On Wednesdays, I take a look at a series that lasted one season or less. Here is a look at 1993's Class of '96!
CLASS OF '96
Programming Details:
January 19, 1993 - May 25, 1993
17 episodes
FOX
Starring: Jason Gedrick, Megan Ward, Brandon Douglas, Perry Moore, Lisa Dean Ryan, Kari Wuhrer, Gale Hansen
Created by John Romano
Plot:
A drama that follows the lives of seven freshmen at the fictional Havenhurst College in New England. They come from very different backgrounds but are all friends. There is writer David (Gedrick) and his roommate Dexter (Hansen). There is the daughter of an actress, Patty (Ward) and roommates, the wealthy Jessica (Ryan) and beautiful Robin (Wuhrer). There is Whitney (Douglas), a wealthy boy following in his father's footsteps and his inner city roommate, Antonio (Moore).
There was a lot I liked at the beginning and the end of this pilot (minus a pretty ridiculous voiceover to end the episode). But the middle got muddled and, not surprisingly, it was very 90s cheese-tastic all the way through. These gentle dramas just had a different feel back then and it's a little jarring sometimes to watch with how far the TV drama genre has come in the years since. The beginning of the episode did a nice job of establishing the setting and each of the characters. It had the fresh feeling of arriving on campus for a new academic year. The ending started to bring the characters more together to show where the series was heading and what it would be like going forward.
In the middle though, it felt like nothing much happened for a good portion of it and the series didn't get all their main characters together when it needed to. The story jumped around to different friends and roommates but I think we needed to see how these seven characters really connect and that didn't happen to a satisfactory level in the pilot. The performances were all passable with no real duds and no real standouts although Jason Gedrick was probably the best of the bunch. It didn't help that many of the actors, who were supposed to be 18 or 19, looked well into their twenties or beyond. I think the concept is good. I wish they had spent more time in the classroom because that's where the story could have worked I think.
Class of '96 helped launch Tuesdays for FOX. The network had a slow rollout strategy of adding certain nights of programming and despite launching in April 1987, they didn't venture into Tuesdays until January 1993. It was paired with another new drama, Key West. While Class of '96 had better reviews overall than Key West, it was a tall order for two new shows to launch the night especially on a network that still was only making noise with a few select shows. One of those shows was Beverly Hills, 90210 and many saw Class of '96 as a college version of 90210 even though Class was much more tame, at least in the pilot.
The series lasted through May but was cancelled after 17 episodes. Key West was also cancelled and so was a series that replaced Key West, TriBeCa so FOX made very little headway on their first Tuesday attempt. They ended up doing a movie on Tuesdays for many years. The cast from Class of '96 never got to see their characters graduate but the actors have continued to find steady work although none of them really broke out. Creator John Romano has been a producer on many hit shows but the only three series he was credited as creator for were Class, Sweet Justice (ran on NBC for one season) and Michael Hayes (ran on CBS for one season). Perhaps his most notable work was writing the script for the 2011 movie The Lincoln Lawyer.
Tomorrow: A look at Season 3 (Part 2) of Perfect Strangers!
Next Wednesday: A One Season Wonder look at Homeroom!
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