Information AboutFridays |
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''Fridays'' was the name of ABC 's weekly late-night hour-long live comedy show, which aired on Friday nights from 1980 to 1982 . The program was ABC's attempt to cash in on the success of NBC 's popular '' Saturday Night Live ''. Like ''SNL'', each week, ''Fridays'' featured a different celebrity guest host (in its second season, at least), fake newscasts, musical guests and cast members performing comedy sketches, and spoofs of television shows and commercials. The cast included Mark Blankfield , Maryedith Burrell , Melanie Chartoff , Larry David , Darrow Igus , Brandis Kemp , Bruce Mahler , Michael Richards , and John Roarke . In addition, staff writer Rich Hall appeared in some segments on the series, but he was not a regular cast member. Head writer/producer Jack Burns also occasionally appeared. BACKGROUND Blankfield and Kemp (who were husband and wife) were recruited from Low Moan Spectacular , a comedy group which had briefly been considered as a ready-made cast for the series. Mahler—a gifted pianist and violinist—made several bizarre appearances on TV before joining the ''Fridays'' cast, including performances on '' The Gong Show '' and '' Fernwood 2Nite ''. Igus had co-starred in an obscure CBS series called '' Roll Out '', and had also appeared in the motion picture '' Car Wash ''. Chartoff had been a cast member on the soap opera '' Search For Tomorrow '' in 1976, and had also appeared in 1978's '' American Hot Wax ''. Burrell had been a member of a well-known L.A. comedy improv group, The Groundlings , which had also launched the careers of Paul Reubens , Robin Williams , and Phil Hartman , to name a few. For his part, Roarke had performed comedy in Boston. Larry David—who specialized in angry characters—was discovered at Catch A Rising Star in New York City . Michael Richards was discovered similarly at The Improv in Los Angeles. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ''FRIDAYS'' AND ''SNL'' The humor of the show differed from ''Saturday Night Live'' as much as it included even more references to drugs than the NBC series, included more political humor, and was frequently more experimental than ''Saturday Night Live.'' Unlike ''Saturday Night Live'', ''Fridays'' did not have a guest host during its entire first season, though it did feature musical acts. During the second season the show began featuring guest hosts, sometimes resulting in some odd combinations when the musical acts were taken into account. For instance, the episode which aired on January 16 , 1981 featured Shelley Winters as the guest host and The Plasmatics as the musical guests. In addition, the musical guests were more adventurous, featuring many punk and new wave artists, see the section below. The production values for musical segments were higher, using colored concert style lighting, as opposed to ''SNL'''s flat white illumination. THE ANDY KAUFMAN INCIDENT One of the most memorable moments on the show was an evening when Comedian Andy Kaufman was hosting the show. During one sketch, about couples at dinner sneaking away to the bathroom one by one to smoke marijuana, Kaufman, who loved causing trouble on Live TV , broke character and refused to read his lines. Richards got up from the table, grabbed the cue cards and threw them down on the table in front of Kaufman, who responded by throwing a glass of water on Richards. Some of the show's cast and crew members became angry and a small brawl broke out on stage. Since the show was broadcast live, home viewers were able to see most of these events transpire on their television screens until the network cut the cameras off. Kaufman returned the following week in a taped apology to home viewers. This incident was recreated in the 1999 film '' Man On The Moon ''. Richards admitted several years later that the entire episode had been planned in advance. THE END OF ''FRIDAYS'' The series ended in (admittedly at a time when ''Saturday Night Live'''s ratings were practically at their nadir), the later timeslot badly hurt the show during its second season. One final attempt was made by ABC to save the show by putting it on in Prime Time . However, the one episode which was broadcast in prime time was scheduled against '' Dallas '', which was then the #1 TV show in the country. Predictably, the ratings for this primetime episode were dismal. This episode, broadcast on April 23 , 1982 , was the last of the series. LIFE AFTER ''FRIDAYS'' Chartoff, David, and Richards are today the most active and successful ex-members of the cast. Larry David would, a few years after the end of ''Fridays'', go on to help create '' Seinfeld '', one of the most popular television shows in American history. Michael Richards became one of the stars of that show with his performance as "Cosmo Kramer." Other former ''Fridays'' cast members also turned up occasionally. Bruce Mahler made four appearances on the show as "Rabbi Glickman," Maryedith Burrell appeared twice, and Melanie Chartoff also appeared twice. In addition, former ''Fridays'' writers Larry Charles , Elaine Pope and Bruce Kirschbaum later became writers for ''Seinfeld''. Today Larry David stars in the very successful '' Curb Your Enthusiasm ''.
DVD RELEASE AND REVIVAL POSSIBILITIES No DVDs have been released yet from the series; reportedly because Michael Richards was the only cast member who had the right to approve any home video releases from the series written into his contract. To date, he has not signed off on a DVD release, though some clips of Richards on ''Fridays'' appear on the ''Seinfeld'' Season Three DVD. Edited episodes of ''Fridays'' appeared on the USA Network later in the 1980s , but the series has not been aired since then. No reunion of the ''Fridays'' cast has ever occurred. The closest thing to a reunion to date was the 1998 series finale of ''Seinfeld'' in which Richards, Chartoff, Mahler, and Burrell all appeared, and which David directed. There have occasionally been vague rumors over the years that ABC has sometimes considered reviving the series with a new cast. However, this seems extremely unlikely given the series' short original run, the difficult ratings, and the continued runs of ''Nightline'' and Jimmy Kimmel Live . RECURRING SKETCHES AND CHARACTERS
MEMORABLE SKETCHES AIRED ONLY ONCE
MEMORABLE MUSICAL GUESTS Although ''Saturday Night Live'' had featured a number of Punk Rock and New Wave acts in its first few seasons, ''Fridays'' took that ball and ran with it. Acts which appeared on ''Fridays'' include:
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