As always, the further we go back in Hollywood history, the more that fact and legend become intertwined. It's hard to say where the truth really lies.
August 20, 1989
Saved by the Bell first aired. A retool of the Disney Channel series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, the show follows a group of friends and their principal. Primarily focusing on lighthearted comedic situations, it occasionally touches on serious social issues, such as drug use, driving under the influence, homelessness, divorce, death, and environmental issues.
Saved by the Bell starred Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies, Dennis Haskins, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, and Mario Lopez.
Saved by the Bell was named one of the "20 Best School Shows of All Time" by AOL TV.
The show spawned two spin-off series: Saved by the Bell: The College Years (1993–94), a primetime series that follows several of the characters to college, and Saved by the Bell: The New Class (1993–2000), a Saturday morning series that follows a new group of students at Bayside High School.
The series also spawned two TV movies, Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style in 1992 and Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas in 1994.
Saved by the Bell aired in Australia on Channel Seven, and from 1990 until 2004 on Nickelodeon. Reruns have aired in local syndication and on TBS,MTV2 and E!.
Special Thanks to Me-TV for wishing a Happy Birthday to Valerie Harper! who turns 75 today.
August 22, 1939
Valerie Kathryn Harper was born.
The actress known for her roles as Rhoda Morgenstern in the 1970s television seriesThe Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off, Rhoda, and later as Valerie Hogan in Valerie.
Barbara Eden is born Barbara Jean Morehead in Tucson, Arizona.
Her parents divorced when she was
three; she and her mother, Alice, moved to San Francisco,
where later her mother married Harrison Connor Huffman, a telephone lineman. Her
first public performance was singing in the church choir, where she sang the
solos. When she was 14 she sang in local bands for $10 a night in night clubs.
At age 16, she became a member of Actor's Equity.
She studied singing at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and
acting with the Elizabeth Holloway School of Theatre. She graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco in
the Spring Class of 1949 and
studied theater for one year at City College of San Francisco. She was then
elected Miss San Francisco, as Barbara Huffman, in 1951. Barbara also entered
the Miss California pageant, but did not win. Eden made featured appearances on
television shows such as The Tonight Show Starring
Johnny Carson (as "Barbara Morehead" and "Barbara
Huffman"), The West Point Story, Highway
Patrol, Private Secretary, I Love Lucy, The Millionaire, Target: The Corruptors!, Crossroads, Perry Mason,Gunsmoke, December
Bride, Bachelor Father, Father
Knows Best, Adventures in Paradise, The Andy Griffith Show, Cain's
Hundred, Saints and Sinners,The Virginian, Slattery's People, The Rogues, and the series finale of Route 66 playing the role of Margo.
In 1965, Eden signed a
contract with Sidney Sheldon to star on his up-and-coming fantasy sitcom I Dream of Jeannie that would air on NBC. After various
brunette starlets and beauty queens unsuccessfully tried out for the role she
was approached by Sheldon who had seen her in The Brass Bottle and had been
recommended by various colleagues. Eden played Jeannie, a beautiful genie set free
from her bottle by astronaut and United States Air Force captain (later major) Anthony Nelson, played by Larry
Hagman. Hoped to be a blockbuster like its rival-show Bewitched, I
Dream of Jeannie was only a mild ratings success, topping off its
first year at #27, tying withLassie. The series spent its second,
third, and fifth seasons out of the top thirty programs. Season four proved to
be the sitcom's most successful year, ending at #26.
In the series, Eden wore
her trademark "Jeannie Costume", a costume that was designed by Gwen
Wakeling with the colors pink and red chosen by Eden. During the
second season reporters visiting the set would joke that Eden had no navel as
it was almost never visible when in costume. The story picked up momentum and
as it did the network censors began to insist that her navel remain hidden. In
the fourth season George Schlatter the creator of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In expressed
a desire to premiere Eden's navel on his show. As soon as his intentions were revealed
the network held a meeting of executives to discuss his idea and it was deemed
inappropriate to do so. However, her navel is glimpsed in a few season four and
season five episodes, much to the dislike of the censors. After four years of
dating, Jeannie and Anthony got married in the show's fifth season, a decision
that was forced by the network.
Eden complained to the network about the two marrying, claiming that this change in the plotline would take away from the show's humor and the sexual tension between Jeannie and Anthony. However, even after the change, the network had grown tired of the series by the end of the 1969-1970 television season and canceled the show after five seasons and 139 episodes. The series became hugely popular during decades of syndication and has had two spin-off reunion movies. The first, I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later a 1985 television movie, starred all the original cast excluding Larry Hagman, who was unavailable due to the shooting schedule of his then-current series, "Dallas". The role of Anthony Nelson was played by Wayne Rogers for this film only. The second television spin-off movie of the series aired in 1991 and was called I Still Dream of Jeannie, in which Hagman was still absent—Anthony Nelson doesn't appear in this film at all. There was talk of a third I Dream of Jeannie movie but, with the death of Larry Hagman, no projects have been cast or even written.
Eden complained to the network about the two marrying, claiming that this change in the plotline would take away from the show's humor and the sexual tension between Jeannie and Anthony. However, even after the change, the network had grown tired of the series by the end of the 1969-1970 television season and canceled the show after five seasons and 139 episodes. The series became hugely popular during decades of syndication and has had two spin-off reunion movies. The first, I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later a 1985 television movie, starred all the original cast excluding Larry Hagman, who was unavailable due to the shooting schedule of his then-current series, "Dallas". The role of Anthony Nelson was played by Wayne Rogers for this film only. The second television spin-off movie of the series aired in 1991 and was called I Still Dream of Jeannie, in which Hagman was still absent—Anthony Nelson doesn't appear in this film at all. There was talk of a third I Dream of Jeannie movie but, with the death of Larry Hagman, no projects have been cast or even written.
In 1978, she starred in the
feature film Harper Valley PTA, based on the popular
country song. This led to a namesake television series in
1981; in both the movie and the TV series, she played the show's heroine,
Stella Johnson. The show won 11 of its 13 time slots during its first season.
It was a comedy version of Peyton Place with Anne
Francine playing wealthy villain Flora Simpson Reilly. In one episode
Stella dressed in a blue and gold genie costume and in another she played both
Stella and her cousin Della Smith (similar to Jeannie's evil twin-sister
character). The show Harper Valley PTA began
January 16, 1981, and was renamed simply Harper Valley when
the show began its second season on October 29, 1981. The show ran until August
14, 1982, producing 29 episodes for NBC and Universal
MCA, which were rerun in 2000 by TV Land.
n 1990, Eden had a recurring role
of a billionairess seeking revenge against J. R. Ewing in
five episodes of the final season of Dallas, playing the captivating
character Lee Ann De La Vega, reuniting her with her I Dream of Jeannie costar Hagman. In
her final episode, the character admits that her maiden name was "Lee Ann
Nelson", which was a production gag, as "Nelson" was the surname
of Hagman's character, and Eden's character's married name, in I Dream of Jeannie.
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