Trio Trophy - Day Eight

First, some business. For the round of 32, I'd like to mention a particularly good or memorable episode or scene from each show - and that's where you come in. If there's a show or two (or more) for which you'd like to write something that fits this theme, mention it in the comments or email me. It doesn't need to be more than a paragraph or two, unless you want to wade through more posts like these first round ones.

Now, on to the shows!

From the Co-Ed Fever bracket:

(7) Alien Nation v. (10) Kolchak the Night Stalker

Alien Nation managed to combine questions about extra-terrestrial life and immigration by showing a near future where aliens from another planet take up residence on Earth when the ship that was carrying them crashes in the desert outside of Los Angeles.

In episodes the aliens generally fill in for whatever group would normally be the focus of a given wrong or slight, allowing for a re-examination of human behavior and prejudices. The differences between the aliens and humans are also shown in less serious stories, such as when alien detective George Francisco becomes pregnant.

The show did build a reasonable following for its 22 episodes, but was cut short when budgetary problems forced Fox to cut several drama series after the 1989-90 season. Fox would later bow to fan sentiment (and an unresolved cliffhanger) and make several TV movies over the following seven years.

A few clips of and about the show here.

Kolchak the Night Stalker served as inspiration for The X-Files, though its approach to things that go bump in the night was much more light-hearted. Darren McGavin played Carl Kolchak, a reporter for the Independent News Service whose investigative reporting into murders usually turned up some supernatural angle.

There was a significant comedic element in the show, seen mostly in the cast of characters that Kolchak worked with at INS and the police and morgue staff who helped him on that end. While the show took on the usual array of monsters and legends, it also used some fairly contemporary oddities, including UFOs, invisible aliens and a killer android.

While McGavin managed to portray Kolchak as both a loveable loser and a reporter with the skill to break such odd cases, the viewing public never quite warmed to the series. McGavin was also unhappy with the direction of the show, and worn out from the shooting schedule. So it was an amicable parting of the ways (or as much as can be expected) when ABC canceled the show after 20 episodes in the 1974-75 season.

These clips are from the original show, not the 2005 revival, which is better left unconsidered.

(8) Hooperman v. (9) James at 15

Hooperman came from the pair of Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, who had previously created L.A. Law. The title character, Harry Hooperman, is a San Francisco cop who would rather talk it out with a suspect than shoot it out. He worked in a precinct with the usual colorful characters, including some of the usual suspects (the hard as nails supervisor) and others more specific to the setting (the openly gay cop and his partner, who tries to "save" him by repeatedly hitting on him).

Outside of work, Hooperman is an amateur musician and landlord, inheriting his apartment building from his former landlady. He also inherits her dog, a tempermental Jack Russell terrier, and the building's cantankerous tenants. One of them, Susan Smith, would become his super and his love interest.

Jack Ritter played Hooperman, and his comedic background fit the character well, and was up to the show's more dramatic moments as well. However, at only half an hour, the various plots required the cast to plow through enough material to fill a whole hour. The show didn't catch on, thanks in part to airing against Magnum P.I. in its first season. ABC cancelled the show after 42 episodes that aired from 1987 to 1989.

Not much video here, mostly promos and John Ritter tributes.

James at 15 took an unusually frank look at growing up for a show airing in the mid-1970s. The show starts when James Hunter's family moves from Oregon to Boston when his dad, a college professor, gets a new job. The regular teen struggles are compounded by the challenge of being the new kid, but level off when James makes friends in Sly and Karen, fellow students at Bunker Hill High.

Midway through the series, the show turns into James at 16, and had its most controversial episode when James loses his virginity to a Swedish exchange student. Episodes often revolved around a specific topic (teen alcoholism, cancer, parental infidelity).

While the reality of the series was refreshing, it may have been too much for some viewers. There was also a fair amount of turmoil behind the scenes, as the original producers and the show's creator quit during the run. 21 episodes ran during the 1977-78 season.

Some clips from the show here.

From the Public Morals bracket:

(7) Andy Barker, P.I. v. (10) The Knights of Prosperity

Andy Barker, P.I. was based on the traditional combination of accounting and detective work. Barker, played by Andy Richter, was a CPA who is drawn into being a gumshoe when he is mistaken for his office's former client, a private eye. Andy finds that he actually likes to solve cases, and takes on new ones with the help of a motley crew including a video store owner, the detective who used to rent Andy's office, and Andy's wife.

The plots are fairly typical detective fare, but are given a unique spin thanks to Andy's amateur approach and his mild-mannered approach, quite unlike the typical private eye. The jokes also run the range, from pop culture references to more subtle gags to physical comedy.

NBC only planned on a six episode run to start, but poor ratings saw them only air four of them in 2007.

Full episodes of the show can be seen here.

The Knights of Prosperity also features a ragtag group brought together for a common cause, though in this case it was to commit a crime rather than solve one. Eugene Gurkin was a janitor who, sick of his job and despairing of ever achieving his life's dream of opening a bar, comes up with a plan to rob Mick Jagger's New York apartment. Once he comes up with his plan, he amasses his team, whose members are as unsuited to lives as master thieves as Eugene's. Each episode sees the team accomplish a part of their plan, often causing as many problems as they solve.

After their attempt at robbing Mick Jagger, the group turned their attention to Kelly Ripa and Ray Romano, who each played themselves. Donal Logue gave Eugene a blue collor Robin Hood air, and the supporting cast lived up to the adjective "colorful," between Gary the cabbie of unknown extraction and Esperanza, a diner waitress who may be the most able to carry off the group's plans, as long as her crime lord boyfriend doesn't find her and take her back to Columbia. It also had great opening credits.

The quirky charms of the show, created by Rob Burnett of Ed fame, couldn't survive its various name changes and scheduling hijinx by ABC, who pulled it from a post-Dancing With the Stars timeslot to hype Big Day. Eleven of the show's 13 episodes would air in 2007.

Some clips for you here.

(8) Firefly v. (9) Cupid

Firefly followed the nine residents of the Serenity, a ship that hauls cargo (and occasionally smuggles) between planets controlled by the Alliance. The captain, Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), chose to haul cargo rather than live under the Alliance, against which he fought.

The show's obvious space western setting allows for examination of life on the last frontier. It also gets to look at the additional challenges of living this life while also worrying about what the government may do to those who opposed it (the US-Chinese derived Alliance is also present in the many Asian influences seen in everyday life). Joss Whedon, the show's creator, also noted that every show he does is about family, in this case the developing relationship of everyone on ship.

Things between Whedon and Fox were contentious from the start, as Fox forced a redo of the show's pilot to make the captain more likeable and to keep Whedon from filming in widescreen format. This reshoot didn't help with critics, who were mixed on the show's premier, but it quickly caught on with fans, especially fans of Whedon's previous shows. That didn't translate to high enough ratings for Fox, which pulled the show after airing 11 of the 13 made episodes for the 2002-03 season.

Full episodes of Firefly can be seen here.

Cupid may be the best show to ever combine matchmaking and potential mental illness. Jeremy Piven played Trevor Hale, a Chicagoan who believed he was the god Cupid, sent from Olympus to connect 100 couples without the benefit of his powers as punishment. Each week saw him take on a new couple, often from someone who attends the same group therapy session run by Claire Allen (Paula Marshall).

Piven brought an appropriately puckish flavor to Trevor/Cupid, fitting for a god who is stuck among mortals. Marshall does a fine job as his foil/confessor, and while the show doesn't do her reputation as a show killer any favors, she's clearly not at fault here.

You can thank ABC's decision to debut the show on Saturdays for the bulk of the ratings trouble, as by the time the show moved to Thursday it had to compete with NBC's lineup to get fans not versed in the show's backstory. Fourteen of the 15 episodes aired during the 1998-99 season, though you may get to see new ones as creator Rob Thomas is reviving the show for ABC, with a new cast and location move to L.A.

Clips here, with some episodes broken into parts.