Griffey, Of Course, Kept Chasing Maris
“Frasier” finally came home last week, for the very first time.
The cast of the NBC sitcom, ostensibly set in Seattle, was in town to film on location for the show’s 100th episode, set to air Nov. 11.
But they didn’t learn much local geography. David Hyde Pierce, asked by a Tacoma News Tribune reporter if he knew where Tacoma was, answered, “Yes.”
Pressed the reporter: Is it east, west, south or north? “West,” he declared.
When told he was wrong, he rebounded quickly: “West of where? Oh, here! I didn’t know what you were talking about.”
And when shown the word “Puyallup” and asked how he would pronounce it, Hyde Pierce paused, his eyes narrowed and he responded in a very curt Niles Crane voice: “I wouldn’t.”
Loose talk
Jonathan Taylor Thomas (“Home Improvement”), on his fame (in US magazine): “On occasion, I’ve taken the test that’s been in the teen magazines about me, and I’ve failed. Isn’t that scary?”
Three’s company, but 50 is pretty darned old
John Ritter turns 49 today.
Sorry, folks, but when you’re out, you’re out
“Ellen” won’t back away from exploring gay issues this season, regardless of what the advertisers might think. “We’re not having trouble selling the show,” said ABC programming chief Jamie Tarses, adding that some sponsors who pulled ads from last season’s comingout episode later “begged to get back in.”
Guess doing both is more than she can stomach
Country singer Barbara Mandrell, who’s made guest appearances on such shows as “Sunset Beach,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” and “Baywatch,” says she’s giving up music for acting. “I’ve been gradually introduced to another facet of show business,” Mandrell says. “And it’s all very new to me, and very wonderful. And I have an insatiable appetite to do more of it.”
She’ll concentrate on resuscitating her career
Yasmine Bleeth, meanwhile, tells Details magazine she’s leaving “Baywatch” for the big screen because “I don’t want to take money for doing something I hate … I’m at the point where I can’t believe I have to go save another drowning victim or do another montage in a bikini.”
She was just looking for a breakthrough role
Former “Beverly Hills, 90210” bad girl Shannen Doherty agreed to anger management counseling as part of a plea bargain over smashing a car window with a beer bottle outside a Hollywood bar in August 1996.
Better before the camera than behind the wheel
Former “Airwolf” star Jan Michael Vincent, who broke his neck in a drunk-driving accident a year ago, will make a guest appearance as Don Johnson’s long-lost brother on Friday’s “Nash Bridges.” Says Vincent: “Doctors told me chances were a million to one that I’d ever work again. So I’m really just happy to be back in front of the camera.”
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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Rick Bonino