Johnny the Dancer

[Jo Pierce - GAH Noir]

Johnny is in my opinion my favorite bad guy. Possibly it's because Hit Car was such an excellent episode. Perhaps it's the pasta. Perhaps I have some mob aspirations. Who knows.

We know little about him, though, except he was in Detroit at one point (It's all Downhill) and that Bill has been riding him for 15 years.

He doesn't look really old, so he probably became a major player pretty young.

Don't spill that, Johnny!

[Houdiniderek]

I have to agree that he has this great technique and plays the bad guy exceedingly well...not only on his management of Lenny and Starlette, but on the way he moves and shakes around town, at the Grammy's...it is very reminiscent of those gangster movies from the 30s. I COULD see him hanging out the side of the car shooting his Tommy gun when younger.

I tend to think that since he was so young that he inherited the business or that he was so ruthless that he managed to TAKE over. I don't think he would advance to boss status at that early an age.

I actually think it would be neat to know if Johnny was one of the cases where Maxwell got his drive to be the best in the field. After that many years, you never know. And we only know that Maxwell has been after him for that long...maybe Harlan had him originally and Bill got it dumped on him?

So many ways to analyze the tie between Bill and Johnny.

[Lauren]

Of all the bad guys, Johnny is the only one I could really see as a reoccurring bad guy (kinda like Lex Luthor to that other good guy, whatever his name was...). I'd like to think that if the show had run longer, that eventually someone would've been chosen as THE bad guy. Obviously, he's been around & knows that he is the top dog & he'd never let some goof ball in red tights (did I just say that? sorry Ralph...) take him down without payback.

JMHO.

(Ralph: Goof ball in red tights?
Me: I apologized!
Ralph: Still...
Me: This'll cost me...)

[Jo Pierce - GAH Noir]

That's a good point. It would have been nice to have recurring bad guys.

But wasn't that Carlisle's role? To be a recurring bad boss (even though he was a good guy, he was the foil).

You know, I always wondered whether that Johnny from Dreams was supposed to be Johnny the Dancer - sort of like the Phoney Baloney Tony (Joey) or the stand in Rhonda (Carrie?)

Or are all Italian bad guys in GAH named Johnny.

If they were, it would have saved the IRS and all those guys a lot of trouble in FIREMAN. I mean, they'd say "What? His name is Tony Villacana? Oh, well, he's innocent. If his name was Johnny Villacana, we'd throw the book at him..."

[Houdiniderek]

Lauren, you make excellent sense. I too would have loved to see a recurring bad guy...someone that Bill and the team have to stop all the time. Of course, that would mean the episodes would have to be tied together better. As they are now, MOST of the episodes could stand alone and not need overt references back, but a recurring bad guy would need that. I still think it is a great idea.

Josie, Carlisle was definitely a foil, but so was Principal Knight to a degree. Bill's job set him up for it the most, but still, he was not a BAD guy, he was just vastly different from Bill...and probably resentful of him.

As for Johnny, you get the impression that they are supposed to be the same in THE HIT CAR and DREAMS, but as I have explained other places, I don't see that as too likely. After all, ALL of Johnny the Dancer's henchmen went to jail too...so how did these two quacks with the second Johnny stay loose?

That is just one, but I have others. I think they are different and while I LOVE the second Johnny too; the first one was definitely the high roller for the cast and would have made a great recurring character.