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The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, March 24, 2017 4 By Jacqueline Spendlove TV Media H ollywood has seen its share of high-profile ri- valries over the years, but few are as iconic as that between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. The decades-long enmity between two of the sil- ver screen's greatest actresses has become the stuff of legend. It's all playing out right now on FX, thanks to Ryan Murphy, a lifelong fan of Davis's and the creator of megahits "Glee" and "American Horror Story," as well as the executive pro- ducer of the Emmy-winning "American Crime Story." Each season is set to portray a differ- ent famous feud, and this first season gives a detailed ac- count of what went on be- tween Crawford and Davis, played by Jessica Lange ("American Horror Story") and Susan Sarandon ("Thelma & Louise," 1991), respectively, during the one project the stars worked on together. "Feud: Bette and Joan" premiered earlier this month, and a new episode airs Sunday, March 26, on FX. You have to look way, way back for the earliest evidence of bad blood between the ac- tresses: It all began in the early '30s, when the two were still young and fresh and in the meat of their careers. Their mu- tual antipathy lasted until Crawford's death in 1977, and, while it wasn't necessarily evi- dent by way of overt alterca- tions, the sniping and shade- throwing made for frequent tabloid fodder. The women were two of the most talented and sought-af- ter actresses in Hollywood dur- ing their youth, and both were Old Hollywood starlets to a T, with four marriages apiece and multiple scandalous affairs un- der their belts. Middle-age did them no favors, however, and by the 1960s, their glamorous, Oscar-winning careers had all but fizzled out. The 1962 release of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" was the saving grace of both their careers, and their intense rivalry was a major contributor to the film's success. The psy- chological thriller was nomi- nated for five Academy Awards (winner of one), spawned the psycho-biddy subgenre and has become a cult classic. "There was never a rivalry like theirs," said Catherine Ze- ta-Jones ("Chicago," 2002), in character as the legendary Ol- ivia de Havilland, in the show's trailer. "For over half a century, they hated each other, and we loved them for it." "Feud" covers some of the most storied battles of their ri- valry, most of which took place during the filming of "Baby Jane." The series features other Hollywood figures as well, in- cluding the film's director, Rob- ert Aldrich (Alfred Molina, "The Da Vinci Code," 2006), and his calculating assistant, Pauline (Alison Wright, "The Ameri- cans"); Jack L. Warner (Stanley Tucci, "The Hunger Games," 2012), head of Warner Broth- ers Studios; actress and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Judy Davis, "A Passage to India," 1984); and Davis's daughter, B.D. Hyman (Kiernan Shipka, "Mad Men"), who was also cast in "Baby Jane." Though the barbed com- ments and catty behavior are well documented, these aren't what interested Murphy about the Davis-Crawford rivalry. The series delves deeper into an examination of what fame and the pressures of Tinsel- town can do to a person — particularly women, and par- ticularly in that era when, however talented, they were often pushed to the sidelines once their youth and beauty started to fade. "What was really interest- ing to explore was the idea of what a tragedy the last 15 years was in the lives of these women, and how they de- served so much more," Mur- phy said during a promotional panel moderated by "CBS This Morning's" Gayle King. Lange went on to explain what her research for the show revealed that, though their animosity was indeed very real, Crawford and Davis's fights were exag- gerated to promote the film. "As long as they kept the pot boiling, the publicity was there," she said. "There were a lot of people that pitted them against each other for a lot of reasons," add- ed Sarandon during a visit to "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." "There weren't that many choices for these gals, 'cause they were older, and they were two good parts. So they thought, yeah, they'll give it a shot, and that's what happens when you get older — you don't get lead parts un- less you're playing someone who's dying or has Alzheimer's or something." Sadly, things aren't much better in the industry today, as is evidenced in the plasticky countenances, enhanced body parts and public meltdowns splashed across various enter- tainment outlets at any given time. "It's a show about Holly- wood, of course, but I think it's also about the female condi- tion today," Murphy told Ya- hoo TV. "The issues that those two women faced in the early '60s — ageism, sexism, misog- yny — are still happening to- day." "When we started [in the business], you were over by 40," Sarandon said at the pub- licity panel. "If you had kids, you were no longer seen as sensual or sexy. That wasn't just insinuated to me. That was told to me." Lange and Sarandon, break- ing these barriers as A-list stars still going strong at 67 and 70 years old, respectively, are the perfect vehicles to tell Craw- ford and Davis's story. Watch a new episode of "Feud: Bette and Joan," airing Sunday, March 26, on FX. coverstory alfred Molina as seen in "Feud: Bette and Joan" Starlets collide Two Old Hollywood actresses duke it out in 'Feud: Bette and Joan' By adam Thomlison TV Media Q: I have noticed that Starz has been showing the movie "Tai-Pan" frequently. Why do they not show the sequel, "Noble House"? It is a very good movie as well. A: There's an easy answer to this: "Noble House" isn't a movie at all. The first two books in James Clavell's Asian Saga series were produced as films, albeit more than two decades apart ("King Rat" was released in 1965, while "Tai-Pan" was re- leased in 1986). But the next two books in the series were made as TV miniseries instead. "Shogun" aired in 1980, while "Noble House" aired in 1988. "Noble House" aired in 90-minute episodes over four con- secutive nights, which means it runs six hours in total. This also means Starz is not going to air it, just as it's not going to air the five-hour "Shogun" adaptation. Miniseries rarely get rerun on television. They fall between the two models of TV programming: syndicated series and two-hour movies. Syndicated series usually air in the same out-of-prime time-slot every day, seemingly indefinitely (that's the reason only long-running shows get syndicated). Movies, on the other hand, are dropped in to fit two-hour holes in the schedule. A six-hour miniseries can do neither of these things. Minise- ries are generally marketed as so-called appointment televi- sion, a marketing term that refers to the sort of program peo- ple plan in advance to watch. However, specialty cable chan- nels like Starz (with the exception of its original programming) exist to produce the opposite — old movies are on the air so that you can stumble upon them. These channels don't expect viewers to make appointments for that kind of TV. They also don't expect people to make six-hour appointments. So, until someone comes up with a miniseries channel (speaking of which, why hasn't anyone done that yet?), we're unlikely to see "Noble House," or "Shogun" for that matter, on television. Q: Has Mr. Feeny done any voice work or had any re- cent roles? A: I assume by "Mr. Feeny" you mean William Daniels, who played teacher George Feeny in the classic teen sitcom "Boy Meets World." If that's the case, then Mr. Feeny's most recent role was as Mr. Feeny. Daniels came out of retirement to play Mr. Feeny again in five episodes of the sequel series "Girl Meets World," a similar coming-of-age story about the daughter of the two main "Boy Meets World" characters. That series was recently cancelled after three seasons on the Disney Channel. As for voice work, surely you mean other than "Knight Rid- er." Daniels voiced the futuristic car, K.I.T.T., in all four seasons of the incredibly popular (and now incredibly dated) action se- ries from 1982 to 1986. Again, his more recent gigs have mostly been revivals of that beloved role. For example, he did an uncredited turn as the voice of K.I.T.T. in the 2006 screwball comedy "The Bench- warmers," and previously reprised the role in two episodes of "The Simpsons," in 1998 and 2004. Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided. hollywoodQ&a

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