The Sheila Variations

And he's like a Navy admiral or something too. That makes it particularly funny.

Maybe they were testing the effects of the quantum chamber on different fabrics ... ?

Silly content rocks.

Yes, and also an ex-astronaut!

I love it when he shows up in pajamas. He's such a DANDY, it's hilarious. Like: gold shoes? What are you, a pimp??

I love it when Sci-Fi runs a Quantum Leap marathon. Anything I had planned for the day just goes out the window. I'm sucked into the show. Even though the last couple of seasons suffered a litter overhandedness, it was still such a great show.

The outfits for no apparent reason just add to that.

Little overhandedness, that is.

Cullen - I know, it's a bit irresistible, the show. You can't just watch one episode!

Yeah, I like the silly aspect of the show - but it's also fun when it touches on reality - like the moment where they realize the geek with the guitar is actually Buddy Holly as a young boy. Kinda silly, but you know, fun.

I think the character of Al - with the cigar, and the parade of women back in the present-day - his complicated social life, a different girl every night - is crucial to the show working. LIke: even though he's a hologram, we're totally like: Now what is going on with HIM?

He shows up with hangovers. He shows up with one girl in the closet "back home" hiding from his girlfriend. He has all of these problems that distract him from doing his job.

Imagine if he had been written as a regular on top of it professional - ... the show would have been so boring, I think. It's funnier and more interesting to have him be a wee bit of a mess at all times. So he's not completely reliable.

Oh - and that element saves the show from its rather didactic streak, which it definitely has. Like a Touched By an Angel didactic streak. i mean, obviously that makes good television (making things right, correcting mistakes, blah blah) - but having the dude who is controlling the project be a lascivious rumpled yet dandy sleep-deprived ex-astronaut - who is willing to abandon Sam at the drop of a hat if a call from his girlfriend comes in ... keeps the tone of the show a bit lighter than it might have been otherwise.

Oh my God, I am talking about this so seriously.

Oh well. I'm happy.

Carry on!

Every serious topic needs its comic relief.

Stockwell was perfect in the role.

This was the first show that Tom and I had as "our show". We would literally rush home and make yummy food for it.Other shows in our relationship have included "The X Files", "Mad About You"(we would always make grilled chicken caeser salad and a bottle of chardonnay for that show). Of course, "The Sopranos" demanded that we cook different forms of Italian food each week that it aired, along with experimenting with a new chianti to go along with the food. The first and last episodes of the season got extra special dishes. I am in a bit of mourning now that the show is over, I must tell you. Although, I think "Psych" might be our *new* show. Friday nights, homemade pizza...maybe some microbrews? It might work....

Ohh Beth, microbrews, homemade pizza and you two? Can I come over?? It'll be just like Breezy Corners days, except without the drunk and stoned runaway girls.

I love that you all had Sopranos night - so great!!

"By the way, the more frivolous my blog appears, the sillier the content, the more intense and fun and interesting my REAL life is. Just so ya know. This is how I let off steam ..."

This just makes me wonder what is going on when you post 47 serious Alexander Hamilton/Thomas Jefferson/George Washington posts---Not to mention the Robert Conquest or gulag reflections. "She hasn't gotten out of her pajamas for 2 weeks!" LOL.

Oh my God, I am talking about this so seriously.

That's why it's AWESOME! He had some GREAT costumes. Didn't they actually show him in his navy uniform once? Hotness, yo.
The closes were part of what made the show awesome. I love how his clothes always have a future-take-on-X-decade look. They never look *jsut* futuristic but they look like a futuristic take on the past.
Oh, and the hieroglyphics sash? I've never seen that one, but it looks BRILLIANT!
I think it might be time to add Quantum Leap DVDs to my amazon wish list for future reference.

Marti:

Hotness, yo, indeed!!

And yeah, the metallic theme he's got going on - or the shimmery bolo ties - like, they seem allllmost right, but ... he looks like a spaceman half the time.

It's just so amusing.

The hieroglyphics sash is so ridiculous - see the cigar stuck into the belt??

I do have to admit that I really want the coat he's wearing in the first picture, though

yo!

don't mean to change the subject, but thank you for my gift, sheil-beil-bo-beil!

we were already having a little pre b-day party coz cash spends wknds w/mom so i actually got a present to open!!!

yay! i can honestly say that i have never gotten something that i absolutely didn't expect. until now! AWESOME!

Bren - yay, it arrived???

I can't wait to hear if it's as good as we remembered!

Happy pre-birthday!

speaking of quantum leap, it has always been connected someway in my mind to macgyver...like, they ought to have been total cheese-fests, but somehow they achieved a little bit more.

oh, and have you seen 'burn notice' yet? jeff donovan's series? it is REALLY good...speaking of good-tv-cheese...

Bren - no, I haven't seen it yet - just the commercials and the posters which are EVERYWHERE in New York. I'm like ... Hey, Jeff! Whassup?

The series looks like a lot of fun!

And yeah, I loved Macgyver too.

I think one of the reasons why these shows worked (at least for me) is that they were not overly earnest.

I hate earnest television. I dislike earnestness in general. Or at least - I don't find earnest art interesting in the slightest. Yawn.

There's something snarky and clever and intelligent about Macgyver and Quantum Leap and others - they so could easily have become big fat drips!!

I can't believe you guys are missing the significance of the hieroglyphics sash?!!

Sam was in trouble ('they' were going to cancel the project, stranding him) and Al wasn't allowed to tell Sam - they were testing him. So Al, knowing one of Sam's PHD's was in Egyptian Studies, wrote him a warning in the hieroglyphics and wore the warning as a sash.

I mean yea, his wardrobe was out there, but oh-so-functional too!

I especially loved that, in the series finale, Sam essentially sacrifices himself to save Al from the life he has led for the whole series - the "lascivious rumpled yet dandy sleep-deprived ex-astronaut" by going back to the time when Al's then-wife gives up on him ever returning from Vietnam and marries someone else.

So, in the end, the series ends up being about Al and not Sam.

I've been absolutely loving all the Dean Stockwell obsessing, Sheila. I loved his work in Quantum Leap but knew next to nothing about the rest of his career. What a goldmine you've provided.

Paul

Paul - ahhhh, you are a true fan of the show - hooray!! I love it that you remember plot points!! Very good.

I have barely seen this show since its original airing - so it's been SO much fun seeing them again. I do remember quite a bit of it, but much had been lost.

And back to Al: there are moments where you get glimpses of the depths beneath Al's surface - but it's typical Stockwell acting, totally underplayed, not actor-y, subtle, funny, never self-indulgent - really good. Like, that character is revealed slowly - we think we know who he is, and he IS that, to some extent - but to another extent, it's all a cover-up. When he says he never loved after his first wife - or, he's only said i love you once and he'll never say it again, etc. It's that kind of detailed stuff that makes you remember a character. And love him. I love that character.

And yes, that hieroglyphics scene was hilarious!! He's "virtually" dragged out of the room backyards, shouting in protest. hahahaha

Oh, and Paul - you are most welcome. It's been so fun to get to know his work again, love him!! And it's great to have fans come out of the woodwork ... that's the best thing about obsessions.

Next week I am going to see Kim - Dean Stockwell starred in the version of the Rudyard Kipling poem/story - well, Errol Flynn was the bigger star, but Stockwell was the co-star - again, i remember seeing Kim as a kid, like i saw most of his old movies - but it's been decades since I've seen it!

Kim was done in 1950 - Stockwell is 14 years old in it, or something like that. I'm looking forward to seeing it again!

Aw, it was great seeing some of those outfits again! The only episode I remember, b/c it really enthralled me, was the one where he was doing "Man of La Mancha" with the woman who was his piano teacher (whom he had a crush on while a young student). Being a sappy teen who had never seen the musical I found it absolutely stunning and bittersweet.

And I just remembered my art student buddy drawing a single cartoon frame with Sam having "leapt" into a sheep, calling out for Al ("What happened!?"). . . God, we were silly kids.

I did notice that cigar. Hee! Youmust know that your crush is infectious. I found myself recording Kim the other night just to see little Stockwell. Adoreable!

Marti: haha!!! i love infectious crushes.

Kim is actually arriving in my mailbox tomorrow. I can't wait! I had to have been 9 years old when I saw it last - so I'm psyched.

Gotta love the fedora!

And I am a dual fan (Quantum Leap/MacGyver) too!

I love your blog!

kikinchick - Oh, the fedora is killer!
Thanks for reading!