Although we were the first page on the Web to announce the wedding of Amelinda Smith (probably best known now as "Katrina," Warren's late girlfriend on "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer"), and the birth of their son, Cogeian Sky Embry, her web page at the Internet Movie Database says that they are now divorced!
We don't know if this is an error or a fact. We shall definitely try to follow up on it!
This morning one of Amelinda's "people" confirmed for us that she and Ethan are now definitely divorced. We had the decency not to ask about custody of Cogeian and such other private matters, but it does seem that -- for the time being, at least -- Amelinda is still using the Embry name for some purposes.
*sigh* So sad....
Ethan is back on TV as Detective Frank Smith in ABC's new series, a revised version of the classic cop show, "Dragnet." Ed O'Neill ("Married With Children") plays Sergeant Joe Friday, Smith's partner.
The new series isn't too bad, but it is updated and the characters have been "tweaked" for the 21st century. Joe Friday, for example, is not just philosophical, he actually quotes classical philosphers and, in the most recent episode (aired 15 March 2003), corrected the Latin on a villain's custom-made lapel pin. (Joe's an ex-parochial school student in this version.)
Frank Smith has been changed significantly. He speaks. A lot. Considering that the original radio version of Frank rarely spoke more than one sentence at a time, and then usually to respond to Joe or to a witness or suspect, the new Frank is downright loquacious. In one episode we counted four consecutive sentences from Frank in what amounted to a major speech by Joe's junior partner.
For those of us who remember the 1967 TV series with Jack Webb as Joe Friday and Harry Morgan ("MASH") as Officer Bill Gannon, the new "Dragnet" is no disappointment -- it's just a little jarring to see the show so up-to-date and realistic compared to the frequently ludicrous ultra-conservatism of the 1967 series. Wolf Films, which has given us "Law and Order" and all of its progeny, has also given us supporting cast members who can act, not just hit their marks and recite dialogue like wooden puppets. If anything, the new "Dragnet" is one of the best versions since the orignal radio series.
As for Ethan himself -- he's good, good enough that this may turn out to be one of the biggest successes of his long acting career. It's distressing to see how far his "widow's peak" has spread (he's so young to be going bald!), but those who love Ethan as just a cutie will still find him adorable, we're sure. And if he can make Frank Smith a believable character with those long speeches, his acting is getting sharper, far sharper than previously.
*sigh* 2 April 2003: Our beloved Ethan, always a wild guy, got a little too wild and just broke an ankle while skateboarding. He will miss the last two episodes of "Dragnet" this season. "Frank Smith" will be sent off to tend his ailing father while Ethan recuperates.
It's just nerve-wracking: no sooner had we scrubbed the old notice that Ethan's series "Freakylinks" is coming back to Fox than we found out hours later that . . . "Freakylinks" is coming back to Fox . . . again.
On June 1st, "Subject: Live Fast, Die Young," about adreneline-absorbing vampires airs, and on June 8th, "Subject: Police Siren," about the deaths of members of a police squad airs. Check your local listings for the exact date and times.
Unfortunately, we do not know if Fox is going to keep airing new episodes of the show, or even if they will air all of the already broadcast episodes as re-runs.
NOW, Fox has DEFINITELY CANCELLED "FreakyLinks."
A Sean Murray fan, realizing that Ethan had guest-starred on the long-axed CBS series "Harts of the West," asked us if we had any pictures of Ethan from the show (all the while deviously scheming to get pix of Sean Murray posted, of course!). We were delighted to discover that someone here had just unearthed an old home-made tape of Sean Murray and "Harts of the West" and we are on the verge of posting lots of otherwise unobtainable images when it was discovered that the tape was a supplementary one, and not our guy's main tape, which remains missing. Somewhere one of us has a tape of "Harts of the West" scenes, which include almost all of Ethan's work on the show, and we are diligently searching for it, but we fear that -- if it hasn't been hopelessly lost -- time may have taken its toll on it and degraded the quality of the tape itself.
Keep your fingers and toes crossed, folks, with luck our guy will find his tape and we will be able to post pix of Ethan that almost none of his fans have ever seen.
Cogian's name: "Cogian" (hard "C," soft "g") is related to the Latin cogitare, "to consider or think about." Baby Cogian is a born thinker, it seems! (As for Cogian's cognomen, we didn't ask, and we're not about to tell what his last name is -- he'll have plenty of time to decide for himself if he wants to be a public figure.)
Not everyone in Hollywood is quite as quick to brush Ethan aside as CBS was to dis "Work With Me" (our October story below). We may be seeing a lot more of Ethan soon, but there are no details which we can reveal. Suffice it to say that it appears to us as though some others in Hollywood were just waiting in the wings to talk to Ethan about . . . this and that . . . but couldn't while CBS had him on "Work With Me." What was it the Fates told Angel on "Angel"? When one door closes, another opens . . . something like that.
From the "They Get Paid How Much?!" Files: four episodes into its run, CBS announced today that it was officially cancelling Ethan Embry's new TV series, "Work With Me" after it finished fourth in its time slot in the weekly ratings. CBS's unstated message to the show's fans: "Sod off, we're cancelling it today. We start showing re-runs of shows you don't watch starting tomorrow night."
We would like to extend a message to those grossly over-paid television network programming executives who are trying to capture that lucrative 18 to 49 year-old audience by airing shows starring teen idols and twenty-somethings:
While CBS and other networks have the right to hire complete idiots and pay them enormous salaries to program and de-program their shows, we would like to point out that placing a show with a teen idol opposite the WB network's "Dawson's Creek" or "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer" is STUPID! We do not fear for the future of the chumps responsible for scheduling "Work With Me" directly opposite "Dawson's Creek" and then cancelling it after only four episodes. They doubtless have bright futures ahead of them doing "reality-based programs" in which teen idols and other young stars are thrown live into cages with hungry lions. It worked for the Romans, after all.
The above opinions, by the way are purely our own and do not reflect those of anyone else, least of all those unfortunates who fell victims to CBS's absolute stupidity in programming.
15 December 1999 Update: As for our prediction about CBS's replacements for "Work With Me," they were almost correct: the first show to fill the hapless time slot where "Work With Me" had been also finished in fourth place in the ratings, but the following week's program had leaped up in the ratings to third place. CBS actually found a show which could beat FOX, the WB and UPN. We're impressed. Now if only they had thought to work with "Work With Me" giving it a viable time slot and a strong marketing campaign, we might almost be content that they at least tried to earn the respect of the fans of the show and the cast members . . . and an audience for the advertisers. Instead . . . we watch "Dawson's Creek," and -- no -- we don't record whatever it is that CBS is airing opposite "Dawson," as we used to do for "Work With Me." (For those of you in the dark about why we are so bitter about CBS, this is the second time that they have cancelled a show featuring Ethan without giving it a chance to build an audience; the first victim was the wonderful "Harts of the West" several years ago. Fortunately, we have a lot of that on tape, at least.)
The following information is direct from Ethan's own hand (he's a lefty, by the way) with suitable {updates}:
