Thursday, February 27, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks:TV Edition-Romance


Oh, I am not into gushy-ooshy romance but this is the final end before we embark into March. Wandering through the Shelves decided to end this month with romance on TV. I have picked 3 I think are pretty good and here they are....

1. BRIDGET LOVES BERNIE- 1972-1973


Probably most of you don’t even know this show at all but it was and is the only top rated tv show to be cancelled despite the top ratings. Why? Major controversy from the, believe it or not, the Jewish sects who took a major affront to this tv show to the point where bomb threats were made on the show. The show was about a Catholic upper crust woman, who is a teacher, meets a working class cabbie, played by David Birney, who is Jewish. They fall in love and marry but to the disdain of both parents who don’t want to see that their kid's love seems to conquer all. Alas, the network capitulated and cancelled the show. Romantically, David Birney and Meredith Baxter fell in love and married after the show ended, had 3 Children and starred on other shows like Family Ties starring Meredith Baxter Birney. Oh...then they split up, she came out to say he physically and emotionally abused her which he has vehemently denied. She is now very happy living with her current partner, coming out as gay.... who knew? And good for her.

2. MOONLIGHTING-1985-1989


I love this show..love and wish it would come back in reruns because it was smart, witty, original, funny and sophisticated often paying homage to the great films of yesteryear. It stars Cybill Shepherd as a down on her luck former top model who only has this detective agency left. She is persuaded by the detective to come in and help run it only to find out that they often bicker. The detective in question was Bruce Willis when he still had some hair and thought he could sing. Their witty repartee was so much fun to watch as they traded barbs even as they were falling for each other, reluctantly. It lost a little heat nearer the end but it still is gold in my books. It work quite well because Willis and Shepherd didn’t care for each other because Shepherd thought she was the next Sarah Bernhardt and felt she was a big star...so did Willis for that matter.

3. AS TIME GOES BY-1992-2005


I love this British TV Show that starred Dame Judy Dench and Geoffrey Palmer as 2 older people who happen to meet up again quite by accident after 40 years. You find out that, during the Korean War when she was a nurse and he was a soldier, they had a steamy love affair only to part due to letters not being delivered. They each carried on their own life with Palmer marrying, living in Kenya and then divorcing his wife. Dench married, had a daughter and became a widow only to start a secretary business. This show had a first run of a few years and then a few specials only to have a couple more seasons later on. You love how these 2 people become reacquainted and fall in love all over again being surrounded by her daughter, the head secretary and the millionaire book publisher of Lionel’s book about Kenya. You meet Lionel’s kooky dad and his girlfriend as well as Jean's sister in law and her spaced out dentist husband. This is a gem of a show and worth watching.

What are your 3?

51 comments:

  1. Moonlighting - Bruce Willis' beginnings.
    Romance...does Leonard and Penny from The Big Bang Theory count?

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  2. Hi, Birgit!

    I don't mind gushy-ooshy romance when it's done right. I have watched all three of the series in today's post. Thanks for explaining why Bridget Loves Bernie was cancelled. I didn't know that. I remember when Meredith Baxter added Birney to her name professionally and I was a regular viewer of Family Ties. Thanks for bringing us up to date on her later years.

    Mrs. Shady is a big fan of British television and we watched As Time Goes By together years ago. (By the way, we are still working our way through Unforgotten, the excellent crime drama you recommended a while back that stars the marvelous Nicola Walker. We love it!)

    The biggie for me is Moonlighting. I never missed an episode and was so turned on by the series that it became the inspiration for a TV commercial I produced in the mid 80s. The spot for a video rental store included references to the Blue Moon Detective Agency and featured the lead characters Maddie, David and their quirky receptionist Agnes DiPesto. Seems that actors who can't stand each other often make great movie and TV couples as was the case with Bruce and Cybill.

    Bridget Loves Bernie (Sanders) reminds me of Joanie Loves Chachi. That's all I got.

    Enjoy the rest of your week, dear friend BB!

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    1. I am so happy you love Unforgotten which is a brilliant show and my hubby and I are both waiting for the next season. I had a real kid's crush on David Birney and I remember when she added Birney to her name. Moonlighting was so great and i wish i could watch some reruns again

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  3. Romance is not my genre and I haven't seen the first two. BUT, I have seen As Time Goes By episodes at least three times each and am watching them every Saturday night here still. I just love Lionel and often wonder what the actor is like in real life.

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    1. As Time Goes By is great and we have it in DVD. I do know that she is great friend with Geoffrey Palmer and he has appeared in a few films she was in

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  4. I've never heard of any of these. Romance isn't my favourite genre and you can tell haha

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    1. hahaaaa...You might like Moonlighting since it is also about the Detective agency and how they foil the bad guys. It is funny

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  5. I did watch Bridget Loves Bernie and Moonlighting :) Haven't heard of the other series but it does sound delightful.

    betty

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    1. You would love the 3rd series. It is, for once, not based on kids falling in love but established folks

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  6. Two of my favourites Birgit....time goes by and moonlighting...we don’t get much romance these days it’s all murder and mayhem...when all I want is a bit of cheering up on the winter.....have a great weekend xxx

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    1. We have the DVD set for As Time Goes By. I agree with you about all the negative stuff on TV..It gets to be a bit too much

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  7. Hi Birgit! I used to watch Bridget Loves Birnie! ☺ One line stuck with me. Bernie asked: "Did you finish the laundry?" Bridget replied: "Laundry is never done. At best, you keep it at bay". True, that! Interesting to learn about the behind the scenes drama. I didn't remember any of that, except for the stars getting married in real life. How sad he was an abuser! Moonlighting is a classic example for this theme. Another fun show to watch. Haven't heard about As Time Goes By, but it sounds excellent. British series are so well done! I would choose Mad About You, which has been revived this year. It's still good. How about ER? It had lots of romance, especially George Clooney and Julianna Margulies. Hart to Hart starred Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers as a millionaire couple who solved murder mysteries. They had sizzling chemistry, to the point people thought they were together in real life. Natalie Wood wasn't too happy about that.

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    1. I had a real kid crush on David Birney. Meredith Baxter wrote a book and claimed he was abusive but he has denied it and there seems to be a he said/she said issue here. O almost chose Made About You which was great. ER works for sure and I almost chose Hart to hart as well because it is a perfect choice. I always found it strange that Natalie wood, Wagner's wife, died in a boating "accident" (I don't buy it) and William Holden died around the same time, apparently hitting his head on a dresser while drunk and dying. Stephanie powers was with him during this time. You have to wonder.

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    2. I remember those two tragedies well. Both do seem suspicious, but we'll likely never know the real stories!

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  8. I'm not into these type of shows either. Your blog is the 4th or 5th one I've visited today and I haven't watched ANY of the picks. lol

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    1. I think you would like Moonlighting since it was not just about romance at all. You might like As Time Goes By because it is intelligent but they are much older:)

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  9. OHHHHH I LOOOVVVEEE your picks!!!

    Bridget Loves Bernie was a cute, if not terribly inventive, show that was made by the chemistry of Baxter and Birney. I was very young when it was on but a big TV watcher and I remember the hubbub surrounding it and even my little head thought the whole thing was absurd. One of the nostalgia stations I have (Decades) does weekend marathons and each week is something different, one week it was this show! So I was able to revisit not so long ago.

    I can not believe I didn't think of Moonlighting!!! Love that show and its such a perfect fit! It was another I watched as faithfully as I could considering the war of egos that Cybill and Bruce engaged in made the schedule wildly erratic. While every show wasn't a home run when they were they were golden. And Allyce Beasley as Miss Dipesto was an absolute gem. So were Shepard and Willis who despite their cantankerous infighting or maybe because of it shared the kind of simpatico connection you can't manufacture it's innate.

    I'm not as devoted to As Time Goes By as the others but that's more because it isn't readily accessible but I've really enjoyed the few episodes I've seen.

    I love good romantic comedies (and dramas for that matter) but they can be hard to find. I really wanted to use He & She which costarred Paula Prentiss & Richard Benjamin right after their marriage and was sleek and smart but it was before its time and very shortlived and I was sure no one but me remembered it so I went looking elsewhere and came up with these three.

    The Nanny (1993-1999)-Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) is working in a bridal shop in Flushing, Queens when her boyfriend kicks her out in one of those crushing scenes. What is she to do, where is she to go? She’s out on her fanny. So it’s over the bridge to the Sheffield's door, she was there to sell make-up but the father saw more….she had style, she had flair, she was there! That's how she became the Nanny. And for the next five years Fran and her widowed commitmentphobe boss Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy) flirt, fight and fall in love while she raises his three children and causes dozens of calamities assisted her dizzy friend Val (Rachel Chagall), brassy mother Sylvia (Renee Taylor), forgetful Grandma Yetta (Ann Morgan Gilbert) as well as Niles, the butler (Daniel Davis) and Max’s brittle, cynical partner C.C. Babcock (Lauren Lane) who share a love/hate relationship while she too pines for Maxwell.

    Pushing Daisies (2007)-Pie maker Ned (Lee Pace) has the ability to bring dead things back to life with his touch. He yearns for his childhood crush Chuck (Anna Friel) who he has brought back from the dead but at a cost. They cannot touch or Chuck will perish. While they try and find a solution they work with private investigator Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) and co-worker Olive Snook (a scene stealing Kristin Chenoweth) with Ned using his abilities to solve murder cases. Quirky, unique series was cancelled far too soon.

    Love, American Style (1969-1974)-Comic anthology series that each week presented a series of vignettes featuring the various trials and tribulations of falling in love, marriage, falling back in love etc. With a constantly changing cast the show provided an early start for many future stars including Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Bernadette Peters, Burt Reynolds, Martin Sheen and many others.

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    1. I am so glad to see you back! I was hoping you could have found something for last week but it was a tough week for me too. I remember watching Bridget loves Bernie when I was quite little and had a kid crush on David Birney. Yes, huge ego clashing behind the scenes of Moonlighting which really worked for this show plus the fact that they had to be on their toes since the scripts were often not fully done often. I loved that secretary. I almost went with Remington Steele since I love Pierce Brosnan but I decided on Moonlighting. I hope you can see As Time Goes By one day because i bet you will love it. I forgot about The nanny which works so well here and i hear her nasal voice now. I have not seen Pushing daisies but it sounds quirky and fun...right up my alley. I almost went with Love, American Style which was so of its time and a fun show which is where Happy days got its start. I don't know He & She which sounds good and stars the real life couple of Robert & Paula. I always liked these 2 actors.

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    2. He & She was such a lovely, clever show, too clever and different from the show that led into it....Green Acres!! What genius thought they would work together probably didn't have his job for long!

      One of the writers went on to be one of the head writers and creators of the Mary Tyler Moore Show. He and his partner won the Emmy the year it was on for best comedy writing and the show was showered with other nominations and won several Writer Guild awards too but still only lasted a year.

      Benjamin was a cartoonist whose main character Jetman had been turned into a show with a blowhearted egotist as its star played by Jack Cassidy (Ted Baxter was clearly patterned on him) and Paula a social worker. They lived in a cool apartment with a big picture window which a local fireman played by Kenneth Mars(the firehouse was next door) would drop in on occasion. It also had clever titles for its episodes like "The Old Man and the She", "Dick's Van Dyke" (their characters names were Dick & Paula), and "He and She versus Him". Occasional episodes show up on YouTube from time to time and really are worth checking out.

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    3. He & She sounds hilarious! I will see what i can find on Youtube

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  10. I'd only heard of Moonlighting. I watched it sporadically. I was in high school at the time, and so I couldn't often stay up late to see it. The other two sound like something I should search out. As for my three, I'd have to think on that for a while. Nothing comes immediately to mind.

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    1. I can bet that you will really like As Time Goes By. If you read some of the picks mentioned above, you will find out there are quite a few picks. The Love Boat, Mad About You, Friends, The Nanny, Downton Abbey, Cheers, etc...

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  11. I've HEARD of Moonlighting, but not the other two. Obviously not my genre. Give me mystery, which is why I'm surprised I've never seen Moonlighting. I guess it's never shown in reruns. Always enjoy your synopses, though.

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    1. You would like Moonlighting I believe because it often is a whodunit. many mystery shows often have some romance somewhere

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  12. I never heard of Bridget loves Birney, but I loved Family Ties. The man who played Birney- he's not the father on Family Ties, is he? (If so, he didn't age well). She's always been a beauty. Good for her to have dumped him and come out.

    You always give us fun blasts from the past, Birgit. Thanks. This was fun.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed this:) No, The one who played the dad in Family Ties is Michael Gross.

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  13. There is another TV show running at the moment about two older people who were an item when young, then lost touch until their 70s, Last Tango in Paris. I enjoyed it at first, but like everything the longer it goes on, the sillier it gets! My favourite is Gavin and Stacy but I’m not sure how well that would travel. The best romantic couple will always be Niles and Daphne as far as I’m concerned though.

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    1. I have not even heard of Last Tango In Paris unless you mean the slutty movie with Marlon Brando. Niles and Daphne are great and Frasier is a great show

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  14. How about "Remington Steele"? Somewhat in the same vein as "Moonlighting," where a young woman (played by Stephanie Zimbalist) starts a detective agency, only doesn't get much business. So she creates a fictitious detective, Remington Steele, and hangs out his shingle. And all is well until a man (Pierce Brosnan) shows up claiming to be Remington Steele. Much hilarity and romance ensues.

    And while we're on the subject of detectives, how about "Hart To Hart," about a couple (played by Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers) who live the life of wealthy jetsetters who solve mysteries, often with the help of their chauffeur (played by Lionel Stander). They are quite affectionate and their mystery-solving seems to add to that.

    You might include "Cheers," at least during the time that Diane Chambers (played by the lovely Shelley Long) was the one woman Sam Malone (Ted Danson) couldn't get. Most of the charm of that show had nothing to do with that romance (such as it was), but it was an undercurrent.

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    1. I meantioned all 3 in a comment I made earlier. I almost went Remington Steele which I loved watching. I also watch Hart to Hart which was very sophisticated and they were a married couple who were happy together. Cheers is also a good Romance when Shelley Long was on it.

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  15. I've got nothing on this topic. I've never even seen any of your picks (though I'm familiar with them). Let's face it, romance TV has never been much in my field of tele-vision.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

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    1. Yeah..it is a genre you have to really like but I think Romance is in almost every TV show..almost..like MacMillan and Wife

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  16. Hmmmm... Niles and Daphne in the sitcom Frasier definitely comes to mind. They dragged that one out for many years before they finally became a couple on the show. I don't know if the writers and producers knew they had the luxury of time to let this romance play out so long, but it all seemed to work perfectly.

    My second example is the farthest thing from anything I was ever interested in but the whole Like and Laura romance on General Hospital was such a big deal at the time. Unfortunately, somehow, I am saddled with memories of this.

    My third is Captain Kirk on Star Trek who romanced nearly anything, human or otherwise. A charter member of the man-whore Hall of Fame!

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    1. Niles and Daphne are great and i loved how it was stretched and still continued after when, most of the time, it would kill a tv show. HAAAA-General Hospital-Perfect since I do still watch it and Luke & Laura were a huge item and made history back in the late 70's and early 80's. Mom watched this show from the time it started. Capt. Kirk is a man whore. He always had to have some girl..or alien. I love it!

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  17. I remember Bridget Loves Bernie. I wonder if the writing is still as good as I thought it was. I'd like to see Moonlighting, too. It wasn't till its last season that I watched it.

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    1. I agree about Bridget Loves Bernie and would like to see some episodes. I wish they would bring Moonlighting back in reruns. Hope you are well.

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  18. Moonlighting... love that show. And joel above mentioned Pushing Daisies, also wonderful. And he's right, Chenoweth stole the show.

    The original UK series Coupling is outstanding, some of the best sitcom writing I've ever seen (by Stephen Moffat, who went on to lead Dr. Who). The US recreation was vomitous but the original was amazing.

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    1. I haven’t seen Coupling but hope it will play here someday...you never know.

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  19. I remember Moonlighting. :) I haven't seen the others- but Moonlighting was a fun trip down memory lane.
    ~Jess

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    1. Moonlighting was a great show and wish they would being this back in reruns

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  20. Moonlighting I've seen. Enjoyed the earlier seasons of it. JAG comes to mind, as they had the will they won't they crap for 10 years.

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    1. I never watched JAG even though it was on forever.

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  21. I wouldn't have thought to mention 'Frasier' because the Daphne & Niles dynamic was only one part of the mix, and i don't think of the show primarily as a "Romance". But it was certainly the funniest TV sitcom of all time, and by a large margin!!

    My first pick for this category would be the often mentioned 'MOONLIGHTING'. It's one of my Top 5 TV shows ever, and i own every episode.

    BIRGIT, I distinctly remember mentioning the Moonlighting episode 'ATOMIC SHAKESPEARE' to you once. You said you'd not seen it, and i encouraged you to do so because it was (in my opinion, and the opinion of most major fans of the show) the single greatest episode of 'Moonlighting'.

    Did you ever see it?

    ~ D-FensDogG

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    1. I watched Atomic Shakespeare and it is so funny. I love the tongue and cheek of it. The creators of this show must have loved the Hawks style of comedy like His Girl Friday.

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  22. This might be only one of two lists this week where I have not seen any of the shows.. I haven't even really heard of these!?! I can't believe I call myself a TV-show fan.. wow.. I can safely say I will never watch Moonlighting even though it's the one of this list I'm most curious about.

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    1. Moonlighting is a great show and the creators and writers must have loved the Howard Hawks style of comedy

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  23. My old woman says she's never heard of Brigit and Bernie but always loved Moonlighting back in the day. As Time Goes By is always on our telly (here in the UK), she says, and is very sweet. I don't like any of them because I SEE NO CATS. Go figure.

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  24. We watch As Time Goes By each Sunday eve on the Public Broadcasting Station.
    We LOVE that show.

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  25. Although I am a die-hard romance show fan, I confess that I haven’t heard any of these shows except ‘Moonlighting.’ But that was a good trip down the memory lane. Also, behind the scene, news about Bridget and Bernie was unknown to me. Thanks for introducing great shows.I’ll be watching all the three soon.And What a way to end the romance month, Birgit!!

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  26. Moonlighting takes me back to my college days when I would come rushing home just to watch it. I honestly was more in love with Cybill Shepherd!! The Big Bang Theory is a favourite. I actually think I like Modern Family more than TBBT.

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