Hey, Whatever Happened to…(TV Edition)

There have been hundreds of TV shows that have come and gone throughout my 32 years of life, many of those lost and never to be thought of again (because who else has really heard of “The Young Riders” besides me?) And lost among all those shows are the forgotten actors. Some went on to bigger and better things, but where are the rest of them?

Well, I have the answers to some of your most burning questions. Well, maybe not yours. Mine, actually. But maybe you’re interested in them, too.

Maureen Flannigan

Then: This name probably doesn’t ring a bell, but if I throw in the words “alien father” and “Earthling mother” and “touch your two pointer fingers together”, then maybe you’ll remember. Maureen played the character Evie Garland on the show Out of this World, a show about, well, look at the words above. The daughter of an alien father (whom we never saw, just heard through some weird crystal cube) and an Earthling mother, and who was just trying to get through middle school with her crazy, mixed-up alien powers, which included freezing time by touching her two index fingers together. She was, no doubt, the coolest girl in the world. For twenty-two minutes.

When the going gets tough, just freeze time with your fingers.

Now: Despite popular belief, Maureen Flannigan is NOT Kristen Bell. After attending the University of Southern California, Maureen had a recurring role on the show 7th Heaven, followed by other random roles that nobody really saw. But she’s still active in Hollywood, and even has her own Facebook page which currently has 1,811 fans. Good for her. Hope she makes it someday. If not, I guess she always freeze time and, well, just sit there and be cool again.

Ami Foster

Then: As Margaux Kramer on the totally awesome show Punky Brewster, Ami Foster was that girl you just loved to hate. She was a total b, but you still wanted to watch her anyway. The spoiled, upper class friend of Punky who was never seen NOT wearing a freaking pink ruffly dress, was nowhere near the coolness factor of Punky, and it was obvious Margaux was way jealous of that fact. Which, you know, explains all the bitchiness.

Now: Unfortunately it seems that Ami has totally fallen off the radar. She appeared in the movie Troop Beverly Hills in 1987, and then various smaller roles after that. Her last known role was a 1995 episode of CBS Schoolbreak Special. There’s absolutely no information on her on the web, so let’s just assume that she married a doctor, had a bunch of babies, and now lives in a large house in southern France which she’s named Chateaux de Margaux.

Douglas Emerson

Then: So, you remember that guy who played that one character on Beverly Hills, 90210 who accidentally shot himself with his dad’s gun? You know, Scott Scanlon, the best friend of David Silver who always wore that ugly cowboy hat? That was Douglas Emerson, and he didn’t actually shoot himself. He was probably just written off after two seasons because he just wasn’t as cute as the rest of the guys on the show.

Now: Well, Douglas apparently had absolutely no interest in living the Hollywood life after 90210. He attended Pepperdine University and then joined the U.S. Air Force. In 2002 he became a staff sergeant and was stationed in New Mexico, and then a year later he moved to Denver with his wife and two daughters. Hopefully he keeps guns out of the house.

Ryan Gosling

Then: Back when I was in college there was this slightly addicting show on called Young Hercules, which was about – you guessed it – a young Roman God, and was mainly a cheesy way of showing off hot guys’ muscles. That hot, muscular Roman God? His name was Ryan Gosling. You may have heard of him.

Now: Apparently he’s in movies and stuff. I just wanted an excuse to talk about him.

Larisa Oleynik

Then: So, I was way jealous of this girl. As Alex Mack on The Secret World of Alex Mack, which is eerily similar to Out of This World except that instead of being half-alien, Alex Mack just has the unfortunate luck of being splashed with some weird chemical and thus obtaining some weird powers. Not sure if she could freeze time with her fingertips, though. But despite her weird powers, she was totally cool. Like way cooler than I’ll ever be in my lifetime.

Now: After appearing on the popular show 3rd Rock From the Sun and in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, Larisa took some time off and attended Sarah Lawrence University, which means she’s not only cool, but she’s got the smarts as well. She went back to acting in 2005 and since then has been doing bit parts, including an episode of Mad Men and numerous episodes of Hawaii Five-O. I wonder if she has secret powers on those shows, too.

Scott Weinger

Then: This all-American boy played Steeeeeeeve, DJ’s boyfriend on Full House. Seriously, that’s how Candace Cameron would say his name on the show. Steeeeeeeeve. She had to draw out that long “e” for as long as she could, am I right??? Anyway, in addition to playing Mr. DJ Tanner, Scott also did the voice of Aladdin in the movie of the same name. Did you know that the animators used the likeness of Tom Cruise to create Aladdin? And do you know that Scott Weinger looked nothing like Tom Cruise?

Now: Unlike some of his co-stars, Scott Weinger seemed to disappear after Full House cancelled in 1995. But you’d be all sorts of wrong to think that. He may have disappeared from the camera, but he continued to be a part of Hollywood by writing for television, including the show for rubberneckers What I Like About You and the gone-too-soon Privileged.

There are still thousands of once-stars we don’t know what happened to, and I will get to them in a future Part 2 post. Until then, I leave you with this…

Whatever happened to Martika?

Music Edition Coming Soon!

Happy viewing!