Saturday, July 23, 2011

More Random TV GUIDE Ads - 9 to 5

Just got home from seeing the great Dolly Parton at the Hollywood Bowl. Her final (before the encore) number for the evening was the theme from 9 TO 5 - one of funniest movies ever made. The movie was later adapted into a TV series for ABC starring Rita Moreno (in the Lily Tomlin role), Valerie Curtain (in the Jane Fonda role) and Dolly's own lookalike sister Rachel Dennison as Doralee. After ABC axed the show it lived on in syndication with Sally Struthers replacing Moreno (oddly, I had seen Struthers & Moreno on Broadway in a version of THE ODD COUPLE). Jeffrey Tambor originated the Dabney Coleman role, only to be replaced by BOB NEWHART's Peter Bonerz and UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS legend Jean Marsh took over the supporting role of Roz. Other actors who came and went during the six-year run included Edward Winter, Leah Ayres, Herb Edelman and Nicholas Coster. The show was rarely repeated and has never been released on VHS or DVD. Wonder if Rita Moreno actually wears a Wonder Woman costume in this episode.

1 comment:

R.A.M.'67 said...

This is a great image, Doug!

The quality of the artwork, along with the injection of humor, makes me think this is the work of illustrator Drew Friedman. If this is the case, I think this guy did more than a few network ads for TV GUIDE, if my memory is correct.

Check your archives for more stuff like this; it'll be cool to see what you find!

How much spicier things would've been if they cast Rita Moreno as Wonder Woman instead of Linda Carter! ;o)