80s TV Ladies

“An actor is either compelling -- or they are NOT compelling. Doesn’t matter if they’re green. You want to watch them. That’s what makes them a star. How do I know? I just feel it.”  -- Marcia Ross, Casting Director
How did “Clueless” and “Princess Diaries” and “Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion” find their leads? Casting Director Marcia Ross has been instrumental in putting together amazing ensembles for classic films and TV shows since 1983.

Susan and Sharon sit down this week with Ms. Ross to go behind the scenes and discover exactly how today’s “unknown” turns into tomorrow’s “big discovery” -- and who makes it happen. Among the young actors Marcia is credited with discovering: Anne Hathaway, Heath Ledger, Paul Rudd, Rachel McAdams, Jennifer Garner and Amy Poehler.

THE CONVERSATION

• Channing Tatum’s first audition! He didn’t get the part. But the next time Marcia saw him, it worked out better: Step Up.
• Casting Andre Braugher -- and how a single note changed the audition from flat, to making a roomful of people cry.
• 10 Things I Hate About You -- Gabrielle Union was the only person who auditioned for her role.
• HEATH LEDGER GETS A SECOND CHANCE: The first time around he just didn’t have it. Marcia gave him one more chance: “Be prepared!” It made all the difference.
• DARE TO PIVOT: How she made the transition to producing documentaries: meeting Terrance McNally -- and then filming him…
• THE SCIENCE OF THE ENSEMBLE: thirtysomething -- it started with Ken Olin. But it when Mel Harris came in, it was all about chemistry…

So, join Susan and Sharon -- and Marcia -- as they talk Chita Rivera, Cujo, Angela Lansbury, same-sex marriage, Paul Rudd, Nathan Lane, human rights in Iran -- and finally getting a casting director academy award category!!

And stay tuned for PART 2. Casting in the 80s, Jeff Bridges and more!

AUDIO-OGRAPHY
Find out more about Marcia Ross and Jeff Kaufman’s documentary film work at https://www.floatingworldpictures.com/about-us 

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Thank you to all who voted and to all our listeners and guests.

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Happy 100th Birthday to President Jimmy Carter! Get Susan’s new play about Carter's White House in 1979: Confidence (and the Speech) at Broadway Licensing.

Welcome to Season 3!
Sharon and Susan kick off a new season with Jennifer Keishan Armstrong, the New York Times bestselling author of Seinfeldia: How a Show about Nothing Changed Everything, When Women Invented Television, Sex and the City and Us, and Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted. 

Jennifer writes about entertainment and pop culture for the New York Times Book Review, Fast Company, Vulture, BBC Culture, and Entertainment Weekly. Her latest book So Fetch: The Making of Mean Girls (And Why We're Still So Obsessed with It) was published this year.

In this fascinating interview, Jennifer takes us behind the scenes with four different women who, in their own ways, invented television: Irma Phillips, Hazel Scott, Gertrude Berg -- and Betty White. Each of them faced sexism -- and racism -- but triumphed during a time when opportunities for women in television were limited -- but strangely also more open than you may think….

THE CONVERSATION

• How The Mary Tyler Moore Show gave a voice to women everywhere when they gave a voice to a host of female TV writers.
• The Oprah of the 1950’s was… Gertrude Berg?
• The Beyoncé of the 1940s was... reknowned Black jazz pianist, Hazel Scott.
• Find out how Scott became the first Black person to host a national primetime  television show -- in 1950.
• The character of Suanne Nivens that Betty White played on The Mary Tyler Moore Show was based on a woman who did a LIVE Homemaking Show played by… Betty White!
• Irma Phillips was asked to make something that would appeal to women -- so she invented the Soap Opera.
• Phillips created As The World Turns -- AND the longest running show of all time, The Guiding Light.
• Gertrude Berg’s ground-breaking sitcom about a Jewish family -- The Goldbergs -- was so successful that it was considered to be the lead-in for a new, untested show that might need some help -- I Love Lucy.
• Why was 1955 the death knell of women working in television -- both in front of AND behind the camera?
• According to network executives in 1969, what were the THREE THINGS Americans didn’t want to see on television?
• How The Mary Tyler Moore Show made Ed Asner a feminist.

So join Susan and Sharon -- and Jennifer -- as they talk “fat farms”, Mean Girls, the Black List, Seinfeld, Tina Fey, Shonda Rhimes, Father Knows Best -- and “On Wednesdays we wear pink”!

AUDIO-OGRAPHY
Find Jennifer Keishan Armstrong at her website, jenniferkarmstrong.com.
Buy The Women Who Invented Television (and all Jennifer’s books) at Bookshop.org.
Find Jennifer on Instagram.

Find Women Who Invented Television at YouTube:
Watch The Betty White Show (1954)
Watch Betty White in her sitcom, Life with Elizabeth.

Learn more about Hazel Scott.
The Goldbergs with Gertrude Berg, Episode: “A Sad Day”
Check out an Irma Phillips episode of The Guiding Light (1952). 

CONNECT
Visit 80sTVLadies.com for transcripts.
Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.
Support us and get ad-free episodes on PATREON. 

VOTE
We're NOMINATED for Best Film & TV Podcast.
Please VOTE for 80s TV Ladies at Women in Podcasting Awards.
REMEMBER: Register or Check your US Election Registration at Vote.org

This year is the 45th anniversary of President Carter's Crisis of Confidence speech. Get Susan’s new play about it: Confidence (and the Speech) at Broadway Licensing.

In this special bonus episode, Susan, Sharon and Melissa spill a few secrets about our upcoming season and fun guests coming soon to 80s TV Ladies. Can you guess what female-driven television shows from the 1980s we’ll be covering in our upcoming season?

THE CONVERSATION

• Do we know what we did this summer? How was your summer?
• What is that feeling in the air? Is it hope?!! Are you ready to Vote?
• Does Melissa even want to talk about her summer?
• Okay, for real: what shows are we gonna cover in Season THREE?!
• Can you guess the shows?
  • The Vickie Lawrence-starring, Carol Burnett Show spin-off sitcom, Mama’s Family.
  • You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have… The Facts of Life.
  • Yes! And finally yes: The Golden Girls!

• What are the recurring themes we are discovering through Season 1 and 2 interviews?
• Yes, there will be more special series guests this season: More Director Ladies, Star Trek Ladies, Stunt Ladies and more surprises!

So join us as we spill Season Three secrets about what guests we will for sure be talking to: like Mama’s Family’s Dorothy Lyman and Eric Brown, women in television expert and pop-culture author, Jennifer Keishan Armstrong. And can you guess who will be our very special guest from The Golden Girls?

AUDIO-OGRAPHY
Read about our first guest for Season 3: Jennifer Keishan Armstrong at jenniferkarmstrong.com 
Get info on Jennifer’s books and prep for episode 301:

• Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted: And all the Brilliant Minds Who Made The Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic at Jennifer's website. 
• When Women Invented Television by Jennifer Keishan Armstrong at Bookshop. At Barnes & Noble. At Amazon.

CONNECT
Visit 80sTVLadies.com for transcripts.
Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.
Support us and get ad-free episodes on PATREON.

VOTE
We're NOMINATED for Best Entertainment Podcast. Please VOTE for 80s TV Ladies in the Entertainment category at Women in Podcasting Awards.

REMEMBER: Register or Check your US Election Registration at Vote.org
This year is the 45th anniversary of President Carter's Crisis of Confidence speech. Get Susan’s new play about it: Confidence (and the Speech) at Broadway Licensing.

BONUS: Check out this exciting encore episode from Season 1: Part TWO of our interview with true show business icon and classic 8os TV Lady --  “Remington Steele’s” one-and-only Laura Holt -- Stephanie Zimbalist.

In a career spanning six decades, Stephanie has performed on stage and screen with everyone: Alec Baldwin, Walter Matthau, Jessica Tandy, Anthony Hopkins, John Goodman, Patricia Neal, Alfred Molina, Tommy Tune, Jimmy Stewart AND her own father, the legendary Efrem Zimbalist Jr.


Steele Talking: Susan and Sharon continue their interview with the award-winning stage, TV and film actress…

THE CONVERSATION

- Working with her real-life dad – showbiz legend Efrem Zimbalist Jr – How he became a father figure for co-star Pierce Brosnan. (And how he taught Stephanie the secret to “playing drunk”…!)
- Her decades-long friendship with Alec Baldwin.
- When James Stewart was almost on Remington!
- The Amazing Remington Steele Guest Stars, including…
- Paul Reiser – and how Pierce broke up every time he said a line.
- Louie Anderson – and that horse…
- And Beverly Garland – Laura’s mom! (Wait -- were Laura Holt and Amanda King sisters??)

- How she was cast in – but had to quit – ROBOCOP.
- Why she has never gone back to rewatch “Remington Steele.”
- Why “the blood isn’t real on “Remington Steele” -- and how humor on TV has changed…
- How curiosity leads to love.
- New York, noodles – and a “rude awakening” in the theater…

Listen in as Susan, Sharon and Stephanie talk “Moonlighting”, memories and Mary Tyler Moore!

AUDIO-OGRAPHY
Stephanie Zimbalist on Facebook/StephanieZimbalistFanPage.
Steele Watching Podcast w/ Kerry Carlock. 

CONNECT
Visit 80sTVLadies.com for transcripts.
Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.
Support us and get ad-free episodes on PATREON.

VOTE
We're NOMINATED for Best Film & TV Podcast.
Please VOTE for 80s TV Ladies at Women in Podcasting Awards.
Register or Check your Registration at Vote.org

This is the 45th anniversary of President Carter's Crisis of Confidence speech. Get Susan’s new play about it: Confidence (and the Speech) at Broadway Licensing.

It's more Summer Reruns. Check out this cool encore episode from Season 1:
Susan and Sharon sit down with a true show business icon and classic 8os TV Lady --  “Remington Steele’s” one-and-only Laura Holt -- Stephanie Zimbalist.

In a career spanning six decades, Stephanie has performed on stage and screen with everyone: Alec Baldwin, Walter Matthau, Jessica Tandy, Anthony Hopkins, John Goodman, Patricia Neal, Alfred Molina, Tommy Tune, Jimmy Stewart AND her own father, the legendary Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

THE CONVERSATION 

• Growing up Zimbalist: what it’s like to be born into a true show business dynasty.
• How Stephanie started writing, directing and producing – at the age of seven.
•  How she attended Julliard with friends and classmates Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve -- and then got kicked out!
• Winning – or not winning – an “Enema” (oh wait -- “Emmy”)
• A Life in the Theater: performing award-winning roles in classic plays by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Tennessee Williams and more.
• The gift of making “big choices” on stage – and screen. And the pleasure of refining and reinventing a performance over a long run.
• Playing Katherine Hepburn in “Tea at Five” – and how she discovered they’re cousins!
• Turning down the role of Laura Holt three times before finally taking it on.
• “Backwards and in High Heels” – on water skis!  Stephanie takes us through doing her own stunts on “Remington Steele” -- and working with legendary stuntwoman Debbie Evans. 

Join Susan and Sharon (and Stephanie) as we talk fame, fedoras – and wet-biking in France with Pierce. PLUS -- MORE listener mail!!

AUDIO-OGRAPHY
Stephanie Zimbalist on Facebook/StephanieZimbalistFanPage.
Steele Watching Podcast w/ Kerry Carlock. 
Native Land Digital at Native-Land.ca
Read about Land Acknowledgment at LAist.

CONNECT
Visit 80sTVLadies.com for transcripts.
Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.
Support us and get ad-free episodes on PATREON.

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We're NOMINATED for Best Film & TV Podcast. Please VOTE for 80s TV Ladies at Women in Podcasting Awards.
Suppport Kamala Harris for President - KamalaHarris.com
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This is the 45th anniversary of President Carter's Crisis of Confidence speech. Get Susan’s new play about it: Confidence (and the Speech) at Broadway Licensing.

Encore! Encore! For the summer break, Sharon and Susan take you back to the 80s with reruns, and back to Season 1 with a very special encore presentation of Ep. 119. 

Meet the woman behind Mary Beth Lacey. Sharon and Susan are excited and honored to talk with Emmy and Tony Award winning actress and the star of Cagney & Lacey, Tyne Daly. In a career spanning eight decades, Tyne Daly has appeared on stage and screen in over 100 roles in everything from “The Mod Squad” and “Judging Amy” to co-starring with Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry film “The Enforcer”.

She has received six Emmy awards – four of them for her outstanding portrayal of Mary Beth Lacey on “Cagney & Lacey.” In this intimate interview, Tyne Daly shares stories of her childhood, barely finishing high school, her early days acting in New York, her eventual move to Los Angeles with then-husband actor/director Georg Stanford Brown -- and a lifetime of acting, politics and poetry.

THE CONVERSATION

• How Dustin Hoffman opened the door for “non-perfect” people on film and TV.
• Coming to California -- and being “done at 21”!
• How the internet is the death of conversation.
• The power of words. 
• Doing her early pilots – and hoping they didn’t go!
• “I Did My Cop” - How Dirty Harry almost kept Tyne from doing “Cagney & Lacey”
• How Tyne went to the mat for Meg Foster at the end of season one – and almost lost her job for it.
• What it was like to read with the (many) actresses auditioning to play the third Cagney – and how it felt to hear what the producers said about them when they left the room.
• Why Tyne hasn’t re-watched the show – and doesn’t want to.
• Tyne’s idea for a new holiday: Interdependence Day – a day celebrating everything we have in common as a people.
• Tyne reads the poem “Life While You Wait” by Wisława Szymborska
• How after a lifetime of striving and struggling – as an actress and woman – Tyne sees that certain battles are never over…
• What's Tyne's one word to explain the 21st century? And what's yours?

So join Susan, Sharon – and Tyne -- as they talk Bette Davis, Angela Lansbury, Jimmy Stewart, “Colleagues with penises” and “Lining up with the pigs”!

AUDIOGRAPHY
Keep up with Tyne Daly at Tynedalyonline.com 
Visit the Official Cagney & Lacey Facebook page.
Tyne Daly’s Official Facebook page.

WHERE TO WATCH
Cagney & Lacey on Roku.
The Bread Factory, Part 1 and Part 2 - Stream it for free using your library card or university log-in at Kanopy.com
On Apple TV.

BOOKS
Remembering Cagney & Lacey with Sharon Gless & Tyne Daly by Brian McFadden
Poems New and Collected by Wisława Szymborska
The New Handbook for a Post Roe America by Robin Marty

CONNECT
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Suppport Kamala Harris for President - KamalaHarris.com
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It's the 45th anniversary of President Carter's Crisis of Confidence speech. Get Susan’s new play about it: Confidence (and the Speech) at Broadway Licensing.

"One of the things I love about looking back at 80s television is you get to see some early and amazing young stars and very exciting stunt casting."

It's Guest Stars Galore on 80s TV Ladies! We're taking a nostalgic trip back to the iconic 80s sitcom "A Different World." Susan and Sharon debate -- and celebrate -- the amazing roster of guest stars that walked the halls of Hillman College during the six seasons of A Different World. As one of the only black-centered shows of its time, A Different World was in many ways “the only game in town” for a certain generation of black performers, and under show-runner Debbie Allen it became a real showcase for black celebrities who -- even in the 80’s and 90’s -- didn’t have as many opportunities when it came to network television exposure.

Legendary performers—such as Lena Horne, Josephine Premice, Patti LaBelle, Diahann Carroll, Robert Guillaume, Gladys Knight—and modern stars like Whoopi Goldberg, Raven Symone, Halle Berry… and Tupac Shakur—found a spotlight. Susan and Sharon get out their red pens and grade books and fight it out, narrowing down who will finally be “Best in Class” -- The Top Ten Guest Stars of A Different World!

THE CONVERSATION

• THE TOP TWO: How Patti LaBelle and Diahann Carroll are so hilarious -- and perfectly cast -- as the moms of Dwayne and Whitley: two parents from very “different worlds”.
• Whoopi Goldberg was the secret weapon that allowed the show to do an “AIDS Episode” (“If I Should Die Before I Wake” S4; EP23). Once she signed on, the network couldn’t say no. It became the highest rated episode of the season.
• Josephine Premice played the art dealer that Whitley works for in S4 -- and is the mother of writer/showrunner Susan Fales-Hill! (She later plays Dwayne and Whitley’s landlord in S6!)
• The beautiful Billy Dee Williams plays a former baseball player (S6; EP23) who decides to finish college -- and ends up in the classroom of his old flame: Leslie Uggams!
• But is it a true 80s TV Ladies show? Sharon calls out showrunner Debbie Allen. She directed 83 episodes of the show (104 were directed by women) and steered it through most of its run.
• Jennifer Lewis -- as Dean Dorothy Dandridge Davidson -- hits the heights in the Lena Horne Episode -- “A Rock, A River, A Lena” (S6; E22)
• Susan calls out Gladys Knight in “Three Girls Three” (S2; EP5) -- a classic 80’s stunt casting coup that is everything you want it to be!
• Can you believe it? Susan also loves a very “guy-centric” episode: “Citizen Wayne” (S2; EP21) -- starring Jesse Jackson. But this isn’t on Sharon’s list for reasons…
• Who are the TWO GUEST STARS who get cut from the list? One is a guy… And one is… ALSO A GUY!

So -- join Susan and Sharon as they talk Brian’s Song, Kris Kross, Tisha Campbell, high-kicks, the “Evolution of Whitley,” Gilbert Gottfried, “checking the gate” -- and showering with Blair Underwear (we mean Under-wood!).

AUDIOGRAPHY
Find out more about “A Different World College Tour 2024” at adwtour.com.
Read about Whoopi Goldberg and the A Different World AIDS episode at Hollywood Reporter.
Read an oral history of A Different World in Vanity Fair.
Watch A Different World -- streaming on MAX.
Find out more about A Different World at the official Facebook page.

Check out Tammy at the true-crime podcast: Grits with a Side of Murder.

Sign up to nominate 80s TV Ladies for a Podcast Award! Go here to sign up & nominate us.We're in the running for Best TV & Film and Best Female Hosted podcast!
PS - You can also vote in other categories for our pals at Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf, SoCal Voices and Grits With a Side of Murder!

CONNECT
Visit 80sTVLadies.com for transcripts.
Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.Check out Instagram/80sTVLadies.
Support us and get ad-free episodes on PATREON.
Find more cool podcasts on our host sight, Weirding Way Media.

It's the 45th anniversary of President Carter's Crisis of Confidence speech. Get Susan’s new play about it: Confidence (and the Speech) at Broadway Licensing.

The 90s TV Babies are back to examine the 80s sensation A Different World!
Serita Fontanesi, Sergio Perez and Megan Ruble signed up for classes at Hillman College TV. But now it’s time for finals. This will ALL be on the test. Professors Lambert and Johnson assigned these episodes to watch: 

S1: E1 -- “Pilot”
S2: E1 -- “Dr. War Is Hell”
S2: E20 -- “No Means No”
S6: E9 & 10 -- “Faith, Hope and Charity: Part One and Two”

So -- will the Babies return for another semester at Hillman College? Or will they drop out? Find out -- right now!

THE CONVERSATION

• PREGNANCY ROULETTE: Serita is stunned by how much “pee” is involved in getting pregnant.
• Megan knew nothing about A Different World -- had never seen a single episode.
• Sergio has binged all of Seasons 1 & 2 - and helped Susan and Sharon create social media for the podcast.
• For Serita, A Different World has been a part of her TV life pretty much since she was born. She’s seen the whole series, front to back, multiple times.
• The Babies know OF “The Cosby Show” -- but none of them ever watched it!
• SERGIO THE RULE-BREAKER: As a little kid he watched Nick-at-Night even though he wasn’t supposed to.
• Megan LOVED A Different World -- and was surprised by how much the show CHANGED every season…
• SERITA’S HOT TAKE: You can skip Season One -- the “Lisa Bonet” Season. Sergio disagrees.
• Serita calls out how grounded the show is -- while still having “wacky” episodes tossed in for spice!
• Sergio: “Can we please go back to TV shows with 23 episodes a season -- not 8?!?”
• Do Megan and Sergio agree about Jaleesa and her storyline?
• Serita’s favorite character is Whitley -- but she relates the most to Kim.
• Does this show need a reboot?
• NO MEANS NO: Megan thought the episode about sexual assault was excellent and totally on-point -- except for one key moment…

So, join Susan, Sharon -- and Serita, Sergio and Megan -- as they talk Patti LaBelle, Diahann Carroll, AIDS, is it feminist and is it progressive? -- and all the ways to say “Shut Up!

AUDIOGRAPHY
Watch A Different World -- streaming on MAX.
Check out Tammy at the true-crime podcast: Grits with a Side of Murder.

Check out Serita’s podcast “Not Ugly Pod”.
Find out about Megan’s “Shakespeare By The Sea” at Shakespearebythesea.org
Find out about Sergio’s production of “CinderAlice” at tinyurl.com/cinderalice.

NOMINATE US FOR A PODCAST AWARD 2024
You can help us win. We need your vote. Nominate 80s TV Ladies for a Podcast Award! Go here to register & nominate us. We're in the running for Best TV & Film and Best Female Hosted podcast!

PS - You can also vote in other categories for our pals at Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf, SoCal Voices and Grits With a Side of Murder!

CONNECT
Visit 80sTVLadies.com for transcripts and more.
Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.
Check out Instagram/80sTVLadies.
Support us and get ad-free episodes on PATREON.
Find more cool podcasts at our host sight, Weirding Way Media.

“A lot of production companies… who decide to do stories about people of color are not used to having the people of color they hire coming in with an opinion. Coming in contradicting them on certain things.” -- Neema Barnette, director, A Different World

Susan and Sharon welcome legendary producer-director Neema Barnette to talk about her journey from Harlem to Hollywood. Ms. Barnette made history in 1986 when she became the first African-American woman to direct a prime-time sitcom (What’s Happening Now?). She followed this up with episodes of Frank’s Place, It’s A Living and The Cosby Show before directing seven episodes of A Different World. She has directed over 50 movies and television shows and was also the first African-American woman to get a three-picture deal with Sony Pictures.

Neema was also the producer-director of Season One of Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey’s Queen Sugar. She shares stories of making the transition from New York theater to Hollywood films and television, fighting the good fight for herself and others, and inspiring a new generation -- with the truth.

THE CONVERSATION

• Head of Columbia Pictures Barbara Corday took one look at Neema’s reel and said “Get this woman a job!”
• “I’ve had two jobs in my life. Directing and teaching. And they have a lot of similarities. ‘Sit down. Shut up. Move over.’
• Supportive words from the great Shirley Hemphill on the ground-breaking episode of What’s Happening Now?:  “We’ve got your back.”
• IN THE 60s: Getting Sherman’s BBQ and going to the Apollo from noon to midnight to see everyone -- especially Aretha Franklin.
• The troubles and battles with Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and National Geographic during the making of Genius: Aretha.
• “When I was in college, I took a course called ‘Strategies For Revolution’. I took that course and I applied it when I came to Hollywood.”
• Directing The Cosby Show -- in the episode where Bill gets pregnant!
• Working with Tyra Ferrell, Mare Winningham, Rosilyn Heller and Gloria Steinem on Better Off Dead.
• Getting pulled away from teaching to do Queen Sugar. “The ratings came out and I started getting calls.”
• How Ava DuVernay changed the landscape of television by hiring only women directors on Queen Sugar -- and supporting their careers ongoing.

So, join Susan, Sharon -- and Neema -- as they talk Michael B. Jordan, Superfly, The Young Lords, Queen Latifah, Seventh Heaven, Pam Grier -- and “Cut--print that sucker!”

AUDIOGRAPHY
Watch A Different World -- streaming on MAX.
Find Neema Barnette at instagram.com/neemafilms. On Twitter https://x.com/neemrick 
Watch Neema’s mini-docs on BlackHistoryMiniDocs.com.

Check out Tammy at the true-crime podcast: Grits with a Side of Murder.

Get & read Susan’s new play Confidence (and the Speech) at Broadway Licensing.
Abortion access in America is severely limited – Help or Get Help at AbortionFinder.org.


CONNECT
Visit 80sTVLadies.com for more.
Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.
Check out Instagram/80sTVLadies.
Support us and get ad-free episodes on PATREON.
Find more cool podcasts at our host sight, Weirding Way Media.

“You can be anything you want in this world, darling. But if you become an actress or a nun, I’ll kill myself.”   -- legendary actress Josephine Premice to her daughter, writer/producer Susan Fales-Hill.

Susan and Sharon welcome writer and showrunner Susan Fales-Hill as they continue their look back at the classic 80’s comedy series A Different World. Ms. Fales-Hill’s writing career began on The Cosby Show and continued on A Different World where she rose from story editor all the way to executive producer during the course of the show’s seven-year run. Content Warning: Sexual Assault/Child Sexual Abuse. At approx. 53:00 - 58:00 short discussion of date rape and child sexual assault. 

Susan Fales-Hill is currently writer/executive producer on HBO’s Sex And The City sequel series And Just Like That. She is also the author of four books including her memoir "Always Wear Joy." Susan shares stories of growing up bi-racial in a show biz legacy family, how comedy comes from pain, and the help (and hinderances) she got from men, women and people of color along the way…

THE CONVERSATION

• Being Whitley Gilbert’s alter ego: “She said a lot of the things I wanted to say -- but was too polite!"
• FINDING YOUR VOICE: Susan reflects on learning how to speak up in a writer’s room even though she was the youngest, newest writer -- and a woman.
• GO WEST YOUNG WOMAN: The “Big Move” from The Cosby Show in New York to A Different World in Los Angeles.
• THE IMPORTANCE OF A NEW POT: Sometimes you have to "re-plant" yourself to grow.
• HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARISA? The challenge of featuring a white character attending an HBCU.
• JUST A TIME SLOT SUCCESS? Some people grumbled that ADW only succeeded because it followed the massive hit The Cosby Show.
• How Debbie Allen insisted the show be topical -- and the surprise when Bill Cosby agreed.
• The story of how Susan personally got Diahann Carroll to be on the show.
• Being told by her agents after running a Top Ten show: “We can’t get you on a white show.”
• On the joy of casting your own mom -- singer, dancer, actress Josephine Premice.
• Susan reflects on which “issue” episodes worked -- and which ones maybe missed the mark (looking at you, Los Angeles Uprising…)
• The network was adamantly opposed to the “Los Angeles Uprising” episodes -- and some believe it signed the shows death warrant.

So, join Susan, Sharon -- and Susan -- as they talk pig noses, possible spin-offs, Billy Dee Williams, The Amistad, “Benevolent Karens”, Jennifer Lewis… and the danger of saying “shut up” to your mom!

AUDIOGRAPHY
Watch A Different World -- streaming on MAX.
Watch the classic 2-part Thanksgiving Episode “Faith, Hope & Charity” (S6; EP 9 & 10) -- with Diahann Carroll AND Patti LaBelle! on HBO Max.
Get Susan Fales-Hill’s books and find out about all her projects at SusanFales-Hill.com.
Watch Susan Fales-Hill “In Praise of Complexity” at the Met Museum "Met Speaks".

CONNECT
Visit 80sTVLadies.com for transcripts and more.
Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.
Check out Instagram/80sTVLadies.
Support our show and get ad-free episodes on PATREON.
Find more cool podcasts at our host sight, Weirding Way Media.