I told you back here that the Ahmanson Theater here in Los Angeles was staging a new production of the musical 1776 this summer and gave you a link for cheapo tickets — a link I'd used myself. Many of you also purchased tickets so you've probably received or will receive notices that it and some other plays there are being postponed. Plays are being postponed or canceled outright all over the country.
The management writes here, "We are…in the process of securing a slot for 1776 in the Ahmanson 2021/22 Season, immediately following its Broadway engagement." I'm not sure how they know when its Broadway engagement (or any Broadway engagement of the future) will start or end but that's what they're saying.
Before I did Stu's Show yesterday, I had exactly three things on my calendar for the remainder of 2020: That show, Comic-Con in July and tickets for 1776 in early August. Now I'm down to one and it's iffy. I've maintained a personal calendar ever since the biggest thing on it was "Go to Randy Jacobs' house and play tether ball." I never had absolutely nothing on my calendar before.
Actress Julie Bennett has died at the age of 88. The cause being reported was complications from COVID-19. Three other people I know have had the disease and recovered from it but I think she's the first person in my Contacts list to have died from it.
For decades, Julie was one of the "workingest" actresses in Hollywood, appearing on dozens of TV shows including but not limited to Highway Patrol, Leave it to Beaver, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, The Donna Reed Show and Get Smart. If you watch reruns of Jack Webb's Dragnet in the sixties, she was on a lot of them and she was usually guilty. She also worked a lot doing cartoon voices.
Sometimes when writing of Jimmy Weldon, who's 96, people refer to him as the last surviving cartoon voice performer from the early days of Hanna-Barbera. But Julie was doing the voice of Cindy Bear there before Jimmy began doing Yakky Doodle. She also did voices on a number of Jay Ward and Warner Brothers cartoons when June Foray was unavailable, along with cartoons for UPA, Larry Harmon and many smaller studios. She was heard in the animated feature Gay Purr-ee, as well as Hey There, It's Yogi Bear.
I hired her a few times on Garfield and Friends and she played Aunt May on the 1994 animated Spider-Man show. She was a nice lady and when she hit a period in her life when she wasn't getting enough voiceover work, she put her skills to work in other ways. She adopted two other identities — one as a manager of actors and another as a realtor. She had another name and voice and telephone as the realtor and her many clients never knew that the lady who sold them their house was Cindy Bear. I think but am not sure her acting clients knew her secret.
We were friends for a while and while I guess I could have figured it out from her credits, it didn't occur to me that she was twenty years older than I was. She seemed very lovely and alive and just charming and talented. You can see it and hear that in all that she did.
Stu Shostak kept telling me he wanted to try to keep yesterday's Stu's Show (with m.e. as guest) down to two hours. I hinted here it would run longer than The Irishman and, well…The Irishman runs three hours and thirty minutes and yesterday's Stu's Show ran three hours, fifty-five minutes and six seconds. There you go. You can watch the whole danged thing for two bucks over on this page. You'll get a lot for your money.
I felt a little odd when it ended because it was the only thing on my calendar before July…and what I have down for July is the Comic-Con International in San Diego, which is still a maybe of immense proportions. Apparently, a lot of people tuned in yesterday to hear what I had to say about that so let me summarize…
First, I have to remind you that I do not work for Comic-Con and am in no way a spokesperson for that fine organization. I've been to all fifty of 'em and hosted something like 400 panels at 'em but all I am is a frequent guest. If you ask someone who does work for Comic-Con, the official answer is that the July 23-26 affair is still on for those dates. A decision on whether to have it, postpone it or cancel it will be made in a few weeks. My personal opinion (and possibly yours) is that it won't happen in July but that's just my or our opinion.
I don't think most people comprehend the magnitude of what's involved in putting on this convention — all the different businesses, unions, outside suppliers, hotels, food service and security people, the convention center, etc. Calling it off or rescheduling it involves hundreds of phone calls, discussions, renegotiations, working with everyone's calendars and so forth. It ain't like moving our picnic-in-the-park from this Saturday to next Saturday and pondering if the potato salad you bought will still be edible then.
These people know what they're doing. Be patient. Give them time to assess the long list of variables and considerations and to make a wise decision. One of the overarching problems of the current Pandemic is that no one knows when and how it will go away and no one has much experience in dealing with the problems it presents. We're all learning as we go. I know the people who run Comic-Con. They're really smart and I've had a good vantage point to observe how smart they are about running an annual gathering that's way more complicated to stage than it appears. They'll do the right thing at the right time.
And everything else here is fine. The other day, I had to go to the CVS Pharmacy to pick up a prescription. I wore a mask and carried a little man-purse I have that's filled with gloves, sanitizer, another mask and a few other possible necessities. All of the folks working in the store and most of the customers were masked and we kind of stared at the unmasked ones and wondered, "Have these people watched the news?" I am reasonably certain I got in and out with no contamination. Even better, I got two gallon bottles of Crystal Geyser drinking water.
Coping with this crisis gives us all a lot of little proud moments when you think, "Hey, I did that right!" or "Hey, I solved that problem!" I've also reconnected with some friends I haven't spoken with in quite a while. This whole thing is a ghastly tragedy but it's not without its moments when we feel just a little smarter and just a little more connected to others with whom we share the crisis. Don't overlook those moments. They're the thing that convinces me the world will be normal again and we can get through just about anything. Why, just yesterday, I managed to get through a four-hour Stu's Show.
For the last few weeks, the way it's worked is that I put out food for Lydia and even if Murphy is in the yard, he or she (I'm still not sure) allows Lydia the time to dine leisurely without interruption. Then Lydia, having eaten as much as she wanted, goes back to her house or to washing herself in the yard and Murphy cautiously approaches the bowl. Lydia is fine with that. Murphy is just terrified of The Human Being here, aka me.
Murphy eats a few bites, then scampers off. This is why I've been saying that I think Murphy is being fed by someone else because that cat has never seemed too hungry to me and always leaves food behind.
This morning, I divided a can of Friskies® Liver and Chicken into two bowls and set them out there. Lydia approached while Murphy watched and Lydia ate a few bites out of the bowl on our left, then returned to her house. Murphy then approached and ate the rest of the food in the bowl on the left and all of the food in the bowl on the right. Maybe whoever was feeding Murphy before hasn't been feeding Murphy lately.
I am the guest today on the long-running video podcast Stu's Show. I was the guest on Stu's first audio-only Stu's Show back in a time when we could all hug and shake hands and I will be his guest on the last Stu's Show…but hopefully not today. (Actually, he has plenty of great programs all lined-up for the next umpteen months, all featuring a more interesting guest that he has today.)
We'll talk about how TV news and the late night talk shows are handling The Pandemic. We'll discuss how it's affecting the comic book business and comic book conventions. And then, in keeping with my belief that we spend way too much time talking and thinking about The Pandemic, we'll get off the topic and discuss some of the ups + downs of this thing I jokingly call a career as well as some of my more memorable celebrity encounters.
It starts at 4 PM West Coast time, which is 7 PM East Coast time and in case you live in Reykjavik, Iceland, it's 11 PM Reykjavik, Iceland time. If you live in any other time zone, you should be able to figure it out from there. Episodes of Stu's Show have been known to run (literally) longer than The Irishman but Stu is going to try to limit this one to two hours. He will not succeed, especially if you send this address lots of questions for me to answer.
Where can you watch this show? I'm going to post a live feed right here a few minutes before the festivities commence. If it doesn't work or if you want an alternative source, there should be one on the Stu's Show website along with instructions on how to see it other places, including your Roku-friendly TV set. If you miss it, it will available online afterwards, possibly for a small fee. But catch us live because…well, really. What the hell else have you got to do?
Someone sent me one of those "How Many of These Things Have You Done?" lists. I usually ignore them but this time, I felt like filling it out…
Driven 100 mph — Done it briefly at like 3 AM and other cars were passing me..
Ridden in a helicopter — Never done it, might some day but only if we can follow a police chase.
Gone zip lining — Never done it, never will. For years, I had a great excuse because I was over the weight limit. Now I'm under so I have to either come up with a new excuse or pack on about forty pounds.
Been to an NFL game — Never done it, never even watched one on TV. I am a 68-year-old American male who isn't really sure how football is played.
Been to Canada — Done it three times, loved it twice.
Visited Florida — Done it three times: Two Miami Books fairs, one Disney World business holiday.
Visited Mexico — Never done it. But I'm around Sergio Aragonés a lot so maybe half-credit for that.
Visited Vegas — Done it a lot though it ain't as much fun as it used to be.
Eaten alone at a restaurant — Done it, especially in Vegas.
Ability to read music — Never done it, wish I had. But I know how to draw a real neat-looking Treble Clef.
Ridden a motorcycle — Never even rode a two-wheel bicycle, nor do I have it in me to be as annoying with noise as most motorcyclists are.
Ridden a horse — Never done it unless you count merry-go-rounds.
Stayed in a hospital — Done it once for my appendix, once for cellulitis, once for gastric bypass, twice for my right knee.
Donated blood — Done it but they'll only accept it from me to put it back into me during surgery.
Been snow skiing — Never done it. I've barely even been in snowy climates.
Been to Disneyland — Done it. Hated the Indiana Jones ride and most of the food. Liked everything else.
Slept outside — Did it once when I fell asleep in a lounge chair in my backyard. Laid down on it at 11 PM and the next thing I knew, the sun was waking me up.
Driven a stick shift — Never done it. It looks a lot cooler than I am.
Ridden in an 18 wheeler — Never done it. It looks a lot less cool than I am.
Ridden in a police car — Did it once. Voluntarily. Found it fascinating but was disappointed that they refused to strip search me.
Driven a boat — Did it for about thirty seconds and didn't crash into anything or sink and so decided to quit while I was ahead.
Eaten escargot — Never done it due to a lifelong pledge to never consume anything that leaves a slimy trail on a wet driveway, as do snails and my third agent.
Been on a cruise — Never done it and doubt that a lot of folks in the future will.
Run out of gas — Never done it but I came close once.
Been on TV — Done it, never really liked it.
Eaten sushi — Did it once, we all got food poisoning and the Board of Health closed the place.
Seen a UFO — Seen things I couldn't identify but I also did that in the above sushi incident.
Been bungie jumping — Never done it, never will, question the sanity of those who do it. Never in my life have I thought, "Gee, I wonder what it would feel like to be a yo-yo."
In case you're running low on Things To Watch, here's an hour and seven minutes of Cirque du Soleil. It's not as magical as seeing it live but you don't have to pay $18 for parking and God-knows-how-much for decent seats…
Here's a good article from yesterday on how all the late night hosts have had to retool to do their shows from home. It's probably fair to wonder if they'll ever go completely back to the old way of doing things.
John Oliver was great last night. If you missed him, the coronavirus part of his show is online here but if you can, catch one of the many rebroadcasts this week so you can see the other moments.
What strikes me every time I venture close to TV news coverage of what's happening is how much of it is devoted to Donald Trump and his obsessions with looking like he's a strong leader, not taking responsibilities for the many screw-ups and suggesting that the only real tragedy of this whole crisis would be if it hurt his chances of a second term. There are also genuine tragedies out there as well as real, life-threatening problems and tales of true heroism and selflessness…but somehow, no matter what channel I turn to, it's about Trump. So I turn it off.
It would be easy to just make this blog about all of that but this feels to me like a good time to be an alternative. If you want what's on the news channels, it's there on the news channels. Here, I'm more inclined to write about cats in my yard, comic book history and, of course, the unique experience we're all having.
The other day, I had a phone conversation with a lady who's 19 years old and she actually asked me, "Was it like this the last time this happened?" I had to explain to her that in my 68 years on this planet, nothing like this has ever happened before. And I hope we can go at least another 68 before it happens again.
Otherwise, it's fine here in solitary. I got a great restaurant delivery yesterday from a place I trust to do all the right things in food prep and handling. I don't have a huge appetite these days but around the middle of the afternoon, I suddenly thought I'd better place an order in case they're swamped when I do get hungry and it takes a few hours for the chow to arrive. I have food here I can prepare and eat but it just felt like time for someone else's cooking.
So I ordered at 3 PM and it was here by 3:30, left on my steps by a gent who, my doorbell cam showed me, was wearing gloves and a mask. And I got enough to last me several days. Things like that — coping with all the little concerns — makes you feel really good.
So do the calls from friends, including a few folks I haven't spoken to in years and one former lady friend who has decided this would be a good moment to make Naked Facetime calls. I have a lot of friends I'd like to hear from but a small, select group from who I would like Naked Facetime calls. Don't get any ideas, Sergio.
Not the final cover but a nice one.
Working today on Volume 7 of Walt Kelly's Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, which is still on target to be released officially in October and (this is not a promise:) unofficially a month or so earlier. It's called Pockets Full of Pie and it will present all the Pogo strips from 1961 and 1962 plus all out regular features and a foreword by Sergio Aragonés.
Lastly and speaking yet again of Sergio: Next on my "to do" list is the letter page for the first issue of the Groo Meets Tarzan mini-series, which was supposed to come out in July but now it probably won't…then. Still, I have to finish up the letter page so you still have time to send one in. All four issues of the series have been drawn and so have some further Groos so they will be published just as soon as there are supply lines to get them to you. Now, back to work…
The cat I named Murphy has been showing up in my backyard for several weeks now. I do not know if it is a male or a female and it may never let me get close enough to find out. If I had to guess, I'd guess female and it doesn't have the little ear notch that indicates the cat has undergone a Bob Barker-approved spaying or neutering. I do not want to go through what I went through when Lydia — a longtime resident of said yard — got seriously preggo. You can read about that little adventure here. And yes, we're approaching the twelfth anniversary of that and Lydia is still happily hanging out on my premises and being well-fed by me.
For the sake of pronoun neutrality, we'll refer to Murphy as an "it." It's out there a few hours per day, usually howling for no visible reason. It does not seem to be in need of mating or food, which are the two major reasons cats howl. Come to think of it, they're the two major reasons I howl, too. It's so scared of humans, I don't think it craves attention. It kind of wants to be Lydia's friend but it howls when Lydia is in the yard and it howls when she isn't.
I don't know if anyone claims Murphy as "theirs" the way I've assumed the responsibility of keeping Lydia in Friskies but Murphy is not here enough to only be getting food here so it must have a reliable source elsewhere. Lydia is not in my yard quite as much as she used to be and when neither is present, I wonder if Murphy hasn't invited her over to dine wherever else Murphy dines.
Murphy the Mystery Cat
When they're both there, they usually aren't close. Lydia is usually in her little house. Murphy might be near it or Murphy might be on the other side of the yard. They're clearly aware of each other but not any sort of "item."
If I put out food for Lydia when Murphy is present, Murphy makes no attempt to get any of it. I've had feral cats out there shove one another aside to get at the Mixed Grill. Not Murphy.
Lydia usually leaves food in her dish. She eats a third of what I put out, goes back to her house or off to wash herself, then comes back ten or twenty minutes later to eat another third, then comes back later to clean the plate of what's left. Murphy watches patiently and waits until it can't see me inside and Lydia has at least momentarily abandoned her meal…then with no objection from Lydia, Murphy sneaks up and eats just a little of it. Like I said, Murphy never seems to be that hungry.
Murphy also never seems dirty. Lydia spends most of her "awake time" cleaning herself and often, she clearly needs it as much as you would if you liked to sometimes nap on dirt. Murphy always looks like he/she/it just came from the groomers and I've never seen it lick itself.
I don't know all my neighbors but the ones I asked before going into isolation did not recognize Murphy from my description or even from a photo on my cellphone. Murphy is about the tenth feral cat over the years to routinely stop off in my yard and partake of the buffet. I had a good idea where the others came from — Lydia, before she settled in here used to cross a busy street to get to my place — and where they went and I also knew all of their genders. Most of all, when they meowed — which none did anywhere near as relentlessly as Murphy — it was obvious why.
So I don't know where Murphy came from or where Murphy goes or who else feeds Murphy and I don't know why Murphy cries so much or even whether Murphy is a male or a female. All I know is Murphy is here and loud and absolutely terrified of me. Let's see where this leads.
Some online sources say John Oliver is doing a new episode of Last Week Tonight this evening from his home. I hope that's so but if you look at some of the online schedules, you wouldn't know it…and even my TiVo is confused. It has tonight's episode schedule to record but if I search by show name, it tells me that the next episode is the one next Sunday or…
Well, you just may want to check. I have the feeling he'll have some interesting things to say. He always does.
By the way: For promotion this season, they've been using that photo of Mr. Oliver taken, I guess, when he was in high school. Imagine you were the photographer back then. Imagine this is the eleven thousandth photo you've taken this month of a teenager who looks like a duck, as teenagers tend to do. Imagine that someone tells you, "You know, that kid is going to become very famous and someday, that photo you just took of him is going to be on billboards and bus signs all over America." What would you have said?
Day before yesterday here, I posted a number from the BBC Proms concert presentation of the musical Kiss Me Kate, which they did back in 2014. Reader-of-this-site Dan Kravetz pointed out to me that the entire show — all two hours and 13 minutes of it — is up on YouTube and quite linkworthy…so guess what's below.
Dan wrote, "This performance, and the abridged TV version with original stars Alfred Drake and Patricia Morison, are must-sees for anyone who loves this show (and had strong reservations about the last couple of Broadway revivals)." Well, I love the show, though I didn't see the most recent Broadway revival which was last year and starred Kelli O'Hara and Will Chase. I'd go see anything with Ms. O'Hara in it but that version closed after a brief 125 performances and I couldn't work a New York trip into my schedule during its short run.
I did see — twice! — the 1999 revival with (originally) Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Saw it once with Mitchell and once with Merwin Foard (recent obit here) filling in as Fred Graham and I thought it was just about perfect both times. And I also saw a touring company production of it in Los Angeles with Rachel York and Brent Barrett, which was captured in London for the PBS Great Performances series. (Not quite as good as it was on stage in New York, though not because of the leads.)
And I've seen a few other productions of it which didn't, I thought, serve the material well. The one below suffers a bit as a scenery-less concert performance with the orchestra in almost every shot that isn't a close-up. Still, the performers are near-flawless and the songs never sounded better. If you have the time to spare — and you do because what the hell else do you have to do these days? — give it a look. Thanks for the head's up, Dan…
This afternoon, a messy two-car auto accident occurred outside my home, an ambulance quickly arrived and I found myself being reminded that there are other problems in the world beside the one we're all confronting. A much-less-bad bit of bad news I also saw is that Nate 'n Al's Delicatessen — one of those places that felt as much a part of Southern California as the coastline — is closing for good tomorrow and not intending to reopen when the Zombie Apocalypse has ended.
I am not filling this blog with articles about Trumpian incompetence and arrogance because I'm largely avoiding the news just now and I also figure you can find such articles easily these days. They're certainly plentiful and you have all the time in the world to do that for yourself. At least, we can hope we have all the time in the world. If you go looking for articles, don't miss this one.
One does get the impression that if we want him to do the right thing, we have to all kiss his heinie, tell him he's the greatest friggin' President ever and promise him a second and maybe a third term. If Trump was a lifeguard and you were drowning, he wouldn't lift a finger to rescue you until you promised to be sufficiently grateful.
Someplace on this blog, I think I recently wrote that the phrase, "We need to work together and compromise" had come to mean, "You need to do everything my way." Lately, even in what little news I do read, it seems that "We need to deal with this on a non-partisan basis" means "I get to criticize you but don't you dare say a bad word about me, you slimeball."
And I think I've just had my fill of politics for the weekend. Car crashes aside, things are fine around here. Lydia and Murphy are out in the yard. I'm unworried about supplies. I'm writing the stuff I'm writing. Not too many friends are calling to talk about how terrible things are.
I'm confident it will end and that things will be "sorta normal" again but "sorta normal" will be a long time in the future. Even after the coronavirus becomes a minimal threat, there'll be a slow crawl back towards — but never quite reaching — The Way Things Were. Some things just ain't going to ever be the same again.
Seems like some people are waiting for the day when someone yells "All clear!" and within 48 hours, everything will reopen and the world will be as it was and we can even shake hands again and buy all the toilet paper we want at Costco. The first problem with that is that no one's going to declare "All clear!," at least no one we'll trust. As Election Day draws closer, a certain person I don't want to think about anymore this weekend will probably yell it every day while he insists he and he alone saved us.
What I'm guessing will happen is that at some point, contracting the virus will be 10% less likely and after a while, another 10% less likely…and so on and so on. Everyone will have to decide for themselves how "less likely" it has to get before we'll end our personal isolations. You may decide it's time to go to crowded places again well before I do.
Businesses will have to decide how "less likely" it should be before they reopen and of course, that'll be a chicken-and-egg conundrum: My hair-cutter will resume cutting hair when he feels customers are willing to come in…and customers will consider going in once he reopens. Anyway, that's my answer to folks who ask, "When will it end?" My answer is gradually and at different times for each of us. But it will end.
Some wonderful, largely-homemade things are appearing online. I'm just starting to watch episodes of Stars in the House and let me tell you what that is. It's a twice-daily webcast telethon to benefit The Actors Fund, which is a charity that helps folks involved in show business and not just actors. It also helps writers and stagehands and ticket sellers and anyone who's in that vicinity and needs financial aid…as so many do at this time.
It's run by SiriusXM Broadway host Seth Rudetsky and producer James Wesley from their New York home (they're husband and husband) and they do an episode each day at 2 PM Eastern Time and another at 8 PM Eastern Time (so 11 AM and 5 PM on my coast) and via Skype or some other teleconferencing software, they chat with Broadway stars and even get performances out of them. There's also some surprisingly-responsible medical news and advice.
They started this March 16 with a show featuring Tony winner Kelli O'Hara and that's the one I've embedded below. Since then, the guest list reads like a Who's Who? (or maybe a Who's Anybody?) of live theater. So far, the list includes Jason Alexander, Sebastian Arcelus, Colleen Ballinger, Laura Benanti, Linda Benanti, Annette Bening, Stephanie J Block, Sierra Boggess, Betty Buckley, Andréa Burns, Norbert Leo Butz, Liz Callaway, Len Cariou, Will Chase, Kristin Chenoweth, Gavin Creel, Charlotte D'Amboise, Jason Danieley, Colin Donnell, Raúl Esparza, Tina Fey, Christopher Fitzgerald, Melissa Gilbert, Joanna Gleason, Mandy Gonzalez, JoAnn Hunter, Jeremy Jordan, Ramin Karimloo, Tom Kitt, Judy Kuhn, Anika Larsen, Norm Lewis, Judith Light, John Lithgow, Melissa Manchester, Terrence Mann, Andrea Martin, Eric McCormack, Audra McDonald, Lindsay Mendez, Ruthie Ann Miles, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jessie Mueller, Patti Murin, Pamela Myers, Kathy Najimy, Anne L. Nathan, Rosie O'Donnell, Kelli O'Hara, Billy Porter, Jeff Richmond, Chita Rivera, Blake Ross, Lea Salonga, Keala Settle, Marc Shaiman, Christopher Sieber, Jennifer Simard, Ashley Spencer, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Will Swenson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Vanessa Williams, Patrick Wilson and Chip Zien.
See anyone on that list who's any good? I can spot a few.
Throughout, they encourage you to donate to The Actors Fund, which you can do here or other ways they'll tell you about. There are also auctions and other fund-gathering mechanisms and while I haven't watched them all, the shows I've watched are very entertaining. You can see the lineups and watch episodes on this page. And now, here's Show One…
Hi Mark, just wanted to run a question by you. I recently spoke to a friend of mine to inform him that I had bought a DVD complete series of I Spy! Boy, when I say I was not prepared for his response, it's a total understatement! My buddy ranted how could I support that rapist with my hard earned money?
I tried to explain I separate the performer, from their art, much the same way I would with a performer's politics, but you'd have thought I told him I was baking a birthday cake with a file in it to spring Bill Cosby out of jail. How would you explain it, or maybe you too hold that opinion? Am I wrong to say, what's in the library is not an endorsement of any bad behavior?
Well, there are two aspects to this question, one being whether you really can separate the art from the artist and enjoy the work now. Apparently, you can. I was never a huge fan of Bill Cosby the performer but I respected the work and recognized the joy he brought to so many. I was not likely to patronize much that involved him before we learned of his reprehensibleness so I dunno. If I was a huge fan, would I now find it hard to laugh at what I used to find funny? To look at him and be reminded of what he did? I might — which would be a perfectly acceptable reason to not buy it. Why buy something that doesn't please you?
As for the other aspect: If I could still enjoy the work, the idea that in doing so I would "support that rapist" would not have much impact on my decision. The amount of dough Cosby would clear from the purchase of one I Spy DVD set is probably inconsequential to him. Even after paying oodles of loot to his lawyers, he probably still has enough for that income to make no difference to his life. It might mean a little something to any less wealthy writers, producers, other actors, owners of the DVD company, et cetera, who were involved with I Spy and as far as we know, raped no one.
It was also, as I recall, a pretty good show. It deserves to not disappear because of something one of its stars did later in life. Enjoying it would not be an endorsement of anything done by anyone in the cast when they were off the clock.
What I guess I'm getting at is that this is a matter of individual choice. Your friend wants to boycott Cosby? Fine. You can not watch any show for any reason. As I've said here before, I don't think most boycotts accomplish anything more than to make the boycotter feel better…but that's not a bad thing. It's your decision and don't let anyone take it away from you or feel bad because of it.
