Badaptation: Uncle Buck (1990) Somehow not starring John Candy!

[00:00:00] On this episode of That Was a Show? 1989 saw the release of one of the most memorable cinematic

[00:00:08] comedies of all time, the John Hughes classic Uncle Buck starring the incomparable John

[00:00:14] Candy and McColley Culkin. A mere one year later, a sitcom version was released,

[00:00:21] featuring practically none of the original cast. The replacements try their dandist to replicate

[00:00:27] the unique charm of the film, which is of course the story of three kids left in the care of

[00:00:32] their rough-around-the-edges uncle Buck Russell whilst their parents leave town to attend to a

[00:00:39] family emergency. The show has a premise that has been modified in dark and strange ways to suit

[00:00:46] the format of an ongoing series. Brynn, Aaron and Barry light up cigars, hop in the old 77 Mercury,

[00:00:53] and try to figure out why this version of the heartwarming family story backfired. Fans of

[00:00:59] the movie will get that backfired reference. We grew up during peak sitcom, Seinfeld, Friends,

[00:01:07] The Fresh Prince, but those shows were diamonds in the rough. This podcast is not about those

[00:01:13] diamonds. It's about the rough. Some sitcoms were briefly popular in their time. Some were cancelled

[00:01:20] almost immediately. You probably won't recognize most of these, and you'll ask, that was a show?

[00:01:31] That was a show?

[00:01:35] The podcast about failed or forgotten sitcoms from the 80s and 90s starring…

[00:01:41] Brynn Bernie

[00:01:43] Aaron Yeager

[00:01:44] And Andrew Helmer as Barry

[00:01:47] The radio gizmo production

[00:01:58] 2024

[00:01:59] Yeah, 2024 that's right. Yeah, that's how about that?

[00:02:06] I don't know. I don't know how that happened. I don't know how it, you know…

[00:02:10] Time marches on.

[00:02:11] Yeah, yesterday… it feels like 2019 was yesterday. So…

[00:02:16] It has five years have been a god damn blur.

[00:02:21] Yeah, that's for sure.

[00:02:22] Yeah, the memes of people who are still reckoning with 2020

[00:02:29] never get old.

[00:02:31] No, because it is me.

[00:02:35] I mean, I don't think any of us will get over it until 2030, you know?

[00:02:40] I'll take a whole another decade for us to even…

[00:02:42] That's not a year that I'm ready to talk about.

[00:02:47] That's only six years away.

[00:02:50] No, no.

[00:02:53] No, that's…

[00:02:54] Yes, I'm still mystified that there were adults with birthdays beginning in 2000 and something.

[00:03:00] Yeah, I know, I know.

[00:03:01] Full of adults.

[00:03:02] Oh yeah, you can drink if you were born in 2005?

[00:03:11] That is so unacceptable.

[00:03:12] That's like that makes me so uncomfortable.

[00:03:15] If you were born when I was in university…

[00:03:17] People are uncomfortable.

[00:03:20] Brin and I graduated high school in 2000 and…

[00:03:23] Yeah, yeah, you don't need to put the exact years out there, Barry.

[00:03:28] This isn't…

[00:03:29] No, I would not.

[00:03:30] This isn't the podcast.

[00:03:34] No, this is the podcast.

[00:03:35] This is absolutely the podcast.

[00:03:37] Oh no, no.

[00:03:40] None of that's getting cut out.

[00:03:43] Why?

[00:03:43] Can you bleep out the year because that would be funny?

[00:03:48] Yes, I can do that.

[00:03:49] That would be funny.

[00:03:50] Yeah.

[00:03:52] That's how people develop parasocial relationships with us.

[00:03:56] Yeah, that's true.

[00:03:58] Yeah.

[00:03:59] All right.

[00:04:00] By the way, for everybody out there,

[00:04:03] feel free to get a little bit more parasocial.

[00:04:07] Just hit us up.

[00:04:11] Preep us out.

[00:04:11] I don't care.

[00:04:13] Before we get into our actual topic for the episode,

[00:04:16] does anyone have any first orders of business?

[00:04:19] What is this a Mason meeting?

[00:04:22] I don't know.

[00:04:23] I don't even know what you mean by that.

[00:04:25] I don't know.

[00:04:26] Just, you know, anything…

[00:04:28] Do you want to roll?

[00:04:29] Do you want to do roll call?

[00:04:30] Roll call?

[00:04:33] Fine. Never mind.

[00:04:34] I mean, we've been dying to talk to you about Jury Dooty,

[00:04:37] Barry.

[00:04:37] Have you seen it?

[00:04:38] Yes, that's true.

[00:04:39] What have you seen it or not?

[00:04:41] The scene what?

[00:04:43] Jury Dooty.

[00:04:44] The TV series, the eight-part mini series called Jury Dooty.

[00:04:48] Is it based off of the polyshore movie?

[00:04:51] No, no, no, no, no.

[00:04:53] No, it's on Amazon and in…

[00:04:56] It's the greatest.

[00:04:56] On one level, the less you know going into it, the better.

[00:04:59] Yeah, I don't want to even say anything.

[00:05:00] It's a comedy and you need to just watch it

[00:05:04] and take what you see at face value

[00:05:06] and then we can discuss.

[00:05:08] It's very unique.

[00:05:10] It's very unique.

[00:05:11] I promise you will be intrigued.

[00:05:14] I have not…

[00:05:16] I've never even heard of it.

[00:05:18] Okay.

[00:05:18] But I mean, that's not really a surprise for me.

[00:05:21] It's been a little under the radar in general, but I'm…

[00:05:25] I remember everyone who watches it freaks out

[00:05:28] and thinks it's the greatest thing ever.

[00:05:29] Just…

[00:05:30] And it seems to be the thing that's uniting all age groups basically.

[00:05:35] This…

[00:05:36] I have to say this is a little disheartening

[00:05:38] because I don't think I've ever been so far

[00:05:42] outside of the pulse

[00:05:44] that I'd never even heard of something.

[00:05:46] Yeah, that's new.

[00:05:48] Like when people talk about white lotus,

[00:05:51] they'll be like, yes, I've seen…

[00:05:53] I know it exists.

[00:05:54] So for you to benefit

[00:05:56] and any listeners who haven't seen it,

[00:05:59] very, very simply put, the premise is

[00:06:02] it's a fake reality TV show

[00:06:04] about what it's like to do jury duty

[00:06:07] where everybody who's on the jury

[00:06:11] is an actor, a comic actor

[00:06:14] except for one person

[00:06:16] who thinks this is actual jury duty

[00:06:19] and he's in a documentary about a real court case.

[00:06:23] That's real.

[00:06:25] That's real.

[00:06:26] That's so it's that kind of…

[00:06:28] One guy thinks it's a real court case

[00:06:30] and he thinks everyone else there

[00:06:32] is a real juror just like him

[00:06:34] and he thinks the judge is a judge

[00:06:36] and the lawyers are lawyers

[00:06:38] and he thinks it's all a reality TV show

[00:06:41] like a documentary show

[00:06:43] about being on a jury.

[00:06:45] He agrees to be in a TV show

[00:06:47] but he thinks that the TV show is a real court case.

[00:06:50] It's a lot of people from the office

[00:06:53] working on it like writers and producers.

[00:06:56] Yeah.

[00:06:56] And anyway…

[00:06:58] When you hear that description,

[00:07:00] your initial reaction like I'm sure

[00:07:02] many people is going to be like

[00:07:04] what so the whole thing is just

[00:07:05] punking this guy?

[00:07:06] Just trust us.

[00:07:08] The way that this actually evolves

[00:07:12] is so much more

[00:07:14] charming and amusing

[00:07:16] than you would possibly expect.

[00:07:18] Kids don't know what punking means.

[00:07:21] That's a 20-

[00:07:23] That's a 20-year-old pop culture.

[00:07:26] Oh but they might because it's like Y2K era.

[00:07:30] Yeah, it's like low-rise jeans.

[00:07:32] It's coming back.

[00:07:33] Punkings back?

[00:07:34] I don't know.

[00:07:35] Anyway…

[00:07:36] Yeah, I think somebody…

[00:07:38] You know, whatever.

[00:07:39] This is great.

[00:07:40] Great.

[00:07:41] Great radio.

[00:07:44] I'll give a 30-second bit on what I've watched recently.

[00:07:49] Okay.

[00:07:50] And that is…

[00:07:51] I absolutely devoured in like three

[00:07:55] sittings, two seasons of our flag means death.

[00:08:00] Okay.

[00:08:01] Which is the rise derby,

[00:08:03] Taiko Atiti pirate comedy.

[00:08:08] I have not loved something

[00:08:10] this much in a long time.

[00:08:12] It's just…

[00:08:13] So…

[00:08:14] Very funny, very character-based.

[00:08:17] And like…

[00:08:19] It's claimed to fame is basically like it is like

[00:08:23] ridiculously adorably romantic.

[00:08:26] And like it is like

[00:08:28] I was so invested in the relationships on this show

[00:08:32] and I was just like…

[00:08:34] Man, it's great.

[00:08:35] I of course got cancelled like a week ago.

[00:08:38] Oh no.

[00:08:39] And I knew that going in.

[00:08:41] But like I had heard so many people say

[00:08:43] like it has…

[00:08:44] It had a great ending.

[00:08:45] So even though everybody was very upset that I got cancelled,

[00:08:48] it was…

[00:08:50] Oh well you know, it was good.

[00:08:51] It was fine that it went out the way it was.

[00:08:53] And I agree.

[00:08:54] So that's why I agreed to watch it because I was like

[00:08:57] oh, if it's got an ending,

[00:08:58] okay,

[00:08:59] I can do two seasons or something.

[00:09:01] I feel like a lot of really good shows are getting just

[00:09:04] chit-canned left and right.

[00:09:06] It's on HBO Max

[00:09:08] or just any of it.

[00:09:09] It's called anymore.

[00:09:10] So everything gets cancelled there.

[00:09:11] Oh Max, it's called the next.

[00:09:13] It's just going to be M soon.

[00:09:14] Showtime has been really ruthless too.

[00:09:17] They cancelled a lot of…

[00:09:18] Like they cancelled I love that for you.

[00:09:20] And that was like one of our favorite comedies

[00:09:24] in a long time.

[00:09:25] They had one season

[00:09:27] and it was so funny

[00:09:31] and so brilliant

[00:09:32] and it's just gone before it even had a chance

[00:09:35] to do anything basically.

[00:09:38] So they don't give the old Netflix

[00:09:40] three seasons in your out.

[00:09:42] Like yeah.

[00:09:44] Well, I'm going to use this

[00:09:46] opportune moment for a segue

[00:09:49] into talking about a show that got cancelled

[00:09:51] deservedly so.

[00:09:53] True but there is

[00:09:55] there are 22 episodes of this

[00:09:58] crap aroma.

[00:09:59] Yeah, although,

[00:10:01] yeah, okay.

[00:10:02] Well let's get into it.

[00:10:03] I've written extensive intro for this one.

[00:10:06] Okay, I'll buckle in then.

[00:10:08] Buckle in.

[00:10:09] Yeah.

[00:10:10] Oh, I didn't even mean that.

[00:10:13] Didn't even mean to make a joke there.

[00:10:15] All right.

[00:10:16] Buckle, okay.

[00:10:17] Well, all right.

[00:10:19] On that note,

[00:10:20] for our first episode of 2024

[00:10:23] we decided to embark on another bad adaptation.

[00:10:26] Many listeners will of course be familiar

[00:10:28] with the 1989 John Hughes classic Uncle Buck,

[00:10:32] starring the legendary John Candy as Uncle Buck

[00:10:35] as well as of course McCawley Caucus, Gabby Hoffman

[00:10:38] and Jean Louisa Kelly as the three kids.

[00:10:42] The plot of the movie was very simple.

[00:10:44] Parents need to rush off to deal with a family emergency

[00:10:47] and leave their kids in the care

[00:10:49] of the only person available.

[00:10:51] Uncle Buck,

[00:10:52] the tension comes from the fact that Buck

[00:10:54] single without kids a little bit

[00:10:56] rootless in his lifestyle seems like

[00:10:58] the last person that they would choose.

[00:11:01] Buck drinks a lot, smokes cigars

[00:11:03] and manages to squeak by through betting on rigged horse races.

[00:11:07] So, Buck is reluctant to take on the responsibility as well

[00:11:11] but ultimately is willing.

[00:11:13] The parents are gone for a couple weeks

[00:11:15] and over that time,

[00:11:16] Buck and the kids learn to appreciate each other's company.

[00:11:20] Buck turns out to be a very lovable,

[00:11:22] protective and overall good guy beneath his rough exterior.

[00:11:25] The film was fairly successful upon release

[00:11:28] and grew into a cult classic over the years.

[00:11:31] So, a mirror one year later in 1990,

[00:11:34] CBS decided to turn this movie into a sitcom.

[00:11:38] It launched on September 10th, 1990

[00:11:41] which incidentally is the same day

[00:11:42] that the fresh prints of Bel Air premiered.

[00:11:45] 22 episodes were produced

[00:11:47] but the series ended March 9th, 1991

[00:11:50] after apparently only 16 episodes had aired.

[00:11:53] The series stars Kevin Meaney of Stand Up Comedy fame

[00:11:57] in the titular role

[00:11:58] and it's pretty clear from the first moment on screen

[00:12:01] he's doing a deliberate impression of John Candy.

[00:12:04] The rest of the cast includes Davi Chodin as Tia,

[00:12:08] Jacob Gilman as Miles and Sarah Martoneck as Maisie

[00:12:11] which are all the same names and characters

[00:12:13] from the kids in the movie.

[00:12:15] Here's the surprising twist.

[00:12:17] In order for there to be a reason for Uncle Buck

[00:12:19] to be looking after these kids on an ongoing basis

[00:12:22] rather than for just a couple weeks like in the film,

[00:12:26] the premise is that both parents died in a car accident

[00:12:29] five months before the start of the series.

[00:12:32] They bought it!

[00:12:34] Yeah, Uncle Buck was selected in the father's will

[00:12:38] as the person to care for the kids.

[00:12:40] An added source of tension arises

[00:12:42] in that their grandmother Maggie Hogo boom

[00:12:46] is the executor of the estate

[00:12:48] and controls money from the life insurance

[00:12:51] thus Buck is reliant on her ongoing approval

[00:12:54] since he's basically a stay-at-home dad to the kids

[00:12:58] and she pays the bills.

[00:13:00] An interesting detail is that Maggie is played by Audrey Meadows

[00:13:03] best known as Alice Cramden on the honeymooners.

[00:13:07] So we watched two episodes,

[00:13:09] The Pilot and Episode 3 titled Grey Fox.

[00:13:12] In The Pilot Tia wants to go out on a date with some guy.

[00:13:16] Buck was planning to go to Poker Night with his buddies

[00:13:19] so he was expecting her to babysit her younger siblings

[00:13:22] while he's gone.

[00:13:23] She is quite argumentative and insistent

[00:13:26] and he reluctantly agrees to host the Poker Night at their house

[00:13:29] so that he can watch the kids and she can go out.

[00:13:32] But he also insists on meeting this guy

[00:13:35] to potentially approve of him.

[00:13:37] Buck wants some extra money from the family trust

[00:13:40] to spend on a mysterious, sure thing

[00:13:43] and meets with the rep from the insurance agency.

[00:13:45] She informs him that he must get the approval

[00:13:48] of the grandmother who of course hates him.

[00:13:50] Meanwhile Miles is getting bullied in school

[00:13:52] and bucks suggests that he ought to start learning

[00:13:54] to defend himself and fight back against the bully

[00:13:57] which is a trope that we've seen in literally everything ever.

[00:14:01] Buck is called into the school to meet with the principal

[00:14:03] when it turns out that Miles gave this other kid a black eye

[00:14:06] and for further surprise,

[00:14:08] this bully who he fought back against does in fact a girl.

[00:14:11] Long story short, the principal believes

[00:14:13] the kids are acting out due to the loss of their parents

[00:14:16] which is a very rational thing to come up.

[00:14:20] So kind of strange that that gets just dismissed

[00:14:23] but anyway, it's poker night and the guys come over.

[00:14:26] One of them is Bucks Buddy Skank

[00:14:29] played by the only actor from the original movie

[00:14:32] who makes it on to this show, Dennis Cochrom.

[00:14:35] In the movie he played the creep at the bowling alley

[00:14:38] who hits on Tia in both pal.

[00:14:40] That's pal. Sorry.

[00:14:41] No, that character name is pal in the movie

[00:14:45] but in the show it's Skank.

[00:14:47] Okay.

[00:14:48] Gotcha.

[00:14:49] Gotcha.

[00:14:50] In both the movie and this scene in the sitcom

[00:14:52] he stabs the roof of his mouth with a toothpick.

[00:14:56] Meanwhile, the guy comes over to pick up Tia for their date.

[00:15:00] He's much, much older than her,

[00:15:03] arrives in a limo for some reason

[00:15:06] and is wearing a large silver metallic leisure suit.

[00:15:10] Bucks of course toys with him a bit and then scares him off.

[00:15:13] Grandmother Maggie comes over skeptical

[00:15:15] about the request for the money

[00:15:17] which she assumes he's going to gamble away

[00:15:20] and finds out about the kids acting up in school

[00:15:22] the poker da da da da da

[00:15:24] and gets a sense that Bucks is

[00:15:26] as per her suspicions not a suitable caregiver.

[00:15:29] Bucks gives her a speech defending how he cares about the kids.

[00:15:32] The money was for a prom dress for Tia to try to

[00:15:34] convince her to go to prom and spend time

[00:15:36] with boys of an appropriate age, etc.

[00:15:40] The grandmother talks to the little kids

[00:15:42] and realizes that Bucks has been in his own way

[00:15:45] helping them cope with the loss of their parents

[00:15:47] and in a very hard emotional turn

[00:15:50] she decides to sympathize with him and continue

[00:15:52] to let him be their parent.

[00:15:54] But big finger wag, she'll be watching him.

[00:15:57] So there you go.

[00:15:58] Yeah, I should say off the top

[00:16:02] the comment of they bought it

[00:16:05] was actually said by one of the kids

[00:16:08] in a percusious moment.

[00:16:10] Yeah, and it was so inappropriate.

[00:16:14] I'll say this though, the only thing

[00:16:17] the only thing this show comes close

[00:16:21] to emulating correctly is miles and maize.

[00:16:26] Yeah, are similar.

[00:16:29] They're just as weird, just as sharp-tunged

[00:16:33] as they were.

[00:16:34] Obviously, you know,

[00:16:36] you're no McCauley-Colken.

[00:16:39] But those characters felt like they walked off the movie.

[00:16:43] Yeah, everybody else does not.

[00:16:45] Yeah, miles, the little boy miles

[00:16:48] was the only source of a couple of genuine laughs for me

[00:16:52] in the entire thing.

[00:16:53] The they bought it line big time.

[00:16:56] Oh, absolutely because they keep doubling down on that.

[00:16:58] Yeah, as dark as they cast in,

[00:17:02] they checked out like it's dark and nonsense as it is

[00:17:07] it did kind of earn a laugh

[00:17:09] because that kid did a good job of delivering it.

[00:17:12] It definitely this version of Uncle Buck is way edgier

[00:17:17] than the movie.

[00:17:20] No, not even close.

[00:17:23] It's edgy in the sense that like Tia,

[00:17:26] her whole deal is that she wants to literally,

[00:17:30] you know, like there's some scary men

[00:17:32] like going after her.

[00:17:35] That's Tia's whole thing in the movie too.

[00:17:38] Tia's all about the dangerous guys in the movie.

[00:17:41] Okay, but at least I think we can

[00:17:43] look in the movie.

[00:17:44] They're age appropriate at least.

[00:17:46] Threatens bug with a hatch.

[00:17:47] Yeah, but bug is more age appropriate.

[00:17:50] That's true.

[00:17:50] And he's not wearing a metallic leisure suit.

[00:17:53] Yeah, no.

[00:17:54] He doesn't look like he does blow in nightclub bathrooms

[00:17:59] and like, you know,

[00:18:00] I think ponytail leisure suit

[00:18:02] is a much more suitable partner than bug is for anyone.

[00:18:06] Well, well,

[00:18:08] I wrote sort of an initial,

[00:18:10] some initial thoughts reactions to this show

[00:18:13] that I wrote so that I could kind of structure these thoughts

[00:18:16] because I was trying to figure out how to react to this

[00:18:19] because like, I really like the movie Uncle Buck.

[00:18:22] Yeah.

[00:18:22] I love the movie Uncle Buck.

[00:18:24] And it is one of my favorite comedies.

[00:18:26] And of all the bad adaptations that we've done,

[00:18:29] this was one where to be perfectly honest going into it.

[00:18:32] They were going to really have to push a boulder up a hill

[00:18:35] to impress me.

[00:18:36] Yeah.

[00:18:37] And so here's my initial commentary.

[00:18:40] The movie Uncle Buck is a decent story charming 80s style family comedy

[00:18:46] about a lovable loser fish out of water type, whatever.

[00:18:49] But let's be honest here.

[00:18:51] Uncle Buck is a great film because of John Candy.

[00:18:54] So it's pretty amazing that somebody thought,

[00:18:57] let's turn this movie into a TV series a year later

[00:19:01] without John Candy and with this premise

[00:19:04] that does not lend itself naturally to an ongoing episodic format.

[00:19:08] Yeah.

[00:19:08] There's no way to overstate the impact Candy had on every film he touched.

[00:19:14] His level of on-screen charisma had that transformative effect

[00:19:18] on characters like this,

[00:19:20] where no matter how rough around the edges

[00:19:22] or obnoxious a character is,

[00:19:24] John Candy makes them lovable and charming,

[00:19:27] like effortlessly.

[00:19:29] The only other actor of the time

[00:19:30] who might have had an even stronger presence

[00:19:33] would be Eddie Murphy.

[00:19:34] But that's the league that we're talking about, right?

[00:19:39] And so even the thing about actors at that time,

[00:19:43] like John Candy,

[00:19:44] even though he sort of at least partially got his start on SCTV,

[00:19:47] in those days if you broke out on the big screen

[00:19:51] you didn't really,

[00:19:52] like you didn't go back to TV,

[00:19:53] you didn't do TV shows.

[00:19:54] So obviously...

[00:19:55] No, no, never.

[00:19:56] It's not in the 90s, so yeah.

[00:19:58] No, no, from 1990.

[00:19:59] So it's...

[00:20:00] Honestly, the last 10 years is pretty much...

[00:20:02] Yeah, when you were allowed to go back and forth.

[00:20:04] Exactly.

[00:20:05] So it's obvious that John Candy and McColley Calkin

[00:20:10] and the others in the movie

[00:20:11] were not going to be in a sitcom

[00:20:13] about the same premise.

[00:20:14] Like that's obvious, right?

[00:20:16] But they could have tried to adapt the character

[00:20:20] in a more general way

[00:20:21] and rather than trying to mimic John Candy,

[00:20:24] just take the character in a somewhat different direction.

[00:20:27] Kevin Meaney does a lot of bulletempt.

[00:20:31] But the problem is that the character is just a constant reminder

[00:20:35] that you could just turn this off

[00:20:37] and be watching John Candy right now.

[00:20:39] Like all you think the entire time is,

[00:20:42] I just would rather be watching the movie.

[00:20:45] Put it on immediately.

[00:20:49] As soon as I finished,

[00:20:51] I put it right on.

[00:20:54] Like just as a palette cleanser

[00:20:56] to just be like, oh yeah.

[00:20:57] Yeah, that's what this is supposed to be.

[00:21:00] If I have a, if I if I if I can put an underline

[00:21:05] on anything that doesn't work here, it's Kevin Meaney.

[00:21:08] Yeah, sadly.

[00:21:10] I didn't really get the impression he was doing

[00:21:14] a John Candy impression so much is like, you know,

[00:21:18] like when the Kardashians dress up for Halloween

[00:21:22] and they'll do a pop culture character

[00:21:26] and it looks like them.

[00:21:28] But you know they've never encountered that piece of pop culture in their life.

[00:21:32] Yeah, that's what I got here.

[00:21:34] I got this looks like Kevin Meaney looked at some still frames from

[00:21:41] and you know what?

[00:21:41] That's mean to me need to pick on him for that

[00:21:46] because it's all wardrobe.

[00:21:48] That's all them.

[00:21:48] But like he leans into the fact is

[00:21:52] his whole performance is Uncle Buck's Smokes a cigar

[00:21:56] two or three times in the movie.

[00:21:58] So Kevin Meaney is going to job on a cigar

[00:22:01] the entire thing like books not like smoking a cigar

[00:22:07] like making a breakfast and stuff.

[00:22:10] But that's the first thing we see.

[00:22:11] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:22:12] Like it's it is a caricature of the character.

[00:22:16] I you know there were certain specific facial

[00:22:18] expressions in body language and gestures that I recognized

[00:22:22] that were kind of like it feels to me like if

[00:22:26] if someone in the cast of Saturday Night Live was for the purpose of a sketch

[00:22:31] just doing a quick John Candy from Uncle Buck impersonation.

[00:22:36] Like it's it's to me it felt like he was trying to do that.

[00:22:39] And again, I don't think that was necessarily his idea.

[00:22:42] I feel like that was built into this.

[00:22:44] I feel like sure that was their goal with this show.

[00:22:46] They got the haircut they got the haircut right?

[00:22:48] Yeah, like he

[00:22:51] like a good chunk of that first episode

[00:22:55] that pilot was just him smoking a cigar with an apron on

[00:23:00] and singing and dancing to various songs

[00:23:03] that seemed too expensive for them to have gotten

[00:23:07] and doing chores in a goofy way.

[00:23:09] Like that was like that whole episode.

[00:23:11] And then it you know in between there'd be these moments of

[00:23:15] like getting nagged out by the grandma or like getting

[00:23:19] you know trying to get rid of that creepy guy or whatever.

[00:23:23] It was like the good the first half was just him in an apron being goofy.

[00:23:27] And another thing the opening and his cubs is his

[00:23:31] cubs.

[00:23:31] He can't forget about the cubs.

[00:23:33] Yeah, I should really leaning into Chicago and loving the cubs

[00:23:37] but like another thing the opening title

[00:23:40] the opening title sequence okay I'm not even going to talk about the song

[00:23:43] the ridiculous I didn't need

[00:23:46] him.

[00:23:46] I didn't need an uncle buck so

[00:23:48] no, but even aside from the song

[00:23:50] the opening titles are full of these visual scenes like

[00:23:55] little vignettes that are straight up ripped off from the movie

[00:24:00] but recreated with this cast so like he pulls up in front of the high school

[00:24:04] and the old car backfires and all the kids out front think a gun went off

[00:24:08] or he's flipping the giant pancake with like the snow shovel

[00:24:12] those are things that happened once in the movie

[00:24:15] and the opening sequence of this show is just one after another after another

[00:24:20] of iconic moments poorly recreated from the movie

[00:24:24] and probably which never happened in this tv series

[00:24:27] it's the wish version of uncle buck.

[00:24:29] Yeah.

[00:24:33] Oh boy.

[00:24:34] Here's a fun fact for you to say vignettes

[00:24:38] and complete complete aside.

[00:24:41] Yeah, he has remember vines like the green tic-tac

[00:24:44] yeah, that vignettes that what they were trying to do there they were vignettes

[00:24:49] Oh, interesting question.

[00:24:51] I don't know.

[00:24:51] I don't know.

[00:24:53] I don't think anyone's really analyzed vignettes.

[00:24:55] I like to like to stuff the podcast in its tracks when I can.

[00:25:00] Yeah, just to just rip the record player needle right off the record with that sound

[00:25:07] apparently according to something I read in wikipedia

[00:25:12] at the time when this premiered

[00:25:14] there was a small controversy in the press over the fact that the very first scene

[00:25:21] has I guess it's mazy telling buck you suck and

[00:25:28] apparently that's the first time that anyone ever remarked that like uttered that line on tv

[00:25:35] on broadcast television and apparently you suck

[00:25:38] like was considered potentially offensive

[00:25:42] so having I don't look I don't want to put it all back into the late 80s and the early 90s

[00:25:48] but you suck was a big deal.

[00:25:52] I would get in trouble for you suck like that.

[00:25:55] It was the worst thing we had because like a little kid telling an adult you suck was apparently

[00:26:01] like a big deal at the time.

[00:26:02] Oh huge.

[00:26:03] Didn't like didn't like the Simpsons like didn't bar it say like well I guess you said this sucks.

[00:26:10] You also said eat my shorts a lot.

[00:26:11] Yeah, which famously caused the bushes to rail against the Simpsons.

[00:26:16] Yeah that's true.

[00:26:18] It's so funny that you suck would be such a big deal.

[00:26:22] Yeah.

[00:26:22] I feel like we were throwing that around left and right in like high school times.

[00:26:28] Yeah, I don't even know if the kids say it anymore right?

[00:26:31] Yeah, I feel like it's yeah.

[00:26:34] Yeah, it's not.

[00:26:35] We're also talking about an era where the opening is a song called You Suck.

[00:26:39] Is there like a pop song?

[00:26:41] Like current pop song?

[00:26:42] No, like um

[00:26:45] Oh, there was like a pink song.

[00:26:47] It was like is it is it a pink song anyway whatever we're we're also keeping the references

[00:26:55] current as always guys.

[00:26:56] We're also talking about a show from an era where the opening begins with a special like logo

[00:27:02] that that confirms that the show is in stereo which is good to know because I was worried

[00:27:08] that it might be mono like that.

[00:27:09] That was my biggest concern.

[00:27:11] I always I yeah, those are I like the little animation on those.

[00:27:14] Yeah, I also man they just I do appreciate just just ripping the logo from the movie

[00:27:22] like box like right off.

[00:27:24] Yeah, throw it at the screen.

[00:27:26] Yeah, just in case you thought maybe this wasn't about that Uncle Buck.

[00:27:31] In case you thought this was another Uncle Buck within the first 10 seconds

[00:27:35] you got that title card and you got a guy flipping a goddamn giant pancake.

[00:27:41] Yeah, my one big genuine laugh as I said it was it was the the boy miles.

[00:27:49] I remember now I wrote it down what it was.

[00:27:52] It was when so after Buck finds out that the that the kid who was bullying him was a girl

[00:27:58] and he asks why he never mentioned that his response was that he didn't think it was germane.

[00:28:06] Yeah, yeah, that was again miles these are all things that that character would would drop

[00:28:13] yeah, all the time.

[00:28:14] Yeah, so that kid like obviously you can't replace McCullough Colken in 1989 1990

[00:28:21] but that kid he did a great job.

[00:28:23] He's funny.

[00:28:24] Yeah, he showed up and he came to play like he did his job.

[00:28:28] That's for sure.

[00:28:28] I mean if they really I mean honestly they should have just tried to see what Kieran was up to

[00:28:33] they could have got him early.

[00:28:36] The pre the pre fuller.

[00:28:39] Yeah, yeah.

[00:28:41] Yeah, I mean you know yes going back to what you said about Uncle Buck in the movie John

[00:28:46] Candy is absolutely the reason why that movie is is you know so great and so memorable but even

[00:28:53] just like every everything in that movie just sort of clicks right?

[00:28:57] Like even you know you have all these kid actors who could just be nothing

[00:29:04] and the roles for those characters could be nothing but they make each care each of those kids

[00:29:11] is so idiosyncratic and unique and like just their own thing and then you've got like this weird

[00:29:19] supporting calf like any Madagant is great in it.

[00:29:24] The Lori Metcalf is really funny in it like yeah, this this this this one's we're not we're not there

[00:29:30] I mean this is what was the grandma's name hoggle boom.

[00:29:34] Hogo boom is her last name it's Maggie Hogo boom.

[00:29:39] Yeah, everyone I were just perplexed as to why she wasn't just named the guardian like

[00:29:45] and like why she didn't go like live with them.

[00:29:49] Well because he bucks in the will.

[00:29:51] Yeah but if she has the power to house him it's just it just felt like the whole

[00:29:58] like premise of like why would he be the one to look after them instead of her.

[00:30:03] You would think it's because the grandmother would be like advanced in age and not able to like

[00:30:08] wouldn't have necessarily the energy to like look after and raise three kids but the the choice

[00:30:14] they made with her character between a very strong very yeah between the casting the dialogue.

[00:30:21] It's if that was your mother or your mother-in-law do you think you would have the guts to not put

[00:30:27] her as the guardian. Yeah, well like no she she comes in ready to kick his ass physically.

[00:30:34] Like she's in perfectly good shape to take care of these kids and clearly has their best

[00:30:41] interest in mind like she's the rational choice as the legal guardian made some comment about

[00:30:47] the fact that she couldn't leave her home to go live with them but I'm like why not.

[00:30:52] Yeah, I don't buy that for a second.

[00:30:53] I don't understand like that makes sense. She pops by a lot for somebody who lives

[00:30:58] out of the way. Yeah, exactly it doesn't make any sense it's like she's presumably retired if she

[00:31:04] did have a career or whatever it's like why wouldn't she just like go move into that house is a

[00:31:09] very nice house like I don't understand at least while the kids are young you know like it doesn't

[00:31:15] like there's you know she stays over once and it's like it's such a huge thing where that she's

[00:31:21] like oh she's gonna stay over you're like really she's not invited to stay when she travels

[00:31:26] four hours away. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, come on guys. So she'll make a drive that like a four-hour

[00:31:32] drive just for a half hour pop in to go yell at them a little bit and then leave like I don't

[00:31:36] understand. Yeah, and then there's the thing with the the insurance agent who's like coming on

[00:31:42] to Buck. Yeah, yeah, we were we were we were that she's like the the Darcy malt the dog and frost

[00:31:50] character for this like she's she's the one going for Buck like Buck's supposed to be irresistible

[00:31:56] to women. It's like what? Yeah, and it just I don't know there's a lot of things that are unrealistic

[00:32:04] in this and of course like obviously the way that the none of the kids seem to be like significantly

[00:32:10] traumatized by the sudden loss of both of their parents and how that's just kind of a passing. Yeah,

[00:32:17] well gag in a way I did appreciate that there was lip service to conversations they'd had about

[00:32:23] the passing and yeah, maybe they were you know we're not seeing it right now but there are sure

[00:32:30] and more look for that way you know full house and stuff doesn't always have that. Right, my actually

[00:32:38] I wrote funny you say full house because one of my one of my notes I think I came to this conclusion

[00:32:44] after the after watching the other episode that we watched is that this is basically full house

[00:32:51] if the only adult there was Uncle Jesse. Like in other words, isn't he more of a Nucle Joey maybe

[00:32:59] or maybe an uncle Joey but basically it's kind of like the Jesse's the actual family and Joey's

[00:33:05] the the friend. Yeah, so probably yeah but in any case it's like it's like full house but instead of

[00:33:12] the dad and two other dudes it's just an uncle but like it once again a man raising children alone

[00:33:23] yeah huge trope for the time but like it still feels to me like you know some of the banter in

[00:33:30] this was fine like for a pilot again like you know we we can't always judge the first few episodes

[00:33:37] of one of these sitcoms from that era as far as like how good it could have gotten so like just in

[00:33:41] terms of like the dialogue and the comedy writing, the acting like everyone was trying. It just it

[00:33:48] feels like the premise that they were applying all of that work and effort to was not worth trying

[00:33:55] to do like trying to turn Uncle Buck into a TV show is fundamentally not a great idea at least

[00:34:02] not a year after the movie and so like no matter how much heavy lifting they did. Like it

[00:34:08] honestly it's a it's a fine idea it's we've seen plenty of sitcoms with flimsier premises for

[00:34:15] that it's just you have to you have to figure out what you want the show to be about once your

[00:34:21] past the premise. Yes right you need to are you a hangout show are you you know a family comedy

[00:34:29] are you what are you what stories are you trying to tell and this is like it just wants to just be

[00:34:36] like a you know greatest hits of a movie. Yeah a snapshot of bits that you remember from that

[00:34:43] movie as opposed to trying to redefine itself in its own in its own way there was also I'll just

[00:34:49] briefly mention a 2016 attempt to turn Uncle Buck into a series. I knew that was I want to say Mike

[00:34:58] Epps yeah with with an all black cast and I haven't done any research into that show because 2016 is

[00:35:07] way beyond our preview our scope. Yeah we were talking about 80s and 90s I know that that show was

[00:35:15] also like canceled very quickly. It wasn't successful but as far as whether it was like a good attempt

[00:35:22] or not I have no idea I haven't seen any of it I don't even know where to find it but I'm curious

[00:35:27] like to your point it's not a bad concept and if you're approaching it with a totally different cast

[00:35:35] many many years later yeah that to me sounds way more promising. Yeah like I'd rather see the

[00:35:42] version of Uncle Buck in 2016 with a black family like to me that's like saying okay we kind of

[00:35:49] like the concept of this character but we're gonna evolve this into a totally different thing and

[00:35:55] give it yeah breathe new life into it. Yeah to me that's like that's a good reason to try to revitalize

[00:36:01] a character but but it also didn't succeed and I have no idea why but yeah yeah I mean because

[00:36:07] just so many sitcoms are made and go away quickly like it's just the reality of it even you know we

[00:36:15] we look at this era that we cover on this podcast and there's like an endless trove but if you

[00:36:22] really like like in the 80s and 90s but if you really look at it there's tons of similar shows

[00:36:28] in other decades since like there's tons of shows that were only like you know four episodes five

[00:36:35] episodes one season like there's tons it's just the way it goes like it doesn't matter like they

[00:36:43] just they love to you know make these shows and then pull the plug if it's not an immediate hit yeah

[00:36:51] you know and then sometimes I think you know maybe they rush it a little too much and maybe they

[00:36:57] rushed this show and they didn't really think it through that well or they had too many people

[00:37:02] chiming in I think it's always like a combination of both I think it's always a combination of

[00:37:07] they either rushed the premise too much they rushed the scripts too much or they had way too many

[00:37:13] network notes they had way too many people chiming in on what it should be or what it shouldn't be

[00:37:19] and then it became this big convoluted mess and yeah and also like when you think of the

[00:37:26] the buck character right the whole thing is like he smokes the gar as he drinks he bets on horses

[00:37:32] or whatever but that's like that's not something that's ease like if that's your explanation

[00:37:40] for why he's like a fish out of water here that's hard to like keep that going in perpetuity

[00:37:47] buck himself doesn't necessarily you know outside of say you know the pancakes and what not

[00:37:55] doesn't necessarily come off as a sitcom type character I think the reason why another reason why

[00:38:01] uncle buck works is a movie is because for the most part it is it's rooted in real life outside of

[00:38:11] snow shovel pancakes and like you know buck is not he's not larger than life at all like he is just

[00:38:20] you know he's yeah he's irresponsible but like he's not over the top right yeah exactly it's

[00:38:29] it's a show about someone who's who's learning to take on a level of responsibility that they're

[00:38:36] not used to but like it's it's he's not doing he's not an Adam Samard care exactly exactly so it's

[00:38:44] it's a style of like family comedy from the 80s that you don't see these getting made these days

[00:38:53] it's a particular kind of like comedy format it's also a movie like when you watch it like even

[00:39:00] the cinematography is so like naturalistic and almost drab in the color scheme that it's not like

[00:39:09] leading the witness it's not saying like you're you're in for some zany laughs it's more like here's

[00:39:15] just like a reality type of thing yeah and it looks like a john he's like a john typical john he's

[00:39:23] style it's more like the humor emerges organically from these characters it doesn't feel like

[00:39:29] you're just trying to push jokes into it and and in a sitcom you actually kind of need a character

[00:39:35] where it works to be like well we need two jokes a page and we just need to make that work

[00:39:42] do we want to move on to the other episode yeah okay I'll mean okay so episode three is titled

[00:39:50] gray fox uh so this is about bucks old friend and mentor Pete who drops in Pete is played by art

[00:39:58] carny who is best known for his role as Jackie gleeson's best friend on the honeymooners

[00:40:03] this is basically reuniting him with Audrey meadows who as mentioned before plays the grandmother

[00:40:10] for listeners who don't know the honeymooners from 1955 is known as one of the first ever American sitcoms

[00:40:16] and really helped establish this format so this would have been kind of a fun easter egg for older

[00:40:22] viewers of this show and they both have excellent on screen presence which is wasted on the following

[00:40:28] plot Pete is some sort of old timey hustler a grifter if you will who travels around conning people

[00:40:36] out of money he apparently taught buck much of what he knows implying that buck was also some

[00:40:42] sort of thief and hustler of sorts in the not so distant past not sure why you would add that

[00:40:48] to the backstory of a character that you're trying to establish as a responsible caregiver to three

[00:40:54] children but moving on uh he wants to stay at the house until he can figure out his next move buck

[00:41:01] wants to let him stay there uh but needs to be discreet about this knowing that grandma Maggie

[00:41:07] hogal boom is on her way over for one of the kids birthday parties the twist is that Pete and Maggie

[00:41:14] hit it off they both stay over at the house that night and actually sleep together Pete gets Maggie

[00:41:20] to write him a five thousand dollar check to invest in some sort of stock deal on her behalf

[00:41:25] but of course both buck and us the audience know that he's definitely just stealing her money

[00:41:31] buck to his credit tries unsuccessfully though to get the money back and confesses everything he knows

[00:41:37] about Pete to Maggie ultimately spoiler alert Pete returns the money but not because of buck's

[00:41:44] convincing but because he really likes her in the end she feels more flattered than betrayed so there's

[00:41:51] that yeah this uh episode definitely uh it felt like I was not in on a joke because I you know

[00:42:07] as somebody who co-hosts a podcast about sitcoms I'm familiar with the honeymoon yeah no of it

[00:42:16] I'm sure I've seen bits and pieces you know straight to the moon and all that yeah I have no reverence

[00:42:25] for it yeah so you know art carney does nothing for yeah and this in this episode we're episode three

[00:42:37] and we're already basically like giving a full episode over to somebody else yeah yeah yeah

[00:42:44] it's yeah I feel like yeah the only like obviously we're also aware of the honeymooners have always

[00:42:51] been aware of the honeymooners but it's never actually seen the honeymooners it's always been other

[00:42:56] things referencing the honeymooners right yeah and it it's like one of those things where yeah if I

[00:43:02] didn't know the background I wouldn't even have known who these characters were like like why this

[00:43:09] was significant like why they were back on screen together and why it was like a big deal um yes

[00:43:16] the honeymooners uh I guess all I knew was like this trope of like that that is woven into the plot

[00:43:24] of con artists yeah con artists were like a big trope in the 90s I put that too I wrote I feel

[00:43:31] like old-timey hustlers are a sitcom trope yeah what yeah anytime you want to like slide in like

[00:43:38] a sitcom star of your I feel like one of the first things that gets brought up is what if he's a

[00:43:45] con artist yeah yeah it's like there was like a weird thing with that in that time period the early

[00:43:52] 90s I'm thinking of that remember that movie Curly Sue yeah yeah where like it's like a little girl

[00:43:59] and her dad on the run because they're con artists and it's like that was just like to be

[00:44:04] popular trope of course the Simpsons did that in an episode two but they did it in a much more

[00:44:10] amusing way yeah it's John Hughes it's uh what who is John Hughes Curly Sue Curly Sue

[00:44:18] is John Hughes and that makes sense that makes sense um I want to watch that movie yeah it probably

[00:44:24] hasn't hold up no well I was gonna say the honey a lot of you's it probably in my I mean much of

[00:44:30] the huge a lot of you's yeah doesn't but yeah I can be cute I bet you're cute but uh you know

[00:44:36] much of the honeymooners doesn't hold up for sure uh the honeymooners is sort of the live action

[00:44:42] version of the Flintstones which is kind of an animated take on the same concept and if you

[00:44:49] if you make the mistake of watching a Flintstones episode today you will hear things in dialogue where

[00:44:56] you're like I can't believe they did that it is yeah doesn't hold up but um yeah so but I you

[00:45:04] know 1990 you know I guess people liked Reffin if you think about it the time between 1955 and 1990

[00:45:14] is 35 years no no no no no that is approximately the same amount of time between now and the original

[00:45:23] movie Uncle Buck or this sitcom no Uncle Buck oh yeah I can't when people like I know I know I know

[00:45:37] like John says like I mean I could totally see a sitcom now like toss it in John Stamos is like

[00:45:45] like a like an aging like Connor this exactly and we would potentially if we like look at that

[00:45:52] and Uncle Jesse we would potentially be amused by that yeah because of our sense of nostalgia yeah

[00:45:58] shit yeah you're right or even like someone like uh Mark Paul Gossler or like you know Carl

[00:46:07] Winds oh he's no longer alive but Reginald Vel Johnson is he's if we pass away

[00:46:14] Barry's looking it up yeah yeah Reginald still with the season yeah he's only 70 he's only 71 okay

[00:46:21] okay if he appeared in a show today as a grifter I would love it yeah so if I'm being totally honest

[00:46:30] yeah Reginald Vel Johnson 100% I would I would tune right into that yeah I'm down for it

[00:46:36] okay so yeah you're right eating my words here on being like this is not for me so for like

[00:46:42] for baby boomers in 1990 who were the parents watching this show with their kids let's say you know

[00:46:48] it kind of makes sense the casting which is again why my problem with this show is not really in

[00:46:54] the like casting or the like jokes but it's more just in the like overall construct and I think

[00:47:03] this episode even further emphasized that because like you said like your three episodes deep

[00:47:08] and you're already giving over the whole episode to a guest player there was so much back and forth

[00:47:14] in this like I thought that I thought the first time that our carny left that the episode was over

[00:47:20] because it felt like it had already been on for 20 minutes but then he came he came back and left

[00:47:25] like three more times so like I don't know also so write it right off the bat in this one we're

[00:47:30] continuing the uncle bucks greatest hits and that he is decorating for a kid's birthday party in an

[00:47:36] unconventional way yeah this is you know this is this is his bread and butter but then we don't

[00:47:44] really see the kids birthday party it in fact we just skip right over it this may seem like a small

[00:47:52] detail but bucks outfit in this episode light blue golf shirt and shorts felt kind of off I was

[00:47:59] just glad to see him like not cosplaying uncle bucks movie yeah sure but if they're way of saying okay

[00:48:05] we're gonna give him a unique outfit that's not ripped off of the movie this is the way they went

[00:48:11] all right yeah yeah like is that the way of showing it yeah it was pretty rough it was pretty

[00:48:17] rough I mean you know they were expecting to get some laughs out of the outfit alone or I don't

[00:48:22] maybe it was just 80s fashion yeah it's tough to say but um this episode does confirm that the

[00:48:30] grandmother is like a regular ongoing player in the series and keeps like popping in just doing some

[00:48:39] pop-bys so yeah they got to get all the mileage they can out of her last name yeah yeah um yeah

[00:48:46] I don't really have any other notes yeah yeah um I mean we have to like obviously there's like

[00:48:54] this is trope full of tropes like we already mentioned the you know the con artist trope and then

[00:49:01] there's the poker night tro there's um the like you know boy crazy like the bully and the boy crazy

[00:49:11] teen girl like it's just trope trope trope trope trope trope trope oh yeah she's a bit of a

[00:49:17] okay well no I was gonna say a proto-bundi Kelly Bundy but I guess a contemporary of Kelly Bundy

[00:49:24] yeah but she didn't have the kind of like like Kelly Bundy was also like meant to be a kind of a

[00:49:31] bimbo part of my you know judging this but yeah like her character is written to be a little like

[00:49:38] was written to be flighty where's Tia so it was kind of more calculating like she was a very clever

[00:49:45] girl who was kind of calculating but also boy crazy uh yeah so it's like yeah like kind of like

[00:49:52] but but the whole idea that that literally like teenage girls just want to date every like man

[00:49:59] and boy that comes around is like yeah what I'm saying in that episode uh there's that

[00:50:06] comment about like the guy who's fixing the car and she wants to know if she can like

[00:50:11] like go after the guy who's fixing the car what like they play it as if literally any

[00:50:17] any guy who crosses her sight lines yeah she has to like go after which is like that seems

[00:50:23] to be the whole basis for the character it's uh it's pretty rough yeah and this guy's like well

[00:50:29] into his thirties like when he's shown on screen and he's like she just do you know what she said I

[00:50:34] could do with my like what was the tool that he was talking about something like it was some

[00:50:39] inappropriate double entendre yeah related to was a gear shifter I don't know and she's supposed

[00:50:46] to be 16 it's brutal um but it's not funny though like with Kelly Bundy it was kind of funny

[00:50:54] like you know like you kind of believe this Christina apricot Christina apricate yeah a lot of that

[00:51:00] in her just her delivery of things yeah yeah not not to you know rip a new one to this

[00:51:07] this yeah no she was fine it's the way she's written as well yeah it's if yeah exactly the thing

[00:51:14] that the thing that that married with children was doing and I'm not saying that it's not also

[00:51:19] offensive for other reasons but the thing that that show was always trying to do was parody a classic

[00:51:26] family sitcom yeah by turning it on its head and saying we're gonna take all these tropes of things

[00:51:31] that happen in a classic family sitcom but the very dark a moral version of it and it leans so far

[00:51:39] in that direction that you know that that's sort of the point and like you watch it today and obviously

[00:51:46] a lot of the stuff and it doesn't hold up but at the time it was that was a clever thing to do to

[00:51:52] kind of flip the format on its head and yeah that cast makes it very funny they're all very funny

[00:51:59] people I think that the cast of this show had the potential to be very funny people in perhaps a

[00:52:05] different show different different situations like I don't I don't think there was anything wrong

[00:52:11] with any of their acting chops this is just you know this is the material that was put together and

[00:52:18] and I don't know it's again it's like trying to take these things that in Uncle Bucket's

[00:52:23] finding humor in unlikely situations and trying to sandwich that into a thing where the whole

[00:52:30] basis is every situation is supposed to be silly. Bren can you connect Uncle Buck the 1990 sitcom with

[00:52:43] so I can and actually this was one of the more challenging ones in a while um okay so there is one

[00:52:52] one degree connection but it feels like not the best one because it's basically

[00:52:58] uh a character that we didn't even see in that two episodes we watched and it he was just in two

[00:53:07] episodes but any at any rate the actor Sam Anderson who was in two episodes of Uncle Buck as a

[00:53:15] character named Kruger uh maybe one of Buck's friends I don't know I don't know who he was supposed to be

[00:53:22] I tried to look into it but I couldn't find descriptions of those episodes anywhere online like

[00:53:27] it was really challenging and then I tried to find those episodes to watch online couldn't find

[00:53:33] but at any rate he gets start on friends so that's a one degree connection now with the main cast

[00:53:40] okay we have some connections with Kevin Meeney okay so I I was able to um basically find three different

[00:53:52] four degree connections wow yeah and and all the other main cast I will say I couldn't really find

[00:53:58] us something solid to grab on to uh and I was shocked that um Dennis Cochrom didn't have a

[00:54:07] strong connection because he's just been in so much but anywhere at any rate uh Kevin Meeney who played

[00:54:13] Buck um so he also gets start on Nedden Stacy so and Nedden Stacy starred as you remember Thomas Hayden

[00:54:24] Church um Thomas Hayden Church co-starred on wings with Stephen Weber Stephen Weber co-starred

[00:54:32] with Matthew Perry on studio 60 on the sunset strip and then of course we all know math the late

[00:54:39] Matthew Perry played Chandler Bing on friends so that's one four degree connection the next four

[00:54:45] degree connection is also through the Nedden Stacy universe um through Thomas Hayden Church um

[00:54:53] so again he co-starred on wings with Tim daily Tim daily co-starred with Jennifer Aniston in the

[00:54:59] romcom object of my affection and Jennifer Aniston of course was Rachel green on friends um and then

[00:55:07] finally Kevin Meeney again as a guest star on Nedden Stacy was also acting alongside Nadia Dejani

[00:55:17] who was part of the main cast Nadia Dejani was in a short lived um sitcom called That's Life

[00:55:24] which co-starred Ron Livingston Ron Livingston was in the movie office space with Jennifer Aniston

[00:55:31] Jennifer Aniston was Rachel Green on friends wow and I have to give a huge thanks to our previous

[00:55:37] episode on Nedden Stacy for me to even be able to cobble those together quickly because I remembered

[00:55:45] I was like okay there were some connections yeah via Thomas Hayden Church so as soon as I saw

[00:55:53] that Kevin Meeney was on Nedden Stacy I was like okay well there's something here that's good

[00:55:57] but I was like struggling for a while grab onto something with all of them this might be one of my

[00:56:02] favorite uh six degrees that you've done okay I'm very okay going I'm very okay going through

[00:56:10] Nedden Stacy yeah well because it's a it's a reminder of that show yeah that was a very fun show

[00:56:15] though we all enjoy it was uh also uh the episode where I kept messing up the name of the show

[00:56:22] yeah saying like Ted and Nancy and various other name combos yeah yeah but that was anyone out there

[00:56:30] if this is your first episode go back and listen to our Nedden Stacy episode because it was a

[00:56:34] very fun romp that's a solid app yeah um if this was your first episode also let us know like

[00:56:42] what hey jill listen how did you how did you do yeah how did you how did you manage this yeah

[00:56:50] yeah feel like be a little rough yeah um yeah okay and then I guess we'll just segue

[00:56:56] right into the spin-off because spinning spinning spinning yeah I mean the issue with this

[00:57:04] show is people were either kind of on their way out of their career um or kind of were in the child

[00:57:13] star realm that didn't really continue acting so all three kids um that starred um Davie Chodin

[00:57:24] Sarah Martinick and Jacob Gellman didn't really do much after they all only have like a couple

[00:57:30] credits um on IMDB in the 90s you know just popping up in random sitcoms Sarah Martinick uh it's

[00:57:40] funny because she guest starred on like a couple of bigger shows like evening shade my so-called life

[00:57:47] and she also guest starred on two twas shows maybe this time and the John Lerkech show so

[00:57:56] so she's a twas all star um and yeah and then of course we have Kevin Meeney he

[00:58:04] so he was you know he has had a good career um he did a lot of guest starring roles throughout

[00:58:10] the 90s following um his stint as uncle buck in in a ton of voice acting as well his biggest

[00:58:17] voice uh acting role was in an animated series called mad jack the pirate which I'm not familiar with

[00:58:24] but it actually has a pretty good cast if you you know feel like looking that up um and then he kept

[00:58:31] appearing in television sporadically until his death in 2016 so he's unfortunately no longer

[00:58:37] with us and then um we have Dennis Cochrom who played skank and as Aaron already mentioned it was

[00:58:45] the only actor from the original movie to make it to this television show he's probably the most like

[00:58:51] besides the two legends we already mentioned he's like the most prolific uh actor he's like a very

[00:58:58] well-known character actor having done 120 various roles over the years like that's how many credits

[00:59:06] he has listed on IMDB at least um he's guest starred in successful sitcoms including home improvement

[00:59:13] third rock from the sun the west wing six feet under and then dramas like six feet under um

[00:59:21] depth desperate housewives shameless american horror story and tons more

[00:59:27] and then we'll yeah we'll give a shout out of course to Audrey Meadows in art carny so Audrey Meadows

[00:59:34] was already a TV legend having starred as Alice Cramden and the honeymooners and she was also

[00:59:41] in the Jackie Gleason show and just was like a household name big presents big like legendary presence so

[00:59:49] this was sort of like something she did near the end of the the her career um and she's consistently

[00:59:55] worked like up until her death in 1996 she appeared in some twas shows as well including uh Davis

[01:00:04] rules hi honey i'm home which is fun because yeah it's like the perfect like person to guest are in

[01:00:11] that yeah series uh like we i feel like we saw her on did we maybe i can't remember it's been a while

[01:00:20] i would love i would love to revisit yeah i'd love to revisit hi honey i'm home that was like the best

[01:00:27] um and also other like popular series uh like empty nest

[01:00:34] and her last credit was two episodes of davis world do you guys remember davis world yes i used to watch

[01:00:40] your davis world um yeah and then art carny he co-starred with Audrey Meadows on both the honey

[01:00:48] mooners and the Jackie Gleason show i don't know why i'm giving him his whole spin off because he was

[01:00:53] only in the one episode but the this guest star role was his second last credit ever oh really

[01:01:02] so his last credit was the last picture show so he was in the movie the last picture show

[01:01:08] or sorry what am i i was like that movie came out in 71 i wrote down the wrong thing the last

[01:01:17] sorry this guest star role was his second last credit ever his last credit was the last action hero

[01:01:26] that's shorts and ayer movie oh that's great great yeah yeah and then he passed away in 2003 so

[01:01:34] do we do we think that the last action hero do you think they were like oh let's get that guy from

[01:01:40] that one upset uncle buck i mean if you look at the if you look at the cast of the last action hero

[01:01:48] there's like a lot of old school actors in that there's a lot of it's chock full of those

[01:01:54] like the movie was very unfairly received at the time because nobody really knew what meta was

[01:02:00] then yeah it is a pretty brilliant piece of satire well that kind of like evil dead too like people

[01:02:07] didn't get it at the time no people like evil dead too you aren't army of darkness and like army

[01:02:14] of darkness okay maybe i'm getting them mixed up then because army of darkness was like was

[01:02:20] is it unrelated to evil dead army of darkness is evil dead three okay okay there we go and

[01:02:27] it's like a PG rated like fantasy movie set in the right set in the medieval times yeah i think

[01:02:34] the other two which are very strange and yeah i know because i know i've seen both of them but i'm

[01:02:40] like blanking on the full storyboards i would say yeah last action hero it's just weird because like

[01:02:46] i said like nobody really understood a movie that was making fun of like that was both a love letter

[01:02:54] to and also satirizing the action genre at the time so i thought you know we don't often do this

[01:03:06] but i decided maybe be interesting to look up what were the top rated shows in that 1990 to

[01:03:13] 1991 season we never do that why don't we do that we never do that but for context when this show

[01:03:19] was airing okay this is a sign of the times out of the top 10 shows seven were sitcoms so further

[01:03:29] evidence that this was like the format of the time but cheers was number one uh followed by 60

[01:03:36] minutes then you have rosanne a different world cause be show murphy brown empty nest then you have

[01:03:42] america's funniest home videos then monday night football then golden girls and designing women

[01:03:49] so that's your top 10 which includes a couple of ties um a little bit lower on the list you have

[01:03:55] full house you have family matters you have coach you have who's the boss you have major dad

[01:04:01] so there were tons of these big sitcoms in the time uh growing pains uh the wonder years

[01:04:09] uh what's interesting is in the list of the top 30 charting shows davis rules did make the list

[01:04:15] down it down at number 20 tied for 27th place beating slightly beating the wonder years

[01:04:24] whoa that doesn't seem right and doing just as well as baby talk and growing pains

[01:04:31] it's really fun uh to look back on i mean now you know you look back on a lot of these cancelled

[01:04:39] shows that we cover uh and and they a lot of them were doing fine networks could be so brutal um

[01:04:47] you know like you think of like you know i'll always go to the same place but you you think

[01:04:52] think of a cult classic show like firefly which was like you know it's this huge you know

[01:04:58] cult everybody loves it and love of uh talked about 20 years later and all that

[01:05:03] it did it is far as ratings go it was pulling in like you know like 12 15 million people in

[01:05:11] episode yeah but back then you know they wanted 20 25 million now like the highest rated things

[01:05:20] now they don't pull that no well yeah so to give you those details like davis rules during that

[01:05:27] season did an average rating if i'm understanding correct this isn't an average number of millions

[01:05:32] of people watching per episode davis rules did 14.3 okay full house did 15.9 like not that much more

[01:05:45] the difference between being like 14th place on the list and getting to continue for several years

[01:05:53] and getting cancelled can be like a million people in episode and nowadays it's like you're lucky if

[01:05:58] that's all you get yeah so i that's a good thing so yeah so i i inflated my numbers there you're right

[01:06:06] back the firefly numbers would have been like five or six but it shows you like that's how much

[01:06:12] viewership would come down over that 10 15 year period between those two things right

[01:06:18] because because you know and now obviously much much lower because people don't watch scheduled

[01:06:24] television i mean they do sure but not in though you know i'm sure nc is pulls in those numbers but

[01:06:33] yeah outside of a certain demographic that you're not pulling that in all right well

[01:06:39] as long as we're talking about the industry insider stuff from the time maybe we should give

[01:06:44] give her old buddy mr producer a call and and see what he has to say about this show

[01:06:56] hello Aaron my boy hello mr. p how are you i'm doing great doing great happy new year to you in the

[01:07:03] little cast web thanks mr. p did you have good holidays i just sweet boy so nice of you

[01:07:11] to ask i should did you know i was down at the sandbank you know my little home away from home

[01:07:17] down at Lake Buena Vista oh sure just yourself no no i was lucky enough to be joined by the incomparable

[01:07:25] map pop for a little uh produces conference oh quite the meeting of the mines oh you're telling me

[01:07:33] did you guys come up with any projects oh we sure did let's see we chatted about uh well max

[01:07:40] currently hard at work at the uh two and a half men's equals show you know uh five guys

[01:07:46] but actually uh we didn't really get to talk about it too much what about that's it

[01:07:52] that's it oh sure uh you know we did yeah absolutely we were talking about uh and we were pitching

[01:07:58] by you know what no from once i don't think we talked business at all oh well that's nice

[01:08:06] kidded uh it really was you know what's been a long couple years decades really but it was nice to

[01:08:12] just uh kick back on the beach with someone deer and uh enjoy the pickle readers you see a pickle

[01:08:19] reader it's like a margarita but with pickles right right right so you know all about them god no

[01:08:24] i tell you kid the older i get the more i realize it ain't about the projects it's about the

[01:08:31] pickle based alcoholic beverages that you share with the people you love very well said

[01:08:37] well until next time he's a complicated man i never i never got to bring up

[01:08:47] yeah he just didn't even talk about uncle buck he just talked about his vacation and then like

[01:08:52] dropped off that was weird well honestly that was probably the most interesting thing we were

[01:08:58] gonna get anyway you know we actually invited me up to that time share once did he really wow

[01:09:05] absolutely yeah wonderful weekend a lot of pickles in that fridge a lot of pickles

[01:09:11] well um on that note i guess uh we could all just uh you know light up some cigars for our poker

[01:09:19] night and sign off i'm definitely gonna continue watching uncle buck because i did not get to finish the

[01:09:27] movie the movie movie i will never i will not remember that this existed yeah um but uncle buck

[01:09:36] the movie if you haven't seen it go watch go watch it your heart will be warm yeah that's our final

[01:09:41] recommendation it's like watch the movie watch the movie uncle buck

[01:09:46] that was a show is created and hosted by brin burny andrew berry helmer and myself

[01:10:00] aron yager it's a production of radio gizmo in toronto canada subscribe rate review and share

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