I am lucky to say I chatted with actor Dabney Coleman a few times back in the day, in Elaine’s. Elaine Kaufman loved him, too. He was dapper and erudite and a lot of fun. Coleman died today at age 92.

Dabney Coleman is probably best known as the terrible boss from the movie, “9 to 5.” He had about 15 years of journeyman service on TV, on every single show, until he finally hit it big on “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” in 1976. He played Merle Jeter, the con man husband of Wanda Jeter (the also great Marion Mercer). He was mean but very acerbic. Eventually Merle became mayor of Fernwood until a TV set fell in his bath and electrocuted him. The nation mourned.

Coleman’s turn in “9 to 5” was so good that Jane Fonda had him cast in her next movie, “On Golden Pond.” Coleman was on a roll. He was in Garry Marshall’s comedy “Young Doctors in Love,” as well as “Tootsie” — he was the maniacal star of the fictitious soap — and “War Games.” When he was in the groove, Coleman was able to play greedy and self-motivated with sly humor. He was the kind of actor who, when he appeared on screen, you wanted to clap. And he was always a character, never playing himself.

He had not one but two cult TV shows in the 80s: “Buffalo Bill” and “Slap Maxwell.” They may have been too much for regular audiences, but they were memorable series. If HBO or Netflix had been around then, those series would have run for years.

As late as 2019, Coleman played Kevin Costner’s father in “Yellowstone.” He had five Emmy nomminations and 1 win. According to the imdb, he had two divorces, with four children from the first marriage.

Still, with dozens and dozens of credits, Dabney Coleman will always be clueless, egotistical, male chauvinist pig, and philanderer Franklin J. Hart in “9 to 5,” a movie more relevant today, 40 years later, than ever.

Rest in peace Dabney.

It’s time to suture up the folks to at Grey Sloan whatever.

ABC has renewed “Grey’s Anatomy” for a 21st and hopefully final season. They’re shoving it to 10pm, an hour later on Thursdays, when most of its viewers will have decamped.

Tonight’s episode is completely unwatchable anyway. I flipped over from “SVU” to see what was going on. Ellen Pompeo is just not there. The new characters and stories are as compelling as old milk. When a show is over, it’s over. This one has outlasted its warranty by six or seven years.

“Greys” has a great run and made a lot of people rich. But really, call the code now and admit that next year is just a victory lap, ABC.

Replacing “Greys” at 9pm is yet another new medical show, this one from Ryan Murphy and starring Pacey from “Dawson’s Creek,” Joshua Jackson. It looks like it’s set on cruise liner. Same medical conditions, new setting. And that’s the way it’s been since “Dr. Kildare” and “Ben Casey.”

ABC’s 60 year old soap, “General Hospital,” is always in some kind of trouble.

Today the show fired co-headwriter Patrick Mulcahey. He’d been on the job for two months, with Elizabeth Korte. In that time, the show dropped precipitously in the ratings, falling below the 2 million mark in viewers.

Mulcahey managed to destroy characters’ pre-existing relationships with each other to the point where everyone was arguing with each other onscreen. I guess he thought friction would be dramatic, but it was just annoying.

The old writer, Chris van Etten, will succeed Mulcahey and rapidly fix all the chaos. Soap fans don’t want characters shouting at each other and saying nasty things about them. You can have fun, but it has to be within parameters. All TV shows work only if the characters like each other — even villains.

This poor show. I’m told they have one young actress who’s doing 90 days in jail for a big DUI. Two of the older actors are missing entirely. One other actor is returning after cancer treatment. It sounds like a soap opera!