You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and lesbians — they often go astray. In this case, I’d purchased Zuma Beach, one of Suzanne Somers’ very few made-for-TV movies, on DVD last month and intended to post a review of it this week. That’ll probably be delayed now by news of her death, like the review of Raquel Welch’s Tainted Blood earlier this year.
It won’t be the last time something like this happens, seeing as many of the actors whose telefilm work I spotlight on Cranky Lesbian are in their seventies or older.* (Heck, Angie Dickinson just turned 92. I have more posts about her movies in the works, though I’ve yet to tackle the Police Woman project Crankenstein suggested.) But in this case I’d planned to criticize Somers’ history of promoting dangerous medical advice and this might not be the best time for that.
As you can see in the photo, I also recently acquired yet another forgotten Loni Anderson film, and I’m begging Anderson to please take care of herself. With a little help from an upcoming Lifetime Christmas flick, her career could be revitalized and she could remake The Whales of August with Joan Van Ark.
*There was also a Cranky feature that I paused when Susan Lucci’s husband died — I’d been writing about her memoir one chapter at a time and didn’t have the heart to continue it afterward, since he was such a big part of the book. At some point I should dust that off, though, in service to future Lucci scholars.