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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: May 30, 1958
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: In television, as in life, the legend is often more important than the truth. It sometimes tells the truer story, facts be damned. The facts say that there were a lot of factors that killed Moonlighting and that the myth that putting a will-they-or-won’t-they couple together will kill a show is just that: a myth. But the legend persists, and to this day people still talk about the “Moonlighting Curse.”
Which brings us to Ted McGinley. Poor Ted McGinley. By all accounts a fine actor whose career has been long and distinguished. Certainly, among the original cast of Revenge of the Nerds, McGinley’s career is going the strongest (or at least it rivals Anthony Edwards’s). But if you’ve ever heard McGinley’s name in conversation, it’s probably due to the legend surrounding his reputation. For Ted McGinley is a killer. A show-killer, that is. After having popped up on a few long-running shows in their waning months/years (Happy Days being the most prominent, but there was also The Love Boat and Dynasty), McGinley began to be known via tongue-in-cheek observations as the greatest show-killer of all time.
Does the evidence bear this out? …Not entirely. Both Happy Days and The Love Boat lasted about 60 episodes once McGinley was cast. Even by the old longer-seasons standards of TV, that’s a lot of episodes. Married…With Children lasted eight years and 167 episodes from the point that McGinley was cast as Marcy’s second husband, which by all rights should have put the show-killer thing to rest forever. And can we really blame McGinley for Sports Night being the brilliant-but-cancelled brief gem that it was? (Though I suppose the Ted McGinley Show-Killer thing isn’t about blame as much as it is about cosmic justice.) But if even a nondescript sitcom like Hope & Faith can last for 73 episodes past the Curse of McGinley settling on their doorstep, maybe we can call the show-killer thing debunked?
Except … the legend is more fun, isn’t it? It’s fun to shriek and point like you just saw the boogeyman when Ted McGinley shows up on one of your beloved TV shows (remember when he showed up on Mad Men??). “NOT THIS ONE, McGINLEY!” you can shout to an empty room, thus taking part in one of Hollywood’s most long-standing (but false) myths. Happy birthday, Ted McGinley. You’re no killer, but you’ve given us lots to talk about.
