Movie actors are a unique bunch of characters in Hollywood. Adept at script memorization, method acting, and being snobby little princesses (the males included), they are somewhat limited in their performance venues. They can switch pretty easily and thrive in theater productions because most of them began their acting lives on the stage in front of adoring audiences. Decades ago they could also do radio pretty easily; most likely because they could read right from the script and no one listening would know any different.

Television? Well, that's a whole different loaf a bread! For some reason, big-named movie stars with their Oscars and Golden Globes just tank when they decide to jump to the small screen. Their failures could be due to the show they've decided to star in, who they play on the show, or the fact that they are catering to a different audience than film-goers. Whatever the reason, some of Hollywood's most famous film stars had some famously big television flops. Here are but a few of them to digest.

"It's funny how the mind works."
-- Monk to Dr. Bell

(S07E05) You kind of knew when you put together the words Monk and submarine you were going to get an unusual episode, didn't you? As a longtime Monk watcher, you know that enclosed places are not Adrian-friendly environs, so when an old friend of Natalie's -- hottie Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers) as her late husband Mitch's buddy, Lt. Steve Albright -- asked Monk to investigate a suspicious death on the U.S.S. Seattle, trouble would ensue. Was it a contrived situation to get Monk trapped on board? You bet, but you accept that and move on.

What made this episode unique was how Monk reacted. Initially, he ran for the hatch like a crazed three-year-old. But then Adrian concocted a coping mechanism. This was a Monk first. To deal with claustrophia, he envisioned Dr. Bell by his side.

This is my favorite movie of all-time. It's really a perfect film, not just in the quality but in the way it's the ultimate slice of Americana.

You know the story by now. George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) longs to get out of his small hometown of Bedford Falls and see the world. He's been striving for it since he was a kid. But through a series of events, he's forced to stay in Bedford Falls, and when a financial mistake puts him on the brink of going to jail, he decides to end his life. But an angel steps in to show him what life would be like if he had never been born.

June Allyson was best known as a movie actress, having roles in such films as The Glenn Miller Story, Little Women, Stratetic Air Command, and The Stratton Story, but she also had a long and varied TV career as well, from being host of her own show, The Dupont Show with June Allyson to guest spots on Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, Hart to Hart, The Incredible Hulk, Burke's Law, The Name of the Game, Vegas, and The Dick Powell Show. She was married to Powell until his death in 1963. She had been married to dentist David Ashrow for the past 30 years, and he was by her side when she died. She had two children.

Allyson died yesterday of pulmonary respiratory failure and other problems in Los Angeles.