I have commented previously that I’ve been working on re-organizing the basement, which has involved some purging, some movement of movies / Legos / craft materials, reordering desks as much as two years ago, playing with the setup for my work-out gym, etc. It’s been an albatross around my neck since the pandemic started, finishing the basement I mean, and I have even refused to let myself use my new 3D printer until I get all of it done.

Recently, I have been heavily focused on sorting out all the electronic detritus I’ve accumulated in the last 10-20 years. In the last e-waste collection, I took 7 boxes of wires, old phones, old scanners, etc. and a broken toaster oven and dropped them off.

But one of the biggest aspects of the electronic side of things is setting up my TV with everything properly connected, wires run, and internet connections where needed.

That is more complicated than it sounds.

Enter the video side

We have VMedia in our house as our “cable” provider, albeit “cable light” mostly so Andrea and Jacob can watch things like The Flash or Amazing Race Canada when they air. However, I also watch current episodes of shows like Magnum P.I. and Blue Bloods through the CTV app which connects through the VMedia subscription. The box requires internet for service and HDMI as a connector.

I have an older DVD player and it is there for movies as well as some DVD games that don’t work as well when you plug them into Xbox or the PC. It doesn’t require internet but it does have HDMI as the connector.

I also have an Apple TV box…or at least, I bought one. It is in the basement somewhere. Somehow, in moving everything around, I moved it OFF of where it has been sitting for six months annnnnd I don’t know where I put it. It is my main interface for the upstairs computer, I want the same downstairs too, but well, at some point, I’ll find it. I know it needs internet AND an HDMI connection. In theory, I could use it instead of the VMedia box, and I may, haven’t decided yet.

And then I also have the PC/laptop that I frequently am streaming from, so again, an internet connection and an HDMI connection for the TV.

I could, in theory, also connect the TV directly to the internet, but it doesn’t need to; there’s nothing that it would give me that I don’t already have for other connections.

But for a subtotal, that is 4 devices, 3 requiring internet and 4 HDMI connections. If I decide to include a separate laptop, it’s technically 4 requiring internet but the other laptop doesn’t need to connect to the TV.

Enter the game consoles

I have four game consoles for the basement.

The first is an old Playstation 1. I actually own two of them, one that is unmodified and one that is modified. The modified version lets me play games that I copied long ago without having to risk ruining the originals (wink). I bought it while in New York City back in ’98, along with dozens of games. I was REALLY excited to reconnect this one to the TV, to be honest. It’s a great console, and I loved some of the games. One of my favourites is Time Crisis. It’s a GunCon game aka a first person shooter that was a port of an arcade version, but I only ever played it on the PS1. If you had the old Nintendo, think “Duck Hunt” but you’re shooting bad guys as you work your way through a warehouse district. Great game, you can play cooperative two-player, it isn’t heavy on the gore, and it’s relatively easy to play even for non-gamers. So I was excited to get that going again. Until I watched a video last week reviewing different shooting games for the old PS 1 and found out…dun dun dun…the technology ONLY worked on old CRT TVs. It won’t work on the modern stuff. Well, frak. I gave away my old TVs of that type LONG ago. And as much as I love gun games, I am NOT willing to get an old TV to do it. Sigh. On the positive side, it doesn’t require an internet connection, and it uses three-cable composite video for the connection.

Somewhere after the PS1, I picked up a used Nintendo 64. I don’t know why, I don’t remember where, but I have it. Mostly to do Mario Bros games. Including racing. I don’t have that many games for it though. I’ll connect it to be completist, and if I play it some more, I’ll pick up some old cartridges through eBay or whatever. No internet required, and uses three-cable composite video.

For Andrea and I, I think after we moved in together, I picked up a WII. Andrea won the exercise board that went with it, but we already had it, so I think we gave one away. We played from time to time, enjoyed the bowling games, a bit of WII fit, but we weren’t actively using it. However, I think it got left on a little too long once, and I’m not sure it even still works. I’ve connected it, and while it would take an internet connection, none of the websites that it would have connected too still exist. So I’ll settle for the three-cable composite video connection.

I also don’t really remember much about getting the XBox 360. When I bought it, the new XBox was out, but Jacob wasn’t going to be pushing the limit for games anytime soon. We wanted options with more family-friendly choices, Jacob liked it and we played a ton of Disney Infinity, greatly enjoying the ability to play 2-player cooperative on a lot of the games. It will take the internet connection, although I’m not sure much will connect for it anymore, and it does have an HDMI connection for the TV.

So again, for subtotals, that means 4 devices, 1 with internet, 3 with three-cable composite video, and 1 with HDMI.

Chokepoint Charlie

If you’ve been reading about all the connections I need, you might have noticed something. That’s a LOT of connections and most TVs don’t in fact have that many connections available. Particularly slightly older ones, which my downstairs TV is.

What do I actually have? Well, let’s see.

A right/left audio feed. Umm, that won’t get me too far for video. Plus it’s AUDIO OUT, not in. I can run it to my stereo for cheap-ass audio downstairs, but well, I haven’t committed to that yet. I might run my stereo, but perhaps not. Still up in the air on that one.

S-Video? Oh, riiiiight, that looked like an old round keyboard plug for your keyboard. Yeah, I’m not using that for anything.

Full component video? It’s like composite three-cable, but instead it has five. One of the video game consoles used to have both options as I recall, but danged if I remember which, and all of them are set for three-cable at the moment. Maybe one of my boxes has something else but I ain’t going to look too hard.

A PC-in? Great! Oh, wait, it’s a 15-pin VGA connector. Ummm, yeah, I don’t think so.

DVI in but with just audio? Not sure what that’s about. There’s no DVI pin connector for video.

I have something called Service 1 and 2, and an ethernet connection I won’t be using. Sigh.

A connection for an antenna? Hey, I had one for free cable-over-air, but that is gone too. Oh and one for cable in? Yeah, no.

What does that actually leave me? It leaves me 1 set of three-cable video IN plus two HDMI connections.

Let’s see if I can do the math. I have 3 devices needing three-cable video IN, and only have 1. I have devices requiring at least 5 HDMI connections, and I only have room for 2.

But wait, there’s more. I forgot the side inputs — another S-video (yay?) and another three-cable video cable. So now I have 2 three-cable video setting connections but need 3 — unless the Wii no longer works, and still 5 HDMI with only 2 available.

That definitely seems like a choke point. Luckily there are solutions for this.

Enter selectors

Back when I was a young’un, they made very basic toggle switches to let you switch from video game to cable. Don’t tell anyone, but I still had 4 of those little things in my purged TV stuff.

Then they invented more complex devices, basically video hubs with switches. Why? Because most TVs only had ONE connector. You connected all your different video inputs into the hub, and then you could press button A, or button B, or button C to switch the inputs from console 1 to 2 to 3 (or to your VCR, DVD, etc.). Easy peasy, right? Well, not so fast. You had to make sure the cables all ran properly where they needed to go, you needed an extra set on top of all the console connections to run one set to the TV, you needed to be able to switch the TV to VIDEO GAME IN options, and turn the game on so a signal was actually going through the hub to the TV. Still easy, but well, the quality at the final production point — the TV — was not always awesome. There’s a bit of signal degradation. On 8-bit consoles, no big deal. On medium-res graphics running from a decent game console? Maybe a smidge of an issue.

For HDMI, that’s generally “easier” in some ways. They make newer hubs that allow often up to 8 different inputs along with a REMOTE control that lets you switch between 1-8 inputs simply by pressing the button. Hopefully, you have a small index card somewhere near where you’re sitting for you to know that the PC is input #7 and that it’s on. And god help you when there’s a problem and you can’t figure out if the source isn’t sending, the cable in between the source and the hub is wrong, the cable in between the hub and the TV is wrong, or the TV is on the wrong input. Or something else altogether. Sigh. I remember why I didn’t want to spend time on this.

Now, I’ve got the wires. Almost all the boxes are where they are supposed to be. I have more cables to test if something isn’t working. I have a game plan for testing things to ensure they work. Incrementally at least.

I think I know where the HDMI hub is, and I think I have JUST enough feed to get it where it needs to go.

Hmm…I have to also figure out at some point what I did with the new APPLE TV box.

Onward brave soldiers! We can defeat this complex, wired entity! Or electrocute ourselves in the process.

After some fairly personal posts, how about something a lot lighter? 🙂

I follow the blog of screenwriter Ken Levine (http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2022/07/weekend-post_0823158561.html) and his recent Weekend Post talked about different actors playing different characters, mainly for the Odd Couple. However, at the end of his post, he asked about people’s favourites playing other characters, one of which was Superman.

It was a fascinating idea. I confess that even though I’m more of a Batman or Spiderman fan, I do love the premise of Superman. So who DO I like best as Superman?

I really had no idea. I’ve been mulling it over in the last week or so, fully expecting I would end up with Christopher Reeve. He was my first Superman, more or less, right? And Smallville never really got to the Superman stage, although Tom Welling was awesome as young Clark. But, of course, the TV versions could never stand up to the movies, right?

As I mulled, I thought back to the various Supermen that I have watched over the years, ignoring voice work for animated series or radio, and I tried to figure out exactly how many Supermen I could remember. I was able to name five, and blanked on the name of the latest. Except there are three others I missed entirely. Plus another that everyone forgot. As I started to review in earnest, I realized there’s actually four dimensions though — Superman, Superboy, Clark, and Lois. You can’t have one without the other three, they go hand-in-hand.

Kirk Alyn

Kirk Alyn played Superman from 1948-1950 in a series of movie serials, back in the heyday of serials that ruled Saturday afternoons. It’s well before my time, and while I recognize him from photos and clips, I never experienced watching them in full. I find it fascinating though that he was the first and lots of fanboys who had followed the comic books weren’t even sure how ANYONE could play Superman. The studio releasing them pitched the serials from the perspective that nobody COULD play Superman, so (nudge, nudge) they got the real one. In a bunch of the credits, he wasn’t even named.

I’ve watched clips, and he did a decent job, but I liked his Clark Kent, mild-mannered / fearful reporter better than his Superman portrayal. I suspect in part because he doesn’t fly in the series — they could not afford the high-end stunt FX to make it work, you could still see the wires, so they did it as animation instead. Meh.

Noel Neill played Lois Lane and she does the “aww, shucks, what we would do without him” really well, but I’m not a fan for her “ace reporter” portrayal, something that shows up again and again for me.

George Reeves

One of the interesting elements in this field of comparison is “who did you see first?”. For the older generation, George Reeves WAS Superman. After all, between 1951-1958, he did two movies and 102 episodes on that new gadget called television. Everyone was watching, everyone saw him fly, not some animated version. Actually HIM.

I confess that while I think he does a credible job, he’s not watchable to me. He looks more like an out-of-shape former high-school football hero, and I think it comes down to the simple reality that if you don’t believe he can do what his character is doing, it’s just hokey. I know, I know, that’s incredibly harsh, and told from the perspective of far better CGI and FX later in cinematic history.

His Clark Kent was decent, a little less wimpy, which was good. But neither his Season 1 Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates) or Season 2 (back to Noel Neill) really stand out for me.

Christopher Reeve

Not surprisingly, while I had seen reruns with George Reeves, my first real “love” of Superman was the 1978 movie with Christopher Reeve. It was the first time I saw a great combo in both the Superman role AND the Clark Kent role. I liked his bumbling persona more than the wimpy side others had done, partly because you saw him deliberately acting that way. Like all of the portrayals, there is a scene where everyone walks away, and he relaxes, where he takes off the mask of Clark Kent and he just “exists” before he turns into Superman. Those moments of duality that didn’t get much screen time in other iterations. But Reeve nails it perfectly. Don’t get me wrong, the movie is relatively terrible. The whole “what colour is my underwear” scene and the romance flying with Lois are “meh”, but his truth/integrity side is borderline perfect when he’s talking normally with Lois.

For me, there are two downsides. First, he can’t do dramatic tension worth a damn. I never feel his anguish about turning back time, I don’t feel his anger when he’s dealing with Zod, etc. The only time I ever felt his real emotion was the scene where he goes back to the diner to beat up the bully. Anytime he steps out of “I’m good Superman” or “I’m bumbling Clark” (or the moments in between), I felt more like I was watching a toddler have a tantrum.

But Superman isn’t watchable without a strong Lois with him, and Margot Kidder comes off more like a bumbling airhead than an ace reporter. I don’t mean that she’s too stupid to notice the guy next to her is Superman, they all have that plot device to work around, I mean she regularly talks like she’s a complete idiot, yet is supposedly this amazing reporter with great insights and understanding of global politics. I don’t MIND her, but I don’t LIKE her.

Gene Hackman is fantastic as Lex Luthor, no surprise for anything Hackman does, but I loved Ned Beatty as Otis. My son and I regularly refer to the line, “Otisville? OTISVILLE????”. But then, it goes downhill. Superman 1 was good, 2 was better with Zod although it really needs an editor, 3 should have been good with Richard Pryor and it just isn’t, and 4 hit everyone over the head about nuclear weapons and detente. I’m willing to keep Superman 2, and ditch the rest.

John Haymes Newton and Gerard Christopher

Wow. This is one of the names I missed, and I’m saying wow not because he was amazing but that I missed it entirely. The show seemed at first like a one-season wonder in 1988/89 on television but I watched a LOT of television back then. Yet I missed it in my list because I have literally NEVER HEARD of it. Superman at university was the premise. Okay, so I missed a season, I guess that can happen.

Nope, it wasn’t just ONE season. It was FOUR seasons. John Newton played Superboy in Season 1, and Gerard Christopher played him for seasons 2-4. What the…?

Okay, so I had to do a deep dive to find some episodes to watch. Why? Cuz I’m a completist, deal with it. Nope, not worth watching. Stacey Hudiak played Lana Lang, and she’s watchable, but nothing to work with. There’s a reason why both male actors have done 1 or 2 other things since, and not much else.

Dean Cain

This is where Superman started to get interesting for me. Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher played Lois and Clark for 87 episodes. While it wasn’t exactly a comedy, it WAS played with a finger aside their nose, often ramping up the campiness. For Cain, his Superman is good albeit a bit boyish, and not quite as much youthful integrity as Reeve showed, but that’s more the cringey love-angst that permeated most episodes. I did like his Clark though, much more “normal guy” and far less of a bumbling fool.

Yet Teri Hatcher kills the show for me. Her breasts may be real and spectacular (according to Seinfeld), but her Lois is not. Just like Margot Kidder, there are a LOT of episodes where she is a bobblehead. She rarely has any depth to what she’s doing that suggests she’s an ace reporter. I know, I know, she’s written that way, but the show WAS called Lois & Clark for a reason. It was pitched about Lois just as much as Clark. And while I didn’t hate the show, it also isn’t my favourite portrayal.

Tom Welling

I watched Smallville from start to finish, and in reruns, and in boxed sets. For me, he is the perfect Superboy. Not Superman, just Clark Kent junior. He has some angsty issues with women, sure, and they occasionally threw Allison Mack some lines about how he had his “super friends” to do a bit of a jokey ending to some episodes. Or they had Arthur Currie / Aquaman show up to save someone, getting to know Clark and finally suggesting they form the JLA — the Junior Lifeguards Association. Ha ha.

But it was the first time I thought they got the balance right on characters. Allison Mack may be a grade A whack-a-doodle now, but as Chloe? She rocked the show. She WAS a great pre-Lois reporter and WatchTower.

And they finally ditched Lana as Clark’s boyhood crush, and brought in Erica Durance as Lois. When she meets Clark? He’s naked in a cornfield. She was the first portrayal of Lois, in my view, where she wasn’t a bimbette. She could keep up with Clark, the Blur and even Oliver Queen. One of my favorite two scenes are when Clark tells her that he’s the Blur (which of course she has already figured out, being an ace reporter and all) AND the final episode where you see her really being full adult Lois.

It’s not all perfect, and I know a lot of people hate the fact that the show took liberties with the original comic-book canon. They had to, this was the first time telling the full story of Clark becoming Superman. And sure, there was campiness in there. But Welling and Durance? They nailed their roles. The only thing I wish was that they had a bit more chemistry together on screen…the characters do, cuz you know they do, but sometimes it was hard to see the spark between them. It was always present with Hatcher and Cain, not so much with Welling and Durance. It’s a quibble, I know.

Brandon Routh

I find it hard to rate BR as Superman. Mostly because for most of the portrayal, I didn’t really see it as Superman. It was more like a Superman-clone. It didn’t FEEL like Superman to me. I liked the dynamic with Kate Bosworth as Lois, and the whole premise of “5 years later” after the Margot Kidder-era headline “I spent the night with Superman”, but well, I kind of agreed with most of the public. Meh. Yet they brought him back for the DC cross-over.

Well, sort of. I mean he was already there as the Atom from DC Legends / Arrow / Flash / Batwoman etc., but for the multiverse cross-over, he was actually Superman in Earth 96. It was cute, I didn’t hate him in the episode, but as Superman generally? Still meh.

Which is a bit odd. I like Kate Bosworth as Lois, and I like Brandon Routh’s work generally for Chuck, the Rookie, all the DC universe shows. I just don’t like him as Superman.

Henry Cavill

So back in 2013, with the reboot of the DC movies, Henry Cavill came in as the new Superman. The Man of Steel by title. But between MoS, Batman v. Superman, and the Justice League, he is a VERY different Superman than we’ve seen previously. Much darker, much scarier. So again, he doesn’t feel like Superman to me. Some will say that is sacrilege, I know. But it feels more like The Boys take on a Superman-like character than Superman. Which is fine to do for Batman, the Dark Knight is awesome, but Superman? I want him to glow and shine, not brood.

Amy Adams as Lois? She’s decent. I don’t love Amy Adams, I’ll admit, but I do find her watchable. But if Cavill isn’t really Superman, is Amy playing Lois or a Lois-like clone?

Tyler Hoechlin

I find it really interesting that quite a few online sites that list roll-ups of who played Superman, almost NONE of them list Tyler. And they’re not simply old posts, some of these were written in 2022 (or at least show as having been updated in 2022). Yet Superman from Superman and Lois doesn’t show up? He played Superman for the first time back in 2016 on an episode of Supergirl. Then repeatedly in other DC shows until the new series started in 2021.

Elizabeth Tulloch plays Lois and, well, I’m on the fence about her. I loved her as Juliet in Grimm, not so much as Eve later in the same show. And in this one, there are repeated scenes where she’s all hurt and angry and dumping on everyone around her, and yet everyone gives her a pass as she’s an ace reporter. What I really want to see is Clark, not Superman, step up and say “enough is enough, you’re acting like a child”. Or her kids. It’s a terrible portrayal of Lois as she bops between this angry self-righteous person who is sometimes right to being super angsty. She’s almost bipolar and it makes it REALLY hard to watch the series.

I like Hoechlin, I like their kids and the secondary characters. It’s telling that I like Lana more than Lois for the series. If Lois was killed off, I’d be okay with that.

I think what REALLY makes it for me though is Hoechlin as a very quiet peaceful Clark. He doesn’t have a job, that’s a bit of a plot issue, but when he’s being a father or husband, there is this very calm, wise, restful presence that shows how he can remain in control as Superman. It’s awesome.

Head-to-head comparisons

So I’m going to do four rankings: Superman, Superboy, Clark and Lois.

As Superman, Kirk Alyn and George Reeve aren’t even in the running. They were great for their time, but their portrayal doesn’t hold up. Christopher Reeve does a great hair curl while looking innocent, but can’t do anger at all. If I could JUST keep Superman 2, maybe. Dean Cain was too campy as Superman, so he’s out. Tom Welling shows up in a few later EPs of the DC TV series as an older Superman but you never get to see him much as a full Superman, and to be honest, I can’t see it. There’s too much Clark. I ditch Brandon Routh as Superman-like, and unfortunately that is the same thing I have to do with Henry Cavill (too dark). But drum roll…Tyler Hoechlin has the best parts of all of them. I’m keeping him as the best Superman, even if not in movies (for movies, I’d have to take Reeve from Superman 2 or the first half of Superman 1).

As Superboy, John Newton and Gerard Christopher were entirely forgettable. Which means Tom Welling wins by default, but he would have won by a landslide anyway. He is a great Superboy aka the Blur.

As Clark, Kirk Alyn and George Reeve are out again. However, while I took Christopher Reeve out of the running as Superman, he does a pretty good mild-mannered Clark who then stops when nobody can see him. Even when he stands up taller, he’s awesome switching between them. And I love his in-between character. John Newton and Gerard Christopher are still forgettable. Dean Cain did a decent job as Clark, more “normal”, so he is a contender. Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill were disappointing as Superman, and so their Clark fails too. But Tyler Hoechlin? He kills as Clark for his inner peace. I would love to keep him, but we never see him DO much as Clark. I’m going to have to give it to Tom Welling as Clark. I wonder if that is because I’ve so much of him in the Smallville series vs. shorter portrayals for the rest.

As Lois, Noel Neill and Phyllis Coates are too much a product of the era. Margot Kidder and Teri Hatcher played Lois as almost a bimbo, so they are out. Erica Durance knocks it out of the park as Lois, easily keeping up with Tom’s Clark. But she never had to play against Superman, that would be a harder nut to crack potentially. I toss out Kate Bosworth and Amy Adams, neither excite me, and I wish I could keep some of Elizabeth Tulloch but not all. So that basically means Erica Durance sweeps.

So let’s see…I want Tom Welling or Tyler Hoechlin as Clark, Tom definitely as Superboy/Blur, growing up to be Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman, and having a full life with Erica Durance as Lois.

I did not see that coming. I think I’ll try Batman next, and then on to Spiderman.

I don’t get too worked up about celebrities passing, which is a bit surprising perhaps given how much I love TV and movies. I generally only care about their work. But I think I’ve made it to the age where I am starting to know more and more of the actors who are passing, so the end of year tributes for 2021 seemed to have a lot of familiar names. Many of them passed early in the year and I never saw any mention, which isn’t surprising as they weren’t all big stars. Others were, and the splash was noticeable, but I didn’t pay much attention at the time.

Fans of the Mary Tyler Moore Show had a devastating year. Gavin Macleod passed, although I probably think of him as Murray Slaughter as much as Captain Stubing (The Love Boat). Ed Asner passed too, and I liked him on MTM as well as on his own show, Lou Grant. We also lost Cloris Leachman who played Phyllis (and later Mrs. Krebbs on the Facts of Life) and just recently Betty White who played Sue Ann, although more people likely know her as Rose Nylund (Golden Girls). Of the original eight cast members who did the most episodes, White was the last to turn out the lights following the loss of Ted Knight (1986), MTM (2017), Georgia Engel (2017), Valerie Harper (2019), Macleod (2021), Leachman (2021), and Asner (2021).

Fans of comedies took a lot of hits this year and the world is a less funny place with their departure:

• Night Court lost both Markie Post as Christine (although I knew her more as Terri from The Fall Guy) and Charlie Robinson as Mac;
• Police Academy lost two as well, with Marion Ramsey who she nailed the driving test scene as Sgt Hooks and Art Metrano as Mauser;
• Just Shoot Me’s George Segal passed back in March, although I’d prefer him in The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox or in Murphy’s Law (based on the Trace books by my favourite author);
• Happy Days / Laverne and Shirley lost Eddie Mekka who played Carmine Ragusa and Gavin O’Herlihy who played Richie’s disappearing brother Chuck in S1;
• Gregory Sierra was one of those cameo stars who was probably in 30 different shows that I watched over the years, but I’m torn between seeing him as Carlos (Soap) or Chano (Barney Miller);
• MASH lost Mike Henry who played Donald Penobscott, although movie-goers might remember him more as Junior, the jilted bridegroom who Sally Field left at the altar and son to Jackie Gleason’s Buford T Justice from Smokey and the Bandit;
• Peter Scolari was the prep dreamboat Michael on Newhart that had his girl all aflutter when he wasn’t totally whipped;
• I don’t know if I should include William Smith here, not all of his roles were comedic, but he was quite amusing fighting Clint Eastwood as Jack Wilson in Any Which Way You Can; and,
• Finally there is Charles Grodin. I know, I know, I should note him from Midnight Run or Heaven Can Wait, he was great in both. But I’ll likely always remember him as the fake President’s accountant friend Murray Blum in Dave.

For me though, almost all of the big memories are like the ones above…people I’m disappointed they have passed because I liked them in a very specific role, despite long careers:

• Christopher Plummer’s career ranged from Star Trek VI (Chang) to the Thorn Birds and Murder by Decree, but like most people, I’ll only think of him as Captain Georg von Trapp in the Sound of Music. A classic performance, one for the ages;
• I noted when Willie Garson passed, and he’ll always be Mozzie to me (White Collar);
• Dean Stockwell will always be Al from Quantum Leap, although I liked him being slimy in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise;
• For me, I enjoyed Norman Lloyd as almost two different actors. He was fabulous as the very wise and proper Dr. Daniel Auschlander on St. Elsewhere, but I also really liked him as the tech genius Dr. Isaac on Seven Days;
• Ned Beatty passed in June, and lots of people will remember him from Deliverance or Homicide: Life on the Street. Good performances, no doubt, but for me, he will always be Otis to Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor, forever trying to establish Otisville in Superman 1;
• James Hampton had a long career, numerous cameos, and some campy stuff like Teen Wolf. But he will always be Caretaker to me (The Longest Yard);
• I loved seeing Art Lafleur in shows like Cold Case, The Mentalist, Angel or JAG, but he totally nailed first baseman Chick Gandil in Field of Dreams;
• Tanya Roberts’ big movie role was A View To A Kill with Roger Moore, and she was good, but I will always see her as Julie Rogers from Charlie’s Angels;
• Yaphet Kotto had lots of roles too, but I can see him most as William Laughlin in The Running Man after the ice hockey battle, slapping five with Arnold Schwarzenegger saying that Sub-Zero is now just plain zero; and,
• Of course, regardless of a long career, Hal Holbrook was picture-perfect as Deep Throat in All the President’s Men.

I have some simple ones that popped up — William Lucking who played the original Colonel Lynch chasing the A-Team; Tim Donnelly who played Chet on Emergency!; and Olympia Dukakis who is celebrated for Moonstruck but I liked her better as the principal in Mr. Holland’s Opus.

There are even two actors who were iconic in roles in sci-fi shows. Mira Furlan played Ambassador Delenn on Babylon 5 through some interesting metamorphoses and always came up with new ways to present the character. And Peter Mark Richman was only in a single episode of ST: The Next Generation, playing a businessman that was cryogenically frozen and revived in the 24th Century (sure, a bit of a rip-off of the Khan plot). Yet he had amazing presence in the episode, including being able to command the bridge scene while meeting Romulans near the Neutral Zone. He’s been in a lot of other shows, but he nailed that scene and episode perfectly.

And oddly enough, I think it is the bit actors that affect me more. Jessica Walter passed away in March, and while lots pointed to her big roles, I loved seeing her pop up in other series for a few weeks at a time…The Big Bang Theory, Saving Grace, Coach, Magnum P.I., the Love Boat, or even McMillan & Wife or Columbo. Michael Constantine was very similar in impact. He was probably best known for his Windex scenes in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but I loved when he showed up on shows like Cosby, Law & Order, Midnight Caller, Hunter, Simon & Simon, or Remington Steele, although Room 222 was just before my time. The two were always a treat.

Thanks to all for the memories…I appreciated your art.