Devon Gummersall

You know, I make the joke every single time the show comes up that people did Very Special Episodes of Blossom, because the morning DJs on the radio station I listened to at the time made that joke every single time. Usually I don’t bother looking up what the episode was about, because, come on, it was Blossom. I don’t actually care. However, for whatever reason, I did for Devon Gummersall and I can report to you that he was on an episode wherein Blossom discovered a classmate had a gun in their locker—a plot that was handled much differently than on My So-Called Life, I’m sure—which is a Very Special Episode if I’m any judge.

I am personally offended on his behalf that Gummersall doesn’t have a Wikipedia page. He’s not the only one; we have two more people to get to next month who don’t. And I mean, I’m not going to do it, because editing Wikipedia is not a hobby I need right now, but someone should. Maybe someone with a little more biographical information than I have, because frankly I’m working on the limited information available on his IMDb page. I can tell you he’s from Durango, Colorado, and grew up in LA. I can tell you his father is a painter whose work doesn’t do much for me. I can tell you his brother has had a minor career mostly behind the camera. And that’s it.

As Brian Krakow, Gummersall had to walk a pretty fine line. Now, I’m not going to tell you that we always like Brian. We don’t. He makes some pretty serious mistakes, though Gods know not the worst mistakes on the show, and he’s not fair to Delia. But also he’s taken for granted by Angela and manages to stay on the right side of the line between being around and stalking, helped by the fact that he’s allowed to be outside of his house on the same block as Angela’s. He’s also got a lot of pressure on him that he shouldn’t. That the adults just assume he can handle.

In the years since then, he has kept acting, including—of course—an ABC Afterschool Special, starring Jane Kaczmarek and Will Friedle. Most recently, he’s done two episodes of The Pitt, but also he’s done Mad Men, Criminal Minds, two different shows in the CSI franchise, and so forth. He’s done a few movies. Some I’ve even heard of. Independence Day, anyone? Minor acting, sure; no major characters that I recognize. But is his career any less noteworthy than a lot of other people we’ve covered with Wikipedia pages?

He’s also done writing and directing and come on. Sometimes, I’m not surprised it’s hard to find more about people. This is not one of those times. I grant you that people who hear me say his name pretty much always need more information. And if they didn’t watch the show, I can’t help them figure out who he is. That’s okay; that’s true of a lot of people, and honestly more of them could stand to just get around to My So-Called Life anyway.