No Soap, Radio

When this show aired on ABC in 1982, I couldn't figure it out. This was crazy stuff. I liked the gags more than I did the storyline. If this aired today, it would have been a smash hit. But in 1982, the public wasn't ready for this. This, mind you, was the era of "Dallas" and "Magnum P.I.". I didn't know who starred in this show until I read later that it was Steve Guttenberg, who you all know starred in those god awful "Police Academy" movies. I didn't care for his character on this show. I remember the view from a roller-coaster during the opening credits. I would have expected Comedy Central, TV Land, or Comedy Central's predecessor HA! to rerun the episodes, but none of them did. Though it didn't receive the cult status of another short-lived groundbreaking show, "Police Squad", this show stills stands in my memory as one of the craziest shows I have ever watched.

For reasons unknown, vague memories of this show of which I watched perhaps 2 episodes when I was a pre-teen bubbled up to my conscious thoughts today. All I could recall was that it was a sitcom from around 1980, it was set in a hotel, and it included many weird non sequiturs. Luckily that was enough to pin down this title in the IMDb advanced search. Until I can find some episodes to watch I can't say if it was good or bad but the memory of it is still with me 35 years later which is saying something.

This show appeared in what we may now call a "golden" period for network television. in the early 1980s, for whatever reason, the commercial networks seemed willing to take chances on dicey shows, even airing programs with admittedly no chance of commercial survival.

It was in this atmosphere that "Live from Studio 8H" aired on NBC--a program featuring classical music performances from the studio where Arturo Toscanini once conducted live concerts. And, over on ABC, a "limited-run" series called "Police Squad" cracked us up for six episodes, then was gone. During this period "No Soap, Radio" also aired on ABC, enjoying only a brief run.

"No Soap, Radio" was evidently never intended to succeed. One may suppose that the "doomed" shows of the 80s were aired to lend prestige to the networks which carried them. In any case, "No Soap" was a funny show and brought some wonderful talent back to television, notably Bill Dana, who had been one of the Sixties' stars of the medium.

The humor on "No Soap" was decidedly out of the mainstream. Many folks would (and did) turn the channel when confronted with it. But the show was funny, and appealed to the same type of humor connoisseur who worshiped "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (which, by the way, was a hit).

So, "No Soap, Radio" is an unjustly neglected show. The talent involved with it alone should have made it a hit, but it was never meant to be. The commercial networks in those days were willing to put these shows on the air, but not to stand by them or promote them. A couple of years after this show, "Buffalo Bill" and "Domestic Life" met the same fate on NBC.

Although this comedy only lasted a season it was probably one of American television's best attempts in creating a Monty Python type sketch comedy program.

The show was led by a young Steve Guttenberg (YES, the Steve Guttenberg who later starred in all those dreary police academy films) and a small band of Hollywood character actors. The basis of each show revolved VERY loosely on the events at a hotel in which Guttenberg worked.

NSR was not afraid to completely wander from the show's premise as with Monty Python's Flying Circus. This show would go into movie parodies or other skits completely unrelated to the main story. Like some of the best Python episodes, NSR would eventually find its way back to close its story before the episode was over.

One of the unrelated events would be a stunt by Bob "Super Dave Osborne" Einstien. The NSR skits were probably some of his best stuff (when Super Dave is limited to a few minutes, is can be quite funny), especially his most dangerous stunt of cursing at the late New York Yankees hotheaded manager, Billy Martin.

The show had some great continuing gags. One involved a reoccurring sight gag in a "Break in Case of Fire" box (more like a booth). Each week one would see everything from a live fireman to a boy scout (rubbing two sticks together) encaged in the glass booth.

NSR was a part of ABC's "Two Hours of Comedy Power' for the 1982 year. In the Tuesday night line up started with the show "Bossom Buddies" with the talented Peter Scolari and some guy named Tom Hanks (whatever happened to this guy?), No Soap Radio, and the series "Police Squad" with Leslie Nelson (which spawned three movies of the same name). The evening would end with "Mork and Mindy" in which the great Jonathan Winters joined the series in the 1981-1982 year as Mork's (Robin Williams) son, Mearth.

Considering what became of the shows and its stars, I would love to see ABC or even Comedy Central show these two hours as they originally appeared 20 years ago. All have pretty much appeared in syndication except NSR. It is about time that the most daring show of the series gets credit for attempting to be creative.

Maybe when you're 14 you laugh at anything but I thought this was a brilliant programme. In particular the skit on "Yukon Dan" (or whatever his name was) sticks in my memory ... the twee tune , the perfect lyrics: "his breath would make a grizzly cryyyyyyyyyy .... and he wore a stupid hat ! "

Class.