Love Of the Blondes

While Teri Polo has seen the cancellation of her ABC sitcom "I'm With Her," two other comely bond actresses have had a little bad luck as a result of their shows being canceled by NBC - Julie Bowen and Alicia Silverstone.

Julie Bowen was one of the best things about "Ed," as teacher Carol Vessey. Like Teri Polo, she lights up the screen with her good looks (she's slightly prettier than Polo, although Polo is the better actress), and she's also an engaging comedienne when given the chance. "Ed" was a great vehicle for her as well as Tom Cavanagh, and the unfolding saga between Ed and Carol was a dizzying but ultimately satisfying storyline. Although "Ed" still hadn't exhausted its possiblities, NBC canceled it, and the producers and screenwriters, suspecting this would happen, ended the final season by having Ed and Carol getting married and living in Stuckeyville happily ever after.

Alas, it's the last we'll see of Julie Bowen for awhile. I mentioned a couple of months ago that she appeared in a pilot for a new sitcom, but unfortunately, it was not picked up. Bowen began this year as a star of "Ed," and now she seems to be fated to end it as the blonde bird in the Neutrogena commercials. She deserves better. :-(

Alicia Silverstone is a more curious case. Back in 1995, when her movie "Clueless" made her a star, critics and moviegoers acted as if they'd found a major talent that would last for decades; I got the impression that I was looking at the 2047 recipient of the Lifetime Acheivement Oscar. Then she made some movies that tanked, and while she popped up here and there every now and then, the luster of her initial success seemed to have faded.

The NBC series "Miss Match," which debuted in September, showed Silverstone trying her luck with television as a quirky matchmaker who's unlucky in love in her personal life. After dismal ratings, it was pulled from NBC's Friday lineup in January, and NBC promised it would be back once "Ed" finished its season in February. It wasn't; once "Ed" was gone, NBC's unwatchable news magazine "Dateline NBC" aired on Fridays as a two-hour edition instead, with several "Miss Match" episodes remaining unaired. The cancellation notice that followed was no surprise.

So what's Alicia Silverstone up to now? This onetime wunderkind actress is now slated to appear in a movie about a beauty salon starring . . . bQueen Latifah. So, Silverstone is now playing second fiddle to an overhyped, overweight, overrated female rapper with a big mouthful of attitude. This is not how Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis got their careers going.