The John Larroquette Show

This show was one of the best shows on comedy TV for the first season. Gritty, dark and yet witty and real with a heart. I loved the struggle with alcoholism and sobriety. No other TV show with the exception of the fabulous MOM series did that. I could not wait until that show came on every week And then the second season occurred and the whole thing went down the tube. It became an ok comedy and they cleaned up the characters to become less dark and more every man. That is when I lost interest as it had nothing special to offer and the recovering alcoholic aspect was played down. But the first season was must see TV.

As has been mentioned before, this show had the potential to become another one of the big hits that NBC had in its stable. Everything about this show in the first season made it worth tuning in without fail every week. The problem came when in the second season, NBC decided to tone down the show, changing the entire storyline, and really trashing a great show. Cleaning up not only the rough and gritty setting, but changing the characters; what a shame. Basically, the end result is what would have happened to the film Heavy Metal if it were re-shot and re-cut, and edited by Disney. If Larroquette ever comes out on DVD, I'll buy just the first season. As I'm sure many others would as well.

I have such fond memories of this show. I don't know if I would find it as funny now, but when it was out my brother and I never missed an episode. It's nice to see that just about all of the lead cast is still working today too. I would love to see at least the first season out on DVD sometime. I would recommend this show to everyone that likes John Larouquette. This role was made for him and it played very well with the occasional drama but mostly the great hearty laughs. My favorite characters were John of course and the two cops that barely ever worked. They ate lots of food and donut's and the two played off each other wonderfully. I don't even know if there are re-runs of this anywhere. It got the required four years but I have never seen it in syndication, which IMO is a total shame.

Unique, funny and pure genius. This show was the perfect forum for Larroquette's abilities and he played extremely well off of the other actors. I still hold a grudge against NBC for changing, then changing, then changing, then cancelling the show. If it had not been constantly tinkered-with and toned down, it might still be running. I mean, how many comedic programs deal with a recovering alcoholic and have a prostitute as a character? With the recent explosion of television programs dealing with darker content, it's easy to see that this show was ahead of its time. I'd love to get the DVDs, though NBC may not release them.

From the start "The John Larroquette Show", was bright, literate, willing to touch on sensitive issues, and hilarious to boot. But its audience was marginal by network standards, and each year it received a makeover in hopes of boosting the ratings. Season launching episodes were not at all subtlety titled "Changes", "More Changes", and "Even More Changes" as fair warning to long time viewers. By the beginning of the fourth and final season "The John Larroquette Show" had in many ways become indistinguishable from the rest of prime time television. Still quite funny thanks to a very talented collection of actors and writers, but its rough edge was gone.