Fun_People Archive
8 Nov
Dr. Laura Pulls A String...

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Wed,  8 Nov 100 13:05:04 -0800
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Subject: Dr. Laura Pulls A String...

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From: <http://entertainment.msn.com/tv/gist/wed03.asp>

GIST TV news
Frasier Dr. Laura Spoof M.I.A.

Nov 7, 2000 - An episode of Frasier featuring a shrill radio shrink based
on Dr. Laura Schlessinger has apparently been yanked from syndication by
Paramount. And, according to the New York Post, the producers of Frasier
are livid.

Insiders believe that Paramount, which also produces the syndicated series
Dr. Laura, was pressured by Schlessinger to shelve the episode, which last
aired on Dec. 2, 1999, before it mysteriously disappeared from the
syndication rotation.

The episode, which ran in 1998, cast Welcome to New York's Christine
Baranski as a shrink named Dr. Nora, who assumed a sweet image to land a
job at Frasier's (Kelsey Grammer) radio station. But Dr. Nora revealed her
true colors after she was hired: She went on the air and attacked her
viewers just like Schlessinger does on her radio program.

Baranski received an Emmy nomination for her work in the episode.

"My partners and I are royally peeved," David Lee, Frasier's
co-creator/executive producer, tells the Post. "We're partners with
Paramount, and that they would do something like this without asking us or
talking to us - you just don't do that."

A spokesperson for Paramount denies that the company pulled the episode at
the request of Schlessinger.

In other Schlessinger news, the situation with her struggling syndicated
show has gone from bad to worse. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dr.
Laura will be shifted from morning and afternoon time slots to the graveyard
shift (that's after 1 a.m.) on key CBS stations, including those in New
York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

- Christine Champagne, Gist TV Staff

(c) 2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

© 2000 Peter Langston