On Wednesdays, I take a look at a series that lasted one season or less. Here is a look at Top of the Heap!
TOP OF THE HEAP
April 7, 1991 - May 19, 1991
6 episodes
FOX
Starring: Joseph Bologna, Matt LeBlanc, Joey Adams and Rita Moreno
Created by: Arthur Silver & Ron Leavitt
Plot: Charlie Verducci (Bologna) and his son, Vinnie (LeBlanc) are living in Chicago and struggling financially. They scheme to try get into high society by taking a job at a country club run by Alixandra Stone (Moreno). Rounding out the main cast is a neighborhood girl, Mona (Adams), who has a crush on Vinnie.
The first episode of Top of the Heap, which wasn't really a pilot since a backdoor pilot on Married... With Children, started with a pretty icky scene with 16 year old Mona coming onto the older Vinnie in a scene that was also peppered with some gross jokes. I never watched Married but I know that show's specialty was in your face humor that often veered into crassness. I'm not even sure how well that show would hold up now but at least it had well defined characters. That was not the case in the early going for this show. Poor Joey Adams was given nothing but sex jokes throughout the first scene and they weren't even good ones. They were horrible.
The series showed some improvement when Rita Mo reno showed up. She had a decent scene with Matt LeBlanc, who was channeling the same type of persona he was as Joey in the early episodes of Friends - the lovable heartthrob who has tough guy qualities but actually wouldn't hurt a fly. Leslie Jordan, who was credited as a guest star, was doing the same shtick he still does to this day on Call Me Kat. Still, give me Moreno or Jordan or LeBlanc in a mediocre show any day that whatever Joey Adams was doing in that first scene. I haven't said much about Joseph Bologna and that's because he was mostly forgettable and also doing a type. This was a show full of types, not too surprising for a sitcom pilot, especially a failed one. Bud Bundy (David Faustino) from Married appeared towards the end of the first episode in a shameless attempt at keeping audiences interested.
FOX was still a young network in the Spring of 1991 and they were struggling to find hits. Things were starting to turn the corner for them with shows like The Simpsons and Beverly Hills, 90210. But their most durable hit at that time was a show that premiered on the network's very first night back in April 1987 - Married... With Children. It's no surprise that FOX was trying to capitalize on the success of Married so it launched a spinoff but it was really just a spinoff in name only. The characters were not regulars on Married, they appeared simply to jump into their own series. Top of the Heap was a late spring addition to the FOX lineup and aired on Sundays after Married in a slot where other shows had struggled, the most recent at the time being Good Grief!
Top of the Heap lasted just six episodes. Despite guest appearances from other Married cast members like Ed O'Neill and Christina Applegate, it couldn't hold on to its lead-in's audience. The show was cancelled but it was not the end for all the characters. Matt LeBlanc and Joey Adams reprised their characters in Vinnie & Bobby, a sitcom that aired on FOX in the Spring of 1992. That show also starred Robert Torti, who appeared in the final episode of Top of the Heap. It didn't go any better for Vinnie & Bobby than it did for Heap as it lasted just seven episodes around the same time of year a year later. Of course these dual failed shows for Matt LeBlanc opened up the opportunity for him to star in Friends a few year later.
Tomorrow: A look at Season 4 (Part 1) of Get Smart!
Next Wednesday: A One Season Wonder look at The Famous Teddy Z!
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