![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() But this was a long journey - and many of those changes were sparked and compounded by the series’ own perennial failure to address its most basic shortcomings… So, I can’t claim there’ll be a lot of brilliance on these lists - certainly not in comparison to the material we got to highlight for Frasier - but it’s a great show to discuss! Actually, as we’ll see, the series committed itself to finding other ways to claim and project its own uniqueness - and, sadly, this goal may have actually kept the show from improving in the very areas where it needed to improve in the first place… Eventually, yes, Larroquette was watered down by network-mandated changes. ![]() Additionally, I’d caution against the tendency to believe that The John Larroquette Show became a “traditional” NBC comedy once it was forced to drop a lot of what made this first year different (for network television). Yet Seasons Two, Three, and Four - while indeed different from One - are each separate entities, with varying episodic success rates and opposing things that work (and don’t) they should be treated individually - not as one single post-One mess. (The other big part was the Nielsens, of course.) Naturally, as more things changed, the less likely it was that any easy “fix” could make the show better - and therefore, the ultimate goal, of becoming a commercial success, moved further out of reach. Such a surface interpretation ignores the fact that the “unique, exciting” first season had MUCH room for improvement, and that the network’s annual tweaking - always a condition of renewal - was partly a reaction to their recognition of this genuine need. As we’ll see over the next four weeks, I’d be willing to guess that everything you’ve heard about the show is based in some truth… but the truth, you know, is seldom cut-and-dry… For instance, many who succinctly appraise the show will tell you that NBC took a comedy with a unique, exciting first season and ruined it by attempting to make it more like the rest of their mid ‘90s offerings. Thus, the primary appeal of highlighting The John Larroquette Show here is being able to offer a clear-eyed look at what the series actually was, while working through a few of the myths that have come to be accepted as fact. But the terrible, faded appearance of what you’ll find is a generally apt analogy for the frayed recollections upon which many of those who discuss the show today base their opinions. Because of its lack of visibility, though, it’s hard to respond to the show itself these days all that most of us have is the ever-graying interior legends of what we think it was… Of course, the series pops up on YouTube every now and again (usually with contorted audio and an even worse quality than the VHS recordings from which it’s sourced, despite the efforts of one uploader currently trying to restore his copies) - and these posts may indeed inspire you to attempt sitting through one of those videos. Unlike Frasier, which is available in full on DVD, can be found on several different streaming services, and remains in syndication as of this present writing, The John Larroquette Show probably resides entirely in your memories - maybe you read about it in the papers, caught its brief run on the USA cable channel, or, as is most likely, remember checking in on it during its three-and-a-half-year NBC run (almost two seasons of which were spent in the Tuesday slot behind Frasier). Recurring players include BILL MOREY as Oscar, DAVID SHAWN MICHAELS as Teddi, JAZZMUN as Pat, and DAVID CROSBY as Chester. The John Larroquette Show stars JOHN LARROQUETTE as John Hemingway, LIZ TORRES as Mahalia Sanchez, GIGI RICE as Carly Watkins, DARYL “CHILL” MITCHELL as Dexter Walker, CHI McBRIDE as Heavy Gene, LENNY CLARKE as Officer Adam Hampton, ELIZABETH BERRIDGE as Officer Eve Eggers, and JOHN F. The series is currently unavailable commercially in any form, but I have access to off-air recordings of 83 of the 84 produced episodes (and I found the final draft teleplay for the one I’m missing), so let’s discuss! (UPDATE: I have upgraded the screen captures for this post, using recordings from Rewind TV.) Welcome to a new Sitcom Tuesday and the start of our look at the best of The John Larroquette Show (1993-1996, NBC), a fascinatingly different never-quite-a-hit that stood in contrast to much of the Peacock Network’s mid ’90s fare. ![]()
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