Monty had more unaired episodes (7) than aired episodes (6). There would have been plenty of space to burn off Monty in the summer Sundays in the 7PM hour or elsewhere. Bakersfield P.D. was a lot lower rated and got burned off, and they aired other busted pilots that did lousy. I later liked David Krumholtz in Numb3rs, would have been interesting seeing him as Fonzie's son. Maybe FOX didn't want to give more publicity to David Schwimmer shortly before Friends hit big on a rival network. But CBS still burned off Muddling Through. Even worse was if FOX just didn't want to pay Henry Winkler the salary he deserved by airing the whole series.

Speaking of Henry Winkler, Out of Practice also had a bunch of unaired episodes. But it at least aired 14, you would think CBS wouldn't have ordered its back nine if they weren't going to air it. Show killer Paula Marshall in the cast probably didn't help that one.

I remember watching Monty on FOX. It was originally on NBC's development slate in 1993. It might have had a better chance on there. NBC must have liked David Schwimmer since they cast him on Friends in 1994.

Henry Winkler was the wrong choice to play a Rush Limbaugh-like character. He was way too nice to play the Archie Bunker of the '90s. Out of Practice was a much better series for him.

A Little to the Right This Time : Henry Winkler has longtime credentials as a Hollywood liberal, but in his new series, “Monty,” he plays a Limbaugh-like talk-show pundit. Will conservative views get a fair shake, or is Monty TV’s next liberal goat?
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-09-ca-9836-story.html

Barry and HBO did right by the Fonz


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Monty (partially found Fox sitcom; 1994) (https://lostmediawiki.com/Monty_(partially_found_Fox_sitcom;_1994))

Monty (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031141834/http://www.jumptheshark.com/m/monty.htm) was a sitcom (https://www.npr.org/1994/01/10/1107406/t-v-critic-david-bianculli-reviews-monty-a-new-sitcom-on-fox-starring-and-produc) that aired on Fox from (https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/01/11/tv-preview/5b7013e5-98a6-4e63-b895-15df2f063390/) January 11, 1994 to (https://greensboro.com/texas-ranger-star-shows-his-wide-range/article_593f7394-59a1-52f1-8c18-7f1a3d05c0dd.html) February 15, 1994 and was produced by Touchstone Television. The series starred (https://ew.com/article/1994/01/21/henry-winkler-stars-monty/) Henry Winkler (https://buffalonews.com/news/winkler-trades-in-the-fonzs-leather-for-establishment-suit/article_9ef45152-9231-529d-95ef-66df9d11b05e.html) as Monty Richardson (https://books.google.com/books?id=C3JuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=monty+henry+winkler+1994+fox&source=bl&ots=0sFONLP7cS&sig=ACfU3U2Bjo8Du1HbKofky4fzps8SfVPhgQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjspoy8k4_8AhU7LEQIHan3CFY4PBDoAXoECAMQAw), a Rush Limbuagh (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-11-ca-10538-story.html)-esque conservative (https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/28/books/critic-s-notebook-opinion-vs-reality-in-an-age-of-pundits.html) political commentator (https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-01-11-1994011155-story.html), and David Schwimmer (https://people.com/tv/david-schwimmer-initially-passed-friends/) (who began to star in Friends later that year) as (https://www.deseret.com/1997/4/4/19304616/fox-celebrates-its-10th-anniversary) his liberal (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/friends-actor-goes-wild/) son Greg.

Background

The series was initially picked up by NBC in 1993 before dropping it and Fox took over. Initially, Monty's child was supposed to be a lesbian daughter before becoming a liberal son who left law school to become a chef.

Due to poor reception, the program was cancelled after just (reddit.com/r/ObscureMedia/comments/oxxicq/monty_1994_short_lived_sitcom_staring_henry/) five episodes (http://www.tvtango.com/series/monty/episodes) (out of 13 episodes (https://variety.com/1994/tv/reviews/monty-here-comes-the-son-1200435312/) that were produced). Since then, the series is not known to have been broadcast at any point nor has seen any official home media release.

In an August 2016 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Winkler said "When Monty was originally written, it was hysterically funny — about Rush Limbaugh having a gay daughter. NBC [owned it] for 11 minutes... Then we sold it to Fox, and it became Rush Limbaugh with a son who stopped studying law in order to become a chef." In describing his own performance, he went on to say, "I’m telling you, it was cringe-worthy… I wouldn’t even call it a performance. I should have been sent to the Midwest to some rehab facility for actors. Here’s the lesson: When you’re trying to fit a square peg into the round funny house and it doesn’t fit, do not take out your saw."[1] (http://ew.com/article/2016/08/19/william-shatner-henry-winkler-star-trek-v-monty-better-late-than-never/)