Friday, May 10, 2013

David Garrison

David Garrison is an actor best know for co-starring during the first four seasons of the FOX sitcom Married ... With Children from 1987-1990. Garrison's hubris, however, apparently got the better of him, as he left the show thinking he move move on to bigger and better things, yet his career practically plummeted off the face of the earth.


Garrison was born on June 30, 1952 in Long Branch, New Jersey, and graduated summa cum laude from Boston University's School of Fine Arts. His first acting role with in the 1980 TV movie, A Day with Conrad Green. He subsequently appeared in minor roles in the 1980 Stephen King movie, Creepshow, and appeared in a 1984 episode of Remington Steele. Garrison finally caught his first decent break in 1984 when he was cast in a role in the sitcom, It's Your Move, where he co-starred with Jason Bateman. It's Your Move was cancelled after only one season, but it lasted long enough to catch the eyes of the casting director for Married ... With Children.


Garrison played the role of Steve Rhoades, the next-door-neighbor to the Bundy family on Married ... With Children beginning in 1987 on the then-fledgling Fox Network. The Fox Network was launched in October 1986 as the "fourth network" to compete with the big-three national television networks, NBC, ABC, and CBS. The Fox Network was in desperate need of a hit to allow it to succeed on a nation-wide basis and Married ... With Children was arguably the network's first hit TV show. Married ... With Children was often a raunchy, yet genuinely funny show that offered a warped view of the American family that was not being shown on network TV at the time. The show was known for its frequent use of "toilet humor" and was particularly popular among adolescent boys.


Steve Rhoades and his wife Marcy Rhoades were successful bankers who would frequently stop by the Bundy household practically on a weekly basis. Steve Rhoades was a straight-laced character, although Al Bundy, the patriarch of the Bundy household (played by Ed O'Neill), often got Steve Rhoades to loosen up and left him mixed up in various hijinks.













Although Married ... With Children started weakly, it slowly began to gain nationwide appeal. Ironically, the show became more popular as it became the well-known target of a boycott by a viewer who was offended by a particularly raunchy show where Al Bundy and Steve Rhoades visit an adult store to purchase bras in the episode entitled, "Her Cups Runneth Over." By the end of the 4th season, the Nielson ratings for Married ... With Children had reached #50, up from #142 in its first season.












Despite the increasing popularity and success of Married ... With Children, Garrison abruptly left the show after the fourth season ended in 1990. Rumors circulated at the time that Garrison was sick of the raunchy material and thought that he could do better if he left. He reportedly asked the producers to let him out of his contract so that he could act on Broadway. The producers granted his request and allowed him to leave. However, instead of appearing on Broadway, Garrison's first role after leaving Married ... With Children was a role in another sitcom, entitled Working It Out. Working It Out was an unpopular show which appeared on NBC for only one season.


The producers of Married ... With Children must have been upset with Garrison for appearing on another sitcom right after leaving the show. However, any anger must have quickly dissipated as Married ... With Children continued to improve in popularity when Ted McGinley was added to the cast as Marcy Rhoades's new husband, Jefferson D'Arcy. Garrison certainly could not have predicted that Married ... With Children would air for another 7 seasons and must have made the series regulars millionaires many times over. Garrison's career after leaving Married ... With Children did not exactly turn out as well as Garrison could have predicted. Instead of becoming a star on another sitcom or on Broadway, Garrison's career went into a tailspin as he all but left the public eye. Garrison has had a number of Broadway roles over the last 20+ years, but he is not a star.  He has appeared sporadically in productions such as Silence! The Musical, Wicked, By The Way, Meet Vera Stark, A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine, Titanic, Torch Song Trilogy, The Pirates of Penzance, and Bells are Ringing.







Garrison was willing to return to a Married ... With Children spinoff in 1995 when he appeared in the backdoor pilot for Radio Free Trumaine, in which Garrison would have reprised his role of Steve Rhoades as the dean of a fictitious college. Unfortunately for Garrison, however, the show was not picked up.

 












David Garrison threw away a successful career as an actor on Married ... With Children because he apparently thought he was too good for the show. However, the departure proved to be the worst decision of his professional career as Married ... With Children lasted for seven years after he left, yet his Broadway and subsequent sitcom career have essentially gone nowhere. Accordingly, there should be no doubt that David Garrison is one washed-up celebrity!

43 comments:

Eddie R said...

How can this weirdo be considered washed up, if he was never popular to begin with? He is a never was!

James M. Tate said...

man i loved IT'S YOUR MOVE. and I am glad you are back. please post more.

James M. Tate said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RayRay said...

He and Philip Michale Thomas should tour together.

willy jerk-off said...

I want to bugger Christina Applegate (as the bird was in 1989 when the bird was 18, not as the bird is now obviously).

willy jerk-off said...

I want to bugger Katey Sagal (as the bird was in 1972 when the bird was 18, not as the bird is now obviously).

willy jerk-off said...

I want to bugger A-girl-da Bearse (as the bird was in 1976 when the bird was 18, not as the bird is now obviously).

teddy crescendo said...

When Christina Applegate was a lushious young teenage bird she had THE prettiest face in the history of the universe.

Anonymous said...

Teddy, are you saying that you`d prefer to sodomize her instead ! ?.

jervaise brooke hamster said...

Heather O`Rourke would`ve seen the entire first season of "Married With Children" in 1987, she would`ve also seen the first 14 or 15 episodes of the second season, but by the time the second seasons finale was aired in May 1st 1988 Heather had already been gone (at least officially) for exactly 3 months, i bet Heather really enjoyed the first season-and-a-half of "Married With Children", for me February 1st 1988 never happened, Heather is still out there somewhere i just know it.

Shawn James said...

Yep, David Garrison had a bad case of hubris that torpedoes the careers of struggling actors. The same thing happened to David Caruso on NYPD Blue after season 1. Paved the way for Dennis Franz to become the center of that show. He thought "Jade" would take him to the next level; it wound up tanking his career.

Are you gonna do an entry on Amanda Bynes? She's well on her way to becoming an entry here.

Anonymous said...

Miley Cyrus deserves an entry in here i think.

Anonymous said...

you gotta do the entire case of 90210 and Melorse Place. And also Suzanne Somers

Bailey Quarters said...

Perhaps he just really loves doing live theater. If he's talented enough to do stage musicals, good for him!

Anonymous said...

a band mate of mine had a girlfriend who worked at a hospital in Freehold NJ. Garrison's mother came in for surgery, he was there everyday for her recovery... the reason he left the show was that his mother berated him relentlessly for being on such, and I quote, A TERRIBLE SHOW. she was very very upset with him

Anonymous said...

According to the IMDB he's worked on and off on television since MWC. This year he's been on 2 shows.

Just found this site and will fill some work down time with it. It seems to be written by spiteful children writing a blog in 1997.

Anonymous said...

When will the next celebrity be posted? It's been three months since this was posted.

Movie Fan said...

^^^ I am working on one for Erin Moran. It should be finished soon

Anonymous said...

In some ways, Erin Moran reminds me of Danny Bonaduce. She was damaged at a young age by an abusive father. I've heard nothing good about her parents. It's so sad, I can't bring myself to mock it.

RayRay said...

Erin Moran. Yes!

Kevein Federballs said...

You need an entry on Sean Young.

Anonymous said...

This article is way off base. I admire the fact that he walked away from a high-paying tv show because he wanted to do a different kind of work. I don't think receiving a Tony nomination is a career that went nowhere. He is a very respected actor in New York, starring in the most recent play by Pulitzer Prize Winner Lynn Nottage, as well as plays by Will Eno. He originated roles in Titanic, and shows by Randy Newman and John Kander. Most actors would kill for his career. Crazy maybe for walking away from a pile of cash, but I respect his choice to pursue a career of high calibre theatre roles. Not every career or celebrity measures success by Kardashian standards. Good for him!

Anonymous said...

He does not belong on this list. He chose a different path. How is choosing the theater over TV mean he's "washed up"? More like money isn't everything to everybody. Wow, finally someone in that business who doesn't need to be in the spotlight every minute... How refreshing.

Anonymous said...

How is Miley Cyrus washed up, I see her on magazine covers all the time and pretty sure she's worth like 150,000,000 million dollars or more

Anonymous said...

He left the show to return to the theater. Which is what he loved to do, and is still doing, as opposed to taped tv. Learn the facts before you try to gleefully put an actor down.

destroying anal said...

david garrison's character as steve was the only one i thought that brought a sense of normalcy to MWC. everyone elses charcter was over top and steve being the only rational person on that show just made things even funnier.info on this guy is hard to come by. i don't get an erection when thinking about this chap and even less when i think of his other half on that show amanda the butch bearse. i don't know how he could even pretend to have been intimate with that horse for as long as he did. he is some actor! washed up, maybe, but a fucking marine.. not really.

Anonymous said...

I think Garrison regrets the decision. He said in a question and answer session that it "seemed like a good idea at the time". Which probably is as good as any concession that it was a mistake.

Garrison has also said in an another interview that he left the show because he feared he would be remembered for one character.

Anonymous said...

To me, Garrison was the heart and soul of MWC. He was the sensible, yet sometimes quirky one who was always critical of his pal Al Bundy's motives, which really made for some great comedy. The show took a steep nosedive immediately after he left. When Jefferson showed up, he only served as a clone of Al, and the show became a one-dimensional sleazefest. It was never the same without Garrison.

As for his theater career, it takes true acting talent to perform the same production over and over again. When you're doing TV or movies, you keep doing the same scenes until the director thinks you got it right, thereby ruining the whole concept of acting.

Anonymous said...

I agree. It takes much more talent to perform live theatre, than sit on your rump and make a movie. The work is alot harder also.

Mr. Steve Rhodes said...

In my opinion, this show went to shit after this guy left. There was one, maybe two seasons when Ted McGinley took over where the show was still good (the season with the Supermarket Sweep episode comes to mind).

Terry Mcgee said...

This weirdo is one big mama's boy!

Anonymous said...

I think that I'm gay now after reading about David Garrison.

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised that the words "truck stop" and "anonymous" didn't come-up in this article.

Just a viewer said...

I truly hated to see Garrison leave too. He was becoming a fave character on there, for me. I was enjoying his friendship with Al. So sad.

Just a viewer said...

I truly hated to see Garrison leave too. He was becoming a fave character on there, for me. I was enjoying his friendship with Al. So sad.

Unknown said...

I really love Steve and Marcy, but I believe the comment about his mother hounding him is true. You know what they say, "If Mama ain't happy, nobody's happy!". But I love Jefferson and Marcy too. Wish David would have come back to the show, maybe as Jefferson's nemesis for Marcy's hand. Hoping with all my heart to someday see a reunion show!

Unknown said...

I truly hated when David left MWC. . .as someone earlier so cogently illuminated, he was the heart and soul { and IMHO, the genesis of the most massive amounts of humour the show ever produced } of the show! No disrespect to Ted McG--but I have to echo the fact that outside of a few episodes, MWC truly went down the _ _ it hole; in all honesty, I still watched it because of Ed O' Neill but such a Mega--Super sad day when David left!

Anonymous said...

MWC, seasons 1 - 4, are the goods.
Season 5 and beyond are the beginning of the end of MWC.
Fact.
Al Bundy's character become cartoonish, Marcy went full butch, the addition of Darcy was a distraction, kids grown up = not funny, etc...etc..
By 1997, the show was an embarrassment of itself.
All of this downfall began the moment garrison left the show.

Anonymous said...

What I dont understand is all these losers in here who sexualize these tv shows and quite often mention their boners. Get a life.

e jerry said...

Washed up as a celebrity? Sure, but with the SAG and Equity cards in his pocket, he's still a wotkwor actor, with the occasional one-off episodes on TV, a couple more Broadway gigs and appearances off-BroOff-B (and looking at Off-Broadway ticket prices these days, he's getting paid pretty well for it). So, all in all, a working actor, which beats waiting tables, and is the thing that most of the millions of struggling actors in America hope for. From all indications, he's pretty content with that; if not, there's always pilot season.

(Oh, and Amanda Bearse, who played Marcy, didn't leave the show until it ended. She actually directed 31 episodes of the show, and has spent more time directing than acting since, but I she hasn't been directing much since 2013. Only offered in the way of celebrity comparison, mind you. I won't even start on David Faustino.)

A Friend said...

Filthy language

Anonymous said...

Hi I am Edo from Split Croatia, David is a genious. Would you come to Split? i would like to meet you. Greetings and best wishes Edo

Unknown said...

I found it fascinating watching David Garrison on Married With Children. When I observed was amongst all the chaos, 110 here and Sissy That theater voice coming out of David every line he spoke. I admit that I have a little bit of a bias. That being said I was never good friends with David or anything like that. I do know that besides his own career he spent a lot of time working with high school and college students to help them improve their craft. That's the kind of thing that the public doesn't always hear about. He is also a talented writer again something that people don't hear about.