In the summer of 1989 , NBC had an unusual summer programming idea.
Why not air a good number of our unsold pilot shows? Out of this idea came a show that would later be a great sitcom "The Seinfeld Chronicles" (air date 07/05/1989) became Seinfeld later and another that should have stayed in the vault.
Airing August 12th,1989 "Oh Henry!" was about a widowed father trying to raise his kids and run a restaurant that lacked greatly in customers and popularity. Although in the first scene it's full but someone comes in and let's everyone know "The McDonalds across the street is open now!" and everyone gets up and leaves.
Henry (Larry Drake) seemed like a good guy just trying to do his best but the huge down fall of this show is that everyone seems to be on his back and verbally assaults him for really no good reason. Even his own daughter. It seemed to be the entire basis for the humor.
His late-wife's sister in law Mildred (Making A Living's Marian Mercer) is the harshest though. She wants to get custody because she feels he's not doing his job and may also blame him for her sisters loss. She tells Henry,"You?" "I'd sooner leave them all in the hands of Freddy Kruger".
Not a bad idea for a plot line but it doesn't help the rest of the show at all. The rest is one-liners and put-down humor and I remember just saying to myself by the end of it,"Well that was certainly lame and unoriginal". If it were possible,I'd ask NBC to return that 30 minutes of my life.
3 stars out of 10,out of sympathy for the Henry character and for Marian Mercer having to have been in this. She's better than that. (END)
Why not air a good number of our unsold pilot shows? Out of this idea came a show that would later be a great sitcom "The Seinfeld Chronicles" (air date 07/05/1989) became Seinfeld later and another that should have stayed in the vault.
Airing August 12th,1989 "Oh Henry!" was about a widowed father trying to raise his kids and run a restaurant that lacked greatly in customers and popularity. Although in the first scene it's full but someone comes in and let's everyone know "The McDonalds across the street is open now!" and everyone gets up and leaves.
Henry (Larry Drake) seemed like a good guy just trying to do his best but the huge down fall of this show is that everyone seems to be on his back and verbally assaults him for really no good reason. Even his own daughter. It seemed to be the entire basis for the humor.
His late-wife's sister in law Mildred (Making A Living's Marian Mercer) is the harshest though. She wants to get custody because she feels he's not doing his job and may also blame him for her sisters loss. She tells Henry,"You?" "I'd sooner leave them all in the hands of Freddy Kruger".
Not a bad idea for a plot line but it doesn't help the rest of the show at all. The rest is one-liners and put-down humor and I remember just saying to myself by the end of it,"Well that was certainly lame and unoriginal". If it were possible,I'd ask NBC to return that 30 minutes of my life.
3 stars out of 10,out of sympathy for the Henry character and for Marian Mercer having to have been in this. She's better than that. (END)
