If it`s true that you`re judged by the company you keep, Jay Thomas has nothing to worry about. He has led a charmed prime-time life.
While balancing careers as an actor, comedian and disc jockey, Thomas has won recurring roles on three acclaimed network comedies.
He was delicatessen owner Remo DaVinci on ABC`s ”Mork & Mindy.” He was Eddie LeBec, the hockey goalie who married and widowed Carla (Rhea Perlman) on NBC`s ”Cheers.” And he has been Geraldo-like talk-show host Jerry Gold on CBS` ”Murphy Brown.”
This was the impressive resume he brought to ABC`s 8:30 p.m. Wednesday comedy, ”Married People.” But even though Thomas is considered one of television`s best and brightest supporting players, will he make it in a starring role?
The early returns have been inconclusive for ”Married People,” a series about three couples in a Manhattan brownstone. The reviews and ratings have been lukewarm.
Still, should ”Married People” go down in flames, Thomas probably will emerge relatively unscathed. He has received good notices for playing Russell, a successful free-lance writer married to a lawyer (Bess Armstrong).
And he always can fall back on his day job-morning disc jockey for Los Angeles FM station KPWR.
”The country doesn`t realize it, but I`m a disc jockey against (”Into the Night” host) Rick Dees and I`m paid very well for doing that,” said Thomas, a native of Kermit, Texas. ”At 5 a.m., I start at a radio station in Burbank. I`m off the air at 9. I show up at the `Married People` set at 10 or 10:30. . . . So I have to be real careful and stay in shape.”
Before, during and after acting gigs, Thomas has landed radio jobs. He`s been a disc jockey in Boston, New York and Charlotte, N.C.
”I`m using the same jokes I used in other cities 20 years ago, and they`re buying it here,” Thomas said of his KPWR material. ”So, we`re not talking about the brightest group of listeners. Well, we`re not.”
If it had been up to Thomas, Eddie LeBec would have become a regular character on ”Cheers.” Against his wishes, the producers had Carla`s husband killed by an ice-making machine.
”I don`t think the first day they saw me acting they said, `He should die,` ” Thomas said. ”I hope that`s not how they were talking about it.
(`Cheers` executive producer James) Burrows called me and said, `Jay, we`re not going to have you back next season.`
”You know, I was upset and said, `Well, what are you going to do?` And he explained how I was going to die. He was laughing so hard enjoying his own little script that he forgot that he was firing me.”
Trash-TV master Jerry Gold, however, might make another appearance on
”Murphy Brown.” That doesn`t have the actor`s current network bosses leaping with glee. ”Murphy Brown,” a CBS comedy, has been beating ABC`s
”Monday Night Football,” which ranked 10th last season but has dropped to 24th this season as ”Murphy Brown” went from 29th to sixth.
”So, I`ll be doing at least one more `Murphy Brown,` ” Thomas said,
”but I won`t be trying real hard-probably acting real bad when I`m doing it.”
