*toilet flush* *hooting from studio audience* It's The Vintage FOX Network Thread

[Valeyard]

I was pretty happy, not connecting Roseanne and Jessica Hahn in Kinison Dick Bingo.

 

[King Kamala]

Did I ever share the Kinison biopic that a fiftysomething, super townie Central MA comic I peripherally know wrote, directed and starred in? It ends with literal Cameos from Vince Neil, Ron Jeremy, and Ginger Lynn. Hooooey. It sure is something.

Edit- beautifully encapsulates Brother Sam’s life in less than 20 minutes

 

[Valeyard]

Al Bundy perpetually wanting to die and then Kinison actually dying would've been so bad. It'd be like how Redd Foxx finally had the big one.

This thread saves me starting a Tracey Ullman Fucking Rules thread though because she's a global treasure.

 

[King Kamala]

A little Kinison goes a long way. It's hard to imagine him as a sitcom lead. First and foremost, it's hard to imagine him adhering to the sitcom taping schedule with his rock star lifestyle.

Roseanne was also an unlikely sitcom lead but her producers surrounded her with great actors like Goodman and Laurie Metcalf to help carry the show. Idk if a show has ever worked with TWO stand ups in lead roles. Someone may correct me and make me feel like a fool.

 

[Valeyard]

The Amanda Bearse/Kinison feud would've been way better, gotta admit.

 

[King Kamala]

Idk if Amanda Bearse gets enough credit for being one of the first openly gay people on television. I think she even came out before Jim J Bullock although if anyone ever believed he was heterosexual, I have some property in Alaska I'd like to sell them.

 

[BUTT]

Kinison did star in a Fox sitcom shortly before he died. It was called Charlie Hoover and he played a miniature conscience of Tim Matheson.

Usually I would link the pilot but episode 2 is where Bill Maher joins the cast as the office creep so I figured this was a better place to start.

 

[Valeyard]

I have vague memories of commercials for that. It must've coincided with the period my dad banned us from watching Fox (then he watched the Simpsons or something and it was all good).

All of Herman's Head was on Youtube at one point. That came along 20 years too early.

 

[King Kamala]

Kinison did star in a Fox sitcom shortly before he died. It was called Charlie Hoover and he played a miniature conscience of Tim Matheson.

I like how Tim Matheson got roped into playing straight man for multiple heir apparents for Belushi.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Since it's Saturday AM....

 

[King Kamala]

That trend of ‘80s stand ups getting Saturday morning cartoons was weird. Howie Mandel and Louie Anderson kind of made sense. Roseanne’s ABC cartoon (which preceded them) kind of didn’t.

Little Rosey - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I am 99% sure one of the Wayans Brothers had a cartoon too. Probably Damon since I guess he was the most family friendly Wayans?

insert “Men on Film” or “Handiman” sketch

if Sam Kinison had’ve lived, I bet UPN would have given him an awkward Saturday morning cartoon.

 

[Brocklock]

Yeah Damon had a cartoon airing on the WB in the mid to late 90s called Waynehead.

Missed the opportunity for a washed up Andrew Dice Clay circa 95 to have a bad family friendly animated series.

 

[King Kamala]

Bless This House (American TV series) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

He did have a cheesy CBS family sitcom though where he was billed as Andrew Clay, though this isn't @BruiserBrody 's CBS thread!

 

[BruiserBrody]

How was Hammerman on ABC when Fox was the "ethnic" mainstream channel?

 

[King Kamala]

At risk of sounding like as much of a Meltzer as @BruiserBrody , I feel like Hammer probably wanted to go somewhere more mainstream than FOX and I feel like ABC was the best fit since they had a track record of family friendly, "urban" shows with Family Matters (plus Sister Sister and Hanging With Mr. Cooper started around the same time)

 

[BruiserBrody]

Chevy was already on the down swing, so it's a little surprising FOX didn't pick someone edgier or hip for such an attempt.

Honestly, with his Simpsons connection and oddball, sometimes subversive humor, Conan would have been a wild card option that may not have worked, but could have possibly at least grabbed the Arsenio youth demo.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://www.reddit.com/r/ObscureMedia/comments/n1dxln

 

[King Kamala]

Weirdly specific memory is I remember reading about Rewind in a Disney Adventures article about the 1997-98 Fall preview. I have no idea why DA thought '90s kids would be interested in a Scott Baio comeback vehicle. Happy Days was on Nick at Nite, I guess and I watched it a lot and it was mostly pre Chachi episodes.

Mystro Clark replaced Don Cornelius as the host of Soul Train and seems way too young to play someone who was a teenager. Looking at his Wikipedia, he was born in '66 so I guess he just barely misses cutoff for someone who was a teenager in the '70s.

How punchable is Scott Baio's face in that screencap? And its premise really has nothing to do with That 70s Show besides being both set in the '70s.

Also FOX canceled shows so fast in the late '90s/'00s when they were trying to find their footing that it was really hard to predict what would be a huge flop and what would be a breakout hit.

 

[Epic Springs]

Andy Richter Controls the Universe sticks out to me as a show that was beloved by my circle of friends. Color me shocked to see that it actually lasted 2 seasons (only 19 episodes in total which means it was a mid-season replacement show).

Family Guy mocked Fox canceling everything in their comeback episode in the mid-2000s.

 

[Lazgistics Supervisor]

Andy Richter Controls the Universe was amazing and I stopped watching Fox* after they canceled it.

*Besides the animated shows.

 

[strummer]

Wow that Charlie Hoover episode was awful.. Can't believe Sam agreed to be in that unless his brother or other management put the deal together without him knowing(very possible for Sam around this time) Sam would be dead a little over 3 months later. I still remember the night he died. We were at my mother's friend from work's house when it came on the tv. He was only 38.

 

[BUTT]

How was Hammerman on ABC when Fox was the "ethnic" mainstream channel?

Fox didn't have that reputation at the time. In Living Color was the only show with a predominantly black cast prior to the '91-'92 season when they added Roc. Martin and Living Single didn't come until '92 and '93 respectively. Besides which I don't ever remember Fox Kids ever really having diverse programming.

FAKE EDIT:

OK, I didn't know about this but I can see why it didn't last. This was '96 but it's a total 1989 premise. Tone Loc is the voice of the teddy bear ffs

 

[Brocklock]

Oh man I watched some of that actually. I was definitely a charter member of the Fox Kids Club in 96.

 

[King Kamala]

I'm glad someone else knew how instantly dated C Bear & Jamal seemed. It definitely seemed way more like an ‘89-‘90 premise than a ‘96-‘97 premise. I don’t even think Tone Loc was even still recording new music by the time that show came out.

 

[Epic Springs]

I'm probably the only one who remembers a pre-fame Tobey Maguire had his own sitcom on Fox in the early 90s called "Great Scott!". The only noteworthy thing about the show was that the theme song was a shameless ripoff of "Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction. Tobey even appeared on an episode of Nickelodeon's "Wild & Crazy Kids" to promote it.

 

[BUTT]

I do remember the Maguire appearance on Wild & Crazy Kids but I never saw the show he was promoting.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Parker Lewis because that show was legit (I haven't watched it since I was 11 so maybe it actually sucked, idk).

 

[King Kamala]

2010 isn't vintage for a lot of people ITT but @BUTT talking about the last season of Boston Public reminded me of the last season of 'Til Death. FOX only renewed that show so it could limp into syndication so the last season went completely bonkers and meta. Barely anyone watched/cared about the show from the start so they had a different actress play Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher's daughter every season (including Krysten Ritter and Kate Micucci at one point) so the big crux of Season 4 was the actor playing her husband having an existential crisis about being trapped in a sitcom that no one watched.

Of course, this was one of those shows that took place in that weird 5 or so year, post DVD, pre Hulu/Netflix era so it's not really anywhere to verify that this wasn't a fever dream. And no one watched the show so I can't find any YouTube clips. But I swear it happened and there was Brad Garrett inexplicably doing his Jackie Gleason impression and an even more inexplicable guest appearance from the cast of Blossom (minus Joey Lawrence) .

 

[BUTT]

I should also mention that Boston Public, while not a very highly-rated show (though I looked up some ratings info and in season 2 it was the third most-watched show on Fox - this was the year before Idol started so the threshold was lower) has to be one of the most popular shows to never get any kind of home release. It never came out on DVD and it certainly has never streamed anywhere. I'm sure this is due to music rights, as they would use music by Eminem, Christina Aguilera, Elton John, and other high-priced artists that were within the show's budget at the time because DEK could write his own ticket but it wouldn't be worth it to relicense them now (or replace the songs with generic music) for a show that is totally forgotten. And that's not even getting into when they started to work live performances into the show (this is a Fox drama trope dating back to 90210) and would have Counting Crows or Lifehouse randomly playing at the teachers' favorite coffeehouse.

 

[strummer]

I had misremembered Parker Lewis as airing in the late 80s/early 90s but it was 90-93. I don't think I watched it much but it seemed like a show ahead of its time.

Oh yeah, Drexell's Class ruled

 

[Lazgistics Supervisor]

Parker Lewis was always a show I'd catch between Weird Science re-runs on USA when I stayed home sick from middle school. The only episode I remember is when Parker's dad goes to his high school reunion and it turns out he was a mischievous shit just like his son is.