I've been meaning to acknowledge the passing of two of my favorite television stars....Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers. You guys know what a Match Game freak I am....I still watch shows on the Game Show Network! As is often the case with game show stars, they get pigeon-holed as has-beens and no one remembers the outstanding achievements these stars attained in their "glory years."CNR was a Tony award winner for Christ's sake!! He was an Emmy winning director (Evening Shade) and Emmy winning actor (X Files). Of course, he also played "Hoo Doo," the evil magician on Lidsville, a Saturday morning kid's live action program I watched when I was a kid in the 70s. He is forever etched in my brain for his classic, Charlie Callas-like line, "ahhh-uhnnnn-uhnnn"....I know you all can hear me impersonate this as you read it.
And now to Brett....well, you know what I said about outstanding achievements?? She became much more popular by sitting in the center seat in the top row of Match Game. She did tons of TV prior to her Match Game fame....playing the TV wife of real-life husband, Jack Klugman, on the Odd Couple....she also appeared on Love, American Style (looooved that show!), The Love Boat, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Her wit, her wigs, and her cackle made her an endearing, everlasting celebrity who will be remembered long after her passing.
