Nearly Departed

magellan33 said: "You can only do so much when the two stars of the show can only be seen by one fellow cast member."

I assume, then, that you never heard of "Topper".

Which, in addition to the two stars who could only be seen by one member of the cast, had a dog, ditto.

This was the kind of program that had "Not Gonna Make It" written allover it from the first episode - it was like an arcade video game where you actually have to read the instructions to play; no-one (well, very few of us, apparently) wants to watch a comedy program that has a basic premise that actually requires *thought* to grasp.

I remember this show replaced "The Hogan Family" for a couple of weeks. At first I was really upset because I liked "The Hogan Family" but as soon as this show began to grow on me, they cancelled it and put "The Hogan Family" back on. I don't think it could have lasted too long anyway. You can only do so much when the two stars of the show can only be seen by one fellow cast member.

Eric Idle (Monty Python) and Caroline McWilliams (Benson) were a married couple I think were killed in a car wreck, much like in Topper. Hefty comic Stuart Patinkin was to be the obvious blue collar foil to Idle's British pomposity when Patinkin and his family moved into the house formerly occupied to Idle and his wife, McWilliams. This show came along when other Monty Pythoners John Cleese and Michael Palin were being 'rediscovered' in "Fish Called Wanda". Idle was the clear star of the show, even singing the opening theme, 'It's hard to agree when a family of three, . . .' he would say. The funny clincher was when soap vet Henderson Forsythe showed up as Grandpa, and since he had one foot in the grave already, he could see Idle and McWilliams. This then gave the show a strange twist, and Grandpa became a regular. Now the opening song became 'It's hard to ignore when a family of four, . . .' This was interesting. As others pointed out, this was a summer replacement series and was gone after at best six episodes. Idle and Forsythe were hysterical together. I felt the possibilities for this show could have been endless, but of course Hollywood would have no idea what to do with it.

This was when I started loving Monty Python & Eric Idle. On the second episode when Granpa became a regular, Idle was also in Around the World in 80 Days playing Passepartout to Pierce "Pre-James Bond" Brosnan on NBC. That role ironically lead NBC to give him his own show but sadly this was canned after four shows in the USA while the remaining six shows aired in Great Britian. Too bad this show wasn't given a chance to grow at all and would had been great in the long-run. But all shows aren't given the chance to grow at all in Hollywood or even in New York these days.

Eric portrayed snobbish and arrogant ghost, English Professor Grant Pritchard when his TV wife, the "only" normal one in the show and he are killed in a car wreck. The wife, Clare likes the new family moving in. But Grant disdains for them and wants their new victorian house back. But much to their surprise, the grandpa moved in and they noticed that he could see and talk with them. Eric & the grandpa were funny together. As the trio formed a reluctant but well liked alliance. Eric would had been a star had dumb NBC wouldn't cancel the show.

I came across the pilot episode of this on YouTube. I was prepared for it to be awful, as : (a) I had never heard of the sitcom (b) the series only lasted 1 season of 6 episodes ( . . . These are not good signs / they are not indicators of a TV series with a winning formula.)

I only watched the single episode I found uploaded because of Eric Idle being in the cast . . .

. . . And I was not disappointed! WHAT a serendipitous find at YT :

(1) Any show that has Eric Idle in it, performing elastic body contortions, has to be good. And he did them on a table, to make someone realise which alphabet letter he was displaying. True physical comedy genius!

(2) The script was witty, and the premise of the sitcom's plot was original. Eric Idle's British humour worked uncannily well with the US cast of actors. And he truly threw himself into the role. This series was going to be a winner.

(3) The barebones of episode 1 was enough to make me want to see episode 2 . . .

(4) What with that, and the title song being performed by Idle - another musical gem by the singer and composer of Monty Python's 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life'.

I was sold.

So what a shame this US series didn't go beyond 6 episodes . . . And that I have only got to see the first ever episode! :-/