Bosom Buddies

This is where Tom Hanks' climb got started.

Two men dress in drag so they can stay at an all women's hotel. Why? Their hotel was demolished, while they were in it.

The drag angle gave this a boatload of sight gags to work with. Like when they were wearing wigs, bras, and shaving cream and singing 'Macho Man.' Hanks and Scolari made a GREAT duo. These two worked off each other perfectly.

The late Wendi Jo Sperber and Thelma Hopkins provided great comedy on their own too. Sperber was better than she ever got credit for.

Holland Taylor made a great foil for the humor. However, you almost wanted to like her.

Donna Dixon was the looks. She was beautiful, and still is. I only wish her acting was better. But then, she still did well.

This is one of those shows you wish lasted longer.

And a delightful glance, at that. Hanks shines in this early television role, as does the rest of the cast. It may not be a classic, but it is good entertainment, and perhaps you can catch it on a Nick-At-Night type channel.

Recently, I caught an episode of Bosom Buddies. A couple of things jumped out at me. First, the show was genuinely funny. Silly, but funny. Second, I really enjoyed the chemistry between Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari. It's a shame that they didn't do more work together, aside from the small part in "That Thing You Do" and "Polar Express". I would like to see a movie where they truly co-starred in. It would be a nice bookend to their careers. (Not suggesting they are over.) The show wasn't exactly Seinfeld or Cheers, but the writing was solid and it holds up well. I know that there are only a limited number of episodes, but I would like to see this and other shows from the early 80's that seem to be hidden away.

This show, along with Three's Company and Happy Days, always bring back a great sense of nostalgia for me. It was a simpler time and while the shows back then could be a bit misogynistic, they were still fun. Bosom Buddies was one of those shows where it was fluff, but the actors were so adorable, you just couldn't help but like it.

Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari had great chemistry. You could tell they really liked each other and made believable best friends. The late Wendi Jo Sperber always played the high energy best friend who was reliable and good for a laugh. Her passing was a sad day as she had a lot of fun characters on her resume (Bachelor Party and Back to the Future). The lovely Donna Dixon as Sonny made my 14-year old self stand up and take notice of the attraction of a woman. I used to love Tony Orlando and Dawn back then and seeing Telma Hopkin in one of her first roles was a treat. She was great in Gimme a Break and Family Matters. Holland Taylor has made a career out of playing the tough, but lovable female guru (Romancing the Stone, Two and a Half Men, etc). All these actors were still relatively unknowns, but would go on to better, if not bigger, things in later years.

The gag ran out of steam after the first season, but it was still a ton of fun to watch. The way Kip used to snidely say Sonny's name over and over when he was trying to put something over on her, is something I still do today to people's names that end in the letter Y.

These guys dressed up before it was cool and it was often hysterical. I have a feeling this show was a bit before its time. Great cast and top notch writing made this one of the few comedy shows on TV that actually made you laugh out loud and was a real cut above most of the shows on back then.

I dont know, maybe if it were done today, it may stay on longer but this went to rerun land much too soon. I have most of them on tape but would love them to be released on DVD someday. Hey, maybe they could even do Bosom Buddies: The Movie and Ton Hanks could direct. How about it?