By John Crook

©TVData Features Syndicate

} ven as the cast of
Friends began playing
“chicken” with their

production company for
more money, a number of
familiar, bigger names were
rushing to sign contracts
for ‘series.

For some, like Michael J.
Fox (Spin City) and Bill
Cosby (Cosby), networks
ABC and CBS respectively

"are throwing more money

_ at.them than most of us
will sez in a lifetime. But
the big picture is more
complicated. ;

Fox, for example, won
three back-to-back Emmys

’. for.his work on Family

_, Ties, yet his feature film

© career fizzled, except for

the: special effects-driven

~ Back to the Future trilogy.
‘And while Cosby hasn’t

, acknowledged i it as a sore
spot, his last two projects —
You’ Bet Your: Life and The

Cosby Mysteries -
bottomed out. He'd like to
retire as the man who
saved CBS.

An even more dramatic
case in point is Molly
Ringwald. Once America’s
teen sweetheart, now in
her late 20s, she hasn’t had
a substantial hit in a
decade. Sadly, the Friends
rip-off Townies isn’t likely
to reverse that.

Newlyweds Ted Danson
and Mary Steenburgen
inked with Ink for an op-

- portunity to work together

and spend time with their
family — not to mention
that his film career simply
hasn’t happened and,
Oscar or not, at 43 she has
reached the age where
many actresses have a hard
time finding roles.

By perverse coincidence,
Pearl (CBS) co-stars
Steenburgen’s ex-husband,

Malcolm McDowell, and
Danson’s Emmy-winning
former Cheers co-star
Rhea Perlman. Again,
both haven’t had any

big hits recently.

Network executives hire
stars in the hopes that
their fans automatically
will follow. But there’s
another downside besides
the expense, says ABC
Entertainment chairman
Ted Harbert.

“The biggest intangible
... is that the audience
develops expectations and
a certain relationship with
a star,” he says. “If the
star comes back and does
something that doesn’t

“meet those expectations,

they can sort of just
pass On you.”

It’s no coincidence
that Fox’s Spin City
role looks a lot like
Alex I. Keaton.

on

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just two of the big names signing on for TV di disty, this season

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