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Lorne Greene revealed the unhappiest role he had to play
"It was horrible. I hated getting up to go to work."
As viewers, decades ago, it was ordinary for fans only to see the outcome of productions, whether they were made for television or film. Sometimes actors and producers would reveal behind-the-scenes footage, like short video clips and photographs, or do interviews where they went into detail about life on set or how their characters were developed.
Over the years, audiences have obtained even more insight into the wellbeings of actors and how their roles affected their personal lives. Lorne Greene is known for his role as Ben Cartwright in Bonanza and was never afraid to speak out about roles without actual meaning.
He even told the truth about why he wanted to leave the show after 16 episodes, explaining how he wanted his character to have more purpose and depth.
Although he and his fans are glad he stayed on the show after producers granted the change, he revealed another gig that played a massive part in him being cautious about roles. After Bonanza, Greene played in many shows, but Code Red, where he played a fire department chief, was one of the unhappiest times of his life.
In a 1983 interview, the actor spoke about the beauty of love and responsibility while revealing he hated going to work while filming Code Red.
"[Bonanza] became a story about... a series about a four-letter word, love," he said while speaking on love. "Love of land, love of trees, love of the environment, love of people, love of the country."
Greene then went on to talk about how television has an immense responsibility, highlighting how productions need to be accurate and truthful. "Television has a tremendous responsibility; The responsibility is to be accurate; The responsibility is to be truthful," he went on. "The responsibility is not to mislead the viewing public."
In another segment of the interview, the actor revealed he had to compromise on Code Red, which made him even more unhappy.
"I compromised. It was the most unhappiest time I've ever had in the business," Greene said. "It was horrible. I hated getting up to go to work. I didn't believe any of the scripts; I didn't believe any of this could happen."
Greene believed the show was too focused on fires and not actual firefighters. "You [have] to be careful about a series because you're not in control."
This realization prompted him to do a show where he was in full control, resulting in the nature series Lorne Greene's New Wilderness.
41 Comments
I do remember Code Red - that is, I remember that it existed, and Lorne Greene was the star. But like everyone else, I agree that 'Galactica 1980' was one sad turd of a show.
Also, I just looked up Code Red episodes on YouTube and they actually have Adam turning out to fires with the adult firefighters in child size fire gear in his adopted father’s (Lorne) LA Fire Department Battalion Chief’s car. The episode I skimmed (episode 13, Burn Out) dealt with bootlegged video game players that overheat and all of a sudden started pouring large quantities of smoke out, burst into flames shooting 15 inches in the air, and when the kid tried to grab the plug to unplug it from the wall that immediately shot sparks out of the wall outlet along with fire and electrocuted the kid. The firemen start CPR in the front yard with Adam just inches away and don’t bring the ambulance stretcher in (still no IV) until they dramatically announce the kid is breathing again while trying to push off the fire fighter still doing chest compressions (it’s ok, he’s breathing!). If Lorne Greene was really into authenticity and realism like it sounds, I’m sure he absolutely despised this unrealistic dramatic garbage. To be honest I don’t think I can finish the episode it’s so bad. The Adam Rich character is apparently supposed to be about 13yo, but they’ve written him to act more like 11. Unfortunately, Adam had not gone through his teenage growth spurt yet so he looked more like 10. I didn’t remember much about it except I gave up on it after about 2 episodes.
The connection is that Barry Van Dyke is Dick Van Dyke’s son and they were in Diagnosis Murder together, along with other various relatives. And Kent McCord of course was Officer Jim Reed in Adam-12.
"[Bonanza] became a story about... a series about a four-letter word, love," he said while speaking on love. "Love of land, love of trees, love of the environment, love of people, love of the country."
LOCATION:
https://www.metv.com/stories/which-decade-had-the-best-halloween-candy
LOCATION: This is for the Trivia quiz (STOP before playing).
https://www.ultimatequizquestions.com/back-to-the-future-quiz/
Is that Pacific Time?
You mean most unhappy. I can’t believe that Greene actually said the above, so my money is that the person who wrote this article is the true ungrammatical ignoramus.
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LOCATION:
https://www.metv.com/stories/which-decade-had-the-best-halloween-candy
LOCATION: Answers to Trivia (WAIT before you play)
https://www.ultimatequizquestions.com/back-to-the-future-quiz/
" Lorne Greene's New Wilderness (1982)", it reminded me of other shows like " The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" and Steve Irwins " The Crocodile Hunter."