Channel Surfing
By Laura Nachman
[email protected]
April 30, 2001

 
Timothy Stack 

     Doylestown’s Timothy Stack is catching a wave of success as the creator, writer, and star of the comedy “Son of the Beach,” in its second season on FX, Tuesdays at 10 PM.  Stack plays lifeguard Notch Johnson in the “Baywatch” spoof that is produced by “The King of All Media” Howard Stern.  Even though Stack and Stern attended Boston University at the same time in the early 70’s, and their shows “Nightstand with Dick Dietrick” and “The Howard Stern Show” ran side by side on E! for a couple of years, they didn’t meet until they were introduced by their mutual agent, Don Buchwald in the late 90’s.  Stack recalled, “When I met Howard we hit it off immediately.  I pitched Howard “Son of the Beach,” by actually acting out a scene, and he loved it.” Stack credits the clout of Stern for getting “Son of the Beach” picked up by FX. Before Howard, we had no success selling the show, but when Howard came on board, we generated attention.” 

     For the 1973 graduate of Germantown Academy, generating attention was never a problem.  After a year at Boston University, Stack transferred to Boston College and starred in the school plays while majoring in theater.  He moved to Los Angeles in 1979 and joined the comedy troupe “The Groundlings,” where he met his wife Jano.  They have two children, daughter Murphy, 13, and son Doyle (yes, named for Doylestown), 11.  The Stacks live in Santa Barbara over an hour away from Los Angeles where the show is taped – “growing up in Doylestown, I wanted a “normal” place for my kids to grow up.”  

     Stack has spent most of the last two decades writing and performing comedy.  He was a regular as the father on the 1990 Fox sitcom “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose,” and made over 50 guest-appearances on such shows as “Night Court,” “Wings,” “The Wonder Years,” and “Seinfeld.”  Stack also wrote for “Family Matters,” and the much-maligned short-lived UPN sitcom “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer.”

     But right now, life’s a beach – the ratings are good – especially among men 18-34 thanks to plenty of mentions on Stern’s radio show, appearances on “Politically Incorrect,” offers to write movies, and even an endorsement from “Mr. Baywatch,” David Hasselhoff, who according to Stack “loves the show.”

     Good things are stacked in Timothy Stack’s favor.

     “Son of the Beach” airs on FX, Tuesdays at 10 PM.   

      WB17 news anchor Mike Dardis and his wife, Connie are expecting their second child, a boy, due in September. Daughter, Haley, is 14 months. 

     Four Philadelphia area students are participating in “Teen Jeopardy” which will be shown beginning April 30 on 6ABC at 7 PM.  They are Alexis Stephens from Central High School in Phialdelphia, Misti Coronel from Pottsgrove High School in Pottstown, PA,  Katherine Bushey from St. Mark's High School in Wilmington, DE, and Andy Siegler from Cinnaminson High School in Cinnaminson, NJ. “Teen Jeopardy” taped at the Philadelphia Convention Center April 11 and 12.

     A documentary about Philadelphia men and women who fought for homosexual rights in the mid-1960s, “Gay Pioneers” will debut on TV12 on Friday, May 4 at 10 PM.  The special coincides with “Pridefest America,” which is being held in Philadelphia this year.