Don McKeon from Scranton, one of our regular contributors to the blog, emailed me a few days ago with the following:"I was watching a show from the 1980's sitcom: Amen with Sherman Hemsley (from The Jeffersons), and the name of Scranton came up. The plot of the show featured the Deacon, Sherman H., trying to win a humanitarian award so he and his daughter could win the grand prize, a trip to the Holy Land. Sherman says to his daughter not to worry if they don't win the trip because, THERE'S ALWAYS SCRANTON!"
Amen aired Saturday nights at 9:30 PM on NBC from 1986 to 1991. Sherman Helmsley starred as Ernest Frye, the lawyer and scheming deacon of First Community Church of Philadelphia, who loses some semblance of control when the new minister, Rev. Reuben Gregory (Clifton Davis), had other ideas; every week, the two would have some sort of conflict over the runnings of the church. In addition, Frye's 30-year-old romantically frustrated daughter, Thelma (Anna Maria Horsford), developed a massive crush on the new pastor. The show also featured other great characters like sisters Amelia (Roz Ryan) and Casietta Hetebrink (Barbara Montgomery).
The Scranton reference appeared on the final episode (number 22) in the first (1986-87) season of Amen; titled "What's Up, Deacon?," it originally aired Saturday, April 22, 1987.
Thanks again to Don McKeon for another great Scranton reference. Keep 'em coming!
I also wanted to quickly add that I noticed that the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in Entertainment blog has passed 10,000 hits. Now I know that 10,000 hits over two years may seem a little low compared to daily hits for YouTube videos or visitors to Britney's website (heh heh); but honestly, when I began this blog, it was simply a labor of love for a movie fan who was fascinated how much the cities of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton (both pre- and post-Office) have permeated all aspects of entertainment and, quite frankly, I had no idea that other people would dig it as well.
So, to everyone who contributed to the blog, to everyone who has looked at it, and to everyone who told me (either in person or via email) how much they enjoy it, I just want to say THANK YOU!!!!!!!! You really made my day :-)
2 comments:
Congrats on the 10K, but I'm sure your stats are much higher. I, for one, typically read only the RSS feed, so don't hit the hit counter, I think.
Xradiographer,
Thank you for the congrats.
Actually, I end up going back and editing each post at least 7 times (spelling errors, etc.), so I hope this isn't overloading your RSS feed. I'm a lousy speller :-(
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