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Ted McGinley as Roger Phillips on "Happy Days". Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0596229/ (May be subject to copyright) |
These happy days
“Happy Days" had become a popular sitcom, Tuesday nights on CBC Channel 9. It was all the talk on the school bus the morning after every new episode aired.
“Happy Days" had become a popular sitcom, Tuesday nights on CBC Channel 9. It was all the talk on the school bus the morning after every new episode aired.
Then things changed when Ron Howard left the show. He, along with Henry Winkler’s character Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli, had been the stars of the show.
No one could really replace Richie Cunningham, because he had a special bond with “The Fonz”, and no one ever really did.
However, the producers introduced a new character. He had been a high school and college basketball star who got a rude awakening when he tried out for the Los Angeles Lakers and went up against the likes of Elgin Baylor and Jerry West.
Now, he was in Milwaukee, teaching school, coaching basketball and living with his aunt and uncle Marion and Howard Cunningham.
It was only a matter of time he would run into “The Fonz”, and of course friction ensued, but they would become friends.
Ted McGinley played that character, Roger Phillips, and he stayed with “Happy Days” until it went off the air in 1984
But he was not unemployed for long.
Shooting the stars
McGinley landed a role on “The Love Boat”, an hour-long comedy set on a cruise ship. Each episode featured three story lines running concurrently. He would play Ashley “Ace” Covington Evans, the ship’s photographer. He would remain with the show until it went off the air in 1986.
McGinley landed a role on “The Love Boat”, an hour-long comedy set on a cruise ship. Each episode featured three story lines running concurrently. He would play Ashley “Ace” Covington Evans, the ship’s photographer. He would remain with the show until it went off the air in 1986.
Oddly, a few days ago I was seeing what was on my on-demand service and saw “The Love Boat”. I was trying to scroll through some episodes, but inadvertently started playing one. I stayed long enough to watch the opening credits where I saw Ted McGinley as the ship’s photographer.
It was the first time I saw him on “The Love Boat” because two things had happened. One, I kind of stopped watching the show, because I was in high school and life just got busier. The other was that Channel 13 stopped airing the show on peasant vision. I could only see it if I knew someone who had cable TV.
Dynasty days
After “The Love Boat” ended, Ted McGinley joined the cast of the nighttime soap opera “Dynasty”. He appeared in 31 episodes in the 1986-1987 season, before he was written out of the show.
After “The Love Boat” ended, Ted McGinley joined the cast of the nighttime soap opera “Dynasty”. He appeared in 31 episodes in the 1986-1987 season, before he was written out of the show.
I had watched “Dynasty” religiously until a season before that. I could tell I stopped after the 1984-1985 season because it ended with this big massacre in a fictitious country. I never watched another episode, although my Mom filled me in on who survived that cliff-hanger. By the 1985-1986 season, I was in Grade 11, and hanging out more with my friends, talking to them on the phone, and mooning over girls. I had much less time for TV, and less interest.
Next door neighbour
McGinley has been in a lot of Apple-TV productions lately, where he has played supporting characters who are funny, kind of cartoon-like, and can be just a bit creepy or inappropriate.
McGinley has been in a lot of Apple-TV productions lately, where he has played supporting characters who are funny, kind of cartoon-like, and can be just a bit creepy or inappropriate.
This part of his career really got started when the FOX network launched a sitcom like none other in 1987, that would leave its mark on television. It was called “Married, with Children” and focused on the Bundy family – dad Al, mom Peggy, son Bud, and daughter Kelly.
McGinley would join the cast in 1987, playing “Jefferson D’Arcy”, the second husband of the Bundys’ neighbour Marcy. Wikipedia describes D’Arcy as a white-collar criminal who became her trophy husband and lead character Al Bundy’s sidekick.
The years after
Ted Mcginley also played in the movies “Young Doctors in Love” in 1982; “Revenge of the Nerds” in 1984; and “Troop Beverly Hills” in 1989. His movie career continued on in the years after.
Ted Mcginley also played in the movies “Young Doctors in Love” in 1982; “Revenge of the Nerds” in 1984; and “Troop Beverly Hills” in 1989. His movie career continued on in the years after.
He has appeared in dozens of movies including “Wayne’s World 2”; “Major League: Back to the Minors”; and “Pearl Harbor”.
The same went for his TV career where, in the years after, he had a recurring role in “Hope and Faith”, and guest spots in everything from “Evening Shade”; Baby Talk” and “The John Larroquette Show” to “Sports Night”; “The West Wing”: “The Practice”; “Family Guy”; “’Til Death”; “Psych”; “The Mentalist”; “Mad Men”; and “Castle”.
Parting thoughts
It seems like Ted McGinley is hitting his stride now, as a middle-aged supporting actor playing roles that are over the top, funny and, at times, just a bit creepy.
It seems like Ted McGinley is hitting his stride now, as a middle-aged supporting actor playing roles that are over the top, funny and, at times, just a bit creepy.
What inspired me to reflect on the career of Ted McGinley was seeing him in the popular Apple-TV production “Shrinking”. What drove the point home was in the midst of the two-week percolation of this post, he appeared again, this time as a cartoon-like restaurant tycoon named Johnny Rev in the Seth Rogen Apple-TV comedy “Platonic”.
Yet, what set the stage for all these great roles was that basketball coach in Milwaukee and nephew of Howard and Marion Cunningham.
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