Thoughts About the Late Tom Villard on Tom Turkey Day...
Let's just face it. He kinda was a turkey. In the 70's meaning of the word, like when Charlie's Angels might shout at a perp: "Freeze turkey!" He kind of looked like a turkey; or more a large, gangly bird. Like Big Bird maybe. Well, maybe not Big Bird; but he had a decidedly Muppet-like quality. A goony quality. He was super cute; but kinda dorky. And I could never figure out if he truly was the dork he came across as or if it was a put on. Like this was the persona he was trying to sell, to get himself noticed; because he looked a heck of a lot like another "Tom" who was coming up at the same time.
You probably don't remember him. But maybe you do. I'm writing this today because I saw him at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He passed away in 1994. How, Chris, you may ask yourself, did you see Mr. Villard at the parade if he has been gone, lo these many years? Well, I'll tell ya.
I'm not a morning person. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade takes place in the morning, usually. Usually on Thanksgiving Day, of course. It's usually, also, just ending when I get up. However, I do like to have it on in the background whilst I'm helping to prepare the Thanksgiving meal. It, like the meal itself, is comfort food. Usually, NBC, the network that has aired it for my entire life, repeats the broadcast pretty much immediately. Not so today. It could be found on Peacock. But I don't have Peacock. Then I remembered that there was a Youtube vid of the parade from 1983, in it's entirety. I knew this because when I was writing a sequel to my novel, 83 in the Shade, I had found it during my research. So I put it on, since I can watch Youtube directly from my TV. It was a fascinating experience. Well, I found it fascinating. It was kind of like time travelling. It didn't have the original commercials, which would've made it even more of a timewarp kind of thing. Tom Villard is in it. I'm going to post it. He comes in at around the 49.30 mark. He's in the bright red jacket. They're singing something called "Be Tall," (Or is it "Think Tall"?) which apparently he was.
Let's just face it. He kinda was a turkey. In the 70's meaning of the word, like when Charlie's Angels might shout at a perp: "Freeze turkey!" He kind of looked like a turkey; or more a large, gangly bird. Like Big Bird maybe. Well, maybe not Big Bird; but he had a decidedly Muppet-like quality. A goony quality. He was super cute; but kinda dorky. And I could never figure out if he truly was the dork he came across as or if it was a put on. Like this was the persona he was trying to sell, to get himself noticed; because he looked a heck of a lot like another "Tom" who was coming up at the same time.
You probably don't remember him. But maybe you do. I'm writing this today because I saw him at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He passed away in 1994. How, Chris, you may ask yourself, did you see Mr. Villard at the parade if he has been gone, lo these many years? Well, I'll tell ya.
I'm not a morning person. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade takes place in the morning, usually. Usually on Thanksgiving Day, of course. It's usually, also, just ending when I get up. However, I do like to have it on in the background whilst I'm helping to prepare the Thanksgiving meal. It, like the meal itself, is comfort food. Usually, NBC, the network that has aired it for my entire life, repeats the broadcast pretty much immediately. Not so today. It could be found on Peacock. But I don't have Peacock. Then I remembered that there was a Youtube vid of the parade from 1983, in it's entirety. I knew this because when I was writing a sequel to my novel, 83 in the Shade, I had found it during my research. So I put it on, since I can watch Youtube directly from my TV. It was a fascinating experience. Well, I found it fascinating. It was kind of like time travelling. It didn't have the original commercials, which would've made it even more of a timewarp kind of thing. Tom Villard is in it. I'm going to post it. He comes in at around the 49.30 mark. He's in the bright red jacket. They're singing something called "Be Tall," (Or is it "Think Tall"?) which apparently he was.
You really have to wonder how something like that happens. Like, how? I mean, HOW. So, somebody says: "Hey, let's get the cast of We Got It Made together to sing a super old-fashioned song about empowerment for the Special Olympics on a float that's a Mississippi showboat for some reason and then have Spider Man and Captain America there too...for some reason!" And then, the logistics of putting that together. A pre-recorded song that has to be learned and sung and recorded and then memorized so that it can be lip-synched to. And also, coreography. But because everyone is going to be shoved into a tiny section of the float, they have to do the dance in a restricted space. I mean, did they learn the dance and then find out they had next to no space on the float? Or did they know they had next to no space and then the choreography was adapted accordingly; which would've meant that they went to a dance studio and all danced EXTREMELY close together? I wonder about things like this. I wonder how a show like We Got It Made actually got made and then made it to the air; as it is so clearly a rip-off Three's Company and Bosom Buddies simultaneously, no less.
Let's take a look at We Got It Made and then we can discuss. How about the pilot episode? And don't feel like you have to watch the whole thing. I would say about five minutes will give you the entire We Got It Made experience. Well, I guess you should probably watch it up 'til they've actually got it made. Or get a maid. When Teri Copley comes in. Whatever. Oh, my bad. I keep calling it We Got It Made; but it's actually We (apostrophe) ve Got It Made. But does it really matter?
Let's take a look at We Got It Made and then we can discuss. How about the pilot episode? And don't feel like you have to watch the whole thing. I would say about five minutes will give you the entire We Got It Made experience. Well, I guess you should probably watch it up 'til they've actually got it made. Or get a maid. When Teri Copley comes in. Whatever. Oh, my bad. I keep calling it We Got It Made; but it's actually We (apostrophe) ve Got It Made. But does it really matter?
My bad, bad!
Actually, the title is "WE Got it Made"! (No exclamation point):
Actually, the title is "WE Got it Made"! (No exclamation point):
I have to ask myself, where was I when this aired? It ran for two seasons. It actually produced 46 episodes. The first season was on NBC. I was a senior in high school. I thought Tom Villard was a doll. It was just the kind of dreck I would've watched...
No, wait a second. It wasn't just the kind of dreck I would watch. Tom Villard or no Tom Villard it was so insufferably awful I simply didn't watch it. NBC cancelled it. But get this. It came back, in syndication. Like 3 (three!) years later. That's like three hundred years in TVLand time. This was kind of unheard of at the time. Still is. Tom was one of the only original cast members to return. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? And it lasted another single season, because guess what. It was still insufferable dreck!
But, it was the height of Tom Villard's career, sadly. And I say sadly because it was sad. If you look at his credits, he had bit parts from about 1980 until '83, when he landed "Made" and all totalled, did 46 episodes. It was his most sustained piece of work. And then he went back to mostly bit parts. Until he died of complications from AIDS.
And this is where it gets really sad. Or full of hope. Depending on how you look at it. Or maybe it was both.
Tom was gay. You can kind of tell, even from the first episode of We Got It Made. The outfit he's wearing in his first scene: a form fitting t-shirt that shows off his fine physique. It keeps riding up, showing his stomach. Also sweat pants that give some great views of his butt a couple of times. Let's check out some frame grabs!
No, wait a second. It wasn't just the kind of dreck I would watch. Tom Villard or no Tom Villard it was so insufferably awful I simply didn't watch it. NBC cancelled it. But get this. It came back, in syndication. Like 3 (three!) years later. That's like three hundred years in TVLand time. This was kind of unheard of at the time. Still is. Tom was one of the only original cast members to return. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? And it lasted another single season, because guess what. It was still insufferable dreck!
But, it was the height of Tom Villard's career, sadly. And I say sadly because it was sad. If you look at his credits, he had bit parts from about 1980 until '83, when he landed "Made" and all totalled, did 46 episodes. It was his most sustained piece of work. And then he went back to mostly bit parts. Until he died of complications from AIDS.
And this is where it gets really sad. Or full of hope. Depending on how you look at it. Or maybe it was both.
Tom was gay. You can kind of tell, even from the first episode of We Got It Made. The outfit he's wearing in his first scene: a form fitting t-shirt that shows off his fine physique. It keeps riding up, showing his stomach. Also sweat pants that give some great views of his butt a couple of times. Let's check out some frame grabs!
Now, I suppose I must ask myself: is it weird to be checking out the ass of a man who died 30 years ago? Well, probably. But Tom was a gay man and an actor, so I'm sure that his hotness and sexy assets being appreciated long after the fact; and the fact that we're still talking about him; has him smiling and loving it, wherever he may be. Actors, am I right people?
When I said it was "sad" that We Got It Made was the height of his career, I mean it in a kind of universal way; a way particularly for actors. I think he was capable of and deserved better. Around the same time that Tom Villard was trying to get his career off the ground, the early 80's; there was another Tom that had an extremely similar early career trajectory. You've probably figured this out; so here he is, with a friend.
When I said it was "sad" that We Got It Made was the height of his career, I mean it in a kind of universal way; a way particularly for actors. I think he was capable of and deserved better. Around the same time that Tom Villard was trying to get his career off the ground, the early 80's; there was another Tom that had an extremely similar early career trajectory. You've probably figured this out; so here he is, with a friend.
I would post that show's pilot; but as it would probably be taken down. I won't. It's easy enough to find. So how is Bosom Buddies different than We Got It Made? Both shows had only two seasons; never huge hits. Well, Bosom Buddies had great writing. I'd say that was the difference. And some kind of lucked-into, perfect-storm of hipness.
But it was more than that, or course. Bosom Buddies was simply better on every level, even though it was produced by the Miller/Boyett team who brought us, typically, the very finest American Cheese TV ever produced in the history of television. Did they invent the prehistorically corny TV opening that had the actors turn from some activity (or even simply a blank studio wall) and then freeze and gaze at the camera (or some vague middle-distance) in varying degrees of awkwardness? If they didn't, they sure perfected it! Speaking of "perfect"; let's take a look!
But it was more than that, or course. Bosom Buddies was simply better on every level, even though it was produced by the Miller/Boyett team who brought us, typically, the very finest American Cheese TV ever produced in the history of television. Did they invent the prehistorically corny TV opening that had the actors turn from some activity (or even simply a blank studio wall) and then freeze and gaze at the camera (or some vague middle-distance) in varying degrees of awkwardness? If they didn't, they sure perfected it! Speaking of "perfect"; let's take a look!
It seems as though the Miller/Boyett product that came out of Paramount and/or the auspices of Garry Marshall was light years beyond the above. And Bosom Buddies, at least it's first season, was--I would argue--groundbreaking. It was clever, sophisticated, snappy--like, well...a lot like the cloth it was cut from: Some Like It Hot. Hanks and Peter Scolari even bore striking resemblances to Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. And Donna Dixon the blonde bombshell? Marilyn Monroe anyone?
And then...
And I have to talk about acting choices here. Every last cast member on Bosom Buddies was great. Amazing even. And it had an instant cast chemistry that made magic. Perhaps it didn't last because that magic simply couldn't last; that and maybe that they stopped putting on the dresses as much. Sustained farce like that probably doesn't lend itself to the long haul of a series. But the perfect comedic acting and the sharp writing of the first season was and probably still is, ahead of it's time.
We Got It Made had a lot of things working against it. I'm just gonna be honest here. The writing was meh, at best. The direction was sluggish and some of the actors were miscast. I'm sure Tom McCoy is a nice guy, but he just wasn't funny. Teri Copley was bubbly and fun but played the blonde stereotype too much. And Tom Villard seems kind of lost. Was he told the character was a dolt and then, via his studies at The Lee Strasberg school, took it to the very heart of the Method and really made his character "Jay" a dolt so doltish that it wasn't funny anymore? Like I said, I was never sure. But he was charming and thoroughly likable. So was Tom Hanks, who Tom Villard must've been competing with; going up for consideration for a lot of the same stuff; because they were very similar types. Physically, lookswise, vocally, both doing the same kind of goofy charming thing. Villard was three years older than Hanks. They could've been brothers.
We Got It Made had a lot of things working against it. I'm just gonna be honest here. The writing was meh, at best. The direction was sluggish and some of the actors were miscast. I'm sure Tom McCoy is a nice guy, but he just wasn't funny. Teri Copley was bubbly and fun but played the blonde stereotype too much. And Tom Villard seems kind of lost. Was he told the character was a dolt and then, via his studies at The Lee Strasberg school, took it to the very heart of the Method and really made his character "Jay" a dolt so doltish that it wasn't funny anymore? Like I said, I was never sure. But he was charming and thoroughly likable. So was Tom Hanks, who Tom Villard must've been competing with; going up for consideration for a lot of the same stuff; because they were very similar types. Physically, lookswise, vocally, both doing the same kind of goofy charming thing. Villard was three years older than Hanks. They could've been brothers.
PLEASE SEE "The Other Tom: Part 2" for conclusion.
CFR 12/01/24
CFR 12/01/24