OPEN LETTER TO JOE LANDO ON HIS SIXTIETH BIRTHDAY

Dear Joe,

Happy Sixtieth Birthday, Joe Lando! Sixty! It cannot be. Our sweet Sully has now lived a full decade past the half-century mark. The mind reels, the heart thumps. Joe, your fans love you, even after all these years. You are still one handsome devil. That old silver screen needs to see more of the old silver fox, you, the actor who played so brilliantly one of the iconic characters of a generation, Byron Sully, on one of the most iconic shows of a generation, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

But Joe, these days your fans just don’t see you enough — not on the screen and not on social media. Many wonder why. Here it is your big birthday and the only way your fans know that you are turning 60 is in part because of a “Sully sighting.” That’s what your fans call the infrequent surfacing of you, the reclusive Joe Lando. You know those rare occasions when reluctant Joe makes an appearance, as you did at Paramount Ranch for a recent fundraiser with your Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman co-star, Jane Seymour. You do, as Sully did, come and go in mysterious ways, don’t you?

And then again there you were on Jane Seymour’s social media sites with pictures of you and Jane and two of the Dr. Quinn fan favorites, William Shockley and Jason Leland Adams. Hearts across the world pounded! People magazine ran with the photos with mention of your big birthday and the mini-Dr. Quinn reunion, which quickly was picked up by your social media fan pages. Thank goodness for the devoted administrators and fans of your many fan pages. Of course, you appreciate them.

We need more of you, Joe, and more from you. So let us use the occasion of your 60^th birthday to have a serious talk with you. I hope you don’t mind my asking you a few questions. Of course, Joe, all your fans are always grateful for the Sully sightings. But why are they so infrequent? What’s the deal, Joe? You are still making movies and appearing in TV shows. But you have no presence on social media sites, no interaction with your fans. No sharing of when you land(o) a new role. Are you in the witness protection program, Joe? Is that why the glasses and the beard, Joe? Are you back to hiding in a cave, Joe?

Just in case you don’t realize it, and I share this with love: Joe, your fans miss you! They want to see more of you. They want to hear more from you. They’ve stuck with you through thick and thin. Did you mean to desert them, Joe? Surely, not.

Please check out the Joe Lando fan pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where your loyal fans continue to honor you and your career. All these years later Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman remains a fan favorite and is aired in nearly a hundred countries around the world. It’s a testament to your talent that you remain in your fan’s hearts and minds 23 years since CBS unceremoniously canceled the series. It’s amazing to think that for some you were their first heartthrob, and for many, might be their last. But now, you, who gave the world Sully, Joe taketh away. Give us more, Joe. Please!

Without you sharing just a little bit more of yourself, you leave your fans with their runaway imaginations and lots and lots of questions. Here are a few questions your fans would like answered: Do you miss Sully or does he continue to live inside you? Maybe you came to resent your association with him. Did you come to despise him? As an actor do you wish you had been born not quite so handsome? Reaching the milestone, 60, as Sinatra asked in song, do you have regrets, if just a few? And how about this: Does all the adoration thrown your way cause you discomfort? Is that the reason for your virtual retreat from public life, the reason you no longer post to your Twitter feed or maintain your website?

It’s almost as if you broke up with your fans. Was it something they said? Perhaps you do not know that many of your fans feel that you have abandoned them. They don’t say it out loud. But they do behind the scenes. They want to understand why. Your fans really do love you and miss you.

OK, Joe. Back to the real point of this letter. On this your 60^th birthday, thanks Joe, for all the memories. Happy Birthday and wishing you many, many more, and only good things in your future. Sixty is a terrific age. After all, 60 is the new forty.

But on that matter of the breakup. It’s time to makeup. Joe. Joe, Joe, comeback Joe! Comeback!!!!!!

With only good wishes, Halli.

P.S. I’m open to an interview. You? You can find me at https://www.hallicasser-jayne.com

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For more on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman listen to my interviews with Diane Ladd and Michele Lee. You can find them here >>