You Did What__ Mad Plans and Great Historical Disasters - Bill Fawcett [83]
Brown’s plan of picking his opponent had completely backfired. Rather than having to choose between two similar candidates, Brown’s choice of Reagan provided voters with an alternative that they quickly supported. In addition to energizing his opposition’s base, Brown still lost the support of those in his own party, for whom his handling of troubled issues appeared problematic.
The bad actor had delivered the performance of his life to great applause and luminous reviews.
The viewers/voters liked him so much they demanded a sequel, and the road to the White House was just what the candidate had in mind.
Ronald Reagan distinguished himself as the great communicator and set forth an era of change known as the Reagan Revolution, aimed at reinvigorating the American people with a hefty dose of self-reliance while weaning them off a reliance on government and its publicly funded programs. He worked with Congress to obtain legislation designed to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, decrease unemployment and strengthen national defense. Indeed his “peace through strength” is credited by many with turning the tide of the Cold War, and bringing about the overall collapse of the Soviet Union as a bellicose world power.
The Ronald Reagan show at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was renewed for a second season in 1984 with an electoral landslide unprecedented in modern U.S. elections.
The easier-to-beat candidate chosen by Governor Pat Brown was now proven to be unbeatable — in California, across the country, and in the international political theater. It is entirely possible that he might not have been able to win that Republican primary back in 1966 without a little help from his Democratic opponent, but from that point on he was unstoppable.
Always remember, if given a choice, choose your opponent wisely, not just for the opening sprint, but for the entire race as well, because some people never stop running and before you know it they are so far ahead of the pack, they are just unbeatable.
You Quit What Show?
TV is such a fertile field for finding gross stupidity and highly paid idiots that this section was hardly taxing to write, but it was too much fun for us to resist.
TV LAND: FROM 1970 TO NEXT SEASON
Brian M. Thomsen
Ronnie Schell had gotten himself attached to a really big thing. Gomer Pyle, the military life spin-off from The Andy Griffith Show, was doing great in the ratings, and his steady role as second banana between Jim Nabors’s country-boy Pyle and Frank Sutton’s abrasive marine corps sergeant guaranteed him a few audience laughs each week, and, most important, a steady paycheck.
But when he was offered the opportunity to be a headliner for a different show with a role more equal to that of Sutton or Nabors, how could he refuse?
The answer was he couldn’t.
So faster than you could say prime time, he resigned from Gomer Pyle (really failed to renew his contract, since these negotiations took place during the off-season) to take the lead in the new situation comedy Good Morning, World, based around an early morning radio program.
Doing radio on television was a can’t-miss concept for laughs. How could it miss?
It did.
Good Morning, World failed to last a season, but lucky for Schell Gomer Pyle (now Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.) welcomed him back, slightly poorer, definitely humbled, but nonetheless grateful.
Ronnie Schell was one of the lucky ones; he had a show that wanted him back.
Others were not so lucky.
McLean Stevenson was riding high. M*A*S*H was a huge success with a promising (and as it turned out, long-lived) future ahead of it, and his role of Commanding Officer Henry Blake was a fan favorite and an integral part of the ensemble. But Stevenson wasn’t satisfied. Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers got top billing and all of the best lines, and quite frankly he was sick and tired of playing second banana.
He wanted his own show.
So he negotiated his way out of his contract.
Both Henry Blake and McLean Stevenson would