Delta House

In the 1970s, no hit film was safe from the clutches of ambitious TV producers. "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" became "Alice," "Private Benjamin" became, um, "Private Benjamin", and let's not even talk about ABC's ill-fated attempt to turn "The Deer Hunter" into a sitcom vehicle for Norman Fell.

In that vein, "Delta House" had the potential to be a worthy follow-up to "Animal House." It reunited much of the cast of the debaucherous 1978 classic as well as many of the original's creative team. Trouble was, "Animal House" was a raunchy R-rated movie, and in 1979, television was so squeaky-clean you couldn't even say the word "pregnant." ABC, land of "Three's Company"'s wacky-till-it-bleeds double-entendres, stuck "Delta House" in an early-evening timeslot worthy of "The Waltons" and surgically excised any trace of the original's humor, leaving the cast with nothing to do but pass around tone-deaf anti-establishment banter that even Dean Wormer would have found square. "Delta House" got promising ratings despite all this, but perhaps sensing the creative impossibility, ABC pulled the plug. The cast and crew deserve a medal for trying, but there was just no way to adapt a screamingly funny R-rated film for broadcast TV in 1979, and thankfully there still isn't. John Belushi's Bluto would have smashed this show to bits on a staircase.

Having played Otter in the series, I can tell you that despite all of our best efforts ABC insisted on programing it in the family hour. Since the humour of Animal House was irreverent and raunchy and the family hour wouldn't allow that, we were in effect, castrated. The producers, writers, and most of the cast were from the original movie and all of our sensibilities were in line with the movie. Unfortunately, ABC's weren't. Nevertheless, we were never out of the top 10, but the Producer, Matty Simmons, who also produced the movie, had enough fights with ABC that it doomed us after 15 episodes. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. -Peter Fox (Otter)

Yes I Saw this one year before I'd seen the Movie "Animal House" on HBO & Yes I enjoyed this show very much from what I recall of it.The Ad of which asked "Every wonder whatever happened to those National Lampoon Animals?""They're here at Delta House."The episode in which Blotto Says"Let's give them World War III in action!"Then the soldiers were fooled by the scenery of which was only small toy scenery set ups burning that they saw through their periscopes (or whatever you may call these.)I also was impressed by the general idea of Blotto as a pig,even without having seen Bluto as such first.The Delta House Theme song to open the show was very catchy too.As was the song going to as well as coming back from the commercials "Delta House oh Delta House." while they showed the picture of Blotto & the guys.But my most favorite reminiscence is from my High School's Year Book of The Philomath '79 under To Eat With: it said right side by side John "Bluto" Belushi & Josh "Blotto" Mostel.Even the original cast members that reprise their roles well as Flounder,Otter,etc.did well as I got to see when I had seen them in "Animal House" itself a year later on HBO. Perhaps in some respects this can be appreciated better to those who haven't seen the movie first and of which might be why I do appreciate it better not having seen the Movie until the following year in the Summer.

Truthfully, Stephen "Steve" G. Baer a.k.a. "Ste" of Framingham,Ma.USA where I had attended Framingham South High and graduated in 1982.

CATCHING MAGIC IN a bottle is difficult to do and must rely on luck far more than any skill or artistic talent. To repeat this process seems to be neigh well impossible; especially when any follow-up or sequel is transported to another medium.

WHAT WORKED ON the big screen of the movie houses oft fizzles when it is adapted to the Televisin, especially if it is placed into the thirty minute constraint of episodic Sitcoms.

AS A PRIME example of what we're driving at, we need not look very far back in time. With the success of MY BIG FAT Greek WEDDING() at the movie houses, CBS welcomed its video off spring, MY BIG FAT Greek LIFE. It featured many of the same cast members as did the theatrical feature film and was supposed to be the story of the newly wed couple's life after their wedding day.

SO, WHAT HAPPENED may have been a big surprise to the "Bottom Lkiners" at the old network, but it lasted only a paltry 7 episodes.

MUCH IN THE same manner, DELTA HOUSE had many of the same players from the feature, ANIMAL HOUSE (or more properly, NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMSAL HOUSE), sans John Belushi as "BlutO". They had the same setting and tried to maintain a sort of continuity with the blockbuster film. They even introduced a younger brother character of the Belushi character as Jim "Blotto" Blutarsky. The fraternity's feud with Dean Wormer continued and everything should have been copasetic, right?

SO, WHAT WE think worked against this DELTA HOUSE spin off was that no matter how they tried, it was not what the public had found to be so attractive to their tastes in the theatrical release. Being on network, broadcast television automatically precluded so many of the "adult" incidents, nudity and language that a movie could get away with.

AND DON'T YOU forget, this was long before all of those daring cable productions that we have grown used to by now.

I recently was watching the TV land cable network and saw a TV program featuring some familiar characters. I quickly contacted my boyfriend in the other room and he immediately recognized them as the characters from the classic film Animal House.

The show was called Delta House, and while the Animal House movie was quite entertaining this very predictable and unfunny sitcom is not. The character played by John Belushi is not present and the characters in the show are all watered down compared to their original version. I'm actually befuddled considering I (nor anyone else I asked about it) had never heard of the show, which is quite unusual considering the popularity of the movie. After watching just two episodes it's very easy for me to see why this show only lasted one season. It's a terrible bastardization of a great film.