch had Murray in mind for the lead but was unable to get a hold of him.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. This would have been a perfect project for Murray and would have kept the momentum going with another critically-acclaimed hit after Lost in Translation. He could have nailed this role and received some major accolades. Daniels obtained a Golden Globe nomination for the part, and Murray could have done the same, if not more.

Was this good for the movie?
No. Jeff Daniels handles the role well, but he doesn’t have Bill Murray’s aloofness. Even Murray’s darkest characters carry themselves with an air of humor, and it would have been great to see this ability to recognize the absurdity of his surroundings juxtaposed with the character’s snooty intellectualism and depression. Murray could have made Bernard Berkman a more complicated and endearing character.

25. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
The role: Frank Ginsberg
Who got it? Steve Carell
It’s hard to imagine anyone but Steve Carell as Frank, but he actually wasn’t the filmmakers’ first choice. The part was written for Bill Murray, and this was another one he passed on. Murray later said he regrets missing out on the role.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
No. Little Miss Sunshine was a critical and commercial success and a major awards contender. Alan Arkin won an Oscar for his performance, and Murray might have received a nomination too. Not to say that his performance would have been that much better than Carell’s, but the Academy has a habit of looking upon past nominees more kindly.

Was this good for the movie?
It’s arguable. Steve Carell and Bill Murray are both capable actors, and this just comes down to personal preference.

26. How Do You Know (2010)
The role: Charles Madison
Who got it? Jack Nicholson
Murray was James L. Brooks’s first choice to play Paul Rudd’s father, and he even started rehearsing with the cast before dropping out.

Was this good for Murray’s career?
Yes. This is another bomb that Murray wisely dodged. The film was a critical and commercial flop, but it still would have been interesting seeing Murray and Rudd’s scenes together. James L. Brooks is one of the most influential comedy writer/directors out there, and it’s a shame he’s never cast Murray in a better film.

Was this good for the movie?
No. Murray would have been a better fit as Paul Rudd’s father and could have improved the project significantly.

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