Showbiz History: Oliver!, K.I.T.T., and Linda Hamilton
Saturday, September 26, 2020 at 9:00AM 6 random things that happened on this day, September 26th, in film history
1949 the Hollywoodland is sign torn down for the groundbreaking ceremony of the new shorter "Hollywood" sign.
1955 "America's Sweetheart" Debbie Reynolds (23) marries the hugely popular singer Eddie Fisher (27). They quickly have two children, Carrie and Todd Fisher. Their marriage will last only three and a half years and end in one of the biggest showbiz scandals of the 20th century when Eddie leaves her for her BFF Elizabeth Taylor...
If you've never read or heard the late great Carrie Fisher talk about that scandal in her book and show "The Year of Wishful Drinking," you really must rectify that.
1964 Gilligan's Island debuts with the episode "Two on a Raft". Basically ALL of Gilligan's Island sitcom contemporaries eventually got (mostly bad) film reboots. Isn't it weird that Hollywood skipped this one?
1968 The movie musical Oliver! gets a Royal Premiere in London. It will hit UK cinemas directly after and become a sensation in the US around Christmas time before winning five Oscars including Best Picture.
1982 Kitschy crimefighting series Knight Rider about a man (David Hasselhoff) and his artificially intelligent car "KITT" premieres on NBC.
2010 Downton Abbey premieres in the UK and becomes a surprise smash when it transfers to the US in January. Originally conceived as a standalone miniseries it runs for six seasons plus a feature film.
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 64th to Sarah Connors herself, bad-ass actress Linda Hamilton. Bless her and Michael Biehn both for their appropriate nudity in sci-fi classic The Terminator (1984). The conception of John Connor is central to the Terminator mythology but you know a modern version of this would leave out the sex scene entirely. Movies are so prudish now.
Other actors born on this day: Yoon Shi-yoon (34), Talulah Riley (35), Alaa Safi (36), Sun Li (38), Maria Bonnevie (47), Ben Shenkman (52), Jim Caviezel (52), Lysette Anthony (56), Melissa Sue Anderson (58), Togo Igawa (74), and Mary Beth Hurt (74); Other Showbiz types born on this day: Catfish creator Nev Schulman (36), Tennis superstar Serena Williams (39), singer Christina Milan (39), BAFTA nominated film editor Fred Raskin (47), Transparent creator Joey Soloway (55), superstar Olivia Newton-John (72); Gone But Not Forgotten: Miracle on 34th Street's Edmund Gwenn (born on this day in 1877), Poet T.S. Eliot (born on this day in 1888), Legendary composer George Gershwin (born on this day in 1898), Some Like It Hot's George Raft (born on this day in 1901), Bollywood star Dev Anand (born on this day in 1923), Singer Julie London (born on this day in 1926), Working Girl's Philip Bosco (born on this day in 1930), Beverly Hillbillies' Donna Douglas (born on this day in 1932), Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon (born on this day in 1957)
Reader Comments (7)
"Gilligan Island" had some horrible made for tv movie sequels- but yeah I can see a feature but who would you cast now? The roles would have to be inclusive and maybe now we can see the real relationship between the skipper and his little buddy.
Nathaniel-Why do you think sex scenes have become such a rarity in films? I know studios fear the NC-17 rating, but even then there is so much you can do before even hitting that mark.
My dad worked with Bob Denver’s cousin, who got us into see the filming of the TV movie “The Harlem Globetrotters go to Gilligan’s Island.” We got to meet all the cast, the titular basketball team, and even Marcia Brady, who stopped by the set. (We were shocked to see her smoking a cigarette.) Looking back, it’s all kind of surreal. Did that really happen...?
I loved Knight Rider on TV when I was a kid - second only to The A-Team as far as action-adventure shows go.
There are several reasons why sex scenes stopped showing up in movies:
1- Money- While no one shoots a movie going for NC-17 most sex/nudity scenes would be rated R. Which means less people would have access to see it, so sex scenes get cut to make a PG-13 movie.
2- Stars said no- Early in the 2000's several women said they wouldn't do nudity ever including Sarah Jessica Parker and Renee Zellweger. Catherine Zeta Jones had scripts rewritten to replace nude scenes. When stars stopped doing nude scenes, film quit doing them in general.
3- Women Empowerment- This goes along with number 2. Actresses went on talk shows, gave interviews, wrote books about their sex scenes and how unromantic they really were. They were uncomfortable and felt forced into doing it. "Closed sets" somehow still involved about 50 people usually men. Movies and studios didn't want a bad rep so no more sex scenes. This became a problem for TV too. HBO and Showtime had lots of nudity (still do) but Game of Thrones (Maisie Williams called it Death and Boobies) got lots of flack for the context of the female nudity as well as the ratio of female to male nudity. Ruth Wilson recently gave a scorching interview about her time on The Affair and how she felt pressured to do nude scenes even though it didn't serve the plot or character.
Tom G -- hmmm. I would argue that THE AFFAIR's sex scenes were absolutely crucial to both plot and character... (though i only watched the first season so who knows about after that)
i just find the absence of them so weird when they're still fairly frequent on television (and it used to be the opposite!)
Brian -- i dunno. I think Tom might have a couple good points there but i think a lot of it has to do with America getting even more prudish than it used to be (and it was already pretty prudish)
"Downton Abbey premieres in the UK and becomes a surprise smash when it transfers to the US in January. Originally conceived as a standalone miniseries it runs for six seasons plus a feature film. "
I really doubt that they had as their initial plan that Downton Abbey would only last the first season. It is obvious that at the end of episode 7 with the start of World War I and Matthew deciding not to marry with Lady Mary that there were already plans for a second season even if at that time it was not officially confirmed.