Friday, March 2, 2018

JULIANNE & THE TVXOHOF - ONE DOWN, TWO MOORE TO GO


Let's take a look at a member of the League of Themselves taking her first step toward eventual induction into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.


From Wikipedia:
Julianne Moore (born Julie Anne Smith; December 3, 1960) is an American actress, prolific in films since the early 1990s. She is particularly known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in both independent and Hollywood films, and has received many accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actress.

After studying theatre at Boston University, Moore began her career with a series of television roles. From 1985 to 1988, she was a regular in the soap opera 'As the World Turns', earning a Daytime Emmy for her performance. Her film debut was in "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" (1990), and she continued to play small roles for the next four years – including in the thriller "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" (1992). Moore first received critical attention with Robert Altman's "Short Cuts" (1993), and successive performances in "Vanya" on 42nd Street (1994) and "Safe" (1995) continued this acclaim. Starring roles in the blockbusters "Nine Months" (1995) and "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (1997) established her as a leading actress in Hollywood.

Moore received considerable recognition in the late 1990s and early 2000s, earning Oscar nominations for "Boogie Nights" (1997), "The End of the Affair" (1999), "Far from Heaven" (2002) and "The Hours" (2002). In the first of these she played a 1970s pornographic actress, while the other three featured her as an unhappy, mid-20th century housewife. She also had success with the films "The Big Lebowski" (1998), "Magnolia" (1999), "Hannibal" (2001), "Children of Men" (2006), "A Single Man" (2009), "The Kids Are All Right" (2010), and "Crazy, Stupid, Love" (2011), and won several awards for her portrayal of Sarah Palin in the television film "Game Change" (2012). The year 2014 was key for Moore, as she gave an Oscar-winning performance as an Alzheimer's patient in "Still Alice", was named Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for "Maps to the Stars", and joined the lucrative "Hunger Games" series.

In addition to acting, Moore has written a series of children's books about a character named "Freckleface Strawberry". She is married to director Bart Freundlich, with whom she has two children. 



Along with 'As The World Turns' and 'Game Change', she also had a recurring role on '30 Rock'.  But surprisingly for someone who is so recognizable with that red hair, I'm surprised Ms. Moore has not shown up in more TV shows as herself.  And as her star was ascending, there were plenty of shows in which her League of Themselves televersion would have fit right in - 'Entourage', 'Night Stand', 'Episodes', 'The Comeback', 'Extras', 'Muppets Tonight', and best of all,  'The Larry Sanders Show'.  Even after playing her character on '30 Rock', they could have brought her in as herself for an episode about mistaken identities.  I wonder if she was just too busy.  Or maybe no one thought to ask her.

But maybe that's all changing.


'NIGHTCAP'
"SINGLE WHITE STACI"

From IMDb:
Julianne Moore is shadowing Staci to prepare for a role in an indie film. Acting anything but natural, Staci goes on an awkward lunch date with Donny Deutsch. Todd consults Barbara Corcoran and Dr. Oz about donating his body fat to Jimmy for a cosmetic procedure.

This June 2017 episode serves as a great example for my vision of a TV Universe in considering celebrities playing themselves to be valid crossover potential as any fictional character.  These people "caught in the act of being themselves" are just as fictional as the characters with whom they interact.  They not only meet those fictional characters, but they travel to places which don't really exist (Fernwood, Ohio, for example), have sex with fictional characters (Mandy Moore, Ellen DeGeneres, Roseanne, Lou Diamond Phillips), and some aren't even human in Toobworld!  (Dennis Rodman is an alien and Willie Mays is a warlock.)

In this case, Julianne Moore was shot in the gut by a crossbow arrow, "thanks" to the studio's security guard!


Not exactly something that happened in the real world.

There aren't many options for real people to show up in TV shows nowadays - all those previously mentioned shows are gone now.  Maybe Ms. Moore could appear in a cameo as a spokesman for something similar to a MeToo campaign in a "ripped from the headlines" episode of 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.

But if she is offered such a venue, I hope she goes for it.  She will only need two more appearances as herself in different shows to qualify for membership in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.


BCnU!

No comments: