WONDERLAND • The Ultimate Wonder Woman Site

Chapter 6: "...We first met Lynda Carter when Ross (Bickell) was a guest star, along with Bob Hays, on Wonder Woman. Lynda soon became a good friend and woulb be my co-star a few years later on Partners In Crime."

Chapter 11: "...And then some light glimmered at the end of the tunnel. For some time, Lynda Carter and I had been talking about working together, and now NBC had given Johnny Carson's production company a green light for us to do thirteen episodes of Partners In Crime, scheduled for the fal 1984 season. Leonard Stern, who had written for Jackie Gleason's The Honeymooners and The Steve Sleen Show, as well as being the creator, head writer, and producer of the enterire six-year run of Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James' McMillan and Wife, was going to be writing and directing it.

Partners was planned as a high-style female Hart to Hart. Lynda and I thought we would have a great time. And the money was very good -I would finally be able to work myself out of the IRS debt. Location shooting was to be done in San Francisco, starting in APril. With that to look forward to, I thought, I will get through the rest of the holidays. I will...

...I began working on the series with Lynda Carter, flying up to San Francisco with Linda Jensen on Sunday nights, all three of us flying back down to Los Angeles on Friday night.... Lynda Carter had married Washington banker and lawyer Robert Altman only a few months before, and he was flying from the capital to L.A. on weekends to be with her. What had looked like a good idea for both of us soon became incredibly difficult.

We were two weeks into shooting the opening two-hour episode, which was structured like a movie, and suddenly NBC fired Leonard Stern. Stern had created the series, he wrote it, he was directing it -he was the reason I was there. The series was owned by Johnny Carson's production company, but it was the network that fired Stern; I never did know exactrly why.

Although they fired him as director, not from all the other hats he was wearing, he was so angry that he walked out on the hwole project. And took the scripts for all thirteen episodes with him. And then his entire writing staff walked, too, in support for Leonard. To make matters more complicated, Leonard was quite disturbed that Lynda and I didn't walk as well. I was so stuck financially, the last thing I was in position to do was take part in a solidarity job action. When Lynda and I left the set on that Friday night, completely frazzled, we didn't know who would be directing us or even if there would be a show to come back to on Monday..."

Chapter 12: "The Partners In Crime scene was in complete chaos. We finished the pilot, which was delightful because Leonard has done it, but after that, the hacks-of-the-week took over. From late spring until November 1984, Lynda Carter and I watched as our frothy, sophisticated, reasonably intelligent series became what we called "Kung Fu Warrior Women of the A-Team." What a disaster. Every week, there we were, hotfooting it through San Francisco in designer wardrobes and high-heeled boots, waving guns around and shouting "Freeze!" at ech episode's one dimensional villain. In that revolutionary season of Kate and Allie and Cagney & Lacey, we had quickly became nothing better than female action dolls with big hair....

...Lynda was struggling with the same problems on Partners as I was, but throughout the next months I couldn't have asked for a more supportive frien and collefue...

...During lunch hours on most days, Lynda and I did publicity for the show, taping interviews, so very often we didn't even eat...

...The Partners crew managed. They shot everything it was possible to shoot with Lynda Carter. They shot back-ground, endless cable cars going up and down hills and fog drifting in and out of San Francisco Bay...

...'Please cancel the series,' I begged them. "I don't think I can go on like this. I don't think any of us can.'

...And they said, 'We'll probably be able to grant your wish. The ratings aren't great.' It was the loveliest news I had heard in weeks. The series was canceled, and Lynda and i limped back to Los Angeles."

Chapter 17: (About her divorce of Burt Reynold and what the press was saying) "Lynda Carter and Deidre Hall both called, each saying, 'Loni please let me go on television. Somebody's got to say something on your behalf!.'"