True story: I have had this tab open for 6 hours and 14 minutes and this is the first sentence I have typed. I am a bundle of inchoate feelings about this news and may never fully process it. Reports have been coming in since last night that TFE's unofficial goddess (aka Nathaniel's all time favorite Michelle Pfeiffer) is heading to the small screen where she started 36 years ago in "Delta House" (1979), a sorority comedy trying to capitalize on the success of Animal House and "Bad C.A.T.S" (1980) a drama about young undercover cops and car thieves.
Pfeiffer as "The Bombshell" (Delta House) and as "Sunshine Jensen" (B.A.D. Cats)
To date they are her only series regular gigs (she was 21 and 22 years old respectively). Though she made a few more TV appearances after those short-lived efforts, the movies snatched her up almost immediately, which was wise. Her beauty (and talent) would only be growing and by, say, 1983 when Scarface hit, it was clear that she was too supersized for the smaller screen which tends to favor less otherworldly and more approachable girl next-door beauties.
There have been rumors that Pfeiffer was considering a TV series for a few months and I opted not to write about them because Pfeiffer is notorious for considering things (usually movies) but not actually doing them, preferring to stay at home with her gaziillions (her husband David E Kelley was just as bankable and successful in her field as she was in hers). Her career choices since marriage and motherhood in the mid 90s have been peculiar and obviously distracted to say the least, despite the occasional wondrous outing that put her back in peak form (What Lies Beneath, White Oleander, Chéri to name a few) so with both of her kids heading off to college it looks like she may finally be a full time actress again.
Pfeiffer's most recent film premiere was THE FAMILY (2013), her only leading role this decade thus far
I just didn't quite expect it to be a TV series. Yes, yes, I know movie stars are doing that more regularly. It's not about that. It's that she's notoriously skittish about committing to projects and TV series are a much bigger commitment than movies.
THE NEWS
Sorry it's taking so long to get there. It's Pfeiffer so my mind wanders since she means so much to me. According to Variety she (iconic movie star) and Katie Couric (uber famous TV personality) and Diane English (Murphy Brown mastermind) are, as a power trio, shopping around a comedy about a morning news show host (La Pfeiff) which will supposedly NOT be about Katie Couric's time on the Today show, but everyone seems to think that will be exactly what it will be about. They're shopping the show (untitled) to the various power players (HBO, Showtime, Netflix, AMC) rather than the traditional networks. Shopping a pitch is much different than actually doing a series of course. And the ratio of shows that are pitched or even made into pilots to shows that are actually made is staggeringly imbalanced so who knows. (Remember that brief time when Julianne Moore was supposedly going to star in a 1950s era detective / drug series?)
But with three big names like that, who wouldn't take a meeting?
I will of course be thrilled to see my beloved again in whatever way she decides to present herself. I'm even thrilled in those rare moments when we get a photo like this one shot by a fan at the current hot ticket Off Broadway show "Hamilton"...
Photo via Facebook
But the reason I resist my favorite movie stars going to TV is that unlike a movie -- I will literally sit through anything for a couple of hours to watch a favorite actor no matter how bad the movie is -- I can't really watch a TV series each week, no matter who stars in it, if I don't like the actual show. It's just too much of a time commitment as How To Get Away With Murder so recently proved once again. I worship Viola but no, I... I just can't with that show. It's just too trashy/bad.
Whether or not this series, if it happens, is any good or not will depend on a wide number of things including co-stars, writers, and whatnot but Pfeiffer will obviously be great in it. That said, one of her biggest career missteps was playing a newswoman (Up Close and Personal) so I should knock on wood as I publish this post.