Something I thought about w/ this show

[megamanj2004]

I noticed how many former staff members from another hit ABC sitcom in "Barney Miller" such as Tony Sheehan, Frank Dungan, Jeff Stein and Noam Pitlik had a huge hand in working w/ this show, namely the 1st several seasons.

IMO, this show should've been higher-rated during its run on ABC since most of the staff helped who worked on and made Barney Miller's a great successful show.

[Marvo301]

I've noticed that connection too!

[Vahan]

Yep, this show has Barney Miller written all over it all right.

Don Corvan, who directed the majority of the episodes of this show, also worked on BM as well.

Some of the Barney Miller regulars even made the rounds on this show such as Martin Beckman and James Gregory.

[glickmam]

Originally Posted by megamanj2004

I noticed how many former staff members from another hit ABC sitcom in "Barney Miller" such as Tony Sheehan, Frank Dungan, Jeff Stein and Noam Pitlik had a huge hand in working w/ this show, namely the 1st several seasons.

IMO, this show should've been higher-rated during its run on ABC since most of the staff helped who worked on and made Barney Miller's a great successful show.

Unfortunately, however, by the time Mr. Belvedere arrived on the scene, NBC was dominating the ratings thanks to its number one program The Cosby Show. However, I actually wholeheartedly agree with you about this show should've having higher ratings, as, IMHO, it was certainly much better in quality than any of the crap spewed off the Miller-Boyett assembly line at the time, i.e., Full House, Perfect Strangers, Family Matters, and Step by Step.

[megamanj2004]

Originally Posted by glickmam

Unfortunately, however, by the time Mr. Belvedere arrived on the scene, NBC was dominating the ratings thanks to its number one program The Cosby Show.

True.

But at least Mr. B did far better in the ratings in its 2nd season than a tired out Diff'rent Strokes whose ratings was near the very bottom of the Nielsens when it moved to ABC from NBC.

The ratings for DS's ABC run (along w/ the mid-season show Mr. Sunshine) were so abysmal that it dragged some of the ratings of its fellow ABC Friday sitcoms down (Webster, Mr. Belvedere, Benson) that it scuttled Benson (whose own ratings were abysmal by its 7th season) to Saturdays mid-season and sent that show to cancellation.

[Vahan]

The show was starting to climb up in the ratings slowly but surely in the end of its 5th season in 1989 after it fell to a dismal #64 in season 4 a year earlier. In season 5, it was at #47 with a 12.2 rating.

But then ABC granted the show its death warrant, when they moved the show to Saturday night for its 6th and final season. There was no way it could avoid cancellation this time.

[megamanj2004]

Originally Posted by Vahan

The show was starting to climb up in the ratings slowly but surely in the end of its 5th season in 1989 after it fell to a dismal #64 in season 4 a year earlier. In season 5, it was at #47 with a 12.2 rating.

But then ABC granted the show its death warrant, when they moved the show to Saturday night for its 6th and final season. There was no way it couldn't avoid cancellation this time.

Wasn't the reason why ABC moved Mr. B to the dreaded Saturday line-up was b/c they wanted to make their TGIF line-up an all-Miller Boyett line-up?

If so then wasn't that was also part of the reason why another TGiF show in Just the Ten of Us also got canned in 1990?

[Vahan]

Probably.

But even if it didn't move to Saturday nights, I don't know if the show could have gone on longer than it actually did. It probably ran its course by the time it was in its 6th season.

I've never actually seen the final two seasons, save for one episode. But from what little I know about them, it seemed that the show was on its way out by the end of its run. For one thing, Kevin (Rob Stone) was now starting to live on his own, and Wesley (Brice Beckham) was hitting puberty to the point where it became a bit too ridiculous and weird to see a teenage Wesley still playing tricks on Lynn Belvedere.

I also noticed that Dungan, Stein, and Sheehan, who were part of the shows' creative writing process from the very beginning, stopped writing episodes for the show about half-way through production of season 5. Were they unhappy with the shows' direction, or did they just plain run out of ideas to write about?

[catlover79]

As a fan of both shows, I could tell how similar the humor was. Dry, sarcastic, but at the same time not mean-spirited. That CAN'T be an easy balance to strike, but somehow they did it!!! Now, who else wants to go to the drive-in for a double bill of Snow White and Terminator?

[megamanj2004]

Another thing about Mr. B. I also notice is:

- Besides airing after Webster for its 1st several seasons and also once facing cancellation in 1987, both Mr. B. and Webster have fathers who were sportscasters and both fathers are named "George." The George on Webster was a sportscaster for Chicago and the George on Mr. B was a sportscaster for Pittsburgh.

- Both fathers were real-life former pro athletes-turned actors and sportscasters. Alex Karras of Webster was a defensive lineman for the Detroit Tigers in the NFL and a sportscaster for a little bit on ABC's Monday Night Football, while Bob Uecker was a pitcher and batter for teams such as the St. Louis Cardinals (whom he was a member of the 1964 World Champion team with) and hosted and sportscasted a syndicated sports show and as well as numerous appearances with WWF (now WWE) and is even inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

[glickmam]

Originally Posted by megamanj2004

Wasn't the reason why ABC moved Mr. B to the dreaded Saturday line-up was b/c they wanted to make their TGIF line-up an all-Miller Boyett line-up?

If so then wasn't that was also part of the reason why another TGiF show in Just the Ten of Us also got canned in 1990?

Indeed, it was. ABC wanted to free up the slots for Family Matters and Going Places, both from Miller-Boyett.