With Luke Perry’s passing, we lost both a teen heartthrob and a genuinely nice guy.

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

As you’ve heard, Luke Perry died yesterday after having suffered a massive stroke last week. He was 52 years old.

His death was announced moments after I published my post yesterday, and I found myself sort of needing a minute to absorb it. I was a senior in high school when Beverly Hills 90210 debuted and just a little too old to have crushes on these 25-year-old actors who were playing high school students younger than me. But after resisting the series for a year or two, I, like everyone else my age, succumbed to its cheesy charms, and Luke Perry became a part of my pop culture universe.

Recently, Perry had starred on Riverdale as the parent of a high schooler. Fittingly, his son on the show is younger than my very real high school senior. (And in fact, the actor who plays his son is some four years older than my son — not quite the seven-year difference between Perry and me, but close enough.) Perry had once again entered my pop culture realm as one of my peers and once again, somehow, was playing someone who was supposed to be younger than me.

And maybe that’s why it was such a shock that he died: he was one of my peers, he was someone roughly my age, and he just … died. It wasn’t because of an overdose or after years of hard living, it wasn’t a tragic car accident, it wasn’t a murder. He just … died. He was 52 and he died and that is a thing that sometimes happens.

But the other part of the shock of his death is that from all accounts, he was a genuinely kind person who never took his Hollywoodness seriously. Of course his cast mates from 90210 and Riverdale paid lovely tributes to him (they are below), but it was the stories from people who had real, very human interactions with him that reveal the really nice person he was:

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I only met him once but the story is too good not tell given todays sad events. My wife and I are on a plane back from Mexico. Couple of rows ahead of us, these two brothers, young kids, are beating the hell out of eachother. Their poor parents are powerless to stop the crying, yelling and screaming. If you're a parent you understand. Sometimes there's nothing you can do. It was like this for close to two hours. Then about 10 minutes before landing it starts to get real bad. Out of no where, a man comes from first class. Hat, beard, sunglasses, blowing up a balloon. He ties it off, hands it off like he's holding out a sword to a king. Kneeling, Head down, arms up. Kids calm down in milliseconds. Plane damn near bursts into applause. 15 minutes longer and it probably would have started WWIII, but we landed before that could happen. We get off the plane, are waiting on line in customs. Finally get a good look at the guy and I say to my wife "Holy shit. I think that balloon man/hero" is Luke Perry". As luck would have it we end up standing next to each other. Out of the blue he turns to me and says some kind words about Fargo, which kinda blew my mind. I start singing his praises about how long I've admired him and also about the move with the balloon. "That's a pro move! You can't teach that!" I say. He tells me he always flies with a couple of balloons for that very reason, to give to screaming kids. Don't know if that's true, but have no reason to believe it wasn't. Guy seemed like a true gent. Gone way too damn soon. Also, I'll be damned if I don't start traveling with some spare balloons ๐ŸŽˆ๐ŸŽˆ๐ŸŽˆ #promove #rip #lukeperry #truegent

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His 90210 family mourned him:

Shannen Doherty told People Magazine: “I am in shock. Heartbroken. Devastated by the loss of my friend. I have so many memories with Luke that make me smile and that are forever imprinted on my heart and mind. Luke was a smart, quiet, humble and complex man with a heart of gold and never-ending well of integrity and love. Luke reached out to me during my cancer journey and we picked right back up, albeit older and wiser, but that connection remained intact…There is a special kind of love one has for each other when you are experiencing the journey we did on 90210ย and of course life in general… I will miss him every day. Every minute. Every second.”

Also to People Magazine, Jennie Garth said, “My heart is broken. He meant so much to so many. Such a very special person. I share my deep sadness with his family and all who loved him. Such a terrible loss.”

As did his Riverdale family. The show has temporarily shut down production.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BumSdSmBy3V/?utm_source=ig_embed

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Love you Luke ๐Ÿ’Ÿ

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And then there’s the Buffy stuff, which is my personal one degree of Luke Perry. As I noted last week, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the first movie my cousin worked on when he moved to Los Angeles, and according to him, Luke Perry was just a really nice, humble guy, even in the height of the 90210 mania.

Finally, this isn’t about Luke Perry the person, but rather his Buffy character and how Pike was Buffy’s best boyfriend. But then it kinda is about Luke Perry the person because for a whole generation, he was our best (imaginary) boyfriend.

In Non-Luke Perry News

The new head of HBO is already casting doubt on the Game of Thrones spinoff and I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU DON’T GO FORWARD WITH THIS PREQUEL AND I HAVE TO COME UP THERE AND ARYA STARK YOU, GREENBLATT, I WILL DO IT.

Meanwhile, CLEGANEBOWL! CLEGANEBOWL! CLEGANEBOWL!ย 

Ricky Whittle would like you to know that unlike some shows, American Gods is more than just “tits and dragons.”

Black TV creators are not going to apologize for using the N-word. Nor should they.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH ANDREA MARTIN, SHE IS A DUAL-NATIONAL TREASURE.

Get well soon, Unnamed Crewmember on Mr. Mercedes.

The Fox & Friends band of toothy idiots claim they don’t perform for Trump’s pleasure. LOL OK.

Meanwhile, in response to that New Yorker article about how Trump and Fox News are too cozy, Trump tweeted a bunch of quotes from … Fox News:

Time’s Up

We are still in the middle of the Leaving Neverland drama. The second half of the documentary aired on HBO last night, followed by a special interview of the two subjects by Oprah Winfrey, herself a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Jackson fans were UNHAPPY with Oprah.

Vanity Fair takes another look at Macaulay Culkin’s testimony in Michael Jackson’s criminal trial. He testified that Jackson never sexually abused him. However, if you watched the documentary, so much of his testimony will sound eerily familiar. Corey Feldman also came forward recently to again state that Michael Jackson did not abuse him. It’s entirely possible that Jackson did not abuse either Culkin or Feldman, both of whom were famous in their own rights and therefore made for less vulnerable targets. However whether or not Jackson abused them, it does not negate the experiences of these other men.

Meanwhile, the prosecutors in the criminal case believe had Robson and Safechuck testified truthfully as children, Jackson would have been convicted. And here’s a reminder that there were people who worked for Jackson — and even his own sister — who spoke out at the time.

This Vulture piece compares Leaving Neverland to Abducted in Plain Sight, particularly in how pedophiles groom not only their victims but their victims’ parents.

Renewals

  • Superstore has been renewed for a fifth season on NBC.
  • No Activity has been renewed for a third season at CBS All Access.

Cancellations

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • The Act will debut on Hulu on March 20.
  • NOS4A2 will premiere on AMC sometime this summer (and it looks good and creepy).
  • Warrior will debut on Cinemax on April 4.

R.I.P.

King Kong Bundy, WWE wrestler

WATCH THIS

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The Bachelor: The Women Tell All: This should be interesting. I say that in all sincerity. 7 p.m., ABC

Hoarders: I guess in the wake of the success of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, A&E decided to drag this series back out after a two-year hiatus. Season premiere. 7 p.m., A&E

The Story of God with Morgan Freeman: Morgan Freeman looks for Satan in the third season premiere. 8 p.m., National Geographic

Masterchef Celebrity Showdown: Trai Byers and Grace Gealey Byers; NeNe and Gregg Leakes; Cheryl Hines; Kal Penn; Ronde Barber and Tiki Barber; Joel Madden and Benji Madden; Anthony Anderson; and Jordana Brewster cook. 7 p.m., Fox

Late Night:

  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Kit Harrington, Amber Tamblyn, Hozier
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Isla Fisher, Chiwetel Ejiofor, the Jonas Brothers
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Samuel L. Jackson, Camila Mendes, X Ambassadors
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  • Busy Tonight: Margaret Cho, Elizabeth Chambers
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