As far as I can recall, this was a one-time only show, or maybe a VERY short-lived series. It came on in the early to mid 80s, and had SNL type skits and musical numbers, though it was obviously not recorded live and didn’t seem to have any host.’ The cast were all well-established actors, but strictly C-list however.
One genuinely clever skit centered around the idea that YOU the viewer got to be the star of a sitcom episode: Bob Denver (yes, Gilligan) was the director who talked directly to the audience and explained that this was a sitcom starring YOU. Denver explained that the props you needed to play along were a close-up photo of yourself, a can of fish-food, a fishbowl and a box of laundry detergent.
The ‘sitcom’ was called “That Darned Cathy.” There was a theme song, and credits that showed pictures of the cast - Lisa Welchel (Blair on “Facts of Life”) as the Ethel Mertz-type neighbor/sidekick. Anson Williams (Potsie on “Happy Days”) as Cathy’s beleaguered husband, and starring YOU “[Tape picture of yourself to the TV screen now]” as Cathy!
As the “episode” played out, the camera filmed at the POV of YOU. Welchel and Williams spoke their lines directly to the camera, and the lines that YOU were supposed to say appeared as closed captions at the bottom of the screen.
At one point, the closed captions state “[Forget your lines. Look at cue cards and read them aloud.”] At which point the camera swerves quickly away from the set to the ‘studio’ where the ‘cameras’ are filming. Denver and an assistant hold up the cue cards.
At another pivotal point in the ‘episode’, YOU are bending over to feed fish in a fishbowl. the stage directions read “[Get your head stuck in the fishbowl. (Remember - you’re an idiot.)]”
The sitcom involved a very Lucille Ball type situation in which YOU and Welchel overload the washer with too much soap and flood the house with soap suds.
There was another skit in which Michael York was picking up a lady in a singles bar, laying on the smooth charm and this close to getting her to come home with him.
Suddenly, we see a close-up of the surface of the bar. A nose falls onto it. York’s voice (now incredibly nasally) says “Oh, excuse me. I hate it when this happens.” as if it’s the most ordinary, run of the mill occurrence.
We cut between close-ups of the horrified womans’ face, and close-ups of York’s hands picking up and washing off his detached nose. Then the hands wander offscreen, we hear a 'TWIST - TWIST - TWIST - CLUNK" sound, and finally we see York’s face again. His nose (which he just reattached) is on upside-down! He says “OK, fixed. Now…shall we go back to my place?” To which the shocked lady shouts “No!” and runs away. York, his nose still on backwards, is baffled. “What did I say wrong?” he wonders.
So, this ring a bell with anybody?