The Marshall Chronicles

Great show that almost everyone my age seems to remember, especially the episode where he devises the cheating scheme on the test by touching the corners of the desk. My brother and I still joke when having to take a test to always answer "c"...from the SAT episode. Another memorable episode for me was when Marshall got dragged by Leslie to her sister's wedding when all he wants to do is stay home and watch the Knicks game. The guy Leslie's sister is marrying is almost a clone of Marshall 5 years or so older, and during the reception somehow they hear the score of the Knicks game and they both smack themselves on the forehead the same way. Someone has to release this on DVD.

The theme song was by Randy Newman, I think it was 'Maybe you're falling in love" (I know that was in the chorus as least).

This short-lived series was great. And as the previous poster had mentioned, one of the better episodes was when Marshall helped Johnny cheat, only to find that Johnny had let the whole class in on the system. Almost the entire class scored a 94, thanks to Marshalls code (multiple choice answers led by which corner on the desk Marshall laid his hand). And the teacher, Mr. Gellimeeno (?sp) telling the class "with the exception of Marshall here, the rest of your test scores combined at the end of the semester have never totaled 94). Then Johnny comes to Marshall's rescue by saying "Look at him...he looks like Elvis' pharmacist at the inquest" then blames "the cheating thing" on Victor, who is suspended from school thereafter, and later, off-screen you can hear Victor bellowing "Yo! Gelloimeeno! SUSPEND THIS!" The dialog was always from the hip and hilarious. Still remember when Marshall and the girl he had been pining for went to get tattoo's. Two kids that looked like absolute squares at the tattoo parlor. The owner comes out from behind a curtain and says "Who's next? Oh...you two,"Sid and Nancy"." Then he ducks behind the curtain again and bellows "My God! Can't you stop the flow?" Too bad it didn't see a longer run.

I loved this show. It was funny, well acted, and well written. Unfortunately, we rarely see shows with this type of visual and physical humor while still maintaining a higher degree of intelligence. These days, sitcoms are generally one of two genres: slapstick, which is often too low-brow (i.e., TGIF night on ABC) or intellectual comedy, most notably NBC's "Frasier". Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy ALL comedy, but this show was a great blend of both mediums.

My favorite episode is when Marshall got the flu just before his SAT's and had to keep leaving the test to go to the bathroom. When I am with my brother (another fan) we still say the line "Corn? When Did I eat corn?"

Thanks for the memories!