Maximum Bob

Sadly only a six-episode series which to date has only had one run on British TV, but which gave Beau Bridges perhaps his best (and certainly the funniest) screen role ever as the southern judge who was more than a bit odd... there was a mermaid in there somewhere, and a creepy collection of people with identical glasses, and a dancing sheriff (Sam Robards, again little seen on TV and served well with his role in this).

I'm laughing while I'm typing this just thinking about this. There was just something so addictive about the series and I'd love to see it again. I was kicking myself at the time for not taping the episodes when they aired - if this series gets shown near you, give it a go. Small, mad and hugely enjoyable.

This wonderful series veered slightly from the book, but mostly in ways necessary to make an ongoing TV show. The tone, the characterization, the feel were all right on target.

The casting was superb. Although Elmore Leonard pictured Harry Dean Stanton to play the judge, Beau Bridges brought so much verve and energy to the part it became difficult to imagine anybody else in the role. Liz Vassey was excellent, and the supporting cast and guest stars pulled the whole thing together.

Production values were very high, and writing and direction top-notch. Ordinary and eccentric people, getting on with the day to day business of living -- or not -- in some backwater of Florida isn't something we see every day on TV, and credit is due the producers for going out of their way to get this series on the air.

There was a higher ratio of comedy to drama than is usual in a one hour show, and this may have scared the network. Is ABC so crammed with exciting, original, well-written, well-produced programming that it could afford to let this one get away?

Only a few episodes were aired, and, alas, no other network picked it up; one might imagine that Showtime or HBO, with their commitment to original programming might have been interested.

It's interesting to note how well Barry Sonnenfeld captured the spirit of Elmore Leonard's book in this series, and how poorly he captured the spirit of "The Wild Wild West" TV series in his ghastly, unbelievably bad film version.

This show was great, it was beautifully witty and it had a lot of heart. It's a comedy that treads the edge of convention. Each character had an individual and unique impact on the individual stories as well as on each other's way of seeing and doing things. There was a common progression of character development from episode to episode and I was looking forward to seeing how each character would change and adapt, which is why I was so very sad when it was canceled. It didn't run long enough to make it to syndication but hopefully ABC will run the episodes again one summer or something. It was truly an excellent show and one that's worth seeing if you ever get the chance.

Call it a high-budget cult-classic. One viewing will get you hooked. To me - - the most original and creative show on TV.

I loved this show. I knew with every bone in my body that it would be cancelled before the end of its first season, but I loved it. Elmore Leonard is a closet vice of mine (as a grad student, we are not encouraged to read these types of things, but hey Leonard writes about my people ;).

As white trash from both rural and urban roots I can honestly say the Leonard has a certain understanding of that element of the population and really knows how to tell an interesting story (even if he is not a particularly great writer, he grammar is really atrocious... ;).

Anyway, I saw Maximum Bob before reading the book and find that the show really filled out the much of what was interesting about the story. I thought that it was funny, intelligent, witty and charming. Though not as good as Twin Peaks, it occupies a similar place in my heart. Hopefully, someday the re-runs of this show will turn up somewhere, or I will meet someone who taped them all, but until then it will live on in my dreams...

Good television is soooo hard to find.