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According to The Hollywood Reporter, television vet and character actor James B. Sikking was announced by his publicist, Cynthia Snyder, to have passed away this Saturday at his Los Angeles home due to complications with dementia. Sikking was a regular and a frequent collaborator of Steven Bochco shows. The actor is known for portraying the stern Lt. Howard Hunter on the cop series, Hill Street Blues, as well as playing the dad to the titular teenage doctor character played by Neil Patrick Harris on the drama Doogie Howser M.D. Sikking was 90 at the time of his passing.

In addition to being known for television, Sikking can also be seen in a bevy of notable film roles. He played a mocking hitman in the John Boorman film Point Blank (1967). He was also the stuffy Captain Styles who James T. Kirk would defy in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), directed by Leonard Nimoy.

James B. Sikking, the Steven Bochco favorite who portrayed the no-nonsense Lt. Howard Hunter on Hill Street Blues and the good-hearted doctor dad on Doogie Howser, M.D., has died. He was 90.

Sikking died Saturday at his Los Angeles home of complications from dementia, publicist Cynthia Snyder announced.

Although best known for his TV work, Sikking did have notable turns on the big screen as a mocking hitman in John Boorman’s Point Blank (1967), as the stuffy Captain Styles in Leonard Nimoy‘s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) and as the director of the FBI in Alan J. Pakula’s The Pelican Brief (1993).

After spending the better part of two decades showing up on such shows as The Outer Limits, Honey West, The Fugitive, Hogan’s Heroes and Mannix, Sikking was cast as the pipe-smoking Hunter, leader of the Swat-like Emergency Action Team, on NBC’s Hill Street Blues.

James B. Sikking, an actor best known for playing Hill Street Blues‘ Swat leader Lt. Howard Hunter and the father of Doogie Howser M.D., died peacefully at his Los Angeles home, of complications from Dementia, on July 13. He was 90.

“In a remarkable career, Sikking’s wonderfully exciting face gave us drama, comedy, tragedy and hilarious farce. His career spanned over six decades in television, film and on stage,” the late actor’s publicist, Cynthia Snyder, said in a statement. “His talent, integrity and imagination intrigued and delighted audiences.”

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A new medical prodigy will be scrubbing in at Disney+: The streaming service has ordered to series Doogie Kameāloha, M.D., a female-led reboot of Doogie Howser.

Set in modern-day Hawaii, the 10-episode reimagining follows Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha, a mixed-race 16-year-old girl who is juggling a budding medical career and life as a teenager. Guiding Lahela (and also complicating things) is her family, including her spitfire Irish mother who’s also her supervisor at the hospital, and her Hawaiian “Local Boy” father struggling to accept that his daughter is no longer his little girl.

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Disney+ wants in on television’s reboot craze, stat.

The streamer is reportedly developing a new version of the 1989-93 medical dramedy Doogie Howser, M.D., which will put a female character at the center of the story.

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Tentatively titled Doogie Kealoaha, M.D., the potential series will focus on a half-Asian, half-white 16-year-old girl who works as a doctor in Hawaii. Kourtney Kang, who served as a producer...

What’s your earliest horror memory, the moment you were irreversibly scarred yet knew you had to see and know more? Which one imprinted on you at a stupidly impressionable age? Do you remember? Because I never could; save for one indelible image burned on my psyche at the age of five, I have searched, asked, and pleaded with so many people what possible movie could have done this to me as a child. Until last night that is, when I stumbled upon The Devil’s Daughter (1973), an ABC TV movie that finally put a name to the image, even if I did somewhat misremember it. Time plus kindertrauma equals new memories, I guess? Yay to ongoing decrepitude!

Originally airing on January 9th as an ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week, The Devil’s Daughter was up against Hawaii Five-o over on CBS while NBC rolled out their own Tuesday Night at the Movies.

Tales as old as time, Slashers are. Okay, maybe not as old as time, but certainly as old as me, which is close enough. To say the horror market was saturated by the mid ‘80s would be an understatement; every theatre, drive-in, and video store shelf was oozing content involving implements, pretty people, and the dark secret that comes back to haunt them. Speaking of dark secrets that never fail to return, always faddish 3D made a surprising early ‘80s comeback; franchises such as The Amityville Horror, Jaws, and Friday the 13th all threw blurry stuff at blurry screens in the hopes of enticing viewers with varying degrees of success. Converging at the tail end of both, Silent Madness (1984) crams in so much absurdly wonderful plot you’d think the filmmakers were afraid Hollywood was going to stop making movies altogether.

Distributed by Almi Pictures in late October, Silent Madness...

The Fox building where the late producer Steven Bocho made television magic with such hit shows as Doogie Howser, M.D. and NYPD Blue has been dedicated to his name. It will henceforth be known as the Steven Bochco Building, with a plaque bearing his trademark signature greeting visitors at its entrance.

On hand to celebrate the dedication were a collection of stars that made those shows sizzle, including Dennis Franz and Kim Delaney of NYPD Blue; Jimmy Smits, Corbin Bernsen, Michael Tucker, Jill Eikenberry and Susan Ruttan of L.A. Law; and James Sikking and Belinda Montgomery of Doogie Howser, M.D.

The ceremony was led by Fox Television Group chairman and CEO Gary Newman, who was joined by Bochco’s wife, Dayna. Bochco died last month at age 74 after a struggle with cancer.

In addition to the above shows, 20th Century Fox helped Bochco produce Hill Street Blues,...

On a beautiful sunny Southern California spring day, the Steven Bochco players gathered to see the TV legend, <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steven-bochco-dead-hill-street-blues-la-law-nypd-blue-creator-741199" target="_blank">who died April 1</a>, honored on the 21st Century Fox studio lot. And oh, what a reunion it was: In one corner,<em> NYPD Blue</em> alumni Jimmy Smits, Dennis Franz and Mark-Paul Gosselaar huddled together; in another stood an<em> L.A. Law</em> foursome of Corbin Bernsen, Susan Ruttan, Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry; and across the room was Doogie Howser’s parents (James Sikking and Belinda Montgomery) and his boss Dr. Canfield (Lawrence Pressman).

Sprinkled in the crowd were Kim Delaney, Gordon Clapp, James McDaniel and other ...

Review by Roger Carpenter

A mysterious sniper is shooting hookers in The Big Apple and managing to take photos of them at the exact moment of death. These photos are being sent to police, along with notes daring the police to stop the killer. Sergeant Boyd (Richard Crenna) is a detective who has managed to alienate everyone in his life. His obsession with police work—and with criminal mastermind Julius Kurtz (Paul Williams)—has caused his partner to quit on him and his wife to leave him. Even his new partner, a tough-as-nails female undercover cop, doesn’t like him much. He works night and day in pursuit of criminals, even having to create a contraption rigged to his telephone that feeds his fish when he calls his apartment.

As more girls are killed The Brass get more and more agitated which in turn increases the pressure on Boyd. He...

“The pilot and the first couple of two-hour movies were the thing that really cemented it as legitimate science fiction. … Then we sort of got off the rails a little bit.” — Patrick Duffy to Famous Monsters magazine

Dallas and Step By Step television star Patrick Duffy returns to his underwater roots with an all-new adventure in book form based on his first major prime-time TV show, The Man From Atlantis, to be published in June. He spoke exclusively to Famous Monsters of Filmland editor David Weiner.

From marathon underwater filming sessions in which he had to hold his breath for up to two minutes at a time to those revealing yellow swim trunks — and how they “neutralized” his gender details for television — the candid Duffy reflects on his classic ’70s show and also previews his new novel — with plans to write a trilogy — based on Man From Atlantis.

Duffy with...

Here is a list of May's additions to Warner Archive Instant's streaming video service. If you aren't a subscriber, you can sign up for a free two week trial at instant.WarnerArchive.com.

Man From Atlantis (1976-78) 

It all begins with a storm and a man washed up on shore. A man with gills... Before he shot to superstardom in Dallas playing Bobby Ewing, Patrick Duffy donned swim trunks for a super-heroic turn as Mark Harris, Man from Atlantis. Debuting in a series of Sci-Fi movies-of-the-week, the adventures of the amnesiac Atlantean so captivated audiences that the movies spawned a weekly TV series. Eschewing the TV movies' more cerebral approach for more light-hearted action fare, the series took a more campy turn only to sink into the depths of TV history (but not before becoming the first American TV import to Communist China!). Now's your chance to explore below the...

By Hannah Soo Park

We've got our eye on another fairytale remake, with today's news that Cate Blanchett may be lending her signature ice-cold gaze to the part of Cinderella's evil stepmother in Disney's upcoming untitled project. According to The Wrap, the "Hobbit" star is the first in talks to join Mark Romanek's live-action rendition on the classic tale.

Before you roll your eyes at the thought of yet another take on happily ever after, consider the plot, which follows a doomed politically arranged marriage plot involving a prince and, of course, Cinderella. With Blanchett and Romanek on board, we're thinking this one won't involve pumpkin carriages and talking mice.

With that said, this won't be the first twist added to the preexisting cookie-cutter storyline—from the Muppets to gender role reversals, we break down some of the most unexpected and wacky twists we've seen in Cinderella's movie past.

What the hell is Man from Atlantis? In 1976, NBC commissioned four made-for-tv movies chronicling the plight of a webbed handed/footed survivor of the mythical city Atlantis. Portrayed by Patrick Duffy in his first starring role (the actor would later go on to much greater heights of fame as Bobby Ewing in Dallas), the Man from Atlantis (otherwise known as Mark) possesses super-human abilities – like breathing under water, super strength, a sonic whistle and great unkempt hair. Of course Mark’s powers inevitably draw the attention of certain wayward characters intent on harnessing his abilities for their own nefarious purposes. The films were relatively high-rated and soon thereafter NBC greenlit a Man from Atlantis television show… It lasted for only thirteen episodes. It’s here that I’m supposed to remiss on what a colossal mistake NBC made and how great a show Man From Atlantis is. Cancelled too soon or whatnot.

July 22: Actor Orson Bean ("Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman") is 84. Actress Louise Fletcher is 78. Singer Chuck Jackson is 75. Actor Terence Stamp is 74. Game show host Alex Trebek is 72. Singer George Clinton is 71. Singer-actor Bobby Sherman is 69. Actor Danny Glover is 66. Writer-director Paul Schrader is 66. Singer Don Henley is 65. Actor-comedian-director Albert Brooks is 65. Composer Alan Menken ("Little Mermaid," "Little Shop of Horrors") is 63. Musician Al Di Meola is 58. Actor Willem Dafoe is 57. Singer Keith Sweat is 51. Singer Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls is 49. Actor-comedian David Spade is 48. Actor John Leguizamo is 48. Bassist Pat Badger of Extreme is 45. Actor Rhys Ifans is 45. Musician Daniel Jones (Savage Garden) is 39. Singer Rufus Wainwright is 39. Actress Franka Potente ("The Bourne Identity") is 38. Actress Selena Gomez is 20.

July 23: Actress Gloria DeHaven is 87. Radio personality Don Imus is 72. Country singer Tony Joe White is 69. Actor Larry Manetti ("Magnum, P.I.") is 65. Singer David Essex is 65. Singer...

Recently the masterminds behind the Dallas reboot gave a nod to their source material by releasing a promotional image of the cast in Bobby Ewing-approved shower attire. A longtime fan of time capsule beefcake (and occasional chronicler of same in the Ae Movie Club), I thought it might be the perfect opportunity to revisit Bobby and his scantily-clad contemporaries in a look back at the prime men of the primetime of days past.

Note that this is just the tip of the iceberg - we'd love to hear about your faves (included here or not) in the comments!

Patrick Duffy in Man from Atlantis and Dallas

Long before he was the appendage of a South Park creature and even prior to that abysmal sitcom he did with Suzanne Somers, Duffy was the glistening star of the late-'70s show Man from Atlantis. Allow me to share some highlights:

The hardest-working...

The 1970s was a period of television known for its “high concept” shows about characters with super powers. In the decade of super heroes which included the Six Million Dollar Man, the Bionic Woman, the Invisible Man, the Gemini Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, Wonder Woman and the Hulk, one of the most ambitious of these programs was the aquatic adventure show Man from Atlantis.

Man from Atlantis stars a pre-Dallas Patrick Duffy, in his first major role. Duffy plays an enigmatic, water-breathing man, with webbed fingers and dolphin-like sonar. Washed up on a beach after a nasty hurricane, our amphibian protagonist is taken to a local medical facility where, by a lucky coincidence, pretty marine biologist Dr. Elisabeth Merril (Belinda Montgomery) is present. When X-rays show gills where his lungs should be, Elisabeth realizes that the dying man doesn’t need oxygen, he needs water. She takes him to the ocean,...

One of the joys of the Warner Archive program is that movies and television shows for small groups of fans can be released. The restoration costs seem to have reached a reasonable scale and these direct-to-order projects don’t really require the bells and whistles higher profile releases deserve. As a result, we can revel in the stuff we grew up or recall fondly. In my case, that includes a ton of Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears stuff that has been coming out over the last year or two. It also meant I finally got a good copy of the pilot to the Search series.

And while some will turn their noses up to those offerings, they may begin salivating at some of the others that have been released; titles which I personally find not worth our time and attention. One such series is the short-lived NBC clunker Man from Atlantis, best...

In the 1970s, NBC was the network you could turn to when seeking high concepts series that never lived up to the expectations of its audience. A perfect example was Man from Atlantis, a short-lived concept about a man who could live under the sea.

One of the interesting conventions of the time was that concepts would be allowed to grow and develop through telefilms before a show went to series. In this case, there were four such films produced for the 1976-1977 season before the strong ratings convinced the Peacock Network to let this go to a weekly series. When it arrived in fall 1977, the demands of producing 22 episodes proved too much and the show was weakened, the ratings fell and the series became a footnote; another wreck during the network’s decline (Supertrain anyone?).

Warner Archive has recently released the pilot film on DVD and it’s interesting...

While many child stars have had serious problems later in life, Neil Patrick Harris has proven to be one of the exceptions. He was thrust into the spotlight at age 16 as the star of his own hit ABC show, Doogie Howser MD. He's received a lot of kidding about his alter-ego but he's always been happy to joke about it himself.

Doogie Howser, MD centers around Douglas "Doogie" Howser, a protege who becomes a doctor at 14 and works as a resident surgeon in Los Angeles. The series stars Harris, Max Casella, Lawrence Pressman, James Sikking, Kathryn Layng, Belinda Montgomery, Lucy Boryer, Markus Redmond, Mitchell Anderson, Lisa Dean Ryan, and Rif Hutton.

Following the end of the series, Harris continued to act on television and also worked in movies and musicals. His second breakout role came in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle . That role led him to being cast in...