The Nutt House

This hilarious comedy series, which lasted only 6 episodes, is great fun. Mel Brooks' best work since HIGH ANXIETY back in 1977. Slapstick, puns and sight-gags galore, this makes the best use of its good cast (Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Mark Blankfield, Brian MacNamara) and has great art direction (its lavish Nutt hotel). This is really hard to find, but is worth it for comedy and Mel Brooks fans.

until I looked at the description here. I saw this when it was shown in the UK (I think) and I thought it was really funny(but then I was only about 11), I recorded it, but then recorded over it, damn. Wish I could see it again to see if it was really funny, but they only showed it once I think, like Maniac Mansion(cept I recorded that).

I think this ran for 6 or 7 episodes, and I laughed through all of them. As good as Cloris Leachman is as the head of housekeeping she is even better as old Mrs. Nutt. The character is kind of similar to Tim Conway's old man routine from Carol Burnett, but that routine never made me laugh, the Cloris version cracked me up. I vaguely remember her jumping her support hose. Whenever I see Gregory Itzen as President Logan on 24 I remember him as the Dennis the player bell hop, and smile. Harvey Korman is good as well. I'd love to see the 3 or 4 episodes that did not air in the U.S. (the U.K. aired all of them), and I wish this was available on DVD.

The Nutt House is an old failing hotel in New York City. Elderly owner Mrs. Nutt calls on her irresponsible grandson Charles Nutt III (Brian McNamara) for help. There is a crazy varied cast of characters working in the hotel. Ms. Frick (Cloris Leachman) is head of housekeeping. Reginald Tarkington (Harvey Korman) is the manager. Sally Lonnaneck (Molly Hagan) is a maid.

I don't remember this show. It was canceled after six half-hour episodes with eleven produced in total. Mel Brooks and Alan Spencer are the creators. The style is broad satire with outlandish situations. In a way, it doesn't fit successful American sitcoms of this era. Also, Charles is set up as the lead character, but he ends up as a secondary character. He can't hold the screen by himself. Korman does the heavy-lifting with Leachman as his powerful second. In fact, Molly Hagan would have a much bigger role as the show continues. This show takes some time to get used to. It finds its legs before the show gets pulled.

"The Nutt House" with Cloris Leachman (Phyllis from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") and Harvey Korman (from "The Carol Burnett Show") is truly an underrated gem. It was broadcast on ABC for about one month in 1989. If you blinked, you missed it. This show was full of funny and witty dialogue, zany sight gags and screwball antics. I think its humor was way ahead of its time, but unfortunately it was never given a chance to find an audience.

A DVD release would be wonderful. Or maybe a mini-marathon on TV Land. This might help to get the word out on this great, hilarious Mel Brooks series!