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27 May, 2009

Land of the Lost and why Spencer Milligan left

Did anyone else see the awesome "Land of the lost" marathon on the Sci-Fi channel Monday? what do you mean you were out with family enjoying the day off?? Ms. Allclick had given me a heads-up about how much she enjoyed the show and so I was anxious to see what it was going to be like. After a couple of episodes I was completely hooked in. Would they rescue dad from the Sleestak? Would grumpy eat the dinosaur nip? Is that really Medusa?? On Tuesday I found myself sad knowing that I would have to buy it on DVD to find out if Dad ever made it back onto the show or if the family ever made it back home but thanks to the internet I have the answers.

The answer is *SPOILER*:




No. Dad never did appear again and nope they never made it home. So what happened to dad and why did he leave the show? Was it a plot decision? Was he moving onto bigger and better things? Well apparently, according to johnkennethmuir.com:

Not long after its premiere, Land of the Lost became a monster hit, the most popular show on NBC's Saturday schedule. Nonetheless, a series of changes were to come in the third season. Spencer Milligan departed from the show over a salary dispute with the Kroffts and was consequently replaced by Ron Harper (of TV's short-lived 1974 Planet of the Apes series) as Rick Marshall's brother Jack...

Sadly, a dispute over pay seems to be the case although all the research I can find gives the studio's view and not Spencer's himself. He went on to star in a bunch of tv shows including: Police Squad!, The Dukes of Hazard, and The Bionic Woman.

5 comments:

The Film Geek said...

Dude, you know my fat ass was sitting in front of the TV for this!

I watched most of it, and DVR'd it so the kids and I can watch it again.

Classic TV...

By the way, did you see the last episode of season 1, called "Circle?" It is a beautiful episode, and tells the story of what happens to the family. Over, and over and over again. Wiki it.

Christopher Scott Jones said...

Off topic:

The 5th Ave Kroger has Weetabix on one of the endcaps over by the produce.

Paul said...

I was a huge LOTL fan during its original run. Naturally I bought the DVD set as soon as it was released.

Sleestacks still creep me out.

I hadn't heard the story about the dad's departure though. Good info!

Anonymous said...

Hey hey hey dog... whas up?

Spencer Mulligan needed to buy a pony for his daughter becuase he promised her one if she landed a big role in a TV series. So he asked for more money and was canned!

He then became a park ranger and was finally making enough big bucks to give his daughter the pony he promised.

Since the guy from the TV series Planet of the Apes needed work desperately, he took the pennies they offered for the Uncle Jack role. Since he was an uncle and not the father, he didn't have to buy his kid a pony like spencer did.

Of course, people say that I sometimes have trouble telling the difference between what I see on TV from reality, so take this all with a grain of salt.

I think this might have something to do with head injuries I suffered while trying to milk Spike... the triceratops. In the hospital, they told me that Spike wasn't even female! Boy was I embarassed!!

Anonymous said...

I had read an interview Spencer gave in 2009 saying that it was due to a royalty dispute on them using his likeness on merchandise and not getting paid.