The John Larroquette Show
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The John Larroquette Show | |
|---|---|
| Format | Comedy |
| Starring | John Larroquette Liz Torres Gigi Rice Daryl Mitchell Chi McBride Lenny Clarke Elizabeth Berridge John F. O'Donohue Bill Morey Alison LaPlaca Jazzmun |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 84 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Paul Junger Witt Don Reo Tony Thomas |
| Running time | 30 min. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 2, 1993 – October 30, 1996 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The John Larroquette Show is a situation comedy that ran on the NBC network from 1993 - 1996. The show, created by Don Reo, was a vehicle for John Larroquette following his run as Dan Fielding on the successful show Night Court (1984-1992).
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The show revolves around John Hemingway, a recovering alcoholic who is put in charge of the late-night shift of the St. Louis bus depot. As a result, some of the people who hung around at that time reflected the slightly darker side of humanity, including a prostitute in drag named Pat who was nonetheless a sensible and sweet person. Perhaps the best description of the show, at least in its early run, was of a carnival sign that John hung in his office the first night he took his job: "This is a Dark Ride."
During much of the show, some of the humor and stories revolved around John's attempts to stay sober. One guest star was David Crosby, who played Chester, John's sponsor for AA meetings. Another episode guest starred Bobcat Goldthwait, who played an assistant to John who was constantly a mess (as many of Bobcat's characters in movies appear to be very neurotic), but became suddenly efficient and 'normal' - as soon as he got drunk. Richard S. "Kinky" Friedman appeared as himself in a jail cell.
[edit] Second season
In the second season, due to network pressure, the creators removed much of the dark humor and much of the bus depot setting for a more 'toned-down' look. The sets were brighter. John's dingy boarding-house room was traded for a nice apartment, and the prostitute went "straight". The producers also decided to give John a romantic interest (Catherine Merrick, played by Alison LaPlaca), and as a result the mood shifted from its original humor, ultimately leading to the show's abrupt cancellation a month into the fourth season.
The show was videotaped, but processed by NBC to make it look like it was recorded on film. Network promos even showed "unprocessed" clips. When it was rerun on the USA Network, the processing was gone and the show had the look of a videotaped sitcom.
[edit] Main Cast
- John Larroquette .... John Hemingway
- Liz Torres .... Mahalia Sanchez
- Gigi Rice .... Carly Watkins
- Daryl Mitchell .... Dexter Walker
- Chi McBride .... Heavy Gene
- Lenny Clarke .... Officer Adam Hampton
- Elizabeth Berridge .... Officer Eve Eggers
- John F. O'Donohue .... Max Dumas (1993-1994)
- Bill Morey .... Oscar (1994-1996)
- Alison LaPlaca .... Catherine Merrick (1994-1996)
- Jazzmun ... Pat
[edit] Pop Culture Relevance
The series' theme song was bluesy tune backed by acoustic guitar, with "skit scatty"-like Gibberish vocals performed by David Cassidy. The full version of theme was used in the opening and closing sequences during the first two seasons. As the show's tone gradually changed to a lighter one, however, a shorter, faster rendition of the song was heard in the opening only during the last two seasons. An upbeat, jazzy instrumental tune was used for the closing theme in seasons three and four.
Steve Cochran, a popular radio host on WGN 720 AM from Chicago, uses the theme from The John Larroquette Show as the theme music for his own radio program.
