Interview with Joe Lando

Regis and Kathie Lee
Tuesday, May 18, 1999





REGIS:

Alright! He's best known for his role as Sully on tv's Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. This weekend reprises his role in the CBS movie - I guess on the same topic?

KL:

Yes it takes place a year after the series ended I think.

REGIS:

Alright. Here's Joe Lando everybody. Hello Joe, nice to see you.

JOE:

Nice to see you, Regis. (Joe intentionally mispronounces Regis's name)

REGIS:

Sorry Joe. Sorry. Last time we saw Joe was down at Disneyland... Disney World rather, but your hair was long ...?

JOE:

No it was short actually. I'd just cut it.

KL:

‘Cos the series had just ended, right? So you cut it?

JOE:

No actually if your remember you asked me if we were going to come back for our seventh season and I said I don't know, I had cut my hair but I think subconsciously I knew they were going to pull the plug on us. Sadly to say.

KL:

But the reaction was amazing, wasn't it?

JOE:

The fans were quite irate. They wrote in, they e mailed, they sent pigeons with telegrams attached, they boycotted the studio, they did everything ....

KL:

It worked

JOE:

Well it didn't bring the series back but it gave us the opportunity between the tenacity of our fans and Jane so we're back to do this movie of the week which is going to be on Saturday.

Audience claps, cheers, etc.

REGIS:

How are things at home?

JOE:

Things are great. Last time we were down in Florida, my wife was about 8 months pregnant and she couldn't go on the rides with me but I had a great time --

KL:

You could tell her about it huh?

JOE:

Yeah, but er, let's see, two weeks before I lost my job, or two weeks after I lost my job, um, she gave me this present

REGIS:

Little Jack

KL:

Which is a full time job

Joe shows pics of Jack

REGIS:

One year old ....looking good.

JOE:

Yup.

REGIS:

This is wife Kirsten as well?

JOE:

This is at his christening, she didn't want me to show this one but I like that shot. He looks a lot like her, I think.

REGIS:

So er, where are you living now?

JOE:

I'm living with my in-laws.

REGIS:

That bad huh?

JOE:

I'm 37 years old and don't have a steady pay check. Um, well yeah, because we were in transition between going from the house that I've lived in for five years to Canada - that's where we're moving next Saturday when the show premiers actually (lots of cheers and applause), rather than to go to a hotel - there's some Canadians --

REGIS:

Yeah they are --

KL:

Very hopeful ones.

JOE:

So rather than go to a hotel or something like that we moved in with them and it's been great.

KL:

Well, they've got their grandson with them --

JOE:

Exactly and it's just been wonderful, my son just loves his grandparents, it's been very nice.

REGIS:

But you're moving out there for another reason as well because you've got a new series ---

JOE:

I'm starting a new series up in Vancouver, tentatively titled Cliff Hangers (applause) which really has nothing to do with the story, the story's about kids at risk, it's an academy where kids have been taken, either to interventions with their parents or the state has sent them there, last stop for kids who are in trouble.

REGIS:

Is there such a place Joe?

JOE:`

They exist all over the country, all over the world actually, we did some research where myself and the other producers and writers went up to Northern Idaho and checked out a series of schools up there and it's really great, I mean these kids spend about 30 months there, they get all the garbage out of their lives and they get a chance to start over again.

REGIS:

And you'll be a teacher in this school?

JOE:

I'll be a counsellor there, a recovering addict myself, seven years sober and --

KL

Great dramatic fodder for you --

JOE:

Yeah

REGIS:

Got to get in shape for this one huh?

JOE:

I've been trying.

KL:

But you were never out of shape. You were never out of shape?

JOE:

Well no, but when you work on a series like that, like Dr. Quinn, you have to stay in somewhat good shape, but you don't have a chance to work out and I've been out of a job for year now, so between picking up Jack and going to the gym every day, I'm trying to get ---

REGIS:

What is like psychologically to you - I mean after a long run on a series, suddenly, you know you have this little valley and -- I mean did it bother you?

JOE:

Yeah, I was -- Orson Bean actually was the man who called me up and told me the show was cancelled.

KL:

How in the world did Orson?

REGIS:

Orson Bean?

JOE:

Yeah. Orson got a leak through, you know, the network, and he called me up and told me and it's like boomf, like getting punched in the stomach for a second and er, I can't speak for women, but for a man, especially my age, I've been working really hard for the past 10 years and all of a sudden the plug's pulled. You attach a lot of your self worth I think to that and after a while you -- and it took a little bit and you know, I wasn't shocked when the show when cancelled because that's the nature of the business, but I was hurt and you know, when Jack was born, it helped put everything in perspective.

KL:

Doesn't it?

JOE:

So I was thankful for six years of Dr. Quinn and very proud to be a part of that show.

REGIS:

You know what I did? I holed up with Packman years ago --

JOE:

Packman?

REGIS:

It was in 1980/81 whenever it was and I went through one of those periods and yes, I became an expert on Packman.

JOE:

I took a lot of walks with my wife and then when the baby was born I was able to take care of them rather than get a nanny or anything.

KL:

I'm sure her support at that time was real important

JOE:

Oh my wife's wonderful, she supports me in everything I do and she knew it was a little bit of a rough time, but ...

REGIS:

So here comes a whole new project

JOE:

I'm very excited --

KL:

There's an old saying, this too shall pass --

JOE:

And change is good. I'm excited about --

KL:

See! Tell him that would you please

JOE:

Change is good Reg.

REGIS:

You mean this too will pass?

KL:

Eventually. Like a kidney stone. Eventually it will pass.

REGIS:

Right now we're going to take a look at a clip from this movie special, right?

JOE:

Our movie, a Dr. Quinn movie, Revolutions or Dr. Quinn the movie, whatever you want to call it. As long as you watch, there may be a second one in the pipelines.

REGIS:

Oh good. When does this take place?

JOE:

It takes place about a year after the show left off, and um, all the same characters are still doing the same thing, and my character makes a decision about having a mining company come to town. He says no to them and in retribution, they, send off their beeper, they kidnap my daughter, or our daughter and then we find, or presume she's dead and the scene I think is coming up is the guilt that we're both feeling and the blame that my wife has towards me about this situation.

REGIS:

Alright, let's look at this.

Show Clip from Revolutions

JOE:

Ouch!

REGIS:

I couldn't take my eyes off your hair.

JOE:

I'm the poster boy for Propecia. It's amazing.

REGIS:

That was a wig because you had cut your hair, right?

JOE:

Nothing gets past you Reg.

REGIS:

A beautiful wig.

KL:

It's on the card...

REGIS:

A four thousand dollar wig? Every day putting it on
...

KL:

Nothing but the best for you Sully.

JOE:

Yeah

REGIS:

Alright

KL:

Good luck

REGIS:

Good luck Joe, it was nice seeing you.

JOE:

Thank you very much.





Articles & Interviews | Joe's Movies | Scripts | Pix | Biography | Misc | FAQ | Tribute to Sully
Message Board | Tony's Artwork | Sully's Story | Chatroom | Landograms | Thanks & Links




Home