100 Greatest TV Shows

[Hulk With A Mustache]

88. Family Ties



Genre: Sitcom
Created by: Gary David Goldberg.
Executive Producer(s): Gary David Goldberg, Lloyd Garver, and Michael Weinthorn.
Starring: Meredith Baxter-Birney (Elyse Keaton), Michael Gross (Steve Keaton), Michael J. Fox (Alex P. Keaton), Justine Bateman (Mallory Keaton), Tina Yothers (Jennifer Keaton), Brian Bonsall (Andrew Keaton, 1986-1989), Marc Price (Irwin "Skippy" Handelman), Scott Valentine
(Nick Moore, 1985-1989), Tracy Pollan (Ellen Reed, 1985-1986), Courteney Cox (Lauren Miller, 1987-1989).
Country of Origin: United States.
Number of Seasons: 7.
Number of Episodes: 180.
Running Time: 30 minutes.
Original Channel: NBC.
Original Run: September 22, 1982 – May 14, 1989.
Spinoffs: This show produced two spinoffs, Day by Day, a show based around the family of Steve Keaton’s college roommate, which lasted two seasons, and The Art of Being Nick, about Mallory’s boyfriend Nick, which was produced as a pilot but never picked up as a series.

The show had been sold to the network using the pitch "hip parents, square kids", and the parents were originally intended to be the main characters. However, the audience reacted so positively to Michael J. Fox's character Alex during the taping of the fourth episode that the focus of the show was shifted to include the whole family (and especially Alex). It starred Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton, the conservative, business-oriented son of liberal parents Elyse and Steven (Meredith Baxter-Birney and Michael Gross). Elyse was a successful architect, while Steven ran a public television station. They lived in suburban Columbus, Ohio with their children: Alex, Mallory ("Mal") (Justine Bateman) and Jennifer ("Jen") (Tina Yothers). Another child, Andrew ("Andy") (Brian Bonsall), was added later. The majority of the show's humor is derived from the tension between Alex's conservative, Republican mindset, Mallory's uninformed consumerism, and their parents' attitudes as liberal Democrats, who came of age as hippie flower children in the 1960s (as seen in the first season intro theme) and were proactive in the antiwar movement. Steven and Elyse have a strong, loving relationship, marked by, to their children's distress, much public display of affection. They also have an open relationship with their children, often discussing things in frank, mature ways. Though they do their share of disciplining, their parenting is liberal, especially compared to other family sitcoms. In the third season, Elyse gave birth to Andrew; the child was rapidly aged into a preschooler (Brian Bonsall) by the fifth season. Other characters included the Keatons' socially inept neighbor Erwin 'Skippy' Handelman (Marc Price), who had an undying crush on Mallory, and in later years, budding artist Nick Moore (Scott Valentine), who became romantically involved with Mallory and alarmed various members of the family with how unknowingly crass and unmannered he could be. In season 4, Alex's primary love interest was a college student named Ellen Reed (Tracy Pollan, who later became Michael J. Fox's real-life wife). The final two seasons featured Courteney Cox as new girlfriend Lauren Miller. The initial actor chosen for Alex Keaton was Matthew Broderick, but that deal fell through. Michael J. Fox almost wasn't cast because the producers felt he was too short compared to Michael Gross. Fox is only 5'5" (165 cm), while Gross is 6'5" (195 cm), leading the producers to worry that no one would believe someone as tall as Gross would have a son as short as Fox. Additionally, Fox was viewed as too much of a smart aleck in his first audition, but the casting director liked him and brought him back. The second time, he gave a slightly different pitch, and the part was his. Several Hollywood stars appeared on the show in the early days of their careers before they became famous, including Tom Hanks as Elyse's alcoholic younger brother Ned, Geena Davis as an inept housekeeper, and Courteney Cox as Alex's girlfriend, Lauren. Julia Louis-Dreyfus played a lawyer on the two-part episode "Read It and Weep". Family Ties was broadcast on Thursday nights from 1984 until 1987, immediately following the top-rated program The Cosby Show and just before another wildly popular sitcom, Cheers. That period represented the height of all three programs' popularity; they were, for example, the top three most-watched U.S. television programs during the 1986-1987 TV season, when 33% of all U.S. households with televisions and 50% of all viewers in the time slot tuned in to Family Ties during an average week. The ratings began to decline in 1987, when the show was moved to Sunday nights to make room for A Different World. Producer/creator Gary David Goldberg decided to end the show with the 1988-1989 TV season, despite rumors of an eighth season. In the final episode, Alex moved to New York to begin his career on Wall Street. The finale was the highest-rated show of the week, beating the series finale of Moonlighting in the same hour on May 14, 1989. On The Pat Sajak Show, Michael Gross suggested that the finale episode have the Keatons die in a plane crash. He said the cast wanted to close off any chances of a reunion in the future. On February 7, 2008, the cast reunited for the first time in 18 years for an interview on NBC's Today show.

When NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff first saw the pilot for Family Ties in 1982, he loved everything about it, except Michael J. Fox. Thankfully, creator Gary David Goldberg fought for the unknown Canadian actor he had chosen for the role of young Republican Alex P. Keaton. And, it’s a good thing he did. After struggling in the ratings, Family Ties go a big boost in 1985 when Fox appeared in a little film called “Back To The Future.” But, it wasn’t just Fox’s movie stardom that made Family Ties a hit. It was his winning personality. Fox took a potentially obnoxious character and made him seem charmingly vulnerable. Soon, a sitcom that had started being about ex-hippie parents Steve and Elyse Keaton and their Reaganite offspring, Alex, Mallory, and Jennifer, became a showcase for Fox’s impeccable comic timing. Not that it was a one-man show. Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter-Birney played their roles as the liberal parents very well and had some great interaction’s with Fox’s Alex. Alex's highly programmatic views of life led to continuous conflict with parents Steven and Elyse. If young Alex could be comically cynical, his parents could be relentlessly cheerful do-gooders whose causes occasionally seemed chimerical. Yet (especially with Elyse) their liberalism could also emerge more authoritatively, particularly when it assumed the voice, not of ideological instruction, but of parental conscience and loving tolerance. It was with Alex’s conflict with his parents that Family Ties explored not just the cultural ironies of politically conservative youth, but the equally powerful paradox of liberal conscience. Here that conscience was kept alive within the loving nuclear family so frequently decried as an instrument of patriarchal domination, and so constantly appropriated by conservatives as a manifestation of their own values. As for the other kids, Justine Bateman was great as Mallory, the inarticulate younger sister who, unwilling to compete with the overachieving Alex, devotes herself to fashion and boyfriends, and Tina Yothers did well as Jennifer, an intelligent observer who could pronounce scathingly on either Alex or the parents' foibles and was allowed to mature from a tomboy type character to a little bit of bad girl/rocker. In addition to the Keaton clan, there was a stellar backup cast, including Tom Hanks (who was on the verge of making his big Splash) as the kids’ no-account uncle Ned; Marc Price as Alex’s gloriously doofy pal Skippy; Scott Valentine as Mallory’s crass and unmannered boyfriend Nick; and Tracy Pollan (Fox’s future wife) and Courteney Cox (cutting her sitcom teeth nearly a decade before Friends) as two of Alex’s girlfriends. Along with The Cosby Show (which it followed on Thursday nights from 1984 to 1987), Family Ties made 1980s materialism seem appealingly all-American. More important, it introduced a star perfectly suited to the small screen, which Fox later demonstrated as the Alex P. Keatonesque deputy mayor on Spin City.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

87. The Office (U.S.)



Genre: Comedy, Mockumentary, Satire.
Created by: Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant (original British series); developed by Greg Daniels.
Executive Producer(s): Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Kent Zbornak, Greg Daniels, Benjamin Silverman, Howard Klein, Paul Lieberstein, Michael Schur, Jennifer Celotta, Ken Kwapis, and Teri Weinberg.
Starring: Steve Carell (Michael Scott), Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute), John Krasinski (Jim Halper), Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesley), B.J. Novak (Ryan Howard), Leslie David Baker (Stanley Hudson), Brian Baumgartner (Kevin Malone), Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin), Phyllis Smith (Phyllis Lapin), Kate Flannery (Meredith Palmer), Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor), Paul Lieberstein (Toby Flenderson), Creed Bratton (Creed), Oscar Nuñez (Oscar Martinez), Melora Hardin (Jan Levinson), Ed Helms (Andy Bernard), David Denman (Roy Anderson), Rashida Jones (Karen Filippelli), and Craig Robinson (Darryl Philbin).
Country of Origin: United States, but based on a show from the United Kingdom.
Number of Seasons: 4.
Number of Episodes: 66.
Running Time: 30 minutes.
Original Channel: NBC.
Original Run: March 24, 2005 – present
Spinoffs: The Untitled Office Spin-Off.

The British television series The Office, made for the BBC by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, enjoyed significant success at home and abroad, and won two Golden Globes. NBC therefore commissioned a U.S. version. Producer Greg Daniels initially hired four writers for the series: Michael Schur, B.J. Novak, Paul Lieberstein, and Mindy Kaling and two consulting producers, Lester Lewis and Larry Wilmore. In the second season, Jennifer Celotta and the team of Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg joined the writing staff. Steve Carell wrote that season's finale, "Casino Night". In the third season, original series creators Gervais and Merchant wrote "The Convict" and veteran television comedy writer Brent Forrester began writing for the show. Carell returned to writing again with "Survivor Man" in the fourth season, and Lester Lewis contributed an episode then as well. Ken Kwapis, a veteran of The Larry Sanders Show and Malcolm in the Middle, directed the pilot and eight other episodes. Daniels, Ken Whittingham, Amy Heckerling, and Bryan Gordon also began directing the show in the first season. Paul Feig, creator of Freaks and Geeks, directed four second season episodes, and three fourth season episodes. He is currently scheduled to direct another episode. In the third and fourth seasons, directors known for their work on other series and in other media, such as J.J. Abrams, Harold Ramis, Jason Reitman, and Joss Whedon helmed episodes. The fourth season's "Money" marked Lieberstein's directorial debut. All original series characters were adapted for the U.S. version. NBC programmer Kevin Reilly suggested Paul Giamatti to producer Ben Silverman for the role of Michael Scott, but the actor declined. Martin Short, Hank Azaria and Bob Odenkirk were also reported to be interested. In January 2004, Variety reported Steve Carell of the popular Comedy Central program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, was in talks to play the role. At the time, he was already committed to another NBC midseason replacement comedy, Come to Papa, but the series was quickly cancelled, leaving him fully committed to The Office. Carell later stated he had only seen about half of the original pilot episode of the British series before he auditioned. He did not continue watching for fear that he would start copying Gervais' characterizations. Rainn Wilson, who was cast as the power-hungry sycophant Dwight Schrute, had watched every episode of the series before he auditioned. Wilson had originally auditioned for Michael, a performance he described as a "terrible [Ricky] Gervais impersonation"; however, the casting directors liked his audition as Dwight much more and hired him for the role. John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer were virtual unknowns before being cast in their respective roles as Jim and Pam, the central love interests. Krasinski recalled accidentally insulting Daniels while waiting to audition for the series, telling him, "I hope they [the show's developers] don't screw this up." Daniels then introduced himself and told Krasinski who he was. Fischer prepared for her audition by looking as boring as possible, creating the original Pam hairstyle at her first audition for the show. The supporting cast includes actors known for their improv work: Angela Kinsey, Kate Flannery, Oscar Nunez, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Melora Hardin, and David Denman. Kinsey had originally auditioned for Pam. The producers thought she was "too feisty" for the character, but they called her back for the part of Angela Martin, which she won. Flannery first auditioned for the part of Jan Levinson-Gould, before landing the role of Meredith Palmer. Baumgartner originally auditioned for Stanley, but was eventually cast as Kevin. Ken Kwapis liked the way Phyllis Smith, a casting associate, read with other actors auditioning so much that he cast her as Phyllis. At the beginning of the third season, Ed Helms and Rashida Jones joined the cast as members of Dunder Mifflin Stamford. While Jones would later leave the cast for a recurring role, in February 2007 NBC announced that Helms was being promoted to a series regular. Four of the show's writers have also stepped out in front of the camera. Novak was cast as reluctant temp Ryan Howard after Daniels saw his stand-up act. Paul Lieberstein was cast as human resources director Toby Flenderson on Novak's suggestion after his cold readings of scripts. Greg Daniels originally was not sure where to use the Indian American Kaling on-screen in the series until the opportunity came in the second episode's script where Michael needed to be slapped by a minority. "Since (that slap), I've been on the show" (as Kelly Kapoor), says Kaling. Schur has also made occasional appearances as Dwight's cousin Mose, and consulting producer Wilmore has played diversity trainer Mr. Brown. There were plans for Mackenzie Crook, Martin Freeman and Lucy Davis from the British version of The Office to appear in the third season, but those plans were scrapped due to scheduling conflicts. The Office employs an ensemble cast. All of the main characters, and some minor ones, are based on characters from the British version of The Office. Michael Scott, the head of the Scranton branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, feels he is the life of the office; his employees feel otherwise. His assistant manager, sales representative Jim Halpert is dating the office receptionist, Pam Beesly, and plans to ask her to marry him. Their relationship comes after three seasons of friendship laced with sexual tension. Dwight Schrute, the assistant "to the" regional manager, is an award-winning salesman and former Lackawanna County volunteer reserve deputy sheriff known for his authoritarian personality and science fiction fandom. There is an ongoing rivalry between Jim and Dwight, whose differing personalities often cause them to be at odds with each other. Michael's boss, Dunder Mifflin's Vice President for Regional Sales, is Ryan Howard, who started out as a temporary worker in the Scranton office. The accounting department features the uptight Angela Martin, who wishes to keep things orderly and make sure situations remain as serious as possible, including her previous secret affair with Dwight; Kevin Malone, a sardonic, overweight man who revels in juvenile humor and is addicted to gambling and M&Ms; and the patient Oscar Martinez, whose homosexuality, timidity and Mexican American heritage make him a favorite target for Michael's off-hand comments. Rounding out the office are the stern salesman Stanley Hudson, who barely stands for Michael's constant references to his African-American heritage; anger-management grad and Angela's current boyfriend Andy Bernard, formerly of the Stamford, Connecticut branch office; former Woodstocker and all-around rule-breaker quality-assurance Creed Bratton; the innocent and timid Phyllis Lapin; the bubbly and talkative Kelly Kapoor; the depressed, alcoholic single mother Meredith Palmer, and frequent target of Michael's abuse human resources representative Toby Flenderson. Outside the office, there is Michael's former girlfriend Jan Levinson, who previously held the position of Vice President for Regional Sales. A complete script is written for each episode of The Office. However, actors are given opportunities to improvise during shooting. "Our shows are 100 percent scripted," Fischer explained. "They put everything down on paper. But we get to play around a little bit, too. Steve and Rainn are brilliant improvisers." The kiss Michael planted on Oscar in the third season episode "Gay Witch Hunt" was improvised. "Steve just went into that bit on the fly," Fischer wrote. "Those looks of shock/giddiness/confusion on our faces are real. We were all on the edge of our seats wondering what would happen next. I can't believe we held it together for as long as we did. I'm not sure we've ever laughed so hard on set." The Office is presented as a "mockumentary," and the primary vehicle for the show is that a camera crew has decided to film Dunder Mifflin and its employees, seemingly around the clock. The presence of the camera is openly acknowledged by the characters, with some characters, especially Michael Scott, enthusiastically participating in the filming while others such as Jan Levinson are frequently annoyed or uncomfortable at its presence. The main action of the show is supplemented with talking-head interviews or "confessionals," with the characters speaking one on one with the camera crew about the day's events. Some characters use the camera's presence to their advantage. For example, in “Christmas Party,” Phyllis's boyfriend Bob Vance introduces himself repeatedly as "Bob Vance, Vance refrigeration" to garner publicity for his business. In other instances, the camera has affected plot lines. In “The Dundies,” a drunken Pam nearly confesses something to Jim, but shies away when she notices the camera. In “E-mail Surveillance,” Pam asks the crew to help her look for evidence of Dwight and Angela's secret relationship, which they later provide. In “Fun Run,” the cameras catch Jim and Pam kissing, which leads to them revealing (to the viewing audience at least) that they are in fact dating. In early episodes, the camera crews seemed confined primarily to the office setting, but as the show has expanded to include more about the characters' personal lives, the cameras have taken on an often-omnipresent, even intrusive persona. Characters are often followed out of the office and sometimes even to their homes. The cameras were present at Jim's barbecue and Michael's dinner party, and even when Jim and Pam left for a weekend getaway (although the trip was to Dwight's beet farm) - all arguably personal, not work-related, events. Behind-doors conversations are often filmed through a window or crack in the door. It is shown in The Injury that Michael is wearing a wireless microphone, which could explain why the cameras are often able to hear closed-door conversations. The cameras have caught Jan kissing Michael in “Valentine's Day,” much to Jan's chagrin, and, as mentioned above, revealed both Dwight and Angela's and Jim and Pam's personal relationships. Non-primary characters or extras who encounter the camera crew are usually unsurprised or unaffected by it, and the cameras were even allowed in to Michael, Jim and Karen's job interviews for a corporate position. On The Office, deleted scenes are considered part of the show's story line, and have sometimes been restored in repeats to make episodes longer. In an experiment, a deleted scene from "The Return" was made available over nbc.com and iTunes that explained the absence of a character over the next several episodes. Daniels hoped that word of mouth among fans would spread the information, but eventually considered the experiment a failure. The missing scene was restored in later airings. The British version had been set in Slough, a commuter town on the outskirts of London. Looking for a suitable U.S. equivalent, Executive Producer Greg Daniels considered Nashua, New Hampshire and Utica, New York before settling on Scranton, Pennsylvania. "It just seemed like a real place," he said later. "y definition the town we picked wouldn't have a lot of glitzy stuff going on." It was just far enough away from New York to be credible as a location for a regional branch office. Daniels also recalled that the Paper Magic line of greeting cards was made in the city. When asked before the premiere what differences there might be from the British version, Gervais joked that the American actors would have better teeth. All filming is done in the Greater Los Angeles area, but the show makes many references to actual places and businesses in and near Scranton, such as the Mall at Steamtown, Lake Wallenpaupack, Abe's Deli, and the Lackawanna County Coal Mine Tour. Dwight's "Froggy 101" bumper sticker is from local country station WGGY. "We went toward embracing the whole Scranton-ness of the setting," said Daniels. The show's first season had a run of just six episodes, and was filmed in an actual office. For the second season, since NBC ordered a full run of episodes, filming moved to a sound stage at Valley Center Studios in Van Nuys, built to replicate the first season's environment, including plaques and certificates hanging on walls using the names of crew members. A typical episode for a half-hour time slot runs 20½ minutes. The final episode of the second season introduced the first of what would be several "super-sized" episodes (approximately 29-minute running time for a 40-minute time slot). The third season introduced the first of occasional hour-long episodes (approximately 41-minute running time; suitable for being shown as two separate normal episodes).

In the episode “Gay Witch Hunt,” after Michael accidentally outs Oscar for being gay, he calls a meeting in the conference room in order to try and keep Oscar from quitting Dunder Mifflin and possibly sue them for discrimination. During the scene, Michael hugs Oscar to show that he is okay with Oscar being gay. Then, he moves closer and closer to Oscar’s lips and then kisses him. And then, Dwight gets up and tries to kiss Oscar but is stop. And thus ends another typical day of the Scranton office of Dunder Mifflin. This remake ditched the melancholy of the BBC original (q.v.) in favor of a cheekier rebellliousness: a little less Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, a little more Office Space. It also has a deeper, diverse bench of characters, including schoolmarmish Angela, chatty Kelly, cold-hearted Ryan, creepy Creed, angry Andy and screw-you-guys clock-puncher Stanley. The carryover stories have been complicated as well, especially the Pam and Jim romance, which has allowed Pam more of an inner life and self-discovery. Still, the heart of the show is Michael Scott. Played with brilliant stupidity and awkwardness but with a touch of kindness by Steve Carell, Michael is the world’s dumbest boss. He wants to be a friend first and a boss second, which leads to some very uncomfortable situations. And, it is the uncomfortable that makes the show so funny, with Michael usually causing the uncomfort, like kissing Oscar, causing Kelly to slap him with a horribly stereotype of an Indian, or clashing with Stanley. But, Michael is the sole reason for the show’s hilariously awkward moments. There was also the time Stanley shouted at Ryan because his daughter had a crush on Ryan, the time Jim’s prank on Andy, stealing his phone and putting it in the ceiling, caused him to flip out and punch a wall, or the time Toby proclaimed his love to Pam in front of her boyfriend Jim and the entire office when they got locked in on a Friday night and, rather than stay there and face everyone, runs out of the building and scales the locked fence. The Office just shows that awkward moments can be incredibly funny…when they happen to someone else other than you.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

Tomorrow, number 86-83. Here are the hints:

A magical spouse, a TV show about the radio, this show definitely isn't in Kansas anymore, and two opposites attract.

[Beav]

I think the Office should have been higher.

[Cyborg Franky]

My guess for the next 4 shows are.

Bewitched
Newsradio
OZ
The Odd Couple

[Sajoa Moe]

The second could also be WKRP in Cincinnati.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

Time to continue this countdown. Here's number 86:

86. Bewitched



Genre: Sitcom.
Created by: Sol Saks.
Executive Producer(s): Harry Ackerman.
Starring: Elizabeth Montgomery (Samantha Stephens), Dick York (Darrin Stephens, 1964-1965), Dick Sargent (1969-1970), Agnes Moorehead (Endora), David White (Larry Tate), Erin Murphy (Tabitha Stephens, 1966-1972), Tamar and Julie Young (Infant Tabitha, 1966), Diane Murphy (Tabitha Stephens, 1966–1968), Greg and David Lawrence (Adam Stephens, 1970–1972), Alice Pearce (Gladys Kravitz, 1964–1966), Sandra Gould (Gladys Kravitz, 1966–1971), George Tobias (Abner Kravitz, 1964–1971), Marion Lorne (Aunt Clara, 1964–1968), Irene Vernon (Louise Tate, Larry's wife, 1964–1966), and Kasey Rogers (Louise Tate, 1966–1972).
Country of Origin: United States.
Number of Seasons: 8.
Number of Episodes: 254 (252 and 2 recut episodes).
Running Time: 30 minutes.
Original Channel: ABC.
Original Run: September 17, 1964 – July 1, 1972.
Spinoffs: There was a short lived comic book of the show in 1965 that lasted only 14 issues, an animated show about the Stephens kids called Tabitha and Adam and the Clown Family, a show about an adult Tabitha Stephens entitled Tabitha, and that crappy 2005 “Bewitched” movie with Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell. There have also been remakes of the series in Argentina, India, Japan, Chile, and the UK.

Two of the film antecedents for this series were the 1942 film “I Married a Witch” (from Thorne Smith's unfinished novel The Passionate Witch), and the John Van Druten play that was eventually adapted as Bell, Book and Candle (1958). The focus of the show (which was based on a satirical short story in Harper's Weekly Magazine, written by a young Norman Mailer and titled The Witch of Westport, according to the A&E Network Biography of Elizabeth Montgomery) is on the mixed marriage of a nose-twitching witch, Samantha Stephens (Montgomery), and her mortal husband, Darrin (originally played by Dick York and later by Dick Sargent). The series, a romantic comedy, shows how true love can endure the most vexing of situations, even between a witch and a human. Samantha's mother Endora (Agnes Moorehead) loathes mortals and disapproves of Darrin as do most of Samantha's family. Many episodes revolve around Endora, or another of Darrin's in-laws, using magic to undermine the union. Although Endora casts countless spells on Darrin, she never succeeds in outright banishing him from Samantha's life, or indeed even in casting any spells of permanence. Endora's ploy seems to be to provoke Darrin into leaving Samantha, but the mortal's love for his wife overcomes every obstacle. Endora refuses to remember Darrin's name, invariably calling him "Durwood," "Darwin," and even "Dum-Dum," all much to his annoyance. Several episodes begin with an enraged Darrin becoming the victim of a spell. By the epilogue, however, Darrin and Samantha would embrace and confound the devious elements that failed to separate them. Some storylines take a backdoor approach to such topics as racism, as seen in the first season episode, "The Witches Are Out." Samantha objects to Darrin's demeaning ad portrayal of witches as ugly and deformed. Such stereotypical imagery, she believes, ignites biases which have often caused Endora and her to flee the country until November. One episode, "Sisters At Heart," was written and submitted by a tenth-grade class. It involved Tabitha altering her and her black friend's skin tones with coordinating polka-dots, so that people would treat them alike. In 1966, the show saw Samantha give birth to daughter Tabitha, played by fraternal twins Diane and Erin Murphy. Tabitha took after her mother with her magical abilities, adding to Darrin's worries. By 1968, the Murphy twins began looking less alike, so Diane was dropped. The Tates's son Jonathan, who was 1 1/2 years older than Tabitha, was seldom seen or referenced after 1966, but made a final appearance in season 7. The character had been named Jonathan after David White's real-life son (whose death made headlines in 1988, when Pan Am Flight 103 was brought down over Lockerbie, Scotland). In 1969, Bewitched introduced Adam Stephens, played by Greg and David Lawrence. The writers sought new familial challenges, but some pessimists saw the birth as an economical means to retool past Tabitha plots. Adam initially didn't display any powers, but started to do so in the last few episodes of the series. Bewitched is unique for the mid-1960s in that it portrays an estranged married couple: Samantha's parents, Endora (Agnes Moorehead) and Maurice (Maurice Evans). Maurice was portrayed as an urbane thespian not unlike Elizabeth Montgomery's real father, Robert Montgomery. Maurice occasionally pops in with a young, attractive female escort. The couple's separation is implied and subtextual. In the episode, "Samantha's Good News," Endora threatened to file for an "ectoplasmic interlocutory" (code for divorce), only to wrangle Maurice's affection. In another episode Endora threatens to live with Maurice, thus acknowledging a separation. Darrin works for advertising agency McMann and Tate, and his profit-obsessed boss Larry Tate (David White) is an almost constant presence on the show, even though Tate's partner, Mr. McMann, appears only twice during the series. Tate's opinions would turn on a dime to appease a client and land a deal. Despite witnessing plenty of oddities, Larry and his wife Louise (Irene Vernon, and later Kasey Rogers) never discover that Samantha is a witch. The sole member of Samantha's family for whom Darrin shows any affection is the lovably bumbling Aunt Clara (played by Marion Lorne). Lorne won a posthumous Emmy in 1968 for the role of the aged witch, whose powers had begun to wane, and whose spells often end in disaster. She appeared in 27 episodes; when Lorne died during the fourth season, the absence of Aunt Clara was left unexplained. Because Lorne was so popular and loved by the cast, another actress taking the role was not considered. This prompted the creation of a replacement character, actress Alice Ghostley as the anxiety-ridden witch-nanny Esmeralda. Coincidentally, Lorne and Ghostley appeared together in Mike Nichols's film version of The Graduate, which had been released in 1967. (Both Ghostley and comic actor Paul Lynde had guest roles as mortal characters before being cast as magical semi-regulars.) Samantha's far-out and egocentric lookalike cousin Serena is another important character, first appearing in season two. The character was also played by Elizabeth Montgomery, who would be credited as "Pandora Spocks", between 1968 and 1972, when she appeared as Serena. Ever mischievous, Serena often chases after Darrin and Larry Tate (calling the white-haired Tate "Cotton-Top"), just for fun. Serena is the antithesis of Samantha, sporting a heart-shaped birth mark on her cheek, raven black hair, and mod mini-skirts. More progressive than the typical witch or warlock, who generally abhor mortals, Samantha's counter-culture cousin occasionally dates some (including a character played by Jack Cassidy). During the show's run, both Aunt Clara (to Louise Tate) and Serena (to Phyllis Stephens) state they are from Maurice's side of the family, though Serena sometimes plots with "Auntie" Endora. Despite her wild behavior, Serena ultimately supports Samantha and Darrin, even though she finds them both a bit "square." Endora's prank-loving brother Arthur (Paul Lynde) makes several memorable appearances. In one episode, Arthur befriends Darrin and teaches him a phony ritual that will set Endora straight. Darrin performs the silly ritual to the outright bewilderment of his wife and mother-in-law. After Arthur erupts in rip-roaring laughter, it becomes clear that Darrin was set up. The trio get even with Arthur when Darrin's own practical joke seemingly obliterates Endora. Despite the hoax, Arthur genuinely likes Darrin. In another episode, Serena and Uncle Arthur go toe-to-toe with the Witch's Council to support the Stephens' union, only to have their own powers suspended. Veteran actress Mabel Albertson, the sister of Jack Albertson, plays Darrin's straightlaced mother, Phyllis. The character often complains of "a sick headache" when she witnesses a magic spell in motion. Adding to the fun are the Stephens's witch daughter Tabitha, spelled Tabatha in production credits for most episodes, (Erin Murphy) and her baby brother Adam, as well as various witches, warlocks, and mere mortals, along with an occasional elf, leprechaun, nymph, and other supernatural being. The program made full use of the period's modest but effective special effects wizardry. Across the street lives a retired couple, Abner Kravitz (stage and movie actor George Tobias) and his nosy wife, Gladys, the latter of whom was always trying to prove that Samantha was a witch--only to have her husband steadfastly refuse to believe her allegations. Gladys Kravitz was played first by Alice Pearce who won a posthumous 1966 Emmy for the role; following Pearce's death in 1966 from ovarian cancer, the character was played by Sandra Gould. On the studio backlot, the Kravitz's house was actually near the Stephens' house exterior. Both homes' exterior doors opened to an unfinished eighteen-by-fifteen foot entry, as the interiors were shot elsewhere. The exterior of the Kravitz's house later became the home of The Partridge Family. In 2003, Kasey Rogers, Alice Ghostley and Bernard Fox visited the Stephens lot together to rekindle old memories. During the spring of 1969, several episodes had to be rewritten as the series was technically between the two Darrins. According to William Asher on E! Entertainment Television, York had collapsed on the set due to back pain/ medication, and was hospitalized. ABC had urged recasting, and York was fired for financial/insurance reasons. Darrin's absence was said to be due to business trips, sleeping late, or the like. One such episode, "Samantha's Power Failure", had Serena and Uncle Arthur powerless at the hands of the Witches' Council, and subsequently working in a confectionery factory. This episode mimics the famous chocolate assembly-line episode of I Love Lucy in several ways; something not surprising, as William Asher had directed numerous I Love Lucy episodes (including the renowned "Job Switching" episode that inspired Bewitched's version). With slight variations, Serena and Arthur's "dipper" jokes and physical antics are taken from Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Ethel's (Vivian Vance) playbook. In I Love Lucy, Lucy's and Ethel's candy wrapping efforts start okay but quickly get out of hand, leading both Lucy and Ethel to eat and/or hide all the left over chocolates. In Bewitched, the banana dipping goes well early on until the belt begins to speed up, leading Serena and Arthur to panic and hide, toss, and devour the bananas to avoid being dismissed from their jobs. The show was a ratings success during its first five seasons, but it lost some viewers when Dick York, who had originated the role of Darrin Stephens, lost his ability to continue in the role due to a severe back condition, and a growing dependence on pain medications, and left the cast in 1969. While Ray Fulmer of Hazel, was mentioned as a possible replacement (as per an episode of The Virginia Graham Show, Fulmer's name was suggested to Agnes Moorehead by her friend and former co-star Shirley Booth), the role of Darrin went to Dick Sargent. Sargent's version of Darrin was a more acidic, smarmy character, in contrast to York's hyper, high octane portrayal. The drop in ratings was ironic in light of the fact that Sargent had been the original choice to play Darrin, but had been under contract elsewhere in 1964. On E! Entertainment Television, Erin Murphy (Tabitha) stated that Elizabeth Montgomery "probably preferred Dick Sargent's Darrin." York's disability caused ongoing shooting delays and script rewrites, which would have been a financial liability to the newly formed Ashmont Production Company (owned by Montgomery and then husband, William Asher). Kasey Rogers, Bernard Fox, and Sandra Gould said that Dick York's "mugging" or animated facial expressions were what really made the character. William Asher claimed that Dick York's screen kisses were more "passionate." The series also had two Gladys Kravitzes, two Louise Tates and two Frank Stephenses. However, the switch between the two Darrins has become the epitome of TV's major cast changes, far more so than such other recastings as the two John-Boy Waltons or the two Lionel Jeffersons, and others. Sol Saks, who received credit as the creator of the show, wrote the pilot of Bewitched, although he was not involved with the show after the pilot. Initially, Danny Arnold, who helped develop the style and tone of the series as well as some of the supporting characters who didn't appear in the pilot, like Larry Tate and the Kravitzes, produced and headed writing of the series. Arnold, who wrote on McHale's Navy and other shows, thought of Bewitched as being essentially a romantic comedy about a mixed marriage; his episodes kept the magic element to a minimum, with one or two magical acts to drive the plot but Samantha usually solving problems without using magic. Also, many of the first season's episodes were allegorical, using supernatural situations as clear metaphors for the real-life problems a young couple would face. Arnold stated that the two main themes of the series were the conflict between a powerful woman (Samantha) and a husband who can't deal with that power (Darrin), and the anger of the bride's mother (Endora) at seeing her daughter marry beneath her. Though the show was a hit right from the beginning, Arnold battled with ABC, which wanted more magic and more farcical plots. Arnold left the show after the first season (he would later co-create Barney Miller with Theodore J. Flicker), leaving producing duties to his friend Jerry Davis, who had already produced some of the first season's episodes (though Arnold was still supervising the writing). The second season was produced by Davis and with Bernard Slade as head writer, with mistaken identity and farce becoming a more prevalent element, but still included a number of more low-key episodes where the magic element was not front and center. With the third season and the switch to color, Davis left the show, and was replaced as producer by William Froug. Slade also left after the second season (he would later create another popular Screen Gems series, The Partridge Family, which, like Bewitched, went through a recasting of a role). According to William Froug's autobiography, Asher himself wanted to take over as producer when Jerry Davis left, but the production company wasn't yet ready to approve the idea. So Froug, a former producer of Gilligan's Island, was brought in as a compromise. By his own admission, Froug was not very familiar with Bewitched and found himself in the uncomfortable position of being the official producer even though Asher was making most of the creative decisions. After a year, Froug left the show, and Asher took over as full-time producer of the series for the rest of its run. Samantha and Darrin Stephens were the first live-action TV couple, with the actors not married to each other in real life, to sleep in a double bed (A married couple, Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns, first shared a bed in the 1940s sitcom Mary Kay and Johnny). The episode, "Little Pitchers Have Big Fears," aired on October 22, 1964, preceding The Munsters episode "Autumn Croakus" broadcast on November 26, 1964. In June 1970, Bewitched filmed on location in Salem, Magnolia and Gloucester, Massachusetts. The Massachusetts locations shoots marked the only time the show would film away from their Hollywood studio set, which had burned down. The eight "Salem Saga" episodes, as they became known, helped improve the show's ratings. Season 8 featured a European vacation for the characters, but the episodes were filmed in Hollywood using stock footage. Montgomery wanted to end the series at the conclusion of the fifth season because both she and her husband, the show's producer William Asher, were getting tired of it and wanted to move on to other projects, but ABC did not want to drop one of its top-grossers. Since the series was one of the network's few hits, they offered Montgomery and Asher significant pay raises, plus part ownership of the series (via Ashmont, a production company owned by Asher and Montgomery), for another three seasons. By season eight, the story ideas had started to run dry – with some scripts from earlier seasons re-shot nearly verbatim. During the last season, (1971–1972) Abner and Gladys Kravitz were only referenced, and Uncle Arthur and Darrin's parents also did not appear. The series was moved to Saturday nights in January 1972 and was pitted against the hit show All in the Family, which proved to be a virtual death knell. Bewitched finished the 1972 season at no. 46 in the ratings. ABC had planned Season 9 for Bewitched which would have been the 1972–1973 season, but Elizabeth Montgomery decided not to come back after Season 8. Then-husband William Asher told ABC that he would produce another series for them since Bewitched's ratings had dropped so low. He wound up producing two: The Paul Lynde Show, a sitcom starring the "Uncle Arthur" actor (and Hollywood Squares regular) Paul Lynde, which lasted only one season in 1972-73; and Temperatures Rising, a two-year comedy set in a hospital and starring James Whitmore in its first season. Because of the Lynde show's failure, Asher basically merged the two shows for the 1973-74 season by casting Lynde as the lead man for Temperatures' last season. There were a few short-lived spinoffs of the show: Dell Comics published a short-lived comic book for 14 issues starting in 1965. Most issues had photo covers. Tabitha and Adam and the Clown Family, an animated cartoon, was made in 1972 by Hanna-Barbera Productions for The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie. The show featured teenage versions of Tabitha and Adam visiting their aunt and her family who travel with a circus. In 1977, a spin-off show entitled Tabitha aired on the ABC network. The show, which ran for less than a season, starred Lisa Hartman as an adult Tabitha working, along with Adam, at television station KXLA. The show had several continuity issues. Tabitha and Adam should have been 11 and 8 years of age in 1977. Supporting witch character Aunt Minerva (Karen Morrow) was like a mother to Tabitha but had never been mentioned in the original series. Samantha and Darrin never appeared in the spin-off series, though Bernard Fox, Sandra Gould, George Tobias and Dick Wilson made separate guest appearances as Dr. Bombay, Gladys Kravitz, Abner Kravitz and the Drunk Guy, respectively. Bewitched inspired a 2005 movie re-imagining starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell. When Jack Wyatt (Ferrell), a failing Hollywood actor, is offered the chance of a career comeback playing Darrin in a remake of Bewitched; all he has to do is find the perfect girl to play Samantha. He finds that perfect girl in Isabel Bigelow (Kidman), who, it turns out, really IS a witch. It is set in Los Angeles rather than New York. The storyline bears some similarities to that of the movie Bell, Book and Candle, which had often been cited as one of the primary inspirations for the original series. The film also stars Shirley MacLaine as an actress playing Endora, and Michael Caine as Isabel's father. But the film was not well received, and was rated poorly by many critics and did weak box-office business. There were also some foreign remakes. In Argentina, a local remake of Bewitched, called Hechizada, as the original series is locally known, was made by Telefé, and aired in early 2007. It starred Florencia Peña as Samantha, Gustavo Garzón as Eduardo (Darrin) and Georgina Barbarrosa as Endora. This show adapted original scripts to an Argentinian context, with local jokes, and a twenty-first century setting. However, after a few weeks the show was cancelled due to low ratings. In 2002 in India, Sony Entertainment Television began airing Meri Biwi Wonderful, a local adaptation of Bewitched. The Japanese TBS network, in collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment, produced a remake called Oku-sama wa majo (My Wife is a Witch).[6] Eleven episodes were broadcast on Friday nights at 10 p.m., from January 16, 2004 in television to March 26, 2004, with a special extra episode broadcast on December 21, 2004. The main character, Arisa Matsui, was portrayed by Ryōko Yonekura. Oku-sama wa majō is also the Japanese title for the original American series. The Chilean television channel Mega, in collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment, will produce a remake called La Hechizada. The BBC made a pilot episode of a British version of the series, with Sheridan Smith in the lead role of Samantha, Tom Price as Darrin Stevens and veteran actress Frances de la Tour as Endora. However, the show never got past the pilot stage.

Elizabeth Montgomery didn’t want to work in TV. The daughter of Hollywood actor Robert Montgomery, who had hosted an anthology show on NBC for seven years, she had seen how television-production schedules ate up one’s life. She did, however, want to work with her new husband, producer William Asher, and when his concept about a suburban witch caught on with ABC, she signed up for the lead roles of Samantha Stephens, filming the first shows less than a month after giving birth to the couple’s first child. That hints at the hard work put into a show that only looked like goofy fluff. Bewitched retooled movies like 1942’s “I Married A Witch” and 1958’s “Bell, Book, And Candle” for the complacent Leave It To Beaver generation, but the show, as knowing as its star, also tracked the paradoxes of its era. Peek behind those vanishing coffee tables and Darrin’s miraculously saved ad accounts and you’ll see a series that was explicitly about the dilemma of the modern housewife, possessed with hidden powers yet unable to use them for much more than vacuuming the living room. (Samantha’s hidden powers could also be seen a parable for in-the-closet homosexuals.) The split turned even more baroque: on January 13, 1966, when Samantha settle further into asexual domesticity by giving birth to baby Tabitha, her hot-to-trot “twin cousin” (played by “Pandora Spocks”) was introduced in the very same episode. It didn’t matter that two different actors (both named “Dick,” York and Sargent) played Darrin over the course of the show’s eight-year run: He, mother Endora (Moorehead), and all those crazed relatives were intended as glorious cartoons. However, it was sensible Sam who earned our laughs and empathy, twitching her nose and watching the world change around her.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

85. WKRP In Cincinnati



Genre: Sitcom.
Created by: Hugh Wilson.
Executive Producer(s): Hugh Wilson.
Starring: Gary Sandy (Andy Travis), Howard Hesseman (“Dr. Johnny Freeman,” Johnny Caravella), Gordon Jump (Arthur Carlson), Loni Anderson (Jennifer Marlowe), Tim Reid (“Venus Flytrap,” Gordon Sims), Jan Smithers (Bailey Quarters), Richard Sanders (Les Nessman), and Frank Bonner (Herb Tarlek).
Country of Origin: United States.
Number of Seasons: 4.
Number of Episodes: 90.
Running Time: 30 minutes.
Original Channel: CBS.
Original Run: September 18, 1978 – April 12, 1982.
Spinoffs: The New WKRP In Cincinnati, which ran in syndication from 1991 to 1993.

The show was created by Hugh Wilson and was based upon his experiences working in advertising as a client of a classic album-oriented rock radio station. The premise of the show was revolved around new programming director Andy Travis (Gary Sandy) trying to turn around struggling radio station WKRP, despite the well-meaning efforts of the mostly-incompetent staff. For the most part, program director Andy Travis serves as the straight man for the eccentric staff of the station he has been hired to run. Before coming to WKRP, he had an unblemished record of turning around failing radio stations, but meets his match in his wacky staff members, of whom he becomes distressingly fond. The show's opening theme song is about Andy and his decision to settle down in Cincinnati; in the episode "The Creation of Venus", Andy echoes the opening theme lyrics in talking about his past ("Got kinda tired of packing and unpacking, town to town, up and down the dial"). Arthur Carlson (Gordon Jump), occasionally called the "Big Guy", is the middle-aged general manager, whose main qualification for the job is that his business tycoon mother is the owner. His bumbling, indecisive management is one of the main reasons the station is unprofitable, although he is a decent man and something of a father-figure to his employees. Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) is a burnt-out veteran disc jockey who came to WKRP after being fired from a major station in Los Angeles when he said "booger" on the air. After the station changes format, one of his first on-air words (after being told he would not be fired for saying it) is "booger." Cynical and neurotic, he is usually in one sort of trouble or another. Though the character's real name is John Caravella, he often uses a stage name, notably including Johnny Sunshine, Rip Tide and Heavy Early. Les Nessman (Richard Sanders), the fastidious, bow-tied news reporter, approaches his job with absurd seriousness, despite being almost totally incompetent. For instance, he mispronounces golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez's name as "Chy Chy Rod-ri-gweeze". Les is forever trying to win the fictitious Ohio radio news trophy, the "Buckeye Newshawk Award" (though he has already won five times), as well as the "coveted Silver Sow Award" for excellence in farm news, particularly hog reports. He is best friends with fellow employee Herb Tarlek. To protest not having an office of his own, he has marked where walls would be with tape on the floor around his desk, and mimics opening a door whenever he enters or leaves. Mr. Carlson humors him by "knocking" (clicking his heels together) before entering. Les has an anti-Communist obsession, and regularly makes dire warnings in his radio broadcasts against the "Communist threat" which he believes is infiltrating America. His anti-Communist broadcasts are reminiscent of a 1950's Red Scare fearmonger. The source of this obsession is revealed in one episode, when Les learns that his real father was a Communist who deserted his mother before Les was born. His mother grew to hate all Communists, and passed this obsession to her son. As a running gag, Nessman wears a band-aid in a different spot each episode. It is suggested that these band-aids are due to repeated attacks by Phil, Nessman's monstrous dog (who is never seen but is heard growling offstage in another room in Nessman's apartment). In fact, the band-aids are a running in-joke. During the filming of the pilot episode, Richard Sanders bumped his head on a studio light and had to wear a bandage to cover the cut. From then on, Sanders decided, Les Nessman would always wear a bandage on his head. Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson) is the station's gorgeous blonde receptionist, and the station's highest-paid employee. Despite her image, she is informed, wise, and able to handle practically any situation with aplomb, no matter how absurd. Although very aware of her sex appeal, with various wealthy, powerful men at her beck and call, she is friendly and good-hearted with the station staff. Herb Tarlek (Frank Bonner), the boorish, tasteless advertising account executive, wears loud plaid suits, with his belt matching his white shoes. He can't land the big accounts, usually succeeding only in selling air time for trivial products such as "Red Wrigglers — the Cadillac of worms!" Although married to Lucille (Edie McClurg), he persistently pursues Jennifer, who has absolutely no interest in him. In a futile attempt to discourage him, Johnny Fever once tells him she is the result of the most "cunningly successful sex change operation in history." While Herb is portrayed as buffoonish most of the time, he does occasionally show a sympathetic side. Tarlek was based on radio executive Clark Brown. Venus Flytrap (Tim Reid), the soulful, funky evening DJ, runs his show with a smooth-talking persona and mood lighting in the studio. His real name, Gordon Sims, is almost never used and he maintains an aura of mystery. In an early episode, it is revealed that Gordon Sims is a Vietnam veteran who is wanted for desertion from the US Army. After Sims agrees to turn himself in, the Army dismisses all charges against him, since Sims deserted after his service in Vietnam. In later episodes, Venus's backstory is changed, and it is revealed that he spent several years as a high-school teacher before becoming a radio deejay. Bailey Quarters (Jan Smithers), the young ingénue of the radio station, is originally in charge of billing and station traffic, but is later given additional duties as an on-air news reporter, in which capacity she proves much more capable than Les. As the series progresses, she overcomes her shyness and develops self-confidence. Beginning with the second season, she becomes linked romantically with Johnny Fever. The dynamic between Jennifer and Bailey has been likened to that between Ginger and Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island. Mrs. Carlson (Sylvia Sidney in the series pilot, Carol Bruce afterward) is Arthur Carlson's ruthless, domineering mother and the owner of WKRP. An extremely successful and rich businesswoman, her only regret is that her approach to parenting (the "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" school of child-rearing) backfired; her son ended up indecisive, weak-willed and afraid of her. In the final episode of the series, it is revealed that she had always intended WKRP to lose money (for the tax write-off), which explains why she allows the incompetent employees to continue working at the station. The only one who is able to get the better of her on a regular basis is her sarcastic butler, Hirsch (Ian Wolfe). She and Hirsch are not regular characters, only appearing in three or four episodes each season. Three other DJs at the station are mentioned, but (with one exception) never seen: Moss Steiger has the graveyard shift after Venus and is mentioned as having attempted suicide at least twice; Rex Erhardt (who was finally seen in the fourth season episode "Rumours") hosts a program after Dr. Johnny Fever's morning show; and "Dean the Dream" has the afternoon drive slot. Another DJ, Doug Winter, is hired and fired in the same episode. Series writer Bill Dial occasionally shows up as engineer Bucky Dornster. In the pilot episode, Andy Travis comes to the station as the new programming director, hired to improve the dismal ratings of the beautiful music station, run by weak-willed Arthur Carlson. Travis abruptly changes the programming format to rock music, but WKRP's ratings fail to improve significantly in the Cincinnati market (although even the mild rise that does occur is considered wonderful by the other employees), mostly because of his unwillingness to fire the existing personnel when he takes over; their idiosyncrasies are more to blame for the station's fortunes than its format. One of WKRP in Cincinnati's best-known and most-loved episodes ("Turkeys Away") is a comic account of a disastrous promotion. As a publicity stunt, the station drops live turkeys out of a helicopter over a shopping center as a Thanksgiving's Day giveaway. The turkeys plunge to their deaths as shoppers run for their lives, all while Les Nessman describes the scene in words reminiscent of Herbert Morrison's reporting of the Hindenburg disaster. A shaken Arthur Carlson later remarks, "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." It was named by TV Guide as one of the greatest episodes in television history. This episode along with the "dancing ducks" episode is based on real events occurring at WQXI in Atlanta, a station that series creator Hugh Wilson worked while in the advertising business. The episode "In Concert" was inspired by a real event: the tragic concert by The Who in Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum on December 3, 1979. The show started out performing badly; placed in a tough time slot, it got poor ratings and was put on hiatus after only eight episodes, even though they included some of the most famous ones of the series, including "Turkeys Away". But due to good reviews and positive fan reaction, especially from disc jockeys, who immediately hailed it as the first show that really understood the radio business, CBS decided to bring WKRP back without any cast changes. WKRP was given a new time slot, one of the best on the network, following M*A*S*H. This allowed creator Hugh Wilson to move away from farcical radio-based stories, which is what CBS mostly wanted at the beginning, and start telling stories that, while not necessarily serious, were more low-key and character-based. To allow the ensemble to mingle more, the set was expanded. A previously unseen communal office area ("the bullpen") was added to accommodate scenes with the entire cast. Partway through the second season, the show was moved back to its original earlier time. CBS executives wanted to free up the prized post-M*A*S*H slot for House Calls (with former M*A*S*H star Wayne Rogers). They also felt that the rock n' roll music and the sex appeal of Loni Anderson were better-suited to the earlier slot, which at that time was thought of as mostly aimed at young people. For the next two seasons, the writers and producers often had to fight CBS over what kind of content was appropriate for a show in the so-called "family hour." During the third and fourth seasons, CBS moved WKRP around repeatedly, so much so that cast and crew members claimed that even they didn't know when the show aired. After the fourth season, the network decided not to renew the show. The final first-run episode of WKRP to air was seventh in the weekly Nielsen ratings for all series, specials and sports events. Prior to the broadcast, the series had already been cancelled. WKRP was videotaped before a live studio audience at Goldenwest Videotape Division, later moving to the CBS Studio Center. In the opening credits for the episode titled "Fish Story", Hugh Wilson went under the name of Raoul Plager. He was under pressure by CBS to write a more broad comedy, but since he didn't want to be credited for work that he believed that was beneath him, he used the alias. The episode turned out to be the highest rated in the show's run. Los Angeles disc jockey Steve Marshall of KNX-FM submitted a spec script for WKRP (back when they were actually accepted by studios) which was bought by the producers. He later joined the writing staff of the show (briefly holding down both jobs simultaneously). Producers Dan Guntzelman and Steve Marshall also created and produced Just the Ten of Us, which featured Frank Bonner in a supporting role as a Catholic priest. Blake Hunter co-created Who's the Boss?. George Gaynes directed the finale episode ("Up and Down the Dial"). Gaynes is best known for playing Henry Warnimont on Punky Brewster and Eric Lassard in the Police Academy movies. WKRP had two musical themes, one opening and the other closing the show. The opening theme, called "WKRP In Cincinnati Main Theme", was composed by Tom Wells, with lyrics by series creator Hugh Wilson, and performed by Steve Carlisle. It peaked at 65 on the Pop Singles chart in 1981 and at 29 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1982. The lyrics refer to the life of character Andy Travis. The closing theme, "WKRP In Cincinnati End Credits", was a hard rock number composed and performed by Jim Ellis, an Atlanta musician who recorded some of the incidental music for the show. According to people who attended the recording sessions, Ellis didn't yet have lyrics for the closing theme, so he sang nonsense words to give an idea of how it would sound. Wilson decided it would be funny to use lyrics that were deliberately gibberish, as a satire on the incomprehensibility of many rock songs. Also, since CBS always had an announcer talking over the closing credits, Wilson knew that no one would actually hear the closing theme lyrics anyway. In one pop-cultural nod to the closing theme, a character performs the song in the film Ready to Rumble. The closing theme is also played at the end of the syndicated morning radio show The Big Show with John Boy and Billy. The first song played on WKRP after the switch to a Rock format was "Queen Of The Forest" by Ted Nugent. The show was one of the earliest to extensively use contemporary music by big groups and artists of the time such as Foreigner, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Queen, The Eagles, Styx, Supertramp, Elvis Presley, The Kinks, Jerry Lee Lewis, Deep Purple, The Knack, Blondie, KISS, Joe Walsh, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Doors, Donna Summer, ELO, and Talking Heads to name a few. The songs were often tied into the plot of the episode. Music licensing deals cut at the time of production were for a limited amount of time (approximately ten years). In addition, the show was videotaped rather than filmed because it was cheaper to get the rights to rock songs for a taped show. Once the licenses expired, later syndicated versions of the show did not feature the music as first broadcast, but rather generic "sound-alikes" by studio musicians in order to avoid paying additional royalties. In some cases (when the music was playing in the background of a dialogue scene), some of the characters' lines had to be redubbed by sound-alike actors. This was evident in all prints of the show issued since the early 1990s, which included its brief late-1990s run on Nick at Nite. As a result, production on a WKRP DVD was delayed for years because of the expense of procuring music licenses. It was feared that fans would reject edited versions. Sales of first-season DVD sets of Roseanne and The Cosby Show suggested that viewers prefer original, uncut episodes. However, as was done with many other television series, the DVD release of WKRP in Cincinnati - Season One has much of the music replaced by generic substitutes. In addition, some scenes have been cut or truncated and voice overs used to avoid using unlicensed musical content. The New WKRP in Cincinnati was a sequel/spin-off of the original CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. It was made for the syndication market from 1991 to 1993. Gordon Jump (Arthur Carlson), Frank Bonner (Herb Tarlek), and Richard Sanders (Les Nessman) returned to reprise their roles from the original show. Other original cast members came in for guest spots, with Loni Anderson (Jennifer Marlowe) returning for two episodes, Tim Reid (D.J. Venus Flytrap) for one episode, and Howard Hesseman (Dr. Johnny Fever) appearing in nine episodes total (four in the first season, five in the second), as well as directing several other episodes. The character of Arthur Carlson Jr. returns as an adult. Sparky Marcus did not return to reprise the role he played as a ten-year-old in one episode. Newcomer Lightfield Lewis was signed on to assume the role of the character, modeled much after the Herb Tarlek character from the original series. The show underwent many cast changes during its run, and ended in 1993 after two seasons and 47 episodes (though it ran for another year in repeats on VH-1). Among the other notable actors that were cast members on the show were Mykelti Williamson as program director Donovan Aderhold, Tawny Kitaen as late night D.J. Mona Loveland, and French Stewart, who joined the cast in the second season as morning D.J. Razor Dee. In the first season, Michael Des Barres played Jack Allen, half of the "Burns and Allen" (a play on George Burns and Gracie Allen) morning show. Des Barres had played Sir Charles "Dog" Weatherby, frontman for the fictional band "Scum of the Earth" in the "Hoodlum Rock" episode of the original series. The actual frequency of WKRP was never revealed in the original series. In this version, the station is identified as being at AM 1530, the actual home of WSAI (now WCKY), also licensed to Cincinnati.

This radio workplace sitcom was as disposably '70s as the loud patterns on Herb Tarlek's leisure suits, but it was something more too. It had a wonderful cast of characters: the burnt-out Dr. Johnny Fever, the neurotic worrywart Les Nessman, the smarmy Herb Tarlek, the smart blonde Jennifer Marlowe, the young ingénue Bailey Quarters, the smooth and somewhat mysterious Venus Flytrap, the well-meaning but bumbling Arthur Carlson, and the perennial straight man Andy Travis. It's probably best remembered for its gut-busting stories of office hijinks and promotions gone wrong, like the infamous episode in which Mr. Carlson has a Thanksgiving promotion that has him throwing turkeys from a helicopter, ending with the great line, "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!" But it was an underratedly smart show, infused with a sense of things ending, especially the free-form, anarchic, album-rock '70s. Though it was funny, it had a lot of heart to it and allowed its characters to be more than just funny. One of its most moving episodes was about the 1979 Who concert stampede disaster at Riverfront Stadium. There was also the episode in which Venus Flytrap was revealed to have gone AWOL from the Army, the episode in which Herb and his family are featured on a reality show (as it turns out, Herb is pretty dysfunctional), and the episode in which Les wins a softball game for the station. The show managed to have characters with certain quirks but at same time didn’t make them one dimensional. From its wistful theme song, "Just maybe think of me once in a while," to its setting at a small-market station past its heyday, WKRP mixed a few bittersweet notes into its playlist of savvy comedy.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

84. Oz



Genre: Drama.
Created by: Tom Fontana.
Executive Producer(s): Jim Finnerty, Tom Fontana, and Barry Levinson.
Starring: Harold Perrineau Jr. (Augustus Hill), Lee Tergesen (Tobias “Toby” Beecher), J.K. Simmons (Vernon “Vern” Schillinger), Eamonn Walker (Kareem Said), Dean Winters (Ryan O’Reilly), Kirk Acevedo (Miguel Alvarez), Christopher Meloni (Chris Keller), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Simon Adebisi), George Morfogen (Bob Rebadow), Ernie Hudson (Warden Leo Glynn), Terry Kinney (Tim McManus), Rita Moreno (Sister Peter Marie Reimondo), B.D. Wong (Father Ray Mukada), Lauren Vélez (Dr. Gloria Nathan), Kristin Rohde (Officer Claire Howell), Edie Falco (Officer Diane Whittlesey), Kathryn Erbe (Shirley Bellinger), Mark Margolis (Antonio Nappa), Scott William Winters (Cyril O’Reilly), Luis Guzman (Raoul "El Cid" Hernandez), Leon Robinson (Jefferson Keane), Luke Perry (Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier), Tony Musante (Nino Schibetta), Robert Clohessy (Officer Sean Murphy), David Zayas (Enrique Morales), J.D. Williams (Kenny Wangler), Evan Seinfeld (Jaz Hoyt), Lance Reddick (Desmond Mobay), and muMs da Schemer (Arnold “Poet” Jackson).
Country of Origin: United States.
Number of Seasons: 6.
Number of Episodes: 56.
Running Time: 60 minutes.
Original Channel: HBO.
Original Run: July 12, 1997 – February 23, 2003.
Spinoffs: None.

Oz was a show created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes. It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by HBO. Oz is the nickname for the Oswald State Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison of undisclosed location. Many of the plot arcs are set in Emerald City ("Em City"), an experimental unit of the prison in which the unit manager attempts to emphasize rehabilitation and learning responsibility during incarceration. Emerald City is a controlled environment where there are a limited number of members of each racial and social group. Oz is narrated by Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau), former drug dealer and ex-crackhead. Now confined to a wheelchair, he appears in surreal segments or introductions that usually relate to an overall theme of the episode, setting up scenes, introducing characters, or adding epilogues. When necessary, usually when a character is introduced, Hill appears as an omniscient narrator. Used as a literary tool of the writers, he narrates the details of characters' lives, their prison number, their crimes, and their sentences. Hill appeared as a recurring character within the show's story lines until the sixth season, in which narration by various deceased characters, was added to the narration by Hill. The narrations by Hill thus break the fourth wall, in that Hill addresses the camera (and thus the audience) directly, out of the context of the dramatic scene. Hill also appears in scenes in which he does not address the camera, scenes in which he interacts in the usual dramatic fashion with other characters in the story. Once in the show Hill appeared to address another character with one of his narrations: in the season 3 episode "Unnatural Disasters," the character Adebisi turns on a computer to see Hill dressed as a pharaoh speaking to him. (This unusual sight is, however, quickly discounted by Adebisi as a drug-induced hallucination, and he never speaks of it again.) Augustus Hill's narration over the course of the series is similar in purpose and execution to those of the Greek chorus in Ancient theatre. Hill's narration provides plot exposition, as well as commenting upon the events of the stories. The narration thus provides the audience a clearer understanding of the narrative's moral and thematic standpoints. Oz's initial starring cast included 14 actors. Four of these were credited as "Starring": Ernie Hudson as Leo Glynn, the warden of Oz, Terry Kinney as Emerald City unit manager Tim McManus, Harold Perrineau as prisoner Augustus Hill, the narrator, and Eamonn Walker as new inmate and devout Muslim Kareem Said. Credited as "Also Starring" were: Edie Falco as correctional officer Diane Wittlesey, Rita Moreno as prison counselor Sister Peter Marie Reimondo, Kirk Acevedo as Latino inmate Miguel Alvarez, Leon Robinson as prisoner Jefferson Keane, J.K. Simmons as prisoner Vernon Schillinger, the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood in Oz, Tony Musante as incarcerated mafia boss Nino Schibetta, Lee Tergesen as another new inmate called Tobias Beecher, Sean Whitesell as cannibalistic inmate Donald Groves, Dean Winters as manipulative Irish inmate Ryan O'Reily, and B.D. Wong as the prison chaplain Father Ray Mukada. During the season, Robinson and Whitesell left after their characters were executed and Musante left following his character's murder. Season two saw several new additions. Recurring guest stars Lauren Vélez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and George Morfogen joined the main cast. Vélez played prison doctor Gloria Nathan, Akinnuoye-Agbaje played the leader of the Homeboys gang, Simon Adebisi and Morfogen played long-term inmate Bob Rebadow. Also, Acevedo, Moreno, Simmons, Tergesen and Winters joined Hudson, Kinney, Perrineau and Walker as the top billed cast-members. Season three saw Akinnuoye-Agbaje receive top billing, with new additions Kathryn Erbe as Shirley Bellinger, who was on death row for killing her daughter, Luis Guzman as Latino gang-leader Raoul "El Cid" Hernandez, Mark Margolis as mob boss Antonio Nappa, and Christopher Meloni as Beecher's love interest Chris Keller, all of which had been recurring guests the previous season. Falco left at the end of the season, and Margolis left when his character was murdered. Season four featured 10 "Starring" and 14 "Also Starring" cast members throughout the season. New additions were: Betty Buckley as Suzanne Fitzgerald, Ryan O'Reilly's mother and the Emerald City music teacher; Anthony Chisholm as Hill's mentor and stepfather Burr Redding; Rick Fox as basketball champion Jackson Vahue; Zeljko Ivanek as Governor James Devlin; David Johansen as Jewish inmate Eli Zabitz; Brian F. O'Byrne as Provisional IRA terrorist Padraig Connolly; Luke Perry as Jeremiah Cloutier, a reverend who was arrested for embezzling funds from his church; and Scott William Winters as the brain-damaged brother of Ryan, Cyril O'Reilly. The program's seasonal length (eight episodes, Seasons 1, 2, 3, 5, 6; sixteen episodes, Season 4) is an example of a trend for cable network programming to feature shorter seasons than American free-to-air channels, which typically feature more than twenty episodes per season. The series was co-produced by HBO and Rysher Entertainment, and the underlying US rights lie with HBO, which has released the entire series on DVD in North America. The international rights were owned originally by Rysher, and then Paramount Pictures/Television after that company acquired Rysher. CBS Paramount International Television currently owns the international TV rights, and Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS DVD owns the international DVD rights (the first four seasons have been released outside the US. The fifth season is scheduled for a June 2008 Release outside of the US).

When HBO aired their first dramatic series, Oz, in 1997, they started out with a bang. Since there are basically no restrictions on HBO, creator Tom Fontana was free to make a show a prison life as harsh and rough as prison actually is. He took advantage of the freedoms of premium cable to show material that would have been too extreme for traditional American broadcast television: coarse language, drug use, violence, male frontal nudity, homosexuality, rape, and ethnic and religious conflict complete. This also allowed for some of the most powerful performances in TV history: J.K Simmons as the homophobic Aryan Vernon Schillinger, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as the fierce and a little crazy Simon Adebisi, Harold Perrineau Jr. as the physically disabled, but socially astute narrator of the series Augustus Hill, Lee Tergesen as the middle-class lawyer turned drug addict and homosexual Muslim Tobias Beecher, Christopher Meloni as the bisexual serial killer Chris Keller, and Eamonn Walker as the proud and outspoken Black Muslim Kareem Said, just to name a few (and, I know I didn’t mention any of the prison staff, and the reason is, I’m sorry if this upsets you but, the prisoners were much more interesting than the prison staff). There is no way Oz could have aired on network TV. Even in a censored version, it would have been waterdowned and not as good. It might have worked on cable, but on HBO, we able to see the full brunt of its spectacularly unsettling mood. It also opened the door other powerful dramas to air of HBO; honestly, if Oz hadn’t have been a success, then there would be no The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, or The Wire. Plus, it pretty created a legacy of scarring the shit out of people about prison with numerous references in other shows. With its sprawling, expert cast, serpentine story lines that lashed out at will, and no holds barred attitude Oz stands as the ultimate don't-drop-the-soap opera.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

83. The Odd Couple



Genre: Sitcom
Created by: Neil Simon (writer of the original play).
Executive Producer(s): Garry Marshall.
Starring: Tony Randall (Felix Unger) and Jack Klugman (Oscar Madison).
Country of Origin: United States.
Number of Seasons: 5.
Number of Episodes: 114.
Running Time: 30 minutes.
Original Channel: ABC.
Original Run: September 24, 1970 – July 4, 1975.
Spinoffs: “The Odd Couple: Together Again,” a 1993 CBS TV movie that reunited Randall and Klugman; The New Odd Couple, a 1982—1983 remake with black actors (Ron Glass as Felix and Demond Wilson as Oscar); and The Oddball Couple, a 1975—1977 animated series about a sloppy dog and a tidy cat.

The success of the 1968 film version of the stage play of The Odd Couple, which starred Jack Lemmon as Felix and Walter Matthau as Oscar, served as the catalyst to bringing the characters to television. The original casting considerations for the TV show included Mickey Rooney or Martin Balsam as Oscar and Dean Martin or Art Carney as Felix. (Carney had originated the role on Broadway.) Eventually, Jack Klugman and Tony Randall were hired. Both had starred in different productions of the play. Randall, who was hired first, had still wanted Mickey Rooney to play Oscar. The show's co-executive producer, Garry Marshall, had to lobby to get Klugman successfully hired. Once the casting was in place, the show's writers (comprised of Marshall, Jerry Belson, Jerry Paris, Harvey Miller, Bob Brunner, Mark Rothman and Lowell Ganz among others) came up with a multitude of situations for Felix and Oscar to be in, while always staying true to the soul of the play, which always reverted back to the human tensions between the two that created the comic situations. The Pigeon Sisters (Monica Evans as Cecily and Carole Shelley as Gwendolyn, reprising their roles from the film and stage play) made a few appearances during the first season. Their characters were phased out by the end of the first season. Also in the first season, Oscar had a girlfriend, Dr. Nancy Cunningham (played by Joan Hotchkis), but her character disappeared after the second season. Felix gained a girlfriend in the second season, nurse Miriam Welby (played by Elinor Donahue), but they broke up in the fourth season. Bill Quinn appeared occasionally as Dr. Melnitz, Miriam's boss and the boys' physician. Christopher Shea also appeared in three episodes of the first season as Philip, Felix and Oscar's 11-year-old neighbor. The TV show also featured their ex-wives. Janis Hansen played Felix's ex, Gloria (named Frances in the play and film) and Jack Klugman's real life wife at the time Brett Somers as Blanche, Oscar's ex. (The real couple separated during the run of the show.) There were many episodes in which Felix felt he had made a mistake by granting Gloria a divorce and took comedically drastic measures to try to win her back. In contrast, Oscar was happy to be divorced from Blanche and the two constantly traded sarcastic barbs. The only major drawback from Oscar's point of view was the alimony he was ordered to pay. The two other major supporting characters, Murray the Cop and Myrna Turner, Oscar's secretary, were played by Al Molinaro and Penny Marshall (Garry's sister) respectively. Garry Walberg, Ryan McDonald and Larry Gelman played Oscar's poker player friends Speed, Roy and Vinnie and rounded out the rest of the regulars. Ryan McDonald left the show after the first season and the character of Roy vanished afterwards. Willie Aames and later Leif Garrett made a few appearances as Felix's son, Leonard. Pamelyn Ferdin and later Doney Oatman made a few appearances as Felix's teenaged daughter, Edna. The show opened with the following narration:

"On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. (Unger's unseen wife slams door. She reopens it and angrily hands Felix his saucepan) That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?"

This opening narration was featured during the show's first and second seasons (in the U.S. DVD release, it is also used in the third season set). It was narrated by voice actor Bill Woodson. The "childhood friend" reference was only used during the first season and was later changed to simply "friend" (in fact, the "childhood friend" reference was added partway through the first season, as the fourth episode explain that Felix and Oscar met during jury duty). Also, "sometime earlier" was changed to "several years earlier" followed by Madison's wife throwing him out, requesting that he never return. The opening credit sequence consisted of Felix and Oscar in various humorous situations around New York City. In later seasons, the opening sequence featured highlights from the shows' past episodes mixed with the previous footage. The closing credit sequences for the first four years of the show consisted of more of the boys run amok in NYC or a scene where Felix meets Oscar by a big fountain where Oscar throws a cigar in the fountain and Felix barking at him to pick it up and Oscar scooping it up with his shoe and placing the wet and soiled cigar in Felix's pocket. For the final season, the credits were shown against a blue background. The show premiered on ABC on Thursday, September 24, 1970, at 9:30 p.m. During the first season, the show was filmed like a movie with a single camera, using an apartment set resembling film version. A laugh track was used (to which Tony Randall objected). Thereafter, the show was filmed with three cameras and performed like a stage play in front of a studio audience (with audience reactions instead of a laugh track). Throughout its run, The Odd Couple was juggled around ABC's programming schedule, (all times ET): September 1970 to January 1971 - Thursday nights at 9:30 p.m., Jan. 1971 to June 1973 - Friday nights at 9:30 p.m., Jun. 1973 to January 1974 - Friday nights at 8:30 p.m., Jan. 1974 to September 1974 - Friday nights at 9:30 p.m., September 1974 to January 1975 - Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m., and Jan. 1975 to July 1975 - Friday nights at 9:30 p.m. The show struggled in the Nielsen ratings and was canceled at the end of every season, but ABC renewed the show for each upcoming season because the ratings for the summer reruns were high. The final first-run episode, aired on March 7, 1975, was entitled "Felix Remarries." In it, Felix finally wins Gloria back and they remarry as Oscar regains the freedom of living alone again. The final scene unfolds thusly, as the two say their goodbyes:

Felix: Your dinner's in the oven. Turn it off in twenty minutes. Oscar what can I say? Five years ago you took me in, a broken man on the verge of...mental collapse. I leave here a cured human being. I owe it all to you. [gesturing toward apartment] It's all yours buddy. I salute you. [empties waste basket onto floor]
Oscar: Felix, you know how I'm gonna salute you? I'm gonna clean that up.
Felix: It has not been in vain.
[They shake hands and Felix exits stage right through front door. After door closes …]
Oscar: [swings his hand through the air] I'm not gonna clean that up. [exits stage left to bedroom]
[Felix sneaks back in stage right and looks at floor]
Felix: [disgustedly] I knew he wouldn't clean it up! [proceeds to pick up trash] (fade out)

The 114 episodes quickly found a very successful life in syndication where they found a brand new audience which endures to this day. During its original run the show had mediocre ratings at best (the show never cracked the Top 25 programs Nielsen ratings list during its entire run). Nonetheless, both actors were nominated for Emmy Awards in each year of the shows run. Jack Klugman won two Emmy Awards for his work (in 1971 and 1973) and Tony Randall won an Emmy as well (in 1975, in which, upon acceptance of the award, he commented on the fact that he wished he currently "had a job", since the show had been cancelled). Klugman was also nominated for a Golden Globe in 1972 and won one in 1974. The show itself was also nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in the years 1971, 1972 and 1974. Klugman and Randall did a series of commercials for different products as Felix and Oscar. In 1972, they appeared in TV commercials for Yoplait yogurt. (Klugman also did commercials without Randall for the product in the early 1980s) In 1974, they appeared in ads for the game Yahtzee. For a while, their likenesses also appeared on the game's packaging. In the late 1980s to early 1990s, Klugman and Randall reprised their characters in a series of commercials for Eagle Snacks, although they called each other by their real names. They also reprised their roles as Felix and Oscar in regional productions, this time performing the Neil Simon play, from the late 1980s until the mid 1990s. They had also performed the Simon play on a few road shows during the TV-shows off season during the summer in the early to mid 1970s. In 1997, they appeared in a Broadway revival of another Simon play, The Sunshine Boys. In the 1980s, while starring in the NBC drama Quincy, M.E., Klugman did commercials for Canon copiers. Minolta countered by hiring Randall, then on the NBC sitcom Love, Sidney, to do a commercial where he channeled his Felix role, mentioning that he "can change copy colors without getting that disgusting black powder all over my hands!" He closed by saying, "But that doesn't mean I'm a neat freak. Of course, I'm not a slob, either, like, uh... " and waved his hand, to suggest Klugman as Oscar. Klugman and Randall reunited in the 1993 CBS TV movie “The Odd Couple: Together Again” to limited success. Klugman lost a vocal cord to throat cancer and this struggle was included into the script. In the film, Felix tries to help Oscar recover. He also becomes overly involved in Edna's upcoming wedding much to her and Gloria's dismay. A cartoon version of The Odd Couple premiered on September 6, 1975 on ABC titled The Oddball Couple during their Saturday morning kids' programming block, Funshine Saturday. The characters were renamed, "Spiffy" (voiced by Frank Nelson) and "Fleabag" (voiced by Paul Winchell). It was directed and produced by the same team that produced the Pink Panther cartoons: David DePatie and Friz Freleng were executive producers, Gerry Chiniquy, and Robert McKimson among others, directed several episodes. The show was canceled in 1977. In 1982, ABC aired a new version of The Odd Couple, this time with two African-Americans, Ron Glass as Felix and Demond Wilson as Oscar. It was called The New Odd Couple and ran less than half a season. The Odd Couple: The Complete First Season was released on DVD in Region 1 on August 18, 2006. It features all 24 episodes from the first season and was released by Time Life Video instead of Paramount Home Entertainment. (Paramount Television was the program's original distributor.) (Some episodes, mainly from the first season, were available on a VHS videotape set during the 1990s, and distributed by Columbia House.) Each episode on the First Season DVDs contain an introduction from the show's producer Garry Marshall. Also included as extras are Emmy Awards speeches, bloopers, TV interviews with the show's stars and a clip of the Odd Couple on Broadway. On April 24, 2007, CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) released the first season On DVD (the same set as distributed by Time Life Video) to retail outlets. Paramount released the second season on August 28, 2007. Paramount's release of the Second Season was a bare bones package with no extras. The disclaimer on the package says episodes may be edited from their original broadcast and some music has been altered, though there was no copyrighted music used in the series, so the difference, if any, is negligible. The 3rd season of The Odd Couple on DVD was released on January 22, 2008. Like Season two, the third season did not contain any extras, though there are noticeable edits throughout the set, most notably when Felix starts to sing a song. The 4th season of The Odd Couple on DVD was released on June 10, 2008.

There is one problem I have with this show is its concept. It’s not that it’s a bad concept; it’s just that the concept has launched a million lousy shows and/or movies that have a similar concept: two people who have nothing in common, forced to live or be around each other for a length of time, and eventually learn to a little like one another. But, despite that, The Odd Couple is a very good show. This classic sitcom made lightning strike twice by casting Tony Randall and Jack Klugman as finicky Felix and slovenly Oscar, fitting the roles as perfectly as Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau did in the film (based on the Neil Simon play). In fact, Randall and Klugman’s prodigious talents have pretty much put their faces on most people’s images when they hear the words The Odd Couple. Fastidious photographer Felix and slobby sportswriter Oscar were divorced men sharing a bachelor pad out of sheer necessity at a time when it had just become acceptable to talk about D-I-V-O-R-C-E on TV. Sure, they drove each other crazy, but they couldn’t live without each other. In the prefeminist culture in which these guys were raised, Felix fulfilled the traditional role of the wife, cooking and cleaning, while Oscar was the aggressive, socially graceless husband. Imagine how different this show would have been if it had been made today. (That means we’d think that they were gay lovers, in case you didn’t get that. And, sorry for the images of Tony Randall and Jack Klugman having sex with each other if I put those in your heads.) In some ways a snapshot of the early 1970s, with guest stars like loudmouthed sportscaster Howard Cosell and male-chauvinist tennis bum Bobby Riggs, The Odd Couple still maintained a timeless quality in its scripts, some penned by executive producer Garry Marshall, whose sister Penny played Oscar’s secretary, Myrna. Perhaps that’s why its humor has held up so well over the years; the series proved more popular in syndication that it ever was during its original ABC run. Viewed today, the show seems fresher and funnier than ever. After nearly 30 years, we’re still awed by this couple.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

Tomorrow, numbers 82 and 81, plus a recap of the past 20 shows. Here are the hints:

Both take place on an island: one has people trying to get off, and one has people trying to stay on.

[Abadebe]

I'll guess Gilligan's Island and Survivor.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

Countdown time, Shirley. Here's number 82:

82. Survivor



Genre: Reality Show, Game Show.
Created by: Charlie Parsons.
Executive Producer(s): Mark Burnett.
Starring: Jeff Probst (host). (Contestants are in order of first eliminated to winner):
Season 1, Borneo: Sonja Christopher, B.B. Andersen, Stacey Stillman, Ramona Gray, Dirk Been, Joel Klug, Gretchen Cordy, Greg Buis, Jenna Lewis, Gervase Peterson, Colleen Haskell, Sean Kenniff, Susan "Sue" Hawk, Rudy Boesch, Kelly Wiglesworth, and Richard Hatch.
Season 2, The Australian Outback: Debb Eaton, Kel Gleason, Maralyn Hershey, Mitchell Olson, Kimmi Kappenberg, Michael Skupin, Jeff Varner, Alicia Calaway, Jerri Manthey, Nick Brown, Amber Brkich, Rodger Bingham, Elisabeth Filarski, Keith Famie, Colby Donaldson, and Tina Wesson.
Season 3, Africa: Diane Ogden, Jessie Camacho, Carl Bilancione, Linda Spencer, Silas Gaither, Lindsey Richter, Clarence Black, Kelly Goldsmith, Brandon Quinton, Frank Garrison, Kim Powers, Teresa Cooper, Tom Buchanan, Lex van den Berghe, Kim Johnson, and Ethan Zohn.
Season 4, Marquesas: Peter Harkey, Patricia Jackson, Hunter Ellis, Sarah Jones, Gabriel Cade, Gina Crews, Rob Mariano, John Carroll, Zoe Zanidakis, Tammy Leitner, Robert DeCanio, Sean Rector, Paschal English, Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien, Neleh Dennis, and Vecepia Towery.
Season 5, Thailand: John Raymond, Tanya Vance, Jed Hildebrand, Ghandia Johnson, Stephanie Dill, Robb Zbacnik, Shii Ann Huang, Erin Collins, Ken Stafford, Penny Ramsey, Jake Billingsley, Ted Rogers, Jr., Helen Glover, Jan Gentry, Clay Jordan, and Brian Heidik.
Season 6, The Amazon: Ryan Aiken, Janet Koth, Daniel Lue, Joanna Ward, Jeanne Hebert, Shawna Mitchell, Roger Sexton, Dave Johnson, Deena Bennett, Alex Bell, Christy Smith, Heidi Strobel, Butch Lockley, Rob Cesternino, Matthew Von Ertfelda, and Jenna Morasca.
Season 7, Pearl Islands: Nicole Delma, Ryan Shoulders, Lillian Morris, Burton Roberts, Michelle Tesauro, Trish Dunn, Shawn Cohen, Osten Taylor, Andrew Savage, Ryan Opray, Rupert Boneham, Tijuana Bradley, Christa Hastie, Burton Roberts, Darrah Johnson, Jon "Jonny Fairplay" Dalton, Lillian Morris, and Sandra Diaz-Twine.
Season 8, All-Stars: Tina Wesson, Rudy Boesch, Jenna Morasca, Rob Cesternino, Richard Hatch, Sue Hawk, Colby Donaldson, Ethan Zohn, Jerri Manthey, Lex van den Berghe, Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien, Alicia Calaway, Shii Ann Huang, Tom Buchanan, Rupert Boneham, Jenna Lewis, Rob Mariano, and Amber Brkich.
Season 9, Vanuatu: Brook Geraghty, Dolly Neely, John Palyok, Mia Galeotalanza, Brady Finta, Travis "Bubba" Sampson, Lisa Keiffer, John Kenney, Rory Freeman, Lea "Sarge" Masters, Chad Crittenden, Leann Slaby, Ami Cusack, Julie Berry, Eliza Orlins, Scout Cloud Lee, Twila Tanner, and Chris Daugherty.
Season 10, Palau: Jonathan Libby, Wanda Shirk, Jolanda Jones, Ashlee Ashby, Jeff Wilson, Kim Mullen, Willard Smith, Angie Jakusz, James Miller, Ibrehem Rahman, Bobby Jon Drinkard, Coby Archa, Janu Tornell, Stephenie LaGrossa, Gregg Carey, Caryn Groedel, Jenn Lyon, Ian Rosenberger, Katie Gallagher, and Tom Westman.
Season 11, Guatemala: Jim Lynch, Morgan McDevitt, Brianna Varela, Brooke Struck, Blake Towsley, Margaret Bobonich, Brian Corridan, Amy O'Hara, Brandon Bellinger, Bobby Jon Drinkard, Jamie Newton, Gary Hogeboom, Judd Sergeant, Cindy Hall, Lydia Morales, Rafe Judkins, Stephenie LaGrossa, and Danni Boatwright.
Season 12, Panama: Tina Scheer, Melinda Hyder, Misty Giles, Ruth Marie Milliman, Bobby Mason, Dan Barry, Nick Stanbury, Austin Carty, Sally Schumann, Bruce Kanegai, Courtney Marit, Shane Powers, Cirie Fields, Terry Deitz, Danielle DiLorenzo, and Aras Baskauskas.
Season 13, Cook Islands: Sekou Bunch, Vergilio "Billy" Garcia, Cecilia Mansilla, John "J.P." Calderon, Stephannie Favor, Anh-Tuan "Cao Boi" Bui, Cristina Coria, Jessica "Flicka" Smith, Brad Virata, Rebecca Borman, Jenny Guzon-Bae, Nathan "Nate" Gonzalez, Candice Woodcock, Jonathan Penner, Parvati Shallow, Adam Gentry, Sundra Oakley, Rebekah "Becky" Lee, Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth, and Yul Kwon.
Season 14, Fiji: Jessica deBen, Erica Durousseau, Sylvia Kwan, Gary Stritesky, Liliana Gomez, Rita Verreos, Anthony Robinson, James "Rocky" Reid, Lisette "Lisi" Linares, Michelle Yi, Edgardo Rivera, Mookie Lee, Alex Angarita, Stacy Kimball, Kenward "Boo" Bernis, Yau-Man Chan, Andria (Dre) "Dreamz" Herd, Cassandra Franklin, and Earl Cole.
Season 15, China: Steve "Chicken" Morris, Ashley Massaro, Leslie Nease, Dave Cruser, Aaron Reisberger, Sherea Lloyd, Jaime Dugan, Jean-Robert Bellande, Michael "Frosti" Zernow, James Clement, Erik Huffman, Peih-Gee Law, Denise Martin, Amanda Kimmel, Courtney Yates, and Todd Herzog.
Season 16, Micronesia: Jon "Jonny Fairplay" Dalton, Mary Sartain, Yau-Man Chan, Michael "Mikey B" Bortone, Joel Anderson, Jonathan Penner, Chet Welch, Kathleen "Kathy" Sleckman, Tracy Hughes-Wolf, Ami Cusack, Eliza Orlins, Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth, Jason Siska, James Clement, Alexis Jones, Erik Reichenbach, Natalie Bolton, Cirie Fields, Amanda Kimmel, and Parvati Shallow.
Country of Origin: United States, but based on a Swedish show.
Number of Seasons: 16.
Number of Episodes: 219.
Running Time: 60 minutes.
Original Channel: CBS.
Original Run: May 31, 2000 – Present
Spinoffs: The show is an Americanized version of the Swedish show Expedition Robinson, and there are versions in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Czech Republic, France, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Middle East, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Serbia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Venezuela.

The United States version is produced by Mark Burnett and hosted by Jeff Probst. It airs Thursdays on CBS. The creation of the Survivor concept, although credited to Charlie Parsons, was actually conceived by Bob Geldof's Planet 24 television company. It initially failed to attract the attention of any of the major broadcasters in Britain or the United States and was eventually sold to the Swedish television company Strix Television as Expedition Robinson (alluding to Robinson Crusoe). After some public debate and putting the show on hold a few weeks while removing a few scenes not fit for public service TV, it became a major hit when it debuted in 1997 in Sweden. The initial U.S. series was a huge ratings success in 2000 and, along with ABC's prime-time game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, sparked a reality-television revolution in the USA. The popularity of these shows prompted networks to push sitcoms and conventional drama series aside and rushed their own reality shows into development. Even the Fox Network, which had vowed never to air a reality show again just months earlier following media outrage surrounding its Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? program, broke its promise and launched several competitors of its own. Survivor's second season, in the winter/spring of 2001, drew even larger audiences. Subsequent U.S. versions have attracted smaller but still substantial audiences. There have also been British and Australian versions of the show in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Both were considered ratings failures. Indeed in Britain, its failure was a national joke (though ratings for the UK series were considerably lower than ITV had hoped for, it still regularly attracted six to eight million viewers, a decent rather than huge audience, but enough for ITV to commission a second series which appeared a year later). TF1 France has produced seven seasons of Koh-Lanta, a French version of Survivor, and a Japanese version was also produced for four installments which achieved some success. Broadcast rights for the American version have been sold to various broadcasters and is viewed in many countries around the world. The first ever Celebrity Survivor, made in Australia, attained moderate ratings. The first season of the Israeli version of the show, "Hisardut" ("survival"), has aired in 2007-2008, with its final episode being aired on 17 may 2008. The following description of the show is based primarily on the American version of Survivor, though the general format applies to all international versions.

Tribes: The show strands between sixteen to twenty strangers in a remote location divided into two to four teams called tribes. Depending on the season, tribes are usually given a minimal number of tools with which to survive: commonly, this has included a machete, a pot, water canteens, and a special water well created for the show. This well holds brackish water that the players need to boil prior to drinking, forcing tribes to make fire on their own or to win (as a reward) the tools to make fire. Tribes are encouraged to build shelters to protect themselves from the elements and to forage on the local flora and fauna for nourishment. In some seasons, tribes have started with food supplies (typically rice) provided by the show, while other seasons have given the tribes no additional help at the start of the game. Initial tribe divisions have been made in several ways over the years. Early seasons tended to feature tribes divided based on a roughly equal distribution of age and gender within each tribe. Several seasons have featured tribes split by gender, age, and/or racial background. Divisions are generally made in advance by production, however, three seasons have had the tribes selected in various manners by one or more contestants after the game starts. Tribes are given unique names and identifying colors which are used on tribe flags, challenge courses, on-screen text and various other items. Each player is given a buff, an elastic ring of material generally patterned with the logo for the current season that can be worn as an armband, headband, tube top, or mini skirt. Players are required to wear a buff with the color of their tribe in a visible location at all times, allowing the audience to identify tribal affiliation. Upon switching tribes (due to a merge or tribe switch), players are required to give up their old buff and obtain a new one in the new tribe's color. The producers have generally made sure that all players will not back out prior to being stranded, and will generally have backup players ready to go if one does drop out, but in the case of Survivor: Fiji, one contestant backed out the night before day one of the game. Since producers were not prepared for this turn of events, Fiji was the first season to feature an odd number of players, and subsequently required the production team to alter how the tribes would initially be divided.

Challenges: During the course of the game, players compete as tribes or individually in contests called challenges. Challenges consist of endurance, problem solving, teamwork, dexterity, and/or willpower, and are usually designed to fit the theme of the current season. A common style of challenge is a race through a series of obstacles to collect puzzle pieces which then must be assembled after all pieces have been collected. Challenges have also included gross food challenges (including foods eaten by the local population), and knowledge quizzes about the locale or players. Many seasons also include during individual challenges: a 'loved one' challenge where a family member, friend or significant other of each player participates or is part of the challenge reward; the 'Survivor Auction' in which contestants bid against each other on luxury items and strategic advantages; a challenge in which the winning contestant receives a car; and a challenge that includes components of previous challenges from that season. Endurance challenges typically require tribe members to stay balanced on a small perch or support their own weight in a precarious position for as long as possible. The degree of difficulty may be progressively increased during the course of an endurance challenge in order to arrive at a winner faster. Some challenges have had the tribes compete at their own beaches by constructing a shelter or an SOS signal. The results are then judged by an expert and the winning tribe notified by the receipt of a package dropped from a plane or delivered by boat. Players are notified of when and where challenges are to take place via special messages left at a location near camp, dubbed treemail (a play on the word "email") by competitors, due to the fact that the messages were delivered to a basket hanging from a tree in Survivor: Borneo. These messages nearly always include a rhyme which gives hints to the nature of the challenge and sometimes include props that may be useful for the upcoming challenge, allowing tribes and players to attempt to form a strategy prior to the challenge. In some cases, the tribes have been given equipment to practice with or information they need to memorize prior to the challenge. There are two types of Challenges: Reward Challenges and Immunity Challenges. In Reward Challenges, the contestants compete for luxuries that are not essential for survival but make their lives easier and/or more enjoyable. Examples of rewards have included food, flint, matches, rain gear, and even short trips away from camp. In Immunity Challenges, the contestants compete for immunity from an elimination ceremony known as Tribal Council. When the game is in its tribal stage, the tribe that wins immunity does not take part in Tribal Council. Following the merger of the two tribes, the individual who wins immunity cannot have votes cast against him or her. There have been several combined Reward/Immunity challenges. These have come in two approaches: A tribe can be given both a reward and immunity for winning. This usually occurs in the first immunity challenge, as there is usually no reward challenge during the premiere episode. Usually flint or matches are given to the tribe which wins Immunity. In cases where there are more than two tribes, the reward may be given to the first place tribe, and immunity to all but the last place tribe. In later seasons, when there are two tribes left, there have been challenges which result in both tribes going to Tribal Council (one after another), but with the winning tribe getting an additional reward, such as a meal, while they watch the proceedings of the other tribe's Tribal Council. Prior to the merge, all challenges are between tribes, resulting in tribal rewards and immunities. After the merge, contestants compete in challenges on an individual basis. Individual rewards have often included the option to select one or more other tribe members to participate in the reward. After merging, there have been reward challenges where two or more teams are created from the remaining players, with the winning team reaping the reward benefits. In recent seasons of the US version, a special message, held in a bottle or by host Jeff Probst, has been given to the winners or the losers of the challenge, with instructions to either read the note immediately after the challenge, or to hold the note unread until Tribal Council. These notes have provided additional instructions to the tribe that holds it, such as deciding to avoid Tribal Council but requiring the tribe to move to a less desirable beach, or to vote off a second player immediately after voting off a first player at Tribal Council. When one tribe has more players than the other tribe, it must designate players to sit out of tribal challenges so that equal numbers compete. No person may sit out twice in a row or, if this is not possible, no person may compete twice in a row. The challenges are usually held in a 3 day cycle - one day for the reward challenge, one day of rest, and one day for the immunity challenge and Tribal Council.

Merges, Tribe Switches, and Dissolves: In seasons which start with more than two tribes, there is typically a dissolve of the tribes down into two tribes, typically after the second or third Tribal Council. When there are 8 to 10 players left in the game, the separate tribes merge into a single tribe. From this point, Challenges are won on an individual basis. In general, after the merge has been announced, the members of the newly merged tribe collocate to a single camp. The merged tribe also selects a new tribe name and designs a new tribal flag with materials provided by production. There was no technical merge in Palau, as the Koror tribe had "conquered" the Ulong tribe by winning every tribal immunity challenge, leaving Ulong with only one member. This one member was then absorbed by Koror with no subsequent tribe name change. Often, there has been a Tribe Switch at some point before the merge. In this, the members of each tribe are swapped around, typically not redistributing the tribal numbers. The mechanism for the Tribe Switch has varied from a random shuffle to a schoolyard pick by two tribe 'captains'. There has also been a Tribe Switch accomplished by allowing players to 'mutiny' from their present tribe to join the other. This process typically defeats many early alliances and strategies, and has cost some players the game while saving other players from being eliminated early.

Hidden Immunity Idol: In the most recent of the US versions, hidden immunity idols have been made available. These idols, typically a small object that fits with the theme of the Survivor location, are hidden near camp or located on Exile Island, with cumulative clues given to a select player (in Guatemala) or to exiled or kidnapped players (otherwise) as to its location. Once found, the player that possesses an idol may keep it or transfer it to another player prior to the start of Tribal Council, and it may not be stolen from that player. The player is not required to show this idol to other players, though may use it as a bargaining chip for alliance and voting purposes. Other players may discover the ownership of the idol via any means within the rules of the game, including peeking into other player's personal possessions. In the first few seasons of the twist, only one idol was ever in play, but in Survivor: Fiji and Survivor: China, two hidden immunity idols were made available to the players (one located at each camp). The hidden immunity idol can only be used up until and including the Tribal Council of the final four or five players, depending on the season. The use of the idol by a player to become immune has changed through the seasons: In Guatemala, the player with the idol was required to show the idol prior to the vote in order to become immune. The other members of the tribe were then not allowed to vote for this player. In both Panama and Cook Islands, the player with the idol was required to show the idol after the votes were read to become immune. If the idol holder had received the most number of votes, the player with the next largest number of votes was then immediately voted out. If the idol holder was tied with the most votes with another player, that player was also immediately voted out. In Fiji, China and Micronesia, the player with the idol was required to show it after the votes were cast, but before they were read. The idol could be given to another player at this time, allowing that player to use the idol if they so desired. The resolution remained the same as with Panama and Cook Islands. According to an interview with host Jeff Probst, this change achieved a "happy medium" of the previous idol/immunity mechanisms. During Guatemala, the hidden immunity idol was not returned to the game after its use. Since then, if the idol is played, or the player with the idol leaves the game with without playing it, the idol is replaced at a new location to be found, as long as the means by which clues to the idol's location are still given out and that the idol can still be played at following Tribal Councils. In "China", both idols left the game before the end, but as the means to reveal the idols' locations (clues given to the kidnapped player) was no longer in effect, they were not replaced. During Micronesia the hidden idol was found 3 times (first by Ozzy, then Jason, and finally Amanda). Ozzy and Jason were each eliminated while in possession of the idol; Amanda successfully used the idol to avoid elimination.

Exile Island: The concept of Exile Island was first introduced in Survivor: Palau, when a single contestant was made to stay on a beach by herself. The concept was later expanded in Survivor: Panama and was used in its successors Survivor: Cook Islands, Survivor: Fiji and Survivor: Micronesia. A selected player is exiled to a small island apart from the main tribe camps, typically for at least a day following a reward challenge and returning immediately before the following immunity challenge. The player selected may be either the first loser of a challenge (as was the case in Survivor: Palau), or a person selected by either the winning or losing tribe in the tribal phase, or an individual challenge winner in the individual phase. In Micronesia one person from each tribe was sent to Exile Island. A player who wins the right to decide who goes to Exile Island may also choose to send himself or herself. Once selected, the exiled contestant is immediately taken to the island by boat. On the island, there are few tools to survive with, typically a water canteen, a machete, a pot, and a limited amount of shelter. The two main disadvantages of being on Exile Island are the lack of food and water, which can weaken a player and make them less effective in challenges, and the isolation from other contestants, which can cause a player to become out of the loop and weaken their position in their tribe. Contestants are often sent to Exile Island for one of these strategic reasons. The person exiled receives a consolation prize of sorts - a clue to the hidden immunity idol, which may or may not be located on the island.

Tribal Council: Tribal Council is held at the end of each episode. Here, the tribemates vote one person out of their tribe. The first time any player visits Tribal Council, they are asked to take a torch and light it from the fire pit omnipresent at every Council. It is stated that "this is part of the ritual of Tribal Council because fire represents life. As long as you have fire, you are still in this game. When your fire's gone, so are you": a metaphor used commonly within the show's theme. If the formation of the Jury has started, they are asked to silently enter and watch the proceedings. The players are then questioned by the host, who often provokes revealing details from them of events and interactions since the tribe's previous tribal council. Immediately prior to the vote, if a player has been awarded individual immunity through an immunity challenge, he is then asked if he wants to transfer that to another player. Whoever has the immunity after this possible exchange cannot be voted out. The players then vote for another player in secret and explain their vote at the voting confessional, and the player who receives the most votes must leave the game. Players cannot vote for themselves. Players are also required to write legibly, and to avoid the use of uncommon nicknames. During the Tribal Council portion of the episode as aired, these votes and confessionals are not all shown; this is done to maximize the suspense of the pending vote tally. However, the vote of each tribe member is revealed during the credits and the ousted player's confessional. When the votes are read, the order that the votes are pulled has also usually been manipulated by production to extract the most suspense from the players during the tally. Once the vote tally has exceeded the majority needed, the host will stop the vote tally, pronouncing that player is eliminated from the game, keeping the remaining votes in secret to the players themselves. As described previously, the player(s) with the Hidden Immunity Idol(s) are offered the chance to play the idol at specific points during this process. The eliminated player's torch is extinguished (also dubbed as snuffing), and the host declares "The tribe has spoken" and "It's time for you to go." The player then exits the Tribal Council area and delivers some final words that air at the end of the episode. The remaining tribe members are then told to return to camp with their torches; in some seasons, this has allowed a tribe access to a source of fire, while in other seasons, the tribe is not allowed to return to camp with their torches lit if they do not yet have their own source of fire or method of starting one. In the event of a tie before there are four contestants remaining, a revote among the non-tied contestants will occur, in which the only candidates for elimination are the tied players. If the revote does not resolve the tie, and the vote is thus determined to be deadlocked between two or more players, a two minute discussion will commence in which the non-tied players must come to a unanimous decision as to who should be eliminated. If a unanimous decision is not reached within two minutes, the tied players are granted immunity and the non-tied players (except anyone who has won individual immunity) are forced to choose rocks out of a bag without looking. The player who chooses the differently colored rock is eliminated. In the event of a tie at the final four, a revote will occur, but if the revote does not resolve the tie, the tied players will face off in a challenge. In Palau and Panama, this challenge was a fire-making contest. In Marquesas, the random rock tiebreaker was used at the final four, which host Jeff Probst later admitted was a mistake. In the very rare case that a tribe prior to the merge is down to two players, as in Palau, those two will also face off in a challenge to determine who is to leave the game. This has only happened once to date. Very rarely, a player may decide to quit the game. While this is disapproved of by the crew and contestants, the player's wish is granted, for whatever reasons. In very rare cases when players are forced out of the game due to injury, or completely leave the game on their own terms outside of Tribal Council, Tribal Council is usually not held, with the other tribe(s) being informed of the player's departure if still before the merge. However, there have been occasions where, after a player is evacuated, an immunity challenge and subsequent Tribal Council are still held. This is typically when the game begins with more than eighteen contestants.

The Jury: All eliminated players except, generally, the Final 9, leave the game altogether. The remaining players who leave the game, excluding the final two or three who will go on to the final vote, form the jury, a group of people who vote to determine the winner of the game. Once the Jury starts to form, the members are present at every Tribal Council, but are not allowed to speak or interact with the players still in the game; they are only there to observe the questioning and voting that occurs. Jury members are sequestered until the end of the final Tribal Council, and are not allowed to discuss their voting or issues with the remaining contestants, with other jury members, or the final players in order to prevent any possible cooperation or collusion from subgroups within the jury. This restriction continues through the game and up until the reveal of the winner of the game.

End of the Game: The last two challenges (starting on the third to last day of the competition) before the Final Tribal Council have always followed a similar pattern: Prior to the second-to-last challenge, the players are usually treated to a small food reward (a hearty breakfast or similar meal) for making it this far. The second-to-last challenge tends to be an extremely grueling, multi-part challenge, and usually is the most elaborate challenge of the entire season. A Tribal Council is held to vote off one player at this point. Prior to the last challenge, the remaining players partake in a memorial activity appropriate for the theme of the show, where they pay respect to the players who have been eliminated previously. (Torches of the eliminated contestants are usually alluded in this part.) This usually leads directly into the last challenge, which tends to focus on balance and endurance and which can last from minutes to almost half a day. In most seasons, with three players participating, winning immunity on this challenge allows that player to select whom he or she wants to go with to the Final Tribal Council, significantly improving their chance at winning the competition. Because of this, the challenges tend to allow players to talk and try to make last-minute deals, giving up immunity for assurance of being taken to the Final Two. A Tribal Council is then held to vote off the last eliminated player. Only the person with Immunity may vote since the other two votes cancel each other out. At this point, the game is no longer in the remaining players' control, as the next day they face the Final Tribal Council where their fate will be decided. A similar pattern is used when there are three contestants attending the Final Tribal Council. The endurance challenge was held with the final four players left in the game, preventing one person from taking an unliked person to the Final Tribal Council with them." It is possible that a tie may occur this way, but the method of resolving it is unknown.

Final Tribal Council: On the last day of the competition, the surviving players generally either clean up, tear down, or burn down their camp as a tribute to surviving to the end of the game. They then make their way to the final Tribal Council. During the final Tribal Council, the following events generally occur, though parts may be edited to fit within the time limitation for the show: Each of the final players makes an introductory statement to the jury about why they are deserving of the jury's vote. Each jury member, in turn, can ask each of the final players a question, which that player must respond to. In some cases, the juror may only be making a short speech which requires no answer but is meant to throw the player off guard. Each final player makes a closing statement, allowing them to respond generally to the jury's question and again explain why they would be the most deserving winner. There was no closing statement in Cook Islands, Fiji, China, or Micronesia. Each jury member then votes for one of the final players, indicating which player he or she wants to win the game. After this vote, the container with the votes is taken away by the host. The players are told that the vote will be revealed during the live finale, and secures them until the live finale of the show when the votes are revealed and the winner is announced. On several occasions the final tribal council and finale are edited together to make them seem like one event, until moments later the camera shows the studio audience. This is possible by recreating on a studio the Tribal Council set from the location of filming. Prior to the use of a Final 3, the jury has always been odd-numbered, thus ensuring that no tie would be possible. However, with every Final 3 jury, or as in the case of Micronesia of an even-numbered jury for a Final 2, a tie may be possible; it is unknown what mechanism is used to resolve a tie should it occur. During the finale of Micronesia, the host had a white envelope that he claimed held the tie-breaker, but its contents were not revealed as no tied occurred.

Prizes: The player chosen as Sole Survivor receives a cash prize of $1,000,000 (prior to taxes). The Sole Survivor also receives a car provided by the show's sponsor, except in Survivor: Cook Islands. In a few seasons, the final players have also agreed to play for the tribe flag or other representative object from camp. In addition, the final five or six contestants may have the opportunity to compete for a car. The winner of this challenge has never won the game, leading to the concept of a "Survivor car curse". Every player receives a stipend for participating on Survivor depending on how long he or she lasts in the game. In most seasons, the runner-up receives $100,000, and third place wins $85,000. Sonja Christopher, the first player voted off in Survivor: Borneo, received $2,500. The stipend was increased for Survivor: All-Stars. The known prizes for Survivor: All-Stars were as follows: 2nd = $250,000; 3rd = $125,000; 4th = $100,000. Tina Wesson, the first player voted off in Survivor: All-Stars, received $25,000. In Survivor: Fiji, the first season with tied runners-up, the two runners-up received US$100,000 each, and Yau-Man Chan received US$60,000 for his 4th place finish. The prizes for other seasons with more than sixteen contestants are unknown. All players also receive an additional $10,000 for their appearance on the reunion show. There have also been additional prizes given out, outside of the usual mechanics of the show: In Survivor: All-Stars: Rob Mariano won the in-game car reward as part of a challenge. Given the option to select a player to join him in a makeshift drive-in movie theater, he selected Amber Brkich to join him. Jeff Probst later revealed to the two at their reward that because Rob had selected Amber, Amber also received a car (though one of lesser value). At the reunion, Amber, as the Sole Survivor, was then asked to select one of the other All-Stars to receive a car, and she selected Shii Ann Huang. In Survivor: America's Tribal Council as part of the All-Stars season, Rupert Boneham was selected by a popularity poll of Survivor viewers to win $1,000,000. In Survivor: Panama, Cirie Fields was selected by a popularity poll of Survivor viewers to win a car. In Survivor: Cook Islands, Ozzy Lusth was selected by a popularity poll of Survivor viewers to win a car. In Survivor: China, James Clement was selected by a popularity poll of Survivor viewers to win $100,000, while Denise Martin was selected by the show's producers to receive a prize of $50,000, due to misfortunes she experienced after her return home following taping. (It was later revealed that she was misleading in her story of being demoted, and she declined the $50,000, asking it to be donated to a pediatric AIDS charity instead.) A similar popularity poll was held for Survivor: Micronesia, and James Clement again was selected by viewers to win $100,000.

The first season, Survivor: Borneo (originally titled Survivor; later known as Survivor: Pulau Tiga or Survivor 1), was set in the South China Sea on the remote Malaysian island of Pulau Tiga. Corporate trainer Richard Hatch was its winner in a 4-3 vote over river raft guide Kelly Wiglesworth. This is the only season to have aired on Wednesdays; subsequent seasons would lead off CBS's primetime schedule on Thursdays with the finale on a Sunday. This season was also the only season to reveal the winner on location rather than live. The second season was set in the Australian Outback (though the location was by Australian standards not particularly remote, nor was it arid). Registered nurse Tina Wesson won 4-3 over custom car designer and actor Colby Donaldson. During this series, Michael Skupin suffered burns and became the first contestant evacuated due to injuries. This is the only season to last more than 39 days (to date), running 42 days total. Also this is the most watched season to date. Season 3, Survivor: Africa, was set in Kenya's Shaba National Reserve, (previously home to the film Born Free). This was the first season to feature a tribal swap. Former USL player Ethan Zohn won, defeating retired teacher Kim Johnson by a vote of 5-2. Season 4, Survivor: Marquesas, was set on Nuku Hiva, the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia marking the series’ first return to a beach location since Season 1. For the first time the final three were all women. Office Manager Vecepia Towery won by a vote of 4-3 over student Neleh Dennis. This season was the only time the infamous Purple Rock tie breaker was ever used. Season 5, Survivor: Thailand, was set on the island of Ko Tarutao off the coast of Thailand. For the first time the tribes were not predetermined by producers, but were rather picked by the two oldest players, Jake and Jan. Also, this season was the first to feature a fake merge and a delayed merge. Also, two opposing tribes lived together on the same beach. For the first time the final two were both men. Used car salesman and former soft-core porn actor Brian Heidik beat restaurant owner Clay Jordan by a vote of 4-3. Season 6 was set in the jungles of the Amazon River region of Brazil. This was the first time the two tribes were divided up by males and females. It was also the first time a reality show contestant competed with a disability, the hearing impaired Christy Smith. Student and swimsuit model Jenna Morasca won by a vote of 6-1 over restaurant designer Matthew Von Ertfelda. Season 7 was set in the Pearl Islands off the coast of Panama. This season was the first and only time players who had been voted out were allowed to return to the game as part of the Outcast Tribe. The winning tribe in the Reward Challenge was able to loot one item from the losing tribe. Office assistant Sandra Diaz-Twine defeated Boy Scout leader Lillian Morris by a vote of 6-1. The eighth season, Survivor: All-Stars, was again set in the Pearl Islands, Panama. The game featured eighteen past Survivor contestants divided into three tribes (the first season to use more than 16 contestants). This is the first season that featured an early merge of the 3 tribes down to 2. Administrative assistant Amber Brkich won by a vote of 4-3 over construction worker and bartender Rob Mariano. Just before the live vote was revealed, Rob proposed to Amber. Survivor: America's Tribal Council was held four days later, and a second million-dollar prize was awarded to Rupert Boneham for being voted by the viewers as their favorite contestant (making him the only player in the show's history to win a million dollars on the show without actually being the sole survivor). Season 9 was set on islands in the archipelago nation of Vanuatu, located in the South Pacific Ocean. The tribes were also divided by gender. It featured the first "double tribal council", when both tribes voted a contestant out in the same episode. Highway construction worker Chris Daugherty, the last male in the final seven, defeated highway repair worker Twila Tanner by a vote of 5-2. Season 10 was set in the island nation of Palau, located in the Philippine Sea. The season started with 20 contestants, but on day two the number was reduced to 18 in a tribal selection process. The season concluded with firefighter Tom Westman prevailing over advertising executive Katie Gallagher by a vote of 6-1. This season was the only one in which one of the tribes, Koror, won all the immunity challenges. Due to this streak and the lack of any tribal swap, there was no usual tribal merge, instead the last member of the defeated tribe, Ulong, simply became a member of Koror. This season was first to feature Exile Island, though was only used once during the show. Season 11, Survivor: Guatemala - The Mayan Empire, was set in the Yaxha National Park. Eighteen Survivors (16 new contestants plus Stephenie LaGrossa and Bobby Jon Drinkard from Survivor: Palau) were stranded amongst the ruins of the Maya civilization. This season was first to include a hidden immunity idol, hidden near camp, though was only available post-merge, and was not rehidden after its use. This idol was found by Gary Hogeboom, a retired NFL quarterback who sought to conceal his past profession from fellow contestants, believing it would increase his chances of being voted off. The season concluded with sports radio host Danni Boatwright defeating pharmaceutical sales representative Stephenie LaGrossa by a 6-1 vote. Season 12, Survivor: Panama - Exile Island, was set again in the Pearl Islands of Panama, marking the third time this location has been used for Survivor. This is the first time the contestants were divided into four tribes: Younger Men, Younger Women, Older Men, and Older Women. This was also the first season to include Exile Island throughout the show, and to offer the hidden Individual Immunity Idol throughout. The idol could only be found by being exiled to Exile Island. Bruce Kanegai became the second person in the history of the show to leave due to a medical emergency. The season concluded with yoga instructor Aras Baskauskas defeating medical sales representative Danielle DiLorenzo by a vote of 5-2. The thirteenth season took place on the Cook Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. Tribes were initially grouped into four tribes by ethnicity: African Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics, and Asians. Both Exile Island and the Hidden Immunity Idol were used throughout the season. This is the first time three castaways were involved in the final vote, with a jury composed of nine members (with some entering the jury before the merge). The season was won by management consultant Yul Kwon, who edged out waiter Ozzy Lusth and attorney Becky Lee by a vote of 5-4, with Becky receiving no votes. Survivor: Fiji, the fourteenth season, took place on the island of Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean. For the first time, the total number of castaways starts with an odd number (19 total) due to the last minute withdrawal of one contestant. As part of the twist to this season, one tribe enjoyed much better living conditions (such as ready-to-assembly structures, furniture, dishware, and a working shower) than the other tribe prior to the merge. Both Exile Island and the Hidden Immunity Idol returned, with 2 Idols in play, initially one on each beach. The same final three with a jury of nine formats from Cook Islands was also used in Fiji. The season concluded with advertising executive Earl Cole defeating civil engineer manager Cassandra Franklin and cheerleading coach Dre "Dreamz" Herd by a 9-0-0 vote, the first unanimous vote in the show's history. Survivor: China was the fifteenth season of the show, taking place in remote China. A twist involving kidnapping players from the opposing tribe was introduced, replacing Exile Island from the prior three seasons. There were two Hidden Immunity Idols, which were hidden in plain sight at each tribe's camp. Flight attendant Todd Herzog defeated waitress Courtney Yates and hiking guide Amanda Kimmel with a vote of 4-2-1. Survivor: Micronesia - Fans vs Favorites was the show's sixteenth season, taking place in the Micronesian archipelago. This season's twist was that ten self-proclaimed Survivor superfans competed against ten popular past contestants. Exile Island made a return after being absent for the China season, now with two contestants, one from each tribe, being sent to exile on occasion. Charity organizer Parvati Shallow defeated aspiring designer Amanda Kimmel with a vote of 5-3. Survivor: Gabon - Earth's Last Eden had opened for applications which closed on January 24, 2008. Casting is now taking place with the interviews in Los Angeles in April. Production will begin in late June using high definition cameras, making this the first season shot and aired in HD. On May 11, 2008, it was announced that Season 17 will take place in Gabon, Africa and will air on CBS starting September 18. Season 18 will be produced in 2008 and air in Spring 2009. For this season, the minimum age requirement has been lowered to 18 in most states.

In reality TV, 90% of success is in the concept, and Survivor's remains the master equation: isolation + cash prize * hot-weather clothing = entertainment. Still, the 10% that is execution separates the best from the rest, and Survivor remains a constantly surprising and enthralling game, both socially and physically. Everything you’ve come to know and love (or hate) about reality shows was born on an island off the coast of Borneo: backstabbings, challenges, alliances, fake alliances, eliminations, and good looking host (What!? Jeff Probst is pretty man…I think I have typed too much.). And, just because it is reality game show doesn’t mean there isn’t any real danger; just ask Season 2 contestant Michael Skupin, who passed out and fell hands first into a campfire. But, what makes Survivor so great and the fact that has lasted so long is how interesting and unpredictable the quest to be the Sole Survivor can be. Even after seven years and 16 seasons with two more on the way (Sidenote: how many shows can say that they’ve has so many seasons in such a short time? Not many.), there's no clear single best way to win the political game of Survivor: Is it better to be liked (Africa's Ethan) or respected (the first season's Richard), a master athlete (Palau's Tom) or a master strategist (All-Stars' Rob and Amber)? We don’t know, because they are so many ways to win this game. You can be a backstabber who makes false friendships and eliminates so called allies or you can just be the toughest take charger person in the whole bunch. Whether or not it sheds any light on how people behave in "real" society, it remains the most engrossing example of how people really behave in the fake society of a high-pressure TV contest. Plus, several of the girls who’ve appeared on the show have posed for Playboy! You got to love a show with Playboy centerfolds!!!!

[Hulk With A Mustache]

81. Gilligan’s Island



Genre: Sitcom.
Created by: Sherwood Schwartz.
Executive Producer(s): Sherwood Schwartz.
Starring: Bob Denver (Gilligan), Alan Hale, Jr. (The Skipper), Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III), Natalie Schafer (Mrs. “Lovey” Howell), Tina Louise (Ginger Grant), Russell Johnson (The Professor), and Dawn Wells (Mary Ann Summers).
Country of Origin: United States.
Number of Seasons: 3.
Number of Episodes: 98.
Running Time: 30 minutes.
Original Channel: CBS.
Original Run: September 26, 1964 – September 4, 1967.
Spinoffs: The New Adventures of Gilligan, a successful Filmation animated remake that ran from 1974 to 1977; “Rescue From Gilligan’s Island,” a successful 1978 TV movie; “The Castaways On Gilligan’s Island,” a 1979 sequel; “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island” (1981), another sequel to the 1978 TV movie; Gilligan’s Planet, a 1982-1983 sci fi animated version of the show; Gilligan’s Island: The Musical; and The Real Gilligan’s Island, a reality show based on the premise to the show.

The show was created by Sherwood Schwartz. The premise of the show was that the two-man crew of the charter boat S.S. Minnow and five passengers on a "three hour tour" run into a tropical storm and are shipwrecked on an uncharted, uninhabited island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. (The episode "The Pigeon" places the island approximately 300 miles (480 km) southeast of Hawaii, while "X Marks the Spot" gives a location near 140° longitude, 10° latitude, which puts it about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) to the southeast.) He based the premise on the United Nations, saying he was fascinated with the idea of different nations, rich (The Howells) and poor (Mary Ann), big (The Skipper) and small (Gilligan), smart (the Professor) and known mainly for looks (Ginger), having to work together for one common goal. Contrary to popular believe: the show was not based on the concept of hell; the castaways are forever stuck on the island with one person, Gilligan (who coincidentally wears red, like the Devil), from ever leaving. Executives were concerned that first-time viewers might not understand the premise of the show, so the sea shanty-style theme song, "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle", was written as a capsule summary of the castaways' predicament. The show has seven characters: Bob Denver as Gilligan, the bumbling, accident-prone crewman of the S.S. Minnow. Denver was not the first choice to play Gilligan; actor Jerry Van Dyke was offered the role, but he turned it down, believing that the show would never be successful. He chose instead to play the lead in My Mother the Car, which premiered one season later. The producers then looked to Bob Denver, the actor who played lovable beatnik Maynard G. Krebs in the The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. On the DVD collection, Sherwood Schwartz states that he preferred the name "Willie" for "Gilligan". Denver himself, on various TV/radio interviews (The Pat Sajak Show; KDKA radio), said that "Gil Eggan" was his choice. Because everyone yelled at the first mate, it ran together as "Gilligan". In the first episode, the name "Willie Gilligan" is heard as the castaways listen to the report of their disappearance on the radio. On Rescue from Gilligan's Island, the writers artfully dodge the recitation of Gilligan's full name, when the other names are announced. Alan Hale, Jr. as Jonas Grumby, the "Skipper". A longtime actor in B-westerns, Hale so loved his role that, long after the show went off the air, he would still appear in character in his Los Angeles restaurant, Alan Hale's Lobster Barrel. Although the Skipper was a father figure to Gilligan, Hale was only 14 years older than Denver. It is alluded in one episode that Gilligan pushed the Skipper out of the way of a loose depth-charge when they were both serving in the United States Navy. Jim Backus as Thurston Howell, III, the greedy millionaire. Backus was already a well-known actor when he took the part. He was perhaps best known as the voice of the cartoon character Mr. Magoo. He reused some of the voice inflections and mannerisms of Magoo in the role. He was well known for his ad-libs on the set. Natalie Schafer as Eunice "Lovey" Wentworth Howell, Thurston's wife. Schafer had it written into her contract that there were to be no close-ups of her, perhaps due to her advanced age. Schafer was 62 when the pilot was shot although, reportedly, no one on the set or in the cast knew her real age, and she refused to divulge that information. Originally, she only accepted the role because the pilot was filmed on location in Hawaii. She looked at the job as nothing more than a free vacation, as she was convinced that a show this silly would "never go". Tina Louise as Ginger Grant, the movie star. When regular shooting began, Louise clashed with producers, because she had believed that she was to be the main focus of the show (despite its title). Her character was originally written as a sarcastic and sharp-tongued temptress, but Louise argued that this was too extreme and refused to play it as written. A compromise was reached; Louise agreed to play her as a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball. The evening gowns and hair style used were designed to re-create the look of Myrna Loy. Louise continued to clash with producers and was the only cast member who refused to return for any of the TV movies that followed the series' cancellation, and the fourth season, which was later canceled to make room for Gunsmoke, saying that the role had destroyed her career as a serious actress. However, she did appear in a reunion of the cast on a late night TV talk show in 1988 and on an episode of Roseanne in 1995. In the first season, Ginger often wore gowns that looked as if they were tailored from S.S. Minnow tarps or similar ersatz cloth (some had the name of the vessel stenciled on them). Later on, she wore regular evening gowns. However there were episodes where Ginger wore an almost tropical sarong style outfit while going barefoot. It was never explained why she brought so many changes of clothing on a "three-hour tour," though many fans postulate the trunk of silent movie props that washed ashore in one episode provided much of the wardrobe. Russell Johnson as Roy Hinkley (The Professor). John Gabriel was originally cast, but the network thought he looked too young to have all the degrees attributed to the Professor. Incongruously, "the Professor" was in fact a high school science teacher, not a university professor. In the first episode, the radio announcer described him as a research scientist and well-known Scoutmaster. Johnson stated that he had some difficulty remembering his more technically-oriented lines. Dawn Wells as Mary Ann Summers. Wells was a former Miss Nevada when she auditioned for the role. Her competition included Raquel Welch. The pilot episode had a different character played by a different actress. After it was shot, the network decided to recast the roles of the Professor and the two young women. Charles Maxwell was the uncredited voice of the "Radio Announcer", whose plot-advancing radio bulletins were eagerly tuned in to by the castaways in many episodes. Filming of the show took place at the CBS' Radford Studios complex in Studio City, California. The same stage would later be used by The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Roseanne (which, coincidentally, featured Gilligan's Island prominently on one episode). The lagoon was drained and used as a parking lot during the show's off-season, and was the last remaining element of the show until it was demolished in 1997 as part of an expansion project. Cave scenes were shot in Newport Beach, California, across from the southern tip of the Balboa Peninsula, in a park just off Ocean Blvd. Four different boats played the part of the S.S. Minnow. One was used in the opening credits and rented in Ala Wai Yacht Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. Another was used in the opening credits in the second season, and eventually turned up for sale on Vancouver Island in August 2006, after running aground on a reef in the Hecate Strait on the way south from Alaska. One boat was used for beach scenes after being towed to Kauai in Hawaii. The fourth Minnow was built on the CBS Studios set in the second season. According to Here on Gilligan's Isle by Russell Johnson and Steve Cox, many shots from the first season opening credits were filmed the week after the November 22, 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. A clue to this is a panned shot early in the sequence in which an American flag is clearly at half staff. The pilot episode was not broadcast, because of casting changes and restructuring of characters. In the pilot, the part of the Professor was played by John Gabriel. Instead of the movie star and the Kansas farm girl, the pilot had two secretaries: Ginger, a practical redhead played by Kit Smythe, and Bunny, portrayed by Nancy McCarthy as a cheerful, stereotypical dumb blonde. The pilot had a different theme song with a Calypso beat and singer and somewhat longer opening credits shots, including scenes of Gilligan carrying the Howells' luggage to the boat, and spilling coffee on the Skipper during the storm. The episode proper begins with the castaways waking up on the beached boat, and deals mostly with practical problems: exploring the island, trying to fix the transmitter, building huts and finding food. Contrary to some descriptions, there are no flashbacks or detailed accounts of the characters' backgrounds. The first episode actually broadcast, "Two on a Raft", is sometimes wrongly referred to as the series pilot. This episode begins with the same scene of Gilligan and the Skipper awakening on the boat (cut slightly differently to eliminate most shots of the departed actors), and continues with the characters on the boat, listening to a radio news report about their disappearance. This is the scene that reveals the names of the Skipper (Jonas Grumby) and the Professor (Roy Hinkley). There is no equivalent scene or background information in the pilot, except for the description of the passengers in the original theme song. Rather than re-shooting the rest of the pilot story for broadcast, the show just proceeded on. The plot skips over the topics of the pilot; the bulk of the episode tells of Gilligan and the Skipper setting off on a raft to try to bring help, but unknowingly landing back on the same island. The plot for the pilot episode would eventually be recycled into that season's Christmas episode, "Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk", in which the story, concerning the practical problems on landing, is related via a series of flashbacks. Some of the scenes from the pilot episode were re-shot using the current actors, while other scenes with Denver, Hale, Backus, and Schafer were simply reused. The shipwrecked castaways want to leave the remote Island and various opportunities present themselves. They typically fail due to some bumbling error committed by Gilligan. Sometimes this would result in his saving the others from some unforeseen flaw in their plan, as in the episode "Splashdown", wherein an unmanned space capsule with sensitive technology lands in the lagoon, Gilligan allows the other castaways to talk over him, failing to tell them in time that the capsule is floating away. As the group yells at Gilligan for his "error", the capsule is blown up by NASA via remote control. Another example is in episode "Goodbye Island"; while looking for tree sap for Mary Ann's pancakes, Gilligan discovers a very strong glue-like substance that the Professor believes, because it is strong and waterproof, is permanent, and therefore can be used to repair the damage to the Minnow. However, Gilligan later discovers that the substance is not permanent at all. When the crew do not heed his warnings, the boat starts to break apart until it is completely destroyed. Despite this, the ship was still prominently presented in the opening titles for the rest of the series' run. One episode ("The Big Gold Strike") in which the castaways discover a rich vein of gold on the island, is notable in that Gilligan is not responsible for the failed escape: the other castaways, having agreed to leave the gold behind, each smuggle bags of gold onto a makeshift raft; the combined weight of all the gold sinks the raft to the bottom of the lagoon. Gilligan is the only one who does not smuggle any gold. When the castaways are kidnapped to a mad scientist's lab in the episode "The Friendly Physician", they succeed in leaving the island and onto another piece of dry land for the only time in the series. Recurring elements centered on one of three primary themes. The first deals with life on the island. A running gag is the castaways' ability to fashion a vast array of useful objects from bamboo and other local material. Some were simple everyday things, while others were stretches of the imagination. Russell Johnson noted in his autobiography that the production crew enjoyed the challenge of building these props. Some bamboo items included framed huts with thatched grass sides and roofs, along with bamboo closets strong enough to withstand hurricane force winds and rain; the communal dining table and chairs, pipes for Gilligan's hot water, a stethoscope, and a pedal-powered car. The second theme involves visitors to the "uncharted" island. One challenge to a viewer's suspension of disbelief is the frequency with which the castaways are visited by people who do nothing to assist them. Some have ulterior motives for not doing so; some are simply unable to help, incompetent, or prevented from sending messages by Gilligan. Bob Denver, Jim Backus, and Tina Louise each had feature episodes in which look-alikes come to the island (who were, of course, played by themselves). Also, the island is home to an unusual assortment of animal life, some native, some visiting. The third recurring theme is the use of dream sequences, in which one of the castaways "dreams" he or she is some character related to that week's storyline. For example, after being bitten by a bat, Gilligan dreams he is Dracula. All of the castaways would appear as other characters within the dream, as was done in The Wizard of Oz. The only exception is in Mr. Howell's dream in the episode "The Sweepstakes", in which Mrs. Howell is not present. In later interviews and memoirs, almost all of the actors stated that the dream episodes were among their personal favorites. In the Jack and the Beanstalk dream sequence of the episode "V for Vitamins", the smaller version of Gilligan, running from the Giant (played by the Skipper), is actually Bob Denver's son Patrick. The last episode of the show, "Gilligan the Goddess", aired on April 17, 1967, and ended just like the rest, with the castaways still stranded on the island. It was not known at the time that it was the last episode, as a fourth season was expected, but never happened. In its last year Gilligan's Island was the lead-in program for the CBS Monday night schedule. It was followed for the first sixteen weeks by the sitcom Run, Buddy, Run, starring Jack Sheldon as a young accountant on the run from the mob after he overhears a gangster plot a murder. The time slot from 7:30 to 8:30 Eastern was filled in the 1967-1968 season by Gunsmoke, moved from its traditional Saturday 10 p.m. time slot. Under pressure from the network president, William S. Paley, and his wife Babe, as well as many network affiliates and longtime fans of Gunsmoke (which had been airing late on Saturday nights), to reverse its threatened cancellation, CBS rescheduled the Western to an earlier time slot on Monday evenings. This had been Gilligan's Island's timeslot in its third season. (The show ran on Saturdays in its debut season, before moving to Thursdays in season two.) Though Gilligan's Island's ratings had slumped from 24.7 (18th) to 22.1 (22nd) out of the top 25 (possibly as the result of two timeslot shifts in two years), the series was still profitable. Nevertheless, it was cancelled at practically the last minute. Some of the cast had bought houses based on Sherwood Schwartz's news of verbal confirmation that the series would be renewed for a fourth season. Ironically, one episode of Gilligan's Island had a dream sequence filmed on the Gunsmoke set. The success of Gilligan's Island spawned a number of clones and spin-offs: Dusty's Trail was a 1973-1974 syndicated television series by Sherwood Schwartz starring Bob Denver as "Dusty" and Forrest Tucker as "Mr. Callahan", the assistant to the leader of a wagon train and his irascible boss. Its cast was made up of nearly identical character roles as Gilligan's Island. The New Adventures of Gilligan was a successful Filmation-produced animated remake that aired on ABC Saturday (and Sunday) Morning from September 7, 1974 to September 4, 1977 for 24 episodes (16 installments airing in 1974-75 and 8 new ones combined with repeats in 1975-76). The voices were done by the original cast except for Ginger and Mary Ann, voiced by Jane Webb. An additional character was Stubby the Monkey, voiced by Lou Scheimer. In a successful 1978 made-for-TV movie, “Rescue From Gilligan's Island,” the castaways did successfully leave the island, but had difficulty reintegrating into society. During a reunion cruise on the first Christmas after their rescue, fate intervened and they found themselves marooned on the same island at the end of the film. It starred the original cast except for Tina Louise, who refused to participate and was replaced as Ginger by Judith Baldwin. The plot involved Soviet agents seeking a memory disc from a spy satellite that landed on the island and facilitated their rescue. Gilligan and the Skipper "rescue" Mary Ann right as she is to marry her long time fiancée, which contradicts the series where it was established that Mary Ann had no boyfriend after having made up a story about a boyfriend to keep the others from feeling sorry for her. In a 1979 sequel, “The Castaways on Gilligan's Island,” they were rescued once again, and the Howells converted the island into a getaway resort, with the other five castaways as "silent partners". Ginger was again played by Judith Baldwin. This sequel was intended as a pilot for a possible new series in which the castaways would host new groups of tourists each week, using the all-star cast anthology format made popular by The Love Boat. The series never materialized, though the premise was the basis of a short-lived 1981 series titled Aloha Paradise.
In a second sequel, The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island (1981), villains played by Martin Landau and then-wife Barbara Bain (who also appeared together on Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999) try to take over the island to gain access to a vein of Supremium, a valuable but volatile element. This time, Ginger was played by Constance Forslund. They are thwarted by the timely intervention of the Harlem Globetrotters. Jim Backus, who was in poor health at the time, only appeared at the very end of the episode, arriving back on the island. David Ruprecht played the role of Thurston Howell IV, which is odd, since it was established in the series that the Howells were childless (though he may have been adopted). Gilligan's Planet was an animated science fiction version produced by Filmation and starring the voices of the Gilligan's Island cast save for Tina Louise (Dawn Wells played the voices of both Mary Ann and Ginger). They escape from the island by building a spaceship, and get shipwrecked on a distant planet. Only 12 episodes aired on CBS (Gilligan's old network) between September 18, 1982 and September 3, 1983. In one episode, they travel to an island, get shipwrecked there, and Gilligan observes, "First we were stranded on an island, then we were stranded on a planet, and now we're stranded on an island on a planet." The original cast members (along with Sherwood Schwartz) reunited on television only once, on a 1988 episode of The Late Show with Ross Shafer. Gilligan's Island: The Musical was first produced in the early 1990s, with a script by Lloyd Sherwood, Sherwood Schwartz's son, and songs by Schwartz's daughter and son-in-law, Hope and Laurence Juber. After extensive revisions since 2001 it has been produced at various theaters around the U.S. On November 30, 2004, the TBS network launched a reality series titled The Real Gilligan's Island, which placed two groups of people on an island, leaving them to fend for themselves a la Survivor — the catch being that each islander matched a character type established in the original series (a klutz, a sea captain, a movie star, a millionaire's wife, etc.). While heavily marketed by TBS, the show turned out to be a flop with a very "Survivor"-like feel, but little of its success. A second season began June 8, 2005 with two-hour episodes for four weeks. TBS announced in July 2005 that a third season of the show would not be produced. United Artists Television originally produced the series (in association with Phil Silvers' Gladysya Productions and CBS) and subsequently distributed it in syndication. In 1986, the series was sold to Turner Entertainment as part of a package that included the classic MGM/WB/RKO film and television library, with the Silvers estate (successor-in-interest to Gladysya) retaining its share of ownership (both Turner and the Silvers family now share the show's copyright). Some years later, after Turner merged with Time Warner, Warner Bros. Television became responsible for the show's distribution, and continues to do so today. The entire series has been released on DVD through corporate sibling Warner Home Video, and online via AOL's IN2TV service. Unusually for such a successful American television series, the program is virtually unknown in the United Kingdom; only thirteen episodes were ever shown there.

Is there an American alive who can’t tell you what happened after “five passengers set sail that day for a three-hour tour”? Of course not. When the SS Minnow wrecked on an uncharted South Pacific island, the castaways (Gilligan, the Skipper, the Howells, Ginger, the Professor, and Mary Ann, as if you didn’t know) spent 98 episodes screwing up every possible opportunity to be rescued from their uncharted desert isle. Sure, the entire concept of the CBS show was silly and illogical: if the Professor could rig up a bicycle-powered gramophone out of the few materials they had on the island, how come he couldn’t manage to build a decent raft? But, Gilligan’s fans were clearly unfazed by the show’s broad-as-a-barn writing and slapstick routines, no matter how many times The Skipper laid a kick into the backside of Gilligan, a sort of Forrest Gump for the 1960s. To its creator, Sherwood Schwartz, Gilligan’s lowbrow appeal was inevitable: Schwartz started out with a highfalutin concept in which the passengers constituted a “social microcosm,” and then later admitted the castaways were really “more caricatures than characters.” But so what? Their cartoonish antics entered the pantheon of great TV mysteries: How did Thurston Howell III get a year’s supply of booze? And, why would the Howells, millionaires, want to take a three-hour cruise on a rinky-dink ship? Just where did Ginger and Mary Ann get all those clothes? Why would Gilligan stay friends with such an abusive person like the Skipper? Why did Gilligan always turn down Ginger’s seductions? Was he gay (he could have been in love with the Skipper, possibly explain why he always stayed with the man despites the abuses) or just had a thing for Mary Ann? And, the most obvious, if Gilligan was always causing the castaways from getting rescued, then why did they never tie him up until they got rescued? And their two-dimensional status made it that much more likely that they would, say, gain superpowers by eating radioactive vegetables, fend off misguided cosmonauts, or stage a musical version of Hamlet (“I ask to be, or not to be, and that is the question that I ask of me.”). Castaways they may have been, but they were never cast down, and watching them, neither were we.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

Okay, here are the first twenty shows, 100-81:

100. Saved By The Bell
99. The Real World
98. Rowan And Martin’s Laugh-In
97. The Beverly Hillbillies
96. The Venture Bros.
95. The Brady Bunch
94. Dynasty
93. Hollywood Squares
92. Bonanza
91. Batman
90. Happy Days
89. Taxi
88. Family Ties
87. The Office (U.S.)
86. Bewitched
85. WKRP In Cincinnati
84. Oz
83. The Odd Couple
82. Survivor
81. Gilligan’s Island

Tomorrow, numbers 80 and 79. Here are the hints:

Who's on first?, and the unpopular kids in school.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

It's countdown time. Here's 80:

80. Freaks And Geeks



Genre: Comedy, teen drama.
Created by: Paul Feig
Executive Producer(s): Judd Apatow and Paul Feig.
Starring: Linda Cardellini (Lindsay Weir), John Francis Daley (Sam Weir), Joe Flaherty (Harold Weir), Becky Ann Baker (Jean Weir), Samm Levine (Neal Schweiber), Martin Starr (Bill Haverchuck), James Franco (Daniel Desario), Busy Philipps (Kim Kelly), Jason Segel (Nick Andopolis), Seth Rogen (Ken Miller), Linda Cardellini (Lindsay Weir), Dave "Gruber" Allen (Mr. Rosso), Steve Bannos (Mr. Kowchevski), Thomas F. Wilson (Coach Fredricks), Trace Beaulieu (Mr. Lacovars), Steve Higgins (Mr. Fleck), and Leslie Mann (Ms. Foote).
Country of Origin: United States.
Number of Seasons: 1.
Number of Episodes: 18.
Running Time: 60 minutes.
Original Channel: NBC.
Original Run: September 25, 1999 – July 8, 2000.
Spinoffs: None, but Judd Apatow and many actors who worked on the shows later went on to work on the show Undeclared.

Freaks And Geeks was created by Paul Feig. He based the show on his experiences in high school in Royal Oak, Michigan. The show centered on a teenage girl, Lindsay Weir, and her brother, Sam, both attending McKinley High School during the 1980–1981 school year in the town of Chippewa, Michigan, a fictional suburb of Detroit. The town likely got its name from Chippewa Valley High School in Clinton Charter Township. Feig graduated from the school in 1980. Their friends, respectively, constituted the "freaks" (Daniel Desario, Ken Miller, Nick Andopolis, and Kim Kelly) and "geeks" (Neal Schweiber and Bill Haverchuck) of the title. The Weirs' parents, Harold and Jean, were featured in every episode, and Millie Kentner, Lindsay's nerdy, highly religious former best friend, was a recurring character. The show's starting point was Lindsay's transition from her life as an academically proficient student, star mathlete, and proper young girl, with Millie as her like-minded best friend, to an Army-jacket-wearing teenager who hangs out with troubled slackers. Her relationships with her new friends, and the friction they cause with her parents and with her own self-image, form one central strand of the show; the other follows Sam and his group of geeky friends as they navigate a very different part of the social universe as they try to fit in. Early on, the creators of the show were not open to the idea of having guest stars on the show. A denied suggestion from NBC was to have a pop icon like Britney Spears to appear as a waitress in one episode. Many of the program's crew, including producer Judd Apatow, thought that such guest star appearances would greatly detract from the show's quality and realism. However, more unknown "guest stars" would make occasional unhyped appearances on the show. As the producers began to fear an imminent cancellation, Apatow's old friend Ben Stiller made an appearance as a Secret Service agent in the second-to-last episode of the program, but the appearance only aired after the series had been cancelled. Other notable guest appearances were made by Thomas F. Wilson (in the recurring role of Coach Fredericks), Joel Hodgson (in the recurring role of a salesman who loves disco), David Koechner (as a waiter), Kevin Corrigan (as Millie's delinquent cousin), Jason Schwartzman (as a student dealing in fake IDs), Allen Covert (as the liquor store clerk), Matt Czuchry (as a student from rival Lincoln High), Claudia Christian (as Bill's mother), Shia LaBeouf (as the school mascot that gets hurt), and Ben Foster (who appeared as the mentally handicapped student Eli, and often hyped the show while promoting the film Liberty Heights), Alexander Gould as Ronnie, the boy Lindsey babysits while high. Many of the writers appeared on the show at one point or another. Mike White, for instance, played Kim Kelly's oft-discussed injured brother first appearing in the fourth episode "Kim Kelly is My Friend". Paul Feig and Gabe Sachs appear uncredited as members of the fictional band "Dimension" in "I'm With the Band". Michael Andrews, the original score composer for the series, plays the role of Dimension's lead singer. Steve Bannos played the recurring role of the much hated math teacher, Mr. Kowchevski. Other notable guest stars include David Krumholtz as Neal's brother Barry, Lizzy Caplan as Sara, and Rashida Jones as Karen Scarfoli, first appearing in the fourth episode, "Kim Kelly is My Friend." Punk rock band Diesel Boy appears and performs in the "Noshing and Moshing" episode. Although the show, garnered much critical acclaim and a devoted cult following, repeated preemption and scheduling changes hurt its ratings. It was cancelled after only 12 episodes had aired. A fan-led campaign caused NBC to broadcast three more episodes in July 2000 ABC Family (then Fox Family) showed the next 3 episodes in syndication, and the last 3 episodes were found on the DVD. In the summer of 2000, the final three episodes were premiered at the Museum of the Moving Image prior to being broadcast on television. Most episodes on the DVD set have two commentaries each and deleted scenes with optional commentaries by creator Paul Feig and chosen cast and crew members. Despite being a ratings bomb, the show was well-received by critics. The show was nominated for two Emmy Awards in 2000; one for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Paul Feig, "Pilot") and one for Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series (Allison Jones, Coreen Mayrs and Jill Greenberg). The show won the Emmy for Outstanding Casting. The show was nominated for an Emmy once again in 2001 for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Paul Feig, "Discos and Dragons"). In addition to the Emmys, the show has been nominated and won numerous awards for writing, directing and acting. On April 6, 2004, a six-DVD Freaks and Geeks box set was released through Shout! Factory. A limited "yearbook edition" set including two additional discs was also available through the official website for the show. Fans who had signed an online petition to get the show on DVD got priority in purchasing the special set. A CD soundtrack was released on September 14, 2004. In November 2004, two Freaks and Geeks books were released, titled Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Scripts, Volume 1 and Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Scripts, Volume 2. Both published by Newmarket Press, each book covers nine scripts from the series as compiled by Paul Feig and Judd Apatow themselves. Extra content includes behind-the-scenes memos and notes, photos, additional plotlines and excerpts from the Freaks and Geeks series bibles. In 2001, several of the actors featured in Freaks and Geeks appeared in a new Judd Apatow college half-hour comedy called Undeclared, which aired on Fox Network. Apatow fought with the network to include Freaks and Geeks actors, but only picked up Seth Rogen (who was already committed to the show as a writer) as a regular cast member. However, Jason Segel became a recurring character, and Samm Levine, Busy Phillips, and Natasha Melnick guest starred in multi-episode arcs, as did prominent Freaks and Geeks guest stars Steve Bannos and David Krumholtz. Martin Starr was prominent in another episode, and a scene with Sarah Hagan was shot, although it was cut for television broadcast. Despite garnering a cult following, the show was also canceled abruptly during its first season. Six years later, actors from the two shows comprised the bulk of the starring cast of Apatow's film, Knocked Up, with James Franco making a brief cameo appearance as himself. In addition, many of the extras starred as teachers and principal tertiary characters from both shows. Martin Starr, Steve Bannos, and David Krumholtz all appeared as extras in Superbad, which was produced by Apatow and co-written by Rogen (who also has a supporting role in the film). Walk Hard featured Bannos, Krumholtz and Starr in minor or cameo roles. In 2008, both Rogen and Franco will co-star in the Judd Apatow-produced comedy film The Pineapple Express. Apart from cameo appearances, the film marks the first time that Apatow and the two stars have together since Freaks and Geeks. The movie finished production in May 2007.

If you were one of the four people who watched Freaks And Geeks, you probably remember the details of this 1980s-set high school dramedy better than your own teen years. If you weren’t, then I won’t judge you (but the other three who did will). Adolescence never hurt so good as it did in this comedy-drama about outcasts in a Michigan high school circa 1980. Created by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow, it had the hallmarks of Apatow's later movies: uncomfortable yet sweet relationship humor and a refusal to typecast (the nerds, for instance, are not especially brainy). Freaks And Geeks was also a rare realistic depiction of small-town life, with its class divisions and dawning realizations that some kids' escape fantasies are more likely to come true than others. Think about it: how many teen shows have you seen that focused on the uncool kids in school? And, you can’t name this one since I’m writing about it. Before this show, TV’s nerds were usually played as caricatures: smart but bumbling and socially incompetent, i.e. Screech and Urkel. Before this show, the only positive nerd character was Andrea from Beverly Hill 90210; and even she wasn’t that nerdy. This show was a breath of fresh air; it was great to finally see the nerds and slackers get the spotlight shown on them. But, that spotlight didn’t shine for very long. The show had low ratings, and NBC cancelled it. In a way, the show’s fate resembled the characters it showed: not popular at all and shoved in a locker. However, those nerds usually go on to bigger and better things, much like the people who worked on the show. Judd Apatow has enjoyed much success as an executive producer and director of several hit movies. Paul Feig has gone on to direct episode of several critically acclaimed TV shows, such as Arrested Development, The Office, 30 Rock, and Weeds. James Franco found fame as Harry Osborn in the huge money machine known as the Spider-Man movies. Jason Segal and John Francis Daley are both on hit TV shows. And, Seth Rogen has been in three blockbuster comedies in the past few years. How many hit movies in the last year has that guy from The O.C. been in (I mean the one who played the troubled rebel, not the other one)? It’s pretty amazing that show that only lasted 18 episodes had so many people who worked on it to go on to such success. Plus, an outstanding soundtrack (Styx, Rush, Neil Young) and Dungeons & Dragons too; this ur-text of outcast comedy rolled its duodecahedron die and hit 20 every time.

[rrm15]

Two shows about an island and LOST hasn't appeared yet....heres hoping to a high placing. ;D

[Hulk With A Mustache]

79. The Abbott And Costello Show



Genre: Sitcom.
Created by: Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
Executive Producer(s): Pat Costello.
Starring: Bud Abbott (himself) and Lou Costello (himself).
Country of Origin: United States.
Number of Seasons: 2.
Number of Episodes: 52 episodes.
Running Time: 30 minutes.
Original Channel: Syndication.
Original Run: December 1, 1952 – May 1, 1954.
Spinoffs: The Abbott and Costello Show, an animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera, one of the first cartoons based on real people.

The show was a vehicle to bring the duo's tried and true burlesque routines to television in a format that the team could control. There were none of the musical interludes or love stories that marred most of their feature films. Basically, if a situation or gag was funny, they filmed it without regard to plot, character or continuity. As a result, the show became a valuable record of classic burlesque scenes performed by one of the greatest comedy teams to come out of burlesque. Lou Costello owned the show, with Bud Abbott working on salary. Contrary to popular belief, the show was never a network program, but was sold into syndication to local stations across the country. As a result, it was broadcast on different days and at different times in different cities. In New York, it appeared on the CBS affiliate, WCBS, but was not carried nationally on that network. The supporting cast included Sidney Fields as their landlord, Hillary Brooke as a neighbor and sometime love interest, Gordon Jones as Mike the Cop, a dimwitted foil for the boys, Joe Besser as Stinky, a 40-year-old man dressed in a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit, and Joe Kirk as Mr. Bacciagalupe, an Italian immigrant caricature who held a variety of jobs depending upon the requirements of the script. Several episodes featured a pet chimp named "Bingo", who was dressed exactly the same as Costello. Bingo, a female chimp, was fired from the show after biting Costello. The program lasted two seasons (52 episodes) and was directed and produced by Jean Yarbrough. The first season episodes are considered to be far superior to those of the second, which introduced a more traditional (and restrictive) sitcom approach. Scripts for the first season were written by either Eddie Forman or Sid Fields. Episodes in the second season were written by Jack Townley, Felix Adler or Clyde Bruckman. The first season episodes were filmed at the Hal Roach Studios in Culver City. (The 14.5 acre studio, once known as "The Lot of Fun", was torn down in 1963 and replaced by light industrial buildings, businesses, and an automobile dealership, where a plaque marks the studio's former location). The second season was shot at Motion Picture Center Studios, which later became Desilu-Cahuenga Studios, where I Love Lucy as well as the Danny Thomas and Jack Benny shows, were filmed. Jerry Seinfeld has declared that The Abbott and Costello Show, with its overriding emphasis upon funny situations rather than life lessons, was the inspiration for his own long-running sitcom. The show was released on DVD, with Season One coming out on September 5, 2006, and Season Two coming out on October 3, 2006.

Most of the world knows the legendary comedy duo primarily from their movie work. After all, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello made 38 films together and were once Hollywood’s premier marquee draw. By 1952, this was not the case, but the duo was able to find work on the new medium of the time: television. The earliest TV shows were oddly assembled transitions between old genres that were (theater, vaudeville, etc.) and what would become the TV medium that we know today. Abbott and Costello’s show was one of the most distinctive and acerbically funny of these video lungfish. And, aesthetically at least, it was on their syndicated sitcom (one of TV’s first, by the way) that Abbott and Costello forged their resonant us-against-the-world trademark style. Talk about “no hugging, no learning”: this is where the jaundiced Seinfeldian ethos truly originated. Sure, there were no shortage of pratfalls and pie-faces in the repertoire of 52 half-hour shorts that made up the duo’s series; but there was also something much more audacious and dark going on. The loosely connected skits were underlined by a certain sardonicism and conjured a seedy, hilariously cutthroat world in which there are two kinds of people: the one getting over and the ones getting gotten over on. And, straight man Abbott and whiny hustler Costello beautifully combined their slapstick and pratfalls with a gleefully misanthropic sensibility as they faced a world (well, a city, anyway) full of people gleefully making life difficult from them. No one could be trusted, not the dimwitted buttinsky Mike the Cop (Gordon Jones), not the neighborhood vendor who held a variety of jobs Mr. Bacciagalupe (Joe Kirk), not their vindictive landlord (Sid Fields), not even, or especially, the kids, as embodied by Stinky, the evil man-child played to acid, foppic perfection by, ironically, the man considered to be the worst Stooge of The Three Stooges, Joe Besser. In fact, with the exception of their gal pal Hillary (Hillary Brooke), Abbott and Costello seemed to bring out the sociopath in everyone, invariably ending up fleeced, debased, or brutalized. Dialogue came in punchy, rat-a-tat-tat exchanges, with insults and malapropisms ricocheting from character to character, as the visual (via some crafty editing) raced to keep up with the aural. Just look at the classic “He’s positive!” scene, in which a routine reply to a judge whips an entire courtroom in a frenzy. And, in what other universe could you risk life and limb by simply uttering the words “Niagara Falls” to the wrong person? Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld would make a living out of this attitude decades later, but as Abbott and Costello would say, they were on first.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

Tomorrow, numbers 78 and 77. Here are the hints:

Edit: I looked at the wrong shows. Here are the new hints:

Two teen shows: one that got cancelled too early, and one that had a famous zipcode.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

Countdown time, again. Here is the show at number 78:

78. Beverly Hills 90210



Genre: Teen drama, soap opera.
Created by: Darren Star.
Executive Producer(s): Aaron Spelling.
Starring: Jason Priestley (Brandon Walsh 1990-1998), Shannen Doherty (Brenda Walsh 1990-1994), Jennie Garth (Kelly Taylor), Ian Ziering (Steve Sanders), Gabrielle Carteris (Andrea Zuckerman 1990-1995), Luke Perry (Dylan McKay 1990-1995 and 1998-2000), Brian Austin Green (David Silver), Tori Spelling (Donna Martin), Douglas Emerson (Scott Scanlon 1990-1991), Carol Potter (Cindy Walsh 1990-1995), James Eckhouse (Jim Walsh 1990-1995), Joe E. Tata (Nat Bussichio), Mark Damon Espinoza (Jesse Vasquez 1993-1995), Tiffani-Amber Thiessen (Valerie Malone 1994-1998), Jamie Walters (Ray Pruit 1994-1995), Kathleen Robertson (Clare Arnold 1994-1997), Hilary Swank (Carly Reynolds 1997-1998), Vincent Young (Noah Hunter 1997-2000), Vanessa Marcil (Gina Kincaid 1998-2000), Lindsay Price (Janet Sosna 1998-2000), and Daniel Cosgrove (Matt Durning 1998-2000).
Country of Origin: United States.
Number of Seasons: 10.
Number of Episodes: 296.
Running Time: 44 minutes.
Original Channel: FOX.
Original Run: October 4, 1990 – May 17, 2000.
Spinoffs: Melrose Place and the upcoming 90210

The show was created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling and Spelling Television. The "90210" in the title refers to one of the suburb's postal ZIP codes. The original premise of the show was based around the adjustment and culture shock that twins Brandon (Priestley) and Brenda Walsh (Doherty) had after they and their parents, Jim and Cindy moved from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Beverly Hills. Their first day at West Beverly High, Brenda and Brandon befriend Andrea Zuckerman (Carteris), Dylan McKay (Perry), Steve Sanders (Ziering), Kelly Taylor (Garth), Donna Martin (Spelling), and David Silver (Green). The show's later years were known for frequent casting changes: Following reported on-set friction, Shannen Doherty left the show at the end of the fourth season. Doherty's character, Brenda Walsh, was written off the show as moving to London to attend school at the Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts. While the character's absence was originally described as only being for a year, she never actually returned, despite being mentioned from time to time during the show's remaining seasons. She was replaced with former Saved by the Bell star Tiffani Thiessen, who played bad girl character Valerie. Luke Perry left 90210 towards the beginning of the sixth season. Perry's send-off features his character, Dylan McKay, marrying Antonia Marchette (Rebecca Gayheart), the daughter of the mob boss (Stanley Kamel) who ordered his father's death during the third season. Before the marriage, Dylan attempted to use Antonia to get to her father, but falls in love with her instead. Her father, uncomfortable with the marriage, orders Dylan's death. The hired hitman inadvertently kills Antonia instead due to the fact that she is driving Dylan's car at the time of the planned hit, and is wearing a hooded raincoat, so the hitman cannot see who he is shooting. Dylan leaves town heartbroken, after his father-in-law reluctantly agrees to a truce in the wake of his daughter's death. It is revealed later in the series that Dylan's father was not really murdered and that he had faked his death in order to enter the Witness Protection Program. Perry returned permanently during the ninth season of the show, but was now credited as a "Special Guest Star," much like Heather Locklear was on Melrose Place. Gabrielle Carteris left the show following the fifth season. Her character, Andrea Zuckerman, changed radically during the transition from high school to college. In high school, Andrea was the brainy editor of the West Beverly Blaze, who had a crush on Brandon and secretly lived out of district. During the fourth season, the character's freshman year of college, Andrea drops journalism, becomes pregnant, and gets married to someone she barely knows (Jesse Vasquez) before the year is out. While the pregnancy plotline was written at Carteris' request, so as to incorporate her real life pregnancy, this was a major shift for the character, and also caused her to become somewhat isolated from the other characters on the show. After her original five-year contract ended, Carteris voluntarily left 90210 for her own self-titled talk show, which lasted only one season. Carteris returned to 90210 for guest appearances during the sixth, eighth, and tenth seasons. Both James Eckhouse and Carol Potter left the show following the fifth season at the end of their original five year contracts. During the high school years of the show, Jim and Cindy Walsh played secondary roles, offering advice to Brenda and Brandon, along with their friends, but were rarely given plotlines of their own. They generally would spend most of their time reacting to various things that Brenda, Brandon and later Valerie did. As the show entered the college years, Jim and Cindy were moved even farther into the background as the show took on a much more soap operatic tone and the characters grew up, reducing their need for parental oversight. Following the fifth season, both characters left Beverly Hills for Hong Kong, making occasional guest appearances in the sixth, seventh and eighth seasons. Even though all the Walshes eventually left the show, the Walsh home continued to play a central role in the series. The show explained this by having Brandon tell Steve his parents had given the green light for Steve to keep living in the house. Jason Priestley stopped acting on the show at the beginning of the ninth season. However, he remained an executive producer for 90210 until the end of the series. In the show, Brandon is still recovering from his aborted wedding to Kelly, and is offered a job in Washington, D.C., which he accepts. Brandon was the last Walsh family member to leave Beverly Hills, and his only other appearance on the series following his departure is by video to Donna and David at the time of their wedding. Tiffani Thiessen (credited as Tiffani-Amber Thiessen) replaced Shannen Doherty after her departure following the fourth season. Thiessen portrayed Valerie Malone, an old Walsh family friend from Buffalo, New York who moves into Brenda's old room. While Valerie is meant as a replacement for Brenda, the characters are very different, and Valerie has a rocky relationship with most of the gang during her time on the show. Valerie leaves Beverly Hills soon after Brandon, saying that she is going to return home to Buffalo. Thiessen returned to the show for the series finale. The show addressed several topical issues like date rape, alcoholism, domestic violence, gay rights, drug abuse, teenage suicide, AIDS, and teenage pregnancy. The show gained popularity during the summer of 1991, when FOX aired a special "summer season" of the show while most other series were in reruns. The series became one of FOX's top shows when it began its next season that fall. Viewership increased dramatically and the cast members, particularly Jason Priestley and Luke Perry, became teen idols, while the series would make actresses Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling household names. When Beverly Hills, 90210 began, the show was heavily issue-oriented with Brenda and Brandon facing a different teen issue nearly every week in largely self-contained episodes. As the show progressed, it became more character-driven with the characters entering into various love triangles, while dealing with general high school issues. As the show moved into the characters' college years, the writing changed and episodes were now largely plot-driven and much more soap operatic than they had been previously. Due to the various cast changes and changes behind the scenes, ratings for the tenth season declined to an average of 10 million viewers per episode (according to the May 2000 issue of Us Weekly). The ratings were small compared to the millions who had watched previous seasons. The lower ratings, along with the high costs associated with any television show in its later seasons led Fox to cancel the series in January 2000. The final episode aired in May 2000. However, even with all the cast changes, the series finale of the show attracted a large amount of viewership. The series Melrose Place was initially a spinoff from the show, as actor Grant Show (who played Jake on Melrose Place) appeared for a multi-episode run as Kelly's love interest, and a friend of Dylan's. Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Brian Austin Green and Ian Ziering also made appearances as their 90210 characters in the first few episodes of Melrose Place. In later seasons, the development of Melrose Place into an ultra-sensationalistic soap opera influenced its predecessor, which headed off into the same direction. The initial failure of Melrose Place during its first season created a ban on future 90210 spin-offs; plans to split 90210 into two shows (one focusing on the main cast and another focusing on a new group of high school students) upon the graduation of the main cast from high school were aborted, and the characters brought in during 90210's third season for this purpose (the freshman students at West Beverly who were mentored by the 90210 cast during their senior year) were dropped. A second spinoff from the show, focusing on a family from Kansas who will move to Beverly Hills when their grandmother suffers from alcohol addiction, is in the works. It will air on the CW in the fall of 2008. This new series is currently being called 90210 removing the "Beverly Hills" from the title to distance itself from the previous incarnation. Lori Loughlin has already been placed on contract as a regular cast member, and it is known that Jennie Garth will reprise the role of Kelly Taylor and play a guidance counselor at West Beverly. Ian Ziering is lobbying to return as Steve Sanders. According to a CW press release on May 27th, Tori Spelling will make a comeback as well. Her character Donna Martin-Silver will own a boutique in Beverly Hills. Shannen Doherty is also returning to reprise her role as Brenda Walsh. It has not been determined for how many episodes she will appear in at this time.

Television has always been crammed with teenagers. They were either gee-whiz kids like Wally Cleaver or smart-alecky wisenheimers like Alex P. Keaton with blemish-free lives that never get more complex than “Gee, how can I find a date for the dance?” Then, in October of 1990, Aaron Spelling, TV’s foremost soap-meister, and Darren Star, who would go on to become quite the soap man himself with Melrose Place and Sex And The City, put forth one of the most ambitious creations to be aired on TV: a show about teens with real-life problems. Sure, the residents of Beverly Hills 90210 were an annoyingly beautiful bunch living in a fantasy zip code of upscale shopping mall and cool cars, but the 90210 gang had concerns that would’ve made Joanie Cunningham blush: “I want to have sex with my alcoholic boyfriend, but I’m too busy worrying about the lump in my breast.” The sun-dappled FOX soap opera didn’t catch on right away; it was aired opposite NBC’s Thursday powerhouse Cheers. However, in the summer of 1991, the upstart network grabbed vacationing teens by airing original episodes featuring the 90210 gang enjoying their summer vacations too. Instantly, eight teen idols, bitch Brenda, brooding Dylan, doltish Steve, goody-goody Brandon, spoiled Kelly, virginal Donna, Vanilla Ice wannabe David, and brainy Andrea, were born. By deftly combining eternal themes of crushes and cliques with more topical messages about honorability and friendship, 90210 offered teens a modified mirror image of what being young in the 1990s was all about. While the notoriously difficult Doherty exited in 1994 and the show’s story lines eventually became more soapy and less earnest, the important things stayed the same: the gang’s internal loyalty, the Peach Pit’s menu, and, of course, Brandon’s hair.