The Most Misogynistic Sitcom Ever Made (Eisenhower & Lutz) (Manic Episodes)

[@jesssoucy4976]

Why do so many shows misuse their Bakula

[@christophertheriault3308]

Let's just hope that Alex Kurtzman doesn't drag him up to make a new "Archer" series after "Picard" runs its course.

[@EnsignRicky011]

@@christophertheriault3308 If it wasn’t Kurtzmann, and they made Archer redeeming…it could be interesting

[@MamaMOB]

That is a VERY good question!

[@RowanWarren78]

He was great in Enterprise

[@grahamparks1645]

Because he’s not that great ask Star Trek fans

[@pixelbomb97]

Say what you will about this producer, he knows how to pick leads who will be famous later.

[@Amaritudine]

This show had to walk so that its stars could run. Away to much bigger and better things.

[@sourdough3533]

The funny thing is, this would be a fantastic drama. The lead is an emotionally-manipulative person who learned everything from his horrible father. His ex is also a horrible person, but is just marginally better and more successful. His girlfriend is a victim of their horrible web of love and manipulation, and sticks around out of misplaced loyalty, inexperience and past issues with an abusive relationship. If you get rid of the laugh track, you'd have an ominous character piece. And you wouldn't even lose much because you can't even tell what's meant to be a joke half the time.

[@MLBlue30]

Instead it's just Alan Burns fantasy to jerk himself off.

[@ChillyBite]

It's like how if you remove the laugh track from The Big Bang Theory it becomes a compelling drama about the broken social lives of people living with autism

[@SavageGreywolf]

so... you get 80s Mad Men?

[@ralphyetmore]

In any context, it's not something I would be interested in, but I can see how that idea would be compelling to others.

[@jostockton.]

That sounds more depressing than compelling, but yeah

[@Pineappolis]

I... so, no-one involved in the production of this show knew the difference between making people laugh and making their skin crawl, did they?

[@MforMovesets]

And WHY IS EVERYONE SHOUTING!?

[@danielgehring7437]

@@MforMovesets Everyone yelled in 80's sitcoms, I assume so they could be heard over the buzz of radiation their televisions were giving off.

[@takkycat]

It was written by someone's creepy uncle.

[@johnalogue9832]

The test audiences were so uncomfortable they did the "forced uncomfortable laugh" and because the men responsible were used to those they thought it was genuine

[@manticorephoenix]

Some still haven’t figured that out and the way business works, the people who made this are still in charge if still alive

[@Oonagh72]

My brother would have been the same age as Scott Bakula and he was a Vietnam War veteran. He joined the Air Force in late 1972. Troops left in March 1973, and the war didn’t actually end until 1975, thus he was a Vietnam War era veteran. So yeah this dude could be a Vietnam veteran.

[@AllisonPregler]

Thanks for the info!

[@jb888888888]

Scott was totally a vietnam vet. I saw a documentary on TV about how he went there to save his brother.

[@ericnelson9100]

Ironically Dabney Coleman, the original choice, would have been too old for Vietnam!

[@miriamrosemary9110]

@@jb888888888 Yeah he was totally a vet! He must have been jumping out of helicopters a lot too, since according to the documentary it involved a bunch of "leaping" 🤣

[@garypesci746]

I'm guessing your brother was not sent to Vietnam. In January 1973, the United States and North Vietnam concluded a final peace agreement, ending open hostilities between the two nations. By the time your brother would have finished basic training the U.S. was not sending any more troops to Vietnam. War between North and South Vietnam continued, however, until April 30, 1975, when DRV forces captured Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Minh City. My step-brother joined the Air Force in 1967 and made a career of the military until he retired as a colonel in the late 1990s. He never went to Vietnam and does not consider himself a Vietnam veteran, even though he was in the service during the Vietnam War era. Unless a serviceman was sent to Vietnam and served a tour of duty he cannot call himself a Vietnam veteran. Scott Bakula graduated high school in June 1973 so even if he joined the military right after graduation, which he didn't, he would not have gone to Vietnam. Unless the Lutz character he played on this show is supposed to be older than Scott Bakula's real age, he could not be a Vietnam veteran. Another example of how lame this show is.

[@clwho4652]

I just realized something, Johnny Bravo is this done right. Think about it. He is dumb, always trying to get a date (get layed but it had to be family friendly so dates), and he's constantly failing. That is this kind of premise but done right.

[@cagneybillingsley2165]

aka it's a cartoon, and this is more realistic. people hate the truth, this is how the majority of relationships are conducted in the modern age. except in 2024, it's not a triangle, more like a harem.

[@AleTitan]

​@@cagneybillingsley2165you do realize "harems" aren't really a thing for the average person, right??

[@citizencalmar]

I choose to believe that originally, the show did get a second season and continued on for years and years, and Quantum Leap never happened at all. But then Sam leaped into Scott Bakula to put right what once went wrong, and that's why we were lucky enough to live in the timeline where Quantum Leap happened and this show died on the vine.

[@Tareltonlives]

That's the best episode of Quantum Leap ever made

[@clwho4652]

Could he do that for Enterprise? Please.

[@TheHopperUK]

@@clwho4652 This *is* the timeline where he fixed Enterprise. You don't want to know what we got instead in the original timeline.

[@sadako24]

Ain't that a kick in the butt....?

[@Blinvy]

Patricia Richardson is so underrated. Her comic timing is fantastic. She was the best thing about Home Improvement too. She fought to get her character be more than "the housewife" and at least on that show, she got to shoot back at Tim's stupid comments. This looks abysmal but thanks for making it entertaining.

[@endlessnoise9173]

Was about to write the same thing.

[@henrygvidonas9573]

Snitch Allen's one-note _"I just don't get these modern times, with wimmins havin' opinions and wantin' to do things"_ schtick was so incredibly tedious and boring. It was as if he played an 80-year-old, not a man in his early 40s. I hate-watched "Home Improvement" for a while - and every episode I asked myself why Richardson's character didn't divorce that turd. I really only continued to watch for Debbe Dunning, to be honest. I didn't even know that Pamela Anderson was on the show at first, because I didn't see any early episodes.

[@CelestialWoodway]

Watch her as an evil mom in Christmas Evil.

[@ericnelson9100]

@@henrygvidonas9573 Man, I thought I was the only one on Earth who hated Home Improvement!

[@MegaBecks1981]

@@henrygvidonas9573 That isn't fair to Home Improvement. That show was a true reflection of boomer guys like my dad who were coming to terms with feminism. Patricia's character in that show was perfect - she was sarcastic and funny, and also very likable. Most episodes revolved around Tim learning something about modern times and evolving. Sorry, but it was a good show.

[@sneakyskunk1]

Her love of Bakula sometimes takes her to dark places.

[@valmarsiglia]

Lol, that theme song! "There ought to be a law protecting girls from boys like you" - Uh, I think there are already several.

[@christopherb501]

And there should probably be more.

[@kronemerj]

​@@christopherb501 replace that probably with a definitely

[@QuartuvLarry]

LOL! That's an understatement, now that family courts are set up to punish men for becoming husbands and fathers

[@Popebug]

​@QuartuvLarry oh hey, we found the target demographic for this shitty show

[@QuartuvLarry]

@@Popebug Oh come on! You couldn't make that response to any of my OTHER comments? I'm being astute, here!

[@s0s2]

It's okay to have a jerk as the main character, they're often even more interesting and exciting than a goodie. But the important point is to have them face consequences for their misbehaviour and to give them character development along the way. That's how you get your audience to sympathize with them. Great video!

[@Arrowdodger]

Yeah, like, for instance, Fresh Prince or Saved by the Bell. You as the viewer know Will and Zach are bringing things on themselves, but it works because A. they're likable in some capacity, well, Will is, and B. it blows up in their faces. They get away with the occasional stunt, but only very rarely.

[@pengwin_]

Becker is an example of how to do this well.

[@henrygvidonas9573]

It's like Allan Burns and the writers totally didn't get what the entire point of an antihero is. At all! By the way, I just looked up some information about the show and saw that it had almost as many credited writers as it had episodes. Ten! No wonder that thing apparently rolled like a brick and flowed like a clogged toilet from episode to episode. Four of the writers were women. How were they okay with how the female main characters got treated? I remember the 1980s. Female television characters were constantly infantilised, psychologically pathologised, talked down to, and generally treated as if they were stupid (which I was oblivious to very early in the decade because I was too young to understand it, but it started to bother me later, more and more the older I got) - but this is bad, even for the time. I watched an interview with a female veteran television writer a couple of years ago, who basically said that she had to perform a spine removal surgery on herself, psychologically - or else she wouldn't have been able to get - and stay - employed in the industry. I wonder on which planet that oh-so progressive Hollywood is supposed to be that conservatives constantly whined and complained about even back then. Because it sure wasn't on Planet Earth!

[@LikaLaruku]

A story with an arse of a main character who gets his ass whooped daily for being a pig? That'd be Johnny Bravo. Except that he literally never learns a damn thing & we just laugh at his suffering.

[@s0s2]

@@LikaLaruku "he gets what he deserves" and that's why we can laugh and appreciate the show. In these cases the writing for the side characters is what's truly directing the show. If the main character is celebrated by the side characters despite their bad behaviour it feels unrealistic and unsatisfying. If the side characters disapprove of their mean actions and show them that its wrong it feels way more relatable.

[@starfishcoffee2854]

Good grief. They way he treated that poor girl made my skin crawl. It’s actually painfully realistic. Brought back some “fond” memories.

[@JamesChessman]

Well I think that he was romantic and thoughtful and sweet. But I know that some people don't really have a sense of romance, or maybe you don't believe in true love

[@vixxxenfoxxx3660]

I honestly don't know which is worse, these sleazeball types of those that fall for it hook line sinker.

[@Vinny.X]

That's why your skin crawls, because in real life you actually fall for that. To everyone else it's a farce of a sitcom that you just sit back and laugh at.

[@ecmelton8633]

Seeing clips from this from show really makes me appreciate how good Ed O'Neill was on Married With Children. His character was also often angry, but he really knew how to make Al Bundy seem like a harmless buffoon. The writers were also smart to make him such a pathetic underdog, that even though he was an awful person you still wanted to see him get thrown a bone once in a while.

[@EvanCWaters]

Exactly, you just look at Al and kinda laugh, and the show's cartoonish style helped.

[@paulheydarian1281]

Married with Children, 'One of The Best TV shows ever...!!!

[@NukkuiskoHyvinVaiPois]

@@Sum_Yousah Um... how was he not? He was a sexist selfish asshole who constantly put women down, whether for being too sexual (his own wife), or too ugly to make his dick stand up (every other woman). He was a terrible husband and a father, and that was the point. The whole show was sort-of parody of all the perfect family shows that aired at the time, and I remember hearing "Peggy" say in an interview that she was surprised a lot of people related to the show.

[@kimifw58]

Except when he insulted fat women at his work, in which case he was a hero. What magic allows you to be so consistently rude to customers without getting fired?

[@hatednyc]

I love people who are just stuck on one older sitcom.

[@katemaloney4296]

God took pity on the cast and blessed them with Quantum Leap, Wings, Home Improvement, and Dave's World.

[@RooneyToony]

Scott Bakula was really struggling to deliver some of those sexist jokes. What a weird bad show

[@Tareltonlives]

It's very A Night in Sickbay: you can see him dying inside saying the dialogue

[@StandWatie1862]

Are you on your period?

[@JamesChessman]

Wrong, the show was awesome and the actor enjoyed it, so did the actresses

[@mastermarkus5307]

@@JamesChessman What even is this argument?

[@wstine79]

Always excited for Allison to bring up some weird show like this. Thank goodness Quantum Leap came along to save Scott Bakula from dreck like this.

[@qwerty-pi]

My dog is at the emergency vet today, so thank you for giving me a new thing to be upset about. I genuinely appreciate the distraction.

[@AllisonPregler]

Sending good thoughts for the pupper!

[@stefanfilipovits21]

Good luck!

[@justwaiting5744]

I hope the dog is better now.

[@qwerty-pi]

@@justwaiting5744 hey thanks so much! She's doing very well. We don't know what happened that made her so sick, but she's basically back to 100% now. Thank you again for asking.

[@GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm]

The Duck Factory, 13 episodes and still more Emmys than Baywatch. lol

[@MissAshley42]

It's like someone watched All In the Family, thought it was too mean to Archie, and decided "I'll show them. I'll show them all!"

[@TMC1982Part2]

Come to think of it, this kind of reminds me of this short-lived Fox sitcom with Henry Winkler from the '90s called "Monty". In it, Winkler played a Rush Limbaugh/Archie Bunker-esque TV personality. A pre-"Friends" David Schwimmer played Winkler's liberal son. "Monty" kind of had the same issue as this show with Scott Bakula. Henry Winkler just seems too much of an inherent nice guy/good guy to fully believe and accept him as a boorish, politically incorrect, Archie Bunker type of character for the '90s.

[@oddtail_tiger]

The fact that this show got made, and then it got retooled into basically itself and got made *again* proves that entertainment industry is not a meritocracy, or at the very least was not in the late 80s. I'm convinced I could fart out a better sitcom, and I've never written anything professionally, nor do I think I would be good at writing.

[@seigeengine]

Almost all the effort is getting started. Once you're going, it gets a lot easier to keep going.

[@planescaped]

@@seigeengine This. The guy got sitcoms made because he'd already broken into the biz, which was the hard part. Once you're in, you have connections and clout and have a much easier time even if your best ideas are well behind you.

[@BuddyL]

At 07:00, he says "The human 🧠 is a terrible thing," and I *immediately* thought of Mitch's _Baywatch_ line about "the male ego".

[@billweasley1382]

I guessing the line is making fun of "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."

[@cameronstone4495]

Very impressed you didn't use "the male ego is a disease" clip, the amount of times you'd have to use it probably would have doubled the video's runtime.

[@neilr818]

She's arguing against the sexism and generalisation of women.. it would be hypocritical to include a clip criticising all men.

[@RowanWarren78]

@@neilr818 my husband's name is Neil Rawls. I know you're not him, lol, it's just a really funny coincidence.

[@bunnybismuth]

@@neilr818 Did you seriously fucking "not all men" this?

[@Delightfully_Witchy]

I KZbin searched to see what you were referring to and got some the worst search results I've ever got on this site. So thanks for *that.* 🙄

[@cloudstrife532220]

@@Delightfully_WitchyI’m sorry for that. It’s from the Baywatching episode Free Fall

[@corydotjpg]

The fact that he made the same show twice with the cast💀💀 Dude mustve thought this was the most genius idea ever made. Thanks for sharing Allison! Manic Episodes was one of my faves

[@donovanmedieval]

I remember when Scott Bakula seemed to come out of nowhere, and then suddenly seemed to be everywhere. I had first seen him in a pilot in August of 1987, then he was on this show, which flopped, and then he got "Quantum Leap." Years later, I found out he had had success on Broadway.

[@Alucard-A-La-Carte]

What every GOOD sitcom about sociopaths has done is: make their own awfulness subvert their own happiness. "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" knew this (the latter better than the former), shows like "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "Archer" know this better than almost any other show. The shows that DON'T understand this simple fact? Those are THE MOST insufferable and obviously written by people who either WILL do something awful in real life, or spend their lives WISHING they could get away with doing the awful shit they wish they could do. And they're most often what people are imagining when they talk about going back to "the good ol' days" of TV and movies.

[@SavageGreywolf]

Seinfeld actually did this very well. 90% of the plots on that show are 'George/Elaine/Kramer tries to pull some zany scheme and suffers hilarious consequences for their disregard for social mores and norms while Jerry watches from the sidelines/coffeehouse after-action-report as a sarcastic observer'.

[@Alucard-A-La-Carte]

@@SavageGreywolf True, but I think that's why "Curb" works better: the protagonist isn't a passive observer but active participant. Also I think Jerry was the least funny part of the show bearing his name, but that's just my taste.

[@StraightPunkEdge93]

Bruh the crowd's tepid reaction to the "We're legal now" joke is the type awkward, uncomfortable situations i love lol

[@phangkuanhoong7967]

I thought the sign meant 'veterinarian'. lol. didn't cross my mind he's supposed to be a veteran. Also, that's not borderline abusive. It is abusive.

[@st.anselmsfire3547]

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I remember that everyone, not just sexist sitcom creators, treated it as a given that men were intimidated by successful women, and nobody seemed interested in interrogating that sentiment. Think about how messed up that is, that we were telling women and, worse, little girls, that they should act like fools and give up their ambitions because losers might not find them attractive.

[@JamesChessman]

Hmm I don't know man, it wasn't a theme that I ever noticed in the 80s and 90s but I might have missed the shows u were watching lol.

[@seigeengine]

I'm a little too young to have any first-hand experience of the era, but my sense of the matter is that it was a sentiment, but not as prevalent as stated. Also, it's a sentiment that reinforces the idea that a man's value is in being successful in his job, and that if he can't be the primary or sole financial provider, he's low value.

[@planescaped]

@@seigeengine Man win bread Woman make dinner Oooga Booga

[@antonioscendrategattico2302]

It's insidious, too, because careerist people tend to be insufferable in general. But the sexist narrative likes to pretend that it's only bad when *women* are.

[@Kyleology]

Men in general want to be with women who need to depend on them, and women in general want to be with men who are more successful than them. Why is that a problem? Are people not allowed to have a preference?

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

This is like a show inside a show, like a Bojak Horseman sitcom he was in that was the worst.

[@kevinnorton9311]

Where you followed Scott Bakula into Star Trek I followed Star Trek into Scott Bakula. It's been a long road, getting from there to here.

[@kronemerj]

I understood that reference

[@Steve.Cutler]

This show proved you can put a great cast together, but no cast can overcome horrible writing. I don't even remember this show..

[@Vinny.X]

Nothing about this show was 10% as annoying as Karen doing that naration.

[@Arrowdodger]

Bud makes Archer seem like the prince of charm and likability.

[@Crazy56U]

I unironically wish they did an episode of Quantum Leap where Sam leapt into one of the people working on this show (not Scott Bakula himself, mind you), just so that they could more or less make people explain their actions here.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

I want to see him leap into the girlfriend. I also want to see him leap into the Enterprise episode with the genocide. There could be an entire season of saving the victims of his worst shows.

[@Crazy56U]

@@juststatedtheobvious9633 I mean, I meant more the _production_ of the show, not him leaping into the show itself (think “Future Boy”), but I like your interpretation here.

[@jthompson7175]

One positibe thing I'll say about this show. It ended so we could get Quantum Leap.

[@paulgreen6824]

Why does this looks like if American Psycho was a sitcom

[@MyMagnificentOctopus]

After the success of Cheers, for a big part of the 80s, it seems there were a lot of "sleazy guy who is not too bright but a hit with women" plots, though most of them at least tried to play into some sort of redemption, or gave him at least some hint of a redeeming characteristic, or something. Or have him played as a total creep, usually by Dabney Coleman (oddly enough) or John Larroquette. The last usually made it only a single season. Well, most of them only made it a single season.

[@Tareltonlives]

I was wondering why this felt like if Sam Malone was even douchier

[@HusbandofLois]

@@Tareltonlives Sam Malone was douchey enough for all of these characters. But the writers were smart enough to know that and use it to make him lose and look stupid way more often than winning. Though he usually got what he wanted anyway

[@Tareltonlives]

@@HusbandofLois At least some of the jokes were on his expense.

[@Ray-dw3wg]

So two things: 1. Scott Bakula was born in 1954 so he definitely could have been in Vietnam in 72' to 75'. He just seems younger then he actually is. 2. I knew a guy years ago that was very likable but also very emotionally immature and manipulative . He was pretty much an asshole but had a way of drawing people in without even trying and women really liked him. I watched two women fight hard to "win" him and in the end he ended up dating both of them for years. After dating those two he moved on to a string of women and eventually got married. His attitude with women was kind of like "do what I say and if you dont, take a hike". I asked one of the girls, later, what they saw in him and her response was that he had a lot of potential if he would only grow up. I dont know why but there are a lot of women out there that like these kinds of guys so a tv show like this makes some sense.

[@miriamrosemary9110]

Huh, interesting. Doesn't mean I'd want to watch a show about their dating habits, but good to know it's not complete fantasy.

[@Ray-dw3wg]

​@@miriamrosemary9110 A show about people like that could be interesting as an exploration of how they became that type of person and the consequences but not as a sitcom.

[@Edax_Royeaux]

2. But more importantly was that funny? Otherwise the show doesn't make sense.

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

Ok 2 sad things... 1) I was a kid in the mid to late 80s but I sadly remember many male characters being portrayed this way. So not sure if men copied characters, characters were emulating real men or both but I remember seeing & knowing a lot of adult men acting this way back then. 2) in the 70s & 80# live audiences did exist BUT they often had cue signs to tell the audience when to laugh/applaud or they added laugh/applause tracks to the show after filming. So if the laughter sounded slightly forced in this show it's likely that the audience was real but didn't actually find the show funny.

[@marcushead9985]

Francois Truffaut once said that there's no such thing as an anti-war film. Thus the misaimed fandom towards Archie Bunker. All In The Family goes out of its way to show that Archie is a bigot but that there's hope for him because he's generally a kind person once he gets past his hangups, and a bunch of the audience (i.e. those who already agreed with Archie's hangups) took away that Archie's fine just as he is and needs no growth. That group seems to have included TV execs, as later shows were apparently based on the assumption that the appeal of All In The Family was putting a grumpy throwback in the lead and just have him be right all the time. I guess that in creating the show with the intent of him being just an irredeemable trashbag who never gets his comeuppance, Alan Burns might have been trying to satirize this trend? But then it seems to have fallen victim to what we might called the Truffaut Effect. And also to being just a terrible show.

[@henrygvidonas9573]

Somehow I have serious doubts that Allan Burns had a good understanding of how satire works. Also, Scott Bakula as the "bad boy that women with daddy issues bend over backwards for, because they _want! to! need! to! have! to! FIX! HIM!_ - even if it ruins their own lives..." trope just doesn't work. He has no "dangerous-but-irresistible" or "forbidden-fruit" appeal as "Bud Lutz". He's just loud, obnoxious, and totally unappealing in this role. Actors playing against type can be interesting - but sometimes it doesn't work. In this case, it REALLY doesn't work!

[@thomasstone3480]

it's interesting tracking down the actual truffaut quote- not that the paraphrase here is inaccurate- but he's pressed on the point, asked about paths of glory and stranglove, and he responds yes, I think kubrick likes violence very much in this case, i think allan burns likes misogyny very much lol

[@Tadicuslegion78]

This is that side of the 1980s you realize people hate about the 1980s while waxing nostalgically about how awesome the 1980s were.

[@bythegods5683]

it's not just the 80s.

[@howiegruwitz3173]

Daytime 80s

[@jimmym3352]

I don't remember this, and I watched lots of bad sitcoms in the 80's. I even watched Small Wonder.

[@TwoMarshmallows1]

@@jimmym3352 I loved Small Wonder as a child and refuse to rewatch as an adult. I want it to live in my mind as a cute, fun show, and nothing more.

[@tster]

@@TwoMarshmallows1 100% this

[@TightPantsJack]

Knowing this show existed now makes the Roberto! episode of Quantum Leap seem like an intentional reunion of Scott Bakula and DeLane Matthews.

[@sarahmorgan992]

Patricia Richardson was on Quantum leap also. The one where they are locked in a radio station and "Sam" helps Cubby Checker with the twist.

[@thebaccathatchews]

I like Scott Bakula. Niceness keeps showing through despite the type of character he plays. But his mannerisms make him look like he's more suited for stagecraft rather than television. That's what I always thought when watching him on Enterprise. This was fun. 👍

[@Tea-uo7ev]

He was famous on Broadway before becoming a TV star so that makes sense!

[@thebaccathatchews]

@@Tea-uo7ev Thank you. I was unaware.

[@LaNoLaCola]

I legit thought it was going to be Three's Company, but then I recognized Scott Bakula. Either way, hope to see you cover more obscure tvs shows, Allison. Keep calm and... Bakula on?

[@gregcourtney751]

Speaking a sitcom that did a jerk protag. better.

[@SoulforSale]

Scott Bakula would have been awesome in Threes Company.

[@kimifw58]

Three's Company was awesome. What are you talking about?

[@joshuamoore8560]

If this trainwreck had a proper season finale, I like to think it went a little something like this: "I have to go now. My planet needs me." *slide whistle as he is removed from the rest of the episode frame-by-frame* Note: Bud died on the way back to his home planet

[@1000huzzahs]

Even if they had a more "likeable" lead or something, that wouldn't change the awful awful awful writing, especially of the women in this show.

[@NeptuneRising70]

I’m embarrassed to say I will literally watch anything with Scott Bakula. I have a problem.

[@Hussam_B]

I still cannot get over the fact that the show is called "Eisenhower and Lutz" and the Eisenhower bit plays no major role in the course of things. Like, not even having the coin give him sage advice about the meaning of things at the end? That's what sitcoms did around those days, right?

[@EmeraldLavigne]

I'm totally gonna subscribe - I hope you do more videos like this, this was fun. It's like an opposite of José; deep dives on awful sitcoms nobody remembers, talking about how awful they were.

[@rodrolliv]

Dang, and I thought the Ferris Bueller TV show was bad

[@sludgesurfer4693]

This man still glimmers in the nostalgic dreams of modern day pick up artists

[@vfvfq1279]

The show premiered in 1988, So even calling it a "produce of it's time" seems overly generous for what it is.

[@JC-yy8iv]

Yeah, it’s roughly contemporaneous with The Golden Girls, which routinely addressed ageism, misogyny, racism, homophobia…. Oh and Designing Women with those glorious Julia Sugarbaker reads where she’d put a bigot of some kind in their place with a fiery monologue

[@phonybeautrain6520]

At the very least, we can take solace in the fact that The Golden Girls was an adored ang ground breaking show, who still honored and homaged today. While Einsenhower & Lutz was rightfully cast into Oblivion.

[@l.salisbury1253]

"Huh, Sam, you just leaped into Bud Lutz!" -Al

[@katemaloney4296]

Someone on IMDB gave this show 10/10 stars and deemed it a delightful show "worthy of a DVD release". Uhhhh.... I've just been rendered completely speechless.

[@SlapstickGenius23]

I think the reviewer may have been really sarcastic.

[@ralphyetmore]

@@SlapstickGenius23 Either that, or the reviewer thinks men/awesome women/horrible, amiright? 🙄 Would finding such a troll on the internet really surprise anyone?

[@davidfaust90125]

Finally the algorithm is working for me. This is the first channel recommendation I've gotten in weeks that is good.

[@AllisonPregler]

Thank you!

[@donovanmedieval]

I watched "The Duck Factory." It was set at an animation studio, and also starred Jack Gilford, Teressa Ganzel, and Don Messick as the studio's staff voice actor. In one episode, he quits the studio in order to pursue a 'serious' acting career. He gets a part in a Shakespeare play, and uses the same voice he used for Pappa Smurf.

[@shanecadden7914]

I loved the Mary Tyler Moore show, and I guess this video confirms that James L. Brooks really was the mastermind behind it. Speaking of Brooks, the plot of My Mother the Car instantly reminded me of the joke in The Simpsons about the Love Matic Grandpa, so I was if there was some inspiration/connection there

[@ReflexVE]

This was tough to watch. This species of man was a thing in the 80s, my mother dated one for years. Many of the behaviors in this he did routinely, including flirting with others in front of her or meeting others when they were out and abandoning her. It was always her fault of course... Ugh. I'm sorry you had to watch this. I don't think I could.

[@ROBYNMARKOW]

The 80's ? They've been around since the caveman times & will continue to exist.. 🙄

[@ReflexVE]

@@ROBYNMARKOW I'm referring specifically to what the tv show is trying to capture. I'm well aware that men like this have existed prior to and since that day. But the character in this show was very spot on to a specific type of man in the 80's that I saw personally. But yes, men in general are terrible and everyone pays the price (including men). What a screwed up culture we've created and enforced.

[@ROBYNMARKOW]

@@ReflexVE True, that type of male behavior was more tolerated back then . However, the vast majority of those w/XY chromosomes are alright👍

[@ReflexVE]

@@ROBYNMARKOW I don't really agree that most of us are. The pressure we are put under by other men to behave in harmful ways is incredible, and men who attempt to make kindness, caring and emotional available are usually punished by the other men in their lives, and to a lesser degree by women who are socialized to expect abuse. Even when we are 'alright' it is via overcoming of the society pushing us to behave destructively, especially towards women and sexual minorities. A lot of this is covered extremely well by a channel on here, Pop Culture Detective. For anyone curious, here's the link: kzbin.infofeatured

[@seigeengine]

@@ReflexVE Honestly, people are terrible in general. If I had to say any way in which men are differently terrible, it's that we're more likely to be violent. That said though, I'm even sketchy on that somewhat, since the only person to ever start the fight with me was a woman. I was in a lot more altercations as a kid, but I swung first on all of those. Plenty of men have tried to physically intimidate me without actually taking a swing, on the other hand, whereas no woman has ever tried to do that.

[@Pharaoh025]

I'm wondering if he saw "Married with Children" and thought... "I can do that too", and then, didn't.

[@BronzeBoy520]

You forgot the real most misogynistic show of all time Young Sheldon

[@Tareltonlives]

It's worse than Big Bang Theory?

[@newcountcannoli3520]

I never saw it. What is mysogynistic about it.

[@beckyhop13]

You know what? The whole "all the girls know Lutz is interested in them" thing leads me to think this: make the lead more likeable, and make his relationships with the women around him less toxic, you COULD have a pretty good start to a sitcom about a healthy open relationship/polyamory.

[@robinchesterfield42]

Really! Like, the fact that the two women know about each other right from the get-go, is kinda refreshing and could've been really funny! If only they had bonded over how AWFUL he is and cracked up laughing drunk over his douchebaggery...

[@anthonypryor9673]

My thoughts as well, but networks would rather portray toxic, selfish lead characters being abusive to their partners than actually suggest you can have a successful non-traditional relationship. Much healthier that way!

[@JamesChessman]

Becky: 100% right. That would have been the correct way to do it. Just have it all honest and there's still plenty of stuff to make episodes about such a 3-way relationship

[@seigeengine]

And if he was a communist spy seducing American women to get vital state secrets it could be a sitcom about the cold war. What's your point?

[@beckyhop13]

@@seigeengine I just thought it wouldn't take that much effort to turn this into a less toxic show about polyamory was all, no need to be rude.

[@williamclarke3026]

Ok. Imagine the most meta episode of quantum leap, where Sam Beckett leaps into Scott backulas body. Eisenhower and lutz is hit until Sam has to turn it into a disaster so that Scott backula can be lead to to be in quantum leap. Striving to put right what once went wrong. Lol.

[@Tareltonlives]

"Al, why do I suddenly feel like I'm an insufferable asshole?" "Looks like you'll have to escape from an absolutely horrible show to save your career, Sam" "Oh boy"

[@grapeshot]

This show flew under the radar for me. But I do remember that sitcom where a guy died he is brain and conscious was put inside of a computer. And he would go back and forth with his mother-in-law.

[@CyclopsWasRight616]

We'll never know what could have happened. Season 2 could have revealed that Lutz was a cyborg killing machine going through virtual reality training to learn how to infiltrate human society. I mean, Dollhouse left me with some weird scars. That being said, I LOVE your channel and your take on all of this stuff. And, without you, I might actually have tried to watch this just for Scott Bacula if I had ever come across it. So, you saved me that.

[@Tea-uo7ev]

Bakula was actually in a TV pilot where he turned into a half cyborg, half human, funnily enough.

[@CyclopsWasRight616]

@@Tea-uo7ev i think he was actually in two of those. I'm not sure if the other one he was an actual cyborg, but still. There's a video on here about his other failed pilots.

[@thomaspalazzolo5902]

I'd love for you to peek at Scorch, a sitcom where a dragon puppet works a desk job, or The 1000 Lives of Black Jack Savage, where a disgraced billionaire and a pirate ghost use Nightboat to stop crime, or The Clone Master where all characters are played by the same guy, arguing about who is the original, screaming, "No! No! I'm Dr. Simon Shane!!"

[@SachaMullin]

Damn it, Allison. There outgha be a law protecting us from theme songs like those. (x2)

[@ecmyersvids]

The fact that this exists and Bakula is in it is deeply depressing.

[@HusbandofLois]

At least it’s at a stage in his career in which there was no way he could say no to a lead role in a show. If this show came out in the years between Quantum Leap and Enterprise it would reflect much worse upon him

[@vfvfq1279]

Well, at lest we avoided the timeline where the show lasted two seasons and Bakula wasn't on Quantum Leap.

[@AcmeRacing]

Patricia Richardson went on to star in a more traditional "men are idiots and women are brilliant" sitcom called Home Improvement.

[@amazedsatsuma]

Imagine in one universe were this was somewhat successful and lasted another season and someone else was cast as Sam Beckett for Quantum Leap...and not Scott Bakula. edit: 23:03 lol...I see I wasn't the only one thinking about that tragic universe:P

[@leedsmanc]

It's not borderline; it is all abusive. Reflects the personalities of those with the power in show business.

[@deskish3930]

ah the simpler days when sitcom intros went on for like an hour

[@MLBlue30]

Watch Too Many Cooks, it satirizes the living hell out of that and other sitcom tropes.

[@michaelpecoraro486]

Now I swear I remember seeing an episode of this show in which an unhappy client actually demanded to speak to the non-existent Eisenhower, resulting in Sitcom Hijinks. Is my brain making that up?

[@AllisonPregler]

They did occasionally have people ask for Eisenhower and then they would always get Lutz, but in the episodes available online, it was never more than a 30 second issue.

[@authorrayrogers]

Cast Phil Hartman in the lead, have him get what's coming to him, (usually at the hands of either of the two female leads) ala Frasier and you MIGHT have had something.

[@AllisonPregler]

Hey there! Please stop telling me Megan's character wasn't underage or what the age of consent in Nevada is. The quote is literally in the video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKS5gWB6Z8egjck "Relax, we're legal now." The joke is that they weren't legal when they got together. She was underage. That is what I am referring to when I say she was underage. Because the show says she was underage. In the quote I used in the video, that you watched. Thanks.

[@covcova]

This show has a 6.9 on IMDB. That sounds rather high, based on what I’m seeing

[@cityhawk]

They should be taken with a grain of salt.

[@SlapstickGenius23]

The reviews must be coming from sarcastic people.

[@DanielWitzer]

My mother the car...what was that dude smoking?

[@quesoblanco444]

I wonder if Allison has seen the Dabney Coleman show Buffalo Bill. His character was a straight up racist as well as misogynistic.

[@xiamei704]

Nice guy bakula could do sleeze. He played another on "Designing Women", but his character was only on the show occasionally and was meant to be a sleeze, not a protagonist.

[@MrHootiedean]

Damn, Scott Bakula sure can fill out a pair of jeans.

[@christophertheriault3308]

Very surprised a Quantum Leap buff such as Allison would fail to mention that Bakula and Richardson would work together again in the "Good Morning Peoria" episode taking place in... an FM radio station!

[@MyMagnificentOctopus]

Was the illegitimate son one of the multitude of DeLuises who kept appearing on random TV shows throughout the late 80s and 90s?

[@dreamweaver1603]

Oh, that’s right. He did look like that guy from 21 Jump Street. I was trying to remember where I’d seen him.

[@meganfaith4052]

I came in thinking “Oh it’s a show where all the writers are definitely men.” But while watching it’s a show where all the writers are definitely men and men who have never interacted with women a day in their lives.

[@twiztidsidfreak13]

Just wow. Some of the lines in this show...that damn intro song! I can see why you did a long video on this! I look forward to more like it! I rewatched The Mask with my son (he was like 10 or so) and we both noticed how VERY rapey that movie is. It's just 2 hours of Jim trying to force himself on Camron. It's Pepe le pew live action.

[@seigeengine]

Everything is fine as long as it's consensual. Don't question his mind control powers.

[@chuckoneill2023]

Those old cartoons -- Super Chicken, George of The Jungle -- which you lumped in as failures were actually excellent (produced by most of the team which created Rocky and Bullwinkle). I know they didn't last long, but like Duck Factory, really well written.

[@acarr9377]

Man, they really would greenlight anything back then, huh? You'd think when pitching a show about a plucky, inexperienced lawyer who has to invent a fictional partner to drum up business for his new law firm, you'd want the focus to be about him, you know, practicing law, not his inability to maintain a relationship with two women who should know better.

[@jeffreyheller5530]

1. This was what I knew Scott from when “Quantum Leap” premiered, though I don’t believe I saw more than a couple episodes. 2. “Duck Factory” was surprisingly very good. Jim Carrey used to have the whole series on his KZbin page, so he apparently thought so too.

[@mightyfilm]

"String of failures that were quickly forgot about" Shows George of the Jungle. A cartoon that was rerun for years, had 2 movies (one theatrical, one DTV), and a shitty reboot cartoon in 2007.

[@Plantsandtoyhorses]

Allison I first found you when your first season of Charmed review was recommended to me! Loved it and binged watched all of the season reviews. Ive been enjoying binging other videos of your reviews for TV shows and Movie nights too. Though so far the one that I laughed the most was one many years ago, your review of "Gymkata", because as a teen, my brother and our friends would watch it together and pretty much just point and laugh. And the Benny Hill music over the street chase scenes gets a chef's kiss!

[@AllisonPregler]

Oh wow thanks so much!!

[@nawf4372]

1:00 in and I find myself saying "how bad is this show that Allison passed over 'My Mother the Car'"?

[@bi-indigenous-baker5865]

I just wanted to say that it was very common for minority business owners (usually Jewish or black, or even just a woman) to make up an white, male, Christian, business partner so that people who normally wouldn’t do business with them would. They would just say “Oh! Mr. (Insert white name) is out of town with another client, so I will be taking care of you today”, and that would normally smooth anything over. It had fallen out of practice basically around the time that this came out though. And I don’t know if it applies to Lutz but that’s where the idea came from.

[@AllisonPregler]

Definitely not the same thing here since he's white, but it does make me think if they'd done a Remington Steele type thing it might've worked. Like his Mexican secretary actually ran the business but used Lutz as a front for those reasons.

[@bi-indigenous-baker5865]

@@AllisonPregler that would definitely have made the show better. Maybe he knew a Jewish kid in elementary school who spilled the beans and that’s where he got the idea. Lol. Thank you for the video! It was fun and I’m sorry you had to watch this monstrosity for your viewers. 😂

[@alman54]

I watched a lot of sitcoms in the 80s, even Duck Factory! I remember that one well. But this one? I totally missed it. Thank you Allison, this show is so awful! It makes That 80s Show look like sitcom gold. And that's really hard to do.

[@aegisofhonor]

I remember someone who was a big fan of this series when was on in the late 80s, I remember watching a couple epsides and not being impressed at all and never watched it again.

[@EvanCWaters]

I think the premise could actually work if they had leaned into the "he has no redeeming qualities"- like one case where I've heard a showrunner say that was Jennifer Saunders for Absolutely Fabulous, Patsy and Edina aren't really good characters and they don't necessarily always *fail* but they do always look absurd. But that was a BBC series in the mid-90s and there was no way an American sitcom in the late 80s was going to pull off absurd dark humor, or even be allowed to get close to it. And yeah casting Bakula kinda makes sense at first- he's funny, he's charming- but you need someone who can really make him look both sleazy and silly.

[@geeker6350]

This show is so sleazy that I think I contracted an STD just by watching clips from it.

[@anthonypryor9673]

From the era of "He's a narcisstic, sexist, manipulative assh*le but we all love him because... Uh... Because reasons!" comedies. Come to think of it, that era never truly ended, did it?

[@BradleySmithYoutube]

First video of yours I’ve seen! KZbin recommended this one to me for some reason, but thankfully so! Awesome video essay and you really made me interested in the subject I didn’t even know existed.

[@mst3kharris]

So am I the only one whose first instinct was to root for Kate and Megan to get together?

[@rolotomasi99]

Awesome video per usual Allison. Thank you for sharing this treasure of bad television with us. Perhaps you were just joking, but pretty sure the Eisenhower dollar was given to Lutz by the guy wearing the stetson. You can see him throw it and Bakula catch it at 4:03. Again, sorry if I am explaining something you already knew, but it seemed to bother you that he might have stolen it from the lady. Anyhoo, keep up the great work!

[@danstiver9135]

Married with Children came out the previous year, I feel that must be the only reason this crap got made.

[@markh3271]

It may have been mentioned but John Larroquette was able to pull off the "sleazy" character in "Night Court" quite well. It ran from 84-92.