Gerald

Starring in a popular TV series is a highlight of any actor's career -- but it can also be a trap. Once a series is over, it's hard for many stars to get off what one veteran called "the island of lost actors." For Gerald McRaney, getting off that island was doubly hard since he was identified with two hit series, "Simon & Simon" (1981-89) and "Major Dad" (1989-93). But McRaney has made the great escape in fine fashion, and today the 62-year-old actor finds himself much in demand for movie, stage and TV roles with some of the top talents in Hollywood, including J.J. Abrams ("Lost")

The wheels officially have come off for Coach Greg Schiano and his 0-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The micro-managing Schiano clearly has lost the locker room, and former Buccaneers defensive end Michael Bennett, now with Seattle, told NFL Network playing for him is "like being in Cuba. " Now this: Buccaneers defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, in an interview with 620 WDAE-AM in Tampa, said assistants Bryan Cox and Randy Melvin got angry at him for helping an opponent to his feet. "I had my D-line coaches get on to me the other day," McCoy said, via JoeBucsFan.com.

How do you spell quagmire: Bosnia or Clinton? GERALD W. WRIGHT Los Angeles

In the Filipino crime drama "On the Job," two hit men evade suspicion in the safest haven imaginable: a prison cell. Middle-aged Tatang (Joel Torre) and young upstart Daniel (Gerald Anderson) are two members of an informal prison-labor program in which convicts are temporarily released by high-ranking politicians to take out the latter's opponents. The horrifying thing about "On the Job" is its basis on actual events in the Philippines, a country where ballots and bullets are both common instruments of democracy.

Beverly Hills architect: An Oct. 11 article about Gerard Colcord misspelled his first name as Gerald.

If term limits are right for members of Congress, then shouldn't they be right for members of the Supreme Court? GERALD J. BROWN Fullerton

With its $6-billion price tag, "Saving Private Clinton" will be the most expensive epic ever filmed. GERALD W. WRIGHT Los Angeles

Does Richard Jewell come to mind when reading about the Wen Ho Lee matter? GERALD A. VAN VLEET Santa Barbara

From Bill Clinton on the left to Newt Gingrich on the right, Diogenes would find it tough sledding in today's Washington. GERALD W. WRIGHT Los Angeles

The MTA is simply remarkable (June 21). The subway isn't even running, and they've already taken us for a ride. GERALD W. WRIGHT Los Angeles

Somewhere in Newport Beach is a two-story warehouse with no sign on the door or any other clue as to what it holds. But inside is the core of a vast art collection that has been seen by only a few select people in the art world. It includes original works by numerous contemporary artists who are world-famous - such as Richard Diebenkorn , Robert Irwin , Helen Lundeberg , Carlos Almaraz and Edward Kienholz - as well as lesser-known figures. But the artists all have one thing in common: They all worked in California.

A videotape in which President Gerald Ford discussed a 1975 assassination attempt by a follower of Charles Manson was made public this week. "It fills in the last gap of the case and explains from the president's perspective what it was like to have someone attempt to assassinate you," said Michael Vinding, secretary of the Eastern District Historical Society, which chronicles stories from the federal courthouse in Sacramento. In newly released testimony ordered before the trial of Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme , Ford recalled how she pointed a handgun at him outside California's Capitol on Sept.

Maybe it's a byproduct of bandleader Gerald Wilson having spent much of his career as an educator, but seeing Wilson perform is a little like having an audience with jazz history itself. Now 94, Wilson has been a fixture on the L.A. scene since arriving with the Jimmie Lunceford Band in 1940, and his sense of melody and swing remained undiminished as evidenced by his Grammy-nominated 2011 album "Legacy. " Catalina Jazz Club, 6725 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles. 7:30 p.m. Sun. http://www.catalinajazzclub.com

The Clippers made it official Monday, announcing the hiring of Gerald Madkins as the team's director of basketball operations. The Clippers also announced three other front-office personnel moves. They hired Eric Miller to be the director of basketball administration, Fabrizio Besnati returns for his eighth season as the director of international scouting and Jason Piombetti was promoted to the position of director of scouting. Madkins, a former UCLA Bruins player and assistant coach, spent the last two seasons as the vice president of player personnel for the New Orleans Hornets.

In their quest to continue to change the team's culture, the Clippers have hired highly-thought-of Gerald Madkins to be the team's director of basketball operations, said NBA executives Friday who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Madkins, who has worked in the NBA for 10 years, will work in the front office alongside Gary Sacks, who was recently named the Clippers' general manager. Madkins spent the last two seasons with the New Orleans Hornets as their director of player personnel.

NEW YORK — "Wheels of Fortune," the Los Angeles Times series that exposed the world of Buy Here Pay Here car dealers, was honored with a Gerald Loeb award at a ceremony here Tuesday night. The Wheels series by Business reporter Ken Bensinger won in the Large Newspapers category, eclipsing two entries from the Wall Street Journal and one from the New York Times in that competition. Bensinger's stories explained the shrewd business model that underpins Buy Here Pay Here. The buyers are people who need cars to get to work but whose credit is so poor they can't qualify for traditional loans.

If we had told the Chinese that the embassy bombing resulted from a failed weapons guidance system, they might think twice before using our stolen technology. GERALD W. WRIGHT Los Angeles

Though a bustling, glossy downtown L.A. coffee shop is hardly a purely academic environment, there's something about sitting down with 93-year-old bandleader, composer and 2012 Grammy nominee Gerald Wilson that feels like crashing a history class. Maybe it's a byproduct of Wilson having spent much of his career as an educator, leading a popular jazz history class at three local universities since the 1970s, including UCLA, where Wilson remembers the fire department forcing him to clear the aisles for a class that had ballooned to more than 500 students.

Reporting from Portland, Ore. — It's no longer surprising when the Lakers lose up here. It's now a tradition. The only difference Thursday was the Lakers actually leading at halftime before being buried by the Portland Trail Blazers, 107-96, at the Rose Garden. They are five-time NBA champions since Kobe Bryant started his career but are 6-24 in Portland in the regular season since 1996. Equally appalling to Lakers followers: their team's 2-10 record here since drafting Andrew Bynum in 2005.