The Wee Democracy

while riqui's and countless other's will make reference to the departure of johnny cash today, i shall focus on what i view to be a much more tragic loss.... that of jack tripper himself - the great john ritter.

many of you no doubt remember john from his days as the wacky male roommate of those three's company girls and the tenant of professor furley, played with ease and finesse by the incomparable don knotts. now i'm not sure if knotts himself is still with us, but i must say, it will be (or quite possibly was) a tragic day when he leaves our ranks.

i must say what a major part of my childhood three's company played. it was one of those shows i'm sure i didn't get half of the jokes due to my youth and status as an ingenue (and may not have laughed even if i did). nonetheless, it was always there for me, and likewise, so was jack tripper.

i'm sure that many of you might not remember that john's career saw a resurgence in the mid nineties with his turn as the 'not funny ha-ha, funny queer' friend of the mother and the son in billy bob thornton's american masterpiece, sling blade. ritter portrayed the gay vaughan cunningham with the gentle deftness of a master at work, and brought an extra sense of love and humanity to the bleak portrait of the american south.

motivated no doubt by a sense of uncertainty at his new shot at fortune, john saw fit to take a role as a bit of a hardass cop/father of the heroine in the fourth installment of the child's play series "bride of chucky". this was not john's first turn into the horror foray. in the early nineties, john portrayed the formerly chubby ben hanscomb in the TV film adaptation of Stephen King's IT, a film i hold primarily responsible for my fear of clowns. despite the lack of glory in these roles, john gave them his all, as i'm sure he gave to all his efforts in acting.

and how can we possibly forget that it was his new show (8 simple rules) that brought those fine-ass womens back to tv that are now his tele-orphaned daughters.

we shall miss you john. god bless.



feeling: sad
thinking of: coming and knocking on some random doors
song of the day: three's company theme song - Joe Raposo and Don Nicholl