March’s Best and Worst

At the end of each month of viewing I look back on the shows and pick out 3 of the most enjoyable shows and 3 of the most disappointing that I watched.

At the end of the year the best and worst lists will be consolidated to determine the best and worst sitcoms I encountered over the past 12 months.

 

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MARCH’S BEST

1. Benson (Day 72 – 3/13)

The chemistry of the cast elevates this show to great heights!

2. Crumbs (Day 78 – 3/19)

Extremely talented cast, storyline ahead of its time.

3. Brady Brides (Day 75 – 3/16)

I may be a bit biased as a Brady Bunch fan, but this show had some genuinely funny moments  

MARCH’S WORST (with my apologies to the creators)

1. Delta (Day 68 – 3/9)

Poorly constructed vehicle to stroke Delta Burke’s ego.

2. Beulah (Day 80 – 3/21)

A relic of the 1950’s that is better left buried.

3. Butterflies (Day 76 – 3/17)

A rather depressing tale of a housewife during a midlife crisis 

MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE (exceeded my expectations)

8 Simple Rules (Day 74 – 3/15)

Bittersweet watching this, with John Ritter it would have continued to get better and better.

 

MOST DISAPPOINTING (not what I remember the show being)

The Office (Day 61 – 3/2)

Watching the later seasons just reminded me of how funny the first few seasons were <sigh>

 

 

DAY 90: Hello Larry

Series Run : 1979-1980

38 episodes

Network: NBC

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Single Dad, Larry, has a talk show in Portland and tries to raise 2 teenage daughters.

Episode Watched: The New Kid (Season 1)

Episode Summary:  Ruthie is getting ostracized at school because of her dad’s “smutty” talk show. Larry vows to change the perception of her classmates.

My Thoughts: This is the show that McLean Stevenson left MASH for! In fact, so convinced that this show could ride his popularity, NBC kept this on for much longer than they should have, even tried to backdoor the premise that it was actually a spinoff of Diffrent Strokes. All attempts by NBC failed and the show has gone down in history as one of the worst ever. 90 Days in I can safely say I have seen a lot worse than what this show is, but I think the expectations, coupled with Stevenson’s dramatic exit from an all time classic, lifts this shows failure to legendary status. Frasier found much success with a similar premise sans the kids in later years, but poor Colonel Blake just couldn’t find an audience. This entry involves a poorly executed plot around Ruthie’s classmates moms feeling Larry’s radio show was explicit, sexual and graphic. Unfortunately, they never actually show you anything on his show that meets that standard, but keep showing the kids disgusted reactions. For all of you Real housewives fans, this show also starred a young Kim Richards, so if you want to see her before her housewife “fame”, this is the show for you! As for the rest of you, I recommend watching it purely for the historical pop culture footnote that this show became.

 Memorable Quotes:

“I’m gonna need Grecian formula before dinner!”-Larry

“I always like to impress an attractive young lady”- Larry

“Larry, promise you won’t tell the guys at the union you saw me crying” – Earl

Acting Notables:

McLean Stevenson- Larry

Joanna Gleason- Morgan

Kim Richards- Ruthie

Tomorrow: A show about chimpanzees

DAY 89: Ed, Edd, N Eddy

Series Run : 1999-2009

69 episodes

Network: Cartoon

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Friends/Brothers all with a derivative of the name Ed wreak havoc on the world

Episode Watched: Don’t Rain on my Ed/Once Bitten Twice Ed (Season 3)

Episode Summary:  A race for free jawbreakers, and a mind control scam gone awry.

My Thoughts: Not sure how this was classified as a sitcom until I did some research. This was considered an “adult” cartoon that ran at night in the early years of cartoon network. It isn’t very adult, especially compared to the adult cartoons we see today, but it was a change from the more traditional kid cartoons I was used to watching. I guess its built for the adhd crowd, as this show moves at a break neck speed, throwing things at you in hopes that something resonates or makes you laugh. The animation isn’t anything that makes you say wow, and the 3 main characters, while each different, are not the most endearing personalities in the world. One ed is dumb, one ed is obsessed with scams and making money and the 3rd is the annoying smart guy. Put them together and you get all sorts of hijinks. The funniest concept in the show is a friend who walks around with a board that he calls ‘Plank’, and considers him his best friend. This is on the fringe of the definition of sitcom, and as a cartoon its a hot mess.

Memorable Quotes:

“Curse promotional giveaways”-Edd

“That was triple A, Double D, a five-star scam!”- Eddy

Acting Notables:

None

Tomorrow: A Case Study in Bad Decisions by an actor

DAY 88: Bad News Bears

Series Run : 1979-1980

26 episodes

Network: CBS

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Continuing adventures of a Little League baseball team and their coach

Episode Watched: The Birds, The Bees, and the Bears (Season 2)

Episode Summary:  Amanda & Rudy pretend to like each other in order to make their crushes jealous. Leading Buttermaker to have “the talk” with Amanda.

My Thoughts: I suppose if you liked the movie you would like this show. They did a good job capturing the movie, as it’s a troupe led by a grizzled veteran actor (Jack Warden), surrounded by a bunch of kids whose acting ability is less than stellar. The result is a mostly painful exercise in watching prepubescent kids tackle adult situations. This episode even featured a musical number by an aspiring pop star, who was never heard from again. I’ve never real understood the appeal of this movie, or this show, and its extremely dated in its look and references. I will say that Jack Warden is really giving it his all in his role as Buttermaker, a slightly less cynical version of the character Matthau gave us in the films. Perhaps the only real note to take from this show, is that it shows us Corey Feldman in one of his earliest roles, and the kid who goes on to star in Voyagers (Meeno Peluce) has a prominent role. Other than that, unless you were a huge fan of the film, this one can be skipped.

Memorable Quotes:

“I suggest we work a little harder, I don’t think the Beatles will reunite for 12 dollars.”-Richie

“What’s the point? Life is just one big dirty plate.”- Rudy

“You can trust a clam, but stay away from an eagle!” – Buttermaker

Acting Notables:

Jack Warden- Buttermaker

Tricia Cast- Amanda

Corey Feldman- Regi

Meeno Peluce- Tanner

Tomorrow: Extremely odd cartoon

DAY 87: Dharma & Greg

Series Run : 1997- 2002

119 episodes

Network: ABC

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Free spirit, Dharma, marries tight-laced, Greg

Episode Watched: Fairway to Heaven (Season 3)

Episode Summary:  Greg decides his passion lies in golfing, so decides to become professional and move to Scotland., much to Dharma’s dismay.

My Thoughts: If you are a Jenna Elfman fan, then this is the show for you. There are certain times watching this where there was clearly nothing written, just a direction, like “Dharma cooks Scottish food and talks Scottish with her friend”. What that gives us is a 4 minute scene of bad accents, Irish dancing, and a laundry list of Scottish foods. But hey, its Jenna Elfman, she can make that stuff funny! I don’t have anything against Jenna, just didn’t seem like she wasnt ready to carry an entire show, however, since this lasted for 5 seasons and over 100 episodes, one could say I have no idea what I am talking about. The show is harmless enough, if not unoriginal, as the humor derives from the clash of philosophies between both Greg and Dharma’s families and lifestyles. rather repetitive week after week, but the actors have enough charisma, and the parents are well performed. A pretty bland show, but if you love Jenna Elfman its a masterpiece!

Memorable Quotes:

“And you’re comfortable bringing the home the bacon, or whatever you people eat.”-Edward

“Are you supposed to stand by your partner when they’ve lost all touch with reality?”-Dharma

“You can say ‘fudge’ if it makes you feel better.” – Tiffany

Acting Notables:

Jenna Elfman- Dharma

Thomas Gibson- Greg

Tomorrow: Capitalizing on little league baseball movies

DAY 86: Crash and Bernstein

Series Run : 2012-2014

39 episodes

Network: Disney XD

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Muppet comes to life and proceeds to cause trouble with his 12-year-old owner

Episode Watched: Crash Lands (Season 1)

Episode Summary:  Wyatt is taken to a build a doll store for his birthday, creates a doll that comes to life to his specifications and moves in with the family.

My Thoughts: This show is about a kid who lives with his mom and 3 sisters, so desperate for another male, he builds a doll, that somehow comes to life. Now when this doll comes to life the mom and sisters do not freak out, or question what just happened, rather they immediately just start treating him like another member of the family. Now if you are still with me after that stellar premise, let me say that this show is 100% targeted to 12-year-old boys and their level of humor. As an adult it was boorish, raunchy and chaotic. I am sure my 12-year-old self is beating me up right now, as I am sure that version of myself would have at least found this show as an acceptable view after school. Between the zealous amount of overacting and the unlikable characterization that they gave the puppet, I am shocked this lasted even 2 seasons, but when being broadcast on the Disney XD channel, I guess not too many people watch to be offended.

 Memorable Quotes:

“It’s like you read my mind and picked the exact opposite”-Wyatt

“Ok girls, take him to the garbage chute, make it look like an accident”- Mom

“I’m gonna destroy this place, like it destroyed my manhood” – Cashier

Acting Notables:

Cole Jensen- Wyatt

Tim Lagasse- Voice of Crash

Tomorrow: ABC Vehicle for Jenna Elfman

DAY 85: Aliens in America

Series Run : 2007-2008

18 episodes

Network: CW

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Exchange student from Pakistan comes to live with a typical midwestern family

Episode Watched: The Metamorphosis (Season 1)

Episode Summary:  Justin’s crush since 1st grade shows an interest in Raj, who gets her to join their science assignment. Her friendliness is misinterpreted by Justin, leading to chaos.

My Thoughts: At first glance I thought I would be watching some kind of Mork and Mindy type show with aliens from outer space coming down to understand the ways of America. Instead, this show is best described as Ferris Bueller hosts an exchange student. But in this case Ferris is an awkward dork of a student whose sister is immensely more popular than him. This also came out at a time around Slumdog Millionaire, where Indian/Pakistani teenagers were hot in hollywood. What results is a show that is a somewhat raunchy take on high school life, with some mature storylines dealing with an immigrant, and ridiculous stereotypes of the parents. With such a scatterbrain approach, the show is very uneven. I genuinely laughed at some of it, was grossed out by some of the dialogue, and uncomfortable at its attempts at heartwarming. In other words, a typical CW show in its infancy.

Memorable Quotes:

“Anita torture-flirted with a lot of guys in school, but I was the only one that kept falling for it”-Justin

“She was so pretty, even in her new boring clothes.”- Justin

“You’re the biggest mistake she ever made, that lasts forever.” – Claire

Acting Notables:

Dan Byrd- Justin

Adhir Kalyan- Raj

Amy Pietz- Franny (Mom)

Tomorrow: Muppet based show for 12 year old boys

DAY 84: Family Matters

Series Run : 1989-1998

215 episodes

Network: ABC/CBS

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Black working class family has adventures, then Stephen Urkel takes over

Episode Watched: Steveil (Season 8)

Episode Summary:  Urkel creates a ventriloguist dummy that looks just like him. The dummy comes to life and decides the Winslows need to be killed.

My Thoughts: Like how Happy Days began as a series about a family in the midwest, only to be usurped by the popular loner character, Fonzie, so we have Family Matters. A show that began about a police officer and his family, that soon became dominated by the daughter’s nerdy classmate Stephen Urkel. The show lasted a very long time, even moving from ABC to CBS for its final 2 seasons but its audience was mainly determined by those who really liked Urkel. Apparently there were enough people who liked him, as not only did the series thrive, but the character is extremely well-known in pop culture circles. The dude that played him has gone on to do nothing else of note, (aside from a cool trip on Dancing with the Stars), but he has embraced his time as Urkel, and doesn’t shy away from it. As for the episode I stumbled upon, it is rather dark and creepy for a family show. The bringing to life of a ventriloquist dummy is straight out of horror nightmares, and this one, his voice and how he moves is extremely creepy. Then you throw in he is a psychopathic murderer, who proceeds to kill each of the family members one by one, in rather gruesome manners. While played for laughs, it was rather disturbing. Eventually you discover it’s all a dream in Urkel’s head, but the character of Steveil proved so popular they brought him back the next season for a sequel episode with a dummy that looked like Carl, also bent on murder. Clearly a show that appealed to a younger crowd, but one that lasted a long time, and has a special place in the hearts of the kids that grew up watching it.

Memorable Quotes:

“It’s official. I’m insane.”-Urkel

“He’s satan’s sock puppet!”- Urkel

“For the love of fried pickles, why are you doing this?”– Urkel

Acting Notables:

Reginald Veljohnson- Carl

Jaleel White- Urkel

Kellie Shanygne Williams- Laura

Tomorrow: The CW attempts to jump on the Slumdog Millionaire bandwagon

DAY 83: Herman’s Head

Series Run : 1991-1994

72 episodes

Network: FOX

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

We see the inner workings of Herman’s brain while he navigates his life

Episode Watched: Stop Me Before I Help Again (Season 2)

Episode Summary:  Herman saves a co workers life, only to be sued by her, meanwhile he tries to convince his friend Jay that he is a sex addict.

My Thoughts: Gotta love the early sitcoms of Fox. Here was a fledging network that seemed to take the shows that the big networks were too afraid to broadcast, or just thought they were too weird. Thus we were subject to Herman’s Head, a favorite of mine when it was on. Here we have the personification of certain feelings in the brain, embodied by characters on-screen. Theses “characters” show up on-screen when Herman is making some kind of decision or reaction to something happening in his life, what occurs is a battle between the characters to see which “feeling” wins out and controls Herman’s decision. It was a new way to show the thoughts running through a characters head and it was done pretty well. As for the rest of the show, it is rather a run of the mill story about a twenty something guy trying to succeed in life and his job, but the characters he works with are over the top crazy, and the show’s stories routinely revolved around sex and sexual conquests (quite new for the shows of the time). Alas, the ratings dwindled over time, and the novelty of the brain characters ran thin after a while. But for a while this was a funny show to watch, especially for high school aged kids, like I was. It will be interesting to see what Pixar does with the same premise in their new movie “Inside Out”, and I would be curious if the creators of this show get any kind of credit or kickback for the premise.

Memorable Quotes:

“I’m not a sex addict, I’m a guy…..See the difference?”-Jay

“Tis better to be known as a deviant, than to be with deviants at all”- Lust

“You just have to face it Herman, you’re a good guy” – Mr. Brackett

Acting Notables:

William Ragsdale- Herman

Hank Azira- Jay

Tomorrow: Urkel

DAY 82: The Likely Lads

Series Run : 1964-1968

20 episodes

Network: BBC

Series Premise (as far as I can tell):

Two Twenty-Somethings and their Adventures in Britain

Episode Watched: The Rocker (Season 3)

Episode Summary:  Bob buys a new moped, gets teased merciless by Lyle, and then Lyle ends up in the hospital in a moped accident.

My Thoughts: Broadcast during the same timeframe, this would appear to be a BBC attempt to recreate their success with Steptoe & Son (Day 12). In other words, this was a show dominated by two male characters, each of whom was a little quirky, and spend much of the episode launching into lengthy soliloquies. Unlike Steptoe, the two guys werent related, and they were significantly younger. The two of them don’t treat each other very well, and the dialogue is very rapidly paced, with the strong accents, makes it sometimes hard to follow. And while it’s not hysterically funny, the charisma of the two leads compels you to keep watching, a drastic improvement over the lack of charisma of the two Steptoe leads. The series only lasted 20 episodes, about average for a BBC series that lasted 3 seasons. There are elements here that could be seen as a genesis for what became Two and a half men here in the states. In any case, watch it for the charisma of the leads if you want, but other than that not much of a standout.

Memorable Quotes:

“Did that nurse put that on for ya? Pity it was just your hand”-Terry

“There goes Terry Collier, the well-known pedestrian”- Bob

“Most accidents are not accidents at all, they are caused by idiots running into dustbins” – Terry

Acting Notables:

Rodney Bewes- Bob

James Bolam- Terry

Tomorrow: The show Pixar emulates in their new movie