Mr. T and Tina

[Bob's TV Treasures]

I know there's an episode on the trading circuit of
MR. T AND TINA, but as of yet I've been unable to secure it.
Can anyone help? I have a LARGE updated list at
www.bobobrien.tv/videos/

[bencasey]

Do you know Diane, who used to publish the TV Collector magazine? She has one but unfortunately she has thousands of tapes and none labeled.

[Bob's TV Treasures]

Also, the PALEY CENTER has a myriad of available
episodes for viewing. I'd just like to own one.
The show was unmitigated crap, but I am a pseudo-Pat Morita fan.

[bencasey]

I was over there last week and they only have one or two available for viewing. I'm guess that the rest of them are still on 2-inch and haven't been transferred.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...was the theme: George Aliceson Tipton's arrangement of "Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)": half ragtime, half "faux-Japanese". If only the rest of the show had been that vibrant!

[bencasey]

I never saw the show. James Komack had a few successful shows, like Welcome Back Kotter and Chico and the Man but most of what he produced was real crap like this show, Rollergirls, Sugar Time, Me and Maxx and I'm sure some others if I thought about it. He was also responsible for the abysmal Dobie Gillis reunion pilot.

[bencasey]

I just got back from the Paley Center and watched an episode which I think was the pilot. It had a brief cold open with the sweathogs from Welcome Back Kotter in it. That was the highlight of what is a really bad show. Not only painfully unfunny but even maybe offensive to some. There's a stereotypical black character who speaks in jive and a sister-in-law who pronounces all of her L's like R's. Another show that if it were better known would make many "worst ever" lists.

[Du Mont]

I know it wasn't the 'Mr. T. & Tina' pilot, which from my memory, never aired as it was substantially re-shaped by Mr. Komack (no doubt with copious notes from Mr. Fred Silverman), so I consider the Mr. T. cross-over on to 'Welcome Back, Kotter' as a bona-fide episode of 'Mr. T & Tina' . Mr. Pat Morita was brilliant in this episode as the wacky inventor with a penchant for impersonations who makes a presentation to the Sweathogs, but there was no appearance of the yet-to-be-hired governess Tina (Miss Susan Blanchard) in the Kotter episode (we must remember that 'Mr. T. & Tina' was a bit of a reboot of Mr. Komack's 'The Courtship of Eddie's Father' with two kids instead of one). One of the posters in this string stated that the Paley Centre episode has the Sweathogs in it, and it must be this one, as I can't recall any of the cast members of 'Welcome Back, Kotter' appearing in any of the Saturday 'Mr. T. & Tina' episodes (although they may have guested in one of the unaired episodes, and somehow the Paley Centre has gotten their hands on one of those episodes).

The second season preem of 'Welcome Back, Kotter' (or "first" crossover episode of 'Mr. T. & Tina') was the official second pilot of the series and it aired on Thursday September 23, 1976 at 8 pm, two days ahead of the Saturday September 25, 1976 timeslot premiere of 'Mr. T. & Tina'. I can't put my fingers on my 1976-77 preem week Nielsens, but I do remember that the 'Welcome Back, Kotter/Mr. T. & Tina' crossover episode got a huge Nielsen, with a substantial fall-off (though still decent) to the Saturday 'Mr. T & Tina' episode.

The problem with 'Mr. T & Tina' was that it showed weekly erosion in the Nielsens until it was pulled. It averaged 14.1HH after five Saturday airings, down from the 14.4HH lead-in that the funny 'Holmes & Yoyo' series garnered at 8 pm for ABC. 'Mr. T & Tina' wasn't that far off of the competition: 'Doc' on CBS averaged 15.7HH at 8:30 pm, and 'Emergency!' on NBC averaged 16.9HH in the 8-9 pm hour. So Mr. Silverman yanked 'Mr. T. & Tina' and replaced it with 'What's Happening', a surprise summer series hit from the summer of 1976. 'What's Happening' averaged a better 14.8HH for its Saturday run before being moved to Thursdays at mid-season.

I seem to remember there were unaired episodes of 'Mr. T. & Tina' at the time it was pulled, and those episodes were never aired or burned off...it wouldn't surprise me if some of them may not have had all of their post-production elements completed. Perhaps Mr. Komack's estate or the Warner library still has time-coded screeners of these very rare unaired episodes. They are probably in the same box as the tapes of the never-aired first season of 'Snip', another comedy series from Mr. Komack starring Mr. David Brenner as a SHAMPOO-inspired hairdresser, that NBC pulled literally on the eve of the 1976 fall premiere week due to reported nervousness around affiliate rumblings about a gay character in the sitcom.

For those who dismiss 'Mr. T. & Tina' as forgettable, I would remind them that it had top-notch actors doing their very best work, and it was one of the ABC nominations in that years Emmy Awards for best art/set design (it didn't win).

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by Du Mont

I know it wasn't the 'Mr. T. & Tina' pilot, which from my memory, never aired as it was substantially re-shaped by Mr. Komack (no doubt with copious notes from Mr. Fred Silverman), so I consider the Mr. T. cross-over on to 'Welcome Back, Kotter' as a bona-fide episode of 'Mr. T & Tina' . Mr. Pat Morita was brilliant in this episode as the wacky inventor with a penchant for impersonations who makes a presentation to the Sweathogs, but there was no appearance of the yet-to-be-hired governess Tina (Miss Susan Blanchard) in the Kotter episode (we must remember that 'Mr. T. & Tina' was a bit of a reboot of Mr. Komack's 'The Courtship of Eddie's Father' with two kids instead of one). One of the posters in this string stated that the Paley Centre episode has the Sweathogs in it, and it must be this one, as I can't recall any of the cast members of 'Welcome Back, Kotter' appearing in any of the Saturday 'Mr. T. & Tina' episodes (although they may have guested in one of the unaired episodes, and somehow the Paley Centre has gotten their hands on one of those episodes).

The second season preem of 'Welcome Back, Kotter' (or "first" crossover episode of 'Mr. T. & Tina') was the official second pilot of the series and it aired on Thursday September 23, 1976 at 8 pm, two days ahead of the Saturday September 25, 1976 timeslot premiere of 'Mr. T. & Tina'. I can't put my fingers on my 1976-77 preem week Nielsens, but I do remember that the 'Welcome Back, Kotter/Mr. T. & Tina' crossover episode got a huge Nielsen, with a substantial fall-off (though still decent) to the Saturday 'Mr. T & Tina' episode.

The problem with 'Mr. T & Tina' was that it showed weekly erosion in the Nielsens until it was pulled. It averaged 14.1HH after five Saturday airings, down from the 14.4HH lead-in that the funny 'Holmes & Yoyo' series garnered at 8 pm for ABC. 'Mr. T & Tina' wasn't that far off of the competition: 'Doc' on CBS averaged 15.7HH at 8:30 pm, and 'Emergency!' on NBC averaged 16.9HH in the 8-9 pm hour. So Mr. Silverman yanked 'Mr. T. & Tina' and replaced it with 'What's Happening', a surprise summer series hit from the summer of 1976. 'What's Happening' averaged a better 14.8HH for its Saturday run before being moved to Thursdays at mid-season.

I seem to remember there were unaired episodes of 'Mr. T. & Tina' at the time it was pulled, and those episodes were never aired or burned off...it wouldn't surprise me if some of them may not have had all of their post-production elements completed. Perhaps Mr. Komack's estate or the Warner library still has time-coded screeners of these very rare unaired episodes. They are probably in the same box as the tapes of the never-aired first season of 'Snip', another comedy series from Mr. Komack starring Mr. David Brenner as a SHAMPOO-inspired hairdresser, that NBC pulled literally on the eve of the 1976 fall premiere week due to reported nervousness around affiliate rumblings about a gay character in the sitcom.

For those who dismiss 'Mr. T. & Tina' as forgettable, I would remind them that it had top-notch actors doing their very best work, and it was one of the ABC nominations in that years Emmy Awards for best art/set design (it didn't win).

I have Mr. T and Tina on Tape and the Sweathoggs were in the ABC TEASER of Mr. T and Tina not in the actual episode on 9/25/76

[bencasey]

The problem with the show is that its terrible. Has nothing to do with timeslot or anything else. The show stinks. And for the record, MTR has all 9 produced episodes, including the 4 unaired.

[irehtman]

Originally Posted by Bob's TV Treasures

I know there's an episode on the trading circuit of
MR. T AND TINA, but as of yet I've been unable to secure it.
Can anyone help? I have a LARGE updated list at
www.bobobrien.tv/videos/

That was supposed to be “T & T”?

[1960'sTVfan]

Mr. T And Tina was not a great TV show but I liked Susan Blanchard and thought she was very cute looking.

[TVFactFan]

The only eps that exist have awful quality which is to be expected for a show so rare

[Old School]

Mr T And Tina Intro

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by Old School

Mr T And Tina Intro

Worst spinoff of all time