Mr. Belvedere

I caught this show and was a fan for a bit of time. It was one of those sitcom shows of the 80's that was not really a huge success or a big flop. It had limited success and was able to last for six seasons and it was sort of a funny show. It featured an English butler living with an American family and it most certainly had some funny moments. It also had some very disturbing moments in the form of very bad jokes or subject matter. I remember one where the daughter was just about raped or something and another where the youngest child made a completely inappropriate joke about his teacher. Mr. Belvedere for the most part did not really do any of the more off kilter jokes and was the highlight of the show. This show is also a source of the rumor that one of the two male children was Marilyn Manson, but of course those rumors are completely untrue, I am not sure if it was the older boy or younger one that supposedly grew up to be everyone's most favorite satanist. Bob Uecker played the father of he household, I find it bizarre that they got a baseball play by play man to star in their sitcom, but he does an okay job and the man playing Mr. Belvedere did good too, the mother was unmemorable and all the children were very iffy. Still, this show had some funny moments and perhaps could have thrived longer and been more successful with better writers who know what is funny and what isn't.

This was a really fun show that is a good example of the old school, very family friendly, situational comedies that ate up most of my family's TV watching time throughout the wonderful decade of the nineteen-eighties.

The lead character (the title-named Mr. Belvedere) is a stuffy but very wise and very professional, stuck-in-his-ways butler who actually was the butler for the royal family. I forget why he leaves them and moves to the U.s.

Anyway he settles in with this American family of blue collar people in Pittsburgh, PA, where the father is a gruff former baseball player (played by Bob Uecker) and the youngest son Wesley is a trouble maker and a constant thorn in Mr. Belvedere's side but also becomes his best friend.

One of the more enjoyable family shows of the 80s, this one had a twist. One snowy December night, Englishman Lynn Belvedere shows up at the Owens residence looking for work as a housekeeper. He's heard theyre in need of someone to help out and all take an instant liking to him, except macho head of the household, George (Uecker). The two have their friendly moments over the years, but mostly butt heads most of the run of the show. They had great chemistry over the years, considering we're talking a trained theatrical actor (Hewett) and an ex baseball player (Uecker) playing the parts. But the core of the show was the relationship between Belvedere and the youngest child, Wesley. Played terrificly by Brice Beckham, the two worked so well off each other, the older uptight codger and the rambunctious, wild pre-teen. Together both of them had a lot of great moments over the shows 6 year run, the strongest probably being the final episode of year 5. Belvedere, in a coma after a car crash set in motion by Wesley, lies motionless as Beckham delivers an emotional, expertly acted passage of dialogue of how sorry he is. One of many notable spots from the six seasons. Others featured were Ilene Graff as mother Marsha, Rob Stone as older brother Kevin, and the gorgeous (ok so I had a big crush on her) Tracy Wells as middle child Heather. The show had several tough spots over the years, being yanked a number of times and then brought back to fill the Friday night gaps on ABC. But they managed to crank out over a 100 episodes and have a respectable farewell, with Belvedere ultimately getting married and leaving the family. Some good ones to look for are Wesleys night alone when lies pile up the next day, Belvedere and George delivering a baby, and a great tornado episode set in the family basement. Though not a ratings monster, Mr. Belvedere will always be recognizable and was one of the more underrated shows of recent years.

The role that brought fame and a Best Actor Oscar nomination for Clifton Webb some 40 years after it was in theater got developed into a TV comedy series. Christopher Hewett played Mr. Belvedere who resided with his movie family because he was doing research for a book on suburban mores.

On the big screen Robert Young and Maureen O'Hara only had littler children. But making the kids older here allowed for more plot situations to develop around the kids. The kids were in descending order, Rob Stone, Tracy Wells, and Brice Beckham. The parts that Young and O'Hara played were done on the small screen by Bob Uecker and Ilene Graff.

Christopher Hewett who was Zero Mostel's director for Springtime For Hitler in The Producer's plays Belvedere. Webb played the part with an acid wit as he did his usual early screen roles. Hewett took a bit off it for a family show.

Nothing special about Mr. Belvedere, your usual TV comedy. I'd check out the film and see how much this one comes up short in comparison.

I saw the re-runs on TV and my whole family love it. I found out how talented Brice Beckham was. He plays Wesley, who always puts his family into trouble. My little sis fancys him. I mostly liked the looks on Mr. Belvedere's face- especially when he was caught by George while dancing in the opera music. I also liked the part that Wesley broke the TV and waving "Hallelujah!" to Mr.Belvedere to hide the smoke. The casts are great and "Mr.Belvedere" is one of the funniest shows in the 80's.