Just saying...

that 20 year-old Jeremy Roloff of TLC's Little Big World is kinda twinky like. Though the show paints him sort of directionless. It also appears he's NOT ready to join the real world, and live outside the bubble his parents and the show has created. I'm not saying his Christian upbringing has been bad, but I know some (including wives of family members) who don't know how the real world works due to the sheltered world they grew up in.

Jeremy needs to be ready. And his parents need to push him more. At the end of the day, yes its cool to hang out at the farm or the Diary Queen and have teenage Twilight fan girls swoon over you, but it's not a reason to live.

Blog Changes

So, I discovered that Blogger has added a new design gadget, which enables me to sort re-design the way this blog is laid out. I was never happy with the ones they always offered -they were uninspiring and rather dull, plain and prosaic. And since I'm not good with design in itself, I could never figure out how to create my own and upload it.

I like the black and white design. Which is not to say anything of my personality of any point of view. It's simplicity is what impressed me to use it, I guess.

I also added some more sites to my blog roll, while deleting dead sites. I'm also unsure why Blogger continues to get rid of certain blogs, like Donnie at (1) Famous Like Me and then (2) hip n edgy, while others stay up. His site was never, ever dirty. And his Mug Shot Monday was always a delight.

I'm also considering changing this site over to a book blog (or starting another one dedicated to just books, the book industry and what not). I'm trying to figure out a new title, something that talks about books that generally don't show up on NYT best seller list. There are so many titles that are good, that get missed by the mass audience because factory writers like James Patterson and Nora Roberts prevent them from getting any notice. I mean, publishers like writers who push books out on a yearly basis (Roberts and Patterson push out 5 to 6 books a year). While I love Stephen King, even I know that quality is being sacrificed for quantity.

So, we'll see what I do. In the meantime, I will continue to read as much as possible and try to hope that someone who stumbles onto this site will see a book I've read and reviewed and decided to give it try.

Books: I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells (2009)

It appears that when I Am Not A Serial Killer was released in hardcover, it was displayed in the Young Adult section of the bookstore. Now out in paperback, the novel is actually in the mystery section. Perhaps, though, it should be in the horror section.

The novel is a sort of hybrid of the Dexter books by Jeff Lindsay and the early works of Stephen King (in particular IT), with the added bonus of teen angst and you get this clever, gruesome, yet boldly written story about 15 year-old John Wayne Cleaver.

John has realized he is turning into a sociopath - his therapist knows he is - who spends his days and nights (while not at school) helping out in his family's mortuary. He is also obsessed with serial killers, which disturbs his mother. He has very little emotion or empathy, and frequently has to stop himself from losing control of his inner demon. He has his own set of personal rules that helps keep the monster that is in him at bay.

But when a serial killer begins stalking his home town, John decides he must find out who is doing it, and sets out to discover what exactly is the killer, all while trying not to let the evil that is in him get out.

I can see why this novel was removed from the YA section; while some teens maybe interested in serial killers, I’m guessing this won’t appeal to a mass audience of teens. His loneliness and alienation from his family and the folks around him could help teen readers relate to him, but the novel is also gory and gives great detail of what happens in a mortuary - you get a great discourse in the art of embalming. More than I really cared to know, to be honest.

Still, Dan Wells has created a dark, very satirical voice in the character of John. He speaks bluntly, even though some of its quite dark. He’s chilling and endearing, and you sometimes could not help but feel some sympathy for the boy. Yet, as I finished it, I wondered if I or anyone else should.

Books: How to Talk to a Widower by Jonathan Tropper (2007)

In Jonathan Tropper’s fourth novel How to Talk to a Widower, we meet Doug Parker. Doug is 29 and it’s been just over a year since his wife Hailey (who, by the way, was 11 years older than him) of two years was killed in a plane crash. He has spent that year drinking copious amounts of Jack Daniels, moping around the house in his grubby underwear, and generally pretending that he doesn’t exist. He is pathetic. He is painfully vulnerable. And he is undeniably annoying to the rest of the world who, although they “understand his need to grieve,” feel that it’s time for him to buck up and get his life back in order --- especially in time for his younger sister Debbie’s wedding. And then there’s his late wife’s troubled 16 year-old son to add to his misery.

The problem is that Doug is not ready to move on with his life, but that does not stop his wholly dysfunctional family from stepping in and putting him on the right road. There’s his pill-popping mom, who is odd as can be, his twin sister Claire, who has issues herself - she’s left her boring husband, is a pregnant, has attitude and is a huge potty mouth - and his father, who suffers from bouts of dementia after a stroke a few years earlier.

But its Claire who finally kickstarts Doug’s program for recovery and from where we see how things go from bad to worse, all with hilarious outcomes.

Tropper is brilliant at creating hugely flawed, yet loveable characters who circle around ideal backdrops to explore the human condition.

The book packs some emotional wallop, yet even as tears bubble into your eyes, he makes you laugh at the same time. As an example, early in the novel, Doug learns of his wife’s death and calls Claire. As any good sister does, she immediately gets in the car to see her brother.

She says, “You’re in shock. Okay, I’m in the car.”
Moments later, there was a loud , protracted crashing sound.
“Motherfucker!”
“What was that?”
“I just backed through the garage door.”
“Jesus. You okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “The whole damn door came down. I’ll just drive over it.”
“Drive carefully.”
“Whatever. Listen -“ But she forgot that she was on her cordless and not her cell phone, and as soon as she turned out of her driveway she was out of range and the line went dead.

Before he calls Claire, you are weeping because the man has to comprehend the death of his wife, and mere moments later, you are laughing at image of a sister trying to get to her brother.

I love this guy. Sad now that I’ve read everything he’s produced now, but I’ll get over it. Not like I got 30 of 40 books sitting around I have not read.

Quote of the Day

"By the way, if you paid to see ALICE IN WONDERLAND, this is your fault. This probably wouldn't be happening if that film hadn't made over $1 billion."

Merrick over at Ain’t It Cool News on craptacular director Brett Ratner’s comments on how he and Relativity Media are making an edgy, updated (as in closer to the original source material) 3D version of the Brother’s Grimm tale, SNOW WHITE.

Books: Plan B by Jonathan Tropper (2000)

Plan B was Jonathan Tropper’s first novel, released in 2000 and is about 5 friends who graduated from New York University and went out into the world, fresh-faced and full of dreams for the future.

And then they turned 30.

I remember when I turned that age, it was 1992. I had been living in Northern California for almost 2 years, and things were going from good to rotten quickly. Part of the reason was my room mate had left the Bay Area to return to the Midwest to continue what he studied for in college, leaving me alone (well, sort of) in a seemly strange land. Then a return trip to Chicago reenforced the feelings of loneliness. A short time after I returned to California, my grandmother passed, followed a few weeks later of me turning 30. All this angsty stuff eventually led me back to Chicago. Oddly, it was the biggest mistake I could make. It would take me 13 years to get back here, but you all know that.

Anyways, back to Plan B. Ten years have passed since Ben, Lindsey, Chuck, Alison, and Jack left college, but turning thirty shows was never supposed to be like this: Ben's getting a divorce; Lindsey's unemployed; Alison and Chuck seem stuck in ruts of their own making; and Jack is getting more publicity for his cocaine addiction than his multimillion-dollar Hollywood successes.

Tropper delves into the heart of what thirty has represented for all of us, which is usually realizing we are past the age when our parents had us; that your older than the current popular actors, athletes and musicians. And what we hoped for at twenty sometimes does not happen by the time we reach that milestone.

With this debut, Tropper would explore the themes that have become his staple; that life never goes as planned, love is messy and that no matter what, you are growing older, and not, in fact, immortal.

In some ways, however, I’m glad I read some of his later works (starting with This Is Where I Leave You and The Book of Joe, which are stronger novels), as the book relies on too much sentimentality and sitcom one-lines, but it’s a cute comic riff on growing up and learning life, like friendship, will sometimes take its time course correcting your life. But I like this guy a lot, anyways, and will now take How to Talk to a Widower, his 2007 release (and last of his current canon that I’ve read).

At 146 minutes, Sex and the City 2 is...

"...an entirely inappropriate length for what is essentially a home video of gay men playing with giant Barbie dolls."

Lindy West

Books: The Kane Chronicles: Book 1: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

A few days before its release date, I was working at the bookstore when this guy asked me if The Red Pyramid, was going to different that Riordan’s previous five-book series Percy Jackson and The Olympians. I like being honest with my customers, as I’ve never been one to say James Patterson is a marvelous author and should be read by everyone. He’s a hack. Plain and simple.

No, I told him, I sensed with this new series, Riordan was not going to breakout of his well established formula that served Percy Jackson so well - a parent disappears, prompting introductions to ancient characters and travels to otherworldly places. There are to be battles with evil forces and a looming deadline by which the child must complete a mission, lest society descend into chaos. That’s gist of the this book and the gist of Percy Jackson. The question should have been whether it was going to be good as that other series (despite the last book being somewhat of a disappointment with its easy ending).

And to somewhat to my surprise, he’s succeeded with this new book. Instead of one, he’s got two protagonist in this new series, a brother and sister (who are bi-racial, which I found very interesting) who’ve been separated since the death of their mother, Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, while her brother Carter has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane.

One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a "research experiment" at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.

Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them--Set--has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe--a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family, and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.

While I was distracted by the alternate points of view chapters between Sadie and Carter at first (while Riordan has an ear for dialogue, he needs work creating a three dimensional female hero that does not sound like a boy), the book began to flow a bit better as it progressed. Riordan still has a habit of reminding readers the plot of the book every 20 or so pages which gets annoying after a while, and has outside characters explaining things to the kids instead of them figuring it out for themselves (which was what happened a lot on the final Percy Jackson novel), but its still a highly entertaining book for kids and adults. It is by far no Harry Potter, but Rick Riordan has done his homework on myths and legends of Egypt, making it also fun and educational at the same time.

The shadow of Zac Efron forces Beastly out of its release date. Srsly.

Okay, so I’ve heard bizarre reasons for studios pulling films from already announced release dates, but even this one has to raise an eyebrow and a What?

On its Facebook page for the film adaptation of the young adult novel Beastly -in itself, a retelling of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast - CBS Films has pushed back the release date of said film from its original July 30th berth to an undisclosed date.

Why?

Because, apparently, the tween universe might have an early preview of the whole 2012 phenomenon. Okay, maybe not. Still, also opening that day is the Universal Film Charlie St. Cloud starring Zac Efron (who's 15 minutes of fame must be striking at 14). Now Beastly, starring a much hotter Alex Pettyfer, also stars Efron’s High School Musical co-star (and alleged girlfriend) Vanessa Hudgens. Theoretically, both films are geared towards the same demographic audience: tween girls (and probably their mothers). And, apparently, these same theoretical tweens, might face a huge “dilemma” when faced with which movie to see.

Thus came this statement from CBS: "We've been hearing from fans, so we know that having both Zac and Vanessa's movies opening on the same day could be a real dilemma for people, so we are moving Beastly."

Got to admit, it’s a pretty creative, and probably unintentionally hilarious, reason for pulling a film. Still, if Beastly is a bad film (which is the usual reason a film gets pulled), at least CBS got ahead of it and can try to save their investment by either retooling it, holding out for a better position later in the summer, or early fall or just wait until January or February 2011 when people will watch anything.

Too bad that could not work for Sex and the City 2.

Final thoughts on LOST

I’ve become convinced now that last night’s series finale of LOST will leave many people a wondering just what it all meant -especially the “sideways-verse.”

It was never real, and only a creation of a dying Jack.

For me, Jack created the sideways universe in the seconds it took him to die. With what ever mysterious powers he was given when Jacob gave Jack the keys to the Island, I think he used that to bring everyone who survived Oceanic 815 together so all of them could leave this mortal coil whole and not the flawed creatures they were when they crashed on the Island in 2004. But in creating this sideways universe, Jack forgot to take care of himself, which was why he could never quite put all of the coincidences together.

The clue to all of this lies with Christian Shepard. He states that “you made this place so you could find each other," independent of the time at which they died, and move on to "the next phase" together, as in that place time had no meaning -i.e. the sideways universe. So Jack died in 2007, passing on the exact spot he woke up on after the crash (and who could not shed a tear as Vincent came by to make sure he did not die alone?). But before he did, he made sure that everyone -no matter when and where they died (because thanks to Hurley, who was now protector of the Island, is told by Ben that he was a “great number one” while Hurley says Ben was a “great number two.” How long that was is never given, but based on Jacob’s tenure on the Island, it could be hundreds of years)- could be together.

To me, there are not plot holes involving the real and the sideways world. Simple fact is that everything that happened, well...happened. The only thing unreal, was the sideways universe. LOST may have baited and switched a little bit, but at the end of the day, the series was about the people, and not about the plot. All the unanswered questions about the Island, about what it is, what it was, really was unimportant, in a sense it was the classic Hitchcockian McGuffian.

But, as always, its what we leave behind that is the most important. Who we leave, how we lived our lives was more important than any of the Island’s secrets.

CBS "Hawaii Five-0" Fall 2010 Opening Credits

Five Years Later...

On Tuesday of this week, I past a milestone in this blog, five years. It was started mostly because I was bored. In January of 2005, I was let go from USG in Schiller Park, Illinois. By May 18, while getting unemployment and working a few hours at Borders to cover what that was covering, I started to write. It was mostly about nothing, really. My first couple of posts were about Star Trek, rants if you will, about the direction the old franchise was going in.

I also mentioned my worries about not finding a new job, as unemployment would run out in July. Eventually, of course, I would end up moving to California a few months later.

A lot of things have happened here in the past five years, with highlights being my association with Hidden Frontier and Frontier Guard. That would lead to what (hopefully) will lead to working on my friend JayTee and Carlos' first indie film.

What could endanger that, sadly now, is my job with Borders. I'm loosing more and more hours, and our new GM has proven not to be trustworthy (as if anyone of them could be really). Borders is a doomed company, and I need to leave before that company drags whats left of my soul with it.

Borders is erratic, conflicted and disorganized. Every decision is debated, every action is questioned. It lacks harmony, cohesion and greatness. It will be its undoing.

So, as I start year six, my goals are just to live, get a new job and find a partner. Simple goals, really. I just don't know how to do it.

Can anyone help?

The CW announces two new shows, confirms SMALLVILLE to end next May

Mini network The CW only has two new shows for the fall, and they’re giving them support by airing them after the networks two biggest hits.

Monday begins with returning 90210, followed by returning GOSSIP GIRLS.

Tuesday begins with the show that seems un-killable: ONE TREE HILL, followed by LIFE UNEXPECTED.

Wednesday starts with the networks biggest hit, AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL followed by the HELLCATS, produced by SMALLVILLE’s Tom Welling, and is a coming-of-age story about a young, pre-law student who’s world gets flipped upside down when she loses her scholarship, and realizes the only way she can stay in school is by reigniting her dormant teen gymnastic skills to win a place on her school’s legendary cheerleading team, The Hellcats.

Thursday brings back it’s other hit show, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, which then leads into the second TV incarnation of the motion picture LE FEMME NIKITA, now just called NIKITA, about a deeply troubled girl who was rescued from death row by a secret U.S. agency known only as Division, who then fake her death and tell her she's been given a second chance to start a new life and serve her country. What they didn’t tell her was that she was being trained as a spy and assassin.

Friday starts with the 10th and final season of SMALLVILLE, followed by season six of SUPERNATURAL with its new direction after its five year arc completed this May.

Only two shows have been announced for midseason, and both are reality programs. Expect some more down the line.

Canceled shows include: MELROSE PLACE, THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE, FLY GIRLS and HIGH SOCIETY.

CBS unveils 5 new shows, cancels a bunch of others

After CBS announced the cancellations of a number of veteran shows, including GHOST WHISPERER, COLD CASE, NUMB3RS, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE, and GARY UNMARRIED along with a few 1st season shows as ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE, THREE RIVERS and MIAMI MEDICAL, the #1 broadcast network unveiled a mere five new shows for 2010-11.

Starting on Sunday, the new CBS schedule looks this way:

Returning shows on that night include 60 MINUTES, AMAZING RACE, UNDERCOVER BOSS and the relocated CSI: MIAMI

Monday brings back the sitcoms HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, and TWO & HALF MEN. MIKE & MOLLY (from creator Chuck Lorrie) balances out their hit Monday night comedy block. The remake of HAWAII FIVE-O finishes out the first week night.

Tuesday remains stable, with returning shows NCIS, NCIS: LOS ANGELES and THE GOOD WIFE.

Wednesday has the relocated SURVIVOR, followed by returning CRIMINAL MINDS, and Tom Selleck returns to TV with the legal drama THE DEFENDERS.

Thursday launches with the returning BIG BANG THEORY followed by the new sitcom inspired by the popular blog SH*T MY DAD SAYS starring veteran actor William Shatner. The original CSI returns next followed by the returning THE MENTALIST .

Friday was a strong night for CBS, as they continued over the course of the season to win one of the most difficult nights on TV next to Saturdays. Granted they are one of the five networks to offer original programing when the rest have reality or just one hour of scripted shows, still with the cancellation of GHOST WHISPERER some wondered what was up. So, just as last season, the network offers three hours of programming, starting with the returning MEDIUM, followed by the returning CSI: NEW YORK and the lone new drama, a family cop show called BLUE BLOODS.

The only midseason show announced is the CRIMINAL MINDS spin-off that has no title but it does have Oscar winner Forrest Whitaker as its star.

ABC announces 10 new shows, V held for midseason

ABC announces the arrival of 10 planned new shows for the 2010-11 TV season.

Sunday remains stable with returning shows AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS, EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and BROTHERS & SISTERS.

Monday also remains stable, with returning DANCING WITH THE STARS and CASTLE.

Tuesday starts the family superhero series NO ORDINARY FAMILY, followed by the DANCING WITH THE STARS results show. The new pseudo documentary crime drama DETROIT 1-8-7 rounds out the night

Wednesday begins with the returning THE MIDDLE, followed by the new sitcom about sisters called BETTER TOGETHER. The night continues with the returning MODERN FAMILY and COUGAR TOWN. The legal drama THE WHOLE TRUTH winds up the night.

Thursday begins with MY GENERATION, which centers on a group of former Austin-based high school students 10 years after graduation. GREY’S ANATOMY and PRIVATE PRACTICE both return with new seasons.

Friday starts with the new reality series SECRET MILLIONAIRE, followed by the Dana Delany, Jeri Ryan led medical drama BODY OF PROOF. 20/20 rounds out the night.

Midseason additions are the comedies MR. SUNSHINE, starring Matthew Perry, and HAPPY ENDINGS, starring Elisha Cuthbert. OFF THE MAP, is another medical drama from GREY’S ANATOMY creator Shonda Rhimes is also being held in reserve for midseason.

With a surprise pick-up, V will not return until midseason.

Canceled shows include: BETTER OFF TED, THE DEEP END, DEFYING GRAVITY, EASTWICK, FLASHFORWARD, THE FORGOTTEN, THE GOODE FAMILY, HANK, LOST, ROMANTICALLY CHALLENGED, SURVIVING SUBURBIA and UGLY BETTY

Daniel Radcliffe for The Trevor Project

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

A fan producer trailer for the LOST series finale

Books: Drood by Dan Simmons (2009)

After his 2007 long novel The Terror, where author Dan Simmons took on a fictionalized look at what might have happened to the Franklin's lost expedition of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror between 1845 - 1848, now takes on a fictionalized account of the last five years of Charles Dickens' life told from the view point of Dickens' friend and fellow author Wilkie Collins. The title comes from Dickens' unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

This is a well-researched novel, much like The Terror, which mixes factual biography from the lives of Dickens, Collins, and other literary and historical figures of the Victorian era with a complex plot, complicated even further by an unreliable narrator. Wilkie Collins, perhaps the first writer to pen a book in the genre known today as mystery and suspense, and Charles Dickens are friends first, rivals later, when it comes to writing. And from there, Simmons draws us readers into a deft plot of horror, mystery, drug addiction, and the enigmas of the mind.

The characters come off the page as real now as they were (hopefully) a hundred and fifty years ago. The story begins with the real-life train accident that Dickens was involved with (which also included his secret mistress) in June of 1865, which seems to change his life forever. It continues with Wilkie Collins assumption that the accident caused Dickens to begin a deadly second life, with trips to the underbelly of London, and his obsession with corpses, crypts, murder, opium dens, and the use of lime pits to dissolve bodies.

Dickens claims its all research for his next novel, but is this mere research leading to something more terrifying?

So with Drood, Simmons (like many authors have tried since Dickens’ death in 1870), explores the unsolved mysteries of the author's last years and also may provide (again, as many have done over the years) the key to Dickens' final, unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

It’s a chilling, staggering novel that shows us that there are still powerful writers in the world who can put out an impressive, totally original work of fiction that is also very entertaining.

NBC releases fall schedule

In an untraditional move, NBC has released its fall schedule on Sunday May 16 to the press before the official Upfronts begin on Monday, May 17.

After a disastrous 2009-10 TV season which saw the last place network placing all of its apples into one bag called Jay Leno, it returns for the 2010-11 season with a high amount of scripted programs.

Monday starts off with the returning CHUCK, followed by new shows THE EVENT, a conspiracy thriller that centers around a huge cover-up that even has the President (Blair Underwood) on a need-to-know basis. Meanwhile, as everyman Sean Walker (Jason Ritter) investigates the mysterious disappearance of his fiancee (Sarah Roemer), he stumbles across the truth behind the biggest cover-up in U.S. history. The night concludes with CHASE, a drama about a blonde Texas-based U.S. marshal Annie Frost (Kelli Giddish) and her team who track down fugitives.

Tuesday brings the two-hour edition of THE BIGGEST LOSER followed by the returning PARENTHOOD.

Wednesday starts with UNDERCOVERS, which comes from LOST creator J.J. Abrams and follows the adventures of a retired husband and wife spy team (Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who are suddenly thrust back into their former lives as CIA agents. LAW & ORDER: SVU returns for a new year, while the next series in the franchise, LAW & ORDER: LOS ANGELES begins.

Thursday starts with the returning COMMUNITY, 30 ROCK and THE OFFICE. They’ve added another comedy, OUTSOURCED, about an American transferred to India to supervise his Midwest novelty company’s new call center. The night finishes out with LOVE BITES, which is an hour-long romantic comedy anthology series, along the lines of the classic late 1960s series LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE, but will feature two single-gal recurring characters.

Friday begins with the returning WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?, followed by DATELINE NBC. The one scripted drama returns Jimmy Smits to TV as OUTLAW, which is about a justice who quits The Supreme Court to return to private law practice.

Waiting in the wings for midseason is the superhero drama THE CAPE, and the David E. Kelly lawyer drama HARRY’S LAW starring Oscar winner Kathy Bates. Sitcoms FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, PERFECT COUPLE and THE PAUL REISER SHOW are also waiting for midseason. Both returning shows PARKS & RECREATION and THE APPRENTICE will be back sometime in early 2011.

Canceled shows include: HEROES, KINGS, THE JAY LENO SHOW, LAW & ORDER, THE LISTENER, THE PHILANTHROPIST, SOUTHLAND (which moved to TNT), MERCY and TRAUMA

Tyler Lambert, son of Diff'rent Strokes actress Dana Plato, dies at 25

The dark legacy left by the late 1970s TV series Diff'rent Strokes struck again on May 6 when Tyler Lambert, the only son of Dana Plato, took his own life at the age of 25. Plato married Lambert's father Lanny Lambert in 1984 and gave birth to their son a year later. The couple divorced in 1990, and boys father was given custody of Tyler. The Tulsa, Okla., office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed that Lambert died from a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

Lambert was just 14 when his mother took her own life at age 34 with an overdose of prescription pills on May 8, 1999. Reports from his grandmother indicate that the young man never got over his mother's death.

The woes of the cast have played out over the years as a horrible example of what happens when child actors grow up and can't adapt with their new realities. When Diff'rent Strokes launched in 1978, it was a huge hit, but by 1984 Plato was being written out due to rumors of drugs and wild parties. She appeared nude in playboy in 1989, and starred in a string of B movies. Legal problems came to her in the 1991 when she was arrested for attempting to rob a video store at gunpoint, followed by an arrest for forging a prescription of Valium. She took her own life by overdosing on Vanadom and Vicodin.

Her two co-stars, Todd Bridges and Gary Coleman also faced legal and drug troubles as they grew. Bridges fought drug addiction, though now he is clean and sober with a new book out and tour on the dangers of drugs. Coleman has had well-publicized money problems along with scrapes with the law.