Sammy once stood as the most infamous piece of lost media, well, among them anyhow. It wasn't because the show was bad, but because it was a contemporary piece of media that for many years left with little of a trace. No home recordings, no commercials, not airing on every NBC affiliate, it was on for about a week before disappearing afterwards.
It seems the show was doomed from the start, as this had aired around the point NBC opted to give up on animated sitcoms following the death of God, The Devil and Bob due to protests, and low ratings. Sammy would only air to appease contactual obligations and once the quota was met, it was over and done with. It sucks, especially since NBC actually managed to make some decent animated sitcoms, Father of the Pride doesn't count.
I did a review of the show back when one episode surfaced, and I felt like an idiot for not waiting a little longer. Since then, of the episodes currently made available, the two episodes that made it to air were uploaded, Denver and Sammy Makes Amends. These episodes were the third and sixth episodes respectively. A pilot was made but was bumped to the third spot.
Refresher
Before I get into the episodes, let me give you a crash course on what to expect. Sammy centers on movie star James Blake, played by David Spade, who has a run-in with his deadbeat father Sammy, also played by David Spade, who decides to move in with James to reconnect with him and his brothers, the dumb as dirt but obviously well meaning Todd and the scornful accountant Gary.
Conflicts center on James trying to work around ideas headlined by his agent Mark Jacobs, he has the hots for the assistant Kathy, otherwise Sammy just plays along into whatever else may occur. Gary hates Sammy with a passion, but he's well within his right to do so, given he was neglected and marginalized. At the very least episodes focusing on him end well enough.
And that's fine and dandy, there's a nice balance between people getting the short end but a happy enough conclusion. Hell, at times Sammy isn't the pusher of the worst in a situation, so it makes it easier to like the guy. The show was animated at Adelaide Productions and designed by Duckman creator Everett Peck. Actors present are signed to agent Brad Grey, who also produced the show.
Tonally, think Daria with a cynical edge and combine it with the conventions of sitcoms from the time, there you go. Humor in the form of good dialog and the occasional sight gag, but they do pretty well with surrealistic nightmare scenes.
But let's go back. You're watching NBC in the year 2000, you see this new David Spade comedy, what could those two episodes offer, and will they inspire confidence?
Denver
First of the two episodes to air, the cards have already been in place. If you started here you'd have little idea to the full context behind everything, but at least all that's missing is how everyone came to the place.
The episode centers on James'... and Gary and Todd's mom Marie learning that Sammy is currently living in James' mansion, well technically the guest house within the acres of the mansion. She travels to L.A. with her new husband Steve to intervene, but wind up staying awhile, with Sammy trying to slide his way out of a potential beatdown with the more heavyset Steve.
Around the time James and Steve are both out for a Hollywood tour, Steve throws his back out and Sammy works on trying to woo back Marie. She falls into this web fairly easily, granted, but it goes to show why she fell for him in the first place. Young girls tend to latch onto more taboo things, and persist with the belief that things aren't as bad as they are. If you don't believe me, Marie only went to Sammy because he has a dune buggy.
James tries to prevent the two from getting back together for the sake of history not repeating itself, and it takes Sammy interacting with a blonde bombshell he was set to date to trigger some good ol' memories for Marie. What seems like the obvious way to go is saved by a lack of dramatics.
Steve is also not particularly fond of Gary, but at least we get an idea to why, him trying too hard to get close to Steve rubbed him the wrong way. That's not a double entendre, that's his own words at some point.
I do like this little b-plot where Mark and Kathy attempt to write an autobiography for James and the chemistry between Andy Dick and Maura Tierney (who played either one) really shows here.
So that was the first episode, it's better seen than described. As our first introduction to the series, well it leaves much to be desired in terms of who we follow and the reason we should give a shit. But to be fair, that can be saved by the episode being entertaining enough, and yeah, it was okay, but okay doesn't cut it in the long run, especially if this is the first episode you see. Why this was made first is anyone's guess.
Sammy Makes Amends
If the first episode inspired confidence, here's the last one. Right off the bat, this is another example of a more universal issue the previous episode had. With the lack of proper order, we'd be in the dark of greater context and we had experienced so little of Sammy that anything that happens won't have as much weight to it. Especially if it involves a character trying to make a turnaround.
In this episode, following a near-death experience, Sammy opts to make up for years of neglecting his sons and his more lurid behavior. This episode strikes me as the most interesting because... somehow it feels familiar. During a nightmare scene where Sammy is taken away by satan effigies in an ambulance, I feel like I saw this before. I would've been four at that time, but I do have certain memories. Maybe I misconstrued it with a scene in a different show, but imagine if I saw this as a kid, wrote about it in the forums and it led to one of the biggest searches in internet history.
I mean it happened with Clockman.
Anyhow, the conflict here is that Sammy's attempts at being a better father, though he tries, prove to be more grating than his usual level of apathy. It's kinda been done, but anything to establish a natural conflict. They do the runaway note monologue, along with the obvious "That's right I heard you!" gag, but to be fair, I didn't expect a gag about the word "esquire.", nor that going out in style isn't another term for suicide, rather Tijuana.
The brothers get arrested due to the lack of Mexican insurance (or just corrupt cops.) They do this gag where the guard hoses them down and Todd exclaims fire at the third one. For the sake of expecting a different result after an obvious issue, that helps the joke land.
Sammy finds out they were incarcerated and actually works to help get them out through an egg eating context. Since I didn't hear the crunch I imagine they were cooked already so that levies the salmonella concerns. Sammy wins by the skin of his teeth, the kind of victory being established as possible since he took a previous egg eating challenge, but that was for tequila.
The fact he put his dune buggy at stake for the bet to free his sons, was willing to help in spite of what they said, possibly some other stuff helped to establish some likable traits for an otherwise dire character like Sammy. Not even the final joke in the episode ruined the moment.
Interestingly, the episode was co-written by Erik Wiese, who has done.... a lot of things really, but is perhaps better known for co-creating The Mighty B!, a show I am mixed on to this day.
Final Thoughts
Of the two episodes, Sammy Makes Amends is the better of them. It's easy for me to go back to either episode, but I feel this was one I went back to more of. NBC did pick some winners here, but it's understandable why contemporary reviewers weren't that kind to it. It's a slow burn, and I feel the episode order presented here prevents any time to really let anyone's feelings fully develop for it.
Looking at all of the episodes released thus far, the show is actually kinda decent. It stood out well enough from NBC's other programs at the time, it's rare to see the lead break off into two different characters, chemistry is lent well enough and everyone at least has the right amount of likability. I urge you all to watch the episodes in the order intended if you want both the full and proper experience.
As of this writing, we only have five episodes left until the full series is uploaded. I'd be skeptical given the poor track record of most finales, but shit finales typically only happen to action kids cartoons (Gravity Falls doesn't count, and Mabel helped to make things more interesting.) I doubt an episode... probably relating to Mark Jacobs' 40th... birthday? Production? Probably the former, could possibly be that heinous.
Also ironically, the eighth episode of the show was directed by the same guy who wrote for Gravity Falls, well their first season, but he also wrote for The Simpsons, The PJs, Mission Hill, King of the Hill and some forgettable sketch comedy show.
If this show doesn't end with heavily implied genocide, that'll be good enough for me.
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