Bad ways for an actor to go out on

[TMC]

What are some infamous last performances on television before an actor's passing or before their retirement or departure from the industry?

I started thinking about this after watching this video on the ill-fated NBC sitcom Emeril from 2001. That was sadly, Robert Urich's last major project before his death from cancer less than a year later.

The most obvious "bad way for an actor to go out on" TV series that I can think of is Lucille Ball's final attempt at starring in a sitcom, Life with Lucy from 1986. Lucille Ball allegedly took the failure of this show very personally and to heart. It was the only sitcom of hers to be outright canceled rather than end on its own terms. She would never take on another film or TV project prior to her death in 1989.

[Yong Fang]

I would say Robin Williams in his last sitcom “The Crazy Ones”. In my opinion it really wasn’t that good at all, it was sort of a boring workplace like show. The other characters were forgettable and Williams himself seemed out of his element. For me, he took this show (only the second he did as a regular cast member) because his movie career was on the wane, and he needed the money, which for me was amazing since he was an A List movie actor for thirty years but supposedly his divorced and the alimony put a big hole in his wealth. The show was a ratings loser and they even brought in Pam Dawber for an episode or two to prop it up, to no avail.

The show was cancelled after a year which must have been a big blow to him, although the show sucked and didn’t really utilize his talents correctly. Then, what, a year or two later he committed “suicide”. I use “suicide” like this because Williams was diagnosed and suffered from Dewy’s Body Dementia and there is evidence that Williams was in a deteriorated mental state and couldn’t control his actions. So even if his show was a hit, he wouldn’t have been able to do it but probably another season anyway.

When I read he died, I thought he killed himself from depression from his show being cancelled! He and his family kept his illness private (as far as I know).

Lucy’s 1986 show was just terrible. Lucy was too old for her act, and again, in my opinion, her act was old fashioned by the mid 1980’s. Her on screen comedy heyday was the 1950’s and 1960’s. Why did she do that show anyway? She was RICH. Not only from her career but from the former and extremely profitable Desilu which was sold to Gulf-Western for millions. She probably just loves to work and missed doing weekly television.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

I would say Robin Williams in his last sitcom “The Crazy Ones”. In my opinion it really wasn’t that good at all, it was sort of a boring workplace like show. The other characters were forgettable and Williams himself seemed out of his element. For me, he took this show (only the second he did as a regular cast member) because his movie career was on the wane, and he needed the money, which for me was amazing since he was an A List movie actor for thirty years but supposedly his divorced and the alimony put a big hole in his wealth. The show was a ratings loser and they even brought in Pam Dawber for an episode or two to prop it up, to no avail.

The show was cancelled after a year which must have been a big blow to him, although the show sucked and didn’t really utilize his talents correctly. Then, what, a year or two later he committed “suicide”. I use “suicide” like this because Williams was diagnosed and suffered from Dewy’s Body Dementia and there is evidence that Williams was in a deteriorated mental state and couldn’t control his actions. So even if his show was a hit, he wouldn’t have been able to do it but probably another season anyway.

When I read he died, I thought he killed himself from depression from his show being cancelled! He and his family kept his illness private (as far as I know).

Lucy’s 1986 show was just terrible. Lucy was too old for her act, and again, in my opinion, her act was old fashioned by the mid 1980’s. Her on screen comedy heyday was the 1950’s and 1960’s. Why did she do that show anyway? She was RICH. Not only from her career but from the former and extremely profitable Desilu which was sold to Gulf-Western for millions. She probably just loves to work and missed doing weekly television.

It was a major error in judgment to give Lucille Ball complete creative control on Life with Lucy. Like you said, Lucy's brand and schtick come 1986, was with all due respect, corny, pedestrian, and old hat. Basically, she was completely out of touch and out of step with where TV and in particular, sitcoms were at by that point in time (especially with other, decidedly edgier and sophisticated sitcoms about older women like The Golden Girls airing at the same time). But Life with Lucy, seemed to be an example of the star more or less, coasting off of their reputation or past good will.

Lucille Ball was in her mid to late 70s at the time and yet, she still insisted on doing a lot of physical bits. Stuff like that is a young person's game like John Ritter (who Lucy admired a great deal) on Three's Company or Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams on Laverne and Shirley. Lucy was already very worse for wear as her voice was unbearably raspy due to her heavy smoking habit finally taking its toll.

[Duster76]

The trainwreck that Life with Lucy became could have been avoided by rewatching episodes of Here's Lucy and the the final three seasons of The Lucy Show. Nothing creative or memorable was going on in either program, both series were industrial creations based on the original Lucy character developed in the early 50's. Here's Lucy was dated when it originally aired, so how could that structure work in the late 80's! Lucy indicated in an interview she was inspired to attempt a comeback after watching The Golden Girls, there was nothing about Life with Lucy that reflected an understanding of how and why that series worked. It's a shame, she deserved so much better than to go out on such a sour note.

[Duster76]

Two additional stars at the same level as Lucy that went out badly were Dean Martin and Bob Hope.

Dean Martin returned after a 5 year absence with the celebrity roasts show. He did three roasts in 1984 airing in February and March and the final one airing in July. The roasts coming so long after the original series ended had a "not this again" feel to them. His TV and movie career would end the following spring, and the ill-fated Rat Pack reunion tour were a sad way to end a great career.

Bob Hope was probably the very bottom of barrel, the horrendous string of specials in the 80's which kept getting worse and worse until final few in the early 90's. He did an interview with George and Barbara Bush (I think it was in late 1991), that was at such a surreal level that it can't be described. YouTube still has a segment from his 1993 Christmas special, the segment titled Jack Frost has to be seen to be believed.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Duster76

Two additional stars at the same level as Lucy that went out badly were Dean Martin and Bob Hope.

Dean Martin returned after a 5 year absence with the celebrity roasts show. He did three roasts in 1984 airing in February and March and the final one airing in July. The roasts coming so long after the original series ended had a "not this again" feel to them. His TV and movie career would end the following spring, and the ill-fated Rat Pack reunion tour were a sad way to end a great career.

Bob Hope was probably the very bottom of barrel, the horrendous string of specials in the 80's which kept getting worse and worse until final few in the early 90's. He did an interview with George and Barbara Bush (I think it was in late 1991), that was at such a surreal level that it can't be described. YouTube still has a segment from his 1993 Christmas special, the segment titled Jack Frost has to be seen to be believed.

It has often been said that Dean Martin was never the same person after his son, Dean Paul tragically got killed in a plane crash in 1987. His remaining years (Dean would pass himself on Christmas Day 1995) was sort of a "living death". Of course, I don't know how things would've turned out had his son lived, but it was obvious by the time that he did the Rat Pack reunion tour, that his heart wasn't into performing and pretending to be "on" in front of people anymore.

The comedian Dana Gould was on one of the last Bob Hope specials in the '90s and he said that Hope was completely out of it during the taping. He said it was sad and depressing that Hope's "people" were still making him work when he was so obviously no longer in charge of his faculties.



And since you mentioned Bob Hope's Jack Frost segment, that immediately makes me think of what the late Gilbert Gottfried said about it:


As others have said, Bob Hope's reputation or appeal began to tarnish during the tumultuous Vietnam era. Hope started getting too comfortably into bed with the "establishment".

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Duster76

Two additional stars at the same level as Lucy that went out badly were Dean Martin and Bob Hope.

Dean Martin returned after a 5 year absence with the celebrity roasts show. He did three roasts in 1984 airing in February and March and the final one airing in July. The roasts coming so long after the original series ended had a "not this again" feel to them. His TV and movie career would end the following spring, and the ill-fated Rat Pack reunion tour were a sad way to end a great career.

Bob Hope was probably the very bottom of barrel, the horrendous string of specials in the 80's which kept getting worse and worse until final few in the early 90's. He did an interview with George and Barbara Bush (I think it was in late 1991), that was at such a surreal level that it can't be described. YouTube still has a segment from his 1993 Christmas special, the segment titled Jack Frost has to be seen to be believed.

You can also argue that much like Lucille Ball, Bob Hope didn't translate well into the '80s or resonate that much with a younger generation simply because his shtick and style of comedy by then, simply came across as really corny and dated.

Apparently, Johnny Carson retired when he did because he didn't want to turn into Bob Hope. In other words, an old man who was coasting on fumes and hadn't been funny in a long time.

[Yong Fang]

I am two generations younger than Bob Hope, but I like him and respected him a lot, especially for all the shows he did for service members fighting in foreign wars, in WWII, Korea and Vietnam, and I think later conflicts like the Gulf War, a lot of it was volunteering his time and spenfing his own money, travelling thousands of miles (and going to Korea for example, was in the early 1950's which probably took at least two hard days on prop planes to get there with numerous stops, one way, and then two or three days to get home). Amazing.

I never really watched his old movies with Bing Crosby and whatnot, but he seemed entertaining enough to them. I knew him from the 1970's forward, as an old uncle or grandpa telling corny ass jokes (and they were the epitome of corny), but corny can be done well.

Like Lucy above, Hope was really wealthy and didnt need to do those holiday shows in the 1970's and beyond. He did it for the fun of it basically, he liked entertaining and being in front of a crowd. I think a lot of successful elders like him and Lucy Ball just wanted to be out there. I think with some very successful, in the public elderly people, they dont want to hang it up because the next step is death. At least Bobby kept the Grim Reaper away from him until he was a 100 or so.

[Yong Fang]

I just saw the pilot episode of Life with Lucy.

It wasn't bad. Lucy and Gale Gordon play the parents of a married couple and Gordon owns half a hardware store and Lucy butts her way into working in it to his chagrin. Gordon is actually funny and a good foil for Lucy. Gordon gets preturbed at Lucy (the character's name) getting into something she wants to be a part of where she doesnt belong. Harkens back to her original show "I Love Lucy" when she wanted to be a part of Ricky's act.

The only thing unrealistic thing so far is that their children, the married couple are in their 30's. The only really unrealistic thing is that their children (the husband and wife) are about 30 when Lucy was 75 and Gordon was 80. Gordon as a male can technically get away with having a 30 year old son (who was in law school) but it's a stretch for Lucy to have a daughter that young (still technically possible but not realistic). Still, so far it is a cute show.

By only the pilot, it is a nice show of fluff. I'll continue watching it on Youtube, and this is why I love Youtube so much.

[Yong Fang]

I Watched Every Episode of Lucille Ball's Failed Sitcom | A 'LIFE WITH LUCY' Deep Dive

This is the title of a Youtube video explaining every episode of "Life with Lucy" which is fair and unbiased and not making fun of the production.

Copy the first sentence and enjoy, or mourn.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by TMC

Apparently, Johnny Carson retired when he did because he didn't want to turn into Bob Hope. In other words, an old man who was coasting on fumes and hadn't been funny in a long time.

Hogwash. Johnny Carson was still funny at the time of his retirement.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by icecream

Hogwash. Johnny Carson was still funny at the time of his retirement.

Late night talk shows now are nothing but trash. Johnny was classy and funny right up to the end.

[stevea]

^What he said!

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by icecream

Hogwash. Johnny Carson was still funny at the time of his retirement.

The point of the post was not to suggest Johnny wasn't funny when he retired, the point was Johnny wanted to go out while he was still on his game. There's an old saying in show business, "always leave the audience wanting more". Johnny defined late night television, to this day he is the standard of excellence, everyone since exists in his shadow. I think he sensed that then and wasn't about to tarnish his legacy.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Duster76

The point of the post was not to suggest Johnny wasn't funny when he retired, the point was Johnny wanted to go out while he was still on his game. There's an old saying in show business, "always leave the audience wanting more". Johnny defined late night television, to this day he is the standard of excellence, everyone since exists in his shadow. I think he sensed that then and wasn't about to tarnish his legacy.

Johnny Carson apparently, hated it when Bob Hope showed up on The Tonight Show. But given Bob's stature in the world of entertainment as well as NBC, it isn't like Johnny could just turn him down.

The problem was that Bob used a lot of pre-scripted jokes and answers instead of naturally riffing and ab-libbing with Johnny. Bob also tested Johnny's patience in particular, in the later years when the former's sight and hearing started to go bad.

Bob Hope always in my mind, seemed like one of those older entertainers that you respected more than you out and out liked if that makes sense. I'm guessing that it's merely a taste issue. Bob Hope's prime was I want to say the 1940s.