Holmes & Yoyo

This is not so much of a review as it is a "thank you" to a previous reviewer (soulexpress) for submitting his review. Here's how it came about: I was watching a 2022 Lifetime Christmas movie. The opening credits were listing some of the people in the movie. One of them was John Schuck. I thought "hey...I remember him...the bunco squad guy". I googled something like "john schuck bunco squad" and found soulexpress' review of "Holmes and Yoyo" show on IMDB. I'd forgotten the name of the show. I just remember Schuck saying "the bunco squad...the bunco squad". I love it when ilttle things like that happen; when something so insignificant, from almost 50 years ago now, sparks my memory. But I'm not really sure...was it Schuck, did he say that, and then BOOM, I find it. So I was right, he DID say it. So, thank you soulexpress for your review, and mentioning the bunco squad.

An attempt from the producers of GET SMART to repackage a gimmick from that TV show, namely a robotic crime fighter (Yo-Yo) who literally does what he is told by his partner (Holmes...get it?). Sample joke: Holmes/Smart: "Hop to it." Yo-Yo/Hymie: (starts hopping). In GET SMART it made for a nice diversion but in Holmes and Yo-Yo it was the entire show and way too much of a good thing. GET SMART's Richard Gautier was a perfect mime as Hymie the Robot and had Don Adams as a straight man, whereas Richard B. Shull as Det. Holmes and John Schuck as Yo-Yo just never nailed their roles. Also the jokes were stale sitcom jokes, not the sharp satire of the producer's previous effort. John Schuck was much better the same year opposite Sharon Gless in TURNABOUT, a TV sitcom about a husband and wife who magical find themselves in each other's bodies (a concept that would be used many times again in theatrical films but never as perfectly cast as TURNABOUT). Holmes and Yo-Yo had the talent, it's just that no one tried to make a good show.

... John Schuck was much better the same year opposite Sharon Gless in TURNABOUT ...

"Holmes & Yo-Yo" aired during the 1976-77 season; "Turnabout" was not the same year, it ran for seven weeks in early 1979.

I thought the chemistry between Richard B. Shull and John Schuck was something that was developing as the series progressed. The humor was a bit silly at times, but the same can be said for even the best two-man teams -- Laurel & Hardy, Gleason & Carney, etc. It was easily more entertaining than most other sitcoms of the 1976-77 season. If there had been a second season, we'd be seeing the series in syndication and on DVD.

Both sitcoms deserve to be remembered, and released on DVD so a new generations of fans can discover them!

I was 10 years old when this show aired. There was a running gag that whenever somebody asked Yoyo where he had worked previously, he replied, "The Bunco Squad," but couldn't stop repeating it until his partner slapped his head.

I liked HOLMES & YOYO back then but haven't seen it since 1976.

Sometimes a show becomes a part of the fabric of American life - "I Love Lucy", "All In The Family", "Mary Tyler Moore". And sometimes not so much - "Pink Lady and Jeff", "The San Pedro Beach Bums", and sadly "Holmes and Yoyo". It's tragic that this program did not get a chance to endear itself to the American public as it inevitably would have if given the time to develop and grow. What if NBC had given up as early on "Hill Street Blues"? It might have known the same fate as "Cop Rock". Barring a revival, we will never know what "Holmes and Yoyo" might have been, and we're all just a bit poorer for that.