Horror Western starring Ted McGinley.
You may not remember that name, but you would immediately recognize Ted McGinley if you could see pictures of him in the 1980s. He was the handsome, arrogant guy who ridiculed Booger and the boys back then. (Here he is in Revenge of the Nerds). He eventually was a regular on Happy Days, Love Boat and Married With Children.
He doesn’t look like that now. He looks like a grizzled old cowpoke, which is basically what he plays in this film, so that’s all good. Of course he’s pushing 70 years old, so his appearance isn’t surprising unless, like me, you haven’t thought about him in 40 years and still picture him as Stan Gable.
With the help of two bank robbers, a US Marshal sets out to rescue five prostitutes who have been abducted by a gang of desert-dwelling, otherworldly, monsters.
Uh, he’s also in _Shrinking_ on AppleTV, the latest series from the guy that created _Scrubs_, _Ted Lasso_, etc.
And he isn’t at all grizzled on _Shrinking_. He just looks slightly older and still quite attractive for his age. Fucker.
He looks great for his age, but he looks nothing like Ted McGinley.
Ted McGinley joining the cast of your favorite TV show was also a sign the show had jumped the shark. He was even dubbed the patron-saint of shark jumping.
I am happy to see he is still working
Ted made light of that in all places (& the fact that he was being labeled as the ‘kiss of death’ to shows when he is cast) on Batman Brave & the Bold on the last episode. I only bring that up because he argues Married With Children, that he was on for 8 years after he joined the cast, so overall it looks like he is indeed both of those two things, he in fact has proof that that’s not necessarily true.
Still I think more people know him as Jefferson Darcy from Married With Children, than remember him from Revenge of the Nerds.
I believe the first hit show he “killed” was Happy Days. I think they brought him in to sort of replace Ron Howard. However, I don’t recall if he came in right after his departure or a few years later.
Speaking of Happy Days, I wonder if Ron Howard would ever consider doing a Happy Days reunion movie. He did do an Andy Griffith Show film in the early 80s. Marian Ross is still alive at 96, but that doesn’t mean she would be up to appearing in a movie. Of course, it would be natural for the parents to have passed away. The missing character that would be the saddest is Joanie. RIP Erin Moran. I guess they really waited too long to do a Happy Days reunion film. But how about a Roger Phillips (McGinley) Chachi buddy film spi off?
Until this moment, I had no idea he was on Happy Days. Obviously I stopped watching before his arrival. I think they were just introducing Chachi.
Speaking of Happy Days: Here’s Potsie, as he looks now.
I’m pretty sure he came right after Ron Howard left as a direct replacement. He played a cousin of the family.
If I recall correctly, he moved into the Cunningham upstairs/attic that Fonzie had just vacated. Fonzie by this time had gone from being a ‘greaser’/mechanic to the owner of the shop, half-owner of the restaurant (he financed the rebuilding after Chachi carelessly burned down the original) and I believe a half owner with Howard Cunningham in a hardware business.
McGinley meanwhile moved to the area to teach at the high school. The dynamic was not entirely different than with Richie, with McGinley as a total square being taught to be more daring by Fonzie, and McGinley, in turn, teaching Fonzie when to be more square. McGinley succeeds by getting Fonzie to add to his already considerable occupations the job of the high school shop teacher.
A few seasons before this, Fonzie gets his GED and here he says something like “I didn’t even graduate from here but now I”m teaching here.”
Imagine if they tried to ride the coattails of Cobra Kai and create a show called Alpha Beta which centers on Stan Gable’s life after Revenge of the Nerds.
Ted per his profile picture on IMDB is starting to look like the brother of John Larroquette, the better looking version of Mitt Romney & the stand-in for Dennis Quaid.
That picture of him in that western, he looks unrecognizable, I think that’s because his ‘hair style’ is so much a part of his look. That and in most of his roles he’s clean shaven, if I didn’t read he was 67, I’d think he was older and I think that’s solely because of the beard & he’s aged in the face a lot in the last 10 years.
In Shrinking (Harrison Ford’s Apple TV show) you can see he’s put weight on & it shows in his face, it alters how he looks, so I guess I haven’t seen him a lot post 2015, when he looked like he always does. I digress.
Ted is one of the few bright spots of Shrinking, imo.
He will always be Jefferson d’Arcy to me. He was hilarious on Married… with Children. Him and Al Bundy always got into some hijinks and with the boys of No Ma’am such as Griff, Ike, Officer Dan, and Bob Rooney. Ah, good times.
I don’t think I ever saw him on Married With Children. I moved to Europe at the beginning of 1990, when Marcy was still married to Steve. We did get some American shows over there, but Fox had no presence in the early 90s.