January 17, 2005

• The Right Stuff

  
  

  I’ve been meaning to state this for the record weeks ago and with Teri Hatcher’s Golden Globe win yesterday, I thought now would be the perfect time:  Teri Hatcher totally deserves the success she’s been having with “Desperate Housewives”.

  
  

  As a TV/Film sponge, I’ve been keeping tabs on Teri’s career since I was a teenager.  And following her gigs for the past 20 years, I’ve always felt that I experienced all her career ‘s and ‘s with her.   I got excited for her when a project could take her to the next level and winced for her when projects tanked.  And instead of being chalked up as another pretty face whose 15 minutes came and went, she always stuck with it and kept chipping away.

  
  

  I first noticed her in 1986 when she played a mermaid on “The Love Boat” and had a recurring role as Penny Parker – the ditzy but lovable heroine in constant distress on “MacGyver”.  A few years later, things started picking up for her when she had a memorable role in 1989′s “Tango and Cash” as Sylvester Stallone’s little sister, Kiki (btw: a very cool and underrated movie).  She booked a few small gigs here and there – and then fours years later, in 1993, the big one hit.  The career maker:  ”Lois & Clark“.  Hatcher instantly became a TV darling and was launched onto the covers of magazines.  She was critically lauded for her spot on performance as sassy Daily Planet Reporter, Lois Lane.

  
  

  In fact, this photo of her wrapped in nothing but a red Superman cape became the most downloaded image on America Online. 

  
  

  But then came the challenge every TV Star faces: “What project should I do during my hiatus to change this sqweaky clean image and branch out?“ 

  
  

  Some projects work brilliantly (“Friends” star, Jennifer Aniston in “The Good Girl“, “St.Elsewhere” star, Denzel Washington in “Glory“).  And some just don’t (“Saved by the Bell” star, Elizabeth Berkley in “Showgirls“).  Hatcher’s sexed up roles in “Heaven’s Prisoner’s“, “2 Days in the Valley” and “The Cool Surface” fell into the latter category.

  
  

  Eventually, “Lois & Clark” did what’s known as ”jumping the shark“ (Definition: An industry coined term after the show ”Happy Days” sealed its fate into cancellation by resorting to Fonzie jumping over a shark while wearing water skis, swim trunks and a leather jacket for ratings).  Just look at him.  He almost looks like he’s saying, “Eyyy!  What’s it gonna take to get off the air!?!”

  
  

  Running out of storylines, the show “jumped the shark” by having Lois discover Clark Kent’s Superman alter ego PLUS had them hooking up (hence repeating Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepard’s “shark jump” after their characters hooked up on “Moonlighting” and was cancelled — told you I was a TV/Film sponge)!  With the sexual and will-she-find-out-who-he-really-is? tension now gone, the show had nowhere left to go and was canceled shortly thereafter.  Hatcher’s last big hurrah was as a Bond girl in 1997′s “Tomorrow Never Dies“.  But by then, her show was over and fickle Hollywood was onto the next “it” girl. 

  
  

  For the next seven years, Hatcher really didn’t do much.  She was raising her daughter, went through a divorce with actor Jon Tenney and was probably feeling crappy like John Travolta, pre-”Pulp Fiction“, thinking, “Man, now what?” 

  
  

  Now here’s the part where I really feel her (ie: My Dell Ads):  She then agrees to do these horrendous, cheeky commercials  — hawking RadioShack products and forced to banter cutesy, crappy dialogue with her partner in crime, Howie Long.  I’m positive she probably received a slew of flack from “Lois & Clark” fans screaming, “Why?!” and “So sad!”  And if you don’t think she couldn’ t hear the sympathetic snickers behind her back from the other actresses in the audition room for the last seven years, then I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. 

  
  

  But you know what?  She did whatever it took to stay in the game; to get more ‘at bats’.  Waiting… just patiently waiting for that right pitch.  ‘Come on… that’s right… straight down the middle…’

  
  

  And then…WHACK! 

  
  

  Last year she was watching the Globes with her girlfriends and daughter at home — this year she picked up the award for Best Actress in a Comedic Series.  She said it herself in her acceptance speech, ‘…I’ve had so many false starts in my career… thank you (ABC) for giving me a second chance when I couldn’t have been more of a “has been”…’   The fact she said that leads me to believe she’s probably heard that from other folks more than once.

  
  

  Now, I don’t have an inkling if she’s pleasant in person or whatever… all I know is that I respect her mettle.  Some may think she was a shoe-in with the total package:  the looks, the charm, the talent, etc.  But people with those characteristics are a dime a dozen in this town.  And if any actor, or anyone, just had an ounce of her tenacity that’s allowed her to constantly jockey for a new gig every few months/years for the past 20 years in the face of other people’s quiet whispers constantly fueling self-doubts, they’d have more than enough to make it in this or any other business.

  • 8:53 am
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