The Associates

I would just echo what the first reviewer suggested; I found the combination of Martin Short and Wilfred Hyde White just amazing; Wilfred used to paraphrase his lines and it looked like the actors geniuinely didn't know what he was going to say. Magic stuff. I haven't seen this series in 20 years, shame it's not on DVD or TV.

The Associates was a wonderful comedy with a great ensemble cast that just seemed to mesh from the start of the first episode.

If there are any television producers or network executives out there looking for a prime example of a truly funny show that was dropped for no good reason, this is the show. Any students out there looking for examples of how a network can manhandle and kill good programming should be given the entire run of this show to watch.

If James Burroughs is out there looking for something from his "vault" to bring out on DVD... this is the one!

Martin Short showed what a brilliant comedic actor he was going to turn out to be in this show. His timing, as well as that of the writing, was spot on. No one actor dominated with each one being given lines and situations that just seemed to fit like a comfortable glove. Even the list o guest stars is amazing: John Housman, Cloris Leachman and others.

Wow. How this one ever "got away" is a wonder.

'The Associates' was a short-lived American sitcom, from the producers of 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' and striving for the same ensemble chemistry as that series, but failing. The setting was a law firm, and the main characters were the firm's new associates: fresh out of law school but already imprinted with the personalities - idealistic or cynical - that they will carry into their careers.

Although an ensemble series, the focal character here was earnest young Tucker, played by Martin Short in a manner that barely hinted at his later success. More interesting is the performance of Joe Regalbuto, who later gave a brilliantly sustained performance as a neurotic balding nerd on 'Murphy Brown'. Here, he plays Tucker's cynical rival, already with an eye towards a junior partnership.

Alley Mills had the thankless role of Tucker's dumpy plain-jane colleague, given few chances to display her skill at physical comedy. In one episode, she caught Martin Short in a flying tackle on the law firm's staircase. If there had been more of this sort of humour, the show might have lasted longer.

Some definite visual appeal was provided by the incredibly sexy Shelley Smith as the incredibly sexy associate Sara James, a blonde ice-princess who is able to get anything she wants (such as a private office) on the basis of her looks. During the brief original Stateside run of 'The Associates', Shelley Smith (a former model) was also starring in some big-budget commercials for Revlon, flogging Lip Quenchers lipstick and other cosmetics. This created the disconcerting effect of the same actress playing a supporting role in the series while starring in the commercials: certainly no visual liability in Shelley Smith's case.

'The Associates' attracted some slight interest in Britain due to the presence of Wilfrid Hyde-White, here playing the law firm's patriarch with a genial touch of senility, in a performance resembling 'young Mr Grace' of 'Are You Being Served?'. In the debut episode of 'The Associates', Hyde-White's character Emerson Marshall tells Tucker a long rambling story about Margaret, the girl he'd loved many years ago in England. The romance ended so embarrassingly that Marshall moved to America and became a successful lawyer. After a long pause, Tucker asks Marshall to tell him what happened to Margaret. He replies: 'She became Prime Minister of England.'

The opening credits of 'The Associates' were accompanied by the distinctive voice of B.B. King singing 'The Wall Street Blues'. a ditty that sounded more appropriate for the Delta than for a New York law firm. (Not least because the name 'Wall Street' evokes the stock market, not a law practice.) Like another sitcom from the same production company - 'Taxi' - this series featured an African-American theme tune for stories about an all-white cast in a white-bread setting ... and in both cases the contrast was a jarring one. There's not much to offer here except an early glimpse of Joe Regalbuto's original hairline, and some (phwor!) eye-catching shots of Shelley Smith in slit skirts.

Wilfred W-H in this show is probably one of the top 3 all time best actors ever to appear on a sitcom. Everything about the show is great but he is a standout and it is worth watching just you see his amazing talent.

Here is a rarity: a one season wonder that should have lasted more than one season.

"The Associates", a sitcom about the young lawyers at a prestigious law firm, came from the pen of James L. Brooks, Stan Daniels and Ed. Weinberger, the same geniuses behind the classic "Taxi". But whereas "Taxi" took place in the blue-collar world, this series tackled the white-collar side of the fence.

Short played the Alex Regar-type, the guy who always tried to get things done right but found that things don't always don't work out so smoothly. Every episode found the lawyers faced with dilemmas such as freedom of speech, inner-office romance, fighting to move ahead in the firm, etc. All of this, naturally, handled with the same deft aplomb that Brooks, Daniels and Weinberger gave to taxi drivers.

Consider, too, the fact that such comic pros also were on hand as Regalbuto, as the sniveling Streeter, Thomerson as the hip-yet-loose Danko, Mills as the office cutie Dunn and Smith as the more-sensible female James. Then there was Hyde-White, who played the dottering head of the firm. His constant stream-of-consciousness ramblings were a show highlight.

It's amazing how well I remember this series, not having seen it for so long. But I guess that if a show's that good, it's worth remembering. I'm sure that somewhere in the world, someone is watching "The Associates" and thinking the exact same thing.

Ten stars for "The Associates", good TV worth more than one rerun! Case closed!