Tina Yothers

 

I would love to have important facts at my fingertips, things like historical events, the workings of the different levels of government, and maybe just a dab of science in there. Unfortunately the only information that I seem to be able to access consistently and accurately is trivia from the 80’s. I like to call it “Tina Yothers syndrome”, because even by 80’s trivia standards knowing the name of the actress who played the youngest sister on family ties is pretty unimportant. I guess I have to admit that we tend to remember the things that interest us, which is why I also remember seeing Bernie Kopell (the doctor from the Love Boat, 1977-86) in Prince Edward Island as a child. I’m pretty sure it was him anyways. Trying to replace 80’s facts with more important information is even more difficult because of the yahoo! Homepage. At the bottom there is a list of important news stories from around the world, but at the top of the page there are tempting articles like “The cast of Full House reunited” or “one hit wonders, where are they now?” and they always include a lot of bright pictures.

 Here now are some facts about the former child star, a washed up celebrity like no Yother. Tina, or “the homely daughter from family ties” as she is referred to on the blog washed up celebrities (so glad this website exists), released the album Confessions in 2000. It is not great, but not bad enough to be entertaining. In 2004, she played the lead in Lovelace the musical, a stage show based on the life of the porn star Linda Lovelace. To my knowledge there is no video documentation of this show and that saddens me. Of course the final stage of becoming totally washed up is to star on a reality show, and as if sensing her own future, Tina ballooned to over 200 pounds for her appearance on the fourth season of celebrity fit club in 2006. Even fellow celebrity fit clubber Ted Lange (Isaac the bartender from the Love Boat, friend of Bernie Kopell's) must have felt a bit sorry for her.

Like all Tina Yothers syndrome sufferers I have to ask myself the question: why do I love reading about washed up celebrities? Is it because it makes me feel slightly better about my own life? Yes, that is why.