80s TV Ladies

“The roles I’ve played on soap operas are infinitely superior to any roles I’ve played anywhere else. They are about women and women’s stories. The men are just there to screw you -- or screw you over.” -- Dorothy Lyman

Just three chicks sitting around talking...
Susan and Sharon clean house -- and air some dirty laundry -- with The Nanny director and Emmy-award winning actress Dorothy Lyman. You may know her as Opal Gardner from the long-running soap opera All My Children or as Naomi Oates Harper from Mama’s Family. But did you know she also directed an astonishing 74-episodes of the classic Fran Drescher comedy, The Nanny?

THE CONVERSATION

• One-day of work a month on Search For Tomorrow was enough to keep Dorothy from “serving cheeseburgers.” The pay was $400 -- and rent in NY was only $65!
• COMING CLEAN ABOUT SOAPS: Soap operas addressed abuse and abortion and mental illness and many other issues long before prime time TV. “I think it helped a lot of women stuck at home feeling the same things.”
• ON SOAP OPERA FANS: “I couldn’t buy myself a beer anywhere in America the whole time I was on the soaps. The fans are different. They feel like they know you.”
• WHEN CAROL BURNETT CALLS: “Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence would watch me as Opal on ‘All My Children’ during their lunch hour on ‘The Carol Burnett Show’ -- that was their ritual. And that’s how I got the job on ‘Mama’s Family’.”
• A COUPLA WHITE CHICKS SITTING AROUND TALKING: on directing the long-running, Off-Broadway hit starring Susan Sarandon and Eileen Brennan.
• TRY AGAIN: Mama’s Family was completely reconceived after the first pilot. “We shot one that was really awful. I think the problem was, it was too mean. And it wasn’t funny at all.” 
• THERE’S THE DOOR: After directing three seasons of The Nanny, Dorothy says, “I never got another job directing a single moment of television. I spent many years thinking I’d done something terribly wrong. But it was because I was over 50 -- and I was a woman.”
• What do you do when Hollywood directing gigs go away? You buy a chicken farm in upstate New York and start writing plays, of course!
• ON CHANGE: “Change is where it’s at. Nothing stays the same. And I’ve always been one of those people -- if I wanted to do something, I did it.”
• ON DIRECTING: “It fits my personality. I’m bossy.”

So join Susana and Sharon -- and Dorothy -- as they talk Milton Berle, Edge of Night, Celine Dion, visiting Egypt, Another World, Bette Midler, The Women’s Room, Fran Drescher, baked croutons -- and “Where do you keep your Emmys?”

AUDIO-OGRAPHY
Watch Mama’s Family for free on Pluto TV.
Follow Dorothy Lyman at Instagram.com/dorothy_lyman

Native American Heritage Month
Find out more at NativeAmericanHeritageMonth.gov
For more information about the land you live on go to Native-land.ca

BLACK FRIDAY DEAL!
It's an “80’s TV LADIES” HOLIDAY SALE! - Get 20% off on all merch at tinyurl.com/8TLshop
Make sure to use promo code “Festive80s”!  

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

SUPPORT OTHERS
Support those seeking abortion in states where it is outlawed or restricted. Go to ARC Southeast.

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. 

Credits: 80s TV Ladies™ Episode 308. Produced by 134 West and Susan Lambert Hatem. Hosted by Susan Lambert Hatem and Sharon Johnson. Guest: Dorothy Lyman. Sound Engineer and Editor: Kevin Ducey. Producers: Melissa Roth. Sharon Johnson. Richard Hatem. Associate Producers: Sergio Perez. Sailor Franklin. Music by Amy Engelhardt. Copyright 2024 134 West, LLC and Susan Lambert. All Rights Reserved.

Susan and Sharon are thrilled to sit down with award-winning singer, songwriter, actress -- and stuntwoman -- Marneen Fields. As a gymnast, swimmer and stuntwoman in the 1970s and 80s, Marneen’s career sky-rocketed with roles on Scarecrow & Mrs. King, Lou Grant, Quincy, Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The Man from Atlantis, The Fall Guy, Murder She Wrote, Dynasty -- as well as the Clint Eastwood film The Gauntlet.

But it was only after a devastating car accident ended her career as a stuntwoman that Marneen found her way back into life by finally embracing her childhood dream of writing and singing songs.  Her story is one of resilience, renewal -- and the power of persevering when life’s challenges seem overwhelming.

THE CONVERSATION

• FIRST BASS: What do you do when you’re the littlest girl in school -- but end up having to playing biggest instrument -- the stringed bass?
• How a background in gymnastics led Marneen directly into her career as a stuntwoman.
• IN DEMAND: As an experienced stuntwoman in Hollywood, Marneen’s phone rang off the hook for 15 years.
• THE FALL GIRL: In 1976-77, Marneen was one of the top stuntwomen in the world.
• ROSES FROM BRUCE: One of her favorite acting jobs was playing Lee Stetson’s long-lost love “Dorothy” on Scarecrow & Mrs. King.
• FALLING FOR “QUINCY”: What is it like doing a high-fall off a 76-story building in puffy slippers and a negligee?!?
• The secret of being a successful stuntwoman? Look like a lot of famous actresses!
• Getting pushed out of a jet by James Garner!
• Getting punched off a train by Clint Eastwood!
• PERFECT PITCH: Marneen’s love for music survives her near total hearing loss in both ears.

Just as her acting career was taking off, Marneen was involved in a car accident that nearly took her life -- and led to over a decade of operations and excruciating pain. But on the other end was a whole new life in music…

So, join Susan and Sharon -- and Marneen -- as they talk Shirley Jones, Battlestar Galactica, scuba diving, dating stuntmen, mouth-to-mouth with Patrick Duffy -- and “becoming the broken-hearted songwriter I was meant to be!”

AUDIO-OGRAPHY
Find all of Marneen’s work on Facebook.
And Instagram at Instagram.com/HeavenlyWaterfallProductions.
Find Marneen’s book The Illusive Craft of Acting at Amazon.

Get more info and help support Marneen’s film, Who’s Going To Take Care of Me? at Crowdfundr.

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

SUPPORT YOUR NEIGHBORS
Find help or ways to help at AbortionFunds.org
Support Democracy at DemocracyDocket.com
Support freedoms at ACLU.org

REMEMBER: Make sure your vote counted. Track your ballot 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.

There is no fandom like the Scarecrow & Mrs. King fandom -- passionate, dedicated and absolutely obsessed with red hats, train stations, the Q bureau, and Cream-&-Wood 1983 Ford LTD Country Squire Station Wagons.

In this episode, Susan and Sharon meet up with super-fans Taya Johnston, Jennifer Peterson and Miranda Thomas from The Mrs. King’s Chronicles, a re-watch podcast about -- what else? -- Scarecrow & Mrs. King! From Beaverton, Oregon… to Clarkston, Michigan… to Florence, Kentucky -- these three women (plus their fourth partner, Lexie Fiema who couldn’t make the recording) know their SMK! In this fast-moving and funny conversation, you’ll find out everything you ever wanted to know about podcasting, Amanda King, Lee Stetson and Firefly -- but were afraid to ask… 

THE CONVERSATION

• What do you do when you want to spend more time with your friends and your favorite show?  The answer is easy -- you do a podcast!
• GETTING HOOKED ON SMK: sometimes it’s in college, sometimes it’s a commercial, sometimes… it’s your mom!
• IT WAS A THING: recording your favorite shows onto cassette tape so you could listen to them later.
• Lexie -- the “90s Baby” of the podcast -- wants to know why Lee and Amanda don’t use their cell phones more often. And what’s up with the “two Germanys” thing?
• PODCAST PIONEER: Miranda has also done internet radio and podcasts about Firefly and Felicity and Alias and Heroes and Chuck!
• Why do certain shows inspire rabid fandom? And others… not so much.
• SUBURBAN SPY: The compelling fantasy wish-fulfillment of “Being Mrs. King.”
• At the “Hollywood Show” fan meet-up: Bruce Boxleitner had his own fanboy moment when he saw TV’s “Batman” -- Adam West. But he never got to meet him because he refused to cut in line in front of other fans…
• THE ELECTRIC CAMPFIRE: How television -- and now podcasts -- became our place of communal story-telling and shared emotional connection.
• Ship of Spies? Was there really an SMK cruise? Did anyone get married? Go to a strip club?

So, join Susan and Sharon -- and Taya and Jennifer and Miranda! -- as they talk 80s retro-love, podcast tangents, Dungeons & Dragons, Miami strip clubs, sweater vests, the Star Wars Christmas Special, living in the Matrix -- and throwing rocks at Cincinnati! 


AUDIO-OGRAPHY
Listen to the Mrs. King’s Chronicles podcast at MKCPodcast.com
  
Check out Taya’s website CallMeaCab.com
Find Miranda’s Firefly podcast at Serenityfirefly.com
Find out more about Columbia Willamette River Keepers Willamette-riverkeeper.org
Get The Ultimate Fan’s Guide to Scarecrow & Mrs. King 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
The Presidential Election is Tuesday, November 5!
Get info and find your polling place 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.

“Katie and I, our relationship could be a little exciting -- I had to watch my step, I had to toe the line. I had to behave myself or I’d get taken to the principal’s office... And she was the principal.” -- Bruce Boxleitner

In Part Two of their conversation, Bruce reflects on the differences between doing TV then and now, his relationship with Kate Jackson -- and how the long hours can sometimes turn your co-stars into your family…
Bruce Boxleitner’s television career started way back in 1973 with an appearance on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and he has since appeared in over 100 films and TV shows including Gunsmoke, Baretta, Police Woman, Hawaii 5-0, Babylon 5, Crossing Jordan, Commander in Chief, American Dad, Cold Case, Heroes, Chuck, NCIS, Supergirl, The Orville, When Calls The Heart, How The West Was Won, Bring ‘Em Back Alive, The Gambler and Tron.

THE CONVERSATION

• THE UGLY SIDE OF LEE STETSON: When Lee slaps Amanda in “Burn Out” (S2; EP.21) What was going on? --  “Kate said, “Hit me.” It was no fun. I didn’t enjoy doing it at all.”
• ON THE JAZZ: In Europe, Mel Stuart -- a saxophonist -- fell in with some local jazz musicians and ended up sitting-in in clubs all over Munich.
• DOUBLE TROUBLE: Bruce finds out the strange reason his stunt double Gary Davis did the pilot’s helicopter stunts with no safety cable!
• On doing network TV: “This is where I come off sounding like a grumpy old man, but in my day, we had fun. Nobody is having fun anymore. Because we have cell phones on the set, everyone’s on their cell phone. No one’s talking.”
• WHO CAN TURN THE WORLD ON WITH HIS SMILE? Bruce got his first gig on The Mary Tyler Moore Show because the producer owed his agent a favor.
• On doing a streaming series: “I’m doing a series now -- six episodes. They call that a series? I call it a two-parter.”
• Bruce gets a surprise walking onto the Gunsmoke set when he discovers the entire town is built inside a soundstage.
• On filming pilots: “George Clooney says he’s the king of the unsold pilots. Well, buddy, I’m the runner-up!”
• While shooting The Orville, Bruce finds out that the biggest SMK fan… is Seth McFarlane!
• How do you marry Lee and Amanda? Should you marry Lee and Amanda?

So, join Susan and Sharon -- and Bruce -- as they talk How The West Was Won, Ted Knight, Tron, Juanita Bartlett, Susan Diol, Police Woman, and pranking Martha Smith -- and Kate Jackson -- AND Beverly Garland… and the sad, tragic life of “Dean, the Boyfriend”!

AUDIO-OGRAPHY
Find out more about Bruce Boxleitner at Facebook.com
Follow him at Instagram.com/BoxleitnerBruce
Follow him at Twitter.com/BoxleitnerBruce
Catch him on Cameo at Cameo.com/BoxleitnerBruce

Watch S2, Ep. 21: Burn out on Tubi

Get The Ultimate Fan’s Guide to Scarecrow & Mrs. King by David Johnson, Taya Johnston and Sabine Ludewig 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.


We're a 2024 Podcast Award Winner! We WON for Best Film & TV. Thank you everyone who voted!

VOTE
REMEMBER: Register or Check your US Election Registration at Vote.org
Make a plan to Vote. Check out Ballot Ready.

• This year is the 45th anniversary of President Carter's Crisis of Confidence speech. Read Susan’s new play about the speech and the confidence it takes to be president in challenging times: Confidence (and the Speech) at Broadway Licensing.

“Kate was able to go off script. Then I found I could go with her. Pretty soon we’re doing stuff that is not on the written page. That’s where we found the little ‘in-between’ moments.”  - Bruce Boxleitner

Susan and Sharon are so excited to talk with the star of one of their favorite 80s TV shows of all time -- Bruce Boxleitner from Scarecrow & Mrs. King!  Bruce’s television career started way back in 1973 with an appearance on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He has since appeared in over 100 films and TV shows including Gunsmoke, Baretta, Police Woman, Hawaii 5-0, Babylon 5, Crossing Jordan, Commander in Chief, American Dad, Cold Case, Heroes, Chuck, NCIS, Supergirl, The Orville, When Calls The Heart, How The West Was Won, Bring ‘Em Back Alive, The Gambler and Tron.

In Part One of this two-part interview, Bruce reflects on getting the role of Lee Stetson, working with Kate Jackson and the cast of Scarecrow & Mrs. King and filming some of the show’s most memorable episodes during the summer of 1984 in Europe.

THE CONVERSATION

• GETTING THE SHOW: "I was in a daze. I ended up on the roof... The security guard down below: 'What are you doing up there?' 'I don't know!'"
• UN-“HAPPY DAYS”: How Bring ‘Em Back Alive fought a losing battle on Tuesday nights against Richie Cunningham and the Fonz… But how it led to Bruce’s most famous TV role of all time!
• CALLING ALL SPIES: What was it like auditioning with Kate Jackson -- in front of the same executives that just cancelled his last show?
• On Mel Stuart: “He was the best. I miss him so much. He made me laugh more than anyone I’ve ever worked with.”
• THE OLD CAR: Driving that ’63 Porsche Speedster around Washington, D.C. during the pilot: “It died after every take.”
• THE NEW CAR: a 1984 Corvette: “It fit me like a pair of fiberglass pants.”
• Gary Davis -- Bruce’s secret stunt double -- did all Lee Stetson’s stunts, and doubled for Bruce more times than you might think.
• NOT TOO MANY GUNFIGHTS AT 8PM: The Scarecrow editors assembled a gag reel of all the times top agent Lee Stetson lost his gun.
• SAVING MS. SMITH: While filming in Munich, Bruce and Martha Smith walked into the wrong punk bar. Bruce got her out -- but only after throwing some Stetson-style punches!
• Working in the Alps and in Amanda's house with Jean Stapleton -- “I wish she could have done more episodes.”
• One of Bruce’s favorite episodes? S2; EP1 “To Catch a Mongoose”
• S2; EP21: “Burn Out” -- and the scene where Lee slaps Amanda. How did that feel for Kate -- and Bruce?

So, join Susan and Sharon -- and Bruce -- as they talk Beverly Garland, James Garner, quirky humor, Scotland Yard, Lee Stetson’s wardrobe, “When should we kiss?”  -- and what happened the day Moonlighting premiered!

Make sure to join us NEXT EPISODE for Part Two of our conversation with Bruce Boxleitner!

AUDIO-OGRAPHY
Find out more about Bruce Boxleitner at Facebook.com 
Follow him at Instagram.com/BoxleitnerBruce
Catch him on Cameo at Cameo.com/BoxleitnerBruce

Watch S2, Ep. 21: Burn out on Tubi

Read the NY Times review of Bruce’s 1973 Broadway play debut, Status Quo Vadis. And guess who else was in the cast? (Hint: Sam from Cheers!)   

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 a 2024 Podcast Award Winner! We WON for Best Film & TV. Thank you Podcast Awards!
REMEMBER: Register or Check your US Election Registration at Vote.org
Make a plan to Vote. Check out Ballot Ready.

• This year is the 45th anniversary of President Carter's Crisis of Confidence speech. Read Susan’s new play about the speech and the confidence it takes to be president in challenging times: Confidence (and the Speech) at Broadway Licensing.

‘The Princess Diaries’, ‘Romy & Michelle’, ‘10 Things I Hate About You’, ‘Clueless’… Whenever I think my work doesn’t mean anything to anyone at any time and never will… somebody says to me, ‘Those movies -- I watched them and I showed them to my kid.” -- Casting Director Marcia Ross

In Part Two of our conversation with Casting Director Marcia Ross, Susan and Sharon discuss the changing business of Hollywood, favorite finds, shrinking budgets, and going from in-person auditions -- to auditioning on tape -- to just clicking on a link…      

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

• To cast the pilot of Models Inc. , they auditioned “one thousand women” -- including Carrie Anne Moss!
• Angelina Jolie didn’t get cast -- because she “didn’t have the right look” according to Aaron Spelling.
• 8TL's own producer Melissa Roth worked on Models Inc, too -- as a camera assistant!
• Casting Princess Diaries: Anne Hathaway was perfect because “you had to believe she could be both things. (a real person and a princess)”
• Chris Pine in Princess Diaries 2: “He read for me and I was like, “Can you come back this afternoon?” He was an unknown, but within a day he had the part.
• The challenge of casting sequels -- how are you gonna get everyone back?
• BURNING BRIDGES: How do you tell your star Jeff Bridges that the actress he wants you to cast… just isn’t right?
• Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion -- Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino got the lead roles … but SNL's Will Ferrel and Chris Kattan ended up on the cutting room floor.
• “It’s a hard business. And it’s hard to have longevity because people always want the next new thing.”

So, join Susan and Sharon -- and Marcia -- as they talk Jean Smart, Jeremy Renner, Lizzie McGuire, Julie Andrews, Johnny Depp, Scarecrow & Mrs. King -- and watching The Flintstones Friday nights at 7:30!

AUDIO-OGRAPHY
Find out more about Marcia Ross and Jeff Kaufman’s documentary film work at FloatingWorldPictures.com.
To see Nasrin, go to NasrinFilm.com
Watch the Terrence McNally documentary Every Act of Life on YouTube, Amazon, or Apple.
or search on Roku.

Need some 80s TV Ladies merch?!? Check out our GRAND OPENING SALE.

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.

BREAKING NEWS
We just won Best TV & Film podcast at the People’s Choice Podcast Awards!
Thank you to all who voted and to all our listeners and guests.

VOTE
Registration deadlines are coming up! Register or Check your US Election Registration at Vote.org

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.

“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 

Need some 80s TV Ladies merch?!? Check out our GRAND OPENING SALE.

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.

BREAKING NEWS
We just won Best TV & Film podcast at the People’s Choice Podcast Awards!
Thank you to all who voted and to all our listeners and guests.

VOTE
Registration deadlines are coming up! Register or Check your US Election Registration at Vote.org

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.