Open House

I only saw one episode but it may have been the funniest thing I ever saw on TV. They got a good deal on a cruise, but when they arrived everybody was sad, dressed in suits and dark colors, and carrying coffee cans. It was a "say goodbye to your loved one" ash-scattering cruise. Genius.

Despite my many numerous attempts to access this show for viewing, I am constantly given the incorrect link, even though the picture shown for this show is correct. It's really aggravating and I would really appreciate an answerback on this so I can finally gain access into this short-lived comedy. Thank you.

This was a spin-off of "Duet", which was a much better show. The focus was on Linda, a former witchy Hollywood studio executive who lost her power job. She switched careers and went into real estate. Linda had a new foil in a male real estate agent; they traded insults and tried to undermine each other. Ellen DeGeneres had an early role as the receptionist in the office. Would have been a lot better if it had not been set up as a continuation of "Duet". Some characters from "Duet", like Linda's husband, Richard, and her friend, Laura, were carried over into the new show. Richard's character was gone after a few episodes, and Laura appeared sporadically. Not a very funny show.

Despite what another review on this page states, this show was a classic in the making and an overlooked gem that sadly just didn't get the support it needed. Another season and it could have been a CHEERS. True, it was spun-off from DUET, but the two are really related only superficially, despite the fact that the character of Linda transferred more or less intact. I watched this show without KNOWING it was spun-off and I had no problem following or enjoying it; I felt no lack of back-story. (Not that I'm dissing DUET; when I DID discover that show, I loved it just as much--it was just an entirely different KIND of show, and it's not really fair to compare them.) It was well-written, funny, witty, savvy, and, I can say having recently re watched the entire run (thank gods I taped it when I could, since I don't see a DVD release anytime soon!)--it's held up VERY well, far more than a lot of other material from that time (Herman's Head, anyone?). The focus was on the characters and the humour, aided by an amazing cast (including a still-in-the-closet, largely unknown Ellen DeGeneres, and impressionist extraordinaire Danny Gans--who is now a top-dollar draw in Vegas and has done some very high-profile TV movies). Anyway, I can't recommend this show enough to those who are lucky enough to be able to see it, and it'd be really nice to see it acknowledged with a DVD release. (I believe Paramount might have been the studio that produced it...)

Talk Hard and Make It Count

Open House was a good attempt to remake the series, "Duet." On that series, Mary Page Kellar was the star and Allison La Placa was the co-star, but in this series La Placa took star billing and Kellar became the co-star. The series, however, had very little going with it as it seemed to recreate all the same material used up on other shows, such as the conventional character losing all his money in Las Vegas, guest appearances by stars of the day and friends going all out to screw each other. Even with the strong lead-in from Married With Children, this show had the dubious honor of proving nothing could hold up the Fox Sunday schedule in a time slot that has killed more shows than unwanted kittens. I caught this series toward the end, but the only episode that I consider worth remembering starred Facts of Life cutie Sherrie Krenn as a drop-dead gorgeous babe. Except for one fairly amusing two-parter, there is nothing else worth remembering in this limited twenty-four episode run.