Goodbye to the actor Sam Lloyd, who has died at the age of 56.
Lloyd is best remembered for his portrayal of lawyer Ted Buckland on the comedy-drama series Scrubs and the sitcom Cougar Town. He and his uncle [Christopher Lloyd] both guest starred on Malcolm in the Middle, Lloyd as a housing lawyer and his uncle as Hal's father. The two also guested on The West Wing, Lloyd requesting the White House to release information about UFOs and his uncle as a constitutional law expert... Aside from acting, Lloyd was an accomplished singer with the a cappella group The Blanks, who made many appearances on Scrubs under the name "The Worthless Peons" (also known as "Ted's Band"). He also played the bass guitar in a Beatles tribute group called the Butties; although right-handed, he learned to play bass left-handed like Beatles bassist Paul McCartney to maintain authenticity."This is my band. We're all working from different departments in the hospital":
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He was great in 'Scrubs', which was a very underrated, funny show.
Boy, he looked old in the 90s if he only turned 56 now.
What I noticed was the lack of social distancing in the Seinfeld clip. Offering the highlighter. Letting him read the TV Guide. Sitting close. The guy stealing and eating Kramer's sandwich. All on the subway!
Only "precaution" was Elaine and George's mother greeting each other a rather cold air-kiss.
It's funny how in comedies the "normal" character lets weirdos get close to them.
There's no good reason for Seinfeld to allow Kramer continual access to his apartment, and then, Kramer is normalized, and even weirder people get to enter the circle. Why did George's mother allow that weird guy to walk right into her house? Why did Elaine, after initial surprise, accept that he was in the house?! Why did she take the ripped-up TV Guide thing he made for her? Who would touch that thing?! Even in non-coronavirus times.
In a drama, the seemingly normal characters reveal some inner or secret weirdness. But in comedies, you assume the main character is a person like you, and then they encounter weirdos along the way.
When watching movies or TV shows (including MSM's "news"), suspend belief. Then, everything's quite understandable. You know, like when four people can simply drop everything and go to the movies or the coffee shop at a moment's notice.
This is so sad - from wikipedia:
In January 2019, Lloyd was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, which was subsequently revealed to be metastatic lung cancer that had spread to his liver, spine, and jaw.[5][6][7] His wife Vanessa had just recently given birth to their first child, son Weston, when Lloyd received his diagnosis. He died in Los Angeles at the age of 56 on April 30, 2020.[8][9]
RIP
One of my favorites:
Hey Ya
I think he and his uncle Christopher are well known but still underrated. In their careers they shared a similar talent for hilarity and touching humanity.
I mentioned we're shelter watching Cougartown with my nephew who's watching for the first time. Might have to seek out Scrubs to rewatch when we're finished.
Taxi, too...
The Blanks: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
I wasn't really that familiar with his work other than the small Seinfeld role, and wasn't aware he was Christopher Lloyd's nephew. RIP, Ricky, Crazy Subway Guy.
One of my favorite moments in "Cougar Town" was Mr. Lloyd's singing of "Take on Me" as two of the characters are having an argument. When he hits that high note, I get chills.
In TV comedy, if you're weird, they let you grab them by the pussy.
Scrubs was a good show in the beginning, but it seemed to go on and on forever after people had lost interest - sort of like the Drew Carey Show (I believe Drew's contract said that the show had to last a certain number of seasons, so it kept popping up at odd places in the schedule until the contract had been satisfied). Mad TV did a skit about Scrubs as the show that wouldn't die, long after it had any point or laughs.
Now I get to do what I always wanted to do: play the Proper Bostonian and point out that Christopher Lloyd came from a very wealthy family. His mother was a Lapham (San Francisco oil money) and publisher Lewis Lapham was a cousin. Mayflower descended and Westport rich, Christopher Lloyd avoided college and went right into acting. Sam Lloyd was Samuel Lloyd IV.
But that's enough useless knowledge for one day.
played the bass guitar in a Beatles tribute group called the Butties;
Great cover!
I never watched any of those shows.
Boy, he looked old in the 90s if he only turned 56 now.
I thought the same thing. Premature balding does that. Could also be that since he was not exactly leading man material, he found it easier getting work playing roles older than himself.
Scrubs was a good show in the beginning, but it seemed to go on and on forever after people had lost interest
Agree. It was fresh and witty to begin with, but the novelty of the show wore off after a season or two. Lot's of US sitcoms go on too long because the big money is in syndication and you need enough shows for that.
Thank you. I'd hadn't heard any of this but truly enjoyed the whole Worthless Pens video and the tunes linked to in the comments, made my day.
Scrubs was a good show in the beginning, but it seemed to go on and on forever after people had lost interest
Not unlike actual grad school.
Scrubs was actually about as good a depiction of grad school as you're ever likely to see on TV. JD and Turk are depicted as goof offs, but they're actually working very hard -- the immaturity is just a stress reliever. Same goes for the rest of the cast -- they play comic archetypes, but they're all actually good at their jobs and focused on doing them well. The patients are mostly old, shuffle in and out each week, have routine complaints, and only a few of them actually make any kind of impact on the hospital's permanent staff.
That setup is inherently going to run out of momentum in a few years, but it was pretty good for a while.
For a show that had totally run out of energy by that point, JD's last scene is actually pretty great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=War9m52LrV4
The best detail is the ambulance pulling in as he drives away. The story's still going on, he's just not part of it any more.
Thanks for posting this, Ann, and RIP to Lloyd. I've always loved that "Seinfeld" clip for the funny way he said "Lucy" when he was going through the TV shows with Elaine on the subway. "Looocy" It cracks me up every time!
Aye caramba, Lucy.
He also played the bass guitar in a Beatles tribute group called the Butties; although right-handed, he learned to play bass left-handed like Beatles bassist Paul McCartney to maintain authenticity.
Without a head transplant, Lloyd failed to maintain authenticity.
"I believe Drew's contract said that the show had to last a certain number of seasons, so it kept popping up at odd places in the schedule until the contract had been satisfied"
The last 1 1/2 seasons were played in the summer, against reruns of other shows. I saw some of the last season episodes recently. They weren't terrible.
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