Nearly Departed

magellan33 said: "You can only do so much when the two stars of the show can only be seen by one fellow cast member."

I assume, then, that you never heard of "Topper".

Which, in addition to the two stars who could only be seen by one member of the cast, had a dog, ditto.

This was the kind of program that had "Not Gonna Make It" written allover it from the first episode - it was like an arcade video game where you actually have to read the instructions to play; no-one (well, very few of us, apparently) wants to watch a comedy program that has a basic premise that actually requires *thought* to grasp.

When I was a kid, I used to LOVE this show. I was only about six or seven, though. I remember it came on at 9 o'clock and I'd beg my mom to let me stay awake to watch it. I can't remember why it was so funny, and I'm sure that if I saw it today, it wouldn't be any good, but there was something about it that I just loved to death. I can still remember sneaking into the living room to watch it and I can still sing part of the theme song. I remember the faces of the actors who were on the show, and my favorite was the British guy. In the only episode I can recall, they were standing in the bathroom. The man who was alive was brushing his teeth and the man who was a ghost was yelling obscenities at him. It reminded me of Beetlejuice. It's hard to believe that it was so long ago.

I started watching "Nearly Departed" because of Eric Idle and I must admit he was good in it. My absolute favorite scene is when he is trying to help Granpa ( I believe) pass his drivers test by gymnastically spelling the letters on the eye examine with his body. It was superb physical comedy! Of course his verbal comedy was good as well. My biggest problem with the series was the family being haunted. They were very "sitcommy" and boring. I know the ghosts needed protagonists but it may have been better if they had been a bit more winning with flaws rather than very flawed with few ( if any) winning traits. I always wished this had lasted or that Eric were given another comedy but sadly it never happened.

I came across the pilot episode of this on YouTube. I was prepared for it to be awful, as : (a) I had never heard of the sitcom (b) the series only lasted 1 season of 6 episodes ( . . . These are not good signs / they are not indicators of a TV series with a winning formula.)

I only watched the single episode I found uploaded because of Eric Idle being in the cast . . .

. . . And I was not disappointed! WHAT a serendipitous find at YT :

(1) Any show that has Eric Idle in it, performing elastic body contortions, has to be good. And he did them on a table, to make someone realise which alphabet letter he was displaying. True physical comedy genius!

(2) The script was witty, and the premise of the sitcom's plot was original. Eric Idle's British humour worked uncannily well with the US cast of actors. And he truly threw himself into the role. This series was going to be a winner.

(3) The barebones of episode 1 was enough to make me want to see episode 2 . . .

(4) What with that, and the title song being performed by Idle - another musical gem by the singer and composer of Monty Python's 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life'.

I was sold.

So what a shame this US series didn't go beyond 6 episodes . . . And that I have only got to see the first ever episode! :-/

I remember this show replaced "The Hogan Family" for a couple of weeks. At first I was really upset because I liked "The Hogan Family" but as soon as this show began to grow on me, they cancelled it and put "The Hogan Family" back on. I don't think it could have lasted too long anyway. You can only do so much when the two stars of the show can only be seen by one fellow cast member.