Tom Hanks is a huge movie star these days, of course. The winner of not one but two Academy Awards as best actor.
But once upon a time, he was the co-star of the struggling sitcom "Bosom Buddies.""I had two years of television experience back before VCRs, so let's make note of that," Hanks joked.
Actually, he looks back fondly on those days. Sort of. The premise of the show, after all, was that he and his best friend/roommate (Peter Scolari) - a pair of young, idealistic TV commercial makers - dressed up as women to secure a great New York apartment in a women-only building.
"You're lucky enough to have a job, period. And you're on TV," Hanks said. "And then you're on opposite `Magnum, P.I.' And you're on after `Mork & Mindy' and before `Barney Miller.' You just feel like you're hanging on by your teeth.
"And, on top of that, you're doing it in high heels and panty-hose."
But those two seasons as the star of "Bosom Buddies" back in 1980-82 prepared him for his later ca-reer.
"I learned everything in my two years in television," Hanks said. "I learned how not to be a loud, abrasive jokester. How to be a guy who could kind of handle the lines and know which camera was his at the right time. And I was able to do that just in time for the last four episodes of our second year.
"So we got canceled, and I went on to become a hot-shot movie star," he joked. "God bless you all."
WHAT'S IN A NAME? Long before Fox's "That '70s Show" is scheduled to premiere, the show has already been through a whole bunch of different titles.
The sitcom, which is about a group of teenagers in middle America in 1976, was originally called "Teenage Wasteland." And, if executive producers Bonnie and Terry Turner had their way, it still would be. So what hap-pened?
"Well, I can tell you that Pete Townshend said, `No,' " Bonnie Turner said.
"He wouldn't let us use it," said her husband, Terry Turner.
The leader of the Who wasn't exactly cooperative about letting the show have access to either his songs or the titles of his songs.
"Pete Townshend said, `That's the one song I'm fastened to. Anything else I have, you can use it,' " Terry Turner said. "So we said, `Can we use `The Kids are All Right?' And he said, `Oooh. I can't let you use that one either.' "
So they moved on to "Reelin' in the Years" for a while. And then "Feelin' Alright," which stuck for several months.
(That was the title the show had when it was announced as part of Fox's fall schedule back in May.)
But test audiences couldn't really remember "Feelin' Alright," even if they liked the show.
"And everybody called it `That '70s Show.' And they called it that for so long that we started to say it ourselves," Terry Turner said. "And, finally, we just gave up."
But there was one last problem. When the show was previewed here for critics, it wasn't quite right. Fox had it listed as "That 70's Show," putting the apostrophe in the wrong place. (It ought to be "That '70s Show," of course.)
However, we are assured that the apostrophe will be moved in front of the 7 before the show premieres in the fall.
"We will change it. I promise you that," Bonnie Turner said.
Yeah, well, we'll see.
BRADY-MANIA: Bonnie and Terry Turner, who are also the executive producers of "3rd Rock from the Sun," have had some success writing theatrical movies - including "The Brady Bunch Movie."
This despite advice that they should avoid that project.
"Our agent told us to get far, far away from that," Terry Turner said.
"Yeah, he told us not to do it," Bonnie Turner added.
"He said, `Are you insane? You're nuts!' " Terry Turner said.
Still, they listened to the producers and directors of the movie and did some research on the subject of the Bradys.
"We had a weekend basically to really get into `The Brady Bunch,' and we watched about 25 hours of `Brady Bunch' episodes," Bonnie Turner said. "It is Fellini if you watch 25 hours of `The Brady Bunch.' You start to realize that Jan hears voices in her head."