Retrospotting is Truly an Art

So, over the last few weeks I've been retrospotting up a storm

(for those of you relatively new, I created the term retrospotting, so give me credit. It means when you watch an old TV show or movie and recoginize someone who is now famous, but you wouldn't have recognized them then. For example, I saw an old Charles in Charge one day and there was Matthew Perry).

From Law & Order:

Grey's Anatomy's Ellen Pomeo (whom I'm not a really big fan of), in an absolutely chilling episode called "Fools for Love" where Ellen (or Meredith, as most of you call her) procures women for her boyfriend to rape/kill, including her own sister.

The Whole Nine Yards and Studio 60's Amanda Peet (another actress I usually cannot stand) doing a pretty good job in a controversial episode: "Hot Pursuit."


From NYPD Blue:

The Scrubs Janitor Neil Flynn, in a very powerful role, about a man wrongly accused of rape, what might happen to that man: "Low Blow."


This last one is a little unorthodox, but I think still fits as retrospotting:

I have been watching old Spin City episodes lately, and I think I can spot Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's possibly even before he was diagnosed. (Okay, that's not right, as he was diagnosed in 1991, but he didn't tell anyone until 1998, so I think it still counts.)

If you watch Michael closely, you will see him swing a lot. It's not a big motion, more of a rhythm, but he definitely swings sometimes as he talks.

Now, going back and understanding that Michael has Parkinson's, it seems clear to me that he was trying to hide his shakes back then, and developed the head bobs as part of his personality.

Pretty neat, huh?