It's just another rainy Wednesday morning, and Al and GB are both sitting on the daybed in their living room, each on their laptop and in their own little world. Unbeknownst to either of them, their separate worlds are about to collide...
Al looks up from her screen, turns to GB and says "Whoa, did you know that Tess Lynch, that writer I've been obsessed with lately, is actually Jane Curtin's daughter?"
GB practically jumps out of her seat and literally screams "OHMYGOD!" And then, "WAIT, DID YOU SAY JANE CURTIN? OR JANE LYNCH? JANE CURTIN OR JANE LYNCH???" Al confirms that she did, indeed, say Jane Curtin. Al is understandably just a tiny bit confused by GB'S reaction.
GB notices the look of bewilderment on Al's face, so goes on to explain that she has just spent the last 20 minutes tracking down an episode of Quincy, M.E on YouTube that has been haunting her since she was 15. This has led her to reminisce about other crime procedural shows of the 1970s, like The Rockford Files, CHiPS and, especially, McMillan and Wife, starring Rock Hudson and Susan St. James. GB then remembered what a total babe Susan St. James was, so started looking for pictures of her on Google, and even added quite a few to her queue on tumblr. Then, she came across a pic of St. James with Jane Curtin from their Kate and Allie days, which she immediately posted on her tumblr, and started reminiscing, about what a kick ass show that had been, and how awesome Jane Curtin was, and was totally about to check and see if the series was available on DVD, when Al looked up and said:
"Whoa, did you know that Tess Lynch, that writer I've been obsessed with lately, is actually Jane Curtin's daughter?"
Yeah, that all just happened.
Other things that GB learned about Susan St. James today:
- She has the best name ever. It's almost as fun to type as it is to say out loud
- She was born in Rockford, which is funny, because this all started with The Rockford files, which she wasn't on, but she starred opposite Rock Hudson on McMillan & Wife
- S St. J was a guest host on SNL (where Jane Curtin got her start) in 1981, where she met her third husband Dick Ebersol, who was executive producer of SNL at the time, he is now chairman of NBC sports.
- Ebersol and two of their three sons were in a plane crash in 2004. Sadly, their youngest son Teddy (14) and two others, died. GB is still really sad to hear about this.
- She is a vegetarian and an activist and holds 5 honorary degrees
Things GB learned about Jane Curtin today:
- Her name is spelled C-u-r-t-i-n, not C-u-r-t-a-i-n
- Jane Curtin was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Which is apparently a very nice place to live.
- Like Susan St. James, jane Curtin is also married to a television producer, Patrick Francis Lynch. They met at a hockey game in 1975 and have a daughter, Tess Curtin Lynch, who writes for one of our favourite websites, This Recording, and is tight with our other girl crush, Molly Lambert. Also, if Jane Curtin had taken her husband's name, she'd be Jane Lynch!
- Curtin was raised Catholic, and while we have no idea whether she is currently, she was practising at the time of her SNL days, which we imagine would have been difficult, given the infamous partying that was going on at the time. She's also been an ambassador for UNICEF and has an associates degree from Elizabeth Seaton Junior College (although we don't know what area the degree is in, but it's probably something awesome)