ONE SEASON WONDERS: The Sinbad Show

On Wednesdays, I take a look at a series that lasted one season or less. This week, I am looking at The Sinbad Show!

THE SINBAD SHOW

September 16, 1993 - April 21, 1994

24 episodes

FOX

Starring: Sinbad, T.K. Carter, Salma Hayek, Erin Davis, Willie Norwood
Created by: Gary Murphy & Larry Strawther & Sinbad

Plot: David Bryan (Sinbad) is a bachelor who decides to adopt two orphaned children, Zana & L.J. (Davis & Norwood) while still hanging out with his friend, Clarence (Carter).

Brief Pilot Review:

Sinbad is not a comedian I'm very familiar with. I haven't watched any of his stand-up or really seen him in anything aside from passing clips over the years. Watching this pilot, I don't feel like I missed much. I found Sinbad to be harmless at best and pretty annoying at worst. The studio audience seemed to disagree with me though. They really loved anytime Sinbad did anything remotely resembling a physical gag. I can deal with rowdy studio audiences but not when I feel like the enthusiasm is completely unearned and that was the case here. T.K. Carter was probably the funniest part of the pilot while a young Salma Hayek (who was in the credits but did not turn into a series regular) was fine but not used much.

The show had a flimsy way for getting the kids to David, but I understand - it is a sitcom after all. I think the bigger problem was that having the kids and turning it into a cute Full House-type of sitcom really didn't play to Sinbad's strengths. Whatever you think of him (and I don't find him all that funny), he has a certain brand of humor that is big and loud. We got a glimpse of that early in the episode when he was hanging with his friend. Putting him in a setting with precocious children just didn't work. It might work for a movie but not for an on-going series. If you're going to have Sinbad as your lead, just lean in completely and go all out with the character. Don't saddle him with these kids and limit the outrageousness. That's not to say I would have liked a sitcom with a more outrageous Sinbad, but some people probably would have.

What Went Wrong:

If you were a successful stand-up comedian in the 1990s, chances are you would end up with a sitcom at some point. The Fall of 1993 saw a bunch of comedians get their own shows with Brett Butler in Grace Under Fire being the crown jewel from that class. After a successful supporting run on A Different World, Sinbad also had successful HBO specials so it was no surprise that FOX wanted his services, especially at a tie where FOX was still actively courting black viewers with shows like In Living Color, Marin and Living Single (which launched just a couple weeks before Sinbad). FOX was in the habit of premiering its shows a few weeks before the big three but Sinbad was not able to because FOX didn't like the first pilot and forced a re-shoot.

When it did premiere, it got to air behind FOX's biggest show - The Simpsons - on Thursday nights. Reviews were mixed for the revamped pilot with Variety calling the material "predictable and recycled" but the Washington Post calling it "refreshingly unsmutty for a FOX show." Though it aired for the entire season, the show lost a lot of the audience from The Simpsons and was cancelled at the end of the season. Other shows cancelled by FOX that spring included In Living Color, Roc and South Central, which caused consternation from Civil Rights leaders including Jesse Jackson as many black-led shows were on the chopping block. Though some shows remained, FOX gradually did cede shows that appealed to minority viewers to the newbie start-up networks WB and UPN, which launched in 1995. Sinbad continued to appear in movies and TV but he probably peaked in his popularity in the mid-90s.

Tomorrow: A look at Season Eight of Perfect Strangers!

Next Wednesday: A One Season Wonder look at The Building!