“Days of Our Lives” may be on Olympic hiatus, but the sand keeps moving through the hourglass. Marla Gibbs, who played Florence — the sassy woman who took no trash from her boss, George, on “The Jeffersons” — joined “Days” as Paulina’s mother. Jackee Harry, who plays Paulina, co-starred with Gibbs on “227.” At 90, Gibbs works all of the time. When NBC did a one-and-done live reboot of the show in 2019, Gibbs got a standing ovation when she waltzed in. Marisa Tomei, who once appeared on “As the World Turns,” played Edith. Tomei was great as the sweet but befuddled wife of Archie.
Norman Lear, the creator of “The Jeffersons,” turned 99 this week. He is still going like the Energizer bunny. To celebrate his birthday, he wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post. He discussed how much he loves the United States, but he believes things could be better.
NBC is proud as its streaming service Peacock will be offering a five-episode limited series focusing on Billie (Lisa Rinna) from “Days.” Billie is a member of an intelligence agency that looks for missing jewels. Several “Days” favorites will be involved: Ben, Marlena, John, etc. They will go to separate cities in search of the gems.
Hell has just frozen over; I agree with Geraldo Rivera. A former daytime talk show juggernaut, Rivera went on “Hannity.” He suggested that Sean Hannity is “gaslighting” his viewers whenever the Jan. 6 insurrection comes up. Hannity denied this, and asked why Democrats have been silent about “the 574 riots” that happened in 2020. Not sure where he pulled that figure, but I have a clue that it is from a certain body part. After Rivera’s statement, the two had an “I love you, man” fest.
When Rivera first came into public view, he was amazing. His reporting was responsible for shutting down a group home that treated the kids who lived there in savage manners. I have my own “Geraldo” experience. Over the years, I had been on his show as a “soap expert.” Yeah, everyone has a job title — and that is mine. One time, the entire cast of “The Young and the Restless” was on the show. It was a sensitive time for Eric Braeden (Victor) and Peter Bergman (Jack). The Emmy award winners had a fistfight over a comment. Both were given a two-week suspension from “Y&R.” Fast forward a month, when Geraldo asked, “what was the fistfight about?” In the words of our president, “come on, man.” Whatever I would answer would not be pretty. Tell what I know and it would besmirch the actors. Say I don’t know and I would have to give up my “soap expert” title. I ended up moving on to another question.
I got my revenge when he did a stunt about opening Al Capone’s vault. It was hyped. Did it contain gold bars or important papers? Drum roll… It was empty. Ah, karma.
To find out more about Lynda Hirsch and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
