Remembering Unhappily Ever After

Not very long ago the Guardian caught up with Bobcat Goldthwait, and discussed with him what he's been up to lately. Apparently he's back doing stand-up, with the fan base coming out for his shows significantly a carry-over from his film and TV career, with his part as Zed in the Police Academy films (seen in movies two through four) apparently important here.

I noticed that the sitcom Unhappily Ever After, in which Mr. Goldthwait voiced "Mr. Floppy," the stuffed bunny that the show's protagonist, now living in the basement of the house out of which his wife kicked him out, believes talks to him, and with whom he has conversations (more substantive conversations than he is likely to have with any of the humans in his life), received no mention in the article whatsoever.

As it happens the show in question would seem to have a number of claims to a place in pop cultural history (apart from its odd premise, of course, of which Mr. Floppy was just a part). Created by Married . . . With Children (MWC) co-creator Ron Leavitt with fellow MWC veteran Arthur Silver (who wrote and produced for the show over a long stretch of its run) it was an obvious variant on the theme and complement to the prior show with which they were involved. Unhappily was also part of the "starting line-up" of Wednesday night sitcoms with which Warner Brothers launched its broadcast network, "The WB," in 1994 (now defunct, but not going before it made its mark on pop culture). It was also a significant early credit for a number of its cast members, who went on to other, bigger things--like Kevin Connolly (Entourage), Justin Berfield (Malcolm in the Middle) and Nikki Cox (Las Vegas), while the same might be said of Kristanna Loken (who appeared in nine episodes as the nemesis of Nikki Cox's character). One may add that the show lasted the hundred episodes that were then the target for show-runners, because that was the magic number that opened up the possibility of syndication, where the really big money was in those days.

Intrigued by the premise at the time of its launch I found the show worth a watch, and stuck with it down to the finale. However, few others did so, all as to the extent that it was watched Unhappily never came anywhere near Married . . .'s cachet. (The story goes that when John Milius cast Ed O'Neill as a Navy JAG in the film version of The Flight of the Intruder just seeing him made test audiences laugh so much that the movie's makers decided to reshoot the scene with Fred Thompson--a kind of problem that Unhappily's star Geoff Pierson does not seem to have had.)

One may chalk up the weaker impression the show made to MWC's having got there first, and more easily shocked audiences in the more staid '80s than the "extreme" '90s. Alternatively one can attribute it to the show having got too extreme, its having been a little too mean and dark and weird to really find a strong echo with a wide audience. And of course, there is also room to argue that the weak response to the show had nothing to do with the premise or other content and everything to do with the way sitcoms generally fared on that network. (The WB definitely made a mark on pop culture with young adult-oriented fare, as with urban fantasy material like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and soap operas like Dawson's Creek--but I cannot think of a single WB sitcom that achieved much popular recognition.) In any event, afterward there was not much of a chance for Unhappily to find, for example, a "cult" audience or anything else of the sort after finishing its original run. (Wikipedia reports that due to poor ratings in its mere two years in syndication the show has not been on the air in North America since 2001, was never released "on physical media," and is unavailable from any streaming service in the U.S., at least.)

In any event, it's all but forgotten now--another show of yesteryear living on only in the memories of those of us old enough to personally recollect its original broadcast run.