Jerks of All Trades

The jokes and gags are old and recycled. For example, when they go to paint the table, the three of them continuously paint on each others faces, hands..etc. The Stooges' lines seem forced somewhat in comparison to the earlier shorts. I can't put my finger on what makes me feel that way though. The delivery of their lines are not smooth and connected with each other. Another strange thing about this is the laughter. It does seem like they are filming it in front of a live audience, but I could definitely be wrong about that. In their shorts previous to this pilot, they do not have any laughter which makes their jokes and gags run much smoother.

Although I really do not enjoy this pilot, it definitely has a lot of historical significance in my collection. It is only for the die-hard Stooges fans out there. It's definitely not for someone just getting introduced to the Three Stooges films. My overall grade for this pilot is 2 out of 10.

I noticed that one reviewer gave this one a 10. Well, based on my 2, it's obvious that there are some very divergent views on this failed TV pilot. As for me, I thought it was dreadful--tedious and completely unfunny in every way.

This show has a VERY broad sort of plot--in fact, very little plot. The three are house painters and wallpaperers. When they are hired to work on a house, they make a mess of things. There really is no other plot. Now although this may sound VERY familiar for the Three Stooges, there were three fundamental problems. First, as Curly was no longer a member of the group, Shemp is the 'point-man'. He wasn't terrible but was no Curly. Any true Stooge fan would agree that Curly was best. Second, there were no jokes--none. Much of this is because the trio were restricted to a very small set and had very few props--as the budget and size limitations of early TV were severe. Third, the timing and chemistry was off. The boys were fine on film--here they just looked out of place and awkward--and often they missed their cues. As a result of these factors, it's painful to watch and terribly unfunny. I can easily see why this show was shelved and never aired over the air.

By the way, the pilot is an early kinescope--a type of recording system that preserved the images for rebroadcast but, frankly, is pretty ugly. While it's less than ideal, at the time it was about the only way to preserve the footage. You cannot blame the filmmakers for doing this--just make some allowances when you watch. In addition, it was shot in front of a live audience (the norm for 1949)--but this is a problem as there is one person in the audience who seems to laugh very loudly at the least provocation. Again, I don't blame the filmmakers--but it is bothersome.

This is a TV pilot from 1949 with Shemp in the 3rd role that ABC filmed and was considering for broadcast, until the Columbia Shorts Division took legal action. In the end, they settled by allowing ABC to air their old shorts instead. Today this pilot is in public domain and available on YouTube as well as DVD.

Oddities noticed would include the audience laughter, something missing in their shorts. While not normal for the Stooges, when looked at through the lens of television, its a normal thing to hear. It seems many of the lower rated reviews don't appreciate the audience and would prefer the pilot without it. I would agree that after nearly 200 shorts without it, the show might have been more appreciated without an audience. Another oddity was the sets, and lack of detail. This reminded me of old Honeymooners episodes with the plain sets. I'm sure this was cost cutting, as they boys dealt with that in their movies often as well, just not to this extreme. These "oddities" brought to mind the trios days in Vaudeville, as this lineup would of been more likely to have the live stage work experience. As such, Larry stands out a bit more as his reactions seem a little bolder than in the shorts. Moe is seen as trying to say too much, al.ost as if he was worried about dead air. In the shorts the trio would use more sight gags, and a lol in dialog often allowed for a scene to build visually. Here that doesn't happen in the same manner. Using Emil Sitka as the main foil was brilliant. The familiarity of working with the boys likely helped in the pilot, as well as having Symona Boniface in one of her last filmed roles, another Stooges regular. Most of the jokes have been seen in many other shorts, such as the painting of the table. A highlight (dare I say scene stealer) was the salesman who stopped by. While not at the top of the game in this pilot, it clearly set up a premise that likely would run well as a TV show in the 50s. Not the place to be introduced to the Three Stooges, but a nice peek into how they were back in their Vaudeville days. Real fans of the boys will find it interesting.

Pretty stilted attempt from Stooges in the infant days of T.V. Worth a look from die hard fans....that's about it

Well, I believe Moe, Larry and Shemp had aspirations of being television stars with the filming of this pilot episode, but Columbia Pictures--for whatever strange reasons--stopped production of the potential new series with legal action; their so called "logic" being that a TV series would interfere with the production of stooge short films.

All that aside, the pilot still exists and I would say it's a great show. At first, one might miss the stooge sound effects that greatly enhanced the short films by Columbia--but even with that lack of sound, the stooges show that they were truly adept comedians who could generate big laughs in any setting.

Adding to the proceedings are stooge film veterans, Emil Sitka and Symona Boniface. And one great moment that comes at the end of the "pressure cooker" scene is Moe remarking how the stooges attract the oddest sort of people.

I know there are some mixed reviews for "Jerks", but in my eyes it rates as some of the stooges' finest work.

9 stars