Brat Pack on Television

Friday, April 4th, 2008

The other day, I read that Molly Ringwald is popping back into television soon. She has just committed to a yet untitled TV drama series insiders claim has a plot line similar to Juno. But Molly’s not going to play the teen kid (duh, of course!). She’s going to be the mom to a pregnant teenager! Reading that article brought fond memories of Molly in the 80’s, when she was known as the princess of the Brat Pack. 

The Brat Pack is a group young actors/tress who dominated a lot of teen films young people today now call "classics" — Pretty In Pink, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire, to name a few. Their films, as well as their public images, were iconic, covering the ideology of teens growing up in that decade.

As I remembered it, at least half the actors and actresses who appeared on a then popular teen magazine, Tiger Beat, were labeled as Brat Packers. But there were originally about eight of them:  Andrew McCarthy, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy.

When the Brat Packers grew older, the hype surrounding their group faded away as well. Molly Ringwald at one point only did cameos in movies and even moved to France to live there for a while.

Eventually, some of them did get a second wind…on television.

So, aside from Molly, who will hopefully find success on her return, which of these Brat Packers has had some achievement doing a TV series?

I’ve listed them below.

• ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL starred in The Dead Zone, a suspense series based on Stephen King’s novel. The show has already wrapped up last year. And Anthony is back to doing movies (The Dark Knight).
• ROB LOWE currently plays the young handsome presidentiable Robert McAllister on Brothers & Sisters. He has had more success on television compared to the rest of the original Brat Packers, as he was also part of the award-winning drama series The West Wing (2006).
• ANDREW MCCARTHY is playing billionaire bachelor, Joe Bennet, in the freshman series Lipstick Jungle,  a Sex and the City type of program. He isn’t Mr. Big yet but expect him to grace the Emmy’s  red carpet this year. His new TV show is slowing picking up with viewers. Andrew was  previously on two TV Series, too (now canceled) — E-ring (2005) and Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital (2004).
• ALLY SHEEDY does not have a regular TV show to her name but she appears as guest on shows like CSI and Kyle XY.

Other Brat Pack Members who are also doing well on TV today include:

• JON CRYER and CHARLIE SHEEN - both starring in the comedy Two and A Half Men.
• JAMES SPADER - a two-time Emmy Awardee for his role in Boston Legal.
• KEIFER SUTHERLAND - as TV hero Jack Bauer.

Care to scrummage through a DVD sale and find their old series? Or download their programs perhaps?