Welcome to a new Wildcard Wednesday! This week, I’ve got another Sitcom Potpourri, featuring brief commentary on a few short-lived comedies, and picks for the episodes that I think best represent each series at large, based on what I’ve seen. For this post, I’m looking at three multi-cams (from three different eras) that all starred the late Martin Mull, whom I hope to honor now in tandem with his memorable guest work on Arrested Development.
DOMESTIC LIFE (Jan 1984 – July 1984, CBS)
Premise: A TV commentator’s “domestic life” segment is inspired by his own kooky family.
Cast: Martin Mull, Judith-Marie Bergan, Christian Brackett-Zika, Megan Follows, Robert Ridgely, Mie Hunt
Writers: Howard Gewirtz & Ian Praiser, Steve Martin, Jack Carrerow, Lisa A. Bannick, David Angell
Thoughts: This vehicle for Martin Mull, cooked up by Mull with Steve Martin and led by scribes from Taxi, puts its star in an MTM-esque work/home dual structure that is best remembered for its similarities to Frasier. Not only is Mull’s character named Martin Crane, he also lives in Seattle and is a professional broadcaster dispensing advice. All coincidences, yes, but the familiar MTM design is indeed something they genuinely share, with a media-set workplace that’s another convention of this subgenre and its lineage. More interesting, however, is what the show does at home, where Mull wanted to offer a gentle lampoon of family sitcoms, and probably Family Ties specifically, as ten-year-old Harold is like a junior version of Alex P. Keaton, and similarly exists as the boldest comic figure in this ensemble. (Family Ties’ Tina Yothers even recurred as Harold’s girlfriend!) Oh, Mull is still the center of this design and of these scripts, but the funniest ideas that also use regular elements of the series’ situation heavily involve the boy. This is interesting but ultimately not great – it, like everything else on Domestic Life, feels derivative of better shows. Could it have found itself? Maybe. But this is no lost gem.
Episode Count: Ten episodes produced and broadcast.
Episodes Seen: Four – “Small Crane Court,” “Harold, Can You Spare $4000?,” “Harold At The Bat,” and “Rip Rides Again”
Key Episode (of Seen): #5: “Harold, Can You Spare $4000?” (03/18/84)
Why: From the handful of episodes I’ve seen, this one boasts the most original idea, also exemplifying what Mull seems to have wanted his series to be, as the dad-led family sitcom is parodied when Martin Crane, as patriarch, has to ask his own son for a $4000 loan. It’s a one-joke sketch-like notion but it’s allowed by the characters as established – and especially that of Harold, who is the show’s primary comic force. So, it’s an ideal sample of Domestic Life.
THE JACKIE THOMAS SHOW (Dec 1992 – Apr 1993, ABC)
Premise: A difficult sitcom star makes life tough for his show’s writing staff.
Cast: Tom Arnold, Dennis Boutsikaris, Alison La Placa, Michael Boatman, Paul Feig, Maryedith Burrell, Martin Mull, Breckin Meyer, Jeannetta Arnette
Writers: Tom Arnold & Roseanne & Brad Isaacs, Sid Youngers, David Fury & Elin Hampton, Joel Madison, George Beckerman, Lawrence Broch, Steve Pepoon, Art Everett, William Lucas Walker, Ken LaZebnik, Bill Bauer & Charles Bliss, Mike Dugan, David Silverman & Stephen Sustarsic
Thoughts: Since Roseanne Barr fancied her own sitcom the second coming of I Love Lucy (as they were both domestic-set multi-cams where the matriarch carried the laughs), it’s no surprise that her empire turned to The Dick Van Dyke Show for inspiration in crafting this vehicle for her then-husband Tom Arnold, and specifically, its workplace premise about TV comedy writers. Only this time, the lead wouldn’t be playing the anchoring role – the Robert Petrie, if you will — but rather, the larger-than-life conflict-maker, the Alan Brady, the terrible boss who also happens to be an egomaniacal star, here called “Jackie Thomas” after both Jackie Gleason and Danny Thomas, yet with a lot of Arnold himself in the character’s biography, plus obvious traces of the notoriously menacing Roseanne. To enable this amalgam of toxic celebrity, the workplace-set TV-about-TV series utilized the same Dick Van Dyke office construct, as the pilot introduces Jerry, the pragmatic Robert Petrie-type, who becomes the new head writer of Jackie Thomas’ banal family sitcom, leading a staff that includes a Sally-like broad, a Buddy-like jokester, and a Mel-like wimp. Jerry is centralized within this structure and is defined as something of a straight man anchor, although he ends up splitting those duties with his smart assistant who’s unsubtly positioned as (and then becomes) his eventual love interest — Alison La Placa’s Laura (another homage, like “Jerry,” to Dick Van Dyke). But the ensemble’s design around Jerry naturally clashes against the show’s need to cater to its actual star, its comic antagonist, and it thus struggles to find ideal story – which would have only come, I believe, from pushing them both to the fore by zeroing in on their relationship.
To do that, the show would have had to make their dynamic meatier, by allowing Jerry to be bolder – highlighting his esteemed pedigree on Barney Miller, Taxi, and Cheers as something that makes him sort of overeducated and pretentious compared to the Green Acres-lovin’ Jackie. This would have emphasized their contrast and made Jerry more comedically and dramatically utilizable – someone with a perspective just as definably strong as Jackie’s. To that point, Jackie, in reverse, needed some moderation. Now, don’t get me wrong; a jerk is a viable lead – see: Buffalo Bill – and boldness is great, but only when there’s more complexity and character-based precision; mercurial for the sake of being mercurial is false. There’s no humanity there. And this is troubling, for Jackie Thomas does lack humanity… and unfortunately he dominates the show, rendering it difficult for anyone else to exist comedically – they all remain Dick Van Dyke-patterned clichés — and the storytelling reflects this limited character work, satisfying the TV-about-TV premise, but little else. Oh, Jackie Thomas isn’t ever awful, mind you – as far as these short-lived sitcoms go, it’s funny and narratively specific to its concept, as it clearly enjoys the evergreen catnip of spoofing TV and the industry (Martin Mull plays a network executive and helps with that) – but it’s no Larry Sanders with regard to character or creativity, and it never fully suggests that it has a long runway for story. So, following some mixed reviews and ratings that naturally failed to maintain the command of its Roseanne lead-in, battles in both public and private helped hasten the show to its demise – making this the first and most notable of Tom Arnold’s three sitcom flops from the 1990s (the second of which also featured Alison La Placa).
Episode Count: 18 episodes produced and broadcast.
Episodes Seen: All 18.
Key Episodes: #1: “Pilot” (12/01/92)
#5: “The Joke” (12/29/92)
#8: “The All-Nighter” (01/19/93)
Why: The pilot establishes this show’s inherent uphill battle in reconciling its obvious Dick Van Dyke-like structure with its star’s chosen role (specifically the one-dimensional character given to him), while also indicating how the series maybe could have exceeded its limitations… if only it knew how to genuinely let Jackie and Jerry share the spotlight by focusing on their relationship and tailoring their characterizations for direct but motivated conflict. Meanwhile, other entries are notable for their guests — Roseanne stars in #3 and Chris Farley gets to show off in #4, while Fred Willard recurs, and members of the Green Acres cast cameo in several episodes — but the two most solidly predicated are #5 and #8, which focus on the writers as an ensemble as they’re menaced by difficult Jackie; with a bit better character work, they’d be great.
THE COOL KIDS (Sept 2018 – May 2019, FOX)
Premise: A spunky woman gets a new group of friends at a retirement home.
Cast: David Alan Grier, Martin Mull, Leslie Jordan, Vicki Lawrence
Writers: Charlie Day & Paul Fruchbom, Patrick Walsh, Sophia Lear, Allison Bosma & Jon DeWalt, Charlie Kelly, Michael Lisbe & Nate Reger, Luvh Rakhe, Conor Galvin, Maxwell Theodore Vivian, Heather Flanders, Justin Sayre, Jake Lasker & Morgan Lehmann, Alyson Fouse, Lauren Tyler, Kevin Abbott
Thoughts: With a stellar cast, snappy writing, and a low-concept retirement home premise that boasts a hangout center around workplace-esque elements, The Cool Kids is the kind of sitcom for which I naturally have high expectations. Unfortunately, it ultimately fails to excite because there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done before. Although the four leads all have basic definition, they sort of exist formulaically — they’re variations of The Golden Girls, in fact: David Alan Grier is the cynical and sometimes cranky anchor, Martin Mull is the foggy but nice one with stories about his past, Leslie Jordan is the flamboyant one whose sexuality guides his depiction, and Vicki Lawrence is the pilot-introduced straight-shooting agent of chaos. They all bring laughs (particularly Jordan and Lawrence), but there’s a relative lack of originality or specificity, which is especially disappointing because they’re older folks who should have rich backstories to provide unique details, and this vagueness gets more glaring as the run progresses and they theoretically have more time to develop… (Heck, I think some of them, including Mull’s character, become less comedically poised throughout the season.) This limited imagination is very evident in the storytelling as well, for so many of the plots are familiar clichés, and the leads seem mostly unable to provide much nuance or color, let alone inspire the actual ideas themselves. Episodic boosts come in the form of memorable guests – Jackée Harry as Grier’s ex-wife, for instance – and again, both the cast and the jokey sensibility of these scripts are affable. But the show just feels like it misses opportunities for individuality and therefore greatness, falling back instead on convention, thereby instilling in The Cool Kids the triteness of a TV Land multi-cam from the early 2010s… Oh, okay, it’s not nearly the winking pastiche those campy efforts were, but that makes it all the more disappointing. This should be better.
Episode Count: 22 episodes produced and broadcast.
Episodes Seen: All 22.
Key Episode: #2: “Margaret Turns 65” (10/05/18)
Why: The pilot (#1) actually sets up the premise well, treating the retirement home as something like a high school, thus creating the hangout/workplace sensibility of those kinds of sitcoms. And later episodes that similarly involve the group dynamics (like #14 and #22) – specifically, how Vicki Lawrence’s character has changed things – are most situationally satisfying via this premised support. I wish there was more of that. But I think the funniest half hour, and the one I’m choosing to single out, is the sophomore excursion (#2), which won’t gain any points for narrative originality – simply getting the leads to a nightclub where they can be fish out of water – but it showcases all their personalities well and builds their chemistry, suggesting future possibilities that I wish would have materialized. Also, I didn’t cite this one, but the aforementioned Jackée does elevate the laughs, especially in her first appearance (#10).
Ultimately, I say… all three shows are worthy of STUDY, especially The Jackie Thomas Show.
Come back next week for a new Wildcard! And stay tuned for more Arrested Development!