News

Veteran actress Jean Stapleton, a three-time Emmy winner for her iconic portrayal of All in the Family‘s Edith Bunker, passed away at her New York City home on Friday, from natural causes, the Los Angeles Times reports. She was 90.

Stapleton’s television career began in the 1950s, with appearances on Starlight Theatre, Lux Video Theatre and The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse. She went on to guest-star on several series, including Dennis the Menace, Dr. Kildare, Car 54 Where Are You? and My Three Sons, before settling into the role of outspoken, unapologetic bigot Archie Bunker’s wife in CBS’ All in the Family,...

Screenwriter Don Rhymer, whose credits included 20th Century Fox Animation’ hit Rio and the CBS comedy Evening Shade, has died. He was 51 and his longtime friend Dave Gallagher told the La Times that Rhymer died Wednesday of cancer at USC’s Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. One of Rhymer’s earliest credits was NBC’s Valerie. He also wrote for CBS’ Hearts Afire. He also worked on feature films, including Big Momma’s House and its two sequels, The Santa Clause 2, Agent Cody Banks 2, The Honeymooners and Sony Pictures Animation’s Surf’s Up. His TV credits also included episodes of the NBC series Caroline In The City and Bagdad Cafe. After his diagnosis three years ago, Rhymer started a blog “Let’s Radiate Don” that chronicled his treatment and his relationship with his wife and kids.

Last month, as the fate of ABC's Gcb hung in the balance, we were worried it would become a member of the "Gone Too Soon" club, TV shows that were snuffed out before they had a chance to flourish, or at least before we had a chance to grow tired of them.

Sadly, Gcb has gone to that big Upn in the sky, where it can run happily in the meadow with the likes of Firefly, Pushing Daisies, and Manimal.

While we mourn Gcb's loss, let's take a look at more shows that were ended too quickly. They were unappreciated at the the time, but they were either too good or too ... interesting ... not to have been offered the opportunity to flourish. Or flame out. Which is just as good.

The Comeback

HBO (June 5, 2005 – September 4, 2005)

Lisa Kudrow could have played it safe with her follow-up series to Friends, but instead...

American character actor known for his tough-guy roles in westerns and on television

With a voice that sounded as if it were strained through gravel chipped from his craggy face, James Gammon, who has died of cancer aged 70, had a memorable presence as a character actor in crime films, rural dramas and especially westerns, from A Man Called Horse (1970) to Urban Cowboy (1980), Silverado (1985), Wyatt Earp (1994), Wild Bill (1995) and Appaloosa (2008). Ed Harris, who directed and starred in Appaloosa, said of Gammon: "If he'd been born 20 years earlier he'd have been in every other western ever made."

Gammon had a perpetual squint that could be interpreted as crazy or wise – or both. His best-known role was as the unflappable baseball manager Lou Brown in the comedy Major League (1989). On television, he played Don Johnson's father in the series Nash Bridges from 1996 to 2001. Gammon's ability to reveal an essential weakness, and the...

Hey, Paulington! Is a new Cinephile advice column that looks at life, love, and the movies. Anyone can send in a question, and Paulington will answer it. Sure, it's a really cryptic, cliched concept that has been around since the dawn of time. But we're going to spice it up a little bit. Topics can range from anything: Sex, violence, haints and taints, your favorite movie! Paulington doesn't care. He's basically doing it for a paycheck. He's not really an expert on anything. But he sure does know a lot about movies and human nature. You can send your questions to (as in, click on the giant red letters and you will automatically be sent to his email):

Hey, Paulington!

And he will be sure to answer all of them in a very timely manner. Here are this week's letters. Enjoy!

Hey, Paulington!

I'm having a mad argument with my roommate,...