Tuesday, August 13, 2013

What Might've Been: Rollergirls (1978)

James Komack's last series of the 70's was another well-intentioned, but ill-received sitcom, this one centered on roller derby.

Rollergirls aired on NBC in 1978, and, coincidentally, aired on the same night as Komack's previous failure, Sugar Time, which we covered in our last post. The common link between the two shows was actor Terry Kiser, who got top billing on Rollergirls after being credited as a "special guest star" on Sugar Time a year earlier. Rhonda Bates, a Marcia Wallace look-alike, was the leader of the team on the track, but after the series ended was not heard from much again.

By 1978, roller derby was no longer in syndication, as on weekends, it'd been paired with wrestling in some markets, including mine, but would make a ginormous comeback 20 years later.

Here's the open:



Rating: C.

2 comments:

magicdog said...

Holy corpses Batman - it's Terry Kiser from "Weekend At Bernie's"!

Probably the liveliest he's ever been!

Considering roller derby is popular once again, I wouldn't mind seeing a reboot of this - either as a dramedy or sitcom.

hobbyfan said...

Well, there is a reality show by a similar title (Roller Girls, spelled as 2 words this time) that aired on A & E, I think, a few years back, so they'd have to come up with a different title.