ONE SEASON WONDERS: Homeroom

HOMEROOM

September 16, 1989 - December 17, 1989
10 episodes
ABC

Starring: Darryl Sivad, Penny Johnson, Bill Cobbs, Jahary Bennett, Trent Cameron, Yunoka Doyle, Billy Dee Willis

Created by: Andrew Scheinman & Gary Gilbert

Plot: Darryl Harper (Sivad) gives up his highly paid job to teach elementary school at an inner city New York City school. He and his wife, Virginia (Johnson) live in a brownstone owned by Virginia's father, Phil (Cobbs) which Phil also owns. Rounding out the main cast are the precocious students in Darryl's class.

Brief Pilot Review:

It's interesting to watch how sitcoms set themselves up frequently back in the 80s and 90s. Nowadays it seems like we always get major premise pilots. But back then, they basically got the premise out of the way in the conversation between three characters early episode. We know Darryl quit his job and is a teacher, we know Phil disapproves of that, etc. We didn't need to see all of those things happen, it was effective enough to quickly get through that information and then get into the meat of the episode. I don't think that would work on all shows but it worked on this one and would definitely work for some sitcoms even today.

As someone who works in the education field, I am always a little bit skeptical of school-themed shows because of how improbable it is. I'm sure that's how doctors or nurses view medical dramas. But I actually enjoyed this pilot quite a bit and there were a couple reasons. First off was the performances of the adults. Darryl Sivad had a great energy and pretty good chemistry with Penny Johnson. Even more important, the kids were pretty fun. They had good delivery and a good rapport with Sivad. I also felt like the plot, which could have run into the "white savior" issue is Sivad was white, instead felt authentic and real and also quite sweet. The final scene where Sivad talks to the kids about cheating veers a little into the "very special moment" territory but it was a 1989 sitcom, I can't ding it that much for doing that. It wasn't as treacly as more successful shows of the era.

What Went Wrong:

Comedy was king on ABC (and NBC) in the late 1980s. In the Fall of 1989, they had 16 comedies on their schedule with one or two hour blocks airing on every night except Mondays and Thursdays. There was one block during the week comprised only of new sitcoms though and that was Sundays with Free Spirit and Homeroom. Of all the comedy blocks, the Sunday night one was in the most precarious position. Not only was it comprised of new shows, it also was on a night where ABC didn't have a comedy presence and it was up against CBS's Top 10 hit Murder, She Wrote. The comedy block also followed another new show at 7pm - the drama Life Goes On - as ABC was attempting to inject some life on Sundays.

The ratings were bad for all three new shows and the two comedies were facing cancellation. For Homeroom, there was an active attempt to save the show. The producers encouraged a letter writing campaign and the Executive Producer went on a tour of schools where they would screen the show for teachers and students. People saw it as a noble show for both education and black children so there was a lot of passionate support from its small audience. Star Darryl Sivad called it "the most important show on TV." The series, which had received negative reviews in the fall, even started to get the attention of some critics. But it was all a futile effort. The series was cancelled in December with three episodes unaired.

Tomorrow: A look at Season 4 (Part 1) of Perfect Strangers!

Next Wednesday: A One Season Wonder look at Delta!