What started this: McLean Stevenson was on one of the “Match Game” reruns last night.
I got to wondering: what was the motivating concept behind “Hello, Larry”? I knew he was a single dad raising two daughters, but was he a widower, or divorced?
(I also knew that this is more thought than my entire readership combined has put into “Hello, Larry” since I started this blog. Onward!)
Answer: he was divorced, and his ex-wife (played by Shelly Fabares, who is still alive, and a “Mannix” alumnae) shows up in season 2.
But that’s not the dumb trivia. Here’s the dumb trivia: “Hello, Larry” was not a “Diff’rent Strokes.” spinoff.
Even though there were “Diff’rent Strokes”/”Hello, Larry” crossover episodes, “Hello, Larry” was not conceived of as a spinoff. The crossover episodes were intended to increase “Larry”‘s ratings, so the showrunners decided that Larry Alder and Mr. Drummond were…
…wait for it…
…Yes! “old Army buddies”! (“with Drummond’s company becoming the new owners of Larry’s radio station”).
I wonder if they got the idea from Shelly Fabares.
I have always loved Shelly Fabares. Even the last time I saw her on some talk show, getting interviewed, probably over 5 years ago, she still had the look of a beauty. And as far as Hello Larry, back then, I still watched sitcoms, and so while that was not one of the regular ones for me, I did see it on occasion.
My wife will watch reruns of sitcoms to this day, from Seinfeld, to Friends, Mike and Molly, the Big Bang Theory, etc. Myself, I never liked them on the first run, so I mostly ignore them if she has them on, instead I will skip around on the internet, expanding my mind by reading the vast amount of knowledge available that I wish I had growing up.
Of course, let’s not kid ourselves, if the internet existed when I was a teen, I would have spent my every waking moment watching free porn, not seeking knowledge. Lucky for me, my parents had a vast book collection, and I was a huge reader, reading their collection of books more than once. Plus the dictionary, encyclopedia, and the King James Bible.
It has given me a lifetime love of learning, so the internet is an amazing thing, provided one understands the difference between fact and opinion.