Actor Timothy Busfield has surrendered to authorities in New Mexico. He’s been arrested for child sexual abuse.
We don’t know if he’s innocent or guilty but there’s one thing we do know: the dream of a “thirtysomething” reboot or reunion has been dashed for good.
The show about self-absorbed good looking high achievers only for four seasons, from 1988 to 1992. Busfield played Elliot Weston, a bad husband, father, and friend. He seemed clueless about how to behave as am adult.
Busfield has had a busy career for the last 40 years, appearing in the movie “Field of Dreams” and the TV series, “The West Wing,” among others. But nothing he worked on ever had the impact of “thirtysomething.” It was a time before much cable, there were only three networks, and millions watched it every week.
There’s been a clamor for years for a revival or reboot. Several times the project seemed close, but it never came together — and no one could really explain why. In recent years, Mel Harris — who played Hope — and Peter Horton –who was Gary — had campaigned to get something on the air.
But with Busfield’s arrest and an inevitable trial, the idea of any of that is over. I feel bad for the other actors. They probably would have enjoyed some kind of reunion. I feel for Marshall Hershkovits and Edward Zwick, the creators. How about Winnie Holtzman, one of the writers, who now has the “Wicked” movies on her resume.hinkj
So we’ll never know now if any of the couples made it. Or what happened to their children. Elliot and Nancy’s kid, Ethan, who was fictitious, had a lot of issues back then when he was six. Now he’d be fortysomething. I don’t think of any of those characters could have envisioned this mess.
Here’s a show featuring Elliot and his no good father, played the legendary Eddie Albert:
