No Soap, Radio

For reasons unknown, vague memories of this show of which I watched perhaps 2 episodes when I was a pre-teen bubbled up to my conscious thoughts today. All I could recall was that it was a sitcom from around 1980, it was set in a hotel, and it included many weird non sequiturs. Luckily that was enough to pin down this title in the IMDb advanced search. Until I can find some episodes to watch I can't say if it was good or bad but the memory of it is still with me 35 years later which is saying something.

This show appeared in what we may now call a "golden" period for network television. in the early 1980s, for whatever reason, the commercial networks seemed willing to take chances on dicey shows, even airing programs with admittedly no chance of commercial survival.

It was in this atmosphere that "Live from Studio 8H" aired on NBC--a program featuring classical music performances from the studio where Arturo Toscanini once conducted live concerts. And, over on ABC, a "limited-run" series called "Police Squad" cracked us up for six episodes, then was gone. During this period "No Soap, Radio" also aired on ABC, enjoying only a brief run.

"No Soap, Radio" was evidently never intended to succeed. One may suppose that the "doomed" shows of the 80s were aired to lend prestige to the networks which carried them. In any case, "No Soap" was a funny show and brought some wonderful talent back to television, notably Bill Dana, who had been one of the Sixties' stars of the medium.

The humor on "No Soap" was decidedly out of the mainstream. Many folks would (and did) turn the channel when confronted with it. But the show was funny, and appealed to the same type of humor connoisseur who worshiped "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (which, by the way, was a hit).

So, "No Soap, Radio" is an unjustly neglected show. The talent involved with it alone should have made it a hit, but it was never meant to be. The commercial networks in those days were willing to put these shows on the air, but not to stand by them or promote them. A couple of years after this show, "Buffalo Bill" and "Domestic Life" met the same fate on NBC.

Maybe when you're 14 you laugh at anything but I thought this was a brilliant programme. In particular the skit on "Yukon Dan" (or whatever his name was) sticks in my memory ... the twee tune , the perfect lyrics: "his breath would make a grizzly cryyyyyyyyyy .... and he wore a stupid hat ! "

Class.

• that is, if it is the right show. The show I laughed at back then had inserted skits that were completely unrelated to the main story about Guttenberg running a hotel, such as a spoof on the trailer for a 50s sci-fi, called "The Day Everybody's Name was Al". The captions read for instance "The Most Terrifying Film", and, true to 50s film clichées, one of the words would be blown up on the screen - but in this skit, they would send totally irrelevant adverbs flying into our faces, such as "MOST" in the caption mentioned above. I was sick with laughter. I also recall another skit about a guy applying for a job in a hat firm where the manager was just a head. The interview contained remarks such as "I think the hat is the most important piece of clothing, don't you?" His secretary, too, was only a head (she typed with her nose), and at the end of the skit, the manager sneezed and was catapulted back into the waste paper basket. I'm sorry, but I was in stitches. I also recall something about a man-eating armchair.

I'd love to find that series somewhere again... hm. I think I shall try e-bay...

When this show aired on ABC in 1982, I couldn't figure it out. This was crazy stuff. I liked the gags more than I did the storyline. If this aired today, it would have been a smash hit. But in 1982, the public wasn't ready for this. This, mind you, was the era of "Dallas" and "Magnum P.I.". I didn't know who starred in this show until I read later that it was Steve Guttenberg, who you all know starred in those god awful "Police Academy" movies. I didn't care for his character on this show. I remember the view from a roller-coaster during the opening credits. I would have expected Comedy Central, TV Land, or Comedy Central's predecessor HA! to rerun the episodes, but none of them did. Though it didn't receive the cult status of another short-lived groundbreaking show, "Police Squad", this show stills stands in my memory as one of the craziest shows I have ever watched.