How Joe Gerard Turned a Generation of Gay Boys Into Chest-Hair Queens
Damian and I are knee deep in the deeply analyzed third season of "Rhoda" -- it's not for the faint of heart -- so it's understandable why viewers were so unhappy and fled. (I was a kid the first time I saw it, so its darkness was lost on me.) Although it's difficult to watch our more-assured heroine flirt with being an insecure wreck again, scenes like at Joe's "bachelor pad" go a long way toward explaining why she had her occasional weak moments.
Not sure if it was my age or that reruns of the later seasons ran more often, but I totally remember Rhoda's "single" apartment -- with Gary Levy always stopping by -- more than the one on the top floor with Joe. And I also remember her working with Jack at the costume shop, which hasn't even happened yet.
Will be equally interesting to re-watch "Phyllis," which I just bought bootleg DVDs of. I remember it fondly -- "growing up" with Bess and my whole family gathering around to watch Mother Dexter's wedding. But a reader tells me the recasting of Phyllis's colleague Julie -- originally played by Barbara Colby, the same actress who shared a jail cell with Mary Richards, until she was murdered three episodes into the series (a case that has never been solved), tainted things for him. (If I remember correctly, Phyllis quits working in the photo studio in Season 2 anyway.) Will be curious to see if I feel the same way. (You know how I am about "fakes"!)
David Groh died of kidney cancer in 2008 at age 68.
A few more pictures of dreamy Joe HERE.
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