Monday, December 9, 2013

What Might've Been: Working Stiffs (1979)

Before he became a box office superstar in the 80's ("Mr. Mom", "Beetlejuice", "Batman", etc.), Michael Keaton had tried three different times to score in primetime. First, it was as part of Mary Tyler Moore's repertory company on her short-lived variety show. Then, it was this 1979 entry from Paramount & CBS, Working Stiffs, which paired him with Jim Belushi.

Now, I never saw the show, but I do remember ads for it airing in the summer of '79. Belushi & Keaton played a pair of knuckleheads whose apartment in Chicago wasn't exactly perfect for a bachelor pad. Allan Arbus (M*A*S*H), Val Bisoglio (ex-Roll Out), & Lorna Patterson (later of Private Benjamin) co-star. Producers Nick Abdo, Bob Brunner, & Arthur Silver had worked on Garry Marshall's family of sitcoms over on ABC (i.e. Happy Days), so the pedigree was there, but it was on the wrong night.

Here's the open:



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