The Ted McGinley Curse?

[laura_seabrook]

I was browsing through http://www.popcultureaddict.com/ after seeing a link to it on cult_tv_lounge. Some interesting stuff there, including Defending Dawn, A Visit with Neal Adams, Who Cares? and  Gothic Romance. However what really caught my eye was THE CURSE OF TED MCGINLEY.

It seems that Ted McGinley has a history of being a "ringer" in sitcoms that are about to die horrible and slow deaths. He turned up on Happy Days as a "replacement Ritchie" and later on Married with Children in a similar sort of role. It seems then that his curse involves damning a TV show by introducing new characters. And it's not just that site that thinks so. Jump the Shark (named after an episode of Happy Days where the Fonz jumps a Shark) has a whole Ted McGinley page.

Now here's the weird thing. I probably watched a good number of the shows that he's appeared in, but I can't remember him at all. Zero charisma or what? Not quite as good as being Kevin Bacon (with his connections), is it?

Comments

[bendiviolet.livejournal.com]

Rena Sofler does the same thing, she did it to Just Shoot Me and another show I can't remember the name of. Apparently she has a rep for being sitcom death.

[highlandish.livejournal.com]

nathan fillian is another, he was in the end of Buffy, his firefly never got a second season, Drive never finished it's half season, his movies flopped. only because it was Joss Wheedon's Firefly did it have a dvd frenzy, but if another actor starred instead it would have stayed on air.

i've seen everything Mcginley has done, but his smiles are too smarmy and pretentious that he always appeared disingenuous. he was perfect for Married... with Children.

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

MMM, not sure about Nathan.
He turns up in a small role in BLAST FROM THE PAST as an irate ex boyfriend. Very different roles from a lot of other stuff he did.

But-
Firefly bombed before he ended up at the end of Buffy, and i think it was because of that he and Gina Torres were used in Buffy and Angel. If only Josh could do a direct-to-DVD TV show - Firefly would still be going strong now.

Did Fillon's character get killed in Desperate Housewives? I stopped watching that about the same time I stopped watching LOST. He's really good in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=apEZpYnN_1g) which I've seen online while it was still there.

I wonder too about Eliza Dushku too - Tru Calling didn't last long, and I have yet to see Dollhouse.

[mundanecircus.livejournal.com]

In terms of "Married with Childen", McGinley lasted 7 years on the show, from about 1990 to its cancellation in 1997, while the prior actor who played Marcy's husband, David Garrison, was only on the show three seasons, 1987 to 1990, making this series one of very few where McGinley didn't bring a "curse".

But that doesn't excuse McGinley for not being a perfect actor -- in 2005, on a flight from Tampa to San Diego and back (via Houston) for Comic Con, I got to see the same episode of "Hope and Faith" (starring McGinley) -- three times. (The fact that it was part of an in-flight program of fluff pieces didn't help things, either.)

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

GASP!

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

I often wondered where "jump the shark" came from.