Up All Night With Law And Order

This last episode had Richard Libertini in a smaller roll. That’s a pretty good catch for episodic TV. Nancy Marchand is in this one. Same sentiment applies.

The house is quiet. I am playing poker. The TV is on. I’ve been watching Law and Order–original cast.

This is such an excellent show. Because of my hours it was difficult to appreciate first-run.

Obviously, the ensemble cast was great but the show also calls upon the huge pool of New York actors–and these are different than the people you see in Los Angeles.

This last episode had Richard Libertini in a smaller roll. That’s a pretty good catch for episodic TV. Nancy Marchand is in this one. Same sentiment applies.

It’s witty. It’s clever. It’s good enough to motivate me to watch it on TNT.

Remember The Toyota Guy?

Helaine and I were lying on the bed watching football (kicked out of the family room by Stef as she caught a Law and Order marathon), when the conversation turned to Toyotathon.

Really. Why would I kid about that?

Toyotathon has been a running joke in our family for years. It was the holiday that followed Thanksgiving.

For years Toyota took advantage of the commercial lull after Christmas to mount a huge TV campaign. Nowadays, the ads are running earlier.

They made one other large change. They stopped using Squire Fridell. I was crushed.

You might not recognize the name, but you’ve seen him tens of thousands of times. He was friendly and energetic. He was the ‘everyman’ who enticed you to Toyota. He was the face of Toyotathon for nearly 30 years!

So, there we were watching football and discussing Squire Fridell when I decided to see what ever happened to him. As is often the case, he wasn’t tough to find.

Squire Fridell is a vintner – proprietor, with his wife, of GlenLyon Vineyards and Winery in Glen Ellen, California. Judging by his picture on their website, he’s doing well and looking healthy.

I don’t know him, but I decided to drop him an email anyway and tell him we’d been talking about him. Who doesn’t like knowing they’re being thought of?

Hi Geoff:

Terrific that I actually REPLACED Christmas! That’s a first….

Life is good out here and the wine is even better!

Come out and visit Sonoma Valley where the weather is something to

enjoy (most of the time) rather than report on…. I’ll show you

around GlenLyon!

Cheers!

Squire, The Ghost of Christmas in The Fox Household

It was nice he wrote back and even better he wrote back cleverly!

I’ve come to the conclusion he really is that nice guy they wanted portrayed on TV… true life typecasting by Toyota. I’m glad I sent the email.