October 09, 2003

Type Casting

Did you know that Sheila Kuehl, uber-feminist, Santa Monica state senator, and now freshly-embittered Schwarzenegger antagonist, is the Sheila James who played Zelda on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis? I didn't, till Richard Bennett mentioned it, but then I don't get out much.

I don't know if it's a case of life imitating TV, or the reverse, or both (or neither). But would Kindergarten Cop have been an even better film if there had been a Zelda-figure nipping at Arnold's heels throughout? The answer is yes, of course. And it looks like that's pretty much what we're going to have in the statehouse and on TV for the next few years. "You eat other peoples' lunches? DON'T!" (Cue reciprocal Governor-Senator scrunch-face.) Just when you think every last drop of entertainment value has been wrung out of the California/show biz political dishrag, you still find an occasional, wonderful dribble every now and again.

Senator Kuehl also was in a 1972 Love American Style episode called "Love and the Security Building," played Sally Ragsdale in an episode of Petticoat Junction, and appeared as the character Ginny Jennings in three Beverly Hillbillies episodes, including one called "Jed Foils a Home Wrecker."

But the coolest part of her TV-ography (and one which looks like an even better allegorical match for the current drama than Dobie Gillis) is a 1971 TV movie called The Feminist and the Fuzz:

Through unforeseen circumstances, a male chauvinist cop and a dedicated feminist become roommates.
The Feminist is Barbara Eden; the Fuzz is David Hartman. They meet at a protest rally. The Senator plays one of several "Liberation Ladies" along with Penny Marshall. The cast also features Jo Anne Worley, Julie Newmar, Farrah Fawcett and Harry Morgan. If that doesn't sound like a good way to waste 90 minutes, I don't know what it does sound like a good way to do. Keuhl seems to think Schwarzenegger is miscast as governor; on the other hand, he seems to fit right in.

Posted by Dr. Frank at October 9, 2003 10:33 PM | TrackBack
Comments

lmao...next on my 'life's to do list'...move to a more entertaining state than Arizona. By the way, Frank, you didn't answer my question.

Posted by: Amy 80 at October 9, 2003 10:52 PM