"Push actors," as inspired by the Linda Lavin thread

Lindsey Price

Her name might not be recognizable but you know her face because they shoe-horned her into every other show in the 2000s trying to make her happen

R1, Lindsay Price is a good one! Rena Sofer and Price were both in the US version of 'Coupling'...NBC continued to shoehorn Sofer herself as much as possible, including unnecessarily adding her to 'Just Shoot Me'.

I loved Rena on General Hospital, but I never saw her click like that in any other role.

LLM, I’m all for his talents as a creator, but as an actor, not to mention a singer, he is third rate. He was particularly atrocious in the His Dark Materials production.

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

I get that Hulu knows I’m gay and offers me such, but there’s two series with some actor named Josh Thomas who is so unattractive that it hurts to look at him. The series are even named something like OK I’m Ugly or such thing and when I previewed an episode he has such a flat affect to make an autistic person seem dynamic. They were labeled as comedies, but there was nothing funny about what I saw. He’s constantly pushed on me at the top of my page every fucking time. If someone knows how to make it go away on Hulu please reply.

Ted McGinley may have been pushed with his final season roles on "Happy Days" and "The Love Boat," at least he found his role on "Married with Children." He was on there from 1989-1997.

Then he married Corky from Murphy Brown for a couple seasons.

R7 Well at least he didn’t marry Corky from Life Goes On.

[quote] but I thought it would be interesting to continue the discussion.

It's not interesting and there was no discussion.

Kim Delaney was also definitely heavily pushed for awhile. Which is what perhaps pushed her into the throws of alcoholism; all the pressure. She went from starring in her own 'NYPD Blue' spin-off to now being a bit player on 'General Hospital'.

Chrissy Metz is an actress a don’t need to see, I am encouraged by the rumor her character might be killed off, hopefully it happens early in the season.

It goes without saying Kyle Mooney, luckily it seems limited to SNL for now, not so much Pete Davidson who gets way to much work for a talentless person.

I'm not sure what Doris Roberts is doing on that list. Yes, she was in many things but she was well-received in the roles and the shows themselves were various degrees of successful.

My "push actors" are Gretchen "Hollywood's Next 'It' Girl" Mol and Taylor Kitsch.

Jennifer Love Hewitt, who’d of ever thought she’d be around this long?

[quote] but there’s two series with some actor named Josh Thomas who is so unattractive that it hurts to look at him. The series are even named something like OK I’m Ugly or such thing and when I previewed an episode he has such a flat affect to make an autistic person seem dynamic.

Josh Thomas is autistic. The shows are pretty good too.

R15 Then he’ not playing against type.

Heather Graham is yet another. 'Emily's Reasons Why Not' being cancelled after only x1 ep in 2006 took her down several notches, though. And she does still steadily work.

Kim Delaney won an Emmy for NYPD Blue and did 100+ episodes of Army Wives so she made it as far as professional acting goes.

Heather Graham doesn’t belong on this list either.

Kim Raver, I’m like “who?”..

Heater Graham is not a generic thing thrusted upon the public for no good reason. I really liked her in goofy roles - having sex with Fat Bastard in Austin Powers was very funny and memorable. I assume people on this list are talentless and bland - but have very good powerful agents or some other connection. Brecklin Meyer? This dude has been in 400 sitcoms, I've never seen one. Franklin and Bash? Inside Schwartz? The Home Court? The Jackie Thomas Show? Married to the Kellys? Titan Maximum?

Most of these push actors are white.

Rachel Bilson .

Now that All Rise has been canceled, I hope someone pushes Wilson Bethel into a new series. It would be especially nice if it were one where he has to keep his shirt off throughout each episode.

[quote] Then he married Corky from Murphy Brown for a couple seasons.

I think you're confusing Ted McGinley with Christopher Rich, who played Corky's husband (and also played Reba's ex on Reba, if I remember correctly).

For a while in the 2010's, Kyle Bornheimer was "pushed" on the public.

David Walton

Miles Teller owns this thread

Rooney Mara (but not her sister, Kate).

Ansel Elgort

R25, I think they were speaking of Ted McGinley being married to Faith Ford on 'Hope & Faith', which costarred none other than the shoved-down-our-throats Kelly Ripa.

Who or perhaps what are the “Pull” actors then?

Armie Bone Collector Hammer.

Brie Larson and that Rosamund Pike.

Diane Lane and Bill Pullman.

Andy Cohen

Diane Lane? She's had a steady career for decades! Oscar-nominated for "Unfaithful"!

A lot of you are just posting names of actors you just don't like.

R35, you're kidding, right? Both of these actors aren't my cup of tea, but they are highly respected and successful.

Jason Ritter

Once upon a time, the networks were pushing George Clooney on us. No one was buying. Then ER happened.

Tea Leoni

Amanda Peet

R40 Jason is the king of crash and burn comedies, he’s had a loooong ride on daddy’s coattails, though I find him attractive and more so then his dad.

I would put Jenna Elfman in the same category as Tea Leone. Both had some success and are not without talent and have worked steadily, but they were both pushed as comedic geniuses at the the level of prime Lucille Ball. Dharma was not even the funniest character on her show. She was initially charmingly quirky and evolved into self-righteous and annoying.

[quote]Dharma was not even the funniest character on her show.

With competition from Mimi Kennedy and Susan Sullivan, how could it be otherwise?

Tiffany Haddish

Two words:

Anna “Stench” Sten

Ryan Reynolds had a string of career killing bombs until Deadpool.

Here's a pre-Deadpool article about Reynolds getting pushed.

Lauren Graham comes to mind.

Donna pescow

R44 Lots of Scientologists get chance after chance.

Not in the same category, but I was always flummoxed that Madeleine Stowe was cast for decade after decade when little she did was actually successful.

Fran Drescher was tired of being cast as the side dish and wanted to be the main course. She pushed herself onto Jeff Sagansky on an airplane and pitched him The Nanny. The rest is herstory!!! Perseverance pays off.

Lucy Hale. FFS, go away.

Susan Anton

Marionette Hartley

Emma Sams

JLaw, of course but that's fizzled.

Anna Taylor Joy is a new one. She hit it big with the Queens Gambit but she was all over the place for a while after VVITCH.

Thomas Middleditch of Silicon Valley was everywhere and so was Nat Faxon of Friends From College.

SNL Alum Kristen Wiig was pushed onto everyone and just not that funny. Now Kate McKinnon.

R55, Lucy Hale might win the thread as the current, most pushed actor. Good one!

Shelley Hack. Turns out things are NOT better with her in it.

Mila Kunis. An actress who lucked out by getting on a hit show while she was young. Was heavily promoted as Hot Girl for years until photos showing her without makeup dashed that fantasy. She kept being cast in supporting roles in commercial movies that appeal to lowest common denominator even after her “hotness” wore off. Even her non-commercial roles such as her badly cast turn as a prima ballerina was laughable. Short neck, square shoulders, and wide torso are not the attributes of a prima ballerina. Yet she was cast as one. She must pay $$$ for PR because she’s still doing big name commercials and steady acting gigs.

Don't you DARE call me a push actor! I will find out where you live and hunt you down like a common Archie Panjabi.

Josh Hartnett

Garrett Hedlund

Megan Fox

Freddie Prinze, Jr.

In some ways, I would add Ryan Phillippe to this list, even though Dataloungers love him so much for his beauty. "Cruel Intentions" was a modest hit, but he never really hit he big-time.

Tim-o-tay.

Armie Hammer, who name gets a spell check when I type it -- my computer wants it to be "Arnie".

James Dean

Mila without makeup looks downright scary at times.

Marlon Brando

These people keep getting parts but they are so bland, basic, and boring to watch. And/or they’ve foisted the same shtick on us for years.

Kevin James

Anna Faris

Brad Garrett

David Spade

Jack Black

Tyler Perry

Olivia Munn

Alison Pill

Brie Larson

Valerie Bertinelli

Whoever put Doris Roberts on OP's list is an idiot who knows nothing about the business. She was a hard-working, well-respected and highly successful character actress on stage and television for many years who worked practically until the day she died, not someone who was "pushed" onto the public and whose career ultimately sputtered out.

Richard Schaal, very annoying on many a sitcom.

R71, I agree that Doris wasn't pushed like many of the others listed. I merely included her because she'd been discussed in the other thread as having shown up in dozens of shows over the years.

R70, Jack Black's a prime example as well!

Seth Rogen, seems like he was pushed quite a bit

Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers owns this thread.

Whitney Cummings - who heard of her, who thought she was funny after seeing her? Or her obnoxious tv boyfriend?

r31, correct.

Bess Armstrong never quite took off for some reason. But she was given lots of opportunities.

[quote]Bess Armstrong never quite took off for some reason. But she was given lots of opportunities.

Neither did her "On Our Own" co-star Lynnie Greene, who at least got to appear occasionally on "The Golden Girls" as the younger version of Dorothy.

Hollywood seems to have an "It" boy/girl for every summer or year and every fucking movie that comes out seems to have him/her in it:

Colin Farrell Ryan Reynolds Angelina Jolie Chris Pratt

Does Beyoncé count? She had an acting career sorta.

Someone tried very hard to make Kyle Bornheimer happen. He kept getting pilot after pilot. Nathan Fillion *pre Castle* got several chances to headline things after Firefly/Serenity but they flopped or only lasted a few eps. Lucy Hale is a good actress but keeps getting chance after chance in "quirky dramedies" before and after PLL. Peyton List(1) keeps getting pushed as a leading lady but never becomes a household name.

Although I really like both of them it seems like in the late 90s early 2000s Jason Gedrick and Eric Close were on everything. Jeremy Sisto, too.

I think a true push actor is someone who never had real career success (critical and/or box office/tv ratings), yet continues to get substantial, prominent roles. Things get more complicated when nepotism is thrown in the mix.

A recent Push Actress is Katherine Waterston. She landed the lead in Alien:Covenant despite having no fan base. And she was dreadful in the role. Her dad is Sam Waterston, so I guess that helps.

r74 Jewish actors don't really count as they are automatically pushed in Hollywood.

Sally Struthers

Kim Richardson

The Landers Sisters

Morgan Fairchild

Harvey Korman

R83 Gedrick was frequently referred to as the "king of the cancelled television series."

Which reminds me, Debrah Farentino had a ton of one season and out shows in the 80s and 90s. Her and Gedrick co-starred in an excellent series called EZ Streets.

Doris Roberts, OP? Really??? Her first IMDB entry is from 1951 and she worked steadily from there on. How, exactly, was she *pushed* upon the public?

Tim Conway is an eldergay example--awful, shortlived shows and then weak sketches on Carol Burnett. Thankfully, he went on to do comic videos we didn't have to watch.

Another way to think of these people is as "the next big thing that never happened".

I’m the one who listed Jack Black but in all fairness—though I still find him odious—I have to acknowledge he was good in that movie with Shirley MacLaine. What was it called?

R90 - livin in a world of make believe.

Doris Roberts never had to be pushed on anyone! She was a versatile and funny actress, who was in the business for years.

Oh! All of the talk about Doris Roberts reminds me of who really truly belongs on this list.

Patricia Heaton

However you feel about her personally, r94, she is a skilled comic actor.

How about the obnoxious and unfunny KEVIN JAMES?

Doris Roberts was a sort of successor to the great battle axes of old like Doris Packer and Mabel Albertson.

R96 you can push hot and slightly plump KEVIN JAMES on me any day. I'll take him, and leave the uniform on.

I’m pretty surprised Taylor Negron (who was talented and who I liked) hasn’t been mentioned. He was not without talent, but after some quite large supporting roles, his career puttered out. Of course his dying didn’t help.

Some of these really are just outright stupid suggestions.

Harvey Korman and Tim Conway may not be funny to you persionally now, but they were hugely loved back in the day on "The Carol Burnett Show"--what they did was mostly vaudeville schtick, but that show was incredibly popular in its day. (Conway was also on another successful show, "McHale's Navy.")

Similarly, while I've never found Kevin James funny myself, "The King of Queens" was a big network hit and lasted forever. He is absolutely not a "push actor"

A "push actor" is someone who never made it or caught on with audiences despite Hollywood promoting the hell out of them, like Gretchen Mol )probably the most notorious example). It is absolutely NOT someone who was successful with audiences but whom you personally dislike.

And Patricia Heaton is probably the stupidest example of all. She has had long-running multiple hit shows: "Everybody Loves Raymond," and "The Middle" (which was especially made for her and which was a huge hit for the audience it targeted and also ran for years).

Ellie Kemper. I binge watched The Office and it was really obvious how they pushed her into the forefront seemingly out of nowhere. The canera would be constantly going back to her stupid smirk even when the plot didn't include her. That's when I googled and saw she came from a billionaire family. Quelle surprise when I saw they gave her her own show.

The lovely and vivacious (but non-singing) Miss Jenna Elfman.

Carson Kressley.

Conway had a vanity plate that said "13 WKS" becuase that's how long he lasted. That is ort of the point of these people. Just because he had some minor stardom with Burnett doesn't make him any less worthy than McLean Stevenson.

I would argue against Taylor Kitsch being on this list actually. He was in a couple of very high profile blockbusters that came out the same year, but IIRC they weren't even filmed the same year, and though both flopped at the box office, it wasn't because of him but because of two inexperienced directors overspending. Otherwise he hasn't really been pushed much and has stuck to supporting or lower key roles on TV, except in "Waco" where he was very good as David Koresh IMO.

I don't think Taylor Negron was really pushed on us by anyone, he simpley had a niche as your ascerbic neighbor/co-worker. No one tried to package him as star of a disastrous series.

[quote]Carson Kressley

Not an actor, not pushed.

McLean Stevenson at least was quite good on "M*A*S*H" as a supporting character. He just wasn't accepted as a lead in quite few attempts to headline his own show.

I don’t think success on TV is necessarily indicative of talent. Actors like Patricia Heaton and Kevin James do well on TV because American audiences are simple minded and like seeing themselves on screen.

Again: "Dharma and Greg" was a big hit, so Elfman does not qualify--it was almost entirely built around her, and since it did not flop but succeeded, she did catch on with audiences (although oddly she never was able to repeat her success).

Bryan Greenberg and Jon Foster who were both perfect as the cool young hot Jewish guy and each launched many series, but never seemed to stick the landing. I think they each kept coming back again and again, but they basically cancelled each other out and became irrelevant and have all but disappeared.

I agree with R112, and would say Mark Feuerstein is an older example of exactly that type. TPTB in Hollywood adore that type. How many bad networks shows did Feuerstein land before a success with Royal Pains on basic cable?

He was quite cute in his prime but his last unsuccessful sitcom demonstrated: not aging well.

Not for lack of trying, r111. The push came after D&G. It's because, like Shelley Long, she's a one-trick pony. She got bumped from Charity and Nine on Broadway because apparently she suffers from a total inability to sing.

Carson Kressley used to annoy me. Then I watched this....and now he doesn't.

R53 I love Madeline Stowe. She is not a push actor. You can't be a push actor and have fans.

Cynthia Stevenson also fits the bill. Lest the name doesn't ring a bell, she was on several short-lived sitcoms such as 'Bob', 'Hope & Gloria', and 'Oh Baby'. Her IMDB mysteriously proclaims her, "One of TV's finest comedic actresses." Sure, Jan.

I second the above poster who listed Kate McKinnon and Kristin Wiig.

[quote]And Patricia Heaton .... has had long-running multiple hit shows: "Everybody Loves Raymond," and "The Middle" (which was especially made for her .... also ran for years).

Made especially for her, you say?

Don't even put Tori Spelling in this category - she earned her stardom the hard way!

Cynthia Stevenson is actually a really good comic actress, but yes, it's true that someone high up in the TV food chain was determined to make her a star for a very long time.

I can't remember the last time I saw her in anything.

I realize Patrick Dempsey was in many films, but on TV he was a pet of someone's and was in numerous shows before Grey's.

Aniston was in at least four or five flops before Friends.

Soap star Margaret Colin left her soap and then had two flops in a row on CBS. She'd flop several more times before having some success with her role on Gossip Girl.

I agree "push" is real, but the why of it interests me. Sometimes the actor has a deal where the network/production company is to try to place them in projects. Obviously, some actors also catch the eye of someone at the network and end up as a "pet" that way. And of course, some are fucking for parts.

I really think sometimes it boils down to seeing someone and really seeing that there's some clear talent or something special about them. I'd say Cynthia Stevenson would fit that, where you could tell she was compelling and funny. But too often she was either written/directed as too wacky, or she was too much like the lead or had to bite her tongue to not step on the lead's lines and momentum.

I like Jane Levy okay. She's been good in SUBURGATORY and ZOEY'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST and a dozen other things. But I feel she's been a bit force fed to us over the past decade, due in part to her strong resemblance to the more talented and versatile Emma Stone.

I personally loathe Elizabeth Reaser, who had a long and hideous arc on Grey’s Anatomy and was the putrid focus of two of the last episodes of Mad Men. (Seriously, there were like 5 eps left ever, and two whole eps focused on her interaction with Don. WTF, Matt Weiner!?!?) To me, ER is charmless, but some PTB seems to like her.

I will also contribute Jessica Pare (Teefs) and Abigail Spencer, both pets of Weiner’s. Spencer was pushed hard on All My Children, supposedly because she was a family friend of Kathie Lee Gifford’s, and was a big nothing on it. I about ate my hat when I saw Spencer at Harry and Meghan’s wedding. I guess they were both on Suits?

[quote] Conway had a vanity plate that said "13 WKS" because that's how long he lasted.

This was actually Don Rickles' license plate.

Add to the list:

Luke and Owen Wilson

Stephen Baldwin

Breckin Meyer

Deborah Walley

I feel sort of bad saying it but Melissa McCarthy and Reese Witherspoon. Not that they aren't talented, but they really seem to push them.

Katharine Heigl is the very definition of a push actor.

Wil arnett

At the height (or perhaps, the depth) of her rom-com movie career, Heigl for sure.

I never asked for those movies. Who asked for those movies?

This is ridiculous, Reese Witherspoon, Melissa McCarthy and Kristin Wiig were all in blockbuster hit movies, OF COURSE they're going to be promoted and given jobs because that's how the business part of showbusiness works! That is not being a 'push actor'.

As someone mentioned in the other thread, 'push actors' were frequently actors who had a contract with a particular production company and were thus featured in guest slots in multiple shows and usually given at least one pilot that they were the lead in. Richard Schaal is a perfect example of this, he had a contract with MTM (no doubt helped by being the husband of Valerie Harper who was the breakout star of TMTMS) and thus had numerous guest appearances on numerous shows produced by MTM, as well as his own failed vehicle. THAT is a 'push star', not actors who have received top billing in blockbuster films who then proceed to get cast regularly in films and tv and have a high media profile, that's called being a famous, successful actor. Whether you like them or not is irrelevant.

Miss R132 is correct. As usual, some of you didn't quite get the memo.

Patty Hearst

Alison Pill and Brie Larson? They are good actresses.

Nene Leakes got some undeserved opportunities.

Jessica Simpson was also crammed down our throats for a few years. Dax Shephard still is.

My favorite "push" actor is Derek Cecil. He's been in quite a few TV episodes, and is someone I find quite attractive. But the only show I'm sure he starred in, and the first show I saw him in, didn't last an entire season. Coincidentally, it was called Push, Nevada.

Nancy Travis -- on so many talk shows, and I still don't know what the fuss was about. But somebody was very good at booking her all the time it seemed.

Max Greenfield comes to mind. He's nearly unwatchable on The Neighborhood. But Cedric the Entertainer isn't much better.

Sherri Shepherd

[quote]Don’t even put Tori Spelling in this category - she earned her stardom the hard way!

Yeah. By falling onto a hot hibachi grill.

Paul Sand was in just about every network show for years and he was never, ever funny.

Pat Carroll who looked like an old lezzie even when she was a young lezzie.

Jonathan Silverman

Teri Copley. Even she realized it wasn’t going to happen despite the push to make her a star. She became a Born-again Christian and left the business.

Channing Tatum: Hollywood worked hard on trying to make him happen, he had one big hit and the success wasn't because of him, it was because the movie was about male strippers.

Alden Ehrenreich: Spielberg worked hard on pushing him and now he's the face of the only Star Wars movie to bomb.

Pete Davison: Lorne and Judd Apatow are using all their connections to make him happen.

Rena Sofer is fun as the devilish tramp Quinn on B&B.

He's already been mentioned, but the OP immediately reminded me of this article:

Alison Brie

Wrong "Brie" r150, this is the correct Brie.

Alison Brie does not fit this, again, for like the fortieth fucking time.

She's been in several H I T S - which is not at all in any way shape or form what we are discussing.

Bonnie Hunt. She had three shows with her name in the title and none of them lasted for very long.

Going back a few decades, I would add Robby Benson to this category.

He got work because he was a teen dreamboat, but he was a terrible, one-note actor, and just about every movie he ever made was god-awful. A couple of them made money, I believe ("Ice Castles", "Ode to Billie Joe", maybe "One on One"), but they were all slaughtered by the critics. It was all treacly, over-sentimental slop, but every year, like clockwork, there was another shitty Robby Benson starring vehicle in theaters for a couple of weeks that nobody wanted to see.

Yes, last time I checked GLOW was a hit, and Alison Brie was a main character. Also Community was on for years and years, not to mention she had a significant recurring role in Mad Men. She doesn't fit here. Thanks for playing R150.

He's gorgeous as fuck and you can push him onto me anytime but James Wolk has been pushed into a number of projects and he never seems to break out, although I think he's deserving of a big hit.

I think some of you are just posting about actors you don't like and have totally missed what this thread is about. Just because an actor shows up in a number projects, it doesn't mean they're a push actor. It means they either audition well or have a great agent. A push actor is a completely different beast.

Some push actors eventually make it: Matthew McConaughey was pushed hard in the 90s but was largely ignored by audiences until he went the romcom route in the early 2000s.

I don't know that anyone was expecting Alison Pill to be a star, buts he's usually annoying and there was a time where she turned up everywhere. It may have been less pull and the need for a younger Marcia Gay Harden (who quit playing losers) or a younger, less slightly neurotic version of Lilli Taylor.

Alison Pill is just a frequently hired character actress. She is rarely if ever put in the kind of "star making" roles that Mark Feurstein or Lea Thomson was given.

R149 Remember the meltdown he had over it?

Do Patrick Warburton and Oliver Hudson fall into this category? Discuss.

R116 Agreed. Madeline Stowe is (or was) quite simply lovely to look at, as are many of the actresses listed toward the beginning of this thread, and extraordinary beauty counts for a lot in the entertainment industry... which doesn't explain how Jack Black landed so many roles. Neither good looking nor charismatic, he's the prime example for this thread. Thankfully, I think his pushing days are over. No more ruining movies for him.

About ten years ago or so, Our Mamie would have fallen into this category. At some point, someone said, 'You're on your own...' Don't even know if she still works

We could probably do a spin-off thread devoted solely to push SNL performers. I like Wiig and think she's very funny and talented but I got tired of her getting pushed in every sketch every week and each of her characters being hailed as an instant classic worthy of recurring status when they often were pretty weak (e.g. Gilly.) I find it telling that she never followed up the huge success of Bridesmaids with anything very memorable.

Kate McKinnon gets the exact same treatment though I think she seems to realize that SNL is probably the safe bet since the big budget films she's done have all flopped and she hasn't seemed in a hurry to leave the show.

It's not a new phenomenon and I'm sure Lorne or NBC has evidence to show that the audience is responding to them so that's why they get pushed but it definitely feels like there's a cool kids clique within the show.

Kate and Mila.

[quote] Ten Long Years Of Trying To Make Armie Hammer Happen

[quote] How many second chances does a handsome [bold]white[/bold] male star get?

I am so fucking sick of fucking wokeness I want to fucking scream.

I guess the opposite of this are those talented actors who heartily preserved and managed to carve out substantial and substantiated careers for themselves like Linda Cardellini and Christina Applegate.

If an actor keeps getting work, here's what you can assume:

1) They show up for work on time or early 2) They get along with everyone and are a joy to be around. 3) They have a lot of talent and have displayed that in how they work with directors and other actors--they're asked to do something and they nail it. 4) They learn their lines easily and memorize them quickly, even with last second rewrites. 5) Sometimes they have a contract with a network. Not every show works for various reasons. It usually has nothing to do with the actor/actress 6) Their contracts are written that way because there are so many pilots that dont get picked up.

George Clooney was on 10 failed shows before ER. Sitcoms and dramas. He did both well. He's got an acting Oscar now and a ton of nominations for writing and directing. He also got an Oscar for producing best picture winner ARGO

The Duplass brothers.

Sharon Lawrence starred in a few failed sitcoms after 'NYPD Blue'. She currently guest stars on the 'Dynasty' reboot as a--wait for it--vindictive, rich bitch.

Jennifer Love Hewitt also kept getting chance after chance after her 'Party of Five' spin-off flopped. Who even watched that 'Ghost Whisperer' show?

[quote]R187 The Landers Sisters… Morgan Fairchild… Harvey Korman

Morgan Fairchild isn’t really talented… but she was fine in television roles of a certain kind. She started in soap opera and never progressed beyond that level.

But a lot of roles for women are flimsily written, and someone has to play them. As well her as some other conventionally pretty B level player.

Her style is easy to mock these days but Morgan Fairchild was considered very glamorous and was also evidently well-liked as a professional.

I never felt she was forced on audiences. She was a niche actress for when the story needed a blonde sex bomb type.

She even lampshaded this in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.

OK, not to be all conspiracy theory here, but I’ve noticed a slight pattern that’s emerging after I mentioned Jon Foster and Bryan Greenberg above. There seem to be an awful lot of these “Push” actors who are Jewish, and while Hollywood may not be as controlled by the Jews in the same way as during the old studio system, it begs to wander if there’s not some connection. Especially if they are Jews who don’t quite fit the stereotype like Winona Rider, Maya Rudolph, Harrison Ford and Jack Black and others. For such a small faction of the population there seem to be an outsized representation of Jews both on the screen and behind it in Hollywood and they seem to be given more chances, more “push” and more leeway in being overlooked for their indiscretions such as a Harvey Weinstein.

R173 What the hell does “lampshaded” mean?

r174 , are you getting your ideas from "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion"?

You honestly sound like you're about to blame the Rothschilds along with Steven Spielberg and the others.

R132 just because an actor eventually finds success doesn’t mean the networks couldn’t have been shoehorning into project after project and appearance after appearance until they finally land on a hit. I’d actually argue that Betty White was one of the first “push actors” until she finally got into a hit series (and then another). And even after all that, she was never able to carry a TV show by herself - despite many network attempts. Doesn’t mean she isn’t a great talent.

Did Morgan Fairchild try to get laughs by putting lampshades on her head?

Does Morgan Fairchild know Mrs. John Mulaney?

Remember when they tried to make daytime soap actresses a thing? Genie Francis, Susan Lucci. They count, along with many others.

The entire cast of Friday Night Lights

Julia Stiles

Rachel Leigh Cook, and all those other talentless girls in the late 90s/early 00s teen movies

Julia Stiles ios genuinely talented,. but she wanted to make iyt as a lead actress when she's not got the right look for it. She would have been happier as a character actress like Mare Winningham.

Drives me NUTS when idiots like R89 post the SAME COMMENT that a DOZEN others have already made!

READ THE THREAD lazy ass eldergay.

R6 & R15 I liked Josh Thomas’ show “Please Like Me” exactly because he’s not particularly attractive and some people would find his manner daunting to deal with. As a gay man that also fits that description to some extent, it was nice to see some representation in a TV series.

Sharon Stone owns this thread. Yes, lots of credits, but only ONE (tacky) hit, and one near-hit since 1995.

R180 Marcy Walker too. They put her in a couple of prime time shows.

Nancy Travis is a really good example, whoever mentioned her.

Actor Alex O'Loughlin was the lead actor in the short lived series Three Rivers and Moonlight before he finally hit in big with the Hawaii Five-O remake.

I find Jim Gaffigan repulsive, nothing to do with body type I’m very attracted to bears, but the personality and his washed out unkept looks. I don’t find anything the least bit funny about his humor, but he made 7 movies in 2019 alone and he’s foisted upon me on CBS Sunday Morning. I DO NOT want to see and hear that on a Sunday Morning of all days! Who the hell keeps hiring this turd. Patton Oswald and his dead wife story are very much in the same vein, we get it, your wife was the final victim of the Golden State Killer, move on. I miss cuddly Drew Carey, where the hell did he go, he cannot he plays these roles?

Alex O’Loughlin is a God among men and a very hot daddy and should be worshiped as one.

[quote]Alex O’Loughlin is a God among men and a very hot daddy and should be worshiped as one.

He may very well be, but that doesn't negate the fact he was a push actor until he finally landed Hawaii Five-O.

Madonna

Julia Loius Dreyfus. She's talented, but she seemed to get way more opportunities than equally talented actors and get Emmy after Emmy for basically existing.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Mark Harmon. I absolutely hate him and have never watched him on anything since "Flamingo Road". But he's been on about 17 TV shows and that's about 15 too many.

R169 Yeah, because in the 90s, a magazine (I wanna say EW) published an article on character actors. One was Gary Cole. A director said that something like they had hired him for a recent movie because they had worked with him before and knew he would lay face down in the snow for two days without complaint.

Moonlight had a rather rabid fanbase despite its low ratings, so CBS gave Alex O’Loughlin a deal and put him in shows until one stuck.

They did the same with Simon Baker, who had multiple TV flops before The Mentalist.

Jason O’Mara was someone they seemed to be trying to make happen and be a big star, but never panned out. I don’t know what to make of Eric Bana who seemed to be riding high, but burned out quickly. I guess he might be called a flash in the pan? There’s something that many times seems to go wrong with these Irish, Brit, Australian imports that they are going to mold into Hollywood leading men, but for the most part burn through them and toss aside.

[quote] Remember when they tried to make daytime soap actresses a thing? Genie Francis, Susan Lucci. They count, along with many others.

That was different, as networks were trying to take advantage of the built-in hype and fanbases that some of those stars (including Marcy Walker, as mentioned above) brought with them at the time.

R175, in movies/TV/etc., to call attention to something thought already to be obvious - particularly a plot hole/perceived inadequacy of the actor/etc..

Alicia Vikander

r33 I think it's more Armie buying his way into stuff, less him being "pushed."

R174, I'm so glad you're not all about to get all conspiracy theory. And what a shockingly original idea. I never noticed that there were Jews in Hollywood or that they formed a cabal keeping your Aunt Bertha and her singing ant farm from national network television. Have you also noticed that Jews have gigantic noses? I wonder if they store their money up their nostrils? Do you sometimes eat your own shit as a little snack? Who's better in bed, your father or your uncle? Oh, wait, they're the same person?

Actually, it was your idea that Harrison Fucking Ford is a "push" actor that was the stupidest thing you wrote. Harrison Ford was Han Solo and then he was Indiana Jones and that was pretty much enough to keep him in film scripts up until 15 minutes ago.

Alden Ehrenreich, until the Han Solo debacle took him out.

Balthazar Getty

Some of these like Juila Louis-Dreyfus and Bathazar Getty are people who had their own sources of money to push them--the entertainment industry did not have to do anything.

I know people will say r158 didn't understand the concept of this thread, but I think McConaughey is a perfect example because the heavy PR push on him for "A Time to Kill" was outrageous. You couldn't read a magazine or watch an entertainment show without seeing people praise him as a hot new up & comer.

The same happened with Tom Hanks on his very special episode of "Family Ties." There had already been a PR push for him with "Mazes & Monsters" but the movie was so laughable that the good publicity didn't really take, but then there was a second, HUGE push where we were told that "Family Ties" proved he was a great actor. I have to assume this was the work of the studio behind "Splash," which Hanks was already signed on for.

Sometimes the push works.

[quote] If an actor keeps getting work, here's what you can assume:

1) They show up for work on time or early 2) They get along with everyone and are a joy to be around. 3) They have a lot of talent and have displayed that in how they work with directors and other actors--they're asked to do something and they nail it. 4) They learn their lines easily and memorize them quickly, even with last second rewrites. 5) Sometimes they have a contract with a network. Not every show works for various reasons. It usually has nothing to do with the actor/actress 6) Their contracts are written that way because there are so many pilots that dont get picked up. [/quote]

Excellent point, r169. Maybe a lot of these "push" people deserve what they get because they're hardworking, dependable and known quantities, so more power to them.

This is a very good point

Maya Rudolph

Lena Waithe

Issa Rae

Not that they were necessarily masterpieces, but Lucci's movies were usually top ten in the ratings. The reason they were pushing her is that her movies had an audience. It would be different if she was on one failed prime time tv show after another, but she was smart enough to know her where her bread was buttered and did not abandon her day job.

R187 Agree on Gaffigan. CBS was very bullish on him and put him in several sitcoms, but his charms have completely eluded me.

OK, I can't read any more. Some of you don't have a fucking brain cell in your head and still, 200+ posts in, do not understand the assignment.

Alison La Placa - I do think she could be funny, but her sarcastic, bitchy professional probably worked better as a supporting character and foil, who would show up to burst the bubble of the lead and the exit scene then being the lead herself. She was on quite a few sitcoms in the early/mid 90's.

Pete Davison (or is it Davidson?). The asshole that Lorne Michaels keeps pushing.

[quote]Julia Loius Dreyfus. She's talented, but she seemed to get way more opportunities than equally talented actors and get Emmy after Emmy for basically existing.

Yeah, and despite all that pushing, poor Julia never had a successful series.

R187: "I miss cuddly Drew Carey, where the hell did he go, he cannot he plays these roles?"

Oh, DEAR.

And btw, Gaffigan is hilarious. He's hardly a push actor, he's busy doing stand up at full arenas.

I sincerely doubt Patrick Warburton could be considered here - I (and many other gays) will happily watch anything he's on.

Puddy also showed his down-below in a film and he qualifies as one of the non-pubically challenged! Yum.

[quote] Julia Loius Dreyfus. She's talented, but she seemed to get way more opportunities than equally talented actors and get Emmy after Emmy for basically existing.

You just fundamentally don't understand the concept of this thread at all, do you?

R216 is right. People who eventually succeed and have talent are not "Push actors" nor are dependable working actors who carve out consistent careers in supporting roles.

They basically are the ones who are "the next big thing that never happens". They might end their careers doing voice work or playing a wacky neighbor on some forgettable sitcom, but they never become real stars. Jonathan Silverman was the ultimate "push actor". NBC promoted him at every turn. McLean Stevenson--horrible sitcoms and then nothing. It's a fairly specific niche but they've always been around---they became more numerous as networks played a bigger role in producing shows and putting up the financing for pilots---well into the 60s, it was the sponsors who did this via their ad agencies. Networks could inflict people on more shows than even a big sponsor like Procter & Gamble.

Jonathan SIlverman did start out, I believe, understudying Matthew Broderick, in "Biloxi Blues" and then went on the play the lead in the 3rd of Neil Simon's Eugene Trilogy "Broadway Bound" though. He wasn't without some credits out of nowhere.

Did some of these pushed actors have decent or good Q ratings? Do they still use Q ratings (for actors popularity supposedly with the American public)?

Most push actors have credits. It is just that they are not as charismatic as producers think they are.

Whitney Cummings, mentioned upthread, is absolutely a push actor, independent of her career as a stand-up. TV powers that be were determined to make her a star. Her name sitcom was little viewed and widely disparaged, yet ran for 2 seasons on a major network.

I'm tempted to include Chelsea Handler to this list as well. Her nightly TV show and "film career" were pretty much the handiwork of the media executive she was fucking at the time. She's funnier than Whitney, at least.

R212 Well not when you compare it to the money her father made, even her millions were just a shadow of that, so she was a disappointment I’m sure, but all within context.

Linda Lavin was not so much a push actor as she was a pushy actor.

You win, R222. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss is an utter failure as a comedic actress.

Linda Lavin had appeared on Broadway, stealing the show in "It's A Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman" among some other appearances like in "Last of the Red Hot Lovers". She had an arc on "Barney Miller" where she was a great foil for DL fave Max Gail. Not too long after that, she got "Alice" if I recall. Her jazz stylings of the title song got worse each year she re-recorded it though. She had started off sounding good on the "Superman" recording years before. Her rendition of "You've Got Possibilities' has been played on tv commercials even recently.

[quote] The entire cast of Friday Night Lights

Some people from that show are talented. Taylor Kitsch, Minka Kelly, and Scott Porter were the worst actors on that show.

Has anyone mentioned Rashida Jones yet? We'll be stuck with her for decades.

Brendan Fraser

Rene Russo

Bridget Fonda

Yet again, someone who fails to get the basic concept and just nominates someone they personally don't like.

Brendan Fraser clearly clicked with audiences when he was young and handsome--they found he had a gift for the genre of adventure-comedy. He had big hits with the "Mummy" franchise, and with "George of the Jungle."

He lost his audience when he lost his hair and his beauty

I agree Bridget Fonda was pushed, but not Brendan Fraser or Rene Russo. As r229 pointed out, Fraser genuinely clicked with audiences in the 90s and is beloved by that generation. And Russo impressed by holding her own opposite Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon films, spurring her casting in other major films.

Bridget Fonda was definitely "next big thing that never happened".

For a pseudo-classier example that also has plenty of nepotism, Nastassja Kinski was endlessly promoted as the next something, back when she was Polanski's child girlfriend. The films gradually got worse. She's "dated" everyone from Quincy Jones to Dudley Moore. Her personal life would make a better film than any of her actual appearences.

r231, plus, Nastassja was the daughter of the legendary Klaus Kinski, so that's partially why she got the big push. That said, I recently re-watched Tess again for the first time since it was released and was genuinely impressed by both the film and her performance -- she wasn't Oscar-caliber, but it was a solid portrayal.

Although it's purely nepotism, how anyone can pretend that the public is clamoring for more Bryce Dallas Howard is next dimension craziness!

[quote] Doris Roberts was a sort of successor to the great battle axes of old like Doris Packer and Mabel Albertson.

Leave Mabel out of this. According to Find A Grave, she and Shirley Hemphill had very sad final days.

My favorite review of Tess referred to it as a "multi-level, mosaic motif", which I took to mean "really confusing"

Ed Helms...He was pushed into The Office and the show jumped the shark when he took over after Steve Carrell left the show. Then he was pushed into Vacation and he couldn't carry the movie.

Maya Rudolph is a good choice. Add Rashida Jones. While we are at it, Nathan Fillion is pushed. Jane Seymour was another pushed, then it finally took.

I don't agree with Rashida Jones is being pushed. She's talented - can do drama and comedy.

Florence Pugh

Susan Anton

Not sure if she qualifies but Mary Cadorette. She was pushed by John Ritter to be his leading lady. No chemistry. ⚗

Helluva good game show player though.

[quote]Not sure if she qualifies but Mary Cadorette. She was pushed by John Ritter to be his leading lady. No chemistry. ⚗

No chemistry and, as written, her character was dull as dishwater. The spin-off might have lasted more than one season with a better actress opposite Ritter. Then again, maybe not. The whole show stank.

Bridget Fonda was never "pushed." She had some great roles, was offered many, many more, but decided that she didn't want to stay in the business so she married, retired, and never looked back.

r243 I wonder if she got metoo'd.

R244 I have wondered about that too. Another actress I think could have metoo'd is Keri Green.

What about Garrett Hedlund? That guy is always in flop movies.

All those products of nepotism who crash and burn.

I liked Mary Cadorette but agree her character on Three’s A Crowd was dull. I don’t remember her getting pushed in anything else though. She did some terrible movie about stewardesses with Donny “Ralph Malph” Most and later showed up as a love interest on Night Court but aside from that she just did occasional single episode guest star stints. Didn’t feel like even she was trying to make herself happen.

[quote] I liked Mary Cadorette but agree her character on Three’s A Crowd was dull.

Mary Cadorette SHOULD have been pushed. Off a cliff.

Why have you left out the hosts of "The View" or the anchors on FOX, CNN and MSNBC?

Joyce DeWitt couldn’t get pushed in a crowded bar.

Scary Mary + Screwzanne:

Me on a casual day off from the set. As a trained stage actress, I knew the CHARACTER came first. So I insisted on toning “Janet Wood’s” look down.

It was quite a stretch for me, actually.

Another candid of me… this time heading out to buy milk.

Rachel Bilson? I don't think so. And Lucy Hale? What has she done since PLL ended? I know Katy Keene was cancelled and she did that ridiculous Fantasy Island reboot.

Lucy Hale has a feature coming out called "The Hating Game".

I auditioned to play her father, but I wasn't cast.

R255 Oh, is it a retake on the Crying Game and she’ll play a man hiding she’s a woman?

Seems like they tried to make Britt Robertson happen for a time. But I like her and heard she's not a trouble maker on set.

Jon Hamm is another but he's a total asshole and should stick to bit parts on tv.

Jon Hamm is no longer happening and I suspect, no longer being pushed by anyone who matters.

It appears, though, that no one's told his publicist or the gossip columns, who continue to treat this used bar rag like he's a hot topic.

Joel fucking McHale......his smugness sort of worked on TALK SOUP - but since then....not so much.

He makes every series he is in (regular or guest starring role) less than what it should be.... And now he's in that stupid Kitchen NCIS show on FOX - wearing his most hideous toupee yet!

Go away!!!!

Zooey Deschanel. Her "quirkiness" became increasingly forced, which was exhausting to watch.

Mindy Kaling. After The Office, she got her own series and a book deal. Neither did well but at least now she's doing a commercial which is good money.

Anders Holm started being pushed as a leading man/love interest after Workaholics for some reason but it never took.

With actors (especially those starring in movies) the goal is to book them for the next gig and have them filming before the current project is released. That way if the current project is a disaster, they get a second chance. It's almost agency malpractice if a movie star doesn't have the next project filming with a feature film about to be released. Maybe the best example of this is Elizabeth Berkeley, who had nothing booked after Showgirls...but it applies to any actor, respected for their talent or not.

With TV shows, actors will sometimes circle new projects before even knowing if the current series is going to be picked up or renewed.

Berkely did have a small part in The First Wives Club, which I believe came out not too long after Showgirls...I believe her next job after that was the recent Saved By the Bell reboot.

With all this discussion I’m looking forward to the big Push Actors Awards show this year! Which Push host will be presenting, I assume one of the Jimmys, Kimmel or Fallon, they’ve been pushed forever!

R262 Same thing with Adam Devine from Workaholics. That series was their best shot.

Yeah, Mindy was supposed to become a thing and didn't, thankfully.

Demi Lovato seems like a push---mostly from her and her publicists. How many problems can one person have and how much patience do the rest of us have to hear about them.

I don't know if Jeremy Renner was a one hit wonder or pushed but he hasn't carried a movie since The Hurt Locker.

R267, Scooter Braun is Demi Lovato's manager. He also manages Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Kayne West, Carly Rae Jepsen, Black Eyed Peas, David Guetta, & Hillary Duff. A lot of the hype and push surrounding all the above artists is due to Scooter forcing them on us.

Sam Worthington owns this thread.

Not exactly actors, but the Hadids.

So if Scooter Braun represents someone, we know they will be tiresome AND inescapable.

Bridget Fonda was in a serious car accident and messed up her back right around the time she turned 40, when most actresses' careers slow down, anyway. She decided to focus on her health and family and never looked back.

Allison Williams. That bland piece of white bread only has a career because her father is Brian Williams.

I would also add in her older doppelganger, Amanda Peet.

Interestingly, Mamet's kid (Zosia) does not seem to be excessively inflicted on us, even though she first gained some notice in that nepotism fest known as "Girls". She was horrible on "Girls"---mostly a walking sight gag who had periodic emotional breakdowns and bad social judgment, but I've seen her do credible acting elsewhere. I wish I could say that about Allison Williams.

I always get Zoe Kazan and Zosia Mamet confused in the nepotism race, but I do know Kazan is a much better actress. Wasn’t Zosia in that Coco Stewardess show, which was a wise choice making Coco look ten times more competent as an actress.

Sienna Miller

Who are the push out the window actors?

Oh yes Mindy Kaling - I watched that awful film she was in with Emma Thompson. All I kept thinking was there's a reason in previous years she would have been cast as the secretary or assistant with several lines and one decent scene.

Maya Rudolph is another one - NBC shoved her into the EMMY awards and it was absolutely dead air every second she was on the screen.

Both ladies give diversity a bad name.

Idon't get the hate for Maya Rudolph. She's never annoyed me, whereas Mindy, ecch!, just awful and hammy.

r272 I didn't know Scoot represented actors.

r278 all of them

r277 She's talented enough, very pretty, excellent street style.

Sal Viscusco?

Leslie Jones is much worse than Maya Rudolph. Jones constantly botched her lines on SNL and she didn't deserve those Emmy nods she got for the show.

Bonnie Hunt, on many late night shows like "David Letterman" for years and years.

Wasn't there a joke that if you wanted to make sure a sitcom didn't get picked up, you put Laura Benanti in it? (To be honest, I think I've heard Laura Benanti crack that joke.)

[quote] I don't know if Jeremy Renner was a one hit wonder or pushed but he hasn't carried a movie since The Hurt Locker.

Jeremy Renner is a fine character actor, but he has a face like a pug's ass. Hollywood somehow decided "The Hurt Locker" was a hit because of his star power (not because it was such an excellent film), and they kept pushing him on us as a leading man, which he just isn't. Like many actors, his ego is enormous, so he swallowed the delusion whole.

I think they've finally figured out he's better off as a character actor doing indie work rather than having him be a superhero or pairing him up as a romantic lead opposite Amy Adams.

Mark Feuerstein was hot but never handsome: he had a muscular body, but weird features. And he was never funny, so I never got why the networks were always pushing him in comedies.

Absolutely everybody from [italic]Friends[/italic]

Absolutely everybody from [italic]Full House[/italic]

Absolutely everybody from [italic]Who's the Boss[/italic] other than Katherine Helmond

Jennifer Aniston. Lindsay Lohan. Jennifer Lopez. Josh Hartnett. Zoe Kravitz. Channing Tatum. Shia LaBeouf. Mila Kunis. Ashton Kutcher. Melissa McCarthy. Megan Fox. Leslie Jones. Zendaya.

You know what I'm going to say. In fact as R292, I'm probably saying it again.

M's daughters, the Gummers. Did Mommy renege on helping people after casting her progeny? They're not around as much as they once were.

Sadly, Mamie and Grace wear the Scarlet L (for "loser") in the business. They're both associated with unsuccessful TV series and movies, and they've never really connected with the public except as being M's daughters.

They're also 37 and 35, so M can't go around opening doors for her girls forever.

R280, it is anti-semitism, straight up.

I wish Bridget Fonda would return to movies, or hell, at least give an interview. They may not be classics, but she was in some of my favorite movies when I was young…Shag, Single White Female, Singles, Point of No Return..

Debra Messing

She said push, R297, not pushy!

Jessica Biel and Jessica Alba. Both rode off the success of their TV shows and felt they would get Hollywood careers despite having no charisma or talent. Got major film role after major film and many flopped. Biel even said she felt her Hollywood career didn't work out because she was too pretty. Alba was reportedly a huge bitch and that probably why the casting couch eventually stopped working for her.

Yeah, Jessica, it's the UGLY girls who get all the roles now!

OP, why is Doris Roberts on that list? She was a great comic actress.

Jennifer Finnigan. She left The Bold and The Beautiful and for several years got chance after chance to become a big TV star whilst almost everything she was in flopped hard then she always had a pilot the next season.

R70, YES! Allison Pill - who wants her in anything?

R303 I think even Ryan Murphy is done with her. How sad to be an outcast from Murphy’s gaggle of outcasts.

I sort of feel like Amanda Peet is STILL being pushed on us. Has she ever led a film or tv series that was a hit? She was totally wrong for that latest Betty Broderick series, but there she was.

The nepotist brats known as Rashida Jones and Tracee Ellis Ross.

R156 Totally agree with you about Wolk. Really hot and a furry chest.

John David Washington

Uma Thurman

She's good, but it felt like Soairse Ronan was pushed until she got some good roles - the difficult to spell name made her stand out too

Gretchen Mol —Harvey W.

[Quote] Jessica Biel and Jessica Alba. Both rode off the success of their TV shows and felt they would get Hollywood careers despite having no charisma or talent. Got major film role after major film and many flopped.

Jessica was good in Dark Angel. But Max could be an asshole so maybe she wasn't doing much acting. I feel like Jessica Biel was one of the few actresses who wasn't afraid to bulk up for roles. Which was why she either did action or played the hot sporty chick.

I use to feel this way about ‘Blossom’ without ever having watched the show. But then she completely won me over as Amy Farrah Fowler.

What the effing hell ever happened to Linda Fiorentino?

Kelli O'Hara's been pushed into every female role on Broadway, whether she's right for it or not. She's fine, but she's mostly correct (as Uta Hagen would say : correct is boring), not usually dynamic or otherwise memorable.

R313 Right when she was primed for superstardom in the 90s, things turned against her: a technicality cost her a certain Best Actress nom (and a likely win) for “The Last Seduction”; she had a couple of duds/bombs (“Jade”, “Unforgettable”); and worst of all, she garnered a reputation far and wide as someone who was “difficult” to work with. Add to that the inevitable aging-out that happens to lead actresses, as well as her publicly documented romance (and possibly conspiracy after the fact with) Anthony Pellicano, and I think you have a bunch of good explanations for her pariah status in Hollywood.

Tea is great and not pushed at all.

R315 Good to know all that. I remembered only how terrific she was in The Last Seduction, and then--nothing. Don't feel as bad for her, though, knowing that she hooked up with that sleazebag Pellicano.

R64- I really thought Hedlund was going to make it at one point. This was before all the talk about personal problems.

R314, I continue to be puzzled by the knee-jerk rejection of Kelli O'Hara on DL. I find her to be a wonderful singer with a beautiful, distinctive sound and a superb, subtle actress to boot. That doesn't mean I've never had reservations (her accent in BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY was a real problem, for example), but I think that's an absolutely first-class talent.

R309 Funny that you mentioned it because her name is spelled Saorise.

R320, maybe I'm missing a joke, but her name is spelled "Saoirse."

R321 No joke. I genuinely got it wrong, as did R309. At least it's easier to say than to spell.

not an actress, but Latoya Jackson was sure pushed on us around 1983-84 and it went absolutely nowhere for her. Posing for Playboy was just desperation on her part.

There are a handful of talented actors like Saoirse Ronan, Mia Wasikowska, and others whose careers in the US will be hampered by their, ahem, difficult names. (I'd make Imogen Poots my Exhibit A, but I honestly don't know how talented she is.)

The public is a bit stupid. Actors/celebrities are brands (as well as talents, hopefully), and the public likes easy to remember/pronounce/spell brand names.

Old Hollywood got it right, rebranding Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Rock Hudson, and countless others.

"The nepotist brats known as Rashida Jones and Tracee Ellis Ross."

Tracee's mother burned all of her Hollywood bridges after "The Wiz" fiasco @40 years ago. So to say Tracee Ellis Ross is where she is today solely because of her mother is ludicrous.

Marjorie Mains

NBC has been heavily promoting James Wolk's upcoming show Ordinary Joe. If this show flops hard, maybe it will be final nail in the push coffin for Wolk.

I will always support James Wolk. I just like him.

Does Alex Pettyfer count?

Who are the push soap actors?

R329 if we're talking pre Magic Mike....

The repulsive Timothee Chalamet owns this thread.

Eric Balfour owns this thread.

They seemed to cycle many of these actors through Six Feet Under?