Trio Trophy - Day 4

From the Co-Ed Fever bracket:

(3) The Critic v. (14) Voyagers!

The Critic followed neurotic New York film critic Jay Sherman, whose low-rated "Coming Attractions" aired on a cable network owned by Ted Turner clone Duke Phillips. When not at work, we got to see Jay interact with his adoptive family - Franklin, a senile ex-governor of New York, WASPy wife Eleanor, and teenaged sister Margo - and his son Marty, who favored Jay more than Jay's ex-wife, the demonic Ardeth. Later on, he'd start dating an assistant on his show, Alice, who had a daughter Penny from a previous marriage.

As an animated show, The Critic was able to do things that regular shows couldn't do, between far-flung plots (such as the time Jay was stuck in Iraq during Desert Storm) and a variety of parody movies and TV ads. But it was best when Jay had to confront his fears and deal with the love-hate relationship of his parents, his attempts to be good dad or boyfriend, or his never-ending battle with his sentient stomach.

The show featured a strong cast, from Jon Lovitz as Jay to Alan Napier's Duke to Doris Grau's gravelly-voiced make-up woman, also named Doris. Proving that the A in ABC didn't stand for animated, the network let the show go to Fox after its first season in 1994, but Fox (who seem to air anything animated - hello American Dad) didn't have much more ratings luck with the show. 23 episodes were aired overall, although 10 webisodes, each 2 minutes long, were made in 2001.

Various clips, including at least one full episode in three parts, can be seen here.

Voyagers! brought the Time Bandits vibe to TV, with Jon-Erik Hexum playing Phineas Bogg, who as one of the Voyagers travels through time to put history back in order when it breaks down (such as in the pilot, where they have to get the Wright brothers to invent the airplane).

This would be much easier for Bogg if he wasnt' so clueless about history. But he gets some help in the form of 12 year old Jeffrey Jones, an orhpan and history buff. They meet when Bogg's time travel device, the Omni, malfunctions and sends him to 1982. Bogg and Jeffrey would have two or three historical adventures per episode, with Jeffrey filling in the many gaps in Bogg's knowledge.

The show was mainly aimed at kids, with Meeno Peluce, who played Jeffrey, giving information where kids could read more about the historical events at the end of each episode. The orientation didn't help the show in finding a wider audience, even in its early Sunday timeslot. The show was cancelled after the 1982-83 season for NBC.

Some clips from the show are available here.

(6) Freaks and Geeks v. (11) The New Adventures of Beans Baxter

Freaks and Geeks followed Lindsay and Sam Weir as they navigated McKinley High School outside of Detroit in the early 1980s. Lindsay, a former mathlete, became more rebellious and hung out with the titular freaks, while Sam stuck with the geeks. The show not only showed how they dealt with the usual high school challenges, but with the situations that involved their particular clique. The setting was given further authenticity by the use of period music and casting of actors who were reasonably close to high school age.

This was the show that launched Judd Apatow and his cast of regulars, including Seth Rogan, Jason Segal and Busy Phillips, among others. The show developed a loyal fan base quickly, but as would be seen with Undeclared, it wouldn't be enough to save the show. NBC pulled the show after 18 episodes in the 1999-2000 season.

Several clips here, including whole episodes broken into smaller chunks.

The New Adventures of Beans Baxter was also a high school show, but slightly less realistic than Freaks and Geeks. Beans was, on the face of things, your average Washington DC high-schooler, but rather than having a paper route or working at McDonalds, his after school job was as a courier for The Network, an intelligence agency that employed his dad. But when his dad was kidnapped by the thugs from UGLI, they turned their sights on Beans, hoping to capture him to get his dad to give them secret information.

(The head of UGLI was played by Kurtwood Smith, apparenly honing his Red Foreman.)

All this played out in a semi-serious context, helped with the juxtaposition of the suddenly mundane problems of high school with the life and death struggle of espionage. The show was created by Savagae Steve Holland, who also directed most of the episodes. Even so, it didn't quite attract the family audience one would hope for on Saturdays (and was on opposite Golden Girls to boot), and Fox put the youthful spy out into the cold for goof after 17 episodes in the 1987-88 season.

This is the best I can do for video.

From the Public Morals bracket:

(3)The Ben Stiller Show v. (14) Sledge Hammer!

The Ben Stiller Show originated on MTV and seemed like a good fit for Fox as an edgier sketch comedy show. The show focused on parodying pop culture, such as spoofing on the Wilfred Brimley ads for Quaker Oats by introducing Grady Oats, with its own geriatric - and batshit crazy - pitchman. Stiller also impersonated the like of Bruce Springsteen, Tom Cruise and Bono in various skits. There were also original characters, like Tito Gallegas, the Pig Latin Lover.

The cast featured Stiller and several very familiar names. Janeane Garofalo, Andy Dick and Bob Odenkirk were regulars (the latter two would go on to their own sketch shows), while Judd Apatow and David Cross were among the writers.

It may be that early Sunday nights weren't the best slot for the show, as for all the critical success it never got beyond cult status. Even an Emmy for writing couldn't save the show, cancelled after 12 episodes in the 1992-93 season.

Plenty of clips here.

Sledge Hammer! took the tough-guy cop stereotype to comedic extremes with its title character, a violence-loving law and order cop who would literally stop at nothing to get his man (he once blew up a building to get a sniper off the roof). In true satirical cop show fashion he has an empathetic female partner and a long-suffering supervisor, whom he often hurts unintentionally.

The show suffered from difficult time slots throughout its run, as it was aired between Dallas and Miami Vice in its first season and The Cosby Show in its second. ABC had decided to cancel the show after one season, but a ratings jump for the final episode - Sledge accidentally nukes San Francisco after uttering his trademark "Trust me. I know what I'm doing" - led to a second season set five years before the first one. Viewership did not increase, and the show was cut after 41 episodes from 1986 to 1988.

Here's a full episode of the show, with more clips here.

(6)The Job v. (11) Square Pegs

The Job would be at least partially familiar to viewer of Denis Leary's best known show, Rescue Me, given the similarities between that show's Tommy Gavin and The Job's Mike McNeil, who faces many of the same issues around substance abuse and infidelity as Gavin, but plays them for laughs.

Leary brings the same sort of wit and eye for life as a public servant to both shows, and in both manages to create a lead who is reprehensible but appealing. And if you know many police, you'll know that it's not an unsual combination to find in that line of work. The level of realism in the show was also higher than normal for television, but was also balanced by playing off of some of the cop show stereotypes as well.

As can be expected, a show that finds comedy in some darker places and also doesn't use a laugh track can be a bit of a challenge. Throw in a delay in the second season opener due to 9/11, and it's not surprising that ABC gave the show the boot after 19 episodes in 2001 and 2002.

Several clips here.

Square Pegs opened with dialogue between two friends, Patty Greene and Lauren Hutchinson, who discovered that the secret to high school is "[c]liques. Little in-groups of different kids. All we have to do is click with the right clique, and we can finally have a social life that's worthy of us." Thus set the weekly attempts by Patty and Lauren to crack into the popular clique, which included the usual beautiful people.

In reality, Patty and Lauren wind up forming their own clique with the class clown and his new wave musician buddy. And, in true high school fashion, they don't always see that the friends they do have are more solid than the ones they'd like to have.

The tone of the show matches what would be coming with Fast Times at Ridgemont High and the films of John Hughes. The theme song was performed by The Waitresses, giving some added period cred. It also featured early roles for some name actors, including Traci Nelson, Jami Gertz, and Sarah Jessica Parker as Patty.

Debuting to strong ratings, the show couldn't hold them, and CBS cancelled the show after 20 episodes in the 1982-83 season.

A variety of clips for you here.