I reckon I’m one of a very small number of Brits who remember Big Wave Dave’s fondly (or indeed at all). It had David Morse starting a new life running a surf shop in Hawaii and dragging his friends along with him. I think it only ran for a few episodes, but I liked it a lot. They only showed it over here at ~1am on one of the lesser watched channels.
The “Slap” Maxwell Story, starring the very funny Dabney Coleman and the scrumptious Megan Gallagher.
Wings. For one thing, it had Crystal Bernard. The writing was first rate and the cast (especially Roy, the competing airline rep) was hilarious.
Ha! I was going to say that. I can’t believe anyone else remembers it. I recall Christopher Lloyd the most.
I saw one episode of a UK Sitcom called The High Life starring Alan Cumming as a Flight Attendant. It was hi-larious, and I regret forgetting to tune into the rest of the series.
I like some of the shows mentioned, didn’t know they were underappreciated, like Wings or NewsRadio
Mine are mostly guilty pleasures:
Life with Bonnie - is it my imagination, or is this filmed live, improv-style?
Half & Half - I have such a crush on Rachel True.
Stacked - I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Pamela Anderson is actually pretty funny, in a Loni Anderson in WKRP kinda way.
Oh, I was a fan of Best of the West, too. Same with Herman’s Head and Hot L Baltimore.
Some oldies:
He and She – Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss. He was a comic strip artist; she worked in Traveler’s Aid. Populated by great supporting actors like Kenneth Mars (as their neighbor), Hamilton Camp (memorable as their super), and Jack Cassidy (as the vain actor portraying Benjamin’s comic book hero on TV).
Callucci’s Department – Barney Miller-esque look at a government agency. Also a great cast, with James Coco and Jose Perez.
The Duck Factory – I have no idea why this isn’t readily available on DVD; it has a premade selling point: it starred an actor who went on to become (and still is) a major box office attraction. Jim Carrey. (Though he was not the wild man here. It was set in a cartoon studio. When the Walt Disney-ish owner dies, his widow (the terrific Theresa Ganzel) names puts Carrey in charge. Cast includes Jack Guilford (as the director), Jay Tarses (a writer from the Dick van Dyck show who turned to acting), and Don Messick (the voice of Scooby Doo, Papa Smurf and many others) as the voice man for Dippy Duck. Lots of great in-jokes for cartoon fans: in one episode, you see Bill Scott (the voice of Bullwinkle) singing a medley of cartoon theme songs – all from Jay Ward/Bill Scott shows.
Bob – Another great comedy starring Bob Newhart, where he was a comic book artist called out of retirement when they decide to revive his character Mad Dog. But Mad Dog was a 50s hero, and this was the 90s, so the character was darkknighted, much to Bob’s chagrin. With Cynthia Stevenson as Bob’s daughter (the only time he had a child in any of his sitcoms, though she was an adult child). John Cygan was wonderful as Harlan Stone, a Harlan Ellision takeoff, and the rest of the cast was fine, too. The show was written by Mark Evanier, who writes Groo. CBS juggled the show from timeslot to timeslot; it did OK, but was hard to find. When renewed they insisted all the good elements be removed so Jere Burns and Betty White could be added to the cast, and the first episode of the second season was the clearest delination of “jumping the shark” ever.
** Grounded for Life ** - the final season lost focus when the brothers opened a bar, but the seasons leading up to it, about a Catholic couple who had children when they were very young, was fantastic with most episodes retelling whatever family disaster occurred via flashbacks. It’s like Memento except funny.
** It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia ** - on break between seasons (I hope), it features three siblings and their buddy who own a dive bar in Philly. They are morally reprehensible which makes it even funnier. The addition of Danny Devito in season two was a great one as he plays their equally unpleasant father.
“Titus” and “The Job”.
Two shows that didn’t last nearly long enough.
-Joe
Seconded; that was a great show. I also liked The Single Guy.
Titus was okay, but I only watched it because it was the lead-in to Dark Angel.
I liked a few of the ones mentioned so far - Boston Common, SportsNight, Titus and I also liked Major Dad.
I also like the original season of “Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place”. Including the guy that would just tackle someone without provocation (football fantasy?).
The cancellation of It’s Your Move, which starred Jason Bateman and lasted seven episodes from 1984-85, taught me that I shouldn’t get too attached to TV shows I really, really like. For a family-oriented sitcom, it had some really sharp writing.
Seconded. That was a fantastic show.
Around the same time was Arnie. Brilliant show.
In the mid-70s there was a show in which penitentiary inmates were the protagonists. It was dumb as shit, but I loved it. What was the name of it?
On the Rocks is the prison show.
Greg The Bunny was absolutely hilarious, in my opinion.
That would have been a decent show if it hadn’t had, you know, “The Single Guy”. Great cast, but Silverman sucked with a capital “ucked”.
-Joe
Ah, yes. Thank you.
I was also a big fan of The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. I think that was the first time I encountered the beautiful Jodie Foster.
I have a hate-on for that show because it was originally paired with the dark, brilliantly funny Starved. The network decided they could only keep one of them, so Starved got the ax in favor of the dumber, less-funny Philly.
Ditto-ditto! I came to post this sit-com, too. I always wondered if it was improv, or if at least parts were. I thought is was extremely funny and off-the-wall.