The Stars of Tomorrow: 1989 Oscars

That was the most surreal production I've ever seen. I had no idea this occurred. It's never talked about!

For good reason!

Only 3 ended up with modestly successful careers (Christian Slater, Patrick Dempsy and Blair Underwood) - otherwise it showed how nepotism - even in Hollywood - really cannot guarantee you stardom (Tyrone Power, Jr, Tracy Nelson, Patrick O'Neal, Carrie Hamilton, Matt Lattanzi, Tricia Leigh Fisher, Chad Lowe)

That was equal parts horrific and hilarious. Ricki Lake probably had one of the more lucrative careers after all that.

Savion Glover's been quite successful, albeit on stage instead of in film. I was surprised to see Melora Hardin (The Office, Transparent) in there.

Worse than the Snow White skit

The moment I saw Ricki Lake on stage, I knew she'd be hotter than January.

That wasn't any where near as bad as Snow White. Corey Feldman's Micheal Jackson schitck was ridiculous.

Who in the world was D.A. Pawley?

Some dancer in Dirty Dancing r9. I think they spelled his name wrong!

I want a full list of everyone involved and what they did at the time to earn a spot in this ten minute ordeal.

That was produced by Allan Carr, I don't know why they were still giving him stuff to do considering his string of failures after Grease.

Bruce Vilanch explains why the 1989 Oscars were so awful. This is worth watching.

He's talking about AnnE and James Franco not 1989.

Whoops, this is Bruce talking about the 1989 Oscars. Sorry about that.

Thanks, R15!

Where's the complete list of all the young stars of tomorrow that were on it?

Bruce Vilanch was a writer for the Oscars that year, and his take on the whole debacle is worth a listen.

Poor Carrie Hamilton. I knew she tried acting, modeling, and music. Nothing really stuck, even after she cleaned up. Then to survive addiction and die young of something else, sad.

Joey Fisher should've been bigger. She rocked on Ellen and then disappeared forever. At least Patrick Dempsey made a comeback, with his exceptional good looks. At least half of the rest of them I don't remember at all.

The never has been a Snow White's Castle at Disney MGM Studios.

The most awful point in this segment:

La Lucy did not kiss the ass of Ricki Lake backstage.

[quote]Joey Fisher should've been bigger. She rocked on Ellen and then disappeared forever.

1. Joely.

2. She starred on "Til Death" for four seasons (almost as many episodes as "Ellen") and has had numerous other roles post-"Ellen."

For the record this was the year G suffered her humiliating loss for Dangerous Liasons.

Bump for original thread.

Joely and Tricia have done quite well for themselves. I am so sorry about your loss, ladies. I know how hard you tried to help her. Xoxo

Whatever the hell "Till Death" was r23. I never heard of it probably like most people. I didn't mean she literally stop working, she just was doing crap most people weren't watching. Segueing into making Lifetime and Hallmark movies wouldn't have been the sign of a healthy career either.

give this a bump / 30th anniversary of the stars of tomorrow production number on the 1989 oscar telecast / i believe Lucille Ball's last public appearance....

[quote]And with Ricki becoming the MEGAWATT STAR SHE IS TODAY.

Yeah, almost enough megawatts to power an Easy-Bake Oven!

List of performers of "I Wanna Be an Oscar Winner":

Keith Coogan

Patrick Dempsey

Corey Feldman

Joely Fisher

Tricia Leigh Fisher

Savion Glover

Carrie Hamilton

Melora Hardin

Ricki Lake

Matt Lattanzi

Chad Lowe

Tracy Nelson

Patrick O'Neal

Corey Parker

D. A. Pawley

Tyrone Power Jr.

Holly Robinson Peete

Christian Slater

Blair Underwood

WEHT Tyrone Power Jr?

I remember seeing it. Stoned.

It was so bad they could have improved it by having me come out and sing a medley of Phil Collins' greatest hits.

I thought it was a Debbie Allen production number. Remember those ?

Who was Matt Lattanzi a relative of. ?

I have never cringed so much in my life. Worse than the rob Lowe and Teri Garr numbers combined.

Matt L. is who Olivia Newton-John used to get it from. Now he's a beach bum who plays a limited part in his own daughter's life.

Melora Hardin. They don't make em like that anymore.

We all know that. He had a nude part in Rich and Famous. But someone said he was on the Oscars because of nepotism. Olivia came much later I think.

That Snow White thing was ghastly. Cyd Charisse looked great, though!

Matt Lattanzi was there because of Allan Carr.

Excruciating. And Ricki Lake had the biggest role among all those nepotees.

How many of the guys "befriended" Allan Carr?

Joely and Tricia Fisher are the children of Eddie Fisher and Connie Stevens

Carrie Hamilton is the daughter of Carol Burnett and Joe Hamilton

Patrick O'Neal is the son of Ryan O'Neal and Leigh Taylor Young

Keith Coogan is the grandson of Jackie Coogan

Chad Lowe is Rob Lowe's brother

Holly Robinson's father was Matthew Robinson, aka Gordon from Sesame Street

Tracey Nelson is Ricky Nelson's daughter

And this one is kinda freaky, Corey Parker's mother was actress Rocky Parker, who later married Patrick Dempsey

Blair Underwood, Corey Feldman, Ricki Lake, Savion Glover, Christian Slater, and Patrick Dempsey don't have notable nepotistic connections, but I'm sure they're out there somewhere.

Who was Holly Robinson Peete related to? She was the bee-yotch on the "The Apprentice" who tried to stab DL fave Cyndi Lauper in the back and then when Trump admired Peete, Lauper just gave up on Trump's BS to get the fuck out of there.

"Blair Underwood, Corey Feldman, Ricki Lake, Savion Glover, Christian Slater, and Patrick Dempsey don't have notable nepotistic connections, but I'm sure they're out there somewhere."

Christian Slater's mom is casting director Mary Jo Slater

It is lovely to see how warmly Lucy was received by the audience. However hard her personality may have been, she was truly beloved by the industry.

That was worse than 'The Day The Clown Cried."

R19 Carrie helped Carol write the autobiographical play "Hollywood Arms", which opened on Broadway a couple of months after Carrie died. The star was DL fave Linda Lavin.

M (R24), with your fine education from Vassar, I would have thought that you would know how to spell "liaison" correctly. Then again, someone who treads the boards as rarely as you do might be forgiven for not remembering how to spell the title of one of the greatest plays ever written. By the way, since none of your work this past year warranted a nomination from the Academy, should we expect you'll be watching my win from your home in Connecticut?

R42 Patrick Dempsey was already married to Rochelle "Rocky" Parker, who was also his manager, by the time of the 1989 Oscars, so there is his nepotism connection.

The segment should have been called

NEPOTISM ON PARADE

Not exactly sure why Rochelle "Rocky" Parker became [...] "Rocky" Parker.

Our pussies stink

Ten miles to the north, in Studio City, Lorna Luft lounged on a friend’s couch, watching the show on TV. A month earlier Carr had asked Luft to be Snow White, but she’d refused.

The whole Snow White thing was an offshoot of Beach Blanket Babylon, the San Francisco revue.

At the time of this program, Patrick Dempsey, 23, was married to Rocky Parker, 49. She was more than twice his age.

I have never seen so much Cringe! squeezed into such a small space and brief period of time.

How was Ricki Lake discovered as one of the "Stars of Tomorrow?"

[quote] Excruciating. And Ricki Lake had the biggest role among all those nepotees.

She was the only one who wasn't from a show business family.

[quote] How was Ricki Lake discovered as one of the "Stars of Tomorrow?"

[italic]Hairspray[/italic] was considered a hit by 1980s indie movie standards.

Oscars 30 years ago. Lol how can they top the worst show of all time this month? No host too.

i have no idea who 70% of those people are. That said, Blair Underwood was, is and always will be FINE!

Lucille Ball died about a month later.

[quote]Lucille Ball died about a month later.

Of embarrassment.

Thank God I said no. The experience would have been worse than being molested.

I agree that the Stars of Tomorrow was much worse than the Snow White number, and thought so at the time. At leas there was something to see during Snow White, and there were good dancers--Stars of Tomorrow was just a bunch of no-talents prancing around the stage.

A few years later they did an Allan Carr-worthy pointless opening number with Tim Currry, Kathy Najimy, and the little girl from "Matilda," and no one ever seems to remember this. But it was equally awful and pointless.

[quote]“I felt there was a surge of homophobia,” says Craig Zadan, a producer who knew Carr.

Is it still homophobia when gay men are the ones cracking wise about it?

It wasn't homophobia. The problem with Allan Carr was never that he was gay; it was that he had horrible taste.

Ryan Murphy, Rob Marshall, and Greg Berlanti have even worse taste and it seems like they're the only openly gay directors who get major Hollywood projects anymore.

Where was my precious Dinah Manoff?

Fabulous as the production was, did it need 6 minutes and three movie stars to introduce?

Ain’t nobody got time for that.

One of the reasons that Oscar telecasts run so long is that they do things like bring out someone to introduce someone else. The Stars of Tomorrow youtube clip is longer than 15minutes (though it seems like it's four hours.) Why have Walter Matthau come out to introduce Hope and Ball? Why not just say "Ladies and Gentlemen, two legends of Hollywood...Miss Lucille Ball and Mr. Bob Hope. That trims five minutes off right there.

People had attention spans of steel prior to the 1990s, R70, at least compared to now.

Allan Carr got lucky with Grease and another hit or so, the he thought he could do no wrong.

The failures were Carr's norm, the successes were luck.

Olivia Newton-John said, he told her she was ungrateful for making her "famous." While Grease did significantly boost her career by another seven years, it didn't make her famous.

r70 and r72, notice that my comment dropped r71 at the same time.

I was around 13 when this happened, and even at that young age I was cringing. At that time I didn't know who any of the geriatric stars they trotted out on stage were, but my parents did and their reaction was just being embarrassed for them. The oldsters looked pretty decrepit, and my parents barely recognized them.

R65: That's because it was overshadowed by David Letterman bombing.

Alice Faye and Cyd Charisse actually looked pretty good, but the others looked awful.

Ryan Murphy, Greg Berlanti, and David Marshall do not have worse taste than Allan Carr did. You're saying that for effect.

No one had worse taste than Allan Carr did.

[quote]Only 3 ended up with modestly successful careers (Christian Slater, Patrick Dempsy and Blair Underwood)

Patrick Dempsey & Christian Slater were probably the most successful.

But Holly Robinson Peete & Blair Underwood have worked consistently for years and I think for many actors that's the goal.

Joely Fisher had a good run at it as did Ricki Lake but Ricki's Talk Show made her wildly popular in the 90s so she'll always have that.

And of course there are many names there we haven't heard from in years.

R78: I'm saying that because it's true. Not one thing they have made between them has had or will have the lasting impact of [italic]Grease[/italic]. Allan Carr's failure to successfully follow up on its success with anything as good or better doesn't let any of them off the hook for their respective sins against the art of film.

Matt Lattanzi - what a hottie! Olivia sucked him at just the right time!

[quote]At the time of this program, Patrick Dempsey, 23, was married to Rocky Parker, 49. She was more than twice his age.

And we all know what that means, don't we, girls?

R13 Vilanch is absolutely right about Franco.

R15 Wow. Very revealing. Poor old Alan Carr made a mistake and, just wow. Thank you for posting this.

This destroyed Alan Carr. People also need to realize that Carr, with his wild parties, was also a guy who "knew too much" and who "saw too much". Looks like when Hollywood had the chance to ruin his credibility and get rid of him, they did.

[quote]Tracey Nelson is Ricky Nelson's daughter.

What are we -- chopped liver?

Alan Carr had a raging addiction to coke, booze and pharmaceuticals, and as a result his mind was addled and he thought every idea in his head was just brilliant. Anybody who's ever known a cokehead knows what I'm talking about. Carr, in his drug and booze-induced altered sense of judgement, thought his Oscar number was the most amazing thing ever and of course everybody else thought it was insane. It's amazing that nobody took Carr to task to stop it.

When you watch that number, it's easy to see the role drugs and alcohol played in it.

I'll always see Chad Lowe as the SVU rapist/murderer who had an incestuous relationship with his mother, played by Margot Kidder. Olivia and Elliott found him crying in bed next to her dead body.

Having bad taste worked in his favor for Can’t Stop the Music.

The number is about winning an Oscar one day kinda ironic not one of them starred in a movie that was even considered for an Oscar.

Remember when Chad Lowe was married to Hilary swank ? He came off as a moron at award season. She dumped him before the 2nd.

[quote] Having bad taste worked in his favor for Can’t Stop the Music.

A disco musical whose athletically inclined co-star is not exactly himself these days. Who else could have done it justice?

I assumed Walter Matthau was the host.

I liked Carrie Hamilton on Fame--her love interest on the show was Michael Cerveris, now a Broadway star. I always loved it that they paired him with Carrie's Reggie, who was the comic and alt/oddball girl of the class. Their duet together on the 'old Hollywood' ep was a charmer.