NBC | 35 episodes | Sitcom
WHO'S IN IT? Jessica Lundy, Cynthia Stevenson, Enrico Colantoni, Alan
Thicke, Taylor Negron.
SYNOPSIS: Hope, an old-fashioned, highly-strung television producer at WPNN-TV, forms an unlikely alliance with Gloria, a brash, tough-talking
beautician, after they become neighbours in an apartment complex in downtown
Pittsburgh. Gloria soon takes a job at the TV station where Hope
works.
The show was a mid-season replacement in March 1995, running for 11
episodes until May 1995, then a further two episodes in August and September
1995. The 2nd season premiered two weeks later, running for a full season of
22 episodes.
VERDICT: The episode I watched was from the 1st season, episode 11 titled
"Sisyphus, Prometheus and Me" which aired in November 1995. In this
episode, Gloria learns she's pregnant and contemplates a third marriage
to Louis (I'm guessing that they had been married twice before). For some
reason they plan a wedding to take place live on air. Hilarity ensues when
the minister fails to show (Burt Reynolds offers to step-in), and Hope gets
locked in the prop room.
In a season two episode, titled "A New York Story" (watch here), following the news that Hope's divorce is final, the duo take a weekend
trip to New York City to celebrate. Arriving in New York, they stop by a
coffee shop named...Central Perk, where they mistake Lisa Kudrow's
character, Phoebe Buffay, for an actress from All My Children, asking a
customer in the coffee shop: "Isn't that January from All My
Children?,"
to which he replies: "I don't know, I watch Days of Our Lives".
"Days? I stopped watching that when they replaced the original Bo." and the
character is played by the actor (Peter Reckell) who played the original Bo from Days of Our Lives.
Lisa Kudrow then plays Phoebe Buffay pretending to be January from All My
Children. After signing autograph as Phoebe Buffay, she says: "Oh I must be
in character....TV movie of the week...ooh I've got to go..Where's my
baby!...that's the name of it...where's my baby?! Where's my baby?!" as she
runs out the door. Hope and Gloria are then met with the real New York when
they stroll down the wrong street and meet a homeless man wearing a crown
and carrying an invisible dog leash.
The crossover is meta on meta but enjoyable. Usually other Friends related
crossovers happened on Friends, but to see Central Perk and Phoebe Buffay on
another entirely unrelated show was quite interesting. I guess it only came
about because both shows were produced by WB and aired on NBC.
CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Yes! I enjoyed the two episodes that I watched. Although the show was
apparently broadcast here in the UK in 1996, it's odd that it's never been
shown since then.
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