Norm Show Boned the Fish When...

[TMC]

http://www.bonethefish.com/viewtopics.php?586

A short-lived sitcom where Norm MacDonald works as a social worker as part of community service due to being benned from hockey for life after tax evasion and gambling.

[Skywalker]

Never BTF. There was a slight drop in quality in Season 3, but it was still a great show. Never missed an episode.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by Skywalker

Never BTF. There was a slight drop in quality in Season 3, but it was still a great show. Never missed an episode.

Me neither. One of the greatest laugh out loud funny sitcoms. It should have lasted longer.

[Blackout]

never...3rd season was just as good as always

[TMC]

https://web.archive.org/web/20070225...ptheshark.com/

• Other Thoughts:
  
  If this show continues to be this funny, it will never jump. Norm Macdonald is the best comedian out there.
  It's underwritten, and depends too much on exaggerated reactions (mostly by the great Laurie Metcalf) to what Norm does. All in all, a pretty typical stand-up-comic-as-lead sitcom. Still, there's Norm...
  Norm is scream and a hero to SNL-haters. This fact amazed me when I realized it: This is the first funny ABC sit-com since. Mind-boggling when you think of it... but can you honestly name a funny ABC sitcom since The Norm Show? Nope, neither can I!
  Any show that can incorporate "Aqualung" into a gag is okay by me. Too bad Faith Ford couldn't have stayed on the show. Though I'll agree slightly with the above poster concerning Laurie Metcalf's exaggerated expressions. They wear a bit thin (as they did on Roseanne). However, the addition of Norm's step brother is a big plus, as was Alf's owner. Not sure about Nikki Cox, though. I can't figure out exactly what her character is doing on the show, or what the writer's have planned for her. Anyway, this show is worth three or four out-loud guffaws per episode.
  This show is so funny!!! I admit the premise is very dumb. But once you move past that, this is a darn good show. Norm, Laurie, and the other social worker are great. I love the theme and opening.
  I hope they ditch this "Norm chases Jenny" storyline quickly. I wonder if they've started running out of non-romantic storylines? Danny pursues Taylor; Laurie's twin pursues Norm; Norm pursues Jenny, not to mention Norm & Mr. Denby BOTH pursuing the same woman last Fall. Individually viewed, they're humorous, but when they're shown back-to-back-to-back....., well, there seems to be a definite pattern developing. The Norm/Shelley storyline was great, and played out over a long enough period of time, that it didn't seem contrived. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the other romances.
  TV needs to get back to sitcoms like this. It's just plain funny.... no stupid pop culture references, no lame sexual/relationship stereotypes. Norm is a scream.
  Hasn't jumped yet but the additions of Artie and Willie Tanner (whatever his name is) are bad. Especially Willie Tanner, the boss. This guy isn't funny! I tried giving him a chance but he sucks! But Norm will still live on, hopefully. I've been a fan of his since 94 and hope this show stays on the air.
  The first episode. Norm MacDonald sucks worse than Ross Perot's depiction of NAFTA. Kill him before he strikes again!
  Never Jumped!!!! Norm is the funniest guy on TV. Granted his last movie sucked and sucked bad...but that's a whole different story. He is the master of the deadpan. Sly subtle casual humor makes this show. I love it!!!
  The Norm Show was great until the episode where Norm has a Pokemon fight and the different characters in the show are dressed as different pokemon. This would not have been so bad if it was actually funny but it was just stupid. The show was never the same after that.
  When they thought up the Idea of Norm having his own show. Am I the only one who thinks Norm Is not funny at all? Geeze, this guy is terrible! Not Original, Not Funny.
  In thinking of movie projects, Norm could do worse than looking at remaking one of W.C. Fields’s 1930’s Paramount movies (It’s A Gift, You’re Telling Me, The Man On The Flying Trapeze). Think about what their characters do have in common...sneaky slackers, with distinctive vocal deliveries...Norm might not rise to the heights of Fields, but put Norm’s established persona in the middle of one of Fields’ patented toxic families, and Norm would do a creditable job. Things Fields has that Norm doesn’t: physical comedy; linguistic gifts; alcoholism (a source of steady jokes); venomousness; irascibility.
  THE ABSOLUTE WORST SHOW ON TV. PEOPLE WHO WATCH IT, SHOULD GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!!
  Jumped when some ******** TV executive thought that the show was about Norm from Cheers and said "Now that would be a funny show." Just like when everyone and their brother got their own talk show, the network gods thought they might as well give everyone and their brother a sitcom. First Lowel from Wings and now Norm. Possibly the most useless 30 minutes on television. I'd rather watch the George Foreman Lean, Mean, Grillin' Machine infomercial, It' funnier.
  This is without a doubt the funniest show on television right now, bar none. Forget Millionare! This is the best show ABC has. And to think Saturday Night Live fired Norm for not being funny?!? This show is a hundred times funnier than SNL has been in years (up yours, Cheerleaders and Colin Quinn!) Norm is the funniest guy alive. Anything he says is funny - it doesn't matter what it is. It's all in the delivery. If I have a bad day, I put this show on, and I am laughing my ass off in no time. I used to think there were too many cast members, but the funny thing is they are all good! I think Laurie Metcalf is brilliant. She was the best thing on Roseanne (along with John Goodman) and is a perfect foil for Norm. I just wish she had a bigger role like in the beginning. She is so funny! I wouldn't even mind if they had her character get involved with Norm. They both crack me up. I used to hate Mr. Denby (that idiot from ALF), but he grew on me and now I think he's great too, especially when Norm ridicules the old dude! And Ian Gomez is really good too. I heard Nikki Cox is leaving, and I am sad to hear it, because she was cute as hell and funny, but I wish her luck on her own sitcom. And Artie Lang - man, he's the best sidekick Norm ever had and I'm overjoyed they made room for him on the show. The one thing I don't get is the show's constant need to fix Norm up with a regular love interest. Faith Ford was okay, but kind of lame, and she took up too much time. This is a comedy show, not a romance. And that other woman they fixed Norm up with was the same - just mediocre. The love storylines slow the show down and cut into the laughs. And nothing should interrupt the laughs. Norm is too funny to have him pining away over women. I hear Faith Ford is coming back, but they should just have Norm pick up nameless women to have "dirty sex" with in bars, or have him get involved with someone funny like Laurie. I think this show is amazing. It will never jump, even if Faith Ford comes back, because NORM IS KING!!
  This show was NEVER funny and only made it because it was a spring replacement. I was never so surprised to see a show renewed for the fall. Norm is whiney and self-centered. I hate this show.
  Norm is a riot!!! The only way I think this show could jump the shark is if Norm is suddenly replaced mid-season with John Stamos and all the writers die...the likelihood of BOTH happening being very small. I think this show is pretty rock hard evidence that the whole SNL debauchal was a blessing in disguise--he was great on Weekend Update but he's a genius on his own and so are the other writers!
  Don Ohlmeyer fired Norm from SNL because he did O.J. jokes that were actually funny (Ohlmeyer and O.J. are friends).Norm is funny- Artie Lang is funny. If you don't like Norm, you have no sense of humor.
  Norm MacDonald is the funniest man on the planet. ABC never really supported this show and finally didn't renew it. What a shame. It was the only funny show on the network.
  The motorcycle barely had enough enthusiasm to make it off the rap and over the shark before sinking deeply. At least the NBC execs were smart enough to fire this snarky unfunny idiot from SNL to stop him stinking up the joint. ABC execs clearly don't know what they're doing as they built an equally unfunny show around him. Doesn't matter what Norm is in; he's like a joke you have to explain...IT ISN'T FUNNY!
  This was a great show, but you really had to do some serious research to figure out what night it was going to be on in any given week. ABC seemed to do everything it could to keep this show from building an audience.
  This show never jumped. Norm Macdonald is hilarious, somehow he managed to keep the network off his back for the first season. The best show was with guest star Nikki Cox, and had Norm constantly referring to her as a "great big whore". The only problems came later when the network decided to give Norm a love interest. Too bad the networks didn't understand that Norm had no use for a girlfriend, he hired prostitutes. This show has the distinct honor of actually becoming better after it was out of production. The guy who played Norm's boss on the show (Max Wright, the Dad from Alf) was arrested for crack possession.
  Since Home Improvement stopped producing, ABC has sucked when it has came to sitcoms. The Drew Carey Show was the only thing that has held up ABC's Sitcoms and then, they brought in The Norm Show. If ABC wasn't smoking crack and putting it on 9:30 on Friday night (absolutely the worst time to put on a sitcom, even when ABC was so strong for sitcoms on that night), they might have had a decent lineup putting them with Drew Carey and have something similar to Roseanne/Home Improvement/Coach. That would have been a deadly combo. But instead, ABC shot themselves in the foot.
  This show jumped the shark when ABC pretty much placed Norm on 9:30 Thursday night and worse, they didn't even advertise this show at all. Ever since Home Improvement and Roseanne have been taken off the air on ABC, they have been scrambling to find some good sitcoms because they have the worst sitcom lineup out of the 4 major networks. In comes Norm.................a sitcom where they could really get back into the thick of things with the other networks with sitcoms. But what happens????????????????????? They just said "......followed by the Norm Show at 9:30". Sometimes they gave out the story plot, but they did not give it out and advertise it like they did with Home Improvement and Roseanne. I've seen the new ABC Sitcoms now and According to Jim and My Wife and Kids are terrible, Who's Line is it Anyway was better in the UK, and the Drew Carey Show has just got dumb. And they kicked The Norm Show off the air? Amazing......
  The Norm Show never jumped! This may sound pathetic, but it actually kept me home from the bars on Friday nights! USA should bring it back in re-runs!
  I loved Norm,it was a funny show.I really liked the premise of the show,an ex-hockey player who is banned from the NHL has to become a social worker to stay out of trouble.I liked the Mr.Denby character,he was really good,he used to be Willie on ALF.I was mad when ABC moved it to Fridays because I was gone most Friday nights and coudln't see it.No wonder ABC is going down the toilet,they can't seem to find shows that work,and Norm was one of them.And I would also like to see reruns on USA,that would be cool.Norm rules!!!
  The show is proof positive that Norm can be funny only when he has a stern principal with a paddle to keep him in line from being lazy (Lorne Michaels).
  This was a really funny show but the network didn't do a very good job of promoting it in the last two seasons so it died. ABC doesn't have a lot of good shows these days. I wasn't sure what Nikki Cox was doing on the show either. I remember an episode where Laurie Metcalf and Ian Gomez had to deal with the guy who was afraid of water. That was pretty good!
  This show never jumped. Norm is awesome. Also it is great to see the guy from Alf in a different role. I also think the best thing about this show is once you watch it and watch Laurie Metcalf; one realizes how much Roseanne owes her. She is truly a GREAT second banana (in the way Art Carney was) Nikki Cox and Faith Ford both left to do their own shows. Faith on CBS had a cute show but it wasn't funny and Nikki's show on the WB was funny but didn't seem to have any direction Oh yeah weiner dog rocks!!!
  For a show with a revolving door cast, this show really stayed fresh and funny throughout its run. Laurie Metcalf's loopiness was a great counter to Norm's deadpan sarcasm. This show played to Norm's strengths, making him a selfish sarcastic loser with a bent moral compass who tells it like it is. Anyone who liked this show should definitely rent Dirty Work, a comedy classic with both Norm and Artie Lange!
  The day Nikki Cox came on board as a lapsed call girl. That woman, while possessing good timing (comic, that is)and good looks (although don't look at the Baywatch episode when she was 12-ish), is the Ted McGinley of the new millennium, a harbinger of death so accurate that actuaries follow her movements and adjust their tables accordingly. After her surprisingly long run with Happily Ever After, she quickly knocked off The Norm Show and her own WB sitcom NIKKI.
  Great show! Why was it canned so quick or disappeared! I was in the Navy at the time and I went away for like a month and came back, it was GONE! I always thought Norm McDonald was hilarious and this show definitely showed his humor. Great writing and a great cast. I thought the show would last a long while when Norm actually got to host a Saturday Night Live, a place that fired him. I can't believe ABC let this one slip by. Like a comment up above, I sure home some channel like USA or TBS would pick up these episodes!
  The Norm Show was killed by the relentless, gratuitous retooling. The show JTS with the pointless appearance of Norm's half-brother and then a rapid succession of love triangles turned a once quick-witted sitcom into a tedious soap.

[Blackout]

no offense at all TMC but this is a huge TROLL thread

how the hell are you gonna list day 1 on the options??? thats a huge ass insult to ALL us Norm fans