The weird part is, to my knowledge, he started in Happy Days (to my memory) and never aged across all of those decades. I hear he suffered from Dick Clark disease (inability to age). Ryan Seacrest suffers from it.
Ted McGinley joined Happy Days in 1980, the show ran another 4 years and Mcginley was in 61 episodes. He joined The Love Boat in 1983 and the show ran until 1987. He was in 60 episodes. Married With Children? 1989 to 1997. 167 episodes. There are a lot of sitcoms that would love to be cursed with that long of a run.
I can never understand why Ted McGinly gets a reputation for being a sitcom killer. From the work I've seen, he's done a good job. His stint on Married With Children lasted for seven seasons, which is a long time in sitcom land.
He is not the curse. He is the talent that execs run to to try and rescue their failing show. Sometimes he did; Jefferson laughing at Als jokes behind Marci's back? Great stuff!
@@TheFailedmessiah Lol that's how the Jays one their first world series, they had that one dude slide on his face and cut up his chin for a run, and threw in some google face glasses dude to pitch to exhaust the other team., or that one Rando who manages to tackle occasionally, or catch and run a few extra important yards to rest the Downs, during critical last minute run the clock tactics, or perhaps tying the game (extremely rare). So called Rudy from "Rudy" just tackles GA Tech, even though he didn't have to . Think of McGinty as those really cool jobbers for wrestling who act as the "Rodeo Clown"s of Pro Wrestling. They act as really healthy filler (watched this one dude in Edmonton called Chi-Chi Rodregiuz come in multiple times), they get the crowd rowed up for the main events). Studio makes a clean few millions, the actors get their contract extended. I'd say throw this guy into a Netflix production, and see him extend all those series that we keep on begging to be extended.Yeah.... he really should do that, be this famiiliar face on Netflix. Perhaps he'd even extend that old dying service what with all the people leaving heart broken by their series ending so soon.
@@ahhamartin Wow, I heard about hospitals doing that. If someone died from anything who just happened to test positive for COVID, their death was listed as a Covid death. That's crazy !!
I think that with that car crash thing... they crashed because covid made them cough, which caused them to lose focus and then eventually lead to the car crash. Anyway, that's the excuse i like to tell myself in order to get self induced endorphins. Lol. (I agree with you. People place unnecessary blame on the wrong people).
@@ahhamartin Yes. So Corrupt. And just to get rid of Trump, Fauci with help, created a dangerous virus that killed thousands of people and thousands of jobs unnecessarily by exploiting it to the point of govt tyranny against people being totally acceptable by the left. Then they blamed Trump and all the Trump haters were happy to believe it or want to believe it. It is so stupid and tragic it's hard to believe it really happened in the USA.
Then Kelly comes home from a night out and she sets the workbench up in a matter of seconds. Jefferson and Al spent a whole night trying to put it together. 😂
Married with Children? Ted was part of the best comedy skit of one of the biggest comedy skits ever: When he and Marcy dressed up like Al and Peggy Bandy for sex roll-play. Those two were AH-MAZING.
I remember seeing him appear on a show and thinking, "Uh-oh, The ratings must be slipping." He was the fireman who turned up too late to save the house. He didn't cause the ratings to slip, they were already sliding.
Quit calling Ted the sitcom killer. He had hard job really, being on shows that were already tanking and trying to save them. He did an awesome job on married with children.
@@MSG685 There's a season 6 or season 7 (i forget which) episode where Kelly gets a job at TV land or something, a retro tv theme park basically. the children of the park keep following Jefferson and asking him about being on the Loveboat, happy days, etc
Happy Days was coughing up blood long before Roger showed up, and Jefferson was a welcome addition to MWC ... if, for no other reason than that he gave us Marcy D'Arcy.
I remember I would watch Happy Days reruns in the morning before I went to school. I don't even remember disliking Roger, then again I don't remember much about him at all. For some reason I keep remembering he was mad at Fonz one episode and admitted it was because he was jealous that teaching seemed to come more naturally for him because he related to kids better than Roger did.
I loved the few episodes of 'Married...' where it was referenced he was on 'Happy Days' and he denied it. 'Married...' always had inside 'jokes' like that with pop culture figures. That was why he was so at home on 'Married...'
I look at Ted like this: A TV show knows it is past its prime. To breath life into it (and keep paychecks coming) they hire an actor who is versatile enough to do drama and comedy, handsome enough to be romantic lead, believable if he needs to be tough, but also willing to be silly and act stupid if part calls for it. That’s McKinley. He gave writers a lot of options in the established shows he entered, extending life to franchises running on fumes. Instead of Sitcom Killer, he was The Recitation Kid, the CPR or mouth-to-mouth to shows about to keel over.
Married with children was the only show that he didn't kill. It actually got better especially since Jefferson D'Arcy had more chemistry with Al, despite him still caving to Marcy. He also played a smaller role as the husband in a what if scene.
He was great at playing Jefferson on Married With Children. I love it when Al used to insult Marcy, and instead of Jefferson defending her honor, he just laughed 😅
Had to click on this because i remember the old “jump the shark” website had a special section for shows ruined by Ted McGinley 😂 Love that you covered that in this video haha. It’s a shame that this website isn’t still around.
I think what happened with Ted is that he was really likeable, and so when producers felt a TV series was faltering, they tried to inject Ted into it, in the hopes of helping the series last longer.
Without Jefferson, we'd still have Marcy Rhoades instead of the much funnier Marcy Darcy. Also Jefferson was a much better sidekick to Al's shenanigans than the much more straight-laced Steve, who took a while to bring around.
his greatest role was Jefferson Darcy. he did have a cameo prior to that as Jablonski, Peg's husband on the christmas episode where Al helps his angel (sam kinison) get his wings.
When I was growing up in the late 70s and early 80s, anything with him in it was an immediate watch. I enjoyed his work and thought he was a great actor.
the shows were all dying when he got there. except married. i would say he was perfect on that show and it only did better because of him. stan gable is the man
I think the same way on the shows having low ratings before he joined. Other actors like, Blair Underwood, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and Michael Ealy either coming into a show that's ending or having a show of their own, that was canceled.
McGinley was actually an upgrade to 'Married With Children'...much better "husband" for Marcie as he played a great sidekick to Al, and was eager to take pleasure in Al's jabs at Marcie. As to 'Happy Days' and 'Love Boat', I was already long outgrowing those shows by Ted's introduction...teen years ; ) Also...any show that has to breathe new life into it with the introduction of new and UNUSUAL characters, TED was a replacement not an addition, is on it's descent ...'Brady Bunch' with "cousin Oliver".
Seems like a nice enough guy, and he was especially good on Married with Children (and Revenge of the Nerds). But I remember HATING McGinley as a little third grade kid, thinking he replaced Ritchie Cunningham and ruined Happy Days.
I always liked him in anything he was in. I grew up watching married with children and happy days reruns. Although he can’t be compared to his amazing actor cousin Dr.Cox…I mean John C. McGinley haha. Now that man has had a prolific career haha. He was one of the traitorous marines in The Rock, one of the Bob’s in office space, the FBI Director in the classic Point Break, the SWAT guy in Se7en that finds the Sloth victim, and of course Dr.Cox, JD’s nemesis/best friend-mentor.
@@transformerstuff7029there plenty of Amanda bearse / ed O'Neill uploads here on yt. I think the Dan Patrick or Rich eisen one explains the outline well
@@johansvensson833 yea thats what I thought, I thought it just naturally ran it's course. That show was on for a long time and at a certain moment you just jump the shark.
Didn't help that the shows creators dipped out on the final season. The cast thought they were getting one more season to end it but Fox canceled it. Also it was partly Foxs' fault that the final season tanked since they moved their timeslot 3 times that made fans stop watching since they didn't know what day it was airing.
Sports Night, regardless of MCGinley, was one of the all time BEST shows on television. The writing was phenomenal, and the acting was spectacular. It deserved more than two seasons.
Ted was always solid. That's why he's been on so many shows over the years. The man always has a job...and he's kept that up since the 1970s. That's an insane accomplishment....
Great video. I didn't know his name but i do remember seeing him in alot of shows. Yeah i don't think it was a curse either, just coincidental timing of him joining shows as they were about to end anyway.
0:12 his first episode was my favorite episode. Marcy deserved a new husband 💯. I was hoping they didn't try to write her off. Or add some new neighbors
I loved the part, in Married With Children, at the Theme Park, in which the young kids as Ted McGinley yells at them, after they asked him if Jefferson Darcy was his name on Happy Days or Love Boat, because, prior to Married With Children, he was a replacement for Ron Howard/Happy Days & was the replacement for Gopher's character on Love Boat. LOL
i liked him better than steve on married.... i think after 5 years people start getting tired with shows and want something new. these shows were already declining in views before he came in to replace people that quit.
I'll never forget that first episode with Jefferson when Marcy's talking to Peggy about waking up married to a stranger. She says "Peggy, I don't know my husband!" Peg responds as only she can with "Who does, and who wants to?" Then "Who cares who he is? Look at him, he's gorgeous. I say saddle up, ride, and if he breaks a leg, shoot him!" 😂❤
@@GeminiladyJackson-xq6hc There was a short lived Sherwood Schwartz show Robbie "Cousin Oliver" Rist did in 1976-1977 called 'Big John, Little John" and Herb Edelman played Robbie's father, but it would have been perfect if John Denver played his dad but John Denver was busy singing and playing straight man to "God" in the movies.
I definitely noticed he would be added to the cast when a television show is on a decline But he nailed it in married with children. He was a great addition to that cast..
Ted was cursed with leading man looks but he's never gotten the respect he deserves, good to see he has a positive attitude about the whole thing and takes it in stride because like you said he is still acting while many other actors have been left by the wayside. I should mention actress Rena Sofer who has striking blue eyes and started out in soap operas then later segued to many sitcoms and dramas she on occasion has been referred to as the female version of Ted McGinley when it came to sitcom killer.
To be fair these shows were on their way out when he replaced them all from John Travolta to Ron Howard to do it on married with children they were really on their way out
Excellent report. Loved this Actor. Always funny when he showed up on a show, it was time to go. "Always wished he did Sci Fi.. He would have made a great Captain, choose your show.
My favorite Ted McGinley moment happened when was on "Married With Children". He's at the airport arriving from a trip and there are women screaming at him and grabbing his clothes and he's saying to them: "No! I was not on 'Happy Days'. I was not on 'The Love Boat'". That's funny!
Batman The Brave and the Bold had fun with this: When Bat-Mite was trying to get the show canceled, one of the things he did was replace popular character Aquaman's voice actor, switching it from John DiMaggio to Ted McGinley.
Ted McGinley is a legend as far as Im concerned. He successfully followed Steve and that was a nearly impossible feat to pull off, but not only did he do it, the show wouldn't have been the same without him!
1. Married With Children is hands down the greatest sitcom in history. 2. Jefferson D'arcy is easily the 2nd best character of the show. 3. Ted breathed fresh life into the show when he joined, and he played Jefferson in a way that fit Ed O'neil's Al Bundy to a T. They are one of the all-time great sitcom duos, probably the only duo to come out of the 90's. Ted McGinley was no curse. He was a blessing.
Every show Ted McGinley guest starred on continued to last longer after that than the entire run of Firefly. And Revenge of the Nerds got FOUR movies. That's more than anything Michael J Fox starred in. He's tied with Will Smith, who was in 3 of the 4 Men in Black movies. Although Revenge of the Nerds didn't get an animated series. YET !
