Ah, Growing Pains. Funny story. The other night was garbage night and I had to go down to the basement to change the cat litter. As you can imagine, since we have six cats, there's a lot of litter, so it takes a little time and I need to amuse myself while I'm down there so I'll normally put a podcast on or something, but this time my battery on my phone was low so I just kind of sang random songs. Nobody would really hear me anyway, right? So I'm done, and I sit down and my wife says, "why were you singing the theme to Growing Pains?" Turns out, she was in the bathroom and it's right above that part of the basement so she could hear me through the vent, lol.

Not sure what the analog TV is like up north, but a few years ago I got a digital antenna when CBS was off Directv for a week so I could still watch football, and there's a couple retro comedy channels in the Buffalo area that plays all kinds of stuff from the 70s to the 90s like Growing Pains, Family Ties, Drew Carey Show, Night Court, Alice, Wings, Who's the Boss, etc. Even this show, which was one I really liked as a kid...




Gimme a Break! told the story of Nell Harper who agrees to look after her dying friend's family by kind of becoming their housekeeper. Looking back, it's kind of funny to think you had two shows at the time, Diff'rent Strokes where a white man adopts two black children, and he's a millionaire, but you have a black woman pseudo-adopt a white family by becoming basically their housekeeper. Imagine how people would react to these shows in our ridiculously politically charged era.

Watching episodes now, it's kind of sad to watch Dolph Sweet, who played the father Chief Carl Kanisky, slowly die from stomach cancer before our eyes, growing thinner and gaunter as seasons progressed until he died on May 8th, 1985.

Sweet's passing was addressed the following year's debut poignant episode "Joey's Train" when the Chief's middle daughter, Julie who had married Jonathan Silverman (of Weekend at Bernie's fame) needed more space than her childhood bedroom they'd been staying in, wanted to move into the master bedroom, but Nell was against the idea as everyone still hadn't come to terms with the Chief's passing and she forbade anyone from going in the room. The situation is furtherly made worrisome when Officer Simpson brings a wrapped gift from the police station that the Chief had been saving for Joey's birthday. Later that night, Nell hears Joey in the room and finds him playing with an electric train set the Chief had wrapped for him, and by entering the room, Nell learns to come to terms with the Chief's death, and eventually concedes to the newlyweds taking over the room. It's a pretty emotional episode IMO.



Fortunately, the show had earlier added child actors Joey, whom the Chief had busted for scamming donations but later agrees to let the homeless boy live with them, and later still Nell takes in Joey's younger borther played by his real life bro, Matthew Lawrence, and the show slowly shifted to stories about them and Nell as Carl's teenage girls grew older and got their own lives. I always thought the show was funny for the time, with pretty good supporting characters like the always funny Grandpa Kanisky played by John Hoyt, and Officer Simpsons played by Howard Morton. Not shy to address societal issues of the time like drugs or teenage pregnancy, there's even an episode where the youngest Kanisky, Samantha, calls Nell the n-word in anger, and the meaning and hurtfulness of the word is addressed. There's another episode where Samantha tricks Joey in to performing in blackface at Nell's church to get revenge on Nell, so the show while often funny, addressed many serious issues. Of course, "very special episodes" were the rage of shows of that time (see Nancy Reagan on Diff'rent Strokes). Geez, looking back, Samantha was kind of a rotten child.

In later seasons, they moved to New York where Nell adopted Joey and Matthew from their absentee father who had moved the children there previously. These seasons saw the additions to the cast of a a landlord played Paul Sand and a neighbor played by a young Rosie O'Donnell.

There were also a lot of musical guest stars throughout because of the character of Nell Harper and Nell real-life background in singing, so stars of the era such as Andy Gibb, Buffalo's own Ray Parker Jr., Whitney Houston, and the Pointer Sisters appeared. And any show that gets Sammy Davis Jr. to sing is alright in my book.








Joey Lawrence would of course go to be a teenage heartthrob on Blossom , while his younger brother Matthew Lawrence would later get a reoccurring role on Boy Meets World.







Hey, look at this, I said this wasn't going to be like the Toon thread where I spent a lot of time writing up long descriptions on shows and instead just play the themes, but here we are. I guess I can't help myself, lol, it's like revisiting with old friends. I gotta find a life.

Can't say I've ever had that luxury, your a luck man PB. Didn't know those sitcoms.

Ok, after yesterday's essay on Gimme a Break! I'm going to keep this one short. I liked Cheers, even if it was something my sister watched more than me. So, when Frasier Crane moved to Seattle I watched the first couple seasons, but it wasn't a show I kept up with throughout its run. But damn if it didn't have a singable song.

Frasier was another one of those shows like Kate & Allie, where the theme wasn't fully played until the end of the show. Though I'm not sure if we ever learned what to do with those tossed salads and scrambled eggs.



They're calling again.

Kind of weird hearing Sideshow Bob singing, but he does have a lovely voice.



And thanks to Cheers, besides 867-5309, there's one other phone number I'll always remember.

Yeah, it's good PB. Cheers and Fraiser was ok, they had good moments. Not familar enough with Growing Pain and them. Good stuff PB

I suppose since it's Valentine's Day I should pick the sitcom with the sappiest theme I can think of so here goes...



The theme was a cover song performed by Dennis Tufano and Mindy Sterling but after 10 episodes the producers what with the original big-name version performed by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams. The show was about two aging hippies and their children who were growing up in the much more materialistic 1980s. Originally, the show was built more around the parents but people soon realized nobody wanted to watch a sitcom about aged-out counterculture feminist parents no matter how often the show tried to make Alex Keaton's right leanings into Reaganomics look like a bad thing.

It's sad to think that now those same free love hippies are many of the people in charge today and suddenly in love with authoritarianism and censorship if it serves their own selfish need to stay in power. Never thought the flower children would go straight nWo on the world.

"The guy who wrote 'keep on rockin' in the free world' is here!"--Tony Schiavone
"But whose side is he on?"--Bobby Heenan



A Southern man don't need him around, anyhow.

Anywho, I'll always remember the Billy Vera and the Beaters "At This Moment" more than anything from Family Ties. "At This Moment" was a song from 1981 that found it's way in to several episodes around Alex and his love interest, Ellen, played by Tracy Pollan their courtship, and eventually their breakup. Even at only 7, these scenes were powerfully moving despite girls clearly having cooties.





Here's the whole song with a montage of scenes.



This was long before Al Gore invented the internet so NBC was bombarded with calls and letters asking for the name and singer of the song. The tune then began a revived chart run, eventually hitting #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts in January 1987. The song also hit the Billboard R&B Chart and the Billboard Hot Country Chart. "At This Moment" quickly sold over a million copies in the United States.

But alas, Alex would get his heart broken. At least on the show, as Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan have been married ever since. It wasn't until a whole season after Ellen's departure that Alex met a new love interest in Lauren Miller, played by "Dancing in the Dark" video star, Courtney Cox.



But she wasn't the only young actor that would go on in to fame:

Wil Wheaton


Here's future Married with Children co-stars Christina Applegate and David Faustino in separate episodes:




I love seeing kid guest stars in old shows just to see if any of them ever made it big. Other appearances by child actors included River Phoenix, Corey Feldman (but not Corey Haim), Jeff Cohen (of Goonies Truffle Shuffle fame), Crispin Glover just before punching out Bif as Michael J. Fox's dad in Back to the Future, and Martha Plimpton who was also in Goonies years before Raising Hope.

Here's someone who may look familiar as Uncle Ned. Uncle Ned debuted in season 1 as he was on the run after having stolen $4.5 million dollars from his company because of actions he deemed "unethical". Later, he'd return here in season 2 as a raging alcoholic.



Sadly, no one would remember much about the actor who portrayed Uncle Ned after this, and he would remain being best known for having dressed in drag with Peter Scolari.



Sha la la la

Like many greats, Jackie Gleason got his start in comedy clubs at the age of 18 where he was discovered by Jack Warner and given a film contract for $250 per week. Eventually, Gleason found his way to television where he was one of the cycled hosts of DuMont's Cavalcade of Stars. However, Gleason proved to be so popular that the show was renamed The Jackie Gleason Show where he developed such characters as Reginald Von Gleason III, Rudy the Repairman, Rum Dum, The Poor Soul, and Fenwick Babbitt. But one character from the show, a blustery loud-mouthed bus driver from New York, became so popular, that a half hour sitcom was launched starring him, his wife, and their two neighbors, and thus, The Honeymooners were born...



I didn't watch The Honeymooners when I was a kid. I remember coming across it occassionally on WPIX out of New York, but if it was black and white, I kept it out of sight, lol. It was the 80s. TVs were in color. I needed vibrancy, not these tinny old monochrome shows from way back in the ancient times of the 1950's. I Love Lucy? More like I love Roy G Biv.

Many years later, I was a teenager Christmas shopping with my dad at the mall and we stopped at a video store (you know, those places that used to sell movies--they existed, ask your parents) and my dad said he didn't really know what to get me so pick some things out. So, I walked around a bit and wound up with three box sets--season 1 and 2 of ALF, The Flash: The Complete 90s TV show, and The Complete Honeymooners. By that time, I was drawn to older stuff, having gotten in to Frank Sinatra and Humphry Bogart movies, so this seemed like a natural progression. And let me tell you, I wasn't disappointed.



The Honeymooners stars Gleason as Ralph Kramden, the blubbery loud-mouthed always looking for the get rich quick scheme archetype from which all the Fred Flintstones and Homer Simpsons would spring forth from. Alongside Gleason, was Audrey Meadows as his sharp-tongued wife Alice, and their neighbors, the Nortons, played by legendary actor Art Carney and Joyce Randolph.

But it was certainly a different time as Ralph would often "threaten" Alice with such phrases as "one of these days" or Pow! right in the kisser" for laughs, but Ralph would inevitably realize he was wrong and episodes would usually end with "baby, you're the greatest". At a thousand-foot view, many people today would probably denounce and shun such scenes without having ever watched the show. Such is their current, sad climate we live in. Honk honk.













The original Honeymooners ran for only 39 episodes, none as "The Classic 39", but the characters were revisited many times after on The Jackie Gleason show revival as well as elsewhere. Without The Hooneymooners there would be no The Flintstones whom Hanna-Barbera clearly based off the sitcom. Gleason once commented that he considered suing them but didn't want to be known as "the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air". Even the King of Queens owes much of it's character depiction to The Honeymooners. In fact, you couldn't throw a rock and not hit a comedy that has a loud-mouthed man and his quick-witted female foil.

Heck, we wouldn't even have these guys...



Of course, any show that throws out the mother-in-law can't be all bad.

Gosh, all of that is tremendous. I never watched Jackie Gleason or them others before. Ah man, Hogan's leg drop that killed classic wrestling and began the "real" start attitude era

Good stuff PB

Ah, Jackie Gleason was amazing. Apparently, he had a photographic memory, so he never rehearsed scenes with the rest of the cast and just went out there live. You don't even need to watch entire episodes. That golf clip still makes me laugh even though I've seen dozens of times. "Hello, ball!"

Speaking of things I've seen dozens of times, years before Frank Drebin made it to the big screen, there was this...



Leslie Nielsen is like bacon, anything he's put in automatically becomes better. And if that intro looks familiar, it's because the Naked Gun's full title was The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! and Police Squad! was the show that aired prior on ABC in 1982. Unfortunately, like myself, Police Squad! was ahead of its time and only lasted six episodes despite being nominated for Emmys for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy and Outstanding Writing in a Comedy. ABC president would later claim the show was cancelled because "viewers had to pay close attention to the show in order to get much of the humor". You'll have to remember that TVs back then were only 13-20 inches or so. How the hell did people live that way??????

TV Guide magazine called the explanation for the cancellation "the most stupid reason a network ever gave for ending a
series." Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, has said, "If Police Squad! had been made twenty years later, it would have been a smash. It was before its time. In 1982 your average viewer was unable to cope with its pace, its quick-fire jokes. But these days they'd have no problems keeping up, I think we've proved that."

If you've seen the films, you'll notice that a lot of the gags originally appeared on the TV series, and because of that, the show is definitely a must watch if you love The Naked Gun.

Police Squad


The Naked Gun


Some of the recurring gags of episodes were the announced guest star during the opening who then promptly died beiore the episode even began:



And the mocking of the traditional freeze frame ending of shows:



I honestly have no idea how this lasted only six episodes, but don't blame me, I was only 4 when it aired. In 2013 TV Guide ranked it as #7 on their list of shows that were cancelled too soon (#5 was Firefly!).



ABC's loss was moviegoers gain as Zucker, Abraham, and Zucker, along with Leslie Neilsen would bring Police Squad! to the big screen in 1988 and launch Neilsen into a string of comedies that, while none would really compare to the comedic brilliance of the first The Naked Gun, all still have their moments and the world is a funnier place for them just existing. Few people, alive or dead, could approach Neilsen's comedic deadpan of the silliest lines combined with his ability to emote.



If you've never seen Police Squad! you can get the complete series for $10. It's like getting six 30 minute Naked Gun mini-movies, and well worth the money. The year it was released it was nominated for Best DVD Release of a TV Show but lost to season 8 of The Simpsons, which in all fairness, is the best season of The Simpsons, so hard to argue with that. It's like putting out The Wizard of Oz the same year as Gone With the Wind.

I could watch this all day.



RIP Leslie Neilsen, gone but never forgotten.





It may be time to wear my Enrico Pallazzo shirt again, Funny Face.

Now we can watch Jackie Gleason while we Eat




I know a bit of Gleason, there was some other strange stuff about him too like him and Nixon among other stuff. You can look it up for yourself.

Oh back to the little bit you did of Sledge Hammer, I loved that, that was one show we'd never miss back then, it was so good!

Ah Police Squad, I loved that one two, yeah you be correct, only 6 episodes, I loved that one too. I loved the Naked Gun films too, they were the best of the silly ones like that.

Wow, I could probably count on one hand how many people I know that actually remember Sledge Hammer! I actually own the complete series on DVD. I also had the only two issues of the comic.