Jump to content

The Originals and the Imitators


Paul Raven

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 64
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

Wishman was a 1983 ABC pilot, a ripoff of ET, even if the design of the alien might make you think it was imitating Paul Rudd's favorite film, Mac and Me. It was beaten in the ratings by a Magnum PI repeat.

The pilot has a slew of soap names (past and future) in the cast, with Linda Hamilton (then best known for her work on David Jacobs soaps) and Joseph Bottoms (pre-Santa Barbara) as the lead couple, Jean Bruce Scott (just off DAYS) as her friend, and John Reilly (in-between ATWT and GH) as the evil government boss. 

Bottoms rescues the alien, very, VERY awkwardly putting him in a potato sack, and flees the facility. Hamilton is, rightfully, astonished and doesn't want to be involved, but quickly comes around. They go on the run, and the end sets them up to keep going on the run. In this sense it also reminds me of Voyagers, with the late Jon Erik Hexum, which had started earlier that TV season.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyagers!

I got to watch the pilot, but I don't see it online now.

There are a few clips. Most of it is the generic "heartwarming" cheese (the alien helps Bruce's husband [the actor stopped appearing in front of the camera not long after this pilot...] and son reconcile) and generic government bad guy schemes, but there is some odd sleaze in one particular segment where the alien watches Hamilton as she is in the shower and leaves the shower, and she is...bemused? She then goes back to her bedroom (actually her friend's guest bedroom), and they laugh, and say they want to have children, and start making out while the alien is still nearby. Only when he jumps on the bed (which Hamilton says reminds her of her old family dog) do they finally stop.

Hamilton is the best part of this, as she often is, although Joseph Bottoms is worth watching as a very stupid character and possibly the most tanned warehouse-bound scientist ever. The shirtless scene and extremely tight trousers he wears don't hurt. 

Please register in order to view this content

https://fb.watch/sE5gkiDRvH/

 

 

Edited by DRW50
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

He's voiced by Dom DeLuise. As is often the case, that's all anyone needs to know. If you're curious I believe Pluto TV (and the 24/7 YouTube stream) often runs many of the Season 13 episodes on their MST3K channel.

Edited by Vee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

That theme song is the only thing from Supertrain that had any staying power. Cobert knew what he had and reused many of its elements for the NBC game show Chain Reaction less than a year later. That version only ran a few months, but it was revived on the USA Network from 1986 to 1991 - still using the Cobert theme.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Witches of Eastwick had two different attempts to make it to television - first an actual comedy in 1992 from NBC starring Ally Walker, Julia Campbell and Catherine Mary Stewart and then a 2002 FOX version starring Marcia Cross, Kelly Rutherford and Lori Loughlin. Someone wanted this tv show to happen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The version above I talked about happened around 2009-ish, so three! It had Jaime Ray Newman, Rebecca Romijn, and Lindsay Price. (With, again, Paul Gross as the male lead.) So some soap cred with the cast. (The write up also mentions Sara Rue, but she wasn't one of the three main women. Dailymotion has some episodes up, so maybe I'll check them out again and refresh my memory.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

My main memory of Eastwick is one of the women (maybe Price) using her powers to get a gay man to want her. Rather than trying to make it something wicked or hot, the show was more honest about it in that his boyfriend found them and was disgusted, and then the gay guy, with the spell now worn off, was confused and horrified. 

(if this had been done on daytime I imagine certain soap columnists would have called it hilarious and brave)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The Richmonds of Chicago were middle class (Charlie was a city highway worker, Diana was a teacher) and they had three kids and not five. Other than being a family sitcom featuring an African-American family, I'm not seeing any parallels with The Cosby Show unless I'm missing something.

Oddly enough, I see some elements of Charlie & Co. in Family Matters, besides Jaleel White being in the cast of both shows: set in Chicago, middle class African-American family, both families have an aunt named Rachel.

 

Married...with Children, Roseanne, The Simpsons to me seem like responses to the big 1980s family sitcoms The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Who's the Boss, Growing Pains. Think about it, The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Who's the Boss, Growing Pains all embodied Reagan-era ideals and Married...with Children, Roseanne, The Simpsons were the total opposite, the anti-Reagan-era ideal family sitcom.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Exactly. 

Usually, the TV industry responds to the culture, rather than influences it, so I wonder if Reagan-era fatigue might have been setting in sooner than the latter shows would suggest - like, say, 1985 or '86?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

In both cases, you had a show built around a comedian who had first seen success in the '60's and '70's (although, Cosby's act lent more material to his show's writers than Flip did his - unless they had plans to bring on "Geraldine" later, lol).  You also had, in both cases, a co-star with a musical background, with Gladys Knight having the obvious edge there; and an oldest son (Malcolm Jamal Warner on "Cosby"; KSJ on "Charlie") who was good-looking, popular, and who seemed to care more about his friends and his girlfriends than about his studies. 

And then you had the parents in both shows as full-time professionals and not like the Jeffersons or the Evanses on "Good Times," where the mom stayed home while the dad went off to work.  I don't recall "Charlie" focusing much on the parents' work lives beyond an episode or two; but, then again, I don't recall "Cosby" doing much with Cliff or with Clair's job after the first few seasons either.

Ironically, I've heard or read somewhere that Jaleel White was supposed to play Rudy before they changed the character to a female or that he was in serious contention.  So, "Charlie & Co." kinda, sorta gives you an idea of what, if anything, "Cosby" would have been like with Jaleel playing the precocious, younger child instead of Keshia Knight Pulliam.  And of course, before Kristoff St. John portrayed the older son on "Charlie," he played one of Denise's many obnoxious boyfriends on an episode of "Cosby," too.  (Seriously, it's a toss-up as to which Huxtable daughter had the worst tastes in men, lol).

The only place where there is real difference between the two shows, aside from income levels, is in the depiction of the sole daughter on "Charlie."  To me, she's a more stereotypical (black) teenage girl, obsessed with boys and gossiping about boys on the phone with her girlfriends and always there for a sassy, snappy comeback about how her parents just don't understand what it's like for teenagers these days.  Sort of like Brenda and Tiffany on "227" - but, now that I think about it, Vanessa Huxtable could fit that type pretty well, too, lol.

Oh, and "Charlie" had the better theme song, I'm just saying:

Please register in order to view this content

 

Edited by Khan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

@Khan Thank you for the reply re The Cosby Show/Charlie & Co.

I've pointed this out before but I think 1985/86 was the turning point season of the 1980s. Escapist shows like the primetime soaps and the big action shows were out, shows that gave comfort and warmth were in. Look at what two of the biggest hits that season were: sophomore surprise Murder, She Wrote and rookie breakout The Golden Girls. Even though both shows main characters were women over 50, the shows appealed to viewers of all walks of life. I pinpoint 1986 as the year s--- got real (AIDS crisis, Space Shuttle Challenger, Chernobyl) and with the world around us changing so much, television viewers sought comfort and warmth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • I'm trying to think whether AW had anything remotely resembling that once Steve was killed off and Alice left a widow. So many young love stories were wrapped up either by marrying and leaving town or marrying and killing off one party. Maybe they acted in the final year as if Vicky and Jake had been that couple all along, but they both had better other mates along the way and also Jake was actively hostile to Vicky at too many points without any subtext of caring about her. 
    • https://www.instagram.com/p/DJUciHzJjR2/ May 6, 2025 sheiladucks REWIND…From the Paley Center back in February…NO LIES TOLD!!! We’re on a timeout today and tomorrow for UEFA

      Please register in order to view this content

      ️, so all the more time to watch/rewatch these past three scorching episodes. What were some of your favorite moments? @beyondthegatescbs            
    • Beth Ehlers thanked Beth Chamberlain by name from the mic saying she was THE BEST person to be in a triangle with.  Generally speaking I loved Judi's Beth but then also strongly liked BethC's Beth but I did not like the whole Lorelei stage!!! 
    • Yep, it seemed temporary, lasted 3-5 minutes, then BACK! Yea.  Thanks. 
    • Oh but those "Pharleys" were very adamant that they stay together and be featured everyday (though I did like their websites and the recaps they gave each day.) I agree, they were interesting at first, but the longer it went on the more Harley became this sad sack jealous wife, the more Phillip became a dumb Josh type character torn between two women and the more Beth became a pathetic looser chasing her ex.   I think after Beth came back it would have been an interesting triangle of three "good" people trying to find a way, and I did like the "Who killed Carl" and how Harley and Beth had to work together there, but we all know Phillip would have dumped Harley to get together with Beth, Harley would have been hurt but dusted herself off and moved on, and eventually Beth and Phillip would implode. They didn't bring back one Reardon or Bauer for Mo's funeral...did anyone think they would waste money and energy on poor sad Nadine?
    • I hate to be that person, but Monday’s episode was a mess. The editing was an eyesore—felt like multiple scenes got chopped mid-way through. Anita’s singing was completely over the top. And while TT can sing, something about her performance just felt off—her voice was actually kind of grating   Leslie’s motivations make zero sense, unless we’re supposed to believe she just thrives on chaos. Her smirking while her daughter got locked out? That was straight-up cartoon villain territory. Once again, the Duprees came off like a full-on mob—especially the girls, who acted more like petty mean girls than anything else. And don’t get me started on Kat and Eva. Their dialogue was repetitive and totally unrealistic. “We have opposite fairy tales”? Seriously? Give me a break.(not that literally though, I want my episodes daily!!)
    • Please register in order to view this content

       
    • Thanks. I'd forgotten about that. It is odd she wasn't asked back. Maybe they just gave up.  Harley/Philip is one of those relationships which lingered on longer than it should have. I never got the sense the show had any great interest in them together beyond the first six months or so, and there was little to no chemistry between them after that point.
    • If Leslie wanted to be super shady

      Please register in order to view this content

    • I am just so happy with the new writing. Everything feels so much more mature. The connections between plots and characters reminds me of the eighties, and I just plain old LIKE everybody. I very much enjoyed Philip's apology tour with his two exes, and both of them being gracious to him. This version of Philip is so interesting, very flawed, but trying to do better, and I do believe he wanted the brother bond with Xander very much and is hoping to get that back. Speaking of brothers, we got Xander's first ever mention of his other brother, Bo. And how interesting that Titan is also working on a cure for sepsis. If the one with Dr Russell falls through we have a back up plan. And the seamless writing continued with Sarah trying to get out of a conference and Kayla needing to get Dr Russell out of town, I love when things just make sense like that. Shout out to Xander with cucumbers on his eyes lol And under the new regime I am not hating Stalex. I think this couple was just hammered by Ron by constantly making them sleep with other people. It was hard to root for them when the writer didn't care about them as a pairing, just about getting Rob naked. I am happy to see what happens here too. Stefan got a get well card to EJ? I wonder if it had a coded HELP ME in the message. Glad Kayla turned him down. She should never forget how he used Steve as a pawn back in the day. Characters are actually remembering this stuff these days.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy