We're all familiar with shows based on toys (also vice versa) and we live in the era where internet crazes could also get a piece of that televised pie. But, what about shows based on commercials? Well, all you need to know is that these drop like flies and there's no way around the inevitable cash-in theory.
There've been two commercial based shows to my knowledge. The first was Cavemen from 2007, based on those Geico ads. Now, while Geico is synonymous with comedy gold, when left in the hands of a major network, not even the best writers could salvage it. Of a single 13-episode season, eight aired overall, and only six aired in the US.
Then there's today's topic. Baby Bob. The character appeared in a series of plugs for the now defunct FreeInternet.com. Going into this, I accidentally confused the actual Baby Bob with the babies in those E-Trade commercials, and it sorta warped my perception on what this show would've been like.
Going by one of the FreeInternet videos, and through the one episode I've seen, it's relatively close to one another, though the latter has a devastating disease doctors classify as SSSS, Stereotypical Sitcom Setting Syndrome, a disease that plagues many sitcoms that exist solely as midseason replacements, where effort is hardly required until the show they replace is ready with a new batch of episodes. This isn't listed on Wikipedia's notable midseason replacement list, so I have no idea what show this took the place of.
The show was spearheaded by Michael Saltzman, a producer who had involvement in various sitcoms, notable examples being Wings, Murphy Brown, Arrested Development and most recently Sneaky Pete, as well as serving as a writer for the 2006 film The Pink Panther. Baby Bob is interestingly listed as his top for notables on IMDb, so this could've been one of his only projects where he's slated as a creator.
Saltzman had little interest in the show, only changing his mind under the impression that the show would succeed within a six-episode slate and he had every intention of going against a stigma present in shows like these (though this was all for nothing as either executives got to him or he had ass execution. Maybe that's why Saltzman's vanity card had him in stocks getting pelted by rotten produce.) But the ironic thing is, it kinda was a success. It wasn't a critical success by any stretch, it even landed on TV Guide's Worst Shows of All Time list at number 14, but ratings speak louder than critics. Every episode of the first season aired at least once and a second season was greenlit.
But, the second season barely happened, not because the network buckled under the pressure of reviewers, but because CBS wanted to focus on a TV adaptation of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The season would air in 2003, but only three episodes surfaced and for a time, the series was actually considered lost. It wasn't until more than recently that someone posted home recordings of every episode that hit the airwaves, and as for the remainder of the season, it's unlikely these episodes were ever produced.
And now we get to our stars. We get Adam Arkin and Joely Fisher as Bob's parents Walter and Lizzy Spencer. Only other noteworthy actor I can pick off the top of my head is Elliot Gould, who you may recognize as the voice of Rabbi Goldberg in Hey Arnold!, giving his award winning performance that suggests he doesn't want to be anywhere near television. Bob is voiced by Ken Hudson Campbell, who had various odds and ends roles in sitcoms and movies, most recently appearing in Wonder Park, and would keep on voicing Bob when the character appeared in ads for Quiznos. But interestingly, the baby they use for Bob is a girl. Okay, I wouldn't have guessed from a single viewing, got me there.
The Episode I Saw
My philosophy is that I only need to watch the first episode to get an idea on what a show's like. That's where I began.
Now stop me if you heard this one before, a husband and wife live in Santa Monica and get snubbed by their parents over what direction they took in life. Never heard that one before. I will say this, Arki and Gould do look like they could be related, but they also look close to the same age. Going into this I expected Bob to talk right out of the gate, but that doesn't happen until the second act, and almost out of nowhere.
When Bob spoke, I expected some incredibly corny adult jokes, but luckily I was wrong. What I wasn't wrong about was how the parents would take it. Then again, people would complain about the parents likely taking the news too well, and by people, I mean "critics" who think screaming at the camera over minor things equates to comedy.
Now, I'm not necessarily knocking the actors, or Bob for that matter in spite of the mouth movements that would rub anyone the wrong way, it's the way they go about it. It's kinda predictable if you've seen enough shows of a similar structure. I expected them to lie to Bob about why he can't talk in public, ma claims a law prevents him from talking in the supermarket. I expected them to keep their mouths shut, they want Bob to keep it a secret, as to them.
I expected at the end where Bob's left with a babysitter to talk and scare her or at the very least give an assuring wink when she tells him a secret... It turns out she knew his secret first and for a few weeks now. Okay they got me there, usually the teenaged/early-20s babysitters get the worst on these deals, but if the one paragraph summary on Wikipedia is anything to go by she does play an occasional role in these episodes.
The issue with this show is that it does little to stand out from other shows. Bob is the only thing keeping this from blending in with the sitcom fodder of the early-2000s, I mean sure they made use of a gimmick but it needs good execution to go along with it. Well yeah, Bob's the best thing about it, I like how he perceives things, but it's all else that prevents me from going any further. The adults do little to differentiate from others in other CBS shows. The same network that gave us Everybody Loves Raymond, Yes Dear, groundwork for a b-plot in a Family Guy episode where Stewie goes through a Weekend at Bernies type experience, and just to point it out, a lack of animated series, but I think one tainted that potential beyond the point of no repair.
Would any good execution save this show? If it was some obscure TV movie from the mid-90s it would've made more sense, but as is, the critics were on the nose with this one. I'll at least say this doesn't deserve to be lost, I'm more afraid of what I'd find in Come to Papa if anyone ever finds episodes of that anywhere.
There is one good reason to watch the show, at least on YouTube. The video I saw was ripped from the actual broadcast, so if you want to relive some early-2000s nostalgia, the commercials were kept in. Did you know? When Peter Griffin used TiVo to skip a pesky show to get to the commercials... that came out after this show, I apologize.
That 70s Show requires no introduction, but that never stopped me. It's one of many staples from the almighty Carsey Werner Comapny (Or Werner Entertainment, firing Roseanne really took a number on the biggest name in the sitcom game.) That 70s Show is known for, aside from being one of the few Fox shows to not get the ax a few episodes in, making use of otherwise okay actors and proving that a period piece would still be second to an interesting coming of age premise.
Personally, I consider it to be the most interesting Fox show in that it tried to expand it through other shows. Not even The Simpsons did that. It's a bit pointless to talk about these now, everyone has done this countless times, it's a recurring joke come the topic, it's another one of those Glen Howerton gags where we bring up how his old roles connect to Dennis Reynolds. You know, Days Like These, the UK version of the show and That 80s Show.
Both shows are loathed, but there's one question that's never really been brought up. What's the best of the two? Well I don't expect to be the ultimate decider since I'm too nice with most of my reviews tackling what's considered to be the worst television has to offer. I'm what I'd like to call, a coffee table critic, I'm around to encourage discussion on television, film, what have you and giving onlookers key details to come to their own conclusion.
For this, I intend to discuss the first episode of each, try to figure out why people hate it, compare it to one another and determine which one didn't make me want to heave as much. I'm gonna start with Days Like These since this came out first, almost a year after That 70s Show premiered. Also background, lots and lots of background.
Days Like These
When any show lasts on Fox for longer than a few months, it translates to a success on par with what lasts long on any other network. That was the mindset had by the people who greenlit this show. Days Like These aired on ITV in 1999, less than a year after That 70s Show premiered.
The creation of it is owed to the creators of the original show, Bonnie and Terry Turner and Mark Brazill, but they also had help from Linda Wallem, who served as a producer on some episodes and is best known for voicing Dr. Paula Hutchinson from Rocko's Modern Life and marrying Melissa Etheridge. Caryn Mandabach rounds out the five creators, and what has she done? Well she has been with Carsey Werner since the late-80s as a supervising executive producer. She would later become a partner in the company before breaking off. Ironically, she's now based in the United Kingdom.
While the series almost followed the scripts of the American series, you'd expect changes and lo and behold they occurred. Aside from changing the names of things to account for American/British differences, the names of the characters were changed almost wholesale. Apparently the UK wasn't too big on Italian names, hence changing the names of Donna and her folks. But at least they didn't cast a white guy as Fez. (they did, text doesn't let me do sarcasm good.)
One last thing, they changed up the location, obviously. It's not that they changed the country, but what kind of town it is. That 70s Show used a made up town in Wisconsin for their setting, Days Like These was set in Luton, a very real town. I'm actually kinda happy they didn't just wuss out and set in a generic London suburb.
Right out the gate, this has a very cheap feel. Unlike the original show, which was filmed, this was very likely shot on video. It has a freehand cam look to it and if you listen closely, you could hear how little was likely spent. Probably why they had to use episodes from the original as a basis for scripts. The iconic scene transitions are used in this show, but I would be bold enough to claim that they were taken right from the original, and they'd be in their full right to do so as this show shares the same producers.
As for the characters themselves, seems like Eric, Hyde (or Dylan Jones as he's known in this show) (Torbjorn Rasmussen, and I wish I could say this was a joke) took after Kelso (or excuse me, Michael McGuire, Michael is perfectly fine but I don't want no Kelso in my British remake), and almost every boy has long hair. Jackie Burkhart (or pardon my American, Jackie Burget) is sorta close to Mila Kunis in the original show, but lacking in the wit department, and Donna Pinciotti (oh I'm sorry, Palmer, Palmer), actually comes close to looking and sounding like Laura Prepon. Heck, the stand-in for Bob looks very close to Don Stark, but doesn't act as close. Red Foreman (oops, I mean Ron, Ron Foreman) looks more like David Ogden Stiers than Kurtwood Smith and doesn't act as well (actually, he acts as well as Smith did in Squirrel Boy), and I won't even say anything about Kitty. Debra Jo Rupp is one of a kind, it's unfair to hold any stand-in to such a high standard. It was hard for me to figure out who the Hyde and Kelso stand-ins were in this right away, but I figured it out. Kelso wears a necklace of sorts and the standard was kept for both shows, and toward the middle, the Hyde stand-in got those familiar shades.
And now... Fez, aka Torbjorn Rasmussen. At first I thought he was converted to a borderline Kelso lookalike, until I saw him later into the episode. He's white, but is portrayed as foreign and it's not specified where he came from. It's said he's Scandinavian, but who knows? It begs the question. What's more racist? Casting a white man as a foreign man and keeping the foreign man's mannerisms, or dressing in black face to make a comedy drama poking fun at discrimination in the work place? Eh I don't know.
As you might expect, the stand-ins for the main gang don't do the characters justice. Each just essentially phone it in (okay maybe that's a bit harsh. I imagine the director didn't see much of the show, or maybe it's the actors that didn't, so they didn't know they had to channel the characters core personalities or simply didn't have it in them to do it.) I'd make remarks on the jokes, but the first episode was based on the pilot, so for any jokes that might've been interesting in this show, they've been done in the original so it'd be pointless to commend the show on that. Oh, they even do the circle bit, with an emphasis on the bud they puffed.
The entire thing feels like it's well below the standards of a normal TV show. Some have called it an SNL skit, some have called it a porn parody, some have theorized that they shot this on 70s-era cameras to make a more authentic portrayal of the decade. Personally, I'd call it a fan project that'd be released on the internet. Just a bunch of British stoners who found That 70s Show one way or another and decided to pay tribute to it in their own way.
Days Like These is a bit like the pilot for Full House, if either had their way, their shows wouldn't make it past one season. Lo and behold, Days Like These only lasted for ten episodes before getting the ax. It never aired on television outside of the United Kingdom, and since it never hampered the original show and since it came out while the show was still in its first year, it never did any harm.
It's a bad show, that's for sure, but not the kind of show that would yield major consequences. It caters to my love of awkward humor, and hell, one of my favorite shows is notorious for its cheesy atmosphere. At least it wasn't 24 minutes of "We're British! Big ben, fish n' chips, electricity is devil worship."
This is the first episode.
That 80s Show
Ah yes, the most infamous of them all as far as I know. One thing I have to commend this show for is that in spite of its low quality, its lone season actually managed to air in its entirety on the main network, although the last two episodes were swapped in airing order. Another interesting fact is that not only did it not get cancelled midway through or right out of the gate, it even aired outside of the US, in Canada on CTV.
Both this and Days Like These were made solely to cash in on the success of That 70s Show, okay maybe it's a stretch since it's by the same creators (I'm getting incest vibes here.), but while Days Like These isn't as known and came out, again, during That 70s Show's first year, That 80s Show came out in 2002, as the original got even more popular. At this point, we get a greater idea on who wanted to milk this show. Brazill, Wallem and Terry Turner are the main creators of this. Mandabach didn't create it as she was too busy producing it as this was made when she became a partner in Carsey-Werner, and I think at this point, they wanted her out.
There's literally only one actor I recognize on this. Remember that crack I made about Glen Howerton? This is where he got his start, at least the first year of his acting career. He previously had bit parts in Monday Night Madness, a TV movie and The Job, a short lived sitcom. One aired on ABC, the other on TNT though that TV movie's based on something that aired on ABC (Monday Night Football.) That 80s Show was Howerton's first major role, and right after a brief stint on ER, he would become the lovable sociopath we know and love(?) today. Dennis Reynolds. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Apparently another actress would land a better role in Grey's Anatomy, I don't know, I really don't know.
Right out the gate, this didn't have the same charm as That 70s Show. You know how That 70s Show used the 70s as a backdrop for a coming of age story and focused more on the comings and goings of the characters? Apparently the 80s was all about the visual oddities because everything is a reference to the 80s, complete with one of the characters having spiked up hair and a gag with the brick cell phone. If That 70s Show was anything like this, we wouldn't even be here right now. That 80s Show shares no continuity with That 70s Show, aside from one fleeting reference on par with that guy from Resident Evil Survivor.
The theme song screams out what kind of aesthetic it follows. That 70s Show is about hanging out with friends before technology walled everyone in. That 80s Show is about the 80s. Fuck everyone it's the decade that matters, because there's little meat to the characters. Just by the cold open, it feels like a very awkward It's Always Sunny scene, well, awkward but not in a charming way, and I can see why people only see Dennis Reynolds when they see Glen Howerton. While Days Like These made me heave with the awkward jokes, these just fly right by me and don't even have any ironic charm.
I can see some instances of the show trying to replicate the original. The first I saw of the Ron Foreman (oh my bad, Red Foreman, we're out of British territory now) stand in, I saw an attempt at wit. I hardly laugh much on my own volition, but if I did, I'd probably laugh at the first joke made. It's not the best but, it's not an 80s reference. For the 80s references, I'll give it this, at least this meant they were willing to bite the bullet and license some songs. We get Talking Heads, The Smiths, you name it. Had this show been successful, I imagine it wouldn't have made it to DVD over potential clearance issues. But, there's a caveat. The 80s is one of the more pop culture oriented decades, it has its own definitive style and it clashes heavily with what's considered normal these days. The only way anyone could get away with doing a show like this is if it's meant to mock it. This is meant to be in a similar vein to That 70s Show.
The sad thing about this show is that we don't even have much, if at all, stand ins for the original show characters. So, I'll go by the stereotypes for this one. Corey's the Eric Foreman stand in, we have Tuesday, the rude punk with the comically spiky hair, the deadpan record store owner, the blonde moron, the stress for success asian. since Corey's played by Glen Howerton I like him by default. I think a good reason why people associate him with his Dennis character, aside from the success of the show he appears on, he does little to alternate from his other roles, something that has also confounded Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day, and the former appeared on Law & Order and Lost of all shows.
Oh, I'm sorry, got off track a bit. But it's not like this show warrants any more focus. The rest is subpar jokes, band references and a scene dedicated to drinking a shot every time a woman gets slapped in Dynasty. It's all about pop culture in this show, hence, it's not worth any more of my time.
What was the best of all two?
I think a problem with both of these shows is that each came out too soon. Days Like These came out when That 70s Show was still well in its first year and That 80s Show came out before 80s nostalgia truly peaked.
Days Like These didn't rely on pop culture to get by and at best looks like a cheap parody of the actual show. That 80s Show, 80s cramming aside, looks like a typical forgettable Fox sitcom.
That 80s Show, technically has better acting, but I don't know if the acting in Days Like These is standard for that country's sitcoms.
Days Like These had awkward jokes that made the show unintentionally hilarious and my level of humor. That 80s Show had jokes that I would laugh at, but the best humor comes by accident. Both didn't make me want to quit right away.
I'm calling it a draw. At their core they're forgettable adaptations with too many quirks to overlook, all part of a grander show that never needed spin-offs to begin with. Both were meant to capitalize on the success of That 70s Show, by people who're involved.
This is my, what, my fourth Fairly Odd Parents related post? Believe me, I wanted it to die after the last one, but its a-segment's stuck on the brain. Someone needs to talk about it, and I just want to get my head cleared of FOP so I can go back into reviewing obscurities.
Last time I talked about a FOP episode that was actually sorta banned for a while. When that episode was taken down, its a-segment was taken along with it. Due to that, it wasn't as easy to find the episode on the air, it didn't get as much exposure as the rest of the show. If it did, someone would've covered either episode. Someone could've covered either episode. Someone should've covered either episode. I talked about Twistory, it's time I talk about Hail to the Chief.
In my Twistory review, I brought up how this and Hail to the Chief would've made my worst FOP episode list. I had made that before I saw these episodes again, and honestly I should've seen them first to make a more even list. If you want an idea on where those would've landed, Twistory would've been at number four, and Hail to the Chief would've probably made it to number one.
Keeping with a certain theme, this episode is centered on politics, and going the way of any Nick show that touches upon this topic, stop me if you've heard this one before. A boy on the lower end of the social hierarchy (the main protagonist for example) tires of getting the short end of the stick when it comes to getting certain luxuries had by the class president (the most popular student in school). So runs for class president. Hijinks ensue.
Okay, for context, Timmy gets mad that he doesn't get cake during a contrived lunch special due to the class presidents, the popular boys, Tad and Chad, having perks that allow them direct access. And Timmy decides to run for class president, getting into office due to an incident preventing everyone else from getting to class before the voting process. Since this was due to the popular kids giving out free cake and everyone got sick from it, I imagine this would lead to a sense of mistrust and would lead to a conflict where Timmy would veer down the same path and see how difficult it is to oversee the world at-
Nah, Timmy wins through one vote he made himself. Ed, Edd n' Eddy did this much better and I hate that episode. Come to think of it, I hate that show more than I hate FOP. But there is some conflict that's holding Timmy back from honoring his position. Aside from one idiotic secret service joke where Chester and AJ go into the same bathroom stall as Timmy, the one thing keeping Timmy from honoring his role... he's unable to talk to Trixie Tang.
To those coming in, that's it. That's the central conflict. This is where the three writers threw their hands up. A petty, petty, oh so petty conflict. Timmy's willing to give up his presidency and stand up to the popular kids just so he could talk to Trixie. But maybe I'm just overreacting. Didn't you know? Watergate happened because Richard Nixon wanted to talk to a girl but his agents wouldn't let him, quite a clever reference from the same show who couldn't do justice to I Love Lucy, Seinfeld, Oprah or even the weather channel.
Now you may be thinking, "Oh, you see though there's no chance they could've come up with something better." Akshully... They could have some conflict between Timmy and his friends. He could fire them due to their intrusive nature and it could lead to a massive falling out, or perhaps the seeds for a revenge plan with them aiding Tad and Chad in taking Timmy down. Or if you wanna play it safe, go the obvious power to the head route. It would've been predictable but it would've worked on a moral teaching basis. I don't trust this show to do allusions to political scandals, I imagine they would've made Nixon Hitler incarnate or Andrew Jackson a Hannibal Lecter-type whack-job.
The payoff isn't any better either. Timmy loses his position due to him siding with an uncool school club, he doesn't even get to have that talk with Trixie (and I don't mean a talk, I mean that talk. The kind of talk I'd sell my family out to. Why else would he drop everything for that?), and then it ends with Timmy getting an affectionate dogpile from Elmer and the phlegm brigade, and naturally, since it's close to the end of the episode, Cosmo and Wanda don't give a shit and laugh it off. Come to think of it, that has happened quite a bit in the previous seasons.
This episode, in political terms, was a big nothing burger. It had nothing to say about politics in general and it had no good conflict (petty conflict doesn't count unless it leads to something more interesting.) It reeks of the kind of episode that's made to pad out the two-segment requirement. I'm the kind of person who gets more angry over predictable crap and middle-of-the-road tripe than what other critics get angry over, and this is up there.
I'd rather watch one of each episode of Days Like These and That 80s Show, talk about both and determine which show was better. Don't count on this coming to fruition, even I'm doubtful.
