Posting this from Sun Valley, Idaho, where I’m speaking at a thingy. Sun Valley may be located in the second ugliest state of the union (sorry, Wyoming!) but it’s actually quite scenic up here.

Random thought from the road: one of my favorite TV genres has to be the failed-sitcom-version-of-hit-movie. There aren’t a lot of these lately, but it was almost de rigueur for hit comedies in the ’80s and ’90s. I love them, first of all, for their bargain-basement casts, which make it easy to play the who’s-the-made-for-TV-version-of game. Ever wonder who the made-for-TV Jason Robards is? It’s William Windom. Can’t get Rick Moranis? Hello, Peter Scolari!

But, paradoxically, I also love these shows because, oddly, they always seem to manage to cast someone who will soon go on to megastardom, far outshining their big-screen counterpart. Here’s a partial list.

Next up: Rachel Blanchard, who is one airborne-reptiles movie away from eclipsing the career of her Clueless predecessor, Alicia Silverstone. By this logic, even Kevin Meaney (Not-Quite-John-Candy in 1990’s “Uncle Buck”) will be a Brad Pitt-sized superstar any day now.