Happy Friday, Everybody!
Uh-oh… did I say Friday? Well, y’all know what that means—it’s time for Freestyle Friday. This time, however, I’m gonna change it to Flashback Friday.
This past Tuesday, I dedicated a blog post to the memory of one of the greatest actors of all time, John Ritter. I had already know about his work as Jack Tripper from Three’s Company, and his excellent voice work as Clifford, the Big Red Dog; however, it was his role as Paul Hennessy on the very first season of Eight Simple Rules that truly won me over.
I clearly remember one of the earlier episodes (obviously from Season One) in which the Paul Hennessy character had to drop some deep knowledge. Here was the scene: Mr. Hennessy’s eldest daughter Bridgette (played by Kaley Cuoco) was going out on a date, and the gentleman honked the horn to let her know that he had arrived. Well, Mr. Hennessy wouldn’t let Bridgette so much as go to the door, much less leave; instead he let the boy sweat it out. Eventually, the boy got out of his car and rang the doorbell, to which Mr. Hennessy opened the door and said to the boy: “The next time you drive up to my house and honk your horn, you had better be delivering a pizza or a package because you’re sure as hell not picking up anything here!”
I remember laughing so hard at that statement, but my own dad didn’t help matters when he added his two cents. My dad was all like: “Damn right! Who the hell he think he is, honkin’ horns? Go ‘head on, Paul—teach that boy!”
John Ritter made me believe that he was Paul Hennessy—the look, the style, and even the mannerisms. After the success of the first season, I was definitely looking forward to seeing the Paul Hennessy character drop some more knowledge in the second season, but alas, that was not to be. Granted, ABC Television played the first three episodes of Season Two in which Mr. Ritter was a part, but afterwards the show took a huge turn and focused on the family trying to cope with the loss of their lovable patriarch. The surviving cast members did a damn good job in having life imitate art, and try as they might, they just couldn’t do it without Mr. Ritter and his unique gift. I give them an A+ for continuing the show, but even I knew that it was suffering without the patriarch. Nevertheless, I want to give a shout-out to Katey Sagal, Kaley Cuoco, Amy Davidson, Martin Spanjers, David Spade, and James Garner for a job well done.
Okay, y’all—since the weekend is officially upon us, I had best get going. Besides, it’s been a while since I’ve kicked it with my homies Ruby Red and Neo Theo. We’ve been talking about wither a road trip to Memphis or another movie night in the Emma Elzy lobby. Incidentally, both Ruby and Theo have been talking about my summer home movie, and they want to see it one mo’ ginn. To be honest, I had forgotten all about that home movie up until Theo brought it up… okay, I guess we can watch it again!
Until next time, y’all take care—Smooches!
Hugs & Kisses,
Natasha
No comments:
Post a Comment