Matt Waters | CBS | 1996

January - February 1996

CBS | 6 episodes | Drama

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Montel Williams, Kristen Wilson, Richard Chevolleau, Sam McMurray, et. al.

SYNOPSIS: Montel Williams - yes the chat-show host - plays science teacher, Matt Waters, a recently retired naval officer, whose brother is tragically murdered in the same New Jersey neighborhood in which Williams character grew up. Matt decides to dedicate his life to helping troubled youth at the New Jersey high school he attended.

VERDICT: ★★☆☆☆

Montel worked on the show while hosting his chat show, but this wasn't for long - Matt Waters lasted for just six episodes. Typical inner city troubled teens, array of ethnic characters, and a character who can't even read and write but has a knack for mathematics (Later in the show Matt convinces her to return to school, offering to write her a check each week so she doesn't loose out on a salary). Scenes are delivered with such seriousness and lines like: 

"Sometimes you gotta lose the battle to win the war"

"Don't through the rest of your life wondering what you could've been".

[On empty seats in the classroom] "The hardest part of this job isn't dealing with the filled seats, it was dealing with the empty ones, because the empty ones remind you of the ones that got away."

Montel isn't that bad, but doesn't quite work as the lead. The title of the show puts me off - Matt Waters. MW...Montel Williams. Not a stretch. Character names in TV shows are always a bit meh anyway. A working title was "Educating Matt Waters" which is a bit better.

In the first episode, Montel, I mean Matt, returns to the school that he attended, soon becoming the talk of the faculty, namely the sister of his ex-girlfriend. She says:

"I know more than I ever wanted to know about Matt Waters"

"Did he shave his head back then?"

"He's bald?!"

CANCELLED TOO SOON? I think had it been more of an ensemble show, it would've worked a bit better. Maybe if it had been given a bit more time, things would have been different.

Hudson Street | ABC | 1995

September 1995 - June 1996

ABC | 22 episodes | Sitcom

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Tony Danza, Lori Loughlin, Jerry Adler, Christine Dunford

SYNOPSIS: Tony Danza starred as Tony Canetti, a divorced detective in Hoboken, New Jersey, who shares custody of his son Mickey with his ex-wife. In between work and raising his son, Tony also starts a romance with crime reporter/obituary writer, Melanie (Lori Loughlin).

The series received good reviews and initially placed in the top 10 (partly due to its placement between Roseanne and Home Improvement), but was canceled after one season.

VERDICT: This is the 3rd of four series that Danza plays a character called Tony. All Tony's, no matter the job, are pretty much the same person.

The first episode is set a year after Tony's divorce. Although he's keen to get himself out there, he feels that he's not lacking in any female attention. His colleague comments: "Arresting a hooker and driving her downtown does not consist of a date!". He later goes on a date with Lori Loughlin's character, Melanie, but Tony's pigheadedness ruins any possibilities, leading to Melanie giving a scene stealing speech and running out of the door. The next day, Melanie turns up at the station to apologise and to drop the news that she has been promoted to crime reporter, meaning that Tony will be seeing a lot more of her. He welcomes her by telling her: "I think you're gonna make a rotten crime reporter. You're not tough enough!" and gives her a false tip off.

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? It feels like it would be one of those "will they, won't they" kind of shows. Nothing too special.

Bless this House | CBS | 1995

September 1995 - January 1996

CBS | 16 episodes | Sitcom

WATCH EPISODE | MORE INFO

WHO'S IN IT? Andrew Dice Clay and Cathy Moriarty

SYNOPSIS: A sarcastic postal worker and his equally snarky wife raise their kids in small apartment in New Jersey. 

In the first episode, the couple go house-hunting and are asked by a rude realtor: "have you ever lived in a house?"

"No, I grew up in a cardboard box" Burt (Dice Clay) snaps back, segueing into the next scene where he drinks from a bidet, thinking it's a water fountain.

VERDICT: Typical kind of sitcom where the family are snapping at each other, but by the end of the episode everything is ok. Very Roseanne, King of Queens, etc. Not horrible, not spectacular. In 2002, TV Guide ranked Bless This House number 48 on their 50 Worst Shows of All Time.

CANCELLED BEFORE ITS TIME? Maybe not.