ONE SEASON WONDERS: The Famous Teddy Z

On Wednesdays, I take a look at a series that lasted one season or less. Here is a look at The Famous Teddy Z!

THE FAMOUS TEDDY Z

September 18, 1989 - May 12, 1990

15 episodes

CBS

Starring: Jon Cryer, Jane Sibbett, Milton Selzer, Erica Yohn, Tom La Grua, Josh Blake and Alex Rocco

Created by: Hugh Wilson

Plot: Theodore "Teddy" Zakalokis (Cryer) works in a mailroom at a Hollywood talent agency when a Marlon Brando-like Hollywood star (recurring guest Dennis Lipscomb) takes a liking to him and wants him to be his agent. This causes much chagrin with the other agents (Sibbett, Selzer, Yohn, Rocco & Blake).

Brief Pilot Review:

This pilot started with a brief direct introduction from Teddy himself explaining the story and it was sort of nice to get that much exposition out of the way in a couple seconds. Following a jazzy theme song, it jumps right into the plot instead of having to do complete exposition (though there is still plenty of that). Oddly, the pilot took place at Christmas time in the office and I'm not exactly sure why. The good news is that even though the characters were somewhat broadly drawn, they were pretty well written to leave no confusion about the role they were filling within the types of characters.

Jon Cryer was likable in the lead role and he had a good rapport with Dennis Lipscomb  which was important to make the outlandish plot work (even though there was an unfortunate use of the word "retarded" but it was 1989...). I'm surprised Lipscomb wasn't a regular because that relationship received a lot of attention in the pilot. I know Rocco was sort of the "breakout" star from this show - as much as a breakout star can be from a failed show - but he was stuck as part of a trio in this pilot and didn't do enough to differentiate himself. Despite getting a lot of exposition out of the way early in the episode and it was clear where the plot was going, it was not clear to me what a regular episode would look like in terms of character dynamics.

What Went Wrong:

CBS Mondays has been the home of comedy lineups for much of TV's existence. In the late 1980s, it was still a formidable lineup but it was going through a bit of a transition. The Fall of 1989 was one of the few times in history TV networks experimented with three hour comedy blocks, which is what CBS did on Monday and it included three new shows joining the critical break-out Murphy Brown at 9pm, Designing Women as the 10pm anchor and the aging Newhart ending the night. The Famous Teddy Z got the best slot of the three newbies, nestled between Murphy and Women. However, it was not really appealing to the same audience as Murphy and Women were geared more towards a more mature, more female audience than the younger and hipper Teddy Z.

The series received positive reviews but struggled in the ratings pretty much from the jump. When 8:30pm occupant The People Next Door failed quickly, the lineup was changed around and Teddy Z moved to the 8:30pm slot after fellow newbie, the more successful Major Dad. It lasted another couple months but was then pulled from the schedule in favor of the midseason Valerie Harper comedy City. Despite only airing 15 episodes and being cancelled, it received Emmy nominations for writing, directing and guest actress and Alex Rocco actually won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, a rare occasion where an Emmy winner came from a cancelled show. Of course Cryer later found significant sitcom success on CBS Monday nights with the long-running Two and a Half Men.

Tomorrow: A look at Season 4 (Part 2) of Get Smart!

Next Wednesday: A One Season Wonder look at Sister Kate!