Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel Look Back on Adam West's 1991 Pilot "Lookwell"

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Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel Look Back on their lost, Glorious Adam West Comedy "Lookwell"
by Dan Snierson
6/12/17



He starred on one of the most successful ’70s detective shows. (Actually, it was canceled after three seasons.) He recites Shakespeare at will. (It’s the same line every time.)

He firmly believes that a couple dozen episodes of playing cops and robbers qualify him to help the police to solve crimes in real life. (It doesn’t. And they don’t want his help. Like, at all.)

There is only one man who fits this description and he goes by the name Ty Lookwell, the delightfully deluded semi-hero at the heart of the extremely short-lived 1991 NBC comedy "Lookwell".





Created and written by a pair of then-SNL writers and eventual comedy stars named Conan O’Brien and Robert Smigel, this one-episode series stands as a pop culture gem of what-could-have-been proportions, a joke-jammed achievement of alterna-comedy that looked nothing like anything else on a broadcast network at the time.

Brimming with dry, deadpan, daffy humor, "Lookwell" served as a wonderfully batty vehicle for the late Adam West (who was forever known for his aslant, assured, tongue-in-cheek portrayal of Batman), and one in which he revved his finely tuned comedic engine while popping some serious self-serious comedy wheelies.

It’s 22 minutes of Adam West at his Adam Westiest.





Ty Lookwell ruled for part of the 1970s as the grizzled, hard-boiled, take-no-criminal-guff detective named Bannigan. Now, many years later, we find him out of work (and out of time, in many ways). He’s resorting to unsuccessfully auditioning for shows like Happy Days: The Next Generation (a reboot joke in 1991!) and being confused for other famous TV detectives, while his unseen, new-to-the-business nephew Matt just breezes into town and immediately scores meetings with the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Kevin Costner, and Steven Spielberg.

Ty isn’t discouraged — his mind and body appear to reject anything resembling negativity or self-doubt — so he whiles away the days before his next sure-to-come-any-minute break by watching old episodes of Bannigan and hosting an acting workshop (downstairs, second door on the left) in which he ascribes far too much thespian significance to his TV detective work of yesteryear.





For example, Lookwell shows his class a clip of Bannigan sneering to a defiant, lawyer-demanding pimp, “You can call the Supreme Court for all I care! You’re going to do time, Leron — hard time.” Lookwell turns off the projector and dramatically repeats that “hard time” line to the wide-eyed students before previously explaining to them:

“In those lines, I had to convey both anger and triumph… a sense of disgust with Leron, and all he represented, as well as reaffirmation that the balance of nature would be restored. I served, if you will, as both magistrate… and messenger.” Silence.

“So… the pimp was actually funneling money through the disco?” asks a slightly skeptical student named Jason (played by future In the Bedroom and Little Children director Todd Field). Jason was the lone student who questioned Lookwell’s loony ways, but ultimately, he too was sucked into the windmill-tilting crusade of justice that was to ensue.





Which, of course, it did. Because if there is one thing Ty Lookwell believed dearly, it’s that he could crack any case wide open, just like his TV alter ego. So when Ty stumbles into the vicinity of a car-theft ring, he grandly offers up his sleuthing services to the police. (After all, he’d once been awarded an honorary badge at a formal ceremony in Television City. Still, carries it around with him.)

And when the police issue him clear instructions to step out of the character and slowly back away, he brushes them off and takes his method acting to the hardscrabble streets of L.A., giving West a fantastically delirious showcase to slip Ty into such woefully outmoded undercover identities as a scarf-and-goggles-wearing race car driver named Dash Carlisle and a hobo wearing a patchwork jacket and carrying a stick with his belongings.

As he tries to solve this crime with faulty deductions and a trip to the park to seek wisdom from a Shakespeare statue, Lookwell further descends into both sadness and madness, but his can-do spirit and the rock-dumbest of luck help him to emerge victoriously — or at least allow the bubble to go unburst for one more day.





"Lookwell" would be a victim of changing executive regimes at NBC, and only one episode ever made it into America’s living room, burned off into a summer night. (In a feeble footnote, that pilot earned the distinction of being the lowest-rated show in the week that it aired.)

Life moved on, but ever so slowly, word-of-mouth began to build: VHS tapes of the "Lookwell" pilot were passed around by comedy nerds, and later, the show grew into the stuff of YouTube cult legend. As part of EW’s Untold Stories series, we revisited the gonzo, gone-too-soon series through the eyes — and mouths — of O’Brien and Smigel.

Here, in an extended Q&A (which was conducted before West died on June 9 following a battle with leukemia), the duo looks back on "Lookwell" with a mixture of fondness, amusement, head-shaking, and pride in knowing that their almost-show gave the legendary West a chance to shine again.


Full Article Here: http://ew.com/tv/2017/06/10/adam-wes...igel-lookwell/

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Retro Television Reviews: Lookwell 1.1 “The Pilot”

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Lookwell, which aired on NBC in 1991. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!



Adam West is an actor who solves crimes …. kind of.

Episode 1.1 “Lookwell”

(Dir by E.W. Swackhamer, originally aired on July 28th, 1991)

Ty Lookwell (Adam West) was once the biggest star in Hollywood.

Well, maybe not the biggest star. But, in the 70s, he did have his own cop show. It was called …. Banacek? Mannix? No, that’s not it. Oh …. BRANNIGAN! Ty Lookwell starred on a show called Brannigan and he was even given his own honorary police badge in 1972. It was presented to him at a ceremony in Television City.

However, nearly 20 years later, things have changed. Brannigan is no longer on the air and Ty Lookwell has been reduced to wearing a wig and a leather jacket in an attempt to get a role in a revival of Happy Days. (He not only doesn’t get the role but he doesn’t even get to audition.) When he returns to his home, he is informed that his favorite hairspray has been discontinued (“Those fools!”) and that all the messages on his machine are for his nephew. Kevin Costner calls looking for Lookwell’s nephew. Francis Ford Coppola calls for Lookwell’s nephew and leaves a message in which he promises to call back. No one calls for Ty Lookwell.

Lookwell, however, still has a steady gig teaching an acting class and his students not only look up to him but also help him out whenever he decides that there’s a crime he has to solve. This apparently happens frequently as Lookwell takes his honorary badge very seriously.

“Remember how we talked about how you don’t have to come around here?” Detective Kennery (Ron Frazier) asks Lookwell at one point.

The pilot follows Lookwell as he investigates a series of car thefts. Helping him out is his favorite student, Jason (played by future director Todd Field). Lookwell’s investigative techniques are not particularly complicated. He puts on a disguise and attempts to go undercover. It never quite works, largely because everyone that Lookwell meets is smarter than Lookwell. Lookwell’s attempt to disguise himself as a Grand Prix racer fails because the security guard takes one look at him and sees that he’s obviously not a Grand Prix racer. His attempt to conduct a stakeout on a fancy diner is nearly thwarted by his bizarre decision to disguise himself as a hobo. His attempt to go undercover at a garage is thwarted by the other mechanics misunderstanding his leading questions.

(“Who beat you up, Mr. Lookwell?” his students ask at the start of class.)

As the investigation continues, Jason wonders if they’re just wasting time.

“You do not waste time,” Lookwell corrects him, “Time wastes you.”

Lookwell was written by Conan O’Brian and Robert Smigel, long before either one of them became famous, and the humor is definitely the humor of a generation who grew up watching network television, especially the cop shows of the 70s and the 80s. While the dialogue is clever and definitely funny, it’s really Adam West who makes the pilot work. West delivers all of his line with such conviction and confidence that it doesn’t matter that he only plays a peripheral role in solving the case and, in fact, usually makes things worse for everyone involved. As played by West, Lookwell is so confident in his abilities and so blithely unaware of his limitations that it’s hard not to admire his spirit.

Unfortunately, the spirit was not admired by NBC and Lookwell only aired once. But it has since developed a cult following. Adam West described it as being his favorite of the various shows that he did. I enjoyed the pilot, though I do think the premise was perhaps a bit too thin to support an actual series. (It would have made a great recurring SNL bit, though.) Thanks to YouTube, everyone can now watch what NBC passed up.

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In 1991, a bizarre and brilliant TV pilot aired once—and was never picked up. Lookwell, created by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel, starred Adam West as a washed-up actor who thinks he can solve real crimes because he once played a detective on TV. Ahead of its time, hilariously offbeat, and completely misunderstood by network execs, Lookwell became a cult classic decades later. In this video, we dive into why it failed, why it was genius, and why it just might be the smartest TV pilot you've never seen.

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:00 A Comedy Duo Creates A Masterpiece
• 03:45 The Competition
• 06:20 Smigel's Realization
• 07:25 What Was Lookwell?
• 08:10 NBC Drops Lookwell
• 08:58 Adam West Reacts
• 09:29 A Historic Recap

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In 2025, Conan O' Brien and Robert Smigel are comedy legends, but back in 1991 they were two working TV writers with a dream. A dream to work with their childhood hero, the former Batman Adam West. Together the duo were responsible for Lookwell, a legendarily hilarious pilot for NBC that cast West as an out-of work actor who thinks that because he played a detective, he can become a detective. Even with the support of NBC president Brandon Tartikoff, the network didn't greenlight the show and it aired only once. But that initial airing become a valued commodity among tape traders, as the show has gained infamy as the years have gone on. This is the story of Lookwell, a story of not only the funniest comedy show that never was, but a story of perseverance of not just Conan and Smigel, but of the legend that was Adam West.

Time Stamps

• 0:00 (Pilot Season)
• 02:15 (The Rise of Adam West)
• 03:32 (The Fall of Adam West)
• 05:40 (The Brilliance of Robert Smigel)
• 07:00 (Enter Conan O Brien)
• 08:00 ( The Inspiration Behind Lookwell)
• 09:00 (NBC Has an Ultimatum)
• 09:44 (Brandon Tartikoff)
• 10:20 (The Director Connundrum)
• 11:30 (Breaking Down The Pilot)
• 13:00 (The Best Bits)
• 13:50 (The Demise of Lookwell)
• 15:00 (The Single Airing)
• 15:45 (The Trio Go Their Own Ways)
• 17:00 (Lookwell Becomes a Cult Classic)
• 18:20 (Adam West's Return to Glory)
• 19:40 (A Lookwell Sequel?)