NBC's Must See TV

[BruiserBrody]

Opening topic: Sam Malone womanizing vs Dan Fielding womanizing.

Both made it a point to fuck floozies IIRC, but Malone went even farther as he revealed he sexually assaulted Rebecca Howe when they were forced to sleep next to one another. (It's been a LONG time but I believe they were trapped in a room with security lasers and had to lay down and still to avoid setting off the alarms). The show closing gag was Rebecca thanking Sam for being a gentleman. Sam replied "And I thank you" Diane: "Oh what for?" Sam: Being a heavy sleeper....

The audience roared.

 

[Lazgistics Supervisor]

#MeTooTV

 

[BruiserBrody]

I can still watch and enjoy the Cosby show, much in the way that I am okay with Beniot matches. The show holds up well until that final season with Cousin Pam trying to replace Lisa Bonet (fired) and the adult kids who were off living their best lives.
Cosby babysitting his Grandkids is always fun to see and there are some classic moments when Rudy and her friends were still young. Poor Peter.

This was classic. This was so well received they tried to recreate it a season or 2 later but it didn't have the same magic.

Cliff macking on Claire and making veiled sex comments I guess is cringe now. There is an episode where Cliff spikes his families BBQ sauce at a picnic to make them all horny and stops them from feuding with their significant others. CRINGE.

 

[geniusMoment]

I've always had a theory that a person is a either a Seinfeld person or a Friends person. And Friends people suck.

 

[King Kamala]

@cobainwasmurdered , can we ban anyone who prefers Friends over Seinfeld?

 

[BruiserBrody]

I've always had a theory that a person is a either a Seinfeld person or a Friends person. And Friends people suck.

I watched Friends up until SD! became a thing. Seinfeld is among my all time favorite shows.

---

I was shocked in recent years to see how big of ratings the Golden Girls pulled in. 4 "old" ladies cranked up top 10 rankings for years while being on Saturday Nights...before Saturday was a death spot I guess. The show holds up very well for me, don't get me wrong.
Amen, Empty Nest and....???? were on with it I believe. I'll whip up some classic NBC line ups tomorrow to refresh our memories.

The Golden Girls - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The series finale of The Golden Girls was watched by 27.2 million viewers. As of 2016, it was the 17th-most watched television finale.

 

[Hawk 34]

You are such a Rose.

Golden Girls is a cultural icon of a show, the fact it wasn’t rated higher surprised me more.

 

[Epic Springs]

I never watched Friends in its original run. I only watched the complete series when it was uploaded to Netflix 5-6 years ago. I found it to be a good but not great show. I was always more of a Frasier man.

 

[Brocklock]

I absolutely hated Friends even as a kid. Something about the entire male cast really irritated me and it seemed like it was nothing but cute shit and catchphrases. I've seen some episodes and that's pretty much what it is too me. If that's your thing, that's cool. I just want more from what I like in a show. I've encountered people that get snobby about their fandom of Friends as much as people that are snobby about Seinfeld and it's just weird to me.

I didn't like Frasier as a kid either, but I watched most of the show on syndication around 10 years ago and liked it a lot. It has the usual 90's dated elements, but once in a while they will deliver some absolutely hilarious jokes and the cast was fantastic. Some of the payoffs on the best episodes are almost Larry David esque with how every joke will weave together.

It was jarring to see how different Frasier was as a character when I watched Cheers though. The Fraiser of his own show would never hang with guys like Norm, Cliff, or Woody, or even Sam. His entire backstory was changed too since his mother was portrayed as a sweet woman on Frasier and was played by the actress who played Livia Soprano on Cheers and was trying to murder Diane. And, I think they even said his dad passed on Cheers at some point, but I might be misremembering.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Yup, saying his dad was dead was paid off w/ John Mahoney during one of the Cheers mini-reunion episodes.

--
IIRC Norm MacDonald's ABC sitcom scored a huge first rating and then died off big, Norm or someone claimed it was because people thought "The Norm Show"(IIRC) was going to be about Norm Peterson.

---
I recall I booked Cheers post-show going off the air in a thread once. I suggested Norm had a stroke due to his weight/drinking, and was disabled, Vera had left him, so Norm was stuck, bed-ridden, forced to listen to Cliff ramble all day as his caretaker.

 

[Brocklock]

Maybe Paul could fill in for Cliff as caretaker on occasion to give Norm some variety.

 

[Baby Shoes]

I recall I booked Friends post-show going off the air in a thread once. I suggested Chandler had a stroke due to his weight/drinking, and was disabled, Monica had left him, so Chandler was stuck, bed-ridden, forced to listen to Joey ramble all day as his caretaker.

 

[Lazgistics Supervisor]

Was into Friends as a little kid because of the monkey and JCVD guest starring. Got out of it around the same time that I got into wrestling and zombie movies, so around 1996/1997.

 

[King Kamala]

One positive thing I will say about Friends is it is neck and neck with Night Court for being 2nd best Must See TV Theme song behind Cheers. No disrespect to goofy synthesized slap bass, Bobby McFerrin or Kelsey Grammar singing.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Family Ties - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Surprised a little to see NBC took TV's number 2 rated show off the Thursday line up and sunk it on Sunday night.

--

Night Court certainly sticks out in this ad as subversive compared to opening the night with some wholesome Cosby.

 

[Lazgistics Supervisor]

...I'm not surprised that I'm the first one to bring it up, but Community debuted on the Must See TV lineup back on September 17, 2009.

 

[King Kamala]

As much as I loved some of the late ‘00s/early ‘10s lineups with Community, Parks & Rec and 30 Rock, anything after 2004 feels like Must See TV in name only.

 

[King Kamala]

Must See TV - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

I had weird feeling about my last post and looked it up and saw Must See TV DID end in 2004! The late ‘00s/early ‘10s Thursday night lineup was called “Comedy Night Done Right”. Stupid Mandela Effect!

 

[BruiserBrody]

Seinfeld's TV parents have interesting back stories IRL:

Liz Sheridan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

While working as a dancer in New York City nightclubs, Sheridan met the then-unknown James Dean. She wrote a book, Dizzy & Jimmy: My Life with James Dean: A Love Story, chronicling their time together in 1952. In it, she describes them as each other's first romantic love. "We had great times... We didn't want to be apart. We found a place and lived together... efore he really hit it big."[11] Dean pursued work on the stage in New York, with film roles in Hollywood soon to follow. Without sure footing or a serious plan, forging a future was not an option, thus bringing about the end of their relationship.[12][13] "He was being hauled away into this career, and I couldn't follow him," she said in an interview.[14][15]

Barney Martin - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Entering show business as a stand-in for Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners in 1955–56 and as a part-time writer for Steve Allen in the 1950s, he was discovered by Mel Brooks, who cast him in The Producers.

--
I love hearing stories of brushes with greatness like that. Burt Reynolds 2nd book is full of little stories like that, when he was just a TV geek trying to get by in Hollywood during the 60s.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1365903871932067841

I guess they weren't all hits.

----
I found it interesting to recently read that Jason Alexander was upset during an early season 2 episode of Seinfeld that was completely about Jerry and Elaine in Florida with Jerry's parents. He apparently told Larry David if he gets written out of a show again that David should make it permanent.

Michael Richards was the most serious actor among the main cast, and was upset when the others would botch lines and ruin takes.

Alexander says the cast were not close off camera, and only he and Julia LD were sort of friends outside of the studio due to both having young kids at the same time.

 

[BruiserBrody]

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1369163057323196419

Surprising that Wendt didn't sign a NBC deal coming off the Cheers success.

 

[King Kamala]

Wait. I knew George Wendt had a short lived CBS sitcom (and I'm guessing CBS paid out of the butt to get any Cheers star cause they were still in their '90s doldrums) but I didn't know it was based on CarTalk!!!

Tangentially related but I was scrolling through Peacock Premium during my lunch break. First, of interest to this board, they inexplicably aired a Peacock Premium ad while I was watching Peacock Premium and there was no mention of WWE coming next week (but they did shoutout Motocross being on there and the American Pie series coming (heh) on March 31st). Second, they have old episodes of The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson on there. Some of which probably aired after and/or contain the stars of Must See TV!

 

[strummer]

Damn, That George Wendt Show was created by Peter Tolan. Lasted only six episodes.

Never knew this but .Wendt appeared in every single (275) Cheers episode

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1370648365491453953

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1371344608131694598

Clearly he slept with Blanche.

 

[geniusMoment]

Wait. I knew George Wendt had a short lived CBS sitcom (and I'm guessing CBS paid out of the butt to get any Cheers star cause they were still in their '90s doldrums) but I didn't know it was based on CarTalk!!!

Tangentially related but I was scrolling through Peacock Premium during my lunch break. First, of interest to this board, they inexplicably aired a Peacock Premium ad while I was watching Peacock Premium and there was no mention of WWE coming next week (but they did shoutout Motocross being on there and the American Pie series coming (heh) on March 31st). Second, they have old episodes of The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson on there. Some of which probably aired after and/or contain the stars of Must See TV!

Do they have old episode of Late Night with Conan on there from 96-99? If so, I might actually get it.

 

[King Kamala]

Haven't looked it but I strongly doubt it given their residual bad blood (and I believe Conan owns a lot of his Late Night footage now since it's popped up on the TBS show)

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1369411898014396422

 

[BruiserBrody]

With Roddy Piper in black face stricken from Peacock, I just saw Seinfeld's "The WIfe" on Hulu and Kramer meets his black GF's parents after over tanning, basically doing a black face joke as the payoff.
---
In continuity, Kramer says he takes bathes during this episode, meanwhile in the episode where he, Jerry and Newman have their shower heads replaced, Kramer describes in disgust trying to sit in his own putrid filth when describing why he is against baths. This has shook me to the core and I may take days to sleep properly.