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Tom Jones joining Carlton for a round of “It’s Not Unusual” on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? That made all the sense in the world — along with a funky cover of Prince’s “Kiss,” Jones was reinventing himself for a new generation of fans after a long period in which he didn’t sniff Billboard’s Hot 100. But why would the world’s hottest music acts — in their primes! — want to otherwise cameo on sitcoms? It’s happened more than you’d think, though.

Here are five of the wildest examples…

1 Taylor Swift

Maybe Taylor Swift wasn’t Taylor Swift yet, but she was on the verge of releasing the iconic 1989 when she popped in for a cameo on New Girl. Swift was a fan, showing up on set with a head full of quotes from the show. Her part was small but memorable. “She had, like, a little monologue and delivered it perfectly,...

Dan Wilcox, an Emmy-winning writer, producer and longtime union man who penned dozens of M*A*S*H episodes including co-writing its record-setting series finale and had many other TV credits including Sesame Street and Fernwood/America 2-Nite, has died. He was 82.

His niece, Julie Merson Rothenberg, told the WGA that he died February 14 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. No cause was given.

A six-decade WGA member and longtime former board member who was active in the 2007-08 strike, Wilcox was a fierce champion of unions and equal rights. In 2017, he received the Morgan Cox Award in recognition of his exemplary service to the Guild. Wgaw President Howard A. Rodman said at the time: “Dan Wilcox has been, in a sustained and deeply moving way, a voice for the voiceless. His work, at once passionate and effective, has been on behalf of those who might otherwise lack the...

Dan Wilcox, the Emmy-winning TV writer and producer whose work on the last four seasons of M*A*S*H included the acclaimed 1983 series finale that attracted a record 106 million viewers, has died. He was 82.

Wilcox died Feb. 14 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his niece Julie Merson announced.

A WGA member for more than 60 years and a guild board member since 2005, Wilcox won his Emmy in 1970 for Sesame Street, where he met Thad Mumford, who became his longtime writing partner. They worked together on M*A*S*H and received the 1980 WGA award for best episodic comedy.

They also wrote for What’s Happening!!, Alice, The Duck Factory, Good Times and the 1979 ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generations.

Wilcox was a writer and/or executive story editor on 36 episodes of M*A*S*H from 1979-83 as well as a producer, starting in 1981, on the CBS show’s last two seasons.

The native New Yorker...

Marlene Clark, an actress and model who rose to fame in the 1970s, has passed away. Per THR, Clark died at her home in Los Angeles on May 18, though no cause of death was immediately revealed. She was 85 years old.

“For 15 years she curated a bustling restaurant scene where underground artists mingled with locals and the stars of film and television,” Clark's friend, Tamara Lynch, said of the news. “She had a vision of culinary excellence coupled with dynamic professional service and would lay out the blueprint for the glamorous L.A. restaurant scene brilliantly casted with her discerning eye."

Lynch added, “Marlene’s style was impeccable. She loved fashion, food and acting. Her large, full laugh that could fill a room will be missed. She leaves behind friends and family that will forever be grateful for her grace, love and beautiful heart. Marlene was one of our finest examples of Black beauty.

Character actor and voice actor Earl Boen had a long list of credits, working on nearly 300 different projects over the course of a career that began in 1974. But for most movie fans, Boen will always be remembered for playing the role of Dr. Peter Silberman in The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, T2 3-D: Battle Across Time, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Sadly, it has been confirmed by Deadline that Boen passed away in Hawaii yesterday, January 5th, at the age of 81. A friend of Boen’s and his family revealed that Boen had been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in the fall of 2022.

Born on August 4, 1941, Boen made his screen acting debut in a 1974 episode of the PBS series Great Performances. The many credits he racked up after that appearance include the films The Main Event, Battle Beyond the Stars, 9 to 5, Soggy Bottom USA,...

Irene Cara, who won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Grammy for the smash hit “Flashdance…What a Feeling” from the film Flashdance, has died. She was 63.

A post from Irene Cara’s publicist read, in part, “It is with profound sadness that on behalf of her family I announce the passing of Irene Cara…The Academy Award winning actress, singer, songwriter and producer passed away in her Florida home.” No official cause of death has been revealed.

This is the absolute worst part of being a publicist. I can't believe I've had to write this, let alone release the news. Please share your thoughts and memories of Irene. I'll be reading each and every one of them and know she'll be smiling from Heaven. She adored her fans. – Jm pic.twitter.com/TsC5BwZ3fh

— Irene Cara (@Irene_Cara) November 26, 2022

Irene Cara first broke out with 1980’s Fame,...

Gene Perret, who began a decades-long comedy writing career contributing jokes to stand-ups Slappy White and Phyllis Diller before joining the Emmy-winning writing staff of The Carol Burnett Show, launching a 28-year tenure with Bob Hope and serving as a producer on Three’s Company and Welcome Back, Kotter, died Nov. 15 of liver failure at his home in Westlake Village, CA. He was 85.

According to family, Perret began writing comedy as a hobby while working as an electrical engineer for General Electric in Philadelphia during the mid-1950s. After contributing some one-liners to local comic White, he was introduced by a friend to Diller, who hired him for her 1968 sitcom The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show and encouraged Perret to pursue comedy writing full time. In 1969 he moved his family to California and within a year was writing for variety show The Jim Nabors Hour.

In 1971 and ’72, Perret wrote for Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In before contributing to episodes of The New Bill Cosby Show, The Helen Reddy Show, Love, American Style, All in the Family and What’s Happening.

He joined the popular CBS variety series The Carol Burnett Show in 1973, remaining until the end of the show’s run in 1978. Nominated for six Emmy Awards during his Burnett run, he won in 1974, 1975 and 1978.

After Burnett, he wrote and produced multiple episodes for hit sitcoms Welcome Back, Kotter and Three’s Company, and in 1980 reunited with Burnett’s Tim Conway on the short-lived The Tim Conway Show.

Perret’s longest-lasting professional collaboration was with Hope, serving on the comedian’s writing staff for 28 years and working on dozens of Hope’s TV specials beginning with 1984’s Bob Hope’s Uso Christmas in Beirut.

In addition to his television work, Perret wrote numerous magazine articles and more than 40 books, including Comedy Writing Step by Step and The Comedy Writing Workbook.

Perret is survived by his wife of 64 years, Joanne, four children, six grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

Click here to read the full article.

Taurean Blacque, who portrayed the streetwise Det. Neal Washington on all seven seasons of the acclaimed NBC cop show Hill Street Blues, died Thursday in Atlanta following a brief illness, his family announced. He was 82.

From 1989-90, Blacque played Henry Marshall opposite Vivica A. Fox and others as an original castmember on the NBC daytime soap opera Generations, the first serial to include — from the start — a Black family as part of the main storyline. His character owned ice cream parlors in Chicago.

In 1982, Blacque received a supporting actor Emmy nomination for his work as the toothpick-dependent Washington on Hill Street but lost out to co-star Michael Conrad. Amazingly, the other three nominees — Charles Haid, Michael Warren and Bruce Weitz — also came from the 1981-87 series, created by Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll.

Bochco and producer-director Gregory Hoblit chose Blacque to say “Previously...

Click here to read the full article.

Adam Wade, the suave singer and actor who registered three Top 10 hits on the Billboard 100 in 1961 and appeared in films including Shaft, Crazy Joe and Claudine before making history as a game show host, has died. He was 87.

Wade died Thursday at his home in Montclair, New Jersey, after a battle with Parkinson’s disease, his wife, singer Jeree Wade, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The Pittsburgh crooner drew comparisons to Johnny Mathis when he scored hits in 1961 with the romantic ballads “Take Good Care of Her,” which reached No. 7 (the tune was later recorded by Elvis Presley), “The Writing on the Wall” (No. 5) and “As If I Didn’t Know” (No. 10).

In a 2014 interview, Wade said he “was trying to imitate Nat King Cole, my boyhood idol, not Johnny Mathis. So I guess that tells you how good my imitating skills were.”

In...

Adolfo “Shabba-Doo” Quiñones, one of the forefathers of hip hop dancing and known best for his roles in the 80s breakdancing films Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2 Electric Boogaloo, has died. He was 65.

Quiñones’ death comes one day after he posted an Instagram photo of himself saying he was feeling “sluggish” from a cold, but had tested negative for Covid-19.

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A post shared by Adolfo “Shabba-Doo” Quinones (@officialshabbadoo)

Shabba-Doo was one of the members of The Original Lockers, innovators of the dance style commonly known as locking. One of his fellow dance crew members, Toni Basil, announced Quinones death on Wednesday. No cause of death was given.

“It is with extreme sadness the Lockers family announces the unexpected passing of our beloved Adolfo Shabba-Doo Quinones. In this difficult time, we are requesting privacy,” Basil wrote in a statement on Twitter.

pic.twitter.com/ogJ7T1HE...

Raymond Allen, an actor who had memorable recurring roles on classic ’70s sitcoms Sanford and Son and Good Times, died Monday of a non-covid respiratory illness at a long-term care facility in California. He was 91.

Allen’s death was announced by his daughter, Ta Ronce Allen, in a Facebook post.

The actor was best known for his Sanford and Son character of Uncle Woodrow “Woody” Anderson, brother-in-law of Redd Foxx’s Fred Sanford and long-suffering husband of Lawanda Page’s Aunt Esther. On another Norman Lear-created series, Good Times, Allen played Ned the Wino, a neighborhood street character and friend of the series’ central Evans family. Both Woody and Ned showcased Allen’s comic depiction of cheerful intoxication.

Nathaniel Taylor Dies: ‘Sanford And Son’ Sidekick Rollo Was 80

Born on March 5, 1929, in Kansas City, Mo, the youngest of 12 children, Allen also appeared in ’70s series What’s Happening!!, Starsky and Hutch,...

Raymond G. Allen Sr., a character actor known for playing Uncle Woody on the 1970s sitcom “Sanford and Son,” has died. He was 91.

The actor had been living at a long-term care facility in California when he was found unresponsive early Monday morning, according to TMZ. His family told the outlet that his cause of death was a sudden respiratory illness, but was not Covid-related.

His “Sanford and Son” character Uncle Woodrow “Woody” Anderson was the husband of Aunt Esther, known for never turning down a drink. Allen appeared in nine episodes of “Sanford and Son,” which was a top 10-rated show for five out of its six seasons.

Also Read: James 'Kamala' Harris, Former WWE Wrestler, Dies at 70

Allen’s other roles as a character actor included like Ned the Wino on “Good Times,” another popular sitcom that aired from 1974 to 1980, and Merl the Earl on “Starsky and Hutch,...

Emmy-nominated comedy writer and producer Saul Turteltaub died on April 9. He was 87

Director John Turteltaub, the youngest son of Saul confirmed that he died of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills.

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Saul Turteltaub served as a writer and producer for such iconic shows in television history as The Carol Burnett Show, Sanford and Son and That Girl. He received an Emmy nomination for The Carol Burnett Show in 1968 and earned back-to-back noms in 1964 and 1965 as part of the writing team for the U.S. version of the political satire TV series That Was the Week That Was.

Turteltaub teamed with Bernie Orenstein and Bud Yorkin to form Toy Productions and worked on What’s Happening!!,...

Saul Turteltaub, the prolific writer and producer who worked on “The Carol Burnett Show,” “Sanford and Son,” “That Girl,” and “What’s Happening!!” died Thursday of natural causes. He was 87.

Director Howard Murray, who worked closely with Turteltaub, confirmed the news on social media. “Just heard that one of my favorite people on the planet has died. Saul Turtletaub along with his partner Bernie Orenstein created some of the funniest sitcoms ever to grace television,” he wrote. “But that’s only a small part of his legacy. Saul was by any measure, a mensch among mensches.”

During Turteltaub’s career, he garnered three Emmy nominations, including one for the first season of “The Carol Burnett Show,” which shot the comic into stardom. He was also responsible for jumpstarting the careers of countless actors including George Clooney, Richard Pryor, Dana Carvey, Nathan Lane, Garry Shandling and Meg Ryan.

Over the course of his 50-year career,...

Saul Turteltaub, the television writer and producer known for “Sanford and Son,” “What’s Happening!!,” “That Girl” and “The Carol Burnett Show,” has died at the age of 87.

His son, “Cool Runnings” and “While You Were Sleeping” director Jon Turteltaub, confirmed his father’s death to The Hollywood Reporter.

“To say this was a talented, funny, loving and beloved man is truly an understatement,” he said in the statement.

Also Read: Tarvaris Jackson, Former NFL Quarterback, Dies at 36 in Car Accident

Turteltaub had a long career in the television industry. His first writing credit was for “Candid Camera” in 1961, after which he went on to both write and produce shows including “That Girl,” “E/R,” “Grady,” the beloved 1970s comedy “Sanford and Son” and its spin-off series “Sanford Arms,” “Kate & Allie,” “One of the Boys,” “The New Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Love, American Style,” “The Mama Cass Television Program” and...

Saul Turteltaub, the writer and producer whose expansive television résumé included The Carol Burnett Show, That Girl, Sanford and Son, What's Happening!! and so much more, has died. He was 87.

Turteltaub died Thursday of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills, his youngest son, director Jon Turteltaub, announced. "To say this was a talented, funny, loving and beloved man is truly an understatement," he said.

Turteltaub was one of the original writers on The Carol Burnett Show and received an Emmy nomination in 1968 for his work on the legendary variety program's first ...

The great Larry Wilmore joins us to share some very personal double features.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

1917 (2019)

Animal Crackers (1930)

Duck Soup (1933)

My Little Chickadee (1940)

A Night At The Opera (1935)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

The Parallax View (1974)

Singin’ In The Rain (1952)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Jaws (1975)

The Stepford Wives (1975)

The Party (1968)

The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)

The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)

Richard Pryor: Live In Concert (1979)

Richard Pryor: Live And Smokin’ (1971)

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Lenny (1974)

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)

Lolita (1962)

Caligula (1979)

The Night of the Iguana (1964)

The Elephant Man (1980)

What Would Jack Do? (2020)

Blue Velvet (1986)

The Apartment (1960)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Double Indemnity (1944)

The Sting (1973)

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid...