Mr. Belvedere

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Mr. Belvedere
‎ The cast of Mr. Belvedere
Genre	Sitcom
Running time	30 minutes (with commercials)
Creator(s)	Gwen Davenport
Starring	Christopher Hewett Bob Uecker Ilene Graff Rob Stone Tracy Wells Brice Beckham
Country of origin	United States
Original channel	ABC
Original run	March 15, 1985–July 8, 1990
No. of episodes	117
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Mr. Belvedere is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the ABC network from March 15, 1985 until July 8, 1990.

The character of Mr. Belvedere was created by Gwen Davenport in her novel Belvedere, and was originally portrayed by Clifton Webb in a series of theatrical films in the late 1940s and early 1950s. There was also a television pilot in 1965 starring Victor Buono in the title role.

The premise of the 1980s era program was that a middle-class family in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, takes in an English butler after he emigrates to the United States.

The posh butler, Lynn Belvedere, struggled to adapt to the Owens household. The breadwinner, George, was a sportswriter. His wife Marsha was attending law school, and helped raise their three kids in her spare time. At the time the show started, Kevin attended high school, Heather was in junior high, and Wesley was in elementary school.

Several episodes dealt with Belvedere and Wesley, with whom he shared a close relationship. In one of many very special episodes, one of Wesley's classmates contracted HIV via a blood transfusion, not unlike what happened to the real-life teenager Ryan White. When all of Wesley's classmates shunned him for still associating with his friend, Belvedere was there for him and the child, and he helped the other students befriend the boy. Mr. Belvedere served as a mentor to Wesley any time he had trouble, and also helped the other children whenever they needed help.

Mr. Belvedere, thinking about the day's events in the "diary scene" that ended each episode

Each episode ended with Mr. Belvedere writing in his diary about the day in the Owens home.

The show's theme song was performed by Leon Redbone.

Mr. Belvedere had an average-sized ratings base, but it was never a phenomenally popular show; the show did not rate in the Top 30 shows in any of its six seasons. In fact, the show was canceled in 1987, only to be renewed after much fan protest.

In late 1989, in the middle of its sixth season, Mr. Belvedere was shelved and no episodes aired for the rest of the season. Speculation emerged that the show had been abruptly canceled, so ABC aired the final two episodes (the two-parter series finale, in which Mr. Belvedere marries and moves to Africa) in the summer of 1990. The show has since been seen sporadically in syndication.

[edit] Cast

• Christopher Hewett as Mr. Lynn Belvedere
• Bob Uecker as George Owens
• Ilene Graff as Marsha Owens
• Rob Stone as Kevin Owens
• Tracy Wells as Heather Owens
• Brice Beckham as Wesley T. Owens

[edit] References in other media

In 1991, Saturday Night Live did a sketch entitled "The Guy Who Played Mr. Belvedere Fan Club." In the sketch, a group of the actor's fans are meeting to discuss their mutual love for "Mr. Belvedere" (no mention of Christopher Hewett's actual name is ever made). As the meeting progresses, it quickly becomes evident that most or all of the fan club members are clearly insane. The first order of business is voting on a nickname for him. Several ridiculous ideas are brought forth until they finally settle on one: Brocktoon. Tim Meadows plays a stand-up comic who shows up, in the middle of their meeting, to wait for his show later in the day. The chairman (played by Tom Hanks) promptly asks him if he is a fan of "Brocktoon" (an odd question, considering they had just made the name up). Tim Meadows sits and observes the odd fans and the many abhorrent ideas they present as to what they would like to do with "Mr. Belvedere" if they ever meet him (one wants to kill him, which is promptly dismissed, until another member interjects that they "usually vote"). Chris Farley states that he wants to "keep him in a big jar" in his basement. Tim Meadows finally interjects, shouting that what they are doing is wrong. The sketch ends with a cut to a shot of Meadows inside a giant glass jar, screaming for help. The sketch eventually appeared on the DVD Saturday Night Live: The Best of Tom Hanks.

The "Mr. Belvedere" character was later parodied on the MTV animated series Clone High in which a mad scientist creates electronic butler named "Mr. Butlertron", who refers to everyone as 'Wesley'. (originally, the creators wanted to name it Mr. Belvetron, but did not for legal reasons).

The Stewie Griffin character (voice of Seth MacFarlane) attempts to watch the program in an episode of Family Guy and is forced to loudly sing the theme song aloud when characters in the background drown out the TV volume. Another one of MacFarlane's shows, American Dad, also references Mr. Belvedere. Roger mentions that he is a fan of the show.

Hewett also portrayed the character in a special tribute episode of the FOX sitcom Ned and Stacey.

In the Family Guy video game, Mr. Belvedere is Peter Griffin's nemesis. Peter gets hit on the head throughout the game and constantly thinks that Belvedere is real and has kidnapped his family. Peter destroys half of Quahog looking for his family and revenge on Mr. Belvedere. He follows this spotlight in the sky that has an outline of Belvedere.

In the bachelor party scene of American Wedding, Bear comes up with the name Belvedere when asked by Mrs. Flaherty.

In the song "8 Millions Stories" by early 1990s hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, a lyric is "Who the hell do you think I am, Mr. Belvedere?"

[edit] External links

• Mr. Belvedere page
• Mr. Belvedere at the Internet Movie Database
• Mr. Belvedere at TV.com