Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Tuesday's Overlooked TV: The John Larroquette Show



Like THE SLAP MAXWELL STORY, which I wrote about a while back, THE JOHN LARROQUETTE SHOW had some pretty dark moments for a sitcom. Larroquette, fresh off his long stint on NIGHT COURT, played John Hemingway, a recovering alcoholic who becomes the manager of a bus station in St. Louis. The other characters included Hemingway's assistant, the owner of the lunch counter, the janitor, and a hooker who worked out of the station and became involved in a romance with Hemingway. The show's philosophy could be summed up by the sign from an amusement part ride that Hemingway stuck up on his office wall: "This is a Dark Ride".

Well, yeah, but it was also pretty funny, although the humor was mixed in with some pretty bleak moments. We watched it regularly and enjoyed it. Now, in looking it up on IMDB, I see that my memory has betrayed me yet again: I thought it ran for only two seasons, but it actually lasted for four seasons. The first one is regarded as the best, because each year the network executives forced the show's creators to tone down the grittiness and soften the characters even more. I'd agree with that assessment, although we watched it all the way through and still enjoyed it. But that first year it was a sitcom the likes of which are seldom seen, and certainly not these days. (The only one to come close is Matthew Perry's GO ON, which is wildly inconsistent but has its moments.) I don't think THE JOHN LARROQUETTE SHOW is available on DVD, but some of the episodes are posted on YouTube.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember the "Kill Whitey" car ride. Only watched it season 1.

Of course, five years after the show finished Daryl Mitchell was paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident.


Jeff M.

Heath Lowrance said...

That was the first "dark" sit-com I remember ever seeing. I wonder if it was the first? If so, the show doesn't really get the credit it deserves for being ground-breaking.

Todd Mason said...

Terrible news about Mitchell. Yikes.

No, Heath, "dark" sitcoms stretch back a ways, with (aside from aspects and episodes of the likes of ALL IN THE FAMILY and M*A*S*H) such entries as "SLAP" MAXWELL, UNITED STATES, MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN, and, hell, ONE DAY AT A TIME reaching in that direction.

Todd Mason said...

Leaving aside the examples from across the pond, as well, such as BUTTERFLIES or certainly THE BLACK ADDER...

Todd Mason said...

Or, at base, MY WORLD AND WELCOME TO IT, back in the States at the turn of the '70s. For that matter, much of THE HONEYMOONERS...

pattinase (abbott) said...

One of those people you expect to go on to great things but something happens.

beb said...

I was a great fan of The John Larroquette Show.

Yvette said...

I do remember this show - vaguely. But I do remeber that I liked it very much. I'm a big fan of John Larroquette. I liked him showing up in THE WEST WING for a couple of episodes once upon a time. I wonder what's happened to him. Maybe he's too old to work?

Thanks for reminding me of the show. I'm going to look for episodes on youtube.

Anonymous said...

Yvette, he's not too old to work. Quite the contrary. He's been on Broadway several times in recent years, winning a Tony Award for the revival of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING and following it up with a strong performance in GORE VIDAL'S THE BEST MAN (as it was called), where he was excellent.

Jeff M.

Anonymous said...

In light of the fact that NBC are flatly refusing to release this wonderful sitcom on video/DVD/iTunes, I propose a case of civil disobedience...

Anyone out there who has any episodes of this great show on tape, please digitise them and share via YouTube or other online sources.

Currently the only way to obtain the show is via dodgy online sites charging $100+ for badly degraded off-air copies. Surely someone out there has better quality tapes to share with us all.

I only suggest this as NBC are so unwilling to release even the first, best, season of the show for us to enjoy legally.