Who Loves Ya, Pizza Man?

This evening I happened to stumble across an early episode of Newhart (and by early, I mean the Kirk and Leslie days). In it, Bob (I mean "Dick") and the boys go off to a Celtics' game. In the meantime, the girls back at the inn get a call from a Daniel Travanti requesting a room for the night. They spend the bulk of the episode angsting over whether it really is the Daniel J. Travanti. In the end, of course, they fall asleep, just as Daniel makes a cameo. Har, har.

Anyhoo, this got me reflecting on how Daniel J. Travanti was The Man at one point back in the early to mid-80's. How funny it seems in retrospect, since not one in fifty kids these days would have any clue a-tall as to who he is.

Well, okay, actually it got me reflecting more on Travanti's shmokin' hot foil back in those days, the smart, sultry Veronica Hamel. For me, at any rate, she was the first indication of the whole "within certain boundaries, the sky's the limit" ah, way of seeing things - tightly wound on the surface but boiling just underneath. (I very dimly recollect a whole lapsed-Catholic vibe about the whole relationship. Don't roll your eyes - I was only in my late teens at the time. B'lieve me, such thoughts would never enter my mind now. Never.)

Anyhoo, Ms. Hamel is in her mid-60's now and I couldn't find a pic that was both recent and hot, so I post this older one for your enjoyment.