Hangin' with Mr. Cooper
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| Hangin' with Mr. Cooper | |
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| Genre | Comedy |
| Running time | 30 minutes (with commercials) |
| Creator(s) | Jeff Franklin |
| Starring | Mark Curry Holly Robinson Saundra Quarterman Raven-Symone Marquise Wilson Nell Carter Omar Gooding Dawnn Lewis |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | September 22, 1992–August 30, 1997 |
| No. of episodes | 101 |
Hangin' with Mr. Cooper was a television sitcom that aired on ABC from 1992 to 1997, starring Mark Curry and Holly Robinson. The show took place in Oakland, California.
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[edit] Synopsis
In the first season, the characters were Mark Cooper, Vanessa Russell, and Robin Dumars. They all lived as roommates in one house that was owned by Mark (Vanessa and Robin were the tenants). In the pilot episode, Mark got a job as a substitute teacher for a high school science class (though later in the first season, he got a job teaching physical education, which is what he wanted to teach). Mark was also a basketball coach for the school's teams. Robin was a music teacher at the same high school at which Mark taught. In the middle of the first season, Mark lost the house and it was purchased by the parents of Tyler Foster, who were Mark's neighbors. After purchasing the house, Tyler's father told Mark, Vanessa, and Robin that they were allowed to stay in the house for one month. However, after Tyler told his parents that he liked Mark, Vanessa, and Robin, they decided to let them stay permanently.
Mark had briefly played basketball with the Golden State Warriors but was soon cut from the team.
In 1993, 26-year old Mo'Nique Imes was added to play Mark Curry's neighbor and funniest friend Sonia McDowell. She constantly makes fun of Nicole Lee (played by Raven-Symone) and Mark Cooper.
The show moved to Friday nights in the second season as part of the TGIF block. It also was remodeled into more of a family-oriented show instead of an adult oriented show as in the first season. In the second season premiere, Tyler mentioned that Mark had purchased the house back from his parents. Also in the second season premiere, Mark's cousin Geneva Lee, and her daughter, Nicole Lee, moved in with Mark and Vanessa. Robin was no longer living with Mark and Vanessa. Geneva took over teaching music at Mark's school. Around the time Geneva and Nicole joined the show, Mark's school welcomed a new principal, P.J. Moore (played by Nell Carter), who was Mark's babysitter when he was a child. She was replaced in Season 4 by Geneva.
In 1996, Mark proposed to Vanessa in the episode Will She or Won't She. This episode was a cliffhanger season finale that was aired on May 10, 1996. The following season premiere episode (The Ring) was not aired until June 21, 1997, more than a year later. Vanessa accepted Mark's proposal in this episode. The Ring was the first episode of the fifth and last season of the series. The last season was 13 episodes long, half the length of most television seasons, and was aired in the summer, when most television shows are in reruns. In addition, this season was aired on Saturday nights -- a move away from its traditional Friday night slot on TGIF.
The series finale (Getting Personal) was aired August 30, 1997. In this episode, Vanessa wrote a personal ad in the newspaper and wanted Mark to figure out which ad was hers and to answer it. Mark decided to answer all ads in the paper, tell everyone to look for the man with the rose, and then not wear a rose. Mark figured that Vanessa would be happy enough that Mark answered her ad and would not worry about the rose, and that the other women would not get mad at him because, without a rose, they would not know that Mark is the one who answered their ads. Earvin knew about Mark's plan and decided to go to the restaurant with the rose so that he could get a date with one of the women whose ad Mark had answered. Vanessa and the other women figured out that the same man had answered all their ads. They decided that the man with the rose would be the dead man with the rose. When Earvin showed up, they all got mad at him, thinking he was the one who answered their ads. The finale ended with a goodbye from the cast.
[edit] Trivia
- The series finale was preempted, halfway through, on the west coast, as ABC News was breaking the story of Princess Diana's fatal car accident in Paris. There were a few complaints from viewers, but nothing of significant note as the show aired on a Saturday Night, and was one of the lowest rated programs on ABC at the time. The show aired in full in syndication.
[edit] Connection to other shows
- In the series' pilot episode, the show was filmed on the original set of Growing Pains. Alan Thicke made a brief appearance as Jason Seaver.
- The season one episode titled Hangin' with Michelle featured a guest appearance by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as their Full House character Michelle Tanner. In addition, John Stamos also appeared briefly in the episode as Jesse Katsopolis, when he was dropping Michelle off at Mark's house. Both Full House and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper were created by Jeff Franklin.
- Mark Linn-Baker from fellow ABC and TGIF show Perfect Strangers had two guest appearances on Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, as a character named Larry Weeks. Mark Linn-Baker also directed a few episodes of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper.
- Hangin' joined two other TGIF shows, Perfect Strangers and Dinosaurs on hiatus for around a year before their last season, which was aired during the summer, and was shorter than most seasons.
- The house shown throughout the episodes as the outside of Mark Cooper's home is the same stock footage of a house used for the series "Sister, Sister." Both series were aired on the ABC Television network.
[edit] Theme song
- The show had three different theme songs throughout its run. The first season's theme song was performed by Dawnn Lewis, Holly Robinson, and the R&B quartet En Vogue. R&B male crooner and Shalamar lead singer Howard Hewett sung the second season theme, which was a remake of Sam and Dave's R&B Top 10 hit Soul Man.
[edit] Cast
- Mark Curry as Mark Cooper
- Holly Robinson as Vanessa Russell
- Saundra Quarterman as Geneva Lee
- Raven-Symoné as Nicole Lee
- Nell Carter as Pamela Jane "P.J." Moore
- Omar Gooding as Earvin Rodman
- Dawnn Lewis as Robin Dumars (Season 1)
- Marquise Wilson as Tyler Foster
[edit] External links
| TGIF |
|---|
| Aliens in the Family • Baby Talk • Boy Meets World • Brother's Keeper • Camp Wilder • Complete Savages • Clueless • Dinosaurs • 8 Simple Rules • Family Matters • Full House • George Lopez • Going Places • Hangin' with Mr. Cooper • Hi Honey, I'm Home! • Hope & Faith • The Hughleys • Just the Ten of Us • Less Than Perfect • Life With Bonnie • Married to the Kellys • Mr. Belvedere • Muppets Tonight • Odd Man Out • On Our Own • Perfect Strangers • Sabrina, the Teenage Witch • Step by Step • Teen Angel • Two of a Kind • Where I Live • You Wish |
