I've watched All in the Family occasionally, but not often. I recent years I got in to Barney Miller on the retro channel and enjoyed it. I remember when Firefly came on the air they made a big deal about Ron Glass and I had no idea who he was. His voice sounded familiar, but it'd been years and I didn't make the connection to Barney Miller until much later.
So since we're talking about it, how about we jam to it?
I hated this theme when I was a kid, not because it was bad, but because Night Court used to be on right after the five o'clock news on the local CBS channel, but occasionally (I'm sure there was a schedule that as I kid I didn't know) Barney Miller would come on instead, so those first couple of bass riffs always annoyed me.
It took a while for the show to catch on with audiences, but it actually had a great cast with Hal Linden playing Barney Miller, Max Gail as Wojo, Ron Glass a Harris, Abe Vigoda as Fish, Jack Soo (who passed away during the show) as Nick Yemana, and my two favorites, Steve Landesberg as Dietrich, and James Gregory as Inspector Luger.
The show ran on ABC for 8 seasons from 1975 to 1982 with a recurring cast of frequent people brought into the precinct for various infractions.
Linda Lavin debuted in season 2 and her character was popular enough to be brought back in a regular role. However, during the airing of the season, she was casted to star in Alice on CBS, another show I need to get to eventually as I still watch it some nights on Antenna TV (currently airing at 11 PM and much cheerier than the 11 o'clock news).
"Somewhere in a lonely hotel room, there's a guy starting to realize that eternal fate has turned its back on him. It's 2 AM."
More great stuff here, this topic gets better and better I loved Sanford and Son. It was actually one of the very few that I actually really got into and didn't want to miss. It had such a different classic feeling that immediately hit Me and was just fun. Only saw a bit of Barney Miller, it was just ok IMO.
The Past isn't a Wilderness of Horrors - We Grow Old Because We Stop Playing - DTA - If it's been done in a movie, then most likely it's already been done in Real Life - ALWAYS Watch the Skies - Question Everything, FTW! = Me + Various <-->
We all know the words, right? At least the beginning? Maybe? Just maybe think of me once in a while?
I can't say I watched much of WKRP. Shows from that era, like this and something like Too Close For Comfort had that very Christopher Cross Yacht Rock-y sound to their themes that were automatically a bit pf a put off to a kid in the 80s who wasn't having any of that old fogie music.
WKRP debuted the same year as me, in 1978, but I've had a much longer run as the show lasted only four seasons, but ran in reruns for many, many, many years after. The show star Gary Sandy new program director, Howard Hesseman (who I knew more from A Head of the Class) as Dr. Johnny Fever, Richard Sanders as Les Nesssman the roaming reporter, Tim Reid as Venus Fly Trap, and Gordon Jumo as Arthur Carlson, but to me he will always be the evil bicycle man from Diff'rent Strokes
And who knows, maybe he wasn't really acting?
The cast was rounded out with Bailey Quarters played by Jan Smithers (no relation to Waylon Smithers) and Jennifer Marlowe played by Lonnie Anderson, who I always knew more from dating Turd Ferguson.
While the opening theme was performed by Steve Carlisle, the show had a completely different ending theme with unintelligible lyrics provided by Jim Ellis. The theme may've been the inspiration for Kurt Cobain (I'm just guessing).
While WKRP was never a show I went out my way to watch, I do know things that are funny, and while I can't say the show was always funny, I can leave you with the infamous Turkey Drop of 1978...
Maybe you and me were never meant to be, WKRP, but maybe I'll think of you once in a while.
"Somewhere in a lonely hotel room, there's a guy starting to realize that eternal fate has turned its back on him. It's 2 AM."
Really didn't know those recent one you posted. I knew Mr. Ed however. I used to watch long ago when I was really, I mean really young but never got into it or anything like that. Oh now that Godzilla's a different story, loved that Megalon movie Great stuff again PB, you do it very well
By the way, you haven't got to the ones that i really liked that I didn't mention their names. I may post a little about them here this week, we'll see
Oh, you interact wth you sig...#LGB
The Past isn't a Wilderness of Horrors - We Grow Old Because We Stop Playing - DTA - If it's been done in a movie, then most likely it's already been done in Real Life - ALWAYS Watch the Skies - Question Everything, FTW! = Me + Various <-->
Hard to believe this debuted 38 years ago! The show starred Tony Danza as Tony Micelli, a widowed ex-MLB player who takes on a job as a live-in housekeeper for a rich divorcee woman and her young son in order to provide a better life for his young daughter outside of New York City (he should see the city now, yikes!). This show was a Tuesday night staple in our house as it had a little bit of something for everyone from adult romances and the will they won't they chemistry of Danza and co-star Judith Light, the raunchy Blanche DuBois like Mona played by Soap veteran Katherine Helmond, and cute kids for the children at home. They even role reversed the male and female positions for the feminists with the woman being the big bread winner of the household. I bet they still secretly dug shirtless Tony Danza.
Ah, Samantha Micelli. Who didn't have a crush on a young Alyssa Milano? Peter Quill certainly did, I remember even ordering a poster of her from the old Scholastic School Books catalog. Then she grew up and made Poison Ivy II and Embrace the Vampire for all of us going through puberty and beyond. It's a shame she turned in to one of the screeching harpies banging on the Supreme Court doors.
It just came back into rerun circulation on DirecTV, and while it's still a decent show, it's a bit surprising to me that it garnered over 40 award nominations during it's 8 season run. I mean, I think it's a fine show, I just never thought of it as an upper echelon of 80's comedies.
While Gimme a Break! had Sammy Davis Jr., Who's the Boss went a notch higher and got the Chairman of the Board himself to appear. Ring-a-ding-ding, baby.
A pre-Chandler Bing Matthew Perry also appeared in an episode as Samantha's college roommate. Other appearances included a young Paul Walker, Mike Tython, Ray Charles, Betty White, and a young Fran Drescher who appeared in multiple episodes and yet somehow inexplicably someone at CBS thought it a good idea to give that voice it's own weekly sitcom. And that's how she became The Nanny. Or maybe they saw her in UHF. Who wants to drink from the firehose?
In 1991 ABC decided to move the show from it's normal Tuesday night slot, along with Growing Pains and Perfect Strangers in an attempt to copy their TGIF success on Saturday nights, and pitted Tony and Angela against Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia. The I Love Saturday Night lineup didn't find the audience ABC sought, and Who's the Boss move back to Tuesdays in February of 1992 to wrap up it's run.
Finally, after 7 seasons, Tony and Angela finally stopped with the whole David and Maddie gimmick and acknowledged their feelings for each other, but the show failed to answer the one lingering question. Fortunately for all of us, Abed has our backs.
Yeah, I used that clip in the cartoon thread as well, but I don't care. I love Community and every second of those hilarious 3:41. If you've never seen Community you need to, but you need to start from episode one just to follow many of the running gags. I'd do a post on that show but it would probably end up being six pages long and break the website on poor Acid. #SixSeasonsandaMovie. Having Stephen Tobolowsky never hurt a show either.
For the longest time I thought he was the dude in Hey Dude, but looking back now the two, he and David Brisbin, don't really look that much alike. Though time and a cowboy hat can often skew a memory.
Yippee-ty-yi-yay (Yippee-ty-yi-what?)
Ah, Hans Gruber. Yes, there's a Community scene for that.
Wait, wasn't this about Who's the Boss? Yes, yes it was. And sadly, all good things most come to an end. And Who's the Boss, too!
The nights are long, but you might awake to a brand new show around the bend.
At least for five episodes before you get cancelled again. Womp womp.
But at least we'll always have that Elton John song. Hold me closer, Tony Daaaaaaaaaaaaaanza!
"Somewhere in a lonely hotel room, there's a guy starting to realize that eternal fate has turned its back on him. It's 2 AM."
I seldom watched that one. Danza was good however. Gosh, good stuff again PB, good stuff
The Past isn't a Wilderness of Horrors - We Grow Old Because We Stop Playing - DTA - If it's been done in a movie, then most likely it's already been done in Real Life - ALWAYS Watch the Skies - Question Everything, FTW! = Me + Various <-->
Such an infectious theme. I remember watching Amen, though I remember the theme more than anything. I always cracked up when Sherman Hemsley jumped rope. I knew he was from the Jeffersons, but it being a 70s show, as you probably guessed, it wasn't a show I watched much. Though it was hard to ignore Sherman in anything he appeared in, including Amen where he played the Deacon Ernest Frye. Here he is guest appearing on The Fresh Prince...
Amen ran for 5 seasons on Saturday nights on NBC surrounded by The Facts of Life, 227, The Golden Girls and eventually Empty Nest for most of it's run as far as I can remember. That was a good nights worth of comedy.
Sadly, we lost Sherman Hemsley way too soon in 2012 at the age 74. But you can still catch reruns of The Jeffersons and Amen on occasion on satellite and digital antenna channels. Jester Hairston, who played Rolly Forbes on the show usually had some of the best lines.
And yes, that was Nell's mother from Gimme a Break! if you have a keen eye. She was also Mother Winslow on Family Matters and Judge Woods in the underrated Brewster's Millions starring Richard Pryor. Rosetta LeNoire had one of those faces and voices you'd immediately recognize on screen.
"Somewhere in a lonely hotel room, there's a guy starting to realize that eternal fate has turned its back on him. It's 2 AM."
Gosh, another good one PB. I liked the Jeffersons but never got into Fresh Prince. Never knew Amen and the Empty Nest.
The Past isn't a Wilderness of Horrors - We Grow Old Because We Stop Playing - DTA - If it's been done in a movie, then most likely it's already been done in Real Life - ALWAYS Watch the Skies - Question Everything, FTW! = Me + Various <-->
Empty Nest was a spinoff of Golden Girls that aired primarily right after on Saturday nights. It was originally planned as a backdoor pilot having initially starred Rita Moreno and Paul Dooley in a 1987 Golden Girls episode consisting entirely of their neighbors lamenting that their grownup children were gone, thus suffering from...empty nest syndrome, hence the name. However, the episode was poorly received, and is jarringly awful if you watch the Golden Girls chronologically, so the premise was shelfed until 1991 when it was almost entirely revamped. The married couple was replaced by recently widowed Doctor Harry Weston played by Soap alum Richard Mulligan (bad golf puns, when I used to golf with my friends and made a bad shot I'd often claim to take a Richard Mulligan).
But the nest was no longer empty, has two of the doc's adult daughter both moved back into the house, his older daughter Carol (Dinah Manoff also a Soap alum), a neurotic recent divorcee, and his younger daught Barbera (Kristy McNiichol) an undercover police officer. The two daughters would often buttheads and vie for their father's attention. Along for the ride came their other neighbor, Charley Dietz, played by Joe Isuzu himself, David Leisure.
Leisure was also one of the Hare Krishnas in the greatest comedy not named The Naked Gun, Airplane! and it's not quite as god sequel.
Though many scenes were often stolen by the visiting Golden Girl Sophia Petrillo or Dreyfus the family dog.
While Empty Nest spun out of The Golden Girls, another sitcom spun out of Empty Nest when Nurses (not to be confused with the 1980 tv movie Nurse starring Mike Brady himself, Robert Reed, not to be confused with the unfunny mid-80s medical comedy starring George Clooney called E/R, not to be confused with the not so funny medical drama starring George Clooney called ER not to be...hell, that's all confusing.) But what Nurses had that both The Golden Girls and Empty Nest lacked, was an awful theme and a main cast of people I've never heard of.
One thing Nurses did have, two actually, during its run was the previously mentioned Florence Stanley as Dr. Riskin in early seasons, and the addition of Sledge Hammer himself, David Rasche as Jack Trenton in season 3. Despite many cameos throughout its run by both Golden Girls and Empty Nesters, the show was cancelled after three seasons.
Empty Nest would make it to 7 seasons though, with the cast rounded out by sassy southern nurse, Laverne Todd played by Park Overall, and Night Court alum, Marsha Warfield joined the cast as Dr. Maxine Douglas in later seasons.
If the voice from the theme sounds vaguely familiar it's because it was performed by Billy Vera of Billy Vera and the Beaters who we talked about in the Family Ties post. Sadly, life would indeed go on as the show was cancelled after 7 seasons due to dwindling ratings. It probably didn't help that their neighbors, The Golden Girls, left for CBS three seasons earlier, however, after The Golden Palace was cancelled, Estelle Getty would reprise her role on Empty Nest. It was explained that she had returned to the Shady Pines retirement home. The ratings were cut almost in half from early seasons to the seasons after The Golden Girls stopped airing, but that may just be a coincidence.
I wish Empty nest aired somewhere these days. I know it was on Laff on the digital antenna at some point, but by the time I got one they were no longer airing it. Rain or shine, I'd be the one, to watch it all as life goes on. I'd watch it all, as life goes on.
"Somewhere in a lonely hotel room, there's a guy starting to realize that eternal fate has turned its back on him. It's 2 AM."
I loved Sanford and Son. It was actually one of the very few that I actually really got into and didn't want to miss. It had such a different classic feeling that immediately hit Me and was just fun. Only saw a bit of Barney Miller, it was just ok IMO.
Great stuff again PB, you do it very well 
