Call it a case of bad things happening to a good actor. Again and again.
Animal Practice
Mad Love
Sons of Tucson
Reaper
Invasion
That Was Then
He did develop somewhat of a fan base with Reaper, which actually ran two seasons, but try and remember what any of those other shows was about. His poor luck seems to extend to the box office as well. Labine had a sizable role in the hit Rise of the Planet of the Apes — the sequel for which is in production now — but was killed off. It was his illness, in fact, that is implied to have spread worldwide and wiped out the human race, a fair metaphor for his effect on series.
This is all too bad, because Labine is actually a lot of fun to watch. The natural tendency is to lump him in with the ever-growing crowd of Jack Black impersonators, but he’s shown that he’s capable of more than that. Check out his work in the inventive horror comedy Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. Also, I would love to get my hands on 2005’s Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork and Mindy, wherein he played … John Belushi. Hopefully he’ll eventually find a good fit, but it’ll probably take something other than wild facial hair and mainlining a case of Red Bull.
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