#Alison LaPlaca

[docgold13]

Batman: The Animated Series - Paper Cut-Out Portraits and Profiles

Baby Doll

Marion Louise ‘Mary’ Dahl was an actress who featured in a very successful situation comedy early in her career.  Dahl was born with systemic hypoplasia, a rare endocrine disease that prevented physical growth.  Even as an adult, she appeared no older than a toddler.   

While her time in the roll of 'Baby Doll' on the show ‘Love that Baby’ garnered Dahl fame, she found getting subsequent acting roles to be extremely difficult.  She wanted to play serious and adult roles, yet her size and recognizability caused casting directors to disregard her.

Over time, Dahl’s anger and depression intensified to the point that she descended into an unhinged rage.  Feeling that the only time she was truly happy was on the set of 'Love That Baby,' Dahl set about abducting the various actors and producers of the show in a desperate, crazed effort to recreate the show. Her ultimately plan was to set off an explosion that would kill her and the entire cast, allowing them to be together forever.  

Batman and Robin investigated the disappearance of the various actors.  With assistance from news reporter, Summer Gleason, Batman was able to identify Dahl as the prime suspect.  Batman tracked down Dahl and rescued her hostages.  

Dahl herself fled to a nearby fairground, hiding inside a funhouse.  There she encountered a hall of mirrors with one of the distorted mirrors showing what she might look like had she been able to grow into an adult body.  

Realizing it all to be fake, just as her life and character was, Dahl shot out all the mirrors before breaking down and weeping.  Batman comforted her until the authorities arrived to take her into custody.  

Actress Alison LaPlaca portrayed the troubled Mary Dahl, first appearing in the ninth episode of the second season of Batman: The Animated Series, ‘Baby Doll.’ 

[seriouslycromulent]

More thoughts on The John Larroquette Show

OK. So I've finally finished rewatching The John Larroquette Show, and I'm back with additional thoughts and commentary about the series. My first post about my rewatch can be found here.

I just want to point out that I couldn't watch every episode because the media player that I downloaded wouldn't play back all the files unfortunately. So over the course of the 4 seasons, I would say I got to see about 85% of it. Unfortunately, the majority of the episodes the media player wouldn't read were in the final season. ☹️ I hope I will get to watch those episodes via another media player in the future, but I didn't want to hold up my commentary waiting for that to happen.

So from what I got to watch, I really liked the show and it made me sad that the series couldn't really find an audience because there was some solid comedy (and drama) in those 70+ episodes.

Enough of the intro, let's dive in to more thoughts ...

I'm so slow. It took me until the 2nd season to realize the cops' names, Hampton and Eggers, are a play on the combo Ham & Eggs. Don't judge me.

Throughout season 2, you can tell the showrunners were really trying everything to get the ratings up with different guest stars and celeb cameos. It's almost to the point of being really obsequious and sweaty. Like it starts somewhat subtly with cross-promotion of other NBC series and celebrities who are mildly connected to the show, like Joey Lawrence from Blossom playing Carly's brother and David Cassidy, who sang the opening theme song for the show. Then, it was like: "Hey! Here for no reason is the '60s singer Deon, actor Joe Pesci, and Boys II Men." (Not all in one episode, mind you). Now, I love me some BIIM, but they basically shot an entire music video in the bus station in the middle of an episode, and it just did not fit the tone of the show at all. The most obvious cameo/guest star was the random appearance of the late and sorely missed Matthew Perry as a character that didn't even get a name. But Friends was already a hit by then (1995), so I'm sure NBC thought his appearance on TJLS would help with the ratings. I don't mind any of these guest stars generally, but it all began to feel a bit forced, as opposed to something organic like most of the guest stars from season 1.

Now guest stars who have worked with Larroquette in the past or were related to him were perfectly fine by me. What can I say? I like it when people I know who are friends or family get to work together. Case in point: It was great to see JL act alongside his lovely wife in an episode of his own show. All I know about Elizabeth is what JL has mentioned occasionally in interviews, which is essentially she has the patience of a saint and that she's English. With so little to go on, it's no surprise that I didn't recognize her right away. But she did a fine job, and I bet it was a real treat for them to work together on something that others (especially their kids) can watch years later.

In s2e17, "Whipping Post," Joey Lawrence guest stars as Carly's brother, Sonny. During a scene where nurse Catherine (played by the highly underrated Alison LaPlaca) is dressing a bad cut on his arm at the hospital, Sonny keeps hitting on Catherine while she's working. In a quick back and forth, he tells her how attractive and funny she is. She responds by saying something to the effect, "Thanks for that. It's nice to hear, but I've been on 5 cancelled sitcoms. Nobody gets me." The comment gets a huge laugh from the audience because it's obviously a 4th wall break. I remember LaPlaca being on a number of sitcoms in the '80s, but I just wanted to fact check to see which 5 cancelled ones she was talking about. According to IMDB, they were: Tom, The Jackie Thomas Show, Stat, Open House, and Duet (which to be fair, lasted 3 seasons). Personally, I love it when shows break the 4th wall, and I appreciate that they let the audience laugh for a long time here because it really was a funny surprise that I think deserved the response it got.

Going back to the general setup of the show, you can tell that the producers or the network is still fiddling with the formula throughout the series. They moved away from the steady references to John Hemingway's recovery in AA, and tried their best to make it more like a "regular" sitcom about the life and work of a particular group of people. This was fine, I guess. But I feel like in doing so, the show lost a little bit of what made it unique. They tried to make Hemingway a normal-ish guy surrounded by a cast of dynamic characters, and he was simply reacting to their shenanigans. But that in some ways stunted the development of John's character, in my opinion.

Speaking of character development, I also felt like the show was probably getting notes from week to week telling the writers to be more appealing to "Middle America." So as a result, the writers did the following: had Hemingway talk less about racism with Dexter; gave Hemingway a steady girlfriend & a more middle class-looking flat; made Carly more "respectable" by giving her the bar at the station to run; had Gene meet someone & get married; and kept the commentary about the cops to mostly punchlines about them specifically (compared to a commentary about police, in general). Most of these changes happen in season 2, but it doesn't stop the show from being funny. However, it does change the humor a bit. I felt like the humor only really starts to falter when they changed the canon bus station hours where we see our cast of characters go from an overnight shift (aka 3rd shift) to a late shift (aka 2nd shift). The change is subtle, but it's there. And it was definitely better when the show had a 3rd shift background. I don't know why, but it just did.

In happier thoughts, I counted guest stars from Night Court coming over and joining Larroquette for an episode on his show at 6. First, there's Bumper Robinson playing a teenage thief/would-be shakedown artist in "Jumping Off the Wagon" (s1e7). Then, we see Marsha Warfield playing Dexter's sister in "Date Night" (s1e22). Next, it was Charles Robinson playing a bookmaker that John mistakes for a bookie (aka someone who places gambling bets). That episode, "John's Lucky Day," (s3e11) was great especially because of the scene in the bar where John has this back and forth with the bartender, who thinks John is this menacing gangster who's going to hurt Charlie's character and he's trying to keep John in his good graces. The bartender is played by popular voice actor Kevin Michael Richardson, someone we rarely get to see onscreen much these days. And of course, we get a guest starring episode featuring Harry Anderson, who played a plastic surgeon trying to convince John to get a lot of unnecessary work done. That episode, "Cosmetic Perjury," (s3e14) also gives a nice little shout-out to Markie Post in a quick back and forth between the two. And last, but not least, we get to see a small reunion between Dan Fielding and Phil Sanders with the guest appearance of William Utay in the episode "Independence Day" (s3e20).

Oh, and I shouldn't forget the small role that John's youngest son, Ben, plays in "An Odd Cup of Tea," (s3e7). It must've been trippy to play your dad's much, much younger brother on your dad's own TV show. Although, they do get to argue with each other and tell each other to shut up like brothers yelling at each other often do, so maybe it was a bit cathartic.

If I had to pick my favorite episodes of all 4 seasons, I would say it would be the following, in no particular order: "Grit" (s1e21), "The Book of Rachel" (s2e8), and "Rachel Redux" (s2e21). I can't say exactly why those episodes are my favorites. But I can say those 3 episodes made me either laugh so hard I had to rewind to hear the dialogue I missed while I was laughing, or delight at the chemistry JL shared with his main costars in those episodes. "Grit" features Hemingway's relationship with Eggers, and I think they played so well off each other that it makes me sad that Elizabeth Berridge doesn't get more work. She's just absolutely hilarious throughout the entire episode. As a matter of fact, I would say that she and Darryl "Chill" Mitchell probably had the most chemistry with Larroquette when it came to comedy on the show. And Mayim Bialik as Hemingway's daughter was just pitch perfect in terms of chemistry. They worked really well together, and I'm glad we got to see her appear on the show 3 times. My favorites were "The Book of Rachel" and "Rachel Redux," but the 3rd episode she's in isn't bad though. Sure, it was a chance to cross-promote with her show on the same network, but these 2 definitely caught lightning in a bottle with their timing and delivery. Who knows? Since Mayim has worked with both John and Melissa Rauch, maybe she'll turn up on the new Night Court. I know I wouldn't mind seeing that.

I have more thoughts on the show, but I'm going to stop here for the sake of everyone's sanity. Thank you for reading if you've gotten this far. Feel free to share your thoughts on the show if you like. I hope to share a few more of mine in the future.

[loveboatinsanity]

[nygmatech]

Not like my usual posts, but last night I watched "Baby-Doll" from BTAS last night and just... wow.

That ending is absolutely gut-wrenching. There's such a deep tragedy to Dahl's character, and Alison LaPlaca brings that to the forefront with her excellent vocal performance, especially when she switches from the gratingly childish baby doll voice, to the voice of the real Mary Dahl. It's something else.

And Batman not hurting her or scolding her in that final scene, and instead just... putting a hand on her head when she hugs his leg to cry. Letting her just have a moment of sympathy.

Just... that

"I didn't mean to..."

Is such a brilliant usage of that motif.

Damn. I knew this show was good but damn.

[kwebtv]

Maggie Briggs  -  CBS  -  March 4, 1984  –  April 15, 1984

Sitcom (6 episodes)

Running Time:  30 minutes

Stars:

Suzanne Pleshette as Maggie Briggs

Kenneth McMillan as Walter Holden

Shera Danese as Connie Piscipoli

Stephen Lee as Sherman Milslagle

John Getz as Geoff Bennett

Alison LaPlaca as Melanie Bitterman

Roger Bowen as Danny Bauer

Michelle Nicastro as Diane Barstow

[thechurchillreview]

I still think this sequence from the 1994 Batman: The Animated Series episode "Baby-Doll" remains one of the series best. And equally hardest to view. This is definitely an episode I have seen the most as well. Written by Paul Dini. Animated by Spectrum Animation Co.

The company consisted of former TMS Entertainment employees that tried to start their own. Notably, they animated the Emmy Award winning Season 1 episode "Heart of Ice" (Outstanding Writing in Animated Program) which skyrocketed B:TAS into fame. However, Spectrum's attention to detail lead to their closure.

Mary Louise Dahl would come back in another episode. That didn't have nearly the gravitas in the show's final redesigned season ("Love is a Croc"). With a new voice actor just like Killer Croc and Scarecrow got too.

Mary (voiced by Alison LaPlaca) was born with systemic hypoplasia, a rare condition that stopped her from growing up appearance-wise. Meaning she'd always look like a toddler. She was once famous on the TV sitcom Love That Baby as the title character when she was 20 years old yet portrayed a 5 year old. Despite its original popularity, ratings for the show fell and a new character Spunky (Baby Doll's cousin) was introduced. Mary was furious since she thought he was stealing her spotlight and after he shoved her face into a birthday cake on one specific episode she left Love That Baby. She was in MacBeth next, but the reviews were terrible, scuttling her career as a result. Mary attempted to get back on Love That Baby which had been cancelled after her departure: the producers refused her offer. After that, she was ostracized and typecasted due to her condition when it get came to getting new jobs. Mary realized she was happy when adored by millions as Baby Doll with her sitcom family and devised a plan to get them back (along with setting up revenge against Spunky's actor as well).

These gifs are from Mary's confrontation with Batman at a nearby fair and she ends up inside a hall of mirrors within a Fun House. One of the distorted reflections depicts her as how she believed she should look. Alas she comments it is "pretend" like her life and family before shattering all of the mirrors Batman is in with a held doll gun. She hesitates concerning that one until she shoots it too with tears streaming down her face. In the episode's closing moment, she sobs as Batman wordlessly approaches and without using any force removes the gun doll from her (That I interpret as symbolic. It has no bullets. Mary is not a threat anymore. She isn't a child even though her body and career have essentially tragically trapped her as one. Like the broken mirror, it is another remaining facet of the illusion that is being taken away. A connection to an identity she was, but ultimately really isn't anymore. As painful and as heartrending a revelation as it is for her. And the audience to see unfold.) After that, Batman stands there as Mary continues crying, she then grabs him and a still silent Batman immediately responds by compassionately placing his hand atop her head with Mary uttering her normally meant for humor Baby Doll catchphrase "I didn't mean to" to heartbreaking effect one last time.

The animation. Voice work. Music. Writing. Everything just meshes perfectly together here in this concluding part of the episode in my opinion.

One of the best episodes of Batman the animated series, and possibly one of the best villain stories. You could really feel the shows darkness come through with this ending when the socially ostracized `Baby Doll` shoots her would-be self. Baby Doll is an adult woman trapped in the body of a child, not able to live a normal life, self-loathing and longing for the only time she was accepted - by the end of the episode her heart-wrenching life story actually makes both the viewer and Batman sympathize with her. The somber ending was spot-on for both this character and atmosphere of the show

[page58-blog1]

Only a Miracle can Save Chloë Grace Moretz in the Biographical Drama 'Brain on Fire' (Trailer) with Tyler Perry & More

Only a Miracle can Save Chloë Grace Moretz in the Biographical Drama ‘Brain on Fire’ (Trailer) with Tyler Perry & More

    “I read your first article it’s good. Susannah you’re going to interview the senator.” “Are you alright young lady?” The biographical drama ‘Brain on Fire’ is a look at a young woman’s rapid descent into insanity. Based on Susannah Cahalan’s New York Times best-selling memoir Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness the film tells an incredible true story about a terrifying experience and disease.