TMC
06-30-2018, 05:15 AM
http://www.vulture.com/2018/06/looking-back-at-the-george-carlin-show.html?utm_campaign=vulture&utm_source=tw&utm_medium=s1
Alongside Duck Soup, Andy Kaufman’s “Mighty Mouse” bit, and season five of The Simpsons, there are few things that are held in such high esteem as the stand-up oeuvre of George Carlin. (Rather than yell at me on Twitter, please replace my Comedy Hall of Fame choices with your own personal favorites. You get what I’m going for here.) Earlier this month, the George Carlin Commemorative Collection brought together the man’s five-decade-long career in comedy, compiling each of his HBO specials and a plethora of extras encompassing this master’s work. And while he did have successful forays into acting such as Dogma or the Bill and Ted films, the thing that you won’t find on this set is his short-lived Fox sitcom, which attempted to transform Carlin’s stand-up into a narrative format. This model worked well for names like Jerry Seinfeld, Tim Allen, and Ray Romano, but sadly, The George Carlin Show remains deep in the archives.
The George Carlin Show premiered in January 1994 and lasted for 27 episodes across two seasons. Carlin resisted television before this point, but he was persuaded by the show’s script, written by the late television veteran Sam Simon. In an interview to promote the premiere, Carlin said, “… I had always resisted doing a sitcom. I was afraid of being in a living room with children who were smarter than I, but Sam and I had a meeting of the minds that we could do this without being typically sitcomy.” The premise was simple: What if George Carlin had never become a comedian? In this alternate dimension, he plays George O’Grady, a New York City taxi driver who spends the majority of his free time in a local bar, holding court by making observations about other patrons and life in general. He’s an opinionated smart-ass with a lot to say for 22 minutes
Alongside Duck Soup, Andy Kaufman’s “Mighty Mouse” bit, and season five of The Simpsons, there are few things that are held in such high esteem as the stand-up oeuvre of George Carlin. (Rather than yell at me on Twitter, please replace my Comedy Hall of Fame choices with your own personal favorites. You get what I’m going for here.) Earlier this month, the George Carlin Commemorative Collection brought together the man’s five-decade-long career in comedy, compiling each of his HBO specials and a plethora of extras encompassing this master’s work. And while he did have successful forays into acting such as Dogma or the Bill and Ted films, the thing that you won’t find on this set is his short-lived Fox sitcom, which attempted to transform Carlin’s stand-up into a narrative format. This model worked well for names like Jerry Seinfeld, Tim Allen, and Ray Romano, but sadly, The George Carlin Show remains deep in the archives.
The George Carlin Show premiered in January 1994 and lasted for 27 episodes across two seasons. Carlin resisted television before this point, but he was persuaded by the show’s script, written by the late television veteran Sam Simon. In an interview to promote the premiere, Carlin said, “… I had always resisted doing a sitcom. I was afraid of being in a living room with children who were smarter than I, but Sam and I had a meeting of the minds that we could do this without being typically sitcomy.” The premise was simple: What if George Carlin had never become a comedian? In this alternate dimension, he plays George O’Grady, a New York City taxi driver who spends the majority of his free time in a local bar, holding court by making observations about other patrons and life in general. He’s an opinionated smart-ass with a lot to say for 22 minutes