George & Leo (1997-1998)

About

A variation of The Odd Couple with Bob Newhart as George Stoody, a widowed nebbish who owns a bookstore on Martha's Vineyard, and Judd Hirsch as Leo Wagonman, a loud-mouthed grifter who's asserted himself into George's life through their children. Ted Stoodman (Jason Bateman) is Leo's son, who owns a restaurant, and Casey Wagonman (Bess Meyer, later Robyn Lively) is Leo's daughter and Ted's pregnant bride. Ambrose (Darryl Theirse) was George's snarky employee, and Dave Coulier made several appearances as goofy priest Father Ted. The series is most notable for the "Cameo Show," which features appearances by Newhart's and Hirsch's former costars from The Bob Newhart Show, Taxi, Newhart , and Dear John . I don't recall ever seeing an explanation for why Meyer was replaced partway into the series, and it's jarring because Lively doesn't look anything like her (although, weirdly, she looks a little like Meyer in Room for Two ). Despite Wikipedia's claims that it was canceled due to "low ratings," the show pulled in better ratings than NewsRadio, Suddenly Susan, Early Edition, 3rd Rock from the Sun , and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which were all renewed. Presumably, the network was hoping to attract a younger demographic, so it was replaced with Ted Danson's " Becker ." That seems like an apples-and-apples tradeoff today, but Danson was younger and Becker did fare better in the ratings.

Archive

Internet Archive, in The VHS Vault

Licence or status

The Internet Archive states none for this item.

Credit

Staley-Long Productions

Language

English

Who can watch

The archive gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Tweens profiles and older, judged from its collection and subjects. How films are placed