[2013-08-06] "Fridays" TV show (Shout Factory)

Dr. Chris Evil · 26 Jul 2006

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CPTUNY2/?tag=imwan-20

Dr. Chris Evil · 26 Jul 2006

Remember Fridays, the early '80s ripoff of Saturday Night Live? Shout Factory has acquired the rights to it and is preparing the show for a DVD release. While the show only aired for two years and three seasons, it served as a launching pad for Larry David and Michael Richards and had some excellent musical guests from the period.

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/shout ... sive-74141

'Dobie Gillis,' Larry David Series 'Fridays' Get Shout! Factory Release (Exclusive)

Published: January 22, 2013 @ 12:23 pm

By Brent Lang

Shout! Factory has acquired worldwide rights to "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" and "Fridays." It marks the first time that either show has appeared on DVD.

"Dobie Gillis" (below) centers on a teenage boy (Dwayne Hickman) and his struggles to win over various girls and achieve popularity.

"Fridays" was a sketch comedy show that was ABC's failed attempt to duplicate the success of rival NBC's "Saturday Night Live." Despite only being on the air for just three seasons, it served as a stepping stone for a number of comedians like Larry David ("Seinfeld") and Larry Charles ("Borat") who graduated to bigger things.

"Dobie Gillis" is the better established property. The series is well-known to a generation of Baby Boomers who tuned in weekly to watch its youthful protagonist's butt heads with his over-bearing mother and strong-minded father. The show's cast of characters also included Dobie's beatnik friend, Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver).

"Dobie Gillis" aired for 147 episodes on CBS and featured two actors in its early seasons who would go on to have major careers on the big screen. Warren Beatty played a rich boy who frequently got the best of Dobie in his pre-"Bonnie and Clyde" days, while Tuesday Weld ("Looking for Mr. Goodbar") portrayed the object of Dobie's affection.

Shout, which has built up its business by packaging niche or nostalgia television shows like "Freaks & Geeks" and "Leave It to Beaver," and marketing them to their devoted fan bases, secured worldwide rights from the Max Shulman Trust. Shulman was the creator of the series and died of bone cancer in 1988.

Shout! Factory founders Bob Emmer and Garson Foos told TheWrap that they became intrigued by the property because there was a lot of activity around the series on message boards and other online communities. It helped that they were very familiar with the series themselves.

"We grew up on it," Emmer said. "I fondly remember watching it. It was a passion play, but one there was a lot of interest and a terrific cast."

Shout! Factory is currently in pre-production on a DVD box set of the complete series and expects it to hit stores later this year. The company secured both physical media rights and all digital rights.

Shout! Factory secured the same set of rights to "Fridays," but does not know when it will release the show on home entertainment platforms. The sketch comedy series ran from 1980 to 1982 and, like "Saturday Night Live," it featured celebrity hosts such as Susan Sarandon and Billy Crystal and musical guests such as AC/DC and The Pretenders. Although "Fridays" briefly bested "Saturday Night Live" in the ratings, it went off the air after ABC decided to make "Nightline" a five-nights-a-week program.

Brainiac McGee · **Joined:** 10 Jun 2011 **Posts:** 2941

I think "Fridays" is one of those shows that has had music clearance issues--most famously, there was an elaborate "Rocky Horror Picture Show" parody sketch called the "Ronnie Horror Picture Show" (as in "Ronnie" Reagan) which apparently was never rebroadcast after the first live airing after threats of litigation.

I've seen quite a few clips of "Fridays out on the web that are...interesting. Not all that funny, but interesting. I believe that Andy Kaufman hosted twice, creating some justly memorable television. Mostly, however, the jokes seemed to be stuff that I found funny when I was twelve--in other words, back when the show originally aired: the "Rasta Chef" who cooked with ganja, there was a controversial sketch involving a zombie diner, and I still vaguely recall a, frankly, disturbing Three Stooges parody in which a porn-addicted Curly was fighting either Larry and Moe over a dirty magazine, shreiking "I wanna see some skin!" Creepy.

JohnG · 03 Aug 2006

I ca remember having a laugh with a Michael Richards sketch involving the beach and fish. And that Melanie Cherrtoff (sp?) was a babe.

Dr. Chris Evil · 26 Jul 2006

JohnG wrote:

I ca remember having a laugh with a Michael Richards sketch involving the beach and fish. And that Melanie Cherrtoff (sp?) was a babe.

I always thought so.

alantig · 20 Sep 2006

If this is not a burn-on-demand release, and it contains all the music performances, I'm in.

Like SNL, Fridays was hit and miss, but I really liked it. In that timeframe, it played better than SNL for me. Some bits obviously don't hold up, but I'd love to see some of the stuff again - Bruce Mahler's rabbi, Larry David's Howdy Doody, Igus's chef, Mark Blankfield's pharmacist, Mahler's Mexican DJ ("Ah, la musica...la musica de los Black Sabbath..."), Michael Richards as Dick and the bits he and Melanie Chartoff did (her with the dolls having sex and him blowing up everything). Richards even did a recurring Zappa character. And it would be nice to have the musical performances - Devo, Kiss, etc. This was the only actual live performance of "Elder" material Kiss did (after their appearance on Hollywood Rubik's Cube).

Dr. Chris Evil · 26 Jul 2006

Never heard of Hollywood Rubik's Cube.

alantig · 20 Sep 2006

It was a skit they did on the show. Kiss got ejected when the cube turned. I couldn't find footage on YouTube, other than a very brief half-second shot.

Dr. Chris Evil · 26 Jul 2006

alantig wrote:

It was a skit they did on the show. Kiss got ejected when the cube turned. I couldn't find footage on YouTube, other than a very brief half-second shot.

I watched that show when it was originally broadcast, but I don't remember KISS being in a skit.

Christobal · 26 Sep 2007

I would like to have this for the musical performances. Not saving my money as I really don't think many of them will be included.

Shout DID do a fantastic job getting almost all of the music rights to Freaks and Geeks though, which made the set cost more, but worth it.

Jimbo · 19 Jul 2006

Update: release date is now 8/6/13. Image and preorder link now added to first post.

I got a promo copy at 'Rama. 16 complete episodes on 5 DVDs.

Episode 1: w/ Kenny Loggins
Episode 3: w/ The Clash
Episode 8: w/ Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Episode 10: w/ Graham Parker & the Rumour
Episode 15: w/The Cars
Episode 19: w/ Dire Straits
Episode 20: w/ DEVO
Episode 21 (no guest)
Episode 23: w/ Pat Benatar
Episode 24 (no guest)
Episode 31: w/ Andy Kaufman
Episode 32: w/ Billy Crystal, Randy Meisner
Episode 39: w/ William Shatner, Kim Carnes
Episode 41: w/ Karen Allen, Stray Cats
Episode 49: w/ Valarie Harper, The Cars
Episode 50: w/ Tab Hunter, KISS

Jimbo · 19 Jul 2006

P.S. Episode 24 includes "The Ronny Horror Picture Show."

The two things I most remember are "The Muppet Hunt" from Ep 1 and "That's Meshuggah!" from Ep 32.

alantig · 20 Sep 2006

I wonder if any of the eps have Michael Richards doing his masked Zappa character...

Charles · 19 Dec 2007

I'm surprised they got The Clash........they've been known not to allow their rights for these things i.e. the Tom Snyder punk rock DVD.

Mark Kravitz · 20 Nov 2006

Interesting how the KISS footage would be the whole thing and KISS couldn't include it all on their own KISSology DVD.

alantig · 20 Sep 2006

There's a report on AmazWAN that the DVDs are not the complete episodes - musical performances are cut. Perhaps Jimbo can spot-check one or three of these to confirm. If they are cut, it's a huge disappointment.

Quote:

S1E1 (April 11, 1980): Musical guest Kenny Loggins performs "Keep the Fire"
S1E3 (April 25, 1980): Musical guest The Clash performs "London Calling", "Train in Vain", "Guns of Brixton", "Clampdown"
S1E8 (June 6, 1980): Musical guest Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers perform "Shadow of a Doubt", "American Girl"
S1E10 (June 27, 1980): Musical guest Graham Parker and the Rumour perform "Stupefaction", "Empty Lives"
S2E3 (September 19, 1980): Musical guest The Cars perform "Touch and Go" (cut songs: "Shoo Be Doo" and "Gimme Some Slack")
S2E7 (October 31, 1980): Musical guest Dire Straits perform "Skateaway", "Romeo and Juliet"
S2E8 (November 7, 1980): Musical guest Devo perform "Whip It" (cut song: "Uncontrollable Urge")
S2E9 (November 14, 1980): Musical guest The Bus Boys (Performance is not on the DVD and would have been "KKKay," "Johnny Soul'd Out" and "Minimum Wage.")
S2E11 (December 5, 1980): Musical guest Pat Benatar perform "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (cut song: "Hell Is For Children")
S2E12 (December 12, 1980): Musical guest Steve Forbert (Performance is not on the DVD and would have been "Romeo's Tune," "Lonely Girl" and "Get Well Soon.")
S2E19 (February 20, 1981): Guest host Andy Kaufman, musical guest Sir Douglas Quintet (Performance is not on the DVD but would have been "You're Gonna Miss Me," "Mendocino" and "It Was Fun While It Lasted.")
S2E20 (February 27, 1981): Guest host Billy Crystal, musical guest Randy Meisner and the Silverados perform "Hearts of Fire", "Gotta Get Away"
S3E2 (September 25, 1981): Guest host William Shatner, musical guest Kim Carnes perform "Miss You Tonight" (cut songs: "Bette Davis Eyes", "Under My Thumb")
S3E4 (October 16, 1981): Guest host Karen Allen, musical guest Stray Cats perform "Stray Cat Strut", "Rock This Town" (cut song: "Runaway Boys")
S3E12 (January 8, 1982): Guest host Valerie Harper, musical guest the Cars perform "Shake It Up", "Since You're Gone" (cut song: "Think it Over")
S3E13 (January 15, 1982): Guest host Tab Hunter, musical guest Kiss perform "A World Without Heroes", "I" (cut song: "The Oath")

I remember the Bus Boys' performance as being particularly good, so that's a huge loss (if true). Also particularly disappointed about the missing Benatar, Devo and Kiss songs.

The same reviewer said that some episodes had stuff cut for syndication for content, with no word about whether that was restored.

[2013-08-06] "Fridays" TV show (Shout Factory)

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