The First Ones

This month Queen Mel and Sarcastro are joined by Mr. The Slayer to visit a place where everybody knows your name as they discuss the first episode of Cheers from 1982. Starring Ted Danson, Shelly Long, Nicholas Colasanto, Rhea Pearlman, and George Wendt, it was a sitcom that proves to the group that it can stand the test of time, at least for their generation.  Queen Mel and Mr. The Slayer also discuss their trip up to the actual bar in Boston that Cheers was based on in the exterior shots.  Where does it rank on the Benson - Blansky scale?  Well, you will need to listen to find out.  Theme song to The First Ones written and performed by Elysium/@elysium_music

This month Queen Mel and Sarcastro gather around with friend of the show, Mr. The Slayer, to talk about the pilot episode of the 1972 series, M*A*S*H.  From the comedic approach to a terrible situation for the characters to be put in is fantastically acted out by the cast which in this episode was made up of Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, Loretta Swit, Larry Linville, McLean Stevenson and Gary Burghoff.  The laugh track opens up a conversation on the use of those in modern shows and how sitcoms found the laugh tracks they wanted to use and if this podcast should start using one.  Theme song to The First Ones written and performed by Elysium/@elysium_music

This month Queen Mel and Sarcastro watch Hogan's Heroes, the comedic portrayal of a group of Allied POWs in a stalag from 1965 who get up to a lot of mischief in getting over on their German captors.   The show starred Bob Crane as the titular Col. Hogan; Werner Klemperer as Col. Klink the man in charge of the camp; John Banner as Sgt. Schultz, the only German officer in the camp who knows about the hijinx of the Allies; The show also co-starred Robert Clary, Richard Dawson, Ivan Dixon and Larry Hovis rounding out the rest of the heroes in Hogan's troupe.   Theme song to The First Ones written and performed by Elysium/@elysium_music

This month Queen Mel and Sarcastro watched Sledge Hammer! which aired it's first episode in 1986 and starred David Rasche as the titular Sledge Hammer, a slightly (or more than slightly) unhinged from rational thought police inspector, who is joined by his more level-headed partner Detective Dori Doreau played by Anne-Marie Martin.   This show had them questioning is it a sitcom based on the way it was shot compared to the other sitcoms they've watched on the show and if it was really as funny as the laugh track on Queen Mel's copy of the episode would have you believe.  Theme song to The First Ones written and performed by Elysium/@elysium_music

This month Sarcastro and Queen Mel are sitting down with Mr. The Slayer to discuss his recommendation of the Out of This World, a sitcom that premiered in September of 1987 and was about a girl who finds out on her thirteenth birthday that she's half alien and begins to get powers from her absentee father's side of the family.   So many questions, What powers will she gain?  Will she use them for good or evil?  Why did the mom lie about the father for so long?  What the heck is an enoch?  Intro and outro interpreted and performed by Banky on behalf of Sarcastro.    

This month Queen Mel and Sarcastro sit down with Mr. The Slayer to talk about the first episode of Charles in Charge from 1984.  In this episode we learn that Scott Baio as the titular Charles is in fact in charge of the lives of three young children in New Jersey and takes his job as their live-in manny very seriously even when faced with the dilema of having to cancel a date with his dream girl, only to have the mother of the family suggest his date come to the house while she has to go to a last minute work assignment for the evening.  Also it would appear the father may be expecting Charles to be some sort of enforcer or heavy for anyone who tries to steal his daughter's virtue.  What we don't learn is why Charles doesn't like to be called sincere as it seems to set him off when people say that he is.   Intro and outro interpreted and performed by Banky on behalf of Sarcastro.

This month Queen Mel and Sarcastro sit down with their guests, The Slayer and Fatty, to discuss the first episode of 1981's Gimme a Break which starred Nel Carter as some sort of live in housekeeper/cook/mother figure to a gruff police chief and his three daughters.   After observing the family dynamic and seeing that Nel is appartetnly the only character who isn't a fish out of water they determine if this could be remade today and if so, would it still be a sitcom.  They also rate it on the Blansky-Benson scale to see where it will earn it's place is The First Ones history.  Intro and outro interpreted and performed by Banky on behalf of Sarcastro.

This month Queen Mel and Sarcastro are joined by Fatty and The Slayer (Mel's co-host on The Sunnydale Diaries) to discuss the first episode of WKRP in Cincinnati from 1978 which is about a struggling AM easy listening station that's getting a facelift to become a rock station and it's quirky cast of characters.  Somehow it's a show that everyone except Sarcastro had seen growing up.  Queen Mel also introduces the new season rating board where she and Sarcastro will determie the best shows reviewed each season.   Intro and outro interpreted and performed by Banky on behalf of Sarcastro.  

This month Queen Mel and Sarcastro discuss the first episode of the sitcom Benson from 1979.  A spin-off of the series Soap starring Robert Guillaume as the titular Benson DuBois who has been hired as the head of household for fish-out-of-water Governor Gatling of a never confirmed state played by James Noble.   Benson meets some of the staff of the mansion consisting of the Chief of Staff, Secretary to the Governor and a sizeable German woman who appears to handle most of the duties of the house staff as the housekeeper and cook.  Benson spends this episode solving a problem for the Governor who is trying to do what he thinks is right in saving wildlife but puts him on the outs with his daughter.  Intro and outro interpreted and performed by Banky on behalf of Sarcastro.

In the season two opener of The First Ones Sarcastro and Queen Mel are joined by guest commentator Fatty and producer Banky to talk about Blansky's Beauties, a Garry Marshall show that was so good at getting cancelled they made the same show twice using several of the cast members under a different show name and on two networks.  Starring Nancy Walker of Rhoda and The Dick van Dyke Show fame, as Nancy Blansky, a showbiz veteran who is spending her twilight years raising her nephews (played by Eddie Mekka and a very young Scott Baio) while managing a group of show girls at what may be one of the seediest hotels in Las Vegas.  Oh did we mention there's a Great Dane named Blackjack in the show, because, why not?   Intro interpreted and performed by Sarcastro  

This month in the season one finale of The First Ones, Sarcastro is joined by Queen Mel who has become part of the POoRCHoices family and the official co-host of the show moving forward.  Fatty and Banky also sat in on the episode to talk about Mork & Mindy from 1978, based on a cameo character on another Garry Marshall show, Happy Days, and helped to launch the career of Robin Williams and co-starred Pam Dawber.  Intro and outro performed and interpreted by Sarcastro with an assist from Banky.   

This month Sarcastro is joined by Corporal and Banky to discuss the Washington, DC neighborhood sitcom, 227 from the grand old year of 1985.  Somehow this is a show that Sarcastro never watched growing up but one that Corporal remembers in the deepest chambers of his mind.  Starring Marla Gibbs, Hal Williams, and an extremely saucy and overly sexually charged up Jackée Harry it was definitely a show for the time and the pilot episode teaches the gang about the perils of being honest, or perhaps the friendships you can make when you try to deceive people.  Intro and outro interpreted and performed by Sarcastro.  

This month Sarcastro is joined by Fatty, Banky and friend of the show and co-host of The Sunnydale Diaries, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer podcast, Queen Mel to talk about a show she recommended, Tales from the Darkside.  A horror anthology series in which Sarcastro was the only one on the show who had never heard of it. The first episode happened to be an actual aired pilot that first hit television around Halloween in 1983 and was about a loan shark played by Barnard Hughes (Grandpa from The Lost Boys) and who happened to enjoy Halloween so much he put on a free haunted house for the kids of the indebted parents in town.   The episode also stars Max Wright making his second appearance on The First Ones from the premier episode on ALF. Intro and outro interpreted and performed by Sarcastro. Be sure to check out The Sunnydale Diaries wherever you listen to podcasts and follow them on their socials and visit them at www.thesunnydalediaries.com.  

This month Sarcastro selected the late 80's show, My Secret Identity, starring a young Jerry O'Connell just three years off of starring in Stand By Me and 6 years before his stint on Sliders.   Banky joins in to help recall how much they actually don't remember about the show and question the writers' decision to have the power of flight propelled by hairspray cans used to rescue a damsel in distress when the main character had super speed.  As they look to find who could play the main character in a reboot of the series, Sarcastro suggests using Prince Sarcastro as the new teen star and Captain (Sarcastro's dad) as the crazy scientist neighbor.  Intro and outro interpreted and performed by Sarcastro  

This month on The First Ones, Sarcastro is joined by Fatty and Banky to talk about The Facts of Life which Sarcastro noted he had some help selecting which series to cover for this episode from friend of the show and co-host of The Sunnydale Diaries: A Buffy Podcast, Melanie.   With a premier in the fall of 1979 none of them realized how large of a cast the first episode had and that future star Molly Ringwald was in the first season and Nancy McKeon's rough and tough, street-wise Jo Polniaczek wasn't.  Which makes them wonder, had they ever seen the first season let alone the first episode at all?   Intro and outro interpreted and performed Sarcastro.  

This month on The First Ones, Sarcastro is joined by Corporal Fatty, Banky to discuss the first episode of Andy Richter Controls the Universe from 2002.  Turns out it's a show where Andy Richter may not be the nice guy he imagines himself to be based on the dubious plan to get his new office mate fired and repeatedly imagines the bigoted deceased founder of his company talking to him which may make Andy a bigot as well.  The fact that it was from 2002 shocked Banky as he thought it was much more recent and Corporal points out that it was a staple to watch for him while living at The Porch.   Intro and outro interpreted and performed Sarcastro.  

This month on The First Ones, Sarcastro is joined by Fatty and Banky to discuss the first episode of Mr. Belvedere from 1985, starring Christopher Hewitt as the titular Mr. Belvedere who based on just this first episode could potentially be a grifter with how he never confirms that he was sent by the "domestic agency" to be a live in housekeeper and nanny to the Owens family and their patriarch played by Bob Uecker.  Intro and outro interpreted and performed Sarcastro.  

In episode five of The First Ones, Sarcastro is joined by Fatty and Banky to discuss the first episode of Newhart from 1982, starring Bob Newhart playing a do-it-yourself author named Dick Louden who moves from the big city to a quaint Vermont town to restore the historic Stratford Inn with his wife Joanna (played by Mary Frann) and they meet a cast of characters that have a certain charm or lack thereof (yeah, we're talking about the annoying character Kirk Devane).  Ringing through with true Bob Newhart comedy and the phone call bit, is it enough to get everyone to watch more episodes of the show?  Could it be remade today and if so, who could fill Bob Newhart's shoes as an out of his element author turned inn keeper?  Intro and outro interpreted and performed Sarcastro.  

In episode four of The First Ones, Sarcastro is joined by Fatty and Banky to discuss the first episode of The Bob Newhart Show, starring Bob Newhart playing a psychologist named Robert Hartley who makes his living off the good people of Chicago and their problems.  There's no question that everyone liked the show enough to watch it but they all wonder why the character's name isn't also Bob Newhart since it's his name in the title. Intro and outro interpreted and performed by Banky on behalf of Sarcastro.  

In episode three of The First Ones, Sarcastro is joined by Fatty and Banky to discuss the first episode of All in the Family, starring Carrol O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Sallie Struthers and Rob Reiner.  It's the story of a New York City family locking horns on societal and political views on how the world should work and how we should treat each other as a society which feels like it's holding a mirror up even today to make us look at ourselves and makes the fellas realize how much of the old ways of thinking are still present over 50 years later. Intro and outro interpreted and performed by Sarcastro.  

In episode two of The First Ones, Sarcastro is joined by Fatty and Banky to discuss the first episode of Bosom Buddies starring Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari in a story of two young ad agency associates just looking for affordable housing and love in 1980's New York City. Intro and outro interpreted and performed by Sarcastro.  

In the premier episode Sarcastro is joined by Banky to discuss the first episode of ALF and his meeting of the Tanner family after his spaceship crashes into their garage and seemingly causes no alarm to the neighborhood.  The first episode leaves Banky wondering what Willie Tanner did for a living and has Sarcastro realizing that while he loved the show at 7 years old, that love doesn't hold up into his adult life.   Intro and outro interpreted and performed by Sarcastro.