Reggie

Its difficult to see how this show could have failed. It was based on the B.B.C.'s 'The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin', and starred the brilliant Richard Mulligan ( 'Burt Campbell' of 'Soap' ) as rebellious commuter Reggie Potter. The scripts closely followed the David Nobbs originals, so what went wrong? Perhaps it was the fact that there was never a given starting point for Reggie's madness. The first episode of the B.B.C. version opened with a normal day in Reggie's life. Then he asks Elisabeth, his wife: "Are we going to see the hippotamus on Sunday?". Here Potter starts out crazy, we never see just what he is rebelling against, hence the viewers had no sympathy for him. Some of the supporting cast were badly chosen, particularly 'C.J.', here played by a young, good-looking guy. Another mistake was making Reggie's layabout son Mark into a regular. He appeared only briefly in the B.B.C. series. The horrible song used to open the show didn't help matters either. 'Reggie' was an unqualified disaster. Fortunately, we have the original to remind us what a great comedy show is supposed to look like.

Like "All in the Family" and "Sanford and Son," Reggie was based on a British television series. Unlike those two, however, Reggie did not inspire a second viewing. Much as I like individual cast members, things never gelled.

The original, "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin," is far superior. Watch that instead.