GAME OF THE NAME - FELDON'S FEMME FATALES

The Toobworld Dynamic is always in a state of flux; it's the nature of the beast.  Countless times TV scriptwriters have changed the histories or characteristics of the characters in their shows, leaving plenty of Zonks behind in their wake.  (Which is good for a Caretaker such as myself - gives me lots of splainins to do!)  

And so it is with the TwD.  Brilliant ideas and theories I came up with years ago can be subject to revision if they re-enter my memory banks later on.  

Such is the case with a theory I once held about Agent 99 of 'Get Smart'.  It used to be my contention that this loverly member of the Television Crossover Hall of Fame would once a year cheat on her husband, Maxwell Smart, with a former baseball player turned Boston bartender, Sam Malone.  And because she had become a United States senator, she would use an assumed name - Lauren Hudson.

But no more.  I think Mrs. Hudson and Agent 99 are two different women.  (And luckily, this has no bearing on 99's standing in the TVXOHOF.  She still has enough credentials to qualify.)

Instead, I think this one-shot character played by Barbara Feldon is another TV character seen only once - Cynthia Hampton.

When we saw Cynthia, she was a young*, idealized radical intent on saving the Earth from polluters like her own father.  While at a protest rally at the Hampton Chemicals plant in Los Angeles, Cynthia struck a policeman and then went on the run.  Paul Tyler, a reporter for People Magazine, was able to track her down and gain her confidence, while at the same time saving her from making a big mistake in Life (and getting a story out of it to boot!)

Years later, after Cynthia had mellowed out from her free-wheelin' past, she married a man named Hudson and decided to put her past fully behind her by changing her first name as well as her last.  She chose to be known as "Lauren", which is probably her middle name.  And when she was meeting with Sam for those once-a-year trysts, her wealth was probably due to inheriting her father's corporation.  (At which time, perhaps she was finally able to change the way that Hampton Chemicals did business....)

Unfortunately, this new theory loses that quick link between 'Cheers' and 'Get Smart', but I'm sure there must be another one out there, even if it has to take the scenic route to get there.  At least I'm still clinging to the belief that Agent 99 is really Mandy Stephenson from an episode of 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E'......

SHOWS CITED:

'The Name Of The Game' - "Cynthia Is Alive And Living In Avalon"

'Cheers' - "Sam Time, Next Year"

BCnU!

* Barbara Feldon was playing Cynthia as though she was at least seven years younger than her actual age in the real world.....