Remember when Faye Dunaway starred in a sitcom?

I can’t remember the name of the show but it co-starred Robert Ulrich, it was very short-lived, and I liked it.

It Had to Be You.

I remember watching it at the time. Faye looked great and did a surprisingly good job. The biggest disappointment was how puffy Robert Urich had gotten.

It was pulled in something like four weeks. The ratings were bad, but the show was not unsalvageable. Later I read that Faye was such a cunt to everyone that, in combo with the bad ratings, CBS said, fuck it. They were going to rebuild it around Robin Bartlett's character, which was a terrible idea and never came to pass.

I remember reading an interview with Dunaway in TV Guide before it aired, and she was discussing "the art of sitcom".

I HAD to see at least one episode at that point.

WHERE is Faye these days? (Not in Boston, presumedly.)

Is she keeping a low profile... or is it just that no one cares to report on her?

LA Times article about it.

It debuted in the primo post 60 minutes time slot on a Sunday night, then moved to Friday nights at 8 p.m..

Only four episodes aired although nine were produced.

I watched it from your link,op. its not good. But i feel nostalgic for the early 1990s.

I like it.

what's not good about it?

the jokes are rushed and the story is pushed along to establish each of the characters. high strung career gal, wise cracking side kick, low key blue collar aw shucks love interest,three bratty kids.

the sidekick gets all the laughs.

Dunaway? has too much star power for the rest of the cast.

She was paired with Ryan Oneal for a different tv show ,a casting that made more sense.

Lol, what is the “art of sitcom”? Acting like a horror show on movie sets until the only people who will hire you work in TV? And then have that sitcom cancelled partly due to said nightmare behavior?

[Quote] She was paired with Ryan Oneal for a different tv show ,a casting that made more sense.

What was the title? Did it get past the pilot stage?

Apparently the re-tooling of the show with Robin Bartlett and Ulrich as the leads did get a pilot but it wasn't aired.

[quote] Dunaway’s been doing her homework by watching the old comedies. She’s especially impressed with the late British comedian Kay Kendall (“Les Girls”) and the legendary Carole Lombard. “Kay Kendall was just so frivolous, wonderful and juicy,” Dunaway enthuses. “Carole Lombard was larky. Myrna Loy was fantastic!. I love Roz Russell!”

My friend worked at a drama bookshop in L.A., and was taken aback when MISS Dunaway called to order a bunch of books on playing comedy. (I think it was in preparation for this TV show.) It was just kind of strange, because she was an accomplished star and was asking him how to do a comedy.

He finally said, “Well, basically, the number one thing is you make a commitment to the acting choice, and then you play it 100%. And you proved you could do that... with ‘Mommie Dearest.’”

There was a pause, and she said, “I think I see what you mean.”

He had to talk to her again when another clerk got so mad they hung up on her. She had been making demands about the order and delivery, etc., and called him “boy”. So Miss Dunaway called back raving, and my friend had to explain that the clerk was a man in his 30s with children. Not a “boy”.

I don’t know how that was resolved. Now that I think of it, maybe he (as the manager) took over the order after the first employee hung up on her?

It’s all growing foggy. (Or... faggy.)

Faye was in Germany in February.

whoops here's the vid

Faye and the felon.

“Robert Urich! Tear down that bitch of a bearing wall and put some wall studs where they ought to be!”

Re: r15 recent video

Perhaps she is back on her meds. At least she wasn’t throwing any salads in the clip!

Where does the lawsuit from the Little Homosexual Boy stand?

[italic]”That little homosexual boy was me.”

I wonder what the comedy project was for which Faye sought out the advice of Mad TV’s Michael McDonald? He talks about it in his stand up.

R5 - thanks for posting. I think David Steinberg went on to produce the last two awful seasons of Designing Women (the article mentions he invited Faye to the DW set so she could watch a sitcom being filmed). Sadly, Meshach, Dixie and Jan Hooks cannot share any anecdotes on their meeting with Faye...so we’re counting on you to dish, Annie Potts!

[quote]R20 I wonder what the comedy project was for which Faye sought out the advice of Mad TV’s Michael McDonald? He talks about it in his stand up.

For some reason, I think someone mentioned it might have been the role Stockard Channing got in ISN’T SHE GREAT from 2000 (playing Jacqueline Susann’s friend)

It’s kind of unsubstantiated, tho.

Did we really forget this one?

[Quote] Did we really forget this one?

It was mentioned two posts above yours.

I vaguely remember this show back when I was in high school and remembering how “bad” I thought her facelift was, like she has taken an eraser to her face and eliminated anything beautiful and distinctive about her. God, her work was positively subtle and glorious compared to what was to become!

R21, I believe you're correct. I read Michael's account somewhere--perhaps on here--on her calling hom incessantly for advice.

[Quote] on her calling hom incessantly for advice.

And then she didn't pay him, the cheap fuck!

[quote]Faye was in Germany in February.

Doing research for "Triumph!". her new Broadway-bound musical on the life of Leni Riefenstahl.

Matt Dillon is still dreamy.

Promos.

^ includes a Bob Mackie joke.

Thank you all for the attention but please do try and remember to refer to me only as Miss Dunaway.

Faye needs to be cancelled for how she treated the black saleswoman in this video. She's being very racist and dismissive.

She mumbles something like "Silence! I'm speaking to this white man, if you don't mind."

The day that Robert Urich died and Regis and Kathie Lee were giving tributes to him, Faye was one of the guests and said not one word about him.

Also in her book she said she hated the Eve character but that she liked Robin.

That Michael McDonald story is so good. Hilarious and a little sad. You can really feel and picture her desperation and insecurity.

r27, how I wish this were true! Mein Gott, that would be a gift to DL.

Can you imagine Chinatown/Network era Faye Dunaway getting a premonition that she would bomb an AUDITiON to play the BEST FRIEND in a BETTE MIDLER VEHICLE?

A bit off topic but still Faye. "Her experience with the recent flop "Man Trouble," which stars Jack Nicholson, illustrates her frustrations. There were two female roles. Mr. Nicholson's love interest -- the starring female role -- was ultimately played by Ellen Barkin, while Beverly D'Angelo won the supporting role as his sister. Before the parts were cast, there were discussions with Ms. Dunaway about being in the film. "It was suggested to me that I consider doing the sister," she says. "That was insulting. It's not acceptable to me to play Jack's sister, when I was Mrs. Mulwray to his Gittes in 'Chinatown.' I was the girl." New York Times interview, October 11, 1992.

Man Trouble was over 20 years ago, I believe. Ellen Barkin got the lead role after M dropped out.

Faye Dunaway looks like a FUCKIN ,MONKEY nowadays

R39, I have a name you know.