Finally watched Mommie Dearest today

It had some enjoyably campy moments (TINAAAA! Bring me the AXE!), but Faye didn't resemble Joan at all - you just don't stick a pair of chola brows and period costumes on and expect to become Joan. She mugged and overracted shamelessly. And it looked like someone stuck an old lady wig on Mara Hobel - she looked like Jean Harlow.

Then don't push on it!

Isn't that the way Faye Dunaway always acted in any piece of shit she was in R1?

Yes, I completely agree OP. It was trash.

R3 except BONNIE AND CLYDE. She was so fresh and natural in that. But by the time of CHINATOWN (six years later) and NETWORK (a decade later) she had already perfected the "Faye Dunaway" persona. I don't know why she won for NETWORK. She was just being Faye Dunaway. It really is startling to rewatch her in B&C. She was the character, not a variation of Faye Dunaway.

you are not one of my FANS!

I liked Faye in PUZZLE OF A DOWNFALL CHILD. That might be when the FAYE PERSONA first emerged, but it was much more vulnerable.

If you can't find the this-is-so-bad-its-good, camp value in "Mommie Dearest" or realize that Dunaway's performance is somehow oddly fascinating then we be of any further assistance to you.

I was appalled the first time I saw Mommie Dearest (in a theater) and people were laughing. this was when I was just coming out, and I didn't know the connection some gay men at the time had with Joan Crawford, or any celebrity for that matter.

latter I got the appreciation for camp, and looked at Mommie Dearest in a different way.

it's been said that FD didn't like to talk about Mommie Dearest, maybe because of its cult status. people criticize its drama and 'overacting'.

I'd say consider the source material (Christina), this movie comes from her POV, and she had an agenda and issues to work out. I think Faye did a great job of playing Crawford through the eyes of her traumatized daughter.

IMO, Dunaway was great, but the movie around her sucked. Streep was no better in DOUBT or AUGUST:OSAGE COUNTY and yet she gets record-setting Oscar nominations.

I'm not mad at you OP, I'm mad at the dirt!

Obviously you don't understand. What you're really doing is denying this motion picture the opportunity to give you a wonderful and advantaged life! How sad that is.

You're just gonna lurve Valley of the Dolls, OP!

if you do not appreciate this camp fest then I fear you are doomed to lead a boring life... Go back into your sad little world and leave the rest of us alone...

Bravo, R12

...

Think of it as Kibuki.

The direction was awful. Faye was allowed to go over the top, and Diana Scarwid was catatonic.

And the wigs!

I think they were trying to film it from a little girl's point of view, nightmarish in a fairy tale kinda way. But it just failed.

You have to remember this was decades before the CAMP FILLED reality television CRAP we have at our fingertips today. It was unusual at the time.

R17 ie

Love the random MD quotes in this thread. I laugh every time and it never gets old. I think it's time for my lie down

I've never seen it -- but then again, I'm a lesbian.

Joan was very appealing as a young woman. My favorite is Grand Hotel. A very moving and wonderful performance.

Nothing hard ,grotesque or campy about her there.

Bad on all levels.

I always thought it was tacky to do that to Joan Crawford. I wonder if Faye was kind of embarrassed about that.

Faye looked nothing like Joan. And the director should have reeled her ass in. Over the top is an understatement. If she had resembled an actual PERSON and not a caricature, the film might have had a chance.

Mommie Dearest had nothing to do with Crawford and everything to do with her daughter, thus the camp. Tina Crawford's book was pure anger and selfishness, how else would it translate?

"She always gets the last word... Or does she?"

Let history tell the story. I suspect Tina did Joan a great service in keeping her relavent.

*sidebar* in every video of Christina pimping her mother's image in the name of public service, I want to re-create the Redbook scene and slap her so hard that Barbara can feel it.

When I think of Joan I think of what her friend "The First Lady Of The Stage" Helen Hayes said. "Joan was a great star, a good actress and a wonderful friend, she just shouldn't have been a mother". I may be paraphrasing but she must have seen something through the years.

Pauline Kael's review is worth reading.

[quote]The film includes the nocturnal rampages that were the most talked-about episodes in the book … . Dunaway brings off these camp horror scenes–howling “No wire hangers!” and weeping while inflecting “Tina, bring me the axe” with the beyond-the-crypt chest tones of a basso profundo–but she also invests the part with so much power and suffering that these scenes transcend camp … [H]er smeary cold cream gives her the white face of a Kabuki demon. Yet she’s so wrecked, so piteous–and so driven–that she isn’t funny. You can’t help laughing at the movie, but you can’t laugh at her. When she beats Tina with the offending wire hanger, or whomps her with a can of Old Dutch Cleanser, the horror isn’t ridiculous, because you feel her tension and madness; you feel the strength of her need to smash this child, who isn’t the malleable doll she fantasized when she bought her. (Movie stars were pioneer customers in the blond-blue-eyed-baby traffic.) Dunaway doesn’t hold back: when Joan abuses Christina, you know that the child represents all the disappointments and disorder in Joan’s life.

It is an extraordinary film. I don't think I've ever seen another film where there is such a cavernous distance between the ferocity and commitment of the lead actor/actress and the bland, ineptitude of the direction and the rest of the cast. I agree with Pauline Kael about Dunaway's performance but she's wrong about it not being funny. Whenever Faye's eyes suddenly cross, how can that be anything but hilarious?

OP, I treat you to a lovely evening, and I get smart aleck back-talk!

Ex-blacklistee Howard Da Silva got the last laugh at Louis B. Mayer's expense by playing him here.

The review is fair, but let this be said: CC has an agenda that transcends her ego. What we see in Mommie Dearest is factually inaccurate.

Mommie Dearest was a grasp at greatness; Joan was the embodiment of talent. Yes, Joan was a pain in the ass and very difficult for her children, no question.

But hey! We're still talking about her!

I grew up in difficult circumstances and would never behave this way, not even if my parents had cred to pimp; horrible!

I believe Helen Hayes who was an adoptive mother herself.

I'm obsessed with the first 5 minutes. Waking up at 4:00 am to the do the OCD morning beauty rituals and then the walk in closet that looks like a boutique, followed by script memorization and autographs in the car, and arriving at MGM before dawn. If you've never seen it before, you might think you're about to see an amazing movie. Then Faye turns around in the chair with that clown makeup. Faye wasn't satisfied with the makeup after many tries, but it actually looks good in certain scenes. She looks great walking on the beach, and carrying the old meat to the refrigerator.

I think it makes a huge difference if you were ever spanked or ever dealt with overly dramatic relatives. Some people say Mothers don't behave like that. I'm also amused by people who discredit Christina for writing the book after Joan is no longer alive to defend herself. If you disinherit your child, you clearly don't care what they think about you. But America cared. The gays still care. Plus, Christina was a WWII era baby. Who didn't get hit from that generation?

I personally love the setting lotion hair cut. I have read Mommie Dearest and guess what? It's not in there. Wire hangers happened, but no mention of forced haircuts. In real life, Joan pulled Christina out of boarding school not for rolling around in the hay with a boy, but for the damn Christmas cards. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Don't get me wrong: I believe CC, I just don't approve of her agenda.

Remember also, the movie is a stark contrast in terms of factual reality from the movie. I feel for CC but think the book was a narcissistic move to create drama and cash.

My mother disinherited me this past Mother's Day; while we enjoyed each others company-- AND I WAS BUYING BREAKFAST!

Some parents are really tough. Will we be eating potato salad soon? No. Do I forgive, yes.

I admire my mother's tenacity.

At least she had the balls to do it to my face.

[quote]In real life, Joan pulled Christina out of boarding school not for rolling around in the hay with a boy, but for the damn Christmas cards.

What happened with the Christmas cards?

[R36] Thank you for reminding me. I suspect Christina was one of those fussy babies that cried all the time and grew into a stubborn girl who never appreciated $300 dollar dresses. We all know type A people who need their lives to be just right, or you'll never hear the end of it. Imagine two of those in the same household. Three if you count juvenile delinquent Christopher.

Have a look at how the real Joan Crawford Redbook article turned out.

[R39] Christina had dealt with a lifetime of having to write thank you notes for presents she rarely got to keep. They had to be tailored to each person, and the first draft was never good enough. Granted, Joan was famous for responding to fan mail and giving gifts to the crew. Christina's response was pretty close to the movie. "I have exams. I'll get the cards out on time, all right?" Christina wrote that her clothes were taken away for one year while at school and she wore what little she had until they were practically rags. I think one Christmas, Joan didn't come to get her at all. I can't remember if she joined a classmate or stayed with Mrs. Chadwick.

OP didn't enjoy the movie for reasons which are well known to him.

From the article at R40: [quote]"I let her win eight times," the actress says, "and then on the ninth time I struck out just a little bit and I won. She took a look at me and she swam back over to the steps and climbed out of the pool. She stood there and said, 'I'll never play with you as long as I live, never.' I said, 'Christina, look, my body is longer than yours. I could have won all the time. I'm bigger than you are. I'm faster than you are. I can win all the time. Now let's get back in the pool and play.' I picked her up to throw her into the pool and jumped in with her and made her swim."

This is an episode Christina mentions too, right? It's interesting hearing Joan's version. Knowing that Joan had already let her win eight times puts things in quite a different light.

[quote] Christina had dealt with a lifetime of having to write thank you notes for presents she rarely got to keep.

Back then we taught our children manners.

Some people still posess manners.

"You need to push off a little more with your feet!"

True abuse. Lord.

Dunaway is at the same time ludicrously over the top, and the highest level of DIVA! She is both bad and great at the same time, and the extremes and contradictions of this film are part of what's kept us interested all these years.

And all the unintentionally funny parts, too.

HOW FUCKING DARE YOU OP! After all we've done to make this phenomenon happen! Twat. Apparently this IS your first time at the rodeo!

[quote]You have to remember this was decades before the CAMP FILLED reality television CRAP we have at our fingertips today. It was unusual at the time.

Absolutely, it's a different world now. I first saw Mommie Dearest last year and it was like watching a Lifetime movie. It wasn't really extraordinary in any way outside of describing Joan Crawford's personality disorder. I agree with R35 that the first five minutes are great.

I've never though Mommie Dearest as part of my gay dna. I'm a bit over 40 and these kinds of films from the 70s aren't part of my youth or my gay life. The same with Valley of the Dolls. Saw it last year also and didn't think it was anything that special. My gay dna consists of films like Maurice and My Own Private Idaho where gay men are the focus. I love some female artists but I've never cared about Streisand, Garland etc. Hard to imagine seeing Joan Crawford as a gay icon, and I mean is she? Or is it just because Mommie Dearest is a classic for some gay guys? BTW, I completely get that Mommie and Valley were important to some gay men even though I personally don't feel connection with them.

Hey, hands off Dunaway's talent. She's one the best actresses in high-end lux camp. A Place for Lovers - ridiculous and amazing. Thomas Crowne Affair. She's fine in Bonnie & Clyde and Chinatown. The entire Network movie is jacked on 70's bennies, speed baby, and her performance is a piece with that. Eyes of Laura Mars, again, beautiful pulp. This is way Mommie Dearest makes sense and why she made sense to do Crawford. We really don't have lux scenery eating amazon like Crawford and then Dunaway anymore. Streisand could pretend but didn't have the looks. Nowadays, Tilda Swinton is too cool, and Cate Blanchette doesn't reach the grandeur that we would enjoy. They are both a bit too tasteful, and in being so, not legendary on the screen.

J'adore!

I love ya, Pats!

R48, wow, way to make it all about you. No one cares about your "gay DNA" or what your cultural touchstones are...... but you. If you can't at least UNDERSTAND about divas and actresses, films and music and events from another era that have cultural relevance for older gay men, then you are a dimwit. Your questions are thinly veiled ageism. Are you trying to say that you are special or something? Because I would guess that you ARE "special."

I used to hate Joan Crawford after watching Mommy Dearest.

Now that I have become a parent, I see her point, actually.

Oh, there's no doubt that Joan Crawford grew to hate Christina, but were those reasons because Christina didn't live up to her ideal blonde, blue-eyed child, or was she jealous of her because she 'was' the ideal blonde blue-eyed child, or was Christina just a petulant, demanding bitch child who never appreciated anything her mother did for her? We will never know for sure.

As for the movie - Faye played Joan as Christina wrote her. That's how I imagined Joan when I read the book. Crazy and abusive.

Like Joan herself, Faye was both great actress AND great movie star. The single most Mary! line I have ever written but true.

The problem is almost every single moment has this overwrought importance that is just exhausting (there's a long stretch of "Showgirls" involving french fries flying and vomit, no less, that has the same problem) so there's no down tiime, no quiet moments after those first five. According to Faye herself and most involved, the problem was Cristina and her husband were producers too so they wanted their agenda, the director (a good one usually) had his and Faye wanted to make Joan human, let us see what drove her to be the monster, blah blah blah -- and it all was a mess of tone.

But still fun to giggle at. No excuses for the weird staccato "Why. Did. You. Adopt. ME?" scene. And Scarwid, former Oscar nominee, is just horrid.

(It was/is on that cool Parmount/Fox free channel, Movies, last night, I think... I assume hence the thread. I have seen it a million times and was drawn in to watch for as long as I could take it).

Douglas Fairbanks Jr married Joan in the marriage of the century. He claimed that after at home he took off his socks and threw them on the floor.

Joan's reaction stunned the fuck out of him. June Allyson and Robert Preston after the book came out also had things to say from what they observed.

I have no doubt Christina out of self preservation has blacked out a lot and compared to reality Mommie Dearest is a Mother's Day card.

Mothers unhappily often have more to do with Pasolini's Salo than Meet Me in St Louis.

Millennials like the OP have no sense of irony. Everything has to be patently obvious to them. They lack the imagination to be entertained by the craptacular and appreciate the ludicrously tragic.

Why can't you give MD the respect that it's entitled to? Why can't you treat it like it would be treated by any stranger on the street?

You know, OP, flirting can be........taken the wrong way.

"Douglas Fairbanks Jr married Joan in the marriage of the century. He claimed that after at home he took off his socks and threw them on the floor. Joan's reaction stunned the fuck out of him."

So what DID she do? Faint? Yell at him? Hit him with a wire hanger? Give away his christmas presents to needy children?

She put 2 tennis balls in each sock and rammed both up Douglas's hairless sylphe-like derriere.

From what I remember she went totally psycho on him. Like throwing your dirty socks on the floor was far worse than hanging a dress on a wire hanger.

Fuck you OP, you're dumb. You need to advertise that? Fine. Be gone, then.

[35] I love the first five minutes too... it gives you a great insight into Old Hollywood.

As for the rest of Mommie Dearest, I still enjoying watching it and I love the book too.

I think there is a lot of truth in it (where there is smoke, there's fire)

It would be great to hear what the people around Christina/Joan had to say (i.e. former nannies/employees, the Chadwicks, etc.) There are a few people who have come forward and suggested there was truth to it, but no real detail.

I have a number of friends whose daughters became fascinated by this movie when they saw it on TV when they were around 12 or 13 years old. They'd watch it over and over. This was in the late 80s and early 90s. These girls had not grown up knowing who Joan Crawford was or becoming her fans. I think they identified with the out size emotions and parent -child conflict. They were right at the age when the mere fact that your parents exist is mortifyingly embarrassing and their emotions were volatile. An interesting phenomenon...

Dr. Joyce Brothers, you may be on to something.

I remember HBO showing Mommie Dearest nonstop when our family first got cable television in 1982. My little sister and I were mesmerized. We couldn't get enough of it!

I wonder if these boys turned out gay.

R41, are you sure you're not thinking of Shirley MacLaine's daughter Sachi? She tells much the same story. Of course, maybe it's routine for show biz bitches like Crawford and Maclaine.

[quote] Like throwing your dirty socks on the floor was far worse than hanging a dress on a wire hanger.

I can handle the socks.

Obviously JC wasn't a fan of William Higgins films. She would have immediately made Fairbanks put his socks back on(especially if they were white) and watched him fuck a watermelon.

[quote]It had some enjoyably campy moments (TINAAAA! Bring me the AXE!), but Faye didn't resemble Joan at all - you just don't stick a pair of chola brows and period costumes on and expect to become Joan.

Oh, please. Those chola brows (and the abuse) are all anyone remembers about Crawford these days. What was she thinking? She was beautiful until she started painting those caterpillars on. I think Faye looks a lot like her here:

I don't ever remember one post here or anywhere saying it was good film or the acting was good. It is popular because of who it is about and because it was such a spectacular piece of campy shit. It's badness made it good.

Having had a very fucked up sociopath for a parent - I can say that Faye's work in the "rage" scenes - chopping the rose garden for instance - are spot on. The over the top drama, the self pity - all spot on. In a better film this performance would have been classic for different reasons. I find her chilling.

I think that Faye made up like Joan looked more like Lucile Ball. She doesn't have Joan's bone structure. Joan had a wonderful bridge to her nose that Faye doesn't have and it is really noticeable in profile.

I watched MD years ago, I was 11 or 12, on tv and I remember I was horrified, didn't know what camp was, I haven't watched again, but maybe I should.

I agree with R74; Faye Dunaway captured the essence of Joan Crawford's narcissism in a way that no sane actress could have matched!

And having had a narcissistic mother myself, yes, I found the book very believable. "Believable" isn't the word I'd use to describe the movie overall, but there's truth there as well as high camp.

I remember my mother and a neighbor watching MD the first time it was on TV, and they were all like "holy SHIT she looks just like Joan Crawford!"

Of course, my BFF and I were in the basement watching it even then for camp purposes, wearing wire hangers on our heads and throwing popcorn at the TV.

All of 12 or 13, but we shoulda worn signs that said Future Homosexuals of America!

I cannot understand anyone who does not love this movie. One poster remarked it was very original and fresh when it first came out.

When my children were little, we had an inside joke. (At least that's what they said when I wasn't beating them.) If they said thank you Mommy I would say , "Mommy what????" ; "Mommie dearest..."; "When I asked you to call me that, I wanted you to mean it."

Favorite lines: Tina, bring me the ax!!(maid crosses herself)

As Tina looks at all her birthday presents, " They are all so lovely Tins. Which is the one you are going to keep?"

"Wire hangers! Let's look in your closet and see how many we can find...I buy you the most expensive dresses in Beverly Hills and you treat them like tradh."

OK . I fear this post is overly long . Sorry

I thought Faye was over the top, but I suspect Joan was over the top too, so my gut feeling tells me that there's a lot of truth to this story.

I also thought Faye looked and sounded remarkably like her too

Obviously, Perrino's was OP's place!

If I ever open a restaurant I promise to call it Perino's so that we can all have a "place".

We're having.....financial difficulties.

I should've known you'd know where to find the boys and the booze.

I'm cuing the bitch up now because I can, Tina.

Joan's percolating coffee thingy is elegant, I can smell the coffee from here. Her home should have been so grand. PURE CAMP!

Let's go!

[quote]I thought Faye was over the top, but I suspect Joan was over the top too, so my gut feeling tells me that there's a lot of truth to this story. I also thought Faye looked and sounded remarkably like her too

DON'T YOU DARE JUDGE ME!

David Frost, you love it, don't you? YOU LOVE TO MAKE ME HIT YOU.

Joan was actually pretty poised and less flamboyant than Dunnaway's portrayal. Just drunker. Joanie WAS A DRUNK!

Who wants to go swimming?

R92 Only if you let me win

The film is an odd mix of flat, made for tv pacing and acting and Dunaway's scenery chewing. It's not camp in the same manner of "Strait-Jacket" or other obvious drek. Someone like Anne Bancroft (who was considered for the part) might have provided more subtlety and depth, but we're stuck with what we have.

When you were a kid that made you look sexy.

I was raised in the 50s & 60s by a mother who was a repressed lesbian, and my experience was very similar to that depicted in the book and in the movie. Midnight raids and screaming craziness about an untidy bedroom. The axe and tree where pretty similar to some scenes that I survived as a small boy. While Dunaway may have been a bit over the top, the rage of a repressed 1950s woman who really shouldn't have been a mother, was very accurately portrayed.

Get r96 OUT OF THE GARDEN!

Go to your room until I send for you, r96. You are selfish and thoughtless.

Too bad there isn't a book like The Devil's Candy (read the Bonfire of the Vanities thread) about the making of Mommie Dearest. I'm sure it would be amazing.

Does anyone know whatever happened to Michael Edwards (one of JC's conquests in the movie)?

Rutanya Alda (Carol Ann) is supposed to be publishing the diary she kept while filming "Mommie Dearest".

Why hasn't this been made into a musical yet?

[quote]

Having had a very fucked up sociopath for a parent - I can say that Faye's work in the "rage" scenes - chopping the rose garden for instance - are spot on. The over the top drama, the self pity - all spot on... I find her chilling.

Same here. In fact, I first saw the wire hangers scene at age 8 and it fucking traumatized me for years, as that's exactly the kind of rage and abuse that my mother doled out on me, too.

Obviously, the kids and teens who were fascinated by this movie had parents who were loving, not cruel.

I never understood why LB didn't walk her out after she asked him. She was after all "Hollywood Royalty"...

LB was a horse's ass.

Poor Cranberry.

[quote] Why hasn't this been made into a musical yet?

Who'd ever go see a musical about a child abuser?

I can see Mommie: The Musical! now.

With Joan's 11 o'clock number: "When I Taught You To Say That (I Wanted You To Mean It),"

And the grand finale, "For Reasons Which Are Well Known To Them."

Was Christina an ungrateful brat? It doesn't matter, how big your mansion is, or how many expensive dresses you put your child in. If you don't love them, they will feel like shit. And if you are abusive on top of not loving them, they will hate you. And they have a right to feel that way.

I think Joan loved her kids as best she could, it just wasn't good enough.

I first saw MD on cable tv in the early 80s, when I was around 9 or 10, and it was terrifying but mesmerizing at the same time. I also saw a lot of my mother in Faye's performance. In fact, one year as a teenager I gave her what I thought was a hilarious "Mommie Dearest" mother's day card and she flew into a rage...proving my point. I love every moment of the film from the first scene when she's getting ready in the morning, and I thought the home looked so glamorous. Maybe not everyone can appreciate it,but the people who do are my kind of people.

[quote] While Dunaway may have been a bit over the top, the rage of a repressed 1950s woman who really shouldn't have been a mother, was very accurately portrayed.

Joan was hardly repressed. Quite the opposite, it seems.

Anyway, for someone who claims she was traumatized by her upbringing it seems very strange that Christina would continue to talk about it for 30 years and even reenact parts of the "abuse" with a drag queen.

"I think Joan loved her kids as best she could, it just wasn't good enough."

Narcissists don't love anyone but themselves, they love what other people can do for their image and for them. Joan did try to be a perfect mother, or tried to ACT like a perfect mother, and had no idea that children require more than constant demands to look like part of the perfect family.

And yes, the children of toxic narcissist often strike other people as "ungrateful brats", certainly that's how their parents describe them. They're typically neglected or abused in private, they want people to know, while the parent wants to them to do the "perfect family" act. There's always conflict, and most people believe the charming parent and not the child who claims to be mistreated. It's so much easier.

I worked through my issues in therapy, r113.

I'm not defending Joan, just pointing toward the obvious. Crawford had a capacity for love. Remember where Joan came from, brutal.

"Crawford had a capacity for love."

Having seen narcissists try to parent, I respectfully disagree.

They were accessories. How do you love them? It's not like you can give them to goodwill when they turn out to be more bother than they're worth.

Christina is still traumatized. So she continually talks about it and makes money off of it. She was an orphan who then was brutalized by a psychopath.

She and her brother were damn unlucky people.

You don't have to be gay to enjoy this movie - my siblings are obsessed with it. It's hilarious! I can't imagine anyone not liking it. I guess maybe action movie diehards?

[Quote]Christina is still traumatized

She's laughing all the way to the bank. I respectfully disagree, r116.

OP TURN IN YOUR GAY CARD NOW! WHAT A DISGRACE!

And your room looks like some $2-a-week furnished room in some two-bit back street town in Oklahoma, OP!

I don't know how it's possible not to enjoy this movie.

I don't either r121. I felt guilty about it once upon a time, cause, ya know, it is child abuse. but I can't help it. It is hilarious. how can anyone not see it?

Is this an institution of learning or A TEENAGE BROTHEL?!?!?

Unpopular film opinion of the century here : I believe that Faye's performance was unequivocally GOOD. Yes it's hard not to laugh sometimes but it was an accurate depiction of a severely mentally ill and high strung woman. Crazy people really do act this way. Most people can only handle depictions of mental illness when it's a bit tasteful and underdone. You know, the scene of a depressed housewife pacing and biting her nails while staring mournfully out the window. The real thing makes people cringe. And Dunaway depicted the reality of severe instability.

[quote]Faye looked nothing like Joan.

Well, Helen Keller has spoken.

Joan gives parenting advice:

[quote]I remember HBO showing Mommie Dearest nonstop when our family first got cable television in 1982. My little sister and I were mesmerized. We couldn't get enough of it!

Yes! My roommates and I got cable in 1983 and they threw in free HBO for awhile. We referred to it as "The Mommy Dearest Channel"!

HBO showed it constantly well thru the late 90s IIRC.

That boy, OP, should be [italic]expelled!