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Steve Martin? George Burns? Half-hour comedy episodes? I was 22 in the fall of 1985, and this was right up my alley. So, why is this the first I'm hearing of this show ever existing? 😳
It's a failing on CBS' part that they didn't reach you back in the day. But it's not too late. You can find all of the episodes on TH-cam. But they're scattered across multiple channels. And sometimes a single episode is in 3 parts.
@@atomicabe Not the best of quality in some places, but they're there. Admittedly, I did only watch for George Burns' intros/outros, but many of the stories were very well done. Shame it was probably doomed on arrival.
If they had called it by another title it would’ve worked out better. You get the feeling it’s a George Burns Tv show. That likely scared away the younger audience. Steve should have done a quick appearance just to introduce that weeks show.
It's a deep cut. We're trying to cover a lot of different anthology series, from the obvious to the obscure. (There's an upcoming entry on The Twilight Zone.)
@@atomicabeHappy Days! Mork & Mindy! Richard Matheson is maybe my favorite writer! It's awesome here all the time. And I look forward to the new stuff ! Also, I don't have no clue how I've never heard of this show! I knew most of the cool old school/late 70s comedian/writer names too 😂. I am blown away !
I thought this was a Steve Martin show that I didn't remember. While rattling off 1985 anthologies at the top, I was thinking, "You forgot George Burns Comedy Week." Never realized Martin produced it. CBS didn't do much to promote this, and they buried spinoff Leo & Liz on Friday nights at the end of the season. Wish the latter was on TH-cam, I recall it was really funny.
I watched the Steve Martin show and Amazing Stories. Both Kevin Costner and Keifer Sutherland were in the Amazing stories pilot. I’ve never heard of the George burns show.
I actually have all but, I think, 1 episode of this series. Several years ago there was a website that sold DVDs of failed tv shows that never got released on dvd. They were bootleg, recorded off of tv, but mostly still decent quality. It was a good show.
I love those kinds of websites. I've gotten some good looking DV-Rs of made for tv movies that will never get a proper release. Also the VHS Preservation Society captures VHS tapes and puts them onto DVD. Do you know which episode you're missing?
@@atomicabe IIRC, the show's failure was largely considered to have come about because people thought it was a new George Burns show and they didn't want to see that.
In hindsight, it may have been a smart move. Noone remembers it and I'm sure he's glad about that. I'm going to have to remind him of it on my talk show. 🤪
I watched Home for Dinner it was the only ep I ever saw. I remember them blowing up a flower pot in the big shootout. After that I think I switched to one of the other aforementioned shows. And chef’s kiss for including James Coburn and Dark Room in your quartet of classics with Twilight Zone Outer Limits and Night Gallery
The first episode "The Dynamite Girl" was my favourite, and mostly because of Catherine O'Hara's considerable charm in a role that allowed her to showcase the kind of versatility (she played everything from a female James Bond to a valley girl) that won her acclaim on "SCTV." Real missed opportunity that Hollywood didn't catch this and recognize what a terrific romantic comedy lead she would've made.
@ 6:35 - I must say, "The Equalizer," with all of its comedy hijinks, was definitely one of my favorite comedy series of the 80's. The various shtick and shenanigans of the always-hilarious Edward Woodward left me howling like a dog every time! 😊
Dave Thomas did a funny parody of THE EQUALIZER on his summer series, THE DAVE THOMAS SHOW. He did a great impression of Edward Woodward. And I think the MAD Magazine parody was called "The Tranquilizer".
@@atomicabe Awesome! I'm not familiar with either sketch, but being that he was part of the original "Second City" troupe, and that MAD TV had a lot of funny, often timeless sketches of its own, I readily believe you! 😊
I was drawing a blank here, and then got a revelation. Are you going to discuss George Burns' Comedy Week? That would be awesome (even if I only watched the show for him)!
As far as I know, anthology shows died in the early `70's with The Night Gallery. I've never seen or heard of any since then except the HBO series, The Crypt Keeper. In the `90's, Pen Densham brought back the best of them, "The Outer Limits". Those were the last 2 I ever heard of.
Steve Martin a genius for this. It great for the modern age we in now! Wished they do this now. He just way to ahead of his time useing unfortunately a worng type of styling with title name. People want something fresh and unusual but not being all about the person unless it talks how host like how Eric Andre do lol
I remember his short-lived sketch comedy prime-time series called “The New Show” in 1984. Anyone else see that? The first episode had references to Orwell’s 1984 with the Zager&Evans song “In the Year 2525”.
Yes, I loved THE NEW SHOW. Steve Martin was a guest for one episode. Other guests included Jeff Goldblum, Penny Marshall, Teri Garr, John Candy, Dennis and Randy Quaid.
I honestly don't remember "The George Burns Comedy Hour" or "Leo and Liz". Maybe that 's a good thing. I do remember "Amazing Stories". It should have been a bigger hit.
You just barely mention that Spielberg was part of Twilight Zone: The Movie but I understand you have much to cover here. I think it was that movie that triggered the '80s reboot of antho-TV, for better or worse. Much of it best forgotten. To reach true icon status is simply magical, like Love, American Style!
Thanks for understanding. It's a lot of background and context just to set-up how Steve Martin's anthology show came to be. Fortunately we're working on another video about Twilight Zone: The Movie, so there'll be a chance to really dig in.
The segment Spielberg directed is based on one of my least favorite episodes. I think the less said about it, the better. The movie found success despite that segment, not because of it.
There were a few British comedy anthology series, Seven of One (seven pilots for British star Ronnie Barker) Murder Most Horrid (staring Dawn French) and Ripping Yarns written and staring Mchael Palin.
Thanks. I don't know Serven of One or Murder Most horrid. I liked RIPPING YARNS. (I loved learning that in the pilot episode there's a scene where Michael Palin's character is attacked by a bear -- and the actor in the bear suit was Terry Jones. It could've been any actor, but I love that Palin must've felt comfortable doing battle with his comedy partner.)
I'm racking my brain for some comedic British old comedy anthology series, but for now I can only think of 'Inside No. 9' (I'd suggest 'Black Mirror' but that's veering too far from comedy, although it's superb). !! I've just remembered that Rik Mayall did a series: 'Rik Mayall Presents'.
this may be the reason i hate what they have done with Goosebumps, and Are You Afraid of The Dark?... they are destroying the anthology series. Creepshow is my only hope now!
Great video! Speaking of Steve Martin & short-lived TV comedy series from the 1980s, have you heard of his failed SNL sketch series Twilight Theater? It only aired once or twice in 1982 and also had a STACKED celebrity cast, including one of the earliest tv appearances of Pee-Wee Herman. It seems to be almost entirely Lost media save for a few clips on TH-cam.
I would have watched the heck out of that show. I would argue that the sixties was the golden age of anthologies, the eighties were the silver age. Nothing could top the original TZ, or the original Hitchcock show. I loved Love American Style.
I miss the anthology format. I still remember two Amazing Stories episodes vividly: "Santa 85" -- From the first season. Douglas Seale is Santa who gets arrested by the sheriff (Pat Hingle) for breaking and entering. "You Gotta Believe Me" -- From season two. Earl Sweet (played by Oscar nominee Charles Durning) has a dream about a plane crashing into his house. He is convinced it's a premonition and does everything he can to avert it happening. I still remember specific scenes, such as his traversing the airport in his bathrobe.
Steve Martin was a guest on The New Show. Lorne Michael was running The New Show after his first stint at Saturday Night Live. The New Show was considered a bomb, so after it got canceled he went back to running SNL.
Too bad Steve wasn't ready yet to be a "serious" performer. Would have done more for the series than George Burns. I imagine younger viewers were turned off by any show with burns as the host (:"Oh god" not withstanding). Sure, Burns had his fans but generally you see him you assume the show will be aimed at an older, older audience.
I've only seen Steve completely gray or completely brown. its like one night he went to bed looking 30 and woke up looking 70. (i think Martin Short said it first.)
Monsters!(had the series on VHS. sold it many years back) Wow, I had no clue Martin did an anthology ! I rented L.A. Story the other week too and was going to use the firing gun in traffic casually on the channel but never got around to it. I am going to kick back and learn! I always enjoy your videos, cheers!
George Burns Comedy Week has been uploaded to TH-cam across a few channels. Most of them appeared to be recorded on a VCR, some feature the original commercials and bumpers. Couldn't find a single episode of LEO & LIZ IN BEVERLY HILLS, just a couple of promos and publicity stills. Sometimes I'll want to make a video about a topic and there isn't quality footage. But when covering a "lost" tv series or a forgotten piece of media, you have to use what's available.
I've never heard of this program, but I do remember Steve playing a serious role in a movie as a corrupt art dealer. I can never remember the name of the film but he was fantastic. So convincing. Probably because Steve is a wealthy, art connoisseur
I remember this show ! the Christmas episode was Scrooge (Walter Matthau!) the year after a Christmas carol , and Scrooge had become a complete pushover, so the spirits came back and set him straight.
I'm so glad someone else remembers this show. One detail has been blurred in your memory: In CHRISTMAS CAROL II - THE SEQUEL, Scrooge is played by James Whitmore. But you are right about Matthau playing Ebenezer Scrooge, he played the role in a Rankin-Bass animated special called "The Stingiest Man in Town."
WTF? Netflix, Hulu, HBO... Get off your asses and get on this NOW! Reboot we deserve. Steve, get your Only Murders in the Building team on this already!
I have fond memories of watching that series. I think I even VHS recorded them at the time to re-watch. I loved the Eugene Levy one of being accidentally taken on the secret mission.
Yes, those are all very successful shows with some of the longest runs on television. But most of them are sketch shows. (I don't know how to categorize Sesame Street's format.) Anthology shows are more about doing one story each week. Coincidentally Carol Burnett did a show like that in the '90s called CAROL & COMPANY, which we'll be covering in a future video.
Think I vaguely recall this being on the air, was totally uninterested because of the title. Had it been called "Steve Martin's Edgy Comedy Anthology" I would've watched every episode. Also, "Amazing Stories" had awesome production values but the stores weren't amazing, more like meh, and was a generally a big disappointment.
That's the consensus. At least in the comments section. Not clear why Martin didn't want to host it. Though his memoir, BORN STANDING UP, reveals that he became disenchanted with stand-up.
I remembered there was a story where the main character died but somehow came back to life. The person was dead long enough where a death certificate was written up and he submitted it to his insurance company and the insumrance company eventually paid hisspouse because she was the beneficiary. I wish I can remember the name of the episode and who starred in it.
Joe Piscopo starred in "Death Benefits" with Robert Klein as the insurance agent. This one was co-written by Amy Heckerling and Neal Israel and Irving Newman (his sole writing credit on imdb)
Parody of the twilight zone? I don't remember this at all. I was in Grade 11 and I was watching too much TV at the time. I was a huge Steve Martin fan I had Lets get Small fromm 77 and wild and crazy guy from 78. Was watching him on Saturday Night Live. I saw the jerk in theaters in 1979, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid 1982, All of me 1984. and The Lonely Guy on video 1984. Guess I didnt know he was involved with the George Burns Comedy Week???
Not a parody of The Twilight Zone. Though around that same time Lorne Michaels had a new series called THE NEW SHOW and in one episode they did a funny Twilight Zone parody where John Candy played Rod Serling's son, who hosted short little episodes called "The Twilight Zonettes"
I saw one episode of this show and didn't know what it was called until like two years ago. It was an episode starring Howard Hesseman as a TV producer who creates a show called 'The Honey Bunnies' and it's a cute cartoon for kids, but he gets sick of it for some reason and does an episode where all the Honey Bunnies get stuck to tar on railroad tracks and get hit by a train. The scene where he shows it to his office is funny as hell, because he's thrilled with it, smiling while everybody in the room is horrified.
I recall seeing ads for "The George Burns Comedy Week" but knew nothing about it--had I known it was really Steve Martin's pet project, I might have been more interested.
I loved The George Burns Comedy Week. I had no idea (or at least didn't remember) Steve Martin was behind rhat show. It was so good. Like any anthology series, it had some stinkers (even Twilight Zone had a few), but over all, the episodes were good. One of the episodes i most remember is the Christmas episode, A Christmas Carroll Part 2, where the spirits come back to warn him he's being too generous.
Digging this! Can’t wait to see which early 90s horror anthologies get your spotlight… And if you do feature some black and white era anthologies, may I suggest The Millionaire? It lasted a few seasons, and managed a wide range of genres within its format…
Man.........I must have been studying REALLY hard in 1985! I grew up - and old - watching TV, but I remember NOTHING about ANY of the shows mentioned here. The only shows I can recall from the era was appointment TV, like TELEVISION PARTS (for the few episodes it was on) and then NEWHART. I feel like I must have blacked out.
Ha! It's not you, this show doesn't have much of a footprint. Steve Martin blamed the poor timeslot. Incidentally, I rediscovered TELEVISION PARTS a few years ago. I love it. Y'know Jack Handey started doing DEEP THOUGHTS on that show.
The Brady Bunch also premiered on love American Style. I missed the series, and I didn't like its apparent successor, Love Boat, which was also a comedy series of that sort, but restricted to guest stars on the cruise.
Thank you. We'll add EMERGENCY to the list. It's a long list, but "905 Wild" has been added! I wonder if the makers of Fox's ANIMAL CONTROL ever saw it.
I vividly remember the Mull episode cited at 4:31. I thought it was better than Steve Martin's " My Blue Heaven ", with a similar plot. Absolutely LOATHE that movie!
I think I remember the George Burns Comedy Show. I may have seen the Catherine O hara episode . Not a bad concept. Could work today but probably on cable or streaming. Strangely I saw the spinoff series. Harvey Korman and Valerie Perrine were rather good and it was an OK show.
one of my favorites is SCENE OF THE CRIME, from 1984. We covered it in our first installment of ANTHOLOGY OF ANTHOLOGY TV SHOWS. th-cam.com/video/mo46mkc_fWI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=EwYv-4XzNv3ECmmz
George Burns kept being funny his entire life, but his name didn't exactly scream "hip young comedy" in the 80s, and I suspect kept a lot of the potential audience away. The "comedy Twilight Zone" pitch got me thinking also that a comedy anthology specifically about that style of SF/fantasy/horror series could have been great. I think Lin Ye Tang would have been available to host.
Funny you should mention that. There was a very short-lived anthology parody show (it never got past the pilot movie) starring actors from SCTV, called REALLY WEIRD TALES, with John Candy, Martin Short and Catherine O'Hara. Hosted by Joe Flaherty.
I always thought Tales From the Crypt was supposed to be a comedy (well comedy horror) but anyway know how old is the Crypt keeper is supposed to be anyways??
Oh TALES FROM THE CRYPT is totally a comedy/ comedy-horror/ horror-comedy. Not sure how to categorize TALES FROM THE CRYPTKEEPER, but I imagine the Cryptkeeper himself would say "the show doesn't fit into any one cata-GOREY!"
This looks really interesting. But did you drop a teaser in the video? Are we to expect a video of spin-offs from “Love, American Style“? Anthonology-Backdoor Pilot mash-up?
When will the next Behind the Backdoor Pilot be about? I would also like a Halloween Atomic Abe video as well. I really do not know that two Steve's made Anthology TV Shows.
Two more Behind the Backdoor Pilots will run this month. On Sunday it's BTBP: STARSKY & HUTCH. And the following week it's BTBP: THE ROCKFORD FILES. For our Halloween episode we've got a video about John Carpenter's THE THING. It's an exciting month at Atomic Abe HQ.
A comedy anthology is an interesting idea. But this example is a terrible effort, since the scripts are standard action and drama plots. Sure, they filled the episodes with comedy actors, but the scripts themselves were mostly very unfunny. And Carl Reiner was a friend of Steve Martin? Sure, but mainly he was also the director of The Jerk, starring Steve. Duh!
Ever thought about Doing Trying Times the other 80a Comedy Anthology series i can think of, which was i want to say one of the Rare PBS comedy shows-featuring an episode all about the resemblence of Terri Garr and Catherine Bach from Dukes of Hazzard?
TRYING TIMES is such an important show to me. When we made our list of anthology shows we wanted to cover, it was at the top for me. It's infuriating that the show is so hard to find and will likely never get a home video release or become available on streaming. The TH-cam channels that have it often get the videos struck down. That Teri Garr episode is a great one! And they really got Catherine Bach.
@@atomicabe I remembering thing when it came out that they just got Catherine Bach and ask her to streach a bit. Hope you do it. It really does represent an experiment in television that was obviously very short lived but neat that could go away.
I have never heard of this show until now, which is weird, because I remember every one of the other shows talked about here (except the one that was a spinoff of this one).
It's a deep cut. Very hard to find footage. The clips we got are from TH-cam uploads that appear to be from VCRs, some include the original commercials and news teasers.
Yes, all of the episodes appear to have been uploaded to TH-cam. Not on one single account, but across many different TH-cam channels. So you'll have to dig a little. The quality isn't great, since there was never any home video release. It's uploads from VHS home recordings. But that's better than nothing.
I don’t remember this show but I remember that couch episode & the twist at the end. I think there was a British sitcom that used the same premise but it was a piece of art or something instead of a couch.
Yes, I am first and foremost a fan of Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone. That's how I'm coming at these anthology shows. I like that with an anthology series, the star is the producer. But it's really a writer's medium. Very unique for TV. We have more Serling videos coming as part of this series.
I was onboard as an 18-year old when they were first promoting the "Sgt Pepper" movie with The Bee Gees, Frampton, Billy Preston, Alice Cooper and Aerosmith*. But as soon as I saw they had added George Burns to the mix, I knew it was going to suck. Everyone I knew went just to laugh at it. Same reaction today to hearing this really cool idea (Let's make TV series pilot episodes for each member of SCTV!") only to destroy it with George Burns. *and Steve Martin!
@@atomicabe Well, you serve up a seven course meal, no reason why we commenters can't have a _few_ crumbs! Here's one: it's a backdoor pilot about a gay flight attendant called, "Backdoor Pilot!"
I wonder what that might've been like if they'd gotten more SCTV talent writing these scripts. Of course a lot of the SCTV team would attempt to make their own anthology spoof (of sorts) with REALLY WEIRD TALES.
Well, I've now watched FALLING DOWN and made this video about it. We included your comment in the video. th-cam.com/video/0rFgOnLPRFA/w-d-xo.html Thanks for waiting!
If this video gets to 100,00 views, we will make a video essay where Atomic Abe's Kevin Maher watches "Falling Down" FOR THE FIRST TIME. SHARE this video, LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to help get this video to 100K views and MAKE KEVIN WATCH the awesome 1993 Michael Douglas flick FALLING DOWN!
We've hit 100,000 views! Kevin will watch "Falling Down" for the first time in a future video. Thanks everyone!
Steve Martin? George Burns? Half-hour comedy episodes? I was 22 in the fall of 1985, and this was right up my alley.
So, why is this the first I'm hearing of this show ever existing? 😳
It's a failing on CBS' part that they didn't reach you back in the day. But it's not too late. You can find all of the episodes on TH-cam. But they're scattered across multiple channels. And sometimes a single episode is in 3 parts.
I remember the Steve Martin show but briefly.
@@atomicabe Not the best of quality in some places, but they're there. Admittedly, I did only watch for George Burns' intros/outros, but many of the stories were very well done. Shame it was probably doomed on arrival.
I was 14 and don't remember it either. I fondly recall watching "Amazing Stories" though.
I too am surprised I have never heard of this. I was only 12 at the time, but was already a "comedy nerd" by then and a tv-aholic.
If they had called it by another title it would’ve worked out better.
You get the feeling it’s a George Burns Tv show. That likely scared away the younger audience. Steve should have done a quick appearance just to introduce that weeks show.
I totally never heard of this show or its spin off. I do remember Amazing Stories.
It's a deep cut. We're trying to cover a lot of different anthology series, from the obvious to the obscure. (There's an upcoming entry on The Twilight Zone.)
@@atomicabeHappy Days! Mork & Mindy!
Richard Matheson is maybe my favorite writer!
It's awesome here all the time. And I look forward to the new stuff !
Also, I don't have no clue how I've never heard of this show! I knew most of the cool old school/late 70s comedian/writer names too 😂. I am blown away !
IKR. I had the exact same thought. Guess I was busy doing other things in 1985 than watching TV
@@atomicabewhy don't you tell us the actual title?
I thought the same thing. I DO remember the revamp of Twilight Zone & Outer Limits, but not this. I LOVE the Amazing Stories series...
I thought this was a Steve Martin show that I didn't remember. While rattling off 1985 anthologies at the top, I was thinking, "You forgot George Burns Comedy Week." Never realized Martin produced it. CBS didn't do much to promote this, and they buried spinoff Leo & Liz on Friday nights at the end of the season. Wish the latter was on TH-cam, I recall it was really funny.
Oooof!
"Marie" got dumped into another dimension @ 00:34.
Great video. Loved a lot of these shows.
Nice little waltz down memory lane!
I watched the Steve Martin show and Amazing Stories. Both Kevin Costner and Keifer Sutherland were in the Amazing stories pilot. I’ve never heard of the George burns show.
I actually have all but, I think, 1 episode of this series. Several years ago there was a website that sold DVDs of failed tv shows that never got released on dvd. They were bootleg, recorded off of tv, but mostly still decent quality. It was a good show.
I love those kinds of websites. I've gotten some good looking DV-Rs of made for tv movies that will never get a proper release. Also the VHS Preservation Society captures VHS tapes and puts them onto DVD. Do you know which episode you're missing?
Steve shot himself in the foot by not calling it The Steve Martin Comedy Week.
I can't understand why they didn't do that.
@@atomicabe IIRC, the show's failure was largely considered to have come about because people thought it was a new George Burns show and they didn't want to see that.
@@KenLieck George Burns was decidedly unhip in 1985.
That seems to make more sense. I wonder why he didn’t?
In hindsight, it may have been a smart move. Noone remembers it and I'm sure he's glad about that. I'm going to have to remind him of it on my talk show. 🤪
I watched Home for Dinner it was the only ep I ever saw. I remember them blowing up a flower pot in the big shootout. After that I think I switched to one of the other aforementioned shows. And chef’s kiss for including James Coburn and Dark Room in your quartet of classics with Twilight Zone Outer Limits and Night Gallery
The first episode "The Dynamite Girl" was my favourite, and mostly because of Catherine O'Hara's considerable charm in a role that allowed her to showcase the kind of versatility (she played everything from a female James Bond to a valley girl) that won her acclaim on "SCTV." Real missed opportunity that Hollywood didn't catch this and recognize what a terrific romantic comedy lead she would've made.
She has always been so good in everything she's done, it's a shame that she never got a breakout star vehicle.
@ 6:35 - I must say, "The Equalizer," with all of its comedy hijinks, was definitely one of my favorite comedy series of the 80's. The various shtick and shenanigans of the always-hilarious Edward Woodward left me howling like a dog every time! 😊
Dave Thomas did a funny parody of THE EQUALIZER on his summer series, THE DAVE THOMAS SHOW. He did a great impression of Edward Woodward. And I think the MAD Magazine parody was called "The Tranquilizer".
@@atomicabe Awesome! I'm not familiar with either sketch, but being that he was part of the original "Second City" troupe, and that MAD TV had a lot of funny, often timeless sketches of its own, I readily believe you! 😊
I was drawing a blank here, and then got a revelation. Are you going to discuss George Burns' Comedy Week? That would be awesome (even if I only watched the show for him)!
That actually spawned a spinoff called *Leo and Liz in Beverly Hills* with Harvey Korman and Valerie Perrine.
thats what this video is about (try watching the video before commenting)
@@HorribleHomeVideo Already did. I posted that before it was made available. I already know what was posted. Good video.
As far as I know, anthology shows died in the early `70's with The Night Gallery. I've never seen or heard of any since then except the HBO series, The Crypt Keeper. In the `90's, Pen Densham brought back the best of them, "The Outer Limits". Those were the last 2 I ever heard of.
Steve Martin a genius for this. It great for the modern age we in now! Wished they do this now. He just way to ahead of his time useing unfortunately a worng type of styling with title name. People want something fresh and unusual but not being all about the person unless it talks how host like how Eric Andre do lol
I remember his short-lived sketch comedy prime-time series called “The New Show” in 1984.
Anyone else see that? The first episode had references to Orwell’s 1984 with the Zager&Evans song “In the Year 2525”.
Yes, I loved THE NEW SHOW. Steve Martin was a guest for one episode. Other guests included Jeff Goldblum, Penny Marshall, Teri Garr, John Candy, Dennis and Randy Quaid.
I honestly don't remember "The George Burns Comedy Hour" or "Leo and Liz". Maybe that 's a good thing. I do remember "Amazing Stories". It should have been a bigger hit.
One of my favorite show of this type back then was Friday the 13th: The Series.
You just barely mention that Spielberg was part of Twilight Zone: The Movie but I understand you have much to cover here. I think it was that movie that triggered the '80s reboot of antho-TV, for better or worse. Much of it best forgotten. To reach true icon status is simply magical, like Love, American Style!
Thanks for understanding. It's a lot of background and context just to set-up how Steve Martin's anthology show came to be. Fortunately we're working on another video about Twilight Zone: The Movie, so there'll be a chance to really dig in.
The segment Spielberg directed is based on one of my least favorite episodes. I think the less said about it, the better. The movie found success despite that segment, not because of it.
There were a few British comedy anthology series, Seven of One (seven pilots for British star Ronnie Barker) Murder Most Horrid (staring Dawn French) and Ripping Yarns written and staring Mchael
Palin.
Thanks. I don't know Serven of One or Murder Most horrid. I liked RIPPING YARNS. (I loved learning that in the pilot episode there's a scene where Michael Palin's character is attacked by a bear -- and the actor in the bear suit was Terry Jones. It could've been any actor, but I love that Palin must've felt comfortable doing battle with his comedy partner.)
Don't forget The Comic Strip Presents... I loved me some Bad News back in the day.
I'm racking my brain for some comedic British old comedy anthology series, but for now I can only think of 'Inside No. 9' (I'd suggest 'Black Mirror' but that's veering too far from comedy, although it's superb).
!! I've just remembered that Rik Mayall did a series: 'Rik Mayall Presents'.
I loved Ripping Yarns. I even liked the books that came out of them.
this may be the reason i hate what they have done with Goosebumps, and Are You Afraid of The Dark?... they are destroying the anthology series. Creepshow is my only hope now!
I, for one, would like to see this series, either on DVD or a streaming service.
Great video! Speaking of Steve Martin & short-lived TV comedy series from the 1980s, have you heard of his failed SNL sketch series Twilight Theater? It only aired once or twice in 1982 and also had a STACKED celebrity cast, including one of the earliest tv appearances of Pee-Wee Herman. It seems to be almost entirely Lost media save for a few clips on TH-cam.
Yes--I saw that episode with Pee Wee! I was hoping this video would be about that show.
Then in 1984 he hosted yet another SNL-style sketch comedy series called The New Show.
Ok ok its the Easter egg in The Mighty Wind movie. With 'What Happened! '. Thank you!
Fascinating. I'd never heard of this. Thanks for sharing. You're research and editing are really good, btw.
Thanks very much! It's a fun topic to research.
I would have watched the heck out of that show.
I would argue that the sixties was the golden age of anthologies, the eighties were the silver age. Nothing could top the original TZ, or the original Hitchcock show.
I loved Love American Style.
Outer Limits was the best.
Yes, some very good anthology shows from the 1960s.
What's that ice skate clip 0:33 ?
THE DONNIE & MARIE SHOW, a variety tv show in the 70s that featured an ice skating rink.
@atomicabe I was almost certain that was it! Thanks. I've been trying to find that clip, but couldn't find it.
I miss the anthology format. I still remember two Amazing Stories episodes vividly:
"Santa 85" -- From the first season. Douglas Seale is Santa who gets arrested by the sheriff (Pat Hingle) for breaking and entering.
"You Gotta Believe Me" -- From season two. Earl Sweet (played by Oscar nominee Charles Durning) has a dream about a plane crashing into his house. He is convinced it's a premonition and does everything he can to avert it happening. I still remember specific scenes, such as his traversing the airport in his bathrobe.
What about Martin's The New Show, with Carl Reiner? Saw one episode, now wonder it got cancelled.
Steve Martin was a guest on The New Show. Lorne Michael was running The New Show after his first stint at Saturday Night Live. The New Show was considered a bomb, so after it got canceled he went back to running SNL.
Too bad Steve wasn't ready yet to be a "serious" performer. Would have done more for the series than George Burns. I imagine younger viewers were turned off by any show with burns as the host (:"Oh god" not withstanding). Sure, Burns had his fans but generally you see him you assume the show will be aimed at an older, older audience.
7:33 if you got this reference (especially without looking at the picture) you might be a Re…Tro comedy nerd!
I've only seen Steve completely gray or completely brown. its like one night he went to bed looking 30 and woke up looking 70. (i think Martin Short said it first.)
Never knew about this! Awesome!
Thanks. It seems like this show has really been forgotten, glad we could remind people about it.
Never saw this one. Anthology shows could be fun. I wish reality shows would go away.
Monsters!(had the series on VHS. sold it many years back) Wow, I had no clue Martin did an anthology ! I rented L.A. Story the other week too and was going to use the firing gun in traffic casually on the channel but never got around to it. I am going to kick back and learn! I always enjoy your videos, cheers!
Oh oh oh -- This reminds me, Bobcat Goldthwait's 2018 anthology series "Misfits and Monsters" was *way* better than it had any business being!
This entire video was footnotes.
Great video as always, but where do you find the footage for these obscure shows?
George Burns Comedy Week has been uploaded to TH-cam across a few channels. Most of them appeared to be recorded on a VCR, some feature the original commercials and bumpers. Couldn't find a single episode of LEO & LIZ IN BEVERLY HILLS, just a couple of promos and publicity stills. Sometimes I'll want to make a video about a topic and there isn't quality footage. But when covering a "lost" tv series or a forgotten piece of media, you have to use what's available.
@@atomicabe thanks for your reply
11:43 that opening gave me 'saved by the bell' vibes
also, 'falling down' is so good.....
I've never heard of this program, but I do remember Steve playing a serious role in a movie as a corrupt art dealer. I can never remember the name of the film but he was fantastic. So convincing. Probably because Steve is a wealthy, art connoisseur
The Spanish Prisoner?
@@atomicabe Yes!! I haven't seen that movie in YEARS! It's a great film.
I remember this show ! the Christmas episode was Scrooge (Walter Matthau!) the year after a Christmas carol , and Scrooge had become a complete pushover, so the spirits came back and set him straight.
I'm so glad someone else remembers this show. One detail has been blurred in your memory: In CHRISTMAS CAROL II - THE SEQUEL, Scrooge is played by James Whitmore. But you are right about Matthau playing Ebenezer Scrooge, he played the role in a Rankin-Bass animated special called "The Stingiest Man in Town."
How can you mention falling down and not see it?????? It is one of the best movies of the 90s
If this video gets 100,000 views, I will watch FALLING DOWN and make a video about it. - Kevin
Looks like this video is trending enough for that to happen
Such a good film.
Right
So I gave in and watched FALLING DOWN. I made this video about it. We included your comment in the video. th-cam.com/video/0rFgOnLPRFA/w-d-xo.html
WTF? Netflix, Hulu, HBO... Get off your asses and get on this NOW! Reboot we deserve.
Steve, get your Only Murders in the Building team on this already!
I have fond memories of watching that series. I think I even VHS recorded them at the time to re-watch. I loved the Eugene Levy one of being accidentally taken on the secret mission.
Tom Bosley hosted his own spooky radio show in the 1970s!
Some anthology type Comedy shows have succeeded like The Carol Burnett Show, SNL, MadTV, SCTV, Sesame Street
Yes, those are all very successful shows with some of the longest runs on television. But most of them are sketch shows. (I don't know how to categorize Sesame Street's format.) Anthology shows are more about doing one story each week. Coincidentally Carol Burnett did a show like that in the '90s called CAROL & COMPANY, which we'll be covering in a future video.
Think I vaguely recall this being on the air, was totally uninterested because of the title. Had it been called "Steve Martin's Edgy Comedy Anthology" I would've watched every episode. Also, "Amazing Stories" had awesome production values but the stores weren't amazing, more like meh, and was a generally a big disappointment.
Maybe if it had been Steve Martin's show with him hosting, it would have lasted longer.
That's the consensus. At least in the comments section. Not clear why Martin didn't want to host it. Though his memoir, BORN STANDING UP, reveals that he became disenchanted with stand-up.
I remembered there was a story where the main character died but somehow came back to life. The person was dead long enough where a death certificate was written up and he submitted it to his insurance company and the insumrance company eventually paid hisspouse because she was the beneficiary. I wish I can remember the name of the episode and who starred in it.
Joe Piscopo starred in "Death Benefits" with Robert Klein as the insurance agent. This one was co-written by Amy Heckerling and Neal Israel and Irving Newman (his sole writing credit on imdb)
Thank you! I was hoping someone would fill in the blanks for me considering that was the only episode I remember from that show.
Parody of the twilight zone?
I don't remember this at all. I was in Grade 11 and I was watching too much TV at the time. I was a huge Steve Martin fan I had Lets get Small fromm 77 and wild and crazy guy from 78. Was watching him on Saturday Night Live. I saw the jerk in theaters in 1979, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid 1982, All of me 1984. and The Lonely Guy on video 1984.
Guess I didnt know he was involved with the
George Burns Comedy Week???
Not a parody of The Twilight Zone. Though around that same time Lorne Michaels had a new series called THE NEW SHOW and in one episode they did a funny Twilight Zone parody where John Candy played Rod Serling's son, who hosted short little episodes called "The Twilight Zonettes"
@@atomicabe Damn, I keep posting these references, seeing you already know about them, and deleting my now-pointless comments..
@@KenLieck ha! that happens to me all the time
I saw one episode of this show and didn't know what it was called until like two years ago. It was an episode starring Howard Hesseman as a TV producer who creates a show called 'The Honey Bunnies' and it's a cute cartoon for kids, but he gets sick of it for some reason and does an episode where all the Honey Bunnies get stuck to tar on railroad tracks and get hit by a train. The scene where he shows it to his office is funny as hell, because he's thrilled with it, smiling while everybody in the room is horrified.
Short stories stuff is my fave and still those movies with 3 to 4 in a movie.
Yes, I love those, too!
I recall seeing ads for "The George Burns Comedy Week" but knew nothing about it--had I known it was really Steve Martin's pet project, I might have been more interested.
I bet most people fall into a similar category. Criminally mis-marketed.
@@atomicabe I swear to God they ran one episode before they even started advertising it...
I loved The George Burns Comedy Week. I had no idea (or at least didn't remember) Steve Martin was behind rhat show. It was so good. Like any anthology series, it had some stinkers (even Twilight Zone had a few), but over all, the episodes were good. One of the episodes i most remember is the Christmas episode, A Christmas Carroll Part 2, where the spirits come back to warn him he's being too generous.
I loved that one, forgot (or didn't know) it was part of an anthology. "They didn't even spell my name right: Ebenoozer Screege!"
Digging this! Can’t wait to see which early 90s horror anthologies get your spotlight…
And if you do feature some black and white era anthologies, may I suggest The Millionaire? It lasted a few seasons, and managed a wide range of genres within its format…
@divinelightshine no, but I am ex-Catholic; more of a ‘homeless Christian’ until recently… but that’s between me and the Lord.
More Steve Martin
So Steve Martin's anthology show is called George Burns comedy week??
Correct. It makes no sense.
😐
That figure skating clip was brutal. Did she live? Her head bounced hard.
Yes, Donnie and Marie both recovered. Phew!
Wasn't "Amazing Stories" an automatic two-year commitment when it was greenlit by NBC? I did love the show.
Man.........I must have been studying REALLY hard in 1985! I grew up - and old - watching TV, but I remember NOTHING about ANY of the shows mentioned here. The only shows I can recall from the era was appointment TV, like TELEVISION PARTS (for the few episodes it was on) and then NEWHART. I feel like I must have blacked out.
Ha! It's not you, this show doesn't have much of a footprint. Steve Martin blamed the poor timeslot. Incidentally, I rediscovered TELEVISION PARTS a few years ago. I love it. Y'know Jack Handey started doing DEEP THOUGHTS on that show.
The Cryptkeeper NEVER gets old !
ha ha! Yes.
The Brady Bunch also premiered on love American Style.
I missed the series, and I didn't like its apparent successor, Love Boat, which was also a comedy series of that sort, but restricted to guest stars on the cruise.
Wow. I had no idea the Brady Bunch came out of LOVE AMERICAN STYLE. Coincidentally, a number of actors from The Brady Bunch appeared on THE LOVE BOAT.
Love your channel. Could you do a video covering the '905 Wild'' episode of the series 'Emergency'?
Thank you. We'll add EMERGENCY to the list. It's a long list, but "905 Wild" has been added! I wonder if the makers of Fox's ANIMAL CONTROL ever saw it.
I remember I just happened to catch 'The Couch' while staying at my Aunt & Uncle's the night before my College Interview!
The Hitchiker. Memory unlocked!
Loved all those 80s anthology shows and movies. How about Creepshow and Cats Eye? Those were great too.
Oh and Kentucky Fried Movie!
The Hitchhiker was HBO??? Why was I watching that at like 6 years old in my room before bed ?
It also aired on USA Network, so you might've seen it there.
@@atomicabe that would make more sense than me having HBO in my room
There must of been something else on at that time? I don’t remember any of these shows. 🤷🏻♂️
I vividly remember the Mull episode cited at 4:31. I thought it was better than Steve Martin's " My Blue Heaven ", with a similar plot.
Absolutely LOATHE that movie!
The Martin Mull witness relocation episode was directed by Phil Alden Robinson. A few years later he'd write and direct FIELD OF DREAMS.
Almost scrolled when you said you never watched Falling Down. Rectify immediately.
Rectified! I have watched FALLING DOWN and made a video to prove it: th-cam.com/video/0rFgOnLPRFA/w-d-xo.html
I think I remember the George Burns Comedy Show. I may have seen the Catherine O hara episode .
Not a bad concept. Could work today but probably on cable or streaming.
Strangely I saw the spinoff series. Harvey Korman and Valerie Perrine were rather good and it was an OK show.
I heard of a couple of these, but I didn’t realize it was such a big trend at the time. I’m going to seek some of these out!
one of my favorites is SCENE OF THE CRIME, from 1984. We covered it in our first installment of ANTHOLOGY OF ANTHOLOGY TV SHOWS. th-cam.com/video/mo46mkc_fWI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=EwYv-4XzNv3ECmmz
Is this the show that had a sequel to A Christmas Carol, where Scrooge learns moderation?
Yes it is! We show a short clip of it. @4:05 -- there's James Whitmore as Scrooge!
@@atomicabe I missed your clip of it but I remember that episode was brilliant. I also remember thinking "There's no way this show lasts"
I remember that one. Scrooge was buried with a misspelled tombstone.
@@ThatJohnKillion1970 "Ebenoozer Screege"!
@@KenLieckThat cheap joke has me laughing to this day.
I've heard said that Charles Dickens wanted to write a sequel like that.
George Burns kept being funny his entire life, but his name didn't exactly scream "hip young comedy" in the 80s, and I suspect kept a lot of the potential audience away.
The "comedy Twilight Zone" pitch got me thinking also that a comedy anthology specifically about that style of SF/fantasy/horror series could have been great. I think Lin Ye Tang would have been available to host.
Funny you should mention that. There was a very short-lived anthology parody show (it never got past the pilot movie) starring actors from SCTV, called REALLY WEIRD TALES, with John Candy, Martin Short and Catherine O'Hara. Hosted by Joe Flaherty.
This was a lot of fun! George Burns Comedy Week is ripe for a reboot... but who would host?
George Burns was the first person they went to for potentially hosting "The Hitchhiker."
ha!
I always thought Tales From the Crypt was supposed to be a comedy (well comedy horror) but anyway know how old is the Crypt keeper is supposed to be anyways??
Oh TALES FROM THE CRYPT is totally a comedy/ comedy-horror/ horror-comedy. Not sure how to categorize TALES FROM THE CRYPTKEEPER, but I imagine the Cryptkeeper himself would say "the show doesn't fit into any one cata-GOREY!"
This looks really interesting. But did you drop a teaser in the video? Are we to expect a video of spin-offs from “Love, American Style“? Anthonology-Backdoor Pilot mash-up?
Yes. Eventually we'll do an epic HAPPY DAYS video.
When will the next Behind the Backdoor Pilot be about? I would also like a Halloween Atomic Abe video as well. I really do not know that two Steve's made Anthology TV Shows.
Two more Behind the Backdoor Pilots will run this month. On Sunday it's BTBP: STARSKY & HUTCH. And the following week it's BTBP: THE ROCKFORD FILES. For our Halloween episode we've got a video about John Carpenter's THE THING. It's an exciting month at Atomic Abe HQ.
I would love to get my hands on this one.
Most of them are on TH-cam. But the quality isn't great. I'd love to track down LEO & LIZ IN BEVERLY HILLS.
Interesting that a lot of the actors are Canadians from SCTV
Good point. Lotta funny Canadians from the 1980s comedy world. And Carl Gottlieb seems to work with people from The Committee, too.
A comedy anthology is an interesting idea. But this example is a terrible effort, since the scripts are standard action and drama plots. Sure, they filled the episodes with comedy actors, but the scripts themselves were mostly very unfunny.
And Carl Reiner was a friend of Steve Martin? Sure, but mainly he was also the director of The Jerk, starring Steve. Duh!
Ever thought about Doing Trying Times the other 80a Comedy Anthology series i can think of, which was i want to say one of the Rare PBS comedy shows-featuring an episode all about the resemblence of Terri Garr and Catherine Bach from Dukes of Hazzard?
TRYING TIMES is such an important show to me. When we made our list of anthology shows we wanted to cover, it was at the top for me. It's infuriating that the show is so hard to find and will likely never get a home video release or become available on streaming. The TH-cam channels that have it often get the videos struck down. That Teri Garr episode is a great one! And they really got Catherine Bach.
@@atomicabe I remembering thing when it came out that they just got Catherine Bach and ask her to streach a bit.
Hope you do it. It really does represent an experiment in television that was obviously very short lived but neat that could go away.
Falling down was a lot better than the TV show you were talking about
Hey, I took your advice and watched FALLING DOWN and we included your comment in the video: th-cam.com/video/0rFgOnLPRFA/w-d-xo.html
Falling Down is a BOSS movie. Michael Douglas shines.
Agreed! If this video gets to 100,00 views, we'll make a video about Kevin watching Falling Down for the first time.
As promised, I watched FALLING DOWN and made this video about it. We included your comment in the video. th-cam.com/video/0rFgOnLPRFA/w-d-xo.html
That Eugene Levy one would totally hold up thats basically somewhere between American dad and Beverly hils cop.
Yes! The shootout on the lawn was VERY similar to the final shoot-out in Beverly Hills Cop. Good eye.
Flip Wilson was so damn funny
I have never heard of this show until now, which is weird, because I remember every one of the other shows talked about here (except the one that was a spinoff of this one).
It's a deep cut. Very hard to find footage. The clips we got are from TH-cam uploads that appear to be from VCRs, some include the original commercials and news teasers.
....and Joe Piscopo hasn't been seen since.
Does anyone know where episodes of this can be seen? Are any entire uploaded to youtube?
Yes, all of the episodes appear to have been uploaded to TH-cam. Not on one single account, but across many different TH-cam channels. So you'll have to dig a little. The quality isn't great, since there was never any home video release. It's uploads from VHS home recordings. But that's better than nothing.
@@atomicabe cool! Thanks! I have subscribed to your channel. 👍
Amazing stories was awesome
I went back to watch some of the ones I never saw during the original run. There are some really good episodes. MIRROR, MIRROR is excellent.
I remember the Dark Room.
I missed DARKROOM during its original run. But NBC.com was streaming it for a while.
REAL GENIUS was directed by Martha Coolidge. Israel only wrote it.
Right. The narration doesn't say he directed it.
Havent seen falling down
You haven't seen FALLING DOWN, either?
Now I have! I watched FALLING DOWN and made this video about it. We included your comment in the video. th-cam.com/video/0rFgOnLPRFA/w-d-xo.html
I don’t remember this show but I remember that couch episode & the twist at the end. I think there was a British sitcom that used the same premise but it was a piece of art or something instead of a couch.
Someone else mentioned that in the comments. I feel like it's an old shaggy dog kind of story.
Sounds like George Burns was the wrong host. Carl Reiner would've been better.
I remember this show and I remember the first episode being absolutely hilarious
As a huge twilight zone fan, this is so interesting
Yes, I am first and foremost a fan of Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone. That's how I'm coming at these anthology shows. I like that with an anthology series, the star is the producer. But it's really a writer's medium. Very unique for TV. We have more Serling videos coming as part of this series.
I was onboard as an 18-year old when they were first promoting the "Sgt Pepper" movie with The Bee Gees, Frampton, Billy Preston, Alice Cooper and Aerosmith*. But as soon as I saw they had added George Burns to the mix, I knew it was going to suck. Everyone I knew went just to laugh at it. Same reaction today to hearing this really cool idea (Let's make TV series pilot episodes for each member of SCTV!") only to destroy it with George Burns.
*and Steve Martin!
oh man, I wish we'd thought to call out the Sgt Pepper connection with Mr. Kite and Maxwell! Good on you for connecting those dots.
@@atomicabe Well, you serve up a seven course meal, no reason why we commenters can't have a _few_ crumbs! Here's one: it's a backdoor pilot about a gay flight attendant called, "Backdoor Pilot!"
most of the cast from sctv and they didnt have any of them write scripts or direct?
I wonder what that might've been like if they'd gotten more SCTV talent writing these scripts. Of course a lot of the SCTV team would attempt to make their own anthology spoof (of sorts) with REALLY WEIRD TALES.
Almost gave you a thumbs down for not having seen Falling Down. But there's still time. . . I'll wait.
If this video gets 100,000 views I'll watch FALLING DOWN and make a video about it.
Well, I've now watched FALLING DOWN and made this video about it. We included your comment in the video. th-cam.com/video/0rFgOnLPRFA/w-d-xo.html Thanks for waiting!