Flashback

Who didn't love Jared Martin, now 70, back in the '70s and '80s? I first fell for him in The Fantastic Journey. Wasn't enough of a fan, though, to watch him regularly on Dallas. Started following him again when he did the War of the Worlds TV series. Yes, the first season was better.

It appears he stopped acting in the '90s. Now he's an artist, principally with photography. Very nice work.

WoW - Wallpaper of the Week

Michael Lewis

Chris Carmack

It's model time again this week. The first is one, the second started out as one.

We start with Israeli-born Michael Lewis, who'll be 23 tomorrow. The man has the most impossible abs. Which he works hard to maintain, as demonstrated here. Plus he's bendy, which just makes him that much more interesting.

As I was doing research on young Michael, I was pleasantly surprised to find out he won the Israeli version of Dancing with the Stars with his wife, who's a professional dancer. Another couple whose kids will have won the genetic lottery. See them in action here, and read about their winning here. Note that the article's translated by Google from Hebrew, so it's a bit choppy reading. And the video is in Hebrew too. But the dancing can be appreciated, even if you don't know what they're saying.

Check out his MySpace and Facebook, as well as his wife's Facebook. And this Yahoo group.

On Wednesday, Chris Carmack turns 30. Whose abs ain't too shabby either. His early work was as an Abercrombie and Fitch model; perhaps the quintessential A&F model. Then he got notice as a regular on The O.C.. You got to see lots more of him, in many ways, in Love Wrecked, which also starred cutie Jonathan Bennett. He's done bit parts on Smallville and Desperate Housewives, as well as straight-to-DVD stuff like The Butterfly Effect 3 and Into the Blue 2.

I don't know if he's a regular practitioner of it, but he did a yoga workout video back in '04. If you like shirtless sweaty Chris in biker shorts, you'll love it. I got the video a while back, and you actually get a good workout with it. Complete bonus; would've been happy with shirtless sweaty Chris.

He has a Twitter account, but doesn't seem to use it much.

See more of Chris at this Yahoo group.

In Memoriam

Robert Urich

Everyone's gaga nowadays for Robert, Taylor and Zac. But back in the day, it was guys like Tom. And Robert Urich, who would've been 55 today. We lost him in April of 2002 to cancer. Not fair, but who says the universe is fair?

His career started in his late '20s, when he starred in the TV version of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice in 1973. Late, by today's teen standards. But though the series lasted only one season, he was always working after that.

I must've seen him first in '77 on Soap as bisexual tennis instructor Peter Campbell. His character was sleeping with everyone before he got murdered. Kind of like a certain Captain did years later.

Then he did Vega$ from '78 to '81. So, right up to when I left Miami. Dan Tanna, mmm. And I'm surprised. I thought Magnum, P.I. came first. But it started in 1980. So maybe Vega$ inspired Magnum, not vice versa like I thought.

Then he did a classic. The deliberately campy, so-bad-it's-good Ice Pirates in '84. If you haven't seen it, rent it, watch it, be one with the cheesiness. Gawk in amazement that not only Robert was in it, but also John Carradine, Ron Perlman and Anjelica Huston! And how can one gloss over Bruce Vilanch's biggest film role.

Following that, he was in probably my favorite thing he did, Spenser: For Hire from '85 to '88. And some made-for-TV movies afterward. Mom was a fan of the show, too. Not only was Robert great (it was his favorite role as well), but it also co-starred a pre-DS 9 Avery Brooks. In fact, I remember when I first saw him on DS 9, I thought, "That's Hawk!"

There are a couple of nice tribute sites for him. Also check out the site of his wife, Heather Menzies.